HARBINGER

We do indeed live in interesting times. And that's cold bloody comfort for the 99.999% of human society who are at best mere spectators of the events unfolding in the Middle Eastern imbroglio aka Iran /Iraq /Syria. Having brazenly violated recognised tenets of International Law as well as long held diplomatic norms and conventions, POTUS Trump as Commander-in-Chief threatened in the most egregiously graphic terms to annihilate Iranian cultural sites should the government in Tehran consider some of retaliatory action against the US for its assassination of General Soleimani. Even the most reliably docile and compliant lickspittle NATO lackeys of the US were moved to point out that Trump's apocalyptic threat,if enacted,would constitute a war crime. Trump and his coterie of war-mongering Neocon hawks -Pompeo et al blithely acknowledged this a couple of days later and muttered something about of course the'll be obeying international law on this matter. Meanwhile, ele...

BBC News Online  reported :- Turkey and Russia have agreed what they say is a "historic" deal aimed at keeping Kurdish forces away from Syria's border with Turkey. It comes during a pause in Turkey's offensive to drive Kurdish forces out, creating a "safe zone" in the area. Under the deal, Syrian and Russian forces will immediately oversee a withdrawal of Kurdish forces. There is no word from the Kurdish fighters, whom Turkey regards as terrorists. The deal sets out plans for joint Turkish-Russian patrols along the border next week.  The agreement was announced after six hours of talks  on Tuesday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian host, Vladimir Putin, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. And so it goes.. At last it appears the international Law -breaking USA and its western satrapies have satiated their vicarious bellicose cravings and it's left up to the grown-ups in the international diplomatic arena to assume the pr...

There's a quote that's been mis-attributed to Winston Churchill about jaw,jaw being better than war,war. it's a good quote,mis-attributed or not. Back in January 2003,I planned and curated a Poetry exhibition at Wakefield Cathedral on the Iraq war at the time using  the title , "Jaw,jaw war,war". Anyhow... It's a good day today, June 12 2018 ; the world has opted for more life in preference to nuclear self-immolation. Presidents Trump and Kim Jong Un shook hands and called each other friend. And the Washington DC neocon neanderthals and their liberal global interventionist cousins are pissed off beyond belief. Clearly they didn't see this one coming or they might with the benefit of hindsight in the next few days,as the new reality sinks into their troglodyte consciousness, claim to have done so but are not best pleased about it at all. The inimitable practitioners of  Realpolitik such as  Bismarck and Talleyrand however,would no doubt be enorm...

Israeli Premier Netanyahu is trying to light a few extra fuses in the Syrian imbroglio and investing an extraordinary amount of diplomatic demagoguery toward that objective.The trigger,he hopes, will be the revocation of what is commonly termed the Iran Nuclear Deal.A Heath-Robinson affair where the 5 permanent members of the UN security Council plus Germany exercise vigilance and constraints on Iran's ambition to create a nuclear arsenal. The saving grace, if indeed there is to be any in this prelude to WW3, is that,the current US President Trump's predilection for diplomatic anarchy may not on this occasion be allowed free rein.China,France,Russia and the UK,oh,and Germany,all have an intense desire to maintain the present Iran Nuclear Deal.A position and outlook that enjoys a broad spectrum of support amongst the various experts,analysts and ad-hoc international bodies who between them have a good idea as to the degree and veracity of Iran's adherence to the deal itsel...

“When I use a  word ,”  Humpty Dumpty  said, in rather a scornful tone, “it  means  just what I choose it to  mean —neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make  words mean  so many different things.” “The question is,” said  Humpty Dumpty , “which is to be master—that's all.” Two weeks after Mr Johnson gave an interview to the German broadcaster DeutscheWelle, and was asked why he believed the chemical came from Russia. He said: "When I look at the evidence, I mean the people from Porton Down, the laboratory..." Mr Johnson was asked if they had samples. He said: "They do. And they were absolutely categorical and I asked the guy myself, I said, 'Are you sure?' And he said, 'There's no doubt'." Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, said scientists had not "identified the precise source". The Foreign Secretary was urged to exp...

The following was gleaned from @TheRegionOrg , an open letter from a retinue of leading academics headed by the venerable Noam Chomsky  wrote - " We, the undersigned academics and human rights activists, insist that the leaders of Russia, Iran, and the U.S. ensure that the sovereignty of Syrian borders is not breached by Turkey and that the people of Afrin in Syria, be allowed to live in peace. Afrin, whose population is predominantly Kurdish, is one of the most stable and secure regions in Syria. With very little international aid, Afrin has taken in so many Syrian refugees in the last five years that its population has doubled to 400,000. Afrin is now surrounded by enemies: Turkish-supported jihadi groups, al Qaeda, and Turkey. Turkish president Erdogan has threatened to attack the U.S. military’s Kurdish partners – the Kurdish YPG or People’s Protection Units – with which the US has been allied against ISIS. Turkey accuses the YPG of being “terrorists”..." And ther...

On Friday 13,November 2015 this happened in Paris (  gleaned from Reuter's online ). #WORLD NEWS NOVEMBER 14, 2015 / 12:06 AM / 2 YEARS AGO France in shock after Islamist attacks kill 129 Ingrid Melander ,  Marine Pennetier  PARIS (Reuters) - French prosecutors said on Saturday that three coordinated teams of gunmen and suicide bombers carried out a wave of attacks across Paris that killed 129 people in what President Francois Hollande called an “act of war” by Islamic State. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Two years on and ISIS/DAESH  inspired/instigated Islamic Terrorism still runs rampant across western europe.   Two years on and a BBC News investigation uncovers the previously secret deal between ISIS/DAESH and the US /NATO led  Syrian Democratic Forces. An agreement allowing some 250 battle hardened i...

Another day,another Islamic terrorist outrage. This time it's the turn of New York City to have a fanatic drive a truck into crowds of innocent bystanders going about their daily lives. The Police managed to apprehend the perpetrator who the neocon warmonger Senator for Arizona John McCain called for to be treated as an enemy combatant. McCain was of course being his usual odious cynical machiavellian self.Given the US neocon interventionist agenda and use of Al Qaeda and ISIS/DAESH as surrogates in their regime change skulduggery in Syria and elsewhere. The Washington based Institute for the Study of War, ISW prior to this latest outrage had shared:- " ISW's  @ JennyCafarella  in September: ISIS is waging a social and informational campaign targeting populations in the West. "   A view, the perp Saipov ,confirmed willingly of his own volition from the hospital where he is currently receiving medical attention following his arrest at the scene. What then ...