US Kirkuk commander admits that reporters were attacked and cameras smashed - he insisted his troops respect press freedom

74 reporters have been killed in Iraq since 2003

the benefits of colonialism - part 237416

an estimated 125,000 Egyptians perished in forced labour
during the construction of the Suez Canal

"10,000 Palestinian prisoners... do not move anything, while 3 Israeli prisoners have shaken the world." - Ayman al-Zawahiri

Tony Blair is one of those politicians who sucks up to those more powerful than himself (Bush and Murdoch), and stomps on everybody else

and of course he gets his reward - a future of lucrative speaking engagements in the US and a job on the board of the Sun

---------------------

forget the New Labour jingles and spin - look at what they've doing -

* preventing the democratisation of the House of Lords

* selling peerages to raise money to keep themselves in power

* modifying legislation to allow rich donors to continue advertising harmful products

* attempting to privatise the health and education systems

* allowing UK airspace to be secretly used for transporting abducted people to countries where they will be tortured

* supplying money and arms to dictatorships

* supporting the overthrow of elected governments

* invading resource-rich countries

---------------------

"How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?" - Bob Dylan

*******************************

Lebanese Solidarity Appeal

news updates from Lebanon

Sanayeh Relief Centre

********************************

it's easy to spot the politically dangerous - they're the one who divide the world into people who are good (us), and people who are evil (them)

the black rhino may now be extinct

what a disaster! no more black rhino horn!

(from now on, rich sheiks will have to kill each other using daggers with handles made of plastic)

*******************************

the world would be a much more peaceful place if everyone changed their religion every five years

*********************

Japan and the USA have both invaded Korea within living memory - and no doubt they would like to retain the option of doing so again

perhaps that's why they're so opposed to North Korea's nuclear policy

the UK Government claims there is little demand for extended sunday trading, so they're restricting it to 6 hours a day

why should politicians have the power to tell people at what times they can and can't sell things to each other?

******************************

more than a quarter of a million killed in Iraq and Afghanistan

all because people believe their country / religion is best -
because they think they're right and others are wrong

what the world needs is more apathy

********************

i grew up being taught that a police state is a country where the Government uses its intelligence services to abduct and torure "enemies of the state" and then imprison them indefinitely without a fair trial

as in "extraordinary rendition" and Guantanamo?

***************************

Blair's Government has created 1000 new criminal offenses in the last 6 years, and there's thousands more in the pipeline - no wonder the UK has the highest prison poulation in Europe

***********************

why does the UK need a new generation of nuclear weapons?

so it can invade foreign countries without fear of retaliation!

*******************************

since the start of the moratorium on whaling more than 25,000 whales have been hunted and killed

(Norway is the only country that ignores the ban)

*************************

"The US policy is to treat all detainees humanely" - Pentagon

Iraqi prisoners held on 1 metre chains, fed on bread and water, with detainees' eyes being taped shut for up to seven days at a time

and then Bush wonders why the vast majority of people in the world consider US foreign policy the greatest threat to world peace

**********************

Thatcher's closure of mines in the 1980s means that the UK now imports coal from Australia, Colombia, Poland, S Africa and the US

*************************

so that's why Tony Blair is fighting for democracy in Iraq -

to defend the right of the Saudi Arabian government to rape and torture UK citizens

**************************

Bush and Blair's so-called "War on Terror" encourages the attitude that it is better to murder the innocent rather than risk sparing the guilty

(misquoting Voltaire)

***************************************

40% of the World Bank's aid budget went to consultants in 2004
- well it's good to know someone benefits from it

***************************