Newletter No. 1250 16.07.12
Email: office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 0207 561 9311
www.stopwar.org.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STWuk
In this Newsletter:
1) What is really happening in Syria?
2) Britain's top spy beats the drums for war on Iran
3) Tony Blair's mad-hatters banquet on his comeback trail
4) Become a Friend of Stop the War: Summer offer
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1) What is really happening in Syria?
US and NATO leaders are laying the groundwork for open western military intervention in Syria. It is unclear to what extent covert intervention is already taking place -- through funding, arming and advising some of the opposition groups, and by special services operations in Syria -- but Tariq Ali's view is that it is extensive. See What is really happening in Syria? http://bit.ly/NtXQlu).
Economic sanctions are being intensified, which, as we saw in Iraq, can be the prelude to military intervention.
The plan is to do to Syria what happened last year to Libya: to bring about regime change favourable to western economic and strategic interests. But we only need to see what has happened to Libya since the NATO war to know how disastrous this would be for the Syrian people. See Human rights now worse in Libya than it was under Gaddafi: http://bit.ly/NHGtyp
Stop the War's position on Syria remains as was spelt out in our statement on 11 December 2011:
Stop the War Coalition fully supports the right of the peoples in all the countries of the Middle East to determine their own future and assert democratic rights. We are therefore implacably opposed to any external intervention, especially military intervention, in Syria. (See full statement here: http://bit.ly/xLbGV6)
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2) Britain's top spy beats the drums for war on Iran
The focus may at present be mainly on Syria, but it is Iran that is the ultimate target for the US and its allies . Economic sanctions are already imposing real hardship on the Iranian people and are about to be made far worse. See: Carpet-bombing Iran's economy is war by any other name: http://bit.ly/OIRSvg)
And now we have, Sir John Sawers, the head of Britain's MI6 intelligence service giving his own version of Tony Blair's infamous claim that Iraq needed just "45 minutes" to activate its weapons of mass destruction. This time, according to Sawers, we have just two years to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons -- despite there being no evidence that Iran has any such plans.
See: How Britain's top spy is beating the drums for war on Iran. http://bit.ly/OITi9b
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3) Tony Blair's mad-hatters banquet on his comeback trail
The Tony Blair rehabilitation campaign, orchestrated by fellow war criminal Alistair Campbell, is now well under way. But Blair and his acolytes are running scared of anti-war protests whenever he tries to show his face in public -- and of attempts to make a citizen's arrest for war crimes (see http://bit.ly/O3rTQ2). So they keep the venue secret of where he is speaking until only a a day or two before the meeting.
Or -- as in the case of the meeting he was planning to make in Lambeth on 9 July -- the threat of a protest is enough to get the meeting cancelled.
The main launch event of the Tony Blair Comeback took place last Wednesday at Arsenal football stadium in North London. Anti-war protesters formed a gauntlet through which an array of Labour MPs, celebrities and sporting personalities had to pass to shouts of "shame on you".
Sadly, among those joining the Blair love-fest were comedians Jo Brand and Eddie Izzard -- both of whom opposed the Iraq war.
Once inside, guests at the £500 a ticket banquet heard Labour leader Ed Miliband say, "Thank you Tony for all you have done for the Labour Party and the country," before announcing that he was making Blair his new policy advisor on the Olympics legacy.
It was, as Lindsey German writes, a moment When reality outstripped satire at the Tony Blair mad-hatters banquet. See http://bit.ly/OIWPEj.
Stop the War is commited to making sure that Blair's monumental war crimes are not forgiven or forgotten. We will call protests every time he appears in public and speaks as if hundreds of thousands of Iraqis did not die due to the illegal war into which he took Britain on a raft of lies.
The next event on the Tony Blair Comeback is on Tuesday 24 July in London, when he will be speaking on Religion and Society, sharing a platform with the Archibishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams -- who was an opponent of the Iraq war -- and the former editor of The Times Charles Moore -- who was not.
Once again, we do not know yet where this event will take place. Anyone who has more details for this event, please contact Stop the War: Email: office@stopwar.org.uk. Tel: 0207 561 9311
Stop the Tony Blair Comeback
Tuesday 24 July: 5.30pm - 6.45pm
Central London venue TBA
For updates as we get them please see: http://bit.ly/NxXfBK.
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4) Become a Friend of Stop the War: Summer offer
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to our financial appeal. Contributions from our members and supporters are our sole source of income for sustaining our small office and funding our anti-war activities, which in the coming months will see us maintaining our campaign to get all British troops out of the futile and unjustified Afghanistan war, and opposing the threats of more war in Syria and Iran, which our government is now promoting feverishly.
We still need to raise more funds and one of the best ways to support us is by becoming a Friend of Stop the War. This comes with a number of benefits and during the Summer we will also add a special offier to all new Friends of Stop the War of a free Beats Not Bombs t-shirt.
* To become a Friend of Stop the War, see: http://bit.ly/IjsOen
* To become Stop the War member, see: http://bit.ly/IjsLPu
* To make a donation, see: http://bit.ly/IjsQmm
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