from:"jonathan"

Title: "Suffer the little children"

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-From: John O
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: 15 April 2002 09:48To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: "Suffer the little
children"
==
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
(NCADC)

110
Hamstead Road

Birmingham B20 2QS

Phone: 0121-554-6947 Fax: 0121-554-7891

E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Web site:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/
==

"Suffer the little children"

"Suffer the little children who come unto Britain, for
theirs shall be the kingdom of the accommodation and removal
centre"
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, chapters 2
5, verses numerous

"and deportation, shall follow them, all the days
of their lives."
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, chapter 4, verse
52

The Nationality, Immigration and
Asylum bill, was published last Friday the 12th
of April. Its sheer nastiness beggars description. None of the concerns of those
asked to submit consultative papers on the bill were met. NCADC doubts the
papers were even read.

Children who have no choice of where they are born, or
choice of what countries their parents choose to seek asylum, are the latest
targets of New Labour's immigration paranoia.
Legislation now going through parliament, if it becomes law,
will mean that children on arrival will face Induction Centres, Accommodation
Centres and Removal Centres.
Children held in accommodation centres will be subject
to statutory segregation, they will not be allowed to attend schools or
nurseries outside the centre. (Part 2, clause 30,3).
Children can be served with deportation notices, along
with their parents. (Part 4, clause 52,1)
If they are dispersed into the community, they will find
themselves in the most deprived areas of the UK. If their parents asylum claim
fails, the children no matter how young or however long they have been here, can
be put in detention to await removal. In all of this they will have no
say.

For their parents and individuals the Nationality, Immigration
and Asylum bill, just means more detention and dispersal, which always lead
to discrimination, destitution, self harm, and more than likely back to
detention and then removal. All this they face if they don't die trying to get
here or commit suicide in desperation not to be returned to their country of
origin.

Families in accommodation centres will be means
tested, (part 2, clause 27).

Sentence first, judgement afterwards: Super fast
tracking - a deportation order can be served and removal directions set on the
same day that an asylum claim is made, or any time afterwards, (part 4, clause
56, 4a), though not enforceable till final decision on claim.

These are just a few examples of a thoroughly unjust bill.
David Blunkett said when presenting "Secure Borders, Safe Haven", the precursor
to the bill, this would create a "more robust, faster and efficient
system." Robust it certainly is, if R is for
rotten, O for obscene, B
for brutal, U for ugly,
S for sick and T for tyrannical.

"The bill is even
harsher than the white paper," Habib Rahman, Joint Council for the
Welfare of Immigrants.

"The government's
proposals to crack down on those who abuse the asylum system is in real danger
of cracking down on those who genuinely need it - those who have been persecuted
in other countries, those who have a right to be here." John Wadham,
director of Liberty.

The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill, is not yet law. Let your MP know what you think about
the new bill. Use Faxyourmp.com which you can access from the left hand frame
at:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/

=
Copies of the proposed legislation the Nationality, Immigration and
Asylum bill, (this is a technical document, in PDF format), with the more
readable explanatory document (word doc), can be obtained from NCADC.

For the bill, return a BLANK message in the subject line put: subscribe
bill doc

For the Explanatory document, return a BLANK message in the subject
line put: subscribe Explanatory doc.

For both, return a BLANK message in the subject line put: subscribe
both

This is an automated service, any messages which contain text in the body,
will bounce back to you.
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FW: US credibility in ME shattered!!! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 15 April 2002 07:33
To: jonathan; Kofi Amegashie
Subject: US credibility in ME shattered!!!

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=284647

Robert Fisk: Mr Powell must see for himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin

The credibility of US policy on the conflict has been shattered
Independent Digital (UK) Ltd4 April 2002

The credibility of US policy on the conflict has been shattered

14 April 2002

Why doesn't Colin Powell go to Jenin? What has happened to the world's
moral compass - indeed to the United States - when America's most famous
ex-general, the Secretary of State of the most powerful country on
earth, on a supposedly desperate mission to stop the bloodshed in the
Middle East, fails to grasp what is taking place in front of his nose?
The stench of decaying corpses is wafting out of the Palestinian city.
The Israeli army is still keeping the Red Cross and journalists from
seeing the evidence of the mass killings that have taken place there.
Hundreds'' - on Israel's own admission - have died, including
civilians. Why, for God's sake, can't Mr Powell do the decent thing and
demand an explanation for the extraordinary, sinister events that have
taken place in Jenin?
Instead, after joshing with Ariel Sharon after his arrival in
Jerusalem on Friday, Mr Powell is playing games, demanding that Yasser
Arafat condemn Friday's bloody suicide bombing in Jerusalem (total, six
dead and 65 wounded) while failing to utter more than a word of
concern'' for the infinitely more terrible death toll in Jenin. Is Mr
Powell frightened of the Israelis? Does he really have to debase himself
in this way? Does he think that meeting Arafat, or refusing to do so,
takes precedence over the enormous humanitarian tragedy and slaughter
that has overwhelmed the Palestinians? Is President Bush - whose demand
that Ariel Sharon withdraw his troops from the West Bank has been
blandly ignored - so gutless, so cynical, as to allow this charade to
continue? For this is the endgame, the very final proof that the United
States is no longer morally worthy of being a Middle East peacemaker.
Even for one who has witnessed so much duplicity in the Middle East,
it is a shock to reflect on the events of the past nine days. Let's just
remember, as the Americans would say, the facts. Almost two weeks ago,
the United Nations Security Council, with the active participation and
support of the United States, demanded an immediate end to Israel's
reoccupation of the West Bank and Gaza. President Bush insisted that Mr
Sharon should follow the advice of Israel's American friends'' and -
because our own Mr Blair was with the President at the time - of
Israel's British friends, and withdraw. When I say withdraw, I mean
it, Mr Bush snapped three days later. But of course, it's now clear
that he meant nothing of the kind.
Instead, he sent Mr Powell off on his urgent mission of peace, a
journey to Israel and the West Bank that would take the Secretary of
State an incredible eight days - just enough time, Mr Bush presumably
thought, to allow his good friend'' Mr Sharon to finish his latest
bloody adventure in the West Bank. Supposedly unaware that Israel's
chief of staff, Shoal Mofaz, had told Mr Sharon that he needed at least
eight weeks to finish the job'' of crushing the Palestinians, Mr Powell
wandered off around the Mediterranean, dawdling in Morocco, Spain, Egypt
and Jordan before finally washing up in Israel on Friday morning. If
Washington firefighters took that long to reach a blaze, the American
capital would long ago have turned to ashes. But of course, the purpose
of Mr Powell's idleness was to allow enough time for Jenin to be turned
to ashes. Mission, I suppose, accomplished.
As Israel's indisciplined soldiery yesterday continued to hide their
deeds from the outside world by preventing the Red Cross, aid workers,
ambulances and journalists from entering the rubble of Jenin, Mr Powell
was sitting idly by in Israel, calling for the utmost restraint'' from
an army that has not yet finished filling the mass graves of Jenin. That
he should see a visit to Yasser Arafat - the grotesque, corrupt old man
of Ramallah - as the make-or-break issue of his peacemaking shows just
how skewed Mr Powell's morality has become. Mr Arafat's advisers (let's
not give any credit to the would-be martyr-chairman of the Palestinian
Authority for this) shrewdly announced that it is for Mr Powell to
condemn the killings in Jenin, for Mr Arafat could be expected to
condemn the vicious suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Friday. And even
though Mr Arafat mouthed the relevant words of contrition and
condemnation yesterday afternoon, it makes little difference.
All last week, while Mr Sharon's soldiers were running amok in
Jenin, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was playing the role of Mr
Sharon's

FW: Israeli War Crimes, US double standards!!! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 15 April 2002 07:08
To: jonathan; Kofi Amegashie; Ayo Obisanya
Subject: Israeli War Crimes, US double standards!!!

At least the UK media are being objective of sorts.Does this mean that the
Jewish controlled US networks aren't aware of what's going on???

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=284823

The camp that became a slaughterhouse
By Justin Huggler
14 April 2002

A woman with her leg all but ripped off by a helicopter rocket, the
mangled remains hanging on by a thread of skin as she slowly bleeds to
death. A 10-year-old boy lying dead in the street, his arm blown off and
a great hole in his side. A mother shot dead when she ran into the
street to scream for help for her dying son. The wounded left to die
slowly, in horrible agony, because the ambulances were not allowed in to
treat them.

A terrible crime has been committed by Israel in Jenin refugee camp, and
the world is turning a blind eye. Colin Powell, the US Secretary of
State, visited the scene of a suicide bombing that murdered six Israelis
in Jerusalem, but he did not visit Jenin, where the Israelis admit they
killed at least 100 Palestinians. The Israel army claims all of the dead
were armed men, that it took special care to avoid civilian casualties.
But we saw the helicopter rockets rain down on desperately crowded
areas: civilian casualties could not have been prevented.

The Israeli army sealed off the entire area around Jenin yesterday,
arresting journalists who ventured into it. That is because they have
something to hide in Jenin: the bodies.

The Israeli army has told the Israeli courts that it will not start
burying the bodies until Sunday. But there are abundant eyewitnesses who
say they have already seen the soldiers piling the bodies in mass
graves. Hiding the bodies is what Slobodan Milosevic did in Kosovo.

Either way, the Palestinians are not allowed to bury their own dead,
because Israel does not want the world to see what happened inside Jenin
refugee camp. The grieving have no way of knowing where to find the
bodies of those they have lost.

For nine days, Jenin camp became a slaughterhouse. Fifteen thousand
Palestinians lived in a square kilometre in the camp, a packed warren of
narrow lanes. Thousands of terrified civilians, women and children,
cowered inside their homes while the Israeli helicopters rained down
rockets on them and tanks fired shells into the camp.

The wounded were left to die. The Israeli army refused to allow
ambulances in to treat them, which is a war crime under the Geneva
Conventions. The Red Cross has publicly said people have died because
Israel blocked the ambulances. Slobodan Milosevic is on trial in the
Hague for breaking the Geneva Conventions, while Ariel Sharon shakes
Colin Powell's hand for the television cameras. The Geneva Conventions
are in tatters in Israel.

The Israeli authorities may be able to hide the evidence, but they
cannot silence the stories that have been pouring out of those who
managed to escape the carnage in the camp. These stories cannot be
verified yet, but there are scores of them, and many agree in details.
Fikri abu al-Heija was one of those who came out of the carnage in the camp.

At the beginning the soldiers came and surrounded the camp with tanks,
he says. There were two Apache helicopters. A rocket hit our house ?
they were concentrating the rockets on the houses. All the windows were
broken by the explosions. All you could hear was explosions. When the
rocket hit the house, everybody gathered together on the lower floors. A
woman was with us from the second floor who had had her leg almost cut
off by the rocket. It was just hanging on by a little piece of skin. We
saw the ambulance coming for her but the soldiers stopped it.

Six days after the attack, Mr abu al-Heija was captured by the soldiers.
They made us take off our clothes and tied us in groups of five with
metal wire. As we were walking through the camp we saw demolished
houses, burning houses, bodies in the street. Every 10 or 20 metres
there was a body. I recognised some. One was a cousin of mine. His name
was Ashraf abu al-Heija.

The Palestinians have been writing all the accounts like Mr abu
al-Heija's down: they are not going to allow what happened at Jenin to
be covered up. The Independent on Sunday has seen these meticulous
handwritten notes, of which several copies have been made. There are
records of everybody who used to live in the camp, and it will be
possible to match the missing with the accounts of the dead. The
Palestinians say there are 200 missing.

The names are coming out now: Mohammed Hamad, Nidal Nubam, Mustafa
Shnewa. A man who asked to remain anonymous says he saw their bodies
being put in a mass grave in the Haret al-Hawashin neighbourhood.

Yusra Ahmad, a mentally disabled woman, was killed by a helicopter
rocket

FW: Israel should learn from SA's Apartheid past!!/Basson [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 15 April 2002 13:12
To: jonathan
Subject: Fw: Israel should learn from SA's Apartheid past!!/Basson

- Original Message -
From: Patrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Ayo Obisanya [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Dr Antia Daniel
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; Dr Ayo Awe [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Dr Martin Biyo'o
Mveng [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Kofi Amegashie
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 15 April 2002 08:04
Subject: Israel should learn from SA's Apartheid past!!/Basson

 Subject: Israel repeating mistakes of apartheid rulers

 22:38 12/04/2002Last update - 00:36 13/04/2002

 Mbeki: Israel repeating mistakes of apartheid rulers

 By Reuters

 CAPE TOWN - Israel is repeating the mistakes of South Africa's apartheid
 rulers in its effort to crush a popular rebellion, South African President
 Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.

 Mbeki said in a weekly online letter that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was
 wrong to demand an end to Palestinian violence as a pre-condition for
talks.

 South Africa has consistently criticized Israel's handling of the crisis,
 but Mbeki said he was equally concerned about the rights and the losses of
 both Israelis and Palestinians.

 When we call for respect for life, we must state firmly that we refer
both
 to Israelis and Palestinians, he said.

 However...we must proceed from the concrete reality that the Israelis
have
 their own independent state and homeland. The Palestinians do not.

 Israeli forces launched a military offensive in the West Bank two weeks
ago
 to try to crush Palestinian militants blamed for a series of suicide
attacks
 that killed dozens of Israelis.

 Mbeki said South Africa's own experience, in which tens of thousands of
 people died in the uprising against white minority rule, had shown that an
 oppressed people fought because they had nothing to lose but their
 servitude, not because they were told to fight.

 South Africa's white rulers, who negotiated themselves out of power
between
 1990 and 1994, fought for 30 years to maintain their exclusive hold on
 power.

 Police and government agents shot protesters, assassinated civic leaders,
 jailed activists and banished high-profile opponents in a bid to break the
 uprising that eventually forced them into talks.

 The rulers of Israel are repeating the costly mistakes made by the
captains
 of apartheid in our country, Mbeki said.

 Everything that has happened in the Palestinian territories in almost two
 years says, in action, that the Palestinians and especially the youth are
 ready to march against tanks and armoured cars because it is no longer
 possible for them to live as a dispossessed people.

 The attempt to search and destroy so-called agitators and terrorists in
 their midst, in the belief that these are the instigators of the
rebellion,
 without whom the rebellion would cease, is to live in worse than a fool's
 paradise, he said.

 Welcoming U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's peace mission, he said
The
 leaders of both the people of Israel and Palestine have a common
 responsibility to take advantage of the presence of the Secretary of State
 to break the chain of violence.

 Powell, on a Middle East peace mission, is due to hold talks with
 Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Saturday at Arafat's
offices
 in Ramallah, besieged by Israeli forces.

 *

---
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FW: What's in a name? - Shpresa - Hope [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-04-08 Thread jonathan

Title: What's in a name? - Shpresa - Hope



HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



-Original Message-From: John O 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: 08 April 2002 10:04To: 
Recipient List SuppressedSubject: What's in a name? - Shpresa - 
Hope
==
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns 
(NCADC)
 
 110 
Hamstead Road
 
 Birmingham B20 2QS
 
Phone: 0121-554-6947 Fax: 0121-554-7891
 
 E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 Web site: 
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/
==

What's in a name? - Shpresa - 
Hope
 To Shpresa, a young Albanian 
mother, her name is her way of life. Shpresa means hope and that is 
how she survives each moment of the day. After her terrifying experience 
at Yarl's Wood detention centre on the night of February 14th, and, all that 
preceded and followed, it is only hope that keeps her 
going. 'The reason I fled to England is because 
of a blood feud,' she explains, 'I damaged family honour, we are 
Muslim and I fell in love and married a Catholic without family permission. My 
brothers have sworn they will kill us and our two children. It is the law 
of the Kanun. They have already killed my 
brother-in-law.' The Kanun of Lek Dukajini 
is a strict, 15th century, code of laws governing marriage, birth, death, 
hospitality and inheritance, which has been handed down orally through the 
generations and used as a system for administering justice in northern Albania, 
which historically has remained isolated from central government law. With 
the collapse of communism in 1991 and the subsequent lack of law and order, the 
number of vendetta killings has soared. 
But, how more civilised is British 'justice' that seeks to return her to 
this? "It was very early in the morning', said 
Shpresa, 'We were awoken by banging on the door, my husband opened it and seven 
officers burst into our home. Outside, police cars and vans blocked the 
street. They said 'pack quickly, you're being deported.' Almost 
hysterical, Shpresa woke her children and packed a few clothes while her husband 
desperately tried to explain that their case 'wasn't finished.' The 
response was 'move more quickly.' Taken first to 
the Regional Immigration Centre, they were searched then transported to Yarl's 
Wood. It was like a prison', reflected Shpresa, 'surrounded by high barbed 
wire fencing, patrolled by guards and with locked doors. We had one room with 
three narrow beds and slept each with a child in our arms. There was 
a bathroom, but no water came from the 
taps.' On the ninth day of their detention 
fire broke out. 'It was 8pm,' said Shpresa, 'our 
children were sleeping when we heard much noise. We didn't know it was the 
fire alarm because there'd been no fire instructions. Friends on the 
landing shouted 'Come out quickly, the building's on 
fire.' Choking, acrid smoke had already 
begun to seep into their room, situated on the first floor where the fire 
originated, when, panicking with fear and gasping for breath they'd 
grabbed their babies and stumbled out into the suffocating black corridor. 
'I was so scared, recalled Shpresa, 'The fire was very close and we were 
almost overcome by smoke. Thankfully, we located the stairs and got 
out. We were last from the building, but nobody noticed. No one was 
counting. The young parents, each with a 
babe in arms (18 and 4 months), were forced to remain outside all night. In bare 
feet and dressed only in a tee shirt, Shpresa begged to be allowed inside 
because the youngest child was going blue with cold. She was 
refused. Then, after twelve freezing hours, on the excuse the camp shop 
had been raided, they were humiliatingly searched, and bused to a detention camp 
near London. Twenty hours passed before food and drink were 
offered. Two days later, Shpresa was separated 
from her husband. 'I was given a ticket, taken 
to the station and left with my babies,' said Shpresa. 'I couldn't stop 
crying because I missed my husband and I couldn't speak any 
English.' Shpresa described her nightmare 
journey back to her home in the north of England. How, before 
breakfast and without food, drink, nappies and money she'd waited four hours for 
a train that only went part way to her destination. How she'd got lost, 
then eventually found a policeman and was taken to a bed and breakfast 
hostel. How the following morning, still without food and nappies, 
she was taken to the town's Civic Centre where she'd waited four hours for the 
housing provider to come and take her home.

 Shpresa was 48 hours without 
food or drink. Her two babies were sustained by suckling from their 
mother's breasts.

 Bravely optimistic about an 
uncertain future, Shpresa, continues to live in hope.

==

Letter from a Detainee

Wednesday 3rd April 2002
From: Nikola GarzovaRoom 409Dungavel 
DetentionStrathavenSouth LanarkshireML10 6RF
To: Mr. David Blunkett
Home Office50 Queen Annes Gate
London SW1H 9AT

Dear Mr

FW: Why Bush is addicted to perpetual War!!/Iraq,war propaganda [WWW.STOPNATO.

2002-04-08 Thread jonathan

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 08 April 2002 15:04
To: Kofi Amegashie; jonathan; Mark Dapin
Subject: Why Bush is addicted to perpetual War!!/Iraq,war  propaganda

Why Bush Is Addicted to Perpetual War
Ted Rall, AlterNet
March 19, 2002

I began working on a graphic-novel update and parody of 1984 a few years
ago. An awful lot had changed since Orwell posited his dystopian vision of
the future from his late-1940s deathbed, and I accounted for those
differences in my own version, 2001's 2024.

In order to acknowledge the collapse of Soviet Communism and the failure of
fascism to reemerge as a potent political force, I ditched Orwell's
oppressive totalitarian state in favor of an entertainment-fueled nihilism
in which dimwitted citizens frittered away their lives watching web TV and
working at slightly overpaid jobs to buy worthless junk ... on web TV,
natch. Where Orwell envisioned endless rows of soldiers marching in perfect
unison to the strains of the Two-Minute Hate, I saw a world where nations
had been replaced by trading blocs and the objects of hatred were the
immigrants in our midst.

The six months following The Really Bad Thing That Happened have made clear
that I wasn't the only guy boning up on Orwell.

In 1984, the elite Inner Party rules the rattled and irradiated citizens
of Oceania through three conduits of fear and intimidation: surveillance,
terrorism and perpetual warfare.

The Oceanians had their two-way telescreens; we suffer a 10,000-employee
National Security Agency that relies on automated voice-recognition and
keyword software (Echelon, not to be confused with the more picayune and
widely-reported Carnivore system) to monitor millions of e-mails, faxes and
phone calls each day. But few Americans give much thought to this wholesale
violation of their privacy; only those who are doing something wrong, they
tell themselves, have anything to worry about.

The first eight months of the Bush Administration were characterized by
political insecurity. Bush, widely derided as unintelligent and oafish, had
carried less than half of the popular vote in 2000, and many Democrats
believed that he had bullied his way into the Oval Office. Jim Jeffords'
defection from the GOP, partially a reaction to Bush's hard turn to the
right after his inauguration, cost Republicans control of the Senate. Most
analysts expected big Democratic gains in the 2002 Congressional elections,
due both to the stagnating economy and to historical trends against
incumbency in mid-term.

The White House saw September 11 as a golden opportunity. The first
catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil sparked an unprecedented case
of leadership projection: desperate for protection and answers (why do they
hate us? can we kill them before they kill us?), Americans wishfully
compared Bush to FDR and Churchill. Approval ratings hit 92 percent. But
Bush's political advisors knew that peaking early wouldn't guarantee
reelection in 2004. Bush's father had been turned out of office just 20
months after the Gulf War ratcheted his score up to 91.

The Bushies have lifted their reelection strategy straight out of 1984,
and not just by creating ominous-sounding agencies like the Office of
Homeland Security, the supposedly-closed Office of Strategic Information,
and a Shadow Government. As in 1984, the Bush regime tolerates zero
dissent -- a two-party system in name only has been distilled to one in
which only Republicans express acceptable opinions. And an absence of
follow-up attacks has been met by endless alerts, advisors and empty
hysterics in the name of security, most recently culminating with Tom
Ridge's much-mocked color-code warning system.

But Americans don't seem to miss their Democratic Party very much; after
all, Clinton spent more time sucking up to big business than worrying about
the fact that ordinary people can't afford to see a doctor. And unless Bush
resorts to the Orwellian tactic of setting off bombs to kill his own
citizens, the passage of time will inevitably yield to the complacency that
could cost him '04.

That leaves 1984's most potent political tool: perpetual warfare. Just as
Oceania was always at war with Eurasia or Eastasia -- who could keep
track? -- the war on terror, we are told, will continue indefinitely.

Indefinitely is just another word for forever.

Thus hundreds, possibly thousands, of American troops are headed to the
Philippines to fight a rag-tag outfit of 80 jungle bandits. Our boys are
scouring the back hills of far-flung Yemen in search of Al Qaeda fighters on
the lam from our ongoing war in Afghanistan. We've set up bases in
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to fight Central Asia's Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan -- never mind that the world hasn't heard from them
since they kidnapped four American mountain climbers in 2000.

China, Indonesia, the former Soviet republic

FW: Robert Fisk on current ME crisis!!! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-04-08 Thread jonathan

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 08 April 2002 08:01
To: jonathan
Subject: Robert Fisk on current ME crisis!!!

R Fisk comments on G Bush's speech .

   But of course, the White House, which according to the Israeli press
   has repeatedly been asking Mr Sharon how long he intends to reoccupy
   the Palestinian cities of the West Bank, is to give the Israeli Prime
   Minister more time to finish his invasion, destroy the Palestinian
   infrastructure and dismantle the Palestinian Authority.

Daniel
(article not for cross posting)

-

   The Independent

Robert Fisk: A speech laced with obsessions and little else

05 April 2002

   Ariel Sharon could not have done better. The heaping of blame upon an
   occupied people, the obsessive use of the word terror - by my rough
   count there were 50 references in just 10 minutes - and the brief,
   frightened remarks about occupation and (one mention only) to Jewish
   settlements and the need for Israeli compassion at the end were
   proof enough that President Bush had totally failed to understand the
   tragedy he is supposedly trying to solve.

   The mugger became the victim and the victim became the mugger. What, I
   wonder, is the exact distance between the Rose Garden and Bethlehem?
   So the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is travelling to the
   region'' next week. Next week? Why not now?

   But of course, the White House, which according to the Israeli press
   has repeatedly been asking Mr Sharon how long he intends to reoccupy
   the Palestinian cities of the West Bank, is to give the Israeli Prime
   Minister more time to finish his invasion, destroy the Palestinian
   infrastructure and dismantle the Palestinian Authority.

   The speech was laced with all the war on terror'' obsessions: Iraq as
   a sponsor of terror for donating money to a family of Palestinian
   martyrs'', and Syria for not making up its mind if it is for or
   against terror''.

   The European Union, fearful of rising oil prices and their effect on
   the eurozone economy, had earlier dispatched a mission to Israel; with
   typical contempt, Mr Sharon told its members they could not visit
   Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. The delegation, which had earlier announced
   that the Americans had failed in their mission as peacemaker in the
   Middle East, simply packed up and left Tel Aviv within hours.

   But will Mr Powell do any better? The dollar has fallen against world
   currencies because of the Middle East crisis - as good a reason as any
   for Mr Bush to act - and the possible restrictions on Middle East oil
   production, though more damaging to Europe, must have helped to prompt
   the President's decision to dispatch Mr Powell.

   The Palestinian suicide bombings, however, were the core of Mr Bush's
   address. He talked of the 18-year-old Palestinian girl who blew
   herself up and killed a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the Jewish state's
   dream'' of peace with its neighbours. Terror must be stopped ... no
   nation can negotiate with terrorists ... leaderships not terror ...
   you're either with the civilised world or you're with the terrorists
   ... all in the Middle East ... must move in word and deed against
   terrorists ... I call on the Palestinian Authority to do everything in
   their power to stop terrorist activities.'' Arafat had agreed to
   control terrorism'' - he failed'.' The reoccupation of the West Bank
   was a temporary measure'', Mr Bush announced, trusting the word of
   the Israeli occupiers. Suicide bombing missions could well blow up
   the only hope of a Palestinian state.''

   On it went, 11 September-speak applied to the Middle East. Israel's
   enemies must be eliminated - Al Aqsa, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and
   Hizbollah, which yesterday beat up a UN observer on the Lebanese
   border in the most dangerous incident of its kind since the Israeli
   withdrawal in 2000. The whole Bush speech revolved around Israel's
   wellbeing, with scarcely three minutes devoted to the Palestinians and
   their 35 years under occupation. Israel should, Mr Bush decided, show
   a respect'' for and concern'' for the Palestinian people.

   There was some ritual mention of UN Security Council resolutions 242
   and 338, which calls for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied
   in the 1967 war but which Mr Sharon has already said he cannot accept,
   and an appeal to halt settlement building. But Jewish settlements are
   still being built, at an ever-faster rate, on Palestinian land.

   Only a heart of stone could not respond to the suffering of those
   Israeli families whose loved ones have been so wickedly cut down by
   the Palestinian suicide bombers. But where was Mr Bush's compassion
   for the vastly greater number of Palestinians who have been killed by
   the Israelis over

RE: Of Robert Mugabe and the cadre [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-03-28 Thread jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

The N'debele of Matebeleland who were murdered and tortured by Mugabe's 5th Brigade in 
the 1980's 
show the inhumanity of the man and the total hypocrasy of the West. They act when 
white frmers are targetted, but, although they have suffered the most the plight of 
the black farm workers and rural school teachers who have been targetted by the CIO 
for many years, has been mainly ignored. The UK Government, until very recently,was 
returning opponents of the current regime to Zimbabwe.

Jonathan 

-Original Message-
From: Stephen Gowans [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 25 February 2002 15:18
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Of Robert Mugabe and the cadre [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

---
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RE: FYROM: Terrorist Chief Elected Head Of 'Coordinative Council' [WWW.STOPNATO.

2002-03-27 Thread jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

It should be clear to all that the 'saintly' Albanians are permitted nd encouraged to 
kill and dispossess whomsoever they wish - until Uncle Sam is directly affected. 
Whilst those 'evil Serbs' deserve all they get. Some egs from this week's press:

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - A Serbian court Tuesday sentenced a former Bosnian interior 
minister to three months in jail for running a business in Serbia with forged 
documents, a news agency reported..Alija Delimustafic, who headed the ministry in 
charge of police when the Bosnian war broke out in 1992, had pleaded guilty to the 
crime. When released, he is expected to be extradited to Bosnia, where he is wanted on 
separate charges of organized crime, the independent news agency Beta reported...He 
was arrested by Serbian police in January, and reports about Delimustafic's true 
identity triggered outrage as many Serbs blame him for the killings of dozens of 
Yugoslav army soldiers killed by Bosnian police in 1992 as they were withdrawing from 
the newly independent Bosnia...The Belgrade court did not deal with Delimustafic's 
role in the war and handed him the minimal prison term for falsifying personal 
documents, a crime that carries a prison term of up to five years.' Harsh Serbian 
justice against an 'innocent' Bosnian Muslim 'freedom fighting leader'

'Five Bosnians _ four of whom survived the Srebrenica massacre _ killed in traffic 
accident 
Hirkic and her sons survived the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which up to 8,000 
men were killed by Bosnian Serb troops.'  Numbers up again. Bosnian Muslim men have 
now become women.

US Embassy Reopens in Sarajevo 
Mon Mar 25, 5:49 PM ET 
'The embassy shut down amid fears last week that al-Qaida terrorists were planning a 
major attack on Americans in Bosnia. It was closed to the public Wednesday and shut 
down entirely on Friday.'

They magically appeared after the war in order to pick on the 'freedom loving' 
Americans who are protecting their Muslim brethren. Ungrateful lot!

'SFOR to scour Bosnia for illegal weapons during cranked-up Operation Harvest
By Ivana Avramovic, Bosnia bureau
European edition, Tuesday, March 26, 2002
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Troops will check every attic, basement, cave, 
barn, dark corner and car trunk to find illegal weapons still abundant six years after 
the end of the war, the Stabilization Forces' top commander said during a news 
conference Friday.' Disarmed the KLA too
© 2002 Stars and Stripes

http:www.SignOnSanDiego.com
'Shootout among former rebels in Macedonia leaves at last two dead, several wounded 
TETOVO, Macedonia - Overnight clashes between rival ethnic Albanian rebel factions in 
Macedonia left at least two militants dead and several others wounded, a NATO 
spokesman said Tuesday.'

Must have been started by the Serbs and their lackies, the Macedonians.

Assessing the Effects of NATO's Air Strikes Three Years on
By Jolyon Naegele 
'It was the 15 January 1999 massacre by Serb forces of 45 Albanian inhabitants of the 
Kosovo village of Racak that so incensed the international community and paved the way 
to launching the air strikes.

Racak resident Faik Limani lost three grown sons in the massacre, leaving him with 
seven fatherless grandchildren. After the air strikes ended, Limani praised the 
bravery of William Walker, the Kosovo mission chief of the Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Walker laid the blame squarely on Belgrade on a 
visit to Racak the day after the massacre.

If Walker had not come here and had not seen the bodies, it would have been just 
another forgotten massacre, Limani said. The world would have known nothing of what 
had happened here, and NATO would not have intervened. NATO saved us. Without NATO, we 
would have all been exterminated. The lives of my three sons are the price we have 
paid for freedom. After all, only freedom is worth what we went through.

The air strikes also unleashed a massive wave of violence by the Serb forces in Kosovo 
directed at the province's ethnic Albanian inhabitants -- 800,000 of whom fled under 
duress to neighboring Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, and beyond...A new Albanian 
nationalist spirit, free of fear of Serb repression, occurred in Kosovo almost 
overnight.Gjakova greets the UCK,Pristina greets the UCK,Gjilan greets the 
UCK,All Drenica is talking about the UCK,UCK from hill to hill,
The UCK is shedding blood. The refrain of this war-time Albanian pop song, titled 
The UCK Greets Kosovo and sung by Bekim Ibrahimi and the group Korabi, could be 
heard on sidewalks and in marketplaces across Kosovo, an audible warning to all Serbs 
that what they had called the cradle of Serb civilization for generations was Serb 
land no more...An initial post-conflict wave of murders -- 400 in the first six months 
after NATO's arrival, with one-third of the victims Serb,

Milosevic and the Impeachment of President Clinton 12 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

A bit long, but not the easiest of Sites to access

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/3/18/12052.shtml
Milosevic and the Impeachment of President Clinton 
Lev Navrozov
Monday, March 18, 2002 
[Editor's Note: This is the first part of a two-part article.] 
The trial of Slobodan Milosevic is expected to last for at least two years. On Feb. 
12, 2002, the first day of the trial, Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the 
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, addressed the Tribunal. BBC 
News immediately excerpted her address on the Internet, with this summary of it under 
her photograph: Del Ponte said Milosevic was driven by quest for power. (1) 
What a triumph for a three-year criminal investigation! A startling prosecutorial 
discovery, indeed. Three years ago, Milosevic was being described by President 
Clinton, his State Department and the Tribunal itself as the Hitler of today, and 
Yugoslavia was attacked to save the Albanians of Kosovo from Hitler-like 
extermination. 
For three years the Tribunal, headed by its chief prosecutor, had been working on the 
case of the Hitler of today, and here, on Feb. 12, 2002, she came up with the 
epoch-making and bloodcurdling discovery that Milosevic was driven by quest for 
power. 
As everyone knows, innocent people such as Carla del Ponte and Bill Clinton are never 
driven by quest for power, ambition or any other such vices of Hitler and 
Milosevic. 
True, some evil tongues may insinuate that Carla, a short time ago an obscure 
nonentity, mentally at the level of a retarded 7-year-old (as Milosevic put it, 
without naming her by name for obvious reasons), has been driven by the ambition to be 
a world celebrity, to be a new global Solon, who has appeared as a female about 26 
centuries after the male Solon of Athens - nay, to be the founder of new international 
justice under which Hitler, Stalin and Mao would have been put on trial in The Hague 
at the first sign of their crimes against humanity, such as the invasion of the 
Netherlands. 
But axiomatically, all of Carla's motives can be only virtuous. As for Bill Clinton, 
who can doubt that he has been as all-virtuous as Carla? 
Inversely, listen in horror to what she said about Milosevic in the final one-third of 
her address, entitled on the Internet Quest for Power. (Keep this from children 
under 12, for Carla's revelations of something so heinous may traumatize them 
psychologically.) 
Thus we learn that a mediocre strategist, Milosevic did nothing but pursue his 
ambition. (2) 
Can you imagine Carla being mediocre and pursuing her ambition, or Bill Clinton being 
mediocre and pursuing his? On the other hand, this is how she describes the Hitler of 
today: Everything, your honors, everything, was an instrument in the service of his 
quest for power. (3) 
How could their honors listen to this without fainting? I hope there were no children 
under 12 in the audience! But this was not all. One must not seek ideals underlying 
the acts of the accused, she concluded. (4) 
Carla! Have a heart! You cannot do that to us! No ideals! Not only is he the Hitler of 
today, as everyone already knew three years ago, but he also has no ideals either! 
Such an unspeakable villain must be sentenced by the Tribunal to death by hanging at 
the very least! 
First War Crimes, Then Mediocrity 
Yet prepare for something even more heinous. While the search for power is what 
motivated Slobodan Milosevic, he concealed that search behind ... 
Some judiciary simpletons or laymen may suppose that he concealed his heinous 
motivation behind his brilliant speeches; Hitler was a brilliant speaker. Oh, no! Only 
innocent people, having ideals and unmotivated by power, ambition or vanity, such as 
Carla or Bill Clinton, can be brilliant, original and talented, while Milosevic 
concealed his vices behind the grandiloquent rhetoric and the hackneyed phrases he 
used. (5) 
You see? He is guilty of mediocrity - nay, a triteness, sterility, bad taste. Take any 
phrase of Carla or Bill Clinton. Can it be hackneyed? Never, ever! It is always a gem 
of intellectual brilliance, originality and profundity, to say nothing of ideals and 
other virtues. 
If Carla or anyone else at the Tribunal had had a sense of humor, they could have been 
told Mark Twain's joke about someone first accused of having murdered his parents and 
then of having taken to smoking. 
In 1999, Milosevic was accused of having been the Hitler of today, and in 2002, after 
nearly three years of building the case and collecting evidence, Carla accuses him of 
being mediocre, pompous, trite, seeking power and having no ideals. Has he taken to 
smoking, too? 
Defending Milosevic 
In his speech, Milosevic spoke as a person abducted by criminals who are trying to 
prove that he is a criminal in order to justify their crimes, such as an attack on 
Yugoslavia. 
I will not quote his

RE: For those with a strong stomach [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

Here is a Conservative response.

Blair has achieved nothing apart from poorer public services and higher taxes - unless 
one counts bombing and killing innocent people as an achievement. Even his own Party 
is getting sick of this egotistical fascist.
JDK

http://www.conservatives.com/news_article.cfm?obj_id=27516speeches=1
Ancram: We can show that we believe in Great Britain again 
Speech to Conservative Spring Forum 2002

It is a great pleasure to be addressing you here in Harrogate again. My role this year 
is different, but my aim is the same. To start to win the next election. 

I must thank you for the enormous help and support you gave me in my three years as 
Party Chairman. I know you will do the same for David Davis who has got off to such a 
flying start, and I wish him well.

Our task over the coming months and years is to rebuild public trust in our Party. It 
will be won primarily on the public services. But it can be won on broader canvases 
too, and foreign affairs is one of them.

September 11 changed many things. It changed in particular the perception of the 
invulnerability of powers like America and the UK. 

Defence strategies suddenly required new dimensions. 

International aid came centre stage as part of international economic planning and 
development. 

We have had a good session. The contributions we have had from the floor have been of 
great insight and common sense as well.

Today we face a changed world where Cold War certainties and the stability of the 
great blocs are gone. 

What we have do now is to identify common interests, and to create agile international 
alliances from them. 

I also believe that loyalty, and trust and friendship have an important part to play. 

Loyalty to those who have stood and still stand by us; trust in those with whom we can 
do business; and friendship with those whose values we share. 

After 11 September Tony Blair did well. I paid tribute to his role in building the 
international coalition against terrorism, and we gave him our support. 

But since then power seems to have gone to his head. 

Building coalitions suddenly turned into his I can heal the World speech to his 
conference last October. 

That speech was vainglorious claptrap and it was dangerously misjudged.

For a start, how can he aspire to heal the world when he so clearly cannot heal public 
services in Britain? 

And far from his much vaunted ethical foreign policy, too much of the rest of his 
actual foreign policy is coloured by three shaming features - let-down, sell-out and 
surrender.

Firstly let-down.

Blair told his Party Conference that if Rwanda happened again today ... we would have 
a moral duty to act there, and that he would not tolerate ... the behaviour of 
Mugabe's henchmen. He talked about healing the scars on Africa.

Brave words which raised high hopes in Zimbabwe.

But they were words without action. 

Blair went to Africa recently, but he never went near Zimbabwe. Nothing new. 

When we called for targeted sanctions after the rigged parliamentary elections in 
2000, this Government wrung its hands and did nothing. The same when the illegal land 
grabs began. And when voter registration began to be rigged in November. 

On each of these occasions we called for real pressure on Mugabe and on each occasion 
the Government did nothing. They even accused us of irresponsibility. 

And when in February they finally saw the light, it was too late. 

So in the face of murder and torture in Zimbabwe whatever happened to Blair's 'moral 
duty to act'? 

As Mugabe's thugs stole the election where was the active non-toleration he had 
promised? 

Far from healing the world - or even the scars on Africa - he stood by while the open 
wound which is Zimbabwe gaped and bled, and he did nothing. 

He let the people of Zimbabwe down, and in the process killed his ethical foreign 
policy stone dead.

There is still just a chance to retrieve something from this mess. 

The Commonwealth suspension was a start and I pay tribute to Australian PM John Howard 
for it. 

But we must start now in earnest to bring together a wider international coalition 
including the US, the Commonwealth, the EU and the states of southern Africa, to exert 
real pressure on the Mugabe regime to hold new free and fair elections under 
international scrutiny. Only that way can democracy be restored.

Our Government should lead this initiative. They should stop talking and start doing - 
and we will chase them until they do.

And then there is sell out, betraying one's friends. 

This government has no qualms about betrayal. 

Blair and Straw are turning their backs on centuries of loyalty to Britain and to the 
Crown by selling out the sovereignty of the people of Gibraltar. 

They are preparing a deal with Spain to share sovereignty over the rock and a bribe 
for Gibraltar to accept it. 

But however it is wrapped up, sovereignty

FW: The Prayer Of The Political Bigot [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

Title: The Prayer Of The Political Bigot



HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



-Original Message-From: John O 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: 18 March 2002 09:52To: 
Recipient List SuppressedSubject: The Prayer Of The Political 
Bigot
==
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns 
(NCADC)
 
 110 
Hamstead Road
 
 Birmingham B20 2QS
 
Phone: 0121-554-6947 Fax: 0121-554-7891
 
 E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 Web site: 
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/
==

The Prayer Of The Political 
Bigot
 "In the beginning god created states and 
borders. And the borders were without form.
 And God said let there be visas. And there were 
visas. And God saw that the visas, were good and he divided visa nationals from 
non visa nationals. And this was the first day.
 And God said let there be waters between the 
borders and let there be immigration officers in the midst of the borders and 
let the waters and the officers divide peoples from peoples. And he told the 
immigration officers to go forth and multiply. And this was the second 
day.
 And God said let there be passports and let these 
passports provide a way over the waters for some peoples and not other peoples. 
And the peoples denied a way he called economic migrants and bogus and 
illegals. Those granted a way he called Europeans, Americans, Canadians and 
Australians. And this was the third day.

 And God said let the states bring forth housing 
officers and welfare officers and social workers - so that economic migrants and 
the bogus and illegals be denied housing, social welfare and work. And this was 
on the fourth day.
 And God said let there be brought forth 
prisons, induction centres, accommodation centres and detention centres. 
And let the prisons and the centres be spread over the face of the earth. 
And the earth he called a Fortress. And this was the fifth 
day. And God said let us make immigration 
officers in our own image. And so he gave the officers power over every living 
thing that moveth upon the earth and tried to moveth between the borders. And 
this was the sixth day.
 And on the seventh day God ended his work and 
rested. But the immigration officers continued their work of imprisoning, 
excluding and deporting. And the housing officers and welfare officers and 
social workers continued their work of denying housing, social welfare and work. 


 And God said this was good".

Steve Cohen, Manchester, UK, Monday 18th March 2002
---
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FW: Compensation for Rape workshop, Legal Action for Women [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

  -Original Message-
 From: leila  
 Sent: 26 March 2002 14:19
 To:   eveyone
 Subject:  FW: Compensation for Rape workshop, Legal Action for Women

  -Original Message-
 From: All Women Count [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
 Sent: 26 March 2002 14:00
 To:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject:  Compensation for Rape workshop, Legal Action for Women

 Legal Action for Women
 Crossroads Women ' s Centre  PO Box 287  London NW6 5QU
 Tel: 020 7482 2496 minicom/voice  Fax: 020 7209 4761
 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

 13 March 2002

 Self-help workshop: 
 Claiming compensation for rape  
 other sexual violence

  Thursday 11 April 2002, 2-5.30pm, Crossroads Women ' s Centre

 Dear Friends,

 We are writing to invite you to a self-help workshop on claiming criminal injuries 
compensation for rape.  The workshop will bring together rape survivors with 
organisations and lawyers who have supported them, or who want to find out how they 
can be helpful.  

 We will hear from one of the women who brought and won the first private prosecution 
for rape in England but saw her compensation award reduced because she was a sex 
worker; other rape survivors who faced similar discrimination; and the organisations 
and legal representatives who worked on their case.  

 Whilst women who have pursued compensation claims have developed vital expertise, 
this expertise is not generally recognised nor is it available to others.  As you 
know, rape is widespread, and although reporting is on the increase, less than 7% of 
reported rapes result in conviction.  For any woman, official recognition that a 
serious crime has been committed against her is a vital first step in the healing 
process.  Where the attacker is not convicted, criminal injuries compensation can 
provide that vital acknowledgement as well as some resources to help rebuild one ' 
s life.  

 But rape survivors face many obstacles in claiming compensation. Some find 
themselves disbelieved by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), and 
their sexual and medical history is used to humiliate and dismiss them.  A woman ' 
s   character and conduct   is routinely used to deny her compensation, 
discriminating against women on the basis of her occupation, lifestyle or criminal 
convictions for prostitution, shoplifting or possession of cannabis.  And while a 
woman can apply for legal aid to get a lawyer to prepare her claim or appeal, there 
is no legal aid for representation at the appeal hearing.  

 Working with Women Against Rape, which has attended many hearings, we have been able 
to win higher awards for women.  We hope that the workshop will encourage lawyers and 
others to take on this crucial area of work.

 The workshop will begin with women ' s experiences of pursuing their own claims.  
 It will address the following:

 * Which experiences of claiming compensation are common to all claimants and 
which are particular to rape survivors.  
 * How rape survivors have challenged sexism, racism and other prejudices and 
discrimination by the CICA.
 * How to get the best from lawyers, and from statutory and voluntary agencies.
 * How to present or question the evidence of witnesses, police, doctors, 
psychiatrists and other professionals so that it helps rather than undermine a claim. 
 * What has been won, in procedures, in decision-making and in the rules.
 * What changes to press for and how to press for them most effectively.
 * How to combine effective legal action with campaigning. 

 This is the second in a series of workshops organised by Legal Action for Women.  
The workshops aim to: give visibility to women who have accumulated enormous skill, 
knowledge and insight through their work demanding justice; put that experience at 
the disposal of others; evaluate how women ' s self-help enhances the legal and 
civil rights of the most disadvantaged in society and how it can help to train others 
to demand better representation and accountability from lawyers and other 
professionals, and get it.

 For those not familiar with our work.  
 Legal Action for Women (LAW) is a grassroots anti-sexist, anti-racist legal service 
for all women.  Since it began in 1982, it has focussed on providing free legal 
advice and support to low-income women who are more likely to be denied justice.  LAW 
combines access to a network of sympathetic lawyers, with experienced lay workers 
from similar backgrounds to the women using its services.  We have helped prevent 
many injustices and set important precedents, including with the first private 
prosecution for rape in England, which resulted in an 11-year conviction.  We enclose 
some information about our work.

 This workshop is open to the public and you are welcome to pass this invite on to 
anyone you think may be

FW: [balkans] CfP: Armed Forces Society conference, Bukarest, 27.6.-3.7.2002

2002-01-29 Thread Knight, Jonathan

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Florian Bieber [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 21 January 2002 15:38
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [balkans] CfP: Armed Forces  Society conference, Bukarest,
27.6.-3.7.2002

Von:Zirker, Daniel [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Datum:  Thu, 27 Dec 2001 12:28:35 -0700

Dear Colleagues,

Attached (in MS Word) is a copy of the December Newsletter of the
Research Committee on Armed Forces and Society (RC#24) of the
International Political Science Association.  It includes a call for
papers for our conference in Bucharest, Romania in June/July, 2002.

Very Best Wishes,
Dan Zirker

Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
Montana State University-Billings
1500 North 30th Street
Billings, Montana 59101

Phone: (406) 657-2177
Fax  (406) 657-2187

[JG: Hier natürlich KEIN Attachment, sondern einfacher Text:]

RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON ARMED FORCES AND SOCIETYRC #24NEWSLETTER
DECEMBER 27, 2001

BUCHAREST CONFERENCE IS NOW A REALITY

THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON ARMED FORCES ASKS FOR PAPER PROPOSALS FOR
ROMANIA FOR ITS 2002 CONFERENCE

June 27th to July 3rd of 2002, in Bucharest, Romania, is the schedule
for our next conference.  The Research Committee on Armed Forces and
Society of the International Political Science Association holds its
own conference every three years, and focuses upon the theory and
cases of civil-military relations and military politics throughout
the world.   The Bucharest Conference will be sponsored by the
Romanian Defense Ministry and at least one other Romanian
organization, to be announced in the next few weeks. Panel and paper
proposals, and registration, will be through Dan Zirker, the
Chair/President of the Research Committee.The deadline for
proposals will be February 15, 2002.  Earlier proposals are welcome.
The panel titles are listed below. Proposals should include a title,
abstract of 300 words or less, and author information including
address, e-mail, phone, fax and institutional affiliation.

Costs for the conference are now nearly finalized, although the
hotels will not be able to begin making reservations, nor will we be
able to begin accepting registration payment until February.  Housing
will be at the Hotel Capitol (next to Military Center) and is
currently estimated at $66/day, including some meals.  Registration
for the conference is estimated at $130, with a supplementary
excursion available for about $100.

Dr. João R. Martins Filho
Board Member for Latin America:

PANEL TITLES for the Bucharest conference are as follows:

I.  Democratization, Theory and Practice:
-Democratic Oversight
-Media, Military and Society
-Military and Police Roles in Transition Societies
-Roles of NGOs
-Mil. Establishments and Associational Interest Groups
-Composition within Military Institutions

II.  Reform:
-Civilian Control in Theory and Practice
-New Missions and Structuring Reform
-Reform Dynamics and Civil-military Relationships
-Political Economy of Reform
-Military Education and Professionalization

III.  Security:
-Regional Security Arrangements
-Military and Non-Traditional Cross-Border Trends
-Ethnonationalism and Military Missions
-Public Opinion and Security Imperatives
-Peace-Keeping and War-Making

Additionally, Dr. George Kourvetaris, Editor of the Journal of
Political and Military Sociology, has suggested three panel topics:

-The Role of NATO in the Post Cold War Era
-Terrorism:  Past, Present, and Future
-Emerging Political and Military Elites in Eastern and Central
Europe Following the Demise of Communism

The preferred hotels for the Conference are the Hotel Boulevard and
the Capitol Hotel, both of which are immediately across the street
 from the Military Circle.

REACCREDITATION OF RC#24
The Research Committee on Armed Forces and Society (IPSA RC#24) was
notified in October, 1999, that it had successfully passed its
accreditation review by IPSA, and is continued as one of IPSA's
standing research Committees.  Our thanks go out to all of you who
assisted in the review process with your faxes and letters of
support.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON ARMED FORCES
AND SOCIETY?

Don't hesitate to contact the Chair/President:

Dr. Daniel Zirker
College of Arts and Sciences
MSU-Billings
1500 University Drive
Billings, Montana 59101
USA

Phone:  (406) 657-2177
FAX:(406) 657-2187
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: http://www.msubillings.edu/dzirker/ArmedForcesIPSA99.htm

OFFICERS OF THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON ARMED FORCES AND SOCIETY

President/Chair: Daniel Zirker

Vice Presidents:
Vladimir Rukavishnikov,
René Armand Dreifuss

Secretary/Treasurer: Cynthia Watson

Board Members and Secretaries for:

 Africa:Frederic Belle Torimiro
 Asia:  Dongsung Kong
 Europe:Karl W. Haltiner

FW: Meeting 31 Jan 2001 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-29 Thread Knight, Jonathan

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Hancox, Leila 
Sent: 29 January 2002 17:08
To: CP
Subject: FW: Meeting 31 Jan 2001

-Original Message-
From: Rights of Women [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 29 January 2002 16:16
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; Discrimination Law Assoc; Fawcett Society
Subject: Meeting 31 Jan 2001

-Original Message-
From: Rights of Women [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 14 January 2002 16:11
Just a reminder that this meeting is taking place. All are welcome

Rights of Women and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers would like to
invite you to a public meeting entitled 'Women's Rights: The Current
Challege' on the 31 January 2001 from 6pm - 8pm. Confirmed speakers include
Helena Kennedy QC, Hannana Siddiqui (Southall Black Sisters) and Liz Davies
(Barrister and former member of Labour's NEC). They will be giving their
views on the above subject. The meeting is being held at the NUT, Hamilton
House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H (the nearest tube is Euston.)

We would be grateful if you could distribute the attached poster widely and,
if possible, put the details on your website. Many Thanks.

Rights Of Women

---
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Consequences of Insulting the US Flag [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-29 Thread Knight, Jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

Neutral Citation Number: [2001] EWHC Admin 1125 
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
NO: CO/3212/01
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
DIVISIONAL COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
   London WC2
 
   Friday, 21st December 2001
B e f o r e:

LORD JUSTICE KENNEDY

and

MRS JUSTICE HALLETT

- - - - - - -

PERCY
Claimant
-v-

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
Defendant
and

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT 
Intervener
- - - - - -
Computer-Aided Transcript of the stenograph notes of
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited,
190 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2AG
Telephone No: 020 7421 4040 Fax No: 020 7404 1424
(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
- - - - - -

MR K STARMAR and MR P MENON (instructed by Birnberg Peirce  Partners,
London NW1 7HJ) appeared on behalf of the Claimant
MR J FARMER (MISS G GIBBS for judgment) (instructed by Crown Prosecution
Service, Norfolk) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
MR HUGO KEITH (instructed by The Treasury Solicitor) appeared on behalf of
the Intervener
- - - - - - -
J U D G M E N T
( As approved by the Court)
- - - - - - -
  Friday, 21st December 2001


1.  MRS JUSTICE HALLETT: On 11th and 18th May 2001 the appellant stood
trial at the Thetford Magistrates' Court on charges of obstructing the
highway and using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour
likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress contrary to section 5 of the
Public Order Act 1986. It is only the latter charge which concerns this
court. District Judge Heley having heard evidence and submissions convicted
her of both offences and she was fined a total of £300 and ordered to pay
costs. The maximum penalty on conviction for an offence under section 5 is a
fine of £1000.
2.  The convictions arose from the appellant's behaviour at an American
air base at RAF Feltwell. The appellant is a co-ordinator of an organisation
called the Campaign for Accountability of American Bases and has
experience over many years of protesting against the use of weapons of mass
destruction and against American military policy, including the Star Wars
National Missile Defence System. She believed that the base at Feltwell
would have a part to play in such a system. She defaced the American flag by
putting a stripe across the stars and by writing the words Stop Star Wars
across the stripes. She stepped in front of a vehicle and she placed the
flag down in front of it and stood upon it. Those affected by her behaviour
were mostly American service personnel or their families, five of whom gave
evidence of their distress to varying degrees. They regarded her acts as a
desecration of their national flag to which they attach considerable
importance. The District Judge rejected the appellant's evidence that she
was unaware of the effect of her conduct upon those present. He relied upon
various passages of her evidence which, in his judgment, indicated that she
understood the importance that many Americans, particularly military
personnel, attach to their national flag as a symbol of freedom and
democracy. The court concluded from her failure to offer any explanation
save that it was a spontaneous protest to place the flag on the floor and
stand upon it, that her actions were calculated to offend. The court found
that the appellant's behaviour with the flag was insulting to American
citizens at whom it was directed.
3.  The appellant did, however, satisfy the court that her behaviour was
motivated by strongly held beliefs that the Star Wars project was
misguided, posed a danger to international stability and was not in the best
interests of the United Kingdom. She failed to persuade the court that her
conduct on the balance of probabilities was reasonable. Having made his
findings of fact, which on the evidence called before him are unimpeachable,
the District Judge then turned to the impact of Article 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights on section 5 of the Public Order Act. He
acknowledged that Article 10 applied and that it protected an individual's
right to express views which are unpopular and offensive to others. He
highlighted, however, that under Article 10(2) the right is not unqualified.
The exercise of the right to freedom of expression carries attendant duties
and responsibilities and so may be restricted and made subject to penalties,
provided they there are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic
society (for example, for the prevention of disorder, or for the protection
of the rights of others). The court considered in this case the risk of
disorder and criminal offences by others to be slight. His only concern,
therefore, was as to the protection of the rights of others. So far so good.
No one takes exception to his approach to this point.
4.  The District Judge went on to consider, however:

FW: [balkans] CfA: NATO-PA Research Assistant Programme [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-28 Thread Knight, Jonathan

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Florian Bieber [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 17 January 2002 08:56
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [balkans] CfA: NATO-PA Research Assistant Programme

From: Paul Cook [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Dear Sir/Madame,

I am the Economics and Security Committee Director of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels and am also responsible for our
Research Assistant/Internship program.  The NATO PA works with
Parliamentarians from all the NATO Member and Associate Member
countries on a range of issues shaping both the trans-Atlantic
relationship and East-West relations.  Each year we engage five
Researchers from January to June and the same number from August to
December to assist our Committee Directors in researching and
drafting reports. Researchers work with several of the Committees
during their tenure and are thus exposed to a wide range of subjects.
  The five NATO PA Committees cover political and diplomatic affairs,
defence and security matters, the civilian aspects of security and
trans-Atlantic and transition economic issues. The reports, which are
posted on our website at http://www.naa.be, are the central focus of
debate at the NATO PA's bi-annual plenary sessions and provide a
framework for Committee and Sub-Committee fact finding missions.  Our
sessions are held each year in different North American and European
cities, and our researchers also help staff these large events.

We believe that the Research Assistant Program is one of the best
internships in international affairs and want to ensure that
outstanding recent graduates in international affairs are aware of
this opportunity. Candidates for these positions must be nationals of
any NATO Member or Associate Member country, and they should hold a
first degree and a Master's degree (or equivalent) in Political
Science, International Relations, Contemporary History, International
Economics, European Studies or related subjects.  Ph.D. candidates
are also welcome to apply but should recognize that during their
tenure with the NATO-PA, their workday will be dedicated to Assembly
defined projects. I should note as well that we do have many
applications for these positions, and those selected have had
outstanding academic records. We ask candidates to send us a letter
of introduction, a CV and two letters of recommendation.

The NATO PA provides a small fully-equipped apartment near the center
of Brussels free of charge for each Researcher as well as a stipend
of Euro 620 a month. The Assembly also pays their way to and from
Brussels and provides basic medical insurance.  All of this is
explained in greater detail on our web page under the Research
Assistant Program link.   I have pasted the text from that page below
in this e mail.

I invite you to place this letter and a print out from our web page
in the job/internship listings at your career office. This program is
a truly excellent opportunity for young people interested in
launching a career in international affairs.

Finally, we hope to bring in the next group of Researchers in August
2002 applications and the deadline for applications is April 20,
2002. Please note that our schedule does not permit us to accept
interns interested only in working during the summer.

I hope this information is useful, and thank you for your
consideration.

Sincerely,

Paul Cook, Ph.D.
Director NATO PA Economics and Security Committee,
 Research Assistant Program

NATO-PA Research Assistant Programme (From the NATO PA Website
http://www.nato-pa.int/info/stagiaires.html)
--

Information for Candidates from NATO Member Countries

Information for Candidates from Associate Delegation Countries

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly usually employs eight paid Research
Assistants from NATO nations each year. In general, four of these
start in early February and finish in June. The second group starts
in August and finishes in late November or mid-December. In addition,
the Assembly employs two Research Assistants from Associate Delegate
Countries.

All applications from candidates with the appropriate qualifications
are placed on a list for consideration. Their names remain on the
list for consideration for about twelve months. Candidates are
requested to inform the Assembly if they cease to be available to
take up a position during that time.

The Assembly receives well over one hundred of well qualified
applications per year from candidates. Inevitably, this means that
fewer than one in ten applicants are offered positions.

Every effort is made to assess applications objectively, but many
factors must be taken into account. These include the desire to have
a regional balance among participants in the programme. Consequently,
it is rare to select two candidates from the same nation for the

Nato plans to admit five states as members [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-28 Thread Knight, Jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=Viewc=Articlecid=FT3C22SAZWCliv
e=truetagid=ZZZAFZAVA0Csubheading=europe
Nato plans to admit five states as members
By Judy Dempsey in Brussels
Published: January 27 2002 20:27 | Last Updated: January 27 2002 21:30
Nato is preparing to include at least five new countries in an enlargement
that will require radical changes in the role and functioning of the US-led
military alliance. 
Military planners and diplomats said a majority of the 19 Nato countries
want to include the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well
as Slovenia and Slovakia at Nato's summit in Prague in November. 
A greater enlargement would be a significant shift for Nato, which is still
grappling over how to deal with Russia and unsure what role, if any, it can
play in the US-led fight against international terrorism. 
But, given the pace of reforms among the applicant countries, such as
restructuring defence ministries and reducing the size of armies, diplomats
said they saw no reason why these five countries could not be admitted in
November. 
Nato, concerned about Russia's reaction, had originally considered admitting
only Slovenia and Slovakia, which would join Poland, the Czech Republic and
Hungary - members since 1999. 
But Washington has shifted ground, partly in response to pressure from
lobbies supporting the inclusion of the three Baltic states, but also to the
September 11 attacks on the US. 
In his visit to Poland last summer, President George W. Bush spoke openly
about a large expansion of Nato, brushing aside objections by Russia. There
will be no red lines [on expansion], he said. 
This was despite objections from the Russian defence ministry. It has
repeatedly warned Nato of the security consequences for Europe if the
alliance included the three Baltic states. However, Vladimir Putin, Russia's
president, has told the Bush administration he would not veto such an
expansion. 
But if Turkey, France and other countries have their way, enlargement could
also include Bulgaria and Romania. 
Turkey wants both countries included since it could strengthen security in
the Balkans, provide Sofia and Bucharest with an incentive to modernise and
reform their armies and help to establish a belt of Nato countries in the
southern Mediterranean region stretching from Portugal to Turkey. 
France wants to give Bulgaria and Romania some political incentive since it
is unlikely both countries will be ready to join the European Union by 2004.
This is the timetable set by the EU for admitting up to 10 countries, the
majority from central and eastern Europe. 
The enlargement debate coincides with a range of issues confronting Nato.
There are already differences within Nato over how to bring Russia closer to
the alliance in a relationship that would not restrict any of Nato's
military actions. 
There is also uncertainty over how at least five new countries could be
integrated into an alliance that makes decisions on consensus. Some
countries, for example, want decisions to be made unanimously. 

---
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FW: EMMA Nominations open on www.emma.uk.com [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-28 Thread Knight, Jonathan




HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



-Original Message-From: Hancox, Leila Sent: 
28 January 2002 09:46To: EveryoneSubject: FW: EMMA 
Nominations open on www.emma.uk.com

-Original Message-From: EMMA Awards 
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: 28 January 2002 09:41To: 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: EMMA Nominations open on 
www.emma.uk.com





Please 
forward WIN 
2 TICKETS TO THE STAR-STUDDED EMMAS!EMMA 
2002 Nominations are open now onwww.emma.uk.comTo take place at Grosvenor House 
Hotel, Park Lane, LondonOn 30th May 
2002 Celebrating Multicultural Excellence.
The EMMA's (Ethnic 
Multicultural Media Awards) have highlighted the importance of the media 
industry, by reflecting a unique multicultural perspective, which should 
ultimately not be missed by the community as a whole. With 19 categories from 
the fields of entertainment to journalism, we invite nominations from the 
general public to celebrate media stars, public role models and the many 
outstanding multicultural organisations. The creativity that exudes from 
these rich diverse communities cannot be overlooked by News Editors; Television 
Commissioners; advertising executives etc. 
The message since EMMA 1998 has been clear that fifty years of 
multicultural Britain has left an indelible mark around the global media 
industry. This has sparked a global 
cultural revolution, which has transcended race, class and gender within a 
growing media industry, reflective of economic and political changes in the 
twenty first century. Please nominate personalities or organisations for 
the EMMA's and you will be entered into a draw to win 2 VIP Tickets for the 
Awards Ceremony and the After Party, to be held on the 30th May 
2002. The winner will be notified 
on 1st May 2002 by email and letter. Please note that all nominations 
suggestions will not require an entry fee, however the material submission will 
require a £50 entrance fee made payable to EMMA Awards Ltd contributing to 
administration costs. We have honoured in the past, legends such as Muhammad 
Ali, Nelson Mandela and Lord Richard Attenborough for Lifetime Achievement 
Awards, respectively. The closing date for receiving all material 
submissions will be Friday 1st March 2002 and the finalists will be 
displayed from 8th April 2002 on the Internet and telephone voting 
line (0700 CALLEMMA), the public will be encouraged to vote for their preferred 
finalists during the period starting from 8th April to 
26th April 2002. The BBC 
will broadcast the EMMA Awards on the forthcoming Queen's Golden Jubilee weekend 
in June 2002. For further information log onto www.emma.uk.com for full Entry Details or 
contact:Bobby Ayyub Syed, Hearsay Communications Worldwide, 67-69 
Whitfield Street, London W1P 5RL Tel: 0207 636 1233 / 0207 468 3779/ 3502 Fax: 
0207 636 1255 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Please log-on to 
our EMMA website for sponsors details)

Award Categories 
The following award 
categories are a reflection of the vast depth and width that the media industry 
covers, without overlooking the rich cultural/professional contribution made by 
the ethnic/multicultural community in the UK and beyond. 
The nominees are 
selected by the judges/panel for their outstanding professional work, with the 
view that they reflect a universal/multicultural theme in their production, and 
has a distinct an ethnic/multicultural background or workable initiative. 

Music Section 

1. Best British 
Music Act/Production2. Best International Music Act/Production3. Best 
World Music Act/Production 
Film Section 

4. Best Film 
Production5. Best Actor6. Best Actress
TV 
Section
7. Best TV 
Entertainment Production8. Best Actor9. Best Actress 
Art  
Entertainment10. Best Play/Theatre Production11. Best Book/Novel12. Best 
Comedy/Comedian 
Journalism 
Section13. Best Print Newspaper Journalist*14. Best Radio News 
Journalist*15. Best TV News Journalist16. Best TV Documentary 
Production
Public Figure 
Section17. Public Figure for the Year18. Media Personality for 
the Year19. Sporting Personality for the Year 
20. LEGEND 
AWARD 21. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD * The general public can 
nominate,but not vote for these two journalism 
categories.Please forward before the above closing date, so that you 
may notify as many people as possible with regards to voting opportunities 
between 8th April to 27th April 2002 from the judges 
shortlist. 
 


---
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FW: [balkans] CfA: East-West Crude Oil Transport Corridor in the Aspect of the

2002-01-24 Thread Knight, Jonathan

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Sergei Sardanovsky [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 16 January 2002 12:02
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [balkans] CfA: East-West Crude Oil Transport Corridor in the
Aspect of the Black Sea Area Regional Security, Yalta, 22-26.4.2002

Dear Sirs,

  In 2000-2002 there were three international
meetings conducted by the Black Sea Area Research
Group (BSARG)
  At the end of April in Yalta (Crimea, Ukraine) we
are going to organize the next conference on topic:
East-West Crude Oil Transport Corridor in the Aspect
of the Black Sea Area Regional Security. Together
with the conference there should be conducted the IV
BSARG Meeting on the same topic. That event will take
place with the help and financial support of the
Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, Government of
the Crimea, State Share Company Black Sea Oil and
Gas, Dogus University (Istanbul, Turkey), Tavrida
State University, Tavrida Ecological Institute,
Information Agency Crimean Electronic
Communications, Information and Analytical Center
Zlato Chernomoria.

  The working group on Black Sea Area Research
(BSARG) seeks to assess the situation in the Black Sea
Region through enhanced international cooperation and
strategic research on an academic level. The main
focus is to form the general conception of a
productive collaboration between the Black Sea area
countries and to strengthen political stabilization in
that region as the main factors of the  Black Sea area
security.

  The Conference will take place in Yalta, 22-26
April 2002. During the conference there will be an
exposition on the discussed topic and tours to the
local sights.

  The latest geopolitical development in the Black
Sea region gave rise to the main topic of the
forthcoming conference, which, at the same time, is
one of the topics proposed at the III BSARG Meeting
for further elaboration. The conference will follow
the outlined procedure: it will identify the main
problem areas, assess their relevance to the academic
community and identify those which the academics are
able to solve. The discussions during the conference
will be mainly focused on the Program issues.
Moreover, the continuation of the debate after the end
of the workshop until the next conference will be
supported.

FORMAT AND STRUCTURE OF THE CONFERENCE:
  The Conference will be organized through panel
discussions and question and answer sessions. The
Conference will consist of five day sessions on the
following topics:

Political Workshop:
1. Black Sea area political and geopolitical situation
development concerning the East-West crude oil
transport corridor. Western and local scientists,
analysts, and politicians points of view upon those
issues.
2. The place and role of Ukraine and Russia in the
modern infrastructure of the crude oil transport routs
from the Central Asia and Caspian regions to Europe.
3. Positions of the Russian leading oil companies
concerning Ukraine and its place in that structure.
4. East-West crude oil transport corridor: Modern
realities and perspectives of developments (experts
evaluations).
5. Possibilities of international institutions use in
the way to solve the issue of the oil consortium
creation for common exploiting of the Odessa-Brody
pipe line.

Economic Workshop:
1. Economic aspects of the «Blue Stream» project for
the states of the Black Sea region.
2. Free trade development in the Black Sea and Caspian
regions in the context of East-West crude oil
transport corridor, «TRASECA», and
Europe-Asia-Caucasus communication corridor projects.
3. Baltics - Black Sea cooperation in the united
Europe case.
4. Economy globalization as a factor of the Black Sea
states changed relations.

Environmental Workshop:
1. Black Sea states ecological security issues in case
of the crude oil transportation volume increase.
2. The solve of ecological problems while oil
terminals and oil pipe lines construction in states
with a high recreation infrastructure.
3. Public organizations and NGO role in oil transport
projects realization in the Black Sea region.

  Representatives from different scientific
organizations of Turkey (Dogus University, Marmara
University, Galatasaray University, Yeditepe
University), Greece (Balkan Trust Network),
independent experts from USA, Italy, Russia, Ukraine
took part in the previous BSARG international
meetings.
  Following the conference, the organizers plan to
publish a campaign booklet which will include the
conference speeches, and to present this information
on a CD. The booklet will be distributed to a wide
range of NGOs, politicians, regional ministries of
Foreign Affairs, newspapers.
  We would be glad to see you at our conference!
Please, fill in the Application Form and direct it to
the organizers:

BSARG
1, Shalfeinaya St., 95050 Simferopol, Crimea, UKRAINE
Tel./Fax: + 38 0652 260833
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Information Agency

European Rapid Reaction Force [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-10 Thread Knight, Jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/
wednesday/index.htm
House of Lords Debates
Wednesday, 9th January 2002
European Rapid Reaction Force

2.51 p.m.
Baroness Knight of Collingtree asked Her Majesty's Government: 
How many British servicemen and women have currently been allocated
to serve with the European Rapid Reaction Force. 
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach):
My Lords, there is no standing European rapid reaction force; therefore, no
specific UK forces have been allocated to it. 
However, the United Kingdom has identified a pool of relevant forces and
capabilities up to a maximum of 12,500 troops, plus, if required, up to 18
warships and 72 combat aircraft. Any decision by the UK Government to
participate in an EU-directed operation, as well as the nature of our
contribution, would depend on the circumstances at the time. 
Baroness Knight of Collingtree: My Lords, is the Minister aware that his
reply will occasion some amazement in the rest of Europe? It is apparently
the 
9 Jan 2002 : Column 557
case that whatever RRF personnel are allocated, the number is exactly the
same as is presently allocated to NATO--they will sometimes be within one
force and sometimes within another. Under which general will they be
allocated? Let us suppose, for example, that the RRF, including our own
troops, were involved in clearing up following flooding or following the
eruption of a volcano and NATO had urgent need of them for a terrorist
exercise, who would say whether they would go or whether they would stay?
Which general would be the senior and how would the chain of command
work--bearing in mind that there must be extreme urgency in matters of this
kind? 
Lord Bach: My Lords, I would be surprised if there were any amazement at the
Answer that I have given. So far as concerns any chain of command, any
decisions about where British Armed Forces will or will not be used will be
a matter for Her Majesty's Government. 
Baroness Seccombe: My Lords, will the Minister tell the House how the United
Kingdom could possibly contribute any of its Armed Forces to the European
rapid reaction force when they are fully engaged on present operational
commitments? Secondly, if we are to commit our Armed Forces to this force,
when will the national defence budget be increased to make that possible? 
Lord Bach: My Lords, like all of us, the noble Baroness will have to wait
for an answer to the second part of her question until later this year. As
to her first point--I want to emphasise this because there may be some
misunderstanding about it--there is no additional commitment for the
deployment of United Kingdom forces on operations. The new arrangements do
not mean that we shall consider operations that we should not otherwise
consider. Individual countries will decide whether, when and how to commit
their forces. Of course, national governments will continue to be answerable
to national parliaments for the use of their forces. 
Lord Burnham: My Lords, the Minister says that there will be no commitment,
but there are a number of Petersberg tasks which various countries,
including this one, will feel that they have to carry out. How are those
Petersberg tasks to which the ERRF is committed to be carried out if there
are no staff and no armed force in place? 
Lord Bach: My Lords, I repeat that there is no European rapid reaction
force. I must make that clear to the House; there is not one. When and if
the Petersberg tasks needed to be fulfilled, it would be a matter for Her
Majesty's Government to decide if and when that should take place. I
emphasise that there is no extra commitment so far as concerns the Armed
Forces. 
Lord Hardy of Wath: My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the
establishment and development 
9 Jan 2002 : Column 558
of this force might well encourage our European partners to make more
realistic contributions to European and international defence and stability?

Lord Bach: My Lords, I agree with my noble friend. That was one of the
principles behind the arrangement. The United States has argued for many
years--and perhaps with some force--that European countries have not had
sufficient capabilities to meet the needs of NATO. It is very important that
European nations find extra capabilities to meet whatever requirements there
may be. It is an essential part of this policy that European countries
obtain the right capability to meet the new situation in which they find
themselves. 
Lord Glenarthur: My Lords, what proportion of the 12,500 troops mentioned by
the Minister might have to be committed in any sense from the Reserves? 
Lord Bach: My Lords, I am not in a position to say how many would have to
come from the Reserves. I again make the point that there will be no extra
commitment. There would always be a possibility that Reserves would be used,
but no more so for

RE: Kosovo: Stones Against Occupiers [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2002-01-08 Thread Knight, Jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

When do revenge attacks cease being revenge and become ethnic
cleansing.

JDK

-Original Message-
From: Rick Rozoff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 07 January 2002 23:49
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Kosovo: Stones Against Occupiers [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]



Dozens of Serbs have been killed and tens of thousands
have fled the province fearing attacks levelled in
revenge by ethnic Albanians after the U.N. and NATO
took control of Kosovo in 1999. 

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FW: War for Oil or Drugs, or both? [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

2001-12-10 Thread Knight, Jonathan


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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Subject: Between Oil and Drugs: the Roots of Conflict in Central Asia

Between Oil and Drugs: the Roots of Conflict in Central Asia
http://www.gvnews.net/html/Opinion/opin034.html

By Chris Floyd
The Moscow TImes

MOSCOW, Dec. 4, 2001 -- Among the isolated, out-of-step losers who dare open
their mouths to mutter doubts about America's military campaign in
Afghanistan, you will sometimes hear the traitorous comment: This war is
just about oil.

We here at the Global Eye take stern exception to such cynical tommyrot. No
one who has made a clear and dispassionate assessment of the situation in
the region could possibly say the new Afghan war is just about oil.

It's also about drugs.

For although we must now hail the warlords of the Northern Alliance as noble
defenders of civilization, the fact is that for some time they have also
functioned as one of the world's biggest drug-dealing operations. Indeed,
one of the main sticking points between the holy warriors of the alliance
and their ideological brethren in the Taliban has been control of the
profitable poppy, which by God's grace grows so plentifully in a land
otherwise bereft of natural resources. (Always excepting the production of
corpses.)

In the good old days, when the mujahedin were united against the Soviet
devil, all shared equally in the drug-running trade, under the benevolent
eye of that great lubricator of illicit commerce, the CIA. When the Northern
Alliance was driven from Kabul -- having killed 50,000 of the city's
inhabitants during its civilized rule -- the Taliban seized the lion's share
of Afghanistan's opium production. The noble lords managed to hold on to
several prize fields in the north, however, and together with avaricious
Taliban, they helped fuel a worldwide rise in heroin traffic.

Earlier this year, the U.S. administration bribed the Taliban to stop
growing opium -- a most effective use of baksheesh, according to the United
Nations, which found that Afghan opium production dropped from 3,300 tons
annually to less than 200. But the Northern Alliance leapt manfully into the
breach, engineering a threefold rise in opium output in its territory this
year.

Now the bountiful southern fields are also there for the plucking. For
war-ravaged Afghan farmers, the market realities are clear: they can plant
wheat, and get 20 bucks per hectare, or plant opium and pull down $8,000 in
hard cash for the same fields. Needless to say, the poppy replanting has
already begun. Come harvest time, the drug lords -- sorry, the noble
warlords -- will take their cut and ship the dope off to pollute the minds
of decadent infidels in the West. Ah, the spoils of victory!

Hey, maybe their CIA buddies will help coordinate the shipments. Those guys
are killer when it comes to covert logistics.

Narco-lepsy

After all, as U.S. Attorney General Jailin' John Ashcroft tells us, the
war on terrorism is just like the war on drugs -- that is to say, a
never-ending fount of profitable corruption for the ruthless, the murderous
and the well-connected.

Certainly, the war on drugs makes little sense otherwise. We all know that
if the ingestion of various arbitrarily chosen substances were no longer
prosecuted, the level of violence, crime and repression in society would be
reduced immeasurably. Substance abuse would then become what is it is now
for drugs like alcohol and nicotine: a matter of personal character and
private consequence.

A crack addict, for example, could have his nightly pipe in the safety of
his own home, for the same price as a six-pack of beer, a carton of
cigarettes, or the latest Disney video. He wouldn't need to resort to crime
to feed an expensive criminalized habit. And his resulting stupefaction
would be no more harmful to the public good than that of millions of his
fellow citizens sitting slack-jawed in front of the tube.

But decriminalization will never happen. Illegal drugs are simply too
profitable for the various powerful criminal elements known as mafias,
warlords -- and intelligence agencies. For drug-running is the perfect
way to fund your black ops -- no budget restraints, no legal niceties, no
pesky legislators looking over your shoulder.

That's how they did it back in those high old Iran-Contra days, as
investigator Robert Parry reports on Consortiumnews.com. Buried in the
papers of that thwarted investigation are outright admissions of CIA
connivance with the drug dealers who helped finance the murderous
Reagan-Bush terrorist network in Latin America.

This is -- in part -- what Bush Jr. is covering up with his recent
autocratic edict sealing past presidential papers. And the fact that his
Daddy lied about his own involvement in the criminal enterprise -- lies that
he drowned certain fathoms deep by pardoning his co-conspirators. Some of
these criminal connivers with drug-running now hold high office in the new
Bush administration.

You know, the one that restored

FW: Who is really responsible for Sep 11th??/Bush Jnr [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



The OFFICIAL PARTY LINE and the TRUTH
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/agentsmiley/message/984

by Stan Goff

I'm a retired Special Forces Master Sergeant.  That doesn't cut much for
those who will only accept the opinions of former officers on military
matters, since we enlisted swine are assumed to be incapable of grasping the
nuances of doctrine.

But I wasn't just in the army, I studied and taught military science and
doctrine.  I was a tactics instructor at the Jungle Operations Training
Center in Panama, and I taught Military Science at West Point.  And contrary
to the popular image of what Special Forces does, SF's mission is to teach.
We offer advice and assistance to foreign forces.  That's everything from
teaching marksmanship to a private to instructing a Battalion staff on how
to coordinate effective air operations with a sister service.

Based on that experience, and operations in eight designated conflict areas
from Vietnam to Haiti, I have to say that the story we hear on the news and
read in the newspapers is simply not believable.  The most cursory glance at
the verifiable facts, before, during, and after September 11th, does 'not'
support the official line or conform to the current actions of the United
States government.

But the official line only works if they can get everyone to accept its
underlying premises.  I'm not at all surprised about the Republican and
Democratic Parties repeating these premises.  They are simply two factions
within a single dominant political class, and both are financed by the same
economic powerhouses.  My biggest disappointment, as someone who identifies
himself with the left, has been the tacit acceptance of those premises by
others on the left, sometimes naively,and sometimes to score some morality
points.  Those premises are twofold.  One, there is the premise that what
this de facto administration is doing now is a response to September 11th.
Two, there is the premise that this attack on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon was done by people based in Afghanistan.  In my opinion, neither of
these is sound.

To put this in perspective we have to go back not to September 11th, but to
last year or further.

A man of limited intelligence, George W.  Bush, with nothing more than his
name and the behind-the-scenes pressure of his powerful father-a former
President, ex-director of Central Intelligence, and an oil man-is
systematically constructed as a candidate, at tremendous cost.

Across the country, subtle and not-so-subtle mechanisms are put into place
to disfranchise a significant fraction of the Democrat's African-American
voter base.  This doesn't come out until Florida becomes a battleground for
Electoral College votes, and the magnitude of the story has been suppressed
by the corporate media to this day.

In a decision so lacking in legitimacy, the Supreme Court will neither
by-line the author of the decision nor allow the decision to ever be used as
a precedent, Bush v.  Gore awards the presidency of the United States to a
man who loses the popular vote in Florida and loses the national popular
vote by over 600,000.

This de facto regime then organizes a very interesting cabinet.  The Vice
President is an oil executive and the former Secretary of Defense.  The
National Security Advisor is a director on the board of a transnational oil
corporation and a Russia scholar.  The Secretary of State is a man with no
diplomatic experience whatsoever, and the former Chair of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff.  The other interesting appointment is Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary
of Defense.  Rumsfeld is the former CEO of Searle Pharmaceuticals.  He and
Cheney were featured as speakers at the May, 2000, Russian-American Business
Leaders Forum. So the consistent currents in this cabinet are petroleum, the

former Soviet Union, and the military.

Based on the record of Daddy Bush, in all his guises, and the general
trajectory of US foreign policy as far back as the Carter Administration, I
feel I can reasonably conclude that Middle Eastern and South Asian fossil
fuels are one of their major preoccupations.

Not just because this klavern has some very direct financial interests in
fossil fuel, but because they surely know that worldwide oil production is
peaking as we speak, and will soon begin a permanent and precipitous decline
that will completely change the character of civilization as we know it
within 20 years.  Even the left seems to be in deep denial about this, but
the math is available.  And, no, alternative energies and energy
technologies will not save us.  All the alternatives in the world can not
begin to provide more than a tiny fraction of the energy base now provided
by oil.  This makes it more than a resource, and the drive to control what's
left more than an economic competition.

I further conclude that the economic colonization of the former Soviet Union
is probably high on that agenda, and in

FW: Various quotes articles... [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]

HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---

-Original Message-
From: Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 05 December 2001 07:44
To: Jonathan Knight; Ayo Obisanya
Subject: Various quotes  articles...

Dear media person

I've compiled for you a number of articles and quotes that should be
carefully reviewed for possible reporting and/or disclosure.

I trust you still believe in democracy...

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not
spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius
of its scientists, the hopes of its children... Under the cloud of
threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

- President Eisenhower

Today we stand on the verge of a civil liberties calamity in this country.
The Administration and the Attorney General have taken a series of
constitutionally dubious actions that place the Executive branch in the
untenable role of legislator, prosecutor, judge, and jury. Certainly, we
stand together as a nation in our collective outrage over the September
11th terrorist attacks. However, we do nothing to win the battle against
terrorism by sacrificing our precious freedoms and liberties. (...)
Collectively, the Administration has swept away the independent judiciary,
the right to a public trial, the right to an appeal, the right to counsel,
due process, equal protection and habeas corpus. Not bad for two week's
work.

- Congressman John Conyers, Jr. - Details at
http://www.truthout.com/11.20B.Conyers.Trials.htm

What we've seen, since September 11th, if you add up everything that
Ashcroft, Bush, Gonzales and their coterie of Federalist Society lawyers
have done here, is a coup d'etat against the United States Constitution.
There's no question about it. When you add in the Ashcroft police state
bill that was passed by Congress (and several members of Congress admitted,
We never even read this thing when we voted for it.) - that's really what
we're seeing now, Dennis, a constitutional coup d'etat. There's no other
word for it. (...) The critical question is: When will the FBI, the CIA and
the National Security Agency start to turn these powers, that they have
under the Ashcroft police state bill, against American citizens? Clearly,
that will be the next step.

- Professor Francis A. Boyle, in an interview by Dennis Bernstein, host of
Flashpoints, KPFA Radio 94.1 FM - Berkeley, California Wednesday,
November 14, 2001.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001
From: Jon Chance [EMAIL PROTECTED]

We control America

Every time we do something you [Shimon Peres] tell me America will do this
and will do that I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry
about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people [sic], control
America, and the Americans know it.

- Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister, Knesset, Tel Aviv, October 3, 2001.

The Israelis wasted no time in the wake of the attack in downtown Manhattan.

Within three minutes a former Prime Minister was seen on the BBC demanding
that Iraq, Iran, Libya and others be destroyed. A remarkably rapid response
driving the average reader to question how Israeli officials could possibly
have responded to a surprise attack of this sort without prior or inside
knowledge. Read the story here:

http://geocities.com/vialls2/index.html

Media review of Florida ballots whitewashes theft of 2000 election (6
November 2001) http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/flor-n16.shtml
On November 12, a consortium of major US news organizations, including the
New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and CNN, released the
results of a 10-month investigation into disputed votes cast in Florida
during the 2000 presidential election. The media report was calculated to
boost the political legitimacy of the Bush administration and obscure the
profoundly anti-democratic manner in which Bush was installed in the White
House. CLIP Both during and after the 2000 election, the main preoccupation
of the media has been to insist on Bush's political legitimacy and dismiss
the election crisis as little more than a partisan squabble. Just two
months ago, New York Times Washington bureau chief Richard Berke wrote a
column in which he said the events of September 11 had rendered the
consortium's recount utterly irrelevant. CLIP

Consortium Muddles Recount, Again
http://AlterNet.org/story.html?StoryID=11900
The long-awaited recount of the Florida election revealed little new
information. That didn't stop news outlets from declaring Bush a winner,
even though more people intended to vote for Gore.

(...) Under some of the strictest standards -- including those proposed by
the Bush camp during last year's recount fight

FW: US's Afghan secret... [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]


HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---



America's Dirty Afghan Secret: It's a War over Oil
By V K Shashikumar, New Delhi, November 21, 2001

Intelligence analysts Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie have
released an explosive book that claims the US' primary interest in the
Afghan War might be oil, not terrorism; the US president, they claim,
had obstructed investigation into the Taliban's terrorist activities.
  
A book written by two French intelligence analysts is certain to
embarrass President George W Bush and his administration. The book, Bin
Laden, La Verite Interdite (Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth), released
recently, claims that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy
Director John O'Neill resigned in July in protest over Bush's
obstruction of an investigation into Taliban's terrorist activities. The
authors, Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, claim that Bush
resorted to this obstruction under the influence of the United States'
oil companies.

Bush stymied the intelligence agency's investigations on terrorism, even
as it bargained with the Taliban on handing over of Osama bin Laden in
exchange for political recognition and economic aid. The main obstacles
to investigate Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests, and
the role played by Saudi Arabia in it, O'Neill reportedly told the
authors. According to the Brisard and Dasquie, the main objective of the
US government in Afghanistan prior to Black Tuesday was aimed at
consolidating the Taliban regime, in order to obtain access to the oil
and gas reserves in Central Asia.

Prior to September 11, the US government had an extremely benevolent
understanding of the Taliban regime. The Taliban was perceived as a
source of stability in Central Asia that would enable the construction
of an oil pipeline across Central Asia from the rich oilfields in
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, through Afghanistan and
Pakistan, to the Indian Ocean. This would have secured for the US
another huge captive and alternate oil resource centre. The oil and gas
reserves of Central Asia have been controlled by Russia. The Bush
government wanted to change all that.this rationale of energy security
changed into a military one, the authors claim.

At one moment during the negotiations, US representatives told the
Taliban, 'either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury
you under a carpet of bombs', Brisard said in an interview in Paris. On
Saturday, representatives of the Northern Alliance (NA), former King
Zahir Shah's confidantes, and possibly, non-Taliban Pashtun leaders,
will meet in Berlin under the aegis of the US-led coalition to discuss a
broad-based government in Afghanistan. It might be a coincidence that
the US and Taliban diplomatic representatives met in Berlin early this
year. 

According to the book, the Bush administration began a series of
negotiations with the Taliban early in 2001. Washington and Islamabad
were also venues for some of the meetings. The authors claim that before
the September 11 attacks, Christina Rocca, in charge of Asian Affairs in
the US State Department, met Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam
Zaeef in Islamabad on August 2, 2001. Interestingly, Rocca is a veteran
of US involvement in Afghanistan. She was previously in charge of
contacts with Islamist guerrilla groups at the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), where she oversaw the delivery of Stinger missiles to
Afghan mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s.

Brisard and Dasquie also reveal that the Taliban were not really
ultra-orthodox in their diplomatic approach, because they actually hired
an American public relations' expert for an image-making campaign in the
US. It is, of course, not known whether the Pakistanis helped the
Taliban secure the services of a professional image-maker. What is,
however, revealed in the book is that Laila Helms, a public relations
professional, who also doubles up as an authority on the way the US
intelligence agencies work, was employed by the Taliban. Her task was to
get the US recognise the Taliban regime. Prior to September 11, only
three countries - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UAE - recognised the
Taliban regime. Helms' familiarity with the ways of US intelligence
organisations comes through her association with Richard Helms, who is
her uncle a former director of the CIA and former US ambassador to
Tehran.

Helms is described as the Mata Hari of US-Taliban negotiations. The
authors claim that she brought Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi, an advisor to
Mullah Omar, to Washington for five days in March 2001 - after the
Taliban had destroyed the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan. Hashimi met the
Directorate of Central Intelligence at the CIA, and the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research at the State Department.

The Frenchmen have indeed produced a controversial book, which is
undoubtedly explosive, because of the interesting nuggets of information
they have dug up. Besides,

FW: Injustice film [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]