Keir Starmer Aided by The John Smith Foundation To Launch Their Assault on Scotland

The Leader of the Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer will launch a new devolution deal for Holyrood as part of an attempt to revive Labour’s fortunes in Scotland. The pressure has been building within the Labour movement pushing the party towards a “devo-max” proposal that would see the Scottish Parliament take control of more powers and would also include the reform of the House of Lords to give greater representation to the UK’s nations and regions at Westminster.

In his address to the John P. Mackintosh Memorial Lecture, he will give the first indication of his constitutional offer to Scots before next May’s Holyrood election.*

*Cancelled due to covid lockdown.

He is also rumoured to be planning to displace Richard Leonard who will be forced to give up his role as leader of the Labour Party in Scotland.

So a full-on fightback is in the wind and I expect the John Smith Foundation and its supporters will muster all guns in their support. This is a do or die moment in their history and the 5th columnists and 77 Brigade will be active. Read on and get a more informed view of past events.

Judged by the Company they Keep

Effective political strategy nullifies opposition and is usually revealed after the event  But the SNP under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and her supporters are so confident they have absolute control and that any challenges to their political agenda can be first contained then eliminated.

A number of vociferous individuals in the “Sturgeonista Group” only joined the Party within the last ten years and their pedigree and political affiliation are questionable.

Fifth Columnists and the Havoc They Generate

The Westminster, London based Zionist financial cartel loosely titled the Government of the people is well versed in the art of deception and its response to the scare of the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum was swift and decisive.

Remedial action was necessary to maintain unionist control and this required that the SNP should first be neutered and then merged with the Labour Party branch in Scotland. The mission would be achieved over a period not exceeding ten years through the use of fifth Columnists who would join the SNP and operate from within bringing about fundamental changes to the pursuit of Scottish independence.

What follows is conjecture but is based on my near 60 years of political activism in Scotland. If only 20% of what I offer up is true then the SNP government will be forever dammed by its actions and betrayal of the founding principle of the Party, namely full independence for Scotland and divorce from the Westminster Zionist elite that controls it.

Westminster Strategy Exposed

Glasgow University, a safe haven for Unionists for over 300 years has been selected by Westminster to be the operational control centre. Baroness Smith, the master spy and widow of Bilderberger, the Late John Smith, has set up the John Smith Centre to operate from there.

SNP members are linked to the discredited charity, a front for the Fife-based Integrity Initiative and 77 Brigade Spying organisations controlled and funded by the Foreign Office in Westminster.

See: (https://caltonjock.com/2019/05/08/tried-and-tested-and-successful-secret-services-tactics-designed-to-damage-credibility-of-scottish-independence/)

The SNP spokesperson for Defence & Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Stewart McDonald MP, Douglas Chapman MP, Chris law MP and SNP frontbench adviser Neal Stewart, enjoyed a fully-funded trip to Ukraine in 2018. The funding source has never been revealed. In Westminster afterwards, they regularly took up parliamentary time criticizing Russia. But contributed not a jot about Scottish Independence.

Members of the group and its leader Alyn Smith MP also featured in the November 2020 paper from the SNP Westminster group submitted to the UK Government integrated review of foreign policy and defence. Amid the verbiage, there is a clear shift towards multilateralism, a disingenuous softening of the party’s commitment to unilaterally ratifying the UN Treaty on Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons, and a call for Lossiemouth to be the hub for combined Scottish, UK and US P-8 maritime bombers. This is causing deep concern among veteran anti-nuclear campaigners inside the SNP. See: (https://www.conter.co.uk/blog/2020/11/17/snp-the-week-the-gloves-came-off)

Gethins features in a blog: (https://caltonjock.com/2020/09/24/stephen-gethins-forgot-his-purpose-and-lost-his-seat-at-westminster-now-heading-for-kinross/)

SNP Links to the British American Project

A number of SNP MSPs succumbed to the temptation of the American dollar and followed trails previously trod by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the 1990s when they left the UK as staunch supporters of Unilateral disarmament only to return two weeks later as confirmed Multilateralist inline with the policies of the USA. In Jul 2016, Labour Party Leader Kezia Dugdale MSP, Jenny Gilruth MSP, Nicola Sturgeon’s Civil Service chief of staff (the Executioner) Elizabeth Lloyd and Daily Record Journalist David Clegg enjoyed a two-week working holiday in the USA.

The invitation to attend the all-expenses-paid jaunt had been extended by the organisers of the USA Government-funded International Visitor Leadership Programme. The inclusion of a pseudo civil servant and a tabloid journalist surprised some. Clegg would go on to later exclusively reveal intimate details of charges of sexual harassment against Alex Salmond. The government official that leaked the information has never been revealed.

Not long after their return Dugdale ended her engagement with her partner and entered into a relationship with Gilruth. An event that raised many eyebrows. See: (https://caltonjock.com/2017/03/16/the-british-american-project-wields-power-over-scotland-through-scottish-born-daniel-defoes/)

Gerrymandering the Membership of the NEC By the NEC

The election of the NEC in 2020 had the potential to bring about a fundamental change in the party in its present form since its NEC will decide the future direction of the party. The choice of independence tactics will be polarized between two factions. The WOKE activists favour the “Gradualist” approach” or the “Fundamentalists” who prefer direct action.

Anticipating the election of a significant number of “fundamentalists” the NEC imposed new and restrictive rules on branch management ensuring that the NEC would be enabled to veto and force changes to candidate shortlists so that a marked prevalence of WOKE activists would be listed as candidates. The process was duly adopted early in November.

This is the real reason the present NEC membership, choc-a-bloc with WOKE activists postponed the Party conference from June until late November 2020. The NEC needed to be sure the fundamentalists had been castrated.

Where were we 6 months short of the next Scottish General Election?

The issue of Scottish independence is no longer a negative factor and if the political scene remains as it is the campaign will yet again pit the SNP against the Tory Party. The Greens will gather second choice votes sufficient to ensure the return of a similar number of list MSPs as will the Liberal Democrats. The Labour Party will be squeezed further and might suffer more losses resulting in its relegation to fourth Party status at Holyrood. But tactical voting might yet dictate a different outcome.

A new Party pledged to the cause of Scottish Independence, without compromise might yet emerge and persuade the electorate to transfer their second vote from the SNP to it which would ensure a parity of voting providing Nationalists with a significant majority over all other parties. This approach would add strength to the cause of independence since Unionists’ arguments would largely fall on deaf ears.

ALBA was formed only a few weeks before the Scottish election but failed to achieve a breakthrough due to negative campaigning against it by the WOKE motivated SNP leadership.

And What About Indy Ref 2?

The question is best answered by harking back to the 2014 referendum when only 2 days before the vote the Unionists played their final card and offered Devo max, an option just short of total independence, for a “no” vote. Scots were attracted by the ploy which was publically supported by the entire Unionist community and the Queen herself. Gordon Brown issued a solemn promise stating “There will be no backtracking on the promise, my iron fists will prevent it.”

Gentle John Sweeney, led the Nationalist team in the subsequent negotiations and was completely outflanked by the Unionists who reneged on many of their “Devo max” pledges. Nothing was heard from Gordon Brown or any of the other Unionist leaders. Scottish voters were furious at the betrayal but unable to reverse the outcome of the referendum they bided their time until the next election only 6 months on and decimated the Unionist party’s in Scotland returning a nearly full house of SNP MPs to Westminster with a clear mandate to pursue the cause of independence yet again.

A mandate commitment was undertaken by all parties to the negotiations in Edinburgh only a few months before. This is the statement:

“Reflecting the sovereign right of the people of Scotland to determine the form of government best suited to their needs, as expressed in the referendum on 18 September 2014, and in the context of Scotland remaining within the UK, an enhanced devolution settlement for Scotland will be durable, responsive and democratic. And it is agreed that nothing in this report prevents Scotland from becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose.”

A summary of events is here: (https://caltonjock.com/2020/09/19/little-bo-peep-is-losing-her-sheep-is-it-et-tu-for-nicola-sturgeon/)

And What About the Secret Service presence at Glasgow University?

This is a concern given the increasing number of SNP politicians who are in close association with Baroness Smith and her team. It raises the possibility that measures approved by the Bilderbergers in the USA, will be put in place providing a way forward to limited Scottish independence tied to a merger of the SNP and Labour under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon. Impossible!!! Wait and see!!!!

2021: Control freak’ Sturgeon’s ‘Stalinist power grab’

Nicola Sturgeon and SNP party chiefs are tightening their grip on power with sweeping reforms to the Party’s top brass of management.

The SNP National Executive Committee (NEC), the highest decision-making body for the party, is being slimmed down from 42 to 32 members.

But an immediate consequence is that around half of the party’s regional officers representing thousands of members across hundreds of branches across Scotland. are set for the chop. But the move has sparked fears over the lack of scrutiny the party will have from members in future following the “slimming down.”

In a draft paper, the SNP leadership said: “Feedback from our consultation highlighted the need for further reform of the NEC, not least from those with experience of NEC membership.”

Former SNP member Kenny MacAskill, now an Alba Party MP, branded the move as a “power grab” by party chiefs saying: “The SNP has gone from being one of the most democratic political parties to being one of the most autocratic.

This Sturgeon power grab is just the latest example and one of which any Stalinist would be proud. All power in the SNP is concentrated in the hands of two people. Its leader and its chief executive are of course married to each other. This unhealthy dynamic does not allow criticism or dissent and this move is designed to remove the last vestiges of democracy from the SNP and to ensure the NEC is nothing more than a rubber stamp for the leader and chief executive. It does this by changing the balance away from those elected by the members and towards those appointed.” (Press)

George Kerevan provides a damming analysis of what has happened to the SNP after many years in office

The shift to the right in policy terms has been accompanied by the rise of a powerful Party bureaucracy. The policy is made by employed special advisers rather than members and Corporate lobbyists have easy access to ministers.

With success in Westminster elections, a large number of MPs and their staff have become dependent on our opponents (the UK State) for salaries and pensions and there is a powerful system of patronage and a career ladder to keep aspiring high flyers in line and ensure their loyalty.

The Party HQ and the Leadership now have a deeply ingrained disdain for members and especially for the volunteers who run the branch and constituency networks. Associated with this is the large cohort of MPs and MSPs, their energy perhaps sapped by the routine work of representing individual constituents, whose focus and drive appear suppressed by a combination of healthy salaries and a position of relative impotence in relation to the tiny select Leadership group.

George Kerevan.Journalist, economist, filmmaker, ecosocialist and former SNP MP for East Lothian. The rest of the article can be found here: (https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2020/08/15/festival-of-democracy/)

Two examples of leadership nepotism

There are many who enjoy the largesse of the Party leader and her select inner circle of LGBTQ+ activists. One is the patronage and continuous employment in politics gifted to french-born, Aberdeen Councillor Christian Allard whose Linkedin profile lists his political interests as Economic Empowerment • Education • Health • Human Rights • Politics • Poverty Alleviation. Strange !!! No mention of Scottish Independence. And an examination of his Twitter activity reveals a dearth of mentions of Scottish independence.

Political career: Gave up working in the private sector in 2013 and has been in paid employment continuously with the SNP between 2011-and 2022 and has been awarded “Protected” status.

Jul 2011 – May 2013 · 2 years: Constituency Officer (Kintore) for Dennis Robertson (MSP).

May 2013 – May 2016 3 years: Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP): Committee service.

May 2016: Scottish General election: Topped the SNP’s regional list in the North East. Not elected due to the strong performance of the party in the constituency vote. Regional seats went to candidates from the lists of other parties.

May 2017 – Present 5 years: Aberdeen: Councillor for Torry and Ferryhill: Elected with 910 1st preference votes.

Aug 2017 – Apr 2018 9 months: Aberdeen: Community Integrated Care: Support Worker.

Jun 2019 – Jan 2020 8 months: Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

May 2021: Scottish General election: Automatically selected as the second list candidate for the SNP in the North East. Not elected due to the strong performance of the party in the constituency vote. Regional seats went to candidates from the lists of parties, other than ALBA on the instructions of Nicola Sturgeon.

May 2022: Standing for re-election as councillor Torry and Ferryhill. Success would extend his employment with the SNP to 16 years. Surely time for someone else to get a chance at earning some easy money courtesy of the protection of the Party Leader.

Another benefitting from the “nod and a wink” politics now so prevalent in the SNP is Joshua Mennie, a protected candidate who gains that security through his claims that he suffers from Tourette’s syndrome!!

At the time the Finance minister, McKay resigned and Kate Forbes came to the rescue with an excellent presentation of the budget, the zealous monomaniac and ferocious tweeter Mennie ignored the scandal of McKay being forced to resign for grooming a child to confront an imaginary one.

A church-going minister tipped to be the next Finance Secretary, who believes as the bulk of the Party membership also does that the legal definition of male and female ought not to be changed without informed public discussion and agreement.

He tweeted: “The last thing our party needs is Kate Forbes climbing the ladder when she has such questionable views on equality. I’m always concerned when politicians conflate their personal religious beliefs into their work-life to the detriment of others,” confirming a complete lack of self-awareness.

His tweet, (since deleted) was his response to a letter published in the press (https://www.thenational.scot/news/19859777.kate-forbes-calls-tolerance-gra-debate) highlighting concerns over the Scottish government’s proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act, a law that would replace the legal definition of sex with gender self-declaration.

Jan 2021: NEC Meeting hijacked by LGBTQ activists

The LGBTQ group proposed that the SNP’s eight regional lists for the Scottish parliamentary election should include in top place, either a *BAME or a disabled candidate.

Four regions would be allocated a BAME person and the other four a disabled person. The proposal carried the rider that disabled status should be by self-identification with no confirmatory checking being carried out.

The proposal was debated at some length since many members believed it would be illegal to adopt the proposal under equalities law. The matter was deferred and referred to the Party’s legal counsel, Jonathan Mitchell QC who warned that the policy was legally dubious and open to challenge in the courts and any case brought by a person disadvantaged by the rule would probably succeed, and cost the SNP tens of thousands of pounds in legal expenses.

But the LGBTQ group insisted the proposal should be decided by the NEC and its LGBTQ Chair, Kirsten Oswald allowed the matter to be put to a vote. The vote was tied and it was expected that in compliance with accepted practice the Chair would cast her vote for retention of the status quo. She didn’t and passed the motion placing the Party at great risk of legal and costly claims of discrimination.

Three members announced conflicts of interest before the vote and should have recused themselves from the vote. They were:

Fiona Robertson declared that she intended to seek the top spot on the North-East list as a disabled candidate who was in attendance as a substitute for an NEC member who was unable to attend. Did not recuse herself from the vote.

Graham Campbell, a councillor from Glasgow who declared his intention to stand on either the Glasgow or Lothian lists, both of which were to have their top spots reserved for BAME* candidates under the proposal. He did not recuse himself from the vote. His partner is SNP MP Anne McLauchlin.

Greg McCarra from the Association of Nationalist Councillors (who is neither disabled nor BAME) also declared he was seeking the nomination. He did recuse himself from the vote.

Those subsequently included as candidates on the protected list for the North East of Scotland included. The nature of their self-declared disability has been withheld but it is common knowledge they are all LGBTQ+ activists:

Fatima Joji
Christian Allard
Julie Bell
Nadia El-Nakla
Lynne Short
Gillian Al-Samarai
Joshua Mennie

19 Mar 2018 marked 15 years since the U.S.-U.K invasion of Iraq in 2003, and still, the World has no idea of the enormity of the calamity the invasion unleashed since the military refused to keep a tally of Iraqi deaths. But it is calculated that there has been a catastrophic 2.4 million Iraqi deaths since the 2003 invasion.

The number of Iraqi casualties is not just a historical dispute, because the killing is still going on today. Since several major cities in Iraq and Syria fell to Islamic State in 2014, NATO has conducted the heaviest bombing campaign on any country since the US bombing of the Vietnam war, dropping 105,000 bombs and missiles and reducing most of Mosul and other contested Iraqi and Syrian cities to rubble.

An Iraqi Kurdish intelligence report estimated that at least 40,000 civilians were killed in the bombardment of Mosul alone, with many more bodies still buried in the rubble.  A recent project to remove rubble and recover bodies in just one neighbourhood found 3,353 more bodies, of whom only 20% were identified as ISIS fighters and 80% as civilians. Another 11,000 people in Mosul are still reported missing by their families.

Of the countries where the US and UK have been waging war since 2001, Iraq is the only one where epidemiologists have actually conducted comprehensive mortality studies based on the best practices that they have developed in war zones such as Angola, Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda. In all these countries, as in Iraq, the results of comprehensive epidemiological studies revealed 5 to 20 times more deaths than previously published figures based on “passive” reporting by journalists, NGOs or governments.

Two such reports on Iraq came out in the prestigious The Lancet medical journal, first in 2004 and then in 2006. The 2006 study estimated that about 600,000 Iraqis were killed in the first 40 months of war and occupation in Iraq, along with 54,000 non-violent but still war-related deaths.

The US and UK governments dismissed the report, saying that the methodology was not credible and that the numbers were hugely exaggerated. In countries where Western military forces have not been involved, however, similar studies have been accepted and widely cited without question or controversy. Based on advice from their scientific advisers, British government officials privately admitted that the 2006 Lancet report was “likely to be right,” but precisely because of its legal and political implications, the U.S. and British governments led a cynical campaign to discredit it.

A 2015 report by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Body Count: Casualty Figures After 10 Years of the ‘War on Terror,” found the 2006 Lancet study more reliable than other mortality studies conducted in Iraq, citing its robust study design, the experience and independence of the research team, the short time elapsed since the deaths it documented and its consistency with other measures of violence in occupied Iraq.

The Lancet study was conducted over 11 years ago, after only 40 months of war and occupation. Tragically, that was nowhere near the end of the deadly consequences of the Iraq invasion.

In June 2007, a British polling firm conducted a further study and estimated that 1,033,000 Iraqis had been killed by then.

While the figure of a million people killed was shocking, the Lancet study had documented steadily increasing violence in occupied Iraq between 2003 and 2006, with 328,000 deaths in the final year it covered. The later finding that another 430,000 Iraqis were killed in the following year was consistent with other evidence of escalating violence through late 2006 and early 2007.

The “Iraqi Death Estimator” updated the Lancet study’s estimate by multiplying passively reported deaths compiled by British NGO Iraq Body Count by the same ratio found in 2006. This project was discontinued in September 2011, with its estimate of Iraqi deaths standing at 1.45 million.

Accepting the estimate of 1.033 million killed by June 2007, then applying acceptable methodology from July 2007 to the present using revised figures from Iraq Body Count, it is estimated that 2.4 million Iraqis have been killed since 2003 as a result of the illegal invasion, with a minimum of 1.5 million and a maximum of 3.4 million.

These calculations cannot possibly be as accurate or reliable as a rigorous up-to-date mortality study, which is urgently needed in Iraq and in each of the countries afflicted by war since 2001.  But in calculating the judgment, it is important to make the most accurate estimate.

Numbers are numbing, especially numbers that rise into the millions. Each person killed is someone’s loved one. They are mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. One death impacts an entire community but collectively, they impact an entire nation.

At the start of the 16th year of the Iraq war, the US and UK need to come to terms with the scale of the violence and chaos they unleashed in Iraq. Only then may we find the political will to bring this horrific cycle of violence to an end, to replace war with diplomacy and hostility with friendship so that other countries can be spared a similar fate to that of Iraq.

Source: Common Dreams

Aberdeen South under LGBTQ+ control

With a new Sturgeon compliant executive in place, Aberdeen South wavering has been stabilised providing further evidence that the inexorable campaigning force of the LGBTQ+ movement continues to crush any opposition daring to challenge its beliefs in its insidious cult war of attrition on the membership and officials of the SNP at Branch level.

Serena Arif, the convenor of the 1000 strong SNP Aberdeen South Branch has been removed from office and her membership of the party suspended by the SNP National Secretary, Lorna Finn, citing unnamed sources who allegedly notified SNP Headquarters that Serena had openly expressed criticism of the SNP governments proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) which was a breach of the party code of conduct.

Senior members of the Branch resigned in support of Serena expressing their dismay and disapproval of the unconstitutional, unrestrained and autocratic abuse of authority by SNP Headquarters.

Their concerns were strengthened by the fact that the SNP government at the time it placed the draft GRA proposals in the public domain in 2020 had also called for an open, wide-ranging public discussion and consultation on them, the results of which would be published.

A commitment the government has not honoured. One wonders why!!

Any guilt to be attributed to Serena by her unknown accusers could only be to her support of the SNP government public consultation initiative evidenced by her attempt to organise a briefing and discussion meeting with members of her Branch to which she invited two guest speakers who would address the meeting. When one speaker decided not to attend Serena cancelled it in interests of fair play.

In support of Serena, Edinburgh South West MP Joanna Cherry took up her case and wrote to Finn seeking an explanation of the suspension. A reply has not been forthcoming well over a month later.

In her letter, Joanna also linked the injustice served on Serena to similar incidences on other female members of the party suggesting that the SNP: “is ignoring complaints made by gender critical women about breaches of the party’s code of conduct whilst pursuing complaints against gender critical women.

Expanding on her statement Joanna added: “As you must now be aware, there are a significant number of outstanding complaints from women across our party, including me, against members including senior parliamentarians, councillors, party employees and NEC members for clear breaches of the code of conduct, yet no action has been taken against any of these people. Certainly, none of the people I have complained about has been suspended pending investigation of my complaints. Indeed at least two of them recently passed vetting to stand as councillors and others continue to play senior roles in the party. I cannot understand why Serena should be held to a different standard than other party members and why complaints against her should be progressed with such vigour whilst those of many other women including me are ignored.”

Concluding Joanna briefed Finn that it had been recently established in law that “gender-critical” beliefs fell under the Equalities Act and applying a disciplinary process against one member, while not subjecting other activists to the process “looks very much like discrimination”.

LGBTQ+ beanbaggers control SNP branches with impunity

There is a fast-growing realisation within the Scottish electorate that standards of societal behaviour commonly accepted for many years as normality is under threat from virulent attacks from recently formed LGBTQ+ groups within the SNP primarily comprised of young, politically naive youngsters aged under 30 years who full of beans first destabilise then take control of local branches with the full blessing and active support of the Party leadership who are sworn to deliver the aspirations of billionaire LGBTQ+ activists based in the US.

Aberdeen North leads the way in the North East of Scotland and is wholly driven by LBGTQ+ activists but with luck and forward planning officials in the other constituencies might be alerted to a threat of removal and subsequent branch morphing into something foreign to their political thinking and unacceptable.

But is Aberdeen North the only constituency under threat? I wonder!!!!

The official sales pitch of the Aberdeen Independence Movement (AIM)

The Aberdeen Independence Movement (AIM) is a non-partisan pro-independence group based in the North East of Scotland. We focus on making the local case for independence where we prioritise issues that affect Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire in particular. Our target audience is the undecided voters and through our discussions, we hope to convince everyone that independence is the pragmatic choice. We believe that a local and more professional approach is what is required to achieve our goals. Our active members are not all SNP supporters but are convinced about the arguments for independence. (jokingly) !!!

Comment

Its activities to date reveal it to be an umbrella organisation with its membership almost exclusively SNP and influential LBGTQ+ minded activists.

Alan Petrie – AIM Co-Coordinator – reveals the truth

Our movement is open, diverse, progressive, welcoming, and equitable.

Alba candidates have voiced bigoted views against (amongst other groups) gipsy/traveller communities, trans people and gay people– no action has been taken, no investigations, no suspensions, nothing. Instead, the Alba party has chosen to either remain silent or to even participate in this festival of bigotry.

Aberdeen Independence Movement does not make recommendations on who you should or should not vote for, we’re an explicitly non-party political organisation, however, we do feel we have a moral duty to call out people who risk bringing our movement to a very dark place with their hatred.

It’s taken us a while to decide on what to say about the utterly disgraceful scenes playing out, we had been worried that we’d risk giving hateful people oxygen, that us making an intervention into this deeply ugly episode in Scottish politics would serve only to extend the reach of those who wish to marginalise, undermine, and otherwise harm people they designate as ‘other’.

Ultimately, we have decided that on balance, the only option for anyone with a shred of decency, when faced with utterly vile bigotry, is to publicly call it out. Aberdeen Independence Movement will always stand against bigotry and those who spread it.

Aberdeen Independence Movement originating executive committee:

Co-Chairs:
Fatima Joji: Nigerian-Scot from Westhill, Aberdeenshire, tops the SNP’s north-east regional list for the Scottish Parliament elections.
Kenny Anderson: Longtime SNP supporter. Managing Director and Majority Shareholder, Anderson Buchan Properties Ltd.

Finance Team:
Virginia Dawod: Manager, Robert Gordon University. SNP activist.
Danny Forbes: Robert Gordon University – SNP activist.

Joshua Mennie: (media consultant), SNP, NEC member. List candidate North East Scotland

Theo Forbes. Graphic Media And Communications Officer for the Aberdeen Independence Movement (AIM). Post occupied from 17 Jun 2017.

Before that in 2015, Graphic Customer Advisor was employed by B&Q.

Just to confuse matters was a member of the National Executive Committee and the National Events and Fundraising Officer for the SNP group “Young Scots for Independence” from 2016-to 2018.

But just to be really clear was also the Graphic National Events and Fundraising Officer who at a loose end attended Aberdeen University between 2017-and 2021 studying Politics & International Relations.

Oh!! And he has been employed by the SNP as an intern since September 2020.

Comment from someone who knows him:

What is a Graphic Customer Advisor? Is it someone who swears and gives detailed obscene answers to the customers all the time when they are advising them 🙂 As someone who used to work for Dodge City/B&Q a long time ago I have never heard of that term – must be a posh replacement for a shop assistant to make them seem important these days?

Aberdeenshire Independence Movement (ASIM) – Team leaders:

Neil Baillie, SNP Councillor
Vicky Harper, SNP Councillor
Andy Stuart, SNP Convenor Aberdeenshire West
Fatima Joji, SNP List Candidate

Comment:

Petrie and his partners AIM to hide their real identity from the electorate which reflects badly on its real motives which are to undermine the legitimate aspirations and expansion of other independence supporting groups such as ALBA and to promote the growth of the society damaging LGBTQ+ agenda

Allegations of war crimes against Russian forces in Ukraine

The alleged discovery of mass graves in Bucha – and many eyewitness accounts of sexual violence at the hands of Russian troops have led US President Joe Biden to call for Vladimir Putin to face trial for war crimes.

Russia’s UN ambassador has denied any massacre in Bucha and accused Ukraine of engaging in a “staged provocation” with Western countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of genocide and is due to address the UN Security Council on 5 April 2022.

Funding The White Helmets

the organisation is funded through the UK Government’s £1bn Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF)

They are used as:

1. A means of supporting and lending credibility to opposition structures
2.  A supposedly impartial organisation that corroborates UK government accusations against Russia

There has been controversy regarding the CSSF, as details of some of the projects it funds are secret and even senior MPs are not told what they are.

The 2017 Annual Report provides revealing details:

Click to access conflict-stability-security-fund-annual-report-2016-2017.pdf

The Jo Cox Memorial Fund

One million pounds were raised in her honour in just three days. The scale and speed of the public response were overwhelming and showed how powerful her story was. Finance raised was to be used to support causes she believed in, including The White Helmets: Volunteer search and rescue workers in Syria. Unarmed and neutral, these heroes have saved more than 51,000 lives from under the rubble and brought hope to the region. 

Who are the White helmets?

The murder of a rising star in UK politics, Jo Cox, MP  sent shock waves across the world. Within hours of her death, a special fund was established in her name to raise money. One cause supported was the Syrian White Helmets.

But credible allegations soon surfaced that the plea for financial support was a cynical exploitation of Jo Cox’s murder to revive the flagging credibility of a US State Department & UK Foreign Office asset on the ground in Syria.

The alleged “non-governmental” organisation received funding from at least three major NATO governments, including $23 million from the US Government and $29 million (£19.7 million) from the UK Government, $4.5 million (€4 million) from the Dutch Government. In addition, it received material assistance and training funded and run by a variety of other EU Nations.

The White Helmets were established as a crucial component of a US, UK and NATO shadow state operation inside Syria.  The group was essential to the propaganda stream that prosecuted a merciless media and political campaign against the elected Syrian government and permitted the US and NATO to justify their regime of crippling economic and humanitarian sanctions against the Syrian people.

The ‘NGO’ blueprint was successful and might well be deployed in future destabilizing operations providing a direct intra-venus line into the field of battle and acting as a conduit for information, equipment and medical support.

The foregoing matches the projected future of warfare described as “swarming” and is outlined in a report produced by the RAND Corporation entitled: Swarming and the Future of Conflict.

“The emergence of a military doctrine based on swarming pods and clusters requires that defence policymakers develop new approaches to connectivity and control and achieve a new balance between the two. Far more than traditional approaches to battle, swarming clearly depends upon robust information flows. Securing these flows, therefore, can be seen as a necessary condition for successful swarming.”

Relevant articles and interviews are provided below.  There needs to be a serious public and political re-evaluation of the morality of funding the US, UK and NATO groups established to further “regime change” objectives.

White Helmets exposed as US, UK agents embedded with Al Nusra and ISIS

“Behind the Headline,” investigative journalist Vanessa Beeley pulled back the curtain on anti-Assad ‘freedom fighters’ and ‘moderate rebels,’ revealing a carefully calibrated propaganda campaign to drive the US / UK intervention in the war-torn country.” Watch:

Mint Press: US Propaganda War in Syria: Report Ties White Helmets to US Intervention

“White Helmets’ primary function is propaganda” reported an independent journalist, who tied the group to George Soros and the controversial advocacy group Avaaz.”

Sputnik: Soros Sponsored NGO in Syria Aims at Ousting Assad not Saving Civilians

“One of the largest humanitarian organizations operating in war-torn Syria – the White Helmets – has been accused of being an anti-government propaganda arm that encourages direct foreign intervention.”

21st Century Wire: Syria’s White Helmets, War by Way of Deception Part 1

This piece examines the role of the Syria Civil Defence aka,’ The White Helmets’ currently operating in Syria and takes a closer look at their financial sources and mainstream media partners in order to better determine if they are indeed “neutral” as media moguls proclaim these “humanitarians” to be.

21st Century Wire: Part II. Syria’s White Helmets, “Moderate” Executioners

The NGO hydra has no more powerful or influential serpentine head in Syria than the Syria Civil Defence aka The White Helmets who, according to their leader and creator, James Le Mesurier, hold greater sway than even ISIS or Al Nusra confabs over the Syrian communities. This article explores the White Helmet’s involvement in terrorist executions of civilians, particularly in Aleppo.

21st Century Wire: Humanitarian Propaganda War Against Syria – Led by Avaaz and the White Helmets

“The White Helmets in their haste to point the finger of blame at Moscow, managed to tweet about Russia’s airstrikes several hours before the Russian Parliament actually authorized the use of the Air Force in Syria.” ~ Sott.net

Eva Bartlett: Human Rights Front Groups Warring on Syria

This page will continue to expand as more so-called “Human Rights” groups are outed for propagating anti-Syria war rhetoric and false allegations against the Syrian government and the Syrian Arab Army.  As it is, the list of players is quite extensive.  Below, I’ll list the known HR front people and groups (many, if not most, with links to the US State Department and criminals like George Soros).

Ron Paul Institute: Syria the Propaganda Ring

We have demonstrated that the White Helmets are an integral part of the propaganda vanguard that ensures obscurantism of fact and propagation of Human Rights fiction that elicits the well-intentioned and self-righteous response from a very cleverly duped public. A priority for these NGOs is to keep pushing the No Fly Zone scenario which has already been seen to have disastrous implications for innocent civilians in Libya, for example.

We will add to the above articles and interviews as they become available.  Vanessa Beeley has just completed a speaking tour of the UK and Iran during which she highlighted the role of the NGO complex in general and the White Helmets in particular as a new breed of predatory humanitarianism being unleashed against target nations. Videos of her talks will be published as soon as they become available from the AV7 conference and Frome Stop War.

Author Vanessa Beeley is a contributor to 21WIRE, and since 2011, she has spent most of her time in the Middle East reporting on events there – as an independent researcher, writer, photographer and peace activist. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and a volunteer with the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. See more of her work at her blog The Wall Will Fall.

http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/06/21/who-are-the-syria-white-helmets/

https://ingaza.wordpress.com/syria/human-rights-front-groups-humanitarian-interventionalists-warring-on-syria/

In the past 2 weeks, I have been advised by 7 SNP officeholders/members of long-standing that they were in receipt of a letter from a more senior party official advising their suspension from official duties and any party political activity pending investigation of their behaviour and possible dismissal from the Party. I viewed four of the letters and the content of each is very blunt and very similar.

But how many more letters are in existence or in the pipeline?

Is there a Stalinist doctrine purge underway or is the spectre of McCarthyism on the horizon?

Political Fun and Games

The Unionist press and media made claims that a resurgence in the fortunes of the Tory Party in the last Council elections was part-attributed to a transfer of the protestant Orange Order away from the Labour Party to the Tory Party which had courted the Order by changing its title back to the “Conservative and Unionist Party.”

The Torys benefited again in the next General Election when the Labour Party voter base in Scotland collapsed due to in-fighting over the political direction the Party would commit to.

The polarisation of Scottish politics appeared to be established. The Conservative and Unionist Party claimed the right to defend the Union and the influence and role of Labour and the Liberal Democratic Party had been reduced to that of political spoilers.

But the Tory Party is well capable of “shooting itself in the foot” and Boris Johnson’s government duly did so with its mishandling of Northern Ireland post-Brexit where the Republican voter base now marginally exceeds the Unionists increasing the likelihood of an early referendum and the reunification of Ireland.

The article that follows provides a detailed history of the Orange Order in Scotland and its capacity for disruption.

The Orange Order in Scotland

The Orange Order first surfaced in the north of Ireland in 1795. Its constitution commits members to the defence of Protestantism and the British Crown. It provides a focus for Protestant ethnic groups in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Although its promoted activities are focused on social and religious matters the political dimension has always been considered to be of prime importance and the Order has provided a number of political activists and leaders at many levels of Scottish political society.

The Order is not exclusively an Irish import to Scotland since the politics of native Scots in the West of Scotland is historically sectarian in nature.

This ensured the political growth of the Irish-Protestant working class in Scotland would be influenced by native Scots who were more inclined to embrace socialist ideology as opposed to confrontation.

The loss of many thousands of young Scots soldiers and the depression after WW1 changed the mindset of Irish immigrants and their descendants who became more reliant on the Order to ensure their place in Scottish society. This brought with it a significant increase in membership and a much enhanced Order presence in the politics of Scotland in the 1920-1939 period.

At the end of WW2 and up to the late 1950’s the Order was influential in ensuring the political direction of the Protestant working-class vote in the Central belt of Scotland.

The industrial downturn and slum clearance programmes in Scotland brought about the establishment of overspill areas, such as Easterhouse and Castlemilk. Expansion of town and village living; Coatbridge, Airdrie, Motherwell, Hamilton and the new town of Cumbernauld.

Similar programmes were completed in Edinburgh and the East of Scotland forming overspill areas such as Muirhouse, Sighthill and the new towns of Glenrothes and Livingston.

The impact of the changes on the Order was significant. Membership fell sharply as the population of the Central belt of Scotland became more dispersed and the influence of the Order was lessened markedly.

But although much reduced in numbers the Order in Scotland is still influential in Protestant communities.

Membership has remained consistent in the West of Scotland (in or around Glasgow) and North Lanarkshire

West Lothian, in the East of Scotland, is an Order stronghold and there are a significant number of lodges in Renfrewshire, Wigtownshire and Ayrshire.

Conversely, there are few lodges in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands and Borders regions.

Male members of the Order

The highest ever male concentration of the Order in Scotland was recorded at 10% in Govan and Rutherglen, but overall Scottish male membership density rarely exceeded two per cent. In 2017 the figure is reduced to less than 1%. For comparison male membership of the Order in Belfast routinely peaks at around 20%

Membership Patterns

In Glasgow, at the Ward level, pockets of the Order are to be found in; Govan (Kingston), Ibrox, Kinning Park, Fairfield, Kingston, Rutherglen, Cowcaddens, Drumchapel, Maryhill, Possil, Cowlairs, Baillieston and Bridgeton.

Causes of Membership Change

Order membership improved following the introduction of licensed social clubs coupled with an ever-increasing appeal of soccer and paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland. Spikes and fluctuations in membership are also attributed to a number of factors:

Threats to Protestantism: marked decrease in Scottish Protestant church membership and increasing secularisation resulting in declining church attendance and Pastoral influence.

Threats to the Union: e.g. a visit to Scotland by the Pope

 
The Northern Ireland Troubles of 1969-90

In the 1960s and throughout the troubles the policies of the Order in Scotland became ever more militant answering the perceived threat to the Union by Nationalists.

“Scottish” Lodges and their bands travelled to Northern Ireland in increasing numbers during the “Marching” season. Over time the distinct “Scottishness” of marching lodge members was replaced with “Ulsterness”. Scottish saltires were replaced with the Red hand of Ulster and the Union Jack. Surveys identified that Order members claimed their identity to be “British” and it was the protection of the “Union” that drove them to go to Ulster each year.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland which supported financial contributions to Ulster was also heavily involved politically, throughout the period with the many different factions in Ulster and UK governments. The Order benefited from the troubles achieving the highest ever level of membership in many years.

The Sea Change

The 1982 visit of the Pope proved to be the turning point for the Order and its steady decline in membership and influence. Hard-line “Ulsterised” rank and file members demanded militant action preventing the visit but were not supported by senior Order officers or the Grand Lodge.

A number of small groups ignored instructions and went ahead with protests causing an amount of disruption. The failure of the Grand Lodge to establish control encouraged lodges to ignore instructions forbidding them from introducing Sunday opening, the sale of alcohol and singing and dancing. An added impact was the increasing militancy and unruly behaviour of marching bands and their supporters. Bands had evolved from the Scottish pipe bands of the 1960s, first to the accordion, then to “blood and guts” flute bands whose average membership age was under 30y. Despite suspensions, the bands continue to perform at many “Orange Walks” in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Influence

The Order in Scotland can be credited with the establishment of a working-class Unionist Tory base through the lodge system and its influence over political events in Glasgow up to the start of WW2 was substantial resulting in a number of Tory Orange Order MPs being elected to Westminster. The Order had little purchase however in the rest of Scotland since there were no other significant Orange Order clusters.

The Scottish Unionists’ successful political recruitment and retention strategies up to the early 1960s were centred on cultivating the votes of the Order membership without compromising its aims and ideals. But the Tory party alienated many members of the Order when it turned away from Unionism retaining only “Conservative” in its title. Many Order members drifted away to the Labour party.

Thatcher’s agreement to support the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement proved to be the catalyst that severed links between the Order and the Tory Party in Scotland. Disillusioned Order members, supported by the Grand Lodge formed a political block to the Tory Party using their votes tactically making claim to a reduction in the number of Tory MP’s in Scotland.

Political observers have inclined to the view that the withdrawal of their support had less impact on the fortunes of the Tory party in Scotland blaming other Thatcher actions against Scotland.

Freemasonry in Scotland

The Scottish Protestant tradition of Masonry stretches back to the middle ages and the organisation of Freemasons in Scotland is broadly similar to that of the Orange Order. Indeed there is a school of thought that supports the view that the Order first adopted the rules of Scottish Freemasonry and amended them to suit their own needs. It is of no surprise that the Orange Order has done so well among Scottish Protestants.

Scotland’s total of around 170,000 Masons is the largest Masonic membership rate worldwide making it a Protestant institution guaranteed its place in Scottish society.

The stability of Scottish Freemasonry is attributed to its “articles of association” which require members to be strictly apolitical and non-religious, unlike the Orange order, (with 70% of its Scottish membership clustered in Central Scotland.)

It is also important to draw attention to class differences between the two groups of Protestants in Scotland. In Glasgow, Masonic Lodge halls are primarily located in the more affluent West of the City and in the satellite villages and small towns on the city’s outskirts. Major concentrations of Masonic lodges are also to be found in the Borders, Highlands and the Northeast. Other lodges are located, in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Perth. Conversely, Orange Order Lodge Halls are located in working-class areas of Glasgow and similar locations in other towns in the West of Scotland.

Summary

In the last 30 years, Scottish Protestant church membership and attendance have fallen significantly and the Grand Lodge is increasingly impotent in the control of younger, often more militant members who challenge its right to dictate policy in regards to the support of Ulster Orange men.

The continued presence of the Order is directly attributed to the past influx of Irish-Protestant immigrants and their descendants and its power is only retained in areas of historic Irish-Protestant immigration such as Larkhall, Airdrie and parts of West Lothian. Overall however the strength of the Order, (even in the West of Scotland) is relatively weak.