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.
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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

The European Commissioner for external relations has said Israel should transfer money due to the Palestinian Authority it has held back since Hamas won the Palestinian elections in January.
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Israeli war planes struck at the Gaza Strip and Palestinians fired more rockets against southern Israel on Monday in a fourth day of hostilities in which 25 Palestinians have been killed.
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Anonymous threaten Islamic Fundamentalists. The misogynist mullahs will end up as halal minced beef! Full text at url.

Hackers claiming to belong to the Anonymous Internet freedom group posted video messages on Facebook pages of Tunisian Islamists, threatening reprisals over their efforts to introduce Salafist laws.

"We are fighting you... your emails, your bank accounts and transactions will be probed, your hard discs will be copied," said a man wearing the Guy Fawkes mask that has become a trade mark of Anonymous members. "If the Tunisian government won't stop your activities in the weeks to come, Anonymous will," he added.

"We are not against religion, we are Muslims, but we are defending freedom in our country," a separate written message said, posted along with images of the Tunisian flag. ... read full story / add a comment

A good analysis of the EU fiscal treaty which we will naively be voting "yes" on. Be very afraid! It's only a permanent austerity treaty biased against social spending. ... read full story / add a comment

Issue 47 of Red Banner is available now. €2 / £1.50 from bookshops or the address above. ... read full story / add a comment

Yassamine Mather writes on the latest rather odd elections in Iran: how would you like it if all candidates for the Dail had to be approved by the Catholic Church? In these elections which were confined to conservatives, Khamenis faction won 75% of the seats leaving Ahmadinejad isolated. What does this mean for the people of iran? Yassamine says: For now, the supreme leader has got his way. Craven ‘reformists’ will not stop him; and imperialist sanctions, sabotage and war will only make things worse. Only the Iranian masses can put an end to this blood-soaked regime. Full text at link. ... read full story / add a comment

There is an eerie sense of deja vu as the rhetoric used by the Imperialist leaders echoes that used in 2003 prior to the invasion of Iraq. Ben Lewis reports on debates in Westminster , international developments and the ever present danger of an Israeli attack on Iran. Full text at link.

The debate was initiated by Conservative MP John Baron, perhaps the only Tory MP who opposes an attack on Iran. His motion was simple and straightforward: “This house believes that the use of force against Iran would be wholly counterproductive and would serve only to encourage any development of nuclear weapons; and calls upon the government to rule out the use of force against Iran and reduce tensions by redoubling diplomatic efforts.” Malcolm Rifkind, Tory chairman of the intelligence and security committee, moved an amendment that completely changed its content. The amendment deleted everything except “This house” and replaced the rest of Baron’s motion with: “… supports the government’s efforts to reach a peaceful, negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through a combination of pressure in the form of robust sanctions, and engagement led by the E3+3 comprising the UK, US, France, Germany, China and Russia; and recognises the value of making clear to Iran that all options for addressing the issue remain on the table”.

The Rifkind amendment, which was passed by an overwhelming majority of 285 to 6. Those who voted against the amendment were Labour MPs John McDonnell, Paul Flynn and Dennis Skinner; Jonathan Edwards of Plaid Cymru; Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labour Party; and Baron himself. ... read full story / add a comment

The rate of Unemployment is 23.3% in Spain, almost 21% in Greece, 15% in Portugal, also 15% in Ireland and almost 7.5% in Germany. It means close to 17 million people were out of work in the first month of 2012, and that's on paper. ... read full story / add a comment

Congratulations to Ian Bailey who eventually scored a victory in the Supreme Court yesterday, ultimately at a huge cost to the State. The questin is what will happen to the perpetrators of the frame up of Ian Bailey, particularly the Gardai. Surely this frame up can not become another cover up. Minister Alan Shatter you need to take focus of what is going on in the Justice and Legal System.

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James Turley writes about the Imperialist campaign against Syria and asks where the Left and the Anti-War Movement are. Full text at link.

It is clear at this point that the Syrian uprising - met with such ruthless brutality by the Ba’athist regime - is in the process of being transformed into some kind of civil war. It is equally clear that imperialism has taken sides against the government of Bashar al-Assad. What is less clear is who exactly is fighting the Ba’athists....

All this raises the question: where is the workers’ movement and the left? In Syria, alas, it is hardly in a position to challenge the Islamists for dominance of the uprising. Its largest sections, especially the Syrian Communist Party, are hopelessly compromised by the regime. To the left of the ‘official communists’, there are only small, nascent organisations, which as yet lack visible penetration into society at large. The uprising has involved political strikes, but not on any large scale.... ... read full story / add a comment

PhiliIMC reports on the slaying of Indymedia Kenya organizer Stephen Nyash last Tuesday . The shooting occurred in the Korogocho ghetto of Nairobi, where Nyash had lived and worked for most of his life. ... read full story / add a comment

Eamonn McCann in todays Belfast telegraph writes about the 'losing' of Marian Prices pardon ... read full story / add a comment

Feb. 27 WikiLeaks press conference: The Global Intelligence Files
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20736311
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(original article is in Scientific American, re-published here in the public interest)

By Julian Dibbell

• The Internet was designed to be a decentralized system: every node should connect to many others. This design helped to make the system resistant to censorship or outside attack.
• Yet in practice, most individual users exist at the edges of the network, connected to others only through their Internet service provider (ISP). Block this link, and Internet access disappears.
• An alternative option is beginning to emerge in the form of wireless mesh networks, simple systems that connect end users to one another and automatically route around blocks and censors.
• Yet any mesh network needs to hit a critical mass of users before it functions well; developers must convince potential users to trade off ease of use for added freedom and privacy.
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British Foreign Secretary William Hague claims that the World is Facing a new Cold WAr unless Iran gives up its hopes of constructing nuclear weapons. Peter Manson thinks this is a load of codswallop and analyses whats really going on. Full text at link.

Foreign secretary William Hague’s absurd claim that the world faces a “new cold war” if Iran does not give up its aim of acquiring nuclear weapons might not stand up to examination, but Hague was undoubtedly given a boost on February 22 when a team from the United Nations-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency returned from a two-day visit to Iran. ... read full story / add a comment

Yassamine Mather examines the current threats to Iran, the internal situation and discusses how the drive to War by the Imperialists should be opposed. Full text at url below.

In the last few weeks Iranians have woken up every day to news of further military threats and new sanctions. Anyone you contact in Iran will tell you how the constant media ‘analyses’ of if/when the bombing will start is affecting the national psyche, how morale is down, how the current situation is reminiscent of the terrible days of the Iran-Iraq war.

One Iranian blogger summarised the frustration of many Iranians when he lambasted callous statements by United States and Israeli officials debating the likely timing of air raids and military attacks against Iran. He wrote “These people discuss the timetable for bombing Iran as if they were deciding on dates for family holidays.” ... read full story / add a comment