Israel: The Real World Power

If you ever doubt who is really pulling the strings, read more stuff. It’s out there in plain sight.

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A British-Palestinian professor called Dr Makram Khoury-Machool was detained at Heathrow airport for over four hours, under Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Regulations 2019. The Christian academic was interrogated on Good Friday in front of his 8-year-old son. His phone, laptop, and identification were seized under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act. He was released without charge but will have to present himself to police within seven days if required.

Professor Khoury-Machool runs the Cambridge Centre for Palestine Studies. As former Bristol University professor David Miller would testify, the world of academia is a hostile place for pro-Palestinian voices, and the hostility is being driven by people who claim to oppose cancel culture. Their goal is a rightward, pro-Israel shift in all of our institutions.

Professor Khoury-Machool was arrested under suspicion of “preparing terrorism”, but if police had a shred of evidence, he would be in prison awaiting trial. Police are basically rummaging through his devices to find an excuse to charge him with something. Even if they don’t, the harassment still serves its other purpose of intimidation.

This is all intended to have a chilling effect on criticism of Israel. What I find chilling is that our police force, and even our academic spaces, have been captured by Zionism.

Professor Khoury-Machool is the latest in a list of influential figures who have been treated as terrorists by the state; a list that includes Richard Medhurst, Kit Klarenberg, and Sarah Wilkinson. None of these so-called terrorists have gone to prison for terrorism.

There is now a petition to repeal the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006, and to stop politicising the law to silence dissent and protect Israel, something which has been called out by the United Nations.

You can be sure that part of the reason for Professor Khoury-Machool’s detention was that he spoke out when police detained journalist Richard Medhurst. They are sending out a message that if you call them out on their authoritarianism, you might be next.
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The Israel lobby in the United States comprises individuals and groups who seek to influence the U.S. federal government to better serve the interests of Israel. The largest American pro-Israel lobbying group is Christians United for Israel, which has over seven million members.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIPAC

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/16/congress-election-pro-israel-lobby-aipac

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Britain’s Reality: The View From Another Country

With most of the mainstream media and the gutter press tabloids in Britain constantly blaming the working classes of the UK, poor people, and disabled people for their own misfortunes, you might wonder where we can find some truthful reporting of life under the Conservative government in modern day Britain.

And like me, you might be surprised to find that in the New York Times.

Gaza/Israel: One Small Point

I have so far stayed out of the various debates concerning this war, but I would like to make one small point

Criticising the government of Israel for any actions they pursue in Gaza or the West bank in NOT Antisemitism.

This is the definition of Antisemitism.

Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
anti-Semitism
/ˌantɪˈsɛmɪtɪz(ə)m/
noun
noun: antisemitism
hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people.

Israel does not represent every Jewish person in the world. It is a nation-state, not a religion.

Ukraine: An Unwinnable War?

That war is dragging on, and it now seems that a military victory by either side is impossible. Although both sides refuse to allow accurate figures, the current estimate of those killed in Ukraine is close to 200,000. That is made up of around 75,000 soldiers, and the rest civilians. Russian troops killed in action are said to amount to a similar number, perhaps 230,000 dead.

Those numbers are staggering in modern times, and speak to the nature of the dogged trench warfare and street fighting that typifies this war. And this is without taking into account those severly wounded, many losing limbs or suffering terrible burns. Russia has the benefit of a much larger population, but Ukraine is going to have to face the reality of the loss of a huge part of its workforce, soldiers (male and female) who may never be able to live normal lives in the future, let alone return to their pre-war jobs.

Add to this the 5,000,000 refugees who left the country to settle in other countries away from the war. Mostly women and children, will they ever be able to return home? Many have no homes to go back to, husbands and other relatives killed or maimed in action, and former jobs that had to be abandoned to flee the country may no longer exist.

Putin seems to have settled on occupying the long-disputed areas in the south and east of the country, and the Russian army has become a defensive force, not seeking to expand from its current positions. Ukraine’s army is left with one option, to dislodge the Russians from well-prepared and very strong defences in those areas. So far, it seems they are incapable of doing that.

The financial and military aid given to Ukraine so far is enormous, especially the contribution from the USA. But most of the heavy equipment and tanks have made no difference to Ukraine’s offensive capability, and Zelensky keeps asking for more aid, military and financial. It is now a stalemate, with neither side intending to budge. Both sides are also reluctant to sit down to negotiate, even though they must know that some kind of ceasefire agreement is the only way to end the killing and destruction.

I have some questions.

Has all the billions of dollars (and other currencies) of aid been accounted for properly? Has there been any financial report explaining where it has all been spent? Is anyone from the supporting western countries in Ukraine taking stock of where the money is going? Read past the headlines, and you can find local reports of army generals and government officials driving around in new Mercedes cars, and living in mansions. Earlier this year it was reported that Zelensky and his wife bought a luxury villa on the Red Sea in Egypt, though that has since been labelled as fake news, depending on which article you read.

During a visit to Paris last year, Mrs Zelensky spent over £40,000 in a short shopping spree, buying designer clothes, shoes, and handbags. Is this appropriate behaviour for the wife of the leader of a nation at war when she was in France asking for more money?

In Ukraine, some independent news companies have been banned from operating. Some news has been censored, casualty figures are secret, and no Russian-speaking media is currently allowed. This in a country where 34% of the population are native Russian speakers.

Given the huge amount of military aid supplied, the expense of training new Ukraininan recruits in other countries, (including the UK) why has the Ukrainian offensive stalled? And for that matter, why was it announced on the world’s media exactly where they were going to attack the Russians? Ukrainian army volunteers have now been informed that their service will be extended for the ‘duration of the war’, in effect a war that has no possibility of ending without compromise. The cost of paying the armed forces is huge, and mainly provided currently by American money. How long can that go on, with an election coming up in 2024?

Making it clear that I am not on anyone’s ‘side’ in this war, I would like to have some real answers. Otherwise I will have no choice but to conclude that this has just become a proxy war, funded by western countries to support the arms industries of those countries, and to oppose Russia ‘by other means’, with no end in sight.

Russia: The Wagner Group Mutiny

Events have taken a strange turn in Ukraine. The Wagner Mercenary Group, with around 10-15,000 soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine, has left the country, returned to Russia, and taken control of the large city of Rostov-On-Don. Units from the Wagner group have driven north along the M4 road, heading for Moscow. They have already reached Voronezh, six hours south of Moscow, where reports say they have been attacked by Russian military helicopters.

So why has this happened? Reports state that the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had accused the regular Russian army of rocket attacks against his soldiers in Ukraine. This after the recent capture of Bakmuht, where Wagner’s losses were huge. He says he wants a change in the Russian high command, and insists his actions are not mutiny, but for the benefit of Russia’s war continuing in Ukraine.

The former close associate of Vladimir Putin now has an arrest warrant on his head, and if captured, he will likely be killed out of hand.

Now, call me an old cynic, but I wouldn’t be surpised to find out that Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries have been paid a significant sum by some countries in the west (UK and USA, I am talking about you) to divert his troops from the front line and cause chaos on the Russian mainland.

That’s what happens when you use mercenaries to fight your wars. They fight for money, and they don’t care who is paying.

The clue is in the name, ‘Mercenaries’.

Boris Has Left The Building

Not before time, Boris Johnson has resigned his parliamentary seat. Faced with the outcome of the report into his dodgy dealings during the Covid pandemic and his blatant lying to parliament and the people of Britain, he took the coward’s way out and jumped before he was pushed.

Like his idol, Donald Trump, he is blaming everyone except himself, and taking zero responsibility for his misdeeds. I expected nothing less.

And continuing the Trump theme, he is threatening to ‘make a return’, to try to become elected as leader of the Conservative Party in the future.

This bloated toad is the very essence of the word ‘Entitlement’. He has led a privileged life, and continues to trade on his former job as Prime Minister to charge huge fees for public speaking and writing articles. For anyone feeling remotely sorry for him, fear not.

He has just bought a country house for almost £4,000,000 in (corrupt) cash, and has made more money since he was ousted as Prime Minister than he did when he had the job.

Money comes to money, and such it has always been.

But power is temporary, and fickle.

Prince Harry, Drug Use, And His Visa

When Prince Harry and his wife went to live in America, he needed a visa. Just like anyone else from Britain, apparently. Given his high-profile standing as a member of the British Royal Family, it was unlikely that his visa application would be rejected. As well as that, both he and his wife are substantially rich, so it was not as if they would be a burden to the US in any financial sense.

Then he went and published his ghost-written book, ‘Spare’. In this best-seller he not only revealed many secrets about the Royal Family, but also mentioned experimenting with drugs some years ago. Perhaps someone at his publisher’s should have suggested he leave that bit out?

To get a visa to visit (or live in ) America, you have to declare any drug use, past or present. In most cases where ordinary travellers are concerned, that could see you denied a visa to enter America, even as a short-term tourist.

Now comes the backlash.

An American organisation called The Heritage Foundation have asked to see his visa application. They want to know if he declared previous drug use at any time in his past. In addition, they want to know whether if he declared it, he got preferential treatment anyway, because of who he is.

However, one court decided that it is not a serious enough case to allow access to the immigration records.

That answer wasn’t good enough for The Heritage Foundation, which is usually described as a ‘Right-Wing think tank’ here. So they appealed to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, where a judge has reportedly agreed to hear their case.

If a judge agrees to unseal the immigration records, it could have significant implications for Prince Harry’s legal status. in his autobiography, the British Royal Family member detailed his past drug use, even though past drug use can be grounds to deny a visa application in the US.

The hearing is scheduled for the 6th of June, with the media allowed to attend. I won’t be holding my breath to see if Harry is deported.

But it would be fun if he was.

National Conservatism=Neo Nazis

The Conservative government is not doing well at the moment. They lost heavily in the local elections, and they are forecast to be defeated in the next General Election. Rishi Sunak is not impressing as the Prime Minister, and his ministers seem to be incapable of fulfilling their roles.

The country is riven by strikes for better pay, angry at the uncapped prices of fuel and food, incensed by the profiteering of oil, gas, and electricity companies. A billionaire Prime Minister who is completely out of touch with ordinary people, mortgage rate increases losing people their homes, and a standard of living lower than it was in the 1950s. Blatant corruption out of control, with ministers being paid to lobby for American healthcare companies, and Sunak refusing to answer questions about multi-million pound payments to companies for unspecified services. Some of which are owned by his wife, or that she has shares in.

The opposition leader has claimed that the Labour Party is now the real Conservative option, and has abandoned any vestige of Socialism.

Faced with this, the Conservative party has decided to lurch to the far right, and get rid of Sunak. Some have formed a splinter group, calling themselves ‘National Conservatives’. Their stated policies seem to have come right out of the German Nazi Party’s instruction manual in the 1930s.

*The falling birthrate needs to be addressed by making families more like they used to be. Women need to have more children and stay at home.
*Instead of employing foreign workers, British people should be trained to do the jobs usually done by foreign workers.
*If necessary, prisoners should be made to do menial jobs that British workers do not appear to want.
*The ending of woke culture.
*More public order laws and harsher sentences.
*Severe restrictions on any immigration.
*Reinforce national identity and culture.
*Closer ties with Christian religion.
*Changing childcare policies in favour of married couples.
*Less tolerance of LGBT people.
*Less use of experts and scientists as advisors on policy.

Some of the comments from the keynote speakers at a recent conference in London have criticised current abortion laws, the tolerance of LGBT single parents, the multi-cultural society eroding national identity, and the excessive education of the working classes. Some speakers advocated a veneration of Britain’s past, ending the indoctrination of school children, and the need to have a national culture.

That event in London was attended by many high-profile government ministers, including Suella Braverman, who is the daughter of immigrants. If her policies had been enforced at the time, her parents would never have been allowed into the UK. She is also making a move to oust Sunak and become his replacement.

The conference was run by The Edmund Burke Foundation, a US think tank that advocates Far Right Christianity, family values, anti-abortion, and intolerance of homosexuals. The presence of government ministers at this conference speaks volumes about their real intentions. Most media was also banned from attending, with claims that they were left-leaning.

We finally have neo-nazis with real power in this country, posing as Conservative politicians.

If you are not angry or afraid yet, you should be.