Being Black in Libya, under the NTC régime, means being subjected to racially motivated torture and lynching. ... read full story / add a comment

Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Front de Gauche is now the third candidate in the French Presidential election, at 16% he is level with La Pen but his trajectory is upward. His standing is sending shivers up the spines of the French Bourgeoisie, fearful of what concessions Edwin will wring from Hollande for support in the second round of voting. Here are two articles regarding his candidacy. Full texts at links. ... read full story / add a comment

The UN deploy monitors but the US is preparing for a military intervention in Syria. The Fundamentalist opposition have little support within Syria and have publicly boasted of their intent to Ethnically Cleanse Christians and Alawis, this doesn't seem to bother their Western backers. Full text of article by Niall Green at link.

Despite the claims of the United States and its allies that they are seeking a peace deal and humanitarian relief in Syria, the Annan mission and the presence of foreign observers constitute a political fraud. They are a smokescreen behind which the imperialist powers and their regional proxies are advancing their agenda of regime-change in Damascus. ... read full story / add a comment

Its not just a rogue attack from the Israeli Terrorist State thats on the agenda: Obama and his minions are deliberately psyching up the US people with their bellicose statements. Preconditions which cannot be met are being set for negotiations. Israel is being supplied with enhanced missile capability. Yassamine Mather deals with these points in the article below. Full text at link.

On Saturday April 14 Iran will attend talks with six world powers. The US has indicated this is Iran’s “last chance” to avoid military intervention and the Obama administration is taking very specific demands to the talks as preconditions for further negotiations: for example, Iran “must immediately close” a large nuclear facility allegedly built underneath a mountain if it wants to avoid a devastating strike. ... read full story / add a comment

"The failed north Korea rocket launch has been pounced upon gleefully by a servile media as an excuse to peddle and rehash the usual propaganda statements about North Korea that the US likes to see being propagated. To balance this wave of propaganda, here is an old article by war veteran Brian Willson which is somewhat less hysterical. Reproduced verbatim here under the terms of the global research site
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Profit takes precedence as drinks industry representative body tries to downplay damning report about alcohol and it's relationship with domestic violence and rape in Ireland. In light of this report, perhaps those in government who still have some semblance of a moral compass remaining could override their complete deference to money, economic considerations and profit as the most important things in our society, and might now consider removing sales of cheap alcohol from supermarkets. This is long overdue as the strains on our already underfunded health system from alcohol related cases and the social breakdown exacerbated by the availability of cheap alcohol, often cheaper than bottled water, are becoming more and more pronounced. ... read full story / add a comment

The Arab Spring morphs into the Islamic Winter. This is supposed to be moderate muslims in control? Full article at link.

Officials in Tunisia say two bloggers have been jailed for seven years after posting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on the internet.

The Ministry of Justice said the men had put naked caricatures of the prophet on their Facebook accounts.

Activists have criticised the sentences and voiced fears that they could herald a clampdown on free speech. ... read full story / add a comment

Mounties were apparently well-bred Englishmen defending the ideals of the British empire according to English writers. However. that's not exactly how writers from the rest of the world see them, with their history of shootouts and extra-judiciary killing and kidnapping. The Mountie according to Brit writers could ride into a hostile native American camp and arrest a chief 's son without raising his weapon, because of a violent reputation of power. residing not in himself but in the history of the British Empire he symbolized. ... read full story / add a comment

It's outrageous that John Kiriakou, a whistleblower, is the ONLY INDIVIDUAL TO BE PROSECUTED IN RELATION TO THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S TORTURE PROGRAM. ... read full story / add a comment

Video from the March 4th demonstration in Toronto against sanctions and the threats of war on Iran by the US and its allies. HOPI’s message – that we must oppose both war and the Iranian theocracy – is gaining ground, especially amongst Iranians living in Canada. This is evidenced by interviews with some of the demonstrators- and the numerous HOPI placards being waved around at the demo! ... read full story / add a comment

A greek pensioner and world war II hero, shot himself on front of the greek parliament to die with some dignity rather than waiting until he had to search for food in garbage cans, and becoming a burden to hs children. Apparently Suicide rates have soared in greece. ... read full story / add a comment

Link to an excellent Foreign Policy piece by an Irish journalist who lived in Syria from c. 2007-2012. Accurate and insightful. ... read full story / add a comment

Energy giants Total and Shell are downplaying the threat to the environment from the Elgin gas leak , which was first detected last Sunday in a field that lies150 miles off the coast of Scotland . The French Total energy conglomerate which owns the well has evacuated staff from the platform . Shell evacuated 120 oil workers from a nearby rig citing the danger of drifting gas.

“The Norwegian Bellona environmental group that monitors the oil industry has described the Elgin platform as “the well from hell”. The head of the organisation, Frederic Hauge, citing anonymous sources said that platform staff had struggled for 14 hours to contain the leak before having to evacuate the rig on Monday. “They saw the sea bubbling with gas under the platform. This is quite shocking”.’

... read full story / add a comment

Sharing Ireland is an informal project to connect anyone in Ireland who is interested in non-commercial culture. We want to encourage varied and meaningful forms of direct sharing, cooperation and mutual aid. ... read full story / add a comment

Yet another example of how Palestinians are second class citizens in Israel. Full text at link.

Hundreds of Beitar Jerusalem supporters assaulted Arab cleaning personnel at the capital's Malha shopping center on Monday, in what was said to be one of Jerusalem's biggest-ever ethnic clashes. "It was a mass lynching attempt," said Mohammed Yusuf, a team leader for Or-Orly cleaning services.
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'We’ll continue to discuss and make sure that what we’re looking at is substantive,' the EU foreign policy chief said. ... read full story / add a comment

A new report shows just how extreme BNP members and supporters are: they believe in the use of armed force when defending the British way of life. This summary is from physorg.com . The full text of the report may be accessed at the url below.

Far right supporters in the UK believe violent conflict between different religious, racial and ethnic groups is largely inevitable, according to a new survey on political extremism.

From Voting to Violence? Far Right Extremism in Britain examines the beliefs of those identifying themselves as members of the British National Party, the English Defence League or the UK Independence Party. Examining a YouGov survey of 2,152 individuals, Dr. Matthew Goodwin, of The University of Nottingham’s School of Politics and International Relations, and the University of Salford’s Professor Jocelyn Evans found evidence that large numbers of BNP and UKIP supporters endorse the view that violence between different ethnic, racial and religious groups in Britain is largely inevitable, with much stronger agreement amongst the BNP group.

Within the BNP sample, the study also found evidence of support for armed conflict when defending the British way of life.
“It is current and former BNP members who are the most likely to think that violence may be needed to protect their group, and that inter-group violence is largely inevitable,” said Dr Goodwin. “In contrast, while significant numbers of supporters on the periphery of the extreme right adopt similar views, they are noticeably less extreme in their views than those who are at the core.” ... read full story / add a comment

Yassamine Mather delivers a wide ranging speech in Manchester. She covers the increasing threats of war, the need for principled solidarity, the US intervention in Balochistan province and the misery caused by sanctions. Full text at link.

It seems such a long time that there have been threats of military action against Iran without them being followed through that some people may have become a bit blasé. It is a bit like the boy who cried wolf too many times perhaps. However, the reality is that his time the threats are very serious.

The reasons why there are serious threats now have very little to do with the Iranian nuclear programme. Most people agree that the Iranian government exaggerates the stage it has reached and the west also exaggerates this - in regard to uranium enrichment, for example - both for their own reasons. I am not dismissing the nuclear issue altogether, but I do not think it is the reason why we are facing these serious threats.
... read full story / add a comment

Three horses died on Cheltenham’s first day. ... read full story / add a comment

Red meat is not only unhealthy but can be positively lethal, according to new research ... read full story / add a comment