tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88364152981305966382024-03-13T23:23:24.773+01:00Brussels BlogNotes from an East End Teddy Boy in Exile....Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.comBlogger443125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-13925920853524685332020-06-07T23:00:00.003+02:002020-06-07T23:00:41.355+02:00The day Britain's police knelt in submission to the mob<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Under duress from a baying crowd, close to the seat of the British Parliament, Metropolitan Police officers <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"took the knee"</em>. At that moment the credibility of the British state suffered a crushing blow</span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">. </span></em></div>
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It is reported that police officers had been given permission to kneel to the mob - for that is what they did - if they saw fit. This fact alone tells us a great deal about those who are appointed to head London's Metropolitan Police.</div>
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Londoners, who have known for some time that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">T</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">he</em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Met</em> - as it is known - are no longer able to protect their young from the current wave of knife crime that plagues the capital, or to even respond to burglaries or car thefts, and who long ago took the decision, unilaterally and without any recourse to Parliament, to cease enforcing drug possession laws, must now gasp in despair.</div>
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It is, I believe, dangerous for British police officers to appear to take sides on such a divisive issue. It would be more dangerous still if a British officer felt obliged to kneel in front of a baying crowd, when to do so might not be physically safe. And it would be deeply unjust if any police officer were pilloried and condemned as ‘racist’ for refusing to kneel, whatever the reason.</div>
<footer style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">David Blunkett, former British Home Secretary</footer></blockquote>
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This weekend saw mass actions in London, orchestrated by the usual politically motivated groups, and, as expected, marred by violence.</div>
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Even at a time when the city is on a high terrorist alert a notoriously violent far-left group - ANTIFA - has been permitted to openly operate, masked and in para-military style clothing, on the streets of London. </div>
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This is a group that is known to have received training at terrorist camps in Syria, and which has recently been designated as a terrorist organisation in the United States.</div>
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The above image shows the London ANTIFA flag displayed during an operation in Syria conducted with the Marxist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). </div>
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As recently as May 2019 senior figures of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, has called for support for the PKK. At a meeting in North London, Michelle Gildernew, Sinn Fein MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, compared Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the terrorist group, with IRA poster boy Bobby Sands. The links are there for all to see.</div>
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Despite the protests being illegal under current restrictions, all the state was able to do was to issue flaccid <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"warnings"</em>. </div>
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Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor of the Metropolitan Police confirmed to the BBC that the protests were <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"unlawful"</em>, but the best he could do was to suggest that demonstrators observe <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"social distancing"</em>. The crowd, described by the police as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"angry and intent on violence"</em>, completely ignored this, as they completely ignored everything he and his officers said.</div>
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At the end of a day in which rocks, bottles, flares and bicycles were hurled at them, fourteen police officers were injured, added the the ten hurt earlier in the week, one seriously having suffered a broken collar bone, broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Just seventeen arrests were made.</div>
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Let us not pretend that this outrageous violence had anything to do with the illegal killing by a police officer of a man some 4000 miles away.</div>
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https://eutoday.net/news/security-defence/2020/the-day-britains-police-knelt</div>
Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-34407300765179902602020-05-24T16:32:00.002+02:002020-05-24T16:45:33.960+02:00"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... "<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></b></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"By pretending that procedure will get rid of corruption, we have succeeded only in humiliating honest people and provided a cover of darkness and complexity for the bad people."</i> - Phillip K. Howard, U.S. lawyer & writer.</span></b></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12px;">Brexit, contrary to what some may say, is not over. In fact it is not a single event, it is a process that that will go on at least until Britain signs its final bilateral trade deal.</span><br />
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It is also, to my mind, not the final battle. Because, quite frankly, the gang who took us into the whole mess in the first place, or at least their sons and heirs, are still in charge. This is the real challenge Britain faces.</span></div>
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I find that any criticism I make of Boris Johnson is likely to be met with cries of<i> "would you rather Jeremy Corbyn was in Downing Street?"</i> Well, no actually. <i>"Neither Tweedledum nor Tweedledee"</i> is my usual response. The government and the opposition are, and have been for more years than I have been on this Earth, two sides of the same coin; in this case, the proverbial <i>"bad penny"</i>.</span></div>
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There are many good men and women in every political party, and I am glad that circumstances have allowed me to meet, talk to, and even work with so many: but one lesson I have learned is that politics corrupts, and it is my belief that the party system we have in the UK provides the ideal conditions for the current state of affairs to continue unchecked. </span></div>
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I can honestly say that those I have known who have had the strength and will to position themselves outside of the established party system are the ones who have stuck to their principles and actually stood out from the rest because of it. Scruples, however, do tend to cut political careers short. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br />We British are proud of our parliamentary history, but can we really declare ourselves to be proud of our parliament?</span></div>
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When we think of our great past we hear in our minds the words of Churchill whose speeches many of us know by heart, having grown up in his shadow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But if I think of our leaders of today I hear Tony Blair's<i> “A day like today is not a day for soundbites, we can leave those at home, but I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder...”. </i>I can also remember well David Cameron's <i>"cast-iron guarantee"</i> of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, a promise that was quickly and quietly forgotten within days of him winning, largely on the basis of that fake promise, the 2010 general election. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As for Boris Johnson, currently doing a splendid impression of H.G. Wells <i>Invisible Man</i>, stating that he would rather be <i>"dead in a ditch" </i> than go and ask Brussels for a delay to Brexit - just three weeks before going to ask Brussels for a delay to Brexit - I think you might understand me when I urge you<i> </i>not to trust these clowns any further than you could throw them.</span></div>
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I think it is time to put them out of our misery.</span></div>
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Our bicameral system is creaking, not because of how it is structured, but because of who sits in the chambers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We have in the UK what is known as a <i>competitive elitist</i> model of liberal democracy. In simple terms this means that the most charismatic member of the ruling elite gets elected to run the country for a term of up to five years. I am arguing that this is outdated not least because, to be blunt, those who currently make up the so-called ruling elite are simply not up to the job anymore. In fact, they are not up to much at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The alternative model is the <i>pluralist</i> one. This model, rooted in <i>Marxism</i>, has been seen in action in such political and economic basket-cases as the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, Cambodia, and is currently enjoying extended runs in Vietnam and North Korea. The weakness with this one is that once <i>"the people" </i>achieve power, those at the head of - yes, you guessed it, <i>The Party -</i> find their own scruples disappear with the wind. This one we don't even want to try.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As for the now dubiously named <i>"upper chamber"</i>, the House of Lords, there have been efforts to reform; notably the 1999 act that abolished the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">However, under the auspices of the aforementioned Tony Blair - who once declared at a Labour Party conference that <i>"Marx is dead"</i> - the house was <i>"democratised"</i> in true Marxian fashion, and opened to all manner of hobbledehoys, ne'er do wells, and wannabe Arthur Daleys whose main contribution to public life had been - again you guessed it - contributions to the political party of their choice, which always works so long as the contributions are substantial, and they are made to a party with a 50/50 chance of getting into power. Again, whilst a second chamber is, I would argue, vital, I think we would be much better off without what we have today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This brings me to the subject of the Monarchy. Monarchism is an outdated concept, but one which suits the British people well, and unlike the parliamentary system, appears to continue to work. Oliver Cromwell's warning was obviously well heeded.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Unlike the parliamentary and party systems, the British people trust the Monarchy. I would argue that this loyalty is engendered by a genuine admiration, indeed love, for one person, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Indeed, most of us have lived our entire lives to date during her reign, and could not imagine it any other way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But one day, not too soon we hope, this will change, and it will be painful. Is Britain ready, or indeed strong enough, to handle that change? I would argue that no, with the way we allow ourselves to be governed it is not ready, and may not even survive in its current form.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>In a future post I may well write about a lobbyist, a former MEP who used to annoy me by knocking on my office door in Brussels to bring to my attention certain amendments that I had absolutely no interest in, who was then re-elected as an MEP, only to call for rules to prevent lobbyists knocking on office doors in Brussels. The person concerned has, as is the tradition, been well looked after by her party in a subsequent New Year's honours list....</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-14486774039729595202020-05-23T10:27:00.003+02:002020-05-23T10:27:35.174+02:00Dodgy headlines and lazy readers.<br />
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<b>This is a classic example of how the public are deceived by totally misleading headlines, although I must say I believe it says more about the intellect of the general public - their readership - than it does about the newspapers themselves.</b><br />
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This dramatic headline from the Daily Express rests on two statements:<br />
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<i>"Professor Anand Menon, Director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative, said the European Union has already conceded there will not be an extension to the transition period beyond December 31 and will begin preparations for a no deal outcome."</i><br />
and:<br />
<i>“I think the EU is already assuming there will be no extension and starting to prepare for no deal.”</i><br />
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Regarding the first: the EU is still arguing for an extension, and of course at the same time it is preparing for a <i>"no deal outcome"</i>. Regarding the second, the words <i>"I think"</i> and <i>"assuming"</i> are deliberately vague enough for the Express to build any headline it wants around them.<br />
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I monitor very closely how people interact with social media postings on <a href="https://eutoday.net/" target="_blank">EUtoday</a>. I know exactly how to provoke reaction with a headline: with the right keywords, on any one article I can attract praise/bile from Brexiteers/remainers. Social media users more often than not respond by commenting on the headline alone without even opening the article.<br />
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They use the same criteria when deciding who to vote for at a general election, which might explain why the country is in such a mess!Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-4579626400817797702020-05-10T13:01:00.003+02:002020-05-10T13:01:41.677+02:00And the winner of the prize for Crap Policy Statement of the week goes to.... Grant Shapps!<div style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
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<b>"Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced a £2bn package to help increase cycling and walking capacity across the UK, as commuters face new challenges of getting to work during the coronavirus crisis."</b></div>
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Some questions:</div>
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1. Of what conceivable use is this to commuters living 20, 30, 40, 50 or miles from the workplace, something that is quite normal in the UK?</div>
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2(a). Would it not be better to use this crisis as an opportunity to do something about the over-priced and horrendously over-crowded trains that commuters are currently forced to use?</div>
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2(b). Why, after many years of debate and several £ billions, is the government still procrastinating about HS2, which may or may not go ahead, while on the continent 200mph trains with a guaranteed seat are the norm? </div>
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2(c). How is it that the country that built the first railway line - from London to Bristol - in five years can fall so far behind the rest of the world? Is it something to do with the people we elect to parliament? Is it something to with the fact that our industry has all been sold off to offshore based companies, and we no longer have the skills or the capacity to achieve anything?</div>
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3. How is it that the taxpayer can afford £2billion for what will in all likelihood be little or no more than an expensive consultation process that will achieve absolutely zero, but can do nothing about the growing numbers of people sleeping in shop doorways in the heart of our "great" capital? Does Shapps think cycle lanes are what they need?</div>
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The good news is that in all probability this is just another headline that will amount to no more than the others we have had inflicted on us by this government and by a press that over-inflates every word of speculation, and which cites, when it suits them, the man on the Clapham Omnibus as an "expert" who "told us".</div>
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At least we haven't had the "new 100% accurate testing kit on the way next week" headline for a couple of days now. Or have I missed something?"</div>
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Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-81051093054729214942020-05-07T19:56:00.000+02:002020-05-07T19:57:42.457+02:00Lost & Forgotten: allied prisoners of war in Stalin's Gulag<br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">As Europe commemorates the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the continent - VE Day - on May 8th, EUtoday publisher Gary Cartwright revisits a <a href="https://eutoday.net/news/security-defence/2020/gulag-revisited" target="_blank">dark and forgotten episode of the war</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Tens of thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers, along with their American compatriots, following their <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"liberation"</em> from Nazi prison camps by the Red Army disappeared into the Gulag, Josef Stalin's own labour camp network.</span></div>
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(This article, which contains minor edits, originally appeared in the Summer 2010 edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Quarterly Review </em>under the title <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"Gulag revisited"</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">.)</em></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Forced Labour Camps in </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Russia</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">: The </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Allied Connection</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">.</span></div>
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Immediately after the Bolshevik revolution of 1918, the Russian penal system went through a radical reformation. The traditional <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"hard-labour"</em> sentences were replaced by a two-tier system: the Vechecka <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"special purpose"</em> camps, and those that were openly used for <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"forced labour"</em>. Although not on the scale of those that appeared during the Stalin era, the purpose was the same; as well as criminals, enemies of the State such as aristocrats, businessmen, and political opponents were incarcerated, often summarily. </div>
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In July 1921, the Council of People's Commissars (SOVNARKOM) issued a secret decree defining the use, and the purpose, of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"corrective forced labour"</em>. It had already been acknowledged by the state that the camps were of little use in terms of rehabilitation of prisoners, but were merely a means of obtaining very cheap labour. The decree of 1929 effectively institutionalised the concept of slave labour in the Soviet Union, and laid the ground for the subsequent Stalinist atrocities. By April 1930 the system was officially established, and in November that year the word Gulag was first used. </div>
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During the early 1930s the camp network grew rapidly, and the numbers of prisoners rose as new<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> "offences"</em> were dreamt up by Stalin and his cabal. Article 58 of the Soviet penal code (1927), intended to criminalise political opposition, was updated in 1934 to include a number of new crimes, including <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"contact with foreigners"</em> (article 58-3). </div>
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After the Second World War, this article was used to imprison released Soviet PoWs, on the grounds that their failure to fight to the death was an <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"anti-Soviet"</em> act. In July 1937, the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, issued special order No. 00447, under which tens of thousands of inmates of the Gulag were executed for <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"continued anti-Soviet activity"</em>. This category of offence included such treasonous acts as becoming ill, or failing to work hard enough. </div>
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A decline in the camp populations occurred during the Second World War due to high mortality rates - 25% of inmates died of starvation in 1941 alone - however numbers swelled to almost 2.5 million by the time Stalin died in 1953. </div>
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Many of the new inmates were from territories newly annexed by the Soviet Union, and many more were former citizens who were forcibly repatriated after fleeing in the pre-war years. A tightening of property ownership laws also created a whole new range of offences, and new categories of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"enemies of the state".</em></div>
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An amnesty followed Stalin's death, and the camps went into numerical decline. In January 1960, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) issued an order officially liquidating the Gulag. The Soviet Union is now littered with mass graves. </div>
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At Kurapaty, near Minsk, as many as 30,000 citizens were executed by the NKVD between 1937-41. At Bykivnia, on the outskirts of Kiev, as many as 225,000 <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"enemies of the state" </em>were buried in at least 210 mass graves. At Butovo, in the Moscow region, at least 20,000 political prisoners were shot, and buried near the village of Drozhino.</div>
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Although somewhat different to the Nazi concentration camp system- it's primary <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">raison d'être </em>was not extermination - the results were too often the same, and the penal system killed millions. </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Allied PoWs in the Gulag.</span></div>
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Rarely, if ever, talked about however has been the fate of those tens of thousands of Allied servicemen who were to disappear into the system. </div>
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As many as 30,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"liberated"</em> by the Soviets from German POW camps ended their days in the Gulag.</div>
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In his book <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Iron Cage</em> (1993) Nigel Cawthorn refers to a London Evening Standard investigation that revealed at least 1,400 British soldiers had been taken, printing the names of 132.</div>
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It is a matter of record that British, French, Dutch, Belgian and American servicemen were held at a camp at Tambov, 25 miles from Moscow, from May 1945 onwards. According to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Moscow News</em> (10-17 Feb 1991) some were still alive after 45 years in captivity.</div>
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The British government has appeared to be unwilling to shine a light on this matter, possibly in order to hide the true nature of its wartime <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"ally"</em>. However, the unexpected homecoming of one Frank Kelly of Lewisham in South-East London in 1953 was to prove somewhat awkward. </div>
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Kelly had been held in a German PoW camp, Stalag Luft 4B, five miles to the north-east of the town of Mühlberg in the Prussian Province of Saxony, having been captured after the Battle of Arnhem, and following his liberation by the Soviets was to spend the better part of eight years in the Gulag.</div>
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On his return home - his family had been told he was <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"missing, presumed dead" - </em>he was quickly arrested and charged with being Absent Without Leave (AWOL); a charge that was quickly and quietly dropped.</div>
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Evidence suggests that Kelly served with the Highland Light Infantry, which provided several battalions to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Operation Market Garden</em>, the attempt to secure the bridge at Arnhem.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Soldiers of Misfortune: Washington's Secret Betrayal of American POWs in the Soviet Union</em> by James D. Sanders, Mark A. Sauter, and R. Cort Kirkwood (1992) claimed that 20,000 US servicemen were also taken by the Soviets, and that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"Starting in 1945, the Soviet Union became the second-largest employer of American servicemen in the world." </em></div>
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It is interesting to note that a US Senate Select Committee found that whilst 76,854 Americans were estimated to be in German PoW camps as of March 15, 1945, the actual number of Americans recovered from German PoW camps was 91,252. This suggests that amongst the numbers of those who were missing in action (MIA) and were subsequently presumed killed, were many thousands who were in captivity, but whose status had not been reported by the Germans to the International Red Cross. </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Vietnam</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> and the Cold War: Yeltsin opens the files.</span></div>
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A US Department of Defence press release, dated 09 Dec 2003, revealed that Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Jerry Jennings had visited Moscow as part of the work of a joint U.S.-Russia commission set up in 1992 to explore the question of whether Americans were held in, or transported through, the former Soviet Union during WWII, the Cold War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. </div>
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The cases of more than 200 airmen who went missing during the Korean War were discussed. It is widely held that downed American fliers, especially electronic warfare officers, were routinely sent to Moscow for interrogation and execution. On November 4th 1991, the Moscow-based journal Kommersant carried an interview with KGB Maj. Gen Oleg Kalugin (Retd.), who confirmed that after preliminary interrogations in theatre by Russian and Chinese personnel, PoWs were flown to Russia. The article concluded that the eventual fate of the servicemen was<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> "unknown". </em></div>
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It should be pointed out that during the period of the Yeltsin government, Moscow began to open its files, and US investigators were given access to these documents, and to Russian veterans. In fact, whilst the US Joint Staff stated that they <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"found no evidence that any previously unacknowledged Americans had been captured and imprisoned during the Cold War period by the Soviet Union, China or Korea"</em>, Yeltsin openly admitted in 1992 that a number of US airmen<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> "lost"</em> during the Cold War period had in fact been captured and imprisoned in the Soviet Union. In the same year, it was confirmed to investigators by officials in Kyiv that 10 files concerning US servicemen, including at least one who went missing on Ukrainian territory, were turned over to Moscow. </div>
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Although the Gulag was officially disbanded in the 1960s, so-called <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">free-labour camps</em> remained in operation in Siberia, as a part of the Russian penal system, accommodating up to one million inmates. The Russians have a word - <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">etapirovanie - </em>which means <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"transport in stages"</em>. In 2005, Valerii Abramkin, head of the Moscow Centre for Prison Reform, was quoted in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Moscow Times</em> as saying the time during which prisoners are in transit is used <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">to "shock them and break their spirit."</em></div>
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Unable to communicate with the outside world, with up to 20 prisoners in a six-berth compartment, they are at the mercy of their guards. Abramkin told the newspaper that during stops, prisoners are often pulled out and made to lie down or kneel in the snow or dirt for hours while being beaten. </div>
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A Labour camp in the far northern Siberian Yamal Peninsula, near the Arctic Circle, also remained in service, and possibly still does so: it was rumoured at the time that Mikhail Khordokovsky, the oligarch who fell out with the Kremlin after he sponsored pro-democratic political parties, had served at least part of his sentence there. </div>
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Relatives have the right to know where loved ones are incarcerated, but there is no time-frame laid down within which this information must be imparted, so in reality many prisoners simply disappear into the system. </div>
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Traditionally, NGOs would fight for the rights of such individuals, but Vladimir Putin has shut many of these down, of course.... </div>
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Yamal, in the language of the indigenous Nenets people, means <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"end of the world". </em></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Postscript:</em></span> This article came about as a result of research into the fate of the British & Commonwealth servicemen mentioned above. More than a year after the initial publication, during Dmitry Medvedev's Presidency, Russia introduced a freedom of information act. </div>
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Using this I requested, electronically, that Moscow open the files on those men. I received a reply addressed to me by my job title and hand delivered to my internal mailbox in the European Parliament - I had not mentioned my employment at all in my request - which informed me that if Her Majesty's Government were to make a formal request the files would be opened. HMG did not respond to my pleas, and individual politicians who promised to help failed to deliver.</div>
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During the 1992 joint U.S.-Russia commission mentioned in the article, numerous witnesses came forward to testify to the presence of U.S. servicemen in the Soviet prison system. The evidence of Vladimir Trotseko is but one example: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/19/world/decades-later-tales-of-americans-in-soviet-jails.html" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;">https://www.nytimes.com/1996/0...</a></div>
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I came across one witness statement which mentioned a sighting of U.S. servicemen in the 1950s who had been in the Gulag since the end of the First World War. This is highly plausible, as some allied troops did find themselves fighting alongside the Tsar's army during the 1917 revolution.</div>
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In January of this year, Paul A. Goble, writing for Euromaidan Press, drew attention to legislation signed off by Vladimir Putin that legalises the use of convicts as slave labourers: <a href="http://euromaidanpress.com/2020/01/20/putin-restores-the-gulag-by-legalizing-slave-labor-of-convicts/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;">http://euromaidanpress.com/202...</a></div>
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Minutes of the 1st plenum of the commission, for those who are interested, can be found at: <a href="https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/USRJC/1st_Plenum_Minutes.pdf" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;">https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/8...</a></div>
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Stalag Luft 4B image: By Dhr. J.H. Adam - This media file is part of the collection curated by Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen (external site) and donated in the context of a partnership program., CC BY-SA 4.0, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68525719" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;">https://commons.wikimedia.org/...</a></div>
Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-88828730069039510792020-05-04T10:39:00.001+02:002020-05-04T10:39:08.980+02:00Corbyn's legacy: the Labour Party, terrorists, and Anti-Semitism<div style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(92, 92, 92); color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">On Thursday morning, <a href="https://eutoday.net/news/security-defence/2020/dawn-raids-on-mosques" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;" target="_blank">heavily armed German police</a> took part in raids across the country. In <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dortmund, Muenster, Bremen and Berlin</span> they hit a number of Mosque associations - their target, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, <a href="https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2020/british-labour-party-terrorists" target="_blank"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">writes EUtoday publisher Gary Cartwright</em>.</a></span></div>
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Hezbollah is now a proscribed organisation in Germany, as it is in the U.S., Israel, and the UK, with both its military and political wings criminalised. The EU remains on the fence somewhat, having proscribed just the military wing, which was also the case with Germany until now.</div>
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In February 2019 Britain's House of Commons passed a ban on Hezbollah, albeit without the support of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party.</div>
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An official statement from the party stated that "<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Home Office has previously ruled that there was not sufficient evidence that the political wing of Hezbollah fell foul of proscription criteria, a position confirmed by ministers in the House of Commons last year. </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Ministers have not yet provided any clear evidence to suggest this has changed."</em></div>
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A spokesman for the party also said that because Hezbollah's political wing was part of a democratically elected government, such a ban would <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"interfere with diplomatic relations"</em>.</div>
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There have long been calls to ban the whole group with the distinction between the two factions derided as smoke and mirrors. Hezbollah themselves have laughed off the suggestion there is a difference. I've carefully considered the evidence and I'm satisfied they are one and the same with the entire organisation linked to terrorism.</div>
<footer style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Former UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid</footer></blockquote>
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Whilst not supporting the bill, Labour MPs declined to oppose the government on this occasion, and was passed without a vote. Corbyn's decision caused considerable discomfit amongst his backbenchers at the time.</div>
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It is now a criminal offence in the UK to show support for Hezbollah, punishable with a 10 year prison sentence.</div>
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Jeremy Corbyn has a history of expressing support for terrorists: photographs show the former Labour leader alongside Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, both of whom served on the Army Council of the Provisional IRA (PIRA).</div>
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The Marxist-oriented terror group killed some 1,800 people, including approximately 600 civilians between 1969 and 1994.</div>
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Sickeningly, the above image shows the trio in the House of Commons, just yards from where Airey Neave, Member of Parliament and highly decorated war hero, was murdered by the IRA in March 1979, an act that could only have carried out on the orders of the Army Council. </div>
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After McGuinness' death in 2017 Corbyn expressed his condolences referring to the killer as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"a great family man"</em>.</div>
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Corbyn's support for IRA terrorists - Both Adams and McGuinness have been jailed for their activities - is based on their shared Marxist revolutionary ideals. However, in the case of Hezbollah, the man who was leader of the Labour Party from September 2015 to April 2020 would struggle to disassociate his support from the myriad of antisemitic comments attributed to him.</div>
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Corbyn has also been linked with the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, another Marxist, who in a Christmas Eve speech in 2005 said, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“The world has enough for everybody, but some minorities, the descendants of the same people that crucified Christ…have taken control of the riches of the world".</em></div>
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In the aftermath of Chavez' inflammatory rhetoric synagogues were ransacked and vandalised, and government-controlled papers published cartoons with grotesque stereotypical caricatures of Jews, reminiscent of the Nazi <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Der Stürmer</em>.</div>
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Suffice to say, when Corbyn's party was investigated by the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2019 it was only the second political party to come under such scrutiny, the other being the far-right British National Party (BNP).</div>
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A damning 851 page report issued by the Labour Party itself in March of this year reveals the extent of the problem.</div>
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"This document tells an unhappy story. It is important to state that the fundamental issue it highlights is the existence of antisemitic ideas within our society, and the ways in which these have manifested within the Labour Party and on the left of British politics. It cannot be repeated too often that antisemitism has no place in society, nor in any democratic political organisation, least of all one committed to anti-racism and equality for all."</div>
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Whilst acknowledging the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"existence of antisemitic"</em> ideas within our society which have <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"manifested within the Labour Party"</em>it does appear to attack the messenger, pointing out that half of all complaints received and evidence supplied came from one person, whilst spreading the blame to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"the left of British politics"</em> in general. Indeed, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism</em>said the report was leaked as an attempt to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"smear whistleblowers"</em>.</div>
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Sir Keir Starmer, who recently replaced Corbyn as leader has stated his commitment to stamp out Anti-Semitism in his party.</div>
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However, it is also worth noting that he has launched an inquiry into the leaking of the damning report, and according the the Board of Deputies of British Jews two Labour MPs recently part in a conference call which included activists expelled from the party over alleged anti-Semitism, in breach of 10 anti-Semitism pledges that Sir Keir had signed up to during the Labour leadership contest earlier this year.</div>
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The extent of the problem the new leader faces is daunting indeed.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">The work of the Labour </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Party’s </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 - 2019 can be accessed <a href="https://cryptome.org/2020/04/Labour-Antisemitism-Report.pdf" target="_blank">Here</a>. </span></div>
Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-18478893379984111702020-03-30T12:08:00.001+02:002020-03-30T12:09:11.510+02:00My book, Wanted Man: The Story Of Mukhtar Ablyazov, now available from Amazon in Russian language edition.<div class="head-image thumb-wrap relative" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(92, 92, 92); color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative;">
<img alt="Wanted Man Russian" class="img-responsive" height="470" src="https://eutoday.net/assets/news/wanted-man-russian.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 770px;" width="770" /><a class="theme" href="https://eutoday.net/news/culture" style="background-color: #ce5eca; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: "Roboto Condensed", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: 700; left: 0px; line-height: 25px; padding: 0px 12px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; top: 10px; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;">CULTURE</a></div>
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Posted on Aug 21, 2019</div>
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Wanted Man: The story of Mukhtar Ablyazov now available in Russian language edition</h1>
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Wanted Man: The story of Mukhtar Ablyazov, A Manual for Criminals on How to Avoid Punishment in the EU, by EU Today publisher Gary Cartwright is now available in the Russian language from Amazon.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“For those of us who have fought tirelessly for Human Rights, it feel like a punch in the stomach when someone uses mechanisms to slyly promote their own self interest. Such action undermines the work of genuine Human Rights activists and deserves to be highlighted. I commend this book for doing just that.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Nikki Sinclaire</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Former Member of the European Parliament</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Member of the EP Committee on Human Rights 2009/14 </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Member of The EP Committee on Women and gender Equality 2009/14 </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"Gripping... an expose of how money talks in the EU and in individual member states. Corruption is a growing problem and as always, as this book shows, the guilty remain at large, and the taxpayer foots the bill."</em></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Colin Stevens, Publisher, EU Reporter.</span></div>
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The book can be ordered directly through Amazon.</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/%D0%A0%D0%90%D0%97%D0%AB%D0%A1%D0%9A%D0%98%D0%92%D0%90%D0%95%D0%9C%D0%AB%D0%99-%D0%90%D0%91%D0%9B%D0%AF%D0%97%D0%9E%D0%92%D0%90-%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F/dp/191088670X/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1563789429&refinements=p_27%3A%D0%93%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8+%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82&s=books&sr=1-1&text=%D0%93%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8+%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82" target="_blank">Click here to order.</a></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-24650004271231459682020-03-30T12:02:00.002+02:002020-03-30T12:02:28.723+02:00<header style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(92, 92, 92); color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 15px 0px; position: relative;"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: "Roboto Condensed", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: 36px; margin: 0px;">
Coronavirus: Former UK police chief wants to taser and shoot citizens who leave home for non-essential reasons.</h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Police forces across the UK appear to be confused and divided over the rules and the sweeping powers afforded by the emergency laws, and are seemingly unaware of the distinctions between <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"guidance"</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"legislation", </em>writes Gary Cartwright.</span></div>
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Guidance from the National Police Chiefs' Council states people must stay at home except for medical reasons, essential shopping, or for once-daily exercise. </div>
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Police, apparently taking this "guidance" as "law" then took full advantage of their new self-assumed authority, using the new emergency powers within the first 12 hours of them being ratified by MPs. £60 fines are being slapped on citizens who may, in the opinion of the officers concerned, be acting in a way contrary to government guidelines. However, these people are acting in accordance with government legislation. </div>
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Nowhere in the fast-tracked Coronavirus Bill, rushed through legislation after just two days of debate in the upper chamber, does it restrict citizens to once daily outdoor exercise, for example. However, the police appear to enacting their own interpretation of the bill.</div>
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Forces in Derbyshire and Lincolnshire have been spending their time, and tawpayer's money, flying drones in order to track and shame dog walkers and ramblers, who have committed no criminal or civil offence, before posting online, leading to charges of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"overzealousness"</em> from politicians, lawyers, and human-rights group.</div>
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Derbyshire Police, not content with playing with drones, were last week informed that people were continuing to congregate beside the water near Harpur Hill, Buxton.</div>
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In an act of wanton environmental vandalism their response was to dump black dye into a picturesque blue lagoon in the Peak District in order to stop Instagrammers posing for snaps during the coronavirus lockdown.</div>
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In a Facebook post Buxton safer neighbourhood policing team said: <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"No doubt this is due to the picturesque location and the lovely weather (for once) in Buxton. However, the location is dangerous and this type of gathering is in contravention of the current instruction of the UK Government. With this in mind, we have attended the location this morning and used water dye to make the water look less appealing."</em></div>
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In the absence of officers on the beat, police chiefs are now encouraging Britons to snitch on neighbours they suspect of breaching the coronavirus lockdown rules put in place to protect them and the rest of the public.</div>
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Humberside, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and Avon and Somerset Police have created a mixture of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"hotlines" </em>and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"online portals"</em> where people can submit tip-offs if lockdown infractions occur.</div>
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Concerned citizens are being asked to fill out an online form, presumably of the type used to reports household burglaries that are never investigated, specifying the nature of the alleged violations.</div>
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The parents of young adults who break coronavirus lockdown rules should be sanctioned, according to Ken Marsh, the head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who has said that the parents of older teenagers should be forced to pay £60 on-the-spot fines if they were caught ignoring government guidance.</div>
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Former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Hurley, however, who also held a senior position with the City of London Police and has served with the Royal Military Police, during an interview with Iain Dale on LBC radio revealed that he wants to shoot transgressors. He suggested that officers should be able to shoot people with electric tasers, baton rounds, or <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"something else"</em>, if they leave home for non-essential reasons.</div>
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Police should be able fire tasers and plastic bullets at people who fail to comply with Britain's lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, a senior former officer has suggested.</div>
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The retired policeman, who rather worryingly was also Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner between November 2012 and May 2016, during which term of office he declared that he wanted to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"batter and break the legs"</em> of a man convicted of a stabbing, started by saying Britain's bobbies should follow the example of India's paramilitary police, who routinely beat suspects with long sticks.</div>
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I'm moved by what I'm seeing in India where police are literally beating anyone on the street with long sticks. Now this may sound absurd, but my experiences with dealing with the street in London, you can't even properly police many of the estates. I think we're talking about warning people, potentially issuing them a fine. If they don't comply, because you don't want to touch them (and become infected) taser them on the spot. If they still don't comply, fire baton rounds at them. If they still don't comply, fire something else at them that makes them comply permanently</div>
<footer style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kevin Hurley</footer></blockquote>
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Hurley, whose role as founder and CEO of Inspiration Security Solutions Ltd, which provides services for investigative, intelligence, risk and security issues led to allegations of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"conflict of interest"</em> with his public role, described the new powers given to police to fine people £60 who are outside their homes for non-essential reasons as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"weak, insipid and unenforceable".</em></div>
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Elsewhere, within hours of the new legislation being enacted, the new powers were by London's Metropolitan Police to fine a bakery owner £80 for criminal damage after she put chalk lines outside her shop to keep her customers safe from coronavirus.</div>
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An officer told the flabbergasted woman that she had graffitied the pavement and if police failed to punish <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"crimes like these"</em> there would be<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> "anarchy"</em>, adding:<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> "I can't help the law. We're also fining people for congregating - is that wrong too?"</em></div>
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The owner responded <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"This is not graffiti, it's chalk, it washes off. Would you rather all my customers don't stand two metres apart? I'm doing it for people's safety - to stop the spread of coronavirus"</em>, to which the officer replies: <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"It doesn't matter. It's criminal damage". </em>The officer then threatened a further fine if the chalk was not removed immediately.</div>
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Britain's police forces have come under mounting criticism in recent years for their lack of visibility on the streets, for the knife crime epidemic that is sweeping the nation, and for their refusal to investigate, let alone solve, household burglaries of theft from motor vehicles. </div>
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As the country faces a public health crisis which, at the time of writing has claimed more than 1,000 lives, and threatens long-term damage to the economy, the police appear to have got off to a very bad start, and now face further losing credibility with the citizenry.</div>
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Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-76486665671507333472019-10-28T10:31:00.002+01:002019-10-28T10:37:44.097+01:00Vladimir Bukovsky: Death of a Dissident<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>I was saddened to learn of the death of Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, but to be frank he had been very ill for a long time, and so it was to be expected. It was only his incredible strength that carried him this far, I am sure.</b><br />
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I first met Vladimir in 2004 at London City Hall - which we ironically nicknamed <i>"Ken's Kremlin"</i> - at a cocktail event. I was to meet with him on numerous occasions over the years.<br />
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I greatly admired him for the fact that he withstood more than a decade of imprisonment and so-called <i>"psychiatric treatment" </i>in a variety of Soviet hell-holes and he never once broke.<br />
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He was actually instrumental in one of the most interesting episodes in my career in politics. In early 2006, over a nice dinner at Rose Blanche, in Grand Place, Brussels, he told me a very interesting story. And so we hatched a plan....<br />
<br />
A follow up meeting was arranged in June of that year, at the Victory Services Club in London, and so I came to be introduced to former Deputy Head of KGB, Oleg Gordievsky. I had never met such a high ranking KGB officer before - at least not knowingly - and so I was intrigued. What a lovely chap he turned out to be.<br />
<br />
After 15 minutes debate between Oleg (who was somewhat suspicious of Chilean Merlot) and Vladimir as to which red wine to order, before arbitrarily settling on a gin & tonic, patiently answered most of the 101 questions I had for him, and he told some very interesting stories (His autobiography <i>Next Stop Execution</i> is well worth a read).<br />
<br />
We were joined by London MEP Gerard Batten, and we got down to business. Via telephone, the discussion was joined by former spy Alexander Litvinenko, and it started to get very interesting.<br />
<br />
To cut a (very) long story short, the plan we had hatched over Flemish beef stew and a bottle of Georges DeBouef Morgon (I never forget a good dinner) came together, and Romano Prodi was outed in the European Parliament, live on TV, as a former KGB asset just days before the Italian Presidential elections. Job done!<br />
<br />
The story ended sadly, however, as Litvinenko was murdered by the FSB, on Vladimir Putin's orders, in London just five months later.<br />
<br />
Vladimir Bukovsky will always remain, I am sure, the only person I have ever met who watched Stalin's funeral from the roof of a hotel overlooking Red Square. As a 10-year old boy he witnessed the crush that led to the deaths of over 100 mourners - just one of the many horrors of the Soviet era that was to be covered up for many years.<br />
<br />
Such wonderful characters are becoming increasingly rare, sadly...<br />
<br />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-19052642752328640442019-09-26T11:34:00.002+02:002019-09-26T11:34:41.055+02:00Nigel Farage's Brexit Party "Biggest Earners" in the European Parliament<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">The 28 MEPs from Britain’s Brexit Party have collectively declared outside earnings of between €2 - 4.5 million euros (£1.7 - £3.9 million) per year, making them the highest earners in the European Parliament, </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Transparency International said on Thursday (Sept 26th). </span></em></div>
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The party, founded by former UKIP leader and career politician Nigel Farage, won the most British seats in European elections this year. It says Britain should leave the EU without a deal.</div>
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Transparency International, a watchdog which monitors EU lobbying and outside activities of members of the European Parliament, published its report on Thursday on MEP's self-reported income from second jobs and other sources. </div>
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The head of the Brexit Party’s delegation, Nathan Gill, said it topped the list because it had selected representatives who are successful outside of politics. </div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Our MEPs are not reliant on their MEPs salaries,”</em> Gill said, adding that party chairman Richard Tice had pledged to donate his entire European Parliament salary to charity. </div>
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Each MEP is paid €8,700 per month as a base salary and €4,500 in tax-free allowances for working in the EU parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. This is in addition to multiple pension funds, private medical care for MEPs and their families, and assistants allowances that are routinely abused by <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"employment" </em>of kin. Whilst the latter practice was banned after 2014, there were cases of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"you employ mine, and I'll employ yours"</em>. Farage's former paid assistant, Ray Finch, on being elected to the European Parliament in 2014 promptly employed his former employer's wife as an assistant, thus circumnavigating the rules.</div>
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Nigel Farage himself had previously been outed in the Parliament by then MEP Nikki Sinclaire who drew attention to the fact that Farage was paying both his wife, Kirsten, and his <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"former"</em> mistress, Annabelle Fuller, from his taxpayer-funded parliamentary allowances.</div>
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According to Transparency International, many parliamentarians have not updated their declarations in years and there is no way to know how accurate they are. </div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;">“It’s self-reported, they can do whatever they want,”</i> said Raphaël Kergueno, Policy Officer at Transparency International EU. </div>
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Parliamentarians have to adhere to a code of conduct with respect to financial interests, and an advisory committee is in charge of examining possible violations. In the whole year of 2018 the committee audited only five parliamentarians, according to a parliament report. </div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;">“This is why the system is problematic, because they don’t take it seriously,”</i> Kergueno said. </div>
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https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2019/nigel-farages-brexit-party-biggest-earners-in-the-european-parliament</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2019/the-brexit-party-were-only-making-plans-for-nigel" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;" target="_blank">The Brexit Party: We're only making plans for Nigel</a></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2019/nigel-farage-faces-allegations-of-taking-russian-money" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;" target="_blank">Nigel Farage Faces Allegations Of Taking Russian Money</a></span></div>
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Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-12542705996613945422019-07-29T17:47:00.000+02:002019-07-29T17:47:22.717+02:00World4Brexit: Nigel Farage launches US based fundraising scheme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mU49VIQQLOU/XT8UUIwQVtI/AAAAAAAACkk/3YnezwOf-5gJn5URCY5EZHF6EnQcCE97wCLcBGAs/s1600/farage%2Bbrexit%2Bparty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mU49VIQQLOU/XT8UUIwQVtI/AAAAAAAACkk/3YnezwOf-5gJn5URCY5EZHF6EnQcCE97wCLcBGAs/s320/farage%2Bbrexit%2Bparty.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Nigel Farage has reportedly launched a Brexit lobbying group which can spend unlimited amounts of money pushing pro-Brexit messages while keeping the names of its donors secret.</span></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Pushing pro-Brexit messages”</em>, of course, also means furthering Farage’s personal career.</div>
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World4Brexit is registered in Michigan USA for tax purposes and is registered as a ‘501(c)(4)’ group - a not-for-profit group which can accept donations of up to $5,000 and keep the names of donors secret. </div>
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Farage is on record as stating that all money raised by the group would be <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“above the board and legal”</em>. </div>
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Donald Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon, who heads Brussels-based far-right organisation <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Movement</em>, is expected to give<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> "informal advice"</em> to the campaign group. Interestingly, Farage’s former assistant in the European Parliament, and who was named in the British media as his live-in mistress, one Laure Ferrari, is identified in legal documents obtained by EU Today as one of two nominees for the role of Secretary-General of The Movement.</div>
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Previously, she was appointed by Farage to the role of executive director of the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE), an entity set up in the shadow of of the ADDE. </div>
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Following an investigation into IDDE, the UK Electoral Commission also opened an investigation into whether UKIP accepted <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"impermissible donations"</em> from the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE), a pan-European political party established in 2014, which included members from UKIP, as well as the controversial Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), one The Sweden Democrats, whose members, in the early days of the party's existence, openly adopted Nazi regalia.</div>
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According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/16/ukip-eu-taxpayers-cash-new-political-party" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">the Guardian</span></a>, UKIP stood to receive around £1million per year from ADDE and £580,000 from IDDE.</div>
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The European Parliament advised the commission that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"it has formally concluded that both ADDE and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">IDDE </em>used EU grant funding for the benefit of UKIP in breach of its rules and therefore, these expenses were declared as non-eligible for the financing”</em>.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Related articles</em></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2018/nigel-farage-steve-bannon-what-exactly-is-the-connection" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;" target="_blank">Nigel Farage & Steve Bannon: What Exactly Is The Connection?</a></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2019/nigel-farage-faces-allegations-of-taking-russian-money" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; text-decoration: none; transition: color 200ms ease, background-color 200ms ease, text-shadow 200ms ease, box-shadow 200ms ease, border 200ms ease;" target="_blank">Nigel Farage Faces Allegations Of Taking Russian Money</a></span></div>
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Farage’s new Brexit Party also quickly attracted from the Electoral Commission over the source of its income, stating that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“the fundraising structure the [Brexit] Party have adopted, coupled with insufficient procedures, leaves it open to a high and ongoing risk of receiving and accepting impermissible donations, and being unable to maintain accurate records of transactions.” </em></div>
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Of course, it it appears to have been set up that way. Bob Posner, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, speaking at a hearing of the UK Parliament’s sub-committee on disinformation, told MPs that the party was open to a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“high risk”</em> of fraudulent donations via Paypal.</div>
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MPs were told that the Brexit party had not been collecting data concerning Paypal donations <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“systematically”</em> and noted that its funding structure was based around attracting money from small donations, which <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“does have risks attached to it”.</em></div>
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In June, the Commission asked the Party to check £2.5m it has received in donations to ensure it has come from legitimate sources. The Commission will oversee these checks, it is reported.</div>
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Many will be asking, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“is World4Brexit another of Farage’s money making schemes?”</em></div>
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This will also of course raise yet again questions about the possibility of Russian funding that have dogged Farage in recent years. His relationship with Bannon has attracted attracting speculation: The Movement, of which Farage has spoken positively, comprises mainly of far-right populist parties that have either sought, or received, Moscow geld.</div>
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Despite having launched only in July of this year- the first posting was on the 12th - World4Brexit’s Twitter account, which appears to be a sort of online photo album for Farage himself, as of the morning of the 29th shows an impressive 4,687 followers. However, many of the accounts of these followers appear to be fake - either paid for followers or part of a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“follow me”</em> scheme. Its all about appearances….</div>
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<b style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This article originally appeared on</b> <b><span style="color: blue;">www.eutoday.net</span></b></div>
Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-57730769415353101082019-05-10T15:38:00.002+02:002019-05-10T15:39:26.093+02:00WANTED MAN: THE STORY OF MUKHTAR ABLYAZOV: A Manual for Criminals on How to Avoid Punishment in the EU<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WZ90q6J4VVA/XNV-abxMwVI/AAAAAAAAChE/500O_ET9NzALiMO6IhGO1zoBLEZzmc-tACLcBGAs/s1600/front%2Bcover%2B%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1112" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WZ90q6J4VVA/XNV-abxMwVI/AAAAAAAAChE/500O_ET9NzALiMO6IhGO1zoBLEZzmc-tACLcBGAs/s320/front%2Bcover%2B%2B2.jpg" width="222" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With the tenth anniversary of his flight from the authorities in his homeland of Kazakhstan fast approaching, the raft of transnational court cases involving fugitive embezzler Mukhtar Ablyazov show no sign of abating. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In a global saga which stretches from an institutional aversion to tackling kleptocracy in the United Kingdom to United States President Donald Trump’s shady business partners, the murky world of Mukhtar Ablyazov even led his family to make a pit stop in the Central African Republic to pick up diplomatic passports. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Yet despite having judgements against him totalling $4.9 billion in the British courts alone, almost six years since he fled from the UK to avoid three concurrent 22-month sentences for contempt of court, Ablyazov remains a free man. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So who is this criminal mastermind, a man found to have committed ‘fraud on an epic scale’ in the UK and sentenced in absentia in his homeland of having ordered the assassination of his erstwhile business partner? A country boy turned kleptocrat, current estimates as to the total amount embezzled by Ablyazov stand at in excess of $10 billion, yet from his villa in France, Ablyazov continues to bemoan his plight to be a simple case of ‘political persecution.’ </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This is an argument supported by parties such as the NGO, the Open Dialog Foundation, whose activities, a report from a conference held in the European Parliament in November 2017 found, are funded by companies ‘flagged and sanctioned by the West.’</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now available from Amazon:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>https://www.amazon.co.uk/WANTED-MAN-ABLYAZOV-Criminals-Punishment/dp/1910886955<br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“In his book, Cartwright shines a light on the extraordinary antics of the fugitive kleptocrat and his retinue. Exhaustively researched, yet succinct and easily comprehensible, </i><b><i>Wanted Man: The Story of Mukhtar Ablyazov</i></b><i> lays bare the startling facts behind this opaque tale.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Stephen M. Bland</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Award winning author & Journalist</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“For those of us who have fought tirelessly for Human Rights, it feel like a punch in the stomach when someone abuses mechanisms to slyly promote their own self interest. Such actions undermine the work of genuine Human Rights activists and deserve to be highlighted. I commend this book for doing just that.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Nikki Sinclaire</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Former Member of the European Parliament</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Member of the EP Committee on Human Rights 2009-2014 </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>"Gripping... an expose of how money talks in the EU and in individual member states. Corruption is a growing problem and as always, as this book shows, the guilty remain at large, and the taxpayer foots the bill."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Colin Stevens, Publisher, EU Reporter.</span></div>
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Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-71275153614291449022019-05-08T14:07:00.000+02:002019-05-08T14:07:30.651+02:00Is Great Britain on the verge of collapse?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">There was a time, during the post-war boom of the 1950s and 1960s, when a working class family could live comfortably on one income, and in such circumstances private home ownership was growing. Those days are but a distant memory now<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</em></span> </div>
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Those born in this millennium, poorly educated in Britain’s failing state schools and with little chance of obtaining meaningful employment, many on the notorious <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Zero Hours</em> contracts - around 780,000 people are employed on zero hours contracts in the UK, roughly 2.4% of people in employment, or about one in 40 workers - are unlikely to be able to even afford the rent on a modest home, let alone raise the enormous sums now required in order to obtain a mortgage and acquire property of their own. </div>
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In the London district of Bermondsey, once a grim slum on the south side of the River Thames, and which under the guidance of social reformer Dr Alfred Salter became a beacon of urban regeneration allowing under-paid and exploited dock workers to buy their own modern homes, and to enjoy a high level of health care, the cost of a so-called starter home, usually a one-bedroomed flat or small house with little or no garden, now <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“costs an average of £638,530, a ‘mid-market’ home an average of £691,300 and a top-of-the-range home nearly £1.5million,” </em>according to a survey by the Sunday Times, carried out in conjunction with mortgage broker Habito and published recently (April 14th). What chance would a young couple or a single person with a reasonable income and level of job security have of getting on the property ladder have under such circumstances?</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Social housing is no longer a viable option </span>as much of what was available was either demolished in order that the land could be sold to private developers, or sold off cheaply to tenants under Margaret Thatcher’s government. Much of what is still available is occupied by those with the most pressing needs, often economic migrants and refugees, denying local families access. This situation, incidentally, was exploited ruthlessly during the run-up to the June 2006 Brexit referendum, and was one of the major factors in the result.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Schools themselves, as mentioned above, are failing, with the situation set to get worse.</span> A letter obtained by EU Today, and signed by six headteachers in an area renowned for the high quality of its state schools refers to real term cuts in funding of 10% for the education of 11-16 year old pupils over recent years. Over the same period funding for sixth formers has dropped in real terms by 20%.<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“We have held off from writing to parents until now but are finding it increasingly unrealistic to maintain the high quality of provision for your children we feel currently exists. We are blessed to have a great range of highly successful schools in the area, but if nothing is done to reverse this funding crisis immediately, we will almost certainly not be able to operate at the same level in the future.”</em></div>
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The letter also points out that funding intended to pay for education is being used to pay <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“local government pension contributions”</em>. The government is robbing Peter to pay Paul.</div>
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As for the national curriculum, pupils learn little of their country’s history, but are well versed in the US civil rights movement of the 1960s. Health and nutrition issues get but a cursory glance, tucked away in domestic sciences; however no primary or secondary school class is complete, it would appear, with at least one trans-gender pupil.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">When launched by the then minister of health, Aneurin Bevan, on July 5th 1948, the National Health Service was based on 3 core principles:</span> that it meet the needs of everyone, that it be free at the point of delivery, and that it be based on clinical need, not ability to pay.</div>
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The NHS was designed to meet the needs of an island nation with a largely homogenous population of 50 million, impoverished and traumatised by two world wars, and looking for social change. The NHS promised, and it delivered. It is, however, totally unsuited for today’s globalised high-tech world. </div>
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The population of the UK today officially stands at 66.85 million, but nobody believes that statistic for one moment. </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">To appreciate the inadequacy of the NHS </span>one really needs to live, work, and possibly raise a family on the continent in order to make comparisons with what is accepted as the norm there.</div>
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But to put it it into stark contrast, the UK has amongst the highest rates of cancer mortality in Europe - research suggests that the main reason for low survival rates in the UK seems to be delayed diagnosis, underuse of successful treatments and unequal access to treatment, particularly among elderly people. It is also the only country in the EU in which average life expectancy is actually declining. Hospital waiting times are virtually unheard in the other member states. And yet the NHS is amongst the most expensive health services not just in Europe, but globally. </div>
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What it lacks in results, it makes up for in its services to the labour market: the NHS is the largest employer in the UK. It employs legions of managers and administrators, and also heavily supports the private sector by outsourcing, at considerable expense, many of its functions. The recipients of these lucrative health contracts, however, are often based offshore. </div>
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Unless they wish to see a end to their career, senior politicians are obliged to repeat the mantra about the NHS being the jewel in Britain’s crown. It is not. It is a monkey on our backs. There is much talk of reform, but reforms would take decades, and today’s politicians think only in 4-5 year electoral cycles, and so we cannot expect words to be translated into actions. In any event, the NHS does not need to be reformed, it needs to be replaced.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Much like the NHS, what was once a public transport network has also been privatised and asset stripped.</span> Take the case of the railways: archaic infrastructure that requires constant and highly expensive attention, and which is often the cause of delays and trains cancellations, remains the responsibility of the taxpayer, whereas the highly profitable train services themselves have been sold off to the private sector. One employee of Greater Anglia Rail told EU Today <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“customer services are being cut to the bone, we have no staff on the trains. Customers complain about fare increases, trains don’t run on time, all profits go to a Dutch company”</em>.</div>
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Compare this to continental railways where onboard train managers and buffet cars are the norm, passengers are assured of a seat, trains generally run on time, and fares are a fraction of what British commuters pay. British railways are a classic example of a system in terminal decline. </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Britain is currently experiencing a murder rate of almost Biblical proportions.</span> In particular, knife crime is on the rise, with multiple killings in various parts of the London on a single day often now being reported. On March 26th, two boys both 17, and four men aged 18 to 26 were knifed in separate attacks in London. </div>
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The following morning, shopkeeper Ravi Katharkamar, 54, was murdered with a knife wound to his chest as he opened Marsh Food and Wine in Pinner, north-west London.</div>
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On April 16th a man was killed after a car was driven into a mass brawl outside a north-west London tube station, bringing the tally of murder victims to 36 so far this year.</div>
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A recent study, published in the Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing, found that 21% of the 590 fatal stabbings in London over a 10-year period were flagged by police as involving gangs: in 2017-18 the proportion rose to 29% suggesting that gang culture is spreading in the capital.</div>
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The hopelessly inept Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service Cressida Dick, limply stated that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“youth knife violence is at the worst level I have ever seen it”. </em>It not known if Ms. Dick, who was in charge of the bungled operation that saw the brutal slaying by police officers of Jean Charles da Silva e de Menezes at Stockwell underground station in 2005, intends to do anything about the state of affairs she is currently presiding over. (Ms. Dick is the Met’s first openly gay Commissioner, and she is openly conducting a relationship with a subordinate, which surely should raise serious questions.)</div>
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It should not require the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes to link this appalling situation to the fact that more than 600 police stations have closed in the last eight years, largely due to budget cuts. It has been explained, however, that these closures are partly because people now rarely report crimes at police stations. How can they when there are no stations left open?</div>
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It is interesting to note that whilst stations offer no service to the public, administrative work often continues apace behind the closed doors.</div>
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Burglaries are rarely, if ever, investigated by police, who no longer even attend the scene in most cases.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">The current terrorist threat in the UK has provided the government with what politicians would term a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">beneficial crisis</em>. </span>Under the guise of this threat a major change in the way Britain is policed has taken place. The lack of visible policing, the failure - or is it lack of will? - of the police to protect the public, the closure of police stations and the move towards intelligence led policing all point to a major shift in priorities. The police no longer protect the public, they police them in order to protect the state.</div>
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Brexit has itself provided the government with another beneficial crisis. The security forces have been making preparations in order take to the streets to quell civil unrest in the event of supermarkets running out of French cheese or Veuve Cliquot Champagne. </div>
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In January, it was announced that Her Majesty’s Government had issued a formal notice calling up British army reservists to help tackle the impact of crashing out of the EU <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“on the welfare, health and security of UK citizens and economic stability of the UK</em>”.</div>
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Why are they really making such preparations?</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Britain is a horribly overcrowded nation in which public services are in decline and in which the indigenous population has lost its identity.</span> Cities are seething in gang violence, and the background smell in every town centre is that of cannabis, the police having given up on the fight against drugs long ago. </div>
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There is real danger on the streets, and those few who take the time to look up from their iPhones will be aware of the growing legions of rough sleepers in shop doorways. Britain is now a country in which the elderly, the mentally ill, and the displayed sleep in the street, and police officers carry sub-machine guns. It has become an ugly place indeed.</div>
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The two homeless men, pictured left, sleep outside a supermarket close to London's exclusive Eccleston Square. As visitors from the continent arrive at Victoria coach station this is the sight they are met with. </div>
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All this is happening in the fifth largest economy in the world. Exactly where is all the money going? </div>
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If the UK is the successful economy that the government claims, why is the maximum weekly state pension £141 in the UK, £304 in France, £507 in Germany, and £513 in Spain? Again, where is all the money going?</div>
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Post-Brexit, we can expect to see employment laws relaxed and environmental regulations adjusted to suit the needs of industry at the expense of public health - London already has amongst the worst air quality in Europe, resulting in thousands of premature deaths each year. Mayor Sadiq Khan’s charges for motorists entering London’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">ultra low emission zone </em>will achieve nothing to solve this health crisis.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">It is a sad truth, but one that has to be faced up to,</span> that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will not be with us forever. The length of her reign has already been astonishing, and has given the nation a sense of stability and consistency: there are octogenarians today who were schoolchildren when she ascended to the throne in 1952. She is one of the last links to the Britain that many of us were born into and grew up in. We need to consider whether the affection, loyalty, and trust that she inspires in the British people will be transferred to her heirs and successors, to the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“what Megan wants, Megan gets”</em> generation of royals. </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">The complete failure of the British government to manage Brexit</span> has been but another symptom of the failings of the country’s out of date and out of step party system. Only in times of such confusion and despair could a political anachronism the likes of Jeremy Corbyn appear to some to make sense. </div>
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Only in such times could his former lover, the ghastly hypocrite Diane Abbot, be presented to the public as Shadow Home Secretary. Abbot is all over the British press today (20th April) having been photographed drinking alcohol at lunchtime on a London train in flagrant contravention of a ban that has been in place since 2008. The Home Secretary, it should be noted, is responsible for maintaining law and order in the UK.</div>
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The current ongoing eco-protests taking place in London have led to 682 arrests at the time of writing, leading to a crisis in those London police stations that remain open; they are running out of cells. How would they cope in a real state of emergency?</div>
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Any one of the failings described above should give cause for serious concerns. Coming altogether as they do, and the parlous state of Britain’s armed forces has not even been discussed here, a picture emerges of a country, a society, facing crisis or even collapse. If Britain’s infrastructure is unable to cope, if the forces of law and order have lost control of the city streets, and Her Majesty’s Government, paralysed by indecision and incompetence is unable to enact the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box, then to quote Virgil, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"as I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood”.</em></div>
Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-74510342292860746492018-10-29T10:47:00.003+01:002018-10-29T10:56:41.449+01:00UKIP MEP Nathan Gill Weighs In To Defend Pro-Kremlin Media From Action By Ukrainian Parliament<div style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(92, 92, 92); color: #5c5c5c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px;">
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-weight: 700;">Regular readers of <a href="http://www.eutoday.net/" target="_blank">EU Today</a> will be aware that there have been many questions raised over the four years since Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian sovereign territory, Crimea, and the continuing Russian <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“backed”</em> military activities in the Donbass region, concerning the involvement of individual Members of the European Parliament with Russian state controlled media.</span><br />
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Very famously, Nigel Farage of UKIP was once described by Russia Today (RT) as their favourite British politician. The feeling appeared somewhat mutual as in March 2014 Farage had described Putin as the world leader he most admires.</div>
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It was even rumoured at one point that he might be given his own show on the Kremlin controlled station.</div>
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Now another UKIP MEP has apparently succumbed to the flattery of the pro-Russian media, Nathan Gill, who sits in Farage’s political group in the European Parliament, the EFDD.</div>
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There is currently a controversy in Ukraine concerning two TV channels: 112 and News One because of the intention to close them down in response to their direct and clear pro-Russian and pro-Kremlin positions. </div>
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A draft law on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Approval of recommendations to introduce personal special economic sanctions and other restrictive measures (sanctions)”</em> on the two channels came into force earlier this month.</div>
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The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, stated that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“there are systematic signs of imitation of discourse practices of Russian propaganda in the activities of a number of legal entities, permanent demonstration of propaganda and spreading of the ideology of terrorism”</em>. </div>
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These sanctions are to include, amongst other things, asset freezes on the two channels and their subsidiaries, and cancellation of their broadcasting licences.</div>
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The two channels are believed to be under the control of Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch and chairman of the pro-Russia political organisation <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Ukrainian Choice. </em> He is an opponent of Ukraine’s expressed desire for future membership of the EU, and was claimed by Newsweek to have been identified as a former Russian intelligence agent (23 Nov 2017). </div>
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After one of his December 2013 meetings with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, it has been reported that Medvedchuk publicly promised to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"deal with"</em> pro-European protesters in Ukraine.</div>
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On 24 June 2014, the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic informed the OSCE that Medvedchuk was appointed their representative in the negotiations with the Ukrainian Government. He was to become one of the first to be placed on the US sanctions list following Russia’s Legal Annexation of Ukraine.</div>
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He was one of the mediators in the bidding process that gave Russia the right to host the 2018 World Cup, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is godfather of his daughter Darina, who was born in 2004. </div>
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The Independent newspaper has referred to him as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Putin’s best friend in Ukraine”</em> (Aug 30 2018), and in his book <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“All the Kremlin's Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin”</em> (2006) Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar claimed that Vladimir Putin believed that no question involving Ukraine could be solved without Viktor Medvedchuk.</div>
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"The fact that the channel (112) has gone under Medvedchuk's control is evidenced not only by connection with him of the new management. In the summer of 2018, the politician's 'presence' on 112 shows has grown significantly. A man behind the scenes of the Ukrainian politics, Medvedchuk does not personally give interviews, at least for the time being. But the channel's broadcast is full of his quotes, while statements of his political power make separate news.</div>
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<footer style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">UNIAN Information Agency (Ukraine) 21 August 2018</footer></blockquote>
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And so where does Nathan Gill enter into this narrative?</div>
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In fact, he weighed into the debate very shortly after being elected to the European Parliament in 2014 when on September 16th of that year he delivered a speech in Strasbourg telling fellow MEPs that the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is leading us into war”</em>. When the European Parliament voted on this on the same day of Gill voted against the Agreement along with his UKIP colleagues.</div>
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On November 13th that same year he told MEPs in Brussels that the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“EU-Moldova agreement risks deepening crisis in Ukraine”</em>. </div>
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On his website, on October 15th of this year, under the headline <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Why Moldova should NOT join the EU”</em> Gill writes “<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">At the end of September 2018 I was invited to the Moldo-Russian Economic Forum held in Chisinau, Moldova. We discussed issues such as trade development, economic cooperation and membership of the European Union”.</em></div>
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This was the first such forum; next year’s event will take place in Moscow.</div>
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Whether unwittingly or otherwise, Gill is consistently echoing the Kremlin line precisely.</div>
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Now, with attention focussed on Putin’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"best friend in Ukraine"</em>, who should come to his defence but none other than Gill himself.</div>
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On October 23rd, just days after the draft law calling for sanctions on the two Ukrainian TV channels, Gill was to table a written question to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. </div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“The Ukrainian Parliament has voted in favour of sanctions against various news broadcasters, such as NewsOne TV and 112, which may now be forced to terminate their activities. Freedom of expression and freedom of the media are fundamental commitments of the Ukraine under the terms of the Association Agreement signed with the EU. How will the EU ensure that there is freedom of the press in the Ukraine and that the terms of the Association Agreement are honoured?”</em></div>
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Note that Gill is asking the EU to ensure that the terms of the Association Agreement, which he personally voted against, are honoured. Astonishing hypocrisy, one might say. </div>
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In tabling this question, which has no legislative value whatsoever, not to mention the answer, which will be written by a staff member in the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels and will be of little interest to the world, Gill has, either unwittingly or otherwise, handed Zyagar’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Kremlin's Men” </em>a propaganda coup.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">“</span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">EU to consider issue of Ukrainian authorities' pressure on 112 Ukraine and NewsOne TV channels”</span></em>, screamed the headline on the 112 website on October 24th. </div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">“Federica Mogherini will assess the actions of the Ukrainian Parliament in relation to free media in Ukraine”</span></em> it continued to misinform its readers, courtesy of Gill’s naivety. Or otherwise.</div>
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Lobbyists from these channels - often posing as journalists or human rights activists - are known to be operating in Brussels trying to find support from European politicians claiming violations of freedom of speech and media persecution in Ukraine. It appears they are finding their targets. This is an issue the European institutions might better use their time addressing.</div>
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<b><i>Originally published at:</i></b> <a href="https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2018/british-eurosceptic-mep-weighs-in-to-defend-pro-russian-media-from-action-by-ukrainian-parliament">https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2018/british-eurosceptic-mep-weighs-in-to-defend-pro-russian-media-from-action-by-ukrainian-parliament</a></div>
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Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-59139132156422255672018-10-07T00:16:00.002+02:002018-10-07T00:18:22.123+02:00Peggy Sue has passed away....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AwJ8OuO0uw/W7k0c_D77RI/AAAAAAAACdE/KyHGcSdZrPslQ_FmeG51PVCf-8IddcppQCLcBGAs/s1600/peggy%2Bsue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="620" height="170" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AwJ8OuO0uw/W7k0c_D77RI/AAAAAAAACdE/KyHGcSdZrPslQ_FmeG51PVCf-8IddcppQCLcBGAs/s320/peggy%2Bsue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>A long, long time ago.... as Don McLean sang....</b><br />
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Buddy Holly was working on a ballad that he could not quite get together: it was provisionally titled 'Cindy Lou'. He ran it past the band, and his drummer, Jerry 'Ivan' Allison, picked up on it straight away.<br />
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Jerry was courting a young lady by the name of Peggy Sue Gerron, and he felt that he might win her heart more easily if Buddy was to release the song under a different title. He also persuaded Buddy to make it a more up tempo rocker, and he added a frenetic drum back beat.<br />
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And so the song was released as 'Peggy Sue', and was to become one of the best selling records in Rock n Roll history.<br />
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Sadly, Peggy Sue passed away a few days ago at the age of 78, in her, and Buddy's, home town of Lubbock, Texas.<br />
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Her name will live forever, thanks to Buddy Holly.<br />
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<br />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-18557996699298507132018-10-05T22:05:00.005+02:002018-10-05T22:05:41.313+02:00The death of British comedy... Johnny English Strikes Out!<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-booTweyYwfk/W7fD14HRbII/AAAAAAAACc4/O2NfvxX1ayk7QuVp1jDl01iM88MvqSm0wCLcBGAs/s1600/JE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-booTweyYwfk/W7fD14HRbII/AAAAAAAACc4/O2NfvxX1ayk7QuVp1jDl01iM88MvqSm0wCLcBGAs/s1600/JE.jpg" /></a><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I love comedy. It is my great passion. I particularly love Jewish comedy (the best!) and the unashamedly <i>'naughty'</i> British comedy of the 50s & 60s (think about Carry On movies and seaside postcards) and </span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>I have been totally unaffected by the disease of political correctness.</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tonight I watched the new Rowan Atkinson movie <span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: #212121; white-space: nowrap;"><i>Johnny English Strikes Again.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: #212121; white-space: nowrap;">Credit where credit is due, I think this is the first movie I have watched at a cinema where I haven't either fallen </span></span><span style="color: #212121; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); white-space: nowrap;">asleep or simply gotten bored and wandered out in about two years.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); white-space: nowrap;">I did chuckle once or twice during the film, but to be honest just one hour after the end end of this screening I have no recollection of any single line in the script. Nor do I recall the plot, if indeed there was one.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); white-space: nowrap;">Rowan Atkinson is one of our greatest comics, without doubt, but he deserves better material then this. </span></span><br />
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<br />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-88821975650107182032018-03-19T00:21:00.002+01:002018-03-19T00:21:50.709+01:00Up Pompeii!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IJ5QtzPbt7w/Wq70T4fYckI/AAAAAAAACXQ/PXjbh84wImc12Pf5-LpsO_Ns-pol3EiMgCLcBGAs/s1600/p111122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="1600" height="255" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IJ5QtzPbt7w/Wq70T4fYckI/AAAAAAAACXQ/PXjbh84wImc12Pf5-LpsO_Ns-pol3EiMgCLcBGAs/s320/p111122.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>I remember when, whilst enduring Primary School, I first learned about the events of some 2000 years ago at Pompeii. This detail of ancient history really caught my imagination.</b><br />
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And so I was enthralled by the current Pompeii exhibition in Brussels, which I wholeheartedly recommend.<br />
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I am often critical about such expos in Belgium, as they have a tendency towards replicas. Replica dinosaur bones, replica terracotta warriors, replica governments, and so on. But this one really delivers.<br />
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More than 100 of the artefacts on display are from Pompeii, and how fascinating they are. I had the feeling that I could pick up any of these ancient relics and use them for their intended purpose; and so many of them are very personal - they were actually held and used on a daily basis by the men and women who perished so long ago.<br />
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The highlight for any political obsessive such as myself is what is believed to be the skull of Pliny the Elder. Displayed alongside a Gladio - the ancient Roman sword - found by his remains, this is a glimpse into the very beginning of classical European history.<br />
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The expo runs until April 15th. https://www.brussels.be/exhibition-pompeii-immortal-cityGaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-42620332033690336652018-02-24T09:30:00.001+01:002018-02-24T09:30:20.839+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Efw0Zsv0fg/WpEigilxHjI/AAAAAAAACWk/3u88SoulUCg9QGS-9iOLdGVBJvtr7MH0wCKgBGAs/s1600/jlc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="773" height="216" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Efw0Zsv0fg/WpEigilxHjI/AAAAAAAACWk/3u88SoulUCg9QGS-9iOLdGVBJvtr7MH0wCKgBGAs/s320/jlc2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-10206606109105583312018-02-11T19:46:00.000+01:002018-02-11T19:53:14.141+01:00Daily Mail: Leading The Race To The Bottom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cewuLllwYIs/WoCOGiUtqzI/AAAAAAAACWA/Cx0TLvHNt60Y5FH66DZIffyC_rZzAqOBgCLcBGAs/s1600/111221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="640" height="160" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cewuLllwYIs/WoCOGiUtqzI/AAAAAAAACWA/Cx0TLvHNt60Y5FH66DZIffyC_rZzAqOBgCLcBGAs/s320/111221.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>I first realised that something was wrong in 2004 or 2005 when I picked up a copy of the Daily Mail and on the front page headline the word "marriage" was spelled incorrectly.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> Since then, I have noticed an accelerating decline in the use of the English language in all media. But it is not only a grammatical problem: this is from the Mail on Sunday today (11 Feb).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>"Over the past century, photography has emerged as perhaps the most accessible and influential art form, allowing us to bear witness to some of our planet's most formative moments in recent time. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Whether it be the the scenes of devastation on 9/11 or </i><b><i>the aftermath of nuclear fallout in Vietnam,</i></b><i> many of us are able to instantly recognise the most iconic and controversial photographs ever taken." </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Nuclear fallout in Vietnam?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Newspapers now appear to expect journalists to work for nothing. We have a saying <i>"pay peanuts, and you get monkeys”.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Was there not a sub-editor in place to pick this up?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Well, I suspect that I know the answer to that. No, there wasn't. I wonder even if the typesetting (is it still called that now?) is outsourced to a country where English is not the native language, but labour is cheap.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It is not just the Daily Mail, of course. As a publisher myself I follow my competitors carefully. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 14px;">It may be that the Daily Mail simply reflects the academic level of its readership, which I think is quite likely the case. But that is no excuse for editorial incompetence and illiteracy.</span>Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-41287102323897869692018-02-06T14:55:00.001+01:002018-02-06T15:03:53.191+01:00John Mahoney Has Left The Building<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TaPAQOGOIY4/WnmyrboYVPI/AAAAAAAACVQ/4Mnpc8XxYeY4fKIZmgMTgAtLCMhjApjfQCLcBGAs/s1600/john-mahoney-obit.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="807" height="159" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TaPAQOGOIY4/WnmyrboYVPI/AAAAAAAACVQ/4Mnpc8XxYeY4fKIZmgMTgAtLCMhjApjfQCLcBGAs/s320/john-mahoney-obit.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>I love comedy, and one of my great indulgences, when I have the time, is to watch Channel 4 on a weekday morning when 3 episodes of <i>Frasier</i> are screened over 90 minutes. It is my absolute favourite on every level. I am particularly fond of the episodes written by Christopher Lloyd.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And so I was saddened to learn this morning of the passing of John Mahoney, the English-born and highly esteemed actor who played the role of Martin Crane, Frasier's father. Like every character in the show, Martin was indispensable to every plot. This was the most beautifully written and played character.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Mahoney didn't even want to read for the part; he had bad experiences with tv sitcoms in the past. However, when he did read the first script he realised that this role would define his career.<br />
<br />
I tend to analyse comedy somewhat, and the beauty of Frasier is that it rewards repeat viewings. There are episodes I have watched at least 3 times, and always I find something new. Funnily, when Frasier Crane first appeared as a character in <i>Cheers</i> I didn't like him at all. The character was somewhat out of place, and I found him an irritating distraction. I would now say that I would consider <i>Frasier</i> to sit alongside <i>Fawlty Towers</i> as one of the greatest comedy series of all time.<br />
<br />
The dynamics between Martin, a disabled former police officer, and the other characters were just wonderful. His dog, Eddie, was a prop utilised to perfection. But what I have always enjoyed most of all is the relationship between Martin and his housekeeper, Daphne, played brilliantly by Jane Leeves.<br />
<br />
An intensely private man - even his co-stars knew nothing of his personal life - he passed away in a Chicago hospice after a short illness. He will be much missed, but he will continue to make us laugh for decades to come.<br />
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<br />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-30651032585508982022017-12-29T12:27:00.002+01:002017-12-29T12:27:21.916+01:00Did Gerry Adams Set Up His Own Men For Ambush?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z1fX1n4Ij9I/WkYmUMh-gJI/AAAAAAAACUI/Nzw61sKy4Q4xg1trKXa4bYdFHsOW3WvUQCLcBGAs/s1600/lough3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z1fX1n4Ij9I/WkYmUMh-gJI/AAAAAAAACUI/Nzw61sKy4Q4xg1trKXa4bYdFHsOW3WvUQCLcBGAs/s1600/lough3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams was rumoured to have set up a notorious terrorist gang for ambush, according to newly released files from Irish National Archives.</span></div>
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Eight members of the Provisional IRA’s East Tyrone Brigade were shot dead in May 1987 after they loaded a 200lb bomb on to a stolen digger and smashed through the gates of police barracks in Loughgall, Co Armagh.</div>
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The resulting explosion destroyed half the building. The gang had also planned to murder three off-duty police officers who were due to leave the station at that time.</div>
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British Army Special Forces were lying in wait and killed them all: in terms of the number of terrorists neutralised this was the most successful operation of its kind to be carried out by the security services during <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">‘the Troubles’.</i></div>
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Declassified documents released through the National Archives in Dublin revealed that ballistic tests on weapons found on the dead were used in 40-50 murders.</div>
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Three civilian contractors had been murdered in the counties that year along with officers in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).</div>
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The rumour about Mr Adams was passed on to Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs by respected priest Fr Denis Faul about three months after the Loughgall operation, who had attended school in Dungannon with Padraig McKearney, one of the IRA gang, said the theory doing the rounds was that <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'the IRA team were set up by Gerry Adams himself'.</i></div>
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Fr Faul, a school teacher and chaplain in Long Kesh prison, where terrorists were incarcerated during the Troubles, said the rumour was that two of the gang - Jim Lynagh, a councillor in Monaghan, and McKearney - <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'had threatened to execute Adams shortly before the Loughgall event'</i>.</div>
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It was being claimed that Lynagh and McKearney <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'disliked Adams' political policy'</i> and that they were leaning towards Republican Sinn Fein.</div>
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Three days after the operation, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Lenihan wrote to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Tom King urging him not to triumph over the killings.</div>
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Mr King wrote back over a week later and revealed: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'My advice is that that group had at least 40-50 murders to their score over the years.'</i></div>
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Notes from briefings by the British Government to Irish officials in London revealed the security forces claimed the IRA fired first; that the gun battle lasted two to three minutes; that the SAS fired <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'no more rounds than were necessary'</i> and that every IRA weapon had been fired.</div>
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This particular operation has long been associated with speculation about an informer having tipped off the RUC and British Army. </div>
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The 1987 archives offer some indication as to why such suspicions might fall on Adams, generally accepted to have been head of the Army Council of the Provisional IRA. Files also suggest that Adam privately believed the IRA's campaign would not succeed, and that terrorism was hampering his own personal ambitions and attempts to win support for the party at the ballot box.</div>
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The revelation was passed on to a diplomat by senior Catholic cleric Bishop Cahal Daly who commented on Mr Adams' <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'deviousness and fundamental untrustworthiness’.</i></div>
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The report said: <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">'The Bishop has picked up a rumour that Gerry Adams is currently trying to put together a set of proposals which would enable the Provisional IRA to call a halt to their paramilitary campaign. 'He has reached the view that the 'armed struggle' is getting nowhere, that it has become a political liability to Sinn Fein both North and South and that, as long as it continues there is little chance that he will be able to realise his own political ambitions.' </i></div>
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If the suggestions do in fact have a basis in fact, Adams would not be the first IRA leader to fall under suspicion. In July 2015, the Belfast Telegraph reported on claims made by a former British Army agent that Adams confidant and fellow IRA Army Council member Martin McGuinness was himself an informer with the codename ‘J118’.</div>
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McGuiness is believed to have fired the first shots, with a Thompson sub-machine gun, that sparked off violence at a demonstration in Londonderry on January 30th 1972 that led to 14 deaths.</div>
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https://eutoday.net/news/security-defence/2017/republican-leader-gerry-adams-rumoured-to-have-set-up-terrorist-gang-for-ambush-by-sas</div>
Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-56207588056852777082017-11-05T11:22:00.000+01:002017-11-05T11:22:09.732+01:00A Look Over A Phantom!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqb9WPCfiTE/Wf7lLjAUmaI/AAAAAAAACSs/GAeXLkCTyYQWVtzc7_PqubJE_r4wNPeYACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqb9WPCfiTE/Wf7lLjAUmaI/AAAAAAAACSs/GAeXLkCTyYQWVtzc7_PqubJE_r4wNPeYACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_6157.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
This is XV424 - <i>"I-India"</i> - a Phantom FGR2 of 56 squadron. I was rather pleased to take a look inside the cockpit recently, for the first time since 1983.<br />
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My responsibilities were few, and consisted of taking photographic equipment off the crew as soon as they landed, not a particularly demanding task, but an enjoyable one as I loved being around these aircraft, and in those days the noisier they were the better, which might go some way to explaining why my hearing is not quite what it should be. It was either that or all those Rockabilly gigs.....<br />
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The Phantom had a 16mm camera - the G90 - that basically filmed the aircraft's attack radar, allowing the crew to analyse their performance after an exercise, or occasionally, after a QRA intercept on a Russian aircraft over the North Sea.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lq194Vj7xt0/Wf7l-3qQbVI/AAAAAAAACS0/MA29xZPpyMEZQvX9c5xbfwgjRXzdPYfwgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lq194Vj7xt0/Wf7l-3qQbVI/AAAAAAAACS0/MA29xZPpyMEZQvX9c5xbfwgjRXzdPYfwgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_6155.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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QRA involved the use of a hand-held camera - a bulky but reliable 35mm Canon F1 - the film from which had to be processed (by hand) and printed (also by hand) very quickly. At weekends there would only be one of us on duty on the photo section, so it was quite an intense hour or so before getting two sets of prints - one for the squadron and one for JARIC (Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre) - out as quickly as possible. The prints had to be of the highest quality.<br />
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It was a great joy to see the image appear in the developing tray - often the Russian aircrew could be seen waving at the camera - one of the better parts of the job in a section where, over the years, the avoidance of tiresome duties had been perfected to an art form. The only things that really did any work there were the old B&W TV set and the kettle.<br />
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The beauty of RAF Wattisham, however, was that we got heaps of overseas detachments that were never boring.<br />
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There were two Phantom squadrons at Wattisham, 23 being the second.<br />
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XV424 is now housed in a museum, just another part of the global conspiracy to make me feel old.Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-46287166083525305402017-09-26T18:30:00.000+02:002017-09-26T18:44:15.444+02:00Tony Booth 1931-2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3tunUjVS-v4/Wcp-vdVnArI/AAAAAAAACQ8/1U4TybtcDkQJkfyVuoGVlT3Yu2LAsJENACLcBGAs/s1600/nintchdbpict000000205429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="960" height="253" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3tunUjVS-v4/Wcp-vdVnArI/AAAAAAAACQ8/1U4TybtcDkQJkfyVuoGVlT3Yu2LAsJENACLcBGAs/s320/nintchdbpict000000205429.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>I was saddened to learn today of the passing of an old acquaintance: the actor, comedian, and political activist, Tony Booth. </b><br />
<br />
He was 85 years old, not such a bad age, but had suffered from Alzheimers.<br />
<br />
Our paths first crossed in 1975, if memory serves correct, in Leeming Road, Borehamwood. I was walking home from school, and he was taking a break from filming, and sheltering from the rain in a shop doorway. At that time he was famous for being Alf Garnett's son-in-law, the <i>'Randy Scouse Git</i>', so I strolled over to wind him up. He told me to <i>"fuck off home"</i>.<br />
<br />
Tony's character was highly politicised, and reflected his own political views. He was, to put it bluntly, a Marxist-Leninist.<br />
<br />
We maybe met half a dozen times, and it was always a great pleasure. I particularly enjoyed explaining to him in the Red Lion in Whitehall in the late 90's that the only half decent economic manifesto that his beloved Labour Party ever produced was the one written by Sir Oswald Mosley. He didn't take that so well - the Labour Party prefers to forget that the facist leader Mosley was once one of their MPs.<br />
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I once threw a firework at Tony, at a demo, again in Whitehall. I missed.... He told me to <i>"fuck off" </i>again.<br />
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The last time we met was when we both addressed the National Pensioners Convention, I believe in 2002. Bill Morris, the trade union leader, and Jack Jones - a former Communist Party commissar during the Spanish Civil War - were also on the bill. I was in seriously dodgy company that afternoon.<br />
<br />
I think my speech went down well, but Tony gave a great one. Having taken his chair about 1 minute before he was due to speak, and despite being totally pissed, he got a standing ovation.<br />
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A lot of people suspected that Tony had a drink problem, but he would have strongly disagreed: for him it was no problem at all.<br />
<br />
Tony will of course be best remembered for being the father-in-law of Tony Blair, something that will really piss him off. There was a love-hate relationship between the two.<br />
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There could not be two people more ideologically opposed than Tony Booth and myself, but he was a great character, and a lovely chap to be around. There are far too few people like Tony Booth in this world.<br />
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Rest In Peace, Tony.<br />
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<br />Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-33292719620172399942017-06-13T11:57:00.003+02:002017-06-13T12:04:13.251+02:00Long Ago And Far Away....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vvQmP1og0RI/WT-zCRmAnoI/AAAAAAAACNA/RctXCVBnncE-_5Uw2364oxGcOdwO-dbLwCLcB/s1600/raf%2Bluqa%2Batc%2Bcamp%2B1977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="817" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vvQmP1og0RI/WT-zCRmAnoI/AAAAAAAACNA/RctXCVBnncE-_5Uw2364oxGcOdwO-dbLwCLcB/s320/raf%2Bluqa%2Batc%2Bcamp%2B1977.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Me and the lads at RAF Luqa, August 1977. Behind us is a Nimrod MR2 of 203 Squadron.<br />
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The MR2 was state of the art in its day, and I remember being impressed when a crew member told us that its computer was so sophisticated that you could actually play chess against it!<br />
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There were also photo recce Canberras - which I was later to work close to on Armament Practice Camps in Cyprus just a few years later - as well as Vulcans that had been converted for a maritime radar reconnaissance role.<br />
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The same cameras I saw for the first time on the Canberra flight line I was to be training on myself just 15 months later.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Officer's Mess, Hal Far</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was a very busy base, but we were billeted in the old officer's mess at RAF Hal Far, a WW2 fighter base, and home to 'Faith', 'Hope', and 'Charity', three ageing Gladiator biplanes that held the Italian air force back in 1940. Being at Hal Far was liking stepping back in time to a colonial past, and I loved every single second of it.<br />
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We also discovered the existence of 1151 Marine Craft Unit (MCU) - hadn't even known that the RAF possessed such things - and enjoyed a run at sea clinging to the deck of an unbelievably fast launch.<br />
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The Cold War had its downsides, but it did mean we got some great toys to play with!<br />
<br />
This was one of two Air Training Corps summer camps I enjoyed that year, spending the following week with 617 Squadron - The Dambusters - with their wonderful Vulcan 'V' bombers. The RAF guys looked after us cadets brilliantly.<br />
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The Nimrods and Vulcans and the MCUs are long gone now.<br />
<br />
203 Squadron disbanded in December 1977 as we pulled out of Malta, and a disastrous decision by the Conservative government means we have no ariel anti-submarine capability at all. Russian submarines are currently able to lurk off the coast by Faslane with impunity, monitoring our missile subs as they go out on patrol.<br />
<br />
617 is in the process of reforming, and is due to 'stand-up' in January 2018 when it will be the first to operate the new f-35 Lightning.Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836415298130596638.post-45270206539059368982017-06-06T13:44:00.001+02:002017-06-06T13:47:05.680+02:00June 6th - "The Longest Day"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZdBfbhlT58/WTaUl48vpqI/AAAAAAAACMM/1pXXm_jpw9kQOiTS-nDnKhKrWgcA6Tu1ACLcB/s1600/nintchdbpict000329391415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="960" height="257" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZdBfbhlT58/WTaUl48vpqI/AAAAAAAACMM/1pXXm_jpw9kQOiTS-nDnKhKrWgcA6Tu1ACLcB/s320/nintchdbpict000329391415.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Today, June 6th, marks the 73rd anniversary of the allied invasion, and subsequent liberation, of occupied Europe - D Day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was a Tuesday, like today, and the weather was miserable, just as it is in south-eastern England again today. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">England was on lock-down in the weeks leading up to the invasion - the largest seaborne assault in history, but everybody knew something was coming. People who lived through those days witnessed American and Canadian troops camped out everywhere, with tanks and other armoured vehicles streaming towards the coastal towns and harbours. Even by the standards of austere war-time Britain food became harder than ever to obtain, and train stations were often out of bounds to all but essential personnel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I well remember my grandmother telling me about the morning. Her memories of the war years were most profound; my father was nursed in an air raid shelter, with the sound of anti-aircraft fire a backdrop to everyday life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the early hours of June 6th, as she recalled, there were no air raid sirens, but the deafening noise of heavy aircraft overhead. As dawn broke the sky was black with aircraft heading east, and especially she remembered the strange sight of hundreds of gliders being towed by bombers (she was probably looking at Dakotas, not bombers).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The noise of aircraft did not let up until nightfall, and even then was punctuated by the familiar sound of the bombers on their way to wreak havoc on the enemy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The landings began shortly after midnight. Official figures state that 75,216 British and Canadian troops, and 57,000 Americans landed by sea</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gqbHQrplkgg/WTaQfG8rFsI/AAAAAAAACMA/UUIO25Ea4lUe-ttV94Yl_fU-fxofhzZTgCLcB/s1600/belfast2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="817" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gqbHQrplkgg/WTaQfG8rFsI/AAAAAAAACMA/UUIO25Ea4lUe-ttV94Yl_fU-fxofhzZTgCLcB/s320/belfast2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HMS Belfast: The guns behind George fired the very first shots on D-Day.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
that day, with 7,900 British and 15,500 Americans arriving from the air. Eventually, over one million troops were to be landed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Casualties were horrendous; some 4,400 troops died in the initial onslaught, but by the end of the day the beachhead had been established, and the armies were moving inland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">French civilian casualties - and this is rarely discussed - were very high. As the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force pounded the coastal defences, entire villages were obliterated. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The French city of Caen was bombed on the day, with the loss of at least 2,000 civilians.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But to warn the French would have been to betray the entire operation. De Gaulle<i> et al</i> had proven that they could not be trusted, and so the French were kept in the dark until the last minute - there was some time to mobilise the small number of resistance fighters in the area, but tragically no time to evacuate the civil population. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The German forces were under strength, with very low morale. Many were low quality 'volunteers' from conquered territories, mainly from Russia, and, somewhat bizarrely, Mongolia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Battle of Normandy raged on until mid-July: Over 425,000 from both sides were to be killed, wounded, or went missing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And we moan about how we may have had a hard day..... </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">HMS Belfast can be visited in the Pool of London, she is moored between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, on the south bank of the Thames. http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/hms-belfast</span>Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01697767781763055350noreply@blogger.com0