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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Australian Drugs Regulator Knew mRNA Vaccines Can Enter Nucleus and Integrate into Genome Despite Of... Wed Dec 18, 2024 17:07 | Rebekah Barnett
Emails released under FOI?reveal that senior staff at Australia's drugs regulator knew mRNA vaccines?can?enter the cell nucleus and integrate into the genome, despite the official line that such events are not possible.
The post Australian Drugs Regulator Knew mRNA Vaccines Can Enter Nucleus and Integrate into Genome Despite Official Denials, Emails Reveal appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Turkish Crime Boss Allowed to Remain in U.K. on Human Rights Grounds, Judges Rule Wed Dec 18, 2024 15:39 | Will Jones
A Turkish crime boss said to be one of Britain?s biggest?drug dealers?has won his human rights battle against deportation after the UN Refugee Agency intervened and judges rejected a Home Office appeal.
The post Turkish Crime Boss Allowed to Remain in U.K. on Human Rights Grounds, Judges Rule appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The New Scientific Priesthood Wants Complete Control of What We Are Told Wed Dec 18, 2024 13:32 | Dr David McGrogan
The ambition of elites to "manage the infodemic" amounts to the establishment of a scientific priesthood that wants full control of what we are told to ensure we only come to approved conclusions, says Dr David McGrogan.
The post The New Scientific Priesthood Wants Complete Control of What We Are Told appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link China Cancels Christmas in Hong Kong ? Leaving Churches Fearing for Their Future Wed Dec 18, 2024 11:22 | John MacNab
China has cancelled Christmas in Hong Kong this year. Officials have ordered that the usual celebrations be 'toned down'. It's part of a creeping intolerance that leaves churches fearing for the future, says John MacNab.
The post China Cancels Christmas in Hong Kong ? Leaving Churches Fearing for Their Future appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Brits Could Face Up to ?20 a Year Extra on Energy Bills to Fund ?Carbon Capture? Technology Wed Dec 18, 2024 09:00 | Will Jones
Brits could face an extra ?20 a year on energy bills to fund unproven carbon capture technology as the Government proposes to spend ?21.7 billion on projects to capture the gas from the air and store it underground.
The post Brits Could Face Up to ?20 a Year Extra on Energy Bills to Fund ‘Carbon Capture’ Technology appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

antrim / miscellaneous Friday February 20, 2004 19:58 by Aine - Belfast

A Debate on Punishment Beatings has broken out on the Indymedia Ireland Newswire as a result of a contribution from an INLA supporter rubbishing the connetion made in the media between INLA punishment beatings and suicides. This is one contribution to the ongoing debate from 'Aine' in Belfast.

"The young people involved in anti-social (not always criminal) behaviour are victims as well as the people affected by their behaviour. All are victims but surely the question is not who is the most worthy victim but how to stop young people engaging in this kind of unacceptable behaviour? Contrary to what has been said on this thread, there is NO evidence (apart from what we hear from apologists for punishment beatings) that working class communities WANT such attacks on their young people. I work with young people through a community group in a working class part of Catholic West Belfast and, honestly, people do want something done but ALL of them want something positive that will stop the young people getting in trouble in the first place.

Why is it that all the punishment attacks are in working class areas? Are better off kids better behaved? Of course not, but they are less likely to be on the streets, more likely to have their own rooms with computers etc and have the money to go to the cinema, leisure centres etc.

Something has to be done is the response from Tony Blair, David Blunkett and INLA apologists - especially the IRSP. So, they bring in Anti Social Behaviour Orders that can include Housing Benefit being cut if a family member is involved in anti-social behaviour - so leading to more poverty and more pressure on the youngster to steal to put food on the table if his mother is a lone parent. If people in the IRSP used as much energy seeking funding for youth projects or objecting to the fact that 16-17 year olds around here have NO income - their parents do not get a brass farthing towards their upkeep if they are not in full-time education or training - there would be a lot less crime and anti-social behaviour.

Of course, in spite of all the talk of people like me being middle-class for defending these young people's right not to be brutalised [I earn £13,500 a year and live in that middle-class paradise called Poleglass] the reality is that the so-called 'leaders' of the IRSP would not know what it means to be poor. Some of them have VERY middle class jobs and incomes and probably cannot imagine the stress faced by the families these young people come from."

Other Relevant Links
Slugger O'Toole Debate on Same Subject
Article on Ardoyne Suicides from An Phoblacht/Republican News

international / eu Thursday February 19, 2004 21:44 by dapse(r)

From the Newswire: 'This Friday a little-known body of the European Union will make a low-profile visit to Dublin Castle. There will be no media spotlight, no fanfare, and the anonymous civil servants who work in it will come and go unnoticed. Their work however, could have profound implications for the lives of millions of people – both within the EU and beyond. The name of this secretive body is the Article 133 Committee.

The Article 133 Committee is the body of the EU where member states discuss trade deals. The 133 Committee is currently formulating the EU’s policy for the controversial GATS negotiations at the WTO. These negotiations aim to bring about the “liberalisation” of trade in all services, including health and education services.

Ireland and other EU states are deciding what services they want to see “liberalised” and open to commercial competition - both within Europe and in the developing world. But neither the Irish Government nor the EU will tell us what they are planning to do – information on trade deals is not published until after the deals are concluded.

This is why a cross-party group of twenty one TDs have called on the Government for full transparency in the operation of the Article 133 Committee. In a letter delivered to Minister Mary Harney on Wednesday 19th February, the TDs stated:

“We, as concerned citizens and elected public representatives are disturbed that matters of public interest – including the EU and Irish government’s proposals on the opening of international trade in public services like health and education, and on trade in goods and services with developing countries – are being discussed in secret at the EU Article 133 Committee meeting in Dublin on Feb 20”

They went on to make the following request:

“In the spirit of openness, transparency and accountability, we request the right to observe at this Article 133 Committee meeting; and to have access to documents being presented by the Irish government to the meeting.”

So far, there has been no information forthcoming in response to this request.'

Further Information and Background
Details of 'Another Europe' Dublin Castle Protest - 20th Feb - 1pm
'Of particular concern is that the deliberations of the Article 133 Committee are not made public.'
Why Does Article 133 Matter?
Health and Education as a Business Opportunity: DAPSE Information
The EU Constitution, Gats and Education
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the GATS
Background From Article 133 Info Group

national / rights, freedoms and repression Tuesday February 17, 2004 19:37 by Indymedia Ireland Editorial Group

Protect Irish Emigration but Keep the 'Illegal' Immigrants Out?
"I graduated from UCD in 1989 in a class of forty. Thirty- seven of us left Ireland before that Summer was out. We went to Berlin. We went to Boston. And we went all over the World to where there was work at a time when in Ireland there was very little work. We received a welcome in those countries - we were accepted as equals. [....] It must be the ultimate irony that at the same time [Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, TD] is sending people away from Ireland other members of his cabinet are still making appeals to the US government and to the Australian government to let the Irish stay. Surely, this is the ultimate two-faced policy of this government.
- Ciaran Cuffe, TD speaks to Residents Against Racism Deportation Protest...

[download mp3]
In the largest raid on illegal immigrants in the history of the Republic of Ireland, Gardai swept up 65 people from Counties Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Westmeath and escorted them by a chartered aircraft to Romania and Moldova. The deported included small children that may have been born in Ireland.

Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism remarked "We are having great difficulty in getting any information about who these people were. We know that some of them had children, whether there were Irish born children we do not know. We just don't know."

According to Joe Costello, TD (Labour) three of the families may not have been served with deportation orders previously. "That would be a breach of the procedures, they would have had 15 days to respond on humanitarian grounds." Costello added, "It's going to be very hard to deal with that now because they are outside the Country and are now banned from returning to Ireland"

Commenting further at the Friday the 13th Residents Against Racism protest in front of Dáil Éireann, Costello said "The way [Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell (Progressive Democrat)] acted is unacceptable, it's just unacceptable. This is effectively a mass deportation. Gardai came along - stood over people while they packed their bags and then took them away - a clandestine dawn raid on people's homes and lives."

Ciaran Cuffe, TD (Green) put the morning raids in a broader European context. Many of the deportees were from Romania, an accession country due to join the European Union in 2007. "Today, you saw pictures of Silvio Berlusconi embraced by Bertie Ahern, that's a fair reflection of the kind of agenda that has been pursured by the Irish Presidency." Rather than welcoming future EU citizens, "It looks as though McDowell is more interested in running a charter airline to get people out of Ireland than in putting human rights on to the agenda." Cuffe also tabled questions in the Dail this week requesting information about the deported children in an effort to establish whether or not they were Irish-born.

Finian McGrath, TD (Independent) notes the irony that Ireland needs migrant workers more than ever just as it is deporting them: "People have always moved away from areas where there was less economic growth to areas where there is more wealth and more resources ... there are many hospitals tonight in Dublin that would not be able to operate without the support of immigrant workers."

"Its sad." said Costello, "Its almost like going back to the time of Jim Larkin. So many of these workers have no right to join a trade union, virtually no rights at all ... Ireland is a country that brought in 50,000 migrants to work last year - we want to get cheap labor but we want it under such restrictive conditions that they effectively have no rights. They are bonded servants of the employers."

Also at the protest to express her support for the deported was Mary Kelly, known for putting an axe into a US Navy plane parked at Shannon a year ago. Kelly linked the issues of war and civil liberties: "It is sad but understandable why so few non-EU nationals came to this protest. It is fear. The Irish State currently has Eoin Rice in Limerick Prison for speaking his mind. There is fear in the anti-war community, too. The Irish State's racist policies and support for war have affected the civil liberties of us all."

In the weeks ahead, Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism expects more mass-deportations and hopes to see renewed street activism to bring attention to this issue. "They now say that this will be the first of many such operations. We have to make our voices heard and really take to the streets and get more people out. I dont think Irish people want this to happen. This is like having a secret police force in Ireland - shades of the KGB."


More News & Links:
Michael McDowell 'Monstered' in UCD - Indymedia Account
Protesters jostle McDowell at University College Dublin - Irish Examiner
Hypocritical McDowell unfit to guide immigration policies - Politics.ie
Irish Refugee Council
The National Network of Refugee, Asylum & Immigrant Support Groups
KnowRacism.ie
No Border Network
Another Europe Is Possible
No To Fortress Europe
'No Borders, No Nations' - street theatre against Fortress Europe: Thursday March 4th
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