As the leaders of the global diamond industry gathered in Vicenza, Italy for the annual meeting of the World Diamond Council, Palestinians remained trapped in a surreal nightmarish existence under the cosh of a diamond-funded, nuclear-armed belligerent regime: "The Israeli forces used [taser guns] and I have bruises on my arms and legs. I saw them open a protester's mouth by force and spit in it, and they spit in my face as well. While being under custody, a police officer of Ramle district addressed both me and another female activist while being cuffed with verbal sexual harassment, threatening to rape us. I have to admit I burst in tears ." ... read full story / add a comment

Friends at any cost: Israel is happy to welcome an Anti-Semite and nazi sympathiser to Israel.Tony Greenstein looks at whats going on here. Full text at link.

That the Lithuanian government should commemorate the memory of its quisling Prime Minister is not surprising. That the same anti-Semites who laud the Lithuanian Waffen SS survivors are also pro-Zionist is also not surprising. But that Israel's Foreign Minister, the arch-racist Avigdor Lieberman, should hosts a ministerial welcome to Lithuania's Foreign Minister, a man who tried to prevent the restoration of stolen property to its Jewish owners, should shock even a few Zionists. ... read full story / add a comment

At 4.30am this morning the Occupy Galway camp was forcibly removed by Gardai and Council workers. At 1pm we held a public assembly with around 100 people in attendance. The mood at the assembly was one of determination and optimism and it was agreed by all that the fight is only just getting started! ... read full story / add a comment

Another day, another provocation. Yes, the US led GCC is carrying out War Games around disputed Isles in the Persian Gulf, Isles first seized by the Shah in 1971. Funnily enough the US had no objections to that. Yassamine Mather writes on this and May Day demonstrations in Iran. Full text at link.

However, then came news of another conflict in the Persian Gulf - this time between Iran on the one side and Saudi Arabia and Gulf Cooperation Council countries on the other. Arab and US media reported that the Peninsula Shield Force, the military coordinating army of the GCC, had been carrying out military manoeuvres to “test harmony and coordination among ground, air and naval forces and their readiness”. ... read full story / add a comment

The elections in both Greece and France last weekend have witnessed a resounding rejection of austerity. These results coupled with news last night that Angela Merkel has been forced to postpone 'fiskalpakt' ratification under pressure from parliament, illustrate that the European Union’s intended ‘Austerity Treaty’ is coming away at the seams. ... read full story / add a comment

A political struggle in a European nation of less than three million, largely ignored by other socialists in Europe, has nevertheless come to the fore in the capitalist media repeatedly since the late 1960s. This has been largely as a result of the the Basque people’s struggle for socialism and independence from the Spanish and French states, a struggle led for decades by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, the marxist armed organisation better known by its acronym, ETA. The organisation reawakened Basque national consciousness, has worked with others for the restoration of Euskara, the Basque language, organised Basque workers and faced the repression of the General Franco dictatorship in the Spanish state. Famously, in 1973 it assassinated the Prime Minister of the state, Admiral Carrero Blanco, Franco’s right-hand man, which hastened the fragmentation of the dictatorship and its passage to partial democracy.
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****If you can't make it to the tribunal at Ft. Meade or the U.S. embassy in London, consider making a public stand for Bradley Manning on April 24th., 25th. or 26th. wherever you are - as he stands before a military tribunal that wishes to bury him alive!
Bradley has now been in military custody for over 700 days!
There are solidarity actions presently planned in Cardiff/ Wales, Fairford Base/ England, the gates of Ft. Meade /USA and 14 cities world wide
http://tinyurl.com/cxpedl5
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Police have arrested protesters outside a Moscow court during a custody hearing for three women accused of violating public order at a cathedral. At least 20 people were detained, both supporters and Russian Orthodox opponents of the women, said to be members of a punk band, Pussy Riot. The women were arrested last month after an obscene political song was played inside the cathedral in Moscow.

Contact President Putin To Ask For Their Release. ... read full story / add a comment

The Association of Combined Residents Associations (ACRA) predicts mass opposition to any attempts to impose a tax on water. ... read full story / add a comment

On Saturday April 14, Iran attended talks on its nuclear programme with six world powers in Istanbul. In the end, this ‘summit’ was little more than talks about talks - to take place in May in Baghdad. The uneasy stand-off continues and the strong possibility remains of an attack on Iran within months. Indeed, the outcome of the meeting has provoked a degree of cynicism, with press outlets in the US, the UK and Israel pointing out that Syria now seems to have learned the ‘Iran method’ - that is, agree to talks simply to buy time and postpone intervention. ... read full story / add a comment

Veterans for Peace UK held its inaugural meeting on Easter Sunday. 11 veterans attended the meeting. The meeting was started with the reading of The Statement of Purpose. We then had an extended check in where there was a good exchange of experiences.
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The UN deploy monitors but the US is preparing for a military intervention in Syria. The Fundamentalist opposition have little support within Syria and have publicly boasted of their intent to Ethnically Cleanse Christians and Alawis, this doesn't seem to bother their Western backers. Full text of article by Niall Green at link.

Despite the claims of the United States and its allies that they are seeking a peace deal and humanitarian relief in Syria, the Annan mission and the presence of foreign observers constitute a political fraud. They are a smokescreen behind which the imperialist powers and their regional proxies are advancing their agenda of regime-change in Damascus. ... read full story / add a comment

Its not just a rogue attack from the Israeli Terrorist State thats on the agenda: Obama and his minions are deliberately psyching up the US people with their bellicose statements. Preconditions which cannot be met are being set for negotiations. Israel is being supplied with enhanced missile capability. Yassamine Mather deals with these points in the article below. Full text at link.

On Saturday April 14 Iran will attend talks with six world powers. The US has indicated this is Iran’s “last chance” to avoid military intervention and the Obama administration is taking very specific demands to the talks as preconditions for further negotiations: for example, Iran “must immediately close” a large nuclear facility allegedly built underneath a mountain if it wants to avoid a devastating strike. ... read full story / add a comment

the perspective of David North’s is a narrow nationalist one. It limits the problem to one of the decline of US capitalism as opposed to the decline of capitalism as a world economic system. This means that for the WSWS the problems of capitalism are solvable within a merely nationalist framework. Such a framework only requires a mere restructuring of global capitalism. In contrast for communists the authentic solution is the elimination of capitalism through social revolution.
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The New Yorker Magazine has revealed that the dissident Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (M.E.K.) has been trained by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) since 2005 at a secret military site in Nevada. The author of the article, Seymour Hersh, recounts how Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency told him that information supplied by the M.E.K in regard to Irans commencing enrichment of uranium at a secret underground location was given to them by Mossad.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/04/....html

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A greek pensioner and world war II hero, shot himself on front of the greek parliament to die with some dignity rather than waiting until he had to search for food in garbage cans, and becoming a burden to hs children. Apparently Suicide rates have soared in greece. ... read full story / add a comment

Yesterday's prestigious Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference in the International Conference Centre (ICC) at the ExCeL Centre, London was interrupted by two London Rising Tide protesters. ... read full story / add a comment

For the past six months and longer once Libya had fallen to the NATO sponsored 'rebels', we have faced a continuous media onslaught about Syria with reports of protests, shootings, killings, attacks, bombing and so forth. The backdrop to the narrative is that this is part of the Arab Spring which started last year and it is a good thing overall. So many people are probably wondering what really has been happening, given that this is the same media that was cheer leading the Iraq war almost 10 years ago even though at least a million+ are now dead as a result. And yet somehow they want to imply that they are doing the right thing now. We should also recall that this is the same media that is promoting austerity and encouraging us to accept the blame for the mad years of the bubble and as a consequence we should pay up the €90 billion bailout and in the process see all the state services stripped to the bone. They are presenting the uncomplicated truth surely ... read full story / add a comment

There is an eerie sense of deja vu as the rhetoric used by the Imperialist leaders echoes that used in 2003 prior to the invasion of Iraq. Ben Lewis reports on debates in Westminster , international developments and the ever present danger of an Israeli attack on Iran. Full text at link.

The debate was initiated by Conservative MP John Baron, perhaps the only Tory MP who opposes an attack on Iran. His motion was simple and straightforward: “This house believes that the use of force against Iran would be wholly counterproductive and would serve only to encourage any development of nuclear weapons; and calls upon the government to rule out the use of force against Iran and reduce tensions by redoubling diplomatic efforts.” Malcolm Rifkind, Tory chairman of the intelligence and security committee, moved an amendment that completely changed its content. The amendment deleted everything except “This house” and replaced the rest of Baron’s motion with: “… supports the government’s efforts to reach a peaceful, negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through a combination of pressure in the form of robust sanctions, and engagement led by the E3+3 comprising the UK, US, France, Germany, China and Russia; and recognises the value of making clear to Iran that all options for addressing the issue remain on the table”.

The Rifkind amendment, which was passed by an overwhelming majority of 285 to 6. Those who voted against the amendment were Labour MPs John McDonnell, Paul Flynn and Dennis Skinner; Jonathan Edwards of Plaid Cymru; Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labour Party; and Baron himself. ... read full story / add a comment

Two anti hunt campaigners who attempted to film a hunt on the Hill of Tara last Tuesday were set upon and viciously assaulted by staghunters. ... read full story / add a comment