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offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
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offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? Fri Jul 26, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book instructs judges to avoid terms such as 'asylum seekers', 'immigrant' and 'gays', which it says can be 'dehumanising'.
The post Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum Fri Jul 26, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Labour has appointed Becky Francis, an intersectional feminist, to rewrite the national curriculum, which it will then force all schools to teach. Prepare for even more woke claptrap to be shoehorned into the classroom.
The post The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech Fri Jul 26, 2024 13:03 | Toby Young
The Government has just announced it intends to block the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, effectively declaring war on free speech. It's time to join the Free Speech Union and fight back.
The post Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Ei... Fri Jul 26, 2024 11:00 | Tilak Doshi
On July 18th, Dr Tilak Doshi wrote an article for Forbes defending J.D. Vance from accusations of 'climate denialism'. 48 hours later, Forbes un-published the article. Read the article on the Daily Sceptic.
The post I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Eight Hours Later, Forbes Un-Published the Article and Sacked Me as a Contributor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Come and See Nick Dixon and me Recording the Weekly Sceptic at the Hippodrome on Monday Fri Jul 26, 2024 09:00 | Toby Young
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The post Come and See Nick Dixon and me Recording the Weekly Sceptic at the Hippodrome on Monday appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en

offsite link Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en

offsite link Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en

offsite link Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en

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Flawed Defence Forces Commission

category national | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Thursday February 24, 2022 20:36author by Joe Terry Report this post to the editors

Flawed Defence Forces Commission - Ireland does not need an Army, Navy and Airforce.

From the outset, the composition of the Defence Forces Commission was flawed. The list of members does not represent the citizens of Ireland in a balanced way. Of the fifteen commission members, two-thirds are pro-EU ex-military men and officials favouring expanding military spending; people who benefit from enhanced career opportunities, have vested interests in remuneration, careers, promotions, salaries, pensions and medals, resulting from an enlarged military budget allocation. Foreign agents, Haakon Bruun-Hanssen a Norwegian, Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen a Dane and Esa Pulkkinen a Finn, should have no place on neutral Ireland’s Defence Forces Commission.

I refer to the Defence Forces Commission report. From the outset, the composition of the commission was flawed. Of the fifteen commission members, two-thirds are pro-EU ex-military men and officials favouring expanding military spending; People who benefit from enhanced career opportunities, have vested interests in remuneration, careers, promotions, salaries, pensions and medals, resulting from an enlarged military budget allocation. The list of members does not represent the citizens of Ireland in a balanced way. Foreign agents should have no place on neutral Ireland’s Defence Forces Commission, Haakon Bruun-Hanssen a Norwegian, Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen a Dane and Esa Pulkkinen a Finn. Was the setting up of the commission and inviting public consultations a covert exercise designed to rubber-stamp the Government’s pro-EU/Pesco/UN/NATO militarisation expansion agenda?
Does the Republic of Ireland need an Army, Navy and Airforce? Certainly, Ireland does not need military institutions copied from a country ruling an empire in another era. Instead of an Army, wouldn’t it make more sense to have a cost-effective National Guard, the majority of participants holding full-time civilian jobs whose purpose would be to back up the civil authorities and perform humanitarian assistance in a national crisis? No need exists to have a €71,000,000 warship armed with a 76mm gun picking up refugees in the Mediterranean when the LÉ Aisling sold for €110,000, including €16,000 of fuel onboard, would satisfy the humanitarian need. Instead of a Navy, Ireland should have a fit-for-purpose Coast Guard Service, having small, fast boats to prevent smuggling and for the protection of Irish fishing rights and coastal subterranean natural resources. Does it make any sense for Ireland to have fighter aircraft “shadowing” Russian bombers, sorties culminating with Irish pilots, before returning to base, exchanging friendly waves with their Russian counterparts?
A reason given for establishing the European Economic Community was to prevent European nations from going to war. European countries are still at it, not killing each other but with ever-increasing military capability, unleashing deadly weaponry on North Africans, Iraqis and Afghans.
Lies were told to justify unjust invasions and attacks in the past. Remember Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and the protection of civilians in Libya? Ireland should have no truck with the likes of those escapades. Sovereign Ireland should re-establish its neutral independence, take back its fisheries and natural resources, and get well away from European ever-increasing militarisation. If the promoters of unsustainable military weaponry spending get their way, there will be no end to grandiose military procurements; an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System pointing nuclear warheads at imaginary enemies across the globe, a submarine fleet patrolling the oceans, and like Thailand, a plane-less aircraft carrier on the inventory?
The Defence Forces Commission report, produced by yet another government quango, should be thrown into the bin.

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