For 20 days now, while most of the world has looked on in dumb silence, the city of Bani Walid, in Libya, has been under indiscriminate shelling from Misrata militias, nominally loyal to the NATO imposed National Transitional Council (NTC.) These are the very same Misrata militias who dubbed themselves "The Brigades for the Elimination of Black Skins," as they ethnically cleansed 40,000 Black inhabitants from the city of Tawarga - again with the silent complicity of most of the Western media and political parties, including, shamefully, the parties of the Left. read full story / add a comment

The latest in the series of ships to Gaza - the Estelle has been boarded by the Israelis. Initial reports had indicated it was being attacked.

The ship with a crew of 20 aboard with people of eight nationalities was boarded by Israeli forces and forced to sail to the port of Ashdod
In an act violating international maritime law, Israeli naval forces boarded a humanitarian aid ship, the SV Estelle, that was en route to the Gaza Strip bringing humanitarian aid supplies including musical instruments and building materials. These are among the thousands of items still banned by Israeli forces from entering Gaza. read full story / add a comment

Hopi’s principled opposition to the Iran Tribunal is not because we are soft on the Islamic republic, as our opponents have alleged. On the contrary, we are committed to the revolutionary overthrow of the Islamic regime and all its factions. However, we believe alliances pretending to pursue a ‘non-political’, ‘human rights’ (read rightwing, pro-imperialist) agenda are a serious threat to the future of the revolutionary movement of workers in Iran. Those sections of the left who cannot see (or who pretend they cannot see) the serious risks posed by their collaboration with those involved in regime change from above, such as the Iran Tribunal, will become mere pawns in a game where the winner is international capital (and that inevitably includes Iranian capital). read full story / add a comment

Security at Shannon was over the top today as the monthly Shannon vigil took place in the wake of last Sunday's "outrageous" peace action by Margaretta Darcy, who at 78 years of age allegedly scaled the perimeter fence and with Niall farrell carried a protest on the main runway at Shannon against US military use of Shannon airport. read full story / add a comment

A look at what really going on in global politics behind the facade.

Everyone is aware of a multitude of problems that besets our world, however the nature of these problems and why they exist is distorted by the media and by governments all over the world. Our leaders, corporate heads, military top-brass etc. all have a fairly good idea of what is really happening, they just don’t want us – the ignorant masses known as the general public to know what they know. read full story / add a comment

US forces have been moved to the Jordan - Syria border. NATO says it will "defend" Syria. Turkey moves jets to Syrian border all of the pieces are being put into place for an intervention in Syria by the Imperialist powers and their local clients. Iraq however is not going along with the charade.

Meanwhile the "rebels" continue to target media workers: A Syrian cameraman for a state television channel was shot dead on Wednesday in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya announced. Cameraman Mohammad al-Ashram “was killed by terrorists,” Al-Ikhbariya director Imad Sara told AFP.

The truth about the mortaring of Turkey also emerges. read full story / add a comment

Two peace activists from Galway Alliance Against War were arrested on the runway at Shannon Airport today, marking the 11th anniversary of the attacks on Afghanistan. US military and CIA flights have passed via the Irish airport to and from the region since the war began. read full story / add a comment

Norman Paech, a prominent member of the German left party, Die Linke, has joined others in withdrawing his support for the Iran Tribunal after approaches from supporters of Hands Off the People of Iran, reports Tina Becker. This is an edited version of an article recently published on the website of the German magazine Hintergrund1

The Iran Tribunal continues to divide the Iranian left. Yassamine Mather’s articles in the Weekly Worker have been hotly debated in Iran, across Europe and the United States. Since she started to expose the links of the organisers to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a number of organisations and individuals have withdrawn their support. Other groups and parties have split over the issue.

It is therefore timely to take a closer look at the tribunal, its gestation, its corruption - and the fallout from Hopi’s scathing criticism. read full story / add a comment

GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR
SEPTEMBER 2012 BULLETIN

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GAAW SUPPORTED PEACE EVENT
PEACE VIGIL SHANNON
SUNDAY 14TH OCTOBER, 2-3PM
AT THE ROUNDABOUT BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO SHANNON AIRPORT
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August 30th interview with Julian Assange in Ecuadoran embassy London by Uruguayan journalist Jorge Gestoso,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YQyaG1AxrU read full story / add a comment

After attending a workshop last Saturday by U.S. Iraq war veteran Logan Mehl-Laituri at the Greenbelt Festival/ England, I was informed that Joshua Casteel was in a very bad way with the cancer with which he has been struggling. On Sunday we learnt that Joshua had passed away.
OBITUARY: Joshua Casteel – Presente!
Posted on August 25, 2012 - Pax Christi USA http://tinyurl.com/93cgonz
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Its worthwhile having a look at who has what when it comes to nuclear weapons*.

• United States: Approximately 5,000 total warheads: 1,737 deployed strategic warheads, approximately 500 operational tactical weapons (some 200 deployed in Europe), and approximately 2,700 reserve warheads (active and inactive) in storage.
• Russia: Approximately 5,500 total warheads: 1,492 operational strategic warheads, approximately 2,000 operational tactical warheads (not deployed), and approximately 2,000 reserve warheads in storage.
• China: About 240 total warheads.
• France: Fewer than 300 operational warheads.
• United Kingdom: Fewer than 160 deployed strategic warheads, total stockpile of up to 225.
* http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswho...swhat read full story / add a comment

With the Non-Aligned Movement meeting this week in Tehran, Veterans For Peace is urging the organization of 120 nations not formally allied with any major power bloc to take steps to deter the Israeli-American threats of war against Iran over its nuclear enrichment program.

From: Veterans For Peace

This is an urgent appeal from Veterans For Peace. We are an organization of U.S. veterans formed in 1985 to try to bring an end to war. VFP is a non-profit organization recognized by the UN as an NGO.

We are appealing to the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement to do everything in your power to head off a military attack on Iranin the coming weeks. Israel’s leaders regard the period between now and the U.S. election on November 6 as the most opportune time to virtually guarantee U.S. support for such an attack. And the continuing build-up of U.S. forces in the area of the Persian Gulf strengthens the impression of U.S. readiness to provide it.
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IDF soldiers prevent attack on "Israeli regime" by "freedom fighters" who attacked and killed Egyptian soldiers read full story / add a comment

GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR
SUMMER 2012 BULLETIN

DUE TO THE RAID ON THE HOME OF GAAW'S PRO AND THE SEIZURE OF HIS COMPUTER, WE ARE WITHOUT THE DATABASE OF 800+ SUPPORTERS, WHO WE REGULARLY EMAIL THE GAAW BULLETIN.
SO WE WOULD APPEAL TO YOU TO PASS ON THIS BULLETIN TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE SYMPATETIC TO THE CAUSE OF PEACE.
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GAAW SUPPORTED PEACE EVENT
PEACE VIGIL SHANNON
SUNDAY 12TH AUGUST. 2-3PM
AT THE ROUNDABOUT BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO SHANNON AIRPORT

AGENDA

1. NEVER FORGET: IRELAND IS AT WAR
2. THE GARDAÍ AND GAAW
3. THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA:
a) Somalia & The Real Pirates
b) MALI: “Collateral damage of the Libyan crisis”
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Syrian rebels have murdered prisoners. While the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch have condemned it. So far the US haven't mentioned it.

Human Rights Watch has told the BBC the act was potentially a war crime. “What it looks like is execution of detainees and if that is the case, that would be a war crime”: Clive Baldwin, Senior legal adviser for Human Rights Watch. HRW, he added, had been seeing evidence of abuses such as torture and executions by rebel elements "for some time".

The head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents violence by all sides in the conflict, condemned the killings by the rebels as "criminal".

The UN mission in Syria reports that the rebels in Aleppo are now armed with some heavy weapons including tanks and says that helicopters, heavy machine guns and artillery are also being used in the fighting. "We are calling on all parties to exercise utmost restraint... to distinguish between civilians and [combatants] in this conflict," said spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh. read full story / add a comment

Jeff Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric was interviewed by the Financial Times at the weekend . He told the paper that « nuclear power is so expensive compared with other forms of energy that it has become “really hard” to justify « . On the face of it ,Immelt's comments would seem to be at odds with General Electric being one of the world’s largest suppliers of atomic equipment. So what is going on ?

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Abstract: For most progressive activists, it is a given that the military-industrial complex is a clear and highly visible barrier to progressive social change. So it is particularly interesting to note that a number of groups involved in progressive activist education – which are held in high regard by activists – maintain strong links to military and political elites. One of the best known of these organisations is the US-based Albert Einstein Institution. This paper will provide a systematic analysis of the history of this Institution, and the key people associated with it, and demonstrate how their work is intimately linked to the international democracy-manipulating community – whose work is exemplified by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy, a group which is well-known for its support of the failed 2002 coup in Venezuela. This analysis will expose the crucial role such activist educators play in catalysing revolutions in countries deemed appropriative for regime change by transnational elites. In the light of the dubious nature of these educational activities, this paper will conclude by offering a number of suggestions for how concerned citizens and educators may counter the cynical (ab)use of activist education by political elites as a new and powerful tool of imperialism. read full story / add a comment

The Iran Tribunal - convened to put the Tehran regime in the dock for its massacre of 5,000-10,000 political prisoners in 1988 - took place in London over June 18-22. While it largely went unnoticed by the public in Britain, it caused uproar amongst sections of the Iranian left.

The tribunal was not the first well-financed attempt to divert the genuine anger of the Iranian people, and their hatred of the Islamic regime (in its many factions), towards dubious ends. Similar stunts have taken place before under the auspices of so-called NGOs - which turn out to be little more than fronts for the United States and the European Union. read full story / add a comment

RTE’s website has two interesting news reports today:
1) Eamon Gilmore is off to a socalled “Friends of Syria” meeting in Paris, the aim of which is to support the overthrow of the Assad regime. It is all reminiscent of the moves to topple Ghadaffi in Libya a year ago.
2) The other news report informs us of the widespread human rights abuses now being carried out in “free” Libya. Up until now the western media has done its utmost to hide the chaos and bloodshed that has occurred since the overthrow of Ghadaffi, but eventually some of the truth had to come out.
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