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

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 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

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

Sharing Ireland is an informal project to connect anyone in Ireland who is interested in non-commercial culture. We want to encourage varied and meaningful forms of direct sharing, cooperation and mutual aid. ... 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

PhiliIMC reports on the slaying of Indymedia Kenya organizer Stephen Nyash last Tuesday . The shooting occurred in the Korogocho ghetto of Nairobi, where Nyash had lived and worked for most of his life. ... read full story / add a comment

Since approximately the early 1980s Capitalism has been on the offensive to attack working conditions and take away the hard won labour rights of the previous century or so.

In those years we have seen manufacturing jobs move offshore and increasing amounts of temporary and part-time jobs which have less rights than full time jobs.

We have seen multi-national and chain stores declare bankruptcy to allow these firms to walk away from their healthcare and pension obligations, only to re-open the following week.

But yet this is not good enough and the capitalists and because of the logic of capitalism itself, as usual never give up and have their sights firmly set on things like decent wages, holiday pay, sick pay, pensions and health-cover.

And leading the latest innovation in exploition is IBM Germany with their new programme called, "liquid" and reported in an article titled 'IBM launches new form of day-wage labour' on the www.wsws.org website. ... read full story / add a comment

Yes, it’s kicking off everywhere.

Over the last 18 months we have seen a sea change in resistance and popular consciousness. The Arab Spring has put revolution back on the agenda of global politics.

In Britain, we’ve seen the occupation of Millbank and student revolt, the huge TUC March and now the massive N30 strike.

... read full story / add a comment

More trouble for the islamist NTC. Full text at link.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Fighters loyal to Libya's overthrown leader Muammar Gaddafi took control of a town south-east of the capital on Monday, flying their green flags in defiance of the country's fragile new government. The fightback by Gaddafi supporters defeated in Libya's civil war, though unlikely to spread elsewhere, added to the problems besetting a government which in the past week has been reeling from one crisis to another. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in October after weeks on the run.

Accounts from the town of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) from Tripoli, described armed Gaddafi supporters attacking the barracks of the pro-government militia in the town and then forcing them to fall back. ... read full story / add a comment

"Bulgarians shut the Frack Up

In good fracking news to the East...
... read full story / add a comment

PATRICIA Campbell worked as a nurse in the Belfast Trust for over 10 years, with a career that spanned a quarter of a century. However, ever since a minor accidental misdemeanour resulted in her dismissal, she has been engaged in an uphill battle to hold her employers to account. ... read full story / add a comment

President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law on New Year’s Eve. The bill provides a massive $662 billion for the US war machine and makes unprecedented inroads into democratic rights, authorizing the US military to seize individuals anywhere in the world and hold them in a military detention facility indefinitely, without a trial or any other legal recourse. ... read full story / add a comment

Christopher Hitchens has departed the mortal coil. He used to to be a true anti-imperialist but ended as a supporter of Imperialism. Unlike other ex leftists however Hitch held on to a lot of his radical views and didn't disown his past (like Martin Amis did). But does this balance out his support for the slaughter in Iraq? Sean Fenley pens a critical obituary. ... read full story / add a comment

David Douglass reports on how some English Anarchists slid down a slippery slope with their support for Islamic rebels in Libya. Full text at link.

On Sunday November 6 I was confronted out of the blue by a political development in anarchism which knocked me off my feet. Surrounded by comrades in a fairly well attended meeting of the Northern Anarchist Network and the North East Anarchists at the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle, I listened with jaw dropping to the item on the agenda marked ‘Libyan Solidarity Campaign’.

The ‘Support Nato bombing tendency’ is how I would roughly designate it. I subsequently traced back this disturbing development to Ian Bone’s blog. Ian, a long standing comrade of mine, founder of Class War and many great initiatives, surely could not be the origin of this absurd and reactionary viewpoint? ... read full story / add a comment

Anne McShane writes about the cutbacks, the DCTU march and the inadequacies of the fughtback campaign to date. On November 26 2,000 demonstrators marched in Dublin against the December 5-6 budget. This budget marks year two of a four-year plan to slash public spending and raise taxes - all part of stringency measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund/European Central Bank 2010 bailout.

The numbers on this year’s demonstration were tiny compared to last November. Then a mass demonstration was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. An estimated 150,000 braved snow and ice to show their opposition to the strategy of draconian austerity. Militant speeches were given by the president of ICTU, Jack O’Connor, and its secretary, David Begg. Both pledged their active and wholehearted resistance to the IMF/ECB deal and vowed to defeat it. ... read full story / add a comment

The shrinkage continues, the sea level rises. We are all ion peril.

The recent loss of sea ice in the Arctic is greater than any natural variation in the past 1½ millennia, a Canadian study shows. "The recent sea ice decline … appears to be unprecedented," said Christian Zdanowicz, a glaciologist at Natural Resources Canada, who co-led the study and is a co-author of the paper published Wednesday online in Nature. "We kind of have to conclude that there's a strong chance that there's a human influence embedded in that signal." ... read full story / add a comment

Johannes Stern writes on how the US client Military Junta in Egypt has carried out a murderous attack on protesters. Interestingly: State TV cited US police actions against Occupy Wall Street protests to justify the repression of protests on Tahrir Square. Tellingly, many of the tear gas canisters used against Egyptian protesters were made in the US. Full text at link.

The US views the military as the backbone of the Egyptian bourgeois state, defending capitalist rule and the interests of Western imperialism in the Middle East. Ever since the mass uprising that led to the ouster of Mubarak on February 11, the Obama administration has worked closely with SCAF to try to end strikes and protests by Egyptian workers demanding social equality and democratic rights. It has sought at all costs to prevent a second revolution. ... read full story / add a comment

This article by Jan Lundberg of CultureChange.org suggests we should be occupying the land as Jan has pointed out elsewhere that the Occupy movement hasn't really taken on the environmental crisis and sustainability into its core thinking and what will matter in the end is access to land for food when the whole system does eventually crash. ... read full story / add a comment