Irish Poll shows increased Anti-War sentiment:

NEW IRISH POLL SHOWS
NEAR 80% SUPPORT FOR
NEUTRALITY OF THE STATE
AND SIMILAR OPPOSITION
TO WAR AGAINST SYRIA:

ALMOST EIGHTY PER CENT of Irish people say the Government should not support military intervention in Syria without a UN mandate according to a new poll.

The poll carried out by Red C polling organisation was commissioned by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and also showed that an almost identical number of Irish adults believe that Ireland should have a policy of neutrality.

The 1,000 respondents were given a number of different options as to what extent they agreed with a variety of statements with Red C using the information to gauge sentiment.

SEPTEMBER 2013:

Irish people support a policy of neutrality and not sending military supplies to anti-government groups in Syria according to a poll:

The Red C poll commissioned by the Peace & Neutrality Alliance shows:

1.        78%  of the Irish people support a policy of Irish Neutrality

2.        67% of the Irish people are opposed to Ireland & the EU sending arms and military

supplies to anti-government groups in Syria. 

3.        61% of the Irish people are opposed to sending Irish troops to Syria

4.        79% of the Irish people do not support a war on Syria without a UN mandate

Neutrality

When asked whether ‘Ireland should have a policy of neutrality’ there was 78 per cent agreement. 61 per cent said that Irish troops should not now be sent to Syria.

Support for Neutrality was strongest in the 18-34 age group = 85%. General support for neutrality has increased since a previous poll which registered 69%.

PANA Chairman Roger Cole said that the poll results show that support for neutrality is now “deepening rather than weakening.” "Irish people fought in the national war of independence against an empire. And one of the consequences of that was that we don't want to become part of a military alliance - we don't want to get involved in other people's wars," he said.

"We're a small country - we should get a grip on what the real world is, and in the real world small countries shouldn't get involved in other people's wars." “Approximately 8 in 10 Irish people are now in favour of neutrality which is roughly the same number of people who believe Ireland should not support a war on Syria without a UN mandate. This Syrian conflict has displaced millions with the UN describing it as the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly twenty years,” he said.

"PANA has campaigned for the right of the Irish people to have a foreign policy with a commitment to Irish neutrality at its core. This poll shows that we have the support of the massive majority of the Irish people. It shows that like the people of the USA and the UK they are tired and fed up with the doctrine of perpetual war on offer from the political leaders of the UK, the USA and France" Mr Cole stated.

The poll result so shocked the warmongers and pro-US, pro-NATO forces in Ireland, including the rabid anti-neutrality bloc in the government Fine Gael party that they arranged with corporate media to suppress the information last week when it was announced at a press conference organised by Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Ireland's leading Peace Group. Only one newspaper group, based in Cork, carried the story with the main Dublin papers and the public broadcaster RTE failing to carry any reports.

This shows both the contempt and fear of the warmongers against democracy and the people's right to say no to their vicious schemes of permanent warfare. The defeat of the US/UK war plans against Syria last month by massive popular opposition was a hugely significant event contrasting with the way they got away with imposing the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The Irish poll of rejection of war and imperialism was manifested in spite of the billion-dollar propaganda campaign against Syria and Iran by the US and its boot-lickers in Europe. A great victory for democracy, peace and mutual security based on international law and the UN Charter.

 The full poll details may be downloaded from the PANA website here, or from the link in the sidebar:

http://www.pana.ie

Obama Fails at G20:

OBAMA FAILS AT G2O
AS MAJORITY FOLLOW
RUSSIA'S LINE ON SYRIA:

US President Obama failed to garner any additional support from world leaders at the G20 summit in Petersburg, Russia, as a forceful Russian President, Vladimir Putin, secured a majority of the leaders and delegations to support his line of opposition to unilateral military action against Syria in reprisal for alleged chemical weapons use by the Assad government in Damascus.

 

With unilateral military action against a sovereign state declared illegal by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, a stance fully supported by Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, India, Indonesia, representing the majority of the world's population and only the usual suspects, Britain,Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar - the covert supporters of the Jihadist terror groups infesting Syria- lined up with Washington, Mr Obama was increasingly isolated in his demand for military action against Damascus as the summit proceeded. French President Hollande, all gung-ho for military action last week and making sly remarks on Britain's House of Commons decision to rule out military intervention, backed away from the Washington line and stated he would now wait for the UN inspectors reports on last month's chemical weapons incident in Damascus before taking any decision. EU President of Council, Rumpoy, also joined the Coalition of the Unwilling with a clear statement that the EU favoured using the United Nations process for dealing with the situation. A diplomatic disaster for the White House.

Domestically, public opinion in the USA is over 70% opposed to military strikes with phone calls to the White House reaching a record 500/1 against the Obama war plans. Likewise, the same high percentages, 60-70% opposition, are being recorded even in those countries like Britain and France whose leaders are backing Obama.

The US/NATO plans for regime-change in Syria based on a false extrapolation from their  "victory" in Libya two years ago when they thought the Assad Government would fall like a ripe fruit with minimum effort by them, have fallen apart as Assad held on and succeeded in resisting the jihadist terrorists they exported to Syria via their bases in Kosovo and Turkey and cross-border from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They are now using the chemical weapons slander to justify direct military intervention to topple Assad and complete their imperialist agenda for control of the Arab East. But, this has proved a huge miscalculation as world opposition by Russia, China and the bulk of non-NATO countries plus well organised peace movement protests in the US and NATO Europe has resisted the lies and propaganda which fooled some people previous to the invasion of Iraq and galvanised domestic political opposition like never before.

OUTFOXED BY PUTIN:

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, choreographed the whole show exactly as he wanted. Mr Obama was seated between Brazil and Mexico both of whom are severely pissed at Washington currently, not only because they oppose military interventions in Syria, but also
because their Governments were targets for Obama's NSA spying activities as revealed by the Snowden files given to Wikileaks, making a distinctly uncomfortable position for Mr Obama. Brazilian President, Dilma Roussef, looked stern and unfriendly at the round table in Petersburg. Rousseff was furious over the reported snooping into her personal communications and a senior government official said on Wednesday that she might cancel the state visit to the White House unless she got an apology. Brasilia even called off a trip by an advance team to Washington to prepare for the visit. A report that the National Security Agency’s massive spy program directly targeted Rousseff’s communications with top aides has brought the trip into doubt and hiked tensions between the two nations. In Brasilia, Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo said the answers given by the United States since the first allegations emerged in July have been "false."

US journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has access to secret documents leaked by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, told Brazil's Globo television this week that the agency spied on Rousseff's Internet searches and Pena Nieto's emails before his election last year. In July, Greenwald co-wrote articles in Brazil's "O Globo" newspaper saying the NSA spied on Latin American allies and rivals, using electronic espionage to monitor military purchases in Venezuela, energy and drug issues in Mexico and rebel movements in Colombia.

The Mexican President had already made critical remarks about US spying activities on his way to Petersburg:

 "If it is proven that an action took place, with the use of espionage means, this is clearly not permitted and it is outside the law," Pena Nieto told reporters during a stopover in Canada before arriving in Petersburg. "There will surely be space at the G20 for some sort of meeting, either casual or informal, with the US president to make our position very clear," he said, recalling that his government has asked the United States to investigate the matter.

Before Pena Nieto was elected in July 2012, the NSA intercepted some of his phone calls, text messages and emails, including communications in which he discussed potential cabinet members, it is alleged.

 

 

Moscow’s calibrated reaction largely stems from realisation that U.S. President Barack Obama has got trapped into his own rhetoric about “red lines,” and whatever he does now will play into Russia’s hands.

“Russia doesn’t have to do anything, just sit back and relax, and we’ll end up the winning side,” said Prof. Georgy Mirsky of the Moscow Institute of World Economy and International Relations. Moscow stands to gain whatever course Mr. Obama takes, Russian experts said.

“If Obama attacks Syria he will be seen fighting on the side of al-Qaeda, whose militants make up a third of the opposition forces, even according to U.S. military commanders,” said analyst Yulia Latynyna. If the U.S. attack is “limited” and “narrow,” as Mr. Obama has declared, it may even strengthen President Assad who will be able to say he has stood up to the world’s most powerful nation. Other observers think the U.S. may well slide down the slippery path of broader intervention in Syria. “Having started to take part in this campaign, the United States will be unable to get out of it without removing Bashar al-Assad. And considerations of prestige will outweigh all the doubts of those who fear chaos after a change of regime,” said Dr. Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.

At a recent press conference on Syria, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lamented a lack of “strategic thinking” in U.S. foreign policy. In contrast, Russia has repeatedly demonstrated it has strategic vision, with the situation in Iraq, Libya and Syria proving it right. Mr. Lavrov said Russia had “no plans to go to war” over Syria, but,pointedly, he didn't say Russia would not react.

China

Russia will continue to block any anti-Syrian moves at the U.N. Security Council, expose the illegal nature of U.S. interference and the foolishness of siding with Islamist radicals in Syria. Moscow will also cement its ties with Iran and China. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani placed a telephone call to Mr. Putin last week, with the two leaders calling for resolving the Syrian crisis “exclusively through political and diplomatic means.” The Russian and Iranian Presidents will have their first face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan in mid-September. Also, last week, China’s Ambassador to Russia, Li Hui, called on Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s sentinel for the Middle East, to discuss “further Russian-Chinese political and diplomatic interaction in connection with a sharp aggravation of the situation around Syria.”

Last, but not least, Russia will continue to arm Syria. “Russia and Iran have far more possibilities to help Assad than the other side can help rebels,” said Prof. Mirsky. “We can ship him as many weapons as he needs, while Iranians can send over its Islamic Revolution Guards as volunteers. America has no chance of winning this war.”

 

 

Syria, September 5:

 

While Mr Obama was hand-wringing in Petersburg, the Jihadists infesting Syria mounted another attack on a Christian town in their campaign of murderous terror against the minority religious communities in the country.

The dawn assault on the Christian village of Maaloula, about 60km north of Damascus, was carried out by rebels from the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group. At the start of the attack, an al-Nusra fighter blew himself up at a Syrian Army checkpoint at the entrance to the village.

                           The historic Christian village of Maaloula, Western Syria.

 

Maaloula, a mountain village some 40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Damascus, is home to about 2,000 residents, some of whom still speak a version of Aramaic, the ancient language of biblical times believed to have been spoken by Jesus.

The suicide attack was followed by fighting between the jihadis and Syrian government forces, Eventually, the rebels seized the checkpoint, disabled two tanks and an armoured personnel carrier and killed eight Syrian soldiers in fighting. Heavy fighting around the village, which is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites – continued throughout the day, and heavy artillery echoed in the village. “The stones are shaking,” said a nun at the Mar Takla monastery. “We don’t know if the rebels have left or not, nobody dares go out.” She spoke with the Associated Press  on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

 

Frightened residents expected the militants to return to the Safir hotel, she said, adding: “It’s their home now.” The nun said the rebels took over the Safir hotel atop a mountain overlooking the village and fired shells at it from there. "It's a war. It has been going from 6 a.m. in the morning," she said. Some 80 people from the village took refuge in the convent, which houses 13 nuns and 27 orphans, she said. The attack highlights fears among Syrian Christians that the alternative to Assad’s regime,(made up mostly of Alawites – followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam), being promoted by the US and NATO,  would not tolerate minority religions. The nun who spoke to the AP said there were reports that the militants threatened villagers with death if they did not convert. The report could not be independently confirmed.

Maaloula has several churches and important monasteries, including Deir Mar Takla, which is visited by many Christians and Muslim pilgrims. Inscriptions found in some of the caves in the mountainside on which the town sits confirm it as one of the earliest centres of Christianity in the world, and some residents can still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

 

Later on Thursday, government warplanes launched three air strikes on the checkpoint held by the rebels. Syria's Sana state news agency meanwhile reported that an army unit "eliminated members of a terrorist group belonging to the al-Nusra Front" north-east of Maaloula and "destroyed the tools they use in their crimes".

 

Damascus:

In fighting in Damascus, a mortar shell fired by rebels hit a sports hall, killing a member of the national tae kwon do team, 27-year-old Mohammed Ali Neimeh. Neimeh had been training for an upcoming Islamic Solidarity Tournament in Indonesia this week. In the Daraya district, several fighters fired assault rifles from behind an earthen embankment. Smoke rose from the neighborhood of Barzek after the shelling.

There were new signs of rivalry among rebel groups that have been fragmented from the start. The two main camps are the Western-backed so-called "Free Syrian Army", which portrays itself as the largest fighting group, and jihadist fighters, including thousands from outside Syria, who have become increasingly dominant, particularly in the north and sparsely populated east.

Among the jihadists, there have been several splits in recent months, particularly between those loyal to commanders in Syria and those who pledge allegiance to al-Qaeda-linked groups in Iraq. In an amateur video posted online Wednesday, a foreign fighter was seen standing among other bearded men who he says have come to Syria from Russia and the Caucasus to wage jihad, or holy war.

"Our brigade is called the Mujahedin of the Caucasus and the Levant, and we have our brothers from all over the world with us," he said in halting Russian translated into Arabic. He said his men had broken away from one of the jihadi blocs, known as ISIS, and that the group is also "independent from Jabhat al-Nusra and others."

 

 

 

 

 

 

See also: The Pope's Letter to Putin ...here

 

 

http://blagaroon2.blogspot.ie/2013/09/syria-crisis-popes-letter-to-russian.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Anti-War Granny causes Court upset:

                Margaretta D'Arcy, (79), veteran Irish Peace Campaigner outside Ennis Courthouse


ANTI-WAR GRANNY
CAUSES COURT
UPSET IN ENNIS:


An anti-war granny caused mayhem in a court room when she confronted a judge in a bright orange jump suit.

Disabled  Margaretta D’Arcy, 79, refused to stand down from a bench in front of Judge Patrick Durcan at Ennis (Co Clare) District Court - and the hearing had to be halted. Ms Darcy appeared in connection with the alleged interference of the proper use of Shannon Airport last October 7, 2012, by going on the runway without permission. Ms D'Arcy, a well known artist, is a veteran of the Irish and International Peace Movement and has been a regular attendee, health permitting, at the monthly Peace Protest at the gates of Shannon Airport, Co. Clare, in the west of Ireland near Limerick city since the protests began following the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. Since the invasion there has been large-scale use of the Airport by the US Military despite public opposition in Ireland, an officially neutral country.

When the case was called last Wednesday,10 July Ms Darcy, of Woodquay, Galway, approached the bench the better to hear and see the judge properly because of poor sight and hearing. She then stood on the bench below the judge's podium to hear Judge Durcan say he was going to adjourn the matter to September 11 next because her co-accused wasn’t in court.

Ms D'Arcy – who needs a zimmer frame with wheels to walk - said that she wanted the judge to dismiss the summons against her as it is inaccurate. Judge Durcan said: “That is a matter for hearing and not for today.”  The judge then asked Ms D'Arcy: "Will you please go down to ground level and stand on the ground for safety reasons. I will not have you standing on the bench.” Ms D'Arcy refused and replied: “I am going to stand here. We have to see each other as equals. It is the citizens of Ireland that own the courts. In response, Judge Durcan said: “You are going to be removed. I am going to suspend the court for two minutes.”

As the judge was walking from the bench, Ms D’Arcy called out after him: “So you don’t want a conversation with me around the word ‘proper’ and the use of the airport as a military airport. Murder, Complicity in murder. Run, run away and never hear the truth.” Ms D'Arcy then stepped down from the bench with the assistance of two Gardaí (Irish police)and she was then applauded by her supporters in court, including retired UN Assistant Secretary General, Denis Halliday, and well-known anti-war activist Dr Ed Horgan.

On returning to court, Judge Durcan said that on the adjourned date in September, he would decide if the case will be heard in the district court or the circuit court. This is an obvious dodge by the state prosecutor to avoid hearing evidence of the misuse of the civilian airport at Shannon by the US Military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 with the full collaboration of Irish Governments since then despite public opposition. The local Shannonwatch organisation, who monitor US Military activities at the airport, had brought to court a wheelbarrow (literally) of documentary evidence of the violations of Irish and International law occurring there in the past 10 years.

 

Full court report here:

http://www.shannonwatch.org/blog/margaratta-darcy-leaves-court-her-questions-unanswered

 

 

 

COL. ANN WRIGHT to visit Ireland

COL. ANN WRIGHT
TO VISIT 
IRELAND:

American Peace Activist, Col. Ann Wright will visit Ireland in February. She will speak at a public meeting in the Teachers' Club, Parnell Sq, Dublin at 8pm on Thursday, February 16. The meeting is jointly organised by Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM).

Ann Wright grew up in Bentonville, Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas, where she earned a Master’s and a Law Degree. She also has a Master’s Degree in National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College. In her junior year at the University of Arkansas, she attended a three-week Army training program after meeting with a visiting Army recruiter. That experience helped inform her decision to join the service.

For 13 years Ann Wright was an active duty soldier. She spent another 16 years in the Army reserves, retiring as a Colonel. Part of her Army work was special operations in civil affairs. In the event of invasions into other countries, Ann Wright helped to develop “plans about how to interact with the civilian population, how to protect the facilities – sewage, water, electrical grids, libraries…"It’s our obligation under the law of land warfare.” After Col. Wright was released from active duty, she joined the State Department. For the next 16 years, she served as a foreign diplomat in countries such as Nicaragua, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Sierra Leone. She was on the team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December, 2001, after the fall of the Taliban to US forces.

In all those years, Ann Wright was proud to represent America. However, on March 13, 2003, the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, Col. Ann Wright sent a letter of resignation to then Secretary of State Colin Powell. She felt that without the authorisation of the UN Security Council, the US invasion and occupation of an oil-rich, Arab Moslem country would be a disaster. Only two other State Department officials resigned at that time in protest of the imminent invasion. In a statement at the time, Col Wright said: ""I have served my country for almost thirty years in some of the most isolated and dangerous parts of the world. I want to continue to serve America. However, I do not believe in the policies of this Administration and cannot--morally and professionally--defend or implement them. It is with heavy heart that I must end my service to America and therefore resign."

In an interview, Ann Wright explained that, in the Foreign Service, “Your job is to implement the policies of an administration…if you strongly disagree with any administration’s policies, and wish to speak out, your only option is to resign. I understood that and that’s one of the reasons I resigned – to give myself the freedom to talk out.”

Since resigning, patriotism for Ann Wright has meant becoming an anti-war activist. She worked with Cindy Sheehan organizing Camp Casey, and appeared in the documentary “Uncovered: The Truth About the Iraq War”. She travels and lectures on foreign policy issues. She has been arrested five times in one year for protesting Bush’s policies, and has referred to herself cheerfully as a “felon for peace”. 

This retired Army Colonel has also recently been temporarily banned not only from two military bases for placing postcards there announcing a showing of the documentary “Sir, No Sir”, but from the US Capitol area (her case is still pending), and the National Press Club (this a lifetime ban), for voicing opinions and questions concerning Bush Administration policies and the Iraq war.

This most welcome visitor will do much to break down the wall of misinformation presented by the Irish Media in regard to US imperialist wars across the world in which the Irish people are deliberately misrepresented by the current and previous governments who have allowed the US Military unrestricted and uninspected use of Shannon Airport since 2001, with transport of illegal weapons such as drones, CIA sponsored rendition flights, taking kidnapped citizens of several countries to Guantanamo Bay and other torture camps as a regular part of the activities there; all contrary to the Irish Constitution and International Law.

There will be other meetings during the visit which will be announced later. Each deserves a

thronged audience to demonstrate the Irish people's condemnation of US/NATO imperialist warmongering and their rightful abhorrence of the outrageous human rights abuses, murder and assassination which is a daily occurrence now in the countries targeted by the US/NATO aggressors.

See also :

http://blagaroon2.blogspot.ie/2013/01/anti-drone-protest-leads-to-federal.html

FearFeasaMacLéinn

 Áth Cliath/Dublin

Eanáir/January 30 2013