UK Indymedia - Sheffield Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

Three Little Words: WikiLeaks, Libya, Oil

'Libya has some of the biggest and most proven oil reserves — 43.6 billion barrels — outside Saudi Arabia, and some of the best drilling prospects.'

So reported the Washington Post on June 11, in a rare mainstream article which, as we will see, revealed how WikiLeaks exposed the real motives behind the war on Libya.

A Tribute to Anti-War Campaigner Brian Haw, Driven by Revulsion at the Murder of Innocents

When I was a child, I read the Guinness Book of Records, and marvelled at the stories of the people who, in ancient times, removed themselves from everyday reality, like Saint Simeon Stylites, a Christian ascetic who lived on a tiny platform on top of a pillar in Aleppo, Syria for 37 years in the 5th century AD.

Turkey’s final warning to Syria: Tomorrow may be too late for reforms

What is unfolding in Syria is an armed insurrection supported covertly by foreign powers including the US, Turkey and Israel.

British government: We wasted millions chasing wrong terrorist threats

British government's outrageous new "counter-terrorism" measures are receiving a public relations backlash because of their extreme, fascist overtones.

John Pilger writes on 'the extraordinary banning of my film on war and media'

Dear Noam

I am writing to you and a number of other friends mostly in the US to alert you to the extraordinary banning of my film on war and media, 'The War You Don't See', and the abrupt cancellation of a major event at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe in which David Barsamian and I were to discuss free speech, US foreign policy and censorship in the media.

Prevent: A Totally Illiberal Strategy

I have now ploughed through all 120 pages odd of the Government’s new Prevent Strategy, which manages to be even more illiberal and more turgid than the original. It claims that the last Prevent Strategy was misguided – but for all the wrong reasons. Rather amusingly, it starts with a message of endorsement from Lord Carlile – who also endorsed the last strategy which it criticises so strongly. The truth is, Carlile will endorse anything for any government which gives him status – he loves status – “It has my considered and strong support” he concludes his endorsement – you have to imagine saying it with marbles in your mouth and a degree of insufferable pomposity – “It has my considered and strong support”- wanker.

UG#553 - US Interventionism, Then and Now (Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali)

This week we hear a pair of perspectives from earlier this month on US foreign policy, both from seasoned critics of the US Imperial Strategy. Firstly, Tariq Ali reviews the historical record, from the genocidal expansionism of US colonists up this month's exploits in Libya. Secondly, Noam Chomsky speaksin Syracuse, NY on "What Drives US Foreign Policy & What We Can Do To Change It".

Nine countries gather to create Latin American Union of News Agencies

News agencies from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela decided to join efforts to create the Latin American Union of News Agencies (ULAN, Spanish abbreviation), aimed at facing negative campaigns undertaken by communication monopolies from the United States and Europe.

“The main element for us is the possibility of building an information reference for the whole continent, capable of looking at the reality of the Latin American and Caribbean nations with our own eyes, not with the eyes of the North or Europe,” Fernandez said.

Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress: Racism, war-mongering and fabrication

Composed of roughly equal parts racism, war-mongering, fawning and fabrication, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress on May 24 was received with adulation by the assembled Democrats and Republicans alike.

Netanyahu devoted a considerable part of his speech to a call for more aggressive action against Iran, which is surrounded by U.S. military power and has been subjected to several rounds of United States and European Union economic sanctions.

He called for a policy stipulating “that all options are on the table.” This position, shared by the Obama administration, is a coded way of saying that Iran could be the target of military attack, including the use of nuclear weapons.

Reforming Our Understanding of Violence

Structural violence is the effect of a systemic imbalance in society that prefers the interests of some over others. Its dynamics are less visible than that of direct violence, where the causes are generally easier to identify. The use of direct violence is mostly a state affair manifested in armed conflict. The participation of the general population is predominantly one of inaction. Structural violence, however, tends to involve the participation of the general population which is both a cause for concern and optimism.

Turkey’s top officials: A new regime should be established in Libya

“Turkey pioneers the process aiming at normalization of politics and history in the [Middle East] region”

[Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, interview on ‘TRT Haber’ TV channel, 25 May 2011]

Obama genuflects to AIPAC

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is "the most powerful and feared lobby in Washington." For years, it's "drawn on a well-organized, well-connected, highly visible, successful, and wealthy Jewish population," subverting potential opposition.

Obama's May 22 AIPAC speech affirmed rock solid support for a "strong and secure Israel," leaving Palestinians entirely out of his equation, despite paying disingenuous lip service to their interests.

An official AIPAC statement expressed gratitude for his assurance that Washington doesn't expect Israel to withdraw to June 1967 borders, besides explicitly calling Hamas a terrorist organization, ignoring its January 2006 electoral victory as Palestine's legitimate government.

Counter-demonstration against Zionists using memory of Holocaust to condemn Iran

On May 1st, Zionist groups held a vigil in front of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations in New York City to use the memory of the Holocaust to condemn Iran. Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews showed their opposition to this provocation by demonstrating on the opposite side of the avenue.

UG#550 - Between The Lies about Libya (Vijay Prashad and Ellen Brown)

No conclusive answers this week, as we consider possible motivations behind the recent attacks on Libya that underlie the rather overused cover story of humanitarian intervention. As an introduction, we read Ellen Brown's article Libya: All about Oil or All About Banking?. This sets the stage for our main presentation, by Vijay Prashad, a professor of international relations, whose invaluable insights and pieces of history you are unlikely to hear on commercial media.

America's appalling human rights record

Each year, the US State Department publishes human rights reports for over 190 countries. Its April 8-released 2010 China assessment can be accessed through the following link:

Unsparing in its harshness, it calls China "an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) constitutionally is the paramount authority,"

Indeed, China's no model human rights champion. However, America's record is far worse at home and abroad, yet self-criticism is absent. Moreover, rarely do major media reports discuss abuses. Instead they regurgitate managed news, suppressing full and accurate disclosure of Washington's most deplorable human and civil rights record at home and abroad.

On April 10, two days after the State Department's report, China's Information Office of the State Council published its own comprehensive report titled, "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2010,"

In its report, the US State Department charges were mostly without corroboration. In contrast, China, under six major headings, used data from the US Justice Department (DOJ), FBI, other US agencies, state ones, and think tanks, as well as international and US media reports. They reveal a far different America than official Washington and managed major media reports, concealing dark side truths important to reveal.

No End to the “War on Terror,” No End to Guantánamo

With the death of Osama bin Laden, there is a perfect opportunity for the Obama administration to bring to an end the decade-long “War on Terror” by withdrawing from Afghanistan and closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

First casualty of war

The past month has been a difficult one for anyone who wants to be at all knowledgeable about our world. First it was necessary to avoid the endless and endlessly useless reporting of the British royal wedding. No sooner had that media monstrosity ended when we were told that the United States government had succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden. The orgy of hatred and rancid triumphalism was immediate and a sickening sight to behold. Crowds of rabid Americans descended upon “ground zero” the world trade center site, to wave flags and chant as if they were the winning football team.

Osama and the ghosts of September 11: “Proof that Obama is lying”

You see people will accept lies if their lives get better. As their lives get worse, they will inevitably ask questions. And as their lives disintegrate, they will start looking for both answers and suspects. That was and is the swimming pool full of gasoline that Barack Obama is lighting matches in.

If the United States of America does not immediately announce a massive drawdown in Afghanistan, the world will keep asking questions about OBL because our lives will be getting worse, not better, by the day. And every time Mr. Obama opens his mouth about 9-11, he pours more gasoline into the pool and asks for another box of matches.

It was not my choice. Barack Obama has placed 9-11 back on the table again. Mainstream media, of course, can't say Jack Diddly about this theater of the absurd, even though they’ve been cornered into asking a few pseudo-hardball questions. They are, after all, criminally culpable for the endorsement and concealment of something they damn well knew was a lie, murder, and high treason ten years ago.

Anti Arms-Traders 'breach' parameter for Heckler and Koch picket

Every second Monday of the month the Shut Down H + K campaign in Nottingham hold a peaceful picket outside the Easter Park Industrial Estate, Nottingham, to highlight and protest the presence on the business estate of the international arms manufacturers and traders, Heckler and Koch. Heckler and Koch have been in the city for over five years and an arms manufacturer of varying degrees and under various names has been in the city for many decades. Protesters have always been around to highlight these scum and protest against them, as I'm sure many of us would expect.

New Bin Laden tapes appear fake like earlier ones

This article highlights a shameless Washington effort to compound one lie with others. Ad nauseam accounts continue, contributing to war on terror fear mongering that's changed America dramatically post-9/11 disturbingly. It suggests worse yet to come, including perhaps more war besides others now raging, while popular needs go begging.

Despite poll data showing opposition, they continue because people focus more on bread and circuses than activism, the only way to achieve constructive change. It's high time opinions became anger enough to significantly make a difference. It better because the alternative is too dire to imagine.

Sheffield Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

Three Little Words: WikiLeaks, Libya, Oil

A Tribute to Anti-War Campaigner Brian Haw, Driven by Revulsion at the Murder of Innocents

Turkey’s final warning to Syria: Tomorrow may be too late for reforms

British government: We wasted millions chasing wrong terrorist threats

John Pilger writes on 'the extraordinary banning of my film on war and media'

Prevent: A Totally Illiberal Strategy

UG#553 - US Interventionism, Then and Now (Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali)

Nine countries gather to create Latin American Union of News Agencies

Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress: Racism, war-mongering and fabrication

Reforming Our Understanding of Violence

Turkey’s top officials: A new regime should be established in Libya

Obama genuflects to AIPAC

Counter-demonstration against Zionists using memory of Holocaust to condemn Iran

UG#550 - Between The Lies about Libya (Vijay Prashad and Ellen Brown)

America's appalling human rights record

No End to the “War on Terror,” No End to Guantánamo

First casualty of war

Osama and the ghosts of September 11: “Proof that Obama is lying”

Anti Arms-Traders 'breach' parameter for Heckler and Koch picket

New Bin Laden tapes appear fake like earlier ones

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