Lets be clear the chemical attack last week was not done by Syria. It would make absolutely no sense. They have already more or less beaten the US/Uk/France (via Saudi proxies) backed ISIS terrorist group with the great help of Russia. Besides Syria destroyed all their chemical weapons a few years back under the watchful eyes of international agencies. So why on Earth would they bring the wrath of the world upon themselves. They are not that stupid. No this chemical attack like the other ones, is done via the terrorist cells (-trained, financed and armed by Western powers through local proxies) - against the "moderate terrorists" and ultimately arranged by their sponsors which is as US, UK & France, the very same states crying crocodile tears about human rights when they regularly bomb countries and people for "human rights". Even now as they screech in unison about this staged attack by them blaming it on the Syrians they have absolutely zero interests in the lives of the people in question. Even the most unobservable person can see it is used merely as a pretext to their agenda. That agenda however is not just to take action and drop bombs as always but something bigger and it is brilliantly outlined in the article written back before this latest fiasco where intelligence had already revealed that the US/UK were planning this latest attack. In short the agenda is to link the clumsy chemical poisoning of Skripal with the Syria chemical attack. The plan was simple. Russia is a monster for using chemical poisoning (except they didn't) and so is Syria too (except they didn't) and they are friends. Therefore Russia should be expelled from the 5 member UN security council and if that could be pulled off then the US/UK & France could safely ignore China and the "Western Free World" would have a free hand to bomb and intimidate who they like. You see the problem is the USA is in debt and technically should be insolvent but because the dollar is the global reserve currency backed by threat of US military, special forces and colour revolutions no-one dares challenge it except of course the Russia-China axis. Nevertheless USA had it's day in the sun and their power is declining. The UK think they can re-establish their colonial relationship and presumably they would be the dominant partner and need to hang on the coat tails of the USA to achieve their aims. Even though the USA is clearly the bigger of the two, the UK are much better at this game than the US could ever hope to be, hence the confidence they can successfully use them.

Related Links: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: Swiss lab says ‘BZ toxin’ used in Salisbury, NOT produced in Russia, was in US & UK service | A Curious Incident Part IX: Preliminary findings of OPCW Report on poisoning | Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy holds briefing for mass media | War, lies and censorship | US massacre of Syrian troops threatens to unleash wider war | Turkey publishes the whereabouts of five secret military bases in Syria that belong to France | Double Life of White Helmets: Volunteers by Day, Terrorists by Night (Photos) | BBC Caught Staging FAKE News Chemical Attack (2016) To Drag Britain into Syrian War | Libya, seven years of misfortune Nato | US-backed Saudi war and blockade puts millions of lives at risk in Yemen | US massacring hundreds of Syrian civilians every week in Raqqa | The abandonment of the CIA’s Syrian “rebels” and the pseudo-left accomplices of US imperialism | ISIS leader a confirmed CIA puppet
Jeremy Corbyn Diplomacy, and not bombing, is the way to end Syria’s agony

Looks like we have blindly picked Empire

We are publishing this piece by PANA explaining what PESCO is about and how it means the loss of our neutrality. Unfortunately since then on Dec 7th the Dail voted by 75 to 42 to join PESCO. Some key points are:
:
1) PESCO is a binding agreement because it says so. The government claims it is not. It is.
2) PESCO commits us to spending 2% of GDP on military spending by 2022. This is a figure of € 5.5 billion. We currently spend 1/10th of that on defense. This makes a mockery of "fiscal space"
3) PESCO in the event of crisis places under NATO's command. Therefore we are no longer neutral.
4) PESCO is the side door to Ireland joining a EU Army / NATO and would have us involved in "humanitarian" bombing and "peace making" -in other words imposing the demands of the corporate interests that rule above all else.

The Irish Government is considering joining PESCO. This will be one of the most important decisions this FG/Independeny Alliance will ever make. There needs at the very least a serious debate on the issue, and in any genuine debate form all sides in the corporate media. On the evidence so far this is highly improbable, as is their total lack of coverage of the use of Shannon Airport by US troops

Related Links: Government Ramming Through PESCO To Drag Us Into EU Army | Public Meeting - No EU Army Oppose PESCO -Mon 18th Dec | Germany Foreign Policy wonks gush about building EU Army | RTE report with appropriate spin on Dáil votes to join European defence organisation | EU Democray or Empire PDF or here

The three routes used by ISIS to transport stolen oil to Turkey

For the past year, there have been numerous reports that ISIS have been transporting the oil they have stolen from Iraq and Syria, to Turkey and this has been greatly facilitated by the Turkish state at the highest levels. It is widely known the oil was being sold and exported by BMZ Ltd owned by Bilal Erdogan, President Erodgan's son. It is extremely unlikely that they are doing this for nothing and tens of millions have probably been siphoned off by the Erdogan family and other key officials and the Turkish economy has no doubt benefitted from an injection of cheap stolen oil sold below world market rates. The Russian Defense Ministry on Dec 2nd revealed the vast scale of the oil smuggling operation which somehow was missed by the NATO/US in the past 2 years.

Related Indymedia Links: Syrian Refugees, ISIS / Al Nursa Butchers and Their Not So Secret Backing by Western Powers | The Paris Attacks -What's Going On ? | The French Republic taken hostage
Related External Links: Where will the Ukrainian bombs explode? (Hint: In Syria and blamed on Russians) | “The Art of War” The strategy of chaos | Why does France want to overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic ? | Why did Turkey shoot down the Russian Soukhoï 24 ? | More than 500 jihadists cared for at the Ziv Medical Centre | The method behind the madness in Syria | Turkish Special Services behind Terrorist smuggling, training: Whistleblower | Erdogan sends 'Grey Wolves' to Crimea - A History Lesson | What is the US cooking up for Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran? "Divide and conquer" on a whole new level | Why’s The US Hanging Turkey Out To Dry? | The Race For Raqqa And America’s Geopolitical Revenge In “Syraq” (I) | The Race For Raqqa And America’s Geopolitical Revenge In “Syraq” (II) | ‘US seek to control the EU elites via refugee crisis’ | Turkey Made Plans to Shoot Down Russian Su-24 a Month in Advance - Assange | Erdogan Blackmails NATO Allies | Massacre Proves Turk, Washington Complicity in Syria Terror By Finian Cunningham | Oil Smuggling and Syria: Is NATO No Better Than Turkey? | dA321 Crash: The Qatari Trace | ISIS-Linked Autocrats to Host British Navy | What Stinks in Saudi Ain’t the Camel Dung | You Cannot Fight Terrorism While You Are Supporting The Terrorists - Full Interview with President Bashar al-Assad by Czech TV - 1/12/15 | The Radar Recordings of the Turkish Attack on the Russian Su-24 | The Shaping of American Character | How the US Helped ISIS | In Plain Sight: Coalition Forces Routinely Air-Drop Military Supplies to ISIS Fighters In Syria | 10th Dec - 100,000 foreign troops incl. Americans to be deployed in Iraq, MP claims | EXCLUSIVE: Israeli Colonel Leading ISIL Terrorists Captured in Iraq | Syria's Assad blames France as Arab world condemns Paris attacks

In the last two months, the dramatic and sad photographs of 3 year old Aylan Kurdi, and his brother lying dead on the shores on a beach in Turkey have finally opened the curtain very slightly on the horrors and terror of war in Syria. It is hard to conceive the trauma of this family first seeing one of their other brothers beheaded by ISIS jihadists, then to flee and then for this man's wife and two remaining young children to drown in the sea whilst attempting to escape. If you were to listen to politicans from the UK all the way up to the present prime minister, you would think they were doing this so they could scab off the social welfare but as anyone knows, this was the act of a family desperate to flee the terror in their home country and get to safety at all costs. However Aylan Kurdi and his brother and mother aren't the only ones to drown or being killed in war, there are tens of thousands dead.

Margaretta, Niall and Clare Daly

SUMMARY: I arrived in Ennis without pen or notebook to support the action of Margaretta D'Arcy and Niall Farrell who protested on the runway of Shannon against the US military use of the airport. The following is a colour story of happenings on the day relying on memory only. I hope that someone else may provide a fuller report and my apologies for any errors in this report which are entirely my responsibility.

Related Links: Magaretta D'Arcy jailed | Statement from Margaretta D'Arcy on her Release from Mountjoy Prison | FREE Margaretta D'Arcy, US Out Of Shannon / National Demonstration |
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