Iran: what next?
Philip Roddis
With so many brown skinned men, women and children in the Middle East maimed, bereaved or having their lives terminated by the high tech and highly profitable products of America’s military industrial complex, it’s easy to forget that sanctions are no less lethal.
Remember Madeleine Albright? Asked if the deaths to malnutrition and disease of half a million Iraqi under fives – before Bush – had been a price worth paying for putting a sanctions squeeze on Saddam, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State said yes.
Now turn to this Financial Times piece from April, on the economic hit to Iran from the Trump-Bolton-Pompeo sanctions. It tells of ‘collapse in economic growth, pushing the Islamic republic into a deep recession and lifting inflation towards 40 per cent’.
A few months earlier, an Independent piece had focused on the human impact.
John Bolton, as you may well recall, is on record as wanting sanctions to hurt ordinary Iranians till they rise up and overthrow the theocracy in Teheran.
Meanwhile those who dared tell the truth about what our leaders are really thinking and doing continue to suffer. Julian – abandoned by so many who should be his most ardent supporters – sits in Belmarsh contemplating the very real prospect of spending the next 175 years in a US for-profit snake pit. Meantime, for every day of refusal to help the FBI bring that happy state of affairs to fruition, Chelsea is fined $1,000. Then there’s Ed, in Moscow with no direction home.
Bear these things in mind as we move to this morning’s news.
*
Today I woke to hear of Iran seizing a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Hormuz Strait in an unambiguous don’t-fuck-with-us signal. Such a move has been on the cards since the ‘daring landing’ of July 4, when HM Marines impounded an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar.
Whitehall says the Gibraltar move was to enforce sanctions against Assad, but this account has problems over and above the central one of the dirty war on Syria being driven by reasons far removed from those sold to credulous Western audiences. The problems I speak of are that in the past Iranian tankers clearly headed for Syria have been let through, and in any case Syria cannot be oil-embargoed as long as she has Russia onside.
So what is going on? I’m no fan of either the Guardian or Patrick Wintour. I’m also suspicious of the hostility to Trump of liberal media that had no problem with the Clinton-Albright sanctions, no problem with Obama’s bombings and no problem with Hillary’s desire to impose no-flight-zones on Syria in a way that promised to bring us to a very nuclear WW3. But this piece todaygives a surprisingly fair minded assessment – obligatory prayers for Assad’s ousting aside – of the perilous game Washington is playing, with London in for the ride
…there were some oddities to the [July 4] British decision. Few previous shipments of oil to Syria have been impounded. The Spanish claim the British acted under the instruction of the Americans. The Trump administration is trying to freeze Iranian oil exports as part of its policy of maximum economic sanctions designed to force the Iranians to reopen talks on the nuclear deal signed in 2015.
But Britain opposes that US policy, arguing that it is counterproductive and only likely to strengthen the hands of hardliners in Tehran.
Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister and co-chair of the European council on foreign relations, pinpointed the ambiguities of the British action in Gibraltar:
The legality of the UK seizure of a tanker heading for Syria with oil from Iran intrigues me. One refers to EU sanctions against Syria, but Iran is not a member of the EU. And the EU as a principle doesn’t impose its sanctions on others. That’s what the US does.”
Actually, I take that back about ‘surprising fairmindedness’. On top of the de rigeur expressions of horror by liberal media at Trump’s shennanniganns, as if the Empire had been all sweetness and light till November 2016, we have to consider the diverging interests of the EU (Guardian being uncritically pro Remain) and USA over how to bring Iran to heel. Ditto on whether Europe must buy American energy rather than cheaper Russian gas.
So far, in any real trial of strength, Europe has caved – witness Merkel’s humiliating return from Washington, empty handed, over the Iran sanctions – but we can expect the Guardian to make deprecatory noises as the world’s foremost imperialism inches us towards Armageddon in the name of Keeping Us Safe.
In short, Wintour’s piece falls well within the Overton window.
But what about Tehran? All things considered it’s hardly surprising, is it, if the ayatollahs refuse to blink? But is this the longed for casus belli, or just another milestone along the road? There’s ample evidence of Washington desire – outpaced by Bolton’s personal vendetta – for regime change in Iran, dating back at least as far as 2002. But contrary to the hype from Trump and Bolton, Iran has shown little desire to develop a nuclear capability.
What she does have is the capacity to wage asymmetric, protracted war against any ground forces ranged against her. (Short of nuking Tabriz and Mashad, regime change is not achievable from the air.) Since it beggars belief that Israel would not be drawn into such a war, you really do have to wonder.
What next?
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Bit weird having the UK invoking action on behalf of the EU since its trying its utmost to leave that particular organization. But I suppose given the overall credulity of the media fed to today’s public its just a case of “tell ’em anything that sounds about right, nobody’s going to question it”. Now we have the spectacle of the UK trying to rally the EU to provide military assets in the Gulf. It doesn’t appear to be getting any traction. After all, relations with Iran were going on OK until the US decided unilaterally to pull the plug, reimpose sanctions and generally mess things up. The UK just did its usual thing of going along with whatever the US tells it to. Europe wasn’t as convinced; it organized a lukewarm bypass mechanism for the sanctions but is a bit stuck because of the wholesale retribution against its economies should… Read more »
Iran is the last country on the “Seven countries in five years” list that General Wesley Clark learned of in one of his visits to the Zionist-infested Pentagon shortly after 9/11.
Another excellent ‘scribbling’ by Writer Wroddis..
I’ve seen reading his stuff for some while.
What they seem to have in common is ‘common sense’,
which as events unfolding indicate, is not common.
He’s a sort of electronic ‘Everyman’.
Power and persistence to your pen 🙂
Thanks man!
“John Bolton, as you may well recall, is on record as wanting sanctions to hurt ordinary Iranians till they rise up and overthrow the theocracy in Teheran.” It is a bit like the bombing in WW2 it did not dishearten the people, but unified them against the aggressor. [be they British or German] Iranians may think that their leaders are a bunch of dictators, but at least they are our dictators. Our so called democratic leaders in the west are little better. If the population believes them then democracy is good. If the population disbelieves them, or worse tries to change things, then democracy is bad and the population does not really understand the problem. So need more reeducation [by the MSM] The Iranians [Persians] are not stupid and have a long history, not to mention memory [regime change in the 50’s, from a socialist parliament to dictatorship by the… Read more »
“If they want their people to eat, they have to do as they’re told.”
Good analogy with WW2. Also the Allies demanded Unconditional Surrender, of Germany and pre-Hiroshima Japan both. That undermined those in Berlin and Tokyo seeking to sue for peace. The same tango is playing out vis a vis Tehran. Whether this is driven by merciless calculation, insanity of the Pompeo creationist school or plain old fashioned failure of imagination is at the moment hard to call.
Javad Zarif
@JZarif
Make no mistake: Having failed to lure
@realDonaldTrump into War of the Century, and fearing collapse of his #B_Team, @AmbJohnBolton
is turning his venom against the UK in hopes of dragging it into a quagmire.
Only prudence and foresight can thwart such ploys.”
M.Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Islamic Republic of Iran
….prudence and foresight…wisdom.
….will UK have it?
Will iranians have it?
Will the human race have it?
And still people talk about “war with Iran” as if that was likely to be as insignificant an event as telling Hillary Clinton to shut up and sit down.
War with Iran is NOT going to be an insignificant event.
Our so-called “representatives” are supposed to stop WW3, because a human civilization worthy of the name is unlikely to survive it.
Wouldn’t you call that “significant”…?
The U S will be irresistibly drawn into an engagement that will not end well as the author noted Iran’s asymmetrical military capabilities, the launching of perhaps thousands of potent anti ship missiles which will quickly overwhelm U S naval vessel’s anti missile defense systems.
Iran knows she’s fighting for her very survival and will with the resolve of a mother bear protecting her cubs launch ferocious attack on many fronts at the first hint of aggression.
A beaten battered navy will be left with only a full on nuclear assault option. Trump ain’t letting them come home with their tails between their legs you can count on that!
And then there’s Russia and China who have vested interests in Iran’s future security. Will they idly stand by when the empire decides to bully Iran?
God save us from the maniacs running America over the cliff.
Trump’s electoral prospects hinge upon a successful mission.
For him personally it is a massive gamble – for Pompeo and John – Yosamite Sam Bolton it is not their ass on the line as the Yanks say.
Iran has nor been dis-armed as Iraq was and is very dangerous in terms of retaliation.
It can blitz Israel if it so wished and Israel could blitz them back too.
This sis very serious stuff.
The UK as usual is a bit player in this dangerous game.
Johnson will follow the US so here we go.
Iran here means the totalitarian Ayatollah regime. Most Iranians not religious fanatics.
Neither are most of the Chosen Folk.
Just the rabid rabbis who rule the roost in Talmudistan and the JEWSA alike.
This is a really good article, which questions the illegal methods which have been used to snatch the Grace 1 – an act of piracy IMHO.
I would question sanctions, except when they are enforced by the UN.
Why does any single country, or even a group of countries feel that it has the authority to sanction another country?
The US backed by puppet states has decided to adorn itself with the cloak of rulemaker of the World, despite the fact that it seldom if ever abides by the rules which it enforces on others.
It was the US which pulled out of the JCPOA more than a year ago, an illegal act itself. Following that the US has contrived certain situations in order to somehow show that Iran broke the deal.
For God’s sake will some group of countries have the courage to stand up to the US.
The UN is a PRIVATE organisation based on Rockerfeller money. No-one elected anyone of the several generations who live and work there.
Piracy? GB is a Nation, not a rogue without a country which is the essence of a pirate. The theft of another Nation’s property being transported on the seas of the world amounts to an overt act of WAR. It is a mark of superior diplomacy by Iran that they are willing to have the act by GB downgraded to simple piracy.
I should perhaps remind you that Sir Captain Henry Morgan, was a privateer and pirate in the 17th century. Sir Thomas Modyford who was governor of Jamaica at the time, allowed Morgan to pillage Spanish ships. Morgan was later made Lieutenant Goerner of Jamaica.
I do agree with you however about the actions of the UK, they are an act of war.
Really, Mr. Bildt? Then please tell me when the Russian Federation became an EU member, because the EU is supposedly sanctioning them, too!
I think Mr Bildt’s comments could have either been expressed better or translated better. But I think in essence he is right. As I read it, and from my working knowledge of EU trade rules, the points to be made are that ‘sanctions’ in the EU context are regulations imposed on EU Member States prohibiting THEM from economically/financially supporting the target country. So “no individual, company or organisation in a Member State shall invest in…”, “no individual, company or organisation in a Member State shall import….from..” etc etc. Consistent with this, and as I have explained elsewhere, the oil sanctions against Syria specifically prohibit anyone in a Member State from importing oil originating in Syria or being exported to the EU by Syria. The EU’s oil sanctions do not, and cannot, apply to bilateral trade between Syria and any other non-EU country such as Iran, whether the goods are being… Read more »
Yeah well it seems the Saudis have finally released the Iranian tanker, Happiness, and crew after 2 and half months.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/147859/Saudi-Arabia-releases-Iranian-oil-tanker-all-crew-members
Wonder what made them suddenly decide to do that?
The video of the Iranian commandos and fast boats storming the fast moving Stena Tanker shows they are well trained and excuses why the British naval ship didn’t get involved – not cowards but sensible.
Well that never made our news did it.
Both the Happiness 1 and the Grace 1, are significantly larger ships than the one which the Iranians have stopped – both in excess of 150,000 tonnes, whilst the Stena Impero is around 30,000 tonnes.
The predicate of a false premise of possession and control is its demand for sacrifice to forfend the undoing of a substitution for life. Without willing worth-ship and support in false with-ness, it has no power and cannot possess or capture and deny the heart’s allegiance. The underlying idea of private agenda is in every mind that thinks to think apart – and thus set itself apart and over others – in ‘victory’ or in ‘grievance’ as the idea of vengeance as a self-vindication for a hateful or ‘self-conflicted’ experience of existence as ‘separation trauma’. The mind of such a possession is blind in its drive and fragmented in its entanglement. Fear of pain of loss runs in place of a true movement or resonant alignment in our being. But to truly and directly SEE this, is no longer to be blindly possessed or captured by its thinking as your… Read more »
Sorry you lost me there.
Pretty much this by Bill Hicks 🙂 https://youtu.be/KgzQuE1pR1w
Thanks for that link.
What kind of life are you being the expression of? I don’t mean ‘good or bad’ but the scope and consciousness of all that you have lived? Embracing all of it is a different ride from riding roughshod over whoever to get your kicks or needs met as your beliefs define you in them. As a theme park – what are the themes of your life focus? Some of this is personality type or orientation. Life changes can flip this around. If you are the exploration of a theme then perhaps you are not so much an intent to get to some goal as to live it’s unfolding fully. To enjoy the journey is to find the means and end becoming one. To subordinate everything else to getting CAN be a very strong focus – or it can be a completely self defeating exercise in frustration – depending on the… Read more »
Don’t use an apology format for disagreeing with or not understanding other people unless it is accompanied by a genuine request to rephrase. Also note tbat binra is not understood by many reading here, often to the extent of infuriating some. It is because he is on a jouney to express and clarify for himself, hence–indirectly–others, something that is, for now and maybe forever, outside the Underton window. Wheras the Overton window denotes the limits of public discourse and discussions beyond those limits are confusing, meaningless, overchallenging, etcetera–or all four of those–to many whose thought processes are confined within the limits so denoted at any given time, so the Underton window, newly invented just for you, denotes the limits of the internal, often subconcious limits which we individually place on our own understanding of the world, usually to avoid internal confusions, apparently unresolvable contradictions, psychologically destabilizing trains of thought, etc–or… Read more »
P.S. I often read his posts paragraph by paragraph backwards–last paragraph first, first paragraph last. Try it, you might like it. Works for me…
I have a positive resonance with many posters here and beneath the frustrations that cannot find articulation – everyone. My love for humanity is not set in personality expressions! So I do not have a polarised reaction against for example political and social analysis – in fact it is often very instructive in revealing underlying patterns of human thought. Though rarely bridging to personal responsibility for our own consciousness. I don’t get to hang out in a social sense of personal reinforcement – but then I need social connection to be a byproduct of a self-integrity. Else my sense is of a self-betrayal or living a lie. There is no going back 😉 (But within self-betrayal is the belief love is false and truth a lie.) If I was to only post a brief snapshot instead of the whole of which it comes – then in many cases the last… Read more »
No. If your intention is to communicate, then the onus is on you to make the connection and explain what you are saying. Any ‘personal journey’ is self indulgent and asks for indulgence from its readers – which is why no-one bothers to do anything other than the above comment.
Binra’s ‘psychobabble’ is a regurgitation of psychology/NWO/Theosophy/Hindu philosophy – and, consequently, the response most have to it is the same response as to vomit.
Your ability to understand, I would suggest, has been covered in a previous discussion where it was shown that it is possible to understand anything if we believe in our ability to do so.
I hope he understands what he’s talking about.
I’m not sure I do.
I don’t think that I am even going to try Mark, I haven’t got many years left on this planet, so try to make the most of each moment.
Please explain.
If you believe you understand then you have your reward. I do not attack your freedom to believe or be-live as your own journey of self unfolds for you. I see that what is called understanding is simply control or narrative framing. If you truly understood, would you need to vomit on what another says? Many assume communication should occur according to their rules and that any other expression is therefore invalidated. Insofar as I join in commenting I never knowingly dump on others or inflame hatred and division even though the issues that are generally posted to on OG are framed in large part in blame and shame narratives. My assertion to you and anyone else is that there is only one TERRITORY to the experience of a human life – regardless the variation in forms and mappings that then conflict as polarised or charged identities. If you choose… Read more »
Brian aka binra; thanks for this comment, it made sense to me, and no, there was no ‘fog in my head’ like most other times with your comments. Just checked out your blogspot also, and even tho you’re in England, and I’m down here in Australia, may I humbly recommend some music to you: Ana Never, Yndi Halda and Inward Oceans. All of these on Bandcamp or YouTube. Music is food for the soul, and is contemplative and soothing, and often helpful for falling asleep = lullaby. Cheers…
I’ll have a listen I play music more than I listen – and may write more than I read! – but the key is in being tuned into a coherence of being – centred and grounded come to mind. Silence is the quality of awareness in its own light and if too much is happening without the quality of coherence than peace and quiet restores – and this can be a moment of true resonance by which to release a sense of inner struggle. I recognise I speak from an entirely different presumption and that in itself means that messages can ‘fail’. It may be that brain fog is a ‘defence’ AND no less a propagation of an Establishment seeking to prevent or deny exposure. In any case it seems an overload of ‘information’ that may be an overload of attempt to control – along with what we might call… Read more »
Thanks binra…. Again, get what you mean. I took note of the words… ‘centred and grounded’. Nature and the sense of connectedness also helps to centre us, tho I’ll admit, sometimes too many distractions, too much information, too much rushing about does tend to frazzle the brain. Just be….
Will further check out your blog later. Need to get going = sell Big Issue mags = so I can pay rent and have dinner tonight! Enjoy your natural surroundings, and enjoy the rest of your week🙏
Economy, coherence and precision are desirable features in any important statement or commentary today.
Meditation assignments and words like “forfend” are only going to appeal to 80-year-old priests, and a comment upon a decent article should not compete with the length of the article itself.
Several short comments are surely much more digestible for the reader.
At least it is my opinion that our current world problems are not so complicated that arcane English is required in order to clarify them.
I wish any sincere seeker for truth and justice all the best, but I also think it’s okay to encourage people to pay some regard to their fellow human beings when it comes to explaining things, and I certainly apologize if I do not always succeed in this myself.
Sacrificial ‘religion’ operates to forfend, avert or delay feared threat of disaster. The practice is no less current than ever was. It is the basis of self-limitation in exchange for survival under tyranny of the lie. Rationalised thinking is predicated on irrational premises. My first attention is to the felt qualities, and to conscious meanings of phrasing. I don’t tune in to the ‘marketplace’ because it is essentially the demand for unconsciousness. Lies, propaganda and persuasion all run in the ‘mind’ of the world as if making sense. False framing is invisible when we act from it as if self-evident reality, and no attempt to show the nature of the deceit can reach those who think in its terms. Truth is not at war with illusions and makes no sense in their framing. Else it would not be so readily sacrificed for war, soft or hard, in secret or openly.… Read more »
I like your use of the word, “resonance”.
Far too little attention is paid to things in our lives which should resonate, but do not.
Resonance and life are essentially the same thing, come to think of it, in the sense that the opposite of both is death.
As I see it, I share in a shift from the framing mind of impacts and collisions of forceful action and reaction to the recognition of an underlying resonant coherence. The generation of dissonance as a blocking signal is my sense of ‘mind control’. Which I see as both intra and inter personal. The alternative to mind-in-its-own-spin is the command of the heart – for all else aligns under accepted purpose – whether consciously accepted or unconsciously reactively persisting in learned habit. The mind in grievance worships or gives worth to the broken or subjugated heart of victim – from which rises the reaction of vengeance – to regain what was stolen or give back in due measure. In such an attunement the call to war overrides all else as if Life cannot happen UNTIL dues are paid, collected or meted out. There is no end to such a perpetual… Read more »
I rephrase for you : You are being phished. Suffering identity theft, and false-flagging the pain of such loss to everyone and everything ELSE. And believing your salvation or survival depends on such a narrative control. However I hold that we are doing this to our self regardless the agencies at work and so we are in a freedom to bring back into our own responsibility what was given away unwittingly as attempt to escape fear and pain of loss. If you do not feel the pain of conflict or separation then your ‘protectors’ are serving the purpose you gave them. But at a cost… So you HAVE your reward – as the measure of your giving. I have the benefit no less of my gift to you. What we share we strengthen in ourselves. I grow my faith in you regardless your current behaviour and grow in the realm… Read more »
Binra has the ANSWER….never mind the question. In common with most evangelicals, the answer is long, convoluted and SERIOUS. I’d recommend getting together with the common sense writer Phillip Roddis for a beer or two or three. And then a good laugh when you get the joke 🙂
The answer is reading the ‘problem’ from a perspective outside its framing. The problem is designed to deny this by keeping you in the attempt to operate within it. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again. But look at the funding and revenue stream that is generated. If I were an evangelical I would be perhaps a record holder for nil conversions. Giving true witness is not the attempt to persuade or convince another. Regardless appearances, I extend freedom to have it. If blanket judgements gave way to raising any specific point – then the issue would become talkable. If being out of alignment with our true feeling and desire in life generated symptoms of dissonance – and we then focus in dissonance as if to adjust it, fix it, eradicate it or understand and control it – then the one thing we… Read more »
In the seminal work ‘The Power Elite’ first published in 1956,the great American social-theorist C Wright Mills carefully identified three interlinked elites who came togther to form ‘The Power Elite. These were 1. The Warlords, what today we would call the MIC, 2. The Corporate Rich, and 3. The Political Directorate. These three bodies had sufficient hoziontal integration to form what Mills refers to as ‘The Power Elite’. And there exists sufficient lateral mobility, the revolving door which enables persons for one power group move with east into the adjacent one. For example from Goldman Sachs to the head of the Fed. But – like his co-thinker F Scott Fitzgerald – Mills was also of the opinion that ‘these people’ were not like the rest of us. No they are most certainly not. Now turn to David Icke and his theory of the lizard people. Okay I like David Icke… Read more »
The same ‘brain-damage’ can be seen in psychopaths. Inbreeding for generations, as with the deviants, propagates this trait. It is very, very difficult for us to believe that the deviants can be people because their way of thinking is so far outside our own. We assume compassion is a trait all humans have, and it isn’t. This, actually, is their ‘secret weapon’ – they know we can’t believe that they would do the things they do or lie the way they do. It is also a lot easier to believe that they are from another planet, or that they are lizard people, or annunaki or something ‘not us’. Our programming of never being given news with some entertainment attached to it leads us to be able to accept a fantasy with our reality – hence Icke’s lizards. This programming (plus indoctrination in school) means that when we are faced with… Read more »
We are their money makers, the slaves that generate money for them to spend on anything that generally doesn’t benefit us. They get their toy soldiers out every few years. They don’t care that real lives are lost and destroyed.
’tis just a game for them that pays for more toys, it keeps the game in a state of perpetuity.
I have no desire for another resource war in Iran. Was it Nostradamus who suggested WW3 would start in the middle East?
Each morning I am expecting to hear of the latest false flag or provocation by our (mis) representative elites. They are oh so predictable or am I just getting cynical in my middle age years? Suppose I’m lucky to have reached 44 without being vaporised.
It’s what Human Resources means.
The UN states that a good citizen is one who produces and consumes. They will keep you around until you stop doing the former – then, when there are no opiates available (because we silly people keep overdosing) for the pain you have in old age given to you courtesy of GMO foods, etc., you will be offered a little pill to ease you on your way.
Nostradamus was one of them – well into predictive programming supporting the myths and propaganda which gives labels to mass murders. The Great Cull began for real in 1914 and it hasn’t stopped.
Congratulations on getting to 44 – keep going!
Thanks Mikalina, I don’t know if I dare mention this on off g as there are many great minds on here. I’ve never made that connection with Nostradamus so I’ll dig a little deeper. Thanks for the insight, its very plausible. Best wishes
Nostradamus was a bullshit artist.
“Thus, accepting lizard people gratifies our need to face the fact that we have an enemy and are under attack without the stark, horrific enormity of the truth – there are a breed of deviant people who control, and have always controlled, the world and we are their cattle, sheep, playthings.” No (as you are wont to say). There are indeed “deviant” people, who succeed in controlling and always have succeeded in controlling the world, who regard most others as their cattle, sheep and playthings while living in uneasy alliances of convenience with those of similar nature, but while they tend to be bred apart as descendants of the first in their lineage to so succeed, they are not a breed apart. The Lizards’R’Us, each and every one of us, only a minor twist of epigenetics and/or circumstance away from “the enemy”, the Lizards of Them. And that is what… Read more »
To put it in the terms of your first paragraph, we are all so ‘brain damaged. The lizards amongst us know this and exploit it; the exploited deny it and suffer the torments of psychic hell for that denial when confronted with it (very often and in very lizard-like ways then seeking to displace its attributes and consequences onto others); only very few of us transcend it to become freewilled “humans”.
Reading much of Icke’s stuff as accurately observed literal couched in bizarre, prophetic/poetic metaphor is not without its having a considerable utility value.
Again, no. The very valuable, truthful research he has ‘borrowed’ has been mixed in with rubbish in order to render it invisible – counterintelligence, in other words.
David Icke, cunning plagiarist? One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest. –T.S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood Commentary: There’s nothing new under the sun. It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it. Only 12 notes provide all the music in the western world. Only about 40,000 words comprise the vocabularies of even the most verbally… Read more »
i like icke too. i once played football against him many years ago.
his reptilian insights are born out of his indulgence in ahuasca but who is to say he is wrong?
what we are dealing with here is human consciousness and as is it well known that only 1/3 of our brains are in daily use/active who am i to argue with his theories. he comes across to me as a very serious and believable actor
They keep prodding and poking. Syria was too busy fighting UK and Gulf funded terrorists to retaliate directly and their restraint was necessary. Iran on the other hand has firepower to use directly and will use it. So the most effective strategy in this scenario is to stand up to aggression. We’ve seen a few signs of them backing off. But why seize the Iranian tanker and be surprised when they do the same? I wonder if it is sheer stupidity – or part of some plan to increase the chance of open confrontation. Either way, the people running the show should be fired. Then tried for past war crimes, terror funding and treason. I’m still waiting for a tax rebate from last year. Tax money that went to the White Helmets murdering civilians and I’m sure in previous years to terrorists destroying Libya and then blowing up children in… Read more »
While you are at it, turn yourself in for fraudulently supporting the European Commission. I understand that they have never had a full audit and are, consequently, operating fraudulently. The UK supports this fraud and in turn so do you (us). I promise to protest outside whatever prison they put you in.
Engineering false premise into the national dialog for peons to adopt into their imagined reality is proven to be sufficient to extract peon commitment and to incite self-sacrifice of life to make the false premise a reality.
Private greed feeds the false-premise to the nation state, nation state engineers it and the media creates the premise in virtual reality for consumption by the peon. The same false-premise is given to the USA, UK, France, Switzerland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the virtual reality of media assures its adoption.
The problem in our world is the nation state system. It divides 8 billion people ito 200 or so person containers, and homogenizes them according to container specification, so that each individual within a contained group thinks alike, and hates alike.. Now to generate war it is only necessary to polarized the hate, and point one container against the other..
Thanks for this Philip. Very perilous times indeed. I feel like we’re now at the edge of the cliff, and sooner or later; my moneys on sooner, this is all going to blow up in the West’s face.
Reap what you sow; the consequences of the quest for complete dominance and having puppet regimes everywhere, except Iran is not Panama or Grenada, and Iran is not going to passively sit back and take its ‘medicine’ as we all now see.
The mind boggling stupidity and hubris and hypocrisy of the Empire’s apparatchiks. Imbeciles the lot of them.
Keep playing with matches around a box of dynamite, and eventually it’ll all go…. Kaboom. All the millions and millions who marched against the Iraq invasion in 2003 – where are you all?
Just one wrong move will set this off. And many many innocent human beings will be the victims. Yet again.
“All the millions and millions who marched against the Iraq invasion in 2003 – where are you all?”
Carousing in the pub with Assange’s erstwhile supporters, sticking their hands up wimmin’s skirts and groping Bolton Trump’s pussy.
Or going shopping for more stuff they don’t even need. Sigh. Assuming that you’re in the UK, will wish you a good afternoon Rob✌
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted
to a profoundly sick society” – J Krishnamurti.
Agreed my friend, we are one false flag or deliberate provocation away from a shitestorm. I say this with sarcasm, Iran should roll over, disarm, prove that they have, and all will be rosy… Worked for Saddam didn’t it.
As I said before, US strategy is always to keep the conflicts simmering, then fan the glimmer to a bit of burn …. You do sell more killing kit when there’s conflict.
They say 20% of global oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz – and we cannot replace that? There are plenty of innovations on all levels. Even for kerosin there are two alternatives. No more oil from the Strait – no more (or less) conflict.
The taxpayer pays for the military, not the oil companies or the insurances, totally bizarre.
Fair and balanced comment, Wilmers31!
They have deservedly won the title ‘united states of criminals and murderers’. (Not all Americans are criminal murderers, but those who count are). The difference with usual criminals is, the US causes destruction and mayhem on a unimaginable scale. And they designed laws to make all the killing classified. The forbade government/military personnel from reading Wikileaks cables and asked other governments to pretend the cables didn’t exist. All Western governments want to keep the sinister scheming and wanton killing classified and they have already introduced laws to that effect, making it a serious crime to divuldge governments’ nefarious cheming.
‘The taxpayer pays for the military, not the oil companies or the insurances’ – this point cannot be over-emphasised enough.
The conflict with Iran has NOTHING to do with national security – its simply a means by which public money is being to underwrite the expense of private companies seeking to increase their market share.
In this respect the US military is no different to a private police force that has little regard for the law or morality – the sort of force that brings to mind the sort of racists cops that controlled America’s southern states.
The last thing the public want (here or in the US) is another war in the Middle East, so why are our politicians and MSM stoking the fire?
Interesting to see previous shipments of oil to Syria have gone through Gibraltar Strait OK?
I wonder if JCorbyn has the balls to stand in Parliament to lambast the government’s actions?!
He’s caved on too much so far…
Sounds like you once supported him, so wait to see what he delivers when he feels less “need” to “cave in” if he’s still there if and when Labour is elected. He won’t come near to satisfying those who listened to his words without examining the background, always there in plain sight,that informed them, but if you are one of the rest then wait until, on the basis of his understanding of past experience, he is no longer effectively powerless. Don’t suck it, never see.
….and now…taran…(dramatic music):
“The Daily Mirror report claims that UK intelligence service MI6 and the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) initiated an investigation on whether omnipotent Russian spies used their cyber-warfare prowess to spoof the GPS signal on the UK-flagged Stena Impero tanker seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps”
…..to be continue…dont miss next episode of UK (and the “CIVILIZED” West resist the attacks of the evils russians and Ayatollahs….
(Epic music fade in and slowly fades out)
…We’ll go to commercials and be back in a second. Dont move from your seats my fellow hypnotized consumers…(SMILE).
” (GCHQ) initiated an investigation on whether omnipotent Russian spies used their cyber-warfare prowess to spoof the GPS signal on the UK-flagged Stena Impero tanker”
WOW! We didn’t know, GCHQ is an entertainment channel!
and yet….for the last week or so Gallileo (europe’s gps satellite system) has been down. not faulty; down. gone. USAF GPS (and GLONASS the Russian-run equivalent) are being used as backup, and, as is usual in times of American hegemonism, the US will likely be degrading the USAF signal by up to 10m in some areas. coincidence?
Now that’s not funny…….
When you start a war you open Pandora’s Box.
Nobody knows what will happen. Nobody has any control of events any more. None at all.
WW2 started with a dispute over the German border with Poland. A couple of years later people were fighting at the North Pole and fetid island jungles nobody had ever heard of.
All you can predict is it will be completely unpredictable and the consequences incalculable.
Nothing ever goes according to the plan and the power point presentation.
Israel invaded Lebanon and got Hezbollah.
Neocons destroyed Libya and Syria and got uncontrollable migration flows that destabilised a continent.
It destroys lives, wealth, countries, hope, democracy, civil liberties.
People still talk about WW1 and WW2 as though it occurred yesterday.
And that is what these clowns and criminals have unleashed again.
In the words of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, “no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force”.
Construct Mark speaks with forked tongue……
Chapter VII articles 50 and 51 UN Charter written after Fascism and Nazism scourged the west. I did not read any provisos in the above mentioned statement of fact That as long ur a WASP and USA and UK u get a fee pass. But I digress I am an ignorant Italian.
Post Scriptum: And you still think we defeated Fascism
Docius in Fundem:Qui Tacet consentir videtur.
BUONA DOMENICA
This is the REAL truth of the matter…. The Oil and Nuclear ROTHSCHILD WANT IRAN’S BANK Feb 2012 Could gaining control of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) be one of the main reasons that Iran is being targeted by Western and Israeli powers? As tensions are building up for an unthinkable war with Iran, it is worth exploring Iran’s banking system compared to its U.S., British and Israeli counterparts. Some researchers are pointing out that Iran is one of only three countries left in the world whose central bank is not under Rothschild control. Before 9-11 there were reportedly seven: Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and Iran. By 2003, however, Afghanistan and Iraq were swallowed up by the Rothschild octopus, and by 2011 Sudan and Libya were also gone. In Libya, a Rothschild bank was established in Benghazi while the country was still… Read more »
Follow that with: 1/ Syria’s Central Bank is state-owned and state-controlled so as to serve the national economy and the Syrian people, instead of enriching the international banksters of the Western nations and Israel, who force upon almost all nations of the world usurious loans generating artificial debt crises by which these nations are in effect enslaved. Central Banks are Rothschild Banks 2/ Syria has no international Monetary Fund debt. The IMF acts as the debt collection police of the international banksters. Any wise nation stays out of the IMF’s clutches, which is what Syria has succeeded in doing, but the banksters are not happy at all with such wisdom. 3/ Syria has banned genetically modified seeds, GMO, or “Franken-food”, because Bashar Assad wants to protect his people’s health. “Franken-food” means food control which means population control. Obviously the NWO favours “Franken-food” (the USA imposed it on conquered Iraq.) 4/… Read more »
Like the lady said, “It’s all about the Benjamins.” Nobody really knows how much bailing out the banksters cost (it’s a secret.) But one very incomplete and partial estimate for the US alone put the figure at $23.7 trillion, $23,700 billion, with a “B.” This is certainly an underestimate. The bailout figure for the US was put at $750 billion. But this is deceptive. The bailout plan was constructed like a bathtub with both taps on full and the plug pulled out. Money was constantly being disbursed from the $750 billion in the figurative “bathtub”, which was constantly being replenished with more money. One credible estimate was that half the world’s wealth was wiped out. On a more human level, this means hundreds of millions of poor people reduced to even more abject poverty, with many uncounted deaths. And grinding austerity even in more prosperous countries. In this benighted land,… Read more »
and for so little come-back
Hi Mark, Yarkob,
”Never before in human history has so much been stolen from so many by so few and for so little come back”.
Ahh but it has.. been done before… I spend my days reading History and recently have been engrossed in Hitler’s story.
‘It ain’t what we don’t know that gets us into trouble, it’s what we know for sure .. that just ain’t so… Mark Twain’
I spent some time in the area Hitler grew up in. A beautiful area. Ironically, he was partly Jewish and strangely, had good relationships with Jews for most of his life. But I think he was borderline mentally unstable. His father and mother were closely related, uncle and niece, which can cause problems.
Thanks for that link, Maggie. It led me to a very interesting YouTube channel that I’d never come across before – StormCloudsGathering.
Really, if the Rotschilds had that much control, a serious outbreak of terrorists murdering Rotschilds would have occurred long ago. There really are not that many of them and modern weaponry could wipe out dozens of them every week.
At the very least, Waddesdon manor would have been burned to the ground, a few first growth Bordeaux vineyards would have been chemically wiped out and some bombings to a few banking buildings in London and Paris would have been evident.
Central Banks are not owned by the Rotschild clan, even if they and other oligarchic families have far too much influence….
Alright, but try using the term ‘Rothschild’ as a sort of metonymy for the finance sector generally. Does that help?
Surely all those trillions could buy some pretty effective security . . .?
And controlling Central Banks does not have to be so direct as to be obvious to all.
It’s enough if the average Joe thinks that the Rothschilds are just slightly eccentric, over-indulged side effects of modern capitalism . . .
I’m sorry Rhys but I disagree. The Rothschilds have their fingers in every pie. and give, or take away funding at will. To suite their own agendas. ”I care not which puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Emprire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls British money supply, controls the British Empire, and I control the money. Nathan Rothschild. 25 May 2011. It is difficult to conceive today of how rich and powerful the Rothschilds became in the 19th century. It is necessary to imagine all the great modern banks, such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, forming one gigantic conglomerate. From their five European bases, the Rothschilds became masters of the political universe. They lent money to Kings, including England’s George IV, dined with Prime Ministers like Disraeli and Gladstone, funded the creation of a pan-European rail… Read more »
Trump has little to gain by waging war with Iran and I suspect Iran knows that all too well, hence its tit for tat apprehending of Stena’s tanker. Only Israel might be seen as profiting but Israel’s economy cannot remain free of the implications of the stagflation that will flow from any major ratcheting up of tensions around the Straits of Hormuz.
I think since Iran holds such a good hand it can afford to play the long game.
The Iranians have de facto closed the Straits to UK/ US shipping in one brief bloodless operation without firing a shot. Without physically mounting a mining operation or naval blockade. For the past 12 months, Iran has been having its nuts squeezed by the Neocohens without much of a response. It is now doing some nut squeezing of its own. US/ UK/ EU shipping has been cleared from the area. Iran can repeat this any time it wishes. The Gulf Dictatorships and Washington’s EU satraps face some real pain. This can continue indefinitely. All Iran has to do is refuse to give any guarantees of free passage and do some aggressive patrolling now and again. The US/ UK will huff and puff and threaten to take over the Straits with a show of naval force. This will go nowhere. Perhaps they will fall back on the undoubted expertise of strategic… Read more »
You sound like a spokesperson for Iran.
And you sound like a spokesperson for US/Saudi/Israeli Global Hegemony – touche
Strangely, or perhaps not, things often sound like what they actually are.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/inside-israels-million-dollar-troll-army/27566
On the money Milosovic… Billy the Kid is a SHILL.
You chose your username in a rare moment of clear thinking… The ‘savant’ bit is extraneous though.
I wear your feeble minded insult as a badge of honour
More like a lame attempt to take over Goebbels’ mantle.
This poster has an obsession with Israel and Jews-whatever occurs anywhere, he blames Jews.
This sort of unhinged racism gives commentary a bad name.
You’re quite right, of course.
It’s all the fault of the Botswanans.
Yet another war for Botswana.
All those Botswanans pulling the strings.
Complete bounders, those Botswanans.
whatever occurs anywhere, he blames Jews.
Perhaps you’d like to share your thoughts about the spectacle below, how it came about, and who was responsible for it.
Well said Bevin.
Yep bevin, the thing which pisses me the most about these “it”s the f++king jews” post is that they do so much damage to the humans who matter most – the indigenous population of occupied Palestine & the Jordan Valley. As has been evident time and time again when so many of the types who make these posts get caught and turn out to be junior agents of hasbara, these posts turn away the types who are unhappy with what is happening in Occupied Palestine but have been indoctrinated into that “Jews need a home too” nonsense which ignores a world where no other discrete ethnicities have an exclusive nation state. As soon as these waverers come across a discussion about zionist tyranny, they read it with trepidation concerned that the people talking about what has been worrying them, may be a mob of holocaust denying nazis, just like the… Read more »
Well said UreKismet
I see no Nazis on this thread, but simply see people expressing their frustration and feelings of powerlessness.
The plight of the Palestinians and the hell they are forced to endure is/has been created by the IsraeliZionist Jews…. Full Stop!
ALL the wars against the brown people surrounding Israhell, are and have been fomented by the IsraeliZionist Jews. Full Stop!
That is not me being racist or antisemetic, that is FACT!!!
And if I choose to expose that ‘fact’ then I shall…
The only ”junior Hasbara agents’ here, are the IsraeliZionist apologists… FACT!
And clearly you know NOTHING about History.
Do a little reading before calling another poster racist.
The fact is, that it IS the BANKS that are pulling the strings and always have.. and they just happen to be Jews.
The only problem I have with specifically talking about Jews is that it has a tendency to conflate ALL jews. When in point of fact 90% of jews are in the same shitty boat as us.
They have been propagandised and lied to, to get them to do the dirty work of promoting/supporting the holohoax, when they know absolutely nothing it about except what the fairy tale writers tell them.
I have many friends who are Jewish, (one of them dead recently) They all say exactly the same as Finkelstein’s Mom.. ” If so many people were intentionally murdered/gassed. then how come so many survived to tell the tales?”
George Galloway – Norman Finkelstein Interview on Talk Radio On 22nd August 2018 George Galloway interviewed Professor Norman Finkelstein to discuss the ongoing anti-Semitism row within the Labour Party. To place this in context, in July 2018, Dame Margaret Hodge, in an outburst against Corbyn in the House of Commons, openly called Mr Corbyn “a fucking anti-semite and a racist”. Neither was she disciplined for this, nor were the corporate mainstream media, in particular, the Daily Mail, taken to task for the merciless and relentless campaign of smears and slander against Jeremy Corbyn. Conversely, when Jeremy Corbyn was accused of mouthing the words ‘stupid woman’ during an exchange with the failed Prime Minister, it was exploited in yet another extensive media campaign to discredit Jeremy Corbyn, which had been going on ever since he became leader of the Labour Party. Here follows a verbatim transcript of this interview with George… Read more »
Margaret Hodge feels like her father must have felt in the grip of the holocaust in Nazi Germany??? Hodge’s father was never in the grip of the holocaust…. >>She was born in 1944 in Cairo, Egypt, to Jewish parents Hans Oppenheimer (1908–1985), and his wife Lisbeth (née Hollitscher). Hans Oppenheimer voluntarily left Stuttgart in Germany during the 1930s to join his uncle’s metals business based in Cairo and Alexandria, where he met fellow émigrée, Austrian-born Lisbeth Hollitscher. Married in 1936, Hans and Lisbeth went on to have five children: four girls and a boy. At the outset of World War II, the couple and their eldest daughter were effectively stranded in the Kingdom of Egypt ‘for the duration of the War’. They decided to leave Egypt in 1948, concerned that antisemitism had increased in the Middle East during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The family moved to Orpington, London, where the… Read more »
Dear Philip,
Bear in mind also that the British Conservative Party has to choose in the next few days who will replace Theresa May as its next fearless leader and Britain’s Prime Minister, with no hint that it or the future leader is (and should be) in caretaker mode to call a general election.
The UK seizure of the Grace I tanker may be as much to provide a distraction from the unsavoury prospect of Britain under PM Jeremy Hunt or PM Boris Johnson. It is quite possible that Jeremy Hunt as the current Foreign Minister may have had something to do with ordering the seizure so as to boost his support for his leadership bid of the Tories and his bid to become Prime Minister.
This probably all sounds far-fetched but it’s not as if the British government has never behaved stupidly before.
Doesn’t sound far-fetched at all to me
It’s to give BoJo his ‘Falklands’.
You mean to give Boris a Galipolli?
The UK Neocons would love Boris to fall flat on his face, Brexit would become a non topic. If they can drag Trump along, better as their Steele dossier inspired Russiagate land mine fizzled out. The British lion reduced to a feral cat is too much to bear for their egos.
Boris IS as UK Neocon. Lol
The JBD have already chosen Bojo. Whose Grandfather was Jewish.
”UK prime ministerial hopeful Boris Johnson has said that he “loves” the “great country” of Israel and considers himself a “passionate Zionist”.
In an exclusive interview with UK newspaper Jewish News, Johnson – the former British foreign secretary who is now hoping to lead the ruling Conservative Party and, therefore, the country – yesterday described himself as a “passionate Zionist” and Israel as a “great country” that “I love”.
The politician also addressed the prospect of moving the British Embassy to Israel to Jerusalem, following in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump’s December 2017 decision.
Johnson also appeared to label the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement anti-Semitic.
Johnson is no stranger to controversial statements: he has previously said that Muslim women wearing the burqa or niqab look like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/boris-johnson-as-a-passionate-zionist-i-love-israel/
Jen, a friend has expressed precisely this sentiment on my blog, and who could rule it out as full or part explanation of the July 4 move? In similar vein, London, always more willing than other junior imperialisms to do Washington’s bidding, is, given Brexit, less well placed than ever to risk Uncle Sam’s displeasure. I think Madrid may have called it right on this. History has many examples of huge underlying powderkegs ignited by the detonatory spark of small-minded considerations. More broadly I share the view that – Trump being not as stupid as his Democrat detractors claim – the USA is, to greater degree than under Obama, Dubya and Clinton, using its economic muscle to impose its will on recalcitrant states in the global south. One reason things are now looking so dangerous is that said muscle, while still formidable, is no longer omnipotent. As others have observed,… Read more »