Ken Livingstone

[Oblomov]

He has to be seen to be doing something. I find it absolutely extraordinary that we live in an age when this kind of shit can be made to stick, but there it is. Long game being looked at and played. Teeth gritted and guns stuck to. Ride this one out and try turning the table again. NHS, Education and Tax declarations, there's plenty of bullets in the gun. Time to make a few of them really count. Difficult when you haven't got the rags and Auntie doing you too many favours.

[WaspInWales]

He has to be seen to be doing something. I find it absolutely extraordinary that we live in an age when this kind of shit can be made to stick, but there it is. Long game being looked at and played. Teeth gritted and guns stuck to. Ride this one out and try turning the table again. NHS, Education and Tax declarations, there's plenty of bullets in the gun. Time to make a few of them really count. Difficult when you haven't got the rags and Auntie doing you too many favours.

The damage is done.

[UGagain]

He has to be seen to be doing something. I find it absolutely extraordinary that we live in an age when this kind of shit can be made to stick, but there it is. Long game being looked at and played. Teeth gritted and guns stuck to. Ride this one out and try turning the table again. NHS, Education and Tax declarations, there's plenty of bullets in the gun. Time to make a few of them really count. Difficult when you haven't got the rags and Auntie doing you too many favours.

He could be seen to do the rational thing and dismiss the manufactured allegations as absurd. He could be seen to be standing up to the zionist lobby/right wing neoliberals in the PLP and media.

His very election proved that the media and the PLP aren't all powerful and many of the people that voted for him would be heartily sick of these sorts of 'compromises', which are in reality surrenders.

These people slinging the 'racist' epithet are some of the vilest racists out there and they should be called on it. The mainstream islamophobia feeds into the wars and the police state mentality that Corbyn etc are ostensibly opposed to.

He needs to grow some spine and use his extraordinary mandate.

And not just on this. All I've seen so far is him and McDonnell ceding ground on all the major issues.

[UGagain]

Good interview with Norman Finkelstein about this garbage.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie- ... ism-scanda

[bruce]

Good interview with Norman Finkelstein about this garbage.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie- ... ism-scanda

Good piece

[Zhivago]

Good interview with Norman Finkelstein about this garbage.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jamie- ... ism-scanda

Indeed. Which raises the question, did the MP at the heart of this controversy get disproportionate treatment by the press and enemy politicians because she was a muslim... as opposed to if she was white?

[Zhivago]

Also anti-semitic?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m ... comparison

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Also anti-semitic?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m ... comparison

By current ridiculous standards, probably. At some point someone will point out that not all criticism of Israel is cover for anti-Semitism, even though some clearly is.

[UGagain]

Also anti-semitic?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m ... comparison

By current ridiculous standards, probably. At some point someone will point out that not all criticism of Israel is cover for anti-Semitism, even though some clearly is.

Such as?

[UGagain]

Oh well Eugene. You had another chance to shine and failed again.

The Anti-Semite’s Best Friend

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/10/ ... st-friend/

[Zhivago]

Also anti-semitic?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m ... comparison

By current ridiculous standards, probably. At some point someone will point out that not all criticism of Israel is cover for anti-Semitism, even though some clearly is.

Perhaps you mean simply that some people are both anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist. It is a point that is patently valid, and I think it undermines the anti-Zionist cause immensely.

[UGagain]

Such as?

[Zhivago]

Such as?

Are you seriously suggesting that there is no one who is both anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist?

[UGagain]

Such as?

Are you seriously suggesting that there is no one who is both anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist?

I'm asking for any significant examples. Otherwise it just looks like a handy smear to wave at the anti-zionist movement and the Palestinians.

[UGagain]

Puts the whole tempest in a teapot in perspective.


Israeli Minister Seeks Annexation of Most of West Bank, Expulsion of Arabs
Insists Areas Under Military Control Have Virtually 'No Arabs At All'

Visiting Russia as part of a delegation from the Netanyahu government this week, Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel demanded that the world “forget” about the idea of the Palestinian state, and said Israel’s goal should be to immediately annex 60% of the occupied West Bank, the part labeled as “Area C.”

Area C is the part of the West Bank under direct Israeli military control, and Ariel, a settler and outspoken hawk, insisted it is an area “where there are no Arabs at all,” later conceding “we would remove a few thousand, who do not constitute a significant numerical factor.”

Beyond the huge diplomatic blowback from such a move, Ariel’s math is considerably off. The UN estimated 297,500 Palestinians in Area C in 2014, and even the lowest estimates from the Israeli government claim at least 50,000. That’s a non-trivial amount of ethnic cleansing, and while it might play well in Israel’s new far-right government, it would fuel costly repercussions, likely including sanctions from much of the international community.

Several Israeli officials have advocated annexation, with Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett suggesting annexation of the area and making the 50,000+ Arabs “the responsibility of Jordan.” Ariel has conceded the annexation of Area C is just the first step, and that Israel would eventually depopulate and annex the rest of the West Bank. This would mean the removal of roughly two million more Palestinians to “somewhere.”

[morepork]

Thermonuclear irony clusterfuck.

[kk67]

Ken is an honest and conscientious manager.......some people find this frightening. Mostly it's the dishonest people.
Local government is riddled with corruption. Anyone that complains about Ken is almost certainly part of maintaining that problem.