Sunday, April 29, 2007

Flipping hell


So what measures are retailers taking to stop these profiteering secondhand sales? To keep control when Moss's collection hits Topshop on Tuesday, the store will be issuing wristbands and limiting purchases to five items per person, with no duplicate items allowed. At the Original Fake store, staff now check IDs and enforce an age limit of over 15, to combat enterprising parents who use their offspring to purchase more than one figure. Pictures On Walls has added a disclaimer to its website suggesting that anyone found to be selling new prints on eBay will be struck off its list and never allowed to buy from it again.
I was completely unaware of the strong feeling against the public making a profit by buying and selling stuff. It is completely outrageous that these people are making hundreds or thousands of pounds whilst our retailers have to settle for mere billions.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Blair Anti Enquiry (BAE) systems

Blair is out to destroy the important players in the OECD investigation into the BAE bribes scandal. He has now fully revealed himself as the filthy corrupt disgusting war criminal who helps arms manufacturers to bribe foreign officials and get away with criminal fraud. By dismantling the SFO enquiry, he was hoping the whole thing would get swept under the carpet. This latest political scheming comes as no surprise to Blair watchers.
British diplomats are seeking to remove Professor Pieth, a Swiss legal expert who chairs the anti-corruption watchdog of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), claiming he is too outspoken.
How dare this bureaucrat speak out against corruption that is essential to the british economy? Meanwhile BAE are enjoying a bumper crop thanks to Blair's help with the Saudi deals:
the group could be entering a period of sustained longer-term earnings growth based on improving returns from current programmes from new business won, notably in Saudi Arabia, and from acquisitions.
No doubt they will be spending some of their not so hard earned cash on activities like these.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The blood thirsty muslim hordes of Iraq

The media rightly come in for a lot of criticism on this blog, particularly because of the way they portray conflicts such as the one in Iraq and for the way they dress up official western propaganda as news stories. Today's column in the Grundian by Henry Porter is a classic example of somebody who understands little or nothing about what is happening in the middle-east, little or nothing about islam or muslim cultures, next-to-nothing about who the agents of terrorism are in Iraq and why. Porter says that 'Islam' cannot continue using the presence of Western troops as an alibi and must condemn the chlorine bombs'. Leaving aside the preposterous notion of a united Islamic community failing to despair at the violence and the deliberate failure of the media to publicise the views of the majority of muslims, this is also an objectionable statement as it (deliberately?) ignores the role of western intelligence agencies, their representatives in sponsoring the civil war. Where do the large amounts of cash shipped into Baghdad vanish to? Many of the Shia and Sunni death squads are linked to and controlled by the US military. Yes, the Sadrists and others have their own militias too as do the Sunni's but that is an inevitable consequence when whole communities come under attack from unknown quarters. Many militia's do not even know where their funding comes from and the links between CIA, Jordanian and Saudi intelligence allow the west to control many militant groups indirectly whilst fomenting a civil war by large scale attacks on Shia districts and markets. They also train Iraqi army units and intelligence consisting largely of Shia recruits, allowing them to straddle both sides of the religious divide. The independent Shia militias know full well that it is Sunni groups attacking them so they attack and kidnap Sunnis, leading to a circle of violence that according to western media opinion just looks like bloody civil war and savagery that is innate to Arabs or Muslims. Porter puts it down to the 'impenetrable pathologies', which is code for they are savages who were bound to do this for no good reason other than 'blood lust'. By way of comparison he mentions the Khmer rouge. Porter continues:

it is weirder in Iraq because the Sunni extremists of al-Qaeda are killing and torturing more Sunnis than Shia, let alone US soldiers.The thought process is psychopathic: it has the same logic we heard in the ravings of the gunman at Virginia Tech. There is a similarity of exhibitionism, too, a need for attention that must escalate the horror to maintain some kind of foothold in the Western news bulletins
There you have it. The situation is due to large number of psychopaths on the loose and they are obsessed with getting the headlines in Western news bulletins by ever more savage displays of carnage.

If the number of attacks diminished, the Americans and British troops would leave Iraq far faster than seems likely at the present. The situation, therefore, can no longer be taken for a classic resistance of an occupying force. Nor can it be entirely seen as the opposite, that is to say a guerrilla war that is maintained by Islamist, Shia and Ba'athists groups for the sole purpose of engaging the American and British military.The proof of this lies in the fact that the great majority of casualties are caused by Arabs killing Arabs, Muslims slaughtering Muslims...These monsters in Iraq must have felt a mite frustrated by the events on an American campus last week, especially as a double attack on a university campus in Baghdad in January killed twice as many students but rated a mere day's coverage in the West.

This passage shows the new media pathology. Blame it all on the insurgent opposition - despite our previous fault, we have suddenly become peacekeepers who want to leave Iraq as fast as possible (despite the 15 or so permanent bases we are building and despite the US building a gigantic new embassy in Baghdad). The casualties may be down to bombs but to say that it is simply Arabs killing Arabs is to ignore the money and people behind the bombs and the violence. In fact this is also a misleading statement because the majority of attacks are still on the occupying troops but these attacks lead to far fewer casualties than the soft civilian targets that cause the huge daily death toll. This is just a device to absolve the western powers of their role in the continuing violence whilst acknowledging past 'mistakes'. Who tells us that Muqtada Al-Sadr runs all Shia death squads? Our media of course, who get their information comfortably sitting in the military briefing rooms within the Green Zone, from the very same people who deploy disinformation and psy-ops to try and counter the bad news each day.
Our catastrophic blunder has removed the need for any moral calibration in Islam of what Muslims are doing to Muslims in Iraq. In the West, there are many, who, because they were passionately against the war, fail to see that they ought to refine their judgment on the men who thrill to the idea of perfecting a chlorine bomb that will maim, blow apart or asphyxiate the workman who has just got off shift, the housewife loaded down with groceries, the student waiting to meet a friend. The chlorine bombers are not freedom fighters

This is another popular tactic on the liberal left. The invasion was a 'catastrophic blunder' rather than a purposely designed occupation designed for a strategic foothold in the region and to control the oil supply on our behalf. They also blame the war opposition for not seeing the innate savagery of the barbarians that are Muslims and Arabs.

The era of what has been called Bush's 'moralising foreign policy' is over and Dr Rice is said to be on a mission to listen.

Really? Has anybody bothered to inform the Iranians who are under threatened with imminent attack by either the US with another 'shock and awe' or bombing by the US proxy zionists? For Porter the situation is simple enough. The violence is due to:

a number of opportunistic death cults, the most crazed and narcissistic of which is probably al-Qaeda, though the Shia death/torture squads fielded by Muqtada al-Sadr run a pretty close second.

Is this Bush and Blair's fault? Ultimately, yes because they opened the fissure that released the superheated gases of Islamist fanaticism.

The article ends with another delusion. There is apparently no narcissm in the way western troops behave in Iraq despite what we know now about Haditha, Fallujah, Abeer Ali and her family, Baha Musa, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, secret CIA torture camps and the countless other examples. Blair and Bush don't make it to the high court of Henry Porter for charges of genocide but do get an ASBO for provoking the blood-thirsty hordes that dwelt in that god forsaken place that was Iraq. Here is another demand for the muslim world:
The Muslim world has to find its own way of speaking up for humanity and civilisation and, for a start, to condemn the chlorine bombs.
Here are a few rhetorical questions. How does one speak up for humanity when the listener wears ear plugs and refuses to look at you? When will the real opposition to the carnage in Iraq be listened to without them being associated with the murderers? When will opposition to occupation not lead to the automatic assumption that one supports the beheaders and the torturers? When will the west stop portraying muslims as barbaric savages who cannot control themselves whether they live in the East or the West. When will the western media tell the reality of the situation and reveal what OUR troops AND agents do in Iraq on a daily basis? I do not seek to absolve Muslims or Arabs of blame for bloodshed. A very great number of them have a lot to answer for, but not for the reasons Porter suggests. The fact that Halliburton are being greeted in Dubai with delight and open arms is proof enough that for some people the money matters far more than human lives. This is something they have in common with a lot of people over here in the West.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Another Brick in The Wall






The wall builders are at it again.

Some walls of shame:

The wall of shame on the Mexico USA border.

The Apartheid Wall in Palestine; robbing Palestinians of land, water, trees and dividing villages in half.

Now they build a new wall to divide Sunni from Shia in Baghdad.

Here is another A wall of shame in Iraq.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Craig Murray says:

April 19, 2007

Ten Years on - An Astonishing Thought

When the nation basked in new hope as the Conservatives were defeated on 1 May 1997, I never thought I would say this.

Given the choice between dancing on Margaret Thatcher's grave and dancing on Tony Blair's, and not allowed to do both, I would dance on Blair's.

Which would you do?

I would stand on the side and piss on the both of them.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Get out now

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Quote for the day

"Four characteristics constitute anyone who possesses them a sheer hypocrite, and anyone who possesses one of them possesses a characteristic of hypocrisy till he abandons it: when he is trusted he betrays his trust, when he talks he lies, when he makes a covenant he acts treacherously and when he quarrels he abuses."

The Prophet Mohammed


Sunday, April 15, 2007

US generosity knows no bounds

Recommended reading from Greg Mitchell. Here is an extract that gives you a flavour of the justice available to the families of murdered Iraqi citizens, from the occupation forces that killed them:

Dec. 5 2005:
Claimant alleges that on the above date at the above mentioned location, the child was outside playing by their gate and a stray bullet from a U.S. soldier hit their son in the head and killed him. The U.S. soldiers went to the boy's funeral and apologized to the family and took their information to get to them, but never did. The child was nine years old and their only son.
recommend approving this claim in the amount of $4,OOO.OO.
**
April 15, 2005
Claimant alleges that on or about 24 February 2005, he was riding in a mini-bus with his nine-year-old son on his lap when Coalition Forces fired a round into the bus. The round allegedly hit his son in the head, causing the son's death later on. Xxxxx alleges that some Americans came to the hospital and apologized. He also states that one of the HMMWV's had "32" on the side. Claimant has enclosed an autopsy report.
Allow me to express my sympathy for your loss, however, in accordance with the cited references and after investigating your claim, I find that your claim is not compensable for the following reason: In vour claim you failed to provide suflicient evidence that U.S. Forces and not someone else is responsible for your damages. Accordingly, your claim must be denied.
**
Incident occurred Jan. 6, 2005 at a bridge near Haifa Street
Claimant alleges that her husband, who was working as a journalist, was walking across the bridge when he was shot and killed by U.S. troops. She has documentation from CA confirming that US. troops were in the area at that time. Also, a medical report is attached stating that the round that killed the victim was a 5.56mm round. The claimant has submitted sufficient evidence.
I recommend approving this claim in the amount of $2,5OO.OO.
(She had asked for $5000)


Meanwhile, others who have received a much more generous settlement for their continued 'assistance' in Iraq, have apparently relocated to sunny climes of Dubai, where they are praised for fitting in with the general business culture:

WASHINGTON, March 14 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- Dubai's business community is ecstatic about Halliburton's announcement that it will move its headquarters to the city known for its lax or non-existent restrictions on corporations. "I'm sure everyone in Dubai, especially the government of Dubai, is ecstatic," Yusef Ibrahim, managing director for the Strategic Energy Investment Group (SEIG), told WBUR Radio's On Point program. SEIG's clients include some of the best-known Western corporations with business in Dubai, including Exxon Mobil, British Petroleum, Norway's Statoil, France's Totalfinaelf and JP Morgan.

Referring to Halliburton's move, Ibrahim made the following observations on the On Point program:

"I think they are rushing toward what I would call a 'comfort zone.' Dubai is a 'comfort zone' because what many people here, for example, in the United States would consider 'corruption' is not necessarily considered a vice in a place like Dubai. It's a very free-wheeling atmosphere where all kinds of businessmen come and they don't expect too many questions to be asked. Don't forget that Dubai from its inception was conceived as a place where you can -- how shall we say -- go around the rules. Dubai started out as a place from which you smuggled gold to India and the subcontinent. And then it evolved. And today it's still considered the largest spot on the earth where you launder money. All the Russian moguls came there. I don't mean that it's a place that spends all its time doing things that are irregular, but basically it prefers to let people work under soft light rather than under spotlights."

"Halliburton is a known quantity. ... It works in areas and with countries that deal in oil and weapons. Halliburton has worked with Iran in the past -- directly and indirectly. The Middle East is an area where you need some ambiguity when it comes to things like paying commissions. Other people would call it "bribes."But this is the way business is done out there. You can't be constantly scrutinized. You can't forget that Halliburton is now under tremendous scrutiny and a number of investigations. Especially KBR. It has had a history that has disturbed some people in Congress...they would feel a lot more comfortable in a place like Dubai."

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Pot to Kettle

Thursday, April 12, 2007

The BBC and its eager Beaver

It is not unusual to switch on to BBC News 24 and find official propaganda being broadcast as fact and/or insinuation, without challenge as to its credibility or any need for evidence. That theme continues today on the channel that is afflicted with a bout of rolling propaganditis. The current theme is that 'Iranian elements' are responsible for roadside bombs in Southern Iraq. Despite not a single incident of such bombs being detected crossing the border and despite an IED 'factory' being discovered inside Iraq days previously (although the story quickly disappeared as it did not fit the official explanation), the BBC maintains that British forces are convinced that the insurgent groups have 'outside help' and that could only come from Iran. Of course, they are careful to attribute the allegations to the spokesmen. Yet, the stream of repetition is a noteworthy act. Why else would they repeat allegations for which there is no evidence? The continual airing of such allegations is an act of propaganda that the BBC undertakes willingly and is backed up by the use of another device. This is the defence correspondent or an analyst who is close to official army or intelligence sources. This morning it is the turn of Paul Beaver who is a defence analyst and former editor for Janes Defence Weekly. He now runs his own company called Beaver Westminster Ltd (BVL). His was one of the foremost analysts featured on the BBC after 11/9 /2001 and the start of the war against Iraq in 2003.

Beaver tends to appear whenever a propaganda battle is taking place and it is necessary to get across to the public the threat from various quarters. For instance, you will remember the faked hullabaloo over threats to aircraft at Heathrow from shoulder launched missiles a couple of years ago. Beaver was right there, telling us how the missile can be carried in the trunk of a car, and launched from the vicinity of an airport, for example from a housing estate or from a car on a nearby road. This is Paul Beaver in the aftermath of the attacks on 11/9/2001:

Now exactly right, we have got to do something about it. Now President George W. Bush is a very intelligent man. He has very good advisors. He will know exactly...
His company offers 'cost-effective consultancy in government and military intelligence sectors.' Look closely at his work with BVL under 'latest news' and you will find that he is heading media activities for a number of arms dealers and manufacturers. BVL's representative Alexis Everington has visited Saudi Arabia on a 'fact finding mission' on behalf of............wait for it.....BAE systems and the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. That might help you to recall the Saudi arms/BAE corruption investigation that was blocked by Blair and Goldsmith 'in the interest of national security'. Beaver also has connections with several air force associations and sponsors the official defence industry dinner, where MOD staff and arms dealers are well represented. This is the kind of bloke that the BBC trusts to provide its supporting commentary. With his background and links it is not surprising that he is trotted out at regular intervals.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Quotes for the day

A couple from Mark Twain.

" A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. "


" A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. "

Lack of reporting in Iraq

I think this is essential watching and might bring home to a few people the reality of the disaster created in Iraq, and how the news that we watch is sanitised to prevent a public outcry. The public remain under an illusion that is far removed from this grim reality. If you have a sensitive disposition........... tough!- this is what your tax is paying for.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

children of Amani

Friday, April 06, 2007

BBC online snapshot

Is it coincidence that Ahmadinejad appears next to Hitler on BBC 0nline at the moment?


This after The Sun headlines like 'who do you think you are kidding, Mr Ahmadinejad?'.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

The Smartly Attired Philanthropists


Selling requires packaging. Capitalism is based upon packaging. Everything, including lifestyles and consumer goods comes with packaging. Packaging increases resale value exponentially. You can take a £1 item and package it, so that you can charge £100 for it. Brand creation is packaging. Who wants to buy plain old trainers for £5 when you can pay £200 for the latest Nike style instead. A small piece of sewn fabric becomes a fashion item packaged and wrapped around the bosom of a supermodel. Capitalism and packaging go hand in glove. We package our lifestyles and homes, we package our cars, we package our children so that they look like the models in the adverts.

Adverts sell us packaging that wraps up ordinariness in more attractive clothing. Processed food with little nutritional value becomes a value item because the package tells us it is. Packaging and advertising go together like shoes and socks. Socks take on ever new colours and designs, introducing ribbing, none slip coatings and become new items in themselves, a kind of hybrid sock shoe. Ultimate capitalists insist on wearing socks only once. They kindly have them washed, pressed and delivered to charities as a token of their philanthropy. This is the new philanthropy that takes £100 to donate £1 to charity. It is the fashionable packaged form of philanthropy. It is the brand new chic philanthropy, that takes the plaudits and reduces the benefits. Packaging, it wraps our lives and strangles our planet.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Packaging is the father of reinvention. You cannot keep buying yesterdays product - that is so uncool. Try today's newly repackaged product and keep up your cool factor. It's you+. Today you buy the cool packaged product, tomorrow you tire of it and want more. We have just the thing. Tomorrow, we will repackage it as unpackaged and 100% pure squeezed and organic. O consumer, don't lose face. Let everybody know you are in our embrace.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Hometown Baghdad

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Iraq's Refugees

Iraq's refugees are piling into neighbouring countries terrified of the continued persecution, kidnappings, aerial bombardment, torture, daily suicide bombings, and murderous Western ground forces. Doctors and other professionals are continuing to flee depleting already desperate hospitals. According to UNHCR there are at least 0.7million refugees in Jordan and 1.2 million in Syria. About 1 million are internally displaced within Iraq (source - Global IPD project). Jordan has implemented draconian measures to deal with the influx. Now anybody between the ages of 20 and 40 is automatically barred from entry and those allowed entry must have sufficient financial means. This means that desperate people who have the misfortune to have no money cannot escape or cannot accompany their families away from the violence. What will happen to those men aged between 20-40? Surely, they will have no option but to seek protection by taking up arms, swelling the numbers of fighting men joining the insurgency, army or militia leading to ever increasing bloodshed. That could be what the neocons want. Prolonged instability gives them the excuse to avoid leaving and gives them more time to complete their multi-billion dollar embassy and their permanent military bases that will gradually replace the dozens of temporary and semi-permanent bases that currently exist.

If the UN can authorise the continuing presence of occupying troops, then it has a duty to make those occupiers financially liable for the refugees. They bear responsibility for the instability and continuing carnage by launching a war of aggression. The billions of dollar bills that have mysteriously vanished in Iraq could and should have been used to help with this problem. Instead, there is no rebuilding (apart from plush hotels and shopping malls in the green zone) and no help for ordinary people who risk life and limb to venture out for food. Indeed, Amnesty International have pointed out the low number of refugees accepted by the USA and the failure to meet their obligations to the rest of the refugees.

Amnesty are not alone. This is a copy of a letter to The Times from HRW:

Plight of the Refugees

Letter to the Editor

Published in The Sunday Times

Your poll shows that one in four has been displaced in Iraq, many forced to flee abroad. The UK has studiously ignored nearly 2m refugees escaping violence and persecution, perhaps because recognising their existence would be an admission that the adventure in Iraq did not go as planned.

Britain has done almost nothing to help or relieve the burden on Iraq’s neighbours; in the past four years it has had no programme of resettlement nor has it earmarked significant humanitarian aid for Iraqi refugees.

For their own reasons, Iraq’s neighbours have also preferred to regard the Iraqis in their countries as “guests” or “illegal aliens” rather than as people with certain rights. Jordan, in particular, is taking a very hard line, closing its border to men of military age and refusing to honour documents issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The UK can no longer shirk its responsibility. Offers of resettlement and assistance to Jordan and Syria should be quick and generous. But to protect Iraqi refugees, Britain must condition this support on Jordan stopping its rejection of Iraqi asylum-seekers at the border and agreeing to respect the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers on its territory.

Bill Frelick
Refugee Policy Director
Human Rights Watch
Washington, DC

http://www.theirc.org/news/urgent-help-needed-for-iraqi.html

Generous Prosecution

How fortunate is former kangaroo skinner turned terrorist, David Hicks? The prosecution at a secret USA military camp in Guantanamo Bay, have decided to be lenient and have asked for a sentence of 'substantially less than 20 years'. The prosecution insist that footsoldiers for the Taliban like Hicks should pay a penalty for having the wrong religion and fighting against an imperial invasion. The prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, said:

"I'm absolutely certain (his attorney) is not conspiring with Mr. Hicks to commit perjury tomorrow in the courtroom when he testifies under oath abut his plea of guilty."
He went on to say:

"It's not the big strategic thinkers ... that have caused the deaths of thousands of people around the world," he said. "It's those tactical soldiers out on the front line that need to be held accountable."
Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are now looking forward to an amnesty for their crimes as they were both mere strategic thinkers in the war as opposed to the footsoldiers who did the fighting.

Defence lawyers were appointed by the prosecution and removed if they dared to suggest that any confession was extracted under duress or that there could be any hint of innocence on the part of the guilty defendant. However, this did not prejudice the trial at all and the presumed guilt was soon confirmed after a few years of detention in the hospitable camp X-ray. The generosity did not stop flowing and the guilty party will soon be allowed to serve his sentence in an Australian prison courtesy of that stalwart of The War Against Terror - John Howard. Further leniency was granted because Hicks despite his treachery had retained his white skin and prosecutors expressed confidence that eventually he can be reinstated as a typical Australian citizen drinking tinnies and hunting crocodiles like all good Australians do in the movies. George W. Bush is 60.