World Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

Media and politicians are hiding the truth on Libya.

The attack on the British Council in Kabul on 19th August, resulting in twelve deaths and many injuries, further underlined how unwelcome the occupiers are, in a country in which they should never have been in the first place. Further tragedies, heaped on tragedies, also illustrated how out of touch those both on the ground in country - and those in high places abroad are. The day of the attack was both the Sabbath (Friday) and national holiday marking the 92nd anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from Britain in 1919 and of course, the 19th: 19 -1919.

The wiping out of 30 US special forces in the Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan comes at a time when Washington’s official version of how it carried out the assassination of Osama bin Laden was falling apart from incredulity.

At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

Saturday 20th August, 12 noon Old Steine Brighton.

Monday 22nd August, 12 noon Israeli Embassy Kensington London

In memory of Simon Levin (see  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/07/481974.html)

More bombs drop on Tripoli and across Libya tonight. Theses bombs dropped by the British government whose own youth are setting that country on fire in protest at their abandonment.

It is shocking for me that government of Pakistan is silent on the issues of abduction and disappearances by the state intelligence agencies and no one has yet made responsible for these acts which have been happening since 2002. And during the civilian government this menace has increased many fold and it looks as if the government is simply a silent spectator before their powerful law enforcement agencies.

Music + words released about the riots - and forward thinking, and a better place.

Markets meltdown, Weekly news review with Frome Vale Cllr Lesley Alexander (Con).

Twice in the last two decades, significant cuts in U.S. and western military spending were foreseen: first after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But both times military spending soon increased, and among the factors contributing to the increase were America’s interventions in new areas: the Balkans in the 1990s, and Libya today.1 Hidden from public view in both cases was the extent to which al-Qaeda was a covert U.S. ally in both interventions, rather than its foe.

East Africa is currently experiencing one of the worst famines in recent history, with most of Somalia and large parts of Ethiopia experiencing severe food shortages. The west has been quick to offer the solution – more aid, more trade and flying in David Cameron (although he left early to try and save his job back home). This approach of aid, trade and sending rich white men to point at the locals has been the standard response to African disasters for the past 25 years and yet little progress seems to have been made.

It is true that the region is in the midst of an extreme drought and as a result pasture is parched and water sources for livestock have dried up. Unfortunately this means that if you bought an Ethiopian farmer a goat for Christmas, it’s probably already dead. However, this famine was far from unavoidable. Whether or not the drought itself can be blamed on human activity is debatable, yet the impact of western “foreign policy objectives” is far clearer and, conversely, much less reported.

The division of Libya into three separate countries is part of the US-NATO imperial design. It is part of a project shared by the U.S., Britain, Italy, and France.

The NATO war launched against Libya in March 2011 was geared towards the breakup of the country into three separate entities.

The NATO led war, however, is back firing. The Libyan people have united to save their country and Tripoli is exploring its strategic options.

In an essentially excellent piece Sarah Flounders ‘Libya: Demonization and Self-determination‘, near the beginning under the sub-hed ‘What should be the response to this terror?’ she writes:

“Unfortunately, a minority of groups or individuals who present themselves as opponents of war spend more time cataloguing Gadhafi’s past real or alleged shortcomings than rallying people to respond to this criminal, all-out U.S. attack. Their influence would be small, except that it coincides with the opinions of the U.S. ruling class. Thus it is important to thoroughly answer their arguments.”

 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=FLO20110724&articleId=25760

US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks expose some of the real reasons and diplomatic tensions behind NATO’s ongoing bombardment of Libya. Far from initiating a “humanitarian” intervention to protect civilians against Muammar Gaddafi’s government, Washington backed the NATO intervention for one reason only—the installation of a regime that better serves the strategic interests of the US, as well as the operations of the giant oil and gas companies.

War Resisters' International is calling for the release of ten activists who were detained by Swedish police during the “War Starts Here” nonviolent action at the North European Aerospace Testing Area (NEAT) near Vidsel, Sweden. The test site – covering an area the size of Belgium – is used for testing a range of innovative weapons, including planes, missiles and “drones” (remotely piloted weapons). Despite its size, NEAT is a little known site – even in Sweden – yet plays a crucial role in multi-national preparations for war.

NATO’s Secret Armies: discussion with historian Danielle Ganser about NATO’s ‘Strategy of Tension using terror against European civilians and pretending it was the Russians to put political pressure on European governments, the notorious Operation Gladio.

Within hours of Norway’s deadly bomb and gun attacks claiming at least 91 victims it has become clear that the horror was perpetrated by a Norwegian loner with rightwing Christian fundamentalist affiliations.

However, this did not restrain Obama or his New Zealand guest from issuing wild insinuations about Islamic terrorism. Obama is reported to have been briefed by intelligence officials before he spoke on the matter. Which makes his response an all the more odious bit of politicking to turn a horrific, tragic event into a propaganda stunt to stir up anti-Islamic fears and shore up Washington’s illegal “wars on terror”.

What should be disturbing is the level of inculcation of such irrational propaganda. It seems that every and any horror no matter how obviously unrelated to Islamic countries can now immediately be attributed by Obama and other Western leaders to “Islamic terrorists”.

It is as astounding act of reality inversion. The US leader who has taken international wars of aggression to record heights of lawlessness and who has made such a big deal of “embracing the Muslim world” nevertheless shows a disgraceful ability to prolong these wars by twisting any tragedy into a snide vilification of Islam.

Do you have a message you'd like to send to the worker's of the notorious EDO/ITT arms factory in Brighton? Or maybe you know a poem/piece of writing about war or the arms trade that you think they should hear? E-mail your ideas to  smashedo@riseup.net and we will shout it over the loud hailer as the arms dealers leave work at our weekly noise demonstrations.

As predicted the day before the Murdoch's were questioned by MPs, the difficult questions did not get asked.