Anti-war meeting at the Shannon Airport. read full story / add a comment

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. read full story / add a comment

This is a repost from Thierry Meyssan site and it discusses how the US military-intelligence industrial complex has co-opted the far Left, largely unrealized to themselves in the fight for US imperialism. The story of Kobane and Rojava got a surprising amount of coverage in the mainstream and that in itself is often a red flag because they don't give publicity for nothing unless there is a propaganda reason for it. While maybe a surprise to some, the US via it's pawns like Saudi Arabia and up to recently Turkey, were and are the main backers of ISIS in all it's forms, from support, logistics, weapons, oil-purchase, it is all part of a greater goal to destroy Syria, and use the Kurds to carve out their own state and in the process to give the US a bridgehead to attack Iran, break up Iraq, and permanently cripple Syria. The US will also ensure that if the Kurds manage to form their own state, they will setup it up to Balkanize it and leave it in a permanent state of war so they can play the old divide and conquer game. Over the previous decades the US has previously backed and then dropped the support for the Kurds many time and betrayed them. So while the Kurds may well deserve their own state, these things do not occur in a vaccum.

When the Russians were invited by Syria to support it in crushing ISIS in 2014 and so far they have gone along way and block the US's plan A for Syria, they came up with plan B to use the Kurds to achieve the goal. There is no doubt that there was and is a pre-existing left leaning movement within the Kurds and even with Anarchist tendencies or elements to it but it just seemed all too good to be true and the immense resources and budgets of US imperalism and it's NATO allies, has the means to control the show as outlined in Meyssan's article read full story / add a comment

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) has recently started to publish a Monthly Report on Munitions of War Exemptions issued under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order, 1973 on its website. It can be be accessed via the following link http://www.dttas.ie/aviation/publications/english/stati...s-war. read full story / add a comment

On 24 May 2017, two peace activists Dave Donnellan and Colm Roddy were sent for jury trial because the District Court judge finally refused to accept jurisdiction. The judge said the alleged criminal damage newly set at €3,500 was so large as to make it a serious charge. read full story / add a comment

The unsayable in Britain’s general election campaign is this. The causes of the Manchester atrocity, in which 22 mostly young people were murdered by a jihadist, are being suppressed to protect the secrets of British foreign policy.
Critical questions – such as why the security service MI5 maintained terrorist “assets” in Manchester and why the government did not warn the public of the threat in their midst – remain unanswered, deflected by the promise of an internal “review”. read full story / add a comment

Since April 4, 2017, violent anti-government protests have rocked Venezuela.

Characterised by deadly clashes between state security forces and opposition demonstrators, vandalism and destruction of public institutions, and the assassination of Chavista supporters, the unrest has left 31 people dead to date. Hundreds more have been injured.

Despite the heavy press coverage, there is significant confusion over how these deaths occurred and at the hands of whom. In a bid for clarity, Venezuelanalysis provides readers with an in-depth and a complete account of the deaths so far below. read full story / add a comment

In an article published in the Irish Times on April 8th, the paper's former foreign correspondent Patrick Smith claimed that the concept of neutrality was obsolete for Ireland. In a response published on April 14th John Maguire outlines why that is not the case. ShannonWatch has reprinted his excellent letter in full on their website and it is reprinted here too. read full story / add a comment

Donald Trump, a neo-fascist demogog brought to power on a wave of reactionary sentiment is also one of the cabal of white male billionaire oligarchs that have largely ruled that country since its inception as a slave-owning Anglo settler state. The only thing that will bring down this regime is for the rest of us to unite worldwide and economically STARVE this maniacal beast-Boycott Divest & Sanction the U.S. until this regime crumbles from lack of incoming profits to its Wall Street corporate mafia! read full story / add a comment

Fifteen years after Shannon Airport was made available to the US military for their illegal invasions of Afghanistan and then Iraq, both countries are in violent turmoil. Here's a small snapshot of what happened in the last couple of days alone:

On Sept 30th a US drone strike in Nangarhar, Afghanistan killed 15 civilians.
On Sept 28t in Iraq IS set fire to 3 more oil wells; Iraqi forces launched an offensive near Ramadi after capturing additional nearby territory last week; US helicopters transported IS captives from remote areas in Anbar to undisclosed destinations, possibly to be tortured; and IS bombings in Shiite areas of Baghdad killed at least 17 people.
The US agreed to send more troops in addition to the 4,400 who are already officially deployed there. These probably went through - or will go through - Shannon.
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Shannonwatch is hosting a series of events at Shannon Airport on October 8th and 9th to mark the 15th anniversary of the illegal US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Please email us on shannonwatch@gmail.com if you are interested in attending some or all of what is planned. read full story / add a comment

Even though this story broke in early Aug, it received almost zero coverage except on RT.com. Given the biggest thing in the 1990s was the breakup and wars in the former Yugoslavia and Slobodan Milosevic the former president of Yugoslavia and the endless accusations of war crimes and so forth against Milosevic who was eventually tried in the Hague, it now comes as very big news to discover he has been belatedly pardoned and completely exonerated and therefore it is important that what really happened and the role of NATO as the instrument of the Neo Cons needs to be re-examined.

From RT.com: The ICTY’s exoneration of the late Slobodan Milosevic, the former President of Yugoslavia, for war crimes committed in the Bosnia war, proves again we should take NATO claims regarding its ’official enemies’ not with a pinch of salt, but a huge lorry load.

For the past twenty odd years, neocon commentators and 'liberal interventionist' pundits have been telling us at every possible opportunity, that Milosevic (a democratically elected leader in a country where over 20 political parties freely operated) was an evil genocidal dictator who was to blame for ALL the deaths in the Balkans in the 1990s. Repeat after me in a robotic voice (while making robotic arm movements): 'Milosevic's genocidal aggression' 'Milosevic's genocidal aggression'. read full story / add a comment

VID - Pitstop Ploughshares disarm U.S. War Plane Shannon Airport 2003
jailed-bailed-3 X tried-acquitted 2006...... ten years on the resistance continues
http://tinyurl.com/j3wya99
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Thankfully, before it's too late, I realized the truth; that is, anything which is organized by the Malaysia's Opposition ([especially by racist and fascist anti-Indigenous/anti-Muslim party of DAP (Democratic Action Party – ('democratic', my foot) - suspected to receive much hidden donation from ISrael, to the total of US 300 million and training from Mossad, through Singapore-based account] including under the guise of the so-called Human Rights March . read full story / add a comment

Both men were arrested at Shannon Airport on May 25th, after entering the airfield, painting anti war markings & slogans on the runway, and then making their way over to a USAF C21 jet, (a 2nd military aircraft, an unmarked special forces C32B had already taken off before the presence of the men was detected by the Army sentries). The men were inside the perimeter walking around with a very large tricolour flag for 40 minutes before they were spotted by the Irish Army, approaching the US Airforce Jet.
They were held for over 24 hours, then brought to Gort where the Judge granted a state application for their bail conditions to ban them from entering County Clare other than for court related matters.
Yesterday they were in Ennis District Court, where they applied for disclosure (copies of statements and other evidence) and a variation on their bail conditions. read full story / add a comment

with Pitstop Ploughshares
Deirdre Clancy, Damien Moran & Ciaron O'Reilly
https://tinyurl.com/zpcp7l7

VENUE Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square W, Dublin 1
https://www.yelp.ie/biz/the-teachers-club-dublin

ENTRY: Free or Donation to defray costs of staging the event.

Facebook page
https://tinyurl.com/zfunoen
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Shannonwatch have recorded an unusual number of US military aircraft at and overflying Shannon Airport since June 4th. This time period coincides with the preparations for NATO Anaconda-2016 military exercises in Poland which are being conducted from June 7th to 17th. (See list below)

The 10-day military exercise [1], involves 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries. The Guardian [2] described it as follows "The largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war has started in Poland, as Nato and partner countries seek to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russia's assertiveness and actions". The UK Independent [3] said it was one of the biggest exercises on NATO's eastern flank since the end of the Cold War, and was a move likely to put further strain on the already-tense relations between the Kremlin and the West read full story / add a comment

On Wednesday June 1st a US Air Force Dornier C-146A Wolfhound, 11-3075, sat on the tarmac at Shannon Airport being watched carefully by an Irish army patrol. It had come from Grand Canaria - Las Palmas in Spain, and on Thursday it travelled on to St John's Newfoundland. Its call sign was REACH1042.

The aircraft is operated by the US Air Force 524th Special Operations Squadron which is part of the 27th Special Operations Wing. This Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) unit flies a fleet of non-standard transport aircraft in support of special operations. Their missions, which are typically covert, include insertion, extraction and resupply of special operations forces. read full story / add a comment

VID (2 mins)-Julian Assange 2000 days arbitrarily detained in England:
statement by former anti-war prisoner of U.S Ciaron O'Reilly
https://youtu.be/HDB0jKI6st0 read full story / add a comment

Peace activists were arrested after they had sprayed a red cross on runway and arrived at a US jet to examine it for arms. read full story / add a comment