Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘uk’

Sir Tom Jones.

Shudder.

Such disillusionmnent about George Galloway:

Some 2,200 companies, including major concerns like DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and Volvo, made illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion to Saddam Hussein’s government under the U.N. oil-for food program, a report said on Thursday.

[ . . . ]

Among those named in the report as receiving oil vouchers that could be sold for a commission were British lawmaker George Galloway, former French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

All those people who had been counting on Galloway to be motivated by genuine hatred instead of garden-variety greed should be weeping right now.

Over two years ago, the British government pledged to highlight the issue of the “forgotten” Jewish refugees from Arab lands within the EU.

Well… nu?

I would like to know what has been done on this issue in the past two years. From the looks of it, not a whole lot.

Promises are easy to make. They’re a lot harder to fulfil. And post-Gaza disengagement, this issue may well be even more relevant than ever before.

Then again, I suppose the British government is just continuing its long tradition of broken promises to the Jews…

Via Damian Penny, this disgusting tidbit:

Advisers appointed by Tony Blair after the London bombings are proposing to scrap the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day because it is regarded as offensive to Muslims. They want to replace it with a Genocide Day that would recognise the mass murder of Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia as well as people of other faiths.

[ . . . ]

The committees argue that the special status of Holocaust Memorial Day fuels extremists’ sense of alienation because it “excludes” Muslims.

[ . . . ]

Ibrahim Hewitt, chairman of the charity Interpal, said: “There are 500 Palestinian towns and villages that have been wiped out over the years. That’s pretty genocidal to me.”

I’d call it chutzpah of the worst kind, but that would be an insult… to the term.

London’s mayor will face a disciplinary hearing for his comments comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard:

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone could be banned from office for up to five years for likening an Evening Standard reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard if he is found guilty by an independent panel.

Livingstone will have to attend a disciplinary hearing, which will decide whether he is guilty of failing to treat others with respect, or bringing his office into disrepute.

The decision to refer the dispute for adjudication was announced by local government watchdog the Standards Board for England, which said yesterday that it had “concluded that the issue should now be considered at a hearing held by the independent Adjudication Panel for England”.

The panel, whose members are appointed by the lord chancellor Lord Falconer, has the power to ban people from office and to instruct those brought before it to make an apology. A public hearing is expected to take place this December, during which Livingstone has the right to bring in his own legal team.

(Via Lynn).

Update: I should probably mention that I’m generally uncomfortable with hate speech laws even where there is clear evidence of real antisemitism (see my postings on David Ahenakew, for example), and that arguably Livingstone’s comments were just idiotic, not necessarily evidence of the kind of virulent antisemitism that someone like Ahenakew displays. Furthermore, I don’t really agree with the idea of forcibly removing someone from office for making hateful comments. Theoretically, if someone holds and spews such views openly, and the people vote for him anyway, then those people are getting exactly the leadership that they deserve. Such is democracy.

Anyway, I’m fairly sure that all the panel will do is possibly censure him or force an apology. But I’m concerned of what message about freedom of speech it will send if they impose harsher penalties – and about what message about antisemitism it will send if they find him not guilty.

It’s not entirely a lose-lose situation, though; the panel is evidence that the British government is taking antisemitism seriously, and holding elected officials to a higher standard. And, in the publicity this is sure to generate, at least more people will see Ken Livingstone’s true colours. Maybe it will affect their behaviour next time they go to the polls, and they’ll kick him out on his arse and vote in someone more worthy.

Brits will be able to get sloshed later, longer as pubs no longer required by law to close at the absurdly early 11pm prepare to extend their opening hours.

I guess I’ll have to think of another reason to mock you guys, now…

The British have their hands full fighting Al Qua’eda and Islamist terrorism; now they won’t have to divert resources in fighting the IRA anymore – if we can believe this:

The leadership of Oglaigh nah Eireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon.

All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.

So was it the 7/7 bombings that made the IRA realize that – wait a second – terrorism ain’t cool? That might have motivated the timing of this announcement, but it was probably more of an inevitable end to a struggle that most people in Ireland no longer support. It will remain to be seen whether the IRA actually follows through with this promise – but hey, there’s a chance it’ll happen; after all, they’re not the Palestinian Authority.

Here are some reactions to this shocking announcement.

4 more bombings on London transit have been reported:

Minor explosions using detonators only have sparked the evacuation of three Tube stations and the closure of three lines, a BBC correspondent has said.

Police cordoned off large areas around Warren Street, Oval and one of the Shepherd’s Bush Tube stations.

A route 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries.

Police in London say they are not treating the situation as “a major incident yet”.

My first thought is this is too small-scale to be Al Quaeda again, and it sounds like lamebrain copycats. (Though anyone who would launch a copycat attack of one of the worst terrorist acts in history is, well, I can’t think of a rude enough word to describe them).

Details seem extremely sketchy at this stage. More to come, surely. I just hope everyone is okay.

Just a week after London was hit with one of the worst terrorist attacks in memory, the Guardian fawns over Hamas.

Sickening.

In the wake of yesterday’s bombings in London, one of the first announcements made from the G8 summit was a pledge of 3 billion in aid to the Palestinians.

Sure, because everyone knows the first thing we should do after being hit with a terrorist attack is give money to terrorists…