Though I hate to say I told you so, this Thus post from August 2009 “Where’s Gordon Brown in the Libyan Desert Storm?” deals at length in customary erudite fashion with the extraordinary rehabilitation of Whacko Jacko Gadaffi, his socialite son Saif, erstwhile cocktail guest of both Mandelson and Osborne and the strange silence surrounding the [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Development, Economics, Energy, Global security, Insurgency, Intifada, Middle East, War on Terror, democracy
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Tagged Al Megrahi, Bahrain, BP, Colonel Gaddafi, George Osborne, Gordon Brown, liberal intervention, Libya, Peter Mandelson, Saif Gaddafi, Sarkozy, Saudi incursions into Bahrain, SNAFU, Tony Blair, Whacko Jacko Gaddafi
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August 12, 2010 – 12:55 pm
Clue: not the Taliban Last year, full of dudgeon, Thus posted a modest and moderate commentary on the 2009 Afghan ‘election’ http://thusmagazine.com/2009/11/afghan-democracy-postponed-in-an-orgy-of-hypocrisy/. Read it and weep – or laugh sardonically, depending upon your smug levels. I’m certainly not proud of stating the obvious, then or now. The ‘war’ (called, with no hint of irony ‘Operation [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Insurgency, War on Terror, democracy
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Tagged Afghan elections, Afghan Taleban, Ashraf Ghani, COIN, Counterinsurgency strategy, General David Petraeus, General Stanley McChrystal, Mullah Omar, Operation Enduring Freedom, President Barack Obama, president Hamin Karzai, Rolling Stone Magazine, Taliban
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Actually I quite like smoking and all the things advertised on this poster so it shows how messed up I am and how tricky and pointless it is to pontificate about this sort of malarky. A couple of posts back Thus got on an uncharacteristically high horse about the dangers of Methadrone. My comments were [...]
March 29, 2010 – 12:12 pm
Shilly-shallying about what to do about Chinese designer ‘plant food’ drug Methadrone/Mephedrone/MCat is another unwelcome example of how New Labour’s passive/aggressive approach towards protecting citizens’ rights does the reverse. It’s enough to drive a man to spliff. Last October, former NL drug czar, the (perhaps) aptly named Professor David Nutt resigned/was sacked from the Advisory Council [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Culture, Drugs legislation, Policy, Political spin, Uk Home Office, Uncategorized, World health, citizens' rights, civil rights, consumerism
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Tagged advisory Counciul on the Misuse of Drugs, alan Johnson, MCat, mephedrone, methdaone, MKat, Polly Taylor, Professor David Nutt
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December 31, 2009 – 8:16 pm
Clearly the Chinese government has a poor grasp of history. Last time they tried to stop English dope peddlers we sent gunboats up the Yellow River and pounded their Mandarin asses until they agreed to be addicted to opium. In those great days we were helped by the US, then Imperial apprentices, now big swinging [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Afghanistan, Human rights, International Affairs, Middle East, Political spin, War on Terror, human rights abuse, miscarriage of justice
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Tagged British heroin smuggler Akmal Shaikh knew what he was doing and did it for money, China executes the most people i is 14th when per capita judicial killing is taken into account, China's judicial killing of a British citizen carries more legitimacy than the countless acts of extra-judicial killing perpetrated daily by the US under the banner of liberal intervention, Chinese-British relations, one death is a tragedy 1000 a statistic, opium war, the fragrant Hamid Karzai
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November 3, 2009 – 1:43 pm
Thus predicted this outcome so long ago and so many times that I can scarcely be bothered to highlight our previous posts. Yet the grotesque reality of the US, Britain, NATO and especially the UN rewarding endemic fraud, corruption and weak government by a second term, all enacted under the banner of democracy, surpasses all [...]
September 14, 2009 – 1:57 pm
A credible, inclusive and secure election was intended to deliver a government with sufficient legitimacy to win back the trust of the population and to work with the US and NATO to restore Afghan Sovereignty. Instead, the Afghan population in general, and the youth and political activists in particular, now believe that a deeply flawed [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Culture, Global security, Insurgency, democracy
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Tagged Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan election fraud, Ashraf Ghani, Bank of Ghazanhar, Bashardost, Clare Lockhart, Dostum, government of national unity, Hamid Karzai transitiona government, Institute of State Effectiveness, Insurgency, interest free loan of $2 million to Karzai, Karzai declares assets of $1000, Karzai-Abdullah coalition, popular Afghan insurgency, Richard Holbrooke, Taliban
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August 25, 2009 – 9:08 pm
“If Karzai’s warlord cronies have over-egged the firnee and their boy romps home with an incredible margin, Iran-style riots are almost inevitable. On the other hand, if he narrowly wins, it will be more difficult for the opposition forces to cry foul. Given that he achieved only 54 per cent in 2004, the ‘ideal’ result [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Afghanistan, Asia, Global security, Human rights, Insurgency, United Nations, War on Terror, citizens' rights, civil rights, democracy
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Tagged Abdullah Abdullah, afghanistan elections karzai lead narrows, Hamid Karzai, Karzai and abdullah to settle election with a pro wrestling bout, karzai campaign financed with 2 million dollar interest free loan, thus magazine proposes jeb bush as afghan election monitor
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August 24, 2009 – 4:18 pm
It is rumoured in Kabul that the Independent Election Commission is under pressure to rush out election results in an effort to accustom public opinion to the legitimacy of a Karzai victory which some are already claiming could be greater than 70 percent. Unofficial reports (Press TV) claim that Karzai has won with 3,244,196 votes [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Afghanistan, Development, Global security, Insurgency, Intifada, Middle East, Palestine, United Nations, War on Terror, democracy, gaza
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Tagged Abdullah, Afghan elections, Afghan government of national unity, AIPAC, anti-semitism, by John J Kelly, Fatah, fundamentalists, Ghani, Hamas, Independent Election Commission is under pressure to rush out election results, Jews, Karzai, Karzai rumoured to declare victory by more than 60%, Palestine, taliban intimidation caught on camera
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August 23, 2009 – 7:12 pm
Over the past three days, as the Lockerbie ‘terrorist’ release turns into a full-blown international incident, we have heard not one word, or even a Twitter, from the man who saved the wurreld (and its banks). This is highly unusual; Gordon and his wife Sarah Twittered from Inverkilliecrankie, or wherever they are on holiday, catching [...]
By John Kelly
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Also posted in Africa, Global security, Human rights, International Affairs, Libya, Middle East, Totalitarian drift, US Politics, War on Terror, democracy, extradition, human rights abuse, miscarriage of justice
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Tagged Add new tag, admitted discussing the subject a couple of weeks ago with Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif at the Rothschild villa in Corfu, by John J Kelly, Colonel Gaddafi, David Miliband, FBI head Robert Mueller, Gordon Brown, Gordon Brown's silence, Iran Air, kenny MacAskill, Libya, Mandelson, Mandelson has prosptate operation in sympathy with al Megrahi, Pan Am Flight 103, Prince Andrew, Saif-al-Islam Gaddafi, Scottish National Party
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