I Just Don't Get the EU Referendum

Tomorrow (23/6/16) voters in the UK will go to the polls in a referendum to decide whether to remain as members of the European Union (EU) or to leave.

This represents one of the more important decisions in British history. Certainly the most important since the UK voted to join the EU back in 1972. As something of a political blogger you would expect me to have an opinion on the issue.

The problem is. Well the first problem is that I've been extremely busy at the moment. For pretty much the last six months I've been sitting there going; "I need to do something about that tomorrow." Right before another terrorist attack or some related crisis suddenly develops. The main problem though is that I simply don't understand what all the fuss is about.

What I would have liked to have done is discuss this renegotiation agreement that British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled back in February 2016.

I would have begun by explaining that in order to decide whether any negotiation had been a success or failure you would first have to look at what the objectives were going into that negotiation. I would then explained that this is where I find myself stuck because I genuinely have no idea what the British government has been trying to achieve when it comes to the EU.

One thing we do know for sure is that if Britain votes to remain then things will remain exactly as they are now.

An area of EU policy I have been following extremely closely is the agreement between the EU and Turkey over the migrant crisis. One thing that is obvious to all on that issue is that the agreement that was published on March 18th (18/3/16) bears absolutely no relation to the plan that has been put into action.

For example the published agreement requires that all migrants on the Greek islands go through the asylum process. Those who are successful have to be relocated from the Greek islands before the EU can start sending those who failed back to Turkey. This was completely ignored and the EU started returning migrants just two weeks later.

Therefore I think it is safe to assume that Cameron's renegotiation agreement is not worth the paper that it is written on. As such it can be completely excluded from the discussion and if you look at the discussion it is clear that it already has been.

It is the migrant deal with Turkey that has really undermined my confidence in the entire discussion surrounding the referendum debate. A key part of the deal is that Turks are to be given visa-free access to the EU. Although it is being frantically debated as I write this is expected to go into force next week.

Throughout the referendum debate whenever the Remain campaign have been asked about this issue they've replied; "Turkey won't be joining the EU." That may be the case but that's not the question that is being asked. The question being asked is whether Turkish migrants will be able to freely travel to the UK. I'm still waiting for the Remain camp to answer that question.

It is of course much harder to predict what will happen if Britain votes to leave the EU.

Due to the way in which the World has become much closely interlinked and globalised a vote to leave does not suddenly mean that the UK will end its relationship with the EU. For example the British and French military's are very closely linked together under an agreement that has nothing to do with the EU. As such a vote to leave simply means that the UK will begin to renegotiate its relationship with the EU.

This is likely to be one of the most complicated political negotiations ever seen. It took the Czech Republic and Slovakia five years to negotiate their separation and that was two federal regions attempting to separate rather one nation trying the separate from 27 others. During these negotiations you will see various complex issued being leveraged against each other.

For example the EU might be prepared to take a very tough line on the UK agreeing to the free movement of people and increased workers rights in order to reduce the tariffs UK business will have to pay to export to the EU. However that almost laughably understates the almost infinite number of variables and possible outcomes that these negotiations will produce.

As with most divorces this division of assets and discussions of visitation and access rights is likely to take place in the acrimonious atmosphere of old scores being settled.

These negotiations that will last for an absolute minimum of five years will create a lot of uncertainty. It is for this reason that many business leaders are backing the Remain camp. It has long been said that business can cope with good news and it can cope with bad news. What it cannot cope with is uncertainty. What they seem to have failed to factor into their decision though is that it is extremely unlikely that the existing trade relationship will come to an end before the new relationship is agreed.

Also the UK seems to have quite a strong hand in these negotiations.

Although it's due more to mistakes made by the EU rather than the success of British government policy the British economy is in a stronger position than the Eurozone economy. Take for example the Greek bailout. If Britain leaves the EU and takes its prime AAA credit rating with it this will cause the EU's entire credit rating to fall. That will make borrowing more expensive and there the Greek bailout less likely to succeed.

Then there is the issue of the poorer, newer EU member states such as Poland and Romania. If you take away the UK's vast contribution to the EU development funds these nations receive at the same time taking away the remittances they receive from migrants working in the UK they more or less don't have economies. As such a British exit will plunge those nations into recession bringing down the Eurozone economy as a whole.

Obviously the UK exports a lot of goods to the EU. However the EU also exports a lot of goods to the UK. With the already weak Eurozone economy being plunged into further difficulties by a British exit it is likely that the EU is going to be a lot more desperate to trade with the UK than the UK is going to be desperate to trade with the EU.

However as always in economics there is no such thing as good and bad. It really depends on your individual circumstances and how they are affected.

Therefore it seems likely that I will be voting to Leave tomorrow. However I may still change my mind at the last minute and vote to Remain.

Alternatively I might just abstain and stay at home.

13:10 on 22/6/16 (UK date).

So Remainers Need Professional Help Then.

Between May 7th (7/5/16) and May 14th (14/5/16) 2016 the 61st Eurovision Song Contest was held in Stockholm, Sweden.

The UK were represented by Joe & Jake with the song; "You Are Not Alone." As I said at the time this was a barely disguised pledge that the full apparatus of the British state are being ranged to secure a "Remain" result at this Thursday's (23/6/16) referendum on membership of the European Union (EU).

Almost immediately that pledge was tested.

On Friday June 10th (10/6/16) the British Labour Party threw its full support behind the Remain campaign. This had the predictable result of almost immediately handing the "Leave" campaign a 10 point lead in the polls. If the Labour campaign had been allowed to continue all the way up to polling day support to Leave would only have grown.

So last Thursday (16/6/16) remedial action was taken in the form of the lawful killing of Labour MP and Remain campaigner Jo Cox.

Obviously this helped to slightly smear the Leave campaign. It is claimed that the killer shouted "Britain First." This is a reference to a neo-Nazi terror group that have come up before in discussions about the fight against radical Islamist terrorism. Particularly with the US. However if you don't move in those circles it would be easy to confuse it with the campaign that wants to put Britain first by voting to leave the EU. It also of course brings a small sympathy vote to the Remain campaign.

However the main objective was to stop the referendum campaign in its tracks.

Initially it looked like it was going to achieve this. Campaigning was formally suspended on Thursday and due to Parliament being recalled today to pay tribute it officially remains suspended until 00:00 (local) tomorrow (21/6/16). As such there shouldn't have been campaigners from either side appearing on the Sunday TV politics shows. Last night's Town Hall event with Remain campaigner Prime Minister David Cameron should not have taken place. Tonight's Town Hall event with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn most certainly should not be taking place.

Corbyn launched his Remain campaign on the TV Show "The Last Leg." As part of the comedy format of the program jokes were made about Corbyn's reputation as a geek by asking him if he could name every station on the train journey between London Paddington station and Cardiff Central station. He could.

As Jo Cox was being killed a train with "FIRST" written on it in massive letters derailed at Paddington station. Due to the derailment of the First Train thousands of commuters were forced to - *coughs, clears throat* - REMAIN AT WORK!

What was critical in making the operation a success was making sure that the killing was portrayed not as part of the referendum campaign but as a result Labour and Jo Cox links to radical Islamist terrorism. In light of that week alone's radical Islamist terror attacks in Florida, US and France this is a conversation we urgently need to be having.

This discussion would have put so much pressure on the Labour Party that they would be prevented from campaigning and everyone could go back to forgetting that Labour has a position on Europe. This would have been achieved by the police declining to charge the alleged killer Tommy Mair with murder until Jo Cox's links to terrorism had been investigated.

Unfortunately the people who are tasked with keeping us safe from terrorism - West Yorkshire Police's Counter Terror command - then decided to give us all reason to be afraid. Be very afraid.

The Labour Party and in particular Jo Cox's career politician husband Brendan Cox reacted to this burgeoning counter terrorism investigation in exactly the same way they've responded to countless other counter terrorism investigation. They launched a big public relations campaign to garner public sympathy in an attempt to intimidate the police into backing off.

You may remember that when Mohammed Emwazi was revealed to be "Jihadi John" the Labour Party affiliated group CAGE UK did much the same thing. In their press conference they too referred to Emwazi as a kind and gentle man committed to humanitarian work. Being more experienced the Labour Party first went to the trouble of staging a flower-laden memorial to provide a backdrop for their press conferences in the hope of maximising the emotional impact.

The big effort though was the Go Fund Me page that Brendan Cox set up.

One of the groups this claims to be raising money for is the Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets). This group is funded out of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and based in Turkey. It's founder is a British mercenary. Far from being a humanitarian group they are the propaganda arm of Al Qaeda. They specialise in murdering non-Sunni Syrians and hiding the bodies in wrecked buildings in the hope of blaming the deaths on the Syrian government.

Although they are covered by the listing of Al Qaeda the White Helmets are not currently formally individually listed as a proscribed terror group. However with the groups Arab figurehead being denied entry to the US on the grounds of terrorism that conversation is certainly taking place.

The second group Brendan Cox claims to be raising money for is Hope Not Hate. Similar to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in the US this is a street action group that Labour is threatening to bring out in riot. Obviously though they will need to get the Anarchists on side in order to achieve that.

The third group is the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS). They have been included as a direct challenge to the Crown not to launch a counter terrorism investigation. It serves as a dog whistle to the Anarchists that Labour need to support Hope Not Hate hinting that the Tommy Mair is a Royal volunteer. Prior to the launching of the fundraising campaign Labour supporters started a rumour that Tommy Mair was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which is a another way of suggesting he was a Royal volunteer. 

Labour have also repeatedly described the killing as an "Attack on Democracy." The subtext being; "Rise up and fight for us against the tyrannical Crown!"

Being astonishingly bad at their job West Yorkshire Police bowed to the pressure of this rabble rousing and baselessly charged Tommy Mair with murder.

This has given the Remain campaign an entirely undeserved sense of accomplishment. They immediately abandoned their desire to mourn Jo Cox and relaunched their campaign in the hope the death can be used to further smear the Leave campaign.

This afternoon Tommy Mair appeared at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey). Although there are certainly grounds to do so even dismissing the murder charge without prejudice as per double jeopardy would be a big statement for the Crown to make.

It would also come too late to prevent Corbyn's TV appearance tonight. Fortunately anyone interested in actual politics will be watching the England v Slovakia game. Or perhaps more accurately the Russia v Wales rioting.

So instead the Crown has shifted the narrative.

Now Britain has withdrawn its threat to leave the EU it has a lot of work to do repairing its relationship with the EU. As those familiar with Andy Murray's shock 2013 win on the; "Slippery Courts of the All England Club" at Wimbledon know the high levels of corruption within the British legal system is going to be a major sticking point.

I would say that the fate of Justice Hogg of Madeline McCann fame is far from certain. However I think it's pretty clear what needs to happen to her.

Mair's next Court appearance is to take place on polling day. That can only be viewed as it is intended - Judicial interference in the democratic process.

16:30 on 20/6/16 (UK date).

The Lawful Killing of Jo Cox.

This afternoon British Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party Jo Cox was shot and killed on the streets of Birstall, Yorkshire.

If you are a supporter of the US Democrat Party you will obviously be shocked that someone has been shot and killed on the streets of the UK.

After all we banned all assault weapons in 1987 in an emotional response to the Hungerford Massacre in which 16 people were killed. Then in 1996 we banned all handguns in an emotional response the Dunblane Massacre in which 16 people were killed.

However if you are British you'll be used to things like the 2010 Cumbria Massacre in which 12 people were shot and killed. Therefore you will be much more shocked to learn that in Yorkshire there remained a member of the Labour Party who was not a Muslim.

As their annihilation in the 2015 General Election demonstrate the Labour Party have not been doing well of late. The main reason for this is that they have systematically abandoned the values of the white, working class voting base from which they were formed to, frankly, suck the c*ck of any Muslim. No matter how extreme.

To understand just how badly the Labour Party are doing at the moment you only need to look at how excited they were that they're candidate Sadiq Khan was elected Mayor of London back in May.

To give you an idea of how utterly out of proportion Labour's excitement over this was the list of British Muslim politicians who've held more powerful positions than London Mayor actually includes Sadiq Khan. Twice. When he was Minister of State for Communities in 2008 and Minister of State for Transport in 2009.

The Labour Mayoral campaign also demonstrates the extent to which the Party abandoned their core values and those of their voters. In order to be seen as a 'good Muslim' Kahn's campaign made a point of the fact it employed people such as Shueb Salar who advocated the beating of homosexuals in public.

Khan himself gave a number of speeches at campaign events where women were segregated from men. This included one at which he appeared in front of the black flag of Jihad that was hosted by an Islamic TV channel that advocated marital rape and declared women who wear perfume to be prostitutes.

In the course of his campaign he was supported by former Labour London Mayor Ken Livingstone who claimed that Adolf Hitler supported the creation of the state of Israel and accused Jews of being willing participants in the Nazi holocaust. This came after Labour MP for Bradford West, Yorkshire Naz Shah was caught declaring Judaism to be a bogus religion and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

What really did for the Labour Party though was it's conduct in the Rotherham, Yorkshire sex abuse scandal.

Here between 1997 and 2013 a gang of Muslim men of Pakistani origin systematically abducted, tortured, raped and sex trafficked at least 1,400 white working class girls some as young as 12. The Labour controlled local Council protected the gang from prosecution because they didn't want to alienate Muslim voters by telling them that they couldn't abduct, rape and torture children.

If this was not bad enough in Rochdale, Greater Manchester the local Labour controlled Council let another gang of British Pakistani Muslims systematically abduct, rape, torture and sex traffic at least 47 white working children between 2008 and 2009. The Labour Party in Rochdale then did it again allowing another gang of British Pakistani Muslims to systematically abduct, rape, torture and sex traffic even more white working class children between 2012 and 2016.

Prior to her death Jo Cox founded and chaired the Parliamentary "Friends of Syria" group. As with the international Friends of Syria group this group is dedicated to the support of radical Islamist terror groups such as Al Qaeda, The Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) in Syria.

On December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15) the British Parliament voted on authorising military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. Jo Cox declined to participate in this vote claiming that it would be better to find a way to accommodate ISIL and their self-declared genocidal agenda.

As I'm sure you've heard on Sunday (12/6/16) an Muslim man walked into a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, US and murdered 49 people while attempting to murder 53 more. He claimed this attack in the name of ISIL.

With the Pulse nightclub being a gay club this prompted an outpouring of grief from the global gay community with vigils for the dead being held across the World. The main British vigil was held outside the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street in London.

The reason why the Admiral Duncan was chosen for the vigil is that on April 30th 1999 (30/4/99) it was itself bombed in a terrorist attack. With the device used being a simple pipebomb made from blackpowder recovered from commercial fireworks it only succeeded in killing 3 people and wounding 70 more.

The bomber David Copeland was at the very least inspired by a Neo-Nazi terror group that was active in the UK at the time known as "Combat 18." As in the word "Combat" followed by the 1st and 8th letters of the English alphabet; Adolf Hitler.

With Al Qaeda very much changing the way that domestic terrorism is policed on September 11th 2001 Combat 18 were wiped out around 9 seconds later. However recently a replacement for Combat 18 has begun to emerge in the form of "Britain First." You may have heard whispered mentions of them in relation to the murder of Sikh doctor Sarandev Singh Bhambra in Mold, Wales on January 14th 2015 (14/1/15).

As again you may have heard on Monday (13/6/16) a Muslim man murdered two police officers in Paris, France orphaning the married couple's 3 year old child. Broadcasting his crime live on the Internet the attacker claimed his actions in the name of ISIL and promised more attacks.

Just yesterday (15/6/16) police in Belgium received threats that a group of ISIL fighters were travelling from Syria to carry out mass casualty terror attacks in both France and Belgium.

Today I'm working my way through the latest United Nations (UN) report on how ISIL continue to attempt to wipe out the Yezidi ethnic group by systematically abducting, raping, torturing, sex trafficking and murdering Yezidi women and children.

So as for Jo Cox I'm inclined to think that someone finally decided that they'd had enough and shot the silly b*tch in the face.

The police have arrested a suspect - named locally as Tommy Mair - in connection to the killing. This puts them in an extremely awkward position.

Under British - and international law - you are allowed to kill in defence of self or another. Shooting dead a paedophile who is about to rape a child or a gunman who is about to storm into a crowded nightclub are prime examples a this principle.

Also the UK voted to pass UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2170 (2014). A Chapter 7 resolution this not only authorises but obligates everybody to use every method at their disposal to defeat ISIL and Al Qaeda. Due to the precedent set in the conviction of Charles Taylor on April 26th 2012 (2012) that includes anybody who is aiding those groups including through the provision of medical or other humanitarian aid.

As such the killing of Jo Cox and any other member of the British Friends of Syria Parliamentary group is lawful under 2170 (2014).

Although I'm not sure of the exact time of arrest the police now have 36 hours to decide whether to charge or release their suspect. As far as I can tell the only criminal offence he could possibly have committed is unlawful possession of a firearm.

I gather that US President Barack Obama is now more committed than ever to banning all guns in the US.

Except for the ones carried by his armed guards of course.

20:00 on 16/6/16 (UK date).

Edited at around 10:20 on 18/6/16 (UK date) to add;

Jo Cox was pronounced dead at 12:50 on Thursday (16/6/16). It is reasonable to assume that Tommy Mair was formally arrested at around 13:00 give or take.

Initially the police would have had 24 hours to hold him taking us up to 13:00 on Friday (17/6/16). A senior police officer could than authorises his detention for a further 12 hours bringing us up to 01:00 today. Beyond that the police would have had to apply to a Judge to further extend his detention.

At 00:25 today West Yorkshire police announced that they'd charged Mair with a great number of offences including, controversially, murder. It seems pretty obvious what has happened here.

Approaching the deadline the police had it strongly indicated to them not to seek an extension because such a request would be refused. So the police did what they always do in this type of situation - massively overcharge in the hope that at least something sticks.

You can almost hear the conversation between West Yorkshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in London;

"You're adamant you want to charge?"

"Yes."

"Is that your final answer. Are you sure you wouldn't like to phone a friend. Possibly an adult?"

"No. We want to charge."

"Okay. We'll get you a Court date on Monday (20/6/16). When the rest of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) group is back in session."

Such was the level of alarm generated by the conduct of West Yorkshire police that Mair was immediately transferred to London. He's just been remanded in custody. That means to a central London police station where the investigation can begin and he can be given access to legal representation.

Of course what a competent police force would have done is charge Mair with unlawfully firearm possession and request that he is remanded. That would allow them to continue the rest of their investigation.

The big problem they're going to face is that for at least the last year West Yorkshire police themselves have been descibing the threat posed by Jo Cox to the general public - including Mair - as; "Severe." They have also been urging the public to take precautions against that threat.

Demonstrating the threat the Cox's and associates pose to the UK the husband has launched a fund raising campaign for groups who give money to people who have this nasty habit of being blown up in US & UK air-strikes in Syria & Iraq. The figurehead of the White Helmets group is actually considered such a terrorist threat that he is barred from entering the US.

Therefore as a result of West Yorkshire's screw up we now have at least two days in which British people are likely to be mislead into thinking that funding terrorist groups in somehow acceptable rather than a criminal act. 

10:40 on 18/6/16 (UK date).

 

The Magananville Terror Attack.

On Monday (13/6/16) night France experienced yet another terrorist attack. This time in the Maganville commune/suburb of Paris.

The first victim was Jean-Baptiste Salvaing who is effectively the Assistant Chief of Police for the near-by Les Mureaux district. As Salvaing was entering his home after returning from work he was ambushed by Larossi Abballa who screamed "Allahu Akbar! (God is Greatest)" as he stabbed and killed Salvaing. Abballa then forced his way into the Salvaing family home taking Jean-Baptiste's wife Jessica Salvaing - also a police officer - and the couple's, unnamed, 3 year old child hostage.

Following a stand-off lasting several hours’ French anti-terror police stormed the building shooting and killing Abballa. However by that point Jessica Salvaing had already been murdered leaving the surviving child as an orphan.

As I said as the topic was being extensively discussed during the Eurovision Song Contest France is certainly no stranger to Islamist terror attacks. In fact excluding active warzones I think the only nation that has seen more terror attacks that France recently is Israel.

At one extreme there were the November 13th 2015 (13/11/15) massacres in Paris that killed 130. This was the work of a military unit of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that had been sent from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq to hide among the Muslim community in Belgium in order to carry out large-scale terror attacks across Europe.

At the other extreme on May 27th (27/5/16) a uniformed French soldier was attacked with a knife by two attackers who screamed about avenging France's killing of Muslims in Syria. That was very clearly the work of what are termed "Lone-Wolves" who radicalised themselves by reading about ISIL on the Internet. As such ISIL had no direct role in planning or ordering that attack.

Monday's attack seems to sit somewhere between those two extremes.

The attacker Abballa had been arrested and convicted in 2013 of being part of an Al Qaeda network sending recruits to training camps in Pakistan. As such he is clearly not self-radicalised and has existing contacts with known terrorists.

However there is absolutely no indication that he himself had received formal training and since being released from prison Abballa has been closely monitored by the French security services. As such it is known that he has not travelled to join ISIL and has not had any recent contact with known terrorists.

Prior to launching the attack Abballa formally pledged allegiance to ISIL. As such it is fair to describe him as a supporter of the group.

However in terms of direction by ISIL Abballa seemed to be acting on nothing more than a statement issued by ISIL prior to the start of Ramadan calling on supporters to launch attacks during this Holy month. This spoke specifically of attacking enemies of the group in their homes. However this is a standing order to all ISIL supporters rather than Abballa specifically. ISIL actually issued pretty much the exact same general order last year.

Following the attack ISIL did issue a claim of responsibility. However as I've mentioned before ISIL are perfectly capable of using the Internet to read international news sites. Particularly any occasion where their name is mentioned.

During the stand-off with police Abballa spent around 15 minutes broadcasting his actions live on the Internet using the Facebook Live system. This type of Internet live streaming was a big talking point at the Eurovision Song Contest. France itself contributed with a young woman broadcasting her own suicide live on Periscope.

However I don't think that Abballa's actions were intended as part of this discussion. Instead all terrorists - particularly ISIL - are very focused on what is termed the "Propaganda of the Deed." The intention being to make the act of violence echo amongst a much larger audience then those who directly witnessed it. This is done either to spread fear or inspire fellow supporters. Therefore I think Abballa was simply making use of the new technology without thought for the wider technical implications.

During his broadcast Abballa claimed that he was aware of a secret plot that ISIL had in place for the Euro 2016 football tournament. Obviously he gave no further details other than teasing that Euro 2016 would become a graveyard.

By definition terrorists seek to use fear and terror to achieve their aims. As such making a wild threat that something big and secret is coming is a rather cost effective way of achieving that fear factor without having to go to the trouble of actually carrying out an attack. We saw this particularly after the Brussels attacks where ISIL's European cell seemed to intentionally leave indicators that they were playing to attack Euro 2016 for the police to find.

In what seems to be in a similar vein following his death Abballa was found be in possession of a hitlist of other potential targets. Obviously I would like to know how detailed this list was. For example did it include details of the target's addresses and schedules? After all Abballa is someone who has been itching to take action for quite some time and therefore may have aspired to a larger killing spree. However the fact that he didn't destroy the list once he knew he was going to be killed/captured suggests to me that he was simply trying to spread more fear.

Abballa's actions - particularly his graveyard claim - already seems to have inspired other European ISIL sympathisers. Yesterday someone sent notes to several Belgian police stations detailing an ISIL plot to attack during Euro 2016. It talks about an ISIL combat unit being dispatched 10 days ago with orders to infiltrate Europe via Turkey and launch attacks in France and Belgium.

Obviously in response to this I don't think it would be a good idea to reduce security measures. However it strikes me as the work of someone who wants to spread fear but lacks the capacity to carry out an actual attack.

In hunting down the person(s) responsible for these notes the first place the police should look is the Molenbeek district of Brussels. This remains a hotbed of ISIL sympathisers. Just last Friday (10/6/16) two police cars were burnt out there in petrol bomb attacks. At Eurovision Belgium promised to get Molenbeek sorted. They now need to translate words into action.

In terms of reducing the terror threat is faces the French government really isn't doing itself any favours.

As I've said numerous times following the Paris Massacres France should have invoked the NATO's Article 5 mutual defence clause. If US President Obama refused they should have forced the issue. Instead though France introduced United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2249 (2015). This sought to reduce the obligation on all nations to defeat ISIL created by the Chapter 7 Resolution 2170 (2014) by telling nations they could continue to support ISIL if that's how they feel.

The French government is of course a vocal supporter of the Islamist insurgency within Syria. It frequently refers to the "Legitimate Aspirations" of groups such as ISIL, Al Qaeda and their associates. It's hard to imagine what more the French government could do to tell its own Muslim population that this terrorism is legitimate and that they should join in.

France's President Hollande though seems to have found a way.

Much like Obama before him Hollande has decided that it is his legacy to win the Nobel Peace Prize by finally solving the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The problem is that the conflict in Syria and the rise of radical Islamist groups that France supports has ended any chance of peace between Israel and Palestine. Possibly for an entire generation.

Although as with all conflicts there are problems on both sides on the Palestinian side the problem has long been that if more moderate factions such as Fatah do too much to pursue peace with Israel they will lose support to more extreme elements such as Hamas. Prior to the rise of groups like ISIL much of the work was focused on getting Hamas and therefore the Palestinian population as a whole to be more moderate. This rise of ISIL has meant that there is a limit to how far Hamas can move in the pursuit of peace without them losing support and ISIL becoming the dominant force in Palestine.

As a result there is currently no partner for peace on the Palestinian side.

However much like Obama Hollande wants the glory but he doesn't want to do the hard work. So instead he's been clumsily trying to exploit this current wave of ISIL inspired stabbing attacks in Israel to put pressure on the Israeli government to sign up to France's peaceplan. Essentially everytime one of these stabbing attacks France defends the attackers and claims that Hollande's plan is Israel's only chance for peace.

As a result you have this churning French government propaganda machine telling French Muslims that terrorism against the Zionists is legitimate and something to be celebrated.

Basically Hollande has dropped to his knees and demanded that French Muslims carry out terror attacks against French citizens.

17:20 on 15/6/16 (UK date).

Crooked Hillary and Her Crazy Conspiracy Theories.

At this point there are probably a great number of things that I should be dedicating a full post to. After all Sunday's (12/6/16) attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida isn't even the most recent Islamist terrorist attack.

However there is one issue in particular that has really got under my skin.

In response to the Pulse nightclub the presumptive Republican candidate for the November 2016 Presidential election Donald Trump questioned why current US President Barack Obama behaves in the way that he does in response to these repeated attacks on the US and why he cannot bring himself to use the words; "Radical Islam." Trump them asked the question of whether Obama doesn't get Islamic terrorism or whether "He gets it better than anybody understands."

This has been widely interpreted at Trump stating that Obama supports radical Islamic terrorism. Trump has been condemned for this statement both by members of the Republican Party and presumptive Democrat Party nominee Hillary Clinton. Clinton in particular dismissed the accusation that Obama supports radical Islamic terrorism as; "Lies" and "Conspiracy Theories."

I find those comments by Hillary Clinton to be both factually wrong and extremely troubling.

In roughly March of 2011 Barack Obama authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to spend USD1bn per year providing training and equipment to the Sunni Muslim Free Syrian Army (FSA) as they waged war against the against the secular government of Syria.

For the first three years this Train & Equip program was limited to non-lethal equipment such as battlefield radios, body armour and crucially video cameras and satellite uplinks to provide media outlets such as CNN with what is known as atrocity propaganda.

In November 2014 Obama - almost as an apology for being forced by public opinion to finally fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - expanded the Train & Equip program to provide lethal aid (weapons) to Sunni insurgent groups fighting the secular Syrian government.

Although there were almost immediately rumours of groups trained and armed by Obama pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda on Friday September 18th 2015 (18/9/15) 12 US supplied armed pick-up trucks (technicals) loaded with fighters crossed into norther Syrian from Turkey.

Those fighters belonged to the Division 30 (D30) and Falcons of the Mountains/Suqur al-Jabal insurgent groups. In itself this is extremely worrying because Suqur al-Jabal are widely considered to be a radical Islamist terror group.

However what made it even more alarming is that within 72 hours both D30 and Suqur al-Jabal had pledged formal allegiance to Al Qaeda. A declared enemy of the United States.

As such it is a matter of indisputable fact that Barack Obama has provided material support - specifically BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile systems amongst other weapons - to a radical terrorist group at war with the United States. As such Obama has indisputably committed treason against the United States - a nation he is sworn to protect.

It is for this reason that the CIA of all people ordered the Train & Equip program to be shut down in October 2015.

However despite it being well know that is was providing weapons to declared enemies of the United States in early 2016 Obama ordered the Train & Equip program to resume.

The first confirmed - by Russian surveillance - fresh US weapons shipment took place on the night of Monday March 28th (28/3/16). With the Russians making this public knowledge the US was forced to confirm on Friday April (1/4/16) that Obama's weapons shipments to a declared enemy of the United States had resumed.

As such I think there are very serious questions to be asked of any US politician who is prepared to criticise Donald Trump for highlighting the established fact that Barack Obama has wilfully supplied weapons to Al Qaeda and therefore committed treason.

I also think there are much more serious questions to ask of current US Attorney General Loretta Lynch as to why Obama has not yet been indicted for this most serious or serious crimes.

23:15 on 14/6/16 (UK date).

The Pulse Nightclub Terror Attack.

In January 2011 the Tunisian people rose up and toppled their dictator Ben Ali. Later that same month the Egyptian people rose up and toppled their dictator Hosni Mubarak.

This sudden outbreak of democracy in Muslim nations posed a serious threat to the most dictatorial and extreme regime in the region - Saudi Arabia. So the Saudis immediately moved to crush these democratic movements. In Bahrain they did this literally by sending tanks across the causeway to kill protesters.

The actions of Saudi Arabia were fully supported by US President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They dispatched US aircraft to bring down the Libyan government plunging that nation into civil war. That actively supported and equipped vile Islamist terror groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and their associates to invade Syria and wage war against its government.

Democracy will not be breaking out in either Libya nor Syria anytime soon.

The US even went so far as to overthrow the government of Ukraine in order to create ISIL's Shamali (northern) Province within Europe. Apart from starting a massive civil war right on Russia's border the US then used the creation of Shamali Province to impose sanctions on Russia in order to punish it for opposing what the US was doing in Syria.

All of Obama's wars are fuelled by a sectarian division within Islam between Sunnis and Shias. This brings out the worst and most dangerous elements of that religion. It is a propaganda message that has been pumped out relentlessly across the globe on the Internet and sadly even on mainstream news channels in non-Muslim nations such as the US.

The apparent global acceptance of this hateful ideology has exposed the World to a shocking increase in terrorism. The fighting in Libya, Syria and now Iraq has been relentless but the problem has spread much more widely than that with mass casualty terror attacks regularly occurring in places such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Mali, Tunisia and Egypt to name but a few. It has also affected European nations with France suffering not one but two large terrorist attacks in 2015 including the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres.

The US itself has not been immune to this Islamist violence.

In October 2014 a Muslim convert who had pledged allegiance to ISIL carried out an attack with an axe on passers-by in New York City. On May 3rd 2015 (3/5/15) ISIL directed two of its American followers to attack an American Freedom Defence Initiative (AFDI) event in Garland, Texas. Fortunately both attackers where shot and killed before they were able to enter the building.In January 2016 an American Muslim who had pledged allegiance to ISIL ambushed a police officer in Chicago shooting him multiple times. In February 2016 a Muslim American who had pledged allegiance to ISIL carried out a machete attack against a Jewish owned restaurant in Ohio.

The most significant recent terror attack on the US occurred on December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15). Here an American Muslim and a recent Muslim immigrant to the US launched an attack on visitors to the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino, California. They murdered 14 people in the name of ISIL. As they were travelling to a second location to murder even more they were shot and killed by the police.

Apart from these successful attacks at even given point the US security services are monitoring at least half a dozen plots to make sure they do not go from aspiration to action. They are actively disrupting one credible Islamist terrorist plot a week.

Although the attacks in New York City, Ohio and Chicago were small in scale people in security circles have become increasingly concerned about them. That's because they know that with such a high number of plots underway it become inevitable that one will slip through the net with horrific consequences.

In the very early hours of the morning (local time) on Sunday (12/6/16) this is exactly what happened.

An American Muslim by the name of Omar Mateen attacked the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida with guns and at least one homemade explosive device. Having gained access to the building he proceeded to murder 50 people and attempted to murder 53 more in the name of ISIL before he was shot and killed by the police.

A very large part of the reason why this particular attacker was able to slip through the net is Barack Obama himself.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary Obama seems to genuinely believe that rather than being motivated by extreme religious hatred Islamist terrorists are peaceful people driven to violence by the way their being oppressed by nasty racists. As such over his nearly 8 years in office Obama  has made it much harder for the security services to disrupt terrorist plots because he thinks it would be racist to do so.

The prime example of the way that Obama is undermining national security was his response to the San Bernardino terror attack.

Here Obama refused to class it as a terrorist attack. Instead he wanted it labelled as an example of "Workplace Violence" in order to help promote his gun control agenda. With Obama blocking a terrorism investigation vital evidence and intelligence was lost.

For example it was several days before the police were able to interview Enrique Marquez Jr. because he had checked himself into a psychiatric hospital immediately after the attack. Marquez Jr is currently on trial for conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism - particularly unlawfully providing the weapons used in the attack.

Then of course there is Obama's own domestic terrorist group - Black Lives Matter (BLM). For the past two years that have employed violence and threat of violence to overrule the American media and the American legal system.

The most significant example of this was when Muslim American Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley ambushed and murdered two police officers in New York City on December 20th 2014 (20/12/14). He claimed this terrorist attack in the name of BLM the day after BLM leader Al Sharpton had called on members of the group to use a diversity of tactics in the fight against the police.

As such BLM should have years ago been classed as a terrorist group and policed accordingly. However with Obama being the leader of the group he prevented the American security services from doing this. With them being prevented from acting against the largest terrorist group in America it makes it much harder for them to act against any domestic terrorist group.

Another significant factor that may have allowed Mateen to slip through the net is that everyone in intelligence circles is extremely busy at the moment.

It is testament to just how busy things are that although I most certainly haven't forgotten about its been a month since I've had the time to comment directly on the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Following nearly two years of delays and blocking tactics by Obama that war has started to enter an interesting new phase.

Roughly three weeks ago the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) launched an operation to liberate Fallujah from ISIL. If they are successful it will completely remove ISIL from Anbar province. It then becomes a relatively simple matter of consolidating the area between Baghdad and Mosul before an operation to liberate Mosul can begin. When that is completed ISIL will have been completely expelled from Iraq.

ISIL themselves seem to know that the end is coming. It is rumoured that they are already drawing up plans to evacuate their remaining fighters from Iraq and Syria and move them to Libya. Despite years of blocking tactics and disruption by Obama people are already starting to gear up for the next war to remove ISIL from Libya.

Obviously with ISIL coming under increasing pressure on their supporters to launch terror attacks to avenge the groups battlefield losses. This is made much worse by the fact we are currently in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. This is all about sacrafice and renewing your relationship with God. Unfortunately for Islamist terrorists this tends to mean blowing yourself up so you can kill non-Muslims.

The much more complex development is that in the past week of so the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) have crossed the Euphrates River to capture the town of Manbij. This is the first step in closing the 100km (60 mile) stretch of Syria's border with Turkey known as "Erdogan's Pocket" that Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been demanded is kept open so he can continue to supply ISIL.

The correct military approach to closing Erdogan's Pocket would be to use the QSD in the east and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the west to launch to cordinated attack to liberate the area cutting ISIL's supply line as quickly as possible. Unfortunately the US has decided to adopted a piecemeal approach with the QSD alone slowing inching into Erdogan's one step at a time. Following each creep forward the US is then closely monitoring Turkey's response.

For example today Thaddeus Borowicz a senior USAF officer attached to Incirlik Air Base was found dead in the garden of his home. His injuries are said to be consistent with a fall from the building. However no suicide note was recovered from the scene. US authorities will now have to investigate whether Borowicz was murdered as a threat to Incirlik in reponse to the QSD advance.

Regular readers of this blog will be well aware that the Eurovision Song Contest took place in May. This is an annual talking shop for general political issues affecting Europe. The main issues this year was the war against ISIL. Particularly the creation of Shamali Province, the increased threat of terrorism and the associated refugee/migration crisis.

Pretty much as punishment the Eurovision juries decided that they were going to force Shamali Province to host the 2017 Song Contests. This presents a host of complex security challenges.

Although their song was ineligible for competition Shamali Province were represented by Jamala who is a Crimean Turk. As such she is a Muslim.

Although Christianity's conscience is hardly clear on the issue Islam tends to be extremely homophobic.

Even the supposedly moderate Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn made it a large element of his campaign that he counts among his friends people who think that homosexuals should be beaten up in the streets. This comes after he recieved death threats from Muslim voters after his Labour Party supported the legalisation of gay marriage in the UK.

As within Syria Turkey has been using Crimean Turks to carry out acts of terrorism against Russia which opposes groups such as ISIL that Turkey supports. In November 2015 Crimea Turk terrorists attacked Crimea's powergrid taking it offline for much of the harsh winter.

The terrorist threat of Crimean Turks is supposed to be being controlled by the US backed junta in Kiev. This junta is not so much neo-Nazi in ideology as actual Nazis. They fought alongside Nazi Germany during the Second World War and where enthusiastic participants in the Nazi Holocaust. That holocaust saw at least 100,000 gay men exterminated. Therefore the Kiev junta's opposition to homosexuality goes beyond mere microagressions.

Shamali Province currently exists in a state of civil war. A such there is a vast amount of sophisticated military grade weaponary pretty much laying about for anyone to take. This was demonstrated by the recent arrest of a Frenchman attempting to smuggle weapons including two grenade launchers. five machine guns, numerous assault rifles and 125kg of TNT out of Shamali Province.

Therefore taking a large number of predominately homosexual Eurovision fans to Shamali Province and then keeping them safe let alone letting them enjoy themselves is a huge ask. It may well be impossible.

Basically we seem to be at the point where everybody is waiting for someone to file the first formal protest against the decision.

Whilst I was reading the initial reports from the Pulse nightclub - essentially man takes hostages, no fatalities - I actually thought this might have been the US reminding Eurovision of the security threat in Shamali Province. After all the fatal shooting of Jamaala-esque singer Christina Grimme at a near-by nightclub the day before certainly was.

However the deathtoll alone rules out that possibility. With 50 people killed the Pulse nightclub attack was more lethal than the Brussels attacks back in March. It is much closer to the 89 people who were killed in just the Bataclan nightclub part of the Paris Massacres. Although intelligence agencies aren't afraid to kill people to make a point if they kill more people than the threat they're warning against it completely defeats the purpose of the exercise.

This is simply the worst terror attack on US soil since the September 11th 2001 terror attacks. It is actually extremely likely that with all the focus in Orlando being on being on the Christina Grimme shooting it caused the threat posed by Mateen to be overlooked. 

There of course remains outstanding business from Eurovision in the form of the disappearence of EgyptAir flight MS804. With the Mediterranian Sea being relatively shallow in maritime salvage terms France's inability to recover the aircraft - particularly its black boxes - is fuelling speculation that they are trying to hide something.

The main issue in security circles at the moment though is the Euro 2016 football tournament currently being held in France. Not only did France suffer two largescale terror attacks in 2015 it has also seen a high number of small scale, lone-wolf attacks like in New York City, Ohio and Chicago. As such a lot of effort by a lot of people is going into making sure that Euro 2016 does not come under terrorist attack.

If that wasn't complicated enough the tournament organisers UEFA seem to have got confused and think they organising the Eurovision Song Contest. As such they seemed to have engineered quite a few political talking points into the tournament.

For example England and Russia are together in Group B. There is a lot of tension between England and Russia with England leading the campaign to have Russia stripped of the 2018 World Cup and kicked out of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In Group C you have Shamali Province, Poland and Germany. Poland is Shamali Provinces main supporter within the EU while other member states - such as France - are calling for EU sanctions on Russia to end. It seems that Germany will have the deciding vote.

Also both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are in the competition during the centenary year of the Easter Rising that really brought those two nations into being.

The first few days of Euro 2016 have been marred by hooliganism. Particularly the England v Russia match on Saturday (11/6/16) night in the Stade Veldrome. This came dangerously close to recreating one of the worst stadium disasters ever to happen in European football.

On Sunday (12/6/16) morning amid the early reports of the Pulse nightclub attack I was becoming increasingly aware that due to the wider political context China in particular were becoming antsy for someone to explain the previous night's violence to them.

Later that day there were twin explosions in the Lebanese capital Beriut which injured no-one. That struck me as enquiry into the lighting of a flare that caused a small explosion in the crowd at Stade Veldrome.

That is actually quite a common thing in football and nothing to do with terrorism. However because of my experience of football I took it as a warning sign that for the sake of the England fans in the stadium Russia had better equalise quickly. Fortunately the Russian captain came to the same conclusion.

So against this extremely intense and complex backdrop I can very easily see how vital clues that could have prevented the Pulse nightclub attack being missed.

Demonstrating the almost insummountable workload I've not watch any football today. And at around 17:30 on 13/6/16 (UK date) I'm going to have to come back to this after dinner.

Edited at around 18:50 on 13/6/16 (UK date) to add;

Obama's response to this latest terror attack was sadly all to predictably absolutely appalling.

Learning the lessons from San Bernardino long before Obama had even bothered to get out of bed the FBI held a press conference where they announced to the World that this was an act of terrorism. This was done specifically to make it much harder for Obama to shut down yet another terrorism investigation.

When Obama finally issued a statement on the attack some 12 hours later he couldn't even be bothered to turn up on time. He didn't even manage to stick to his traditional 15 minutes of lateness instead not turning up until 40 minutes after he said he would.

Despite the FBI making it near impossible for him to claim that this was not an act of terrorism Obama still did not treat the attack as the sort of serious threat to national security that the President & Commander-in-Chief is obligated to take strong action to prevent. Instead Obama instead seemed to treat it as an opportunity to score cheap party political points in order to have Hillary Clinton crowned as his successor.

For example rather than referring to an act of Islamist terrorism Obama instead tried to protray the attack as a homophobic hate crime. It of course was a homophobic hate crime. However the list of people ISIL hate does not begin nor end with gay people. As such it was much more than a homophobic crime. To attempt to protray it as such is to attempt to minimise it.

For example the subtext to the Pope's response to the attack - which came much earlier than Obama's - was along the lines of; "I know that some of you may think that this is funny - Poland. However I most certainly do not."

The reason why Obama tried to portray this terror attack as just a homophobic hate crime is because he was cynically trying to Pinkwash the Democrat Party as the party of gay-rights so gay voters will be tricked into voting for Hillary Clinton.

Obama was also extremely keen to emphasises that those killed were Americans. Orlando, Florida is a very Hispanic area and at the time of the attack Pulse was holding a Latin themed night. As such he was trying to cynically protray the Democrat Party of the party of Hispanic rights while portraying the Trump and the Republicans as the party of racists. The hope being Hispanic voters will be tricked into voting for Hillary Clinton.

As with San Bernardino Obama treated the Pulse attack as a fresh opportunity to push his gun control agenda. Just like with San Bernardino and the Newtown massacre this argument is a non-starter.

The attacker Omar Mateen was employed by the security company G4S including amongst other roles as support staff for the New York Police Department. In order to get this job Mateen had to go through not one but two extensive background checks to clear him to work in sensitive areas. Furthermore Mateen had gone through further background checks in order to allow him to carry and use firearms as part of his work.

These background checks are far more extensive than even the enhanced background checks that the Obama administration is pushing for. As a result if you enhance background checks to the point that it would have prevented Mateen from purchasing a firearm you are talking about effectively banning the private sale of all firearms in the US. Even due to his access to firearms through work this would still have not stopped Mateen's obtaining weapons and carrying out the attack.

The Pulse attack actually reminds me of a similar attack that occured in Tel Aviv, Israel on January 1st 2016 (1/1/16). Again this saw a Muslim terrorist attack a nightclub/bar frequented by gay customers. Due to Israel's extremely tight gun contol laws the attacker Nasha'at Melhem could not legally buy a weapon. So he simply stole one from his father who was licensed to own one as part of his work as a security guard.

Last Wednesday's (8/6/16) terror attack in Tel Aviv also provides an example of the futility of Obama's gun control argument. Israel's extremely tight gun control laws means that there is little to no chance of potential Muslim terrorists obtaining guns legally or otherwise. So instead they simply make guns at home. The weapons used in this most recent Tel Aviv attack are nicknamed the "Carlo." Loosely based on the Carl Gustuv submachine gun they're made out of paintball guns and water pipes by anyone with a lathe.

Then of course there is March's attacks in Brussels, Belgium. Here 32 people were murdered. In three bomb blasts. Not a single firearm was used and not a single shot was fired.

Much of the fighting in Syria is actually being done with homemade weapons. What CNN and the Obama administration will try so hard to convince is a "Syrian regime barrel-bomb atrocity" is often actually the work of a weapon that has become known as "The Hell Cannon."

This is Propane cylinder that is packed with a homemade explosive that it fired up a metal tube like a traditional mortar. The 'moderate opposition' often fire them at residential buildings in order to fake a government airstrike. The Obama administration is inevitably on hand to condemn this 'regime atrocity.'

Although I would need to pick up a welding torch I could quite easily make a Hell Cannon at home.

Anyone who knows anything about terrorism will tell you that the problem is the mentality that causes people to launch these attacks. Not the tools they use. If Obama wants to defeat terrorism by banning guns he is also going to have to ban water pipes, Propane cylinders, nail polish remover and flour.

The main reason of course why Obama and Hillary Clinton are trying to deflect attention away from this terrorist attack onto the Republicans though is quite simple.

Omar Mateen is a registered member of the Democrat Party. Although I don't have his voting record to hand it will be interesting to find out if he actually voted for Hillary Clinton in the Florida primary.

19:55 on 13/6/16 (UK date).

   

The Stade Velodrome Violence.

Yesterday I wrote about the two days of rioting that occurred in Marseille, France ahead of England's Euro 2016 match against Russia.

You will notice that at no point did I refer to; "English Football Fans." That is because they had little to no role in the violence.

Instead the rioting was caused by a group of around 300 English hooligans and was centred around two bars - O'Malley's and the Queen Victoria - located on the Old Port seafront of the city. These hooligans did not have tickets for last night's match and had not travelled to France to watch football at all. Instead they had travelled to drink and fight in a sad effort to prove that they are the toughest men in all of Europe.

With England being able to prevent these hooligans from travelling to France and France being easily able to refuse them entry this situation should not have been allowed to arise. It certainly should not have been allowed to arise prior to a match between England and Russia.

Football hooligans in particular are very focused on nationalism which they seen almost as an extension of their own identity. Due to Britain's support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the sanctions it has imposed on Russia as part of that support there is a high level of animosity between England and Russia at the moment. Particularly due to England's childish campaign to have Russia stripped of the 2018 World Cup.

I actually have a strong suspicion that the draw for Euro 2016 was rigged specifically to put Russia and England in the same group in order to provide a talking about the tensions between the two nations. The match-up has certainly exposed the rabidly anti-Russian bias amongst large sections of the British media and the readers they lead.

The English hooligans spent Thursday (9/6/16) and Friday (10/6/16) rioting through Marseille claiming that they were the best in World, they controlled the city and the French police were scared of them. Following two days of provocation when the Russian hooligans arrived on Saturday (11/6/16) they did so very much in the mood to put the English hooligans in their place. As a result the violence massively increased on Saturday before the match spreading through much of the city.

As the Russian hooligans were also football supporters who had travelled to Marseilles because they had tickets to the match this led to a much more serious situation in the Stade Velodrome stadium itself.

At the end of the match the Russian hooligans broke through a sterile area in the stands intended to keep the rival supporters apart. In response the English football fans simply ran away from the charging Russian hooligans. This led to them being pressed up against a fence at the opposite end of the stand.

This type of crush is chillingly reminiscent of basically the 1985 UEFA Champions League Final held at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium.

Here Juventus hooligans launched a similar charge against Liverpool hooligans. Rather than retreating the Liverpool hooligans launched a counter charge. This caused the Juventus hooligans to run away at such speed they became crushed against a wall at the opposite end of the stand. That wall then collapsed causing Juventus fans and hooligans to plummet several metres/yards to the ground. Between the crush and the wall collapse 39 people were killed and 600 injured.

I am not making excuses for those who participated in last night's violence. After all they are each individually responsible for their actions and they should be held accountable for those actions.

However when you are preparing a crowd safety/security plan for an event of this type your first assumption is often that people are fundamentally stupid - particularly when they're in large crowds. Therefore the purpose of the plan is really to protect people from their own stupidity.

As such the event organiser - UEFA - really should have had a plan in place to prevent exactly this situation from arising. Particularly as with two days of violence in the run-up to the match it was extremely likely that this type of situation was going to occur. Although I am an England the football steward in me was extremely relieved when Russia levelled the match late on.

What makes UEFA's failure even worse it that this type of situation is far from unusual at football matches and the methods to prevent it are well rehearsed. You simply place lines of riot police along the gangways either side of the sterile area to form lines of segregation between the rival groups. The hooligans can kick and punch against these police riot shields as much as they like. The only reward they're going to get is a baton strike to the head.

The problem is that this isn't the type of violent imagery that corporate sponsors want to see their brands associated with. As such it seems likely that UEFA decided to put the wishes of the tournament sponsors ahead of the safety of fans by insisting that stewards rather than the required police officers were deployed to try and keep the rival groups apart.

In response to last night's events UEFA has announced that it is going to investigate both the Russia and English Football Associations (FA's) for offences relating to a failure to control their fans. With the Russian FA already serving a suspended sentence for a similar offence today UEFA have announced that they are to be charged. At the very least the suspended sentence will be invoked and Russia will be fined for the original offence.

Blaming the national FA's for last night's events does strike me as distinctly unfair. Unlike at home games neither England nor Russia actually have the ability to control their fans inside neutral stadiums. That responsibility lies entirely on the tournament organiser - UEFA.

I am particularly interested to know what is going to happen to the UEFA official who signed off on the safety plan for last night's match. After all we had exactly the same problem with fan segregation at the recent French Cup Final played at the Stade de France. There Marseille hooligans were the aggressors.

Even before last night this complete lack of organisation by UEFA was threatening to undermine the entire tournament.

The official mascot for Euro 2016 which is primarily aimed at children is called "Super Victor." It seems no-one at UEFA bothered to do the simple Internet search that would have revealed that "Super Victor" is already the brandname of a distinctly non-child friendly dildo.

Last night UEFA's official tournament Twitter feed Tweeted out a rumour that the Marseille underground rail (Metro) system had been shut down after an England fan had been pushed under a train and killed. Later on it sent out a Tweet claiming that it had been a Frenchwoman who had been killed. It's source for this rumour was the UK Ambassador to France.

The tournament organisers should have a much better grip on what is going on then that. Particularly when it comes to highly inflammatory rumours of fans being killed.

12:45 on 12/6/16 (UK date).