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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

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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

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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

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Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Mon Nov 04, 2024 01:05 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link 1,000 km of Pylons Needed to Hit Net Zero Targets Sun Nov 03, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred
New analysis reveals that Britain needs 1,000 km of new power lines and pylons ? and 4,500 km of undersea cables ? to meet its legally binding 2030 Net Zero target.
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offsite link Covid Vaccine Banned for First Time in Idaho Counties Sun Nov 03, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred
In a historic move, a U.S. public health authority has voted to ban COVID-19 vaccines, claiming that the risks now outweigh the benefits
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offsite link How Kemi Badenoch?s Tories Can Rebuild Britain Sun Nov 03, 2024 15:00 | Richard Eldred
With Kemi Badenoch now at the helm, the Conservatives must fearlessly launch a Restoration to undo New Labour's radical changes and restore parliamentary sovereignty, says David Starkey.
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offsite link The Curse of Masks in Health and Social Care: Testimony From the Scottish Covid Inquiry Sun Nov 03, 2024 13:00 | Dr Gary Sidley
The harrowing testimonies from the Scottish Covid Inquiry reveal how mask mandates dehumanised residents and shattered communication in health and social care, says Dr Gary Sidley.
The post The Curse of Masks in Health and Social Care: Testimony From the Scottish Covid Inquiry appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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The Continuing Scandal of Depleted Uranium Munitions in Warfare

category international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Friday October 14, 2011 01:03author by NC Report this post to the editors

Despite the persistent government denials regarding the dangers associated with depleted uranium munitions, an undeniable body of evidence has been constructed to show their long-term adverse ramifications.
depleted.jpg

The acclaimed American playwright and essayist, Arthur Miller, once wrote: “Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be denied.” Over the course of the last two decades, an overwhelming body of evidence has been constructed to reveal the dangers associated with the use of depleted uranium munitions in warfare. But despite this fact, there are various elements within the political establishment who continue to downplay this awful reality, often using highly disputed sources and questionable studies to justify their stance.

To offer some examples of this fact: during the Balkans conflict of 1999, renowned political journalist for the London Independent, Robert Fisk, interviewed N.A.T.O. Luftwaffe General Jerz in Brussels. Over the course of the interview, the General claimed that depleted uranium was absolutely harmless as it was found in trees, in the earth and on mountain tops. But this justification was a clear distortion of the truth as only uranium, and not the depleted variety which comes from nuclear waste can be found naturally. The Rand Corporation was the recipient of much U.S. and British Government gratitude when it supposedly proved that depleted uranium was not harmful; but again, their study was based on the dust which emanates from uranium mines and not the irradiated spray which comes from depleted uranium weapons. The World Health Organisation is often used as a source for dismissing the dangers of depleted uranium; however, in the wake of the first Gulf War the W.H.O. sent a team to Iraq to investigate the results of the depleted uranium bombardment there but was dissuaded at the last minute from following through on their investigation. Similarly, the British Royal Society of Scientists was mandated by British authorities to conduct an investigation into the ramifications of depleted uranium munitions, but oddly declined to send a team to Iraq.

But at the same time, the internal record of the previously mentioned Western Governments and their military wings has long accepted the negative ramifications associated with the use of depleted uranium weapons. A comprehensive report commissioned by the Pentagon highlighted an increase in the rate of cell damage and cancer in the areas where depleted uranium had been used whilst simultaneously acknowledging that increased cases of lung damage had also been “well documented.” For the most part, the international media ignored the content of this report when it leaked into the public domain. Similarly, N.A.T.O.s internal guidelines admit that “the inhalation of insoluble depleted uranium dust particles has been associated with long-term health effects including cancer and birth-defects.” The British Medical Journal conducted a study in Iraq from the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991 up until 1994, the findings of which were presented to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair in 1999. The report offered startling statistics which revealed a seven fold increase in the rate of cancer in Southern Iraq. The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority stated that inhalation of just eight per cent of the depleted uranium used in the Gulf War could result in up to three hundred thousand deaths in the ravaged country. But despite this internal government understanding of the carnage that is being caused, the political establishment consistently declares that depleted uranium is harmless as they continue to deploy these munitions in places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and even recently in Libya.

In July of this year, Patrick Cockburn of the London Independent reported the findings of an independent investigation regarding the ramifications of depleted uranium use in the Iraqi town of Fallujah, the findings of which were absolutely devastating. The investigation found:

• Levels of cancer and leukaemia in Fallujah exceeding those recorded even in Hiroshima
• A 10 fold increase in the rate of breast cancer
• A 12 fold increase in the rate of child cancer
• A 38 fold increase in the rate of leukaemia
• Infant mortality in Fallujah is nine times higher than that of neighbouring Kuwait with a death rate of eighty per 1000 infants compared to just nine per 1000 in Kuwait

In an interview with renowned Australian film maker and journalist, John Pilger, Dr Jawad Al-Ali, a cancer specialist and member of Britain's Royal College of Physicians said the following: "The dust in Iraq carries death. Our own studies indicate that more than 40 per cent of the population in this area will get cancer in five years time to begin with, and then long afterwards. Most of my own family now have cancer, and we have no history of the disease. It has spread to the medical staff of this hospital as we live through another Hiroshima. There is no other explanation; depleted uranium is unquestionable the cause.”

To illuminate the stance that is being taken by the current Irish Government on this scandalous situation, a recent personal experience which can be sited may prove instructive. I recently had an interview for a role with the Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and when I was asked for my main example of relevant work experience, I cited the research and work that I had done in the area of depleted uranium. But one of the individuals interviewing me voiced his scepticism regarding the issue and referenced a W.H.O. report which downplayed the harmful side effects of depleted uranium weapons. In this age of infinite information, even something as well-documented as the dangers associated with these toxic weapons can be discarded by hiding behind various discredited reports and studies. Considering this fact, it would appear that the current administration, for reasons best known to itself, has decided to turn a blind eye to the massive amount of documented evidence which has been established. For such a stance to be taken is both reckless and irresponsible, and is an act which betrays the many thousands of people whose suffering has been caused by depleted uranium weapons.

Ireland once spearheaded the international campaign to ban cluster munitions and land mines, a pursuit which resulted in the signing of the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Land Mines Act of 2008. The man known as the father of Irish foreign policy, Frank Aitken, was the first Government Minister to sign the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in Moscow, and was a vehement opponent of nuclear weapons in all of their forms. If Frank Aitken was alive today, he would be both saddened and outraged at the ambiguous stance that the current administration has decided to take. So now, it is time for his modern day counterpart, Mr. Eamon Gilmore TD, to do what is morally just and necessary; he must lead the political call for an international ban on the production and use of depleted uranium weapons, starting here on our very own shores.

For more information on the use of depleted uranium munitions in warfare, please read the attached booklet which was published by Action from Ireland (AFRI) in May of this year.

PDF Document du_pdf.pdf 0.44 Mb


author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Sun Oct 16, 2011 15:14author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Zylon B, for those 'other' inconvenient Semitics squatting all over our oil-sump...the Arabs: this time Stealth-delivered by remote-control drones. Its not the distribution, you know, its those damned untermenschen breeding all over our resources.

NATO loves ya, have some democracy we prepared earlier.

 
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