Syria watch...

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 30 Sep 2014, 09:35

I haven't flown for several years and doubt I ever will again. Last time I was told to take my shoes off. That's it, I thought, keep feet on the ground in future.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 30 Sep 2014, 17:05

Yeah well if you will go around looking like a terrorist

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 30 Sep 2014, 17:15

I posted a parcel in our village post office this afternoon. They asked me what was in it. They said it was a Post Office regulation to ask on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority. I pointed out that since the parcel was addressed to a nearby Lincolnshire village, airmail was not appropriate. They insisted that I told them the contents. They did not know whether or not I told them the truth but were happy with my answer and dropped my packet into the sack. It did not explode.

(Not yet.)

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 30 Sep 2014, 18:35

Don't you know the PO has been outsourced to India and all the post now goes via a hub just outside New Delhi?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 30 Sep 2014, 18:58

Ah, that'll explain why our post doesn't come till 4pm instead of at breakfast time. It's a long way to India and back.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 03 Oct 2014, 20:34

A very sound speech from Canada's opposition leader. Why didn't Miliband make it?

http://www.liberal.ca/newsroom/blog/jus ... eech-iraq/

The Liberal Party of Canada cannot and will not support this Prime Minister’s motion to go to war in Iraq.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 14 Oct 2014, 16:40

From Pol Pot to Isis

A former British ambassador, Oliver Miles, wrote recently, "The [Cameron] government seems to be following the example of Tony Blair, who ignored consistent advice from the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6 that our Middle East policy - and in particular our Middle East wars - had been a principal driver in the recruitment of Muslims in Britain for terrorism here."

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 19 Jan 2015, 12:20

biffvernon wrote:
Donnachadh McCarthy wrote: Non-eco Sunday musing...
So Obama/Cameron are declaring war on the "barbaric" ISIL ?
Like everybody else I recognise and am horrified by the nightmarish inhumanity unleashed by these religious extremists.
BUT...
It seems after they beheaded 3 westerners, we are now seeking to enter into an unholy alliance with another fundamentalist Islamic dictatorship which has beheaded "only" 22 people in the last 3 months ie Saudi Arabia. Hmmmm... I struggle to find the logic in this.
Meanwhile US/UK drones have been carrying out barbaric extrajudicial murders for years via their drone bombers in numerous Islamic countries (Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq), which not only behead their victims but often disembowel, blind, dismember and burn horrifically the skin of their sometimes conscious victims, not to mention the crimes carried out with US/UK weapons on innocent Palestinians.
And this horrific barbarism that is carried out in our name is also not just inflicted on those our masters have decided to murder without trial but also on their innocent wives, children, wedding parties, friends and elderly pensionsers.
When Joe Biden invoked the ridiculous religious imagery of these ISIL barbarians burning in Hell, maybe he might pause before using such inflammatory imagery and place himself in the minds of some of the 30,000 volunteers who have flocked to ISIL and ask himself what has created the conditions for such enthusiastic support for this barbarism?
And finally let us not forget that our own Prime Minister holds direct blood responsibility for the creation of ISIL, through his enthusiastic support for Blair's illegal disastrous invasion. They were warned by our own secret service that such a blood thirsty shock and awe invasion would lead to the creation of thousands of militant Islamic youths - just as the bloody acts by the British Army did on Bloody Sunday did for the IRA.
And many of those pontificating this weekend on Scotland (Blair/Brown/Reid/Prescott) defending the "wonders" of what we can do together in the UK, used the armed forces of Scotland to carry out these vile invasions which led directly to the creation of ISIL.
So maybe on this Sunday, we should decide that massacring the volunteers that we recuited for ISIL, may not be the best way to try and close the nightmarish Pandora's Box opened by Blair/Cameron/Bush?
We might use the benefit of hindsight and decide that killing more Muslims might not be the best way to halt the fire of religious extremism set on light by our murderous invasions?
And maybe we might on this Sunday think that acts of contritution and restitution might be more appropriate response to the consequences that our barbarism has left as a legacy to humanity?
Create a peaceful Sunday my friends.
Donnachadh x

Guys, Unmanned: America's Drone Wars from Brave New Films is available for download for free at the moment. I don't know how long it will be up for, so this link will probably expire at some point.

Please watch it. It will make you shudder.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 11 Feb 2015, 16:50

Obama asks for ‘3yrs, no territorial limits’ formal war authority

"It would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected or intended, such as intelligence collection and sharing, missions to enable kinetic strikes or the provision of operational planning and other forms of advice and assistance to partner forces."

In other words, "I want to bomb the shite out of anything, anywhere, anytime." I've never believed in the devil but I imagine these are the kinds of words he would come up with.

Obama certainly meant it when he said, "Yes we can". He's going for the record. 7 wars against Muslims in 7 years and now he's cranking up the ante? But for the millions of gullible but innocent Americans, it almost makes me wish for an actual Jericho.

another_exlurker · Post by **another_exlurker** » 11 Feb 2015, 17:07

emordnilap wrote:Obama asks for ‘3yrs, no territorial limits’ formal war authority

"It would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected or intended, such as intelligence collection and sharing, missions to enable kinetic strikes or the provision of operational planning and other forms of advice and assistance to partner forces."
In other words, "I want to bomb the shite out of anything, anywhere, anytime." I've never believed in the devil but I imagine these are the kinds of words he would come up with.

Obama certainly meant it when he said, "Yes we can". He's going for the record. 7 wars against Muslims in 7 years and now he's cranking up the ante? But for the millions of gullible but innocent Americans, it almost makes me wish for an actual Jericho.

Methinks the Nobel Committee were a tad premature.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 12 Feb 2015, 20:31

In case you missed it: President Assad interviewed by BBC

Jeremy Bowen does his worst to smear Assad only to end up looking like the tenth rate hack he is

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 13 Feb 2015, 10:25

Surprised at that comment RB, I think Jeremy Bowen is one of the better BBC interviewers/commentators

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 13 Feb 2015, 10:38

It does seem increasingly clear to me that the BBC has a specific editorial stance which, like the UK Government, is broadly supportive of the US neo-con agenda when it comes to geopolitical issues.

In fact, I'd sum up the BBC's stance in general as:
- US exceptionalism good
- Unlimited economic growth good
- Political correctness good

Any other questions? See the above!

This is, of course, outrageous. The fact that such a stance can be so readily identified completely flies in the face of the idea that the BBC should be an independent, unbiased broadcaster that can be trusted. Mind you, things could be worse; they could actually be good at hiding their bias. Now that would be really unpleasant.

I suppose people like Bowen have a choice; toe the editorial line or lose your job.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 13 Feb 2015, 10:43

There is, also, the desperate need for them to appear 'fair' where and when it suits them. This is not a rule that's applied across the board - only when it doesn't conflict with the government's agenda.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 13 Feb 2015, 11:47

emordnilap wrote:There is, also, the desperate need for them to appear 'fair' where and when it suits them. This is not a rule that's applied across the board - only when it doesn't conflict with the government's agenda.

Precisely. In this instance it doesn't suit Government's agenda to have a fair interview with a leader they have been covertly trying to dislodge since the staged uprising of 2011. So objectivity and impartiality go out of the window - let's try and portray Assad in the worst light possible. It backfired as Bowen - who made assertions without any supporting evidence - was rebuffed.

There is no integrity with the Western MSM for the reasons that Tarrel rightly pointed out. Bowen, like a lot of the other old hacks at the Beeb are nothing more than a pale imitation of the journalists they used to be.
The reason for this decline has to go right to the top - with the Director General