Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway but NOT for bankrupting the country and saddling it with billions of debt, NOT for corruption and other white collar crime, but for the crime of having a conscience and actually caring about her fellow human beings. That's correct. In this country you can destroy it in all sorts of ways and you will be fine as no banker, politician, developer, bond holder or other types of people who have been involved in economically destroying this country, and causing widespread austerity, hardship and misery which in itself has led to many suicides and so forth. None of these people have come before the courts or been jailed. However for the really serious crimes of still having your humanity at 79 and doing something about it instead of shutting up and doing nothing, for these crimes, the state will bring the full force of the law against you and will always find some narrow argument to shut out the wider context of your action, to convict you and get you quickly behind bar. In that way the state quickly ensures that this dangerous contagion doesn't spread and it serves as a lesson to all as to what might happen to them.

Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway.

Events: Demo in Support of Margaretta D'Arcy outside Limerick Prison on Fri 24th Jan at 5pm.

Related Links: Guantanamo Granny tries to arrest Judge | Court case against two GAAW members, Margaretta D’Arcy and Niall Farrell. | www.ShannonWatch.org
From the Archives: DDoS Attack: Website Monitoring Military and CIA Planes through Shannon Shannon, Torture, Troops, and Timebombs | Extraordinary Rendition Through Shannon: Protesters Point Finger At A Government In Denial | Airport Police move swiftly to suppress evidence. Is there a "torture jet" behind that warplane? | Letter from Prison: Shannon airport, civil disobedience and the anti-war movement in Ireland | The Real Nature of the Security around Shannon | Shannon WARport Blockade PICTURES | Three Thousand Protest War in Dublin - Two Protest at Shannon Warport Shannon Blockade Reports | Not Guilty. The Pitstop Ploughshares All Acquitted on All Charges | Another 5 go airside in Ploughshares action at Shannon Airport | Mary Kelly Trial | MASS ANTI-WAR TRESPASS AT SHANNON WARPORT A chronology of arrests etc at Shannon warport |

Today the mainstream media are claiming that there has been a chemical attack by the Syrian government near Damascus even whilst an UN inspection team arrives. The reports have been conflicting with the initial reports claiming 280 victims and then later up-ing it to over 1,300 killed.

However, the claims are predominantly coming from the so called Free Syrian Army who are backed and funded by some of the despotic Gulf States, as well as Saudi Arabia and by the Western powers principally France, USA and UK. This same group is made up mercenaries of all kinds including members of Al Qaeda who want to turn the country backwards and bring in Sharia Law and just back in May 2013 the UN accused the Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons.

What is most telling though is that it makes absolutely no sense for the Syrian government to do this. In recent months they have retaken areas held by rebels and seem to have repelled several attack campaigns in the past two year. And France in particular as well as the other powers have been consistently in the last year being trying to throw the mud of chemical weapons and then chemical weapon attacks in a clear effort to force public opinion to back no-fly zones and from there total demolition of the country and invasion followed later by a pliant regime. The end game is to clear the way for an attack on Iran which the crazies have been pushing hard for many years.

Update:: Mint Press News: EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Indymedia Links:
Saudi Rulers Pour Money Into Arming Militants In Region | Syria: One "humanitarian" intervention too far | Hacker unearths plot against Syria / Iran | Interview with Syrian Communist on conflict in Syria | Syrian TV reporter killed by rebel sniper near Qusair |
Other Links:
Syria: Chemical weapons used by rebels came from Turkey -Times of Israel -Apr 2013 | Putin claims proof Syrian rebels used chemical weapons -June 2013 -Refers to earlier chemical attack. | UN: Syrian Rebels Used Chemical Weapons - The nerve agent sarin was used by 'the rebels, not by the government authorities' -refers to earlier rebel chemical weapon attack |
John Kerry’s “Colin Powell moment” | Australian government backs US-led campaign against Syria | Lying About Syria | US Uses Past Crimes to Legalize Future Ones | Hypocrisy! - CIA helped Saddam gas Iran in ’88 | Syrian army finds chemicals in militants tunnels -Press TV | Syria: Another Western War Crime In The Making -

Gene Sharp, harmless old man or cynical CIA asset?

Abstract: For most progressive activists, it is a given that the military-industrial complex is a clear and highly visible barrier to progressive social change. So it is particularly interesting to note that a number of groups involved in progressive activist education – which are held in high regard by activists – maintain strong links to military and political elites. One of the best known of these organisations is the US-based Albert Einstein Institution. This paper will provide a systematic analysis of the history of this Institution, and the key people associated with it, and demonstrate how their work is intimately linked to the international democracy-manipulating community – whose work is exemplified by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy, a group which is well-known for its support of the failed 2002 coup in Venezuela. This analysis will expose the crucial role such activist educators play in catalysing revolutions in countries deemed appropriative for regime change by transnational elites. In the light of the dubious nature of these educational activities, this paper will conclude by offering a number of suggestions for how concerned citizens and educators may counter the cynical (ab)use of activist education by political elites as a new and powerful tool of imperialism.

Related Links: 'How To Start A Revolution'
Thierry Meyssan on AEI / Gene Sharp | Sharp attack unwarranted - defence of Gene Sharp in FPIF by Stephen Zunes | Sharp reflection warranted - a robust response by Michael Barker | How to start a wall street backed revolution | How to start a revolution (propaganda film teaser) | Sourcewatch AEI page | NED website | Gene Sharp (wikipedia) | Tony Cartalucci's "landdestroyer" blog

For the past six months and longer once Libya had fallen to the NATO sponsored 'rebels', we have faced a continuous media onslaught about Syria with reports of protests, shootings, killings, attacks, bombing and so forth. The backdrop to the narrative is that this is part of the Arab Spring which started last year and it is a good thing overall. So many people are probably wondering what really has been happening, given that this is the same media that was cheer leading the Iraq war almost 10 years ago even though at least a million+ are now dead as a result. And yet somehow they want to imply that they are doing the right thing now. We should also recall that this is the same media that is promoting austerity and encouraging us to accept the blame for the mad years of the bubble and as a consequence we should pay up the €90 billion bailout and in the process see all the state services stripped to the bone. They are presenting the uncomplicated truth surely

Related Links: The Reality Of Sanctions On Syria. | A mistaken case for Syrian regime change | Arab League suspension of Syria brings military intervention closer | The Myth of “Isolated” Iran | Real Friends of Syria | SyriansWorldWide Youtube Channel

Guns and Butter interview of Tarpley. NATO's assault on Syria 10.27 Mb

Omni troop carriers. Shannon Dec 2011

Below we reproduce a handwritten communication we received from one of the members of the Peace Team that sabotaged a US troop transporter at Shannon warport last Tuesday morning, 20th December 2011. We have verified that this person participated in this action.

Shannon Links: Timeline of activity: MASS ANTI-WAR TRESPASS AT SHANNON WARPORT | War Monitoring continues while Dubsky trial starts Mass Demonstration at Shannon Warport | Peace Activist VS US Military Jet | Another 5 go airside in Ploughshares action at Shannon Airport | Good Friday Resistance at Shannon Airport | Mary Kelly Trial
Related Links: OPPORTUNITY MISSED - Pentagon Documents reveal U.S. military were willing to abandon Ireland as a... | Do some deaths matter more than others? | New study on Iraqi deaths | RTÉ & Iraqi civilian casualties | “Why did you kill my brother? We’re not terrorists. We didn’t do anything to you”