OK, someone’s left an armed UAV in the changing rooms. Is it you, Harrowell? No? Speak up? America? Turkey? Italy? Well, it would be interesting to ask somebody how many Predators the RAF possesses at the moment, compared to a few weeks ago. Relatedly, this is wrong: Pakistan, Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation and trans-national Islamic terrorism…
Read More Mr 10% meets the 27%ers up townThis is sick, but perversely reassuring. With the great miscarriages of justice of the 70s, the first phase was that the judge, the cops, the Home Office, and all right-thinking people agreed, and nobody took seriously that the victims might be innocent. This lasted a long, long time; but then we passed into the second…
Read More Big miscarriage of justice of our times, phase 2I’ve been blogging longer than the Rude Pundit.
Read More The shock of the old25 years ago today I was a three year old boy, living in a village in the Yorkshire Dales, from where you could see the golfball aerials at the NSA’s Menwith Hill base. Later, people I knew well would protest it for ages, and a man who was supposedly an engineer for LockMart there lived…
Read More Petrov DayAh, MEND – everyone’s favourite dark-globalisation guerrilla gang, whose strategy is based on the world oil market as they career around Nigeria in RIBs with six or so huge outboards and silly numbers of heavy machine guns, while God knows where their leader/committee/nameless mobile phone number is. You can see why the defence establishment loves…
Read More kings and queens and generals learn your nameI don’t believe this; note the lack of any direct evidence, not even packets of Indian steel balls. What I do believe is that we’re heading for a serious catastrophe with regard to Pakistan. As I’ve said before, the American meta-narrative seems to be that it’s something like a 50s-70s rightwing military dictatorship in Southeast…
Read More I see no joy, I see only sorrow, I see no chance of your bright new tomorrowWell, there’s something for you. Viktor Bout’s lawyer actually showed up for a hearing; this is after lawyer no.1 repeatedly failed to appear and pleaded sickness (“I…I have a heart condition. I have a heart condition. If you hit me, it’s murder…”) and lawyer no.2 found he was permanently busy. I had wondered if he…
Read More further stages of the extradition process“Sir” Ian Blair addresses the troops: “Our approach will be one of humility. On 22nd July 2005, we confidently believed that our systems of command, of surveillance and of firearms intervention were among the best in the world. However, they failed in response to a previously unforeseen circumstance, suicide bombers on the run.” Well, it’s…
Read More Sir Ian Blair, Sir Ian Blair! The Lord save me from Sir Ian Blair!From the always wonderful, Satin Pajama shortlisted, Where the money is…, the rock band who stage guerrilla gigs in banks. Bursting out of a white van, the men in balaclavas from the power trio Caracho (as in “Ni karasho!”, I presume) charge into the bank, assemble their specially hacked backline amps, and hit it. This…
Read More probably a robberyI’m glad someone else has picked up on this: James Graham has at an especially witless statement from Gideon/George Osborne. What Osborne is doing here is far less stupid, and also far less honest, than usual; for a start, he’s managing expectations whilst at the same time bashing the Government, by pretending that he’s expecting…
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