±«Óătv

Not only should the MP's be debating the case for a full inquiry into the Iraq war, they should also be debating whether or not to bring War Crime charges against Tony Blair & George Bush!!

Never mind DEBATING whether Blair and Bush should stand trial for "Crimes Against Humanity", get the Court Room BOOKED.
The sooner those two EVIL so and so's (and all their hangers on) receive the same "justice" and sentence that Saddam received, the better things will be for the whole of mankind.

Where is the UN Middle East envoy Tony Blair ?
Is he too busy with conflict is he receiving $1 million a year from JPMorgan Chase ?

It is interesting to watch how the Tibet story is building up too in Australia - which hosted the last
Olympics but for whom China is its
biggest trading partner. The new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks
Mandarin and he will be calling
on Chinese leaders next month -
shortly after his UK stop-over.

Re. TIME TO BOYCOTT?
Not content with RUINING Democracy, and the Government of this Country, Politicians now want to inflict their CHAOS on Sport too !

The whole Olympic Theme is to bring countries together and for them to compete PEACEFULLY, free from the constraints of politics.
But "The Curse of Mankind" aka Politicians, won't have any of it.

With hindsight, I am now SO GLAD that HMG refused to support or get involved with the Manchester Commonwealth Games back in 2002, otherwise that event would probably NOT have been the FANTASTIC SUCCESS that it was !

Why are 90% of Politicians a COMPLETE WASTE of SPACE ?

the last Olympics were in Greece not Australia as suggested by me in an earlier post; but maybe therein is the answer to the China problem -
why not keep Athens on standby as
a back-up alternative Olympic site
which the games can be shifted to
if the designated host misbehaves?

Talk about the nineties.....

Curved balls were not all thet flew around...

How about a letter to Bill Clinton also in the late `90`s from 10 leading Americans including Dick Cheney (then at Halliburton),Don. Rumsfield, Paul Wolfowitz among other neo cons suggesting the occupation of Iraq for oil resources.As reported by former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Yamani who knows a lot about the black stuff.

Or former head of treasury in 2000
Ryan who was confronted with the presidential war cabinet pouring over maps of ME oil fields 9-10 months before 11 Sept wtc bombing.As recorded in Ron Suskins "The Price of Loyalty".

Or.. ±«Óătv investigative reporter Greg Palast who interviewd oil execs, confriming the white house plans long before the twin towers fell.

These are just 3 well known examples of the Bush intentions. And remember Blair was complicit in the continued bombing of Iraq through the `90`s which included the bombing of civil radar stations and raids within the north south No Fly zones.This of course tested the defensive capacity of Iraq long before the planned invasion date.

The olympics should have never been given to china in the first place,if the BOA were to boycott the olympics you wouldnt get any complaints from me as i dont think the arguement that sport and politics shouldnt be mixed is a sound one,in my eyes it gives justification to the chinese opressive regime,it is time western governments stop with the double standards and stand up to china and condem chinas human rights abuses put that first instead of trade,they were quick to call for democracy in burmha.

I'm not sure the government or the ±«Óătv have fully understood the anger about the war, which seems to increase as the day goes by. The interviews with Powell & Butler on Newsnight rammed home to anyone who hadn't yet realised, that the architects of war and their acolytes show no contrition and are doing very well for themselves. The fact that out national broadcaster is complicit in the atmosphere of 'business as usual' which these people have manufactured is also damning.

The message is clear: there will be no accountability, either on television or in parliament.

It doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone calling for a boycott of the Olympics in China (although I'm sure it has to the British Government) that one cannot apply moral standards to others that you exempt yourself from.

China isn't the only country that is guilty of the crime of aggression and military occupation.

Can we assume that those calling for an Olympic boycott this year have merely left it unstated that that they also support a boycott of London 2012?

Why doesn't the Olympic community boycott America, for their impudent flouting of international law and western liberal democratic values with their detention without trial and alleged torture of those being held in Guantanamo Bay?
Hypocrites.

I am staggered. None of this is new information. Put up the Powell presentation so everyone can watch it again. The United Nations presentation was vague at best and the aerial footage could be taken as WMD or a burger van in the desert! There simply was not clear evidence to substantiate what was being said!

The journalists, sadly, were under a flood of information from the various governments PR machines that stopped them from really doing good research to show this presentation was a joke!

In the absence of WMD, the Human rights abuses carried out by SH is used to argue that the war was legal. Proportionality of action is supported by death tolls during the Baath party regime. Strategic possibility, distinguishes iraq from other countries such as Zimbabwe where SA support from Mbeki would not be forthcoming. However china is no different from Iraq, the regime has been historically brutal, opressed the tibetans and yet the other members of the security council have failed to take any action- how can the distinction be justified ? Military action would be proportionate and strategically possible.But it is an economic power with niether oil/gas ! The reasons for invading Iraq and unfortunately Afghanistan(though in the case of the latter,the terror camps provided some justification)was unfortunately for oil fields or pipe lines ( Ahmed Rashid in his book the Great Game has got it right). I know that as soon as Afghanistan was invaded, the building of an oil pipe line from Balouchistan to central asia was discussed- indeed the venture would be lucrative .

Re Time to Boycott:

As someone brought up to boycott South Africa during the apartheid regime I could not understand why the BOA refused to boycott Russian after the invasion on Afghanistan. 28 years later, I do not understand why they are going to China.

The BOA gives its support to any tyrant that offers them a free meal. Disgusting.

Curved ball morphs into puff ball...

Its well known that Colin Powell was selected as the face of reason and integrity to present the intell case to the UN.But he was not one of the inner cabal.The releaseof the story now smacks of diversion or disinformation with a nice brownie point for MI6 for stating the obvious.

None the less well done JP and at last a candid US military man.

There is however more dammning HARD news from Heraldo Munez,the Chilean ambassador to the UN who has reported on bullyng tactics by Bush to get him on board for his planned invasion.Namely the threat of trade reprisals for Chile,Camaroon,Mexico,New Guinea & Pakistan .He was also asked to spy on his allies and warned of the possibility of recalls for UN representatives who resisted US war aims.

Another example of American values, love of freedom and democracy for the world to follow.

Thanks for putting Wilkerson on, he's a very honest man and one of the few to come out of the Iraq debacle with his integrity.

I suggest all the westen media to show the true story of what happened at Tibet a few days ago.

It is rediculars to use the olympic games to "force" China to "change". The olympic game is a sport event and its spirit is to bring people together.

The stories reported on the programme is only part of the picture (as what the CNN did), it is important to understand the whole story before the media use media platforms to make any comments.

Look: Powell's chief of staff cannot blame the Germans for the Iraq War!

Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told Rumsfeld on camera as
I recall that he saw no evidence to
persuade him to go to war - nor did
his old friend the British Leader of
The House & former Foreign Secretary
Robin Cook (who in sharp contrast to his fellow Scot Gordon Brown asked to speak to John Scarlett and MI6)!

This is how The Telegraph reported
the public spat between Rumsfeld
and Joschka Fischer - which was
beamed round the world and which even the US State Department and the CIA surely couldn't have missed??!!

I think any excuse should be seized upon to boycott the bore fest which is the Olympics. Tibet for China, Abu Graihb for the US and the UK, Algeria for France, WW2 for Germany and so on. The Peloponnesian War for Greece.... The treatment of Aborinies and Maories. Any excuse ... just get it off out TV screens.

Money makes the world go round....

If the US (et al) claim sending troops into Iraq were to save her people from being massacred, mistreated and bullied by a totalitarian brutal regime that had violated all human rights and international law, why does the US (et al) have a problem in boycotting the Olympic games in China which has a regime far worse! Surely this is a no-brainer that does not require a debate! Unless attacking Iraq was for the oil, and not batting an eyelid over the oppression of a gentle race and condemning China for its brutality towards a spiritual and non violent nation, is for the money to maximise benefit from China's economical growth? Surely, surely, surely not?! If so, we are doomed. What is right, what is wrong, when is something right or wrong, who decides?

The world said nothing when China walked into Tibet in 1950 and took over. The UN and all member states said and did nothing for a country that had been invaded not in prehistoric times, but in the 20th century! Tibet desperately needed and needs help. It is time now to do something and to make up for our silence.

Let's hang every politician, intelligence officer and journalist that supported the war in Iraq. Let's set an exmaple, let's name names, let us hold these people responsible, let's make sure this never happens again and most importantly let's make sure that when there is a REAL threat, let's take the appropraite action without the media spin, bias, and the blatant lies that are put to the UN on our behalf. Let's make sure that the Jack Straws and Colin Powell's of this world seize to exist.

While the rest of the world awakens to the disinformation surrounding the attacks of 9/11 (https://www.patriotsquestion911.com) the ±«Óătv serves us belated, half-hearted "revelations" about the pre-war disinformation in an attempt to win back some credibility.

Olympic game is an international sporting event. Althelets spents years of practice, dedication and scrafice so that they can particpate in the world largest arena.How can some politicians and idealist to suggest boycotting the olympic game, wouldnt this remove the right of all altheletes? How can they uses someone else's right as a political tools against another's country internal affairs?
Why does the world exert pressure on china?Simple, china is the fastest growing economy, and people are trying to use any means to stop its growth. Look at the pollution and human rights that china always get blame for? Has the west done any better? Look at Guantanamo bay, how does US treats its un-trial inmates?
And in UK, Is it fair that the working class pay most of the tax and living in agnony and people who claim benefit live happily and go on holiday? What is the right for those who work hard?
Final point i would like to stress,if any part of a country want to declare independence, i'm very sure most country will act exactly the same way that china has done. So i think people should consider what their own government has done or would have done if same situation arise before accusing someone else's problem.

TIME TO BOYCOTT?

I agree with boycotting China’s hosting of the Olympic Games. There really could not be a less suited Nation to fulfil the Olympic Ideal.

How short are politician’s memory’s ! Do they remember the Olympic Ideal?

China has a most appalling record of human rights abuses, oppression, abuse and persecution of its own people, terrible wars upon its neighbours, and now things are getting worse in hypocritical China who want the best of both worlds; they want to remain communist, but be capitalists at the same time.

They are a politically obnoxious nation who seem to delight not only in all manner of human rights abuses but also abuse of animals in China, especially rare species. Their cavalier abuse of the climate alone should exclude them from hosting athletic events. In my youth I was an athlete, but I value my health too much to even consider going into the noxious, poisoned air of Beijing. Imagine trying to run a Marathon in an oxygen mask. The Prime Minister should have the guts to advise athletes to consider all these things before committing themselves.

The Olympic Ideal has nothing to do with bankrupting host nations however. I am proposing to write to the President of the International Olympic Committee suggesting that after London in 2012 the Summer Olympic Games should return to their ancestral home in Greece permanently and for each competing nation to jointly fund the games to be staged in Athens every 4 years. This will give each nation a fair and democratic role in the organisation of the games. The Olympic torch should still travel the world in a symbolic gathering of the world’s athletes.

Dewar Finch.

Is it so unfeasable given their track record that the issue of Tibet could just be another attempt by the US to destabalise the Chinese econmoy?? First Burma, then Darfur, where China was blammed for not doing enough to exert it's influence over the governemnts, and now this? Something worth considering...

I find the whole idea of Boycotting the Olympics in China ridiculously hypocritical. It's as if people in the UK and US are convinced that whatever we say and do is right.

Will history show the greatest abuses of human rights over these last 20 years are ours? It wouldn't surprise me.

I wonder how many countries will think about boycotting the 2012 games because of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq? Or perhaps they might boycott 2012 when they find out which armies we supply arms to? The top arms dealing countries list makes interesting reading.

Initially I tentatively supported the war as I believed it was for the greater good, to protect millions of others... I thought, this is why we have elected responsible people. We can trust them that the intelligence is sound and action is imperitive. Now its painfully obvious I was wrong.

I don't support any abuses of human rights, including China's. I do think however, that its time the leaders of our nation owned up to our mistakes. Maybe a humble voice would be heard louder than an arrogant one?

One question to ponder: The wars in Iraq (and to some extent Afghanistan) were initiated on the premise that the country seemed to be capable of unwarranted aggression.
If the UK and US were held to those same premises, would they be identified as being unworthy of exercising their military might?
In other words, are we morally unworthy to hold WMDs?
Surely, the focus of any enquiry should be to establish the causes of the failures in intelligence and the chain of command, and to ensure that destructive powers are not used unwisely, nor against the fully-informed will of the people whom they serve in their democratic roles as leaders. How effective is UN authority in deflecting rogue members?

One question to ponder: The wars in Iraq (and to some extent Afghanistan) were initiated on the premise that the country seemed to be capable of unwarranted aggression.
If the UK and US were held to those same premises, would they be identified as being unworthy of exercising their military might?
In other words, are we morally unworthy to hold WMDs?
Surely, the focus of any enquiry should be to establish the causes of the failures in intelligence and the chain of command, and to ensure that destructive powers are not used unwisely, nor against the fully-informed will of the people whom they serve in their democratic roles as leaders. How effective is UN authority in deflecting rogue members?

I'm all in favour of a boycott of the China Olympics...and also the UK Olympics. It's a complete waste of money, and why should we care about a bunch of thick-headed athletes?

There is finally a video production that does justice to the shabby story of the Iraq attack: Bush’s War, put on educational TV (PBS) by Frontline.

[SNSBlog ]

A bit late in the day to be posting on this thread, but it seems the only space available to touch on something that's been aggravating me and relates to John's post above: "I'm not sure the government or the ±«Óătv have fully understood the anger about the war, which seems to increase as the day goes by. The interviews with Powell & Butler on Newsnight rammed home to anyone who hadn't yet realised, that the architects of war and their acolytes show no contrition and are doing very well for themselves. The fact that out national broadcaster is complicit in the atmosphere of 'business as usual' which these people have manufactured is also damning.
The message is clear: there will be no accountability, either on television or in parliament."

Why is it that the ±«Óătv spends huge amounts of airtime televising the Tibet human rights protest but the demonstration in London marking the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq received miniscule coverage by the ±«Óătv? Ten to forty thousand people peacefully marched from Trafalgar to Parliament Square (depending on whose figures you believe), but if you watched the news, it was as if it had never happened. It was a far larger demonstration that the Tibet torch protest - not that I object to the Tibet protest. A British demonstration against British participation in the Iraq war and occupation was ignored. All we seem to get coverage of now is our brave, heroic volunteer army. The ±«Óătv appears to be obliging the Government by handling its public relations. To repeat one more time what the quoted poster above wrote: "There is no accountability, either on television or in parliament."