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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

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Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 25, 2024 00:32 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Starmer Doesn?t Have a Feel for Politics and His Team Lacks the Skills to Run the Country, Says Vete... Tue Dec 24, 2024 19:00 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer "doesn?t have a feel" for the Labour Party or politics in general and his team lacks the skills to run the country, veteran Labour MP?Diane Abbott?has said.
The post Starmer Doesn’t Have a Feel for Politics and His Team Lacks the Skills to Run the Country, Says Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Church of England Tells Clergy to Edit Christmas Carols to ?Avoid Unnecessary Offence? Tue Dec 24, 2024 18:00 | Will Jones
The Church of England has told clergy in Birmingham to watch out for "problematic words" in Christmas carols that imply Jesus is the "true Messiah" or other religions aren't valid. And they wonder why the pews are empty.
The post Church of England Tells Clergy to Edit Christmas Carols to “Avoid Unnecessary Offence” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 Tue Dec 24, 2024 15:42 | Will Jones
Some of Britain?s best-selling hybrid cars will be banned from sale after 2030 under a?Net Zero crackdown?proposed by Ministers, including the mild hybrid versions of the Ford Puma, Range Rover Evoque and VW Golf.
The post Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming ?a Fifth of Thos... Tue Dec 24, 2024 13:46 | Will Jones
Experts?have issued an urgent call for lockdown-style social distancing ahead of Christmas Day amid surging flu infections, claiming that a fifth of those infected have no symptoms but can spread it.
The post Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming “a Fifth of Those Infected Have No Symptoms But Can Spread It” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Ireland's Imperial Adventure in Chad

category international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Monday March 10, 2008 00:21author by ronan - WSM Report this post to the editors

Most people will be aware that Irish troops are being sent to Africa as part of an EU 'peace-keeping' mission to Chad and Central African Republic (CAR), but many will be relatively unaware of the background to the conflict and the reasons for the mission. This article looks at some of the realities behind the rhetoric and suggests some more plausible motivations for the intervention.

Most people will be aware that Irish troops are being sent to Africa as part of an EU 'peace-keeping' mission to Chad and Central African Republic (CAR), but many will be relatively unaware of the background to the conflict and the reasons for the mission. Chad and Central African Republic are both resource rich (oil, gold and uranium in Chad, gold, diamonds and uranium in CAR (1)(2)) but economically underdeveloped former colonies of France. Despite 'decolonisation' in the 60s France has maintained an extremely active role in these countries, installing and deposing tyrants whenever they deem appropriate. For example, France backed CAR's deranged dictator Bokassa until he became too mad to handle whereupon they helped replace him with current favourite Bozize (3). In Chad, the French backed president Idriss Deby has re-written the constitution in order to hold onto power indefinitely while banning freedom of speech for his opposition and arresting political opponents (4); in both countries French troops are fighting on behalf of the government regimes.

The conflict in both countries is highly complex, with military opposition to the French backed regime coming both internally (in Chad, one rebel army is led by a former government minister) and also from across their borders with Sudan (5). The French ruling class are intervening in order to protect their interests in the area; they make good money by selling weapons and other goods to these countries (French products make up 15% and 18% of total imports for CAR and Chad respectively), but crucially they allow access to valuable strategic resources, particularly uranium which the French are dependent on as an energy source. They aren’t willing to take the chance of new regimes emerging which will challenge their cosy relationship with these countries.

But why is the Irish state getting involved? After all, the French have been quite happy to use their military to fight wars in these countries in the past, so what’s different now? The answer is probably more to do with French politics than with our own. Since being elected, French president Sarkozy has pledged to end the longstanding neo-colonial relationship between France and its former possessions in Africa. For him, sending troops under an EU flag rather than a French one allows him to pretend to honour this commitment while also giving the intervention a thin veneer of respectability. At the same time, the French elite are keen for the EU to start taking a more aggressive role in world politics; the Lisbon Treaty represents a further step in this road, obliging all EU states to bump up their military spending while committing them to a common defence policy (6) .

Thus, this conflict is a useful test case for the French ruling class to push the military aspect of the EU and get other EU states to row in behind. Such wars are likely to become more and more typical in the future; according to an EU policy document, as Europe becomes dependent on outside sources for 90% of its energy needs, European states will have to make military interventions to sustain supply far outside of its borders (7) .

Although this war will benefit European capitalists, it will be fought by the European working class: Polish, French, Irish and Italians will risk their lives in Central Africa for the sake of Brussels fatcats. Irish soldiers can refuse to serve for this mission, and the rest of us should support them in this.

1) CIA World Factbook, ‘Chad’, and ‘Central African Republic’ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
2) Countrywatch.com, ‘Chad 2007’, p. 1
3) Hari, Johann, ‘Inside France’s Secret War’ www.independent .co.uk , October 6 2007
4) Amnesty International ‘Prominent Chad Opposition Members Arrested’, February 6 2008
5) Emerging Markets Monitor, ‘Chad, Sudan and the Politics of Oil’ www.emerging-markets-online.com, 24 April 2006
6) Allen, Kieran, ‘The EU and Militarism’ January 2008, www.voteno.ie
7) European Defence Agency, ‘An Initial Long-Term Vision for European Defence Capability and Capacity Needs’, 2007, cited in Allen op.cit.

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   On this topic, I found the following article quite interesting too     wageslave    Mon Mar 10, 2008 05:04 
   The Irish mission is purely humanitarian.     Padraig    Mon Mar 10, 2008 09:53 
   Intervention     Living in 2008    Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:11 
   Look before you leap..     CARpooling    Mon Mar 10, 2008 13:41 
   french just like the yanks     lyncher    Mon Mar 10, 2008 16:20 
   First death in Operation Greenwash already     oiloiloil    Mon Mar 10, 2008 16:42 
   Padraig     ronan    Mon Mar 10, 2008 21:43 
   Sins of Imperialism - Irrsh involvement idisplaced morally     donkylemore    Tue Mar 11, 2008 00:39 
   Of course its just window dressing     Padraig    Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:23 
 10   The anachronism.     donkylemore    Tue Mar 11, 2008 13:58 
 11   Capitalists     Ronoc    Tue Mar 11, 2008 15:31 
 12   Irish Neutrality & the occupation of Chad     Roger Cole    Tue Mar 11, 2008 19:19 
 13   Point taken     Padraig    Wed Mar 12, 2008 09:31 
 14   Onward Christian Soldier     none    Wed Mar 26, 2008 01:18 
 15   What???????     prolatarian    Wed Mar 26, 2008 14:41 


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