Addendum
I want to lead my future life in peace and quiet. However it looks like it is not going to happen. In that case I might just as well go on publishing some diary notes on a monthly basis provided I think I am saying something useful for posterity.
I reached that conclusion as I drove away from the Knutsford services on the M6 on 9th August 2013 after having stayed at the Travelodge there overnight. I write in my diary about my Manchester trip for the period. I booked on the internet a few days before. I did not have breakfast and after leaving my room dropped my key off at reception and went straight to my car in the service area car park. That took about 90 seconds. Even so when I reached my vehicle there was a man standing by a car in front of me on a cigarette break and one in a hire van behind me providing him cover. That could only have been organised if it were known when I was about to leave the hotel and it means there must have been a voyeur camera in the room just as I have at home. It is information of which the average citizen should be aware in my opinion, if they have a desire to take an interest.
1st August 2013
The BBC reported yesterday that Doreen Lawrence will be included in a list of names published later today to be made lifetime peers. She will represent Labour. Ed Miliband has said she is a hero of modern Britain and we need voices like hers in Parliament. She is a special needs teacher and founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
It is reported this morning that the Irishmen accused of murdering four British soldiers in the 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing has been granted conditional bail. The trial date is January 2014. Bearing my mind that the man was arrested at Gatwick airport in May, entering the country presumably, seems to indicate his apprehension might have been by arrangement.
SOCA will be absorbed into the National Crime Agency on 1st October 2013 when that organisation starts business. I read today that the employment contract for the Chairman of SOCA expires at the end of this week but he was going to stay on for another two months to ensure a smooth handover. As a result of some ferreting by journalists though I suspect, he has said today he is leaving immediately. It seems he had not declared his directorship in a management consultancy company when he should.
Uruquay is a country of three million people in the middle of South America. Smoking marijuana is already legal. Subject to approval by it’s Senate in October, which seems likely, it will be selling up to 40 grams of cannabis per month to it’s citizens from licensed pharmacists. Alternatively a household will be allowed to grow six plants. The move is entirely government led. 63% of voters are against. The President, a former guerrilla fighter, says he is embarking on an experiment for the rest of the world.
2nd August 2013
Overnight the State Department has said some embassies and consulates in the Middle East wiil be closed on the first day of their working week, this Sunday, due to an unspecified security threat. Countries involved are Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
John Kerry was in Pakistan yesterday and said it is America’s intention to end drone strikes as soon as possible. The two countries are also to resume high level security talks. Those foundered in 2011 when some Pakistani soldiers were accidentially killed in a US air strike on the Afghan border.
It was on the radio news this morning that John Kerry is visiting London today on his way back from Pakistan. The only thing I can find about it on the web though is in the Huffington Post’s report from Pakistan. It’s single sentence says he is meeting with the UAE Foreign Minister to discuss Egypt, Syria and Middle East peace.
I am a little cocerned that a draft letter I have prepared, which should be private to me, has somehow found it’s way into other people’s hands.
I wrote about the former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank on 13th July 2013. He is accused of embezzling £6 billion from it and they want their money back. From a report in Today’s FT is seems the bank gave information to French authorites he was now in their country. He was arrested in France on Wednesday. This time Ukraine say they would like him extradited there. Perhaps the message has gone out to conspiratorial people that sometimes it is better to do things in an open and upfront way using the normal forces of law and order. If the gentleman has done wrong he should be punished. There is no need to arrange underhand schemes on the edge of society.
This afternoon the US State Department has issued a global travel alert for it’s citizens because of an unspecified al-Qaeda threat. It says the greatest danger is in the Middle East and North Africa. The warning is in force until the end of August. The BBC webpage now has a full list of consular offices closed on Sunday.
3rd August 2013
It took a lot of searching but I was finally able to ascertain that Mr Kerry met the UAE minister in the US London embassy yesterday where he also made an announcement about the processing of American visa applications for same sex couples. Going to a secure location like that I believe the real purpose of his trip will have been to pass on, or receive, information from a few to a few, about the current al-Qaeda security scare. So much for America’s $80 billion annual intelligence gathering operation which I referred to on 14th June 2013. As a result of his visit I believe we have decided to shut our Yemeni embassy for the next three days which was announced this morning. For us and the Americans it seems the fear is someone will enter a building and blow themselves up.
To express his anger about that, in my view, the Gang Master arranged for a suicide bomber attack to be made this morning on the Indian consulate in the Afghan city of Jalalabad. The compound’s defences were not breached. In that case the three bombers decided to blow themselves and their vehicle up in the street outside injuring 22 members of the public. The Taliban have said they did not do it.
I would guess, with their permission, we passed on the information we received from the Americans yesterday, to Germany and France. They too have now announced that their embassies in Sana’a will be shut tomorrow and Monday. The BBC reports a piece from the New York Times which says the alert arose after high level intercepts were collected and analysed this week by the CIA, state department and White House. Their significance was immediately recognised. That has the ring of truth to me. With the same intelligence going to three small teams it would be much more difficult for the Gang to play their normal silly games under the cover of human error.
When I wrote ny note on Tuesday about al-Qaeda jailbreaks I knew I had heard about one a few days before. However when I looked on Google I only came up with Nigeria. I now realise the country was Libya. Last Saturday over 1000 prisoners escaped from a jail near Benghazi during rioting outside. Those were caused by assassinations of three prominent people in the city the day before. It has come to my attention after reading a BBC webpage reporting that Interpol is also making the al-Qaeda, or Gang, link. It is asking any of it’s 190 member countries to let it know of any intelligence they have on the reasons for recent prison escapes from their juisdictions so it can set up a coordinated database. That’s the way to do it. None of this spy like hidden in the shadows business.
Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was on Today this morning talking about President Rouhani’s inaugauration tomorrow. He said that if it were not for internal difficulties within the Bush administation he believes the west’s Iranain problems would have been solved in 2005. Mr Straw’s assessment is that Mr Rouhani and his team will want to do business with the west. The essential for that to happen is we must not make them feel humiliated. They have, as they see it, legitimate aims.
4th August 2013
I heard the chaplain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club say on the Sunday Programme this morning that cricketers have more incidence of marriage breakdown and suicide than any other professional sport. Someone should carry out a research project to see exactly why that is.
Frank Field wrote an article in today’s Sunday Times saying that after the Queen’s time he thinks the Commonwealth, representing a third of the world’s population, should have a full time head. He suggests Prince William when Charles is King. In addition he wonders if he and Kate might live in somewhere like India to increase the prominence of the role.
5th August 2013
The US closed 25 embassies and consulates in North Africa and the Middle East yesterday. They are now keeping 15 of those shut plus four more until at least Saturday. We and France are keeping our Yemen missions shut until Thursday and Norway is closing it’s offices in Jordan and Saudi Arabia for the same period.
Besides Uruguay which I wrote about on 1st August 2013 I see from an article in today’s FT that the US states of Washington and Colorado are also introducing laws to legalise the limited use of cannabis. The decades of drug prohibition are beginning to be re-examined. America has managed to reduce it’s cocaine use by 40% since 2006 but at a cost of $50 billion a year. Hopefully policy makers can start thinking about more cost effective, citizen friendly ways of influencing our fundamental inclination to artifically stimulate ourselves.
6th August 2013
It is reported today that the chief executive of Amazon is buying the family run Washington Post for $250 million, in his personal capacity. It is being looked upon as a rescue.
In 2002 Peter Hain was Minister for Europe in the Foreign Office of the Labour government. He was on Today this morning and said that in April of that year he had shaken hands with his Spanish opposite number on a settlement of the Gibralta dispute. At the last moment however the Spanish prime and foreign ministers overruled their negotiating team. Mr Hain can see no reason why we shouldn’t try and use the spotlight of our current difficulty to dust off those files and and get the dispute sorted out once and for all.
Sir Hugh Orde was on the programme on the second anniversary of our summer 2011 riots. He suggested events of that magnitude will not happen again as the police now have the systems available to quickly pull in manpower from other forces, if needed, to nip things in the bud. The principles of neighbourhood policing he believes will lessen the chances of such things occurring again.
7th August 2013
President Rouhani gave a positive news conference yesterday. He said Iran wishes to interact respectfully with the whole world and called for serious and substantive negotiations with the international community, soon. I imagine he is mindful of the difficulties his country is experiencing due to economic sanctions.
Then I see that on Fiday the US Secretary of State and Defence Secretary will have talks in Washington with their Russian counterparts. I hope they will agree that Iran should be included in any future peace talks about Syria. Mr Obama, on a TV show, has asked Mr Putin not to have a Cold War mentality about where we all are. He wants him to look to the future not the past.
The same BBC wepage tells me Edward Snowden has found himself an address in Russia. He has said he would like to meet with his father to obtain his advice on what he should do next. Leon Snowden has applied for a Russian visa so he can do that.
Yemen has announced this morning that it has foiled a substantial al-Qaeda plot intended for last Sunday. The plan apparently was to capture certain cities, where the group are already strong no doubt, including two ports. Oil and gas infrastructures would have been blown up, with the Gang hope I guess of disrupting oil supplies to the west. Sources have told the BBC the Americans are preparing special forces to go to Yemen to help should they be needed. Separately Yemen has said they are a bit miffed that some embassies are now desserted and foreigners have been leaving in droves. I expect they worry it gives the impression of rats leaving a sinking ship. Those are the complexities of the modern world.
A bad fire started early this morning in the immigration area of Nairobi airport gutting a significant part of the airport depature building and halting all flights. No casualties have so far been reported. Today is the 15th anniversary of the al-Qaed associated terrorist attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224.
And so the circle has turned. I am sure Gang folklore is that they came in with a bang in East Africa in August 1998 and in America in September 2001. Perhaps they wanted to do their best to see they went out with a bang in August 2013. However I don’t think that has worked out particularly well for them.
13th August 2013
Last Tuesday two ladies, one 19 from Scotland and the other 20 from Northern Ireland with an Irish passport, were stopped at the Air Europa desk at Lima airport where they hoped to board a flight to Madrid. During their stay BBC News say they visited the tourist city of Cusco. Both women went to live in Ibiza in June. Hidden inside food in their baggage was cocaine worth £1.5 million. If they are found guilty of crime they are likely to face prison terms of over six years. I heard on the World at One today that Peru has overtaken Columbia as the largest producer and exporter of cocaine in the world often by human drug mules, 250 last year, using commercial flights.
I have just seen a piece on that story on Channel 4 News. The line was that Brits are extremely foolish if they agree to become drug couriers. I haven’t been sure how to read it but my final conclusion is that it is not a Gang manufactured story. American intelligence services picked it up ….. and tipped off the Peruvian authorities. They have made sure it was handled by the book. A video of the girls being questioned has been released a few moments after they were stopped plus pictures of the concealed cocaine they were carrying. All extremely transparent and helpful to assess the situation.
Late last Wednesday afternoon the BBC reported that President Obama had cancelled his meeting with President Putin which was due to take place at the G20 summit in Russia in September. I feel that was a bit unexpected as Mr Obama had asked the Russians not to have a Cold War mentality a few days before. However the G20 hosts were generous in their response. Their invitation of bilateral talks remains open.
On Friday Mr Obama said he was going to make America’s intelligence gathering operations from communications data more transparent. The Patriot Act is to be ammended and independent overseeers of the Secret Intelligence Surveillance Court and the NSA will be appointed. A task force will be set up to make further recommendations.
On the same day Russian and American foreign ministers duly met in Washington. I don’t think the talks were a resounding success but I hope they were not a failure either. After the meeting Mr Obama made statements that seemed to balance positive and negative remarks together.
That feeling of balancing on a watershed, with no certainty of direction, comes through as well with the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Jerusalem tomorrow. Israel are just about to release 26 Palestinian prisoners, yet on Sunday gave the go ahead to the building of 1200 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Israelis counter critiscism of that move by arguing that the affected areas would not become Palestinian under any negotiated agreement between the sides.
14th August 2013
As part of the focus generated by the arrest of the two girls in Peru I have just read a highlighted BBC webpage dating from June 2011 about the drug trade in Peru. Apparently the coca is mainly grown by very poor peasants in the Andean-Amazonian valley and is partly controlled by the Shining Path terrorist group. Mexican drug gangs apparently are strong in Peru’s coastal cities. An investigative journalist says that all that illegal insurgent activity is currently of a for profit capitalistic kind. The worry however is that if it becomes too strong it will take on an internecine aspect as we see in Mexico. The government needs to grasp the nettle and exercise it’s authority. However it seems clear that if and when it does the Gang response will be to cause a lot of trouble using it’s normal hidden levers. A difficult position for them.
On the day of the start of the Middle East peace talks the Eqyptian army decided, just after first light, to forcible remove the two Muslim Botherhood protest encampments in Cairo. It seems likely at least 100 people have been killed including a Sky News cameraman.
I was away for a few days at the end of last week. Whilst driving on Friday afternoon I heard on the Radio 2 news that America was temporarily closing it’s embassy in Lahore due to intelligence about a specific security threat. In the same bulletin a former US embassador to Yemen said she thought precautions to protect US embassies in the region had moved from prudent hazard management to an utopian level of risk avoidance.
On Thursday I was visiting a home in Nottinghamshire. The occupiers had just had some landscaping completed in the front garden. As we sat in the back garden the doorbell went. The men had come for their money. I realised the lady of the house was away from the patio for a long time but did not find out the reason until she returned. When she was speaking to the contractor his brother turned up to continue a family argument. They physically fought in the quiet estate road. Very understandably the lady was quite het up when she got back. Fortunately I and my gentleman companion did not hear anything. It is not an incident in which I would have wished to get involved.
That evening I stayed near Manchester after doing some work there. I called at a pub for some food but it had stopped serving so I just had a drink. A pair of lady Gang helpers with protective cover sat near me outside. I drove down the road for a bit and bought some fish and chips. I had them on a bench in a little square overlooking the main road going through Altrincham. There was a pub behind, a pub on my left and the chippy in front of me. It was an interesting 20 minutes. Gang helpers went to the takeaway and the pub behind. Two sets of police officers walked along the pavement in front of me with their evening food. The second pub was Gang terroritry. Soon after I sat down a man came outside to crowd me with a separate pair doing the same thing later on.
Saturday found me walking down the main street of a small town in rural Wales with two local companions. On the spur of the moment we decided to stop at some outside cafe tables for a coffee. There was already a quiet family group seated behind me. I thought there might be something up when I heard one of the gentlemen in the group start talking quite loudly. I suspect he had received some texted instructions. When I looked around I saw that three members of the group had left leaving one man on his own. He knew one of my comrades. When they spoke I did not think he was particularly nice to her. At the same time a group of four ladies, some with children in pushchairs, appeared on the opposite side of the road chatting away on the pavement. Then also at the same time a couple with a bulldog type pet turned up and sat down at an outside cafe table. They started taking it in turns to walk their canine up and down the pavement in front of us. We did not rush our drinks. Just before we left I noticed the women opposite being joined by their male partners. Perhaps the guys had been going to the toilet together. They all walked off in a bunch up the road.
You will not be surprised to hear me say I believe we were in a strong Gang area. Even so I was quite shocked how that was all arranged, using willing Gang helpers, only once we had sat down. My two friends had no idea what was going on at all even though one has lived in the locality all her life.
15th August 2013
I posted my letter to Mrs May and Mr Cameron yesterday and my emails went off this morning. There was a chap from UKIP on the World at One speaking about women in business and also Douglas Alexander talking about Egypt.
The BBC report this evening that at least 638 people have been killed in the Egyptian crackdown. The Muslim Brotherhood estimate the number to be 2000. President Obama has condemned the violence. The country’s vice president, Mohamed ElBaradei, has resigned in protest at the action taken. The UN Security Council is to meet in closed session to discuss the situation. I heard Jeremy Bowen say on the BBC TV News that the trouble is both sides have a winner takes all mentality. With attitudes like that compromise will be extremely difficult.
17th August 2013
There was an interesting article in last Saturday’s FT Weekend Magazine about human kindness. A 2011 report by the Young Foundation found that we are just as civil to each other today as we have ever been in the past. Yet in a 2009 survey only 40% of people agreed that we do manage to treat strangers with commom respect. That it seems to me is a matter of public perception. It is hardly surprising when you read a tabloid newspaper or hear some politicians going on at each other. Crime in this country has been going down for over ten years. Yet until very recently the public perception was that it was not working that way at all.
It is reported today that somebody has passed new information to the police about the death of Princess Diana in Paris on 31st August 1997. Scotland Yard are assessing it’s relevance and credibility. From a link on the BBC webpage I have skimmed through the formal police report published in 2006 into allegations made by Mohamed Al Fayed. It seems the hotel security man who was driving the Princess and Dodi Al Fayed that night was a paid informer of both French and British security services. An extremely murky business in my view. I have little doubt the story is in the headlines now at Gang direction. They will play their games til their last breath.
Germany is in the news today. First nine construction workers and a polieman were killed in a Taliban attack in the Herat province of Afghanistan yesterday. They were involved in the building of a road for a Afghan-German company, using German aid I think. Then today a German tourist was crushed to death when the gondola in which he was riding with his family was hit by a water bus in Venice.
From a BBC webpage I read this morning I am aware Sir Malcolm Rifkind has spoken sagaciously to the corporation about Egypt. He said it is not totally surprising, so soon into a new democracy, that the elected leaders haven’t yet picked up how to reflect the needs of their diverse population.
18th August 2013
The Mail on Sunday reports today that on Monday Stephen Fry met David Cameron in the back room of a pub in Limehouse, London part leased by Sir Ian McKellen. They discussed the two men’s disagreement about whether a boycott of the winter Olympics should be made over Russia’s gay rights policy. It goes without saying, I hope, how good it was of the Prime Minister to make that trip out of his busy schedule.
Thanks to the Newspaper Review on Today yesterday I am aware the Independant ran an exclusive story that day on News International, now News UK. It seems the paper has been talking to a senior source at Scotland Yard, about various things no doubt, and the person has told them that in May 2012 the police formally notified NI they were looking into whether to charge the company itself for phone hacking and bribery activities. It was that development apparently which caused NI to stop cooperating with the Met. If charges are ever bought it’s American parent company will be at risk of losing it’s operating licence there.
In his first public comment since last week’s initial bloodshed General al-Sisi has called for former President Morsi’s supporters to help rebuild a democratice path. My guess is that he has been persuaded to hold out that olive branch after discussions with someone of German nationality.
19th August 2013
When I was out in the garden yesterday my neighbour was as quiet as a church mouse but I knew he was there when I heard him sneeze. At 12.30pm I heard their front door slam and the car drive off. Three minutes later that black and white heavy helicopter went directly over our gardens. Obviously the Gang did not want him in when it happened in case he started asking his friends where it came from. Then at 1.30pm when I was sitting in the lounge having my after lunch coffee the Kent Police helicopter flew over on a trajectory so it was in my direct line of vision through the patio window from where I was sitting.
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows police officers to question any person at an entry point into this country to see if they might be involved with terrorism. The authorities can seize any personal property they find. The person has no right to remain silent. The maximum time allowed for questioning without charge is nine hours. The independent reviewer of terrorism, David Anderson QC, says that the provison was used on 60,000 individuals last year but only 40 of those were held for more than six hours.
Yesterday the partner of the journalist Glenn Greenwald, who broke the Edward Snowden story in the Guardian, was stopped for a period of over eight hours under the Act at Heathrow airport on a journey from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. In Germany he had been visiting US documentary film maker Laura Poitras. His flights were being paid for by The Guardian. Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said he would be writing to Scotland Yard to ascertain exactly why the man was detained under terrorism legislation. Whe Mr Greewald met his partner off the plane in Brazil, where they live, he said the incidenct had made him more determined than ever to write further stories on the untoward work of intelligence agencies, with particular regard in future to those in the UK.
I have noted there is a German connection in the last paragraph.
A BBC webpage reports this evening that the Amazon website in America and Canada wnet down for half an hour today. On Friday Google failed for two minutes. The New York Times website was unavailable for two hours on Wednesday. Microsoft Outlook has had three days of disruption to it’s email traffic.
William Hague was on Today this morning talking about Egypt. That is the first time I have heard him speak in public since his Reagan Library speech.
It seems a new pontoon bridge came into use last Thursday allowing refugees to cross from north east Syria into Kurdish Iraq. Since then it is estimated that 30,000 have made the crossing.
There was a contributor in last Monday’s FT writing that sooner or later a deadly animal kingdom virus will mutate so that it is capable of human to human infection. We need to be prepared for the time that certainty occurs.
20th August 2013
I heard Gordon Corera say on the 10pm BBC TV News last night that Sunday’s incident at Heathrow airport could end up making this country look quite silly in the eyes of the world. If the police have nothing to show for their seizure of Mr Miranda’s personal property, in a an airport transit area where the normal rule of law here does not apply, I think they will have some serious questions to answer. Alan Rusbridger has made the point in this morning’s Guardian that he looks upon it as a state attack on legitimate journalism and, for his team’s own protection, they will be operating more in the future away from our shores where civilised behaviour is the norm. In a clip on a BBC website he also says foreign journalists might become wary of passing through this country in case they are held for nine hours on, it would seem, little more than a police whim.
When on the radio yesterday William Hague said the current events in the Middle East are the most important so far in the 21st Century, above 9/11 and the financial crash. I understand what he means when you see all the divisions crystalising along religious sectarian lines. James Naughtie highlighted the populous difficult countries as Syria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
No 10 have said today that they were kept informed about the detention of David Miranda but were not part of the decision making process. That of course is exactly the same position as the Americans have taken about the UK action. However it has led David Davis MP to argue that Downing Street are fully responsible for the steps taken as they were aware and did nothing to stop it. That, if my memory serves me correctly, is exactly the same argument used to Barack Obama in the ricin letter he received, as I noted on 17th April 2013, just after the Boston bombings.
There was a piece in last Tuesday’s FT reporting that, in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, America and Germany are to start formal negotiations next month on a no spying agreement.
21st August 2013
The Guardian started revealing Edward Snowden’s information on 6th June 2013. I am not sure when but at some point after that the paper was contacted by the Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, on the authorisation of the Prime Minister, no doubt to give it the government’s viewpoint on their journalistic activities. No 10 have said it would have been irresponsible for them to have done anything else. There is a videod interview on a BBC webpage this morning by Gordon Corera of Alan Rusbridger. The newspaper editor says that his conversations with government took a different tone about a month ago when when he was explicitly told that unless he gave the leaked NSA files to the UK authorities an injunction would be taken out against the paper to prevent it writing further on the subject. The editor was not prepared to pass on his journalistically acquired information to others so an agreement was reached that the computers holding the files in The Guardian offices would be destroyed in the presence of GCHQ officials. That no doubt suited both sides. Government had shown they were trying their best for their American allies and The Guardian could continue writing it’s stories.
In a sense though it was just game playing. No one will have imagined that the hard disc copies were the only ones in existence so the action taken was purely symbolic. The people left really unhappy about it all, in my view, were the Gang heirachy. Something I believe David Miranda found out at Heathrow airport last Sunday morning.
Last Wednesday’s FT editorial highlighted that the US federal justice system is bringing in procedures to reduce the practice of minimum mandatory sentences, especially for illegal drug offences. Previously minorities have been discriminated against in that process. Besides being more human, in my view, it will also save money. US prisons currently cost taxpayers $80 billion a year.
Gillian Tett writes a piece in that paper about the American medical system. Apparently most doctors are not paid by salary but on a piece rate providing them incentive to give patients treatments which may not be necessary. In practices where the European set pay system applies it is found that patient satisfaction is much higher. Gillian equates the situation to the self serving bonus culture that has always applied in financial markets. It will be a big job to get a new mindset going.
My hunch is that a branch of the American Gang are strong in the Netherlands, as they are in Britain. Last Friday’s FT indicates Holland has had a property bubble just like us. Housing prices have fallen there by 21% since their 2008 peak. Whereas the French and German economies have started growing the Dutch contracted by another 0.2% in the second quarter of 2013.
A contributor in that edition uses a nice phrase. With the Egyptian spring falling apart he says it’s success required the Muslim Brotherhood, the military and Mr Morsi not to drop their baton. All three did.
On Monday it was announced the chief executive of UKIP has left his post by mutual agreement. The BBC webpage said he had been brought in last December to professionalise back room functions in the Party. It seems that he probably ruffled a few too many feathers.
There was a fascinating interview on Today this morning with the investigative journalist Duncan Campbell who worked in the 1970s and 80s. His view is that the decision to hold David Miranda for nearly nine hours should be squarely put at the door of GCHQ. He obviously feels the action has their fingerprints all over it. He says it is the fifth time in fifty years the agency have aggressively shut down any challenge to reveal their sercret listening activities. He suggests it was their authorship which resulted in a former Director General of the BBC, Alasdair Milne, losing his job in 1987.
I am not going to go into details but there has been the most horrific attack against civilians in Damascus today. It seems missiles dropped nerve gas on them causing hundreds of agonising deaths, many of them young children. I haven’t been able to find out why he was there but William Hague has said from Paris this evening that he hopes the incident will wake some up to the murderous and barbaric nature of the Syrian regime. I believe he will have been thinking of President Putin.
22nd August 2013
Last Saturday’s FT records the bombing in Beirut the Thursday before in which 22 were killed. It was the worst terrorist attack there since 1985. The area targeted was the Hizzbollah heartland and in my view it was meant to destabilise the Shia-Sunni divide. The reporter says Hizbollah wish to calm things but the attacked Shia want revenge. The atmosphere is poisonous.
A piece on the next page refers to the nuclear mafia in South Korea. Apparently the country is into nuclear power generation with 23 stations. However after is was discovered that safety certificates for 7600 components in them had been forged three have been shut down indefinitely. That has created an electricity shortage in the country exacerbated by the fact that it is currently experiencing a record heatwave. The Gang I suggest are fascinated by nuclear material so the story seems a good indication of their involvement in South Korean society.
John Simpson was on Today this morning talking about the trial of Bo Xilai which has just started. John says Mr Bo was sent to Chongqing to sort out the gangsterism there which he did effectively and ruthlessly. The brownie points gained made him ambitious for the very top tier. That in my opinion is very much how the Gang hiddenly work. If you are a favoured one they will push you forward and boost your ego to the maximum extent. However once the Chinese leadership found out from MI6 after Neil Heywood’s death what was going on his fortunes changed. With China not using a democratic system I suspect he would normally have been given a large degree of leeway but being disloyal to the Party was a cardinal sin.
Earlier a contolled but upset British Egyptian actor was on the broadcast from Cairo. With the release of Hosni Mubarak due today he said it was as though someone wanted the pressure cooker his country had become, to explode. Even so he was still optimistic. He believed his countrymen would simply not accept the authoritarian rules being thrown at them from all sides by those in power. They will continue to fight for their freedom. Each battle will get slightly easier to win.
Theresa May was interviewed on the World at One yesterday and took the opportunity to say she had been concerned to hear Evan Davies make remarks on Today earlier with which she didn’t agree. Evan had suggested the detainment of David Miranda was about alleviating embarrassment to the authorities. Mrs May said government action was to counter potential terrorism. Evan has been on duty at Today this week. However this morning he was not there. His place was taken by Jim Naughtie who had completed his run a few days ago.
Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail yesterday for his divulging of American secrets, although I have also heard he should be able to apply for parole after 7 years. Mark Mardell was talking about the case on PM yesterday afternoon. Although he was not time specific Mark used the phrase joining the dots which Mr Obama himself referred to in January 2010 after knowledge anout the 2009 Nigerian Christmas Day plane bomber fell though the combined net of all the American intelligence agencies, as I mention in chapter 7 of my book. Bradley took up his Baghdad post in 2009 and Wikilieaks first revealed material from him on 18th February 2010. That could fit in with the American diplomatic cables only becoming available to him, a soldier of low rank, after President Obama’s remarks. I suspect that was what Mark was hinting at.
No decisions in life are ever consequence free. In my view Bradley’s leaking of private opinions was of public interest. Some of us I am afraid should never say anything, in public or private, which would cause guilt if played back to us afterwards. Important people should have thick skins. Some of us do not have the luxury of having a private life, as enjoyed by most. It is just one of those things.
It serves the Gang’s purposes for society to be excessively secretive. They can control us so much better like that. In my view Mr Obama would have made the right decision in 2010 if it was to let go a bit of America’s secrets. He should continue down that path.
It has emerged today that between Januray 2005 and March 2011 a firm called CPP in York sold 4.4 million policies, with automatic renewals, of bank and credit card protection insurance. There was no need for them to do that as the card issuer automatically provides the service. The clever wheeze was that when you rang the phone number to confirm receipt of your new card you were actually speaking to a CPP salesperson. Indeed I recall it happening to me. I was quite taken aback as it obviously was not the purpose of my call. I immediately politely refused without even thinking about what it was they were trying to sell me. CPP and thirteen banks and credit card firms have had to put £1.3 billion aside to compensate customers to whom mis-selling has taken place. Soon no doubt we will be getting phone calls from companies offering to do that for us for a slice of the rebate, as for the PPP insurance fiasco.
Life is full of unintended consequances and, although they are keeping very quiet about it accordinging to Tuesday’s FT, Israel are now friendlier with Egypt than they were under President Morsi whom it seems they mistrusted. That no doubt is why the Gang arranged for 25 Egyptian police conscripts to be killed by Islamist militants in the Sinai peninsular on Monday. It was the same lot I suspect who fired a rocket from the territory at Eilat but which was intercepted by the Israelis. The article suggests the Americans do not wish to upset that rapport, bearing in mind the peace process negotiations, by varying it’s current military aid to Egypt. Perhaps that is why the Gang have moved their attention to Syria.
24th August 2013
Apparently there are 50 large wildfires burning in the western USA at the moment. The largest started last Saturday and now covers 164 square miles. A state of emergency has been declared in San Franciso as it is in danger of losing electricity through brought down power lines. I imagine it is the one big story on US media. The fire has spread into Yosemite National park which I mention in my diary notes of 6th April and 4th June 2013.
I heard on the radio news this morning that there has been a big police operation in Chinese controlled territory. From the South China Morning Post website I see that on Thursday Hong Kong police arrested 1,800 suspected member of triad gangs and searched 2,500 properties. 10,900 people were arrested in southern China and 1,000 in Macau. Property worth HK$39.3 million was confiscated. That will be down to the new broom effect of Xi Jinping it seems to me.
When you stick your head above the parapet in this world there will always be people waiting to take potshots at you. I imagine The Guardian is feeling a lot of heat at the moment and suspect that is why The Independent published this story this week about secret intellience, no doubt sourced from Edward Snowden files. It seems that GCHQ have a listening station in the Middle East, with Cyprus being the most likely candidate, where they tap into all communications traffic in the region which by industry practice pass through the underwater fibre optic arteries joining the area to the rest of the world. The allegation is that the information is fully shared with NSA.
25th August 2013
In my diary note of 15th December 2012 I offered to meet with the the Gang leadership in America. Although I did not expect to hear anything, which I didn’t, I would have gone if they had wanted me to. With that background I feel I am entitled to proffer my opinion that the top man or men are psychologically unwell. I can see no other way to interpret last Wednesday’s chemical attack against so many innocent people in Damascus. He, if it is one man, will look upon his action as an act of retaliaton. That is mad thinking. He is not God. He should not wish to control people for the whole of their lives who do not want to be controlled. Human beings are not perfect but we are basically good. It is evil to prey on people’s weaker qualities. He should let us be.
The trouble though is when you are in the Gang world it doesn’t matter what you, as an individual think. It is your job to destabilise as much as possible once the top man acts, however terrible the result. You are in a massive machine which simply rules your life. You have no option; for you it is probably a question of life and death.
I truly hope time will show last Wednesday to be an overreaching. A completely stupid thing to do, especially with UN inspectors already positioned in the country. For that to happen though key decison makers finally have to properly understand how it works. We must start pulling together against a common enemy for the benefit of us all.
One interesting development is that there are some quotes coming out of Iran asking Syria to coperate with the international community. Then President Obama started to move when he said in a TV interview on Friday that the attack was a big event of grave concern. France has been calling for military action, William Hague has been openly saying he thinks the Assad regime did it. Then yesterday afternoon David Cameron had a forty minute telephone conversation with Barack Obama and also spoke to the Canadian prime minister. No 10 was then saying the Syrian government should be given one final chance to comply with a strongly worded UN Security Council resolution. The implication there I feel is that if the United Nations are not able to govern the world in our best interest then America, Britain, France and Canada will be prepared to move away from their legal framework by taking unilateral action. This morning President Obama upped the anti by saying it looked likely Mr Assad’s side were responsible for the attack and confirming he had asked his national security teams to prepare for any orders he might decide to give. That produced the, worried I feel, response from Syria’s information minister saying direct American military action would bring chaos to his region and cause it to burn. Late this afternoon it was announced that the regime have agreed to the UN inspectors visiting the targeted Damascus suburbs in the morning on completion of discussions with the UN representative who went to the country to make that request.
I personally feel the killing of 24 year old nursery teacher and mother, Sabrina Moss, on a north London street in the early hours yesterday was probably in similar vien. The police confirm she was an innocent bystander in an apparent gang shooting. Two men have been arrested. However the word might be out for those under Gang influence that the execution was not quite as random as might be supposed. If it could happen to Sabrina it could happen to anyone living in London with Gang knowledge. I would call that an act of terrorism for those unfortunate enought to be trapped inside those circles.
The retiring Chief Rabbi is a deep thinker I believe. In an extended interview on the Sunday programme he asked for people to pull together more, as they do in faith based communities. He referred to culture as society talking to itself. Prehaps he was thinking that we do not talk to each other other enough. Things go wrong for human beings when they do not trust one another. His definition of trust was having faith in another person to keep their faith with you.
26th August 2013
I need to write this down. On 14th August 2013 I wrote to the Home Secretary and Prime Minister asking them to call a Public Inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence affair. I confirmed, as I had written in my diary note of 9th July 2013, that I would like to give evidence at any Inquiry which is convened. The following day I emailed copies to the MPs and Lords on the Home Affairs and Intelligence Committees. On the evening of 20th August 2013 I attended a public meeting held by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent. I spoke with her privately afterwards. The following morning I emailed the Home Secretary and Prime Minister informing them I had done that.
27th August 2013
I noted on 9th July 2013 how the new Italian Prime Minister seemed to be showing an interest in this country so soon after coming to power. Perhaps that presaged closer cooperation between our two states. I also saw or read a report at the beginning of the month that Organised Crime milk the American Internal Revenue Service of billions of dollars a year through stealing people’s indentities and then making fraudulent claims. This morning a BBC webpage reports that similar scams are used here. Five men were arrested yesterday, one at Stansted airport after having flown in from Italy, for theiving personal information in order to carry out tax rebate fraud worth about £500,000. HMRC said it had worked closely with Italian authorities on the case.
I am not sure if it was in the Queen’s Speech but Theresa May wrote in the Sunday Times at the weekend that a bill is to be introduced to combat conditions of slavery in this country. Amongst other measures a modern slavery commissioner is to be appointed to oversee law enforcement and government bodies dealing with the problem. Mrs May wrote that no man, woman or child should suffer through modern day slavery.
The lunchtime BBC webpage reporting on Thursday’s recall of Paliament to debate the Syrian attack says the planned military action is likely to be a one off or limited guided missile strike on government military targets from US navy warships. I wonder therefore if there are many thoughtful members of the British public musing why we wish to take such a high profile in what will essentially be an American operation. I do not criticise however, even a big country deserves support in my view as much as an individual. It would be interesting though to be in say Germany at the moment. I suspect their government feels just as strongly as anyone that consequences should flow for barbaric behaviour but perhaps their preference is just to quietly get the job done.
I had just left the home of my host yesterday evening shortly before 10pm. The roads were quiet. As I pulled onto the highway built a few years ago leading out of the town I noticed a large lorry turn onto it behind me. It belonged to a national pet retailer with a store nearby and was of the type I have seen transporting racing cars and the like around. It was a large box going right down to ground level. A single private car was behind it. I immediately felt uncomfortable. There were some traffic lights coming up in half a mile and if those were on red I could imagine the careless lorry man driving straight into me at speed. Fortunately there was a roundabout first which I drove around, putting the two vehicles in front of me. At the lights, which were red, the car turned left as I did. When that person saw I was following he started driving like a bat out of hell. This morning, on the 8.10am slot on Today, was an MP you do not hear on our airwaves a great deal.
It looks as though the 3,000 firefighters are finally beginning to get the measure of the Yosemite National Park rim fire. There was a worry that it’s ash would contaminate a reservoir supplying 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay area but the authorities say there is no immediate danger.
Mark Mardell said on the radio news yesterday that British and American chiefs of staff are meeting in Jordan at some stage to discuss the Syrian situation. Apparently government forces have been shelling the rebel areas on the outskirts of Damascus where the gas attacks occured. The suspicion is that someone has been trying to destroy gas residue evidence.
There does seem to be a genuine feeling of shock about the North Sea Puma helicopter crash last Friday evening in which 4 oil workers died. It is the fifth Puma crash in five years, one with 16 fatalities, and union representatives say it is unacceptable. I suspect others agree. All aircraft of the family have been grounded for the moment until more is know about the cause of the accident. They comprise 70% of the North Sea fleet which operates 100 flights a day so the impact is major. However I imagine it has been decided that passenger safety, and not business mangement, is paramount.
It hasn’t been said who telephoned whom but Vladimir Putin spoke to David Cameron yesterday. Mr Putin does not accept the Syrian government were responsible for last Wednesday’s attacks. Ed Miliband discussed the situation with Mr Cameron in Downing Steet this afternoon.
The National Farmers Union announced this morning that a badger cull has started in North Somerset. Private marksmen hired by landowners are due to kill some 2,000 animals over the next six weeks as they leave their setts at night to eat pre-laid bait. That should reduce the population by 70% so researchers can measure the health effect on domestic cattle herds. The Minister, Owen Paterson, was on Today this morning. He argues that culling of badgers in Ireland has had an extremely beneficial effect there. He has also visited America, Australia and New Zealand where culling programmes in diseased wildlife have protected animals which we eat. Even so Mr Paterson does not expect bovine tuberculosis to be completely eradicated here for another 25 years.
The head of RUSI has said on Newsnight tonight that he expects the UK to contribute missiles in single figure batches in comparison with hundreds likely to be fired by American warships and submarines towards Syria. The significance of our effort would be political not military.
28th August 2013
The BBC says this morning that YouGov have polled 2,000 people about Syria. 50% are against a missile strike and 25% in favour. All things being equal I think that must show the generally peaceful nature of the British public. I just wish that had a slight understanding of what is going on in the world they inhabit.
The House of Commons vote is tomorrow. There are sincere arguments on both sides. I feel it would be a good idea if the body, on this issue, had a genuine sense of control about what goes on in their place of business. Their judgement will not actually change the course of events. America will make it’s own decisions. However if the Prime Minister made it clear his government will respect the will of Parliament, whatever it may be, I personally feel that would make members feel much more empowered. It would also mean those on the the losing side could not convince themselves they were somehow tricked or outplayed. Their opinions would simply have been in the minority of elected members. One thing I am certain of. The Gang will not care a jot either way.
I heard Mark Mardell say on the radio news this morning that Barack Obama and his top officials have made at least 88 calls to foreign leaders since last Wednesday. It is nice to see that secret communication is no longer the order of the day. As Mr Obama himself said a few weeks ago if you want to speak to someone you pick up the phone.
Russian and American diplomats were due to meet in The Hague today to discuss a possible peace process for Syria. However on Monday America postponed the discussions in view of the sides’ disagreement over missile retaliation against the Syrian government. The Russian deputy defence minister did not overreact in any way. He just said he hoped the talks would go ahead as soon as possible.
It has been announced this morning that the 8,000 GP surgeries in England are to get their own regulator, or chief inspector, under the umbrella of the Care Quality Commission.
The Gang will always concentrate their activities on smaller entities. The Faroe Islands, population 50,000, are a self governing territory of the Danish Realm. They are fishermen and used to net 43,000 tonnes of herring a year. Last year European countries reduced their catches to maintain sustainability but the Faroese increase their tonnage to 105,000 moving their herring take from 5% to 17%. They do not agree with the scientific advice accepted by other countries and now face EU sanctions. Fishing comprises 95% of their economy. Hopefully a comprise settlement can be found before emotions become too fraught.
I heard on the Today Proramme this morning that the Unite Union consider there is a culture of fear about safety matters in the North Sea oil production industry. It seems there is a real problem with the Puma helicopter issue. The production companies have become quite dependent on them as part of their everyday functioning capability.
Sir Hugh Orde is currently on The World at One talking about the police’s role in protecting battered women in our society. Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, was separately interviewed on the subject. Tomorrow Mrs May herself will be on the programme contributing to the debate.
29th August 2013
There were some big things happening in British politics yesterday which, I suspect, will have ramifications into the longer term. I do not wish to comment how that may have come about. I am not a politician. I am a member of the public who just tries to do the right thing.
I consider the Syrian events of last week were a war crime. We should not be afraid of fighting back against them. Yet neither should we act solely through the motive of revenge. We need to find a way so that punishment is metered out, we are in charge, but at the same time engender confidence in those who feel paralysed by the thought that doing anything will make the situation worse. I have just read a letter, via a BBC webpage link, that John Boehner has written to Barack Obama. It is respectful, seeks common ground yet fully sets out all the complications of the situation. It asks some precise questions. It says a retaliatory military strike against Syria is a means not a policy.
I have just watched a video clip of the President giving an interview on American television. He says he has not yet made up his mind what he is going to do. I hope he will take equal regard from the report of the United nations inspectors in Syria as he does from his own secret intelligence sources. I see the inspectors leave Syria on Saturday. I have no doubt the President will be taking action. I believe he will act in an appropriate manner.
America have said they will not act alone against the Syrian government. It does not mean though, I feel, that we have to be with them. If our overall view is that we should stand aside the French I am sure, under their presidental system, will be willing to participate.
The Commons debate starts at 2.30pm. The Lords will also be convening. Even though no UK decisions will be made today I think it is healthy for democracy that people with elected power will be expressing their views. I trust they will not do so in a partisan way. William Hague has said the government now wish to seek a consensus. I fully support that.
I see from a BBC webpage that the Speaker of the Syrian Parliament has written to John Bercow inviting a parliamentary delegation to Damascus to check the UN’s conclusions on the gas attack. I think that is a good idea. Somewhat less responsibly though the gentleman threatens to take us through the UK courts if we join in with American action.
On Monday Kent Police discovered 6,000 cannabis plants worth up to £4 million growing on two floors of disused former council offices in Dartford. No arrests have been made. The Chief Constable was talking about it on local TV news last night. Dartford is one of the locations Susan Watts reported from in her Newsnight piece which I wrote about on 23rd March 2013.
PM broadcast part of George Galloway’s speech in the Commons this afternoon. Mr Galloway said there is no doubt that the Syrian regime are bad, the question is whether they are mad as well. To drop nerve gas, outlawed since 1925, onto your citizens in Damascus on the day that UN chemical weapons investigators arrive in the same city is not a sensible thing to do.
Mr Cameron lost his vote in the Commons tonight by 285 to 272. As I country I feel we are lucky he is a tough nut. He will not let it get him down. The great thing about the debate, as far as I am aware, is that all Parliamentarians were putting forward their honest views, plain and simple. That is how it should be. There was no Gang influence in sight.
30th August 2013
Lord Sacks gave his last broadcast as Chief Rabbi on Thought for the Day on Today this morning. He said sometimes in history it may have seemed that faith gives people enough emotion to hate but not enough to love. His answer to the conundrum is that the person’s faith is not as strong as it might be.
I am sure Lord Sacks would say all men are equal in the eyes of God. But in an extremely thought provoking article in last Saturday’s FT John Thornhill suggests some might argue the purpose of intelligence agencies is to deceive their enemies: to make God like judgements about good and bad. Yet who is to decide who is friend or foe? If secretive organisations do not treat their publics with respect citizens could begin to wonder what side of the fence those shadowy people are really on. We should be collaborators in combating terrorism, not treated with suspicion. One of Edward Snowden’s motives for going public was that he thought American spies were lying to Congress. Many in his position just ticked boxes, without thinking about what they were doing, just to satisfy their bosses. The article suggests that deception is the enemy of trust, a very fragile asset. Security and privacy are incompatible goals. Democratic socities need to ponder on where the boundaries between them should lie.
In the magazine Gillian Tett was writing about bedbugs and what a paranoid subject they are for some Americans. If you live in New York and have them in your matress an extermination company will visit your home in an unmarked van with it’s employees dressed as plumbers. 50 years ago it seemed the mites were becoming a thing of the past. In 2004 New York had 500 reports of infestation. Three years ago one in 10 residents said they had been affected by the bugs.
Mr Cameron effectively confirmed at the Dispatch Box last night, immediately after the vote, that we would not be responding in military anger against the Syrian regime. It might have been better if he had slept on his initial reaction, and spoken privately with Mr Miliband; but there again it is quite possibly he would have come to exactly the same conclusion.
It seems likely a BBC Panorama film crew is currently in Syria. I do not think it a coincidence that they were led to a secondary school in the north of the country which was bombed on Monday with a napalm like substance causing many deaths and horrific burns down to the bone. Eye witnesses describe the lone pilot seemingly flying around looking for a suitable target. It was in August 2012 that President Obama laid down his red line about future chemical attacks. Napalm, I feel, does not come within that category. I believe the Gang Master is having a laugh at the President’s expense; directed at just one man, no one else. I do not believe it will affect the President’s considered judgement one iota.
The Panorama crew filmed a British doctor working for a charity at the scene of Monday’s bombing. She says the Syrians are being treated worse than second class citizens, as though they do not matter to anybody. She says the world has failed Syria.
Jeremy Bowen is also a BBC person who has obtained a visa to visit Syria in the last few days. I heard him say on Today this morning that he spent part of yesterday in the company of Mohamed Jihad al-Laham, the speaker of the Syrian parliament who has written to Mr Bercow. I really hope something positive can come from the contact between the two bodies.
From Yesterday in Parliament on Today this morning I am aware there was a disagreement in the Commons yesterday between Jack Straw and John Baron. Mr Straw referred to intelligence failures leading to our involvement in the Iraq war poisoning the relationship between electors and elected. Mr Baron reminded his colleagues that Tony Blair had referred to the Iraq intelligence as extensive, detailed and authoritative. In Mr Baron’s view however that was a misreading of the information given to Mr Blair. Mr Baron said it was limited, sporadic and patchy.
Another national webpage BBC Kent had highlighted today lists the MPs who voted against the government last night. Around here they were Tracy Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford), Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey), and Adam Holloway (Gravesham). David Davis voted against as did Dr Sarah Wollaston.
John Kerry has said this evening our time that 1,429 people died in the Syrian chemical weapons attack including 426 children. It was planned three days before it actually happened.
I felt quite critical of Wlliam Hague when he made a speech in America which I referred to on 26th June 2013. One thing he said was that when you have a secret it’s purpose is to always keep certain information from one or more people. He seemed to be speaking defiantly which riled me a bit. It now comes home to me again though why sometimes it can be a good idea to keep a secret. It is the motive for the secret which is the important thing. Indeed it is a dilema I confront in my book; whether it is better to be forewarned so as to be forearmed or whether ignorance is bliss. I must stick with my previous conclusion that, on balance, the former is best.
Doctor Sarah Wollaston was one of the 30 Conservative MPs who voted against the goverment yesterday. Uniquely in this country, I think, she was selected in 2010 by every voter in the Totnes constituency being asked who they wanted to be the Tory candidate. She was on Today this morning and explained she saw herself as a representative of her constituents not a delegate. She emailed every person on her database and only just over 5% who replied favoured the UK taking military action in Syria.
I heard on a Newspaper Review during the programme that a former girlfriend of the North Korean leader has been executed by firing squad there with other artists for allegedly being associated with pornography and religion. Their families have been sent to prison camps. I doubt if Kim Jong-un considers he has power. I expect he feels no more than a Gang figurehead.
The Home Secretary was on the World at One yesterday talking about the problem of domestic violence. In some police areas one in five of their calls report it. Mrs May said we need to change the attitude amongst some couples that a degree of violence in their relationship is acceptable.
31st August 2013
It looks as though America’s limited military attack on Syria will come soon. On Thursday I was hoping the United Nations report would play a part in that. It now seems highly unlikely. It will not apportion blame in any event and you cannot say yesterday’s release of intelligence information by John Kerry was not detailed. It is extremely unfortunate in my view that the Russians, and to a lesser extent the Chinese, have not allowed the UN to perform their proper function.
I see the legal advice the UK government received from it’s law officer, Dominic Grieve, was that military action against Syria would be internationally lawful provided it was carried out for humanitarian reasons. It must have the aim of relieving suffering or reducing the future use of chemical weapons against civilian populations.
There was a piece on Today this morning regarding copyright law in relation to the ‘I have a dream’ speech made by Martin Luther King 50 years ago. It is about making money, as always. However there is also that secrecy slant it seems to me. If you let go of copyright you are also allowing full transparency. On 14th May 2010 I wrote a letter to David Cameron which I copied to Barack Obama. I said I would be happy for either to show it to others. As I mention in Chapter 6 of my book I believe the President did just that.
The chief executive of Save The Children was on the programme explaining that the international principle of a responsibility to protect came about in 2006. It grew out of the Rwanda genocide in 1994 when 500,000 people were killed in 100 days. The world watched but took no action. Using the doctrine the United Nations assembly as a whole can authorise military action circumventing the UN security council. Diane Abbott also mentioned that approach when she was on Newsnight last night.
On the edition Gordon Corera highlighted the difference in approach used by the British and American intelligence forces to analysis of the Syrian attack. Although both countries reached the same conclusion the presentation to our Cabinet was on two sides of A4 paper. Mr Kerry referred to the location of the missile batteries and timing of launch being known from satellite surveillance, the results of dissemination of publicly videoed evidence and the interception of spoken Syrian military communications. I would put that down to a lack of confidence by our three security services. It is not a very good impression to be giving at a most crucial time in the 21st century, as suggested by Mr Hague, I would have thought.
During the broadcast Jonny Dymond went out on the streets of Virginia to see what some members of the American public think about the Syrian situation. He came across two really wise ladies. One said that strong nations have a responsibility to protect people who cannot protect themselves. The other thought our message should be, hey we are still here, we still care about people across the world.
President Putin has said this morning it is utter nonense to suggest the Syrian government would have been so stupid as to launch a chemical attack in the way it occurred. I have symphathy with the view. But nevertheless it is something that actually happened. No one can pretend it didn’t. Hopefully Mr Putin will use next week’s G20 meeting to ensure such a tragedy can never happen again.