Archive
US to take over UK nuclear weapons
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:05:59 GMT
The controversial US arms dealer, Lockheed Martin will lead a consortium of multinational private firms to run the UK’s nuclear bomb base at Coulport on the Clyde.
British defence ministers have decided to give the administration of the highly sensitive job of managing more than 200 Trident nuclear warheads, and arming the Royal
Navy’s submarines to US arms dealer within the next year.
Trade unionists and disarmament campaigners as well as Scotland National Party (SNP) has condemned the decision and urged for a rethink.
They described the decision as a cost-saving, job-cutting “kick in the teeth to the workforce” that will put nuclear safety at risk.
Up to 200 Coulport workers have been told that they will be seconded from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to a newly formed private-sector consortium called ABL.
ABL brings together AWE – which runs the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire – Babcock, the British engineering company and US-owned Lockheed Martin Strategic Systems UK.
AWE is itself a consortium involving Lockheed Martin; another big US firm, Jacobs Engineering; and the UK management privatisation company, Serco.
According to the MoD’s detailed internal plan leaked to the Sunday Herald, ABL will be granted a contract to run Coulport for 15 years.
Canada: Royals, Parasites on Circus Tour
Sunday, 05 June 2011 05:34
‘A Canadian politician has described the visiting duke and duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, as “parasites” on sort of a “circus tour” to the North American country. The newly wed royals are to tour Canada on their first official visit abroad between June 30 and July 8.
Amir Khadir, a left wing member of the National Assembly of Quebec from Solidaire party, described the British monarchy as a “parasitic system that was inherited from ancient times.” “A nation worthy of the 21st Century has no need for a monarchy or people with a bloodline,” he stressed.’
Global Awakening, Re-Imagining Reality!
Sunday, 05 June 2011 05:38
‘The age of rage has emerged! It’s sweeping across borders, from the Middle East, to Europe and the Americas. Freedom-seeking people, who have had enough of political repression, police brutality and dictatorship, are calling for their sisters and brothers to wake up from a worldly delusion.
Somewhere along a road packed with Hollywood films and MTV music videos with their subliminal messages manipulating our lives, weekly celebrity magazines and coca cola bottles shrinking our world, we became the prison guards of our once free minds. And as we lost touch with our self-awareness, we began to increasingly give in to materialistic temptations.’
US Forces Open Fire on Afghan Schoolchildren
Sunday, 05 June 2011 06:09
‘US forces in Afghanistan have reportedly opened fire on school children in the troubled eastern Nangarhar Province, witnesses and residents say. Witnesses told Press TV on Saturday that the Americans shot at students who were leaving the school.
They say the shooting came after US forces came under a bomb attack near the school.’
Israelis to Protest Against Netanyahu
Sunday, 05 June 2011 06:13
‘The Israeli and Palestinian activists are to stage a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to welcome the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The rally is expected to be held in Tel Aviv on Saturday under the slogan “Netanyahu said no and we say yes to the Palestinian state,” and “Netanyahu is leading us to disaster,” read a statement by Israel-based NGO Peace Now, reported Wafa, the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s news agency.
The demonstration would take place on the eve of the anniversary of Israel 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip.’
Chile Volcano Erupts, Forces Evacuation
Sunday, 05 June 2011 06:32
‘Thousands of people in Chile have received evacuation orders after the southern Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century. Some 3,500 people were ordered to evacuate their homes as the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain produced a 10-kilometer high column of smoke, AFP reported.’
The Obama Surveillance State
Sunday, 05 June 2011 06:47
‘Big Brother got even bigger under the first “Brotha” president, Barack Obama. Government also became even more secretive. “The Obama Justice Department says that only the executive branch has the power to determine what information courts ought to have” – a novel doctrine that wreaks havoc with the rights of people accused of crimes, especially whistleblowers. The death of Osama bin Laden, says Obama’s Attorney General, makes the Patriot Act even more vital to national security. “Perhaps we were better off when bin Laden was still alive.”‘
Read more: The Obama Surveillance State
The Greatest Depression Has Only Begun
Sunday, 05 June 2011 07:12
‘The greatest depression in human history is still in its starting stages. What the media and many officials often refer to as the “hangover” from the global financial crisis is in fact the end of the beginning.
Originating in 2008, the global economic crisis took the world by storm: banks collapsed, the “too big to fail” became bigger by consolidating the rest, governments bailed out their financial industries, masses of people lost their jobs, the ‘developing’ world was plunged into a deep systemic crisis, food prices rose, which in time spurred social unrest; and the Western nations that took on the bad debts of the big banks are on the precipice of a great global debt crisis, originating in Europe, hitting Greece and Spain, but destined to consume the industrialized world itself. Though many claim that we are in a “recovery,” things could not be further from the truth.
As the mainstream media is finally catching on to the reality of the mirage of the so-called “recovery”, reports are surfacing about a dire global economic situation.’
Worse by the Day in Jerusalem
Saturday, 04 June 2011 06:36
‘As thousands of right-wing Israeli settlers descended on Jerusalem to celebrate the so-called unification of the city this week, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem were confronted by extreme provocations and the stark reality that their city remains very much divided.
“My shop was broken into a couple of times, a few times, when I’m here on Jerusalem Day,” explained East Jerusalem resident Basem Hallak, who has owned an antique shop in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City for 25 years.
“You will see kids – by the meaning of kids (I mean) from the age of 16, 17 – and what they are doing is carrying machine guns, carrying guns, walking like, ‘This is our city and you (Palestinians) are out of the game. You are out, completely out’,” Hallak told IPS.’
Read more: Worse by the Day in Jerusalem
Believe nothing 