Missile Defense: The Other Story

New missile defense architecture, expanded role for NATO By Bruce Gagnon

19 September, 2009 — Global ResearchSpace for Peace

missile-threat.jpgWe are witnessing a flurry of emails and articles proclaiming victory after President Obama’s announcement that he was going to scrap George W. Bush’s plans to deploy missile defense interceptors in Poland and a Star Wars radar in the Czech Republic. There is no doubt that our peace activist friends in those two countries do indeed have reason to celebrate after their hard and determined work to stop those deployments. We also need to recognize and thank the many people around the world who acted in solidarity with them during these past couple years of intensive campaigning.

But now that we’ve had a day to rejoice, the time has come for more reflection on what the Obama administration intends to do next. I’ve quickly learned during these eight months of watching Obama in action that when he gives something with one hand it is wise to watch what his other hand is taking away.

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Hands off my camera! By Nathalie Rothschild

16 September 2009 — Spiked

spiked joined a ‘flash mob’ where photographers stood up against anti-terror laws and defended the right to snap.

From holiday snaps to amateur shooting and photojournalism, photography is becoming a tricky hobby and business in Britain today.

Since the Counter-Terrorism Act 2000 came into force, many amateur and professional photographers have found themselves questioned, manhandled and detained by police who have received extended stop and search rights. Under section 44, uniformed police officers can stop individuals ‘for the purposes of searching for articles of a kind which could be used in connection with terrorism’. However, ‘the powers do not require a reasonable suspicion that such articles will be found’.

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A photographer and his camera at the Canary Wharf flash mob

As many photographers have experienced, cameras – especially if they are professional-looking or are mounted on a tripod – are now often deemed ‘suspicious articles’. More and more professional and amateur snappers are being stopped by police while documenting everything from demonstrations to bus stations and street life in Britain. In December last year, one photographer was detained under Section 44 while covering a wedding in east London. At the start of this year, police stopped an amateur photographer shooting ships in Cleveland, demanding to know if he had any terrorism connections. And in April, an Austrian father and son photographing Vauxhall bus station while on holiday in London were ordered by police to delete their pictures in the name of preventing terrorism.

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The Execution of a Palestinian Journalist

19 September, 2009 — Palestine Think Tank

qudsi.jpgOn Wednesday, August 26 2009, the criminal Israeli occupation forces shot the Palestinian journalist Ubayda Maher Al-Qudsi, aged 25, while he was walking on Al-Shuhada Street in the heart of the occupied city of Hebron.

To justify the murder, the IDF murderers claimed that Al-Dweik had attempted to attack an IDF soldier with a knife. No knife and no injured soldier were found where Al-Dweik was shot, and the things happened very differently from the usual lies of the IDF.

qudsi-02.jpgThe Palestinians who witnessed the crime stated that the soldiers stopped Al-Qudsi and were searching him, all the while mistreating and humiliating him. One of the jewish soldiers not involved in the search shot Al-Dweik in cold blood five times. After that, one group of soldiers dragged Al-Dweik like a sack for what was described as several hundred meters, then threw him violently into the back of their jeep and proceeded to beat him with extreme violence. Another group of soldiers present during the crime attacked the Palestinians present in the area, and arrested many children and youth who had witnessed the crime. The soldiers finally declared the crime scene a “military zone”. A Red Cross ambulance was not allowed to reach the victim, and the medical team of the ambulance was attacked by the soldiers. Instead, Al-Dweik was later delivered to the Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem, where he was held detained by military.

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Climate Justice: ‘A potent mix of 46 essays, talks and declarations’

19 September, 2009 – Climate and Capitalism

Ecoclub reviews The Global Fight for Climate Justice

The Global Fight for Climate Justice
Edited by Ian Angus
284 pages, Publisher: Resistance Books, London, UK

(reviewed in ecoclub.com)

‘From the standpoint of a higher economic form of society, private ownership of the globe by single individuals will appear quite as absurd as private ownership of one man by another. Even a whole society, a nation, or even all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not the owners of the globe. They are only its possessors, its beneficiaries, and they must hand it down to succeeding generations in an improved condition’ — Karl Marx

This stimulating book features a potent mix of 46 essays, talks and declarations new, recent and old, from famous politicians and lesser-known activists alike, tackling the issue of Climate Change and Climate Justice, not from the usual, apolitical, mainstream environmentalist angle, but from a left/ecosocialist viewpoint, one which considers global warming an issue of systemic ‘oppression, exploitation & injustice.’

The main conclusion of all articles is that ecological sustainability is incompatible with the current capitalist world model and that it will take much more than tinkering with the model to achieve it. Even if you do not agree with all the arguments and some of the ideologically-charged conclusions you will still find this collection useful in helping you re-evaluate some no-tears, environmentalism-lite solutions.

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