[Update] Countries that have banned George Galloway

[AndyCambs]

Well I've been to Canada about thirty six times in the past nine years - and ALWAYS welcomed by Immigration Canada!

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

Well I've been to Canada about thirty six times in the past nine years - and ALWAYS welcomed by Immigration Canada!

Well your name is not George Galloway then.

[moaningmags]

If only we could ban him from Scotland, the man gives me the creeps.

[Ignitionnet]

Amusing that this thread is more anti-Galloway than the thread in a Canadian political forum that I frequent.

Amusing and unfortunate actually.

Incidentally Galloway doesn't praise the Taliban, his most recent quote on the war in Afghanistan was this:

Galloway’s most recent comment on Afghanistan was to the Grimsby and Scunthorpe media group and was, “More British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan than in the whole of the disastrous war in and occupation of Iraq. And yet the Taliban are growing in strength and instability is spreading across the border into Pakistan. My heart goes out to the families of all the loved ones who have lost their lives and in particular to the families of Corporals Grahame Stiff and Dean John, the latest soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan. The majority of British people, the latest opinion polls show, do not understand why we have sent troops to Afghanistan. I want our troops brought home from Afghanistan now, so no more lives are lost in this pointless and unwinnable war."

One can be anti-war as a lot of British people are without being pro-Taliban. Galloway is emotive, controversial, and Canada did this purely for political points scoring with some of their Jewish and other constituents. It's backfiring spectacularly of course as it gives Galloway that thing he loves - attention - and makes Canada look even more like a formerly liberal and free thinking society that's presided over by a bunch of rabid neo-con wannabe Bush-ites. In the absence of neo-cons in power in the US it appears Canada has decided to take up the mantle with the Harper government keeping a tight reign on ministers, dampening down the press coverage of things they don't like nicely, for example the banning of a British MP from Canada has barely been on the radar, and even going as far as slagging off Barack Obama, with a nice undertone of being very deeply up Israel's backside in true Bush fashion:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/h...rvative_speech

In a recording obtained by The Canadian Press, Harper goes after the Liberals in a election-campaign style attack, saying the current situation would be much worse had they been in power.

"Imagine the stance Canada would have taken when Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. Imagine how many Liberal insiders and ideologues would be now in the Senate, the courts and countless other federal institutions and agencies - I should say, how many more," Harper said to laughter.

"Imagine the costs of going through with the Kyoto and Kelowna accords with no plan to actually achieve anything on either the environment or aboriginal affairs. Imagine what a carbon tax would be doing to our economy in the middle of a global recession."

He twice pointed disdainfully to tax hikes U.S. President Barack Obama introduced for the highest tax brackets.

Incidentally the immigration minister, Jason Kenney, who made this decision has a few other great things to his credit including:

A longtime Conservative who opposes same-sex marriage has been appointed to the tribunal that decides whether gays get refugee status in Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is poised to slash federal funding to Canada's largest Arabic group after its president called him a "professional whore" for supporting Israel.

In August 2006, Kenney compared Hezbollah with the Nazi Party of 1930s Germany, while agreeing with the tactics used by Israelis including the use of human shields and white phosphorous, a banned and illegal form of biological warfare. He also rebuked Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora for having criticized Canada's support for Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Saniora had argued that most nations of the world, apart from Canada, regarded Israel's military actions in Lebanon as disproportionate and illegal. Kenney's response was, "Canada took a responsible position and I would hope that the Lebanese prime minister would express gratitude".

In April 2006, Kenney attended a rally supporting the People's Mujahedin of Iran, a group designated by Canadian federal legislation and UN agreements as a terrorist organization because it advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian government and the purging of Western influence from the region. Kenney later claimed that he did not remember attending the rally, and then that he did not know at the time the group was connected to a terrorist organization. He is however in close association with the JDL, whom the FBI have deemed a violent and extreme terrorist group, as shown in his recent banning of George Galloway at their behest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Defense_League

Sorry to disturb, let the Galloway bashing please continue.

Incidentally I don't agree with a lot of what he says either, but I respect his right to say it, and think Canada are idiots for doing this - they lose whichever way you look at it beyond scoring points with the Jewish in Canada.

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

they lose whichever way you look at it beyond scoring points with the Jewish in Canada.

Surprise surprise, the Jews are behind this decision With their troops currently fighting and dying in Afghanistan why should Canada except this rabble-rouser inside their borders? He may well be a British MP but so what, we choose to do the same in not admitting Dutch crap stirrer Geert Wilders.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

Surprise surprise, the Jews are behind this decision With their troops currently fighting and dying in Afghanistan why should Canada except this rabble-rouser inside their borders? He may well be a British MP but so what, we choose to do the same in not admitting Dutch crap stirrer Geert Wilders.

It would appear so going by the open letter from the JDL / Jewish Defence League requesting he be kept out of Canada and the reactions of various influential groups within Canada.

I've already given examples of how heavily influenced Canada is by Israeli interests at this time, add to this that they were 2nd after Israel to declare a boycott on a UN summit due to anti-Israeli undertones. Yep before the US even. I'm not sure how 'up' on Canadian politics you are but Stephen Harper, the PM of Canada, very quickly slid further up Israel's behind when George Bush vacated space.

And of course as I mentioned earlier about the inevitable result of this:

In fact, the controversy has caused a spike in ticket sales for Galloway's speech at the Bronson Centre theatre on April 2, organizer Joel Harden said Saturday.

"I think we could be swamped. We can't keep enough tickets out there," he said. "We might even need an overflow room."

He said organizers are confident they'll sell out the venue, which holds 900. "There's nothing more popular than a banned book or a banned speaker," noted Harden, who thanked the government, tongue in cheek, "for their help in promoting the event."

That it came a few days after a Jewish activist agency wrote to the Government could be coincidence or not, either way the only things it's achieved are to give Galloway a soap box and a wider audience. Canada would have known this but did it anyway. As there's no practical reason to do this the only thought has to be that it was politically motivated.

Oh and as you appeared to miss this in my post directly before yours so I'll do it again:

Galloway’s most recent comment on Afghanistan was to the Grimsby and Scunthorpe media group and was, “More British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan than in the whole of the disastrous war in and occupation of Iraq. And yet the Taliban are growing in strength and instability is spreading across the border into Pakistan. My heart goes out to the families of all the loved ones who have lost their lives and in particular to the families of Corporals Grahame Stiff and Dean John, the latest soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan. The majority of British people, the latest opinion polls show, do not understand why we have sent troops to Afghanistan. I want our troops brought home from Afghanistan now, so no more lives are lost in this pointless and unwinnable war."

Opposing a war is not the same as wishing harm on those who fight it.

Lastly Geert Wilders, hey I never said we here were any better. I find it mildly amusing and not a little tragic that a convicted hate criminal like Le Pen is waved through while Geert Wilders is not for fear he'll upset people. There I was thinking we had freedom of speech and laws to ensure that it was upheld should a party attempt to infringe upon it, silly me. With Whacky Jacqui and her fascist crew in the Home Office I'm surprised they didn't let him in so far just so they could add his DNA and biometrics to the national database along with holding him without charge for a while before kicking him back out. I just didn't expect to see this kind of right wing crap from Canada, a country I once considered emmigrating to to escape the way the UK has been turning into 1984.

Still all that said you can of course believe what you want, all I can give you are the facts as I see them

---------- Post added at 04:05 ---------- Previous post was at 03:59 ----------

Originally Posted by BBKing

What's with these idiots? Galloway is a prominent critic of neoconservatives, Canada unfortunately has acquired a nest of them. Anyone defending this shouldn't come running to me when some state goon pulls the national security card on them. Thin end of the wedge. Would you like someone banned from the UK because they were nasty about Gordon Brown?

That's probably on the list to be sneaked into some irrelevant legislation next to the bit allowing Jacqui Smith to do as she pleases with our DNA, criminal or not (coming soon to a bill near you after the Euro Court of Human Rights said the old way was illegal, new way is Jacqui can just do as she pleases, didn't commit a crime, tough you Jacqui's now).

---------- Post added at 04:10 ---------- Previous post was at 04:05 ----------

Originally Posted by Moldova

He probably thinks that he can overrule a sovereign government decision and if he did win his case I do not think he would get past customs as they would find some means to deport him.

Careful, last time someone's immigration officers, Egypt specifically, detained him he ended up getting an apology from the Egyptian President!

Gorgeous George is now persona non grata in Egypt as well - BBC

[punky]

I was expecting some silly reason like last time but actually sounds like a fair reason this time.

Although anything that encourages GG to spend time in this country is a bad thing.

Isn't he still an MP? Shows nothing but contempt for his constituents and the political system yet feels free to lecture others on democracy.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Damien

Isn't he still an MP? Shows nothing but contempt for his constituents and the political system yet feels free to lecture others on democracy.

I think that ship sailed when he went on Celebrity Big Brother.

Thread title updated.

Originally Posted by punky

I think that ship sailed when he went on Celebrity Big Brother.

During an important debate in Parliament that goes straight though his constituency if I recall correctly? Not often there is a debate on something that has such direct effect on individual constituencies and none on others yet their representative was promoting himself on a entertainment program.

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Damien

Isn't he still an MP? Shows nothing but contempt for his constituents and the political system yet feels free to lecture others on democracy.

Not for much longer, he isn't standing for re-election at the general election, thankfully.
He's entire time as an MP for "Respect" has been one long ego trip, now he'll go out into the world to make some serious money for himself.

[BBKing]

Gorgeous George is now persona non grata in Egypt as well - BBC

Since when has 'annoying Mubarrak' been something to ridicule someone for? Good for George Galloway, it's not like Hosni is exactly Mr. Nicely Democratic, is it?

Informational, not ridiculing.