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John Simkin

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Posts posted by John Simkin

  1. How about considering some kind of condensed version of the UN bill of rights as a mission statement? Generally I'm entirely happy with the moderation. Is it correct that all moderators are privileged to monitor all emailing and PM's sent through the Forum?

    I was unaware you could do this. I know I have not read other people's emails or PMs.

    Obviously, as I've stated before, I think there should be a period of affirmative action with regards to such things as gender balance. A number of moderators are seemingly totally inactive on the forum and have been for a long time. They can make room for a balance. imo.

    I agree we should have more women moderators. Any suggestions?

    Stephen Turner is the only inactive moderator. For some reason he no longer visits the forum or answer his emails.

  2. The conflict at the Deep Politics Forum illustrates the difficulty of maintaining free-speech when discussing controversial issues. When people normally talk about their desire for “free-speech” they usually only mean free-speech for those people who they agree with. The really difficult task is to allow free-speech to those on subjects where you strongly disagree with. That seems to have been the problem with the Deep Politics Forum.

    At the Education Forum we try to deal with this problem by having a committee of administrators and moderators to make all important decisions by majority vote. Moderators are also decided by majority vote. All moderators are free to suggest the names of members who should be considered as moderators. Currently, the following members are moderators.

    Evan Burton, Kathy Beckett, Gary Loughton, Antii Hynonen, Stephen Turner, Don Jeffries, John Geraghty, Tom Scully, David Butler and Pat Speer.

    If members have any ideas on how the system can be improved, please post them on this thread.

  3. The conflict at the Deep Politics Forum illustrates the difficulty of maintaining free-speech when discussing controversial issues. When people normally talk about their desire for “free-speech” they usually only mean free-speech for those people who they agree with. The really difficult task is to allow free-speech to those on subjects where you strongly disagree with. That seems to have been the problem with the Deep Politics Forum.

    At the Education Forum we try to deal with this problem by having a committee of administrators and moderators to make all important decisions by majority vote. Moderators are also decided by majority vote. All moderators are free to suggest the names of members who should be considered as moderators. Currently, the following members are moderators.

    Evan Burton, Kathy Beckett, Gary Loughton, Antii Hynonen, Stephen Turner, Don Jeffries, John Geraghty, Tom Scully, David Butler and Pat Speer.

    If members have any ideas on how the system can be improved, please post them on this thread:

    http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17128

  4. How and why can you possibly close a thead on the Deep Politics Forum, a forum started by former members of this forum, a forum that was said to have been hacked, similar to attacks that have shut down the Education Forum on more than one occassion.

    There is no excuse close a thread on the import issues that are being brought up and discussed, and any attempt to stop this discussion will only lead to more discussion.

    So just keep it open or I will start another thread on the subject.

    Bill Kelly

    I agree with Bill. So much for John Simkin's belief in free speech.

    I did not give permission for this thread to be locked. However, unlike other forums we are not a dictatorship. We are run by a committee. Like other moderators I was not asked to vote on the subject. If I had been, I would have voted no. What is the point anyway, members will only start a new thread on the subject. Evan, please unlock the thread until moderators vote on the subject?

  5. It is indeed true that several people on this forum have been called disinformation agents. I was told by one member that a rumour was being spread that this forum was a CIA operation. The theory being that it allowed the CIA to spread disinformation. More importantly, it enabled the CIA to discover who had what information.

    I once had a long telephone conversation with a former member of this forum. He had in the past been a CIA contract agent who was in dispute with the organisation over the non-payment of work done in the past. That included the posting of disinformation on forums. He told me that the most effective forms of disinformation had to include important classified information. In fact, the most important part of CIA disinformation is to take researchers away from a path that the CIA consider to be moving into dangerous territory. In this way, the CIA use researchers against other researchers. His job was to supply this information to individual researchers, thus enabling others to post this disinformation. Of course, this information that he gave me could have been itself disinformation. As James Jesus Angleton, the master of CIA disinformation once said, it is all a “wilderness of mirrors”.

    In regards to the above, let us not forget one aspect of Gordon Winslow.

    It was his calling card into the research community.

    He would mail out letters to all known researchers each year.

    The letter would request your personal field of interest/expertise.

    Once he got it back, he would then put together a directory of all the researchers who had replied and their fields of interest. He then mailed it to the respondents at their request.

    So therefore, Gordon had all this info on file, and a legitimate excuse to field it.

    There was a curios quandary though. I don't think I ever met a more narrowly focused researcher than Winslow. Or many researchers who more quickly came and went.

    I accept that it is possible that the information included on Cubans connected to the JFK assassination on Gordon Winslow's website might be selected in order to support his view that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman. However, I would not describe him as a disinformation agent as I am unaware that any of his information is inaccurate. I suspect the CIA use people who have got a great deal of credibility with the research community. This was definitely true of the CIA disinformation agent that I mentioned above. They definitely do not use people like the lone gunman nutters we get on this forum.

  6. Jimmy Wales is currently being interviewed on BBC. He has been asked about how Wikipedia deals with controversial subjects. He says they recruit editors that are "neutral" in their views on controversial subjects. This lot of nonsense was just accepted and the interviewer did not ask how it was possible to hold neutral opinions on controversial subjects such as the assassination of JFK. In fact, I would argue that it is impossible to be neutral about any historical subject.

    Wales was also asked about "hoaxing". He said that they had such a secure system in place that "hoaxes" are removed with minutes. This is clearly untrue. A few weeks ago I did a search at Google for "Paris". Number one was the Wikipedia entry for "Paper Aircraft Released Into Space". I tried it again just now and I got the same result. It just shows you how you can use a collection of blogs, forums and websites to manipulate Google and Wikipedia. The same could be done with the assassination of JFK if the community was willing to work together.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Aircraft_Released_Into_Space

  7. It is possible that Sweden recognises that if Assange is to be kept out of the loop then the SAFEST place for him would be in Sweden.... thats one view point.

    If Sweden aquiesced to US rendition pressures once he was in Swdeish custody then the amount of face that Sweden would lose is such that, given I think Swedes are generally not stupid nor prone to roll over, something very surreal would have happened.

    Yes, if I was Assange I would definitely go to Sweden and ask for political asylum. If he stays in England, he may well end up being extradicted to the United States. The problem is that he has not broken any laws. Nor has he behaved any different from the editor of the New York Times or the Guardian. Assange is being held while the US attempts to construct a law that they can say Assange has broken but the New York Times has not.

  8. I've been a member of this forum for nine months by now, and it's been an amazing flow of alleged "disinfo agents" that seem to be somehow involved in almost every issue and thread discussed. Heck, I was accused of being one myself when bringing some information forward related to Judyth Baker.

    It is indeed true that several people on this forum have been called disinformation agents. I was told by one member that a rumour was being spread that this forum was a CIA operation. The theory being that it allowed the CIA to spread disinformation. More importantly, it enabled the CIA to discover who had what information.

    I once had a long telephone conversation with a former member of this forum. He had in the past been a CIA contract agent who was in dispute with the organisation over the non-payment of work done in the past. That included the posting of disinformation on forums. He told me that the most effective forms of disinformation had to include important classified information. In fact, the most important part of CIA disinformation is to take researchers away from a path that the CIA consider to be moving into dangerous territory. In this way, the CIA use researchers against other researchers. His job was to supply this information to individual researchers, thus enabling others to post this disinformation. Of course, this information that he gave me could have been itself disinformation. As James Jesus Angleton, the master of CIA disinformation once said, it is all a “wilderness of mirrors”.

  9. Part 3: 1960-69

    On 17th January, 1961, Dwight Eisenhower gave his Farewell Address to the nation. It included the following passage:

    “Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defence; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defence establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

    This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence - economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

    In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

    We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” (1)

    The speech was written by two of Eisenhower’s advisers, Malcolm Moos and Ralph Williams. However, this was not the speech they had written. Eisenhower had made some important changes to the original draft. For example, Eisenhower’s speech is a warning about the future. He does not explain how he dealt with this problem during his presidency. After all, Eisenhower gave important posts to John McCone and Robert Anderson, two key figures in the “Military-Industrial Complex”. He was also the president who succumbed to the pressures of Tommy Corcoran to order the CIA to work with United Fruit in the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Guatemala in 1954. Eisenhower also encouraged and benefited from the activities of Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. It was this fanatical anti-communism that fuelled Cold War tensions and stimulated the arms race that was such an important ingredient in the development of the “Military-Industrial Complex”.

    Another important aspect of the speech is that Eisenhower does not mention the role of politicians in this problem. This is strange as it was only through politicians that the military and the business community got what they wanted. This was one aspect of the speech that Eisenhower changed. In the original draft, Moos and Williams had used the phrase, the “Military-Industrial Congressional Complex”. This is of course a more accurate description of this relationship. However, to use the term “Congressional” would have highlighted the corruption that was taking place in the United States and illustrated the role played by Eisenhower in this scandal (see section 2).

    The idea that an informal group of people from the military, government and business would work together in order to make profits out of war was not a new one. For example, Tom Paine wrote in the introduction to the Rights of Man: “What is the history of all monarchical governments but a disgustful picture of human wretchedness, and the accidental respite of a few years’ repose? War is their trade, plunder and revenue their objects. While such governments continue, peace has not the absolute security of a day.” (2)

    Papers shed light on Eisenhower's farewell address

    By JOHN MILBURN

    Associated Press

    ABILENE, Kan. (AP) - For nearly two years, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his aides searched for the right words to describe at the end of his presidency his fear that the nation's burgeoning military power was driving its foreign policy, newly released papers show.

    Many months before delivering the farewell address in which he famously warned about the strength of the American "military-industrial complex," Eisenhower weighed various ideas for the speech, but concerns about the military were always central to his remarks.

    The Eisenhower Presidential Library on Friday unveiled previously unseen drafts of the speech that were found recently in a cabin owned by Eisenhower speechwriter Malcolm Moos.

    The documents help explain the origins of the term "military-industrial complex," which Eisenhower used to warn against unbridled military development. The term was thought to have started as "war-based" industrial complex before becoming "military" in later drafts.

    But that theory was based on an oral history from Ralph Williams, one of Eisenhower's aides. In the new collection, "military" appears in the passage from the first draft.

    "What we know now is that `military-industrial complex' was in there all along," said Valoise Armstrong, the archivist who processed the new papers.

    In one draft, the paragraph mentioning the military-industrial complex is riddled with pencil marks deleting whole sentences, but the term itself is unblemished.

    Moos' son, Grant, found the papers covered with pinecones, dirt and other debris in a cabin in Minnesota earlier this year. He turned them over to the library in October.

    "We are just so fortunate that these papers were discovered," said Karl Weissenbach, director of the library in Abilene. "We were finally able to fill in the gaps of the address. For a number of years, it was apparent that there were gaps."

    The papers show that Eisenhower and his staff spent two years preparing for his final speech to the nation. One document features a typewritten note from the president lamenting that when he joined the military in 1911, there were 84,000 Army soldiers a number that ballooned roughly tenfold by 1960.

    "The direct result of this continued high level of defense expenditures has been to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions, where none had existed before," he wrote in the passage, a variation of which reached the delivered speech on Jan. 17, 1961.

    The notion of a farewell address began with a list of potential topics Eisenhower could discuss from May 1959 through the end of his second term.

    The drafts show that the speech started as a reflection on public service and the role of the military, but expanded into wide-ranging remarks about the technological revolution and his lament that he never achieved world peace, but avoided a nuclear war.

    Eisenhower biographer David Nichols noted that while the address is known for the reference to the military-industrial complex, the president had warned about military growth and Cold War threats throughout his presidency.

    "He was always talking about the Cold War and the threat to American values and the danger that America would become a garrison state," Nichols said. "The military wanted a lot more than he was willing to give them. It frustrated the Army. He thought about it all the time."

    The papers include 21 drafts of the speech, showing the evolution of the final presentation, which was originally intended to be given before Congress but was eventually delivered from the Oval Office.

    Nichols, who is working on a book about Eisenhower and the Suez Canal Crisis, said historians often overlook the president's speeches because of his weak skills as an orator. But, he said, Eisenhower was heavily involved in his public addresses, often rewriting them himself until moments before delivery.

    The presidents' brother, Milton Eisenhower, and Moos' staff helped him develop his farewell speech.

    Milton Eisenhower's notations are found throughout the rough drafts, including wholesale changes on one draft prepared just 10 days before the president spoke on television. Weissenbach said Milton Eisenhower was part of the president's inner circle, along with the president's son John.

    "That to me illustrates how Milton had a take-charge moment where he wasn't pleased with the direction it was taking and made an overhaul. Obviously he wouldn't have done it without the blessing of his brother," Weissenbach said.

    Nichols said Milton Eisenhower had a special relationship with his brother throughout his presidency. However, he said, little exists in the public record of his involvement, outside a few memos in the archives.

    "Eisenhower kept marvelous records on what he did, in the Oval Office, the hospital, but his conversations with Milton were off the record," Nichols said. "I only wish and pray that we could uncover some notes."

    Born in 1890, Eisenhower grew up in Kansas and graduated from West Point. During World War II, he commanded the Allied forces in Europe, including the D-Day invasion of France.

    After the war, he became president of Columbia University and the first commander of NATO before running for president in 1952, a campaign that featured the slogan "I like Ike." He died in 1969.

  10. The original message quoted by Bill was issued by the company that ran the forum. They just have a sense of humour. That has now been removed as well as the other pages on view such as book lists. It clearly has not been hacked or has suffered a denial of service. It would seem they have been unwilling to pay their bills. The problem for Deep Politics was that it did not get many page views. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for new forums to get established in search-engine rankings. As they found that forum debates was just a small group of people talking to each other they probably decided it was not worth the money or the intellectual effort involved. I was reading the other day that 95% of all blogs are abandoned within three months. People come to the conclusion that there are no point writing things if no one reads it.

  11. The Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday that Andy Coulson, the prime minister's director of communications, will not face prosecution over allegations he knew of phone hacking while he was editor of the News of the World. The Metropolitan police reopened its investigation following revelations by the New York Times and the Guardian about the extent of the practice at the News of the World.

    This is no surprise because the police, in the pay of Rupert Murdoch, decided witnesses who claimed Coulson knew more than he admitted about the phone hacking should be interviewed as potential suspects and thus under criminal caution. They in turn refused to comment or gave short statements when detectives questioned them.

    One of the most significant new witnesses to come forward was Sean Hoare, a former News of the World reporter. He was quoted in a New York Times investigation as saying Coulson was aware that phone hacking went on. Hoare's answers to police were limited because he was interviewed under criminal caution, meaning that he was potentially suspected of committing criminal offences.

    In a statement, the DPP said: "Sean Hoare, who made significant allegations in the New York Times and elsewhere, was interviewed by the police but refused to comment.

    "A number of other witnesses were interviewed and either refused to co-operate with the police investigation, provided short statements which did not advance matters or denied any knowledge of wrongdoing. Against that background, there is no admissible evidence upon which the CPS could properly advise the police to bring criminal charges."

    "The contents of the reports in the New York Times and the associated reports and coverage are not enough for criminal proceedings unless those making allegations are prepared to provide the police with admissible evidence to support their assertions. None have been prepared to do so."

    Coulson was editor of the News of the World when a reporter and private investigator were convicted and jailed for hacking voice messages involving Princes William and Harry. A number of journalists have come forward to say the practice was widespread and known about by Coulson, a claim he denies. Anyone who has worked in journalism knows that editors do not allow articles to appear in their newspaper without knowing where that information has come from.

    It is now clear that the Crown Prosecution Service is deeply involved in the News of the World cover-up. Just a few days after they announced they would not be prosecuting any other staff members because of a lack of evidence, documents have been leaked to show that the police had documentary evidence that Ian Edmondson, news editor of the News of the World, instructed Glenn Mulcaire to hack the phone of Sienna Miller. Despite this evidence, the police decided not to interview Edmondson.

  12. It is referred to as the first cyber war. Apparently the full set of cables have been seeded in about a 10 gig 256 encrypted insurance file that awaits the releaase of the crack code.

    Fundamentally the US authorities formally refused a formal invitation to participate in vetting the cables.

    Cables were made available to to news sources, US and otherwise, that published a number. Assange did not publish them. An attack on WikiLeaks is a fundamental attack on free journalism, yet the US continues an attack on an individual. Imo, it is a stage upon which events are played out and people in general areinformed of consequences, IE, the freedom of people throughout the world will have less and less of a free press and real news that people need to make informed descicions will become more elusive.

    I think this is a very unwise step to take.

    Julian Assange has been granted conditional bail by a judge today. Mr Justice Ouseley granted conditional bail at the Royal Courts of Justice and supporters put up £240,000 in sureties. How often does Sweden take so much trouble over a case that they admit, that even if he was convicted, he would not receive a prison sentence. Mr Assange's solicitor, Mark Stephens, said afterwards the bail appeal was part of a "continuing vendetta by the Swedes". The people of Britain have been shocked by the behaviour of the Swedish legal system.

    John, I am interested in how this case is being reported in Sweden. Is there any understanding of the impact it is having on the image of what I have always considered to be a country with a fine tradition of political freedom.

  13. Julian Assange has been granted conditional bail by a judge today. Mr Justice Ouseley granted conditional bail at the Royal Courts of Justice and supporters put up £240,000 in sureties. How often does Sweden take so much trouble over a case that they admit, that even if he was convicted, he would not receive a prison sentence. Mr Assange's solicitor, Mark Stephens, said afterwards the bail appeal was part of a "continuing vendetta by the Swedes". The people of Britain have been shocked by the behaviour of the Swedish legal system.

    John, I am interested in how this case is being reported in Sweden. Is there any understanding of the impact it is having on the image of what I have always considered to be a country with a fine tradition of political freedom.

  14. Fragile Historic Sources: Barriers to the Truth

    The historian’s desire for certainty is hard to square with the fragility of sources and their constant reworking by the profession. Casting a cold eye on the remaining evidence relating to the deaths of Edward II and Richard II, Ian Mortimer plots a way forward for his discipline.

    Muhammad Ali: The Man Who Remade Alexandria

    Once the classical world’s dominant port, by the early 19th century the city founded by Alexander the Great was seemingly in terminal decline. But the energy and vision of the Ottoman governor Muhammad Ali restored its fortunes and, ultimately, set Egypt on the path to independence, as Philip Mansel explains.

    Plato's American Republic: John Humphrey Noyes and the Perfectionist movement

    ‘Complex marriage’, ‘male continence’ and the selection of the perfect partner were all themes propounded by a 19th-century cult in New York State. Clive Foss explores the influence of Plato’s Republic on John Humphrey Noyes and his Perfectionist movement.

    Protestant Culture: Milton's Angels

    Though Protestants sought to distance themselves from Roman Catholics on the subject, angels played a key role in Protestant culture as a means by which to understand humans and their place in the universe, explains Joad Raymond.

    Detective Novels: A Very British Crime Wave

    Detective stories captured the imaginations of the British middle classes in the 20th century. William D. Rubinstein looks at the rise of home-grown writers such as Agatha Christie, how they mirrored society and why changes in social mores eventually murdered their sales.

    http://www.historytoday.com/contents

  15. Another connection to the JFK assassination is that while in Cuba, Anna Ardin, worked with the Las damas de blanco (the Ladies in White), a feminist anti-Castro group. The group is led by Carlos Alberto Montaner who is reportedly connected to the CIA. Ladies in White is partially funded by the US government and also counts Luis Posada Carriles as a supporter. Posada was a leading figure in JURE, and according to Gaeton Fonzi (The Last Investigation), was working for the CIA at the time of the assassination of JFK.

    http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKposada.htm

  16. The Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday that Andy Coulson, the prime minister's director of communications, will not face prosecution over allegations he knew of phone hacking while he was editor of the News of the World. The Metropolitan police reopened its investigation following revelations by the New York Times and the Guardian about the extent of the practice at the News of the World.

    This is no surprise because the police, in the pay of Rupert Murdoch, decided witnesses who claimed Coulson knew more than he admitted about the phone hacking should be interviewed as potential suspects and thus under criminal caution. They in turn refused to comment or gave short statements when detectives questioned them.

    One of the most significant new witnesses to come forward was Sean Hoare, a former News of the World reporter. He was quoted in a New York Times investigation as saying Coulson was aware that phone hacking went on. Hoare's answers to police were limited because he was interviewed under criminal caution, meaning that he was potentially suspected of committing criminal offences.

    In a statement, the DPP said: "Sean Hoare, who made significant allegations in the New York Times and elsewhere, was interviewed by the police but refused to comment.

    "A number of other witnesses were interviewed and either refused to co-operate with the police investigation, provided short statements which did not advance matters or denied any knowledge of wrongdoing. Against that background, there is no admissible evidence upon which the CPS could properly advise the police to bring criminal charges."

    "The contents of the reports in the New York Times and the associated reports and coverage are not enough for criminal proceedings unless those making allegations are prepared to provide the police with admissible evidence to support their assertions. None have been prepared to do so."

    Coulson was editor of the News of the World when a reporter and private investigator were convicted and jailed for hacking voice messages involving Princes William and Harry. A number of journalists have come forward to say the practice was widespread and known about by Coulson, a claim he denies. Anyone who has worked in journalism knows that editors do not allow articles to appear in their newspaper without knowing where that information has come from.

  17. But flimsy, yes I agree. Apparently there was consensual sexual relations in both cases. So really, it's not clear to me exactly what it is these women think Assange did wrong here... But it looks like another couple of cases of the familiar "she says.." and "he says.." -type. Such cases are very often dropped due to lack of evidence.

    Arden has complained that the condom split while they were having sex and Assange did it on purpose. Wilén said they had unprotected sex without her consent.

  18. John,

    Personally I'd prefer to call this a coincidence, hardly a connection. Ardin is a somewhat typical leftist from the academia, with a degree in political science. A feminist, a Christian and someone who's not apologizing for being quite successful with her career. It's not particularly unusual that leftists in Sweden still have some quite positive views on Cuba.

    I can see absolutely nothing beside Swedish normalcy about who she is and her record. I've noticed the speculations in international media that one or both of these women could have some sort of connection to the US, thus squeezing Assange on behalf the US. I don't buy any of that, at all. On the contrary, the US would probably be one of the last countries either one of these women would do anything for, whatsoever. US foreign policy is still a hard act to swallow for leftists over here.

    To speculate further, I don't think anything will come out of this. The DA, as far as I can see by what's official, doesn't seem to have much evidence at all.

    The evidence is indeed very flimsy and this why the original investigation launched by the Swedish prosecutor was dropped. The original prosecutor judged that the evidence did not meet the criterion of a rape or sexual molestation charge and Julian Assange was allowed to leave Sweden. It seemed that the CIA honey-pot plan had failed. The women were then put into contact with Claes Borgström, a lawyer who is known to like cases that produce a lot of publicity. Under Swedish law it seems that lawyers can reopen cases that have been dropped by the government prosecutor.

    Borgström has admitted that there is little chance of Assange ever being found guilty of this charge in a Swedish court. However, that is not the point, the main objective is for the United States to get him extradited from the UK. The main problem is that it seems that Assange has not broken any US laws.

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