Shameless, Hypocrite US Capitalist Oligarchy Refuse Entry to Former British Ambassador

Shameless, Hypocrite US Capitalist Oligarchy Refuse Entry to Former British Ambassador https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y200nnocMY Craig Murray https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/09/thought-dangerous-usa/ Thought is Dangerous to the USA 5 Sep, 2016 I have been refused entry clearance to the USA to chair the presentation of the Sam Adams Award to CIA torture whistleblower John Kiriakou and to speak at the World Beyond War conference in Washington DC. Like millions of British passport holders I have frequently visited the USA before and never been refused entry clearance under the visa waiver programme. I shall apply for a visa via the State Department as suggested but I must be on a list to be refused under the ESTA system, and in any event it is most unlikely to be completed before the conference. It is worth noting that despite the highly critical things I have published about Putin, about civil liberties in Russia and the annexation of the Crimea, I have never been refused entry to Russia. The only two countries that have ever refused me entry clearance are Uzbekistan and the USA. What does that tell you? I have no criminal record, no connection to drugs or terrorism, have a return ticket, hotel booking and sufficient funds. I have a passport from a visa waiver country and have visited the USA frequently before during 38 years and never overstayed. The only possible grounds for this refusal of entry clearance are things I have written against neo-liberalism, attacks on civil liberties and neo-conservative foreign policy. People at the conference in Washington will now not be able to hear me speak. Plainly ideas can be dangerous. So much for the land of the free! https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/09/thought-dangerous-usa/ PETITION To: U.S. State Department Tell U.S. to Let Craig Murray into the Country LINK | PETITION TO US STATE DEPT TRANSCRIPT SOURCE VIDEO Why Did US Just Bar Former British Diplomat https://youtu.be/4y200nnocMY  The Real News [For quotation purposes, confirm audio] PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT Narrator Over the weekend, the United Stated denied entry to an unsuspecting individual, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murry, who ten years ago made the critical mistake of exposing the Uzbek torture system that we now know the Americans supported and the British condoned. He was scheduled to participate in an awards ceremony next week ... John Kiriakou CIA Whistleblower We're talking about a British diplomat, a highly respected — an internationally respected British diplomat, a whistleblower in his own right; an exposer of torture, who has travelled to this country, dozens and dozens of times. And then, for reasons that have not been explained to him, finds himself banned by the United States. Narrator The Sam Adams [Associates] award for Integrity and Intelligence is given out annually to someone who shows moral courage in the midst of wrong-doing on the part of the state. Ray McGovern Founder, Sam Adams Associates In 2006, the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity and Intelligence decided to award Ambassador Murray our annual award for integrity ... he came and talked at several of our Sam Adams awards ceremonies here in the States and also at Oxford — we did two there.  We did more or less one in Berlin.  We go where the people are. Narrator Ten years after having won the award himself, Murray is still at home wondering how his name received what the State Department and Homeland Security call a 'hit'. Peter Van Buren Whistleblower, former Foreign Service Officer It means that the Department of Homeland Security believes that Ambassador Murray may be ineligible to enter the United States, under one of the categories of ineligibility. Peter Van Buren is a former United States foreign service employee turned whistleblower, after he heavily criticised the United States reconstruction effort in Iraq. Van Buren also just wrote a piece for Consortium News, that someone like Murray may have received a 'hit'. Peter Van Buren Whistleblower, former Foreign Service Officer More often than not, particularly in cases like Ambassador Murray's where there are political components, what we'e got is a likely potential 3(b) violation, or potential violation, which means terrorism. You don't have to be a terrorist to fall under this category ... you can just be placed on one of these watch lists, by any one of the dozens American intelligence agencies and organisations that are allowed to 'nominate names' — and they do love their Orwellian vocabulary — nominate names to the list. Narrator In his relatively short tenure as Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray uncovered a torture infrastructure within the country that once silenced Uzbeki dissidents and fed the Americans shaky intelligence they were so desperate for, as the 'war on terror' in Iraq and Afghanistan began to unravel. In 2009, five years after Murray had left the British Foreign Office, but still seven years away from being denied entry into the United States, Murray spoke at that year's Sam Adams awards ceremony, which took place in Washington DC at American University. Craig Murray Former British Ambassador You know, there are over 10,000 political prisoners in Uzbekistan. Anybody who is a religious Muslim of any kind, no connection to terrorism; anyone who prays five times a day, as prescribed, will be arrested as a terrorist. Any young man with a beard will be arrested. Narrator He subsequently sat down with Real News editor, Paul Jay, to expand on the disturbing revelations that ended his career as ambassador. Craig Murray Former British Ambassador Many of them are killed at their [?] terrible, literally Stalinist Gulags:  they are in the old Stalinist Gulags which are still there, like Jaslik(?) in the middle of the Kyzylkum Desert, and people are tortured dreadfully.  The most appalling tortures that you can think of, on a routine basis.  If you are arrested, you're going to be tortured; and that means you're going to have a broken bottle inserted in your anus; you're going to have your neck broken; you're going to have your feet held over a fire; you're going to be suffocated by having a blocked gas mask put on your head.  Even, I came across instances of children tortured in front of their parents. You shouldn't forget the purpose of the torture was to get false intelligence which vastly exaggerated the threat from al-Qaeda. It vastly exaggerated the strength of al-Qaeda in Central Asia, and people knew that. Narrator Murray saw the Western powers like the UK and the US were far more interested in profiting from Uzbekistan's oil reserves and vital geopolitical position than they were with human rights. Craig Murray Former British Ambassador Uzbekistan sits at the heart of Central Asia.  It has half the population of Central Asia.  It really dominates the region. And Central Asia has the world's largest untapped reserves of oil and gas. So anyone who is interested in acquiring influence over hydrocarbon reserves needs to be in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government plays this to its own advantage. The Uzbek government has no interest in [???] its own advantage, and is quite happy to switch between different world powers as it's able to get something out of them. Narrator Murray says that when he went over to Uzbekistan in 2002, the US viewed Uzbekistan, and especially its late President Islam Karimov (who coincidentally just died last week), not only as a long-term interest in the region, but also as maybe the most important ally of Central Asia when it came to the 'war on terror'. Beyond firing off a steady stream of intelligence memos and reports to the CIA, which were then being forwarded to the British intelligence service MI6; and beyond allowing the United States to set up its crucial Karshi-Khanabad airbase, the Uzbeks were engaged in a program of extraordinary rendition with the United States, of so-called 'suspected terrorists', and it happened to be a part of a network of black sites that spanned across many countries. Craig Murray Former British Ambassador The CIA were flying people in to be tortured, and I reported that officially to London is as many words; and this is in, you know in 2003, before anyone had even heard of the words 'extraordinary rendition'. I didn't realise that the people being flown in were not Uzbek. The idea that, you know, strangers would be flown in to be tortured— Interviewer Subsequently how do you know that that's the case, because essentially you're saying that CIA was flying people in to be tortured in Uzbekistan. Craig Murray Former British Ambassador I knew the CIA people who did it. There weren't many expats in Uzbekistan.  You're talking, quite seriously, of (not including military personnel) three or four hundred British and American expatriates in the whole of the country. So, not surprisingly, we used to drink in the same bars and meet. And I actually knew of the CIA people who flew people in.  Subsequently, we've learnt a great deal more.  For example, the Council of Europe inquiry into extraordinary rendition showed that 90% of the flights which took prisoners to the secret base in Poland at Szymany flew on to Tashkent as their next destination. There's a great deal of other evidence that this was a part of a global transportation of prisoners. ------- Other ------- Poland feels sting of betrayal over CIA 'black site' http://archive.is/1N4DX Poland admits role in CIA rendition programme http://archive.is/VnRi4#selection-763.1-763.47 Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence AWARDED TO: JULIAN ASSANGE Aussie Journalist WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Page 1 Page 2  23 October 2010, London COMMENT American capitalist oligarchy can't help themselves:  proving they really are running a corrupt, totalitarian state. Even Russia, the US-Anglo capitalist target and official 'enemy', hasn't refused a critical Craig Murray entry.  LOL Bet the CAPITALIST-OWNED CORPORATE MEDIA won't be highlighting this totalitarian state of affairs. P.S.   Just read some of Murray's blog.  Comes across as a super softie.  Way soft from my perspective (I've no problem with challenging threats of the religious kind etc ... but I'm not really big on the senseless torture that Uzbekistan and CIA seem to like).  Anyway, I can't believe they banned Murray's entry.   P.P.S.  Screw the 'Fourth Estate' Sam Adams awards nonsense:  there is NO Fourth Estate. There NEVER HAS BEEN.  The Fourth Estate is a LIE. WikiLeaks is the only exception in how long?  How many hundreds of years of press/media lies and capitalist information control and exploitation of the people the capitalists have now moved onto robbing of even their nations?  That would be 566 years of capitalist lies before WikiLeaks was established ten years ago, making it a total of 576 years of nothing but capitalist press lies and censorship: The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 ... [wikipedia] And the filthy capitalist partnership that is the US-Anglo Capitalist Empire destroyed the last vestige of the Holy Roman Empire when it twice unleashed capitalist war on Germany, and in the process the US-Anglo capitalist partnership has destroyed all of Europe and all European societies since WWII. All there is is rule by CAPITALIST OLIGARCHY, fortified by their propaganda organs:  the press / media and so-called 'social media', exploited, controlled and censored by despicable self-serving capitalist turds like Mark Zuckerberg. Once the criminal US-Anglo capitalist oligarchy imprison or murder Assange, that's the end of that road.  Back to nothing but propaganda, indoctrination and lies from capitalist owned and controlled, government and CIA colluding, Western corporate media.

PETITION - White South Africans At Risk - European Commission Assistance Sought

PETITION White South Africans At Risk European Commission Assistance Sought http://genocidewatch.net/2014/12/05/genocide-watchs-dr-gregory-h-stanton-press-release-from-south-africa/ Genocide Watch’s Dr. Gregory H. Stanton Press Release from South Africa Press Release 5 December 2014 [ ... ] Genocide Watch was the first international human rights organization to protest the murders and hate crimes committed against farmers in South Africa.  Since his research trip in July 2012, Dr. Stanton said that hate crimes against Afrikaner farmers have not declined.  The murder rate of the whole South African population remains at over 31 per 100,000. The murder rate of farmers, including Afrikaner farmers, is four times as high.  The Institute of Security Studies estimated the farm murder rate at 120 per 100,000 in 2013, and the Transvaal Agricultural Union, using verified names of victims, placed the figure at 130 per 100,000 in 2013, one of the highest murder rates in the world. Since 2007, the South African government has denied and covered up the crisis by not releasing any breakdown of how murders are distributed among ethnic groups in South Africa.  American and European governments have remained silent about the problem, reinforcing the campaign of denial. Several years ago the Marxist racist, Julius Malema, then President of the African National Congress Youth League, revived the singing of the “Shoot the Farmer, Kill the Boer” song, once a revolutionary song, but now an incitement to commit genocide.  A South African judge declared that singing of the song is a hate crime and prohibited Malema from singing the “Kill the Boer” song.  But then the South African President, Jacob Zuma, sang the song himself, in direct contempt for the judge’s ruling.  Malema was later expelled from the ANC over an unrelated conflict with Zuma.  He formed his own political party, the EFF, which has continued to promote a Marxist, racist agenda, and Malema was elected to Parliament.  Jacob Zuma remains President of South Africa. Dr. Stanton pointed out that Incitement to Commit Genocide is a crime under both international and South African law.  He said that Malema should be put on trial for incitement to commit genocide and Zuma should be impeached, both for violating South African laws against incitement, and for massive corruption. Dr. Stanton noted that recent studies of the correlation between corruption and atrocities committed by governments show that the relationship is direct.  Once in power, corrupt governments cling to power because of the enormous wealth their officials amass.  They then persecute, torture, and murder anyone who challenges their grip on power.  That downward spiral has begun in South Africa, just as it did in Zimbabwe.  In Zimbabwe it resulted in the Gukurahunde genocide against Joshua Nkomo’s Matabele people and Mugabe’s repression of the MDC. The conviction rate has dropped from 32 percent ten years ago to about 22 percent today.  This trend must be reversed.  Police must be given education and training so they become competent and motivated crime fighters.  An honest, educated, and dedicated police force is the strong arm of justice. Private security companies should coordinate their systems, use infra-red, aerial and other advanced technology to detect criminals quickly and summon both armed private security companies and police to arrest criminals.  Then their cases must be pressed until they are imprisoned. Criminal gangs from other African countries should be deported. The South African government must make stopping farm murders a priority.  30,000 commercial farmers supply most of South Africa’s food.  South Africa cannot afford to lose their long experience in management.  Training people once excluded from management will take several generations, not just a few years. The first step is for the South African government to admit that farm murders are a serious threat not just to Afrikaner and white farmers, but to all South Africans, and make stopping these crimes a priority. The second step is to arrest and convict or impeach corrupt political leaders. The most important step is for South Africans of all ethnic groups to recognize that we are all members of the same race, the human race.  [comment:  that statement is ridiculous.  There is no 'human race', no matter what the capitalist sponsored academics are preaching these days.  What is referred to as 'human' is the collective term for distinct races, who are not one, owing to genetic, developmental, cultural and other history that has evolved separately over the course of many thousands of years.   Europeans need to (a) get the hell out of any place that is not under European control (b) preserve European societies.  It's that simple.   ] South Africans must reject the cynical manipulation of racial resentments by politicians like Julius Malema and his Marxist racist followers. South Africa needs effective security for all of its people.  Without security, democracy is impossible. http://genocidewatch.net/2014/12/05/genocide-watchs-dr-gregory-h-stanton-press-release-from-south-africa/ http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/579424/Europe-overrun-white-South-Africans-right-to-return White South Africans 'fearing for their lives' ask EU for right to 'return' WHITE South Africans are asking the European Union to give them the "the right to return home" after claims they are facing "ethnic cleansing". By Alix Culbertson PUBLISHED: 00:01, Tue, May 26, 2015 | UPDATED: 09:06, Tue, May 26, 2015 The online call to action demands the European Commission (EC) allows all white South Africans to obtain automatic European citizenship. The petition has already gained more than 1,000 supporters in just half a day. Rodrigo de Campos, who started the campaign, is gaining support for his belief that the "white South African population currently faces ethnic cleansing and persecutions" at the hands of the ruling ANC government, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party and "various individual anti-white aggressors". He also says: "Over 4000 white farmers have been brutally murdered, often including torture and rape and mutilation." An increasing number of supporters believe the solution to this is for white South Africans - and white Zimbabweans and Namibians - to be allowed to "return" to whatever nation the majority of their ancestors are from - which in most cases is the Netherlands or the UK. The petition compares white South Africans to Jews being allowed citizenship in Israel. It says: "Based on the Israeli government's policy of allowing all Jews the right to return to Israel, we believe it is not only advisable but morally obligatory that Europe should allow all white South Africans the right to return." Currently South Africans, of any colour, applying for British Citizenship have to tick all the boxes people from any other country outside the EU have to. This includes having lived in the UK for at least five years before applying - usually on a work visa. Susan Mulder, who signed the petition from Cape Town, said: "My life and the lives of my children are at risk daily. "We love SA but are no longer welcome here in the country our ancestors built. "We have no option but to ask for your help." Another supporter of the petition is Marischka Davies, living in Liverpool. She said: "I am a naturalised British citizen yet my mom is stuck on her own in South Africa. "She should be growing old with her daughter and granddaughter. "She has been attacked with an AK47 held to her head and is alone and traumatised. She deserves to be free from living in fear." While Matty de Bruyn, in Cape Town, simply said: "There is no hope for the white man in South Africa." There are just over half a million South Africans living in Britain. According to census date, more than 800,000 white South Africans moved overseas - mainly to Britain, Australia and New Zealand - between 1991 and 2001. Express.co.uk has contacted the EC for a comment. http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/579424/Europe-overrun-white-South-Africans-right-to-return COMMENT However well intended the Genocide Watch lobbying: Europeans Need to Get Out of South Africa.  It's Unsafe.  It Will Remain Unsafe. All Europeans should have been evacuated from South Africa.  It's criminal that they were not.  Particularly when the US-Anglo Capitalist Empire is responsible for putting them in danger. British and European politicians will not concern themselves with the welfare of Europeans in danger in South Africa, unless pressured to do so:  their priority is filling Europe with third world arrivals, and otherwise participating in the destruction of European nations (eg.  former Yugoslavia, Ukraine). All those liberal left intelligentsia suckers and the filthy, lying capitalist press are just as responsible as the lying, scheming, politician scum. At least some activist is doing something: PETITION is here: needs another 24,019 signatures (they've got over 50,000 signed).

Government Sell-Offs - Coming Your Way

Government Sell-Offs  Coming Your Way EXPRESS http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/657770/Land-sell-off-property-UK-Land-Registry-privatisation-petition-public-ownership extracts Land sell-off is a disgrace, says Neil Clark IT is the public body that anyone who has bought property in England and Wales will have had dealings with. By Neil Clark PUBLISHED: 08:57, Sun, Apr 3, 2016 | UPDATED: 09:25, Sun, Apr 3, 2016 The Land Registry was established in 1862 and has been serving us quietly and efficiently for more than 150 years. Now though, a dark cloud hangs over the body that registers land ownership and maintains the documentation of almost 24 million titles. Just before Easter, Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced plans to privatise the Land Registry. “The preferred model is a contract between government and a private operator, with all the core functions transferred out of the public sector,” said the statement. ... None of the old arguments in favour of state sell-offs made by the Thatcherites in the 1980s apply. The Land Registry is no loss-making drain on the public purse. Last year it paid the ­Exchequer more than £100million in dividends and has made a profit for the taxpayer in 19 of the past 20 years. It has done this while reducing its fees to the public. ... If it were privatised the Land Registry would not be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and it would be easier to conceal who owns land. The Government claims privatising it would allow it to become “even more efficient and effective” but it is hard to see how the Land Registry could improve. Every time I’ve had to contact it the staff have been very helpful and polite, and this is the experience of others I have talked to. ... It’s one thing to privatise state-owned industries, it’s quite another to transfer to the private sector monopoly registration bodies which have been in public ownership since the days of Queen Victoria. This is a privatisation that I’m sure even Mrs Thatcher would oppose. ... We have until May 26 to respond to the Government’s consultation on its proposals. You can send your views to lr.consultation@ukgi.gov.uk or write to Lizzie Dixon, 1 Victoria Street, London, W1H 0ET. http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/657770/Land-sell-off-property-UK-Land-Registry-privatisation-petition-public-ownership ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Unbelievable. People should not have to petition to keep public property / services under public control.

Surveillance & Intel News

ꕤ Article SOURCE surveillance | intel PETITION #Surveillance #Privacy #uspoli #law stop backdoor govt access to encrypted services - #Petition https://www.savecrypto.org/ #uspoli #surveillance #California Police fake phone tower  spy tech approved by DOJ https://www.revealnews.org/article/east-bay-cellphone-surveillance-plan-gets-attorney-generals-support/ #Berlin campaigners launch Intelexit support group for #NSA & #GCHQ to quit http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/09/30/intelexit_for_nsa_surveillance_self_help_group_for_intelligence_agents_started.html #France Draft Bill #Surveillance mass surveillance carte blanche Similar plans are already in place in the UK and the Netherlands. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/09/france-must-reject-law-that-gives-carte-blanche-to-mass-surveillance-globally/ #military Nearly 120 soldiers from 163rd and 303rd Military Intelligence Battalions deployed to #Afghanistan http://kdhnews.com/fort_hood_herald/across_the_fort/fort-hood-military-intelligence-troops-deploy-to-afghanistan/article_42e4c9c0-66b0-11e5-8fd1-5f39ca88a06f.html #military US army #SouthKorea hoover up radio transmissions & detect underground tunnels fleet of new spy planes http://theweek.com/articles/577905/new-american-spy-planes-could-spot-kim-jong-uns-secret-tunnels ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/world/asia/kunduz-taliban-afghanistan.html?_r=0 Afghanistan Kunduz Still Held by Taliban, Locals Say, Despite Afghan Government Claims By ALISSA J. RUBIN  OCT. 1, 2015 Afghan soldiers preparing on Wednesday for a counteroffensive to try to retake the city of Kunduz from the Taliban. Credit Najim Rahim/European Pressphoto Agency KABUL, Afghanistan — Kunduz residents and provincial officials said the city remained in Taliban hands on Thursday, despite claims from the Afghan government that it had retaken the city. Kareema Sediqi, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, said that “the city is still in Taliban control,” but that Afghan security forces had advanced as far as a roundabout near the city’s entrance. Interviews with several residents suggested that the situation was fluid, with fighting continuing. Ms. Sediqi, who spoke from Kabul but was in contact with family members trapped in Kunduz, said, “The Afghan security forces are struggling against strong Taliban resistance from Taliban who are wearing A.N.A. uniforms,” referring to the Afghan National Army. It is a common Taliban tactic to obtain uniforms of the government security forces and use them to confuse their enemies. [...] But before residents had gone far from their homes, the Taliban counterattacked, wearing the uniforms of Afghan security forces, with some riding motorcycles and others driving captured Humvees and sports utility vehicles. They pushed back the Afghan forces, who remained on the city’s outskirts, according to Ms. Sediqi and some residents. [...] Saad Mukhtar, the director of public health for Kunduz, said that since the city fell, his office had recorded 49 dead and 332 wounded in local hospitals, including civilians and members of the Afghan security forces. Hundreds of civilians and members of the government forces have been holed up in the airport south of Kunduz, and reinforcements sent from other provinces have been delayed or halted by Taliban resistance in outlying areas. Residents reached in parts of Kunduz Province beyond the city said that the Taliban remained in control in the district of Chardara. That district is one of the most strategically important in the province because a road to the largest city in Afghanistan’s north, Mazar-i-Sharif, runs through it. [...] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/world/asia/kunduz-taliban-afghanistan.html?_r=0 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Pentagon Pushing to Increase Post-2016 Troop Levels in Afghanistan New Plans Aim to Give Military 'Leeway' on When to Carry Out Drawdown by Jason Ditz, September 30, 2015 Every planned drawdown of US military forces from Afghanistan seems to turn up later than announced and smaller than planned, and despite officials still sticking to the NATO narrative that the Afghan War “ended,” some 10,000 US troops remain there. Officially, the plan is for a major drawdown by the end of next year that will finally catch up with what was supposed to be a 2014 pullout. Unsurprisingly, the Pentagon is once again fighting against following through on the plans, with officials saying the “plans” they are advancing both intend to withhold the troop level reductions deeper into 2017, and to give the Pentagon more “leeway” in when and how many troops get removed from the country after 2017. Already 14 years into the occupation of Afghanistan, the continuing struggles of the Afghan military continues to drag US ground troops into combat, and many officials seem to favor just maintaining the occupation essentially forever instead of ending the war and watching the government continue to lose territory to the same insurgency they’ve been fighting throughout that war. With less and less media coverage of the Afghan War, there seems to be less political interest in seeing the troops brought home, which likely will ensure that the Pentagon proposals to keep troops there get through without too much debate. http://news.antiwar.com/2015/09/30/pentagon-pushing-to-increase-post-2016-troop-levels-in-afghanistan/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Thought I'd look up to see what's going on with Afghanistan, seeing the US is sending out over 100 intelligence staff. Looks like Taliban's winning? Fourteen years is such a long time to occupy a country. Surprised how sophisticated Taliban are, wearing uniforms of Afghan government troops etc. It sounds like life goes on around the fighting and bystanders get shot if they're unlucky. Don't know enough about Afghanistan to make anything of what's going on. ------- Spy planes that find tunnels is pretty cool ... & especially handy near Gaza. ------- The French are going to subject everyone to mass surveillance, which is pretty standard for countries that expose themselves to internal risks. ꕤ

British Government Observes International Law Regarding Netanyahu Immunity | Violates International Law On Political Asylum Granted to Assange

Petition  Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes when he arrives in London Benjamin Netanyahu is to hold talks in London this September. Under international law he should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the U.K for the massacre of over 2000 civilians in 2014 Sign this petition 76,065 signatures SOURCE | here SOURCE http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials/british-government-benjamin-netanyahu-immune-from-arrest/ British Government: Benjamin Netanyahu immune from arrest Aug 22, 2015 RINF Alternative News As the petition for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reaches in excess of 75,000 signatures, the British Government has issued an official statement which clears the war criminal of any wrong doing, despite tens of thousands of UK citizens calling for his arrest for the massacre of more than 2000 civilians in 2014. Today the British Government issued this statement: Under UK and international law, visiting heads of foreign governments, such as Prime Minister Netanyahu, have immunity from legal process, and cannot be arrested or detained. The British Government has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as head of the Israeli Government, to visit the UK in September. Under UK and international law, certain holders of high-ranking office in a State, including Heads of State, Heads of Government and Ministers for Foreign Affairs are entitled to immunity, which includes inviolability and complete immunity from criminal jurisdiction. We recognise that the conflict in Gaza last year took a terrible toll. As the Prime Minister said, we were all deeply saddened by the violence and the UK has been at the forefront of international reconstruction efforts. However the Prime Minister was clear on the UK’s recognition of Israel’s right to take proportionate action to defend itself, within the boundaries of international humanitarian law. We condemn the terrorist tactics of Hamas who fired rockets on Israel, built extensive tunnels to kidnap and murder, and repeatedly refused to accept ceasefires. Israel, like any state, has the right to ensure its own security, as its citizens also have the right to live without fear of attack. The UK consistently urged Israel to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, to exercise restraint, and to help find ways to bring the situation to an end. The UK continues to urge the parties to give priority to reaching a durable solution for Gaza which addresses the underlying drivers of conflict, and to take the necessary practical steps to ensure Gaza’s reconstruction and economic recovery. We welcome the fact that Israel is conducting internal investigations into specific incidents during Operation Protective Edge. Where there is evidence of wrongdoing those responsible must be held accountable whatever their position in society. Both parties must also demonstrate robust and credible internal investigations which are in line with international standards. We have also encouraged the Israeli authorities, as we do all countries, to cooperate with the independent Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the preliminary examination into the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 13 June, 2014, whilst noting that Israel is not a State Party to the ICC. The UK is a close friend of Israel and we enjoy an excellent bilateral relationship, built on decades of cooperation between our two countries across a range of fields. Our priority for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains the achievement of a two-state solution, based on 1967 borders. We continue to believe that negotiations will be necessary in order to achieve this, and that both parties need to focus on steps that are conducive to peace. The UK Government will reinforce this message to Mr Netanyahu during his visit. SOURCE http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials/british-government-benjamin-netanyahu-immune-from-arrest/ ---------------------- ꕤ  ---------------------- COMMENT Britain’s David Cameron and his government are selective when it comes to observing international law. Israel may commit large-scale civilian slaughter with impunity, and David Cameron's Britain is in full support.  But, of course.  That's to be expected. Cameron relies on 'international law' in this instance, to justify Britain’s refusal to act against Israel. On the other hand, Britain doesn't have the same regard for international law when it comes to the political asylum granted by Ecuador to Julian Assange. 1. The Right of a State to Grant Asylum. The right of a state to grant asylum is well established in international law. It follows from the principle that every sovereign state is deemed to, have  exclusive control over its territory and hence over persons present in its territory. One of the implications of this generally recognized rule is that every sovereign state has the right to grant or deny asylum to persons located within its boundaries.' Traditionally, thus, in international law, the right of asylum has been viewed as the right of a state, rather than the right of an individual.  There is little dispute as to this general principle of international law. It is confirmed in international and regional instruments as well as in state practice. First, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides in Article 14(1) inter alia the right of each individual to "enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution".  The late Professor Hersch Lauterpacht noted that this wording was introduced by the British delegation, interpreting it as meaning "the right of every state to offer refuge and to resist all demands for extradition.".. Professor Lauterpacht commented that such a right is one, "which every state.., possesses under international law. Second, the Declaration on Territorial Asylum adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1967 provides in Article 1(1) that, "[a]sylum granted by a State, in the exercise of its sovereignty, to persons entitled to invoke Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,... shall be respected by all other States."  Further, the Article 1(3) of this Declaration vests the state of asylum with authority "to evaluate the grounds for the grant of asylum."   [...] Under international law, states have a right to grant asylum and a duty not to prevent those who wish to emigrate or seek asylum elsewhere from doing so. SOURCE |  PDF - Duke University | here Ecuador relies on Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights (1948), among an extensive number of other instruments  | here British hypocrites own words regarding asylum here: "the right of every state to offer refuge and to resist all demands for extradition." Check out what else the sneaky, hypocritical, British government is getting up to: Tories plan to withdraw UK from European convention on human rights [Chris] Grayling said a Tory government would withdraw from the convention if parliament failed to secure the right to veto judgments from the European court of human rights (ECHR). Tories would reverse more than half a century’s tradition of human rights authority residing in Europe by giving parliament the right to veto judgments. The authority of the court in Strasbourg would be severely curtailed, with parliament given the final say in deciding whether or not to adopt ECHR decisions. SOURCE |  here Move also clears the way for military abuses: "The impact would be wide-ranging. UK armed forces would cease to be subject to human rights legislation overseas"  [ibid] ꕤ