UK Analysis Newswire Archive
Imperial Sunset? - Threats to US Hegemony
04-04-2007 14:07
The Iraq and Lebanon wars have shown up the limits of the latest in military technology. Relatively small militias, armed with rudimentary weapons, fought the U.S. and Israeli armies to a standstill; one withdrew hastily, the other doesn't even know how to retreat or even avoid slow attrition. This imposes severe limits on U.S. capabilities and projects for seeking military solutions to political problems. If the U.S. repeats in Iran the folly it committed in Iraq, the myth of its military prowess shall be in full ruin.On the other side of the globe are the mass movements of Latin America. They are neither "terrorists", nor "rogue states"; hence not even fictitious targets for invasions. Not even a spectre of communism. Just millions of the poor on the march for equality, justice, and redistribution of wealth. Not a cauldron of religious millenarianism, sectarian strife and ethnic divisions, as in so much of the Muslim world. But a direct revolt against neoliberalism and imperialism as such.
UK Issued Two Different Coordinates for Gulf Incident
04-04-2007 08:21
Open Letter To Middle East Scholar Daniel Pipes
04-04-2007 05:33
In response to article posted on Danielpipes.org titled: "Recruiting Soldiers Against Radical Islam" at:
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/4410 Silence Broken David Hicks tells all - Afghanistan, Guantanamo, politics, guilt.
04-04-2007 04:06
1. Why I made a guilty plea 2. The guilty plea: how I advised David 3. My island home: first weeks at Guantanamo 4. Ten torture techniques in 12 months 5. Solitary confinement was one thing, just don't get me started on the food 6. I never met a DFAT official I didn't like. Come to think of it, I never met a DFAT officialSeized explosives 'four times bigger' than Bali bomb Megablast in 2002?
04-04-2007 01:16
The Long history of British and American covert provocation and action in Iran
03-04-2007 22:54
Nothing has changed. These facts and past precedents are exactly the reason why we should be questioning our own governments on the authenticity of the current seizure of the British marines by Iran. It seems that we are once again witnessing the unfolding of ongoing covert military action by our governments against (whether you agree with it or not) a democratically elected foreign government in Iran.
War on Iran and Responsibilities of a People
03-04-2007 20:09
I wrote this as the Introduction chapter to my book "Prisoners of the Cave" in 2003 - almost exactly 4 years ago as the bombing of Iraq was underway and the American peoples were mesmerized by the "shock and awe" of a defenseless civilization on their television screens. Is another one about to commence on another defenseless nation - Iran? How relevant is this introduction today after all that has been disclosed over the past 4 years? Are the voices that are actually heard in the American mainstream only to be of those wearing the distinguished garb of "scholarship" lining the streets of Washington DC and the well walked hallways of the Ivys? When will the voices of the ordinary peoples themselves be allowed to inform the ordinary peoples? After all, it is us who are the ultimate enablers of "shock and awe", and also us who pay the heavy price. It is indeed only our profound complicity through our uncourageous silence and inaction that bestows the unspeakable power on the minority of opinion makers and the handful of hectoring hegemons which in turn enables them to send America's sons and daughters to new heights of barbarism while visiting the munificence of their high-tech "shock and awe" upon defenseless human beings. How can a civilization claiming to be a "populist democracy" permit such "imperial mobilizations"? Did "Good Germans" only live in Germany? How about the public living in the rest of the "civilized world" in Western nations hoisting their "democratic" ideals on the rest of humanity? Of the 6 billion peoples on the planet, at least 2 billion live in these "democracies". Where are their voices? Shame!Seriously crap reporting from Indymedia
03-04-2007 17:10
Last saturday, after months of organising, a huge event called Reclaim The Future took place in a squatted building on Holloway road. The event itself kicked off at 1pm and throughout the afternoon there were workshops and discussion on a wide variety of issues and campaigns. The events during the day are just part of the story. The previous days had seen large numbers of people self organising the space in order to be ready for the day - a real example of doing it for ourselves.The AEI's attack dogs jump onto the 'Iran hostage crisis' bandwagon
03-04-2007 15:21
The attack dogs at neoconservative headquarters in Washington, DC, are at it again. They have seized on the ‘crisis’ that was brought about by the capture of the 15 British sailors and marines by the Iranians inside Iranian waters to call again for confrontation and war against Iran.Empire as a Way of Life, Part 4
03-04-2007 11:57
The current imperial slaughter in the Middle East, justified by the "Global War on Terror", that has resulted in at least 600,000 deaths in Iraq, is nothing new — the U.S. Empire has a long and sordid history of genocidal mass murder.
The history of the US imperialism and Empire is the subject of a series of ten monthly seminars from Dr John Marciano, "Empire as a Way of Life". Attached is a recording of the fourth of these seminars and the text upon which it was based. The first 7 of these seminars have taken place and the intention is to have the whole series published on this site; the last 3 will take place between now and June.
This seminar, recorded on 19th December 2006 by the L.A. Sound Posse, runs for 36 minutes and includes the discussion following. It has been made available under a Creative Commons license. If this recording is broadcast please let the L.A. Sound Posse know. This recording was originally made available on the A-Infos Radio Project site.
The following text has been reproduced here with the kind permission of Dr John Marciano and he can be contacted at johnmarciano@mac.com. He introduced this series of seminars in the following way:
A fundamental purpose of our meetings is to understand the systemic nature of the U.S. Empire and the economic and military imperialism that is its lifeblood. The historian William Appleman Williams argues that empire became "a way of life" in the U.S., a "combination of patterns of thought and action that, as it becomes habitual and institutionalized, defines the thrust and character of a culture and society." This "way of life" has convinced many U.S. "Americans" they have a right or "manifest destiny" to impose their political and economic policies upon others.
Dr John Marciano is Professor Emeritus, State University of New York at Cortland, where he taught courses on social and historical foundations of education and class, gender and race.
Previous parts of this series:
Spring Into Action!
03-04-2007 00:33
UN Security Council Helps Disarm a Prospective Further Victim of U.S. Aggression
03-04-2007 00:28
Now, four years later, the Security Council has outdone itself. Not only has it failed to condemn the U.S. and Israeli threat to attack Iran—the threat itself a violation of the UN Charter,[4] and one made ever-more real by the U.S. invasions of neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq during this decade alone, now followed by a huge U.S. naval buildup near Iran's coast to levels not seen since the U.S. launched its war on Iraq four years ago in what the New York Times just called a "calculated show of force."[5] But even worse, the Council has aided and abetted these potential aggressors by adopting three resolutions in the past eight months under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, each of which affirms that Iran's nuclear program is a threat to international peace and security, and reserves for the Council the right to take "further appropriate measures" should Iran fail to comply—that is, should Iran not cave-in to U.S. demands on exactly the terms demanded.[6]Has the UK lost its 'edge' in foreign policy?
02-04-2007 21:28
The recent story of the arrest of 15 British sailors in the Persian Gulf has revealed interesting and often hidden facts regarding the current administration in Britain.Beyond Munich: The UN Helps Disarm a Prospective Further Victim of US Aggression
02-04-2007 13:49
Imagine that when Hitler was threatening to invade Poland, after having swallowed Czechoslovakia—with the help of the Western European powers' appeasement of Hitler at Munich in September 1938—the League of Nations imposed an arms embargo on Poland, making it more difficult for the imminent victim to defend itself, and at the same time suggested that Poland was the villainous party. That didn’t happen back in 1939, but in a regression from that notorious era of appeasement something quite analogous is happening now.Manipulating the Oz Masses
02-04-2007 07:10
It’s confirmed, total panic grips Howard government over Hicks scandal! The novice Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has weighed in on the Hicks debate with a wild accusation inferring that Hicks was “.. seeking to destroy our civilisation.” -- what next? Turnbull's statement follows hot on the heels of the stratospheric logic (see link) displayed by the Federal Treasurer in his effort to save the government -- who's next?Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Nukes, and Western Logic
02-04-2007 00:13
Translation: simple high-explosives, depleted uranium, and millions of cluster bombs will no longer do the trick—it is time to nuke the Arabs and Muslims, as “Western logic,” i.e., use of nuclear weapons is unconscionable, does not apply.
Iraq War: Counting the Cost
01-04-2007 14:08
The post invasion Iraqi death toll is now estimated to be as high as 1,000,000, far higher than the previous estimate of 655,000; this is according to recent scientific data. Over 5,000,000 Iraqis have been hurt or wounded. Recent figures indicate the refugee numbers have climbed from 2,700,000 to over 3,900,000 and the refugee crisis is broadly impacting the entire region of the Middle East. These are the figures that are not being reported on American television or in American newspapers.Hicks case becomes Quicksand for Oz Government
01-04-2007 14:05
When things are a bit slow we can always rely on the Australian conservative government to entertain us -- their now very desperate (divorced from reality) attempts to come out of the Hicks “saga” smelling roses are entertaining if nothing else. The impossibility of the Howard government looking good over any issue relating to Hicks hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello. The Treasurer has very unwisely waded into the debate with characteristic miscalculated comments regarding Hicks. Try as Costello might to incriminate Hicks and brand him a murderer, the facts speak for themselves.Any Casus Belli Will Do
01-04-2007 13:20
As of this writing, the IAEA Director-General continues to report that Iran is in complete compliance with its Safeguards Agreementand that no NPT-proscribed materials have ever been diverted by Iran to a military purpose.So how can the UN Security Council, being "mindful of its primary responsibility" for "the maintenance of international peace and security," pass UNSC Resolution 1747, but then proceeds to declare the UNSC "concerned" by the "proliferation risks" presented by the Iranian Safeguarded nuclear program?
Zimbabwe’s Lonely Fight for Justice
01-04-2007 11:08
Left critics of Mugabe ape the argument of the US ambassador, adding that Mugabe’s anti-imperialist and leftist rhetoric is, in truth, insincere. He is actually right-wing and reactionary -- a master at talking left while walking right. But if Mugabe is really the crypto-reactionary, secret pro-imperialist some people say he is, why are the openly reactionary, pro-imperialists in Washington and London so agitated?