Today, MP’s embark on another set of ‘Indicative Votes’. They will start debating at 3.30 pm and vote at around 8.00 pm. The result will be known at 9.30pm. Here is what they will be voting on.
Staying in the EU’s Customs Union is favourite to win. Its proposer is Ken Clarke MP.
Yet Mr Clarke, and all the other Conservative MPs who voted for it last Wednesday, stood for Parliament on the Conservative 2017 Manifesto. which said on page 36: ‘As we leave the European Union, we will no longer be members of the single market or customs union … ‘ Even Labour’s 2017 Manifesto only wanted, ‘the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union’ on page 24, not the actuality of either.
Leavers on last Friday’s walk.
A second referendum is also gaining ground. Its proposers in one form are Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson and in another, Labour’s Graham Jones and Tory Dominic Grieve, who lost a confidence vote in his constituency last Friday.
And yet the 2017 Labour Manifesto said ‘Labour accepts the referendum result.’ (Page 24.) The Conservatives said: ‘Following the historic referendum on 23rd June 2016, the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union.’ (Page 36).
The Bible says:
Psalm 15:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. … 4b He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
Eccl 5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
Matt 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
So pray the MPs will keep their word, reject the Customs Union and the Second Referendum. Pray the Government stay firm and pray the UK will leave the Revived Roman Empire on 12th April 2019.
Meanwhile:
Rt Hon Liz Truss MP
The Daily Express reports Eurocrats salivating over the ‘Customs Union’ prospect and hoping they can corner the UK inot the status of a vassal state post-Brexit.
In the Guardian, Cabinet Minister Liz Truss makes the obvious point that being part of the EU Customs Union would rob the UK of any power over our future trade policy. She will support No Deal, she says.
Martin Howe says ‘It is far better to risk extending Article 50 than to accept May’s bad deal.’
The Guardian reports Brexit supporters blocked roads around Westminster that day.
While Conservative activists – the ones the Party needs to walk the streets and bring their vote out on 2nd May in the local elections, let alone if Euro elections happen on 23rd May, are overwhelmingly pro- ‘No Deal’.
Prime Minister Theresa May will tell 200 MPs opposed to No DEal to vote for Her Deal.
Prime Minister Theresa May will tell 200 MPs opposed to No DEal to vote for Her Deal.
A group of over 200 MPs opposed to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a deal are to meet the Prime Minister today.
Sky news reports: ‘The politicians are from the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP and Plaid Cymru parties and the letter was written by Meriden MP Caroline Spelman (Conservative) and Birmingham Erdington MP Jack Dromey (Labour).’
How it will go
This is what will happen at the meeting:
Mrs May will make sure everyone has a drink of some sort. That is what she did yesterday, says The Sun, when she entertained Conservative and DUP MPs including Boris Johnson and Nigel Dodds, as stage one of her charm offensive. Not that any changed their minds, but hey, one does what one can. Then after a warm welcome, the Prime Minister will ask the 200 MPs about their concerns.
They will say manufacturing in the UK, especially in the Midlands, will grind to a halt if there is no deal. Thousands of their constituents will lose their jobs. There will be no exports to the EU any more, and no drugs or nurses for the NHS. It will be like jumping off a cliff-edge. Or being involved in a car-crash. Aircraft will fall out of the sky, some may assert. Others will report the Chicken Licken Think Tank has said the sky itself will fall down.
Mrs May will immediately express herself extremely sympathetic to the MPs. She will say she understands their concerns. The Prime Minister will add she fully shares their horror of leaving the EU without a deal. It really must not happen, despite Government planning for it just in case. ‘No Deal’ would be unthinkable, she will say, nodding her head earnestly.
What deal do the 200 MPs prefer?
That is why, she will continue brightly, the assembled MPs must vote for her deal. The only way to safeguard against No Deal is May Deal, she will tell them. A vote against May Deal would be ‘uncharted territory’ at best.
At that moment, many of the 200 MPs will say they oppose May Deal. ‘Oh I see’, the Prime Minister will respond, appearing shocked, ‘Then what deal do you prefer?’ At this, some will say they would like a Canada Deal, others will propose a Norway Deal. Some will say ‘the People’ should decide in a #PeoplesVote. Still others will venture that actually, to be honest, they want the UK to Remain in the EU.
‘Oh dear,’ Mrs May will say, ‘But if you cannot even agree amongst yourselves what deal you prefer, and some of you even want the ‘no deal’ of remaining, and you all know there is no time for a second referendum even if were democratic to hold one which it isn’t, then No Deal is the only outcome left standing.
It has to be May Deal
‘But we don’t want No Deal’, they will wail. ‘Our constituents’ jobs, no more exports, drugs, nurses, aeroplanes and cars crash, sky falls down, etc.’
‘That is why’, Mrs May will repeat, ‘You must all vote for my deal. It’s the only way to prevent No Deal.’
After more drinks and more exchanges, the 200 MPs will leave. They will leave reflecting on a lesson learned. It would have been much more clever to hold a series of indicative votes among themselves before they went in so they could present Mrs May with one collective preferred option. But it’s too late now. In fact, it really is too late now.
As for Mrs May, she will sit down and plan for episode three of her charm offensive. That is tomorrow’s invitation to yet more Conservative MPs for drinks and a promotional chat for May Deal. This time, of course, because so many will be in favour of No Deal, she will probably major on ‘No Brexit at all’ as the alternative to May Deal. But that would mean Mrs May delaying Article 50 or pulling it altogether. They all know she won’t do either. But it was a free drink at No 10. And that can’t be bad.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay denying there have been meetings between UK and EU officials on extending Article 50.
Presidents Trump & Putin at the news conference following their historic summit.
Presidents Trump & Putin at the news conference following their historic summit. Russian election meddling was blandly assumed by one media hack.
So President Donald Trump mixed up his ‘would’ and his ‘wouldn’t’? Apparently it happened in the press conference after his summit meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
No collusion, but hacking
According to the BBC, Mr Trump insisted there was ‘no collusion at all’ between his campaign and Russia. Mr Putin laughed at the suggestion. The American press has been full of charges of this alleged ‘collusion’. However, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has not yet alleged any.
The more serious charge is that of ‘election meddling’. That appears to mean attempts, successful or not, to hack into Democratic Party emails. That’s assuming the emails were not leaked by an insider.
The BBC reports twelve Russian nationals have been indicted by Mueller. The DNC leak showed that top Democrats preferred Mrs Clinton for the presidential nomination. In fact, they constantly worked against her left-wing challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders.
Election meddling
Wikileaks published the emails with ‘eighteen revelations’. Julian Assange has denied any Russians were behind what he described as leaks. But such is the feverish level of anti-Russian hysteria in US corridors, his denial simply would not do.
A reporter asked Mr Trump after the summit to condemn Russia and Mr Putin on election meddling. It was not even ‘alleged’, it was taken as fact. In reply, Mr Trump said his intelligence officials – including Director of Intelligence Dan Coats – have told him ‘they think it’s Russia’. Mr Putin, he continued, just told him it was not Russia.
‘I don’t see any reason why it would be,’ Mr Trump concluded, leaning toward the Russian professions of innocence over the apparent conclusions of his own officials.
All hell broke loose
As Mr Trump was flying home from Helsinki, all hell was breaking loose among the US elite.
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a ‘shameful performance’ that was ‘thoughtless, dangerous and weak’. John Brennan, director of the CIA under Barack Obama, not given to understatement, said Mr Trump was guilty of treason.
On the Republican side, political consultant and Jeb Bush advisor Mike Murphy called it a ‘dark day’, after tweeting a string of invective. Former 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain said it was ‘one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory’.
‘The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,’ said the Arizona Republican senator. ‘But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.’
Who are the critics?
Why are Mr Trump’s critics so quick to condemn Russia and President Putin? Why do they not want peace and some measure of tranquility which would allow normal people to trade and do business? Well, Senator McCain is chair of the Armed Services Committee. Senator Schumer, 66, has never had a job outside politics. The Intercept reports he raises millions of dollars for the Democrats from the finance industry. Moreover, that sector is heavily involved in armaments companies.
Mr Schumer voted for the Iraq war, taking at face value the tissue of lies about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction which were peddled by the same ‘Intelligence Community’ that now accuses Russia of election meddling. He warned of Iraq’s imaginary yet ‘vigorous pursuit of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons’. Like John McCain, he is a member of the US Council on Foreign Relations. Russia is a thorn in the side of the CFR’s globalism. And its president also opposes the advance of sodomy, a liberal sacred cow. That’s unforgivable to someone like Schumer.
Armaments companies’ funding
OpenSecrets.org reveals another Trump critic, Republican Congressman Michael Turner, received $161,000 from defense companies for his 2016 re-election campaign. He also serves on the Arms Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee.
On top of that, he is the liaison to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and has served as its president. ‘Russia absolutely meddled in our election,’ said the prominent warmonger.
Newt Gingrich is another top Republican who sits on the CFR. He called Mr Trump’s statements on intelligence agencies ‘the most serious mistake of his presidency’. Mr Gingrich is also a member of the secretive Bilderberg Group and the disreputable occultist Bohemian Grove.
In the media, the Drudge Report had a headline blaring that ‘Putin dominates’ the summit. Such an approach assumes a zero-sum game where there must be a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser’. On Fox News cable networks, normally pro-Trump, Neil Cavuto called the president’s performance ‘disgraceful’ and said it ‘sets us back a lot’. Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts opined ‘There is a growing consensus across the land tonight … that the president threw the United States under the bus.’
Barrage of criticism
In the face of this barrage of criticism, Mr Trump could easily have stood firm, remembered the intelligence community’s past failings and observed that they haven’t come up with anything stronger than alleged attempts to discredit Mrs Clinton. He could have said she herself did the best job in that direction.
Instead, says the BBC, Mr Trump said he had reviewed the transcript and ‘realised’ he needed to clarify. ‘In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word “would” instead of “wouldn’t”,’ he said. ‘The sentence should have been: “I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t’ or why it wouldn’t be Russia”. Sort of a double negative.’
The US president added: ‘I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.’
US meddling
Speaking of ‘a lot of people out there’, Mr Trump could also have observed that the US has a long history of interfering in other countries and their elections.
A Channel4 ‘factcheck’ says: ‘The west – and particularly the US – have a long history of rigging polls, supporting military coups, channeling funds and spreading political propaganda in other countries.’
Professor Dov Levin is from the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University. He reckons ‘60 different independent countries have been the targets’ of post-war US interventions.
Channel4 goes on: ‘According to Levin’s research, those countries where secret tactics have been deployed by the US include: Guatemala, Brazil, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, South Vietnam and Japan.
‘For Russia, the list of covert interventions includes: France, Denmark, Italy, Greece, West Germany, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Congo, Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, and the US.’
US meddled in Kenya
This author had personal knowledge of US meddling in Kenya’s constitution referendum in 2010. Then Ambassador Michael Ranneberger worked with EU counterparts to secure a vote to adopt a South African-style constitution. In addition to its liberalism, it cemented the role of Sharia courts in the country. Even today, his two immediate predecessors, Mark Bellamy and Johnnie Carson, argue openly for more intervention by the US and ‘external partners’ in Kenya in particular and African nations in general.
On top of that, there is much recent history of Western governments providing funding for NGOs dedicated to overturning Christian morality in African nations. Legal access to abortion, the adoption of gay rights and feminist empowerment are the three favourites of Western governments. Naturally, they are assisted by a plethora of philanthropic -so to speak – western funders, led by George Soros and his Open Society Institute and OS Foundations.
The UK Foreign Office, one has to say, almost exists to interfere in the affairs of foreign nations.
The real election meddling story
Which leads us to the real meddling story hiding away behind all the anti-Russian rhetoric. From June 2016, a British ex-intelligence office, Christopher Steele, supplied the US Democratic Party with gossip on Donald Trump’s business dealings in Russia. Only when Donald Trump was elected in November of that year did the Democrats stop paying Steele’s firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, for information through the intermediary Fusion GPS.
But Christian Voice discovered that Steele linked up with MI6 officers during the time he was working on the dossier memos he drip-fed to the Democrats. Not only that, but his consultant at Orbis was MI6 man Pablo Miller. Miller was Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal’s handler in Salisbury. A US expert in Russia and its intelligence services has said there is no doubt the Trump dosser was not written by Steele but by a Russian intelligence officer. And with which Russian intelligence officer was Christopher Steele in touch through his MI6 pal Miller? Step forward Sergei Skripal.
Clearly, President Trump is wary of vested interests at home. That explains his partial backtrack here and his earlier two half-hearted missile strikes against Syria. He had to be seen to be doing something, but he tried to keep it as inoffensive, particularly to the Russians, as possible. He cannot always rein in his State Department and the Pentagon. Nevertheless, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and appointing at least one pro-life Supreme Court judge (the jury is out on the next one) have been matters of principle.
But his meeting with Kim Jong-Un, his advice to Mrs May on the EU – best not walk away – and his attempt at a reset with Russia all speak of a business man. For the Donald, above all, doing a deal is what motivates him. There are times like 1939 and over the Falklands when a nation has to stand up to an aggressor. But in ordinary times, doing deals, trading, living in peace, is better than daggers drawn. (Except to the armaments industry of course.)
Later, Mr Trump tweeted: ‘So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!’
He added: ‘Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!’
Keep praying for peace.
We’ll really appreciate your support
Click below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings
Click on the social media links below to share this post:
What does this Trump / Kim handshake mean for the Christians of North Korea?
What does this Trump / Kim handshake mean for the Christians of North Korea?
What does the Trump / Kim Summit mean for North Korea’s Christians?
Firstly, we thank God the summit has happened. It has advanced peace and lessened the prospect of war. Naturally, the mainstream media are asking who ‘won’ or who ‘gained the most from it’?
It appears the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, to give North Korea its preferred name, will cease all nuclear tests. Meanwhile, the United States will stop what President Trump conceded are ‘provocative’ military exercises in South Korea. Neither of those undertakings appeared in the agreed communique, which is here.
That saw the DPRK committed to ‘work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’. But of course Kim Jung-Un does not want to end up like Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. So the undertaking does not amount to much. But asking who won and who lost is typical MSM playground talk. A more mature look is probably this one at RT.
Prov 22:10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
Peace and prosperity
Firstly, we need to thank God the two men met at all. In addition, after last week’s G7 debacle, we thank God they agreed a statement. When President Trump met the G7 leaders last week, they could not agree a form of words. That was at least partly because the President wants Russia readmitted to a new G8, says the Guardian. This time, there is a stated intention of the US and the DPRK ‘to establish new US-DPRK relations’. These were: ‘in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.’
In addition, ‘the United States and DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula’.
As we keep saying, peace and prosperity are good things. God’s heart is for people to live in peace.
Eccl 2:24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
But make no mistake, there are those who will dislike such words. They will be working to undermine the declaration. As Iran is telling the North Koreans, you can never be sure which Donald Trump is going to show up. Above all, the US is constantly trying to defend and enhance its economic interests worldwide. That’s not a reprehensible thing. All countries do it. We just need to be aware it happens and pray the more for peace.
Kim-Moon summit paved the way
Much prayer has gone into this process already. The historic meeting in April between Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in paved the way for the Trump-Kim summit.
Christianheadlines says: ‘The meeting of the two leaders signalled a major change in North Korea’s relations with the rest of the world and sparked hope that conditions for North Korean citizens–and particularly Christians–can begin to improve.’
Following the meeting, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in issued a joint statement: ‘There will be no mo
re war on the Korean peninsula, and a new age of peace has begun.’
Christians in South Korea, says the website, were fasting and praying for the Kim-Moon summit. ‘In Paju, a city just south of the North Korean border, pastors held an all-night vigil and South Korean Christian politicians also fasted and prayed.’
Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Worst place to be a Christian
Open Doors says North Korea is simply the worst place in the world to be a Christian. Their website carries three terrible stories which illustrate the plight of North Korea’s Christian under Kim Jong-Un.
Open Doors’ Robert Kenna says: ‘It’s hard to fathom that people are not free to attend and be part of a church, or even express their religious beliefs to their children, out of fear they will say something to the wrong person.’
Christianheadlines quotes Ryan Morgan, an analyst with International Christian Concern Asia: ‘The regime still has up to 70,000 Christians locked away in virtual concentration camps.’ Mr Morgan added that a Christian believer and three generations of his or her family can still go to prison for life just for owning a Bible. Open Doors suggests over 50,000 Christians are imprisoned. Either way, it is outrageous and counter-productive. The Lord wants his people to live in peace, free from persecution. He sets his heart against a nation which oppresses. And just imagine the benefit to North Korea of all that liberated prayer:
Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Prospects for North Korea’s Christians
Kim Dong-chul, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Hak-song
So does all the diplomatic activity mean things are opening up for North Korea’s Christians? Is religious freedom high on the Trump agenda? Well, the three US nationals released by North Korea prior to the summit were all Christians. Professors Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, and Kim Sang Duk are evangelical academics who were working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, according to Christianity Today.
Meanwhile, Fox News reports on Christians praying for the Kim-Trump Summit on ‘the Korean peninsula and in Singapore, where the monumental summit is taking place.’
It went on to say: ‘On Sunday, several churches just miles away from the Trump-Kim meeting location on Santosa Island, prayed for the two world leaders before their one-on-one discussion in hopes of North Korean denuclearization and a possible peace treaty to end the Korean War.’
1Tim 2:2 (Pray) For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
‘Foley says, “From a Christian perspective there are four words we should be praying we hear at the summit. The four words we have been hearing are words like, ‘It’s a new day’. But as Christians, we should be praying that the words we hear are, ‘We need to repent, or we need to change.’”
‘Foley continues, “Those kinds of phrases like, ‘We need security guarantees’, or ‘Please give us money’, or ‘Let’s end this war’, all of those sound promising. But what we know as Christians is that unless there is a fundamental heart change on the part of the leaders of North Korea than all of the promises we hear at the summit will amount to nothing.”’
Foley says prayer should not be conditioned by a step-by-step approach. The idea that economic incentives are followed by nuclear disarmament and then followed by religious freedom is not biblical, he says.
Instead, ‘What’s known in the Scriptures and what North Korean believers follow is that in order for there to be change between nations, the heart of the leader of the nation must be transformed. Pray that God would radically step into this unusual situation and change the heart of North Korean leaders. Pray that they would seek God and find Him and begin to follow Him alone as Lord.’
Dan 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Open Doors prayer points
Open Doors estimates there are 300,000 Christians in North Korea. Chairman Kim could remember that Christians were at the forefront in opposing the Japanese occupation of the peninsular from 1910 to 1945.
President Trump and Kim Jong-un’s historic meeting on June 12 will be the first in a series of actions that sets Korea on a new course of religious freedom.
Kim will be convinced to release the more than 50,000-plus Christians unjustly held in detention centers and prison camps throughout the country.
Kim will allow for the creation of new churches where North Koreans can freely worship outside of the one “show church” that currently exists.
Existing believers within North Korea would take courage to lead a new revival of the Christian faith in North Korea.
We shall go even further. We urge that ‘big prayer’ for Kim to be convicted of how much more authority he would have under Christ Jesus, repent and believe in the saving power of the King of kings.
And that, in a way, is what Premier Radio says Christians in North Korea are praying for. It’s not regime change they want, because someone else would take Kim’s place. It’s a change of heart in the regime. We could also pray that US negotiators will keep raising this point. It’s one we can pray our UK MP’s press HM Government to raise with both North Korea and the US. And with South Korea, for that matter.
1Tim 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
We’ll really appreciate your support
Click below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings
Click on the social media links below to share this post:
Ex-MI6 man Christopher Steele compiled the Trump Russian Dossier
Ex-MI6 man Christopher Steele compiled the Trump Russian Dossier
Revelations are popping out about links between poisoned double-agent Sergei Skripal and the Russian Dossier on Donald Trump compiled by a British spy.
D-Notice on editors
Colourful ex-ambassador Craig Murray reports on something called a ‘D-Notice’. More properly it’s a DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). Nevertheless, people still refer to the old name, in use from the 1920s to the 1990s.
MI6 slapped this D-Notice on the mainstream media the minute Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury in early March this year. It prevented editors from investigating any links between Sergei Skripal and an intelligence outfit called ‘Orbis’. Orbis Business Intelligence was being run by ex-MI6 man Christopher Steele. More about Orbis and Steele below.
But why should there be any link between Mr Skripal and Orbis in the first place? Why should MI6 be worried enough to tell journalists not to look there? The missing piece in the puzzle is another MI6 operative. His name is Pablo Miller.
Pablo Miller
Pablo Miller recruited Sergei Skripal and worked for Christopher Steele at Orbis
According to Wikispooks, and it seems common knowledge, Pablo Miller recruited Sergei Skripal In the early 1990s. Miller was directly under Christopher Steele. Once relocated to the UK, in fact to not far from Salisbury, Miller became Sergei Skripal’s minder and friend.
Christopher Steele (born June 1964) was our top spy with diplomatic immunity in Moscow in the 1990s. His friend and business colleague Christopher Burrows worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1990 to 2009, according to his LinkedIn page.
The Daily Mail, in the link below, claims Mr Burrows was also actually working for MI6 during that time. It is not surprising the Scottish Daily Mail, archived here at Pressreader, describes their enterprises as ‘spies-for-hire firms’.
Orbis Business Intelligence
Chris Burrows, Mr Steele’s partner in Orbis and its successors.
In fact, its own website (worth a look) says: ‘Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. was founded in 2009 by former British intelligence professionals’. It gives an address of ‘9-11 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0BD.’
According to Companies House, Steele and Burrows formed Orbis Business Intelligence Limited in July 2009, They set up Orbis Business International Limited in July 2010. Next up was Walsingham Partners Limited in April 2015. Finally, they formed Chawton Holdings Limited in June 2017
Reporting on the latter enterprise, International Business Times says: ‘Steele, 53, and Burrows, 59, are also directors of Walsingham Partners and Orbis Business Intelligence, the Belgravia-based consultancy the duo founded in London in 2009 and which made more than £1m in profits between 2015 and 2016.
‘Steele, who quit the UK’s Security Intelligence Service (Mi6) the same year he set up Orbis, was forced to go into hiding when he was outed as the dossier author in January and returned to work in March.’
Christopher Steele’s home in Farnham bristles with CCTV
‘Christopher Steele’s British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence, uncovered corruption at international soccer’s governing body, leading to the resignation of top officials, including president Sepp Blatter.
‘It was this work which gave credence to his reporting on Trump’s entanglements in Russia, officials in the US have said.’
Referring to the Trump Dossier, according to inews, ‘Andrew Wordsworth, co-founder of another London intelligence firm, Raedas, cast doubt on Mr Steele’s findings, saying it wouldn’t make sense for people high up in the Russian security establishment to leak information to a former British spy. “Russians believe once you are an agent, you’re an agent forever,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
LinkedIn profile disappeared
But what if Sergei Skripal was able to draw on his Russian contacts? Could he find out, or invent, material on Donald Trump with a Russian angle? And having done so, he could easily pass it to Pablo Miller. And the latter had links to Orbis.
The Daily Telegraph ran a story about an un-named ‘security consultant’ in early March. It said he was linked to Sergei Skripal and to Orbis. MI6 briefed their tame journalists that was ‘wrong’. But it wasn’t. The security consultant was none other that Pablo Miller. Miller boasted of his connections to Orbis on his LinkedIn page.
So we have demonstrable links between Sergei Skripal, Pablo Miller and Christopher Steele up to March this year.
Supposing Sergei Skripal was hankering to return to Russia. Some papers have suggested he was already in touch with the Russian Embassy or that he written to Vladimir Putin. He would want to show himself as bringing something of value. What if that was everything he knew about Steele’s Trump Dossier?
In such a case, who would want to either get rid of him or teach him a lesson? In the murky world of the spooks, anything is possible. One cannot rule out Russia’s FSB completely. Sergei Skripal did betray Russia. A Russian court convicted him in 2006. Nevertheless, Russia allowed him to go to the UK in a spy-swap in 2010. There is a convention that when spies are swapped they are left in peace. Otherwise, the system will not work in future. And Sergei had been here unmolested and in no fear for eight years.
Did the Russian Dossier change the game?
So what changed? What if we look elsewhere, to the UK or to the US, for example? The New Yorker says an intermediary called Fusion GPS paid Orbis for Steele’s work. Fusion GPS was paid by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign. Barrister and commentator James O’Neill suggests elements of the US ‘Deep State’, the CIA and MI6 were all involved. We know MI6 was.
Any of them, he says, had a better motive than the Russian state for wanting to be rid of Sergei Skripal. Which makes Mrs May’s allegations of Russian culpability look rather shaky. But what if Mr Skripal were just a convenient pawn in a game of demonising Russia? Surely that is too dark and would require too many politicians and officials to be in on it. It would have to leak. Orbis appears the best lead.
Craig Murray concludes: ‘Steele, MI6 and the elements of the CIA which are out to get Trump, all would have a powerful motive to have the Skripal loose end tied.’
Look where they tell you not to
As Mr Murray says, the first rule of journalism is to look where they tell you not to look. And he is annoyed none of the supposed ‘journalists’ of the mainstream media is doing that in this case.
A Guardian article says: ‘The D-notice system is a peculiarly British arrangement’. It goes on to describe it as ‘a sort of not quite public yet not quite secret arrangement between government and media’. the D-Notice mechanism is there ‘in order to ensure that journalists do not endanger national security.’ But there is no national security angle in the Trump Dossier. It was just dirt-digging. When such a mechanism is used to spare ex-MI6 agents embarrassment the D-Notice becomes a devalued currency. (The more so if one really were used to shore up a pre-arranged Government political line to sour relations with Russia.)
Scripture says the Lord expects us all to deal with each other honestly:
Lev 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Points for Prayer
Pray the truth comes out in this matter. Remind the Lord of his word:
Proverbs 10:9 He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.
Luke 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
And do pray for peace between the nations. This may be a millennial prophecy, but it shows that the Almighty regards peace between nations as a good thing:
Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Also at Micah 4:3)
We’ll really appreciate your support
Click below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings
Click on the social media links below to share this post:
Mr Gatehouse saw all sorts of dodgy images literally through what we were supposed to understand was a bottle of vodka. The barman morphed into a V-for-Vendetta Anonymous mask. Why? Then Russian dolls, clowns, Mickey Mouse, RT, Vladimir Putin. Ours is ‘a world of total relativism’, he said. Speak for yourself, Gabs!
Theresa versus Sergei
The White Helmets sent emails to musician Roger Waters asking for support. He denounced them on stage instead.
Then we moved to Douma and Theresa May. She was obviously someone we could trust. Unlike those dodgy Russians. She said: ‘If they are found to be responsible, the regime and its backers, the Russians, must be held to account’.
Now the Gabriel Gatehouse BBC Newsnight video switched to Sergei Lavrov. (Dodgy Russian, he is.) He had information that the UK had orchestrated the Douma incident, he said, through the allegedly humanitarian ‘White Helmets’ who work in jihadist-controlled areas of Syria.
But it is a fact that the ‘White Helmets’ were the only source for the information for the Douma attack. The UK astonishingly set up and continue to fund the White Helmets group. So we should expect the ‘White Helmets’ to advance the UK position on Social Media and in films to Reuters. Because the UK line still is that Assad must go and Syria be turned over to murderous jihadis. So the trustworthy one is actually dodgy and the dodgy one more likely to be telling the truth. Oh dear.
And then BBC Newsnight wheeled out Ben Nimmo. He used to be press officer for NATO. Now he appears to work for something called the ‘Digital Forensic Research Lab’ at the Atlantic Council.
Maram Susli, ‘Syrian Girl’ or ‘Partisan Girl’, has built up a huge YouTube following, writing mainly on Syria. She is a real person.
The Atlantic Council has been busy recently. It sent out Dr Hisham Hellyer to berate the Christians who visited Syria the weekend before last. It’s funded by a host of arms manufacturers. Moreover, its funders depend on there being a ‘Russian Threat’.
Without any sense of shame, Ben Nimmo was still talking about ‘Russian Trolls’ on Twitter. Earlier, he said they included UK pensioner Ian Shilling and Syrian-Australian activist Maram Susli . The latter goes both as SyrianGirlPartisan and plain Syrian Girl on YouTube. But neither is a Russian ‘troll’, as Mr Nimmo has suggested.
Mr Gatehouse said accurately that the Douma attack either happened or it didn’t. But he went on: “Meanwhile, in the world of information warfare, the Russians are on the offensive.” Is not the BBC also on the information warfare offensive?
The Blair lies that led to the Iraq war
Tony Blair lied about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and ’45 minutes’ and poisoned the well of public trust.
Newsnight continued with the Russian Ambassador reminding us of what Tony Blair said in March 2003, preparing the UK for war with Iraq. ‘My judgement as prime minister is that this threat is real, growing and of an entirely different nature to any conventional threat to our security that Britain has faced before.’
‘Russia is using a mix of methods to produce a potent propaganda cocktail’, Mr Gatehouse went on. Ben Nimmo came back to speak of Russian ‘state-controlled sites and diplomats’. As if the BBC is independent. Then ‘you have allegedly independent websites and broadcasters,’ he said. (Like the various UK news mainstream media (MSM)?) You also have trolls and bots, apparently. But ‘they all work together, they all amplify the same message’, as if the British MSM and Government do not do the same.
Media Group-Speak
Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black at the Evening Standard Film Awards from a gushing report in the Irish Times. The odd commentator might be critical, but MSM editors dare not say a word against them.
And we have seen them do it not merely on Syria, Salisbury and Russia. The media group-speak is there on abortion. Most recently there is unanimity on whipped-up opposition to pavement activists.
It is there on sodomy against the name of which none dare speak. MSM group-speak is present referring to gays having ‘husbands’ and lesbians ‘wives’. Or about Tom Daley and Mr Black ‘having a baby together’. It is even there on transgenders. They are always called by their chosen gender rather than their real one.
It is a real challenge for the prophets of God to know truth from fiction. Group-speak affects Parliament. We even have to remember Christian MPs are fallible human beings like us, with foibles and mini-agendas. It is all the more reason to be grounded in the word of God.
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
And we thank God for alternative media like Christian Voice, Off-Guardian, RT, the Way, Antiwar.com, Christian Concern. Journalists Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk and often the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen are refreshingly off-message on the Middle East. It would be remiss not to mention journalists like Neil Clark and Vanessa Beeley and tweeters such as @Ian56789 and @PartisanGirl. They may not always be right, but they bring perspectives and information. All this can be weighed against scripture.
Truth has fallen
Ian Shilling, ‘Ian56’, is a real man, not a ‘bot’ and not a Russian ‘troll’.
For BBC Newsnight, Ian56, despite being a real man, is ‘a Russian bot’. Do they know what a robot is? And if you so much as mention ‘False Flag’, you are a Russian stooge. More footage of Mr Gatehouse squinting through the bottle. And then we discover he can speak some Russian. He contended that states used to try to persuade the public to trust their version of events. But these days, they want us ‘to trust nobody’. However, that is just his contention.
We British, in our law-making, have rebelled against every one of the Ten Commandments. But recently, ‘Truth has fallen’ as Isaiah put it. There was a time when the public trusted what their leaders told them. They may have been wrong to do so. But they trusted them as men of honour anyway. With Tony Blair that went. With David Cameron trust was consigned to history as he shamelessly pretended in Parliament there were 70,000 moderate Syrian men to fight ISIS.
Sadly, Theresa May is pouring more poison down an already contaminated well of public trust. She has tried to pretend there is evidence implicating the Russian state in the Salisbury poisoning and the Syrian state over Douma. But there isn’t. All she has is that mysterious concoction ‘intelligence’. There was ‘intelligence’ about Iraq’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ which could reach the UK ‘in 45 minutes’. If intelligence is something posted by the White Helmets on social media it is valueless.
Dr Tara McCormack has been on RT. Enough said.
WhatAboutism
But to raise such valid questions is to be guilty, says Mr Gatehouse, of ‘WhatAboutism’. As in ‘What about Iraq’?
That dealt with, he turned his fire on a group of academics known as the ‘Working group on Syria, propaganda and media.’ He interviewed Dr Tara McCormack of Leicester University. She made the valid point that in the current atmosphere, ‘You are a traitor if you believe in due process.’ But, Gabriel reminded us, she has appeared on the Russian channel RT!
Then philosopher Onora O-Neill warned against ‘the amount of anonymous communication that we receive.’ It was a peculiar thing for Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve CH CBE FRS FBA FMedSci to say. Everything we write in Christian Voice is referenced by links to real media. We put anything anonymous in the bin. Where we can, we go back to original sources. Dr O’Neill’s target was a classic and ridiculous straw man.
Don’t go online. Watch BBC Newsnight!
Rev Canon Giles Fraser is in charge of St Mary’s Newington in South London.
Newsnight followed up the Gatehouse video with a discussion. Evan Davies interviewed one Peter Pomerantsev and Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s spin doctor. Campbell put pressure in 2003 on the ‘spooks’ to ‘sex up’ the ‘dodgy dossier’ and take Britain to war in Iraq. Pomerantsev makes his living out of talking up Russian ‘disinformation’. There was no opposing view. They all agreed one should not ‘go online for the truth’. No, you should watch the BBC and read the Guardian! You really couldn’t make it up.
Then, finally, Evan Davies interviewed Rev Giles Fraser. Canon Fraser went to Syria as part of the Christian group with Baroness Cox two weekends ago. A Guardian journalist slammed him for it and for pictures and commentary he tweeted. Yes, he agreed, his tweets could have been better phrased. Mr Davies asked: ‘Are you a useful idiot?’ ‘I may be an idiot’, replied his reverence. ‘But I’m not sure I’m that useful’. Since Giles Fraser humiliated the high priest of evolution, Richard Dawkins, with an innocuous question about the title of Darwin’s book on the BBC4 Today Programme we have had a soft spot for him here.
Tom Daley (Left) and Dustin Lance Black (right) held a 'baby shower' party last weekend.
Tom Daley (Left) and Dustin Lance Black (right) held a ‘baby shower’ party last weekend.
Failed Olympic Diver Tom Daley and his American screenwriter father-figure Dustin Lance Black are not ‘having a baby together.’
According to the Metro newspaper, the two held a ‘baby shower’ over the weekend (April 2018). That’s when you invite your friends around, feed them and receive gifts for your baby.
And in this case, you wear the sort of vulgar sashes and head wear normally seen on a hen night.
When the pair told the world in February, Pink News was shocked they received abuse. ‘It turns out that in 2018 a lot of people still aren’t happy about two men having a baby together. Earlier today Olympic diver Tom Daley and Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black announced they are having their first child,’ gushed the homosexual rag.
Post-truth, post-shame
No, they are not having ‘their’ first child, Pink News. Nor are they ‘married’. Nor is either of them the ‘husband’ of the other, as the BBC also claimed. All this language is self-delusional at best. At worst, it is yet another example of our ‘post-truth, post-shame’ society. Our leaders and media don’t know what is true any more and they don’t care.
In whose womb is this child pictured?
Here is the uncomfortable truth. One of them is having a child born by a paid surrogate mother. Despite the identical sashes saying ‘Daddy to be’, the other has no relation to the baby at all.
Furthermore, this child is either a fashion accessory or a gay rights campaign. Either way, it stinks. Which one of them provided seed to artificially inseminate the mother? Or, did they, no, stop, there is a danger of too much information. They won’t say, in any case. They will pretend the child is ‘theirs’.
And they will, in fact did, hold up an ultrasound picture of the baby in its mother’s womb, whoever she is.
‘Breeding machine’
Which prompted the homosexual magazine ‘Advocate’ to ask if women have become mere ‘breeding machines’ for celebrity dirty boys. Sorry, gay couples. (Well, what they do is dirty by any reasonable standard, and inherently unsanitary.)
In any case, Advocate poses a fair question. They quoted columnist Richard Littlejohn. He asked: “But where’s the mum, the possessor of the womb which features in this photograph? She appears to have been written out of the script entirely.” Mr Littlejohn went on: “We are not told her identity, where she lives, or even when the baby is due. She is merely the anonymous incubator.”
Daley, 23 and Black, 43, got gay-married in May 2017 at Bovey Castle in Devon. Daley’s own father sadly died in May 2011. I venture his son would never have turned gay had Robert Daley still been alive. In fact, Pink News reported Mr Black revealed Daley is still attracted to women. He said: “I don’t know if I’ll be in trouble for this; his head still turns for girls.”
Who is the mother? And just who is the father?
In a radio broadcast, Black tried to say there would be loads of women in the child’s life. But that is not the point. A baby needs its mother AND its father. At some stage he or she will ask after his or her mother. And an inquisitive child will want to know which of the charlatans is his actual, true father. What will Black answer a growing child then?
God’s way is for children to be born of a loving union between man and woman. Such a relationship as the Bible describes is conspicuously absent in this case:
Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Commonwealth says ‘No’ to Tom Daley
If there is a silver lining, it is that Tom Daley’s pro-sodomy calls to the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government went unheeded, at least in the short term. He won gold with Dan Goodfellow in the synchronised diving at the Commonwealth Games. Daley pulled out of the individual event. He will be diving next in Russia in May. The Star reports he is afraid to go. Apparently, Russians collectively and the Russian Federation not being cool with sodomy is ‘scary’.
Goodfellow was sidelined as Daley went off on his rant, according to the Guardian: “There are 37 countries where it’s illegal to be who I am out of all the Commonwealth so hopefully we can reduce that number between now and (2022),” Theresa May and Boris Johnson also joined in trying to force gay rights on the nations of the Commonwealth. The Foreign Secretary even promised Tom Daley he would raise the matter.
Sadly, Belize, the Seychelles, Nauru and Mozambique have all recently decriminalised sodomy. The matter is before the courts in Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Botswana and India. Sri Lanka has referenced ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ in its draft constitution. All these cases have been brought as a result of behind-the-scenes agitation from the UK. Moreover, the homosexual activists in the various countries have been funded from the UK, the EU or the US or from individuals such as George Soros and his Open Society Foundations. There is no indigenous locally-funded pro-gay activist group anywhere in the developing world, so far as we can make out.
Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Thank God for local opposition
Bishop Dr. Victor Gill and his wife Tracey Gill.
Thank God for local opposition. Indy100 quotes Trinidad bishop Victor Gill who condemns pressure from the UK to decriminalise same-sex acts as “neo-colonialism”. He voiced concern that “children should not be indoctrinated in school that homosexuality is normal”. We have experience in the UK that this is exactly what happens when sodomy is decriminalised. The bishop went on: “Once the law is removed and it becomes legally right, then it will be right to be taught, then they want equal opportunity for services and so forth’.
But the final communique of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting made no mention of ‘sexuality’, ‘diversity’, ‘sexual health’ or ‘reproductive health’. (The latter is code for abortion.) ‘Transgender’, let alone ‘gays, ‘lesbians’, or ‘homosexuality’ did not merit a mention either. Sadly, feminism, aka ‘women’s economic empowerment’, featured. African nations have not yet noticed that the idea that only women and youth can be trusted to run businesses and increase wealth is deeply racist. ‘Women’s economic empowerment’ is yet another fashionable cause in the UK’s neo-colonialist agenda.
The wickedness the UK tries to force on other nations, added to our own rebellion against God’s laws, on top of our warmongering, is bringing the judgment of God on this nation. Pray for repentance in the Cabinet.
We’ll really appreciate your support
Click below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings
Click on the social media links below to share this post:
Baroness Cox campaigns tirelessly for persecuted Christians worldwide
Baroness Cox, who was in Damascus last weekend, campaigns tirelessly for persecuted Christians worldwide
A group of peers and clerics was in Syria hours after Saturday’s bombing, Christian Today has reported. (All our links open automatically in a new tab.)
The delegation included Lord Dykes and was led by Baroness Cox. The trip was planned some months ago, and went ahead despite the bombings. Naturally, it attracted a chorus of disapproval.
On Syria, Baroness Cox asked a question in Parliament in December 2017 which forced the Government to admit it had given £60m to opposition groups in Syria, including £10m of our money to armed factions.
Rt Rev Michael Langrish, former bishop of Exeter, was present. So was Rev Andrew Ashdown, who organised the visit. Rev Giles Fraser, currently in charge of St Mary Newington (South London), was also in the group.
Rev Giles Fraser posted this view of Damascus from the minister’s window.
A tweet from Canon Fraser drew the particular ire of Aaronovitch. Dated 15th April, it said: ‘Fascinating meeting today discussing the long tradition of religious pluralism in Syria with the Minister for Religious Affairs. And the view from his office window.’
Mr Aaronovitch wrote: ‘Given their ubiquity in Baathist Syria it’s quite possible that one of the buildings glimpsed from the window could have been a regime detention centre.’
Has anyone said the Syrian government is not repressive?
But the only alternative to it is the murdering jihadists financed by the UK, the US and the Sunni Muslim Gulf nations.
And out of the two, the Christians, Druze, Shia Muslims and Alawites of Syria know which they prefer.
Armaments fund Christians’ critics
The Daily Telegraph quoted one Dr Hisham Hellyer. “When British peers and Christian clergy have been to Damascus in the past, they were rightly condemned as presenting an image of appeasement to Assad’s regime, and showing him as some sort of protector of Christians, as though Syrian Muslims mattered for nought.”
Well, it isn’t that the Syrian Sunni Muslims, to be specific, ‘matter for nought.’ It is that if they were in power, all the others would be murdered or driven out.
Tomahawk missile. What the BBC graphic does not say is ‘Cost $250,000’. The 2017 attack cost the US Defense Department $14,750,000. Shares in Raytheon jumped 1.7% in the wake of the 2017 missile strike. Raytheon help fund the Atlantic Council.
But this is interesting. Dr Hellyer is ‘a senior research fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute in London’. The Daily Telegraph says so. And where does the seemingly-neutral Atlantic Council receive funding from?
Its own website lists the UK Foreign Office, US Dept of State, NATO and the United Arab Emirates. They all hate Bashar Al-Assad. Also listed are Rockefeller Brothers, Chevron Oil, Carnegie and a number of other merchant banks.
President Bashar al-Assad flanked by (l-r) Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Rev Andrew Ashdown, Lord Hylton and Baroness Cox. We do not know the identity of the other three persons.
They were condemned by anti-Assad voices in the UK, but Baroness Cox defended the trip.
She said: “You’re in the country, you want to meet as many people as you can. You go to raise concerns, which you can’t do if you don’t meet.
“The main purpose was to hear the voices of the people of Syria.”
‘Let us decide our own future’
Baroness Cox said the Syrian people were anxious about foreign intervention. “They plead with us: ‘Please do not let the British government and the international community bring about an enforced regime change, let us decide our own future’, and the government is doing a lot to try to promote reconciliation,” she said.
Rev Andrew Ashdown said: “The people within Syria, of all faiths and all sectarian backgrounds, are appalled at the narrowness of Western media reporting and one-sidedness.”
Bishop Nazir-Ali added, “Britain maintains relations with and encourages visits to countries like the Sudan, Iran and Zimbabwe. Why is Assad demonised to this extent? In the Middle East, the choice is not between angels and monsters but between one kind of monster and another. With all my experience, I cannot say that he is the worst of all.”
Baroness Cox voiced the fears of local people that “ the West’s plans for regime change would be disastrous … and they would become another Iraq.” That was why, before last weekend’s raid, we were praying: Douma: Stop the West rushing to war!
Christians in Syria
Orthodox Christians in Damascus
We (that is, Evangelicals) have a tendency to regard the Christians in Syria as not quite like us. They do weird things like light candles and wear funny hats. We can be tempted to think they are not even born again. (As if there are two classes of Christians, ‘born-agains’ and ‘non-born-agains.’) Discuss in the comments!
Most Syrian Christians are in communion either with the Greek and Russian Orthodox. There are also Eastern Orthodox. Then there are the Eastern, or Melkite, Catholics.
Christians in Syria used to form 10% of the pre-war 22 million population. Only a minority of Christians in Syria are Protestant. The Anglican church in Damascus is currently closed because of the unrest.
But nevertheless, this Easter, Christians all over Syria were able to celebrate the Risen Lord Jesus, as we reported at the time.
Russian Cyber Attacks
Recently, an MP told me that Russia is mounting ‘cyber attacks’ against the UK. (As if we don’t do exactly the same thing.) The attacks were not specified, but message was clear. ‘The Russians are attacking us! Stop seeing any good at all in them!’ That leads me to this fascinating quote:
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war. Neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship…
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
There is plainly no threat to the UK of a Russian invasion. Consequently, the ‘threat’ has to be of the mysterious ‘cyber’ variety. No doubt all countries are getting up to all kinds of cyber trickery on each other. And now news comes from the Independent that senior MPs are getting together. Chairmen of the top House of Commons Select Committees will collaborate on the ‘Russian threat’.
We read: ‘Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat will lead the new “Russia Co-ordinating Group”, along with Labour’s Home Affairs Committee head Yvette Cooper, Treasury Committee boss Nicky Morgan, and the heads of intelligence, defence, DCMS and national security bodies.’
And here is the Sun claiming Russia targets MILLIONS of UK computers. In 2016, the Washington Post claimed Russian hackers had gained access to the electric grid in Vermont. It was a false claim. Undeterred, the FBI have put out a new report claiming Russian hackers are trying to disrupt energy supplies. It seems light on security advice, such as ‘install security software’, ‘never open attachments’ and ‘do not click on unexpected links.’ But it’s heavy on scare.
Russia was suspected of a cyber-attack on the Ukraine electricity system in 2015. For all the effort whoever it was put into it, Wikipedia tells us a mere 0.015% of daily electricity was not supplied. It still cut off 230,000 people for between one and six hours. A second attack, a year later, caused little more trouble but was more automated. However, the same articlesays the US and Israel also targeted an Iranian nuclear installation in 2009. Clearly, everyone is at it.
Fake News and Money Laundering
Along with the ‘cyber threat’, the MPs will consider ‘fake news’ or propaganda. That’s the likes of Russia Today (RT), Sputnik, Off-Guardian and (surely not!) Christian Voice. But ‘fake news’ is in the eye of the beholder. Are the people of Britain not grown-up enough to decide who is telling the truth? That is the reasoning behind what we used to call ‘a free press’ and ‘freedom of speech’. Unless you take Goering’s view and conclude that the non-mainstream media interfere with the government’s process of telling us we are being attacked.
The third ‘Russian threat’ is the money laundering said to be done in London by Russian oligarchs. So here is where it all looks like an exercise in clutching at straws. ‘Money laundering’ is ubiquitous. Is it really a security threat?
So we are left with ‘cyber warfare’. And on that, we are urged to accept the word of our leaders that it is a real threat to the UK and that the UK (and US) is not also engaging in it. They will have, sadly, an uphill task. Some of us still remember Dodgy Dossiers, 45 minutes, ‘sexed-up’ intelligence and ‘the 70,000’.
Psalm 7:14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
Better to be at peace
Surely the best alternative (unless you are an arms manufacturer) is to be on better terms with the Russian Federation? Is that completely impossible? Who says so?
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Prince Vladimir accepted the Christian faith for the ‘Rus’ in Kiev in 988 AD. Would it not be a good idea to talk peaceably to the leaders of this great Christian nation? Should we not seek common ground against the real threat of militant Islam, for example?
Psalm 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Thank God for the UK delegation in Syria. Pray for words of peace and understanding. Pray for repentance in our leaders. Theresa May and Boris Johnson have only this week been trying to force gay rights on the nations of the Commonwealth. Lord, change their hearts. And send your Holy Spirit into your people as we pray for our land:
Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
We’ll really appreciate your support
Click below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings
Click on the social media links below to share this post:
Former employees at the Barzah research site stand outside the ruined facility.
Former employees at the Barzah research site stand outside the ruined facility.
The UK, US and France bombed the Barzah research site near Damascus in Syria knowing full well it had no chemical weapons, it has emerged.
Christian Voice has uncovered a report from the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). It gave Barzah a comprehensive all-clear only last month. Allied aircraft also targeted the Jamrayah (or ‘Jamraya’ or ‘Dummar’) site west of Damascus. The facility was also cleared by OPCW.
Firstly, the report says the OPCW was satisfied Syria was destroying all its chemical weapons facilities. Only two sites remained and they were being dealt with. Secondly, it identifies the Barzah and Jamrayah sites by name. Moreover, the Report declares both sites completely free of banned substances.
UK, US and French intelligence must have known about the Report. So why did they bomb Barzah and Jamrayah?
As we went to press, Mrs May was about to defend her approach in the House of Commons. But irrespective of when you read this, you can still email your MP. Here is the link to the Parliament website.
OPCW Reported only three weeks ago
The OPCW published the Executive Council Report on 23rd March 2018. That was just three weeks before Friday night’s air strikes. The Report is openly published here. We read at paragraph 6 (a):
‘The Secretariat has verified the destruction of 25 of the 27 chemical weapons production facilities (CWPFs) declared by the Syrian Arab Republic.’ It goes on. … ‘the Secretariat conducted an initial
inspection of the last two stationary above-ground facilities.’
It concludes: ‘the Secretariat, together with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), has been making all the required arrangements to assist the Syrian Arab Republic in the destruction of the facilities located at these two sites.’
No scheduled chemicals
Paragraph 11 says this:
’11. In accordance with paragraph 11 of Council decision EC-83/DEC.5, the second round of inspections at the Barzah and Jamrayah facilities of the SSRC was concluded on 22 November 2017. The results of the inspections were reported as an addendum (EC-87/DG.15/Add.1, dated 28 February 2018) to the report entitled “Status of Implementation of Executive Council Decision EC-83/DEC.5 (dated 11 November 2016)” (EC-87/DG.15, dated 23 February 2018). The analysis of samples taken during the inspections did not indicate the presence of scheduled chemicals in the samples, and the inspection team did not observe any activities inconsistent with obligations under the Convention during the second round of inspections at the Barzah and Jamrayah facilities.’
The Report concludes:
’17. The main focus of the future activities of the OPCW mission in the Syrian Arab Republic will be on the activities of the FFM and on the implementation of Council decisions EC-83/DEC.5 and EC-81/DEC.4, including declaration-related issues, as well as on the verification of the destruction of the two stationary above-ground facilities, and annual inspections of the underground structures already verified as destroyed.’
Barzah ‘developing anti-cancer drugs’
Even worse, Sputnik News claims the Barzah scientific research center was ‘a pharmaceutical facility used to produce cancer drugs.’ It quotes the facility head (who is un-named):
“Since the Syria crisis broke out, the country has been short of all kinds of medicines due to the sanctions from Western countries. Foreign companies stopped exporting high-quality medicines to Syria, especially anti-cancer medicines. So we have been conducting researches on anti-cancer medicines here, and three cancer drugs have been developed,” the facility head said.
The man was interviewed on RT standing at the site in plain clothes. “If there were chemical weapons in the building, we would not be here. My colleagues and I came here at 05:00 this morning. If there were chemical weapons, we would need to wear masks and take other protective measures to be staying here,” the man explained.
The US knew there were no chemical weapons at the site. Have they instead destroyed an institution developing life-saving medicines? Above all, medicines the Syrians are banned from importing? that would be a cruel and cynical blow.
No alternative to Bashar al-Assad
In an editorial, the Independent criticises the strikes. It quotes Patrick Cockburn. Mr Cockburn is an experienced reporter and commentator on the Middle East. He argues the only realistic rulers of Syria are Bashar al-Assad or the various al-Qaeda clones, such as Isis and al-Nusra.
The editorial says: ‘Any serious attempt to weaken the Syrian leader, therefore, risks prolonging the agonies of the Syrian people – although he writes today that these strikes were more of a “gesture” than an attempt to damage Mr Assad’s military machine.
And we repeat, it is President Assad and his Russian allies who have defended Syria’s Christians. If the UK had had its way, jihadists would be in charge of Syria. Naturally, in that event, the Christians of Syria would be history. Se we thank God for president Assad. And we thank God for the Russians. Through them the Lord has preserved the life and liberty of our brothers and sisters.
Syrian churches condemn attack
Now, you won’t see this mentioned in the mainstream media. Premier Radio has reported the leaders of the Greek Orthodox and Greek-Melkite Catholic churches have condemned the weekend strike.
In a statement issued by the Patriarchates of Antioch and all the East for the Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Greek-Melkite Catholic Damascus, the faith leaders questioned the legality behind the move.
They stated that the “brutal aggression” is a “clear violation of the international laws and the UN Charter”, and was an “unjustified assault” on a sovereign country that is a member of the United Nations.
“It causes us great pain that this assault comes from powerful countries to which Syria did not cause any harm in any way,” the church leaders added.
“The allegations of the USA and other countries that the Syrian army is using chemical weapons and that Syria is a country that owns and uses this kind of weapon, is a claim that is unjustified and unsupported by sufficient and clear evidence.
‘We call upon all churches in the countries that participated in the aggression, to fulfill their Christian duties, according to the teachings of the Gospel, and condemn this aggression and to call their governments to commit to the protection of international peace.’
Meanwhile, the Independent published the results of an opinion poll. The exclusive survey showed more people opposed than supported the action. Just 28 per cent supported them, while 36 per cent opposed. 26 per cent neither opposed nor supported the strikes and 11 per cent did not know.
YouGov research found an even stronger reaction. This was despite the majority of Britons (61%) thinking a chemical attack happened. Fewer than a quarter of Britons (22%) said they would support the attacks. Almost twice as many opposed them (43%).
General Mattis ‘saved the day’
So it now appears there was no justification for the strikes, particularly on Barzah and Jamrayah. Even then, it could have been worse.
Julian Borger, writing in the Guardian, is among many thanking General Mattis for reining in his president. The man known as ‘Mad Dog’ is a combat veteran. Borger says: ‘Mattis fought hard to keep the airstrikes narrowly focused on the three alleged chemical weapons facilities.’
In 2004 Mattis ordered a strike on what turned out to be a wedding party in Mukaradeeb. The ‘wedding party massacre’ killed 42 people. Too many of our most bellicose politicians never served in the forces. As a field commander the General knows full well the horrors of war.
Also in the Guardian, Simon Tisdall agrees: ‘It was Jim Mattis who saved the day.’ He ‘stood up to a Donald Trump baying for blood.’ Mr Trump’s new security advisor, John Bolton, may want to strike at Iran. Nevertheless, Tisdall says: ‘Mattis told Trump, in effect, that the third world war was not going to start on his watch.
‘The US was attacking Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities, he said. That, nothing more or less, was what the air strikes were about.’
‘No doubt there are times when we must fight. But there are plenty more when we should not.
‘Any fool can kill a man in a second and ruin a city in a week. But it takes long years of nurture to raise a child to adulthood, and centuries to build a civilisation.
‘Yet I look around me and see the mouths of intelligent people opened wide, yelling for an attack on Syria, when the only certain outcome of that will be blood and screams and ruins, and the deaths of innocents in ‘collateral damage’. What good will this do?
‘What is wrong with them? They are not cruel and stupid, yet they call for actions which are both.
‘Haven’t we got enough misery in Syria already? The place is a mass of ruins, graveyards and refugee camps. To what end? The only mercy for Syria will come when the war ends, yet we seek to widen and extend it.’
We’ll really appreciate your support
Click below to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings
Click on the social media links below to share this post:
Psalm 15:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. … 4b He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. 
