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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
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offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

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offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

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Reform UK has topped a national opinion poll for the first time in the wake of the sentencing of the Southport killer as Nigel Farage's party declares: "No pacts, no deals. Reform is headed for Government."
The post Reform Tops National Poll for First Time appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Chris Whitty Was ?Sceptical? about Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers and Says Decision Was ?100... Sat Jan 25, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has told the Covid Inquiry he was "sceptical" about making Covid vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers and the decision was "100% a political one".
The post Chris Whitty Was “Sceptical” about Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers and Says Decision Was “100% Political” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I?m a Daily Mail Journalist. This is Why the Media Failed During Covid Sat Jan 25, 2025 13:00 | David Southwell
Daily Mail journalist David Southwell gives an insider perspective on why the media failed us so badly during Covid and what was going on inside newsrooms as they unquestioningly churned out government propaganda.
The post I’m a Daily Mail Journalist. This is Why the Media Failed During Covid appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link AfD Firewall Cracks as Desperate CDU Says it?s Open to Right-Wing Party?s Support in Passing Migrati... Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:00 | Eugyppius
The firewall around Alternative f?r Deutschland has begun to crack, as a desperate CDU says it is open to support from the pariah Right-wing party in passing mass migration measures.
The post AfD Firewall Cracks as Desperate CDU Says it’s Open to Right-Wing Party’s Support in Passing Migration Measures appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The WHO Needs Reform ? Which is Why America Should Stay Sat Jan 25, 2025 09:00 | Dr Thi Thuy Van Dinh
The World Health Organisation failed miserably during Covid and its post-pandemic power grab starkly exposed its many flaws. But that's why America should stay in and force it to reform, says Dr Thi Thuy?Van Dinh.
The post The WHO Needs Reform ? Which is Why America Should Stay appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Doing themselves no favours.

category international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Tuesday December 06, 2005 13:00author by Fred Report this post to the editors

Imagine if the North Vietnamese had shot Hanoi Jane with a gun rather than a camera?

A group calling itself the Swords of Truth Brigades has kidnapped four members of the pacifist group Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), accusing them of being "spies working for the occupying forces.” They have threatened to kill the four hostages unless all detainees held by the Coalition and the Iraqi government are released by December 8.

The charge of spying has no clear foundation. The four men — British citizen Norman Kember, 74, American Tom Fox, 54, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 — have track records as peace activists, most notably in the Palestinian area. CPT had been active in Iraq since before the war started, and supplied some of the “human shields” as symbolic protest against the impending liberation. Their mission had not changed. The day before he was kidnapped CPT team leader Tom Fox wrote: “We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls.” By “oppressors” he, of course, meant the Coalition forces in Iraq.

The Iraqi CPT mission statement notes that “the primary focus of the team for eighteen months following the invasion was documenting and focusing attention on the issue of detainee abuses and basic legal and human rights being denied them.” This is ironic of course because any abuses suffered by people detained by the Coalition are investigated and the perpetrators punished, while those “detained” by the terrorists are simply hostages, without rights, without due process, without options. Abuse — which is a tame word to describe actions up to and including execution by such vile means as slow beheading with a knife — is part of the standard tool kit in the terrorist arsenal. Whether CPT felt it important to document these forms of abuse is unclear, but I’m guessing not.

Of course, CPT does not blame the terrorists for abducting their team members. A statement on their website notes, “we are distressed that those who have taken our friends, Harmeet, Tom, Norman and Jim, could try and bargain with their lives and we want to understand why they would do such a thing.” See, it’s all a matter of understanding it. It cannot be that the terrorists are sociopaths who foment violence against innocents as a means of pursuing their program for power; that would be too easy. In any case, CPT knows where the blame lies: “We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people.” The terrorists are behaving as anyone else would under foreign military occupation. If they are forced to behead them, the blood is on the Coalition’s hands.

Meanwhile, on November 25, German archaeologist and Muslim convert Susanne Osthoff and her driver were taken captive by another militant group. They are demanding that Germany cease all business dealings with Iraq. Yes, that’s Germany, a country that opposed the war, and will not send troops there. True, Germany is helping train some Iraqi security forces outside the country — but why kidnap a Muslim woman, whose husband is an Iraqi, who did volunteer work in Iraqi hospitals, and who was a consistent critic of the war effort? In this respect, Ms. Osthoff fits the same profile as British aide worker Margaret Hassan, who was slain in November 2004.

CPT friends and fellow travelers have rallied around the effort to get the hostages released. And what a list. A letter in the Mennonite Weekly Review featured a letter signed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Palestine People’s Party, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Union of Palestine, Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian Liberation Front, and the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front. “We appeal to our brothers in the resistance and all those with alert consciences in Iraq,” the letter said, “with whom we consider ourselves to be in the same trench confronting American aggression and occupation, to instantly and quickly release the four kidnapped persons from CPT, in appreciation for their role in standing beside and supporting our Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples.” The Council on American Islamic Relations has called for their release as well. The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq seeks freedom for all five hostages.

Maybe the abductors will see reason; but there is no reason to believe they would recognize reason if they saw it. I do not even think they are good at what they do. These kidnappings are simply bad terrorism. The targets are all wrong. The point of taking hostages is to gain publicity, to bring issues and demands to the public eye whether they are realistic or not. If you can also raise money, so much the better. And if you execute people who are working on rebuilding projects or aiding Coalition forces, you might scare others away. However, you do not abduct the “useful idiots” on the other side who support you. This serves no purpose whatsoever.

A sensible terrorist political warfare strategy tries to drive wedges into the enemy society by isolating the groups you will never be able to win over and appealing to as wide a base as possible. The Swords of Truth Brigades should not be threatening the CPT team; they should be holding a joint press conference to denounce the Coalition. The way they are behaving is comparable to the North Vietnamese shooting Jane Fonda with a firing squad instead of a camera in 1972. The terrorists really do not know who their friends are. They kidnap humanitarian workers. They target journalists. They bomb the U.N. Lenin must be spinning in his tomb.

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   Whats the Message? & Who is the Message for?     redjade    Tue Dec 06, 2005 14:05 
   There is no assumption here     Fred    Tue Dec 06, 2005 14:42 
   a river in Egypt     redjade    Tue Dec 06, 2005 18:01 
   I don't think so     Fred    Tue Dec 06, 2005 20:53 
   Wow,     Jason    Wed Dec 07, 2005 16:04 
   "Uh, gee Fred?"     james    Wed Dec 07, 2005 16:24 
   Really?     Fred    Wed Dec 07, 2005 19:37 
   Kathy Kelly writes...     redjade    Fri Dec 09, 2005 14:26 
   please dont bomb us - AGAIN !!     Barry    Fri Dec 09, 2005 20:20 
 10   The truth can silence.     Irishman    Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:08 


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