Manchester Blast: Terrorism or False Flag? by Stephen Lendman
Though too early to know what’s behind it, the incident’s timing raises suspicions.
It comes two-and-a-half weeks before UK June 8 snap elections. A Sunday Times YouGov poll showed Tory leader Theresa May’s lead over Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn at nine points, half her last week’s advantage, enough time left perhaps to further shrink it sufficiently to make for a close race.
Other polls show Corbyn gaining at May’s expense. Labour’s social justice manifesto contrasts markedly with Tory indifference to human needs.
The party is noticeably on the defensive over plans for elderly Brits to pay for home care for the first time. Some observers say it’s the largest stealth tax in UK history.
A People’s Assembly anti-austerity group launched a billboard campaign in battleground areas, displaying May’s image, saying:
“I am a threat to your local hospital, to your child’s education, to your living standards, to your job security, to your pension, to your peace and security.”
Labour’s social justice manifesto titled “For the Many, Not the Few” calls for an economy working for everyone, not just privileged Brits like now.
It advocates improved worker rights, a national education service, social security for pensioners, dignity for Brits unable to work, secure homes, help for the homeless, healthcare for all the way it used to be, safer communities, real democracy, equity for everyone, and more.
The manifesto states “(f)aced with falling living standards, growing job insecurity and shrinking public services, people are under increasing strain.”
“Young people are held back by debt and the cost of housing. Whole families are being held back from the life they have worked towards.”
“Britain is the fifth richest country in the world. But that means little when many people don’t share in that wealth. Many feel the system is rigged against them. And this manifesto sets out exactly what can be done about it.”
Corbyn-led Labour calls for real change, polar opposite Tory-supported Thatcherism. Her 1980s corporatist revolution headed Britain down a slippery slope toward unfettered predatory capitalism, transferring public wealth to private hands, including privatizing key industries Labour wants re- nationalized.
She force-fed deregulation, cut social benefits, enacted corporate-friendly tax cuts, cracked down hard on non-believers, and waged war on labor.
Her Tory and Labour successors worsened conditions for ordinary Brits. May represents continuity. Corbyn wants responsible change.
Elections weren’t due until May 7, 2020. Way ahead in polls with strong media backing, May called for June 8 snap elections, aiming to defeat Labour while Tories are strongly favored to win, before public anger over their draconian agenda erupts.
Monday evening’s Manchester Arena’s blast killed 22 people, injuring dozens of others. A police statement said “(t)he attacker…died at the arena.”
“We believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device which he detonated causing this atrocity. We believe…the attack was conducted by one man.”
Police are treating the blast as a “terrorist incident.” Numerous previous high-profile attacks in America and Europe were false flags, reported as terrorism.
Fear-mongering follows these incidents to enlist public support for policies harming public welfare, safety and fundamental rights too precious to lose - on the phony pretext of assuring greater security.
Was Monday’s blast an attempt to shore up public support for May-led Tories, a false flag aiming to assure their hold on power, portraying them as tougher on alleged terrorism than Corbyn-led Labour?
At this stage, we don’t know, yet the incident has a familiar foul odor.
Parties competing in the June elections suspended campaigning until further notice, likely helping Tories look tough on crime in public pronouncements they’ll make.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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