UK Indymedia - UK Analysis Newswire Archive

The Human Costs of Washington’s Ongoing Collusion With Terrorists

07-08-2011 20:43

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.

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End of the American Empire

07-08-2011 20:40

China’s call today for a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar spells the beginning of the end of the American Empire. China holds most of the dollar credit in the world, and that of course gave China a powerful incentive to maintain dollar hegemony. That China now views the risks to world trade from the US’ indebtedness, to outweigh the potential loss in value of its own dollar reserves, is the tipping point that spells the inevitable beginning of the end of the US empire.

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UG#562 - Our Biggest Enemy is Ourselves (Deschooling Society 1)

07-08-2011 18:20

This week we look at the need to deschool ourselves both as individuals and collectively, by relying more on our own wits and those of our personal contacts and less on the dying impersonal centralised institutions which dominated 20th century developed life. The title is a quote from an extended interview with John Taylor Gatto, which we follow by reading the first chapter of Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society.

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Direct action discussion at Just Do It

04-08-2011 21:40

Activists, in the non-activist setting of the cinema, discussed direct action/civil disobedience before an audience who had just watched the film, Just Do It - it didn't change the world, but...

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Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens

02-08-2011 20:49

On June 13, George Monbiot devoted his Guardian column to naming and shaming a 'malign intellectual subculture that seeks to excuse savagery by denying the facts'. 'The facts', Monbiot noted, 'are the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda.'

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"Ridiculous" and "Disgusting" US Budget Deal Challenges Working Class

02-08-2011 16:22

The USA's marathon budget 'debate' is now over, after months of political drama carefully crafted to foist today's catastrophic outcome on the working class. The ruling class say there will be a downpayment of nearly £3 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade, with the certainty of much more pain to come on top of that.

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The EU & UNESCO: Endangering Our Heritage

01-08-2011 22:33

Two previous articles, 'Of Cups, Rings and Cultural Heritage' & 'Cultural Heritage and the Economy' (Indymedia, August 1, 2011) dealt with recent research on the Hill of Tara and Bend in the Boyne that could open a new chapter in their history, as well as that of hundreds of additional archaeological sites throughout Ireland, the UK and other Atlantic/Mediterranean European countries. More importantly, they discussed the apathy on the part of the politicians, government agencies and archaeologists in Ireland towards that research, and its potential cultural and economic benefits. In all fairness though to the aforementioned, what of the European Union and UNESCO World Heritage Centre, who are just as responsible for protecting the cultural heritage and economies of countries within the Euro Zone.

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Cultural Heritage and the Economy

01-08-2011 21:48

Considering the dismal economic state of a growing number of EU nations, it is more important than ever for them to protect their cultural heritage, as it is firmly linked to their economies in the form of tourism. Though one tends to think of cultural heritage as something taught in schools and preserved in museums, it goes well beyond that, as evidenced by the attraction of archaeological and cultural World Heritage Sites to millions around the world. Though sites such as the Bend in the Boyne and Stonehenge play a significant role in our understanding of who we are and where we came from, every site, however small, is just as important, and they deserve to be indentified, excavated, restored and preserved for future generations.

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Of Cups, Rings and Cultural Heritage

01-08-2011 20:28

The following is the first of three articles regarding cultural heritage and its potential benefits to the economies of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and other Atlantic/Mediterranean European countries, which given the ever growing number of EU nations seeking bailouts, canʼt be ignored any longer. There are those whoʼve questioned why the cultural heritage of Ireland for example, is of such importance to someone who is a 4th generation Irish-American. The bigger question is why those whoʼve been ʻchargedʼ with protecting the cultural heritage of a nation; the archaeologists, politicians, government agencies, EU and UNESCO, have turned a blind eye to the issue.

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Report Your Local Anarchist

31-07-2011 10:23

I doubt many people have heard of Project Griffin. It is a joint initiative between the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, set up in 2004 and based at the City Police's HQ, which has spread its network to police forces around the country and seeks to "advise and familiarise managers, security officers and employees of large public and private sector organisations across the capital on security, counter-terrorism and crime prevention issues".

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Murdochs get VIP ‘Justice’

30-07-2011 15:03

The Murdoch ‘plate of foam’ incident shows once again the double standards of the police. Trivial crimes against VIPs and Police are treated as serious crimes, but serious crimes against ordinary people are often ignored.

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PHILIPPINES: Absent major policy reforms, there will be no social transformation

30-07-2011 12:59

Philippine President Aquino’s communication advisers said the President’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) will focus more on ‘social transformation’. What would that mean in real sense, however, largely depend on how Filipinos would view their lives today and in the immediate future. And for the Filipino masses who have been used to hearing nice words from their leaders, this new buzzword assumes no meaning at all unless accompanied by major policy reforms.

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UG#561 - $100,000,000 to Crack A Lone Nut? (Amerithrax, Gladio, 7/7...)

30-07-2011 06:44

Focusing on the Anthrax attacks of 2001 in the weeks after Sep 11th, we look at the deep state's policy of blaming its false flag attacks either on nebulous foreign terrorist groups, or, as a fallback, on a domestic 'lone nut'. Mark Crispin Miller speaks on the changing use of the term 'conspiracy theory', researcher Danielle Ganser on NATO's Operation Gladio, ex-UK police researcher Tony Farrell on 7/7, and researchers Meryl Nass and Graeme MacQueen on the 'Amerithrax' attacks.

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Digging dirt on Scotland Yard: spiked stories of Michael Gillard & Laurie Flynne

29-07-2011 21:54

Insight into institutional police corruption in the light of the phone hacking scandal.

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The war on Libya : An imperialist project to create three Libyas

29-07-2011 13:01

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.

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The Left has lost its way over Libya

27-07-2011 22:08

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

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Why George Osbourne Is Happy With 'Plan A'

27-07-2011 17:00

Yesterday, it was announced that the UK's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth had slowed from 0.5% in the first quarter of 2011 to 0.2% in the second quarter. Immediately, my Twitter timeline exploded with various 'left' types taking the opportunity to lay into Chancellor George Osborne, and his claims that the latest figure was "positive news". But what is GDP anyway, and what significance does it have for the working class - the immense and overwhelming majority of our society?

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Operation Gladio: NATOs secret far right terror cells killing innocent Europeans

25-07-2011 11:57

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.

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Proof of Anders Brehing Breivik's Nazi sympathies & links to EDL leaders

24-07-2011 22:04

Norwegian mass-murderer and child-killer Anders Brehing Breivik published a 1,518 page manifesto on-line as a PDF file, entitled "2083 - A European Declaration of Independence" (photo 1) using the name Andrew Berwick (an anglicised version of the name Anders Breivik). Even a cursory examination of this (extremely long) document provides hard evidence of Anders Breivik's Nazi sympathies and of his contacts with English Defence League LEADERS....

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Obama reaction to Norway massacre betrays US "war on terror" fundamentalism

24-07-2011 18:12

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.