The Rapidly Evolving Skripal Story: Evidence of the Destruction of an Anglo-American Plan

by James O’Neill  Comments 71    On 4th of March 2018 former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were found on a park bench in Salisbury England at 16. 15 hours in an unconscious state.

They were tended to by a number of passers by who included a doctor, an off duty nurse and some civilians. It was not known at that stage what had caused the Skripal’s illness. No one had any reason to believe that they were the victims of any nerve agent, and accordingly took no precautions against such a possibility. Despite the very well documented dangers of even casual contact with nerve agents, none of those helpful citizens suffered any ill-effects.

The Skripals were taken to hospital where they have remained ever since. The public were told that they were both in a coma and unable to communicate in any way. Yet on the morning of 7 March 2018 Yulia Skripal accessed the Russian equivalent of her Facebook page (VKontakte).

There are a number of possible explanations for this. She may have briefly returned to consciousness and her first thought was to access VKontakte before relapsing. Alternatively her VK could have been hacked, but that would not have been easy and there is no known evidence to support this possibility. A third possibility, implicit in the words of her treating physician, was that she “came to her senses.” Precisely what that meant is unclear because it was never elaborated upon.The hospital authorities have disclosed that Yulia is now fully awake, eating, drinking and talking, these and other questions may be able to be asked and answered. Precisely what we are told about Yulia’s answers depends upon who is allowed to talk to her. Another of the disturbing aspects of this case is that none of her family, her fiancé, or the Russian consulate authorities has been permitted access. Continue reading “The Rapidly Evolving Skripal Story: Evidence of the Destruction of an Anglo-American Plan”

Great Return March.. Israeli Massacres Continue.. News suppressed.

(Photo: Abduilaziz Alastal)

(GAZA CITY, Gaza.) #GreatReturnMarch #IDF shot six local journalists have suffered injuries according to unconfirmed reports while covering the second week of the Palestinian protest in Gaza, media has reported citing the ‘ ‘ Palestinian Journalists Syndicate ‘ and 992 were also injured.

    from #AceNewsDesk – Apr.07: Editor says Palestinians burn tires to blind #IDF but it did not help to prevent more killings and injuries on Friday as the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip has confirmed that Israeli soldiers killed, Friday, seven Palestinians, including one child, and injured 992 others, in several parts of the coastal region.An eighth Palestinian died from serious wounds suffered last Friday: The Ministry stated that the child, identified as Hussein Mohammad Madhi, 16, was killed by Israeli army fire, on Friday evening, east of Gaza city #AceNewsDesk reports
Palestinians take part in the Great March of Return today. Thousands of tires were burnt to blur Israeli snipers vision.

Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza, said the soldiers shot 1070 Palestinians, 551 of them were rushed to the make-shift clinics on Palestinian lands hundreds of meters away from the border fence. Continue reading “Great Return March.. Israeli Massacres Continue.. News suppressed.”

Afrin and Northern Syria: weekly News Update

Weekly Bulletin about Developments in Afrin and Northern Syria (30.03.2018 – 05.04.2018)
By | April 6, 2018 ..  illustrations added

Introduction

With the defeat of the IS in Syria and especially after the liberation of Raqqa in October 2017, the Turkish state intensified its threats and attacks on the Democratic Confederation of Northern Syria. On this background the Turkish occupation war on Afrin started on the 20th January 2018 violating international law and the sovereignty of its neighbour country.

The Turkish army has launched this war in cooperation with jihadist groups of the FSA ranks. Many of them are former Al-Qaida or IS members. Since the beginning of March, all districts and the city centre of Afrin had been under heavy bombardments, shelling and drone surveillance by the Turkish army targeting especially civilians.

#BreakSilenceOnAfrin One of the hundreds of former ISIS fighters who fled to Turkey, recruited as “FSA” and now is attacking Afrin together with turks. This is turkey’s war on Kurds.

On March 18th more than 200,000 people left the town centre and were evacuated in order to avoid a physical genocide. Since then the majority of refugees are staying in the Shehba region without security guarantees or international support.

In this new phase, the confrontation between the international powers and their interests is increasing all over Syria.

Last week’s Developments inside Afrin

After 78 days of resistance against Turkish occupation war, hundreds of thousands of people from Afrin Canton are still displaced and facing difficult conditions. The Turkish army and its jihadist allies are implementing ethnic cleansing, assimilation and colonisation policies, making preparations to add the region Afrin de-facto to Turkey’s state territory.

At the same time thousands of jihadists have been transferred from Goutha to Afrin to create demographic changes and install an Islamic-Turkish order.

The resistance of YPG-YPJ forces in the all districts of Canton Afrin carries on, as well as the resistance of the displaced people from Afrin in Sherawa and Shehba region.

Civilians run for cover from explosions in the city of Afrin in northern Syria on March 18, 2018, after Turkish forces and their rebel allies took control of the Kurdish-majority city.

Turkey has extended it threats now towards Til Rifat/Shehba region, Minbij and Shingal. Moreover, the tension between the two blocks Russia-Turkey-Iran and the US lead International Coalition are growing.

War and Humanitarian Situation

The conditions of Afrin’s people displaced in Shehba region are still very precarious and insecure. However, works to build camps and to organised delivery of supplies and humanitarian aid are organised by the Democratic Self-administrations of Northern Syria and the Kurdish Red Crescent. Continue reading “Afrin and Northern Syria: weekly News Update”

Signs of a French Spring against Fierce State Oppression… May 68 to May 18 ?

Grèves aux usines Citroen lors des mouvements et manifestations survenus en France durant les évènements de Mai 68 à Paris, France, en mai 1968 .

By  Cole Stangler    at Jacobin  shared with thanks                             A wave of strikes and a student revolt has shaken France in recent days — but can it provide the first real challenge to Macron’s agenda?Rail workers from the Force Ouvrière union on strike in Paris . FranceInfo

This isn’t the first significant unrest under President Emmanuel Macron — his labor reforms last year were opposed by strikes and days of action — but the current wave is broader in scope. A weekend strike at France’s largest employer, supermarket Carrefour, was followed by strikes on the trains and at airports at the start of this week that have severely impacted transport in the country — and now a burgeoning student movement is joining in support.It’s far from clear whether these various protests will coalesce into a unified movement. They remain largely isolated for now. But the potential for what French left-wing activists term a “convergence of struggles” is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Here’s an overview of the situation:
After joining civil servants in protest on March 22, rail workers across France kicked off rolling strikes Tuesday. Unions are calling on the government to abandon proposed reforms that would cut worker benefits and inaugurate what they see as the first phase of a full-scale privatization of the national publicly owned rail system, the French National Railway Corporation (SNCF). Under strike plans, workers will engage in a series of two-day job actions separated by three-day intervals until June 28. Continue reading “Signs of a French Spring against Fierce State Oppression… May 68 to May 18 ?”

Live and Love the Revolution: at Self managed Anarcho-Pirate Camp: ZAD!

Notre-Dame-Des-Landes, France: Callout for self-managed anarcho-pirate camp

At the camp of the ANGRY Lama (or the “LA Masacrée”) [at the Zad], we are not giving up and we over-occupy.

A tent houses the kitchen (vegan / freegan), the new building with a wooden floor continues to rise, with three walls, a roof and a large bay window, trees were planted …

We meet every day to build, exchange, monitor the cops who monitor us (nice atmosphere of de-escalation …). We organize ourselves.

Because we do not want to manage everything or manage others, but create the breeding ground to give birth to an organisation done by and for all, without giving place to power struggles, without structural oppression (sex, race, class, .. .). Continue reading “Live and Love the Revolution: at Self managed Anarcho-Pirate Camp: ZAD!”

Remembering Paul Z. Simons: An Unyielding Anarchist, Author, and Rebel

We’re saddened to announce the passing of Paul Z. Simons, longtime anarchist, journalist, and author. Paul was an anarchist writer with a playful spirit, an uncompromising love of life, and equally uncompromising hatred for authority—be it from the right or the left. We treasure our memories of Paul. His presence will be sorely missed.

Recalled by his eldest daughter as “a uniquely intelligent writer, traveler, idealist, and fire-breathing anarchist,” Paul participated in some of the most inspiring thought and action of the past forty years.

We are not equipped to properly write his eulogy, but we hope others will, and now that he is no longer able to speak to you himself, we urge you to read the materials he left behind.

Paul wrote with great eloquence and erudition on everything from theater to insurrectionary strategy, from play to hallucinogens. In his history writing, he explored everything from the anti-racist insurgency of John Brown to the English Revolution of 1645 from an insurrectionary perspective. Continue reading “Remembering Paul Z. Simons: An Unyielding Anarchist, Author, and Rebel”

Catalan CDRs raise Barriers and Call for not paying Motorway Tolls

note: Facebook has banned me from sharing this post for 2 days

The CDR open the toll barriers of La Roca on Sunday afternoon
Àngel Garcia

The Republic Defense Committees (CDRs) have called for the first massive Civil Disobedience Action Today. Instead of blocking the froads they have called for a popular refusal to pay abusive motorway tolls on the return from the Easter Holiday.

The CDRs are a network of autonomous, horizontally organized,  local defense groups which sprang up in response to the massive violent crackdown by the Spanish State on the Catalan Referendum which voted for a Republic.

Abusive motorway tolls are a sore point for Catalans because they hardly exist in Spain where the infrastructure gets more State finance

by Gemma Garcia  at La Directa ..The CDRs calls for not paying tolls and raise the barriers in the Return Home operation .The Defense Committees of the Republic recovered the slogan of the 2012 campaign “I do not want to pay.”Already on Sunday afternoon, they opened the toll barriers of La Roca and other points of the AP-7 north/south motorway and put bags over the cameras to avoid fines. Continue reading “Catalan CDRs raise Barriers and Call for not paying Motorway Tolls”