Old Hanley's Almanac

I hesitate to blog opinions here rather than facts, but as we watch the current rapid shifts in world power I'm prompted to go into print with what I've been saying in the pub for a few years. As the USA, for so long the all-powerful entity hanging over us like God, with a never-ending supply of money, rewards and retribution, dwindles to third-world status, with Detroit, Motor City itself becoming the world's biggest city farm, at the same time as India and China are rising. China has been topping-up America's economy for long enough. Waging war has no doubt kept the US economic system working but without exports and with increasing reliance on imports this has just been window-dressing. If China decides to stop giving the USA credit, as it could, that will most likely lead to the end of the Israel regime in Palestine; it could be the first cut if America really has to shape up - a lot of money the USA really doesn't have goes that way annually, and the Israelis are getting ever more stroppy with their sponsors, just as the Revolutionaries did with the British. The most important thing about China's status now is not a readiness to wage war like the US/UK axis but the fact that it is backing up its rise as an economic power with its new role as the planet's centre of industry.

Margo MacDonald

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Margo MacDonald, having struggled with Parkinson's Disease, died today. She became the Face of Scottish Nationalism when she won the Govan by-election for the SNP in 1973, but always being very much a woman of her own priciples, fell out with the party leadership and left politics for journalism, returning to play a role in the SNP - short-lived, as she was not with the party's drift towards a more 'liberal' stance. Despite this she remains, in the public eye, that Face.

To quote BBC News:

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, said: "Margo's passing sees a bright light, and one of the biggest personalities and characters of Scottish modern political life, go out.
"Her sense of humour, passion, integrity and unflinching desire to speak truth to power, meant she came as close to a political treasure in Scotland as I think it is possible to be."
'Force of nature'
Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, added: "Margo was a force of nature in Scottish life."

Tony Benn

This blogger was becoming aware of the political world at the very time                           Anthony Wedgewood-Benn

photo from news@respectparty.org

 was struggling to change it enough to allow him to remain 'at the coal-face', by relinquishing his hereditary peerage. As he himself said, although he had hoped to change the system, he had to settle for making the system work better. And ultimately when he stood down as MP and put the quotidian affairs of parliament, local and national behind him,  he was able to devote more of his time to the issues of concern. He certainly had more reserves of energy than lesser men, and his kind of timetable remains an inspiration.

Why does 'referendum' smell funny?

The universal fuss our news media are making about the forthcoming Scottish Independence referendum is bemusing; even baffling. So many scribes and hacks revealing the gaps in their long-term memories, and never one mention of the last referendum, which was fiddled by Jim Gallaghan's Labour government, losing Labour that weight-shifting traditional Scottish vote in the subsequent election and ushering in the Thatcher years. Ultimately an own-goal for Labour.
We who do remember find the current air of excitement irritating, as if it hadn't already been that way back in the 'seventies. But Labour insisted that the yes vote must be, not a majority of the actual voters, but (just to complicate it) rather 40% out of the total number of those entitled to vote. And even before we got that far, the ballot paper question was not the expected, "Do you want independence?" but "Do you want devolution?"
"Do we want whaat?"

Devolution had not been debated or even publically mooted, and for too many of us it was a blank neologism. I guessed (correctly) that it could mean anything and nothing. To make matters worse, American avant-garde pop group Devo was currently riding high in the charts with a single and album ironically celebrating 'devolution' by which they meant the dumbing-down of western culture. Having supported nationalism (and nothing but) ever since I came to voting age, I voted no.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela courtesy of Wikipedia

 When Nelson Mandela was designated an Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience, he said:
‘Like Amnesty International, I have been struggling for justice and human rights, for long years… But as long as injustice and inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. We must become stronger still.’ 

Truly, there is nothing more to be said.

Pussy Riot set free

The punky protest girl group that bravely stood up against the Mr Lupin culture in Russia has been let out of jail, partly as a result of world-wide support. This is good news for anti-authoritaran activists everywhere; and as you probably weren't in Moscow at the time, here is what the fuss is all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grEBLskpDWQ
And if you would like to support them, go HERE

UPDATE 24 OCTOBER:
The most likely background to the above is that it was a PR stunt intended to demonstrate Lupin's 'leniency'. On 17th August 2012 Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevitch were sentenced to two years imprisonment for their involvement in the Pussy Riot action at a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Moscow. While Yekaterina Samutsevich has been released, the struggle continues.

al-jazeera: Now we are five

So al-jazeera's english-language service is five years old. The CIA attempt to steal its thunder by setting up a US Arab-oriented news service hardly took off - more fishy (strictly small-scale) than phish. And the station's remit has expanded to give voice to the voiceless everywhere.

As Hilary Clinton said this week, America is still being left behind in getting its message heard. Even the Ruskies have an english-language broadcasting service. English, or "english" is the language of the computer age and is the long-established default option for any gathering of three or more differing linguists. Ironically, its dominance is due in great part to America's ubiquitous cultural presence (thank you, Mr Disney), so in a way, the US provided the rest of the world with the tool to cut it the cold shoulder.

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Tony Blair very close to being Indicted for War Crimes

Global Research, April 24, 2010

While on a speaking engagement in Malaysia organized by "Success Resources Company", former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the object of an articulate protest movement demanding his indictment for war crimes.

This was no ordinary protest. Tony Blair has been accused of war crimes in a legal initiative led by the country's former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

A War Crimes Tribunal, as well as a War Crimes Commission, was set up, integrated by renowned jurists. Documentary evidence of war crimes committed by Blair and Bush has been carefully compiled and collected since 2006. The prosecution is led by several of Malaysia's most prominent lawyers.

Dr Mahathir in a public statement "expressed disgust at the companies that had sponsored Blair's visit here. 'How can you sponsor and get advice from a liar? Do you also intend to lie in carrying out your business?' he asked." (Thousands Of Slippers To 'Greet' Tony Blair In Malaysia, April 24, 2010)

Rather than mingling with delegates to the venue, Blair was hiding in the VIP lounge of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, surrounded by British and Malaysian security personnel. Upon entering the main convention hall, Tony Blair was very close to being served with an indictment for war crimes:

Acting Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, Mr. Zainur Zakaria, Chief Prosecutor of the War Crimes Commission, Mr. Matthias Chang [barrister], two members of the Perdana Global Peace Organisation, Mr. Ram Karthigasu and Mr. Christopher Chang, a representative of the Malaysian Kwong Siew Association (one of the largest Chinese clan association) and two representatives of the Iraq Community in Malaysia evaded the security by registering themselves as delegates.

At 8.30 am, members of NGOs gathered at the entrance of the convention centre to protest against the visit of war criminal Blair. Undercover teams were dispatched to the three separate entrances to confront and attempt to serve the war crimes indictment on Blair. But he could not be seen entering the convention centre.

He had entered surreptitiously and was hiding in a VIP room just above the convention hall where the function was held. His original schedule was 10.00am this morning. But organisers issued statements that no schedule is available.

British and Malaysian security officers were seen patrolling the corridors and had identified the seven delegates who were waiting for Blair. They kept a close watch on the delegates. Mind games began when rumours were spread that Blair would not be speaking today. Hints were given that Blair would be speaking on Sunday in the hope that the seven delegates would abandon their vigil.

At 11.25am, the seven delegates discovered that Blair was hiding in the VIP room just above the convention hall. They took their positions, with three members tasked with taking photographs.

At 11.30am Blair and his team of goons descended from the VIP room and walked towards the VIP entrance of the convention hall.

Mr. Matthias Chang and Mr. Zainur Zakaria rushed forward to serve the indictment, while the Iraqi representatives loudly denounced Blair ? "mass murderer, war criminal, shame on you," repeatedly. Blair was obviously unsettled and put on an embarrassed smile.

Mr. Matthias Chang and Mr. Zainur Zakaria were prevented from handing the indictment to Blair by over 30 British and Malaysian security personnel. Both of them denounced Blair within earshot, "War criminal, shame on you! Mass Murderer!"

Mr. Zainur Zakaria also shouted at the Malaysian security personnel, "Why are you protecting a war criminal?" The security officers could only respond with a silly expression.

Having arrogantly told the Chilcot Inquiry in London that he had no regrets for invading Iraq notwithstanding there were no WMDs, Blair displayed cowardice in the face of only seven delegates.

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission stated that this is only the beginning of a global campaign to ostracise war criminals like Blair and Bush and urge people the world over to adopt similar campaigns against Bush and Blair. No Where to Hide: Fears of Arrest and Prosecution by Tony Blair on Charges of War Crimes, Global Research, April 24, 2010)

While these unfolding events have been acknowledged by the Malaysian press, Tony Blair's visit to Malaysia has passed virtually unnoticed in the United Kingdom. In fact, outside of Malaysia, the issue has not received press coverage.

Deafening silence and complicity of the British media? One would expect that people in Britain would want to know what happened to Tony Blair in Kuala Lumpur.

About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Member of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission and Signatory of the 2005 Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War.

ref: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18838

It's your democratic duty to be offensive

Originally posted: July 25th 2008.

This is the title of an excellent 300 word article by the wonderful Germaine Greer in The Observer, 20th July '08. You can see it all if you google Observer, but here are a few tasters: 'Freedom of speech cannot be maintained in a society where nobody ever says anything subversive or inflamatory... As long as we fail to challenge the Americans about Guantanamo, Guantanamo affects us all... The most important legacy the British left the old Empire, now the disappearing and despised Commonwealth, is the package of British liberties, of which the most important is probably habeas corpus, by which no one is to be imprisoned without trial... When David Davis threw away his political career, the very newspapers whose liberties he was desperate to defend sneered at him, even though they must have realised that what they were witnessing was tantamount to self-immolation...So far has the erosion of British liberties already progressed that most people were not aware that Davis had anything to defend.'