World Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

The tragic death of an unarmed woman in Palestine last Friday (31st) has lead to a global cry for action against the increasing use of 'non-violent' weapons in the continued repression of the Palestinian people.

On the Newswire: 1

Links: www.palsolidarity.org | www.bilin-village.org

2010 was the bloodiest year of the now nine-year conflict in Afghanistan and the tribal border regions of Pakistan. Under the command of General David Petraeus, a massively expanded US and NATO force is waging a campaign of extermination against various ethnic Pashtun and Taliban-linked insurgent movements that have not accepted the foreign invasion of their country.

"Though mothers are not the most impartial observers, what Assange’s mother told an Australian newspaper had the ring of truth. "Living by what you believe in and standing up for something is a good thing," she said. "He sees what he is doing as a good thing in the world, fighting baddies, if you like."
That may sound a bit quixotic, but Assange and his associates appear the opposite of benighted. Still, with the Pentagon PR man Geoff Morrell and even Attorney General Eric Holder making thinly disguised threats of extrajudicial steps, it is not totally farfetched to worry about Assange’s personal safely.

Again, the media is the key. No one said it better than Monseñor Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who just before he was assassinated 25 years ago, warned, "The corruption of the press is part of our sad reality, and it reveals the complicity of the oligarchy."

“The Israeli government and its army have been for years now using the West Bank and Gaza as their testing ground. The Palestinians are their guinea pigs. The Israeli army uses tear gas that would probably be banned in any other countries in the world. They shoot tear gas, directly at protesters, once again, an illegal act. But a very rewarding one. Israel’s security industry is booming. It’s never been this good. Countries all over the world are buying Israel’s expertise in security, crowd control and weaponry every day. Israeli soldiers are training other countries commandos all over the planet”[1]

From the blog, Bil’in: A Village of Palestine, 02/01/11

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten  http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/wikileaks/article3969332.ece has summarized an Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little over a year ago and concludes that

"‘ The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and [Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other documents from the same period of time, to which Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at full speed with preparations for a new war in the Middle East."

If you watch our videos and read the links on our site ( http://www.911speakout.org) you will understand why we assert that the weight of the evidence points to the fact that 9/11 was orchestrated by insiders…

two of the alleged authors of this statement have apparently been repeatedly detained by Hamas...

Hundreds of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday night to protest the death of Bil’in resident Jawaher Abu Rahmah, who died on Saturday morning after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces during the weekly anti-fence demonstration.

The 36 year-old woman was evacuated to a Ramallah hospital on Friday afternoon, after losing consciousness. Doctors attached her to a respirator and treated her for exposure to toxins found in the tear gas, but the patient did not respond. She died at 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, without regaining consciousness.

Here's what's coming up...

Those who mischievously called Iran a part of the so-called "Axis of Evil" and put its name in their fabricated list of the state sponsors of terrorism - the list from which the name of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime was removed in 1982 so that the United States and its European stooges could rationalize their unjustified, immoral and insane war against Iran - have blatantly forgotten that Iran has been long one of the guiltless victims of terrorism, sponsored by the United States, Israel, UK and their puppets in the Middle East.

“Feminist opinion—as the Assange case and the Polanski affair before it have demonstrated—has become one of the means of legitimizing the suppression of nonconformists and political dissidents, and of changing the subject from the great social issues, above all, class oppression and social inequality, to stale and self-pitying concerns.
Those supervising the attack against Assange are no doubt congratulating themselves on its clever design. Mounting it in the guise of a campaign against the sexual molestation of women… how else could such a filthy operation, with its threat of a sweeping assault on democratic rights, be mounted and even legitimized today?
The powers that be know the Pollitts of this world, and the Nation. The magazine’s editor, Katrina vanden Heuvel, is, after all, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading ruling class think tank whose membership has included numerous CIA directors, along with dozens of US generals and admirals.”

Campaigners for a full inquest into the death of government weapons inspector David Kelly have said they believed they had presented Attorney General Dominic Grieve with an "unanswerable" case.

A lawyer for the group of doctors behind the demand for an inquest said they "hope and expect" that Mr Grieve will make his decision on legal grounds only, and will resist any political pressure to reject their application.

Anarchists Against the Wall member jailed for 3 months

The cables reveal that shortly after the election result, the US Ambassador in Madrid George Argyros wrote that the PSOE “was shocked that they won the elections” and was “scrambling to figure out what to do.” Zapatero had “made a number of campaign statements that might have come out differently had he thought he had a real chance of becoming president of the government of Spain.”
“We have already seen some ‘wiggle room’ in public statements on certain issues, including possibly on the pull out of Spanish troops from Iraq,” the cable continues.
On the economy, “Close associates of Zapatero have been careful to say that the incoming PSOE government will not make significant changes to the PP’s successful economic policies. Some business leaders have voiced the same expectations with us.”

"The WikiLeaks cables illustrate the deeply anti-democratic nature of diplomacy between the US and New Zealand. They also highlight the potentially explosive tensions that have built up in the Pacific region between the US and its allies, and China. The corporate media, however, has sought to downplay their significance. The New Zealand Herald editorial yesterday asserted that there was nothing damaging in the cables to either the current National government or the previous Labour government. The paper praised the Clark Cabinet's “consideration of Fonterra's interest in Iraq”, describing it as “sensible, practical diplomacy”. The editors were unconcerned that the reasons for New Zealand’s involvement in the Iraq war were kept secret and applauded “the fact that the US quietly restored military co-operation” from 2007."

With few exceptions the majority of the public, but more worryingly, many supposed investigative and/or independent journalists, have dismally failed to exercise even the most minimum capacity for critical assessment, either talking-up the revelations (many of which were already common knowledge, or should have been to journalists doing their job properly) and/or participating in the indecent stampede to lionise Assange as some great champion of freedom of information and open government - or both.

Those brave palestinian resistance fighters have fired a Qassam at a Zionist installation (i.e. a kindergarten), wounding a Zionist occupation soldier (i.e. a schoolgirl)

“Wikileaks and Julian Assange are not “revolutionary” in the typical sense. But it seems clear to this observer that their existence and continued work can make invaluable contributions in the struggle against oppression and inequality, war and the waste of human lives that are the hallmark of capitalism. In order for the materials brought to light by wikileaks to have a revolutionary effect, revolutionaries and progressives the world over must take responsibility for the analysis and dissemination of their content. Clearly people, the corporate press has no interest nor intention of doing this for us.

Let progressive people everywhere join in the effort to prevent further attacks on Wikileaks and its staff. In this critical period in human history this is not a battle we can afford to lose. Please adjust the quantity and quality of your “fightback” with this in mind.”

 http://wri-irg.org/epublish/19/409

It was between 9/11 and the ensuing war against international terrorism (in Afghanistan and Iraq) initiated by the USA, with the help of the majority of European countries, that the already sizeable military spending of the USA’s allied countries began to increase significantly. In this regard, the USA has spent $1100 billion. In Europe spending has not gone so far. However, these defence budgets have increased above their national GDPs, with an annual average 5% increase.

"Serious fuckwittage" Bridget said loudly.
"Yeah" agreed Shaz, "that guy's buried himself in his own fuckwittage."

A couple of years ago the former director of the FBI Louis Freeh, attacked Britain's MI5 for its "long and painful history" in British Occupied Ireland. He told the Wall Street Journal that the spy agency's operations in Occupied Ireland had been decades of "secrecy and non-transparency" and he argued vehemently against any such agency being established in the States.