It seems that the fate of the Kurds and their allies and neighbours in this tormented part of the world depends on the quickly changing allegiances between a number of international players – none of which you would trust to walk your grandmother across a busy road read full story / add a comment

On Thursday, Judge Laura Taylor Swain delayed approval of a $17 billion debt deal between Puerto Rico "COFINA" creditors and the island's oversight board. read full story / add a comment

Through Thursday, the judge presiding over Puerto Rico's bankruptcy process will hear testimony about a debt deal to restructure about $17 billion of the island's $72 billion debt. read full story / add a comment

The Donegal Woman based on the life of my grandmother. On publication and without an agent and self published was number two on best sellers list in the North. "We'll Take A Cup Of Kindness Yet" Memoir and Manifest of my self John Throne. From Donegal small farmer Orange Order family to international revolutionary socialist via the Bogside Uprising and other struggles. read full story / add a comment

Is there not something absurd (if not for the cost in human suffering) in Turkey’s ruling coalition’s deep seated venom for the social and cultural presence of its not-Turkish people? read full story / add a comment

This article is being reposted here as it is incredibly important and gives an insight into the larger framework of forces acting on the EU. From this perspective one can see how Brexit is the sabotage operation. Even though a majority voted for Brexit, clearly bigger forces wanted it and as we know the people are usually ignored. As in when in Ireland we had to vote twice on separate occasions in EU referendum before we got the right answer.

The European Union enters 2019 with a mass of unresolved problems, in addition to being torn apart by the most severe contradictions…

The first and main problem is that the EU was created as one of the mechanisms of the US’ control over Western Europe. Without the American Marshall Plan, without opening American markets for European goods, without American troops on the European continent, without NATO, eventually, the European Union wouldn’t be possible. read full story / add a comment

Nobel Peace Laureate Maguire gives reasons for nominating thw Wikileaks founder read full story / add a comment

The Times did a valuable service by investigating the murder of a Palestinian medic by Israeli snipers, but undermined their own work with pro-apartheid framing and both-sides tropes. read full story / add a comment

Dublin and Wexford - jobs done! read full story / add a comment

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights who have continuously monitored the civil war in Syria, have identified an increase in US military activity in the area close to the Turkish Border in conjunction with Turkey's threats to invade Rojava read full story / add a comment

Wednesday, December 12, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced plans for his new military adventure against the Kurds read full story / add a comment

On Thursday 6th December, to coincide with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)’s General Assembly, the Irish Campaign to Boycott the Eurovision in Apartheid Israel 2019 wrote to the Director General of RTÉ, Dee Forbes, Rory Coveney, Strategic Advisor to the Director General, and Michael Kealy, Head of RTÉ’s delegation for Eurovision, asking them to call on the EBU not to broadcast any Eurovision events into Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. read full story / add a comment

Many of us have been following the Yellow Vest clashes on the streets of France with great interest and trying to understand this movement that appeared to come from nowhere. It is another story of the pressures of late stage capitalism collapsing the center of politics, a center no longer able to fool more of the people most of the time. A movement made possible by social media but which also reflects the often chaotic ‘apolitics’ of such movements. And worrying in the context of the millions being poured into far right propaganda a movement in which the far-right have made some progress in infiltrating, even if our comrades in France are physically driving them out of the protests.
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Ireland has been singled out as the worst performing country in Europe for taking concrete action to tackle climate change for the second year in a row.

The 2019 Climate Change Performance Index indicates that Ireland has continued along the same climate action trajectory over the past 12 months, placing us 48th of a total of 56 countries examined in the study. read full story / add a comment

UN will oblige Germany to pay reparations for occupation of Poland. read full story / add a comment

Climate change has been completely underestimated thanks to the pressure from the Coal & Oil backed deniers that have put such pressure on scientists that they have been afraid to tell the truth and what their gut feelings are about the state of play. The reality is we are past the point of no return and the root problem is capitalism need for endless growth, although that is not addressed here -Indy Editor

Global warming will happen faster than we think
Three trends will combine to hasten it, warn Yangyang Xu, Veerabhadran Ramanathan and David G. Victor.

Prepare for the “new abnormal”. That was what California Governor Jerry Brown told reporters last month, commenting on the deadly wildfires that have plagued the state this year. He’s right. California’s latest crisis builds on years of record-breaking droughts and heatwaves. The rest of the world, too, has had more than its fair share of extreme weather in 2018. The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change announced last week that 157 million more people were exposed to heatwave events in 2017, compared with 2000. read full story / add a comment

Ireland is one of six legal cases brought against Governments worldwide seeking stronger action against national greenhouse gas emissions which are being highlighted today at the UN Climate talks in Katowice, Poland.

Clodagh Daly, speaking on behalf of Climate Case Ireland, joined speakers representing legal challenges against the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and the US Federal Government.

The legal actions all aim to ensure that governments deliver the urgent cuts in emissions necessary to avert catastrophic climate change. read full story / add a comment

From fast food workers getting organised to fight for a living wage, to Uber drivers fighting a company infamous for its use of bogus self-employment models, to McDonalds’ workers in the US saying ‘No More’ to sexual harassment, a section of workers traditionally seen as “hard to organise” are proving their willingness to fight. Katia Hancke looks at what this trend represents. read full story / add a comment

French protests show dangers of relying on carbon taxes to fight climate change says TD

The warning from the COP 24 and the renowned naturalist David Attenborough show we need more than carbon taxes to stop climate change read full story / add a comment

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring when the rule of Stalinism in Czechoslovakia and in the entire “Eastern Bloc” was threatened. Solidarity TD and Socialist Party member Mick Barry looks at the lessons of these explosive events. read full story / add a comment