FURY IN CYPRUS OVER 

de ALMEIDA SPEECH:

The Cyprus Government has reacted angrily to a speech given by EU Ambassador to Washington, Jose Marques de Almeida, at a NATO seminar in the Portuguese National Institute of Defence on October 23 2010. Cypriot leaders are incensed at de Almeida’s comments on the division of their island brought about by an invasion by NATO member Turkey, in 1974. The invasion set up a bitterly contested partition of the island, which had wrested independence from Britain in 1960, and since 1974 occupied by more than 40,000 Turkish NATO troops in the northern part of the island and half of the island’s capital, Nicosia.

De Almeida, a former adviser to President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, said in his speech that the best solution for the enhancement of EU-U.S. relations would be that the European Union (EU) joins NATO. De Almeida was one of the speakers in a seminar organized by the National Defence Institute of Portugal in Lisbon. Before being adviser to the EU commission president, he was president of the Portuguese Institution, a government think tank to elaborate on defence and strategic policies According to Marques de Almeida; “the main difficulty in the NATO- EU relation is the issue on the Cyprus unification; Turkey has the second largest army in the alliance, but the division of the island of Cyprus blocks a better relation with the EU”, he stated.

Cyprus is a member of the EU since 1 May 2004 and has a veto on any new members coming into the Union.  The Cypriot leaders were further incensed by a statement released by NATO indicating that during the upcoming NATO summit in Lisbon on November 19-20,  Secretary General of NATO, Anders Rasmussen will propose “the enhancement of the relationship with Turkey”, a move that could include the Turkish “presence in the European Defence Agency with a full membership". These provocative comments by the NATO-EU political and military elite will only add to the tensions which have already arisen in the EU over Turkey’s application for membership which is being informally opposed by Germany and France. There is also no likelihood of Cyprus or Greece agreeing to Turkish entry while its troops are still in occupation of Northern Cyprus.

“EU joining NATO” is the latest push by the elite in Brussels in accelerating the militarisation of the EU which was provided for in the Lisbon Treaty which came into force last year after a second referendum in Ireland. The supporters of the Lisbon Treaty vehemently denied that Ireland could be part of an EU military alliance by default but now we have these statements and others by Merkel and Sarkozy proposing the immediate formation of an EU Army and the rapid establishment of the European Defence Agency shortly after the Treaty was ratified. These lies are now exposed and will be further exposed at the NATO summit in Lisbon later this month. The new NATO strategy for the 21^st Century prepared by former US Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration, Madeline Allbright, and a cabal of retired Generals and others, will be presented and agreed here. The strategy retains NATO’s inhuman “First Strike” Nuclear weapons strategy which would cause the death of millions and poison the Earth’s atmosphere with radiation inimical to all life on the planet.

NATO’s barbarous war mongering will be actively opposed by a people’s “Counter Summit” peace conference in the city on the same weekend and massive public demonstrations against NATO’s aggressive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the Saturday, November 20^th. Delegates from Ireland’s anti-war and peace movements will be taking part in these events.

Further information is available on the Peace and Neutrality link on the sidebar

FearFeasaMacLéinn

Áth Cliath/Dublin

Samhain/November 2 2010.

 Next stop: The Hague 

 for

WAR CRIMINAL

BLAIR!

 In the two weeks since Tony Blair got the bum’s rush by angry Dublin protesters out of our Capital city there have been a number of letters in the “Irish Times” whinging about the throwing of various objects such as eggs, bottles and shoes at the former British Prime Minister, including from Irish Government  Minister ,Martin Mansergh,in the Office of Public Works. Mansergh played a backroom role in the negotiations between Blair and the Irish Government which led to the peace agreement in Northern Ireland a decade ago and would have been well acquainted personally with Blair.

In response to these Moaning Minnies who never have given a thought to the type of missiles thrown by the Blair/Bush War Machine we publish the attached photos of the horrific injuries done to then 12 year old Ali Abbas who lived in the village of Zafaraniya, which is 30 miles from Baghdad, and his entire family wiped out : his mother who was six months pregnant, his father, brother and at least 10 other relatives. It was reported that, just after midnight on 30 March 2003 and 10 days into "Operation Iraqi Freedom", a weapon or two weapons exploded near their house:

“We had all gone to bed and there was this loud noise and smoke. I felt very scared  and I was in much pain. I kept shouting for my mother. I did not know at the time what had happened to her” said young Ali later when he was able to speak of these appalling events.
 
A photograph taken in hospital in Baghdad shows that Ali was burned across his trunk and that his hands and forearms were incinerated. His head, neck, abdomen and legs were unblemished. Examination of this photograph shows this boy was subjected to the most intense radiated heat, not contact heat. It couldn’t have been a conventional explosive or the boy would not have lived. It seems parts of his body were shielded by whatever part of the house he was in and the rest exposed to the deadly weapon of mass destruction launched by Blair/Bush’s evil war machine against him and his innocent family. These images were suppressed by the British Media at the time.
Please note: this article contains graphic images which some may find upsetting.

Now, for those who express to be concerned about Mr Blair’s minor discomfort while in Dublin, including Minister Mansergh, we have no hesitation in declaring them to be 

the worst of hypocrites, apologists for murder and genocide and not representative of the majority of decent-minded Irish people, 100,000 of whom came on the streets of Dublin in February, 2003 to declare their opposition to what became Blair/Bush’s barbaric war on the people of Iraq.

Blair is a prima facie war criminal. There is more evidence against him personally than any of those who were brought before the Yugoslavia War Crimes tribunal.

Charges which could be brought include:

 

Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention from the time he became Prime Minister in 1997 until March 2003 during which time draconian sanctions were being applied to the civilian population of Iraq. These sanctions prompted the resignation of Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck who served as assistant Secretaries-General of the UN. The former stated that the effect of those sanctions was genocidal. It was established that there was an excess mortality of babies and children of at least 500,000 between 1992 and 2003. This had to do with foul water, poor nutrition and deteriorating medical services, all of which were satisfactory before the sanctions took hold;

 

Conspiracy to join with another power in aggressive war, the supreme international war crime, contrary to the Nuremberg Rules and the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. This was first made public when he joined  Bush, President of the United States of America, for bloodied steaks over a barbecue at Crawford Ranch in April 2002;

 

High treason (betrayal of one's country, sovereign or government) in manufacturing a case for war, the central one of which was the supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq now known to be a web of lies concocted by Blair and his hated spin-doctor Alastair Campbell.. This in itself gave no legal grounds for war because the possession of such was no basis for a military assault on a sovereign country. Three aggressive nations, the US, UK and Israel, have held weapons of mass destruction for decades; no attempt has been made to disarm them. The grounds for UK military action against Iraq changed as the unlawful operation proceeded under the guise of liberation of the people and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The part played by the 'sofa cabinet', three of whom were unelected, in promulgating a war fought on behalf of Her Majesty is being minutely examined by law officers. One such cabinet member, Mr Charles Powell, recently stated on BBC TV that the aim of the war was the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. He would know that was an illegal aim. Ann Clywd MP was appointed  Blair's human rights envoy in Iraq. She has continuously claimed a virtuous aim ... but, the fact is that at least a million Iraqis have been killed, about 40 per cent of whom will have been children. Using a conservative ratio, at least two million will have been maimed.

Mr Blair can also be charged with a litany of war crimes that followed the invasion, one of which is the failure of the 'coalition of the willing' to halt the further deterioration in the quality and quantity of medical services in Iraq which had already worsened during the 12 years of sanctions. Another obligation of an occupier is to maintain security for the populace. The very opposite happened. Disbanding the Iraqi army and other government structures was central to the violent chaos which followed the invasion. Protecting the heritage of a country is another obligation of an occupier in international law. Mr Blair failed as leader to meet these and he can be so charged. The suppression of Iraq’s civil government and police and the abolition of its laws and constitution are also grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

The charges could also include collusion in a military and political coalition which has used banned weapons. The illegal use of white phosphorus at Fallujah by the US was admitted. Armour-penetrating tank and cannon shells, as well as "bunker busting" bombs and missiles, have used depleted uranium. Uranium U238 is dispersed widely as a very fine dust; it has been detected as far away as the Britain itself. Iraqi doctors claim that there have been dramatic rises in grotesque deformities in babies born prematurely, in leukaemia and in other malignancies.

At least 1,000,000 civilian deaths, 4,000,000 refugees, 5,000,000 orphans and countless thousands disappeared, maimed and injured are the legacy of this despicable man who defiled our city by his presence. It was an excellent result of the Dublin protest that this criminal was forced to cancel his obscene book tour parasiting on the death and destruction caused by his insane  bloodlust.

FearFeasaMacLéinn

Átha Cliath/Dublin

24 Mean Fómhair/September 2010

MOTORMOUTH O'DEA

STRIKES AGAIN!

Former Defence Minister, Willie O’Dea, T.D., Limerick East, emerged from obscurity last Friday to launch a broadside against the Green Party coalition partners in the crumbling Government he was once a member of on RTÉ’s “Late Late Show” prime time weekender show hosted by celeb groupie Ryan Tubridy.

O’Dea was forced to resign in disgrace last February following a Green Party ultimatum to Taoiseach Brian, “Biffo”, Cowen that they would quit the Government unless O’Dea was dismissed, only 24 hours after a vigorous defence of O’Dea in a Dáil debate led by Cowen and other senior ministers. The rancorous debate itself was a disgrace as Government ministers tried to justify O’Dea’s outrageous behaviour in supplying a false affidavit to the High Court in a slander case in which he was the defendant and the author of his own misfortune as subsequent events revealed.

O’Dea, a well known scurrilous operator throughout his political career, snookered himself by lying to the High Court in the matter of an action for slander arising out of remarks made by him during the Local and European elections in June 2009. During the election campaign, O’Dea spoke to a reporter from the “Limerick Leader” and alleged that a rival Sinn Féin candidate was engaged in criminal activity and that he had been given this information by the Garda Síochána (national police). Apart from the serious impropriety of any member of the police supplying confidential information to a Government minister who was not entitled to such information, the way in which O’Dea used this supposed “tip-off” to slander another candidate was itself a criminal act. When the candidate concerned, now elected Limerick City Councillor, Maurice Quinlivan, sued O’Dea in the High Court, the Minister submitted an affidavit to the Court stating he did not recall having uttered the slander. The controversy was revived in December 2009 when Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan asked in the Senate about the veracity of the Minister’s statement and newspaper interest revived. Eventually, O’Dea went on radio to defend himself and reiterated the contents of his false affidavit but, faraor, the journalist whom he had spoken to during the 2009 election had retained a tape recording of the interview in which O’Dea is clearly heard uttering the slanderous remarks about Councillor Quinlivan which was provided to RTÉ and broadcast while O’Dea was still in the studio. Collapse of O’Dea’s disingenuous defence and consternation in the shambling Cowen Government. Bravado and defiance in the ensuing Dáil debate didn’t work and on presentation of the Green Party ultimatum the same evening, Cowen had no option but to sack O’Dea from the cabinet or face dissolution of his Government. It should be stated also that Official Garda sources vehemently denied giving any information to Minister O'Dea who then modified his story to relate a "conversation" he had with an "off-duty" member of the Gardai. No such member of the force was ever identified.

O’Dea’s latest outburst on RTÉ television, showing obvious peevishness at his sacking and resentment for the Green half of the miserable Coalition grimly hanging on to power, indicates that the lifetime of this government is limited and O’Dea, like the rest of the herd of the bonehead Fianna Fáil backbenchers terrified of losing their seats in the next election, is trying to pretend, as is his long-time tactic, that he is somehow the “opposition” instead of the miserable lackey he is to the worst government this Republic has ever suffered in its history.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch.....

Boss Biffo, having spent too much time at the social revels following the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party Stink-Tank in Galway, turned up for a radio interview Tuesday morning sounding the worse for wear and got lost trying to explain what they actually achieved at their Stink-Tank over a long weekend. They were supposed to be getting advice from experts on how they might extricate themselves from the black-hole economy they have created on the collapse of the fraudulent “Celtic Tiger” but, it seems absolutely clear now that Biffo and his wobbly Coalition government haven’t a clue how to do this and the longer they cling to office with no mandate for anything anymore the worse it will be for the suffering population of this country. 

They are now in hock both to the zombie banks which wrecked the economy with their reckless lending and the neo-liberal agenda of the European Commission and the European Central Bank who are enforcing a ruthless policy of cutbacks on wages and social spending not seen since the 1930’s Depression which eventually led to the outbreak of World War 2. There is only one demand to be made now by Labour and the other Left parties and that is a General Election as soon as possible to be fought on a credible alternative of state action to create new jobs, end the banking scandals  restore public control of all our national resources and defend the social gains of the past hundred years or more.

FearFeasa Mac Léinn

Áth Cliath/DUBLIN,

16 Mean Fómhair/September, 2010.

 
IAEA WILL DEBATE
ISRAELI NUCLEAR
WEAPONS:
                                                                                                                                                                     

 The 2010 General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which opens in Vienna, Austria, this coming weekend, will discuss a report from the Director General on the implementation of a resolution passed at last year’s meeting urging the placement of all nuclear facilities in the Middle East region under the supervision of IAEA. The Resolution, proposed by the Arab States, was passed by 49 votes to 45,with 16 abstentions, much to the chagrin of the USA and its EU/NATO allies who tried to block its passing as they had done in previous years (click on map to enlarge) .              

.

The text of the resolution is as follows;

Israeli nuclear capabilities:

Resolution adopted on 18 September 2009 during the tenth plenary meeting of the

IAEA:The General Conference

1(a) Recalling the relevant resolutions of the General Conference and the PresidentialStatements endorsed by the General Conference on this issue;                                                      

(b) Recalling also UN Security Council Resolution 487 (1981), which, inter alia, requestedIsrael to submit all its nuclear facilities to the Agency’s safeguards system,

(c) Bearing in mind the resolution on the Middle East adopted by the 1995 Review andExtension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), in which the Conference noted with concern the continued existence of unsafeguarded nuclear facilities in the Middle East,

d) Recalling the 2000 NPT Review Conference, which welcomed the fact that all States inthe Middle East, with the exception of Israel, are States parties to the NPT and reaffirmed the importance of Israel’s accession to the NPT and the placement of all its nuclear facilities undercomprehensive IAEA safeguards for realizing the universality of the NPT in the Middle East,

(e) Recognizing that joining the NPT and submitting all nuclear facilities in the region tocomprehensive IAEA safeguards is a prerequisite for establishing a nuclear–weapon-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East, and

f) Welcoming the recent international initiatives calling for a “nuclear weapons-free world”,

1. Expresses concern about the threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons to the security and stability of the Middle East;

2. Expresses concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities, and calls upon Israel to accede to the NPT and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards;

3. Urges the Director General to work with the concerned States towards achieving that end; and

4. Decides to remain seized of this matter and requests the Director General to report on theimplementation of this resolution to the Board of Governors and the General Conference at its fifty-fourth regular session under an agenda item entitled “Israeli nuclear capabilities”.

The Director General, H.E. Mr.Yukiya Amano, wrote to all member states and asked for their views on the matter. In typical fashion, the USA/EU/NATO bloc rejected any inquiry into Israeli nuclear capabilities and tried to divert attention from the Zionist regime’s actual possession of nuclear weapons, which is a known fact to themselves and their military planners and, no doubt, a major factor in their strategic outlook, by attacking alleged violations of the NPT by Iran and Syria.

The responses from Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State, and Catherine Ashton, EU High representative on Foreign Affairs, are so similar they might have been written by the same spin-doctor!

Hilary Clinton:

“The United States remains committed to universal adherence to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT) and encourages all states that have not yet done so to join the Treaty and accept the full scope IAEA safeguards on all of their nuclear facilities....”

Catherine Ashton:

“The European Union fully supports the universalisation of the Nuclear of the Nuclear non-Proliferation treaty...we reiterate our call for for all states in the region to adopt IAEA comprehensive safeguards.....”

Now, the fact is that all states in the region, except ONE, are members of the NPT and accept IAEA regulations and that ONE state is, of course, Zionist Israel. The staggering hypocrisy of these declarations is not lost on thinking people the world over who can see through this blustering attempt to provide cover for the Zionist regime’s continued defiance of International Law, UN Security Resolutions, the Geneva Conventions and Human Rights in respect of nuclear non-proliferation, of the illegal occupation of Palestine and the continued activity in murder and assassinations of its opponents whenever it feels like it.

No surprise, then, that the Zionist regime’s response, through its Foreign Minister, Avigdor Liberman, was equally hypocritical and disingenuous:

“Israel values the non-proliferation regime, acknowledges its importance and has, over the years, demonstrated a responsible policy of restraint in the nuclear domain...”

This “restraint”, apparently, did not include helping Apartheid South Africa to create its own nuclear weapons in the 1970’s!

Liberman also relies on International Law to justify Israel’s negative response to the IAEA resolution:

“The resolution entitled “Israel’s Nuclear Capabilities” is clearly incompatible with basic principles and norms of international law. It is the sovereign right of any state to decide whether it consents to be bound by any particular treaty. This is clearly manifested in the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties and Article III(D) of the IAEA statute which requires the Agency to carry out its activities “with due observance of the sovereign rights of states”.....”

This from a state which violates International Law on a daily basis and has done since its inception in 1948.

The diplomatic offensive of covering for Israel has already begun to roll. Despite criticism by Washington and Brussels of the Arab States for “using the IAEA for political purposes” the "Washington Post” this week reported that “U.S. and European officials said they plan on using the IAEA meetings to intensify pressure on Iran and Syria “.

It has been practice for a number of years at IAEA meetings for Canada to propose “no action” to be taken on any demand for inspection of Israel’s nuclear weapons but, this time it seems the USA is determined to take the lead, along with its EU poodle, Catherine Ashton, in trying to divert attention from their Zionist ally’s misdeeds by mounting a diplomatic attack on Iran and Syria at this week’s meeting of the IAEA.

The Director General’s report to be presented at the conference has little to show because of the non-cooperation stance of the Zionist regime backed by the USA and EU in complete solidarity.  

Mr Amano states in his report:

“The discussions with representatives of the States of the Middle East region have shown that there still continues to be a long-standing and fundamental difference of views between Israel, on the one hand, and the other States of the Middle East region, on the other hand, with regard to the application of comprehensive Agency safeguards to all nuclear activities in the region. Israel has taken the view that Agency safeguards, as well as all other regional security issues, cannot be addressed in isolation from the regional peace process and that these issues should be addressed in the framework of a regional security and arms control dialogue that could be resumed in the context of a multilateral peace process, and when phase II of the “road map” is reached. The other States of the region emphasize that they are all parties to the NPT and maintain that there is no automatic sequence which links the application of comprehensive safeguards to all nuclear activities in the Middle East, or the establishment of an NWFZ, to the prior conclusion of a peace settlement, and that the former would contribute to the latter. Thus, the Director General has not been able to make further progress in fulfilling his mandate pursuant to resolution GC(53)/RES/16 regarding the application of comprehensive Agency safeguards covering all nuclear activities in the region of the Middle East . The Director General will continue with his consultations in accordance with his mandate regarding the early application of comprehensive Agency safeguards on all nuclear activities in the Middle East region.”

The re-started “peace talks” in Washington between Netanyahu and P.A. President Abbas are being used as an excuse by US/EU diplomats for the IAEA not to pursue the current resolution for fear of “antagonising” Israel and threatening the 2012 conference on the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone for the Middle East. Since these talks have little chance of succeeding unless Netanyahu agrees to extend his moratorium on building settlements on Palestinian land, an unlikely event, all this amounts to is just one more delaying tactic by the US/EU/NATO in order to once again let Israel off the hook in regard to acknowledgement of its possession of nuclear weapons which are the main threat to peace in the region and the rest of the world.

FearFeasaMacLéinn

Átha Cliath/Dublin

Mean Fómhair/September 15 2010.

BLAIR FORCED
TO CANCEL TOUR
AFTER DUBLIN
PROTEST

Former British Premier, Tony Blair, has cancelled his book signing tour after vigorous protests in Dublin at the weekend against his visit received world-wide coverage. Police in the Irish Capital had sealed off the bookstore in Dublin’s main street, O’Connell, where hundreds of protesters from several organisations turned up to denounce his presence in Ireland and remind the public of the horrendous results of Blair’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Blair announced this himself on British TV this morning when he cancelled his next scheduled appearance in London on Wednesday going ahead because of promised mass protests there by Stop the War Coalition and British CND.

If the Blair publicity circus thought they were going to have a quiet weekend in Dublin, they were badly mistaken. Crowds gathered two hours before the start of the book signing and carried on a continuous loud chanting and speeches denouncing Blair as a war criminal and demanding his arrest. One protester, Kate O’Sullivan, from the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, managed to evade the tight security cordon and confront Mr Blair inside the bookstore, but, as she declared the citizen’s arrest she was pounced on by armed guards and detained. Shortly afterwards, as Blair was about to leave the store through the front entrance, the crush of crowds against the police barriers broke through into the cordoned area and Blair had to run a gauntlet of thrown eggs, plastic bottles and shoes from the angry crowd before getting to his car.. A melee ensued with police who drew batons and several protesters were arrested. They were later released after being charged with offences.

Once again. Irish people have taken the lead in confronting the warmongers and death-dealers of Imperialism and small victory as it may be, it was done in the name of the million dead of Iraq and the daily suffering of the people of Palestine and Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. It is also a reminder to the murderers that they cannot live with impunity after their appalling crimes against humanity but, will be forever confronted and called to account until justice is done.

Blair’s book is a cynical attempt to whitewash the crimes committed in Iraq and contains blatant warmongering for a military assault on Iran and psychopathic Islamophobia to justify the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the continued suffering of the people there. The Irish protesters also called for Blair’s removal from his post as Middle-East envoy of the Quartet group where he has shown total bias towards Zionist Israel and their piratical acts.

FearFeasaMacLéinn

Átha Cliath/Dublin

Mean Fómhair/September 06 2010.

Protests at Blair's first book launch from Paula Geraghty on Vimeo.