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Anti-Empire

offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

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Human Rights in Ireland
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Victorian Laws Against Priests Meddling in Politics Are Now Needed More Than Ever ? To Prevent Imams... Sat Jul 27, 2024 11:46 | Steven Tucker
The Muslim Vote wants Labour to abolish Victorian ?spiritual influence? laws that prevent religious leaders from swaying voters, but Steven Tucker argues that in cities like Leicester these laws are more vital than ever.
The post Victorian Laws Against Priests Meddling in Politics Are Now Needed More Than Ever ? To Prevent Imams Doing the Same appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Live and Let D.E.I. Sat Jul 27, 2024 09:00 | Dr James Allan
Law professor James Allan has had a bet on Donald Trump to win the Presidency for two years. He's even more confident of winning now that Kamala Harris has become the Democratic nominee.
The post Live and Let D.E.I. appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Three Generations of Waughfare: Alexander Waugh (1963-2024) Sat Jul 27, 2024 07:00 | James Alexander
Politics professor James Alexander pays tribute to Alexander Waugh, the grandson of Evelyn Waugh and master of non-fiction prose who died aged 60 last week.
The post Three Generations of Waughfare: Alexander Waugh (1963-2024) appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Sat Jul 27, 2024 01:48 | Toby Young
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The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? Fri Jul 26, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book instructs judges to avoid terms such as 'asylum seekers', 'immigrant' and 'gays', which it says can be 'dehumanising'.
The post Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

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offsite link Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en

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Debate Needed on Ireland Joining EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation on security and defence (PESCO)

category international | anti-war / imperialism | press release author Tuesday December 05, 2017 22:50author by sw - ShannonWatch Report this post to the editors

Press Release ShannonWatch - 3rd Dec 2017

The Fine Gael / Independents government is to propose to the Dail this coming week that Ireland join the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation on security and defence (PESCO). This will mean a new EU Defence budget starting at over €1.5 billion a year (up from €590 million). Each participating EU state, including Ireland, will be required to reach an average of 2% of its GDP to ensure that the EU becomes a global military power.

As a result, Ireland will have to increase its military expenditure by 2020. According to the Phoenix Magazine (1/12/17) the Government is seeking a leap in defence spending from the current €946 million in 2018 to around €3 billion plus by 2020. This is likely to result in major cuts in other areas such as the health sector.

Shannonwatch supports calls by PANA and other organisations to have a serious and open debate before this decision is made. Despite the rhetoric coming from supporters of PESCO, increased spending on weapons and military affairs will not improve our security. Indeed it has little to do with fighting terrorism or extremism, and more to do with the emergence of a military-industrial complex within the EU. Its stated aim is to “jointly develop defense capabilities, invest in shared projects and enhance the operational readiness and contribution of their armed forces.” As such it is a significant step towards the formation of an EU army.

As noted by Afri earlier this week, the single greatest action that Ireland can take in order to combat terrorism is to withdraw the facilities of Shannon Airport from the US military for use in wars of aggression, wars which have played a major part in increasing the global terrorist threat in the first place.

If Ireland signs up to PESCO it will further erode our long-standing and valued policy of neutrality. But the government appear intent on pushing this through without giving the Irish people an opportunity to consider the consequences. And they are likely to do so with the support of the Fianna Fail party.

Shannonwatch opposes Ireland's integration into all EU/US/NATO military structures. Joining PESCO is a very major step in that integration.

Related Link: http://www.shannonwatch.org/blog/debate-needed-pesco
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