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burning the evidence

Submitted by antarchi on April 29, 2012 - 01:01

...many of the most sensitive papers from Britain's late colonial era were not hidden away, but simply destroyed. These papers give the instructions for systematic destruction issued in 1961 after Iain Macleod, secretary of state for the colonies, directed that post-independence governments should not get any material that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government", that could "embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers", that might compromise intelligence sources, or that might "be used unethically by ministers in the successor government".

...documents show that colonial officials were instructed to separate those papers to be left in place after independence – usually known as "Legacy files" – from those that were to be selected for destruction or removal to the UK. In many colonies, these were described as watch files, and stamped with a red letter W.

...Painstaking measures were taken to prevent post-independence governments from learning that the watch files had ever existed. One instruction states: "The legacy files must leave no reference to watch material. Indeed, the very existence of the watch series, though it may be guessed at, should never be revealed."

...Many of the watch files ended up at Hanslope Park. They came from 37 different former colonies, and filled 200 metres of shelving. But it is becoming clear that much of the most damning material was probably destroyed. Officials in some colonies, such as Kenya, were told that there should be a presumption in favour of disposal of documents rather than removal to the UK – "emphasis is placed upon destruction" – and that no trace of either the documents or their incineration should remain. When documents were burned, "the waste should be reduced to ash and the ashes broken up".

— Ian Cobain

Britain destroyed records of colonial crimes

we must sin quietly

Submitted by antarchi on April 29, 2012 - 00:50

In June 1957, Eric Griffiths-Jones, the attorney general of the British administration in Kenya, wrote to the governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, detailing the way the regime of abuse at the colony's detention camps was being subtly altered.

From now on, Griffiths-Jones wrote, for the abuse to remain legal, Mau Mau suspects must be beaten mainly on their upper body, "vulnerable parts of the body should not be struck, particularly the spleen, liver or kidneys", and it was important that "those who administer violence … should remain collected, balanced and dispassionate".

Almost as an after-thought, the attorney general reminded the governor of the need for complete secrecy. "If we are going to sin," he wrote, "we must sin quietly."

— Ian Cobain

Sins of colonialists lay concealed for decades in secret archive

bombing iran is the stupidest idea you've ever heard

Submitted by antarchi on March 18, 2012 - 16:33

Interview with Meir Dagan, former chief of the Mossad

Lesley Stahl: You have said publicly that bombing Iran now is the stupidest idea you’ve ever heard. That’s a direct quote.

Dagan: An attack on Iran before you are exploring all other approaches is not the right way how to do it... The regime in Iran is a very rational regime.

Stahl: Do you think Ahmadinejad is rational?

Dagan: The answer is yes. Not exactly our rationale, but I think that he is rational.

Stahl: Do you think they’re rational enough that they are capable of backing down from this?

Dagan: No doubt that the Iranian regime is maybe not exactly rational based on what I call Western-thinking, but no doubt they are considering all the implications of their actions.

Dagan says the best solution is to push the mullahs out by supporting Iranian students and minorities. According to a leaked State Department cable, he told his American counterparts as early as 2007, more should be done to foment regime change.

Dagan: It’s our duty to help anyone who likes to present an open opposition against their regime in Iran.

Stahl: Has Israel done anything to encourage, help, support the youth opposition groups that have been marching against the regime?

Dagan: Let’s ignore the question.

Dagan: We are going to ignite, at least from my point of view, a regional war. And wars, you know how they start. You never know how you are ending it.

— CBS 60 Minutes

The Spymaster Speaks

no tax on private healthcare

Submitted by antarchi on March 18, 2012 - 16:22

- Spire Healthcare, the UK's second largest private healthcare company, is channelling £65m a year through a Luxembourg subsidiary of Cinven, its private equity owner, almost wiping out its taxable UK earnings.

- Care UK, which operates NHS treatment centres, walk-in centres and mental health services across England, is reducing its tax liability by routing £8m a year in interest payments on loan notes issued in the Channel Islands.

- Circle Health, the self-styled “social enterprise” that became the first private company to take over the management of an NHS hospital, is owned by companies and investment funds registered in the British Virgin Islands, Jersey and the Cayman Islands.

- Ramsay Health Care, the company with the greatest number of healthcare provision contracts in the NHS, has used a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands to finance the purchase of a French health company for its Australian parent company.

- General Healthcare Group, the biggest private hospital group in the UK, has registered the ownership of its hospitals through subsidiaries in the British Virgin Islands, potentially avoiding stamp duty when its owners come to sell. Its corporate structure may also mean its owners will not pay UK capital gains tax.

— Corporate Watch

An unhealthy business

subsidies for the rich

Submitted by antarchi on March 11, 2012 - 11:23



— Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot

It's the inequality, stupid

wall street and the people

Submitted by antarchi on March 11, 2012 - 11:19

Gains and losses 2007 - 2009 (US)

— Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot

It's the inequality, stupid

winners take all

Submitted by antarchi on March 11, 2012 - 11:13

3 decades of the super-rich's gains (US)

— Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot

It's the inequality, stupid

regime change in syria (1957)

Submitted by antarchi on February 18, 2012 - 01:47

Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive "regime change" in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west's oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.
Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria's pro-western neighbours, and then to "eliminate" the most influential triumvirate in Damascus.

The plans, frighteningly frank in their discussion, were discovered in the private papers of Duncan Sandys, Mr Macmillan's defence secretary, by Matthew Jones, a reader in international history at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Although historians know that intelligence services had sought to topple the Syrian regime in the autumn of 1957, this is the first time any document has been found showing that the assassination of three leading figures was at the heart of the scheme. In the document drawn up by a top secret and high-level working group that met in Washington in September 1957, Mr Macmillan and President Eisenhower were left in no doubt about the need to assassinate the top men in Damascus.'

— Ben Fenton

Macmillan backed Syria assassination plot

US vetos at the UN Security Council

Submitted by antarchi on February 18, 2012 - 01:41

List compiled by Geoff Williams

Russia has used their veto TWICE

Year: Resolution Vetoed by the USA

  • 1972 Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon in air raids.
  • 1973 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians and calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.
  • 1976 Condemns Israel for attacking Lebanese civilians.
  • 1976 Condemns Israel for building settlements in the occupied territories.
  • 1976 Calls for self determination for the Palestinians.
  • 1976 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians.
  • 1978 Urges the permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) to insure United Nations decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security.
  • 1978 Criticises the living conditions of the Palestinians.
  • 1978 Condemns the Israeli human rights record in occupied territories.
  • 1978 Calls for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries.
  • 1979 Calls for an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with the apartheid South Africa.
  • 1979 Strengthens the arms embargo against South Africa.
  • 1979 Offers assistance to all the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movement.
  • 1979 Concerns negotiations on disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race.
  • 1979 Calls for the return of all inhabitants expelled by Israel.
  • 1979 Demands that Israel desist from human rights violations.
  • 1979 Requests a report on the living conditions of Palestinians in occupied Arab countries.
  • 1979 Offers assistance to the Palestinian people.
  • 1979 Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Arab territories.

    • united bases of america

    Submitted by antarchi on February 18, 2012 - 00:59

    Click on image for full size

    — Richard Johnson

    Mapping a superpower-sized military