Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Peace through superior firepower

A few days ago I was engaged in conversation with a non-conspiratorially minded chum who works in UK property sales

Times are definitely a changing as, for the first time, he acknowledge to me that, yes, the UK possibly was headed towards a period of severe economic hardship for the massses. He was, however, confident that the UK government 'has got clever people working behind the scenes who can see what's coming and the government probably has already started spending money on starting up some industries that will help pay us out of the mess the country's in'


My response was that there is absolutely no sign of that whatsoever and that whatever industry we could think of getting into, the Asian economies can think of getting into with a much lower cost base.


Even if they consented to enduring the same standard of living as the Chinese or Indians, the wages of British workers cannot be slashed to be competitive with Chinese or Indian labour because UK property costs are so much higher. Property costs that the British have to meet directly in rent or mortgages and indirectly through the
rentier element concealed within the price of essential goods and services

However, as I explained to my chum, I have seen copious evidence that the British, and other Western, establishments are preparing for the possiblity of some kind of economic collapse. They haven't invested much in the way of productive manufacturing industry but they have spent shed loads on tooling-up their police forces


But that, my chum argued, was necessary because of the threat of terrorism...

Evidently, he's still in need of a little more conspirasizing

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I've been pulled up a couple of times in this blog for suggesting that British police have become more like para-militaries in recent years. The people who've pulled me up have have referred to the pitched battles, complete with cavalry, during the miners strike and the treatment meted out to people like Blair Peach and Stephen Waldorf as being evidence that the police have always been a bit 'tasty' when it comes to dealing with people who get in their way

And, yes, these commentators have a point but, with all respect, have you taken a look at the British police recently...


Even former senior coppers and yes, though I still can't quite believe it, Max 'Have you read my book about how great the SS were' Hastings have recently written articles suggesting that having machine-gun toting police who can execute people with impunity is probably not the way for supposedly civilised societies to go...





Sir Max Hastings - sole liberator of the Falkland Islands and born-again bleeding heart pinko fag subversive


But even these (presumably) principled voices against the militarisation of our police compromise their argument by agreeing that, because of the threat of terrorism, there is a place for some British policemen to be kitted out with the kind of weaponry and mentality that wouldn't be out of place in a 1970s junta, but only sometimes

Now, to me, it's plain as day that the Terror threat is being at least bigged-up, and possibly at least partially instigated, by the numerous interest groups that benefit from a society collectively crapping its pants

But that's actually a moot point

Even if I believed that the Terror threat was 100% genuine and as really, really scary as our Overlords keep telling us it is, we should still reject the surveillence state and militarised police on the time-honoured bases that those who surrender liberty for a little temporary safety really do deserve neither, that freedom has a price and that if we change our society in response to terrorism the terrorists have achieved their objectives

You will hear none of these arguments being promoted by British politicians, journalists or officially sanctioned (low) pressure groups like Liberty

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The gun fashionably displayed by the group of licenced potential killers in this photo is a variant of the iconic Heckler & Koch MP5...




The MP5 can chuck out bullets at rates of up to 500-600 rounds a minute. It's black, it's scary looking and it can kill a lot of people very quickly. It's the kind of high-quality weapon that gives serious gun nuts a roaring chubby just thinking about it.

MP5s, and a smattering of the higher velocity H&K G36, are now a common sight in London in the hands of Metropolitan police officers. If you're ever at one of London's airports take a look up sometime and you'll see police officers at the mezzanine levels strutting around with their MP5s, presumably ready to cut loose from elevated positions of fire at the drop of a hat.

If you think about it for a moment that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Even if the quality of domestic terrorist was to take a quantum leap up from the kind of sad losers who make bombs out of flour and set fire to their underpants to the kind of terrorists who actually have access to guns, are the police really going to open fire with machine guns in crowded airport terminals? And, even if so, why do those armed police have to be there right in front of our fucking faces all the time?

The answer, I fear, is the same reason why the government sent light tanks to Heathrow before the invasion of Iraq. That weaponry is not there to scare potential (and, remember, allegedly suicidal) terrorists. It's there to scare us




The reason why I mention all of this now is because of this recent snippet from the State Broadcasting Company...


Police in training for 'Mumbai-style' gun attack in UK


...suspects were planning to copy the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai*, where 10 gunmen went on a three-day rampage, killing 166 people and injuring more than 300, the sources said.

In response police armed response units are being given more powerful weapons.

Our correspondent said the UK authorities had been planning for such an attack ever since Mumbai* happened.

"David Cameron has taken a personal interest in the problem ever since his first threat assessment given to him when he took office in May.

"Now police armed response units are getting their firepower and their stocks of ammunition increased to deal with multiple terrorists armed with automatic weapons," he said.


More powerful than MP5s and G36s?!

What the fuck are they planning to start dishing out?


A few days ago I posted this clip as being a possible model for the introductory titles to any new TV series about the Metropolitan Police...






It was an attempt at weak humour


And it's weaker by the day




* = You remember the Mumbai attack, that's the one that included operatives with connections with US intelligence that the Indians are getting pissy about. A back-story that has been lavishly covered by the British State Broadcasting Company. Or, there again, maybe not.


And don't forget to read the hard-hitting, insightful and totally objective analysis from the SBC's totally unspooky Frank Gardner to the right of the article about UK police being armed with gatling guns or whatever the fuck it is they're getting. Frank's analyses are worth the State Propaganda Tax on their own




.

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last week coming thorough Edinburgh airport I spotted these machine gun wielding tossers wandering around the departure lounge,the kids were fascinated by the the deadly looking black things they were carrying fingers poised in that rather cheeky arrogant sinister way on the trigger.

Stef said...

looking on the bright side, at least the police will be able to pump a few hundred rounds into the next lunatic to attack a Scottish airport before he burns himself to death

Stef said...

speaking of which, does anyone still remember this chilling, and rather curious, plot?

we're not supposed to

Sinclair said...

^nor are we to remember that the 'plot' involved them 'others unknown', up to their old tricks again....

Anonymous said...

"are the police really going to open fire with machine guns in crowded airport terminals?" - Yes.

Anonymous said...

With only circumstantial 'evidence' I unashamedly believe Frank Gardner was likely a recruitment sergeant for Arabish Muslim patsies, the kind that won't complain when being given a set of chafing explosive underpants (or non-explosive underpants as the case may be) kindly escorted onto planes by the CIA, having had their passport application fast-tracked.

Gardners reports are verbal putrefied bile forged from the volcanic fires of mount Neo(Israyhelli)con.

When you're chewing on life’s' gristly, just purse your lips and whistle, and Frank will spin an Al-Weeda terror reporrrrrt, ooooohhh....


keyword = mulsh

Stef said...

"Yes"

Given the number of actual terrorists the Met has shot (zero) compared with the number of innocent people it has shot (more than zero) that comment is not as far off the mark as it might seem

Stef said...

one thing I neglected to mention explicity in my post (though I have included a link) is the fact that it was already announced that the Met was beefing up its weapons and tactics as a result of Mumbai six months ago

So why the fuck is that being announced, complete with Frankie G's stamp of approval, all over again?

Anonymous said...

When the patsy-chips are down, the police won’t give a shit who they shoot - that is, amongst the working classes.

A REQUEST TO TERRORISTS WORLDWIDE: Please, if you insist on doing ‘terrorist’ acts - and I advise strongly against - don’t do it where ordinary folk won’t get hurt – yeah?. Be a bit more scrupulous as to your choice of target. Go for some crap evil politician or Head of state who sanctioned the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocents in your country. How’s about an army base? Or some fighter jet / military copter. Geez, you guys must be dumb.

Goebbels Gardner is (as the modernism goes) just doing his job.... as the policemen will be when they mow down a few score of worthless bystanders.

(thanks for the housekeeping)

paul said...

"are the police really going to open fire with machine guns in crowded airport terminals?"

Only because they can't fit the tanks in.

Vlad the Impala said...

"Engels elucidates the concept of the “power” which is called the state, a power which arose from society but places itself above it and alienates itself more and more from it. What does this power mainly consist of? It consists of special bodies of armed men having prisons, etc., at their command."

Stef said...

"Only because they can't fit the tanks in."

For obvious reasons, I haven't been able to photograph the impressive collection of concrete obstacles that have now sprung up around the terminals at Heathrow

It's all looking very Maginot Line-esque

And we all know what excellent value for money that was

Stef said...

Meanwhile, in related news, the chairman of BA demonstrates that he doesn't quite understand what the New Normal is really all about...

The chairman of British Airways has said some "completely redundant" airport security checks should be scrapped and the UK should stop "kowtowing" to US security demands.

Stef said...

...as ever, the Conspiraloon Alliance is way ahead of the curve

The Antagonist said...

Well, well. Is this a little dissent I see before me, right from somewhere near the top?

BBC News - BA chairman attacks US airport security checks

All that and chatter about Little America being too subservient to The Land of the Free's diktats.

Whatever next?

The Antagonist said...

Hmm. Stef your comment definitely wasn't there when I started posting mine.

The quick and the not so quick.

The Antagonist said...

Haven't listened to this yet, but I am very much looking forward to doing so.

Michael Parenti: Deep Ideology and Conspiracy

Maria Gilardin from TUC Radio has boadcast this talk in two parts and has described it thus:

"In this entertaining talk, rich with historic references, Parenti describes the right-wing agenda of dismantling social democracy while calling anybody who describes this as a purposeful strategy a conspiracy theorist. He shows that this strategy began right after World War II but culminates now as powerful segment of right wing media and the GOP have moved so far to the right that they have overshot their popular base. Meanwhile democrats, including Obama, unable or unwilling to formulate the social democratic alternative, still talk of bipartisan approaches."

What she doesn't mention in her introduction is just how far Michael Parenti goes in this talk to indicate that he considers George Bush and Dick Cheney and co to be complicit in the events of September 11th 2001.

At the start of the talk Michael Parenti refers to a speech on Conspiracy and Class Power he gave in 1993, this is available from the TUC Radio Michael Parenti archive, http://www.tucradio.org/parenti.html along with many other recordings.


World | Michael Parenti: Deep Ideology and Conspiracy

If it's anywhere near as insightful as Parenti's Conspiracy & Class Power that I've recommended to all and sundry for years, it's going to be a cracker.

Stef said...

The Market speaks

In the same way that ISPs are not exactly keen on restrictions on file sharing, not because of a moral stance, but because it screws their revenue stream, the airlines are getting chippy about bullshit security measures

Looks like they'll have to stand in line and stump up more lobbying £££s like the rest of us

Of course, if we really were subject to Free Markets we'd have a choice at the airports. Daily Express readers would get the chance to pay a little more for the privilege of having their genitals x-rayed at gunpoint in a Whites-only compound and the rest of us could just walk on our planes and take our chances

Stef said...

cheers for the Parenti link

The Antagonist said...

Most welcome.

Not quite five minutes in and the boy Parenti is off on some promising tracks.

Stef said...

Even though I'm a fan, Parenti hasn't exactly embraced scepticism about more recent headline terror attacks has he

Random Fact Generator said...

Michael Parenti is 77

Stef said...

...OK, MP has just had a crack at the 'mysterious disappearance of giant skyscrapers'

The Antagonist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Antagonist said...

Even though I'm a fan, Parenti hasn't exactly embraced scepticism about more recent headline terror attacks has he

Even the Time Square "lone assassin" gets a look-in.

With 10 or so minutes to go, the boy Parenti has done pretty good.

stef said...

'Democracy isn't about trust ... trust is something you should reserve for close friends and loved ones - and even then you should check them out once in a while'

The Antagonist said...

Shit, where'd the list of 'theories' go?

Stef said...

This list?

"The Antagonist has left a new comment on your post "Peace through superior firepower":

"Innocence theory", "Somnabulist theory", "coincidence theory", "stupidity theory", "incompetence theory" and the trusty old loon favourite "stochastic theory" all get a look in.

When you stack 'em all up together, what is generally termed and dismissed as "conspiracy theory" doesn't seem quite so loon after all"

F***ed if I know

The Antagonist said...

I ain't getting no baby milk on planes, crazy fool.

The Antagonist said...

^^ That was the one, thanks for piling it back in.

Now watch as 'the left' dismiss Parenti and his "conspiracy analysis" as a "conspiracy theory" so they don't have to take any board any aspects of that analysis.

paul said...

So why the fuck is that being announced, complete with Frankie G's stamp of approval, all over again?

Nothing to do with the savage, brutal cuts the Mystic Met are worried about.

The disabled and elderly will have their work cut out competing with the thick blue line for coalition mercy.

Stef said...

For once, I think I beat the Mash to it on this one...

LET'S MAKE THE WAR ON TERROR MORE OF A CONTEST, SAYS BA BOSS

paul said...

And in other fund raising 'news'....

Stef said...

any reference to covert fund-raising naturally draws the immediate pavlovian response from any self-respecting Conspiraloon...

You're telling me that you're gonna fake some terrorist thing, just to scare some money out of Congress?
Well, unfortunately, Mr. Hennessey, I have no idea how to fake killing 4,000 people - so we're just gonna have to do it for real. Blame it on the Muslims, naturally. Then I get my funding.


Maybe Frank G. should watch more movies

Stef said...

as an aside, I've used the term Pavlovian a couple of times in conversation with New Zealanders and given that they were thinking I was talking about this I lost them completely

Alfred said...

Re: "whatever industry we could think of getting into, the Asian economies can think of getting into with a much lower cost base."

True, but the nine million or so unemployed, partly unemployed and discouraged British workers have not yet been sent to the gas chambers as useless eaters, which means they are being kept alive at some cost. So why not have them work too?

How?

Very easily with a negative income tax, or some such scheme. That way wages down to a penny an hour are subsidized up to the minimum wage. This couldn't cost much more than existing welfare arrangements, and avoids both the cost of crime due to boredom and disaffection and the loss of, or non-acquisition of, workplace skills.

Under this regime, a British entrepreneur could have a ten to one or better wage advantage over the Chinese entrepreneur. Would that not be a sufficient incentive to invest in the revival of some of the industries that Britain invented?

Alfred said...

PS. Does anyone know the rules of engagement for those cops with machine guns. I mean, if I put my hand in my pocket to at the wrong moment, am I gonna get it?

Also, do machine gunners have to undergo any kind of psychological screening? I mean, are they all quite mentally stable or could one of them just freak out. You know, get claustrophic or something and just kill hundreds of dopey Heathrow arrivals from Miami or Tel Aviv?

stef said...

I believe Jean Charles de Menezes got it for not much more

The unfortunate Harry Stanley also comes to mind

And I'm having real trouble thinking of a single police killing that wasn't judged lawful

So that makes rules of engagement kind of academic

To quote a line from Michael Herr's Dispatches...

'If he runs he's VC. If he stands still he's well-disciplined VC'

stef said...

Shooting people in the face is not something that comes easily to most people

Aside from a tiny percentage of individuals who have an inherent taste for that sort of thing (they're the ones we all have to keep an eye on whatever hat they're wearing), armies have to go to an awful lot of effort deprogramming their recruits out of their natural tendency not to shoot other human beings in the face

Most of those armed coppers wouldn't use their guns even in a real firefight. They're there for show, and intimidation. There will however be a core of 'special' people who'd be looking forward to the opportunity

stef said...

The ACPO manual on the use of firearms can be downloaded here

I like a good fairy story so I might read it later

As for screening, I'm sure that the very act of volunteering to dress like Darth Vader and stand with an automatic weapon in public places scanning the masses for someone to shoot, practically guarantees that no-one with any psychological issues would ever think of applying

The Antagonist said...

The ACPO manual on the use of firearms can be downloaded here

That would be the same ACPO as the Association of Chief Police Officers that is a private company 'limited by guarantee'.

Public Sector Police Chiefs, Private Sector company.

Nice mix.

Benito M. said...

è il mio preferito

paul said...

How do you shoot women and children?

Easy, you dont lead em as much!

paul said...

Is that supposed to be funny?

stef said...

there'll only ever be one hot-linked paul afaic

Stef said...

not hot-linked Paul is clearly another Dispatches fan and anyone who's read that shouldn't be especially surprised when watching the latest Aegis home video or wikileaks expose

Stef said...

It's also worth pointing out that door gunners who make comments about not leading children so much might think that's funny without that comment actually being a joke

paul said...

Its only funny in a sad kind of way, that when people "support the troops" these are the kind of nutters they are supporting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06nIz4scvI

stef said...

When we're encouraged to Support Our Troops would that also include Civilian Contractors?

/ pops Mystery Train back on the gramophone

stef said...

In related news I was trying to dig out a copy of The Short Timers yesterday only to rediscover that it is long out of print

which is a real shame as it is capable of offering insights that a lifetime of Mark Urban and Frank Gardner never would

It is available in wireless text format on the Interwebs though

Git some