Europe

Sarkozy, War and the Grandeur of La Douce France
By Gaither Stewart, Thomas Paine's Corner

“Non, rien de rien, je ne regrette rien!” (As sung by Edith Piaf from the top of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the end of World War II)

LONDON (AP) — Protesters shook their shoes at the U.S. Embassy in London on Friday in a show of support for a jailed Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference in Iraq.

Up to 50 demonstrators, some carrying shoes mounted on sticks, protested the arrest of journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi and called for his release.

"He has stood up against the silence and the lies that we have been forced to take all too often in the British and international media," said David Crouch, the chairman of Media Workers Against The War, a group representing anti-war journalists.

"Our role is to give a voice to people who don't have a voice and for that reason al-Zeidi might as well have thrown 27 million shoes at George Bush, because he was speaking for the vast overwhelming majority of the Iraqi population," Crouch said.

STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER
No. 1065 16 December 2008
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
T: 020 7278 6694
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

MANY THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
The Stop War Coalition would like to thank all our
supporters for your anti-war efforts in 2008. Clearly our
work will be as necessary as ever in 2009 and we aim to
redouble our efforts in the cause of peace. Below is an
outline of some of our upcoming activities. Seasonal
greetings to all.

***********************************
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) SHOE PROTEST AT US EMBASSY
2) AFGHANISTAN -- LEARNING NOTHING FROM IRAQ
3) ANTI-WAR CAMPAIGNING IN 2009
4) CAGE PRISONERS TOUR
5) STOP THE WAR ANNUAL CONFERENCE MARCH 14-15
6) COUNTDOWN TO OBAMA APPEAL

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — European Union countries should offer to take in any detainees released from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Portugal's foreign minister said in a letter published Thursday.

Portugal is willing to grant asylum to Guantanamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries, Foreign Minister Luis Amado said in the letter sent to his EU counterparts.

President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to close the detention center, currently holding some 250 men, at the U.S. Naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

EU nations agree the prison should be closed. But human rights campaigners have said many inmates would face persecution if sent back to their home countries.

Amado said the EU "should send a clear signal of our willingness to help the U.S. government resolve this problem, namely by taking in the detainees," according to the letter.

U.S. Army Specialist Andre' Shepherd applied for asylum in Germany Nov. 26, becoming the first Iraq War veteran to pursue refugee status in Europe. READ HIS STORY.

Dear President-Elect Obama:

We the undersigned, members and supporters of the Global Network, write to congratulate you on your recent election as President of the U.S. We want to help you in every way possible to promote peace around the world so that our national resources could be used for the tremendous needs we have here at home like health care, education, job creation, dealing with climate change and more.

We specifically write to urge you to reject the Bush administration plan to deploy "missile defense" interceptors in Poland and a Star Wars radar system in the Czech Republic. We know you are aware of Russia's deep concern that these deployments are really aimed at them in spite of Pentagon assurances they are only directed at Iran.

ITALIA-USA: FRATTINI SU AFRICOM, A NAPOLI E VICENZA NO
TRUPPE PERMANENTI
Bruxelles, 2 dic. - (Adnkronos/Aki) - "Ci sono quattro componenti di Africom, di cui due saranno ospitate in Italia, una a Vicenza e l'altra a Napoli". Lo ha detto il ministro degli Esteri Franco Frattini, in una conferenza stampa a Bruxelles, confermando quanto scritto dall'ADNKRONOS e precisando che "non ci sono truppe americane assegnate su base permanente a queste componenti". "Si tratta di strutture di comando che operano nel quadro della Nato", ha aggiunto il titolare della Farnesina, sottolineando come "evidentemente questo sia stato fatto dopo aver informato anche i paesi africani che hanno espresso grande supporto a questa decisione". "Domani - ha concluso Frattini - daremo qualche dettaglio in piu' in una conferenza stampa con l'ambasciatore americano a Roma Ronald Spogli, che e' stato delegato dal segretario di Stato Condoleezza Rice ad occuparsi di questa cosa".

Note that the Italian people were already a bit less than thrilled with the idea of a massive new base in Vicenza.

By Elsa Rassbach

Here in Germany there has just been an important new development for the international peace movement. Iraq war veteran André Shepherd announced on Thanksgiving Day that he will seek asylum via a court proceeding in Germany.

Over the past several years, peace activists in Europe have been raising the issue of asylum rights for U.S. soldiers in accordance with European law. For example, in March 2006, American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project (a U.S. peace group in Europe) initiated a hearing in the European Parliament regarding asylum. Hart Viges of IVAW a witness at the hearing along with German and UK military resisters, and Cindy Sheehan sent a video with her testimony. The Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild and the GI Rights Hotline have participated in seminars with German attorneys to explore representation of resisting GIs, including those that might seek asylum here.

[While I wish they'd write to the US Senate and remind it of its duty to approve or reject all treaties, this is the right message and well-intentioned. -DS]

22.11.2008

Dear President-elect Obama:

Please accept our congratulations on your victory in the United States presidential election.

We address this appeal to you due to our concern for the preservation of the democratic process in the Czech Republic and for the security of the European community.

STOP THE WAR COALITION NEWSLETTER
http://www.stopwar.org.uk

***********************************
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) 68% SAY OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW
2) BUSH-BLAIR: CRIMINAL VIGILANTES
3) COUNTDOWN TO OBAMA: APPEAL
4) NOAM CHOMSKY SPEAKING AT NATO PROTEST
5) LEADING MUSICIAN SPEAKS OUT AGAINST WAR
6) VOLUNTEERS WITH IT SKILLS NEEDED

***********************************
1) 68% SAY OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW

With the occupation of Afghanistan mired in crisis, a BBC
opinion poll last week showed that 68% of the British
population want the troops out of Afghanistan. For under 24s
the figure was 75%. Despite this Gordon Brown looks set to
support calls for an intensification of the war by NATO
forces, with Britain sending more troops. The three British
soldiers killed in the last few days indicate where this
policy is going.

Stop the War is asking all its supporters to join the

By Dave Lindorff

A CBS/Associated Press story yesterday reported that the man who runs the Pentagon’s anti-missile program, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering III, had warned incoming President-elect Barack Obama that any reversal of Bush/Cheney administration plans to install anti-ballistic missile missiles in Poland would “severely hurt” American interests.

It was a classic “stupid” story of the type that we now expect to get from our corporate media—basically a regurgitation of the statement of one self-interested official, backed up by a few supporting quotes from other government officials, and the usual “anonymous” official sources, and lacking any context or opposing viewpoints.

As you may know, the recent regional Czech elections brought defeat for the government parties in all 13 regions -- and the U.S. radar's unpopularity was a major factor in their defeat! Below is a note from Jan Tamas bringing us up to date with the latest happenings.

--Joanne Landy, Co-Director, Campaign for Peace and Democracy

Hello Joanne,

I thought you might be interested in the news from Prague. So here they are:

This week was a very important week in our struggle. Both chambers of our parliament planned to vote on this issue. And none of them did!!!

Yesterdays and todays meetings of the chamber of deputies were a success for us the government didnt manage to get to the actual voting on the treaty ratification (due to the time constraints and the big number of speakers from the oposition). It seems that they wont vote on it tomorrow, either (that will be the last day of this session), so this session will end without this issue being voted on.

Nuclear Materials Secretly Transported | CNN.com

Enough processed uranium to make six nuclear weapons was secretly transported thousands of miles by truck, rail and ship on a monthlong trip from a research reactor in Budapest, Hungary, to a facility in Russia so it could be more closely protected against theft, U.S. officials revealed Wednesday.

The shipment, conducted under tight secrecy and security, included a three-week trip by cargo ship through the Mediterranean, up the English Channel and the North Sea to Russia's Arctic seaport of Murmansk, the only port Russia allows for handling nuclear material.