The Irish Times failed to print these letters from Anthony Coughlan (National Platform) and from Roger Cole (PANA) sent last weekend March 2024, that highlighted concerns on their on-going war-mongering propaganda. We reprint these letters below so you can judge if this is indeed the case, and if this is the case with Irish mainstream media in general.

Stunned by War Propaganda

Letter to the Editor,

Irish Times,

9/3/2024

Dear Editor,

The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer was in Ireland last week for an official visit at the invitation of the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces, and whilst here he addressed a meeting of the Institute for International and European Affairs. The IIEA receives funding from various government department including the Department of Defence.

A report on this meeting in the Irish Times (8/3/24) by Stephen Collins stated that EU ambassadors were stunned by Admiral Rob Bauer remarks, it was not a question of "if " Russia would invade the EU, but simply a matter of "when ".

In recent months, we have witnessed a sustained war propaganda campaign by EU and NATO leaders aimed at convincing European citizens that Russia is bent on invading Europe, we must prepare for war by heavily boosting our “defence” capabilities. At the same time NATO has begun its largest military exercise in Europe since the Cold War, Steadfast Defender 2024, involving 90,000 troops, 50 ships and more than 80 fighter jets.

I find it hard to understand how Stephen Collins or those EU ambassadors who attended this IIEA meeting were stunned by this war propaganda. Perhaps a more balanced report would also suggest that Ireland as a neutral country should be working to reduce tensions between NATO and Russia before we are dragged into an all-out war, a nuclear war.

Let’s start with more genuine and open public debate on our International and European Affairs.

Yours Sincerely

Roger Cole

Chair

Peace & Neutrality Alliance

17 Castle Street, Dalkey,

info@pana.ie

The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre

Varadkar's war-mongering statement... Open letter from Anthony Coughlan to Pat Leahy of the "Irish Times"..

Crawford Avenue

Dublin 9

TO: Mr Pat Leahy, The Irish Times,

Monday 11 March 2024

Dear Pat,

That is an extraordinarily alarmist article you wrote in last Saturday’s Irish Times: “As the EU prepares for war, Ireland’s head is in the sand”.

You open your piece with a war-mongering statement by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Ukraine: “This is our war too ...The least we can do is to provide them with the tools they need to defend their country and their homes.”

Varadkar’s judgement on Ukraine as being “our war” is almost certainly as flawed as his judgement of the Irish people’s views in last Friday’s referendum.

You go on to quote approvingly the EU’s Von Der Leyen’s call for “turbocharging our defence industrial capacity in the next five years.” You say you spoke to two senior Government ministers who told you that the EU is preparing for war, and the whole thrust of your piece is to hold that we should prepare for war along with them.

You write: “If Putin does not lose in Ukraine…then there is a real and justified fear that he will test NATO’s mutual defence pact with an attack on one of these countries.” I suggest that the real fear is that of the warmongers of NATO and the EU who worry that they may be frustrated in their plans for a new Cold War in Europe in order to keep the arms orders rolling in for the military-industrial complex and to give a rationale for the NATO/EU military bureaucracy. The political purpose of this new Cold War is to renew the objective of NATO as being “to keep Russia out, America in and Germany down”, as the old witticism put it, and to keep the EU in vassalage to the USA.

With all due respect to you, your article last Saturday was quite over-the-top and based on a total misreading of political events. Do you not realise that if there were a real war in Europe nuclear bombs would almost certainly be used and we would not be immune from their effects?

You should know well that the Ukrainian war began in 2014 when the US and EU supported the Maidan coup d’état that overthrew the legitimate Russian-oriented Government there and the coup regime then banned the political parties representing Russian speakers as well as the Russian Orthodox Church and killed some 14,000 people in the Russian-speaking provinces between 2014 and 2022.

You sneer in your piece at Ireland’s “pro-neutrality lobby” and call for much increased military spending here to defend ourselves against the nasty Russians, whom you imply threaten us in some way. Surely you have not forgotten that Russia has been invaded by the so-called “West” six times since 1800, and four times since 1900? Russia is no threat to this country if we do not participate in NATO/EU war-mongering and maintain a meaningful neutrality policy

You really should heed Cillian Murphy’s call at the Oscars and join the ranks of the peacemakers!

Yours sincerely

Anthony Coughlan

Spokesman

P.S. am copying this letter to your editor and assistant editor and sundry other current affairs journalists at your paper and elsewhere for their information. The accompanying article by Rome-based commentator ThomasFazi, who is a friend of mine, seems relevant to these matters also.

A psychoanalytical analysis of Western elites

How should we explain the near complete absence of feelings of guilt or shame on the part of Western politicians — especially over Gaza?

By Thomas Fazi, Rome, 11 March 2024

Michael Brenner — Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and a fellow of the Centre for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS/John Hopkins — isn’t that well known. Also due to his non-existent social media presence; but he’s one of the most insightful political thinkers out there. The best way to keep up with his writing is to sign up to his newsletter, which you can do by writing to him atmbren@pitt.edu

His latest piece is a little political-literary masterpiece. In it Brenner tries to explain the puzzling and apparently irrational behaviour of Western elites from a psycho-political perspective, in a similar fashion to the approach I took in attempting to explain the hysterical reaction of the British Establishment to George Galloway’s recent election. In that piece I argued that much of the behaviour of Western elites — especially their crackdown on domestic dissent — can be put down to fear:

“Our ruling elites are hugely powerful, but their power is illegitimate — they rule, and are able to reproduce their rule, for no other reason other than the fact that they are powerful. It’s a purely autochthonous form of power, but one that lacks the legitimacy of previous forms of autochthonous power, such as monarchies. They have no legitimating symbolic reservoir, or “secular theology,” to draw from. Alongside fear — their claim to be protecting us from evil forces out to get us, be it Russia, terrorists, viruses, etc. — the only legitimising force the oligarchs have left is “democracy”. The vote is ultimately the only thing that lends some legitimacy to their de facto absolute rule.

This is why they go to great lengths to control the democratic process — but can’t afford to do away with it altogether. Because, if they were to do so, all that would be left would be raw, naked elite rule, revealed in all its illegitimacy. But even this so-called democratic legitimacy is wearing increasingly thin — and elites know this. Hence their fear, which in turn leads to a constant tightening of the bolts of social control (greater censorship, repression, etc., as well as the constant search for foreign enemies) — and to hysterical reactions to even the slightest challenge to their rule.

Brenner reaches a similar conclusion — “deep down [Western elites] are scared, fearful and agitated”, he writes — but argues that this in itself isn’t sufficient to explain their apparent lack of guilt or shame, nor their apparent obliviousness to the self-defeating nature of the actions, from a strategic perspective. In order to explain this, Brenner draws on a rather wide range of philosophical and psychoanalytical insights. This is the most salient part of his analysis in my opinion:

“Western leaders are experiencing two stunning events: defeat in Ukraine, genocide in Palestine. The first is humiliating, the other shameful. Yet, they feel no humiliation or shame. Their actions show vividly that those sentiments are alien to them — unable to penetrate the entrenched barriers of dogma, arrogance and deep-seated insecurities.

[How should one explain this] near complete absence of feelings of guilt or shame — especially over Gaza, of being humiliated in the eyes of the world? In conditions of nihilism, matters of conscience are moot. For the implicit rejection of norms, rules and laws frees the individual self to do whatever impulses or ideas or selfish interests impel it. With the superego dissolved, there is no felt obligation to judge oneself in reference to any external or abstract standard. Narcissistic tendencies flourish.

A similar psychology obviates the requirement for experiencing shame. That is something that can only exist if we subjectively are part of a social grouping wherein personal status, and sense of worth, depend on how others view us and whether they grant us respect. In the absence of such a communal identity, with its attendant sensitivity to its opinion, shame can exist only in the perverse form of regret that one has been unable to meet the demanding, all-consuming need for self-gratification. That applies to nations as well.”

The mindset described by Brenner is well-known in psychology — it’s called psychopathy. As a paper on the topic explains:

“Individuals with high levels of psychopathic tendencies tend to show a lack of guilt, a lack of empathic concern, and a disregard for the impact of their decisions on others.

Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by impaired social-emotional processing combined with a tendency to display disruptive and antisocial behaviours. The interpersonal-affective disturbances that lie at the core of this construct encompass a lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse, and are considered to be unique to psychopathy.

Psychopathy has repeatedly been linked to poor social decision-making, partly hypothesized as due to a diminished capability for making appropriate social inferences and for following social norms and rules.”

I find the last paragraph particularly interesting because a specific trait of the behaviour of Western elites in the current historical phase, beyond their ability to engage in, or support, crimes against humanity on a mass scale with no apparent remorse/guilt — a psychological trait that arguably could be applied to most state leaders throughout human history — is precisely their apparent inability to infer the way in which their actions are perceived by others, in this case the wider international community. Hence their pursuit of policies which are having the effect of weakening, at every turn, the legitimacy of the Western-led international order.

So perhaps what we are dealing with in Western societies isn’t just rule by the oligarchy, but more specifically, and more disturbingly, rule by a psychopathic oligarchy — a pathocracy.

Letters to The Irish Times from Anthony Coughlan and Roger Cole

Dave Alvey is chair of the Roger Casement Summer School. This year the school takes place on the evening of Friday 26th April and all of Saturday 27th April in the Eblana Club in Dun Laoghaire. The cost of a ticket is €15 (€17 includes the booking fee) which entitles you to admission to all events, complimentary tea and coffee, a free lunch (sandwiches) and free refreshment (food and water) at the social.

Some very interesting talks on foreign policy include:

Publication Launch - 'Misunderstanding Islam, Misunderstanding Al Aqsa
'A Multi-Polar World Order? Vijay Prashad

For more information, please go to their Facebook.

Ending the Triple Lock—A Recipe For Incoherence

Given its stated intention of removing the Triple Lock—the policy by which Irish troops cannot be despatched abroad without agreement by the Government, the Dáil and a United Nations mandate—the present Irish Government is simultaneously defending the UN and preparing legislation to undermine it.

The case for ditching the Triple Lock rests on two contentions. The first is that, by depending on a UN mandate, Irish sovereignty is being compromised since any of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council (known in diplomatic circles as the P5) can exercise a Veto on UN operations. Theoretically, Government representatives are arguing, Russia or China could block an engagement abroad by the Irish Defence Forces, even if such an engagement had the enthusiastic support of the Irish people through their public representatives.

The problem with that argument is that it betrays a lack of understanding of how the UN works. Granting the major Powers a Veto is a precondition for having a United Nations Organisation. Having a powerful international body requires a balance between the wants of the major military Powers and the wishes of the multiplicity of smaller States. Following World War I, a clear international consensus emerged that international security should not be left in the control of the Great Powers. The League of Nations was formed, but its effectiveness was severely curtailed through the machinations of Britain and France. After World War II the League was replaced by the UN, and that body was designed to avoid the pitfalls that had hampered its predecessor. But the victors of that war were still given a privileged status, expressed in the power of Veto granted to them individually as the P5. The principle underlying the UN as an important international body is that the big Powers are prepared to put up with interference from the smaller States, expressed as international opinion, provided they can protect their interests. In a word, no Veto, no UN.

(None of these points should obviate the need for reform of the Security Council—at the very least, India should be added to the P5.)

Now Ireland could accept that the existence of a power of Veto by each of the P5 is essential to having the UN and still choose to make a policy change that would allow Irish peacekeeping missions to operate abroad without a UN mandate, but such a decision would have significant consequences. It would represent a vote of No Confidence in the UN system from a State that has been exemplary in supporting it for nearly seventy years. That last sentence is an understatement. Throughout those years Ireland has been a leading proponent of the basic concept of the UN, in words and deeds.

A weakness in the Government’s argument about the Veto is that Russia has never used it to block a peacekeeping mission.

China did block a mission to Macedonia in 1999 (Ireland was to have been a participant) because Macedonia had opened diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but that represents a rare exception.

In general, the Veto has not been used to block peacekeeping missions; the Government is proposing a radical change on the grounds of an abstract and unlikely theoretical possibility.

The second contention behind the Government’s case against the Triple Lock is that the UN Security Council has become dysfunctional, and that no peacekeeping missions have been authorised since 2014. This argument has some substance but it appears that little attempt to analyse why the UN is beset by these problems.

One important reason is that, following the end of the Cold War, the US moved back from the UN and began undermining it. It regarded itself as the sole Super-Power and saw no need to take account of the interests of lesser members!

Attempting to run a large international organisation without the support of the Superpower has not made for smooth operational development. It is also the case, and Irish diplomats and military leaders know this more than anyone, that running a UN peacekeeping mission requires exceptional competence at the political, diplomatic, and operational levels. Working through the UN is not easy but that is not a reason for giving up on it.

And what would be the result of making the momentous change in foreign policy that ending the Triple Lock would signify? Irish troops fighting Russia in Ukraine under the guise of defending international law, as laid down in propagandist terms? Or perhaps Irish military involvement in North Africa, defending French commercial interest under an EU flag? Or maybe Irish forces might be required to assist German forces on the borders of Israel?

Impressive Irish Support for the UN

In just the last month, Ireland has intervened in support of the UN on at least two occasions. On February 15th the Government announced it was donating €20 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an action for which the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzerini, travelled to Dublin to express his agency’s gratitude. And, on 22nd February, the Irish Attorney General, Rossa Fanning, made a strong case in the Hague before the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) challenging the legality of Israel’s long-term occupation of Palestinian territories.

(The case against the Israeli occupation before the ICJ should not be confused with South Africa’s case, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza—even though the two cases are increasing international pressure on Israel. The former arises from a UN resolution passed by the General Assembly in December 2022 that was strongly opposed by the US. It is a request to the Court for an advisory opinion on the Occupation. Fifty-seven submissions from States and international bodies, mostly sympathetic to the Palestinians, were lodged last August. In recent weeks 30-minute oral submissions have been given by all 57—this included the presentation from the Irish Attorney General.

Notably the UK submission ran along the lines that the question of the occupation should be left to the two parties in conflict: Israel and Palestine!

Which other States, one wonders, could argue such an untenable position!

While it can certainly be argued that neither of the two cases can have enforceable outcomes and are therefore substantially pointless, they are being conducted under an international spotlight at a time when Israeli transgressions against the Palestinians are undeniable and when movement away from US hegemony is progressing.

Some observers are saying that Israel is pulling down the dominant position that the West has enjoyed in international affairs.

These are both significant interventions that have been recognised as such in international media. Al Jazeera reported the countries which were continuing to support UNRWA as follows:

“Countries including Belgium, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and, of course, Ireland, have decided to continue supporting the UNRWA” (Aljazeera, 17 Feb 2024).

Referring to the long list of Western countries that are pausing or suspending their contributions to UNRWA, the same report quoted Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2007), as follows:

“…the Global North following blindly here the Israeli cue on UNRWA”.

The report was subtitled, “Ireland is the latest to pledge funds for the stricken UN agency, the main source of humanitarian aid to Palestine”, and quoted Taoiseach Varadkar to the effect that Israel has become blinded by rage. Attempting to explain why the Irish have an affinity for the Palestinian cause, the report included a historical summary of the Irish struggle for independence.

A report in another Middle Eastern publication, a United Arab Emirates daily paper, The National, gave prominence to Rossa Fanning’s oral presentation at The Hague. It stated:

"Ireland, which was represented by Attorney General Rossa Fanning, said Israel had committed “serious breaches” of international law during its five decade-long occupation of Palestinian territories.

In addition to encouraging settlers to move illegally to occupied territories, Israel has applied domestic law in illegal settlements and transferred administration in certain areas from military to civilian control.

In its continuing war on Gaza, which has killed more than 29,400 Palestinians, Israel has “exceeded” its right to the use of force in self-defence following Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, said Mr Fanning.

“This is manifest from the spiralling death toll, the extensive destruction of property including homes throughout Gaza, the displacement of up to two million people and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe,” he said…" (The Nation, “China tells ICJ that Palestinians have the right to armed struggle”, 22 Feb 2024).

The report led with a summary of China’s oral presentation, which was itself significant and indicative that international law may be taken more seriously as US hegemony declines. But the importance attached to the Irish submission underlines how it contained points of law which the Court will need to take note of. It also shows how Ireland continues to punch above its weight in international affairs.

Ireland’s reputation as a small State that has actively supported the UN over the decades gives the State an advantage at the UN and internationally, and in the current Israel-Gaza war our traditional foreign policy orientation of support for anti-colonialism through the UN has come to the fore.

Why then is the Government preparing to pivot Ireland’s alignment away from the UN? Why undermine the increased standing that has been achieved by supporting UNRWA and the Attorney General’s legal challenge to the Israeli occupation?

Changes are currently afoot in the balance of international power relationships and no one can predict where those changes will lead. At the very least this is the worst possible time for a break from the traditional policy.

Much more can be said on this subject. The Irish political system is sharply divided on the proposed change. Sinn Féin has been leading opposition to it, but the rest of the Opposition—the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, and influential Independents like Catherine Connolly—are equally incensed by it.

Inside the ranks of the Coalition there is deep unease among the Greens about ending the Triple Lock; that party has a record of involvement in peace activism. Given the huge involvement of Fianna Fáil in defending Irish neutrality and supporting the UN over the decades, it would be unrealistic to assume that the ranks of that party are united behind what will be a further weakening of the foreign policy that was so important to Eamon De Valera, Sean Lemass, Frank Aiken and Charles Haughey.

Even Fine Gael should not be assumed to be gung-ho about weakening the traditional connection with the UN: Rossa Fanning who performed so creditably at The Hague along the lines of the traditional foreign policy was nominated as Attorney General by Taoiseach Varadkar.

Ending the Triple Lock was not proposed by any party in the General Election campaign; nor was it mentioned in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. Given the implications of this major change in foreign policy, it would make sense for the Opposition Parties to signal in the impending Dáil debate that they will undertake to revoke any legislation ending the Triple Lock in their manifestos in the General Election whenever it is called.

By pushing through legislation to end the Triple Lock, the Government will be introducing an element of incoherence into Irish foreign policy. Why undermine a policy tradition that has strengthened the cause of multi-lateralism through the UN and won international respect?

And why do it at a time of tumult in international affairs?

Dave Alvey

Ending the Triple Lock—A Recipe For Incoherence

Public opinion polls have consistently shown that the vast majority of the Irish people in the Republic of Ireland support Irish neutrality.

Despite this reality the Irish government has entered a new streamlined agreement with Nato. It will last until 2028 and will according to media speculation give Ireland greater access to Nato resources, including sensitive intelligence. Under the new protocol, interactions with the Alliance will now take place under the Individual Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP) which was set out at the 2022 Madrid Nato Summit as a means of increasing Nato co-operation with partner nations.

Ireland has been a partner nation with Nato since 1999 when it joined the Partnership for Peace programme to increase interoperability with other western militaries.

A recent report published by Policy Exchange exposes the ongoing pressure to support this western military alliance – ‘Closing the Back Door Rediscovering Northern Ireland’s Role in British National Security’ is backed by the UK military and security establishment and repeats the EU/NATO narrative accusing Ireland of “freeloading” off Nato and posing as a “backdoor” threat to UK security from Russian, Chinese and Iranian actors. The report also suggests greater pressure should be put on the new Stormont assembly and on the Irish government to fall in line with these Nato defence interests.

Ironically these are the same EU/Nato defence and security interests that continue to demand more military and political support for the ongoing two-year horrific slaughter in Ukraine and for Israel’s genocidal bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza, and that refuse to encourage peace, stability, and humanitarian needs in Sudan, Yemen, and the Sahel region. One could easily equate western security interests with those massive profits of their military arms industries.

Roger Cole of PANA stated, the Irish government is under constant pressure from the United States and Nato to abandon all vestiges of independent foreign policy, and to support the interests of a western regional power structure. Nato cannot control global structures like the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, so they try to weaken them or propagate the narrative that they are no longer relevant. This according to PANA is the real reason Micheál Martin wants to destroy the Triple Lock Mechanism.

Ends…

To confirm this Press Release contact…

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

For more information:

Closing the Back Door Rediscovering Northern Ireland’s Role in British National Security, Marcus Solarz Hendriks and Harry Halem. Foreword by Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon KCB and Rt Hon Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT

https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Closing-the-Back-Door.pdf

When bombs are falling, arms industry profits are rising. As war rages in Gaza, we look at how the defence sector is both benefiting from the violence and struggling to keep up.

https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/people-profit/20231026-the-business-of-war-how-arms-industry-profits-from-violent-conflicts

Military corporations need wars for profits. The human cost is huge…

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/military-corporations-survey-wealth-profits-war-damage-death/

New Nato agreement shaped by Russian aggression and fears of hybrid threats…

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/02/09/new-nato-agreement-shaped-by-russian-aggression-and-fears-of-hybrid-threats/

‍

Pressure to Support the Western Military Alliance

Best wishes to all our members/supporters for 2024… 7/1/2024

With the genocidal war ongoing in Gaza, the IPSC will start the year with a National Demo planned for next Saturday 13th January in Dublin as part of a Global Day of Action, this event is endorsed by PANA and so we encourage you all to attend. For more details of other IPSC events throughout the country please go to their website https://www.ipsc.ie/

End Gaza Genocide, Saturday 13^th January

March and Rally 1pm @ the Garden of Remembrance, Dublin

The poster for this IPSC event is on our Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PANAIreland/ alongside a poster advertising a fundraising Table Quiz for Cuba in the Teachers Club, on Thursday 15^th February, organised by the CPI. We should not forget that Cuba has been under an illegal US blockade and sanctioned for over 65 years.

No to EU Militarisation and an EU Army!

Neutrality is our best defence. The People’s Movement will hold its monthly protest on Wednesday 17th January 2024 at 1:00pm. Outside Dáil Eireann, Kildare St. Please try to get along – it is important! Placards and posters will be provided.

South Africa has filed a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. But could Ireland be accused of aiding and abetting genocide by allowing US war planes refuel at Shannon.

Democracy Now! on X: "South Africa has filed a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. International law expert Francis Boyle, who has argued successfully at the ICJ, says he believes "South Africa will win an order against Israel." https://t.co/4Ebz02vxVc" / X (twitter.com)

Julian Assange Campaign

The UK High Court has confirmed that a public hearing will take place on 20/21 February 2024. The two-day hearing may be the final chance for Julian Assange to prevent his extradition to the United States. Last month PANA sent a letter to Julian Assange and another letter to Rt Hon Home Secretary James Cleverly seeking his release from Belmarsh Prison allowing him to return home for Christmas. (See copy on Website)

Triple Lock and the Emailing Campaign

Abolishing the requirement for a United Nations mandate, which is what the Government wants to do, would enable Ireland to take part in future EU or NATO military operations that do not have a UN authorisation – operations such the current Ukrainian war, or the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Defending the Triple Lock is now the most urgent task confronting PANA and all thoughtful citizens who value neutrality and Irish independence in foreign policy. We need to lobby our TDs and Senators, please go to our Website, Take Action: Support Neutrality and Oppose the Latest Move Towards NATO! https://www.pana.ie/

Best Wishes,

Tom Crilly,

Communications PANA,

Roger Cole,
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance, PANA,

WikiLeaks editor and publisher Julian Assange is facing a 175-year sentence for publishing truthful information in the public interest. Julian Assange is being sought by the current US administration for publishing US government documents which exposed war crimes and human rights abuses. The politically motivated charges represent an unprecedented attack on press freedom and the public’s right to know – seeking to criminalise basic journalistic activity. The US has pushed to extradite Julian Assange, who is an Australian citizen, after his website WikiLeaks published thousands of US documents in 2010, some that exposed US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr Assange has been detained in Britain’s Belmarsh Prison London for the last five years and is in the midst of appealing the United Kingdom’s decision to agree to US extradition. Last week PANA sent a letter to Julian Assange and another letter to Rt Hon Home Secretary James Cleverly seeking his release from Belmarsh Prison allowing him to return home for Christmas.

Write a letter, postcard or email to your local TD, Senator or MEP highlighting the plight of Julian Assange, write directly to Julian in Belmarsh Prison explaining your support for his freedom. https://www.facebook.com/WriteJulian/

Clare Daly MEP speaks up for Julian Assange: TikTok ↗️

Mr. Julian Assange
Prisoner #A9379AY
HMP Belmarsh
Western Way
London SE28 0EB
United Kingdom

11th December 2023

Dear Julian,
I have recently sent a letter to Rt Hon Home Secretary James Cleverly highlighting our concerns that you as a journalist remain in prison for publishing truthful information exposing US war crimes in the public interest. Amnesty International states that “Were Julian Assange to be extradited or subjected to any other transfer to the USA, Britain would be in breach of its obligations under international law.”
We can only hope that Mr. Cleverly will see the need to protect ‘freedom of speech’ and the ‘freedom of the press’ in the UK by releasing you from Belmarsh prison in London.
The Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) was established in 1996 and is a broad-based alliance advocating that Ireland should have its own independent foreign policy, that Irish neutrality should be restored as a key component of this policy, whilst campaigning against war, poverty, exploitation, and imperialism, through a reformed United Nations.
Our two main concerns are the ever-growing militarisation of the European Union and that US military continue to refuel at Shannon Airport on their way to their conflicts in the Middle East, eastern Europe, and north Africa.
On Sunday 12th November PANA, along with Shannonwatch and other peace groups, over 200 peace and human rights activists attended a National Protest, at Shannon Airport to oppose US military flights here.
Speakers highlighted that our government is collaborating in US war crimes today as the Pentagon/CIA has agreed to send billions of dollars of military assistance, including Cluster bombs to Ukraine and Spice bombs to Israel, possible through Shannon.
People were also reminded that Julian Assange remains incarcerated in Belmarsh prison in London for helping to expose these US war crimes.
As the end of the year approaches can I thank you for your courage, your great investigative journalism and hope that the UK government will now accept the need for justice and release you from Belmarsh Prison allowing you to return home to your family for Christmas.

Best Wishes,
Tom Crilly,
Communications PANA,

Roger Cole,
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance, PANA

Rt Hon Home Secretary James Cleverly
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

11th December 2023

Dear James Cleverly,
As the end of the year approaches Julian Assange will spend his fifth Christmas and New Year in maximum security Belmarsh Prison in London.
Another Christmas away from his family, two young children and his wife Stella. Julian is now reaching the final and critical hearing in the British courts. The case raises issues of the greatest importance in respect of freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.
If extradited to the United States, Julian Assange would face a sentence of 175 years in prison merely for receiving and publishing truthful information in public interest, that revealed US war crimes, human rights abuses, and corruption. The UK is required under its international obligations to stop the extradition. Article 4 of the UKUS extradition treaty must be enforced, which prohibits extradition for political offences. Amnesty International states that “Were Julian Assange to be extradited or subjected to any other transfer to the USA, Britain would be in breach of its obligations under international law.”
According to the UK’s National Union of Journalists the “US charges against Assange pose a huge threat, one that could criminalise the critical work of investigative journalists & their ability to protect their sources”. The decision to either free Julian Assange or send him to the country that conspired to murder him in London, rests with you. Therefore, I ask you to release him from the high security prison so he can return home to his family for Christmas.

Yours sincerely,
Tom Crilly,
Communications PANA,

Roger Cole,
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance, PANA,

Letters of Support for Julian Assange in Belmarsh Prison London 2023

Following the defeat of the Nice Treaty referendum, Ireland committed that our Defence Forces would only be sent overseas where approved by (i) the Government (ii) the Dáil and (iii) the United Nations.

Known as the “Triple Lock”, this commitment made in Seville, Spain, was a key argument in favour of accepting the Nice Treaty in the second referendum. (It also reaffirmed the position set out in the Defence Act 1960.)

After the Lisbon Treaty was rejected in 2008, our Government again made a National Declaration affirming the Triple Lock, to encourage the Irish people to vote Yes in the second referendum.

In 2020, both the Fianna Fáil manifesto and the Programme for Government committed to protecting neutrality and the Triple Lock requirement for a UN mandate.

The Triple Lock reflects our historic commitment as a neutral state to the UN rather than military alliances such as NATO. Ending the Triple Lock will bring us closer to NATOmembership, which is supported by many of those pushing the move.

Please take two minutes to oppose this move by e-mailing our elected representatives. Below is a model e-mail you can use or adapt. The following is a list of deputies’ e-mails you can copy and paste into your e-mail.

Model E-mail

‍Dear Deputy
‍
I am writing to express my concern at the Government's proposals to enable the Defence Forces to serve abroad in missions unauthorised by the United Nations. In my view, adherence to the charter and values of the United Nations should remain a core part of Irish foreign policy and I urge you to vote against these proposals.
‍
In contrast to the majority of Western countries, our Defence Forces do not have a history of invading and occupying other countries. This has given them a great deal of credibility in the Global South, when serving in UN missions. If Irish troops begin taking part in missions not authorised by the UN, this credibility will be seriously tarnished.
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The UN requirement also protects our independence by ensuring we are not pressured by more powerful countries to take part in their wars, such as the 2003 US-led attack on Iraq.
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At very least, a referendum should be held to give the Irish people a say on such a momentous change in our foreign policy.
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Yours sincerely
[INSERT NAME]

E-mail addresses

Find your representative's email below, or find your TD by constituency.

‍richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie, sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie, denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie, cian.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie, aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie,paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, gary.gannon@oireachtas.ie, neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie, marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie,alan.farrell@oireachtas.ie, darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie, joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie, louise.oreilly@oireachtas.ie, duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie,dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie, paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie, roisin.shortall@oireachtas.ie,jack.chambers@oireachtas.ie, paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie, roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie,joan.collins@oireachtas.ie, patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie, brid.smith@oireachtas.ie, aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie,chris.andrews@oireachtas.ie, ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie, jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie, eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie,emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie, gino.kenny@oireachtas.ie, mark.ward@oireachtas.ie, eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie,colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie, sean.crowe@oireachtas.ie, francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie, john.lahart@oireachtas.ie, paul.murphy@oireachtas.ie,josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie, catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie, neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie,richard.boydbarrett@oireachtas.ie, jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie, cormac@cormacdevlin.ie, ossian.smyth@oireachtas.ie,matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie, heather.humphreys@oireachtas.ie, brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie, niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie, pauline.tully@oireachtas.ie,pearse.doherty@oireachtas.ie, padraig.maclochlainn@oireachtas.ie, charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie, joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie, thomas.pringle@oireachtas.ie,frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie, marian.harkin@oireachtas.ie, marian.harkin@oireachtas.ie, marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie,dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie, rose.conwaywalsh@oireachtas.ie, alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie, michael.ring@oireachtas.ie,michael.fitzmaurice@oireachtas.ie, claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie, Denis.Naughten@oireachtas.ie,catherine.connolly@oireachtas.ie, mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie, noel.grealish@oireachtas.ie, hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie, eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie,sean.canney@oireachtas.ie, ciaran.cannon@oireachtas.ie, anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie,joe.carey@oireachtas.ie, cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie, michael.mcnamara@oireachtas.ie, violet-anne.wynne@oireachtas.ie,martin.browne@oireachtas.ie, jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie, alan.kelly@oireachtas.ie, michael.lowry@oireachtas.ie, mattie.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie,brian.leddin@greenparty.ie, willie.odea@oireachtas.ie, kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie, kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie, maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie,niall.collins@oireachtas.ie, richard.odonoghue@oireachtas.ie, patrick.odonovan@oireachtas.ie,pa.daly@oireachtas.ie, norma.foley@oireachtas.ie, brendan.griffin@oireachtas.ie, danny.healy-rae@oireachtas.ie, michael.healy-rae@oireachtas.ie,michael.creed@oireachtas.ie, aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie, michael.moynihan@oireachtas.ie,holly.cairns@oireachtas.ie, michael.collins@oireachtas.ie, christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie,simon.coveney@oireachtas.ie, micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie, michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie, donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie,mick.barry@oireachtas.ie, colm.burke@oireachtas.ie, thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie, padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie,pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie, james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie, sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie, david.stanton@oireachtas.ie,mary.butler@oireachtas.ie, david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie, matt.shanahan@oireachtas.ie, marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie,peterm.fitzpatrick@oireachtas.ie, imelda.munster@oireachtas.ie, gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie, fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie, ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie,thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie, helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie, darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie,damien.english@oireachtas.ie, johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie, peadar.toibin@oireachtas.ie,reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie, bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie, james.lawless@oireachtas.ie, catherine.murphy@oireachtas.ie,peter.burke@oireachtas.ie, sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie, joe.flaherty@oireachtas.ie, robert.troy@oireachtas.ie,barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie, charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie, sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie, carol.nolan@oireachtas.ie, brian.stanley@oireachtas.ie,cathal.berry@oireachtas.ie, martin.heydon@oireachtas.ie, patricia.ryan@oireachtas.ie, sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie,john.brady@oireachtas.ie, stephen.donnelly@oireachtas.ie, simon.harris@oireachtas.ie, steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie, jennifer.whitmore@oireachtas.ie,kathleen.funchion@oireachtas.ie, john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie, jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie, malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie, johnpaul.phelan@oireachtas.ie,james.browne@oireachtas.ie, brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie, paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie, verona.murphy@oireachtas.ie, johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie

Take Action: Support Neutrality and Oppose the Latest Move Towards NATO!

Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s decision to seek to abandon the Triple Lock on sending Irish soldiers to fight in foreign parts is motivated by the desire to send Irish soldiers to take part in EU-led and NATO-led military operations that do not have a UN mandate.

Past examples of such would be the 2003 Iraq war and the 2011 Syrian War. A current example would be the war in Ukraine.

This step would be effectively a repudiation of the Seville Declaration which induced Irish voters to vote Yes to the ratification of the EU’s Nice Treaty by referendum in 2002, having rejected that treaty by referendum the year before.

Spelling out the Triple Lock in the 2002 Seville Declaration was the key factor used to persuade the Irish people to change their vote on the Nice Treaty.

At the Seville European Council in June 2002 the other EU governments accepted Ireland’s National Declaration spelling out the Triple Lock as follows: “Ireland reiterates that the participation of contingents of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas operations, including those carried out under the European security and defence policy, requires (a) the authorisation of the operation by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations, (b) the agreement of the Irish Government and (c) the approval of Dáil Éireann in accordance with Irish law.”

In return, the European Council of Member State Governments made the following Declaration: “The European Council takes cognizance of the National Declaration of Ireland presented at its meeting in Seville on 21–22 June 2002. It notes that Ireland intends to associate its National Declaration with its act of ratification of the Treaty of Nice, should the people of Ireland in a referendum decide to accept the Treaty of Nice.”

The people did then vote to accept Nice.

Negating the Seville Declaration in the way now proposed would be an insult to the Irish people who voted in those referendums. It would be a betrayal of the commitments of previous Irish Governments regarding the Nice Treaty.

It would enable Irish participation in military operations by the European Union and its American/NATO overlord in the new Cold War between “the West” and Russia/China that increasingly threatens world peace. Ireland’s recent commitment to participate in a 2000 strong German-led EU battlegroup is preparation for all this. Without the Triple Lock the Government could send Irish troops without limit to take part in the Ukrainian war.

To prevent this utterly foolish step and save what is left of a meaningful Irish neutrality policy, citizens should lobby their TDs and Senators in the days and weeks ahead to stand by the Triple Lock peace safeguard adopted when they voted to ratify the Nice Treaty.

Thoughtful and patriotic voters should refuse to vote for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael or the Green Party in the next general election if they should push through this dangerous and shameful proposal – a repudiation of past promises and commitments by these parties to Irish voters.

It is widely thought that Mr Martin’s zeal to abandon the Triple Lock stems from his desire to be selected as an EU Commissioner next year. Although the EU Treaties provide that each EU Member State may nominate its own Commissioner, the practice has grown up of Member States submitting two names, one a woman, to encourage gender balance on the Commission. Does Mr Martin feel that he has to be especially passionate in his Europhilia to ensure that he is the one chosen out of the putative two?

Elements in Fine Gael have wanted to end the Triple Lock for years. Tánaiste Martin now proposes to oblige them. Has the leader of the once great Fianna Fail party of Eamon de Valera, who in his day gave Ireland a genuinely independent neutrality policy, really sunk to this?

Deeply cynical is the editorial endorsement by the “Irish Times” of the abandonment of the Triple Lock as a “vindication of Irish sovereignty” (23 November). Everyone knows that that paper has welcomed every surrender of the powers of the Irish State to the supranational EU over decades, every abandonment of the accompanying national vetoes, and that this proposal is but another step in enabling Ireland to subsume its defence forces in EU/NATO military operations.

Others are making similar demagogic claims regarding their zeal for Irish sovereignty in order to fool people as to what this is really all about.

In the 2001 Nice Treaty referendum the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre, of which the undersigned is spokesman, was stated to be a body providing information critical of the treaty in the information booklet which the statutory Referendum Commission, then chaired by former Chief Justice T. A. Finlay, sent to all Irish households. The European Movement (Ireland), whose then secretary was Mr Alan Dukes, was stated in the same booklet to be a body providing information in support of the Treaty.

Anthony Coughlan
Spokesman, The National Platform EU Research and Information Centre,
Crawford Avenue,
Dublin 9

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Statement from Anthony Coughlan, on the Triple Lock and Seville Declaration

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) along with Shannonwatch and other peace groups will hold a National Protest, meeting at the Roundabout at Shannon Airport on Sunday 12th November 2023, 2-3pm.

See Posters on PANA Facebook.

Before the illegal US led invasion of Iraq in 2003 Dáil Éireann debated a Government Motion, with Micheál Martin TD expressing concern about the innocent Iraqi civilians, the need for humanitarian aid, post war reconstruction of Iraq, but agreed to support US war planes refuelling at Shannon.

This collaboration in US war crimes continues today as the Pentagon/NSA has agreed to send billions of dollars of military assistance, including Cluster bombs to Ukraine and Spice bombs to Israel, and the latest reports reveal dozens of C-17 military transport planes most likely carrying munitions criss-crossing the Atlantic traveling between the United States and Israel.

Successive Irish Governments still refuse to search US military and their contracted civilian aircraft refuelling at Shannon Airport, so we will never know what weapons are on board.

Roger Cole of PANA stated, “Israel is bombing and blockading two million Palestinians in Gaza, killing ten thousand innocent people in the process, a genocide is under way here, how can the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin continue this collaboration in war crimes by allowing US war planes land at Shannon Airport”.

Ends…

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Edward Horgan, International Secretary, PANA,

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

For more information:

Shannon Rally.

Please support, organising your own transport, train to Limerick Station, or with PANA who has organised a private bus from Dublin (meeting Tara Street Station, Dublin at 9am) to Shannon, return for this event with a subsidised fee €12, and with a limited number of seats: You can still book your seat by contacting Roger Cole at info@pana.ie

And you can pay through the PANA Website. Bring your raincoats.

Dáil Éireann debate on planned invasion of Iraq

In January 2003, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen (Fianna Fail) confirmed that Shannon was being used by the US military, and that troops travelling on civilian aircraft are “sometimes accompanied by their personal weapons”. These are military contracted aircraft and as such are technically not classified as military aircraft.

Approximately 100,000 people marched in Dublin on 15^th February 2003 to oppose the impending illegal US led invasion of Iraq. Dáil Éireann debated and passed a Motion on Tuesday 25^th March 2023 that included:

– expresses its earnest hope that military action, should it occur, will be of short duration and that loss of life and destruction will be kept to a minimum.

– recalls the long-standing arrangements for the overflight and landing in Ireland of US military and civilian aircraft; and

– supports the decision of the Government to maintain those arrangements.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern - stated.

Ireland has made over-flight and landing facilities available to the United States for the past 50 years. This period covers many crises and military confrontation which involved the US taking military action without specific United Nations endorsement, Kosovo being the most recent example. We did not withdraw or suspend those facilities at any stage during that period and there is no reason to act differently towards the US now.

Micheál Martin TD…I hope this conflict, which will have terrible consequences, will be as short as possible in the interests of the ordinary people of Iraq. We want to play a constructive role in the humanitarian aid effort under the aegis of the UN and in the proper reconstruction of Iraq.

Eamon Ryan TD…Some 140 Labour Party Members of the House of Commons voted against their Government. How many Fianna Fáil Members will vote against the Government?

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2003-03-20/4/

Update on air traffic through Shannon Airport-Edward Horgan

There are two separate types of military flights through Shannon:

The Dept of Transport approves those civilian aircraft on contract to the US military. These flights are usually carrying armed US soldiers, each soldier usually carries their personal weapons with them in the cabin of the aircraft and this usually means that if an aircraft has 200 soldiers on board there will also be 200 automatic rifles on board and some ammunition also in the hold of the plane. Omni Air International are now one of the most frequent on contract for US military through Shannon but there are others like Eastern Airlines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs approves US military aircraft such as Hercules C130, C17, C5 and others through Shannon. The Irish Government and US Government claim that none of these aircraft ever carry any weapons, munitions, are never on military operations, nor on military exercises or on intelligence gathering missions, bla bla bla. These are blatant lies as such aircraft frequently carry US Special Forces who never leave the US without their specialised weapons.

U.S. WEAPONS TRANSFERS TO ISRAEL SHROUDED IN SECRECY — BUT NOT UKRAINE https://theintercept.com/2023/11/07/israel-us-weapons-secret/

To confirm this Press Release contact…

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

National Protest at Shannon Airport this Sunday 12th November at 2pm

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, specifies that ambassadors are diplomats of the highest rank, formally representing their head of state, with plenipotentiary powers to represent their government. The role of ambassadors in times of peace tends to be symbolic dealing with matters of economics, culture, visas, etc.

In times of war the role of ambassadors is far more important. When the conflict in Ukraine deteriorated seriously in February 2022, there were calls for the Russian ambassador to be expelled. In recent days similar calls have been made by politicians and others to expel the Israeli ambassador.

According to Edward Horgan, International Secretary of PANA, “Expelling ambassadors in time of war is a serious mistake. While we may not like the ambassadors in question and we may not like or agree with the actions of their governments, it is vital to keep diplomatic lines of communications open at such critically important times.”

Neutral countries especially should be playing an important role in promoting an end to those conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Sahel region in Africa, and elsewhere. Our government should be leading the charge for a ceasefire and negotiations in global conflicts.

The ambassadors of these countries are vital especially if efforts are being made to end the conflicts, but also to help protect Ireland’s interests and the interests of Irish citizens who may be endangered by the conflicts. Edward Horgan stated, “ambassadors are the most important element in the international diplomatic system and provide a vital communications system in times of crises.” ‘Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.’

Ends…

Edward Horgan, International Secretary, PANA,
Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,
Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

For More Information:
‍

Rally at Shannon Airport

On Sunday 12th November at 2pm

There are still seats available on our subsidised bus from Dublin (city location around 9am) to Shannon Airport, the return cost is €12, but we need you to register up front asap. Contact Roger atinfo@pana.ie and you can send the fee to him through the PANA website or through an agreed post. See Poster on PANA Facebook page...

Shannonwatch has been protesting at Shannon Airport on the second Sunday of every month since 2008, and according to Edward Horgan “What is happening at Shannon Airport is in breach of international laws on neutrality and makes the Irish people complicit in US war crimes and torture”.

Report on Government Consultative Forum on International Security Policy

Our NEC Zoom meeting 24/10/2023 discussed Professor Dame Louise Richardsons report and agreed to thank all those anti-war activists who participated and influenced this biased forum away from membership of NATO. However, whilst the report admits neutrality is popular (which would be hard to deny) it does attack the Triple Lock, a major concern for us now, repeating the government position (See below). Roger and others are working on a more comprehensive response. Check out ‘Sword to Ploughshares’ detailed report on the Forum now on the PANA website. You can examine the report from Dame Richardson through the government link below.

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/e3479-statement-by-tanaiste-on-publication-of-the-report-of-the-consultative-forum-on-international-security-policy/

From P.1 of the Executive Summary

The Triple Lock: the prevailing view is that it should be reconsidered.

From P.12, We again see a very pro-government narrative in her report.

While there was not a consensus on this point, the preponderance of views, especially among the experts and practitioners, is that it is time for a reconsideration of the Triple Lock as it is no longer fit for purpose.

To confirm this Press Release contact…

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

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Ambassadors are Vital in International Diplomacy

The controversial 'Consultative Forum on International Security' of June 2023 was set up by the Minister for Foreign Affairs - but to what end? This detailed report, prepared by a working group of StoP, looks at the 4 days of the Forum in detail. Included is a preamble, setting the scene, and a substantial set of conclusions which can be drawn from the current situation regarding neutrality and security and what the Forum did and did not consider.

Swords to Plowshares (StoP) Report on the Consultative Forum 2023

A Zoom Meeting with a broad alliance of European Anti-War Groups was held on Saturday 30th September 2023 - to agree a Constitution of a European Liaison Committee - including reps from Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland and others.

With a common base. • An immediate ceasefire and negotiations! • Against arms deliveries! • Against arms and war budgets! • The lifting of the sanctions! • Neither NATO nor Putin! • “No to War – No to social War!” • Against war budgets of hundreds of billions! Billions for hospitals, schools, municipalities… • The defence of the real wage! General price freeze!

Thank You Gotthard and Kathrin for the invite to today's meeting to agree a Constitution for the European Liaison Committee.

I’m Tom Crilly, Communications Officer for the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) here in Dublin, Ireland. Apologies for the Chair of PANA Roger Cole who cannot attend himself, as he is attending a Peace Conference in Berlin this weekend organised by the World Peace Council and other groups. PANA would broadly support this Constitution, along the line that we do need to link those important social and economic factors that affect workers alongside the slogan ‘No to War’ indeed ‘No to Imperialism’.

Since 1996 PANA has campaigned for an independent foreign policy, Irish neutrality, and a transformation of the United Nations. We are a broad alliance, that include trade unions, political parties, campaigning groups, and individuals. We issue a ‘Press Release’ and a ‘Letter to the Editor’ of national newspapers on a regular basis, we produce documents like our more recent one ‘Neutrality, NATO and the Attack on Ireland’s Triple Lock’… all these items can be viewed on our website. Indeed, we have a very modern website with a vast amount of relevant information and links to other peace groups and alternative media. We also have a PANA Facebook and Twitter account with up-to-date information on issues and events.

For the last two decades U.S. war planes have refuelled at Shannon airport on their way to their intervention wars in the Middle East, north Africa, and they now supplying horrific weapons to support their proxy war in Ukraine.

Shannonwatch monitor and highlight these war planes, organising a monthly protest at Shannon Airport since 2008. According to their spokesperson Edward Horgan, “What is happening at Shannon Airport is in breach of international laws on neutrality and makes the Irish people complicit in US war crimes and torture”.

On Sunday 12th November at 2pm PANA, Shannonwatch and other anti-war groups plan to organise a National Protest at the Roundabout at Shannon Airport.

On Saturday 4th November at 2pm PANA will be supporting the Irish Neutrality League and other groups in a National Demonstration for Peace in Dublin.

Another campaigning group the Peoples Movement hold a monthly protest outside Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament), highlighting opposition to ongoing EU Militarisation with banners demanding ‘Withdraw from PESCO’ and ‘No to EU Army’.

We work with MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, who supply us with information on this militarisation…see ‘Briefings on European Defence Spending August 2023’ on our website.

Finally, on May of this year PANA commissioned an Ipsos Omnipoll that revealed 87% of the people of Ireland support a ceasefire to facilitate negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

PANA has always supported this position, unfortunately our government and Irish mainstream media support war.

PANA has already agreed to hold our annual AGM on Saturday 25th November, perhaps we can link it to the suggested ‘European Social War Day’ that also falls on this date.

You can use our main email info@pana.ie to contact Roger.

Best Wishes to all those attending this meeting today, in our common struggle against war, exploitation, poverty, and imperialism.

Tom Crilly,

Communications PANA

PANA Speech to European Liaison Committee against War and Social War

This Letter was published in the Irish Examiner on 1/8/2023.

Lessons from Dunnes Stores workers and Shannon Airport

Dear Editor, Paul Hosford highlighted the issue of US military use of Shannon airport in his article “US plane that carried weapons through Shannon was not checked for cluster bombs” (Irish Examiner, 27 July). In spite of continuously stating that Ireland is a neutral country and using this to help gain membership of the UN Security Council for 2021 and 2022, successive Irish governments have allowed aircraft associated with the US military and the CIA to refuel at Shannon airport over the past three decades.

The US and its NATO and other allies were waging wars that included the overthrow of the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq, and carrying out unjustified military aggression against Serbia, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. US military use of Shannon airport made the Irish Government, and by default the Irish people, complicit in the deaths due to war related reasons of millions of people including an estimated one million children. Thirty-nine years ago, a courageous group of Dunnes stores workers went on strike to protest against apartheid human rights abuses in South Africa. Their names were Mary Manning, Karen Gearon, Liz Deasy, Michelle Gavin, Sandra Griffin, Theresa Mooney, Vonnie Munroe, Cathryn O’Reilly, Alma Russel, and Tommy Davis. It is now time for equally courageous workers at Shannon airport to refuse to refuel and service aircraft associated with the US military.

It is never too late to do what is right. It will not bring back those who have already died but will help to prevent more unjustified deaths into the future, just as the actions of the Dunnes Stores workers helped to end apartheid in South Africa.

Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick

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This Letter was published in the Irish News 5/8/2023 and an edited version in the Irish Daily Mail on 7/8/2023.

Time to Remember the Consequences of Nuclear Wa

Irish CND will be holding their annual commemoration and remembrance of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Merrion Square, Dublin on Sunday 6th of August at 1.00pm.

Christopher Nolan’s staggering film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man known as “the father of the atomic bomb” is indeed worth watching but a real-life war between two nuclear powers Russia and NATO in Ukraine continues to escalate.

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended the war in Ireland through negotiations.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, PANA inspired by the GFA has advocated a ceasefire and negotiations in a conflict that could escalate into a nuclear war that would destroy the entire world.

In May 2023, PANA commissioned an Ipsos Omnipoll showing 87% of people in Ireland also supported a ceasefire to facilitate negotiations in the Ukraine war.

If there ever was a time to remember the consequences of a nuclear war, now is that time.

Yours Sincerely,
Roger Cole, Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance

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This letter was published in the Irish Times on 23/8/2023.

Lethal aid to an army at war and Irish neutrality

A Chara, – Your editorial on Ukraine’s counter-offensive makes two points of the utmost importance, though without elucidation. You write: “To a small extent the offensive has been assisted by Irish Army training of demining teams, vital to clearing the way for mass attacks across heavily-mined ground.”

The obvious conclusion – that this is an egregious breach of Irish neutrality– is not stated.

Similarly, though your editorial comments on the Government’s controversial plan to provide training “in basic lethal military skills such as rifle use and tactics”, this is effectively excused by repetition of the Government’s own justification – that this training is “required for Ukraine to defend itself, thus not breaching Ireland’s military neutrality”. This is a non sequitur.

One can only conclude that the Government is the chef, and we are the frog slowly being brought to the boil by incremental increases in temperature: first, flak jackets to Ukraine, then demining training for frontline sappers, and now weapons training.

Lethal aid to an army at war from a country insisting it is neutral against all the evidence to the contrary, and still the frog remains passive. – Is mise,

DOMINIC CARROLL,
Ardfield,
Co Cork.

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This letter was published in the Irish Times on 25/8/2023.

Western militarists only add to the carnage on both sides in Ukraine.

Sir, your editorial (Monday, 21 August) hints at the scale and horror of the Russian Ukraine war but offers little hope for a cessation of the bloodbath. If the quoted estimates by US officials are accurate this means that, on average, over 6,400 Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded every week since the war began 78 weeks ago.

If this “war of attrition” as you rightly term it lasts “well into next year” - say another 40 weeks - and the killing spree continues at this pace, then a further 256,000 soldiers on both sides will have been either killed or horribly maimed. Such estimates do not even consider the devastating toll on civilians and the environment. Any claim that flooding Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry has helped the Ukrainians has to be offset by the fact that the war reached a bloody stalemate many months ago with little movement of the front line but with an obscene scale of human slaughter not unlike WW1.

The addition of cluster munitions is more than “controversial”, since they are banned by so many countries and their impact will cause loss of civilian lives for decades to come. The mirage of the F-16s touted by many western militarists will likely only add to the carnage on both sides.

In this context alone, notwithstanding the clear breach of Ireland’s neutrality, it beggars' belief that Micheál Martin has joined this militaristic frenzy by offering Irish expertise in weapon training when he should instead be joining the international call for a ceasefire and peace negotiations.

Yours etc,
JIM ROCHE
PRO Steering Committee, Irish Anti-War Movement

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This letter was published in the Irish Examiner on 6/9/2023, and in the Irish Times, Irish Daily Mail, and the Sunday Times.

Turning Peacekeepers into Warmongers

Dear Editor, The FF/FG/GP Government has now agreed that Irish Defence Forces are to train Ukrainian soldiers how to kill Russian soldiers, not just providing them with non-lethal materials such as body armour.

The war in the Ukraine is rapidly escalating, hundreds of thousands of troops have already been slaughtered, as more and more new weapons such as cluster bombs, cancer-inducing depleted uranium munitions and long-range missiles are being used. Suggestions that neighbouring NATO states may start sending troops into Ukraine, and if so, how will the Russians respond, by attacking these states as well as de facto NATO states like Ireland?

So where will "Irish Neutrality" as now defined by this government end?

Some suspect that part of that ‘re-defining’ is an ever-closer Partnership with nuclear-armed NATO through the Partnership for Peace (PfP). Irish Neutrality was a core value of the participants of the 1916 Rising, and a core value of de Valera, Collins, and Griffith in their negotiations with the British Empire.

A recent Ipsos Omnipoll revealed 87% of Irish people want a ceasefire and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine but this has been ignored in favour of the views of the 8% that do not want a ceasefire. Irish people want peace and demilitarisation, a country that is dedicated to the peaceful settlement of international disputes as described so eloquently in Article 29 of the Irish Constitution, a Constitution our Government has pledged to honour and uphold.

Yours, Roger Cole,
Chair,
Peace & Neutrality Alliance

‍

___

This letter was published in the Irish examiner on 7/9/2023 and in the Irish Daily Mail

Opium Ban

Dear Editor, International media sources have been counter-intuitively critical of the Afghan Taliban Government ban on opium poppy production. Drug addiction is a huge problem within Afghanistan and worldwide. The US Institute for Peace published a report entitled “The Taliban’s Successful Opium Ban is Bad for Afghans and the World”. The reality is that the Afghan people are still being denied adequate vital survival resources by sanctions and the damage caused by two decades of US led war and occupation for which no reparations will ever be forthcoming. The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, stated that the drug trade was one of the factors in his decision to intervene in Afghanistan in 2001. However, Blair should have known that according to the UN Drug Control Program, the Taliban government had banned the production of Opium poppies in July 2000 resulting in a reduction in the production of poppies of over 90% by May 2001. During the US/NATO occupation of Afghanistan the production of opium poppies increased from about 20,000 hectares in 2001 to about 300,000 hectares in 2018. The renewed Afghan government ban on the production of opium poppies is fully justified. The Irish government actively supported the unjustified US-led Afghan war for 20 years, leaving the Afghan people in chaos and destitute. The overthrow of the Afghan and Iraqi Governments were in breach of the UN Charter, yet there has been no accountability for any of these crimes against the Afghan and Iraqi people. The so-called ‘rules based international order’ has been causing disorder, international chaos, and war crimes.

Edward Horgan,
Castletroy,
Limerick

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This letter was published in the Irish Times on 12/9/2023 and the Irish Examiner on 13/9/2023.

Cluster munitions, US military and Shannon Airport

Sir, – The Convention on Cluster Munitions adopted in Dublin in 2008 included an undertaking never, “in any circumstance”, to “transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly” cluster munitions. Since the US announced that it was sending cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, several aircraft on contract to the US military have been refuelled at Shannon airport on their way to locations in Poland, including Rzeszów Jasionka airport located just 50 miles from the Ukraine border and to Poznan airport in Poland where the US now has a large logistic base called Camp Kosciuszko, which is being used to support the Ukrainian military forces.

An independent report by Humanity and Inclusion found that almost 700 people had been killed or injured by cluster munitions in Ukraine in 2022. No US aircraft in Shannon has ever been checked to ascertain if it contains these or any weapons.

As the host country for the adoption of the convention on cluster munitions, surely the time has long passed for Ireland to check these aircraft for the presence of such weapons. –

Yours, etc,
ELIZABETH CULLEN,
Kildare

‍

___

This letter published in both the Irish Times and Irish Independent on the 15/9/2023.

Those who helped destroy Libya need to be held accountable and should now pay up to help flooding victims.

Dear Editor, It is good to see that the Irish Government plans to contribute €1,000,000 to the Libyan Storm Daniel disaster, but disappointing that the European Union only plans to contribute €500,000 so far. The UN has pledged ten million dollars but even this is inadequate. Western mainstream media is highlighting the chaotic political and conflict situations in Libya as contributing factors to the huge death toll, without mentioning who and what helped cause Libya to become a failed state.

UN Security Council resolution 1973 in March 2011 approved a no-fly-zone resolution on Libya for ‘humanitarian’ reasons, but this was seriously abused by NATO and its allies who launched over 14,000 air attacks on Libya and helped to overthrow its government, and then abandoned the Libyan people to over a decade of chaos. Eleven EU states Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, Britain, Bulgaria, Greece, Netherlands, and Romania, participated in this bombing, for the supposed reasons of bringing peace, freedom, human rights, and democracy to Libya.

The United Nations and the international community have failed the people of Libya, who now need not only our prayers but also much practical help in coping with this huge disaster. Those who helped to destroy Libya need to be held accountable and need to be forced to pay reparations to undo some of the damage they have caused.

Edward Horgan,
Castletroy,
Limerick

Letters from Peace Activists published August/September 2023

Dear all,

Just getting in touch to quickly distribute two documents of interest on the state of play regarding European militarisation.

The first is an EPRS briefing document, produced by the European Parliament's dedicated research department, which exists to inform MEPs and staff. It was requested by the Parliament's budget committee, and outlines the different military spending programmes and the facts and figures around them.

The second is a very good recent newsletter from the European Network Against the Arms Trade, an important watchdog NGO in Brussels, which monitors and campaigns against defence spending and corporate capture of the EU institutions by the defence industry.

Between the two of them, you'll get a good idea of past, present and proposed future programmes for military spending, and the state of play at the moment in Brussels. Needless to say, all of this has implications for Irish foreign policy, and is underreported at home.

By all means share these with anyone you think would be interested, and if anyone would like to be added to the mailing list let us know.

‍

All the best,

Clare Daly and Mick Wallace

‍

___

Just a quick update on the last email I sent around.

NATO

This morning the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg appeared in the European Parliament at a joint hearing of the Foreign Affairs committee and the Security and Defence committee. MEPs were able to ask questions, including myself and Mick Wallace. You can watch the whole hearing here.

ENAAT

I'm attaching the most recent ENAAT newsletter – an update on the previous one I sent. If you find the ENAAT bulletins useful, you might want to send them an email at info@enaat.org and ask them to add your name to the mailing list.

EPRS

I'm also attaching another EPRS document, this time the 2023 "Peace and Security Outlook." This is part of a major effort to brand EU geopolitical confrontation and militarisation as a part of the EU's "peace project." The report attempts to redefine peace so that "acting for peace" can include spending on arms purchases for delivery into an active warzone. It contains a remarkable quote from Ursula von der Leyen about the pursuit of "peace through power." The document provides a good insight into how these issues are discussed in politics in Brussels.

TNI, Stop Wapenhandel and Statewatch

I'm also attaching two reports from last year from the Transnational Institute, Stop Wapenhandel and Statewatch, which go over everything on EU security and defence projects – including the militarisation of EU borders, migration policy and police and security forces.

Week of Global Mobilization for Peace in Ukraine

IPB is calling on civil society organisations to join an international week of mobilisation for peace between Saturday 30th of September and Sunday 8th of October. They've asked us to reach out to activists and organisations in Ireland who may be interested in participating by organising an event, action or demonstration. Participating organisations can sign up on the IPB website: https://www.ipb.org/home/ipbs-work-ukrainian-war/

‍

___

Regarding the impact of the war on EU finances and wider society: 5 documents from the European Parliament Research Service (also available online) published to feed into discussions around the revision of the EU budget. As I've said before, the EPRS is the research service for the Parliament. These documents are not critical of EU policy – they aim to be informative for MEPs, so they should of course be read with a critical eye.

As context, EU support for Ukraine (financial, humanitarian, military), as well rising interest rates, inflation and energy prices as a result of the war, are putting the EU's long-term budget under severe pressure. The Commission has proposed a revision of the current long-term budget, and the creation of new sources of revenue (the EU's own resources) to provide additional finances. The discussion in Brussels is now whether these proposals will be adequate to finance the EU's activities in the next few years, or whether there will need to be additional proposals to prevent the EU running out of money.

Briefings on European Defence Spending August 2023

An historic treaty banning one of the world's deadliest weapons, cluster bombs, was agreed in Dublin on 28th May 2008 when diplomats and officials from 109 countries who gathered at a conference at Croke Park agreed a treaty which bans their use.

The deal was seen as a massive coup for Irish diplomacy and particularly for the then Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern, who supported this Dublin event. His successor Micheal Martin stated, "This deal will give my colleagues in Government a great sense of fulfillment."

The United States of America has now declared its intention to send its illegal stockpile of cluster bombs to Ukraine, as part of the continuing escalation of the various types of weapons being used in this war. The UK and US have already agreed to supply them with depleted uranium shells and let’s not forget that Serbia/Kosovo is still suffering their effects today following the 1999 NATO led bombardment here.

Edward Horgan who attended the Shannonwatch monthly vigil at Shannon Airport today stated, “there is a very real possibility that these illegal cluster bombs will be transferred through Shannon Airport on their way to Ukraine. As up to now US military planes continue to refuel here on their way to their military bases in Poland and Germany. Successive Irish Governments have refused to search these planes so we will never know what weapons are on board. However, in the case of these vicious and illegal weapons the Government could be found guilty of collaborating and supporting their transfer by refusing to search US military planes.”

“Amnesty International has long stressed that cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons which have caused untold harm to civilians across the world – in some cases decades after conflicts have ended. Russia’s war of aggression has brought profound suffering to the people of Ukraine. It is the humanitarian considerations, and concern for civilians in countries torn by war and its aftermath – which has driven 111 states, including many of Ukraine’s allies, to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions and ban the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of such weapons.” (View recent statement below)

Roger Cole of PANA and Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch now call upon Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin not to destroy the great legacy of his colleague Dermot Ahern. He should commence searching US military planes or aircraft on contract to the US military landing at Shannon Airport immediately.

To confirm this joint Press Release contact:
Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Ed Horgan,
Shannonwatch,

___
Roger Cole,
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance, PANA,‍

‍

For more information:

Cluster bombs ban clinched in historic Dublin-led treaty by Ciaran Byrne 29/5/2008.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/cluster-bombs-ban-clinched-in-historic-dublin-led-treaty/26449818.html

Ireland signs convention banning cluster bombs…3/12/2008.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today signed a convention banning the use of cluster munitions on behalf of Ireland at a ratification…

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland-signs-convention-banning-cluster-bombs-1.832553

Ukraine: US transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine undermines international efforts to safeguard civilians from indiscriminate weapons… Amnesty International has long stressed that cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons which have caused untold harm to civilians across the world – in some cases decades after conflicts have ended. 7/7/2023

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/07/ukraine-us-plan-to-transfer-cluster-munitions-to-ukraine-undermines-international-efforts-to-safeguard-civilians-from-indiscriminate-weapons/

NATO CONFIRMS TO UNITED NATIONS USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM DURING KOSOVO CONFLICT 22/3/2000.

https://press.un.org/en/2000/20000322.hab163.doc.html

Carol Fox delivered this fantastic speech at a ‘People’s Forum on Ireland’s Neutrality’ in Liberty Hall Dublin on the 19/6/2023 before the government’s ‘Consultative Forum on International Security Policy’ began in Cork, Galway, and Dublin.

https://www.pana.ie/posts/carol-foxs-speech-on-peoples-forum-on-irelands-neutrality

Will Shannon Airport be used to transfer US Cluster Bombs

An edited version of this speech was published in the Irish Examiner ‘Irish reputation as peacekeepers will be damaged by ties to nuclear-armed Nato’ on Saturday 24/6/2023.‍

Carol Fox, Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and Swords to Ploughshares (STOP)

‍The Forum Road Show is about to begin…or should we say, the Government’s Spring Offensive. We kind of know what’s going to happen. The only thing the Forums might affect is:

The pace of implementing decisions on defence already made;
The manner in which the Government will try to sell them to the Irish people. [Although President Michael D Higgins has thrown quite a spanner in the works!]

We’ll be told there’s no question of us joining NATO (at least ‘not any time soon’ as Micheal Martin put it). But our neutrality has to be ‘re-defined’ – and part of that ‘re-defining’ is an ever-closer Partnership with nuclear-armed NATO through the Partnership for Peace (PfP). We’ll cooperate with a nuclear military alliance, make our defence forces and military weapons interoperable with that military alliance, conduct exercises with that alliance (sure, we already supply an airport at Shannon to the US military) but we will still call ourselves ‘neutral’.

Many of us – opinion polls indicate about 60-70% of us – thought and think that Irish Neutrality doesn’t include partnership with a nuclear alliance. Our neutrality has always involved a partnership with the United Nations. We’re the Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers. Ireland is highly respected as an initiator and supporter of disarmament. Our NGOs are highly regarded for their humanitarian work abroad. The fact that we are Neutral --and not regarded as anyone’s enemy – we don’t generally threaten or invade other countries-- has always aided Ireland’s diplomacy. The Government – and its Forums – are on a Fool’s Mission. Why would it throw away a unique and influential status that other States envy? There’s a reason that Irish passports are one of the most coveted in the world. Our track record in promoting disarmament: the landmark Irish initiated Non-Proliferation Treaty, NFZs. the recent 6-nation initiative – including Ireland -- that resulted in the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons. The 2008 Treaty prohibiting cluster bombs was negotiated in Dublin.

Our partner NATO believes in nuclear weapons and uses cluster bombs in warfare. The US is about to join the UK in exporting cancer-inducing depleted Uranium weapons to Ukraine and is considering sending cluster bombs (partly because, as one Senior US politician put, We have a big stockpile of them) It doesn’t like – or sign – the UN Treaties we recently championed. It plays wargames that run counter to all our disarmament work. One example: A few months ago – in the midst of the war in Ukraine – NATO held a 2-week tactical nuclear weapon exercise in Europe, Steadfast Noon, to train non-nuclear NATO aircrews to carry out nuclear strikes. There are currently about 100 US nuclear weapons installed in 6 NATO countries. This runs counter to the NPT.‍‍

But our NATO partnership progresses:

Ireland has fulfilled many of its PfP interoperability and equipment goals.
Last month in Cork, Ireland hosted the Chiefs of European Navies (CHENS) conference, to discuss military challenges facing NATO and European navies. Attendance included: European Military Staff (EUMS), NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), and United States Navy personnel. The theme of the Conference was Naval Implementation of Emergent and Disruptive Technologies.
Ireland recently chaired PIAG the Partner Interoperability Advocacy Group for strengthening cooperation between NATO and partner nations.
Next year, Irish defence forces will travel to Indiana to participate in the NATO exercise Thor’s Hammer. Countering IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) and drones.
The Irish military top brass often attend NATO meetings. Partner States are invited by the North Atlantic Council to participate in political and military bodies at NATO Headquarters and in a separate Partnership Co-ordination Cell at Mons (Belgium) [A lot of this activity can be followed on a twitter account: @irishmilrep Official account of the Irish Military Representative to the European Union & Partnership for Peace]

EU Defence and Security

‍OK, so we’re not joining NATO. But how do we square this with what is developing in the EU – nearly all of whose members are in NATO. (and as President Higgins recently said, ‘fading imperial powers’ whose ‘shadows we shouldn’t be in’). The various EU treaties as you know have brought closer coordination in defence and security policies, including even a mutual defence pact. Ireland has managed – thanks to the Irish people voting down two EU treaties because of their military provisions --to get special dispensation from some EU military matters.

But the EU and NATO are quite clear about their special Partnership. In January a Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation was issued. The Financial Times thought this was a remarkable statement in its openness on NATO domination. Its headlines reported: “Stronger European Armies are to support US-led alliance, not offer an alternative to it”. Point 8 of the Declaration: “NATO remains the foundation of collective defence for its Allies and essential for Euro Atlantic security. We recognise the value of a stronger and more capable European defence that contributes positively to global and transatlantic security and is complementary to, and interoperable with NATO”.

Last month in the Dail, Micheal Martin reassured the Dail that the EU is not being militarised. He spoke strongly against the potential for a European Army being formed but said he would call for greater ‘involvement’ with neighbouring countries. He stressed that there was no international appetite for such a militarisation of the EU.

Given how obviously militarised the EU now is, Micheal Martin’scomments are simply laughable. The EU is now bristling with military committees and agencies, a European Defence Agency, support for arms production and technology, a European Peace Facility (!) (which helps finance EU military activities outside the EU, with a budget of nearly 6 billion euro). And the Irish Government has fully embraced the opportunities for Irish business in arms production and innovation with Simon Coveney hosting an arms fair here last October at the Aviva Stadium, called – wait for it – ‘Building the EcoSystem.’

I think Micheal Martin is being a little precious about when is an army an army.

For its armed wing, the EU already has Battlegroups and the PESCO permanent enhanced security cooperation project. To add to the mix, in May 2021, 14 EU countries proposed a 5000- strong rapid military response force that could intervene early in international crises. Reuters reported that: ‘EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, had chided the EU for reluctance to intervene more abroad, particularly in failing states such as Libya.”

One of those 14 EU countries was Ireland.

This Rapid Deployment Capacity (RDC) force will be established by 2025 with land, air and maritime component in order to fulfil the plans in the EU’s new Strategic Compass. According to the European Parliamentary Research Service,. April 12, 2023:

The RDC’s purpose will be to respond rapidly to imminent crises, and to be able to be used in different operational scenarios, including ‘initial entry, reinforcement, or as a reserve force to secure an exit’.

The first live exercises will be held in autumn 2023 in the south of Spain (Gulf of Cadiz).

Triple Lock

‍And this brings us directly to the Triple Lock The Government is more upfront about its intentions here. It’s got to go because it’s no longer ‘fit for purpose’. A key question here is: For What Purpose? We all know that Ireland’s role in UN peacekeeping has been a major source of pride in this country.

In 2013, the Government produced a Green Paper on Defence which looked at the Triple Lock and extolled its virtues: The requirement for a UN resolution as part of the “triple lock” reflects the central importance of the UN in granting legitimacy to peace support and crisis management missions. To quote the DFA’s own website in 2023:

Ireland has a proud tradition of participation in UN and UN-supported peacekeeping missions, both civilian and military. Ireland is proud of being the only nation to have a continuous presence on UN and UN-mandated peace support operations since 1958, with Irish peacekeepers highly respected internationally.

We currently have about 550 defence personnel serving abroad, with the bulk of them UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and Syria.

So why do we now want to drop the necessity of a UN mandate? It seems that the Triple Lock has been fit for purpose in that we have continuously been able to deploy UN peacekeepers. The spectre of the Russian and Chinese vetoes in the Security Council are thrown up. But the only example ever given of Irish forces being kept from participating in a PK operation is in Macedonia over 20 years ago when China vetoed the mission.In fact when talking to RTE’s Tony Connelly last year,(March 2022) Simon Coveney said: I can't think of an instance where Ireland has wanted to send troops on a peacekeeping mission to a part of the world and has been prevented from doing so, because of the triple lock, not yet, at least’.

Well the time has come. The new ‘purpose’ that the Triple Lock is no longer fit for is deeper involvement in EU military operations, particularly the new RDC rapid reaction force, which our Government helped to create. These forces will not always be seeking a UN mandate. Fianna Fail’s Barry Andrews MEP, reflecting Government thinking, was quite specific about this last year when he said a European Council decision/mandate should suffice.

Micheal Martin last month also announced that we were withdrawing our UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights in Syria (UNDOF) in order to participate in an EU Battlegroup.

And so, it goes. We have got to try to counter this at the Forums. As already said, the Government is on a Fool’s Mission. The world doesn’t need another member of NATO. It doesn’t need another country profiting from producing and selling weapons. What it needs is a country pushing for peace and demilitarisation, a country dedicated to the peaceful settlement of international disputes as described so eloquently in Article 29 of the Irish Constitution, a Constitution our Government has pledged to honour and uphold. Let’s hold them to it.

Carol Fox’s speech on People’s Forum on Ireland’s Neutrality

New Poll Reveals 87% of people in Ireland support a ceasefire to facilitate negotiations to end the War in Ukraine.

‍
The Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) is today releasing the results of a major new commissioned Ipsos Omnipoll, showing 87% of people in Ireland support a ceasefire to facilitate negotiations in the Ukraine war.

The question asked:

" Are you in favour or not in favour of a ceasefire to facilitate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war?"

The response was: In Favour 87%, Not in Favour 8%, DK/No Opinion 5%

(1000 interviews were conducted by telephone among a nationally representative sample of individuals aged 15+.)

Contact Eleonore.marechal@ipsos.com to confirm.

This is a massive endorsement of PANA's position taken at the very start of the war.

Roger Cole stated “all political parties and the media must now seriously consider the opinion of the vast majority of the Irish people. In the year that marks the 25^th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought the war in Ireland to an end through a process of a ceasefire and negotiations, should we not retain this same philosophy in the horrific war now raging in the Ukraine.”

To confirm this Press Release contact…

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 087 2937558

Roger Cole, Chair, PANA,

Tel: 087-2611597

Edward Horgan, International Secretary and Irish language spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 085 8519623

For more information:

Neutrality, NATO, and the attack on Ireland’s Triple Lock

https://www.pana.ie/posts/neutrality-nato-and-the-attack-on-irelands-triple-lock

Brussels Activists Peace Forum

https://www.facebook.com/PANAIreland/

Ipsos Omnipoll on War in Ukraine

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Sinn Féin’s vision is for Ireland to play a constructive role in the wider world and to be committed to diplomacy, humanitarianism, peace building and co-operation with other states on global challenges including poverty, world hunger, climate change, conflict resolution and migration. An independent foreign policy and military neutrality are crucial to allow Ireland to play that important role in the wider world. We should be proud of our military neutrality and resist attempts by some in the Government to recast it as a weakness or a failing.

Where is ‘register of damage’ for victims of US conflicts?

Letter published in the Irish Independent …17/5/2023

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is attending a Council of Europe summit meeting in Iceland on 16th May for the purpose of creating a “register of damages” for those who have suffered from the ongoing war in Ukraine. This is an ‘ah but what about letter’. Of course, a ‘damage register’ should be established for all conflicts and those responsible for such damage and related war crimes should be fully held to account. It begs the question, why has there been no similar meetings to establish a ‘damage register’ for the wars of aggression waged by the US and its NATO and other allies in Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere? And why has there been no accountability for the very serious war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the peoples of these non-European countries?

Up to five million people have died due to war related reasons in these conflicts and untold infrastructural and environmental problems have been caused by these unjustifiable wars. The Council of Europe may well argue that its focus is primarily on Europe, but surely the United Nations and other international bodies such as the International Criminal Court should have initiated and carried out such a ‘damage register’ and taken steps to hold all those responsible for such crimes accountable.

Edward Horgan, Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick.

Are mistakes of Rwanda being repeated in Sudan?

Letter published in the Irish News … 4/5/2023

The present conflict in Sudan once again demonstrates the abject failure of the UN and the international community to prevent or stop conflicts in Africa that have amounted to genocide and widespread human rights abuses.

In 1994 the international community stood idly by as up to quarter of a million Rwandan people were brutally slaughtered. This conflict then spilled over into the Democratic Republic of Congo, igniting a conflict that is still ongoing, causing several more million deaths. European and western lives are given priority over the lives of the rest of humanity. The US and Nato intervened eventually to stop the conflict in Bosnia in 1995 although their attempts to impose democracy there have arguably failed.Little has been learned from the 20-year US-led unjustified war of vengeance waged against the Afghan people. In the resulting 2021 evacuation chaos, military dogs were given priority over Afghans who worked with western forces and whose lives were in danger.

No accountability has been achieved for the ongoing trauma that the Afghan people are still going through. While most western citizens have been successfully evacuated from Sudan, far too little consideration is being given to the trauma being suffered by the citizens of Sudan. How many Sudanese refugees will be allowed into fortress Europe? Many of these conflicts in Africa and the Middle East have roots in European colonial abuses. There is now a serious risk of the present Sudan conflict deteriorating into crimes against humanity.

When a popular uprising overthrew the autocratic government of Omar al-Bashir, their efforts to establish democracy were thwarted by the two main perpetrators of this present conflict, General al-Burhan and RST leader General Dagalo/Hemedti, both of whose forces wereimplicated in the Darfur genocide.

The United Nations is once again being prevented from doing its primary task of maintaining international peace by several of its most powerful states who are pursuing their national interests at the expense of the most vulnerable members of humanity.

EDWARD HORGAN, Castletroy, Co Limerick

We must advocate for peace worldwide, not just at home

Letter published in the Irish Independent… 11/4/2023.

The visit to Ireland by US president Joe Biden to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) should be used to strengthen the peace process in Ireland and to promote international peace, rather than just be used for US presidential electioneering purposes. Successive Irish governments have been justifiably portraying the peace process in Northern Ireland as a positive example of how other conflicts internationally could be resolved. The GFA, includes the following in its Declaration of Support:

We reaffirm our total and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences on political issues, and our opposition to any use or threat of force by others for any political purpose, whether in regard to this agreement or otherwise.

The word “otherwise” in this statement indicates that these principles should also be applied to other conflicts at international level in keeping with the Irish Constitution.

Consecutive Irish governments have reneged on their constitutional, humanitarian, and international law responsibilities by actively supporting US-led wars in the Middle East by allowing US military to transit through Shannon airport.

While the Irish Government has justifiably criticised the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has wrongfully failed to criticise US and its Nato allies’ invasions and wars of aggression in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.

Dr Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick

‍EU bombs for peace

Letter published in the Irish News… 30/3/2023

At a meeting in Brussels on March 20, attended by Peter Burke TD, Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, the EU decided to use the European Peace Facility to spend €2 billion to supply Ukraine with 155mm artillery shells which will be used to kill thousands of Russians and Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine. This is the sort of international immorality George Orwell tried to expose. Our Irish government is also contributing €3m towards the International Criminal Court war crimes investigations in Ukraine but for three decades ignored the war crimes committed by US and its Nato and other allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All war crimes must be investigated, and the perpetrators brought to justice. The best way to prevent war crimes is to prevent wars by promoting peace by peaceful means. Since Sweden and Finland abandoned their neutrality, Ireland, Austria, Cyprus, and Malta are the only EU states not full members of Nato. Nato has effectively taken over the EU. The US has been using Nato as its enforcer to maintain its stranglehold over the global financial system and access to an undue share of the world’s limited resources. How many more innocent Ukrainians must die?

EDWARD HORGAN, Castletroy, Co Limerick

Letters from Edward Horgan

Friends,

This is a copy of our 'Letter to the Editor' sent to Irish newspapers this week, so far it has been published in The Irish Daily Mail and the Belfast News Letter. There will a lot of Irish media coverage on the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, hopefully they will analyse the shocking double standards that seem to characterise EU and US foreign policy makers on other global conflicts.

Tom Crilly, Communications PANA

‍

Letter to the Editor

Spreading a Philosophy of Peace this Easter

Sir,
‍
President Joe Biden will visit Ireland this Easter, proud of his Irish heritage, he wants to be with us all here in celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.

We are extremely grateful for the contribution of American Presidents and successive American State Departments and many others who saw the need for peace and helped to bridge the seemingly unbridgeable gulfs between Unionism and Nationalism through intense negotiation and reasonable compromise.

One Irish peacemaker John Hume saw the need to spread this message to help end other global conflicts, and in his address to the EU Parliament in 1998 on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize said: "we (the European Union) should not be sending armies abroad, we should be sending a philosophy of peace." Unfortunately, the EU/NATO prefer to be a regional military power and agreed to allocated €7.95 billion between 2021-2027 into developing their arms manufacturing industries.

As political, religious and community leaders gather in Belfast this Easter, some may wonder at the shocking double standards that seem to characterise EU and US foreign policy makers. Do they believe that spreading a philosophy of peace must be based on geopolitical factors?

If pursuing a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war in Ireland is to be celebrated as it should, how much more important would it be to advocate the same philosophy in the horrific war now raging between Russia and NATO in the Ukraine.

Yours,
Roger Cole
Chair
Peace & Neutrality Alliance

For more information:

This year's Roger Casement Summer School 2023 will be on 5/6 May in the usual venue at the Lexicon Library in Dun Laoghaire. Dave Alvey explains in a promotional video some details around this year's School. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VINox1ih4QQ

Also: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DLRCasement/

The People’s Movement, to see their latest news on EU militarisation…

https://www.people.ie/news/PN-254.pdf

As part of The Conversation from RTÉ's Upfront with Katie Hannon, we asked two people to join our WhatsApp group to discuss the future of Irish neutrality.

Roger Cole is the founder and chairman of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA).

Declan Power is an independent security and defence analyst and a former Irish soldier.

https://www.rte.ie/news/upfront/2023/0401/1367503-what-does-the-future-hold-for-irish-neutrality/

Depleted uranium shells: Why are they used and are they harmful?

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) says depleted uranium missiles were developed by the US and UK in the 1970s. They were first used in the Gulf War in 1991, and then in Kosovo in 1999, and during the Iraq War in 2003.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-65051330

‍

Celebrating the Good Friday Agreement

Irish Foreign Affairs – March 2023, including the Non-Aligned Movement Debate. A Quarterly Review published by the Irish Political Review Group, Dublin.

Irish Foreign Affairs

The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was established following the agreed disengagement of the Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights in May 1974, helping to maintain a separation and peace here.

Roger Cole, chair of PANA, has criticised the recent decision of Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin to withdraw Irish troops from the UN peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights in order as he suggests to have the capacity to fulfil his commitment to EU Battlegroups 2024/2025.

‘Will the Minister now explain if he has now abandoned the UN peacekeeping strategy to support EU militarisation, with their ever-expanding weapons industries, and their increasing warmongering strategy.’

Since 1960, 88 members of the Irish Defence Forces have been killed while serving on overseas missions in that honourable struggle for peace.

For more information on this Press Release contact:

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2937558

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2611597

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 6911293

For more information:

The next PANA NEC meeting will take place

on Saturday 25th March 2023 @ 12 – 2pm

In the Irish Labour History Society, Beggars Bush, Dublin 4.

You can view the full list of NEC members on the PANA website, also all affiliated groups should send a representative to this meeting…the meeting is open to all members to attend.

Agenda will include:

Financial Report

Update on activities

Proposed Legal Case

New peace alliance set up by activists in Austria and Hungary

We have a PANA member living in London who wants to establish a PANA branch there. If you have any Irish contacts in London who might be interested please send details to Roger…

‍

Support for UN Peacekeepers

Trial of Peace Activists Begins on January 11^th and Latest Update

Posted on: 7 January 2023

Peace activists Dr Edward Horgan, former army Commandant and United Nations peacekeeper, originally from Tralee Co Kerry, and Dan Dowling also a native of Tralee Co Kerry, are due to go on trial on 11th January 2023 at Dublin Circuit Court. This is as a result of an incident that occurred at Shannon Airport five years and nine months ago. The date of this incident was 25th April 2017, and there are two charges. The first alleged offence is trespass at the airport contrary to Section 11 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994 as amended by the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 2008. The second is criminal damage by writing graffiti on a US Navy aircraft contrary to Section 2(1) Criminal Damage Act, 1991.

Both defendants will be representing themselves and are expected to conduct a robust defence to these charges.

Since 2001 well over three million armed US soldiers and unknown quantities of weapons, munitions and other military hardware have been transported through Shannon, mainly to and from the Middle East. The US has been involved as a belligerent in several wars including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria, as well as providing active support for the Saudi Arabian war in Yemen, and Israeli aggression and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. US military use of Shannon airport is in clear contravention of international laws on neutrality as well as arguably making the Irish Government complicit in breaches of the UN Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions on War.

Speaking ahead of the trial, a Shannonwatch spokesperson said "This case is not just about the technicalities of breaches of international laws, even though these are important. The Criminal Justice (UN Convention Against Torture) Act 2000 brings the UN Convention Against Torture into Irish criminal law, and the Geneva Conventions (Amendments) Act 1998 also brings the Geneva Conventions within the scope of Irish law."

"More seriously however, is the reality that up to five million people have lost their lives due the war related reasons across the Middle East since the early 1990s. Shockingly, it is now estimated that one million children may have lost their lives due to these unjustified wars."

When Edward Horgan was arrested at Shannon Airport on 25th April 2017, he handed a folder to the arresting Garda officer. It contained the names of up 1,000 children who had died in the Middle East.

The trial is before a jury and is expected to take several days…

For more information on this Press Release contact:

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2937558

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2611597

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 6911293

Update on Trial of Peace Activists

Dublin Circuit Court president Judge Patricia Ryan empaneled a jury for this case and assigned Judge Martina Baxter to preside the case in Court 21. Barrister Jane Cudden represents the prosecution. Defendants Dan Dowling and Edward Horgan are very pleased to have their day in court. The court resumes in the morning Thursday 12^th January at 10.30am and is expected to continue into next week

For ongoing updates and to help fund their campaign contact…

https://www.shannonwatch.org/

John Mearsheimer: The West is playing Russian roulette

This interesting interview by UnHerd may help people to understand the nature of geopolitical interests or great power politics. Mearsheimer supports American power being projected in its interests but believes that the war in Ukraine is a distraction from the real threat, which is China, and worse, will drive Russia into the arms of China when it is in America’s interests to drive them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBiV1h7Dm5E

The Peoples Movement will hold their monthly protest outside Iveagh House,

Stephens Green, Dublin on Wednesday January 18^th at 1pm. This is the home of Micheál Martin’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the main body that orchestrates our greater involvement in EU militarisation.

‍

Press Release from Shannonwatch

Last week Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress, making an impassioned plea for more military aid, whilst the following day Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to turn the tables on the West at his annual end-of-the-year news conference, blaming the U.S. and its allies for escalating tensions over Ukraine. Putin informed the 500 Russian and foreign reporters at this major media event that “the ball is in their court” to respond to Moscow’s security demands, insisting he wants to end this conflict, and would prefer peace negotiations.

Let’s be clear PANA condemned Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in the same way we condemned the U.S./UK horrific invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that led to the death of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, all intervention wars are wrong and end in a humanitarian disaster. So, any moves from Washington or Moscow towards peace talks must be welcomed.

Roger Cole of PANA stated, ‘you can help make that iconic slogan Peace on Earth a reality in 2023 by understanding the nature of all war propaganda from both eastern and western sources and by encouraging all political, business, social, and religious leaders to unite in support of a peace process.’

No peace activist would dare predict the outcome of a negotiated peace process. But following a ceasefire we would hope to see an immediate end to the slaughter here in Ukraine, there is space to get humanitarian aid to those who need it, and the warring parties, Russia, Ukraine, and NATO can start to seek agreement through UN-chaired diplomatic negotiations.

A Happy and Peaceful New Year to All,

To confirm this Press Release.

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2937558

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2611597

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 6911293

For more information:

According to our (MIP Research) data, the US has undertaken over 500 international military interventions since 1776, with nearly 60% undertaken between 1950 and 2017. What’s more, over one-third of these missions occurred after 1999. With the end of the Cold War era, we would expect the US to decrease its military interventions abroad, assuming lower threats and interests at stake. But these patterns reveal the opposite – the US has increased its military involvements abroad.

https://sites.tufts.edu/css/mip-research/

Putin says Russia doesn't want war with Ukraine but urges West to meet his demands quickly…

The Russian leader held his annual news conference as tensions with the U.S. soar over growing concerns about Moscow's troop build-up on its border with Ukraine.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-russia-ukraine-war-demands-nato-biden-rcna9753

War in Ukraine MAKING SENSE OF A SENSELESS CONFLICT

By MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS J.S. DAVIES

“This book is an important antidote to the war propaganda about Ukraine that so many in the West are caught up in.” —Mairead McGuire, activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Available in Connolly Books, Dublin

https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/war-in-ukraine/

https://www.peaceinukraine.org/

European Network Against the Arms Trade (ENAAT) ‘How the EU is funding arms dealers and corrupt corporations’ … You will find a link to ENAAT and to other anti-war and alternative media groups on the PANA website https://www.pana.ie/links

The People’s Movement will hold their monthly protest at Iveagh House, home of Mícheál Martin’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the main body that orchestrates our greater involvement in EU militarisation. The protest will be held at 13:00 on Wednesday January 18th at Iveagh House, Stephens Green, Dublin.

Let’s make Peace on Earth a Reality in 2023

Introduction

For the last five years PANA have issued a Press Release on a regular monthly basis that is then sent out to about 80 media outlets. Irish mainstream media including RTE, and Virgin Media generally propagate a pro-war or pro-NATO narrative and so ignore our statements. We also send out on a regular basis a ‘Letter to the Editor’ to about 9 newspapers, and along with several other anti-war letter writers, we are surprised when our letter is published, especially in the more conservative Irish Times or Irish Independent. Last week a PANA letter was indeed published in the Irish Times (6/12/2022), two day later a letter was published here accusing Roger Cole of PANA of “airy waffle”. Jim Roche of the Irish Anti-War Movement then responded to this and is waiting in hope for this letter to be published. These letters may help you get a more balanced view on war, imperialism. and geopolitical interests, sadly missing from Irish mainstream media.

Tom Crilly,
Communications PANA,
Never Fear to Negotiate

‍

Letter by Roger Cole

‍2/12/2022

A Chara,
PANA called for a ceasefire and UN chaired negotiations from the very start of the war in Ukraine.We therefore welcome the statement from President Biden that he would be willing to have talks with President Putin and so help reduce escalating tensions between these nuclear powers.His remarks were made at a recent press conference in Washington, DC, during a bilateral summit with French president Emmanuel Macron. This is a major foreign policy change in the Biden administration now expressing the need for diplomacy to end this horrific war.Let us encourage these moves and recall that President Kennedy in a speech on January 20, 1961, said: " Let us never negotiate out of fear. But never fear to negotiate", a political perspective that helped solve the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962.

Yours Sincerely,
Roger Cole,
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance

‍

Letter by Jim Roche

8/12/2022

Sir,
Daragh Mc Dowell (Letters, 07 December) accuses Roger Cole of PANA of “airy waffle”. He then goes on to waffle about what would happen should there be a ceasefire and peace process – Russia would re-arm and Ukraine would have to cede territory. How does he know this? Does he have a crystal ball?No peace activist would dare predict the outcome of a negotiated peace process. We have our hopes and demands for sure. In the case of the Russian Ukraine war, they are that the Russian military withdraws to the pre-February 2022 borders and that it abides by the UN Charter and international law, that NATO stop its relentless push eastwards and its escalation tactics, that the arms industry be outed for its devious profiteering and that any peace process recognises the human rights of all peoples to the expression of their culture.We cannot predict that one or both sides would not use a ceasefire to re-arm and try to gain strategic military advantage. We have seen this for example in the current ceasefire in Yemen, where the Biden administration has disgracefully agreed to re-arm Saudi Arabia in exchange for dirty oil, some of it very likely sourced rather ironically from Russia.What we can predict with certainty is that as soon as a ceasefire occurs that has some kind of international guarantees – the UN with all its faults may not be a bad institution to oversee this - people stop getting killed and injured immediately. There is space to get humanitarian aid to those who need it. And there is hope that the warring parties – Russia, Ukraine, and NATO in this case – can resolve their political differences through diplomatic negotiations.Peace loving people around the world, including many Ukrainians and Russians, proudly demand an end to war and militarisation and that diplomacy be given a chance, not least in this time of peace and goodwill.

Yours etc,
JIM ROCHE
PRO Steering Committee,
Irish Anti-War Movement,
PO Box 9260,
Dublin 1.

‍‍Never Fear to Negotiate

A PANA ‘Letter to the Editor’ was published in today’s Irish Daily Mail, slightly altered with the line ‘during a bilateral summit with French president Emmanuel Macron’ removed. As usual these anti-war suggestions may be censored altogether out of the other eight newspapers, I sent this letter to, but if anyone sees it elsewhere let me know.

Letter to the Editor,

Never Fear to Negotiate

2/12/2022

A Chara,

PANA called for a ceasefire and UN chaired negotiations from the very start of the war in Ukraine.

We therefore welcome the statement from President Biden that he would be willing to have talks with President Putin and so help reduce escalating tensions between these nuclear powers.

His remarks were made at a recent press conference in Washington, DC, during a bilateral summit with French president Emmanuel Macron. This is a major foreign policy change in the Biden administration now expressing the need for diplomacy to end this horrific war.

Let us encourage these moves and recall that President Kennedy in a speech on January 20, 1961, said: " Let us never negotiate out of fear. But never fear to negotiate", a political perspective that helped solve the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962.

Yours Sincerely,

Roger Cole, Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance.

–

Stop the War Campaign and Peter Dooley have organised a Rally for Peace outside Dail Eireann tomorrow Tuesday 6December, at 1pm…Roger is a guest speaker here. Please support.

Talk World Radio with David Swanson of WBW…the link to this fantastic talk show is now up on the PANA website, a regular 29-minute debate with invited guests on a range of issues from Palestine to COP27 to Peacebuilding. Also keep informed of issues from our good friend Tarak Kauff of Veterans for Peace, the link to ‘Peace and Planet News’ is also up on our website. Also, we provide a link to the Julian Assange Campaign…

Celebrating 90 years of Connolly Books with guests Dr Conor McCabe and Donal Fallon this Friday 9December 7-10pm…Connolly Books, 43 Essex St East, Temple Bar, Dublin.

Buy a book, read it and then give it as a Christmas present, I’ve just started ‘War in Ukraine-Making Sense Of A Senseless Conflict’ this book is on sale now in Connolly Books.

https://www.facebook.com/connollybooks/

Edward Horgan reports that the next Shannonwatch protest will takes place at Shannon Airport this Sunday 11December at 2pm…and well done to all those anti-war campaigners who protested recently against those four NATO ships visiting Cork Harbour.

Thanks to all who made it to our recent AGM held in the ILHS, Beggars Bush, especially those who rushed from the ‘Raise the Roof’ housing march that ended in Merrion Square at 2pm…just a few add on changes to our NEC.

Best Wishes, and an early Happy Christmas,

Tom Crilly,

Communications PANA,

Tel 087 2937558

‍

Never Fear to Negotiate – letter published in Irish Daily Mail

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. Check out his Talk World Radio series on YouTube.

‍

Talk World Radio with David Swanson

In recent times our Irish governments have done all they can to end Irish neutrality, against the wishes of a clear majority of the Irish people. The recent Fine Gael Ard-Fheis passed a motion effectively to scrap the Triple Lock on sending Irish soldiers on overseas missions, by eliminating the need for a UN mandate for such missions. Rather than equip our forces appropriately for genuine defence and UN-directed peacekeeping, our government seems intent on merging them with EU/NATO ventures such as PESCO, Battlegroups etc.

Our government’s unconstitutional agreement allowing the British RAF to engage in military operations within Irish sovereign airspace was another step towards fully abandoning Irish neutrality and sovereignty. The most serious ongoing breach of Irish neutrality has been our government’s decision in 2001 to turn Shannon airport into a US forward air base to wage illegal wars in the Middle East. This has made the Irish people actively complicit, against their wishes, in US and NATO war crimes and breaches of international law.

According to Edward Horgan of PANA, ‘Yet another such step is due this weekend: on Friday 25^th November no fewer than four NATO warships of the Royal Netherlands Navy are authorised to visit Cork harbour (*). The vision of democracy, international law and morality is being supplanted in Ireland, Europe, and the wider world by the abuses of military power.’

To confirm this Press Release contact…

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 087 2937558

Edward Horgan, International Secretary, PANA,

Tel 085 8519623

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 087 6911293

For more information…

Demonstrations are planned against these NATO ships in Cork

There will be protests at Cobh on Friday at 2pm, and at Horgan’s Wharf on Saturday at 11am. Please support…

(*) NLMS Karel Doorman (A833) at 204.7 metres (672 ft) is the largest ship in service in the Netherlands navy and will be docking at the Cobh Cruise Terminal.

HNLMS Zeven Provincien (F802) is an air defence and command frigate and is due to dock at Marino Point

HNLMS Groningen (P843) is an offshore patrol ship and is due to dock at North Custom House Quay

HNLMS Van Amstel (F831) is a Guided Missile Frigate and is due to dock at J.J. Horgan’s Wharf

The Triple Lock is, at this time, the most significant legislative bulwark supporting Irish neutrality. It is the name given to Irish legislation in the Seville Declaration of the Nice Treaty, that states that members of the Irish Defence Forces shall not serve abroad without the agreement of the Dáil, the Government and the Security Council of the United Nations or UN General Assembly. See Neutrality, NATO, and the attach on Ireland’s Triple Lock…

https://www.pana.ie/posts/neutrality-nato-and-the-attack-on-irelands-triple-lock

PANA AGM will take place this Saturday 26th of November, at 2.30pm, in the Irish Labour History Society, Beggars Bush, Haddington Road, D.4

(Located near the Grand Canal/Lansdowne Road DART stations, and Nos. 7/4 bus routes)

This meeting is open to all PANA members…or contact Roger

‍

Death of Irish Neutrality by a Thousand Cuts?

Our AGM will take place on Saturday 26th of November, at 2.30pm, in the Irish Labour History Society, Beggars Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4

(Located near the Grand Canal/Lansdowne Road DART stations, and the Nos 7/4 bus routes)

This meeting is open to all PANA members…

Agenda:

Report on PANA and the Trade Unions by Jimmy Kelly, President of PANA

Report on Finance: Paddy Maguire, Treasurer of PANA

Report on year to November 22: Padraig Mannion, Secretary of PANA

Report on Communications & social media: Tom Crilly, Communications PANA

Report on International contacts: Ed Horgan. International Secretary PANA

Report on PANA 2022: Roger Cole, Chair of PANA

Proposal to appoint PANA Vice-Presidents (3)

Election of PANA's Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Communications Officer, International Secretary, and 3 ordinary members to the NEC.

Every affiliated organisation appoints their own representative to the PANA NEC. The NEC can then co-opt 3 extra members.

Important events…

The Centre for Religion, Human Values, and International Relations, Dublin City University would like to invite you to a lecture titled ‘Giving Peace a Chance: The work of the Peace with Ireland Council’ by Dr Angus Mitchell on 22nd November at 5.30pm in All Hallows Campus, DCU, Drumcondra.

To sign up for the event, kindly register on the Eventbrite link – ‘Giving Peace a Chance: The work of the Peace with Ireland Council’.

The People’s Movement will hold its monthly protest on Wednesday November 23rd at 1:00pm. Outside Dáil Eireann, Kildare St, Dublin No to EU Militarisation and an EU Army! - Neutrality is our best defence.

Please try to get along – it is important! Placards and posters will be provided.

https://www.people.ie/news/PN-249.pdf

Shannonwatch held their monthly protest at Shannon Airport last Sunday, to see their excellent Press Release ‘Urgent Need to Restore Irish Neutrality and to Promote Peace’

go to the link https://www.shannonwatch.org/

The United States of America, unlike any other nation, maintains a massive network of foreign military installations (867 including Shannon) around the world. World Beyond War have researched and developed this fantastic new visual database on these installations.https://worldbeyondwar.org/no-bases/

As you will be aware it is near impossible for those who stand for peace or who oppose imperialist wars to get those related issues covered in our mainstream media, but this short letter from PANA was recently published in the Irish Daily Mail and the Irish Examiner.

Letter to the Editor…War and Recession 4/11/2022

From the beginning of the war in Ukraine, PANA has called for a ceasefire and UN chaired negotiations. Now as this war drags on, we can not only imagine the devastation on Ukrainian people, but also consequently watch apparently helpless as a major economic recession with a cost-of-living crisis is spreading across Europe.

PANA welcomes the recent “unprecedented agreement” on the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, and the historic agreement on a permanent cessation of hostilities in Ethiopia. We once again call on our political leaders to reject geopolitical interests and work for a ceasefire and UN chaired negotiations in the Ukraine war.

Yours,

Roger Cole, Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance

Normally RTE radio 1 are most selective about those so called military and academic experts who are invited to lecture us on foreign affairs. However, in an interview this week on ‘News at One’ a retired lieutenant colonel Michael Murphy and former deputy director of Irish army intelligence deviated from the usual war propaganda by suggesting that ‘we as a nation have been behaving quite hawkish towards Russia’. Interesting…

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22173814/

Best Wishes,

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 087 2937558

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Tel 087 2611597

PANA AGM 2022 next Saturday

Neutrality, NATO and the attack on Ireland’s Triple Lock

Please support…

Several peace groups will mount a picket at the obscenely titled 'Building the Ecosystem' that they rightly label an Arms Fair, it will take place in the Aviva Stadium this Thursday, October 6th.

The picket will run from 12.30 until 2pm and is organised by Afri, StoP (Swords to Ploughshares) and INNATE.

The Irish Defence Organisation are hosting this Event billed as Building the Ecosystem, Identifying Connections for Collaboration in Security, Defence and Dual Use Technologies with keynote speaker Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney TD. Their brochure suggests this event will facilitate networking and information for Irish industry and research institutions active in these areas. In other words…The EU has massively increased military spending through the so-called European Peace Facility that has a financial ceiling of €5.692 billion for 2021-2027, so our government want a greater share in the weapons industry…Hope to see you outside this Arms Fair this Thursday 6^th ’12.30…

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40746339.html

https://www.people.ie/news/PN-247.pdf

The Eblana Club in 3 Eblana Avenue, Dun Laoghaire is holding a debate on;

"It's time we grew up and abandoned Irish neutrality" a quote from the Political Correspondent of the Irish Examiner, and part of a massive attack on Irish neutrality.

It will be held this Thursday 6^th of October at 7.30pm where Senator Gerald Craughwell and Roger Cole of PANA will debate Irish Neutrality.

Please pass this on to all your contacts and see booking form below.

https://eblanaforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Eblana-Winter-Programme-2022-1.pdf

The Irish Neutrality League is a network that has been developed by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and the Irish Anti-war Movement (IAWM), launched last month with ongoing support from several Senators, TDs, academics, and personalities. For more information on the INL, and the agreed Statement go to our Facebook

Here is an early reminder of their first event…

Irish Neutrality League Gathering - How to defend Ireland’s Neutrality?

Saturday 15^th October 2-5pm Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

Including workshops and a Rally…with a broad range of speakers

Remember the PANA website provides you with links to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts as well as links to a broad range of alternative media and organisations.

Best Wishes,

Tom Crilly,

PANA update October 2022

The Irish Neutrality League campaigns for the protection and strengthening of Ireland’s neutrality. We do this in the spirit of the Irish Neutrality League first established in 1914 at the outbreak of World War 1, by the key figures who would later lead the 1916 Rising, and as such note that Ireland’s neutrality is clearly linked to its sovereign independence and remains a core element of its national identity.

We define Irish neutrality as non-participation in wars and military alliances, as set out in the 1907 Hague Convention V, and as the positive engagement in the peaceful, non-military resolution of political conflicts. As a country that faced hundreds of years of oppression and colonial subjugation by empire, we further understand neutrality as a tradition of solidarity with all the nations and peoples of the world who are victims of imperialism, colonialism, war and oppression.

Read more in the attached leaflet.

‍

Irish Neutrality League

Ireland may now contribute a small number of military personnel (Irish Defence Forces) to train Ukraine’s military following an agreement reached by EU ministers to establish a multilateral training mission.

The proposals were agreed at a meeting of EU ministers in Prague this week, which was also attended by ministers from Ukraine and Moldova.

Minister for Defence Simon Coveney called the agreement to establish an EU training mission the ‘next phase of military support’ for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. He said Ireland ‘would like to be involved’ and would provide practical support for the mission.

Roger Cole, chair of PANA stated, EU ministers meeting in Prague are under constant pressure from the US/NATO to agree to ever increasing military spending despite the growing public anger and increasing awareness of the geopolitical interests in prolonging this war. (See ECFR’s research below). Back home again Minister Coveney tries to confuse and distract us all with yet more of his legal interpretations on such terms such as ‘military neutrality’, ‘the Triple Lock’, and now we are being told that training Ukraine’s military does not mean we are a ‘participant in this war’.

PANA is opposed to sending in military personnel to advise or train Ukraine’s military, and instead we campaign that Ireland as a neutral country should be using our membership of the UN Security Council to promote peace here in eastern Europe, by advocating a ceasefire and UN-chaired negotiations and so end the slaughter in Ukraine now…

To confirm this Press Release…

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2937558

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2611597

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 6911293

For more information…

The next meeting of PANA NEC will be held on Saturday 10^thSeptember 2022 at 2.30pm in the Irish Labour History Society, Beggars Bush, Dublin 4.

Remember all members are encouraged to attend our NEC meetings, if you are not a member but wish to attend, please contact Roger…

Agenda will include, and awaiting suggestions…

Finance and Affiliations,

Update on the Irish Neutrality League and a Press Launch/Statement

PANA Document on Neutrality, NATO, and the Triple Lock

Citizens Assembly on Neutrality

Update on media, PANA Twitter, Instagram, and Google Chat Group Accounts

Monthly PANA Stall with distributing leaflets and phamlets

SF and other conferences

International Connections

AGM 2022 and AOB…

Shannonwatch monthly peace vigil at Shannon Airport continues as activists highlight that US military and other planes on contract to the US military refuel here on their way to conflicts in the eastern Europe, the Middle East and north Africa. Their next peace vigil will take place on Sunday 11^th September at 1pm. According to Edward Horgan, ‘on Wednesday this week an Omni Air N351AX on contract to the US military refuelled at Shannon Airport twice on its journey from the USA to and from Tunisia, not delivering democracy to the people of Tunisia but propping up a dictatorial government’…https://www.shannonwatch.org/

The Triple Lock is the name given to Irish legislation and the Seville Declaration of the Lisbon Treaty, that states that members of the Irish Defence Forces shall not serve abroad without the agreement of the Dáil, the Government, and the Security Council of the United Nations or UN General Assembly. When the people rejected the Nice Treaty on the 7th of June 2001 the then government, recognising that the deep commitment to Irish neutrality had to be respected, responded with the Triple Lock legislation, and this certainly helped to ensure that the second Nice referendum was passed. Whilst the Triple Lock does not apply if the number of personnel being sent overseas amounts to fewer than 12, Minister for Defence/Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney still feels very constrained by all this legislation.

ECFR’s research shows that, while Europeans feel great solidarity with Ukraine and support sanctions against Russia, they are split about the long-term goals. They divide between a “Peace” camp (35 per cent of people) that wants the war to end as soon as possible, and a “Justice” camp that believes the more pressing goal is to punish Russia (22 per cent of people).

https://ecfr.eu/publication/peace-versus-justice-the-coming-european-split-over-the-war-in-ukraine/

Just as Veterans For Peace (VFP) condemned US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, we strongly condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and grieve for all those who have lost their lives in this horrific war

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/diplomacy-not-war-peace-ukraine

The US army base training Ukrainian fighters…

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62001336

‍

IDF should not participate in the War in Ukraine

GAAW, ANTI - WAR, SPEECHES, NIAL FARRELL, ROGER COLE, MARGARETTA DARCY, MUSIC, SINGERS.HIROSHIMA DAY. EYRE SQ.

Hiroshima Day, Galway 2022

The world still applauds the great effort that our government made in advocating negotiations for peace that led to a settlement, and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement on this island.

So why is our present government, rejecting neutrality, and refusing to lead the campaign for negotiations for peace to end the horrific Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, we are parroting pro-western/NATO war propaganda, that Ukraine can win this war, with more weapons, and that at the same time we can help destroy the Russian economy.

PANA since the start of the war in Ukraine has called for an immediate ceasefire and for negotiations. Unfortunately, the response from Taoiseach Micheál Martin has always been increased EU militarisation, membership of NATO, whilst dismissing the right of Irish people to a referendum on this issue. NATO is now a global military alliance that works actively to spread nuclear missiles to its member nations in support of US militarism.

Roger Cole, Chairperson of PANA stated, ‘we reject the idea that the expansion of the NATO military alliance represents a legitimate response to the current war in Ukraine, when that alliance is dominated by imperial powers such as the US, UK, France, and Germany with their own bloody history of murderous imperial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who continue to support brutal and oppressive regimes such as Israel and Saudi Arabia’.

The fact that ever-increasing energy and food costs, rapidly growing inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is the number one concern to Irish people and to the vast majority of people in the EU and elsewhere. This growing anger and increasing awareness of the geopolitical interests in prolonging this war may yet influence this government to accept the need for peace negotiations in Ukraine.

The Taoiseach has stated that Ireland is not a politically neutral country and that it needs to reflect on its military non-alignment. He then went on to state that Ireland would not need to hold a referendum to join NATO. This implies he favours Ireland’s inclusion into NATO, which would terminate its neutrality and cause a rise in defense spending. Ireland’s current €1.1 billion in defense spending makes up 0.3% of its national GDP. It is required of all NATO countries that they spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. This would mean defense spending would increase by at least €6.2 billion from current spending.

Recent research by the ‘European Council on Foreign Relations’ now show, while Europeans feel great solidarity with Ukraine and support sanctions against Russia, they are split about the long-term goals. They divide between a “Peace” camp (35 per cent of people) that wants the war to end as soon as possible, and a “Justice” camp that believes the more pressing goal is to punish Russia (22 per cent of people). (See link below)

So how representative is our Taoiseach Micheál Martin and other EU leaders who attended their consultative dinner this week in Madrid hosted by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, for all 27 EU member states and all 30 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), demanding more justice or war against Russia.

To confirm this Press Release.

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA.

Tel 0035387 2937558

Roger Cole, Chairperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2611597

Padraig Mannion, Irish Language Spokesperson, PANA,

Tel 0035387 6911293

For more information…

As the conflict in Ukraine turns into a long war of attrition, it risks becoming the key dividing line in Europe. And, unless political leaders handle this difference in standpoint carefully, it could spell the end for Europe’s remarkable unity. See ECFR Research…

https://ecfr.eu/publication/peace-versus-justice-the-coming-european-split-over-the-war-in-ukraine/

Boom time forecast for EU armaments industries. Fianna Fáil leader gung-ho for NATO.

https://www.people.ie/news/PN-244.pdf

Anglo-Americans Desperate to Keep War Going By Harley Schlanger …

https://laroucheorganization.com/article/2022/06/07/anglo-americans-desperate-keep-war-going

Indian Leader CRUSHES EU Hypocrisy as New Political Order RISES!!! Dr. Steve Turley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KljuGVt2Acw

Biden Works to Prolong Ukraine War by Craig Murray.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2022/06/biden-works-to-prolong-ukraine-war/?fbclid=IwAR3EDyBe1EHh64d06yzVtMiKM7AsDkoMEhkj_0bi7oiKJITezbIFFTs2wcQ

NATO WORKS ACTIVELY TO SPREAD NUCLEAR MISSILES TO ITS MEMBER NATIONS IN SUPPORT OF US MILITARISM…

https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/how-nato-promotes-the-use-of-nuclear-weapons/

The EU could have offered Ukraine conditional European membership in exchange for restoring neutrality in Ukraine and ending the war in the Donbass long before now in line with the Minsk agreement it would have avoided the present war…Mick Wallace MEP

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1390547481778571

If we want to be serious in our commitment to helping people seeking international protection, we have to end the double standard on how #asylum law is applied, and we have to look seriously at the policies that make people #refugees in the first place.

https://www.facebook.com/ClareDalyMEP/videos/1948663322000027

Why does Ireland refuse to campaign for peace in Ukraine?

The trial of two more Shannon peace activists, Edward Horgan and Dan Dowling, begins at the Circuit Court in Parkgate Street, Dublin on Wednesday June 15th.

Over 5 years ago on 25th April 2017, the two men were arrested at Shannon Airport for allegedly causing criminal damage by writing Graffiti on a US Navy aircraft, and allegedly trespassing on the curtilage of Shannon Airport. It has been reported that the words “DANGER DANAGER DO NOT FLY” were written on the engine of the warplane, which was on its way from a US naval base in Virginia to a US air base in the Persian Gulf.

Over three million armed US troops have been moved through Shannon Airport since 2001 on their way to illegal wars in the Middle East and north Africa. This is in violation of Irish neutrality and international law. Shannon Airport has also been used by the CIA to facilitate its extraordinary rendition program that resulted in the torture of hundreds of prisoners.

Speaking in advance of the trial, a Shannonwatch spokesperson said "While justice delayed is justice denied, their trial is now scheduled to go ahead on Wednesday 15th June. However, while Edward and Dan are still alive and well, up to one million children have died since the First Gulf War in 1991 due to war related reasons. Nothing can be done to bring those innocent children back to life."

Roger Cole, Chairperson of PANA stated “No senior US political or military leaders have ever been held accountable for war crimes committed in these imperialist wars, and no Irish officials have been held accountable for active complicity in these war crimes. Yet over 38 peace activists, including the most recent case of US Veterans For Peace, Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff, have been prosecuted for carrying out fully justified nonviolent peace actions at Shannon Airport in order to expose and try to prevent Irish complicity in these war crimes.”

To confirm this Press Release.

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2937558

Shannon Peace Activists to be put on trial this week

WYNN’S HOTEL — DEFEND IRISH NEUTRALITY MEETING

‍Russia is now waging a horrific war against Ukraine. I don’t think anyone is optimistic about how it will end. But it will end. Ukraine is now awash with weapons and destruction but there is going to have to be a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement.

But what message are we and the rest of Europe taking from this conflict? Unfortunately, it is not that we must pull back from the abyss and the real threat of a nuclear confrontation, we must pull back from war-making and learn to cohabit this planet and concentrate on the Earth’s pressing problems of Climate Catastrophe, world hunger….. No. The Message we are getting is “Neutrality Bad/ Nuclear Weapon Blocs Good”. It is Orwellian.

A New Mind set is required: I never expected to be referring tonight to a shooting of school children in Texas. But look at the reaction of the Texas Governor Greg Abbot, Senator Ted Cruz, and the Texas Attorney General: they think controlling the guns is not the issue. What is required is more guns, arming the schools. Guns for Principals, guns for security guards.

And aren’t we witnessing a Texas Reaction here? Sweden and Finland are rushing to join NATO. The Irish Government is rushing to join an EU defence grouping, essentially the European arm of NATO.

But the Irish Government has a small problem. Or should I say a Big Problem. We the People. The latest public opinion polls, as you know, show that 2/3rds are wanting to retain our Neutrality. This is our best option to promote peace, as mediators, and UN peacekeepers—for which we have a long-standing celebrated reputation -- . I’ve quoted The Economist on this before, when they extolled Ireland’s ‘Soft Power’, stating that we had ‘a good claim to be the world’s most diplomatically powerful country”. (July 18, 2020, How Ireland Gets Its Way)

We are a small country. But a very visible one. Speaking in front of Dail Eireann in March at a protest in support of a People Before Profit’s Bill for a Referendum on Neutrality, now Senator Tom Clonan, retired Irish Army Captain and former UN peacekeeper, emphasised that if Ireland surrendered its Neutrality, if we merged into a EU defence force, we would become Invisible. Our diplomatic clout would be seriously diminished.

But this sadly is the direction Ireland is going. A 50% increase in our defence budget is now being proposed by Simon Coveney. A Commission on Defence has recently submitted a report and its recommendations for increased military spending (some of which is justified) have been embraced by the Government.

However, the report states that the chances of Ireland being attacked by a ‘conventional military force’ are low but that we need to develop more and enhanced military capabilities – with our Defence Forces and equipment to NATO standards and with interoperability with NATO – not so much to defend Ireland but primarily for use ‘overseas on peace support and crisis management operations”. [A major omission in the Report, when assessing the dangers of Ireland ever being attacked, is the Prime Target of Shannon Airport, a hub for US troops and military equipment on their way to warzones] .

There are many forces at play here. And the Generals pushing for military solutions are not confined to the armed forces. In Ukraine and the world over there are Generals at work of a different breed: General Dynamics, General Electric, and General Motors. ….

And as we all know, There’s no Business like War Business. All but four of the world’s biggest sellers of weapons have seen their share prices soar since the invasion began (and these are figures from two months ago, Open Democracy, March 17, 2022, ). And the War in Ukraine is providing a highly visible and effective showcase for all their deadly merchandise.

Ireland unfortunately is not immune to all this. We have to be aware that the push to end our Neutrality is not just a question of wanting to play with the Big Boys, or of ‘Growing up’ as some have put it, of showing solidarity with our EU partners, of being ‘Good Europeans’…. There is Money at play here.

According to the Irish Times (Conor Gallagher, April 25, 2022) there are 550 firms in Ireland active in the Irish defence industry and in 2019 the Dual Use export market was 2.4 billion euro, larger than Ireland’s beef exports market. Our military equipment exports more than doubled in one year, from 42.3m euro in 2019 to 108.5m euro in 2020. Our Government is actively encouraging the arms industry and actively embracing the defence components of the EU. There is a Security and Defence Enterprise Group within the Government, promoting Innovation and Enterprise in defence and there is a new grouping outside Government, formed by a former Army Cavalry officer, called the Irish Defence and Security Association, made up of small and medium enterprises and research institutes (including UCD)

Last November, Simon Coveney hosted a seminar entitled: “Support for Enterprise, Research, and Innovation in Defence”. It was supposed to be at the Aviva Stadium but reverted to a Zoom event, partly because of Covid fears, partly because of fear of protests. The blurb for the seminar extolled the networking possibilities provided by the event for the European Commission, the European Defence Agency, Enterprise Ireland and the European Defence Industry and an opportunity to explore avenues of funding from the EU’s European Defence Fund. And what a Fund that is! It has a budget of 8 billion euro for 2021 to 2027 for R and D across a range of military projects.

Over the Zoom, Minister Coveney emphasised the need to “develop and exploit emerging and disruptive technology developments to support defence capabilities, while also supporting wider access and market engagement for Irish research by academia and enterprise.”

Ireland contributes millions to the EDF and several contributors on the Zoom meeting emphasised that Ireland needs to get a ‘return on that investment’.

So the Weapons Industry is an ally of the Government in the move to end neutrality in favour of the Greater European Good. Good Europeans are well armed Europeans.

The direction in which all this is going was hinted at in a debate earlier this month at the Roger Casement Summer School in Dun Laoghaire. Fianna Fail’s Barry Andrews, MEP, stated that Neutrality must be debated in terms of developments in Ukraine – echoing remarks from the Taoiseach and others – and then went on to say that our Triple Lock which prevents Irish troops being deployed abroad without a UN mandate should be ditched in favour of the European Council mandating where to send our troops and that he felt we should have a mutual defence policy within the EU. I believe he is echoing Government policy here and the direction they would like the Debate/ Citizen’s Assembly to head. It’s amazing how, on the one hand, those arguing in Ireland for closer EU defence, express a repugnance for nuclear weapons, yet they are willing to coordinate defence with a nuclear weapon State, France, and in partnership with the nuclear NATO alliance which is plugged into the EU.

What Europe and the World needs now is a challenge to military blocs armed to the teeth, not a glorification of them. In the 1990s, with the Cold War abating, there was talk of a Common European Home, of the strengthening of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which includes every country in Europe. What we need is more Neutral/Non-Aligned States, not fewer. That is the direction our thinking should be going.

Ireland is now on the UN Security Council and has just taken over the Presidency of the Council of Europe. Could we not expect some kind of mediation/ceasefire/peace proposal efforts coming out of the Irish Government? We are now occupying powerful diplomatic positions internationally. We should employ some of that Diplomatic Power we reputedly possess.

But could we at least put our minds towards ending this war rather than concentrating on how to end our Neutrality? Or have we already become Invisible?

Defend Irish Neutrality – Speech by Carol Fox

If you listen to our government and the mainly pro-western narrative of our Irish media you may be surprised to learn that recent opinion polls in Ireland, including the last IPSOS poll in April 2022, show a clear majority of between 60-70% of Irish people in favour of retaining Ireland’s neutrality.

So why not join us at this public meeting hosted by the Irish Anti-War Movement and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance to hear why Ireland should remain a neutral country.

Public Meeting – Defend Ireland’s Neutrality

on Thursday 26th May in Wynn’s Hotel, Dublin 1 at 7pm

Speakers include Carol Fox (PANA), Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Chris Andrews TD, Sen Alice Mary Higgins, Matthew Hoh (former US Marine & Pentagon), and Dr. Yurii Sheliazenko (Ukrainian Pacifist Movement) …Chair Sarah O’Rourke (IAWM)…

Access our poster advertising this event and a Zoom link here … https://irishantiwar.org/

PANA is opposed to the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the same way that we opposed the illegal invasion of Iraq by the US and their allies twenty years ago.

This war must eventually be ended, either through negotiation or by putting an end to us all through nuclear apocalypse. The belief by both sides that ending it later will be better is almost always catastrophically wrong. The unwillingness to end wars is driven largely by hatred, resentment, and the corrupt influences that create wars in the first place.

The Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres has proposed a ceasefire, urged a negotiated settlement, and met with the President of Russia despite opposition in the West to doing so.

Pope Francis has urged a ceasefire and negotiations, declared that no war can be justified, and encouraged workers to block weapons shipments.

The President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, has urged pursuit of a ceasefire and negotiated settlement. Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio have even proposed a draft agreement.

The President of France Emanuel Macron has proposed a ceasefire, negotiations, and the creation of new non-military alliances.

The President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have urged a ceasefire and negotiations.

The Chairperson of PANA Roger Cole has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and U.N. chaired negotiations, a negotiated settlement, that must come, and the sooner the better. A ceasefire need not wait for a resolution of all issues, only for a credible commitment to negotiate by all sides. Ireland as a neutral country should reject the EU/NATO narrative and lead the call for this ceasefire and a negotiated settlement.

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Defend Ireland's Neutrality

Today May 4, 2022—Judge Patricia Ryan sent a clear message to protesters objecting to illegal US military flights through Shannon Airport by fining the Shannon Two 10,000 euros after they were convicted of interfering with the operation, management, and safety of the facility.

Ken Mayers (85) and Tarak Kauff (80) were first arrested on St. Patrick’s Day, 2019, at Shannon Airport for going onto the airfield to inspect US military aircraft or cause them to be inspected. They carried a banner that said, “U.S. Military Veterans Say: Respect Irish Neutrality; U.S. War Machine Out of Shannon.”

Roger Cole, Chairperson of PANA welcomed the release of our friends Ken and Tarak, thanked them for their courage and stated their action has helped to put their US government and their military on trial for killing thousands of people in their so called ‘humanitarian interventions wars’ throughout the Middle East and north Africa. They have also helped us here by exposing our Irish government who betray the Irish people’s concept of neutrality.

PANA would like to thank all those many supporters who have assisted and who have contributed towards the campaign to Free the Shannon Two since 2019, but remember the anti-war struggle continues so get involved and become active.

Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch stated “No senior US political or military leaders have ever been held accountable for war crimes committed in these Middle East wars, and no Irish officials have been held accountable for active complicity in these war crimes. Yet over 38 peace activists, including Mayers and Kauff, have been prosecuted for carrying out fully justified nonviolent peace actions at Shannon Airport in order to expose and try to prevent Irish complicity in these war crimes.”

To confirm this Press Release.

Tom Crilly, Communications Officer, PANA,

Tel 0035387 2937558

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Peace Activists Criminalised While War Criminals Go Free

For seven years, until 2006, Putin, while re-establishing the Russian state and ending the meltdown of Russian society occasioned by Western influence during the disastrous Yeltsin years, proposed the integration of the revived Russian state with the West. This made him, temporarily, a western hero. He addressed the Bundestag in 2001 in fluent German, which he called “the language of Goethe, Schiller and Kant”, pleading for Russia to be allowed “join Germany and Europe on the path to freedom and democracy”. The assembled German politicians responded with an enthusiastic standing ovation. He also attempted to turn Yeltsin’s chaotic political system into one that functioned like a western one, with standard parties, elections and, as everywhere in the western world, a purely nominally autonomous judiciary.

Read the entire article via the link below.

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The trial of US peace activists Kenneth Mayers and Tarak Kauff is due to begin on Monday morning 25th April 2022 at the Circuit Criminal Court, Parkgate Street, Dublin 8.

Both are former members of the US military and Kenneth a Vietnam War veteran is now Contributing Editor of the Peace and Planet News, Quarterly Newspaper of the New York City Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Full Disclosure. https://peaceandplanetnews.org/

They were arrested at Shannon Airport on St Patricks Day 2019 whilst highlighting their opposition to US wars and that US war planes continue to make stopovers here in violation of Irish neutrality, Ken and Tarak were eventually released on bail to return home.

Video clip of our friends Ken and Tarak on one of their Freedom Walks around Ireland back in 2019 highlighting concerns about US war planes refuelling at Shannon Airport…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQBb8R1idyo

Roger Cole, Chair of PANA welcomed Ken, Tarak and Ellen Davidson to the National Executive Committee meeting of PANA that was held in the Irish Labour History Museum, Beggars Bush in Dublin on Saturday 23^rd. and thanked them and the many thousands of Americans who are opposed to US imperialism and their never-ending wars.

The NEC welcomed the overwhelming public support for the retention of Ireland’s policy of ‘military’ neutrality, highlighted in the latest Irish Times/Ipsos poll, however members were very angry that our government continue to undermine this policy, and that Irish media continue to portray the US/NATO military alliance as the good guys in military conflicts around the world. PANA is opposed to the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the same way that we opposed the illegal invasion of Iraq by the US and their allies twenty years ago.

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US Veterans For Peace return to Dublin

Taken from Nervous State's mix cloud page:

Nervous State returns, with an hour-long special on Irish neutrality in theory and practice.

Recent events in Ukraine have shook the political landscape across Europe,. Whilst Ireland is far from the frontline of the conflict, we can’t help but to be affected by it.

Voices calling for Ireland to abandon neutrality and join NATO have become prominent in our media and politics. For perhaps the first time since the outbreak of the second world war, the future of Irish neutrality going forward has come under serious question.

We’ll be considering the case for and against Irish neutrality, as well as just why the question has become so prominent in recent months. We’ll be discussing this with Dr Ben Tonra, Professor of International Relations at UCD, Roger Cole of Peace and Neutrality Alliance Ireland, Paulie Doyle, author of the recent article “The War On Ireland’s Neutrality” in Tribune Magazine and John Dolan, author and co-host of the Radio War Nerd podcast.

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Roger Cole of PANA features on Nervous State podcast

As the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the question of Irish neutrality is live again. Why is neutrality important? What is its origin and why should we maintain it?

Listen in to Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance being interviewed by Micheál Mac Donncha.

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War, Peace and Irish Neutrality: Interview with An Phoblacht

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance reiterates its utter and complete condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is appalled at the utter disregard shown for civilian life and the consequent atrocities which have resulted, involving the murder of innocent parents and children.

The huge emotional wave of support for Ukraine across Europe and north America has brought us all together against the horror of this war, but there is a negative side. Those inflaming this crisis as a showdown between democracy and autocracy, between good and evil, are also making it harder to bring all sides together in a negotiated settlement that must come sooner or later.

Some Irish media commentators fuel this warmongering by suggesting the Russian war machine is weak, the Ukrainian resistance is stronger than expected, and with Western military aid and combat volunteers they can win this.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky makes a plea for a ‘no-fly zone’, for fighter jets, and more lethal weapons, whilst President Vladimir Putin boasts that he also has supporters, thousands of well-trained volunteers from a now destroyed Middle East region.

President Joe Biden has stated his full support for Ukrainian independence, but there will be no US troops on the ground in Ukraine, repeating ‘I am not going to start World War Three’. So, are we watching, some perhaps encouraging, an ongoing proxy war between the US and Russia that will evolve into an even more horrific Ukrainian bloodbath?

We cannot disregard the way in which NATO helped to bring this situation about through its treacherous and irresponsible reneging on the commitment given to Mikhail Gorbachev that, upon the Soviet Union withdrawing from Central and Eastern Europe, it would not expand into that area. The clear model for dealing with the state of affairs thus brought about would have been that of neutral Finland, whereby a cordon sanitaire of countries bordering on the subsequent Russian Federation would have been created from the Baltic to the Black Sea.However, one can only proceed now from where we find ourselves. In this context, PANA notes the recent statement of the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, obviously not made without the approval of Vladimir Putin. This outlined a solution based on

A cessation of fighting by Ukrainian forces,
An undertaking to place neutrality in the Ukrainian constitution, and
Ukrainian recognition of the existing position in Crimea and Donbass.

This is, in effect, a partial retreat by Putin from the policy of either just creating a puppet state in Ukraine or incorporating it in the Russian Federation and seems to have come about as a consequence of the failure by Russia to quickly subjugate Ukraine.

This could be used as an opportunity for a just resolution of the crisis on the following modified basis: (a) a bilateral ceasefire, (2) the acceptance by Ukraine of constitutional neutrality on the condition of being able to maintain adequate military means of self-defence, and (3) referenda in the Crimea and Donbass under the supervision of the OSCE to determine democratically the future of those areas, within or outside Ukraine.

The principles which should be adhered to are the sovereignty and independence of the Ukrainian people, on the one hand, and peace and security in Europe, on the other. The peoples of Europe cannot allow themselves to be used as pawns in a geopolitical chess game chiefly involving the United States of America and the Russian Federation.

According to Roger Cole of PANA, there is also ominously, a militaristic lobby in Brussels which sees a chance to promote an armed Euro-Federation dominated by a Franco-German hegemony. We cannot lose sight of the fact that there are two major blocs in this confrontation and that demands should be made of both to accept a realistic, reasonable, and democratic settlement.

Campaign for a Negotiated Settlement in Ukraine

The Peace & Neutrality Alliance opposed the invasion, conquest and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001. In those days the Irish corporate media was willing to publish articles by PANA, as can be seen from the attached article, written by my on behalf of PANA and published in the Irish Times on Wed. Sept. 26, 2001, before the invasion. Of course, we lost, just as we did when PANA helped to organise a massive 100.000+ strong protest again the US invasion, conquest and occupation of Iraq in 2003.

The Republic of Ireland backed the war on Afghanistan not just by destroying Irish Neutrality as stated in International law of the Hague Convention of 1907, and allowing millions of US troops land in Shannon Airport on their way to the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq by sending over 200 members of the Irish Defence Forces to take part in the occupation of Afghanistan directly under the command of the nuclear armed military alliance NATO.

Since then, the Irish corporate media has largely ignored PANA and other groups like Shannonwatch and the Galway Alliance Against War, despite numerous vigils pamphlets, Conferences ( especially the the Conference Against US/NATO military bases, Nov. 16-18, 2018 that packed Liberty Hall) and backed these wars. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have also been strongly supported by every Irish Government since 2001. Since then the USA has also supplied massive amounts of weapons to terrorists in Syria. Did the same in Libya, and bombed it, destroyed it to such a degree, that slavery was restored restoration. It is very clear that the corporate media in Ireland that supported these perpetual wars (just listen to Morning Ireland) are shell shocked. Their entire strategy of supporting the US/EU/NATO doctrine of perpetual war has been totally defeated by the quick and decisive victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan, just as they were defeated in Vietnam, except even faster. There will be now a growing demand the US and its vassals also withdraw from, Iraq and Syria, end their support for the war on Yemen, and accelerate the opposition for their support for apartheid Israel.

It will also be very good news for the American people living in America, where now more dollars can be spend in America on Americans.

Faced with the real threat and horrific consequences of global warming the end of the doctrine of perpetual war, then maybe all the states in world can cooperate to provide a better future for our children. Finally, however, knowing how much NATO loves perpetual war, its a future that is touch and go at best.

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Roger Cole
Chair
Peace & Neutrality Alliance

The USA War on Afghanistan 2001-2021

Foreign Ministers' Summit to agree increased Military Spending

PANA Cancels Protest against Dublin Military Seminar

PR Statement: The War on Afghanistan 2001-2021

Interview with Ray McGovern & Roger Cole from 2017

The Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung is an internationally operating, left-wing non-profit organisation providing civic education. It is affiliated with Germany’s ‘Die Linke’ (Left Party). Active since 1990, the foundation has been committed to the analysis of social and political processes and developments worldwide. The Stiftung works in the context of the growing multiple crises facing our current political and economic system.

In cooperation with other progressive organisations around the globe, the Stiftung focuses on democratic and social participation, the empowerment of disadvantaged groups, and alternative economic and social development. The Stiftung’s international activities aim to provide civic education by means of academic analyses, public programmes, and projects conducted together with partner institutions.

The Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung works towards a more just world and a system based on international solidarity.

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The Militarisation of the European Union

Guardian Article on the Militarisation of the EU

Biden to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan

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Coalition of the unwilling

Socialist Voice: EU Militarisation Article Part 2

St Patrick’s Day Message ‘End the Sanctions’

Socialist Voice: EU Militarisation Article Part 1

PANA's Submission To The Commission On The Defence Forces

World BEYOND War is a major International Peace Group founded in the USA. This is the connection with a video interview by the Irish Chapter of WBW with Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament on the USA Army's use of Shannon Airport, and the rapidly expanding militarisation of the EU Army.
Here is the link to the recording.

Then, join us next week with Dave Donnellan. Dave's talk will focus on the impact of war on the environment. Militarism cuts at the heart of the unique and sacred relationship we have with the planet. In preparation for the event, check out World BEYOND War's webpage on How War Threatens the Environment.

ENAAT and CORPORATE EUROPE are two important European research organisation, and DW is a German Public Broadcasting Service

The attached reports are on the drive towards the militarisation of EU, and the use of German weapons on the war on the Yemen.

Information that ENNAT has made a new folder about the EU Defence Fund (see attached file) and also a website. Here is a link: http://enaat.org/eu-defence-fund.

The EU has a plan to make a Military Union (Defence Union) no later than 2025 and it seems like the weapon industry has a lot of influence.

The military industry was behind the creation of the EU Defence Fund and the militarization of the EU: https://corporateeurope.org/en/power-lobbies/2017/12/arms-industry-lobbying-and-militarisation-eu.

See that Germany and France are exporting a lot of weapons to countries that participate in the Yemen war. The German DW made a video about how German weapons ended in Yemen:

EU MILITARY UNION BY 2025

MEPs debate the importance of neutrality

PANA welcomes President Trump's USA Troops Withdrawals

Since 2001 Irish Governments have actively helped the USA create the refugees by allowing over 3 million US troops land in Shannon Airport on their way to these endless wars.

The wars by the US since 2001 has created 37 million Refugees

US Military Operations and Shannon Airport (Ireland)

This video is for all the people throughout Ireland, but is also specifically aimed at Eamon Ryan, Leader of the Irish Green Party and all those people in Ireland who voted for the Irish Green Party. Ireland has to stop collaborating with the US military/industrial complex by allowing US troops and in Shannon Airport (3 million and rising so far). The Green Party must ensure that it will not go into Government unless Irish Neutrality is restored by terminating their use of Irish territory on their way to and from their perpetual wars:

Short video on the US military and climate disaster

US Propagating Hate, Fear and War after 75 years

Confusing Programme by the Three War Parties

Europe must support Society and Halt their Military Exercises

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PANA Stall at Security Conference

UN Security Council Election 2020

Shannon just another US Air Force Base for Mike Pence

These two graphs show that the EU is planning a massive increase in military expenditure as it seeks to build an EU Army. It will mean massive cuts in health, housing, pensions and other social expenditure to pay for the weapons. We ask all the voters in the 2020 election to only vote for candidates that reject PESCO and the emerging EU Army.

General Election 2020

ICTU support for Peace Vigil at US Embassy

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Exposing War Propaganda

Vigil outside US Embassy, Ballsbridge, Dublin - No War on Iran

Two members of the US Veterans for Peace Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff are making a powerful contribution to the campaign to terminate the use of Shannon Airport by the Army of the US as it pursues its doctrine of perpetual war to rule the world. Well over 3 million US troops and an unknown amount of military equipment have landed in Shannon Airport since 2001 with the total support of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and the smaller parties when they go into Government with them, and with the support of the entire Irish Corporate Media, in contravention of international law as laid down in the Hague Convention of 1907. They are making the issue of the use of Shannon Airport an international issue in a way that PANA has never been able to do since our foundation in 1996. They need your support, you can contribute on their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/support-vets-fighting-us-war-machine-in-ireland

KEN & TARAK passports' were returned by the High Court

NATO is the main Threat of War

Global Conference in Dublin now Documented

US Veterans For Peace start Phase 2 Walk from Dún Laoghaire to the Border

Limerick to host International Peace Conference

Encouraging Diplomacy on Iran

World Beyond War campaign in Ireland ‘blocked’ during Trump visit

Press Conference on US President Trump’s Visit to Shannon Airport

Fianna Fail promoting increased EU/NATO military spending

The Road to the EU Army traces the steady progress towards the creation of an EU Army linked with NATO by the ruling political elite in the EU over decades. This process has been greatly accelerated as a consequence of Brexit. However the decision of "moderate" EU/US leaders to support war after war, especially on Libya and Syria has created a massive number of refugees, very many of which have sought refuse in the EU, a consequence of war which these "moderates" knew would happen, has inevitably led to the creation of major new political formations (which they did not envisage) that threatens the power of the "moderate" Christian Democrats and Social Democrat that supported the EU/US/NATO doctrine of perpetual war that creates refugees in the first place.

PANA since its formation in 1996 has opposed the CD/SD drive to create an EU Empire with its own Army, a process strongly supported by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. There are individual members in these parties that oppose this process,and their leadership tries to pretend it is not happening. Reality however cannot be ignored and the Democratic National State, is reemerging as the institution to which the people give their loyalty, in our case, the Irish Republic.

The Road to the EU Army

An Evolving EU/NATO Military Alliance

NATO is an Aggressive Alliance

US war veterans released from Limerick Prison

Two US Veterans For Peace Refused Bail at Ennis District Court

The European Union - Democracy or Empire

US Veterans for Peace on Tour in Ireland

International Support for Venezuela

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A Critique on Sending Irish Defence Forces to Mali

Whistleblower Julian Assange nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize

To read the full proceedings of the First International Conference against US/NATO Bases in Dublin see:
www.nousnatobases.org

Brief Report on the First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases held in Liberty Hall Dublin on 16-18th November 2018

This was indeed an important gathering of environmentalists, climate change activists, and campaigners concerned about human rights issues, intervention wars, the ever-escalating arms race, and the unfettered exploitation, slaughter, and destruction in our world.

We got up to date information on the 1000 military bases around the world, that includes Shannon Airport, and how we must develop a more coordinated global opposition to militarism. Delegates explained how US imperialism on the African continent can be traced back to the Berlin Conference (1884) that ensured a Belgium Congo providing a cheap supply of rubber for the US car industry; and the environment session suggested we are avoiding the elephant in the room if we don’t highlight the link between US foreign policy and climate change.

Over 300 people filled the conference centre, as delegates from 35 countries came together and debated issues relevant to their own country and to the world, and then agreed a Unity Statement...

To see the Press Communiqué that was adopted by participants on Sunday November 18th or to watch the Live Streaming of this major event now on YouTube go to http://noforeignbases.org/

Videos of the First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases:

- Friday November 16, 2018: https://youtu.be/XF4TXgsRYb8

- Saturday November 17, 2018: https://youtu.be/W0-IQIWNFpI

- Sunday November 18, 2018: https://youtu.be/qEXUNcXXFLc

For pictures of this event go to: www.stopthesewars.org/ellen-davidson

1st International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases

Article 46. Treaty of European Union - TEU. (Lisbon Treaty).

5. Any participating Member State which wishes to withdraw from permanent structured cooperation shall notify its intention to the Council, which shall note that the Member State in question has ceased to participate.

The decision of the FG/Independent Government supported by FF to actively support the integration of the Irish Army into the emerging EU Army via PESCO is a clear decision to restore the values of John Redmond. Except this time the Irish will be expected to kill and die for the Army of the European Union instead of the Army of the British Union. It will also mean massive cuts in expenditure in health, housing and social welfare as our military expenditure increases from €946 million to something like €3 billion. If you have not joined PANA by now, it is time you did.

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Article 46. Treaty of European Union - TEU.

Two US Veterans For Peace arrested at Shannon Airport on St Patrick’s Day

The People’s Movement and PANA commit themselves to campaign for the State to immediately formally withdraw from all military an financial commitments under PESCO.

We are further agreed to campaign both collectively and individually for such a withdrawal.

We call on the support of local and national groups, organisations and elected representatives. We commit ourselves to work with all Oireachtas members that oppose PESCO and to encourage them to form an Oireachtas Group to further opposition within the Oireachtas and to provide permanent liaison.

We pledge ourselves to work with like minded groups within the EU also committed to exposing the accelerated militarisation of the EU. Where possible we will seek to establish local Irish peace groups to campaign for these objectives.

Peace Platform presented at the Mansion House Conference

PANA was established in 1996 to advocate the right of the Irish people to have their own independent foreign policy, with positive neutrality as its key component, pursued primarily through the United Nations. We did so because in 1996 we believed it was the intention of the Irish political parties that then totally dominated the Republic of Ireland to steadily destroy the policy of Irish neutrality and integrate Ireland into the EU/US/NATO military structures in support of its doctrine of perpetual war. In every referendum on the EU we opposed, commencing with the Amsterdam Treaty, we sought a legally binding Protocol that would exclude Ireland from the steady militarisation of the EU, similar to that which applies to Denmark. In response to the decision of the FG/FF alliance, to join PESCO, which establishes permanent EU military structures,in effect an EU Army in the making, PANA and the People's Movement organised a Conference on PESCO which included a speaker from Denmark, Lave K. Broch, who focused on the Danish Protocol.

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Special Report by Citizen of European Union State on Extraordinary Rendition for Torture

April 20, 2006

Archival

Campaign

PANA

Download the Press Release

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A submission to The European Parliament, Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (TDIP)
by Edward Horgan (20 April 2006)

Executive Summary

Since the end of 2001, Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland has come to be used as a military base of key strategic significance for the United States in its prosecution of its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

At the time of writing, the Irish Department of Transport's figures for troops passing through Shannon Airport indicate that almost all of the American troops in Iraq have transited through this civilian airport, back and forth between the United States and Iraq, several times (The latest official figures confirm that over one thousand three hundred armed US troops are passing through Shannon airport each day). Much military hardware has also passed through the airport.

At the same time, flight logs of aircraft owned or operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) show that Shannon Airport has served as one of the most important nodes in a network of airports used by the CIA to conduct its programme of "extraordinary renditions". Under this programme promoted by the administration of President George W. Bush, more than 10,000 people have been abducted in the course of the last four years and transported to and from various sites in a global network of prisons, including prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq, an internment camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, and secret "black sites" in Eastern Europe. At these prisons, the abducted prisoners have been subjected to various forms of torture, which have been sanctioned by the administration.

Flight logs also implicate other Irish airports, including Dublin and Baldonnel, in crimes of torture related to the programme of extraordinary rendition. Airports in at least 30 other European countries have also been implicated in these crimes, as documented in reports in the international media.

Some of the abducted prisoners have been sent ("rendered") to countries such as Egypt and Syria, where they may be subjected to particularly harsh torture, even to the point of death.

At the time of writing, it is a matter of particular urgency that hundreds of undocumented prisoners are in danger of suffering summary execution in order to conceal crimes of torture committed under the United States' programme of extraordinary renditions. It is most likely that some have already been murdered.

The United States' programme of extraordinary renditions represents a backward step for humanity, by which various regimes around the world justify their own practices of torture. This represents a threat to the security of all of us, including, most strikingly, American citizens kidnapped, tortured and beheaded in Iraq. Two Irish citizens have also been abducted and murdered in Iraq.

All of the above-mentioned activities associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with the programme of extraordinary renditions (which is intimately related to those wars) are in breach of Irish and international law. In particular, the Irish Government has committed repeated, frequent breaches of Ireland's obligations as a neutral state under the Hague Convention, of the UN Convention against Torture and of Irish legislation that incorporates the Convention against Torture.

Despite the outright illegality of these activities, the Irish state, including both elected government ministers and high-ranking public servants, has actively colluded in facilitating the use of Shannon Airport for the conduct of the United States' unlawful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for the transport of prisoners abducted under the programme of extraordinary rendition for torture. The government has granted explicit permission for aircraft in the service of the United States' armed forces and of the CIA to transit Shannon Airport, and has effectively granted such aircraft immunity from being searched, or investigated.

The government has eagerly accepted worthless assurances and reassurances from the White House that Shannon Airport has not been used for purposes of torture, and, in the course of a visit on St. Patrick's Day, prime minister Bertie Ahern has requested the administration to provide information about some of the flights, with view to mollifying the Irish citizenry, who are overwhelmingly opposed to the torture programme.

Statements from government ministers fall short of denying knowledge of the use of Shannon Airport for the programme of extraordinary rendition for torture, presumably because the ministers are well aware that these crimes have been committed.

In a perversion of justice, members of government have demanded that concerned citizens, including the author of this submission, present evidence of crimes of torture committed at Shannon Airport, while directing airport security staff and members of the Garda Síochána to harass, detain and arrest these same activists in their attempts to gather such evidence.

Government ministers have repeatedly stated that, if the concerned citizens will only produce evidence of crimes, then the government will conduct an investigation into the torture flights. This kind of false reassurance is clearly a disingenuous tactic by which they seek to blur the distinction between "prima facie evidence" and "conclusive proof" - a distinction of which Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in particular, being a practising barrister, must be acutely aware.

In accordance with its duties, the Intelligence Section of the Irish Defence Forces has probably conducted an investigation into these abuses at Shannon Airport - though without publicising its conclusions - and so we must presume that high-ranking members of the Defence Forces are also aware of crimes of torture committed or facilitated at Shannon Airport. Senior members of the Garda Síochána (Irish police force), Civil Aviation Authority and other key organs of state are presumably also privy to specific details of these crimes of torture.

The response of the Irish Government to a request from the Council of Europe, in accordance with its Article 52, constitutes a fraudulent attempt to conceal its crimes. While the government in this official reply to the Council asserts that it is in compliance with its obligations to investigate and prevent crimes of torture, it is clear that it has in fact failed to protect the victims of torture. The government has not only failed to prevent the "unacknowledged deprivation of liberty" of victims of torture, but on dozens of occasions abused its powers to unlawfully deprive protesters and peaceful observers of their liberty. As recently as 16 th April 2006 four peace activists were arrested at Baldonnel military airport near Dublin.

This submission documents the misuse of Shannon airport by the US military and provides detailed flight logs of almost one hundred landings of CIA aircraft at Shannon. These confirmed CIA landings represent only some of the CIA use of Shannon airport, because the complete set of flight logs, which are available to the Irish Government, are not available to peace activists so far.

In view of the failure of the United Nations to effectively intervene to enforce the rule of law as regards crimes of torture, the European Union must intervene as a matter of utmost importance and urgency. The TDIP Committee must call at least four Irish Government ministers to face questions about the abuses at Shannon Airport (and other Irish airports): Ministers for Justice, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence and Minister for Transport.

Download text of full submission (PDF file, 189 kb): EHorganEUParliament200406.pdf

Edward Horgan, Commandant (Retired) of the Irish army, former UN military peacekeeper,
Manager, Centre for Care of Survivors of Torture,
213 North Circular Road, Dublin, Ireland.

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