This is an article about a new book on climate change. Written by Orrin Pilkey and illustrated by Mary Fraser.

"IT TURNS out that there is a hoax involved in climate change. Only the hoax is being perpetrated by public relations efforts by the fossil fuels industry." Thus begins the most memorable chapter of Global Climate Change.

Better known for his exposés on the flaws of coastal engineering, geologist Orrin Pilkey has turned his attention to this century's hot environmental topic: climate change. There are no surprises for those familiar with the subject, but the book does a good job of explaining the foundations of climate science to an interested novice.

 

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Yassamine Mather is interviewed by  Mark Fischer on developing divisions in the Iranian Regime and the failure of the leading reformists to challenge the existing institutions. Full text at link.

Given its potential importance, it seems odd that there has been so little said in the western media about the ongoing conflict between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei. Why is this?

It can perhaps be explained by the attitude of the US administration, which seems to be playing a waiting game. Obviously, they will have followed these disputes, but they expect the system to disintegrate without much intervention from the US and at the moment they have other countries to worry about in the region.
 
However, this is a serious, ongoing struggle which shows no signs of abating and has actually started a process of political differentiation within the green movement between leaders looking for ‘reconciliation’ with the regime and the more militant, intransigent sections of its base. A number of developments indicate the scale of the crisis.

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Yet more startling  news from the Wikileaks US Cables. This time its about US attempts to overthrow Bolivian President Evo Morales. Full text at link.

Recently released United States embassy cables from Bolivia have provided additional insight to the events leading up to the September 2008 coup attempt against the Andean country’s first indigenous president.

On September 9, 2008, President Evo Morales expelled then-US ambassador Philip Goldberg as evidence emerged that Goldberg and embassy officials had been meeting with several key civilian and military figures involved in an unfolding coup plot.

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The initial media response was to blame the attacks that caused the deaths of at least 91 people in Norway yesterday on Islamist extremism . Since then a profile of Anders Behring Breivik, the Islamophobe behind the massacre has begun to emerge. A day before the atrocity on the island of Utoya , Labour Youth delegates at the summer camp had held a Palestine solidarity event there.

This article argues that Breivik's views, should be seen in the context of his support for Islamophobic political movements in Europe and the US and his pro- Zionism . Breivik drew inspiration from right wing Islamophobic organizations , particularly from what he calls The Vienna School of Thought, which champions cultural conservatism, anti-racism and anti-Islamization .
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Last Friday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama administration has given formal recognition to Libya’s Transitional National Council . This perspective article in today's WSWS argues that formal recognition for the rebels ....."gives pseudo-legal cover for the US to steal billions in Libyan state assets and give them to the Benghazi-based TNC, which serves as NATO’s proxy land force in the war." ... read full story / add a comment

Rupert Murdoch, head of News International has been "pied". This was while he was being questioned by a British "House of Commons" committee investigating the phone hacking scandal.
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Language Courses in August: Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese ... read full story / add a comment

According to the Independent former prime minister Gordon Brown is about to accuse Rupert Murdoch's News International of targeting his personal information and to have accessed details relating to his personal bank account.
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The High Court has ruled in favour of millionaire employers. Setting a legal minimum wage for the Catering Trade is unconstitutional. Baling out the banks is constitutional, banning strikes is constitutional. Letting multinationals rob our national resources is constitutional.

But catering workers cannot be paid e9.65 an hour. Thats unconstitutional. But the millionaire employers are going to get compensation from the State! No money for hospitals, plenty of money for bankers and exploiters.

Its time to say Enough! http://enoughcampaign.org/
Join in the Enough Campaign, join in other protests. ... read full story / add a comment

I always said it was a bum rap. Now it looks as if the NotW lied in court. Story at url.

A Labour MP told the Commons the News of the World scandal could make Tommy Sheridan's perjury conviction unsound. During Sheridan's perjury trial last year, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson denied knowledge of his paper paying corrupt police officers. But it has now been reported that newly found e-mails suggest Mr Coulson authorised payments to police. Sheridan's lawyer is to ask Strathclyde Police to begin an inquiry into whether Mr Coulson committed perjury. ... read full story / add a comment

Interesting information regarding the lull in global warming from 1998 to 2008. Full story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14002264

The lull in global warming from 1998 to 2008 was mainly caused by a sharp rise in China's coal use, a study suggests. The absence of a temperature rise over that decade is often used by "climate sceptics" as grounds for denying the existence of man-made global warming. But the new study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concludes that smog from the extra coal acted to mask greenhouse warming. ... read full story / add a comment

Every two years, 20,000 U.S. miitary arrive for live fire joint exercises "Operation Talisman Sabre" with approx 7,000 Australian troops, primarily based in central Queensland but also involving bases throughoout Australia and the U.S. Australia has a long history of seeking peace and security in the service of empire - British & U.S.. This has taken Australians to Aotearoa, Sudan, South Africa, Gallipoi, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan to kill and die in imperial wars that hav nothing to do with the defense of Australia. OperatiOn Talisman Sabre has become a time of focus for nonviolent resistance to U.S./Australian War on Afghanistan. Some folks have travelled to Rockhampton, central Quensland to take action, while others are focused on an SAS Base at Swan sland near Melbourne.

Here are some images and reports of resistance to OTS 09......
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93100?search_text=talis...sabre

Followed by reports on resistance during OTS 11 ... read full story / add a comment

In March 2002, while police were investigating the disappearance of thirteen-year-old schoolgirl Millie Dowler, the "News Of The World" hacked into Millie's phone messages with the help of its own full-time private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. ... read full story / add a comment

Initial reports suggest that the official Turkish investigation into the sabotage of the Irish ship MV Saoirse that was due to take part in the now Greek-impounded Freedom Flotilla Two will find that “the breakdown of the ship might not be a result of sabotage” and that even if it was sabotaged, it “was damaged before it entered Turkish waters”.[1] However, the Irish Ship To Gaza (ISTG)[2] campaign view such conclusions with deep suspicion.
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On the 15th of May last year, Éirígí staged a protest on and outside the Anglo Irish Bank. The gardaí, led by Superintendent Joe Gannon (of Shell To Sea fame), were brutal in their response. The final trial has been heard.

Get an inside look at the whole scandal. ... read full story / add a comment

Get the full story at the url. Maybe mobiles are safe after all.

Evidence from a growing number of studies does not support the theory that cellphones raise the risk of brain cancer, an independent international panel of experts has found after carrying out a thorough analysis of all published research.

The analysis was carried out by the ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) Standing Committee on Epidemiology.
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It has now been revealed that the order of nuns who ran the notorious Magdalene laundry in Drumcondra were receiving thousands of pounds through wills and legacies during the period while hundreds of women and young girls were forced to work six days a week for no pay and no pension.
On a number of occasions they had radio appeals made on their behalf by several priests. ... read full story / add a comment

How bad are the effects of Climate Change? Dahr Jamail supplies some answers. Full story at url.

The rate of ice loss in two of Greenland's largest glaciers has increased so much in the last 10 years that the amount of melted water would be enough to completely fill Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. West Texas is currently undergoing its worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, leaving wheat and cotton crops in the state in an extremely dire situation due to lack of soil moisture, as wildfires continue to burn.

Central China recently experienced its worst drought in more than 50 years. Regional authorities have declared more than 1,300 lakes "dead", meaning they are out of use for both irrigation and drinking water supply. Floods have struck Eastern and Southern China, killing at least 52 and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands, followed by severe flooding that again hit Eastern China, displacing or otherwise affecting five million people. ... read full story / add a comment

After a three-year legal battle an Irish lawyer, Ciaran Toland, has forced the release of a 2008 internal report into MEP expenses. The European Court of Justice has ruled that there was an "overriding public interest in disclosure". ... read full story / add a comment

Issue 44 of Red Banner is available now
€2 / £1.50 from bookshops or the address above ... read full story / add a comment