The Shame of Nations: A New Record Is Set on Spending for War
by: Lawrence Wittner
published by: The Huffington Post
04/24/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-wittner/
Dr. Lawrence Wittner is Professor of History emeritus at SUNY/Albany.
On April 17, 2012, as millions of Americans were filing their income tax returns, the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its latest study of world military spending. In case Americans were wondering where most of their tax money — and the tax money of other nations — went in the previous year, the answer from SIPRI was clear: to war and preparations for war.
World military spending reached a record $1,738 billion in 2011 — an increase of $138 billion over the previous year. The United States accounted for 41 percent of that, or $711 billion.
Some news reports have emphasized that, from the standpoint of reducing reliance on armed might, this actually represents progress. After all, the increase in “real” global military spending — that is, expenditures after corrections for inflation and exchange rates — was only 0.3 percent. And this contrasts with substantially larger increases in the preceding 13 years.
But why are military expenditures continuing to increase — indeed, why aren’t they substantially decreasing — given the governmental austerity measures of recent years? Amid the economic crisis that began in late 2008 and is still with us, most governments have been cutting back their spending dramatically on education, health care, housing, parks, and other vital social services. However, there have not been corresponding cuts in their military budgets.
Americans, particularly, might seek to understand why, in this context, U.S. military spending has not been significantly decreased, rather than raised by $13 billion — admittedly a “real dollar” decrease of 1.2 percent, but hardly one commensurate with Washington’s wholesale slashing of social spending. Yes, military expenditures by China and Russia increased in 2011. And in “real” terms, too. But, even so, their military strength hardly rivaled that of the United States. Indeed, the United States spent about five times as much as China (the world’s No. 2 military power) and ten times as much as Russia (the world’s No. 3 military power) on its military forces during 2011. Furthermore, when U.S. allies like Britain, France, Germany, and Japan are factored in, it is clear that the vast bulk of world military expenditures were made by the United States and its military alliance partners.
This might account for the fact that the government of China, which accounts for only 8.2 percent of world military spending, believes that increasing its outlay on armaments is reasonable and desirable. Apparently, officials of many nations share that competitive feeling.
Unfortunately, the military rivalry among nations — one that has endured for centuries — results in a great squandering of national resources. Many nations, in fact, devote most of their available income to funding their armed forces and their weaponry. In the United States, an estimated 58 percent of the U.S. government’s discretionary tax dollars go to war and preparations for war. “Almost every country with a military is on an insane path, spending more and more on missiles, aircraft, and guns,” remarked John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus. “These countries should be confronting the real threats of climate change, hunger, disease, and oppression, not wasting taxpayers’ money on their military.”
Of course, defenders of giving the top priority to military expenditures reply that military force actually protects people from war. But does it? If so, how does one explain the fact that the major military powers of the past century — the United States, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and China — have been almost constantly at war during that time? What is the explanation for the fact that the United States — today’s military giant — is currently engaged in at least two wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and appears to be on the verge of a third (with Iran)? Perhaps the maintenance of a vast military machine does not prevent war but, instead, encourages it.
In short, huge military establishments can be quite counterproductive. Little wonder that they have been condemned repeatedly by great religious and ethical leaders. Even many government officials have decried war and preparations for war — although usually by nations other than their own.
Thus, the release of the new study by SIPRI should not be a cause for celebration. Rather, it provides an appropriate occasion to contemplate the fact that, this past year, nations spent more money on the military than at any time in human history. Although this situation might still inspire joy in the hearts of government officials, top military officers, and defense contractors, people farther from the levers of military power might well conclude that it’s a hell of a way to run a world.
4/25/2012
The Shame of Nations: A New Record Is Set on Spending for War
Mish/ Mike Shedlock – U.S. Creates New Spy Service (Because 16 Intelligence Agencies is Not Enough) – 25 April 2012
The US currently has sixteen intelligence agencies. The Secretary of Defense now wants yet another agency, and the only logical conclusion is the sixteen existing agencies simply cannot get the job done.
Collectively US intelligence agencies missed 911, Egypt, Libya, events in Iran, and they thought Hussein hid weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Currently they do not know if Iran is attempting to build nuclear weapons or not. Alternatively, they do know, but do not want us to know what they know because it might make the oil embargo look downright silly.
Occasionally the agencies get something correct, such as finding Bin Laden after nearly a decade of looking. However, given the overall track record, one has to wonder if that discovery was simply an accident as opposed to careful analysis.
The Mark comments U.S. Creates New Spy Service Because 16 intelligence agencies just wasn’t enough.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the Pentagon will soon launch a new intelligence agency to be known as the Defense Clandestine Service that will be tasked with tracking issues of “global strategic importance,” such as nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea. The DCS will become the 17th active intelligence agency within the sprawling U.S. government and is expected to complement Defense Intelligence Agency, which is more focused on finding out information on battlefield tactics and maneuvers of enemy combatants. DCS, then, will take a broader approach to military intelligence, which is sort of what the Central Intelligence Agency already does, but hey, at least it means someone in the U.S. government will be doing some hiring in the near term.
Do we really need yet another intelligence agency, complete with yet another bureaucracy? I suggest we don’t. In fact, I think we should collapse all of the existing agencies under one umbrella (assuming of course they are worth keeping at all). Unfortunately, that is debatable.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
www.globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.comlink to original article
Wes Annac – To Followers Of Christianity And Catholicism -24 April 2012
To all those who follow Christianity and Catholicism:
Stay strong in your Light and in the Light of Jesus Christ, dear friends. He is very real and He Loves you unconditionally. There are going to be many revelations in the immediate period ahead that are going to break the controls and constraints that have been placed over the once Lighted views that make up your belief systems. Nobody will be telling you that you are wrong or that dear Jesus and God do not exist, because they do and they are Guiding any soul on Earth who wishes to connect with them.
The dogmas and limits that have taught you to look for power only in Jesus and God and not in yourself, are to be transformed as it is explained that each and every one of us are God. Each and every one of us Create our reality just as dear God Created Eden, and you possess the power within yourselves to connect with God and with Jesus in ways that are more real than you can imagine.
With all due respect for you beautiful souls involved in Christianity and Catholicism, you have been taught to believe that the only way to find God is through redemption, prayer and a strict following of an ordained set of rules. This is simply not so. God is with you; His eternal glory and splendor is all around you, and our beautiful Creator wishes dearly for all of us to reignite contact with Him in very real ways.
The methods you have been given to gain a good grace with God have served to hold you back in communicating with and finding God. God and Jesus only wish you to Live in Love and to treat others as you would like to be treated. This is the Golden Rule dear friends, and was one of little truths given in any given version of the Bible.
You do not need to follow the words and demands of a minister or a priest to find God and to stay on God’s ‘good side’, as God does not have a ‘bad side’. He Loves all of us unconditionally and only wishes for us to discover and find this Love. We do not need to be baptized or beg for redemption of our perceived ‘sins’ to do this. All we need to do is make the effort to connect with God and with Jesus alike, to thank them for all that they have given us on this beautiful world, and to acknowledge that God is all around and that it takes little more than an acknowledgement of God’s awesome and Divine presence which is again all around us, to strengthen your relationship with Him in all of His eternal splendor.
It must be expressed as well, that God will not be sending anybody to hell upon such souls leaving this Life, because of their perceived ‘sins’. The reality we are experiencing currently is about as close to hell as can be experienced, as physicality pales in comparison to the beautiful Heavens that await us.
Yes dear friends, heaven is real and so is hell. The difference is that hell is not a place where a vengeful God sends the sinners; simply look at how judgmental such a statement and belief sounds. Again, compared to the heavenly realms in which we are all evolving, physically and spiritually to, this reality we are experiencing now can be seen as hell.
The pearly gates of heaven, the gold-lined roads, these are all real and the concept of heaven as well; an ascended city that sits on the clouds, is real. There are hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of these heavenly cities lining the clouds of Earth, and upon leaving this incarnation each and every one of us has the choice to visit these beautiful ascended cities, rather than having only a choice between a ‘heaven’ and a ‘hell’.
Many beliefs and structures of what seem to be reality by many dear Christian and Catholic people, will need to be expanded exponentially and the limits that have been forced upon you dear beautiful souls will also have to be expanded. Dear Master Jesus is one of an infinite amount of heavenly Ascended Masters who have walked the Earth and shared their Lighted teachings with Mankind.
Jesus has walked this Earth as have Master Muhammad, Master Buddha, Master Moses, Master Gandhi, Master Martin Luther King Jr., and so many other dear heavenly souls who wished to share the teachings of our Heavenly Father in very direct ways.
The teachings of Jesus and of many other religious figures and prophets (not every Master listed above is a religious prophet) have been substantially distorted to keep you dear beautiful souls in a state of perceived limitation. Those who would and have attempted to control you, know that you dear souls are looking for your own spirituality and concept of the heavenly realms and of a Creator and that many of you who follow organized religion of the forms spoken of in this message, are indeed wonderful people who simply wish to gain a perception and relationship with our Heavenly and Divine Father as well as with dear Jesus.
Those who have distorted the teachings of so many Masters, know that you dear souls are open to our Heavenly Creator which is why they have taken to distorting the Lighted teachings of dear Jesus among so many others, to keep you in a state of illusion and limitation in regards to finding God and Jesus in real, actual ways. So far, the teachings that have been ‘given’ by Christianity and Catholicism have served to hold you back from a tangible relationship with our beautiful Creator as well as His prophets.
Did you know that Master Jesus is routinely communicating with humanity? Along with many other dear Ascended Masters, Jesus has been speaking with humanity to help prepare us for the glorious evolutionary event that is to grace this world and that for the most part, is currently in progress. The mere incarnation of Jesus and so many other Masters on Earth was to share and help spread the truths of the Light, of the heavenly and angelic realms in which we are returning to with the beautiful ascension of this world.
The prophecies given in your books have themselves been distorted. The original prophecies given in relation to these end times, stated that this world as we know it – the separation, the hate, the limitation – is to indeed end, and is to be replaced with a beautiful Utopian Heaven, right here on Earth. Imagine, dear friends, getting to experience Eden in all of it’s beauty and wonder.
Please dear friends, in regards to this message, do not shoot the messenger. There are plenty of people who would deliver this same message that I am giving to you, in much more disrespectful and hateful ways. In the immediate period ahead when many revelations and truths begin pouring into our mainstream world, much will be explained to you about the nature to which you have been controlled and the nature to which the teachings of our dear Creator as well as of Jesus and so many other Ascended Masters were distorted to keep you thinking that a direct relationship with our Creator is difficult to attain. It certainly is not.
We will all have little time to keep up in regards to following and absorbing so many revelations, and I give you this introductory message on behalf of the Angelic forces who wish each and every one of you to discover the true nature of our reality. Such Angels will be speaking directly with all of us on this world so very soon, and they want dearly to connect with and to Love each and every dear soul amassed in each and every religion, as well as each and every soul on this world not amassed in religion.
A peaceful reuniting with all of those souls amassed in other religions that sport different prophets will be necessary, as each and every religious prophet that has incarnated on this world has come from the same Heaven, the same Love, to share the same truths. One can find a common element in the teachings of every religion, and I don’t think I need to tell you what that common element is.
In conclusion, I hope that this message has seeped in for some. Nobody is asking you to give up your long held and cherished beliefs, it is simply that Master Jesus along with so many other Angelic souls in the higher realms, wish you all to find the contact with them that you have desired and attempted to bring forth through prayer, following rigid dogmas and through any other type of method to find this relationship.
With respect for each and every one of you, I ask that dear Jesus be with you all. Say hello, for He is with you now.
Wes Annac – One of many messengers.
John Ward – Hackgate Day 469 : James Murdoch Admits Cameron Misled Parliament, Secretary Hunt Was Enthusiastic Facilitator Of Newscorp’s BSkyB Bid – 24 April 2012
The inestimably ghastly Jeremy *unt
Astonishing “shame we didn’t record him” admission
James Murdoch is being questioned by the Leveson Media Enquiry this morning GMT, but Newscorp Director of Public Affairs Frederic Michel is also turning into a central figure, the main context being in relation to Michel’s uncomfortably cosy relationship with the oleaginous Culture Secretary Jeremy *unt.
From the Leveson enquiry in the last hour:
QC Peter Jay says: “It’s pretty clear you were receiving information on the lines the UK government on the whole would be supportive of News Corp.”
James Murdoch: “I think Mr Hunt had said personally he didn’t see any issues … there’s no special information in there.”
Jay raises a conference call between James Murdoch, Michel and Vince Cable on 15 June 2010. Michel says in one email that the call went well and “we should have recorded him”. (!)
Michel says in another email that he had a note from Jeremy Hunt’s advisor, Adam Smith, that “the UK government would be supportive throughout the process (despite what the Standard is reporting this evening)”.
The general tenor throughout is that of a mendacious line being put out by the Cameron Government to suggest that all was rigorously above board – when it clearly wasn’t. Jay asked about a meeting between James M and David Cameron at The George in Mayfair, where James told Cameron that The Sun would support the Conservatives. “This must have been welcome news to Cameron, wasn’t it?” says Jay. “Seemed that way,” acknowledges James.
But an earlier bombshell then confirmed what 99.9% of viewers felt that afternoon last year when David Cameron refused 18 times in the House of Commons to give a straight answer to the obvious question about his Newscorp Christmas lunch with James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks: Did you discuss the Newscorp BSkyB bid?
James Murdoch now says yes, they did. His testimony:
“This [conversation] was on Dec 23, 2010, at a dinner hosted by Rebekah and Charlie Brooks and attended by a number of other people. It took place two days after responsibility for the matter had passed to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, (from Vince Cable).”
In particular, Murdoch Jr admitted asking for ‘assurances’ that Hunt would be ‘more objective’ than Cable. The Prime Minister stood widely accused last year of breaking Parliament’s ministerial code of conduct by failing to avoid a possible conflict of interest in attending the Christmas dinner, and blocked an inquiry by the Cabinet Secretary which would surely have discovered what Leveson has been told today.
Cameron has repeatedly fended off questions about whether he and James Murdoch talked about BSkyB at the dinner, but in refusing to deny the conversation 18 times in the Commons he must be guilty of at least misleading MPs, and probably of contempt.
Mind you, that was in a more decent age.
I remind Sloggers what I predicted a long time ago about this sleazy cover-up: in the end, it will do for David Cameron’s Premiership.
Sheldan Nidle – Update For The Spiritual Hierarchy And The Galactic Federation – 24 April 2012
8 Ahau, 13 Kank’in, 8 Manik
Dratzo! We return! We have been informed that several major banks worldwide are nearly ready to transfer ownership and management. This is part of the massive shift of financial power out of the hands of the dark into those of the Light, and is the result of recent maneuvers by the Ascended Masters. Furthermore, the time has come to consolidate the funds that were first posited by Saint Germaine in the early 18th century, and by Quan Yin in the 7th century. These large reserves of gold and silver are the basis for shifting wealth on your world away from a select few over to those who are fully committed to the creation of universal prosperity for the planet. Accompanying this transfer is the new banking system which will be completely transparent in its varied transactions. The new banking is rooted in the unprecedented injunction that banks be the divine instruments of the Light. They are to be used to manage various corporations (special partnerships) charged with specific and temporary mandates: to distribute technologies and related services to benefit the health and well being of your global populations.
Our part in these initial changes is to watch the dark’s reactions to what is fast becoming a fait accompli. Despite this, these dark ones remain largely defiant of what is happening. The legalities of the many changes to the very foundations of your financial and political power structures confound them, and their disbelief can be seen in the way they react to the speed and success with which these changes are being taken up by the nations of the world. Being accustomed to ‘ruling the roost’ unimpeded, they cannot accept that their best efforts to maintain control are impotent against the momentum that the new reality is gaining across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The obvious inevitability of the changes panics them, and their attitude toward us has become rather more respectful than before. They too can see clearly that the moment for their removal from hitherto unassailable bastions of power is ready to begin. What we await is Heaven’s green light, and this is to be given to us at any moment!
The Ascended Masters together with the secret sacred societies have been meeting with our liaison personnel to set up a new networking system for your major global banks. The aim is to bring these banks under new management and then to regionalize the subsidiary branches. The downsizing this entails will permit newly reorganized smaller banks to play a larger role in managing the prosperity funds that some of you are shortly to receive. The goal is a system of personalized and friendly banks that can effectively serve your individual purposes. At the same time, the now-withheld technologies for both Gaia’s and your healing will be released, along with retrained medical experts who will be available to cater to your health needs. There are so many of you who now needlessly suffer from apparently ‘incurable’ diseases and who require the use of these devices to heal and return to vibrant health. Your beloved Gaia is also in urgent need of rehabilitation, and this cleansing is a top priority of the new governments.
Another essential component that must come on line before mass contact is the instituting of new governance, and a prime aspect of this equation is each one of you. The infusion of prosperity into your lives frees you up, enabling you to better look after your individual interests. Each of your elected legislators needs to be transformed into a capable and caring public servant, backed up by a public watchdog network of oversight councils. It will be your responsibility to come together and form such collegiums. In turn, each community needs to recognize the vital importance of providing clear guidance to national levels of government. This oversight activity is a practical prelude to forming your own galactic society. To us, service to our community and star-nation is a grand honor that each of us carries out conscientiously, and we feel most gratified to play our part in our society’s problem-solving. This communal effort takes into account the talents and abilities of us all, and in return our form of collective governance acknowledges each one for their unique contribution to the whole.
Blessings! We are your Ascended Masters! Presently, we are in the final stage of reconstituting our irrevocable world trusts. The documents to achieve this have been issued, and those banks and families who were initially given access to these funds have been informed that the time has arrived for us to gather them back and prepare them for distribution. Simultaneously, we are invoking our legal fiduciary rights to a number of large corporate banks. These legal documents are the basis for all of us to acquire these institutions and reorganize them into banks that can serve the people and help manifest the Divine Will on planet Earth. The distribution of your prosperity funds is soon to occur. On another front, our associates are busy completing the legal documents that legitimize the mass arrests of leadership of major governments and their replacement by a series of designated caretaker regimes.
Our associates are working with the Agarthans and the Galactic Federation to achieve the transference of governance as soon as possible. We are monitoring the individuals most responsible for the dark’s control of your world and have had many discussions with them regarding the advent of the Light on this world. Our advice to them is to forsake their dark projects and gladly accept the blessed will and decrees of Heaven. Our aim in these personal discussions with them is simply to help them transition into the Light. We have explored their options in accepting the grace of Heaven and thus allowing all to happen according to the wondrous proclamations of Lord Surea. We have also laid out clearly to them the alternative scenario of their arrest and punishment by those societies they once so arrogantly controlled.
Our divine sisterhoods and brotherhoods of the Light are ecstatic about the fact that the initial work to transform your world is essentially complete. We are now setting up the events that are to come, as the divine timetable takes full effect on your world. Each one of us daily blesses each one of you. You are here to perform a magnificent miracle: your change into fully conscious Beings of Light. Your space and Inner Earth families are ready to assist you in manifesting this miraculous shift. The environment required for this event is soon to manifest. Use your immense prosperity to help rehabilitate Gaia, by cleaning her seas and rivers, her air and land. Welcome your families that come from afar to help. You are preparing yourselves for a truly enthralling adventure. Nothing less than Creation awaits you! The time comes to grab this ring and join us to serve Heaven and all of galactic humanity!
Today, we talked about what is happening around your world. Never lose sight of the fact that you are not alone. Around you is a vast army of dedicated Beings who are making it possible to bring a new reality into being. So be proud, be strong, and above all, do what you are drawn to do to help our mutual, sacred cause. Know, dear Ones, that the countless Supply and never-ending Prosperity of Heaven are indeed Yours! So Be It! Selamat Gajun! Selamat Ja! (Sirian for Be One! and Be in Joy!)
First Criminal Charges Filed in BP Oil Spill
Thanks to Casey
First Criminal Charges Filed in BP Oil Spill
From Terry Frieden
April 24, 2012
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/24/us/gulf-oil-spill/index.html
Washington (CNN) — The first criminal charges have been filed in connection with the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster two years ago, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
Former BP engineer Kurt Mix was arrested in Texas on two counts of intentionally destroying evidence requested by authorities, specifically the alleged deletions of messages focusing on work to stem the oil flow.
Charges were filed in Louisiana against Mix, 50, of Katy, Texas. He was scheduled to appear in a Houston courtroom at 3 p.m. EDT.
An estimated 4.9 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico after the April 2010 explosion that killed 11 men aboard the drill rig Deepwater Horizon, which eventually sank.
Oil spewed into the sea for nearly three months before a cap was placed on the BP-owned Macondo well, nearly a mile beneath the surface.
“The department has filed initial charges in its investigation into the Deepwater Horizon disaster against an individual for allegedly deleting records relating to the amount of oil flowing from the Macondo well after the explosion that led to the devastating tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico,” Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.
Murdoch links to government exposed
Murdoch Links to Government Exposed
Stephen: With the British Leveson inquiry continuing, News International’s recently departed chief James Murdoch took the stand today to be cross examined at length – six hours in all. Tomorrow his father, Rupert Murdoch, will face the questioning.
James Murdoch’s latest testimony will likely result in some immediate personnel changes to the British government (see below) and will no doubt have ongoing repercussions for British PM David Cameron’s entire government.
As much of what was tabled naturally had a very British focus (it was hours and hours of emails being read out and featured political identities and others that not all of us are familiar with), this story below possibly best summarises the major revelations for an international perspective.
I am sure these “government links” exist in many, if not all countries where News has such a major mainstream media domination.
And while this news may not come as a surprise to most of us, with the Murdock family now admitting what has gone on in secret for years, the shift has hit the fan.
I reckon it is likely to spin even faster today.
British Minister Under Pressure Over Media Bid After Murdoch’s Leveson Appearance
By Karen Kissane, European correspondent for Fairfax Media Australia – April 25, 2012
http://www.smh.com.au/world/british-minister-under-pressure-over-media-bid-af...
British Prime Minister David Cameron was last night resisting demands to fire one of his ministers following evidence from James Murdoch about leaks from the Government during News Corp’s controversial bid to take over British satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband said the evidence showed that Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who was the final arbiter of whether the takeover should be allowed, had given “advice, guidance and privileged access to the News Corporation” and acted “as a back channel for the Murdochs”.
In more than six hours of intense cross-examination before the Leveson inquiry into the media, Mr Murdoch strongly defended his company’s right to approach politicians to push its agenda. He said he saw nothing wrong with frequent behind-the-scenes information his company had allegedly received from Mr Hunt’s office.
Mr Hunt was acting in a quasi-judicial role as the minister who would decide whether the bid for BSkyB was appropriate in terms of media plurality.
The inquiry was told that at one time Mr Murdoch received news that Mr Hunt was frustrated that his advisers said they should not meet in private to discuss the issue.
Mr Murdoch sent a reply, “You must be f-g joking. Fine, I will text him.”
Mr Miliband last night demanded Mr Hunt’s resignation: “If he refuses to resign, the Prime Minister must show some leadership and fire him.”
Mr Hunt’s aides denied the claims, saying evidence presented to the inquiry was inaccurate and that meetings and messages that had been claimed had never happened. They said Mr Hunt planned to ask Justice Leveson if he could appear before the inquiry to defend himself as soon as possible. Mr Cameron said Mr Hunt had his full confidence.
The evidence related to extracts from 163 pages of emails Mr Murdoch had received from Fred Michel, News Corp’s director of public affairs for Europe during the Sky takeover bid. The emails detailed alleged communications with Mr Hunt, many of them through Mr Hunt’s adviser Adam Smith, and on some days running to half a dozen exchanges.
But Mr Hunt’s aides claimed Mr Michel had exaggerated the degree of contact he had with the minister’s office. Mr Hunt had not spoken to Mr Michel daily and was willing to make his phone records available to confirm this, they said.
Claims in the emails included:
*That Mr Michel had obtained information about a statement Mr Hunt was about to make on the bid
*That Mr Hunt “said we would get there in the end and shared our objectives”
*That Mr Hunt said he wanted Mr Murdoch “to understand he needs to build some political cover on the process”
News Corp dropped the takeover bid last year after it became caught up in a publicity firestorm over the News of the World’s hacking of the phone of a murdered schoolgirl.
Mr Murdoch strongly defended the right of News International to lobby politicians to advance its interests, saying that this was what all large companies did. “It was entirely reasonable to try to communicate with all relevant policymakers to try to communicate the merits of what we were proposing,” he said.
He several times denied that News had ever offered a politician a “quid pro quo” of favourable editorial coverage in return for political favours. This included the first minister for Scotland, Alex Salmond, who had apparently asked Mr Murdoch to “smooth the way” for the Sun newspaper in Scotland to support Scottish nationalism.
Mr Michel wrote to Mr Murdoch, “I met Alex Salmond’s advisers today. He will call Hunt whenever we need him to.”
Mr Murdoch said he could categorically deny that the two matters were linked: “There was absolutely no [such] News Corporation policy. I wouldn’t do business like that.”
Former Liberal Democrat MP and Hacked Off activist Evan Harris told the BBC there should not have been secret discussions with the minister making the decision. “It’s no help to Jeremy Hunt that James Murdoch doesn’t see it was ethically dodgy… Just one of those emails would be a smoking gun to have [Mr Hunt] consider his position. There are 160 pages of those emails.”
Mr Harris suggested the Prime Minister might fear he could not afford to set a precedent by sacking Mr Hunt because “there may be more ministers involved in the sort of thing Jeremy Hunt was doing”.
