Compare Keir Starmer's statements on the siege of Gaza with his arguments at the International Court of Justice in 2014, where he argued that the Serb siege of Vukovar was a case of genocide.
A thread on Starmer, international law and Gaza. 2/ It is evident from videos and transcripts that Starmer not only understands the international law on this issue, but has a profound understanding of a Gaza-like siege situation, its illegality in international law and the relevance of the international crime of genocide.
Nov 14, 2022 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
A short (slightly weary) 🧵 about the media coverage on Qatar 2022 and specious claims of orientalism.
Here goes. Qatar is getting a lot of media coverage right now because Qatar is hosting the World Cup, which is the most watched event on earth.
2/ A lot of that coverage is critical of Qatar's treatment of migrant workers and LGBT+. This is entirely normal and correct. Migrant workers built the infrastructure required for Qatar 2022 and the country would collapse without them. They suffer dreadful abuse and exploitation.
Oct 20, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Instead of talking about xenophobia, let's talk about kleptocracy. Because the only states that can own football clubs are not only autocratic (abusive), they are also kleptocratic (using stolen money). 👇
2/ @ChathamHouse explainer: "a ‘well-functioning’ kleptocracy maintains the system by controlling the money-making enterprises and natural resources, with the head of state attempting to avoid intra-elite conflict by dividing the spoils between various groups or family members."
Oct 19, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
A short thread on the Klopp xenophobia nonsense. Abu Dhabi has its senior guys in place at Manchester City. City director Simon Pearce was director of strategic communications for Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority and is now a senior advisor.
2/ Here in a 2008 Wikileaks cable, Pearce meets US treasury officials and "described a process of designing and implementing detailed strategic political outreach and public relations plans for every U.S. deal to manage the risk of possible blowback" wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/0…
Oct 17, 2022 • 22 tweets • 8 min read
An interesting thread on The Guardian reporting of migrant worker deaths in Qatar from disinformation expert @marcowenjones. I've been working on migrant worker deaths in Qatar and the Gulf since 2016, currently working on my fourth report on the issue. A 🧵 on a 🧵
2/ Marc's point is that the headline of the article was designed to create the false impression that 6500 migrant workers died building the stadiums for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. This false narrative certainly took hold, and Marc provides the evidence to show its spread.
Nov 7, 2017 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1. A thread about cronyism in #Manchester2. In 2014 Sir Howard Bernstein was chief exec of Manchester City Council which did large commercial property deal with Abu Dhabi govt
