Press Release - 2nd Feb 2016 - Election Candidates Asked to Pledge Themselves to Peace

Five organisations have come together to call on general election candidates to commit to ending the US military use of Shannon Airport. In a joint initiative, Shannonwatch, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA), the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM), Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) and Veterans for Peace (VfP) Ireland are all calling for candidates and parties to bar military traffic from any country involved in war from landing on Irish soil or from using Irish airspace. read full story / add a comment

The weak Irish capitalist class were missing in action in the 1916 rising - The repercussions. read full story / add a comment

The Peace Deal does not serve the interests of the masses of the Middle East. read full story / add a comment

For the past year, there have been numerous reports that ISIS have been transporting the oil they have stolen from Iraq and Syria, to Turkey and this has been greatly facilitated by the Turkish state at the highest levels. It is widely known the oil was being sold and exported by BMZ Ltd owned by Bilal Erdogan, President Erodgan's son. It is extremely unlikely that they are doing this for nothing and tens of millions have probably been siphoned off by the Erdogan family and other key officials and the Turkish economy has no doubt benefitted from an injection of cheap stolen oil sold below world market rates. The Russian Defense Ministry on Dec 2nd revealed the vast scale of the oil smuggling operation which somehow was missed by the NATO/US in the past 2 years. read full story / add a comment

Mick Wallace, an independent, democratically elected public representative in Ireland's first house of Parliament, has been arrested and will be brought to Limerick Prison. The reason for his arrest was his attempt, along with Clare Daly TD, to inspect US military planes at Shannon. As his actions were undertaken entirely in the pursuit of peace, Shannonwatch calls for his immediate release.

[Update] TD Mick Wallace has since been granted temporary release from Limerick Prison this afternoon. However TD Clare Daly has now driven to Limerick the prison in an unmarked Garda over her non-payment of a fine in relation to a protest at Shannon Airport. read full story / add a comment

In the recent elections in Venezuela the right wing opposition long backed by Washington has secured a majority by winning 107 out of 167 seats. This is the first time since the early days of deceased former president Chavez rose to power that the right has had control of the parliament.

This allows them to to remove ministers from the presidential cabinet. Had they won 111 seats, they would have been enough power in the legislative body to dismiss Supreme Court Judges, reform the Constitution and convoke a recall referendum of the national executive without having collected the minimum quota of signatures required by the Bolivarian Constitution. It is likely they will try this anyhow.

In the second victory for the empire, the neo-liberal right wing got back into power in Argentina just two weeks ago in late November with the election of right-wing candidate Mauricio Macri from one of the country's richest families
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We are delighted to announce a new publication entitled Shannon Airport and 21st Century War, edited by Shannonwatch's John Lannon and PANA's Roger Cole. Printed copies of the 48 page booklet are available for €10 by contacting Shannonwatch or PANA. You can also download a PDF version of the booklet read full story / add a comment

In light of the butchery that took place in Paris on Fri 13th by Terrorists largely financed, supported, trained and armed by Western powers and corporate entities directly and through Gulf state and Turkish state intermediaries and the totally inadequate analysis from the mainstream media, we reproduce here in full this article from Voltaire Net.

The French Republic taken hostage by Thierry Meyssan

The war which has now spread to Paris is incomprehensible for those French citizens who are ignorant of practically all the secret activities of their government in the Arab world, of its unnatural alliances with the Gulf dictators, and its active participation in international terrorism. These policies have never been discussed in Parliament, and the major media have rarely dared to take an interest in them. read full story / add a comment

In the last two months, the dramatic and sad photographs of 3 year old Aylan Kurdi, and his brother lying dead on the shores on a beach in Turkey have finally opened the curtain very slightly on the horrors and terror of war in Syria. It is hard to conceive the trauma of this family first seeing one of their other brothers beheaded by ISIS jihadists, then to flee and then for this man's wife and two remaining young children to drown in the sea whilst attempting to escape. If you were to listen to politicans from the UK all the way up to the present prime minister, you would think they were doing this so they could scab off the social welfare but as anyone knows, this was the act of a family desperate to flee the terror in their home country and get to safety at all costs. However Aylan Kurdi and his brother and mother aren't the only ones to drown or being killed in war, there are tens of thousands dead. read full story / add a comment

Is it possible that Europe will sleepwalk into another Yugoslavia.
The prognosis for Europe in general is not good at all! read full story / add a comment

Over the years there have been regular movements of US military refuelling planes through Shannon. The government won't tell us why they land there however. Are they refuelling US military planes just outside Irish airspace? Are they collecting cheap fuel? Are they on their way to warzones to re-fuel fighter jets? read full story / add a comment

The horrendous double bombing attack that struck a protest rally for peace organized by several trade unions in Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, on Saturday 10 October, led, at the last count, to at least 128 deaths, and hundreds injured. It is the largest terrorist attack in the country’s history. Many victims are still in intensive care units in various hospitals, while a number of bodies, unrecognizable, have not yet been identified. This attack, by its human and political magnitude, has shaken the country to its foundations. read full story / add a comment

The Department of Transport has revealed that in 2014 a total of 272 flights were given permits to take weapons or explosives through Shannon Airport. In response to a freedom of information request by Shannonwatch they confirmed that the majority of the flights were taking US troops between military bases and locations in the Middle East. The information also shows that US troop carriers and aircraft with machine guns, rocket motors and other war material are routinely allowed to fly through Irish airspace. Again the majority of these are flying to or from US military bases around the world. read full story / add a comment

As people flee from countries ravaged by war and poverty and European governments shut their doors in their faces, we have responsibilities as human beings to act. We must demand that our governments do everything they can to end the cruel deaths we see happening in the backs of lorries, in the sea, in other parts of the long tortuous journeys that the people of Syria, Eritrea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, South Sudan, Eritrea and elsewhere undertake in order to stay alive.

People like 3 year old Aylan Kurdi and his 5 year old brother Galib should not have to die while European leaders argue over the number of refugees to allow into their country. If the European Union has any meaning or relevance it must be to protect the basic human rights of people who desperately need protection, who have reached a point where they are prepared to risk everything, even their lives, to survive. And while it is good to see a widespread public reaction internationally to the death of Aylan Kurdi, the tragedy is that thousands of other children have died by drowning or from thirst and starvation as they crossed deserts. Countless others have been trafficked for exploitation, and their suffering has been largely ignored. read full story / add a comment

The vintage Hawker Hunter fighter plane that crashed on to a busy roadway during an air show in Shoreham, Sussex on 22 August also performed at recent air shows in Ireland at Shannon, Bray and Foynes. Between them these were attended by up to 150,000 people. read full story / add a comment

As Shannon Airport prepares to stage an air show on July 18th to celebrate its achievements in the world of aviation, peace groups in Ireland issue a reminder that its recent history is not one to be proud of. Since 2001 the airport has been used by the US military as a gateway to wars in the Middle East. These wars have resulted in the death of innocent men, women and children, left millions of people homeless, and destroyed communities and entire countries. read full story / add a comment

Shannon Airport will host what they call an "air display extravaganza" on July 18th, to mark the 70th anniversary of the first commercial transatlantic flight at the airport. They say the airshow will provide a visual treat from leading aerobatics performers, parachutists, helicopters, jet fighters and stunt fliers. read full story / add a comment

RESOLUTION of SYRIZA - KAISARIANI District, on the WAR IN UKRAINE AND THE planed SANCTIONS of EU AGAINST THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION Today, on 9 June 2015 SYRIZA Kaisarianis voted and adopted the following resolution:

"At the beginning of 2014 the legitimate president of Ukraine was toppled by a violent coup organised by far right and Nazi elements.
The inhabitants of the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine did not recognize the new regime and decided by referendums to become independent. In particular the cities of Lugansk and Donetsk they have experienced for the last year the barbarism of the bombing by the Kiev regime with heavy artillery in their cities with carnage of dead and infrastructure disasters read full story / add a comment

Various groups unite and conducted a peace march from Sandiganbayan to the House of Representatives in support of the immediate passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and for lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao.

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Shannonwatch are appalled at today’s decision by a court in Ennis to convict TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly for their attempts to search a US military plane at Shannon. The two TDs were given maximum €1000 fines, despite the overwhelming evidence to support their case that they had no alternative but to do what they did.

“The court accepted without qualification the knowledge and expertise of the witnesses who outlined serious breaches of neutrality and other laws at Shannon.” said Clare Daly. “And let’s remember the details of this evidence as presented to the court. There was evidence of guns on military planes, of soldiers going to war through a country that claims to be neutral, of CIA rendition planes, and of ongoing refusals to inspect these planes. The judge accepted that Mick and I have been obstructed, sidetracked and ignored in our efforts to discover the truth about Shannon. Yet in sentencing us he took an extremely narrow of the law. He effectively admitted that his hands were tied, and he refused to deal with all the evidence presented to him.” read full story / add a comment