tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12842258612481010772012-01-30T22:32:51.008ZAlienated LeftAn independent multi-author blogKithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.comBlogger1761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-77048732393250674772012-01-30T22:05:00.002Z2012-01-30T22:32:51.039ZEight current and former heads of Mossad and Shin Bet are against attacking Iran – the dangerous, aggressive nuclear armed government is in IsraelWarnings from current and former Israeli intelligence chiefs and statements by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak suggest the biggest danger from a rogue government armed with nuclear weapons comes not from Iran, but from Israel. The intelligence and history show that Iran would not use nuclear weapons except as a deterrent even if it developed them and that calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-79554798085858771492012-01-27T20:49:00.002Z2012-01-28T02:32:26.492ZWhen even the head of Mossad doesn't believe Iran would use nuclear weapons on Israel , will we fall for the same lies as on Iraq all over again?The rhetoric coming from the US, British and Israeli governments is that all the sanctions being imposed are about bringing Iran to the negotiating table, because we supposedly could not risk the “threat” that Iran would pose if it developed nuclear weapons, despite the fact that not even the head of Mossad believes Iran would use nuclear weapons against Israel if it developed them.(Map of calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-80374033424205467292012-01-10T23:30:00.000Z2012-01-10T23:38:57.641ZA non-binding consultative referendum on independence or increased devolution for Scotland would still have democratic legitimacyDavid Cameron and the UK government can certainly refuse to make the results of any referendum including increased devolution legally binding under UK law, but they can’t prevent the Scottish government holding a consultative, non-binding, referendum. It would be impossible to deny the democratic legitimacy of the result. The only questionable part of the SNP’s plan is allowing 16 and 17 calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-46148250388909209762011-12-26T22:51:00.000Z2011-12-26T23:01:14.000ZThe power struggle in Iraq may be more about Exxon and other oil companies wanting contracts with the Kurdistan regional government than sectarianismand the US and it’s allies have not tried to prevent sectarian violence, but encouraged it as a means to divide and conquerIraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s sacking and arrest warrants for Iraqi Sunni Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi and the bombings happening at the same time are being talked of as sectarian politics resuming due to the withdrawal of US forces.In fact the divisions in calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-28783716351683672272011-12-24T06:44:00.000Z2011-12-24T06:54:35.533ZDavid Cameron's talk of Christian values is empty while he punishes the poorest and the majority while helping the wealthiest get wealthierPrime Minister David Cameron’s talk of Christian values is empty coming from a man whose government is cutting benefits for the disabled and forced people into homelessness by increasing rents for people living in social housing - including hundreds of thousands of disabled people - to 80% of market rates, while capping housing benefit (1) – (9).While he claims ‘there is no money’ for thecalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-88627576445498323452011-12-22T02:44:00.026Z2011-12-23T04:28:22.675ZObama has taken the civil liberties and human rights Bush couldn’t and expanded the war on terror – the big changes are in rhetoric not realityPresident Obama has now said he will no longer veto the National Defense Authorisation Act 2012 that includes amendments passed by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and Congress, which give the US military the power to detain anyone suspected of terrorism indefinitely without trial – including US citizens on US soil and imposes US sanctions on any bank in the world that does calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-48382538807982293152011-12-15T19:31:00.001Z2011-12-20T05:37:06.793ZIs Obama giving American private security contractors immunity from prosecution just like Bush did – Who will protect Iraqi civilians from them?The US under both Bush and Obama has used more mercenaries than even Gaddafi could afford - and they have allowed them to be just as above the law. There's no sign that the formal withdrawal from Iraq will change this as 5,000 'civilian' 'private security contractors' (actually armed mercenaries) stay under the command of the US State DepartmentWidespread US use of mercenaries (many being formercalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-29747915013743710002011-12-15T19:24:00.004Z2011-12-15T19:58:03.770ZThe formal US withdrawal from Iraq is deceptive ; and war on Iran on the same dodgy grounds remains on the tableThere’s been a lot of fanfare over the US withdrawal from Iraq, but in fact the US will keep 5,000 armed men in Iraq – many of them former US special forces – they just won’t be called US troops ; and they’ll be accompanied by CIA agents over-seeing US trained El Salvador style Iraqi death squads.CNN reports that‘Hundreds of nonmilitary U.S. personnel will remain in Iraq, including 1,700 calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-62678902492496814642011-12-13T20:28:00.004Z2011-12-15T13:18:01.128ZFracking Insane - scientific evidence shows fracking causes illness by contaminating water and air with methane gas and toxic chemicalsThe only reports saying it doesn’t are funded by the companies involved in frackingFracking or ‘hydraulic fracturing’ for shale gas has been being carried out for decades in the US and has now been approved by the British Coalition government (including Lib Dem minister Chris Hune) in Lancashire, including near Blackpool and by the Scottish SNP government in Scotland near Dumfries – with calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-81343158492603563682011-12-12T23:34:00.001Z2011-12-12T23:42:03.213ZNot everyone working in finance or banking is to blame; but we're not all equally responsible for the financial crisis eitherSome of my posts might give the impression I blame all London financial workers for the financial crisis and think any employment in that sector is morally wrong. That’s not the case of course.The top management of banks are responsible; anyone involved in futures trading in food and then buying up food supplies to drive up the price is doing something immoral; and futures trading and calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-43796249088834365232011-12-10T00:19:00.002Z2011-12-10T00:34:38.854ZA sense of entitlement doesn’t mean wanting a job and a pension , Sir Roger Carr, it means unlimited greed at the expense of othersMany of the same people who are paying themselves salaries from several hundred thousands to millions every year, plus the same again in bonuses, are condemning public sector employees for their ‘sense of entitlement’ in wanting jobs and pensions; and the unemployed for wanting to have enough money to eat. One of them is Sir Roger Carr, the head of the CBI (Confederation of British calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-81305233537727207722011-12-09T23:30:00.010Z2011-12-10T00:37:24.041ZIf you’re blaming public sector employees, the unemployed or immigrants, you’re being divided and conquered by the real culpritsWhile the majority of people in employment in the UK have had pay rises below inflation, effective cuts of an average of 4.5% ; the average city (i.e London financial sector) employee has seen their pay increase by 12% in the last six months, while managing directors have had a 21% increase (1) – (2). That’s equivalent to 19% and 37% rises in a year, after inflation. So the real division calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-72965169671734956532011-12-09T22:54:00.003Z2011-12-09T23:22:39.304ZNeither Cameron’s concern for the City of London financial traders who caused the crisis nor Eurozone balanced budgets will solve the real problemsIt’s hard to know which is worse between David Cameron’s concern for regulations that might harm the ‘City of London’ - i.e the stock market traders, hedge fund managers and bank executives who caused the crisis - at the expense of everyone else; or the Eurozone governments’ fantasy that balanced budgets will solve everything. Both ignore the actual causes of the crisis – deregulation of calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-32137725508452564992011-11-30T15:18:00.003Z2011-11-30T16:12:52.426ZWe shouldn't listen to the markets who caused the crisis - time the markets were forced to listen to the majorityChancellor George Osborne says his economic policy is aimed at maintaining market confidence – and even his political opponents debate on his terms of “what the markets want”. If “the markets” – an impersonal sounding euphemism for stock market traders, hedge funds and bank executives - could be trusted to make the right decisions, we wouldn’t be in this crisis.They caused it by demanding calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-22582401581328835912011-11-23T22:18:00.000Z2011-11-23T22:19:37.289ZSaif Al Gaddafi & Megrahi Vs Moussa Koussa - Patsies vs Real Criminal aided and abetted by the US government?(the latter a proven torturer and Gaddafi’s intelligence chief at the time of the Lockerbie bombing but “free to travel to and from the UK as he wishes”)The propagandists tell us that Saif Al Gaddafi is a war criminal who must be brought to justice for the torture and killing of civilians. Yet Gaddafi’s torturer in chief Moussa Koussa, who has been identified by survivors as having calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-29874562214608373462011-11-23T19:20:00.001Z2011-11-23T21:30:17.132ZRepeating the Mistakes of the Past in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain & Saudi – Backing murdering dictatorships to the end will backfire on the US UK & FranceThe US government and it’s allies are about to end up on the wrong side of history by backing dictatorships to the last gasp as they kill their own people, as they did with the Shah of Iran in 1979; and so ensuring, as in Iran, that the new governments will have every reason to be hostile to them for decades to come, as in Iran. They’re also increasing support for the Islamic extremists calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-90215353825595973692011-11-07T22:35:00.001Z2011-11-08T01:14:49.715ZCitigroup aren’t fit to give advice on banking never mind energy policyOne of the main critics of government investment in renewable energy in Scotland – the Citigroup investment bank – failed to predict the financial crisis, was one of the four banks most involved in and hardest hit by the sub-prime mortgage crisis – and invests heavily in tar sands, oil and coal (1). Given it’s inability to know what it should invest in itself in it’s own area of expertise –calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-53423135577451126892011-10-14T01:42:00.002+01:002011-10-15T02:11:48.369+01:00The real Adam Werritty and Liam Fox scandal is the British government promoting arms sales to a government that ordered the massacre of civiliansMost media coverage and political debate over the Adam Werritty scandal is surreal and bizarre in treating Werrity’s status as the serious issue while not even mentioning that Werritty, Defence Minister Liam Fox and the British government are promoting arms sales to a Sri Lankan President who ordered war crimes including shelling civilians and hospitals with artillery after telling them theycalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-90018038479738284812011-10-13T04:53:00.003+01:002011-10-13T05:12:49.590+01:00The Iranian government did not plot a terrorist bombing in the US that would have ensured their own overthrow by US forcesThe supposed Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador along with 150 Americans by a terrorist bombing of a restaurant on US soil is ludicrously paper thin war propaganda (1) – (2).Why would senior members of the Iranian government or military plot an attack which, if it succeeded, would ensure their overthrow by the US military after September 11th style anger in the US ; and likelycalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-34572062591010343072011-10-11T00:28:00.011+01:002011-10-11T00:50:00.158+01:00Any third round of quantitative easing money should by-pass the banks and go straight to businesses and people to restore employment and growththen we have to deal with our energy and waste crisesThe Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee have said there may be a third round of Quantitative Easing, after the first two failing to provide any benefit except increasing the banks’ reserves (1).They failed because the banks are not passing the money on in loans at an interest rate that businesses can afford, partly because they’re calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-43107849249653564902011-09-23T13:32:00.008+01:002011-09-26T01:50:21.418+01:00Why Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' application for UN membership and forming a coalition with Hamas is the right moveWhy the Palestinian bid for UN membership is the right move even though it will fail todayToday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is applying to the UN for a Palestinian state. It’s a membership application which the UN is over 60 years late in granting due to repeated US vetoes (and almost certainly another today, though the General Assembly will vote in favour along with the majority of calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-51570259318245574642011-09-15T21:05:00.000+01:002011-09-15T22:25:53.924+01:00Blair’s still wrong - wars have increased terrorism and Iran’s government isn't suicidal enough to start a nuclear war - nor was SaddamTony Blair’s repetition of claims that the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have been necessary to prevent terrorism and effective in reducing the threat from it is not supported by the facts. His claims that war on Iraq was necessary to stop a WMD threat is equally empty, whether or not Iraq had any WMDs, as are his claims that ‘military action’ against Iran to produce ‘calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-89220628136689067792011-09-12T23:23:00.014+01:002011-09-16T19:02:26.796+01:00It's not extreme ideology that creates most Afghan or Iraqi insurgents or Al Qa'ida men, it’s killing members of their family, country or religionTony Blair is still pointing to Islamic “extreme ideologies” as “the threat” and the cause of all opposition to the US led “liberations” of Iraq and Afghanistan. Blair adds that it’s not about anything “we” do to “them” (1) – (2).Yet one British reporter in Libya for Al Jazeera English the day the rebels took Tripoli recounted how Iraqis had come up to him in Baghdad the day Saddam was calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-74709435343314769162011-08-25T03:31:00.001+01:002011-08-25T17:45:09.317+01:00Libya - rebels lynchings of black people and real or suspected Gaddafi supporters - NATO should use it's influence to try to end themLynchings of real or suspected Gaddafi fighters and supporters by rebels have happened throughout the war and have included racist lynchings and even beheadings of black Libyans and migrant workers. They may be continuing now they’ve taken Tripoli, even though NATO special forces and the CIA are on the ground with the rebels there.Human Rights Watch reported in July that rebel forces lynchedcalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-35472205551132656812011-08-24T02:48:00.011+01:002011-08-25T17:41:04.053+01:00Libya – Even rebels fear civil war between them or chaos - add the risk of an Iraq style insurgency or a Somalia like civil warSome of the coverage of the war in Libya makes it sound as though a rapid collapse of Gaddafi’s forces followed by a rapid transition to a democracy is a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately this is being very optimistic.Rebel claims that Gaddafi’s forces would all surrender as soon as they took Tripoli as they were “cowards” or only fighting for Gaddafi out of fear have been proven wrong calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-78578975068632645132011-08-11T02:26:00.003+01:002011-08-11T18:10:26.248+01:00Police are not confused about how much force they can use in what situation - given past abuses of their authority they can't get a blank chequeClaims made by police spokesmen on BBC News 24 that police are “confused” about what level of force they can use and that this is making it difficult for them to deal with rioters need to be taken with a huge pile of salt. The line they’re pushing is that in the past police have ended up in court for simply trying to prevent crimes. They know that’s a lie. The only police who ended up in calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-88440541872834679042011-08-11T02:05:00.017+01:002011-08-11T18:06:51.275+01:00Riot police beating 16 year old girl protesting Duggan shooting may have sparked the first riots - in Tottenham , LondonThe riots across London and other English cities obviously involve a lot of opportunist theft and violence many actions that can’t be justified in any way, like the burning of public housing and three men run over and killed by a hit and run driver in Manchester – and far from it all being children out of control, there are plenty of looters in their 20s and some parents sending their calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-34814011181620342112011-08-10T01:31:00.001+01:002011-08-10T02:49:00.634+01:00Norway killings show the Islamisation of Europe myth is a greater threat to democracy than Al QaedaThe myths that Muslim immigrants are taking over Europe and that multiculturalism is harmful caused the murders in Norway. As in the 1930s the real threats to democracy are irrational hatred of minorities and the mass unemployment which is increasing them.There is a dangerous myth being spread by the hard right in the UK, Europe and in the US – that Muslims are on their way to taking over calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-6011847884388634482011-07-29T17:06:00.002+01:002011-07-30T00:07:31.509+01:00The causes of the famine in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia – and why donating aid to Africa does save livesPeople in the Horn of Africa, especially Somalia, are starving in their millions due to a famine and the failure of developed country governments and people to donate enough money for food aid to feed them (1) – (2). The famine has five main causes – the worst drought in 60 years (possibly worsened worsened by climate change), civil war (lengthened by US and Ethiopian involvement), wealthycalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-11659702735602247572011-07-23T18:09:00.004+01:002011-07-23T18:35:37.429+01:00On Working Class Invisibility (by Paul Street)Below is a re-post of an article by Paul Street (with permission)Original - On Working Class InvisibilityHost website: www.paulstreet.orgImage courtesy of Steve Rhodes Recently the liberal New York Times columnist Charles Blow did something unusual in elite U.S. media. He acknowledged in a serious and respectful way the existence and struggles of non-affluent working class Americans. In an Kithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-7458612316358226842011-07-13T23:46:00.001+01:002011-07-14T01:34:00.258+01:00Cameron’s ‘public service reforms’ would mean a privatised but publicly subsidised NHS – without any electoral mandatePrime Minister David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ ‘public service reforms’ would be PFI on steroids – the end of free healthcare paid for by taxes and it’s replacement with private healthcare only for those who can afford it, but subsidised by all tax payers and effectively paid for twice by those who can get it – once in taxes and once in charges.Cameron in his recent speech on ‘public service calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-86566435545174491422011-07-06T23:38:00.003+01:002011-07-06T23:43:51.747+01:00Kelvin Mckenzie and the Murdoch press pretending to support ordinary people against the establishment is a jokeKelvin McKenzie had a very amusing piece on the Guardian’s ‘Comment is Free’ website. While I have to admire his chutzpah in putting it to such a hostile audience his claims about Murdoch and his media empire are as much hot air as usual.He claims‘In the two decades he[Murdoch] has owned the channel [Sky], not one editor or journalist has suggested that he has interfered or even made calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-67751859608419897072011-07-06T13:30:00.003+01:002011-07-06T13:45:07.357+01:00Why Gaddafi running out of fuel or money or being killed would not guarantee an end to the war in LibyaThere have been reports that Gaddafi’s forces may be close to running out of fuel altogether, mostly assuming that this will force his side to surrender. This assumption is based on the North African campaigns in World War Two, in which Rommel was eventually forced to surrender due to lack of fuel for his tanks (1).However, while that’s possible, there is no guarantee of Gaddafi’s forces calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-71760626134759917112011-06-30T02:24:00.000+01:002011-06-30T02:30:35.935+01:00US, Israeli and Greek governments try to intimidate and block Gaza aid flotilla including US ship and crewA new international aid flotilla is preparing to sail from Greece to Gaza to provide aid to Gazans and protest the Israeli blockade which has been in force to collectively punish the people of Gaza since Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections. It includes a US flagged ship carrying American citizens and named ‘The Audacity of Hope’ after Obama’s book. However one of the calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-35623438403751879382011-06-29T01:46:00.004+01:002011-06-29T15:53:25.778+01:00Private creditors and banks' refusal to write down Greek debts likely to lead to Argentina style defaultThe Guardian has reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to get Greece’s private sector creditors, including the banks, to forgive some of Greece’s debts to them as part of a bail-out package for the Greek government. Some IMF and other economists argued for the same thing (1) – (2). The banks and other private creditors refused (3).If they continue in their greed in refusing tocalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-59139739418527973862011-06-25T00:01:00.004+01:002011-06-25T02:00:40.721+01:00Amnesty finds Libyan rebels lied about Gaddafi rape orders, mercenaries and anti-aircraft guns - and says some protesters might have been armedIn case anyone else hasn’t seen it yet there’s an article in the Independent newspaper quoting Amnesty International investigators saying they’ve found no evidence to support the Libyan rebels’ claims that Gaddafi ordered his troops to rape women and that much of the rebels’ supposed evidence for it was manufactured, along with some of their other claims.Rebel claims that Gaddafi was using calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-42901211744621055952011-06-23T01:00:00.003+01:002011-06-23T01:10:41.042+01:00More on the oil motive for NATO's intervention in LibyaThe difference between the Gaddafi government’s oil policies and those that oil importing governments (such as NATO countries) and companies based in them would prefer are one of the main motives for NATO’s military intervention in Libya – and certainly more of a real motive than protection of civilians.(A previous post covered some of this and the parallels between US intervention in Libya calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-6224214476201064262011-06-23T00:43:00.003+01:002011-06-23T00:50:36.019+01:00Libya: NATO governments actions and inactions elsewhere show the intervention in Libya can't be about protecting civilians or promoting democracyThe claim constantly made by NATO governments that they have intervened militarily in Libya to protect civilians and promote democracy is obviously untrue when compared with their actions (and lack of them) in other countries.Gaddafi’s forces certainly seem to have been killing civilians, but if that was the real motive for NATO intervention, rather than a useful pretext to cover other calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-63961129695167237582011-06-22T23:59:00.008+01:002011-06-23T22:41:38.409+01:00Libya : The homes of members of Gaddafi's government are not legitimate military targets or command and control centresNo amount of calling the houses of members of Gaddafi’s government and his advisers ‘Command and control centers’ will change the fact that in bombing them NATO know they’re likely to kill members of their families, like the airstrike that killed not only Gaddafi’s youngest son, but his three young children at the start of May ; and the more recent strike that missed one of Gaddafi’s calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-64810017635220757082011-06-22T23:33:00.003+01:002011-06-22T23:45:34.722+01:00Libya - NATO and the rebels should accept Gaddafi's offer of elections as a chance to avoid a long war with more civilians killed by both sidesGaddafi last week offered elections supervised by international observers if the rebels and NATO would agree to a ceasefire (1). Given even the chance that this might resolve the civil war and bring a transition to democracy under whoever wins those elections, this should be preferable to continuing a war in which both Gaddafi’s artillery and tank attacks and NATO airstrikes are killing calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-29487538493563392752011-06-21T20:44:00.000+01:002011-06-21T20:45:12.334+01:00Former General Hector Lopez Fuentes: First arrest in connection to Genocide in GuatemalaGuatemala City, Guatemala.June 20th, 2011.Issue: Genocide / Justice / Post-WarToday, June 20th, 2011, former General Hector Mario Lopez Fuentes, accused of genocide against the Ixil Mayan people during 1982 and ‘83, made his initial court appearance three days after his arrest.Lopez Fuentes served as Guatemala’s military Chief of Staff, the third-highest-ranking official in the country, during MiMundo.orghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501983819384904800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-69935825142736950142011-05-29T22:40:00.004+01:002011-05-29T22:56:10.963+01:00Power, wealth, judges, rights, Giggs, misogyny, Murdoch and GoodwinThe media and lawyers specialising in media law are showing great ingenuity in trying to present their reporting of sex gossip stories as issues of high principle. First there was ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘freedom of the press’, now a lawyer writing in the Sunday Herald claims it’s a feminist fight against misogynist judges.You may think that women being raped and murdered at the rate of onecalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-80055983393327004752011-05-26T02:05:00.004+01:002011-06-05T00:56:00.771+01:00Even former Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs say negotiate with Hamas without preconditionsThe claim that Hamas refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist and that this makes negotiations with them impossible has been made again, this time by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Neither the first part of the claim nor the second are true and negotiations should start without preconditions.It’s not just me that says so but many Israeli experts including the former heads ofcalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-9704369628563554582011-05-23T17:19:00.003+01:002011-05-25T19:01:12.205+01:00The outcry against super-injunctions on reporting private lives is about selling papers to make moneyThe newspapers’ outcry over the super-injunction against reporting which footballer had an affair has nothing to do with the public interest and everything to do with trying to sell papers and make money. Bank executives and footballers are over-paid and under-regulated, but knowing who they had sex with does nothing to sort that.As I said in my last post (on the injunction taken out by calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-23090230273404162562011-05-21T19:08:00.010+01:002011-05-21T19:34:28.244+01:00There is no public interest involved in publishing gossip about sex – only money grubbing and distracting from real issuesWhatever Fred Goodwin's faults, the whole world does not have a right to hear every detail of his private life, or anyone else'sI'm not an admirer of the job Fred Goodwin did as head of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), but who he had an affair with is none of anyone's business except maybe his wife.There's a ludicrous idea in Britain, promoted by tabloid hacks who profit from it, that if calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-24581917890667257792011-05-12T00:47:00.000+01:002011-05-13T21:35:58.745+01:00Thank you for supporting Alienated LeftI wish to thank the following blogs for supporting Alienated Left: Another Green World A Very Public Sociologist Though Cowards Flinch Luna 17 Ten Percent Rustbelt Radical Reddebrek's bowl of Saccharine Grumblings It is a pretty respectable list (in terms of quality, if not quantity).Another Green World is by activist, writer, economist, and former principle speaker for the Green Party Derek Kithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-42538629044487776682011-05-08T17:24:00.007+01:002011-05-08T18:46:16.141+01:00America ’s Unworthy and Invisible Victims Before and Since 9/11Below is a re-post of an article by Paul Street (with permission)Original - America ’s Unworthy and Invisible Victims Before and Since 9/11Host website: www.paulstreet.orgImage courtesy of james.gordon6108In a great propaganda victory for the culture of nationalistic imperialism, millions of Americans have been trained to think of the “Vietnam War” in terms of what the Vietnamese “did to us.” It Kithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-13949738232103792272011-05-03T01:14:00.010+01:002011-05-08T02:14:17.904+01:00Libyan intervention: Venal leaders exploit good intentions and prop-up bloody regimes.Image Courtesy of B.R.QThe humanitarian case for intervening in Libya is well-stated – Libyan rebels faced an inevitable massacre. Yet, the humanitarian justification runs counter to recent, and ongoing, international activities of the intervening coalition. The continued support for authoritarian regimes within the region poses an unsettling (if not unfamiliar) juxtaposition with the moralisticKithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-39354305076577839092011-05-02T22:34:00.005+01:002011-05-02T23:00:02.473+01:00The Anti-Empire Report: Iraq and LibyaBelow is a re-post of an essay by William Blum (with permission)Original - The Anti-Empire Report. May 2nd, 2011Host website: killinghope.orgImage courtesy of james.gordon6108Iraq: Let us not forget what "humanitarian intervention" looks like.Libya: Let us not be confused as to why Libya alone has been singled out for "humanitarian intervention".On April 9, Condoleezza Rice delivered a talk in Kithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-34728889080516828872011-04-30T13:14:00.001+01:002011-04-30T13:15:44.800+01:00Friends Like These...The Libyan intervention marks the West's first combat outside of the War on Terror since that kooky conflict first began. (Note: I was tempted to use sneer quotes three times in that sentence. See if you can spot them all.) It's a curiously modern form of progress, by which, naturally, I mean no progress at all. It's been founded on the same dubious narratives; shored up by the same weird BenSixnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-3978210456842610462011-04-29T20:10:00.001+01:002011-04-29T20:35:43.694+01:00Yemen and Bahrain : What about the responsibility to protect civilians and support democracy in Yemen and Bahrain?We’re hearing a lot of talk about protecting civilians and promoting democracy in the Arab world. This focuses largely on Libya and to a lesser extent on Syria, as if these two were the only dictatorships killing their own people.Meanwhile, in Yemen, over 130 of the thousands of people shot by snipers on behalf of dictator Ali Abdullah Al Saleh have been killed, thirteen of them this week. calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-51428899798382726032011-04-17T02:16:00.001+01:002011-04-17T02:17:31.251+01:00The Spy They've Covered In Mould...As there's still no word on the inquest into Gareth Williams' death I thought I'd write a piece on what's known and why more should be told. It contains description of the body that's not fun to read or write about.A uniformed policeman was dispatched to Gareth Williams’ top-floor flat on the 23rd of August. Williams, a fit, healthy 31-year-old, had returned from the U.S. twelve days before, and BenSixnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-42254844245513041592011-03-30T23:12:00.008+01:002011-03-31T00:10:50.621+01:00The Anti-Empire Report: Libya and The Holy TriumvirateBelow is a re-post of an essay by William Blum (with permission)Original - Libya and The Holy TriumvirateHost website: killinghope.orgImage courtesy of BRQ NetworkLibya and The Holy TriumvirateThe words they find it very difficult to say — "civil war".Libya is engaged in a civil war. The United States and the European Union and NATO — The Holy Triumvirate — are intervening, bloodily, in a civil Kithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-6544340938827449742011-03-28T22:43:00.000+01:002011-03-28T23:05:19.798+01:00The hypocrisy of governments that let protesters be murdered in Bahrain while talking of the responsibility to protect and freedom to protest in LibyaThere is a stench of utter hypocrisy and double standards emanating from the British, French, Canadian and US governments on the murder of unarmed protesters by dictatorships in the Arab revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. We know that in Bahrain the dictatorship’s forces have been murdering unarmed protesters and medical staff trying to treat them, just as Gaddafi’s forces have calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-66026939932466573772011-03-28T02:46:00.003+01:002011-03-29T00:55:00.752+01:00Time for peace negotiations in Libya - country wide airstrikes and an offensive on Tripoli will kill civilians, not protect themThe bombing in Libya was justified under UN Resolution 1973 in targeting tanks and artillery which were shelling Benghazi. It is not justified if it continues to bomb the entire country long after anti-aircraft batteries have been destroyed, nor is it justified in targeting non-military targets (such as Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli) nor in supporting rebel assaults on towns or cities heldcalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-29796514978688119142011-03-28T02:24:00.000+01:002011-03-28T02:29:24.246+01:00Gates recycles disproven Afghan war air strike propaganda for bombing of LibyaUS Defence Secretary Robert Gates has claimed that in Libya “The truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian casualties that we have been responsible for…But we do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Qaddafi taking the bodies of the people he's killed and putting them at the sites where we've attacked.” (1)There’s just one slight problem with this calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-51828453496286451212011-03-28T00:07:00.001+01:002011-03-28T00:13:36.400+01:00Iraq style sanctions on Libya - planned or already in place?Some NATO country politicians have called for Iraq style sanctions on Libya through an “oil for food” programme of the kind that was imposed on Iraq from 1991 to 2003, leading to the resignations of UN officials Dennis Halliday and Hans Von Sponeck due to the huge numbers of civilians killed by it due to lack of food and medical supplies. Defecting Libyan diplomats have told them in no calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-7580028527732346992011-03-18T21:21:00.004Z2011-03-20T13:11:21.655ZLibya: Rank Imperial HypocrisyBelow is a re-post of The Rustbelt Radical's blog post (with permission).Libya: Rank Imperial HypocrisyThe cynicism and hypocrisy on display over the vote in the United Nations Security Council, whose permanent members constitute a den of thieves if ever there was one, for an assault on forces loyal to Gaddafi in Libya is rank, even by the odoriferous standards of that body. The very same day theKithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312715243227797241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-52836719430360385252011-03-17T05:28:00.001Z2011-03-19T20:26:45.677ZRacism, sexism and religious sectarianism are problems for all democracries - not just for Arab democratisationThere are also some serious problems coming from some of the opponents of the dictatorship, who don’t seem that keen on democracy being extended to women or Coptic Christians. Women protesting for equal rights in Tahrir Square were threatened, shouted down and told that this was the “wrong time” to discuss equality for women and that their demands were “against Islam”, while days earlier 12calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-20259487729976321782011-03-17T04:53:00.001Z2011-03-19T20:26:45.695ZUS and its allies continue to try to limit democratisation, not help it alongYou may have got the impression that Egyptians are on the road to their first democratic elections now. Unfortunately there’s no guarantee that that’s going to happen. In fact the army are still co-operating with the dictatorship to try to crush any resistance and any demands for a transition to power sharing with the opposition before elections. When the focus of most of the media shifted calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-84404796620019329512011-03-17T04:20:00.001Z2011-03-17T04:21:13.596ZIn Bahrain as in Libya unarmed protesters and medical staff are being killed with helicopters, live fire and snipersBahrain’s military and police, along with Saudi and UAE troops are now doing everything Gaddafi’s forces have been condemned for. They are killing unarmed protesters using ground forces and helicopters, as well as firing at medics, seizing ambulances and using them to attack protesters ; and preventing doctors treating the wounded and using snipers to stop the wounded or doctors getting calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-40791938213763490542011-03-16T01:30:00.001Z2011-03-16T01:34:17.924ZRussian and Chinese government propaganda on Libya?There have been reports from the Voice of Russia Radio of almost half the casualties being soldiers – without specifying how many soldiers were rebels and how many Gaddafi loyalists.The Chinese Xinua news agency also reported in the early stages of the protests in Benghazi that two policemen were hung by rioters and the managing director of a hospital was tortured to death by them (1) – (2).calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-11593583875810667492011-03-16T01:10:00.001Z2011-03-16T01:42:29.420ZGovernments' war propaganda is the main reason why people doubt every call for humanitarian interventionIt’s best to retain some scepticism about some claims by governments and defectors from Gaddafi’s government, given the use of propaganda over the decades to get public support for wars and military coups.For instance in 1953 in Iran the CIA and MI6 hired mobs to chant pro-Communist and pro-Mossadeq slogans while smashing shop windows and attacking people, in order to give the false calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-92191313689526647842011-03-13T20:54:00.001Z2011-03-14T19:36:57.185ZLibya is not like Iraq in 2003, but Iraq at the end of the 1991 war - no intervention will mean massacresToo many people, including me, have been looking at what's happening in Libya through wariness of the war propaganda on Kosovo in 1999 or Iraq from 2002 on. There is some definite propaganda today. Megrahi’s trial was a sham and no-one actually knows who carried out he Lockerbie bombing ; and Gaddafi has never used chemical weapons against Libyan rebels. Some of what we are hearing from allcalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-3859842885615093182011-03-13T00:44:00.003Z2011-03-14T19:40:17.104ZLibya : the case for arming the rebels to save lives overall and end Gaddafi's dictatorshipGiven the level of propaganda coming from all sides in Libya – and the many uses of it in past “humanitarian interventions”, whether by the US government in Kosovo or Iraq or the Russian government in Chechnya and Georgia, it is impossible to know for certain what is true and what isn’t in reports from Libya (the amount of propaganda has been so huge over such a long period that I’m making acalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-50873958871812621762011-02-28T00:31:00.010Z2011-03-05T17:49:18.525ZLibya : Most Libyans don't want any foreign military intervention - and that includes the vast majority of Gaddafi's opponentsSomething those people calling for military intervention in Libya (and condemning the UN and Obama for not ordering it) should hear, is that even most of Gaddafi's opponents in Libya don't want any foreign military intervention in their country - and even many exiles are against itFor instance an NPR reporter in Bengazhi foundNPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro said …Protesters also made clear calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-58989411672114329932011-02-25T03:09:00.008Z2011-02-25T15:53:13.350ZLibya : Why military intervention by the US, Egypt or Tunisia would cost more lives than it would save and boost support for GaddafiMy last two posts were on why Libyan defectors' claims about Gaddafi and Lockerbie may be lies like Iraqi defectors' claims on WMD; and on western governments' ulterior motive in Iraq, Libya, Iran and Venezuela - oil profits.This post looks at the calls for military intervention by the US, Egypt or Tunisia - and suggestions for a 'no fly zone' to stop Gaddafi bombing rebels and whether calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-80518114004085083272011-02-25T02:20:00.006Z2011-03-01T00:47:35.465ZLibya : Why oil profits are the common factor behind calls for military intervention in Iraq, Libya and VenezuelaThere’s a second similarity between current calls for military intervention in Libya and the Iraq war, apart from false claims made by defectors to try to encourage a US invasion – a government the US and British governments want rid of because it’s getting in the way of maximising their firms’ oil profits.After the 1991 war Saddam stopped giving oil contracts to British or American oil calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-31196654405503189302011-02-25T01:48:00.005Z2011-02-25T03:46:37.950ZLibyan defectors' claims on Gaddafi and Lockerbie may be lies like Iraqi defectors' WMD claimsGaddafi is certainly a dictator – and is certainly having his own people killed. That doesn’t mean every claim made by a defector from his government is true, any more than those made by Iraqi defectors’ from Saddam’s dictatorship. So former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil’s claims about Gaddafi having ordering the Lockerbie bombing may be lies, like many Iraqi defectors' claims calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-16805470018903649172011-02-23T16:15:00.011Z2011-02-23T19:01:14.447ZCameron's government is still arming dictatorships - including Saudi, Egypt and Kuwait, which is not a democracyBritish Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed the British government was wrong “in the past” in supporting dictatorships in the Middle East and condemns the “appalling violence” against protesters (1). Yet his government is still backing these dictatorships and their violence by approving sales of lethal arms and crowd control weapons to Kuwait, Saudi, Egypt and many others besides, as calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-82373889270990656432011-02-20T22:53:00.005Z2011-03-19T20:23:44.984ZBahrain, Libya and Kuwait : Causes of the protests and foreign governments’ involvementBahrain and Kuwait - the supposed Shia 'fifth column' for IranThe monarchy in Bahrain say there should be a dialogue once peace is restored, as if saying “let’s all have a nice talk together, you know, once I’m finished having more of you killed to try to frighten any of you who’re still alive by then into backing down” was the most reasonable thing in the world; and has copied Mubarak’s calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-30871329830148669712011-02-20T22:43:00.004Z2011-02-20T22:50:09.964ZBeing shot, tortured or jailed without trial doesn't become better or worse depending on the ideology used to justify itThe continuing protests for democracy and jobs across the Middle East and North Africa show that undemocratic governments of different ideologies and forms of government are all more similar than any of them would like to think.They may vary the rhetoric they use to justify their rule and their actions, but they’ve all been jailing their own people without fair trial for decades, torturing calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-38065564922863697972011-02-20T22:16:00.006Z2011-03-01T01:52:39.114ZThe demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa have been as much about jobs and pay as democracy from the startWhile most of the focus has been on demands for political democracy the protests across the Middle East and North Africa have been as much against unemployment, for jobs and for higher pay from the start. For instance in early January the BBC reported ‘The number of people killed in unrest over unemployment in Tunisia over the weekend has risen to 14, officials say…. The protests first brokecalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-20209112487409809332011-02-17T23:14:00.008Z2011-02-17T23:56:48.784ZThe NO2AV campaign lies about AV and is a front for the Conservative Party and big businessThere is not one true claim about AV on the NO2AV website – see below for their four biggest lies about AV and to find out how AV works. While we know 95% of the ‘Yes to Fairer Votes’ campaign funding comes from the Electoral Reform Society and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, the NO2AV campaign refuse to say who funds them.There are some pretty obvious clues though. The head of the NO2AV calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-26461917191679637382011-02-16T02:42:00.007Z2011-02-16T03:59:24.513ZIncinerators recycle nothing, cause cancers and birth defects, lose more energy than they produce and waste valuable resourcesThe Scotgen company claim their planned incinerator at Dovesdale farm in South Lanarkshire will create “green energy” by “recycling” waste (1) – (2). This is part of a UK and worldwide attempt at rebranding incinerators. In fact incinerators recycle nothing, produce less energy than will be required to replace the products they incinerate instead of recycling – and emit many toxins which calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-91921657573560866242011-02-15T02:06:00.006Z2011-02-15T06:16:57.874ZWill Egyptian soldiers blindly obey the orders of dictators? Or defend democracy and people they joined the army to protect?The euphoria in Egypt over Mubarak’s resignation is justified as a first step, but so far, while the dictator is gone, the dictatorship remains, under either Mubarak’s appointee and secret police chief Omar Suleiman, or General Tantawi, or Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq (another Mubarak appointee). Any elections organised by them are not guaranteed to be any fairer than the rigged shams they calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-53180736075812442472011-02-06T23:19:00.004Z2011-02-06T23:33:48.737ZIslamic fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran and Christian fundamentalism in the USOne argument used by those saying a transition to democracy in Egypt would lead to “instability” is that there are too many Islamic fundamentalists in Egypt and so the US government must back a supposedly benevolent dictatorship there, as democracy would allow these irrational people too much influence over government policy, possibly leading to war with Israel.The fact that this hasn’t calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-66333454351532030862011-02-06T22:49:00.002Z2011-02-06T22:53:20.533ZIf the Obama administration fails to back a transition to a National Unity government before elections democracy protesters may be jailed and torturedUS Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement of support for Mubarak’s chosen successor – former Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman – risks throwing away any prospect of real democratisation in Egypt and the pro-democracy protesters being jailed and tortured one by one as they return home if protests start to grow smaller (1). The fact that this will happen away from the television calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-81333442591483589212011-02-06T22:27:00.005Z2011-02-06T22:33:20.466ZThere is no agreement between Mubarak's people and the democratic opposition - and there are no divisions among the protestersMubarak’s dictatorship are trying to give the impression that they have negotiated an agreement between Mubarak’s Vice President Omar Suleiman and the democracy protesters and opposition parties. They haven’t. The only agreement is among Mubarak’s NDP party to try to give the impression they’re making progress towards democracy.Ayman Nour of the El Ghad party has said there has been no calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-85069221763024665332011-02-05T22:32:00.004Z2011-02-06T00:11:50.997ZWhy Arab dictatorships are not preventing war on Israel – they stopped fighting it because it’s military has always been stronger than all of theirsOne of the arguments given as an excuse for US support for dictatorships is that these dictatorships have supposedly prevented war with Israel and that Israel could be “threatened” by a possible Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt. This argument makes no sense because the same dictatorships went to war with Israel repeatedly in 1948, 1967 and 1973 – and only stopped after that because calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-38397124776356465122011-02-02T22:33:00.003Z2011-02-02T22:55:48.223ZMubarak, the Egyptian Army and Obama all remain responsible for attacks by hired thugs and plain clothes policeThe thugs attacking Egyptian pro-democracy protesters and attacking reporters are clearly not mostly spontaneous “pro-Mubarak protesters”, but mostly people paid to demonstrate for him, hired thugs and plain clothes police like those Mubarak used to attack opposition campaigners during the 2005 Presidential election and referendum – which were rigged (1) – (9).(There may also be some calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-53908104040808977002011-02-01T21:03:00.005Z2011-02-01T21:53:57.895ZEgyptians don't trust Mubarak to oversee transition - and even if the Muslim Brotherhood took power they couldn't be worse than the dictatorshipEgyptians couldn’t be worse off under the Muslim Brotherhood than they are under Mubarak – and the Brotherhood may well neither form a single party government, nor be extreme in government. They are not the only opposition in Egypt either – Mubarak has targeted trade unionists for opposing him – and was so afraid of Ayman Nour - a liberal candidate in the last (rigged) Presidential electionscalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-6619850295121205292011-01-30T23:00:00.012Z2011-01-30T23:47:16.061ZEgypt : Four Good Reasons why Obama should be backing El Baradei and the Protesters and dropping Mubarak's dictatorship
Obama is risking making the same mistake Carter did during the Iranian revolution in 1979 by continuing to back Mubarak’s dictatorship in Egypt to keep right wing members of his own party and the Republican opposition happy. This ensured the transition was chaotic, allowing Khomeini and extreme fundamentalists to crush the liberals and socialists among the opponents of the Shah’s calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-31167296737850924442011-01-28T07:17:00.008Z2011-01-28T10:11:57.292ZTime for the US and European governments to stop backing dictators and occupations in the Arab world and start supporting democracyThe media coverage of the leaked ‘Palestinian papers’ – messages sent between the Israeli government and the Fatah government in the West Bank under President Abbas – and of the demonstrations across dictatorships across the Arab world from Tunisia to Egypt and Yemen, is missing the context and the key facts. The context is that the US and European governments continue their shameful supportcalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-88849790430509809502011-01-28T03:23:00.007Z2011-01-28T14:39:07.499ZSun editor's admission that she paid police for stories may show why police are covering up for the News of the World - and determined to get SheridanPolice took money from the Murdoch press for information – which may be why they’re covering up phone hacking - and so determined to get Sheridan, whose phone they knew had been hacked, convicted of perjuryIt turns out that in 2003 Rebekah Wade, then editor of the Sun, admitted to a parliamentary select committee that the Sun had paid police officers for information on people for newspaper calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-76223291981646441772011-01-26T20:02:00.009Z2011-01-26T20:38:25.613ZThe glaring contrast between police investigations of Sheridan for perjury and the Murdoch press for phone hackingThe three year jail sentence given to Tommy Sheridan for perjury is considerably longer than many offenders get for serious violent assaults. Irrespective of whether you believe Sheridan is guilty or not, this underlines the fact that this trial has a large political element, with the establishment parties, the police and the Murdoch media empire closing ranks to punish those who resist calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-52004757695150059092011-01-24T01:59:00.004Z2011-01-24T02:50:37.985ZThe petition by 31,000 scientists on climate change is an Exxon funded fraud ; Solar activity can't account for climate changeAntarctic ice is still melting rapidly in the West far more than it's growing in the East; cold winters or cooling of climate in some parts of the earth do not disprove overall global warming; and Peirs Corbyn is wildly wrong as often as he's rightSome people still seem to believe there’s a petition signed by “31,000 scientists” saying global warming is not man-made and not a problem ( it’s calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-76207777789225892602011-01-23T02:42:00.009Z2011-01-23T20:38:01.207ZThe Chilcot Inquiry on Iraq, Blair ; and Guardian editor Michael White’s lazy, contemptuous failure to research the facts on Iraq or IranGuardian editor Michael White's coverage of the Chilcot Inquiry on Iraq is unbelievably lazy. His fact free, condescending and contemptuous piece makes the ludicrous claim that Blair is partly right on Iran as Iran is “scary”. White couldn't even be bothered researching the backgrounds of the inquiry team (mostly Blair appointees or hero worshippers and supporters of the war on Iraq), nor could calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-11130387844664708702011-01-19T23:54:00.005Z2011-01-23T03:46:16.958ZUS, British and French governments try to minimise democratisation in TunisiaThe reactions of democratically elected governments across the world, from the US to France, to the revolution in Tunisia, show they are playing their usual public relations game of pretending to back democracy in other countries while actually backing dictatorships and trying to minimise any democratisation in them.The British government has called for the “full inclusion of all legal calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-87241535883200225932011-01-19T21:31:00.003Z2011-01-19T21:41:19.088ZOnly half right on Oldham by-electiongraphic from BBC website hereI was right that Labour would greatly increase it’s majority in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by election (which was the easy part to predict), but wildly wrong in predicting that the Lib Dem vote would collapse, with the party losing votes to both Labour and the Conservatives. Instead, while a few thousand Lib Dem voters many Conservatives seem to have voted calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-17973556186309398502011-01-11T01:01:00.000Z2011-01-11T01:02:25.673ZDeath for an unknown blasphemy – ask the government to grant refugee status to Aasia BibiThe death sentence delivered by a court to Christian woman Aasia Bibi Noreen in Pakistan is the definition of injustice. This is not about any religion. It is about justice, freedom of expression and freedom of religion.Not only is she sentenced to death for not holding the same beliefs as the majority in her country, but, since her accusers say they refuse to repeat the “blasphemy” they calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-43535476960479140452011-01-02T13:34:00.005Z2011-01-02T13:49:34.223ZPredictions for 2011There will probably be the beginnings of a double dip recession in the UK and the whole of Europe due to 1920s / early 30s style austerity programmes. Growing demonstrations and possibly even riots will take place against the cuts. As unemployment and poverty rise, support for right-wing extremist parties such as the British National Party will increase across Europe, though there will be calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-40738945629538420952010-12-28T12:00:00.004Z2010-12-28T17:10:40.390ZOne way the SSP and Solidarity / TUSC could move forward after the Sheridan trialPhoto : Tommy Sheridan and Rosie Kane campaign together before the split in the SSPOne solution would be for Sheridan and Fox to both stand down as party leaders, allowing the members of both parties to choose a new leader acceptable to all of them, while Fox, Sheridan, Kane and Leckie could still stand for the Scottish Parliament in future.My previous posts have probably been too strident incalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-49703196739125316282010-12-27T12:22:00.007Z2010-12-27T13:15:39.921ZThe Truth about Tommy Sheridan? - a reply to the SSP's claimsClick this link to see the Scottish Socialist Party Youth Wing's animation on the break with Sheridan - it seems to have had more work put into it than their self-contradictory 'The Truth about Tommy Sheridan' website post, discussed belowThe youth wing of the Scottish Socialist Party have a long, rambling, self-contradictory diatribe against Tommy Sheridan and anyone who supports him as beingcalgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-58397896856001038582010-12-26T21:28:00.002Z2010-12-27T13:56:43.214ZSelective Trial for Perjury - The Trial of Tommy Sheridanphoto: Murdo MacLeod, GuardianMany people are now gloating over the conviction of Tommy Sheridan on perjury charges. There are a fair number of questions to be asked about that trial though. The first, as asked by a Scottish QC, is why it was Sheridan who was on trial and not those who testified against him in his previous defamation case against the News of the World, which he won. The calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-46986620304342978122010-12-19T04:07:00.007Z2010-12-26T22:25:11.243ZWhy welfare to work won't work in the UKPresident Clinton signs the 1996 Responsibility and work opportunity act which gave federal approval to state 'welfare to work' laws which are the model for British 'welfare reforms'‘Perhaps the greatest danger of our national life arises from the power of selfish and unscrupulous wealth which influences public opinion largely through the press’Joseph Rowntree (1836 – 1925) , businessman and calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-84824032326538529432010-12-14T02:27:00.005Z2010-12-15T19:01:15.334ZPolice violence against the peaceful majority of student protesters and passers-by should be punished too - they shouldn't be above the lawStudent protesters have come in for a great deal of criticism in the media lately, but a lot of it has been less than balanced – with a ridiculous fixation on the relatively minor incident involving Prince Charles. The minority of protesters who have made serious attacks on police, for instance throwing snooker balls, often causing serious injuries to officers, will get little sympathy and calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-23884739663462465282010-12-06T22:23:00.004Z2010-12-06T22:28:39.238ZThe Lib Dems knew they wouldn’t form a single party government – the excuses on tuition fees are emptyThe Lib Dems leadership have shown great ingenuity but no credibility in coming up for reasons why they made scrapping tuition fees for students a key election campaign pledge, then broke it the moment there was a chance of getting into government – and instead backed tripling the level of tuition fees.We know from leaked party documents that Treasury Minister Danny Alexander MP and Nick calgacushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18253675072578015749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-53971659799482438092010-11-15T05:10:00.000Z2010-11-15T05:11:41.253ZMaximón and the Worship of Saint Simon in ItzapaSan Andrés Itzapa. Chimaltenango, Guatemala.October 28th, 2010.Issue: Society / Cultural SyncretismOne of the region’s most interesting and perplexing expressions of Mayan-Catholic syncretism involves the worship of Maximón or Saint Simon. Every October 28th, catholic feast day for Saint Simon, thousands of pilgrims from all over Guatemala and neighboring countries flock to San Andres Itzapa to MiMundo.orghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501983819384904800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1284225861248101077.post-50564448267501824122010-10-26T17:40:00.000+01:002010-10-26T17:42:14.843+01:00Resounding Consultation: K’iche’ People Reject the Exploitation of their Natural ResourcesSanta Cruz del Quiché. Quiché, Guatemala.October 22nd, 2010.Issues: Mining / Hydroelectric Dams / Community ConsultationOn a historic day, residents from the municipality of Santa Cruz del Quiché - one of Guatemala’s most important hubs and the birthplace of the Maya K’iche’ people – unanimously rejected the exploitation of natural goods and resources, in particular through mining and MiMundo.orghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501983819384904800noreply@blogger.com0