As readers of this blog will be well aware I am no fan of George Galloway in any shape or form. Sometimes I think he's a dangerous idiot. Sometimes Just a bloody fool. His latest remarks show the man's complete and utter stupidity in the extreme.
In an obituary of Tony Benn he muses:
“At the height of his campaign when he seemed to be about to carry all before him, Benn was struck down by an obscure illness The Guillain – Barre Syndrome which attacked his nervous system, confined him to bed, and left him shaky on his legs for the rest of his life. It seemed suspicious at the time, and it still does now. Especially after what happened to Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other left-wing leaders in Latin America.”
Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.
Of course such attacks on political opponents are far from new. Back in 2003 CNN reported
LONDON, England -- It was one of the most notorious acts of assassination carried out during the Cold War.
Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by poison dart filled with ricin and fired from an umbrella in London in 1978.
Markov, a communist defector working for the BBC World Service, left his office at Bush House in the UK capital on September 11 and walked across Waterloo Bridge to take the train home to Clapham in south-west London.
As he waited at a bus stop moments into his journey home, he felt a sharp jab in his thigh and saw a man picking up an umbrella.
He developed a high temperature and in four days was dead.
A post mortem, conducted with the help of scientists from the UK government's germ warfare centre at Porton Down, established that he had been killed by a tiny pellet containing a 0.2 milligram dose of the poison ricin.
Markov's assassination was detected only because the pellet carrying the poison had not dissolved as expected.
His assassin has never been captured despite close cooperation between British and Bulgarian authorities, including Interpol.
Markov, a playwright and satirist who had broadcast scathing accounts of Communist high life to Bulgaria, was the subject of two failed assassination attempts before he was killed.
And in the years following his death efforts were made to reveal the chain of command which led to the order for his assassination being given....
A post-mortem examination suggested Mr Litvinenko had died after being poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium-210.
A frantic police investigation led to a number of premises being briefly sealed off while forensic scientists tested for traces of the radioactive material.
Locations which tested positive included the Millennium Hotel, the Abracadabra lap-dancing club and the Emirates football stadium, where Mr Lugovoi had watched Arsenal play CSKA Moscow.
For several years after that I never met, or heard of, anyone else who’d had the condition, until in 1981 Tony Benn had to interrupt his campaign for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party due to a mystery ailment that turned out to be … Guillain–Barré syndrome.
I remember thinking at the time that Benn must have had a much milder version of it than mine, as he was only out of action for a few weeks. But still, I liked to boast to my friends that with both myself and Benn as victims, it was clear that Guillain–Barré syndrome was a ruling class plot against their most dangerous enemies.
Of course such attacks on political opponents are far from new. Back in 2003 CNN reported
LONDON, England -- It was one of the most notorious acts of assassination carried out during the Cold War.
Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by poison dart filled with ricin and fired from an umbrella in London in 1978.
Markov, a communist defector working for the BBC World Service, left his office at Bush House in the UK capital on September 11 and walked across Waterloo Bridge to take the train home to Clapham in south-west London.
As he waited at a bus stop moments into his journey home, he felt a sharp jab in his thigh and saw a man picking up an umbrella.
He developed a high temperature and in four days was dead.
A post mortem, conducted with the help of scientists from the UK government's germ warfare centre at Porton Down, established that he had been killed by a tiny pellet containing a 0.2 milligram dose of the poison ricin.
Markov's assassination was detected only because the pellet carrying the poison had not dissolved as expected.
His assassin has never been captured despite close cooperation between British and Bulgarian authorities, including Interpol.
Markov, a playwright and satirist who had broadcast scathing accounts of Communist high life to Bulgaria, was the subject of two failed assassination attempts before he was killed.
And in the years following his death efforts were made to reveal the chain of command which led to the order for his assassination being given....
So it does happen, but the culprits are the kind of Stalinist gorgeous George admires.
More recently of course there was the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. The BBC reported:
A frantic police investigation led to a number of premises being briefly sealed off while forensic scientists tested for traces of the radioactive material.
Locations which tested positive included the Millennium Hotel, the Abracadabra lap-dancing club and the Emirates football stadium, where Mr Lugovoi had watched Arsenal play CSKA Moscow.
No idea what Galloway had to say about that, but then he is a wee bit of a self promoting celebrity on RT, Putin's propaganda channel broadcast to the West.
However in Tony Benn's case there is another explanation as explained by Jim Denham over at Shiraz Socialist who unfortunately has suffered in the past with the same condition and writes:
I remember thinking at the time that Benn must have had a much milder version of it than mine, as he was only out of action for a few weeks. But still, I liked to boast to my friends that with both myself and Benn as victims, it was clear that Guillain–Barré syndrome was a ruling class plot against their most dangerous enemies.
Jim of course is just jesting, he's one of the few on the left with a bit of common sense these days.
Had to laugh at Andy Newman though who wrote (probably grudgingly since he published Galloway's ludicrous comments on his pro-Soviet blog) that sometimes people get ill.
Guess that's why doctors gave the condition a name Andy! You might want to think twice about promoting such nonsense now that you are a Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party.
I'm sure the Labour Party Grandees are watching....
Meanwhile I await further atrocities from the crazy world of George Galloway.
Sarah AB has already looked at one odd Respect policy on unity in the Arab world from their redesigned website which you can read here.
Sounds awfully like a call to Baathism George, tell me how's that worked out recently... "cough" Assad "cough" the indefatigable Saddam anyone.
If there's anyone left in Respect, time to come back to the real world before it's too late...
Thanks for crediting me with some "common sense", Howie. From you, I take that as high praise. Btw: your article gives the impression that I'm still suffering from Guillain–Barré syndrome: I'm not, as I made a full recovery after about six months of incapacity in the 1970's. At least I *think* I made a full recovery - it's difficult to judge afterwards. For instance, I had to learn to walk all over again, and for some time got about by swinging my hips a la Kenneth Moore as Douglas Bader in 'Reach For The Sky.' But as far as I can judge, there were no lasting effects.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim, on the first point you are welcome. I meant it even if I have obvious political differences with you.
ReplyDeleteOn the second my apologies and shows my ignorance of medical matters. For some reason I thought that this was something that stayed with sufferers. I am happy to hear that is not the case.
I wish you good health!
Forgot to add I have amended the article to change the false impression I gave.
Delete