...The Arab spring “twitters” in on the wings of George Galloway. “Who goes there”? echoes the cry of the frightened, from the halls of Westminster: A new call from the mouths of the fearful, the arrogant, the shocked. Oh, what surprised panic musters now in yonder halls of infamy!

Galloway a voice for peace ? Unless you mean 'at any price'. you must be joking.

There used to be a term used on the Left, back in the days when it still had honourable people in its ranks - 'OPPORTUNISM'. You don't see that word very often these days.

For Galloway to pander to Islamists just shows how low some of the unprincipled 'Left' have sunk. This friend of dictators and fascist thugs is simply showing the way that some of the opportunists think the wind is blowing, and running in that direction for all they're worth.

Building democracy - and some yet-to-be-born form of socialism which builds on democracy, which is 'better' than democracy - has been extremely difficult, particularly amongst countries and populations whose minds are still trapped in medieval and pre-medieval mindsets.

Then along comes a Western politician to give those anti-democratic mindsets some respectability, in Western countries.

What an appalling creature

I'm not easiliy shamed but Gallaway is the sort of traitorus cretin that has become the trade mark of British decline. He is one of the reasons the British heritage has become so trashed internationally.

Scotland should be given its independence and ship George north of the border.

Loudmouth:

...What to be then, the terror of the left; or the tyranny of the right? Choice is a "Bob" each way for politicians of all colours: Otherwise, oil supplies would dry-up for one example only.

...Why not call this political insecurity a toxic effect of Multiculturalism?

Galloway is indeed an "appalling creature".

His hatred of Western democracy is manifest and his history of subservience to Saddam and his henchmen, particularly Tariq Aziz, mark him as a tainted individual.

Galloway's suuport of the suicide bombers and the Iraqi 'resistance' and his lack of support for Iraqi trade unionists mark him as one of those most loathsome people: those who side with the enemy of his nation on the pretext that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

That he won in an Islamic electorate by catering to the values of that constituency, rather than the values of the wider democracy, both speaks of his hypocrisy and the failure of multiculturalism.

Hi Dan,

"What to be then, the terror of the left; or the tyranny of the right?"

Firstly, what 'left' ? Is there still one ? How do you tell the difference ? Where are the Christopher Lasches and Fred Hallidays of today ? Or the Christopher Hitchens ?

Secondly, no, one does NOT have to choose one OR the other: a pox on both their houses. There must be other ways to bring about democracy and human rights, than either Left or Right fascism OR medievalism and pre-medievalism, and of course there are.

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Yes, the slogan of opportunist trash like Galloway.

Perhaps, once Scotland has been voted out of the arms of Great Britain, the Shetlands or the Orkneys could be persuaded to seek independence from Scotland and Galloway could be repatriated there by a relieved Scottish government.

Cheers,

Joe

Well said Diver Dan. The posts that follow yours make your point exquisitely. All the usual suspects line up to mouth their ill-informed nonsense. Their is an implicit elitism in the critics of Galloway's election victory. All those Bradford voters must have ben duped by (take your pick) appeal to Muslims; demagoguery; opportunism; etc etc. Galloway is variously an opportunist, a traitor, a sucker-up to dictators, etc etc.
Yet, when one actually looks at what he has advocated over the years surprise surprise he is mostly right.
He opposed sanctions on Iraq and Madeleine Albright thought the 500,000 dead children were a "price worth paying". He condemned the lie of weapons of mass destruction used to justify an illegal war and who was right there? Even "Curveball" has publically admitted he lied about mobile chemical warfare labs etc. It is not Galloway who should be in the dock of the International Criminal Court.
His support for the rights of Palestinians is supported by the overwhelming majority of the world's countries as demonstrated countless times in UN resolutions.
What is it exactly that most of the posters cannot abide: that someone has the temerity to tell some uncomfortable truths about the organised crime gangs that purport to be the governments of the so-called democracies?

Hi James,

A hell of a lot of us opposed the war in Iraq, without wanting to get into bed with Galloway or his bum-buddy Saddam. Many of us support the struggle of Palestinians for justice. But not if it means sucking up to a bunch of extreme right-wingers. Galloway doesn't seem to have any trouble doing that.

Please don't try that old trick of tarring everybody with the same brush.

Cheers,

Joe

I congratulate George Galloway for his astounding success in winning with such a wide margin ,over 50% of the total votes cast.
His detractors try to discredit him with character assassination and false statements like the US Senator who accused him of a hand out from Saddam Hussein. George put him in his place.
What IS Western Democracy ? It is a Myth ! Tony Blair and George W. Bush have exposed the true nature of Western Democracy that invades other countries on Lies; Murders Millions in their quest for Oil; Supports Zionist Apartheid and turns a blind eye to Genocide in Palestine. The British mindset is still fighting the Christian Crusades against Islam.
The Global Financial crisis heralds fundamental changes in our world where the 1% demands the 99% Foot the bill for Imperialism's excesses.
Change is in the wind. Hiding your head in the sand won't stop it.

Oh yes, Galloway is a saint who was "mostly right."

At his convened meeting in 1998 where that literary sook Pinter declared the Iraqi deaths were "Tony Blair's legacy of corpses" Galloway knew exactly what he was doing in opposing sanctions because the person who would benefit most from their lifting was Saddam.

I just love the little haters of the West who use every freedom the West offers while invariably supporting and espousing those fellow hypocrites and parasites like Galloway who do not just complain about defects in the Western model but who want to tear it down.

Go and study Iran you clowns and what the Mullahs did with the useful idiots of the left when they took over there. You are cognitive dissonants not dissidents.

Cohenite: Spoken like a true Zionist.resort to slander and ridicule, but no substance.

cohenite,

While they're at it, they might also like to study the U.S.'s role in the overthrow of Iran's democratically elected government in the fifties and the ensuing installation of the Shah....the knock-on effect of which led to the rule of the Mullahs.

Maracas,

Galloway got just over 50 % of the vote in his by-election ?

Aung San Suu Kyi won a bit over 80 % of the vote in her electorate in Sunday's elections in Burma.

So, if he has time, what does Galloway say in support of Aung San Suu Kyi, and in support for democracy and justice in Burma ? What has he said in the past about her winning the 1990 elections, and then being jailed and put under house arrest for more than twenty years ?

I'm not saying that Galloway, or anybody else, should devote themselves to every single issue of justice and human rights night and day, but it would be nice to see some support from such people - when they can tear their lips away from the backsides of dictators, such as Assad, Gaddafi, Saddam and Bashir, that is.

"Every century but this, and every country but his own .... "

Joe

So sad that so many on this forum have little understanding of the difference between ideology and reality. The likes of George Galloway knows this, his advocates don’t. They just follow blindly.

He is a great salesman, but so was Stalin, well, at least until he had to start slaughtering the masses because they created a movement that did not agree with him.

George will never be in this position, nor will Bob Brown. In the meantime they will both attract the truly dysfunctional ideologues. Why? Who knows? The main thing we in reality land still have going for us is reality. Fortunately, the only thing that is ultimately sustainable is truth. “Garbage in” will always equate with “garbage out”, this is the salvation of humanity

I am not a Zionist; what a stupid thing to say.

It is true the Americans, at the behest of Britain, overthrew Mossadegh but it is not true they made the Mullahs what they are. The same phony argument is used by Pilger to claim the Americans created Pol Pot, as if that can mitigate the culpability of that regime.

The point I make is that you work to rectify the bastardry which still occurs in the Western system; you don't, as the likes of Galloway do, work to break the system and rejoice in the much worse alternative.

There is no doubt the Mullahs were much more despotic than the Shah and similarly the "Arab Spring" will be a delusion. But is this the fault of the West?

Chalmers Johnson and others have written about the hegemonic intentions of the West, particularly the US, which creates antipathy, particularly Islamist extremism and the various forms of 'blowback' before and since 9/11.

This is simplistic nonsense. Islam is not as it is because of Western oppression. It is extant because it is an atavistic theology. To blame the stupid overthrow of Mossandegh as the reason why Islamic extremism now threatens the world is on the same rat cunning but delusional level of Galloway.

I didn't know that there were so many Zionist war mongers on this site.Galloway speaks the truth and now even Zibigniew Brezezinski is telling Israel to back off Iran.Zibig is his statement about a "Global Political Awakening" has also told the West to back off China and Russia.

Even MOSSAD say that Iran has no nuke program.It is all about stealing oil and resources and keeping poor countries in contrived debt so they become slaves of this international counterfeiting system called fractional reserve banking.

Bankers now control Italy and Greece.Our RBA drop rates and our bankers thumb their noses at them and increase rates.