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An Open Letter to Britain’s Leading Violent Extremist: David Cameron
An Open Letter to Britain’s Leading Violent Extremist: David Cameron
Dear Prime Minister David Cameron,
It is with deep disappointment that I read excerpts of your speech provided by Downing Street to the press, purporting to set out a five-year strategy to tackle fundamentalist terrorism, which — whatever its intentions — is thoroughly misguided, and destined to plunge this country, as well as the Middle East, into further chaos and misery.
I am writing this open letter to request you, as a matter of urgency, to abide by your obligations as a human being, a British citizen, a Member of Parliament, and as our Prime Minister: to undertake proper due-diligence in the formulation of Britain’s foreign, counter-terrorism and security policies, based on the vast array of evidence from scientific and academic studies of foreign policy, terrorism and radicalisation, rather than the influence of far-right extremist ideology, and of narrow vested interest groups keen to profit from war and fear.
Ideology, innit
In your speech, you say:
“It begins by understanding the threat we face and why we face it. What we are fighting, in Islamist extremism, is an ideology. It is an extreme doctrine. And like any extreme doctrine, it is subversive. At its furthest end it seeks to destroy nation-states to invent its own barbaric realm. And it often backs violence to achieve this aim….
And like so many ideologies that have existed before — whether fascist or communist — many people, especially young people, are being drawn to it.
We need to understand why it is proving so attractive… The root cause of the threat we face is the extremist ideology itself.”
But this is already incoherent. You state that the threat is Islamist extremism, an ideology. You then claim that we need to understand why that ideology is so attractive, and you answer the question by claiming that the “root cause” of this threat is the “extremist ideology itself.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
You May No Longer Think Wrong Thoughts, Citizen
You May No Longer Think Wrong Thoughts, Citizen
Shortly after the election victory that probably surprised no-one more than himself, David Cameron launched into explaining to the hoi-polloi what further transmogrification of the State is in store now that he’s got a free hand. He inter alia elated the audience with the following zinger:
“For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone. It’s often meant we have stood neutral between different values. And that’s helped foster a narrative of extremism and grievance. This government will conclusively turn the page on this failed approach.”
In other words, dear citizen, mafia uncle State will no longer leave you alone if you merely “obey the law”. Your “narratives of grievance” henceforth won’t be tolerated anymore!
As one reader remarked, all that’s missing now is Frau Bluecher making her entrance …
Cartoon by Steve Bell
As the Guardian reports, this means that now that the Lib Dems will no longer be able to veto Cameron’s more outlandish ideas, he intends to keep us all safe by fighting terrorism by means of an Orwellian thought police.
“A counter-terrorism bill including plans for extremism disruption orders designed to restrict those trying to radicalize young people is to be included in the Queen’s speech, David Cameron will tell the national security council on Wednesday.
The orders, the product of an extremism task force set up by the prime minister, were proposed during the last parliament in March, but were largely vetoed by the Liberal Democrats on the grounds of free speech. They were subsequently revived in the Conservative manifesto.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
GCHQ’s Rainbow Lights: Exploiting Social Issues for Militarism and Imperialism
Over the weekend, the British surveillance agency GCHQ — the most extremist and invasive in the West — bathed its futuristic headquarterswith rainbow-colored lights “as a symbol of the intelligence agency’s commitment to diversity” and to express solidarity with “International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.” GCHQ’s public affairs office proudly distributed the above photograph to media outlets. Referring to Alan Turing, the closeted-and-oppressed gay World War II British code-breaker just memorialized by an Oscar-nominated feature film, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office celebrated GCHQ’s inspirational lights:
This is so very moving. Gay Brits are now just as free as everyone else to spy on people, covertly disseminate state propaganda, and destroy online privacy. Whatever your views on all this nasty surveillance business might be, how can you not feel good about GCHQ when it drapes itself in the colors of LGBT equality?
This is all a stark illustration of what has become a deeply cynical but highly effective tactic. Support for institutions of militarism and policies of imperialism is now manufactured by parading them under the emotionally manipulative banners of progressive social causes.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
UK Prime Minister David Cameron Proclaims – It’s Not Enough to Follow the Law, You Must Love Big Brother
UK Prime Minister David Cameron Proclaims – It’s Not Enough to Follow the Law, You Must Love Big Brother
It’s not just those domestic extremists and crazy “conspiracy theory” kooks who took serious issue with UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent overtly fascist language when it comes to freedom of expression in Great Britain. For example, in a post published today, the UK Independent describes the quote below as “the creepiest thing David Cameron has ever said.”
This statement, and others like it, are a huge deal. This isn’t how the leader of a major civilized Western so-called “democracy” speaks to the citizenry. It is how a master talks to his slaves. How a ruler addresses his subjects. I think the following tweet by Glenn Greenwald earlier today sums up David Cameron’s attitude perfectly well:
This is really the mentality of Her Majesty’s Government RT @akaSassinak But now it is not enough to obey. You must LOVE BIG BROTHER.
Those of us who are in disbelief over David Cameron’s recent language, don’t have to just point to the quote above. There’s a lot more to it than a simple quote. For example, the Guardian reports:
The measures would give the police powers to apply to the high court for an order to limit the “harmful activities” of an extremist individual. The definition of harmful is to include a risk of public disorder, a risk of harassment, alarm or distress or creating a “threat to the functioning of democracy”.
A “risk of public disorder,” or a “risk of harassment alarm or distress.” Think about that for a second. Pretty much 90% of all speech could be classified as posing a risk to all of those things. It’s basically banning any criticism the government doesn’t like. Truly remarkable. Now here’s how the magnificent “democracy” of Great Britain plans on dealing with such “extremists.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Britain: A Functioning Democracy It’s Not
Britain: A Functioning Democracy It’s Not
We at the Automatic Earth always try to steer clear of elections as much as possible, because there are no functioning democracies left in the west -no more than there are functioning markets-, and no journalists reporting on them either. Interesting question, by the way: how can a journalist report on a democracy that isn’t there? And where in that setting does news turn to mere opinion, and where does opinion then become news ?
Still, of course we caught some bits of the UK elections along the way regardless. The decisive moment for us must have been when Jeremy Paxman interviewed David Cameron at the BBC, and asked him if he knew how many foodbanks had been added in Britain since he took office 5 years ago.
Cameron, well duh obviously, had no idea, and instead of answering the question he started a flowery discourse praising the many volunteers who work in the foodbanks he didn’t know existed. Paxman cut him short and said there were 66 when Cameron came to power, and 421 now. Apparently in Britain, volunteers are needed to take care of the needy, they’re not going to pay people to do that. You would think that takes care of Cameron’s candidacy, but you couldn’t be more wrong.
At least Paxman seemed to try, but interviews like his should take place on the eve of an election, not 6 weeks before them like this one. That leaves far too much time for spin doctors to repair damage done by their candidate’s ignorance and gullibility. It’s crazy enough that party leaders can refuse to discuss each other, let alone the public, in public. Then again, that too would only be significant if there would be an actual democracy in Britain.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How Can Cameron Stop Fracking Causing Earthquakes? Easy. Change the Definition of Fracking.
How Can Cameron Stop Fracking Causing Earthquakes? Easy. Change the Definition of Fracking.
David Cameron’s government has snuck a new definition of fracking onto the statute books – allowing hydraulic fracturing for shale gas to take place outside the new regulatory regime.
Cuadrilla’s exploratory fracking, which caused two earthquakes in 2011 at Preese Hall in Lancashire, would not be classified as hydraulic fracturing under the new official definition set out in the controversialInfrastructure Act.
Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK said: “The shift in fracking definition illustrates again how desperate Government is to get fracking moving despite the problems and opposition.”
DeSmog UK is the first to report on how the government appears to have rendered its own regulation of fracking useless, as the late changes made to the Infastructure Bill have gone unnoticed.
Under the new Infrastructure Act, shale gas exploration and extraction must involve more than a total 10,000 cubic metres of fluid in order to be defined as hydraulic fracturing.
Last-Minute Addition
Parr added: “Having failed to win the argument at public level and with major oil companies saying it will be no big deal, Government is left conjuring up new definitions to help steamroller unwanted, risky and irresponsible fossil fuel exploitation onto the British countryside.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Cameron Agrees ‘Rare Deal’ on Climate Change with Opposition Ahead of Election
Cameron Agrees ‘Rare Deal’ on Climate Change with Opposition Ahead of Election
Environmental leaders have welcomed a rare cross-party deal to tackle climate change struck between Britain’s leading political parties ahead of the general election.
Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and opposition leader Ed Miliband of the Labour Party have jointly agreed to end the use of ‘unabated’ coal for power generation unless it uses new clean-up technology – and achieve a “fair, strong, legally binding” global climate deal.
John Sauven, Greenpeace UK executive director, said: “This pledge marks a turning point in the collective effort to take Britain’s energy system out of the Victorian age and into the 21st century.
“For the first time all of the UK’s main political parties have committed to ending carbon pollution from coal plants, giving this country a better chance of tackling climate change.”
Unusual Deal
This “highly unusual” deal was brokered by environmental think tank Green Alliance and supported by NGOs including WWF, Christian Aid and Greenpeace. It also sees the three parties promising to work together to transition to a “competitive, energy efficient low carbon economy” as well as set carbon budgets in line with the 2008 Climate Change Act.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Leaked Document Could Shatter UK Shale Dreams
Leaked Document Could Shatter UK Shale Dreams
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s hopes for a British-style shale gas revolution recently took a major hit.
Cameron has promised that his government will be “going all out” to develop Britain’s shale gas resources, which he argues will create new jobs and cut dependence on imported gas.
But a committee made up of members of parliament (MPs) from several political parties issued a damning new report on the state of “fracking” in the United Kingdom. The Environmental Audit Committee published a report that called for a 30-month moratorium on fracking, citing “huge uncertainties” regarding the environmental fallout from widespread drilling. On top of the usual controversies over water supplies, the report says that allowing fracking will upend British climate change goals.
“Ultimately fracking cannot be compatible with our long-term commitments to cut climate-changing emissions unless full-scale carbon capture and storage technology is rolled out rapidly, which currently looks unlikely,” MP and Committee Chair Joan Walley said. “There are also huge uncertainties around the impact that fracking could have on our water supplies, air quality and public health.”
Related: Emergency Tax May Not Be Enough To Save North Sea Oil
The committee report was a political bombshell in London, but the House of Commons overwhelmingly shot down an amendment – by a vote of 308 to 52 – on January 26 that would have banned fracking outright.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
David Cameron’s constituency safe from fracking as election looms – 200 MPs are not so lucky
David Cameron’s constituency safe from fracking as election looms – 200 MPs are not so lucky
Half of prime minister David Cameron’s cabinet face having their water reserves fracked under the controversial Infrastructure Bill but it remains unclear if Cameron’s own Oxfordshire constituency would also be subject to fracking.
More than 220 Tory and Lib Dem MPs and their constituents risk fracking firms drilling through sensitive water reserves in their respective areas, reveals analysis by GreenpeaceUK.
The findings were published just days before MPs cast their first vote on the Infrastructure Bill, which currently fails to ban fracking near groundwater reserves, or aquifers, and would see shale gas companies allowed to drill underneath people’s houses.
It follows a petition by environmental campaigners urging the prime minister to rethink his “all out” support for fracking. The petition was handed into No. 10 Downing Street this week with more than a quarter of a million signatures.
“Whether MPs are in favour or against fracking, protecting Britain’s major sources of drinking water from this risky industry should be a no-brainer,” said Simon Clydesdale, energy campaigner for Greenpeace.
“You simply don’t take chances with such a vital and irreplaceable resource, especially when evidence of harmful impacts from fracking keeps growing.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Downing Street files reveal how Oliver Letwin kept poll tax plans alive | Politics | The Guardian
Downing Street files reveal how Oliver Letwin kept poll tax plans alive | Politics | The Guardian.
A young adviser to Margaret Thatcher who is now a minister for David Cameron explicitly suggested that Scotland be used as a testing ground for the introduction of the poll tax, the flagship policy that was eventually to topple her as prime minister.
Oliver Letwin, now a Cabinet Office minister, emerges in official papers publicly released on Tuesday as the man who single-handedly kept the idea of the poll tax alive in the mid 1980s despite attempts by two senior ministers to strangle it at birth.
Downing Street files for 1985 and 1986 released at the National Archivesshow that it was Letwin, then just 29 but already working in Thatcher’s policy unit, who argued that the poll tax – then known as the residence charge – could be introduced in two stages.
“If you are not willing to move to a pure residence charge in England and Wales immediately, you should not introduce a mixture of taxes but should rather use the Scots as a trail-blazer for the real thing,” Letwin told Thatcher in a memo written in November 1985. Letwin, whose parents knew Thatcher, had got his job on the recommendation of the cabinet minister Sir Keith Joseph.
David Cameron warns of looming second global crash | World news | The Guardian
David Cameron warns of looming second global crash | World news | The Guardian.
David Cameron has issued a stark message that “red warning lights are flashing on the dashboard of the global economy” in the same way as when the financial crash brought the world to its knees six years ago.
Writing in the Guardian at the close of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Cameron says there is now “a dangerous backdrop of instability and uncertainty” that presents a real risk to the UK recovery, adding that the eurozone slowdown is already having an impact on British exports and manufacturing.
His warning comes days after the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, claimed a spectre of stagnation was haunting Europe. The International Monetary Fund managing director, Christine Lagarde, expressed fears in Brisbane that a diet of high debt, low growth and unemployment may yet become “the new normal in Europe”.
Cameron has adopted the more sombre tone in the runup to the chancellor’s autumn statement on 3 December, when the Office of Budget Responsibility will produce new growth forecasts and spell out the impact on public finances.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
