Why is there a bias in the media?
There are very many different filters that lie between the facts of a situation as it occurs and the final version of events in our living rooms. Some of these filters are well-intentioned; many are unconsciously affecting the story and other filters are quite deliberately there to manipulate the public to a specific point of view.
Among some of the well-intentioned filters are a) those meant to protect the innocent people in the story from harm; b) those meant to protect the public from the more distressing and horrific aspects of the story and c) those filters that are meant to ensure we get the news we want and need by weeding out those that we have no interest in. These filters themselves are problematic enough. Protecting innocent victims sometimes has a side effect of allowing a repetition of the atrocities to occur through lack of awareness; keeping news free from the more horrific effects of modern warfare can allow it to go on for many years before sufficient public outrage is created to change government policy; the decision about what is considered interesting is problematical, too, in a country that seems to care more about the latest evictee from Big Brother than in the painful effects of UK politics on a few million people in some faraway place.
Unconscious filters to our news output come about largely due to our culture and upbringing. Those who grow up in a society that believes they are culturally superior to certain other races will more readily accept the UK and US claims that they must bomb Arab countries to bring them freedom and democracy. They will see ‘terrorism’ in the attempts of these besieged countries to free themselves from their tormentors but heroism in the acts of war committed by their own forces. Even though logic would show that our own Governments have waged war on countries miles from our own, that offer no threat to us and which have absolutely no defense against our armed forces. The psychological effect of fighting in these empire building wars is increasingly evident in the suicides and breakdowns among US personnel returning from America’s wars abroad.
Mass media also imposes its own filters in that it is a commercial enterprise seeking profit and ratings success. There is a subtle filter at work that ensures the predominance of stories that fit in with general opinion. Frequently the real story, supported by plenty factual evidence is scrapped or relegated to a small slot on page 14 while minor news that fits in with the public’s current perceptions will be emblazoned across the headlines of every news outlet. More subtly, but nevertheless worth keeping an eye on in these days of huge corporations in the media, if you want to keep a well paid job in any media market, it is usually wise to keep in mind your owner’s personal viewpoint and agenda.
Finally the most insidious and malevolent filters are those imposed on our news stories by the people in power. Examples of these are well known in Britain but most people associate them with dictatorships like Communist Russia or China. People seem to be more blinkered about their own government’s shortcomings in this area. A very successful method of monitoring the Iraq war was that of insisting that all journalists from the West worked lived and moved with the troops. Any one outside these parameters was considered inimical to the safety and success of the war effort. These embedded journalists of the Gulf war quickly succumbed to the brothers-in-arms whitewashing of news from the frontline in the war on Iraq. Briefings became less about feeding unfortunate news to inquisitive journalists disguised with the preferred spin, and more about coming together to ensure that support for the war would be nurtured by the stories released to the general public. Back home, the readiness to send government briefings straight to the printing press or News studio without verification continued the unbalanced shaping of the news.
At the same time, many lies were published from the ‘undisclosed sources’. Later when the lies were shown up for what they were ie deliberate, unabashed propaganda, there was no one to point the finger at and accuse of lying. Blair and his cohorts have proved adept at passing the buck in his way at subsequent investigations.
‘I took it in good faith…..’ ‘I had no reason to question the facts before me..’
Most sinister of all are the questionable deaths of those who would attempt to bring the truth to the people. This includes the deliberate murder of ‘unilateral’ journalists during the war on Iraq. The attack and vilification of dissenting journalists and the bombing of Al Jazeera’s residential compound by two US missiles in the same war.
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Mass Media Bias part 1
Thoughts on Media
In the World I grew up in, Russian people were the ones being lied to by their media. Chinese people, too, were brain-washed and only allowed access to ‘approved’ films and literature. Today it is frightening to realize that those tactics are now extensively at work right here in the West. On the free Sky channels, today, you will find the same news morning noon and night in most of the available channels. Not only is the populations of the West fed the same News items, more alarmingly, they are all fed the same slant on these news items.
The more trusting of you may well say ‘We have great news coverage of the World. As long as we have the facts we can put our own slant on it.’
Firstly, I am afraid it is not true that we have great coverage of World events. We see only the events our Government and media barons want us to see. For example, there has been a great deal of coverage about deaths caused by the Syrian Government troops during recent months. At the same time, absolutely no coverage is given of the violence and deaths caused by those who want to destroy the Assad regime. On the same topic, a great deal of misinformation from Syria was aired as the ‘truth’ although it was blatant propaganda. Now that those films have been proven to be fabricated you would expect a free media to be outraged at having the wool pulled over their eyes. You might expect discussion programmes long into the night about where the truth really lies. You would expect these things, if the media you watch actually aired the findings of those who have uncovered the lies within those ‘amateur videos’.
Secondly as is obvious from the first points, the facts read out before us day in day out on almost every media channel and newspaper are not really facts at all. What seems to be happening is that the Western Governments are being coerced by lobbyists with a very great deal of money. Some of the cash goes into individual pockets as in the case of the Blairs. (Usually the rewards come in after the faithful service is over.) In many cases the cash goes to the lackey’s political party allowing it to enjoy many more years in power than it deserves. Unfortunately, it takes little effort to buy a politician who is already well endowed with the prejudices and blinkers of years of elitist education.
These leading politicians will be entrusted to choose certain countries or fall guys for their most prejudiced attention. The end result may be many years away but that doesn’t really matter to the super rich. Eventually the money from that country’s pillaged resources will come rolling in and it will be payback time for the media moguls and government lackeys who oiled the machines of war.
By war, I do not only refer to actual guns and bombs. A great deal of warfare today is going on with economic sanctions and the introduction of crippling debt. These weapons bring countries to their knees just as assuredly as weapons of mass destruction. The third form of warfare prevalent today is the information war. Propaganda, lies and distortion coming from the media,
Thanks to a collaborative media, the general public cheer for and even demand the acts of aggressive illegal violence against target nations.
How can our Western Governments be in the wrong when they are fighting these evil foreigners who do unspeakable stuff to their own people.
The experts trotted out daily for sound bites are hand-picked to provide the desired slant on the situation which of course will be aired on every channel in the Western hemisphere throughout the day. Ergo this form of warfare must be just and right. We are so much better than those evil Russians Iranians Islamists Chinese and anybody else currently annoying the Banking elite by refusing to enter into their massive debt ridden currencies or refusing to do what the American Government asks it to do or stubbornly hanging on to their precious resources which the West thinks it has a right to.
People who would deny that this is how World politics is being conducted, may have problems with their long term memories. Only a few years back, Saddam Hussein had those nasty weapons of mass destruction being carted about Iraq on trucks. Didn’t he? The media churned out lie after lie, day in day out, to a gullible public. Dodgy deaths, resignations and bullying took care of anyone daring to criticize these reports. However, millions of people went on marches to let the Government know we had not been fooled. Eventually, after a strong country was decimated and left lying in the gutter, the truth surfaced.
There were no weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair and Bush knew there were no WMD’s. They discussed motives for war together and chose this one as the most likely to be believed. They knew when they reported Saddam’s ‘45 minutes to destroying London’, that this was an outright lie. They consciously worked to create the illusion that Saddam Hussein’s Government was working with terrorists, knowing that the complete opposite was the case. Hand in hand with their media buddies, these criminals of the highest order proceeded to carry out their psyops on people, not just in the West but all over the World, and they succeeded.
Even those spineless rebels who would quietly mutter their doubts about the veracity of these allegations, fell eagerly into line as soon as project ‘Shock and Awe’ began. While millions of innocent Iraqis died they did the ‘honourable’ thing and supported the troops.
Nobody has yet been imprisoned nobody even charged with this crime of the century. The only hope for justice is that there are many places that Bush, Blair and his associates can no longer wander because their crimes are known and they would be arrested under International laws.
What do the wonderful British press have to say now. The mainstream media does not even appear to care.
By the way, who has the real Weapons of Mass Destruction? Who is not only a real danger to the World but is actually known to use them on innocent men women and children? Only the most warlike, empire building, greedy country that ever inhabited this World. The US of A.
You will never hear of America’s empire building on our media. When the USA attacks a country it is always liberating it from a ruthless dictator. There are no voices of dissent, whatever atrocities committed by America or its faithful cohorts.
The New York Times spoke of its role in the propaganda in a spotlighted me culpa on May 26 2004.
Much of the media accepted the Administrations labels without challenge as they accepted the very reason for going to war without challenge….
We published information that was controversial then and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged.
Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged or failed to emerge.’
Dan Rather of CBS said
Look I am an American, When my country goes to war I want my country to win. I can’t and don’t argue that that is coverage without prejudice. About that I am prejudiced.
A lot of people wonder where are the young of today when it comes to these issues? Although I have no idea why anyone would want to leave their conscientious objection to their countries atrocities to its teenagers, there are very compelling reasons for the absence of young protestors.
For a start, the banks have managed to get them into the web of debt previously reserved for the more mature of us.
Secondly the media deliberately avoids the kind of coverage that got my generation up off their bums and out on the streets. You see very few civilian casualties, hardly any blood and gore and absolutely no discussion of the ethics of the war in civilized debates. While civilian deaths at the hands of Western forces are counted in the millions, the media have deemed them hardly worth a mention. In stark contrast the death of a British soldier fills every news slot when it comes through. Abdul Henderson, a deserter from the Iraqi war said,
You used to see the atrocities, the real horror. The media has done a really good job in suppressing our stress.
Today I prefer Russian TV to the BBC because it will at least examine important issues from different points of view. I can barely watch or listen to the BBC, on the other hand, because it follows Government propaganda to the letter. ITV can hardly be called independent when it always follows suit. Sad to say that the most remarkable thing about the few gems issuing forth from Channel Four is their rarity. When not spouting jingoistic rhetoric against the most recent designated fall guys, the best you can say about the standards of information on these channels is that they are utterly banal. In a less benign frame of mind, I find them to be criminally negligent.
In the World I grew up in, Russian people were the ones being lied to by their media. Chinese people, too, were brain-washed and only allowed access to ‘approved’ films and literature. Today it is frightening to realize that those tactics are now extensively at work right here in the West. On the free Sky channels, today, you will find the same news morning noon and night in most of the available channels. Not only is the populations of the West fed the same News items, more alarmingly, they are all fed the same slant on these news items.
The more trusting of you may well say ‘We have great news coverage of the World. As long as we have the facts we can put our own slant on it.’
Firstly, I am afraid it is not true that we have great coverage of World events. We see only the events our Government and media barons want us to see. For example, there has been a great deal of coverage about deaths caused by the Syrian Government troops during recent months. At the same time, absolutely no coverage is given of the violence and deaths caused by those who want to destroy the Assad regime. On the same topic, a great deal of misinformation from Syria was aired as the ‘truth’ although it was blatant propaganda. Now that those films have been proven to be fabricated you would expect a free media to be outraged at having the wool pulled over their eyes. You might expect discussion programmes long into the night about where the truth really lies. You would expect these things, if the media you watch actually aired the findings of those who have uncovered the lies within those ‘amateur videos’.
Secondly as is obvious from the first points, the facts read out before us day in day out on almost every media channel and newspaper are not really facts at all. What seems to be happening is that the Western Governments are being coerced by lobbyists with a very great deal of money. Some of the cash goes into individual pockets as in the case of the Blairs. (Usually the rewards come in after the faithful service is over.) In many cases the cash goes to the lackey’s political party allowing it to enjoy many more years in power than it deserves. Unfortunately, it takes little effort to buy a politician who is already well endowed with the prejudices and blinkers of years of elitist education.
These leading politicians will be entrusted to choose certain countries or fall guys for their most prejudiced attention. The end result may be many years away but that doesn’t really matter to the super rich. Eventually the money from that country’s pillaged resources will come rolling in and it will be payback time for the media moguls and government lackeys who oiled the machines of war.
By war, I do not only refer to actual guns and bombs. A great deal of warfare today is going on with economic sanctions and the introduction of crippling debt. These weapons bring countries to their knees just as assuredly as weapons of mass destruction. The third form of warfare prevalent today is the information war. Propaganda, lies and distortion coming from the media,
Thanks to a collaborative media, the general public cheer for and even demand the acts of aggressive illegal violence against target nations.
How can our Western Governments be in the wrong when they are fighting these evil foreigners who do unspeakable stuff to their own people.
The experts trotted out daily for sound bites are hand-picked to provide the desired slant on the situation which of course will be aired on every channel in the Western hemisphere throughout the day. Ergo this form of warfare must be just and right. We are so much better than those evil Russians Iranians Islamists Chinese and anybody else currently annoying the Banking elite by refusing to enter into their massive debt ridden currencies or refusing to do what the American Government asks it to do or stubbornly hanging on to their precious resources which the West thinks it has a right to.
People who would deny that this is how World politics is being conducted, may have problems with their long term memories. Only a few years back, Saddam Hussein had those nasty weapons of mass destruction being carted about Iraq on trucks. Didn’t he? The media churned out lie after lie, day in day out, to a gullible public. Dodgy deaths, resignations and bullying took care of anyone daring to criticize these reports. However, millions of people went on marches to let the Government know we had not been fooled. Eventually, after a strong country was decimated and left lying in the gutter, the truth surfaced.
There were no weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair and Bush knew there were no WMD’s. They discussed motives for war together and chose this one as the most likely to be believed. They knew when they reported Saddam’s ‘45 minutes to destroying London’, that this was an outright lie. They consciously worked to create the illusion that Saddam Hussein’s Government was working with terrorists, knowing that the complete opposite was the case. Hand in hand with their media buddies, these criminals of the highest order proceeded to carry out their psyops on people, not just in the West but all over the World, and they succeeded.
Even those spineless rebels who would quietly mutter their doubts about the veracity of these allegations, fell eagerly into line as soon as project ‘Shock and Awe’ began. While millions of innocent Iraqis died they did the ‘honourable’ thing and supported the troops.
Nobody has yet been imprisoned nobody even charged with this crime of the century. The only hope for justice is that there are many places that Bush, Blair and his associates can no longer wander because their crimes are known and they would be arrested under International laws.
What do the wonderful British press have to say now. The mainstream media does not even appear to care.
By the way, who has the real Weapons of Mass Destruction? Who is not only a real danger to the World but is actually known to use them on innocent men women and children? Only the most warlike, empire building, greedy country that ever inhabited this World. The US of A.
You will never hear of America’s empire building on our media. When the USA attacks a country it is always liberating it from a ruthless dictator. There are no voices of dissent, whatever atrocities committed by America or its faithful cohorts.
The New York Times spoke of its role in the propaganda in a spotlighted me culpa on May 26 2004.
Much of the media accepted the Administrations labels without challenge as they accepted the very reason for going to war without challenge….
We published information that was controversial then and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged.
Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged or failed to emerge.’
Dan Rather of CBS said
Look I am an American, When my country goes to war I want my country to win. I can’t and don’t argue that that is coverage without prejudice. About that I am prejudiced.
A lot of people wonder where are the young of today when it comes to these issues? Although I have no idea why anyone would want to leave their conscientious objection to their countries atrocities to its teenagers, there are very compelling reasons for the absence of young protestors.
For a start, the banks have managed to get them into the web of debt previously reserved for the more mature of us.
Secondly the media deliberately avoids the kind of coverage that got my generation up off their bums and out on the streets. You see very few civilian casualties, hardly any blood and gore and absolutely no discussion of the ethics of the war in civilized debates. While civilian deaths at the hands of Western forces are counted in the millions, the media have deemed them hardly worth a mention. In stark contrast the death of a British soldier fills every news slot when it comes through. Abdul Henderson, a deserter from the Iraqi war said,
You used to see the atrocities, the real horror. The media has done a really good job in suppressing our stress.
Today I prefer Russian TV to the BBC because it will at least examine important issues from different points of view. I can barely watch or listen to the BBC, on the other hand, because it follows Government propaganda to the letter. ITV can hardly be called independent when it always follows suit. Sad to say that the most remarkable thing about the few gems issuing forth from Channel Four is their rarity. When not spouting jingoistic rhetoric against the most recent designated fall guys, the best you can say about the standards of information on these channels is that they are utterly banal. In a less benign frame of mind, I find them to be criminally negligent.
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Tony Farrell
Tony Farrell, a principal police intelligence analyst, was
preparing the annual threat assesment report for South Yorkshire Police when he discovered compelling evidence that both the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist
attacks were not carried out by "Islamic extremists".
Tony used his training as an Intelligence Analyst and produced a report that showed that the threats most likely to be faced by the South Yorkshire Police in the future came from Government organizations not Muslims in the community.
He was eventually sacked for holding this view, even though, neither the police nor the employment tribunal by their own admissions looked at the analysis he offered. Some colleagues showed, by their comments that they actually agreed with his assessment but that he could not put them forward because it was not possible to go against the Government's line on the issue.
Before firing him, the force tried to have him judged mentally unbalanced. He came back with a clean bill of health. He was then sacked for holding views incompatible with his job. Those who fired him openly admitted that they had not even read the report let alone follow up on Tony's findings.
He is currently fighting to be reinstated and is giving talks to publicise the craziness going on in the UK today.
Please sign the petition here
http://www.change.org/petitions/campaign-to-reinstate-tony-farrell-as-principal-intelligence-analyst
Thanks to David Pidcock for this story that may explain something of the inexlicable behaviour of many people in positions of power today.
Tony used his training as an Intelligence Analyst and produced a report that showed that the threats most likely to be faced by the South Yorkshire Police in the future came from Government organizations not Muslims in the community.
He was eventually sacked for holding this view, even though, neither the police nor the employment tribunal by their own admissions looked at the analysis he offered. Some colleagues showed, by their comments that they actually agreed with his assessment but that he could not put them forward because it was not possible to go against the Government's line on the issue.
Before firing him, the force tried to have him judged mentally unbalanced. He came back with a clean bill of health. He was then sacked for holding views incompatible with his job. Those who fired him openly admitted that they had not even read the report let alone follow up on Tony's findings.
He is currently fighting to be reinstated and is giving talks to publicise the craziness going on in the UK today.
Please sign the petition here
http://www.change.org/petitions/campaign-to-reinstate-tony-farrell-as-principal-intelligence-analyst
Thanks to David Pidcock for this story that may explain something of the inexlicable behaviour of many people in positions of power today.
"Here’s how people conform without question explained within an allegory:
You start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of ladders under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the ladders and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he is halfway up the ladders, spray all of the other monkeys with freezing cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the ladders, in order to avoid the discomfort of being dowsed with freezing water, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the ladders. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the ladders, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the ladders and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the ladders, he is attacked.
Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the ladders or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys which have never been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the ladders to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here. And that is how religious, sovereign, corporate, legal policies are made against reason, truth and freedom.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Lost Days
I have just learnt some amazing facts about 1752. In March of that year Parliament decided that it was time for Britain to come into the Gregorian calandar. This happened in two stages. September the 2nd was followed, not by September the 3rd but by September the 14th wiping 11 days from the year.
Next stage was the move of New Years day from March 25th to January 1st. yep until this year, Hogmanay happened to fall on March 24th.
These changes meant that 1752 in Britain was only 271 days long.
Next stage was the move of New Years day from March 25th to January 1st. yep until this year, Hogmanay happened to fall on March 24th.
These changes meant that 1752 in Britain was only 271 days long.
Iran Part 3
Iran
How the West Found a New Way to Create their Empires
The narrative I have followed is that
written by Brian Lapping based on the series televised by Granada called ‘End
of Empire’. When the book went to second edition in 1989 Brian gave the
following as a reason why the British might be the last of the old-style
empires.
“The massacres that are the essential means
to keep such empires going are now hard to carry out secretly. The increasing
difficulty that major powers consequently have in exercising their will over
small ones justifies the decision to call this book ‘End of Empire’.”
Unfortunately, anyone with a modicum of
knowledge about the World today will know that this was a pipedream.
As Lapping pointed out,
“The British did not often use this word (‘massacre’)
for the actions of their own colonial governments. The common euphemism was
‘punitive expedition’.”
Today one of the favourite terms would be
‘Deposing a brutal dictator.’ Oddly enough, it has to be noted that, only
dictators who have irritated the West and, in particular, the USA, tend
to be considered sufficiently brutal to justify the large scale massacre of a
country’s population.
The other all-pervading euphemism is ‘War
on terror.’ Again terror is seen to emanate only from those who fail to do the
bidding of the Empire or from nations which have strategic importance to the
Empire builders. The atrocities and terror caused by that Empire builder and
its friends are of course immune to attack on this basis.
Old-style Empire and the massacres that
accompany it are still very much in vogue. The big change would seem to be that
the ability to hide such massacres in full public view and even to create a
call for them within the general population has increased dramatically. The mass
media has fallen almost completely under the control of those most likely to
profit from empire building thus creating the necessary mask of decency and
democracy required to keep the intelligent and generally decent population of
the west in complete ignorance of their Government’s true nature.
If you are in any doubt that this is
happening today and that the West is still the main propagator of tyranny, I
would urge you to consider current events in the Middle East as you read this
factual account from the very offices of the perpetrators of these same events
more than half a century ago.
The Coup
We have already heard that arms were
deposited in Iran long before the coup took place. C M Woodhouse describes in his
autobiography how he went to the British base Habbabiyah in July 1952 to pick
up these arms and have them buried for future use. The Rashidian family had
their £1.5 million ‘bonus’ ready to put into the hands of mercenaries and
British supporters. Mussadeq was keeping up his side of the business by
steadily alienating the powerful Iranians who used to support him and now hawks
in the Whitehouse were more than happy to place a Western puppet back in charge
in Iran.
At the end of 1952, Woodhouse went in
person to Washington to convince the Americans that Britain
had everything in place to assure the success of a pre-emptive coup. He was
able to play on American paranoia over fear of Communism at the time to
convince them that, without such a manoeuvre, Iran
would surely fall under Communist rule. It did not require a lot of persuasion
to bring them on board.
A replacement Prime Minister for Mussadeq was
agreed upon. General Fazlollah Zahedi wasn’t top of the British list but he
seemed to bear no grudge about his imprisonment for four years by the British
in Palestine.
Back in London, meanwhile, MI6
approached Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of the US
president and now head of CIA in the Middle
East, to take charge of the operation in Iran. The
British, who had been caught spying by Mussadeq, were now removed from Iran, so
they did not have the manpower themselves to carry out the coup.
Even
with everything in place, it still took till mid summer 1953 for John Foster
Dulles in the USA and Winston Churchill in Britain
to give the go ahead.
It was now up to the Shah to fire his Prime
Minister and replace him with the Western man of choice, Zahedi.
As usual the Shah showed indecisiveness and
uncertainty about the proceedings. Perhaps wisely, he did not trust his Western
co-conspirators. MI6 arranged the return of his sister Princess Ashraf to Tehran in the hope
that she could strengthen his resolve. They even arranged coded messages in a
BBC broadcast by President Eisenhower to reassure the Shah that he was safe. Nevertheless,
the Shah fled without signing the two crucial documents. The CIA had to follow
him to his retreat in the Caspian Sea to finally pin him down and get his signature on the documents.
By now everyone had become aware that a
plot was being perpetrated and this brought Mussadeq’s supporters out into the
streets again. This time, the Rashidians had their hired agent provocateurs
ready. These ruffians infiltrated the crowds in the guise of Tudeh members and
created fear by throwing rocks at mosques and priests.
Mussadeq countered by taking control of the
army and for a time he seemed to be in a good position to outwit the coup,
sending Zahedi into hiding in the American Embassy. He was outmanoeuvred,
though, when Kermit Roosevelt took over a small radio station from which he
could run his side of the operations. The Rashidians had done their work well
and they pulled out all the stops to turn the crowd against their old hero.
Richard Cottam stated
‘That mob that came into the North Tehran and was decisive
in the overthrow was a mercenary mob. It had no ideology. That mob was paid for
by American dollars and the amount of money that was used has to have been very
large.’
Leading the demonstration was a famous
weight lifting team calling ‘Long Live the Shah’. Jugglers and acrobatics, paid
by Rashidian gold, followed, drawing a large crowd. Homs Katouzian, an Iranian university
teacher recalls seeing lorry loads of ‘ruffians and thugs’ carrying clubs and
sticks shouting anti Mussadeq slogans.
Along with the growing popular
dissatisfaction, this was enough to rouse the crowds against Mussadeq. Having
lost his popularity in the streets, he gave himself up gracefully to be tried
for treason in a military court. It is estimated that, by the end of his trial
he had already won back his standing among ordinary Iranians.
The USA was
now the main power in Iran and the Shah set about a Western agenda of militarization and
modernisation. This did not sit well with the strongly religious people of Iran and
he became increasingly repressive in an attempt to quiet dissent. He did not
have the ruthlessness of his fellow Middle-East dictators, however, and in
1979, he was once again forced to flee by an Islamic uprising led by the
Ayatollah Khomeni. Soon afterwards Britain, Russia
and the USA were all removed from the country as the new Islamic Government,
for better or worse, took power into its own hands.
Syria 2012
Fast forward thirtythree years and the
West is still doing everything it can to thwart Iranian independence and get
its hands on Iranian oil. Iran has
suffered crippling economic sabotage over the years which has forced it to
stand on its own feet well beyond the capabilities of other puppet Middle Eastern
countries.
The war-mongering speeches by Blair, Netanyahu
and many in the US republican elections show clearly that the USA and
Nato still has this great independent country firmly in its sights.
Syria is a friend of Iran and
it too has stood up for independence from the West. It has little by the way of
resources but it would be a great stepping stone on the way to the defeat of
independent minded countries anywhere in the World and in particular Iran.
Current events in Syria have
been instigated by the West in very much the same way as the coup in Iran half
a century ago. The Western media mocks claims by the Syrian Government that the
violence is being supported if not orchestrated by foreign sources. The desire of the Syrian
people for a peaceful outcome and the great deal of support for Assad is
completely ignored by our media. Assad’s constant call for reform and an end to
violence is also ignored, while his military operations trying to defeat armed
uprisings all over Syria are depicted as murderous. I have no love for Assad. He is an unethical, immoral dictator of the same ilk as many of the puppets kept in power by the West. He has brought his country to this place because of his wanton disregard for human rights in Syria and his desire for reform has very much been forced upon him. Nevertheless, the one-sided media reports in the West have little to do with a wish to make life better for the Syrian people. If this was a motive, the news would be full of similar reports and calls for intervention in many many other countries. Strangely news of attrocities in Bahrain, Yemen etc are missing completely.
If the well-being of the Syrian people was of importance to the Western media, we would also be hearing how the UN would be called upon to ensure innocent people were not going to be the victims in their thousands as in every other country the UN has entered 'for the good of the people'.
Putting Britain in Syria's Shoes
If the well-being of the Syrian people was of importance to the Western media, we would also be hearing how the UN would be called upon to ensure innocent people were not going to be the victims in their thousands as in every other country the UN has entered 'for the good of the people'.
Putting Britain in Syria's Shoes
Think about it. If this was happening in Britain,
what would our government be doing.
We know that our militaristic police would
be out in force beating up the innocent unarmed protestors who will have been
encouraged on facebook, twitter etc to come out against some particularly bad
laws being passed in Parliament. We know this was a ploy used in the downfall
of Libya.
To create a call for intervention, there
needs to be a violent uprising in the country. Arms would therefore be smuggled
in from China, Russia or anyone else determined to bring Britain
down.
It is well known that the West had Turkey and Kuwait do this in their determination to bring Syria down.
It is well known that the West had Turkey and Kuwait do this in their determination to bring Syria down.
Mercenaries would now be showing up from London to Glasgow, shooting
into crowds of unarmed protestors causing confusion and further media frenzy
against the UK government who is being blamed for all the attrocities in the media.
Why would any Government do this knowing
their enemies are watching and increasing the protests as a result? It makes no
sense at all.
The reports of the shootings cause greater
dissent in the country and many people believe that the coalition is
responsible for the shooting.
Armed groups in Manchester and Liverpool start terrorising the
population shooting police and encouraging dissenters to take up arms.
Surely by now the army would be deployed to
end the armed resistance. In effect, civil war has broken out in cities all over Britain. The army is now spread thin on the ground. As the armed groups, including
revolutionaries and foreign mercenaries, are driven out of some cities, they
gather in Leeds where they have a core of popular support. Those who dissent will
be violently disposed of and the World media claims success for the
revolutionaries in Leeds. Any violent deaths can always be laid at the door of the Conservative
regime.
The army would undoubtedly be in open
conflict with the armed insurgents by now and innocent people will be killed in
the crossfire. The media would thus be able to show how brutally the British
Government deals with dissent and the death toll would be loudly laid at their
feet to add to the growing call for armed intervention.
Armed intervention would obviously create
much more opposition in the population as it becomes aware that they are being
taken over by a foreign state. A very bloody war ensues with possibly half a
million deaths depending on how long we manage to keep our powerful enemies at
bay.
At last the UK would be proclaimed free while puppet polititians would be given the powerful positions in Government and our resources put out to tender at bargain prices among our 'saviours'. The free citizens could now go about the business of rebuilding the country. It won't be easy of course because a lot of violent people are armed and a lot of armed people will be bearing grudges for many years to come.
All of you, including Amnesty and Avaaz who should know better, who cry for intervention, imagine if this were your counry.
At last the UK would be proclaimed free while puppet polititians would be given the powerful positions in Government and our resources put out to tender at bargain prices among our 'saviours'. The free citizens could now go about the business of rebuilding the country. It won't be easy of course because a lot of violent people are armed and a lot of armed people will be bearing grudges for many years to come.
All of you, including Amnesty and Avaaz who should know better, who cry for intervention, imagine if this were your counry.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Iran Part 2 1951/1953 (A problem called Mussadeq)
Iran
Part 2
At end of part one, we left the British
Labour party struggling with the dilemma caused by the nationalisation of the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company at the hands of Prime Minister Mohammed Mussadeq. Celebrations
in Iran were short-lived, however, as it soon became evident that the
response of the Oil Company was to go on strike. Most non Iranian staff left,
the rest were fired. When the British refused to allow their tanker drivers to
sign a document recognising that they were transporting Iranian oil, the oil
business came to a grinding halt.
Meanwhile, the hawks in London were
advocating a military response to retrieve such a valuable British asset. They
predicted copycat losses occurring all over the globe if Britain
failed to react. To placate these voices and buy themselves some time, the
British Government sent the HMS Mauritius to evacuate all British citizens from
the area. They also sent reinforcements to Iraq and Cyprus to
create unease in the country.
The US was
called in to support the UK but,
in fact they had little sympathy with the British demands. On a visit to America, Mussadeq
completely won over the Americans. While the Brits saw him as a funny little
man in pyjamas, the Americans saw a charismatic believer in democracy who did
not encourage the communists and was seeking freedom from the imperialistic
British just as the Americans had done themselves. The fact that there was 50%
of the World’s production of oil available to Iran’s
supporters probably did no harm to his case at all.
To avoid what they saw as a disastrous
military involvement in Iran, America sent its great negotiator of the day, Averell Harriman, to try to
end the impasse. In fact Harriman and, Richard Stokes, the negotiator sent in
by the Brits, both believed that the
Iranians were justified in their cause. Back in London, however, a
jingoistic press accompanied by the dominance of the Anglo Iranian Oil’s voice among
the political elite, meant that no compromise was likely to be reached.
Up to this point, it was widely thought
that Mussadeq was the only politician that could hold back the Communists in Iran. The
new Conservative Government returning to power in 1951 had no such fears. Churchill,
by this time, was a Prime Minister in name only and Anthony Eden, Foreign Secretary
and Deputy PM, was very much in control of our foreign policy. Eden knew of the successful machinations going on behind the scenes in Iran. British intelligence had been under instructions from the Labour
Government to organize the fall of Mussadeq and a coup was shaping up nicely. It also seemed likely that the Communists could
easily be set up to take the blame. For the moment it was best if the British
played along with American negotiators to buy a little more time.
Mussadeq did himself no favours when he
failed to accept an interim agreement set up by the US. This
would have allowed oil to flow while keeping the money for overseas sales in
the hands of trustees. His short sightedness led to the US losing
patience with him and as a result he failed to secure the loan the country
needed to sustain it until its oil revenue returned.
In the resulting outcry against Mussadeq in
the Majlis, old political hand, Quavam Saltanah, was quick to see a window of opportunity.
He had approached Julian Amery, a Tory with very high Government connections to
show his willingness to support British interests in Iran. As
a result, in July 1952, he momentarily found himself appointed to the position of
Prime Minister, by the Shah. Mussadeq had resigned over his claim to the right to
appoint War Minister. Knowing that he could rely on his ability to move the
masses, Mussadeq once again addressed his people and they turned out in their
masses to call for his return to power. When the army refused to fire on demonstrators,
Saltanah had to be removed.
“The popular reaction to the resignation of
Mussadeq in Tehran was such that Quavam could not continue. This was a real setback. I
think at the same time the military takeover in Egypt was
taking place. It was a bad week.” Reported Sir Donald Logan, assistant to
Anthony Eden at the Foreign Office.
Mussadeq
came back with a vengeance that frightened his opponents. He forced the Shah’s
sister to leave the country; cut the royal budget; named himself War Minister;
and took over some of the power from the Majlis.
The time had come for British intelligence
to oust Mussadeq, once and for all. Thanks to the pro-English Rashidian
brothers, Seyfollah, Qodratollah and Assadollah, their plans were well
underway.
The Rashidian family were very wealthy. They
kept a family suite in the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and sent
their children to be educated in England. They already had in place, arrangements to bribe the Majlis; pay mob leaders to
counter the spontaneous demonstrations of support enjoyed by Mussadeq;
They had helped Woodhouse of MI6 before and
they were given £1.5 million pounds to use for bribery in the country now. A
cache of arms had been previously buried somewhere in Iran and
was now made available to the rabble rousers ready for the trouble to start.
Mussadeq knew the Rashidians were British
agents but his faith in democracy meant allowing them to continue their
plotting against him in freedom. When he discovered that something serious was really
going on, he forced out their financers but the damage was already done. The
British Voluntary Council, long a cover for intelligence operatives in Iran, were
also removed from the country too late.
President Dwight D Eisenhower came to
office in November 1952 changing the American attitude towards the Iranian Prime
Minister. He sympathised instead with the British desire to oust Mussadeq and
take back control of the Iranian oil supplies.
Of course it is always necessary in a coup
situation that the victim plays his part correctly and Mussadeq obliged. He
awarded himself emergency powers to pass laws by decree and then set about
reforming the country’s land laws and redistributing the oil wealth.
At the same time, Mussadeq dismissed many
Civil Servants and army leaders. When the senate objected, he ordered the
Majlis to close it down. When opposition found the courage to resist, Mussadeq
held a referendum and won by an overwhelming majority.
He antagonised the Islamist leaders with his modernization programme and his determination to enfranchise women. In his recent actions, he had departed from those who upheld constitutional values and, in his opposition to the colonialist agenda; he had upset those who became powerful and rich under their hand.
He antagonised the Islamist leaders with his modernization programme and his determination to enfranchise women. In his recent actions, he had departed from those who upheld constitutional values and, in his opposition to the colonialist agenda; he had upset those who became powerful and rich under their hand.
With the loss of his traditional
supporters, Mussadeq found himself more aligned to the Communist Tudeh, the
terrain of intelligent, forward thinking young Iranians, keen to be free from
the shackles of imperial domination and the corruption of the Majlis. By
failing to keep on side those who valued an easy life, he left himself
vulnerable to his enemies.
In part 3 the story of the coup bears an uncanny resemblence to events right now in Syria.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Syria
Usually I write up my own understanding of World situations but I felt this had a lot of power coming from someone who had actually suffered at the hands of this dictatorship but who still fears Western Zionist motives in Syria
"arabrevolutions
Arab Revolutions
January 30, 2012
Why Do I Defend Syria? (As a foreigner myself I advise you to check it. It was written by an Iraqi Scholar)
Ghassan Wakeup : “This is an article that I read approximately 2 weeks ago written by an Iraqi scholar (Dr. Omar Thaher). I was very touched by this article and decided to translate it into English and did not get the chance to do this till now. Better late than never.”
—————————————————
Why Do I Defend Syria ?
It is very wrong for anyone to assume that those who are currently defending Syria are necessarily supporters of Bashar Al Assad and that they want him to be president for life and to later pass on the presidency to his son. Quite the contrary, some of those defenders could be very staunch critics of the regime but, not from the perspective of Syria’s own Ahmed Jalabi (ie Burhan Ghalyoun), but rather from the perspective of care and respect of the Syrian people and a conviction that the people deserve to have a government that gives its people their rightful place in humanity. Some of those defenders may well be some of those who have in the past had a taste of the harshness of the regime. The writer of this article is a man who ran away from Syria in 1984 three years after escaping to Syria from Iraq, and did not manage to return to Syria for 22 years and is still unable to go back to Iraq.
I cannot forget the “hospitality” of Section 279 and what I endured in 1982. It was a reminder of the previous hospitality of Security Police in Baghdad. But that was the tip of the iceberg and I often wondered that the timing of a volcanic eruption is only a question of time as the Syrian citizen, just like his Iraqi compatriot suffers daily from the atrocities of the “Defence Brigades”, the Intelligence (Mukhabarat) that are so intimidating for the visiting tourist, let alone the residing citizen.
When I returned to Syria in 2006 it was not because I missed the hospitality of section 279 but because I miss some family members that I haven’t seen for over a quarter of a century and could not reunite with them except for in Syria. How often after my return did I contemplate writing to President Bashar Al Assad warning him that Syria in 2006 is the same one into which Eli Cohen infiltrated over four decades ago and that Israel could smuggle into Syria anything including hydrogen bombs on a daily basis without having to pay more than $10 by the courier as a bribe to the customs police. Isn’t this sadly the case? Otherwise, how did this huge arsenal of weapons reach the terrorists today in a manner than allows them to wreak fear and havoc in so many areas and even challenging the army itself?
The Syrian revolution came a bit too late. This is fine. But it came unlike other popular uprisings. It is coming from Mosques and not from universities or factories. There is nothing wrong with this either, what really matters is that the masses need to rise in order to earn with their own hands what is rightfully theirs. Yes, we must emphasise the concept of earning with ones own hands what is rightfully ours. In this respect I pledged my heart, my soul and my pen and all that I possessed to support anyone who struggled against Saddam Hussein in the past.
I did this because for years on end my friends and I dreamt of an Iraq without Saddam, only to spend many years later lamenting in pain because in hindsight we did not know back then that every word we said and every letter we wrote against Saddam and every drop of blood we shed to get rid of him was only enriching the argument of the enemies of Iraq, beginning with Israel and America and not forgetting the Sheikhs and the Kings of the Gulf, not forgetting Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi, Nouri Al Maliki, Tarek Al Hashemi and their cohorts. Saddam has gone but what dawn has risen on us? Or should we say what night has fallen upon us? Saddam was bad? But Iraq used to be beautiful and great, secure and advanced and a country with a powerful State and stature and an army; but we did not see this. We did not know back then that despite everything, we had a country and that rulers can come and go but the country is here to stay. And of course we did not know that opposition groups were betraying their people and their country; even our communist leaders repeated the slogan “free country and happy people” until it came out of our ears whilst they were salivating under the CIA payroll. They betrayed the country and sold out their people and blessed the occupation, and eventually worked under the auspices of Bremer. We wanted Saddam to go, but they wanted Iraq to go, and it did. We wanted a popular revolution to topple Saddam or at least a military coup to get rid of him, but they were preparing for a destructive occupation, sectarianism and dreadful deaths. Is history not repeating itself in Syria today? I say this whilst I insist that Bashar Al Assad is not a bad person even though he did not have the right to inherit his position and/or to pass it on to his children.
Our national assets were taken away from the hands of the Saddam regime, but in whose hands are they now? Definitely not in ours. It will take only a fool to repeat the Iraqi experience elsewhere, and a fool is the Syrian citizen who spends a single moment of his life and an ounce of his energy in fighting Bashar Al Assad for as long as he doesn’t know that if he removes Al Assad, God forbid, nothing will be achieved other than turning Syria into a furnace, devouring its people and an open slather for crime and … do I need to say what Iraq has been transformed to? Perhaps we were excused because we were taken by surprise because events were changing overnight, turning Iraq into the target of the assault rather than Saddam. But the Syrian citizen of today has no excuse at all because he can clearly see that the finances and the weapons that are supporting his “revolution” are coming from the rotten Gulf rulers, and hence this revolution can only be for their own benefit and how can what benefits them be of any good for Syria?
It is only a total moron and a fool who puts the assets of Syria in the hands of the rulers of the Gulf, the same hands that carry the blood of the children of Iraq and of Libya. We say there is corruption in Syria and a million unemployed. This is a tragedy indeed but whoever cannot find work today may find work tomorrow after those beasts return to their altars. A million unemployed is far better than a million dead and a million widows and four million orphans and six million homeless and scattered all over the world, and a million cancer victims and a million deformed new born, deformed by the illegal weapons used by the Americans and paid for by the Saudi rulers. Yes, my Syrian brother, this is what the servant of the Americans and Israelis want for you, and this is what the master of regression and backwardness in Qatar is promising you.
And since when my dear Syrian Citizens were the mentally retarded King of Saudi Arabia and the Prince of Qatar so caring about your freedom or the freedom of others? Those people have no conscience and no integrity. We turned Iraq for eight long years into an eastern gate, protecting the nation from Iran and we paid for this with the blood of hundreds of thousands of our young men and we spent every Dinar in our Treasury to protect those apes from Iran. And what would have been our reward had we won? They stole our oil and they flooded the international market with cheap oil to destroy the Iraqi economy, then they allowed half a million American and Israeli soldiers to land on the sacred land of Prophets and they financed two wars against Iraq to return it to the Stone Age. And they danced on the corpses of our fallen ones, the Dance of the Swords just like predecessors did on the day of Ohod; the day they danced and ate the livers of the fallen ones. And why? Because their hearts and minds still rot with ignorance “jahaliyyeh”. And why would you think that what they want for Syria is different to what they wanted for Iraq? They, my dear Syrian citizens want nothing for you except war and destruction.
Despite its corruption and corrupt ones, Syria is beautiful, gracious, great, civilized, proud, independent, united, free and it enjoys the dignity of the lion (Assad). And if you want to know the beauty of Syria you have to read the writings of Oussama Fawzi because he covers more about Syria than other contemporary writers and portrays how wonderful Syria is. You say corruption? You are right. But, who is going to salvage you from this corruption? The old man of Hijaz who is so rotten to the core that it has penetrated into his bone marrow? These people do not have in store for you any freedom or dignity or privileges. All they have in store for you is nothing but traps, blood, sectarianism, destruction, poverty and humiliation. They believe that they can humiliate people with their dirty money and they have indeed bought the traitors of Syria. Those primitive Bedouins have the love of killing and bloodshed running in their veins and they are envious of any Arab country that has true civilization and culture, that has art and literature and intellectuals and this is why they do all they can to destroy Syria and deliver it into the hands of ruthless tyrants.
I defend Syria because I do not want to see the assets of the Syrian people going out of its hands and into the hands of rotten scoundrels who have a grudge against Syria and/or some gangs under the pay of Sarkozy.
I defend Syria because I love Syria and its people and I do not want to see another Iraq getting amputated and having its people getting killed right, left and centre in the streets, mosques or churches.
I defend Syria because I do not want to see American or French tanks in the streets of Damascus with Israeli journalists covering the news freely, reporting scenes of falling statues of Assad with the intention of having them replaced with statues of apes. This did happen in Iraq.
I defend Syria because I do not want to hear that Jewish extremists have come to swim in Barada River, claiming that they have been promised to do so as they are doing now at the River Tigris.
I defend Syria because I see in it the Grenada of today, the last Arabic bastion of dignity. If it falls, God forbid, that will be the end of Arabs.
Syrian brothers, do not allow Netanyahu to enter Damascus disguised with Saudi head dress and a Qatari sandal.
Source in Arabic:
لماذا أدافع عن سوريا؟- بقلم د. عمر ظاهر
Author: Iraqi Scholar Dr. Omar Thaher
Translated by: Ghassan and Intibah Wakeup (Kadi)
"arabrevolutions
Arab Revolutions
January 30, 2012
Why Do I Defend Syria? (As a foreigner myself I advise you to check it. It was written by an Iraqi Scholar)
Ghassan Wakeup : “This is an article that I read approximately 2 weeks ago written by an Iraqi scholar (Dr. Omar Thaher). I was very touched by this article and decided to translate it into English and did not get the chance to do this till now. Better late than never.”
—————————————————
Why Do I Defend Syria ?
It is very wrong for anyone to assume that those who are currently defending Syria are necessarily supporters of Bashar Al Assad and that they want him to be president for life and to later pass on the presidency to his son. Quite the contrary, some of those defenders could be very staunch critics of the regime but, not from the perspective of Syria’s own Ahmed Jalabi (ie Burhan Ghalyoun), but rather from the perspective of care and respect of the Syrian people and a conviction that the people deserve to have a government that gives its people their rightful place in humanity. Some of those defenders may well be some of those who have in the past had a taste of the harshness of the regime. The writer of this article is a man who ran away from Syria in 1984 three years after escaping to Syria from Iraq, and did not manage to return to Syria for 22 years and is still unable to go back to Iraq.
I cannot forget the “hospitality” of Section 279 and what I endured in 1982. It was a reminder of the previous hospitality of Security Police in Baghdad. But that was the tip of the iceberg and I often wondered that the timing of a volcanic eruption is only a question of time as the Syrian citizen, just like his Iraqi compatriot suffers daily from the atrocities of the “Defence Brigades”, the Intelligence (Mukhabarat) that are so intimidating for the visiting tourist, let alone the residing citizen.
When I returned to Syria in 2006 it was not because I missed the hospitality of section 279 but because I miss some family members that I haven’t seen for over a quarter of a century and could not reunite with them except for in Syria. How often after my return did I contemplate writing to President Bashar Al Assad warning him that Syria in 2006 is the same one into which Eli Cohen infiltrated over four decades ago and that Israel could smuggle into Syria anything including hydrogen bombs on a daily basis without having to pay more than $10 by the courier as a bribe to the customs police. Isn’t this sadly the case? Otherwise, how did this huge arsenal of weapons reach the terrorists today in a manner than allows them to wreak fear and havoc in so many areas and even challenging the army itself?
The Syrian revolution came a bit too late. This is fine. But it came unlike other popular uprisings. It is coming from Mosques and not from universities or factories. There is nothing wrong with this either, what really matters is that the masses need to rise in order to earn with their own hands what is rightfully theirs. Yes, we must emphasise the concept of earning with ones own hands what is rightfully ours. In this respect I pledged my heart, my soul and my pen and all that I possessed to support anyone who struggled against Saddam Hussein in the past.
I did this because for years on end my friends and I dreamt of an Iraq without Saddam, only to spend many years later lamenting in pain because in hindsight we did not know back then that every word we said and every letter we wrote against Saddam and every drop of blood we shed to get rid of him was only enriching the argument of the enemies of Iraq, beginning with Israel and America and not forgetting the Sheikhs and the Kings of the Gulf, not forgetting Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi, Nouri Al Maliki, Tarek Al Hashemi and their cohorts. Saddam has gone but what dawn has risen on us? Or should we say what night has fallen upon us? Saddam was bad? But Iraq used to be beautiful and great, secure and advanced and a country with a powerful State and stature and an army; but we did not see this. We did not know back then that despite everything, we had a country and that rulers can come and go but the country is here to stay. And of course we did not know that opposition groups were betraying their people and their country; even our communist leaders repeated the slogan “free country and happy people” until it came out of our ears whilst they were salivating under the CIA payroll. They betrayed the country and sold out their people and blessed the occupation, and eventually worked under the auspices of Bremer. We wanted Saddam to go, but they wanted Iraq to go, and it did. We wanted a popular revolution to topple Saddam or at least a military coup to get rid of him, but they were preparing for a destructive occupation, sectarianism and dreadful deaths. Is history not repeating itself in Syria today? I say this whilst I insist that Bashar Al Assad is not a bad person even though he did not have the right to inherit his position and/or to pass it on to his children.
Our national assets were taken away from the hands of the Saddam regime, but in whose hands are they now? Definitely not in ours. It will take only a fool to repeat the Iraqi experience elsewhere, and a fool is the Syrian citizen who spends a single moment of his life and an ounce of his energy in fighting Bashar Al Assad for as long as he doesn’t know that if he removes Al Assad, God forbid, nothing will be achieved other than turning Syria into a furnace, devouring its people and an open slather for crime and … do I need to say what Iraq has been transformed to? Perhaps we were excused because we were taken by surprise because events were changing overnight, turning Iraq into the target of the assault rather than Saddam. But the Syrian citizen of today has no excuse at all because he can clearly see that the finances and the weapons that are supporting his “revolution” are coming from the rotten Gulf rulers, and hence this revolution can only be for their own benefit and how can what benefits them be of any good for Syria?
It is only a total moron and a fool who puts the assets of Syria in the hands of the rulers of the Gulf, the same hands that carry the blood of the children of Iraq and of Libya. We say there is corruption in Syria and a million unemployed. This is a tragedy indeed but whoever cannot find work today may find work tomorrow after those beasts return to their altars. A million unemployed is far better than a million dead and a million widows and four million orphans and six million homeless and scattered all over the world, and a million cancer victims and a million deformed new born, deformed by the illegal weapons used by the Americans and paid for by the Saudi rulers. Yes, my Syrian brother, this is what the servant of the Americans and Israelis want for you, and this is what the master of regression and backwardness in Qatar is promising you.
And since when my dear Syrian Citizens were the mentally retarded King of Saudi Arabia and the Prince of Qatar so caring about your freedom or the freedom of others? Those people have no conscience and no integrity. We turned Iraq for eight long years into an eastern gate, protecting the nation from Iran and we paid for this with the blood of hundreds of thousands of our young men and we spent every Dinar in our Treasury to protect those apes from Iran. And what would have been our reward had we won? They stole our oil and they flooded the international market with cheap oil to destroy the Iraqi economy, then they allowed half a million American and Israeli soldiers to land on the sacred land of Prophets and they financed two wars against Iraq to return it to the Stone Age. And they danced on the corpses of our fallen ones, the Dance of the Swords just like predecessors did on the day of Ohod; the day they danced and ate the livers of the fallen ones. And why? Because their hearts and minds still rot with ignorance “jahaliyyeh”. And why would you think that what they want for Syria is different to what they wanted for Iraq? They, my dear Syrian citizens want nothing for you except war and destruction.
Despite its corruption and corrupt ones, Syria is beautiful, gracious, great, civilized, proud, independent, united, free and it enjoys the dignity of the lion (Assad). And if you want to know the beauty of Syria you have to read the writings of Oussama Fawzi because he covers more about Syria than other contemporary writers and portrays how wonderful Syria is. You say corruption? You are right. But, who is going to salvage you from this corruption? The old man of Hijaz who is so rotten to the core that it has penetrated into his bone marrow? These people do not have in store for you any freedom or dignity or privileges. All they have in store for you is nothing but traps, blood, sectarianism, destruction, poverty and humiliation. They believe that they can humiliate people with their dirty money and they have indeed bought the traitors of Syria. Those primitive Bedouins have the love of killing and bloodshed running in their veins and they are envious of any Arab country that has true civilization and culture, that has art and literature and intellectuals and this is why they do all they can to destroy Syria and deliver it into the hands of ruthless tyrants.
I defend Syria because I do not want to see the assets of the Syrian people going out of its hands and into the hands of rotten scoundrels who have a grudge against Syria and/or some gangs under the pay of Sarkozy.
I defend Syria because I love Syria and its people and I do not want to see another Iraq getting amputated and having its people getting killed right, left and centre in the streets, mosques or churches.
I defend Syria because I do not want to see American or French tanks in the streets of Damascus with Israeli journalists covering the news freely, reporting scenes of falling statues of Assad with the intention of having them replaced with statues of apes. This did happen in Iraq.
I defend Syria because I do not want to hear that Jewish extremists have come to swim in Barada River, claiming that they have been promised to do so as they are doing now at the River Tigris.
I defend Syria because I see in it the Grenada of today, the last Arabic bastion of dignity. If it falls, God forbid, that will be the end of Arabs.
Syrian brothers, do not allow Netanyahu to enter Damascus disguised with Saudi head dress and a Qatari sandal.
Source in Arabic:
لماذا أدافع عن سوريا؟- بقلم د. عمر ظاهر
Author: Iraqi Scholar Dr. Omar Thaher
Translated by: Ghassan and Intibah Wakeup (Kadi)
Monday, 30 January 2012
Our History With Iran part one
Iran Part One
To understand why Western Governments are covertly carrying out war against Iran and Syria, people need to understand something of the history and geography of the area.
For thousands of years the Persian Empire sat undefeated by the various war mongers of the time. For centuries it could boast the largest, best administered, city in the World in Persepolis.
Iran’s isolation ended in the 18th Century when Britain and Russia began bribing and propping up Shahs to promote business interests in the area. The two external powers were happy for the most part to carve up the country’s goodies; Russia to the North and Britain in the South. For example, Britain had sole rights in 1869 to issue and control Iranian currency.
The Iranian people rose up to try to break away from this at the beginning of the twentieth century when the dividing up of Iran’s oil between the Russians and Brits led to a civil war. Although on paper the revolutionaries won, within a year the Shah was back in control having ample funds to bribe the new Parliament. Persian governors were merely British agents while Russia and Britain actually dictated who would be elected. Just as in the war against terrorism today, ‘democracy’ was a metaphor that really meant imperial control.
In 1914, when it became clear that Iran was extremely wealthy in oil, Britain recognized the strategic importance of the kingdom. The precious oil was crucial to winning the war and had to be guarded at all costs. The Indian regiment, the South Persian Rifles held the area against Turkey for the British.
In 1917, revolution in Russia provided an opportunity for Britain to take over the whole country and with the great imperialist Winston Churchill in power that is exactly what happened. Success was short-lived though as the Russians recovered far faster than anticipated. Russia was back and an error of judgement in 1921 saw the West backing Reza Khan, believing him to be a good little puppet Shah. He was antagonistic towards Islam, therefore unpopular in his country and he was affronted by the Anglo Persian Oil Company which basically decided how rich or poor Iran was each year. He became a brutal despot as years went on and in the approach to WW11 he was a strong sympathiser of the Fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. It was this Shah who insisted that the name of his country was Iran not Persia which was a term familiar in the British controlled, southern Fars area.
In the Second World War, the Shah did not resist German businessmen making moves on Russian and British interests. In fact, due to this neutral position, the first meeting of the war leaders took place in Tehran.
The British administration eventually deposed this Shah and replaced him with his son in 1941. At the same time Mussadeq had risen to a place of great power in the country. He was very popular, anti imperial power, and especially outraged by their monopoly of the oil. By this time Iran had the biggest oil refinery in the World.
When a Russian supported coup by the communist party almost succeeded in deposing the Shah, Britain supported an armed rebellion in the South and Russia was at last removed from the area in 1946. The Shah, however, was sufficiently alarmed, to seek arms support from the US. The Gulf remained a British Lake in a very strategic area of the World at least for the moment.
Europe struggled economically post WW11 and this resulted in lowered dividends from oil sales. The Shah, who was completely dependent on this revenue for any modernisation programs planned for Iran, faced fierce political competition from Mussadeq, who had, by now, become political leader in the country.
He was a bizarre character, meeting World leaders in his bed dressed in what was seen in the West as his pyjamas. He was nevertheless, a character of great charisma and integrity. A true believer in democracy and justice; the last person the British needed for their business interests in the country.
A battle for control of the oil fields had begun by 1951 when Mussadeq declared the nationalization of the oil industry. Although the Labour government was nationalizing at home, it could not afford the loss of revenue involved in allowing this to happen in Persia. to be continued
To understand why Western Governments are covertly carrying out war against Iran and Syria, people need to understand something of the history and geography of the area.
For thousands of years the Persian Empire sat undefeated by the various war mongers of the time. For centuries it could boast the largest, best administered, city in the World in Persepolis.
Iran’s isolation ended in the 18th Century when Britain and Russia began bribing and propping up Shahs to promote business interests in the area. The two external powers were happy for the most part to carve up the country’s goodies; Russia to the North and Britain in the South. For example, Britain had sole rights in 1869 to issue and control Iranian currency.
The Iranian people rose up to try to break away from this at the beginning of the twentieth century when the dividing up of Iran’s oil between the Russians and Brits led to a civil war. Although on paper the revolutionaries won, within a year the Shah was back in control having ample funds to bribe the new Parliament. Persian governors were merely British agents while Russia and Britain actually dictated who would be elected. Just as in the war against terrorism today, ‘democracy’ was a metaphor that really meant imperial control.
In 1914, when it became clear that Iran was extremely wealthy in oil, Britain recognized the strategic importance of the kingdom. The precious oil was crucial to winning the war and had to be guarded at all costs. The Indian regiment, the South Persian Rifles held the area against Turkey for the British.
In 1917, revolution in Russia provided an opportunity for Britain to take over the whole country and with the great imperialist Winston Churchill in power that is exactly what happened. Success was short-lived though as the Russians recovered far faster than anticipated. Russia was back and an error of judgement in 1921 saw the West backing Reza Khan, believing him to be a good little puppet Shah. He was antagonistic towards Islam, therefore unpopular in his country and he was affronted by the Anglo Persian Oil Company which basically decided how rich or poor Iran was each year. He became a brutal despot as years went on and in the approach to WW11 he was a strong sympathiser of the Fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. It was this Shah who insisted that the name of his country was Iran not Persia which was a term familiar in the British controlled, southern Fars area.
In the Second World War, the Shah did not resist German businessmen making moves on Russian and British interests. In fact, due to this neutral position, the first meeting of the war leaders took place in Tehran.
The British administration eventually deposed this Shah and replaced him with his son in 1941. At the same time Mussadeq had risen to a place of great power in the country. He was very popular, anti imperial power, and especially outraged by their monopoly of the oil. By this time Iran had the biggest oil refinery in the World.
When a Russian supported coup by the communist party almost succeeded in deposing the Shah, Britain supported an armed rebellion in the South and Russia was at last removed from the area in 1946. The Shah, however, was sufficiently alarmed, to seek arms support from the US. The Gulf remained a British Lake in a very strategic area of the World at least for the moment.
Europe struggled economically post WW11 and this resulted in lowered dividends from oil sales. The Shah, who was completely dependent on this revenue for any modernisation programs planned for Iran, faced fierce political competition from Mussadeq, who had, by now, become political leader in the country.
He was a bizarre character, meeting World leaders in his bed dressed in what was seen in the West as his pyjamas. He was nevertheless, a character of great charisma and integrity. A true believer in democracy and justice; the last person the British needed for their business interests in the country.
A battle for control of the oil fields had begun by 1951 when Mussadeq declared the nationalization of the oil industry. Although the Labour government was nationalizing at home, it could not afford the loss of revenue involved in allowing this to happen in Persia. to be continued
Friday, 20 January 2012
Ofcom revokes Press TV license
Another example of the lack of freedom of speech in this supposedly free democratic country has occurred today. Ofcom has fulfilled the wishes of our tory governors and revoked the license of the excellent Iranian channel 'Press TV'. Ofcom has shown its true colours in this disgusting behaviour. There are many channels you could take issues with. Fox News certainly springs to mind with its badly investigated partisan news which swings between rank propoganda and outright misinformation.
Press TV, on the other hand, has great reporting on World events; Consistently had experts from every side on their excellent programmes; Unlike other mainstream progs, the experts were given equal opportunity to air their views and covered the really important World issues thoroughly and fairly, something no other channel could be accused of doing these days.
Ofcom, join the gallery of shame with every other puppet of this corruption we call Government in the West.
Press TV, on the other hand, has great reporting on World events; Consistently had experts from every side on their excellent programmes; Unlike other mainstream progs, the experts were given equal opportunity to air their views and covered the really important World issues thoroughly and fairly, something no other channel could be accused of doing these days.
Ofcom, join the gallery of shame with every other puppet of this corruption we call Government in the West.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
War with Iran. What are our Governments up to?
Did anyone notice that Mark Urban, while being interviewed on BBC flagship news programme Newsnight, told us that the USA plan on attacking Iran after the US elections?
He went on to say that, given the current state of affairs, it was likely to happen well before then.
I was shocked but the interviewer completely took this devastating news in his stride and ended the article in around 3 minutes.
Obviously something world shattering had occurred to eclipse this dramatic turn of events. Well no, not exactly. The item to follow was about funding movies. Important to actors and those who enjoy the genre, no doubt. But surely being dragged into another terrible war in the Middle East by our bullyboy brother the US has got to take precedence.
It has been obvious for a long time now that Iran was next on the agenda for these corrupt Governments to attack. During the Blair interviews last year to discover his guilt in starting an illegal war on Iraq, He told us many times over that Iran was next on his agenda.
Iran has not committed any aggressive acts towards another country in centuries and has no intention of instigating such attacks in the near future that I can discern.
Its crime would appear to be that it openly criticizes the Israeli regime's behaviour in Palestine and the immoral actions of Nato in the Gulf.
The Iranian Government is a thorn in the side of the Western elite as it refuses to fall in line with US monetary manipulation of the World economy or allow the West to pilfer its oil treasures.
As a result, Western governments have used every excuse to place unjust sanctions on Iran for years now and this campaign has just been ramped up.
Now the US thinks it has the right to dictate that no one is allowed to do business with Iran. They have signed into law a dictate that says that if you do business with Iran, you cannot do business with USA. Personally, that is enough to make me immediately take all my business to Iran and wave cheerfully bye bye to US business.
This is blatant bullying of the type we are trying to cut out of every schoolyard. The bully and his cohorts demands that the individual does what he says or he will beat you up.
Iran has one very important ace to play. Access to the Straits of Hormuz through which some 40% of the World's oil must pass. The West's current rhetoric, sanctions and assinations in Iran are already acts of war. If Iran takes the major step to act in the Straits of Hormuz, the West will, no doubt, take this as an excuse for open military action. The news channels will be full of rhetoric naming Iran as the aggressor. The truth is quite the opposite. The West and Israel are blatantly doing everything in their power to create conflict and Iran is behaving with incredible dignity in response.
Have ever wondered what would you have done if you were living in Nazi Germany? Would you have been one of the silent majority, happy to get on with your life in blissful ignorance of your Governments attrocities? or would you have taken a stand regardless of your own personal safety and the welfare of your families?
Well here it is again, only this time our governments are the bad guys and we do not face death if we fight against them. Yet.
We have to make our choices now and stand up to these bullies on behalf of Iran, Syria and everywhere in the World that they see as rich pickings.
Let me know if you feel the same.
Helen
He went on to say that, given the current state of affairs, it was likely to happen well before then.
I was shocked but the interviewer completely took this devastating news in his stride and ended the article in around 3 minutes.
Obviously something world shattering had occurred to eclipse this dramatic turn of events. Well no, not exactly. The item to follow was about funding movies. Important to actors and those who enjoy the genre, no doubt. But surely being dragged into another terrible war in the Middle East by our bullyboy brother the US has got to take precedence.
It has been obvious for a long time now that Iran was next on the agenda for these corrupt Governments to attack. During the Blair interviews last year to discover his guilt in starting an illegal war on Iraq, He told us many times over that Iran was next on his agenda.
Iran has not committed any aggressive acts towards another country in centuries and has no intention of instigating such attacks in the near future that I can discern.
Its crime would appear to be that it openly criticizes the Israeli regime's behaviour in Palestine and the immoral actions of Nato in the Gulf.
The Iranian Government is a thorn in the side of the Western elite as it refuses to fall in line with US monetary manipulation of the World economy or allow the West to pilfer its oil treasures.
As a result, Western governments have used every excuse to place unjust sanctions on Iran for years now and this campaign has just been ramped up.
Now the US thinks it has the right to dictate that no one is allowed to do business with Iran. They have signed into law a dictate that says that if you do business with Iran, you cannot do business with USA. Personally, that is enough to make me immediately take all my business to Iran and wave cheerfully bye bye to US business.
This is blatant bullying of the type we are trying to cut out of every schoolyard. The bully and his cohorts demands that the individual does what he says or he will beat you up.
Iran has one very important ace to play. Access to the Straits of Hormuz through which some 40% of the World's oil must pass. The West's current rhetoric, sanctions and assinations in Iran are already acts of war. If Iran takes the major step to act in the Straits of Hormuz, the West will, no doubt, take this as an excuse for open military action. The news channels will be full of rhetoric naming Iran as the aggressor. The truth is quite the opposite. The West and Israel are blatantly doing everything in their power to create conflict and Iran is behaving with incredible dignity in response.
Have ever wondered what would you have done if you were living in Nazi Germany? Would you have been one of the silent majority, happy to get on with your life in blissful ignorance of your Governments attrocities? or would you have taken a stand regardless of your own personal safety and the welfare of your families?
Well here it is again, only this time our governments are the bad guys and we do not face death if we fight against them. Yet.
We have to make our choices now and stand up to these bullies on behalf of Iran, Syria and everywhere in the World that they see as rich pickings.
Let me know if you feel the same.
Helen
Sunday, 25 September 2011
What Changes Will Create a Beautiful Human World?
Since Governments are the truly big players in creating the World as it is, reforming Government has to be a major step in creating a fair and just World for all her inhabitants.
I have great hopes for many of the uprisings in the Middle East because they are fueled by the recognition of the people themselves that they can change how they are ruled. That is a phenomenon, not seen too often around the globe. My dream is that, over the next 10 years, these people will whittle away the corrupt from their seats of power and create for themselves Governments that reflect high ideals for fair and just societies.
Of course we cannot expect the corrupt Governments around them to be happy with this as it will undoubtedly spread to their own nations. The front runners in the revolution will need to be prepared to defend themselves from every attack. This will be spearheaded by the media who will lie about every facet of this new form of Government. Why? Because the media is owned by the very same people who benefit the most from corrupt unjust systems of government.
Unfortunately, the attacks will not be limited to verbal media accusations and lies. The same people who control the media also control most of the military around the World. They decide which country is in the wrong, ie not falling in line with the World domination they have set up. They set their media puppets to work to create monsters where there are none. Then it is a very simple task to have their puppet Governments take military action against innocent countries who refuse to tow the line.
The faith shown by the Egyptian people in their military may well be the key to their being able to stand up for themselves when this happens. There is no doubt in my mind that it will take great courage to do so. The might of NATO makes even strong nations look puny by comparison so I am not at all confident that the emerging people's democracies will be able to grow unless we in the West can reclaim our own Governments at the same time. Given the complacency of the majority of the UK and US people, I am not optimistic on that front but given current economic issues and the tendency of recent UK Governments to erode our civil rights, this may change more quickly than I envisage.
If the uprisings spreading around Middle East and Africa can defeat despots along the way and, at the same time, do their best to ensure religious and racial differences are not excuses for victimization on any level, we could, in the next 50 years, see a united African League that would be strong enough to stand up to any rogue challengers. At last precious resources would be owned by the people of the country. Any exploitation would be done with care and awareness of the longterm needs of the population and of the earth from which it comes. Again my skin is pricked by the realization that the current beneficiaries of the wealth of these nations will not relinquish their booty without a fight. Self-defense will need to be a priority for these nations from the very start. The wealthy will take everything they can before abandoning their victims when they have nothing of perceivable value left.
If, given all these pitfalls, a United African States comes into being with Governments that shine a light for the rest of the World, the West will surely wake up to claim their independence from their current wealthy despotic rulers. For one thing they won't be quite so wealthy once the pillage of other countries is denied them and their own population has already been stripped to the bone. As they have no ideals to offer, their wealth gone, I think their control will die either a natural death or by the uprising of a population with nothing left to lose.
China is an unknown factor in all this. The sleeping giant for centuries is currently tasting the wealth that the West has enjoyed since the war of 1939 to 1945. The population of China is docile and is kept that way by fear, indoctrination and the media's influence. Can the people's uprisings happen there? They have happened before so it is possible. However the population will remain very easy to manipulate especially given the military force that leaders of the government have at their command. I think China will most likely stay as it is for a very long time unless it should be suckered in to a global war on the side of the elitist run countries.
In conclusion, My hopes for the World lie in a strongly people-led democracy sweeping Africa and the Middle east leading them to Unite in defense of their natural wealth and freedom from oppression. In two or three decades, I believe the European and American people will also take back the reins of power from the corrupt elite that is currently in charge. This will happen as a matter of course as a new philosophy of democracy emerges and as the elite lose the power held through their incredible wealth.
Eventually,left to their own devices, China itself will come to accept that despotism is no longer acceptable and will recreate democracy in time for the World to be a truly fair and just place to live.
I have great hopes for many of the uprisings in the Middle East because they are fueled by the recognition of the people themselves that they can change how they are ruled. That is a phenomenon, not seen too often around the globe. My dream is that, over the next 10 years, these people will whittle away the corrupt from their seats of power and create for themselves Governments that reflect high ideals for fair and just societies.
Of course we cannot expect the corrupt Governments around them to be happy with this as it will undoubtedly spread to their own nations. The front runners in the revolution will need to be prepared to defend themselves from every attack. This will be spearheaded by the media who will lie about every facet of this new form of Government. Why? Because the media is owned by the very same people who benefit the most from corrupt unjust systems of government.
Unfortunately, the attacks will not be limited to verbal media accusations and lies. The same people who control the media also control most of the military around the World. They decide which country is in the wrong, ie not falling in line with the World domination they have set up. They set their media puppets to work to create monsters where there are none. Then it is a very simple task to have their puppet Governments take military action against innocent countries who refuse to tow the line.
The faith shown by the Egyptian people in their military may well be the key to their being able to stand up for themselves when this happens. There is no doubt in my mind that it will take great courage to do so. The might of NATO makes even strong nations look puny by comparison so I am not at all confident that the emerging people's democracies will be able to grow unless we in the West can reclaim our own Governments at the same time. Given the complacency of the majority of the UK and US people, I am not optimistic on that front but given current economic issues and the tendency of recent UK Governments to erode our civil rights, this may change more quickly than I envisage.
If the uprisings spreading around Middle East and Africa can defeat despots along the way and, at the same time, do their best to ensure religious and racial differences are not excuses for victimization on any level, we could, in the next 50 years, see a united African League that would be strong enough to stand up to any rogue challengers. At last precious resources would be owned by the people of the country. Any exploitation would be done with care and awareness of the longterm needs of the population and of the earth from which it comes. Again my skin is pricked by the realization that the current beneficiaries of the wealth of these nations will not relinquish their booty without a fight. Self-defense will need to be a priority for these nations from the very start. The wealthy will take everything they can before abandoning their victims when they have nothing of perceivable value left.
If, given all these pitfalls, a United African States comes into being with Governments that shine a light for the rest of the World, the West will surely wake up to claim their independence from their current wealthy despotic rulers. For one thing they won't be quite so wealthy once the pillage of other countries is denied them and their own population has already been stripped to the bone. As they have no ideals to offer, their wealth gone, I think their control will die either a natural death or by the uprising of a population with nothing left to lose.
China is an unknown factor in all this. The sleeping giant for centuries is currently tasting the wealth that the West has enjoyed since the war of 1939 to 1945. The population of China is docile and is kept that way by fear, indoctrination and the media's influence. Can the people's uprisings happen there? They have happened before so it is possible. However the population will remain very easy to manipulate especially given the military force that leaders of the government have at their command. I think China will most likely stay as it is for a very long time unless it should be suckered in to a global war on the side of the elitist run countries.
In conclusion, My hopes for the World lie in a strongly people-led democracy sweeping Africa and the Middle east leading them to Unite in defense of their natural wealth and freedom from oppression. In two or three decades, I believe the European and American people will also take back the reins of power from the corrupt elite that is currently in charge. This will happen as a matter of course as a new philosophy of democracy emerges and as the elite lose the power held through their incredible wealth.
Eventually,left to their own devices, China itself will come to accept that despotism is no longer acceptable and will recreate democracy in time for the World to be a truly fair and just place to live.
Monday, 6 June 2011
Has the Job Centre a Quota to Fill?
I was shocked last week when my job seekers allowance was unceremoniously stopped without any notice or warning. I had done nothing wrong that I knew of and had jumped through every hoop since I lost my job in January after breaking my arm.
On investigation, it seems that these stops of payments known as sanctions have increased dramatically this year and there is a whistle blower on Youtube who claims that there are secret quotas given to our govt employees to encourage them to sanction unsuspecting clients for very dubious reasons.
http://tinyurl.com/3n7o7ht
I have been very lucky, I had citizen advice behind me and I have a good education. I was able to sort it all out after only 10 days. But can you imagine 10 days on no cash when you have nothing else to fall back on; many have learning difficulties or are battling depression, dependency or other problems.
Some claimants are forced to depend on food parcels or loans to tide them over. That one is always good for a laugh. Who needs more loans when they have nothing to start with?
Like myself, taking away the money we need to live on also takes away our ability to find work. I would certainly have had to give up my car if this wasn't sorted out and in turn that would have led to me losing the job I am waiting to start.
Most people who suddenly find themselves unemployed are keeping up all sorts of debt repayments and weekly and monthly bills. Given the best of intentions, £65 doesn't cut it. To take that small income away without reason is criminal in my view. It is deliberately harming other human beings through taking food out of their mouths and causing considerable anxiety.
If this is the way the powers that be are behaving, you can bet that a wave of criminality will follow in its wake. The anger many feel would be enough to push some to this without further hardship and real need adding to the mix.
Talking of crime, did you all know that in order to take a holiday and keep your payments you have to tell the Centre exactly where you are going and give them a telephone number at your holiday destination.
I thought only criminals under the jurisdiction of a court order had to be treated this way for the good of society. Now it seems as if you are to be treated as a criminal just because you lost your job.
On investigation, it seems that these stops of payments known as sanctions have increased dramatically this year and there is a whistle blower on Youtube who claims that there are secret quotas given to our govt employees to encourage them to sanction unsuspecting clients for very dubious reasons.
http://tinyurl.com/3n7o7ht
I have been very lucky, I had citizen advice behind me and I have a good education. I was able to sort it all out after only 10 days. But can you imagine 10 days on no cash when you have nothing else to fall back on; many have learning difficulties or are battling depression, dependency or other problems.
Some claimants are forced to depend on food parcels or loans to tide them over. That one is always good for a laugh. Who needs more loans when they have nothing to start with?
Like myself, taking away the money we need to live on also takes away our ability to find work. I would certainly have had to give up my car if this wasn't sorted out and in turn that would have led to me losing the job I am waiting to start.
Most people who suddenly find themselves unemployed are keeping up all sorts of debt repayments and weekly and monthly bills. Given the best of intentions, £65 doesn't cut it. To take that small income away without reason is criminal in my view. It is deliberately harming other human beings through taking food out of their mouths and causing considerable anxiety.
If this is the way the powers that be are behaving, you can bet that a wave of criminality will follow in its wake. The anger many feel would be enough to push some to this without further hardship and real need adding to the mix.
Talking of crime, did you all know that in order to take a holiday and keep your payments you have to tell the Centre exactly where you are going and give them a telephone number at your holiday destination.
I thought only criminals under the jurisdiction of a court order had to be treated this way for the good of society. Now it seems as if you are to be treated as a criminal just because you lost your job.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Netanyahu Speech to US Congress
It isn’t this arrogant criminal’s speech that is shocking the World. We all recognize his brand of violent sectarianism and aggressive racism. The shock comes from seeing the US lawmakers, elected by a free nation where every adult has a vote, applauding this criminal’s open declarations of every aggressive stance he claimed and standing ovation after standing ovation for his deplorable lack of humanity towards his fellow countrymen in Palestine.
Professor of Journalism, Peter Beinart, watched this disgraceful behaviour with Fadi Quran, a young Palestinian who is helping to coordinate Palestinian youth organization in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; all united around one goal: to create a Palestinian Tahrir Square. They organized the unity march that helped pressure Fatah and Hamas to reconcile. Ten days ago, they organized the Nakba Day protests in which refugees marched on Israel’s borders resulting in a number of deaths. The protestors unarmed while the Israeli army fired live bullets.
Quran and his associates have been studying the Civil Rights movement and Gandhi’s struggle against the British and the movement that peacefully brought down Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. No one wants a second intifada, he insisted. “It hurt us much more than the Israelis.” Events in Egypt and Tunisia made Quran and his colleagues realize that nonviolence was possible on a much larger scale.
Beinhart claims that “anyone who has spent any time around Congress knows that many of the people who applauded Netanyahu—the Jewish Democrats in particular—don’t actually support his policies. Privately, many consider settlement expansion a catastrophe and the occupation a disgrace.” The excuse he offers for this extraordinary behaviour is that “they don’t want to create headaches for themselves”. “Could they say what they really believe and get reelected? Probably—after all, incumbents are very hard to beat. But who needs the hassle?”
I would suggest the people of Palestine who have suffered for decades do!
“What we want to do next,” Fadi added, “is freedom rides, like in the South. We’ll board settler-only buses and make them arrest us or beat us up.” He mentioned that many American Jews had participated in the civil rights movement. “So how will American Jews react if we do this,” he asked? “Do you think we’ll get any support, given your history?”
Professor Beinhart has little faith in the hearts and minds of his nation. I think stranger things have happened, who would have believed the fall of Mubarak et al when we were enjoying our Christmas dinners this year? It is a time of change and it has been too long coming.
Article adapted from Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, who is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
http://tinyurl.com/3n4ja9z
On Monday night, May 23, five brave activists disrupted Netanyahu's speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Gala and were also met with assaults. The young women who had spoken out were subjected not only to assault, but to sexual groping by male AIPAC attendees. But these activists felt compelled to speak out against Netanyahu's claim that returning to the 1967 borders would be "indefensible," when it is Israeli policies that are really indefensible: starving Gaza, occupying and stealing land, bulldozing homes, silencing dissent. The same day, at a press conference at the National Press Club about military aid to Israel and the dangerous role of the Israel Lobby, activist Allison Weir had her phone slugged out of her hand by an angry Zionist This sounds eerily similar to the alleged democracy in Israel where Palestinians and Israelis are routinely assaulted, arrested and jailed for speaking out against the Israeli occupation.
For the Palestinian people who live under Israel's 44-year-old military occupation, violence dominates everyday life. Zinad Samouni of Gaza is a living testament to this oppressive reality. She lost 48 family members during Israel's December 2008 bombardment of Gaza, and hers became yet another tragic story in a long history of home demolitions, land confiscation, and systematic violation of the Palestinians' basic human rights. After the massacre of the Samouni family, Israeli soldiers left behind racist graffiti such as "ARabs need 2 die'' and "1 is DOWN 999,999 TO GO."
http://tinyurl.com/3ulfd7t
Professor of Journalism, Peter Beinart, watched this disgraceful behaviour with Fadi Quran, a young Palestinian who is helping to coordinate Palestinian youth organization in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; all united around one goal: to create a Palestinian Tahrir Square. They organized the unity march that helped pressure Fatah and Hamas to reconcile. Ten days ago, they organized the Nakba Day protests in which refugees marched on Israel’s borders resulting in a number of deaths. The protestors unarmed while the Israeli army fired live bullets.
Quran and his associates have been studying the Civil Rights movement and Gandhi’s struggle against the British and the movement that peacefully brought down Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. No one wants a second intifada, he insisted. “It hurt us much more than the Israelis.” Events in Egypt and Tunisia made Quran and his colleagues realize that nonviolence was possible on a much larger scale.
Beinhart claims that “anyone who has spent any time around Congress knows that many of the people who applauded Netanyahu—the Jewish Democrats in particular—don’t actually support his policies. Privately, many consider settlement expansion a catastrophe and the occupation a disgrace.” The excuse he offers for this extraordinary behaviour is that “they don’t want to create headaches for themselves”. “Could they say what they really believe and get reelected? Probably—after all, incumbents are very hard to beat. But who needs the hassle?”
I would suggest the people of Palestine who have suffered for decades do!
“What we want to do next,” Fadi added, “is freedom rides, like in the South. We’ll board settler-only buses and make them arrest us or beat us up.” He mentioned that many American Jews had participated in the civil rights movement. “So how will American Jews react if we do this,” he asked? “Do you think we’ll get any support, given your history?”
Professor Beinhart has little faith in the hearts and minds of his nation. I think stranger things have happened, who would have believed the fall of Mubarak et al when we were enjoying our Christmas dinners this year? It is a time of change and it has been too long coming.
Article adapted from Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, who is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
http://tinyurl.com/3n4ja9z
On Monday night, May 23, five brave activists disrupted Netanyahu's speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Gala and were also met with assaults. The young women who had spoken out were subjected not only to assault, but to sexual groping by male AIPAC attendees. But these activists felt compelled to speak out against Netanyahu's claim that returning to the 1967 borders would be "indefensible," when it is Israeli policies that are really indefensible: starving Gaza, occupying and stealing land, bulldozing homes, silencing dissent. The same day, at a press conference at the National Press Club about military aid to Israel and the dangerous role of the Israel Lobby, activist Allison Weir had her phone slugged out of her hand by an angry Zionist This sounds eerily similar to the alleged democracy in Israel where Palestinians and Israelis are routinely assaulted, arrested and jailed for speaking out against the Israeli occupation.
For the Palestinian people who live under Israel's 44-year-old military occupation, violence dominates everyday life. Zinad Samouni of Gaza is a living testament to this oppressive reality. She lost 48 family members during Israel's December 2008 bombardment of Gaza, and hers became yet another tragic story in a long history of home demolitions, land confiscation, and systematic violation of the Palestinians' basic human rights. After the massacre of the Samouni family, Israeli soldiers left behind racist graffiti such as "ARabs need 2 die'' and "1 is DOWN 999,999 TO GO."
http://tinyurl.com/3ulfd7t
Saturday, 14 May 2011
John Hill aka Muad’dib, creator of 7/7 Ripple Effect Not Guilty
A further blow has been dished out to the British Government attempts to get away with the 7/7 false flag terrorist event in London. I am really pleased to report that a jury has found Maud’dib aka John Hill not guilty of trying to pervert the course of justice.
The government has been besieged by truth seekers since the many different and conflicting reports came out. The final official story was released as a ‘narrative’ compiled by ‘a senior civil servant’ (so far unnamed) because Tony Blair claimed that an official enquiry would be a ‘ludicrous diversion’: An opinion that is not shared by the families of the victims or, indeed, by the great majority of thinking people in Britain.
John Hill, under the alias Muad’Dib, looked into the events in great depth and produced the film ‘ 7/7 Ripple Effect’ which is freely available on You tube. In the movie he discusses many of the anomalies found between the official report and the evidence.
Already reeling from internet criticism of their stance, the government had to suffer defeat by jury when three suspects, charged with being complicit in the bombing, were found not guilty. This led to increasing cries for a full enquiry from many sources.
In an effort to quieten these voices, an inquiry into the culpability of MI5 and the emergency departments for the deaths was held in 2011. It was not devised to look into the official narrative and the culpability of the four alleged bombers was taken as proven.
John Hill objected most strongly to this assertion and felt justice could not be served under these circumstances. Guilt had not been proven to the satisfaction of many people and an enquiry based on the assertion that it had been would be a lie.
In an attempt to show this, John Hill aka Muad’dib sent copies of his DVD quite openly to the head of the jury and to the presiding judge c/o the court.
He was extradited from Ireland earlier this year in a very dubious judgement by the Irish Supreme Court. He has been kept in jail for over 150 days for this non-crime that has to be of concern to every citizen who values their freedom.
Yesterday he was free at last. Thank goodness for trial by jury.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Scottish Elections 2011
Congratulations SNP on a great election result. Congratulations for being the most enthusiastic and hard working people out there for the past two months. Congratulations also for all the honesty, intelligence and determination shown in the work done by those previously elected in national and council elections because the trust shown in this party is utterly down to their hard work over the years.
This is an amazing event in Scotland and none of the detractors can ever deny that. Their hope was always that the SNP would fall into all the power traps of the other parties and the electorate would abandon them soon enough. In the strong hands of Alex Salmond the opposite has happened. In spite of the most severe economic crisis, the people of Scotland have overwhelmingly shown that they have trust in allowing the SNP to carry the country through this time.
Typically Alex started right off with a speech that brought the other parties into the political arena rather than shutting them out of the proceedings. This willingness to talk and include in a positive way is the number one reason for the switch in the electorate. People have been telling the other parties for years that they were sick and tired of the political backstabbing and rhetoric. Only the SNP have shown themselves to actually be mature enough to deserve to be in government. If the rest of the UK parties behaved as responsible adults, the results could well have been quite different.
The main policies outlined in Alex’s speech are those designed to give more real power to our devolved Scottish Parliament. The arguments rage over the effects that the changes will mean to the Scottish taxpayer. There will obviously be costs involved in the implementation of a new system. From my own point of view, Scotland becoming autonomous has to be worth it. We have long seen all our precious money being sucked into the Westminster purse. I have always said I would never give my wage packet to my neighbour and ask them to dish out my cash and give me what she thinks I need to live on. It will be a source of pride for our nation to have our power back at last.
With special reference to our construction industry, Alex acknowledges Labour’s support in asking for the power to raise the extra cash Scotland needs to get her economy moving again. The current restrictions mean that our ‘overlords’ still hold the purse strings even though we, as a nation, have emphatically rejected their management of our economy.
Currently, Scottish Ministers have no powers to raise extra resources by borrowing or sanctioning borrowing. ‘Borrowing sanctioned by Scottish Ministers is included within the Scottish Administration's Assigned Budget and must be offset by reductions in other spending.’
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm/borrowingetc
An even greater fight lies ahead in regaining the control of our land and sea resources from the Crown Estate Commission. The support of the Lib Dems in this is welcomed. It is time for us to ensure we have the benefit of our vast renewable wealth of offshore resources after the long years of the theft of our oil and gas reserves.
A report by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and six local authorities in the region said: “There are relatively few public benefits in Scotland from the way these Scottish resources are managed at present, most notably the Crown Estate Commission’s management of Scotland’s territorial seabed and continental shelf rights and approximately half of Scotland’s foreshore.
“The very limited accountability in Scotland over the management of these Scottish resources has also become worse since devolution.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/scotland-takes-step-closer-to-controlling-her-seas-1.1077591
All parties are convinced that we need to devolve corporation tax to keep our industries competitive. I doubt that Westminster can hold that back from us for very long now.
The SNP all want the very best for Scotland but they will have to become as good as our Scottish tennis hero, Andy Murray, at deflecting the media and political parties’ ridiculous focus on independence and the referendum back to the important issues that we are currently working on.
As far as independence goes, I think we have a long hard journey ahead before we can prove to the Scottish people that she is ready for that move.
‘Yes’, I want independence for Scotland with every fibre of my being and ‘Yes’ I am utterly delighted to see the trust Scotland has put in the party that stands for independence. But, personally, I think we have still to prove to a great number of people that we have all the resources we need to go it alone.
We also have to bring the Central Belt on board with that dream. So far they have just started to show a bit of faith in the possibility.
If our elected members can navigate the troubled waters ahead and take us into the next election with pride and confidence in their achievements, I would say we will be a long way towards getting the dream result. Until then, we have to find a way to make clear to the media and the troublemaker’s that their focus on that question is boring, bullying and that the people of Scotland see right through their tactics.
Thursday, 21 April 2011
North East Business Week 2011 Scotland Federation of Small Businesses Political Influencing Event Aberdeen part 2
North East Business Week 2011 Scotland Federation of Small Businesses Political Influencing Event Aberdeen part 2
Banking
There was a general agreement among all the businesses present that banking charges were way too high and we wanted more from our Governments to support us. Unfortunately, Conservative Sandy Wallace and Labour’s Lewis Macdonald immediately threw hands in the air and claimed they had no influence over the banks. Mr Wallace was even quite rude in suggesting we were whingeing and that we were going down the road to left wing trade unionism to even suggest such a thing.
I am glad to say the SNP candidate Kevin Stewart was a great deal less deferential to the banks and brought into play the idea of giving more support to other institutions that could help financially. We all felt very annoyed that people could take out private loans with little security, yet businesses with good records whose application could be supported by groups like the FSB were refused out of hand by managers in distant cities.
Procurement law
This was all new to me but it seems that this law can produce ridiculous outcomes such as a trader from Southampton coming to Aberdeen to carry out one routine electrical task and then going home again. Astute as ever, Sandy got everyone’s back up by saying that regular PAT testing was unnecessary. He wanted to ignore the question and go back to stripping away unnecessary legislation. A laudable idea but the debate has moved on, Sandy, and nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of do-it yourself wiring in our care homes.
Sorry Lewis, I had no idea what you were speaking about. If you or my fellow business people can enlighten me, I will gladly give you a paragraph to put your case.
Kevin spoke the truest words, “Buy cheap, buy dear”, which we readily understood. Local people with skills are being by-passed to bring in big business with no qualms about cutting costs regardless of quality. The savings are probably negligible but the costs to the environment and small local businesses are huge.
Big Corporations
It was my turn at last. I was almost shunted into a siding about financing my business but I got back on track and asked the three politicians what they would be doing to rein in the power of big Corporations. I said this country is a corpocracy not a democracy when 2 million people on the streets can be ignored. My question was about the pollution of the environment by the big retail outlets. Kevin and Andy of the FSB were enthusiastic about encouraging recycling and supporting small businesses in the ‘green’ market. While applauding those initiatives, my challenge is that all that is a drop in the ocean compared to the negative impact caused by selling goods, like disposable nappies, with very bad environmental consequences that the rest of us have to live with and pay for.
Tory Sandy, he is always good for a laugh, isn’t he? He pipes up that the environmental people whinge away but still head for the supermarket and spend £115 every Saturday with the rest of us.
Actually that is my point. Education and offering alternatives at a higher cost is not the answer. Busy people, people with a low income, and people highly influenced by state of the art advertising will go out to buy these damaging products. But the costs need to be born by those who manufacture the goods and following that, by the retailers who sell the goods. Then price rises will be passed on to customers who will be forced to pay the real cost of the product. I don’t think it would take long for retailers large and small to offer alternatives.
All three politicians let me down here. Not one would be willing to challenge the Big Corporations in this. Sandy says it’s a free market economy, Kevin says there is nothing they can do and Lewis concurred. The best I could get was that the SNP would look into discouraging hospitals from taking free disposable nappies in for newborns.
I didn’t add this but say that heroin was legal. Let’s imagine that the big Corps are advertising and selling it; the people are buying it in their millions but everything else in the country is going to the dogs. The healthcare price is phenomenal, the care costs for the children and addicts are horrendous and the business economy is severely damaged.
Are these guys really telling me that they have no power to stop the big Corporations in their tracks?
I say that when Big Business is detrimental to the country they are profiting in, it isn’t only possible to stop them, it is mandatory to stop them. That is what we elect a government to do. If the Government, as represented by these three politicians, says it can’t influence these businesses, then we are not living in a democracy. We are living in a corporate run state dictatorship.
North East Business Week 2011 Scotland Federation of Small Businesses Political Influencing Event Aberdeen part 1
Young Employees
I was invited to the Federation of Small Businesses evening discussion with the four candidates vying for the Aberdeen Central seat in the Scottish elections. Due to very unhappy circumstances, the Lib-Dem candidate Sheila Thompson had to leave early so we did not get much feedback about her party’s thoughts for the future. The rest of us got down to some very vigorous debates.
The first questions came from one of the FSB businessmen. It was about the difficulty that bureaucracy puts in the way of businesses wanting to employ and train young people. The problems reported round the table were that the time, effort and cost to small businesses meant that they could not go on doing this in spite of seeing great value in introducing young people to the work environment in some way.
All the politicians agreed that training and being in the workplace was very beneficial. The Con candidate Sandy Wallace blamed past decisions for adding lots of small pieces of legislation that were good in themselves but became an unbearable burden when all added up together. Andy Willox, the Scottish Policy Convener for the FSB, pointed out that this was not a new problem, all past governments were responsible. As a remedy he suggested that the FSB was in a position to critique proposed legislation and feed back its findings to the Government before policies were implemented. He gave the observation that this would often prevent changes being implemented at great cost only to be found completely inadequate and being retracted for further examination.
The SNP candidate, Kevin Stewart, agreed that the weight of bureaucracy was great and went on to suggest more support for any business bringing in its first employee through the whole first year. The Labour candidate, Lewis Macdonald, was eager to change the subject, I thought, and brought us to the inadequacies of the education system. Tory and Labour seemed to agree that too many children expected to go to university and stigma was involved in failing to do so even though graduates could not expect jobs in their fields at the end of their courses.
I didn’t get the chance to speak but now I can.
The failure of our education system starts early on when children who are reading and writing at an early age are considered successful while children who are more technically gifted or athletic suffer greatly. It is scientifically shown to be harmful to expect children to read and write before their brains are fully developed in that area. This may be as late as 7 or 8 years old in some children. It is also well known that there are distinct learning differences amongst us; Kinaesthetic, visual, and audio being the three that we usually implement in various degrees. Schools are being forced to teach the latter two while children in the kinaesthetic bracket are sadly neglected and suffer as a result.
One after another, Governments dictate through their testing procedures that schools teach every child at same rate and in same way. They then blame schools and the teachers if the children fail.
I also disagree that too many children seek to go to university. If they go to learn and grow as human beings, the universities have a huge responsibility that used to lie with the community. What I would suggest, in line with the conversation round the table, is that before university our children are introduced to a wide variety of real work situations where they are shadowing and working for several days. This greatly increases awareness of what is out there, produces enthusiasm where there was none, and fires young minds with a passion to find and fight for their goals.
Although Sheila Thompson of Lib Dems had left, her words lingered on and were not greeted favourably by candidates and business people alike. She had indicated that she felt that the Enterprise and North East Trust were failing us through high costs and would be terminated. I realize she is in a difficult place now but I would happily publish her response. The business people all agreed that ENE and Business Gateway had been an invaluable resource for their businesses and was the one support that came without a price tag.
Continued
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