the ken livingstone interview - antisemitic?

Interested in what Ken Livingstone actually said?
Here goes...(Taken from here)

Feltz/Livingstone Transcript

Vanessa Feltz:
Do you still maintain that they [Shah’s remarks] were not [antisemitic]?

Ken Livingstone:
 No. She’s a deep critic of Israel and its policies. Her remarks were over the top. But she’s not antisemitic. And I’ve been in the Labour party for 47 years. I’ve never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. I’ve heard a lot of criticism of Israel and its abuse of the Palestinians, but I’ve never heard someone be antisemitic.

Feltz: She [Shah] talked about relocating Israel to America. She talked about what Hitler did being legal. And she talked about the Jews rallying. And she used the words Jews, not Israelis or Israel. You didn’t find that to be antisemitic?

Livingstone: No. It’s completely over the top [but] it’s not antisemitic. Let’s remember, when Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism. [He then] went mad and ending up killing 6 million Jews. But the simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians. And there is one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports: in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes, but it’s like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government.

Feltz: You see some people will say there is a double standard operating in the Labour party. That’s that, really, a flagrant antisemitism, a deeply embedded systemic antisemitism, is hidden behind a mask of anti-Zionism or criticism of Israeli foreign policy. But that’s not what it really is. It is really, as John Rentoul, the political commentator said ... ‘These are long-term Jew haters, and they can use criticism of Israel as a cloak behind which to mask that sentiment?’

Livingstone: He’s lying. As I’ve said I’ve never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. But there has been a very well orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic. I had to put up with 35 years of this, and then being denounced because back in 1981 we were campaigning to say the Labour party should recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation. We were accused of antisemitism but then 12 years later the leader of the PLO is on the White House lawn, shaking hands with the prime minister of Israel.

Feltz: How could it be then that you would think that it is alright for Naz Shah to mention Hitler at all? If her comments were anti-Zionist, or anti-Israeli foreign policy, why would that be part of the argument? Why would Hitler’s name even come into it.

Livingstone: I don’t think she should have done that. As I said, she was over the top. But we need to step back and look at the anger there is at the sort of double standards. We have just had a decade of painful standards against Iran. We invaded Iraq because we thought they were going to get nuclear weapons, but Israel has had nuclear weapons for 40 years at least and there’s never any sanctions, never any complaint from anyone in the west. And it is these double standards that make people angry.

Feltz: What do you think over the top means? Over the top of what?

Livingstone: Basically to think of antisemitism and racism as exactly the same thing. And criticising the government of South Africa, which is pretty unpleasant and corrupt, doesn’t make me a racist, and it doesn’t make me antisemitic when I criticise the brutal mistreatment by the Israeli government. And let’s look at what someone who is Jewish actually said, something almost very similar to something Naz has just said: Albert Einstein. When the first leader of Likud, the governing party now in Israel, came to America he [Einstein] warned American politicians: “Don’t talk to this man, because he’s too similar to the fascists who fought in the second world war”. Now if Naz or myself had said that today we would be denounced as antisemitic, but that was Albert Einstein.

Feltz: Lord Levy says that Ken Livingstone, in saying that those things are not antisemitic, and I quote “must be living on another planet. Vanessa, will you ask him is he living on another planet and which one is it?”

Livingstone: After Jeremy [Corbyn] became leader I was having a chat with Michael [Lord Levy] and he said he’s very worried because one of his friends, who is Jewish, had come to him and said the election of Jeremy Corbyn is exactly the same to the rise in power of Adolf Hitler. So, frankly, there has been an attempt to smear Jeremy Corbyn, and his associates, as antisemitic from the moment he became leader. But the simple fact is we have the right to criticise what is one of the most brutal regimes that’s going in the way it treats its Palestinians.

The Nazis sending Jews to Israel?
Have a look here

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hilary benn's speech

While I still don't agree with the air strikes against Syria, l will admit that Hilary Benn's speech in favour of the strikes was particularly well thought out and persuasive, deserving of the applause.
It also confirmed my loathing for David Cameron, when the prospect of him apologising to Jeremy Corbyn for calling Corbyn a terrorist sympathiser was suggested, as Cameron's weasily smile and smug look to his colleague confirmed to me (as if it needed confirming) that he is a spoon fed arrogant patronising toff of the worst kind. If l'm reading too much into that look, so be it.  l'll take my chances that l have summed him up correctly, or at least to the best of my abilities without a private education behind me.
Twat.



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let's all go and bomb syria!!.............sorry, l meant belgium

Here's an interesting short video of how the Syrian conflict has played out over the last few years, and how, to any right seeing individual, it can easily escalate into a much larger conflict.



It's a mess, and l'm not sure what the answer is myself, but l do know that bombing areas in the Middle East, with the unavoidable deaths of innocent men, women and children, is only going to radicalise more extremists, and put the western nations at greater immediate and long term risk, not less. As a start, I'd probably go for sanctions, and preventing / persuading other countries not to buy ISIS / ISIL oil or support them, and try to get the neighbouring countries to sort it out,but l can't see that happening in the in the near future, if at all.
I've said it before, but I'd rather have more freedom and take the risks involved, and show we are a caring encompassing nation that welcomes other races and religions, promoting free speech, as long as it is not preaching hatred and violence. It's already illegal to incite in such a way, but l'll be treading a fine line, as there are a few politicians of the English kind that l would love to punch in the face (at least), and often state this in public, despite me being an easy going kind of fellow.
Anyway, Private Eye have summed some of it up. You can't defeat ISIS by bombing, as they can plan attacks from anywhere, and probably have supporters in all countries, albeit in small numbers (I assume), but as to the answer? It may require a proper, troops on the ground all out war, and who wants that? I'll take my chances with a free and open society any day, and still travel to places such as Egypt, Tunisia, France and Belgium.
Remember to put that on my headstone if l get blown up.

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look who's back (er ist weider da)

I'm waiting for my ebay delivery of  the book version of 'Er Ist Weider Da' (Look who's back) by Timur Vermes , and while eagerly hanging around my letter box for it, have been checking out the trailers of the film, which look pretty good.
l guess l may have to catch it on DVD or Sky, as l can't see any local cinemas putting it on, but  hopefully l may be proven wrong (and it's not often l say that).
Hitler has returned to face the modern age, and he's not a happy man.
Who say's the Germans haven't got a sense of humour?



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vietnam footage coupled with the rolling stones' gimme shelter (and paul hardcastle's '19')

What can l say?
A great song with moving footage. Rather them than me, and remember, the average age of those fighting was 19.



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bootle bomb damage 1941

Bootle bomb damage after an air raid in 1941. This is only one small example, but Bootle was one of the most bombed places in the UK during the war, with up to 90% of the houses damaged (including the one l lived in).
No wonder there was so much rubble about when l was growing up there.

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women concentration camp workers from belsen - bergen

Sometimes the facade of ordinary looking people disguises how cruel they can be.  I deliberately chose not to say evil, as l don't think that people that participate in horrendous acts are necessarily evil, just maybe led astray by circumstances and a breakdown of normal civilisation, with a lack of all it's usual laws, restrictions and moral codes of behavior.  Who can say how anyone would behave in certain circumstances, as there are numerous examples of horrendous behaviour in just about any war. I'm also not singling out the women above as more culpable, it's just that their pictures were readily available, and l can't be bothered at the moment searching for photographs of the men that were involved.
The above were all women (known as Aufseherinnen) found guilty of working for the Nazis in the Belsen - Bergen concentration camp during the Second World War, and either imprisoned or hanged afterwards. Ordinary looking, and who, without the rise of the Nazi party and trickle down, gradually increasing hatred of the Jews propaganda, would most likely never have dreamt they would end up doing what they did. That's the scary part - how ordinary people can be made to engage in evil deeds, if the hatred and dehumanisation of a race or religion is allowed and encouraged to take hold.
More photos and details can be found here.

At one of the mass graves - photo by George Rodger (Time / Life)

The Anne and Margot Frank memorial (she died there)

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dazzle ships

Dazzle ships.  It's not just an album (as us senile old folks call them), but also a way of painting ships so that they are off-putting to the enemy.  Nowadays, tracking equipment and missiles are more advanced, but back in the olden days, a submarine would have to work out where the ship was heading to and how fast, so they could work out where to aim the submarine missiles.  Hence the crazy designs, which distorted the ships speed and direction.
I'd have thought it would be better with some kind of tilted mirror design, but what do l know?  I can argue the case for what constitutes a boat, and what is a ship for ages, with no satisfactory answer at the end of the argument (or one that satisfies me), so don't get me started on ship design and camouflage.
As for the OMD album, l'm not that keen on it.

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a shell shocked soldier from 1916

A shell shocked soldier from 1916.
He looks as happy as me on a good night out.

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the boston marathon bombing

WARNING - SOME OF THESE ARE GRAPHIC

As it's such a big news story today, l thought l would post these photographs of the bombing at the Boston Marathon.  Some of them are pretty gruesome, but they bring home what a shocking thing a bombing is.

There will be even more heightened security in London this week, as there is Margaret Thatcher's funeral on Wednesday, followed by the London Marathon on Sunday.  Of course this bomb could be the work of an American with issues, not a foreign terrorist, and therefore have less significance for the UK, but surely the security for the funeral will be on outrageously high alert already, even just in case of protests.  As for a Marathon, how much security can you really have if people want to watch a 20+ mile race around a city, without shutting it down completely and banning people from attending?

Although it seems mad to say it after today, if we get bogged down with too much security infringing on our everyday lives, the terrorists have won, as they are depriving us of some of our basic freedoms.  What if the funeral and marathon pass off without incident?  There are always trains, coaches, building etc to be bombed (as has been done in the past), but you can't spend your whole life in fear.

I'm always (pleasantly) surprised that where l live (Catterick Garrison) hasn't been bombed or attacked, as it is the largest English army base in Europe, and let's face it, England has enemies.  But as l said before, you can't let the terrorists win, and have to overcome the fear and get on with life, even if, as in today, things go wrong.

The photographs were taken from Buzzfeed, and they have more if you want to see them.

 Image by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe / Getty Images

 mage by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe / Getty Images

 Source: @brm90

 Image by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe / Getty Images

 Image by Charles Krupa / AP

 Image by Charles Krupa / AP

 mage by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe / Getty Images

Image by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe / Getty Images

lebanon (2009) - samuel maoz

Based upon Samuel Maoz's own experiences during the Lebanon war of 1982, and shown from a viewpoint from inside an Israeli tank, this is an excellent film, highlighting the tension, fear, abandonment, paranoia and claustrophobia within it's body (as the tank is portrayed as a living entity).  There are long stares of rapprochement, fear, hatred and anger towards the tanks gunsight, and war is shown in all its haphazard, indiscriminate and bloody 'glory'. It ended a bit suddenly for me, but it had me hooked and reeled in from the beginning.  Great stuff, and anything that demystifies the attraction of fighting a war in a real and believable way, is fine by me.

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homeland - series 2

I started off enjoying Homeland, albeit with a few plot reservations, as some of it seemed implausible.   I then managed to stick it through to series two, and have been diligently watching it with the FPO, but it has finally made me snap, and quite frankly, l couldn't care less what happens to any of them.  Carrie is constantly disobeying orders, Brodie is better, but still unbelievable, and........that's it - l've lost interest.  The final straw for me was when Carrie was released from captivity, called the CIA (who told her to stay put as they were on their way), but once again put her life at risk by returning, unarmed, to confront her captor (who was armed).  It was also laughable the amount of time she kept her disguise on (a black wig and head scarf) while undercover abroad, and she never tries to conceal her hair or appearance when doing stake outs.
I still want to give the original Israeli series (Hatufim / Prisoners of War) a go, and l anticipate that will be a lot better (as the originals usually are), but this is the kind of implausible American remake that drives me nuts.  Bastards!

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american bomber pilots decorated jackets

There's a a great article in Collectors Weekly (I'm a sad old git) about the way American World War Two (and later) pilots and crew used to decorate their leather jackets, which have since become collectible items. As it states in the article, most of the men were still pretty young, did not expect to live long, and reverted back to the iconic images of their not so long distant youths for their designs.  The commanders tolerated this as it was a way for the men to cope with the huge amounts of stress that they must have been under.
The item at the bottom is known as a blood chit, and was sewn inside of the jackets, to be used as an extra pocket, but more importantly, it has the message in Chinese that there will be a reward if the person the jacket belongs to is assisted to safety.  Once again, people had it tough in the old days.

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film of claude monet painting

This is something that l did not expect to see.  It's an old film from 1915 showing the artist Caude Monet at work. Two cultures coming together, with the old master looking like he is at deaths door, and the explosion of film and entertainment devices just around the corner.  Then again, Monet lived to 1926, so he got to see the First World War (or The Great War, as it was known then) before his death.  Lucky him.

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anti usa poster (l think)

I don't know where this poster is from, nor what the message is, but it looks to be anti American, so l assume it's about the USA interfering with other nations, throwing their weight about, and spreading their capitalist ideals gangster style, at the cost of the innocent children.   Then again, maybe the American is looking at the child in disgust as he has been killed by someone else, and the Americans are coming in to rescue the country (and children).  Either way, it's still a striking poster. If only l could read the propaganda writing, it would make more sense, but if l was a betting man, my money would be on the Americans being the baddies.

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william hague on the syrian rebels

William Hague talking about the Syrian Rebels

The UK government recognises a coalition of Syrian rebel forces as the "sole legitimate representative" of the Syrian people, Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced. In a Commons statement on the situation in the Middle East on 20 November 2012, Mr Hague said he had received "assurances" from representatives of the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces about their commitment to uphold human rights and work for a democratic future. "It is strongly in the interests of Syria, of the wider region and of the United Kingdom that we support them and deny space to extremist groups," the foreign secretary added. "A credible alternative to the Assad regime is emerging that has the growing support of the Arab League, the European Union, the United States and an increasing number of other countries." Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander welcomed Mr Hague's decision. "Recognition is a vital step forward," he said.

I think this will be the main issue.  'Supporting them'.

Reading between the lines, and being a cynical bastard, that will mean  'Selling them arms'.

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straw dogs 1971 and 2011

Both of these versions of Straw Dogs have pretty much the same story.  The wife returns to her childhood home with her new intellectual husband, who tries to fit in with the locals, one of whom is a past love interest of the wife.  She starts feeling some dissatisfaction towards her husband due to him not paying her enough attention while he is trying to work, not standing up for himself, and being 'manly' enough.  She also flirts with the locals who are hired to do some building work,  with disastrous results.  There's a sub plot involving a 'village idiot' type who accidentally kills a young girl (lifted from John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice to Men'), who the husband then decides to protect from the mob, who try to storm the family home.  This gives the placid intellectual no choice.  He has to man up or die.  There's violence a plenty once the action starts, and you could argue about who is to blame, how it all escalates, the consequences of keeping secrets, responsibility for actions, at what point decisiveness is required, and how and when the law should become involved.  Both films have the backdrop of the countries at war, and the intellectuals opposing it (Vietnam in the 1971 film, Afghanistan / Iraq in the 2011 one), while the common folk are lauded for their fighting ability and dedication to the cause (and in a roundabout way, their own territory.  I thought the original film was head and shoulders above the remake, as Dustin Hoffman and Susan George made it all so much more believable.  The Americans also always have to make slight tweaks which annoy me, such as the husband becoming better looking and a war expert, (rather than a mathematician), and the thugs become ex football stars, (rather than everyday builders).  The first film also looks grittier and darker, whereas l find the American version brighter but more clichéd.  I'm sure if l was Born in the USA (like Bruce Springsteen) and hadn't seen the first film, l would have enjoyed it a lot more, but l can't remove the images and memories that are already engraved in my head.  So l didn't.

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persepolis - marjane satrapi

The Persepolis film is based on the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, and tells the story of her coming of age in Rasht (Iran) and Vienna, incorporating revolutions, punk rock, changing attitudes and identity.  Interesting, and highlighting a different kind of cartooning style, it certainly made a change from the usual super hero graphic novels. Recommended.

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