An unprecedented Iranian government proposal, which could offer a definitive solution to the diplomatic crisis over its nuclear program, is being resisted by Britain.
Iran remains committed to enriching uranium on its own soil (for its nuclear power programme), but indicated seriously for the first time on 13 May that an international consortium could control the enrichment and nuclear fuel manufacturing process.
The idea had previously been floated through back channels with…
May saw a devastating surge in US air strikes on Iraq, often in densely populated areas. In the two months from late March, the military fired more than 200 Hellfire missiles on Baghdad alone, while only six such missiles were fired in the previous three months. The US army is keeping six Apache helicopters in the air above Baghdad, around the clock.
Residents of Sadr City have described recent air attacks on the Shia ghetto as indiscriminate. One such attack damaged a hospital and…
On 16 June, 24-year-old Matthis Chiroux, who joined the US army at 18, having been targeted by military recruiters since he was 16, and who served in Afghanistan among other places before being placed in the reserves, is due to be deployed to Iraq but is refusing to go.
“I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq. My decision is based on my desire to no…
BAE Systems AGM, 9 May. Some shareholders are confused about the legality of their profits. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) organised a protest outside, and difficult questions inside the AGM. The last question came from South African Andrew Feinstein who resigned as an ANC MP in 2001 when the Pretoria government refused to allow a full investigation into corruption allegations relating to a £5m arms deal involving BAE Systems.
Following their stunning defeat in the British high…
On 21 May, Tony “Bomber” Blair narrowly escaped being killed by an Israeli missile – an irony-laden fate for such a staunch supporter of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The former prime minister – who spearheaded the illegal invasion of Iraq, only to become a Middle East “peace envoy” (an irony we were unfortunately not denied) – was en route to Israel when two Israeli aircraft threatened to shoot down his jet.
The pilots were under the misapprehension that the aircraft was…
Over the past month Libya has been added to the list of countries subjected to drone strikes by US and British forces, joining Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq. Unfortunately, the list of countries facing these kind of remote attacks is only likely to grow as US military procurement plans, released this month, show that the Pentagon is planning to double its arsenal of large military drones over the next decade.
In Pakistan, anger at the continuing CIA drone strikes continues to…
Recent claims by Afghan president Hamid Karzai that the US has started “peace talks” with the Taliban – and official US confirmation that it has been engaged in “very preliminary” contacts with them – have fuelled media speculation about the possibilty of a negotiated end to the war, the option long favoured by the majority of ordinary Afghans (see PN 2530).
Though US officials have publicly justified military escalation by claiming that it is needed to force the Taliban to the…
A year ago, Freedom Flotilla 1 was attacked by the Israeli navy causing the deaths of nine crew members aboard the Mavi Marmara. The new flotilla will consist of 10 boats (two of them cargo ships), supported by campaigns in over 20 countries, including the UK. The Mavi Marmara, however, has pulled out of the flotilla, under pressure from the Turkish government.
On 16 May, a Malaysian ship carrying 7.5km of sewage pipes for Gaza’s shattered sewage system was fired on by Israeli naval…
On 1-2 June, Ray Bradford, Janet Fenton and Gillian Lawrence defended themselves against the charge of criminal trespass on a protected nuclear site, under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA), arising out of the Trident Ploughshares Big Blockade in February 2010.
The judge apparently paid attention to the defendants’ human rights and international humanitarian law arguments. All three were sentenced to only three months’ conditional discharge and costs of only £50 each…
Five defendants arrested at the Devonport blockade in November 2010 went free after appearing before Plymouth magistrates on 9-10 June.
Three Scottish defendants, who had locked-on across the gate to the dock where Trident nuclear submarines are serviced, had been charged with “obstruction of a constable”. The prosecution tried to change this at the hearing to “obstruction of the highway”. The District Judge dismissed the cases because “obstruction of the highway” was a summary…
The Arab Spring appears to be having positive results for Palestinians, notably the rapprochement between the main Palestinian political parties Fatah and Hamas, and the re-opening, after four years, of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
However, the antipathy between Fatah and Hamas persists and it remains to be seen whether they will indeed form a joint government and hold elections in 2012. And the re-opening of Rafah on 28 May was only partial: commercial traffic is not…
If you haven’t been hiding under a rock for the last couple of months, you will have heard about the Slutwalk movement – marches organised by women in cities across the globe to protest against the huge problem of victim-blaming culture relating to rape and sexual assault, provoked by a Toronto policeman’s comment that “women should avoid dressing like sluts” in order to avoid being raped. After the original Slutwalk Toronto, satellite marches quickly sprang up across the world, under the…
The El Sueno Existe music festival is held from 11-13 August in Machynlleth in the beautiful Dyfi valley. It is a vibrant fusion of Welsh and Latin American music, dance, poetry, film and political discussion, taking inspiration from Victor Jara, the Chilean theatre director and singer-songwriter who has become a symbol of the struggle for human rights and justice across Latin America.
This year, the festival will feature workshops and talks from on the theme Latin America rising: “…
The Llanidloes-As Sawiya Friendship Association (LASFA) group was formed about two years ago. As Sawiya is a village of approximately 3,000 people in Salfit province, right in the middle of the West Bank, Palestine. It is dominated on all its surrounding hills by illegal Israeli settlements, from which comes the continual threat of settler violence.
LASFA aims to provide support for this village through publicising its situation, financial contributions to community projects, and…
Faslane Peace Camp is now 29 years old. It is a humble collection of caravans and communal spaces by the side of the road near Faslane naval base where the British nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered submarines are stationed.
Many hundreds of people have lived at the camp over the years. They didn’t choose to live here for comfort or style, but because they wanted to be part of the constant vigil and direct action campaign against a morally-corrupt world with nuclear weapons.
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Claude Choules served in the British navy in the First World War, and then in the Australian navy in the Second World War.
Like Harry Patch, the last First World War veteran living in Britain, who died in 2009, Choules became a pacifist, refusing to celebrate Australia’s war memorial Anzac Day, or to join in commemoration marches.
Choules’s son Adrian told the Telegraph in 2010: “He used to say that while he was serving in the war he was trained to hate the enemy, but later he…
Ceredigion Against the Cuts march through
Aberystwyth. PHOTO: Alun Williams
Ceredigion Against the Cuts staged a successful rally in Aberystwyth on 7 May. Led by the local samba band, some 250 people marched through the town to a rally at the castle. Newly-elected assembly member Elin Jones was one of the speakers, alongside members of the PCS and Unison trade unions who had organised the rally together.
Other speakers included…
Peace News readers are invited to join Cymdeithas y Cymod (the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales) on their pilgrimage to the military training ground on Epynt in mid-Wales on 25 June.
The area between Epynt and Aberporth on Cardigan Bay is one of the two places in Europe where testing drones is permitted. These unmanned aeroplanes are part of the recent development in robots used as arms. Those used in Afghanistan and Libya are controlled thousands of miles away in a centre…
Emily Johns’ collection of pictures was exhibited at the University of Wales, Trinity St David in Carmarthen on 6 May. The event was hosted by the chaplaincy. The planning was undertaken by chaplain Ainsley Griffiths, the well known bardic poet Mererid Hopwood, Jeni Williams, poet and tutor at the University of Wales, Amnesty International and myself.
Mererid Hopwood read, in Welsh and in English, a moving poem she had composed for the occasion. Oghpgho Okpako from the Niger Delta…
PHOTO: Janet Fenton
The subs will be built with the more expensive PWR3 nuclear reactor rather than the less safe PWR2 one, but this will further increase the costs of the Trident replacement programme.
The aim is to base the new nuclear missile submarines at Faslane in Scotland until 2060. This is a decision that flies in the face of the will of the people of Scotland who have just elected a parliament with a clear majority of MSPs who are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons.
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