OscailtLisbon II - How it pushes the Militarisation & the Armaments IndustryIt's not too late to get active in the campaign - volunteer at the link below.
Breaking news: Italian MP, Sgarbi denounces the Statistical Fraud on COVID-19. The speech of the Member of Parliament Vittorio Sgarbi in the session of the Italian Camera, Meeting no. 331 of Friday 24, April, 2020. Vittorio Sgarbi, denounces the closure of 60% of the businesses for 25,000 COVID-19 Deaths, of which the National Institute of Health says 96.3% died NOT of COVID-19 but of other pathologies. That means only 925 have died of the virus. 24,075 have died of other things.2009-09-22T16:11:16+00:00Indymedia Irelandimc-ireland@lists.indymedia.iehttp://www.indymedia.ie/atomfullposts?story_id=94162http://www.indymedia.ie/graphics/feedlogo.gif.http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2597992009-09-22T16:11:16+00:00Michael Gallagherlibertypics at yahoo dot ieComments are welcome on the photo also, especially from woman.Comments are welcome on the photo also, especially from woman.Commenthttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2598062009-09-22T17:08:07+00:00WomanI think Militarisation hasn't really featured in the current debate on Lisbon 2 ...I think Militarisation hasn't really featured in the current debate on Lisbon 2 so this article is extremely welcome.<br />
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What isn't welcome are your sexist comments Michael<br />
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"Comments are welcome on the photo also, especially from woman"<br />
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No to additional militarisation of EUhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2598072009-09-22T17:15:23+00:00Diarmuid BreatnachI am far from being an SP supporter but welcome this article -- an overdue comme...I am far from being an SP supporter but welcome this article -- an overdue comment on the additional militarisation of the EU which Lisbon Treaty would foster.<br />
<br />
The EU leaders do dream of an EU able to contend with the USA, Russia and China for slices of the world -- that was always part of the rationale for the EU with its "common defence" policy. Selling arms to countries is both part of that process and also fills the pockets of the arms manufacturers and the bankers. Giving arms exporters a formal place within the Lisbon Treaty is to accelerate this process.<br />
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These manufacturers selling arms to countries is not only immoral and against the interests of working people around the world but also involves politically and otherwise supporting the regimes of those countries, invariably right-wing and usually murderous dictatorships. So many military dictatorships and monarchies in Africa, Latin America and Middle East were supplied with weapons by these merchants of death. I will always remember seeing in a Kurdish village in "Turkey" the effects of a visit from a German Panzer flame-throwing armoured vehicle supplied to the Turkish Army.<br />
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Of course the EU talk about "military advice and assistance" to other countries. Let's not forget that the biggest longest war since World War Two, the Vietnam War, was run in its early days with "military advisors" from the US. As lampooned by American folk singer Tom Paxton back then:<br />
"And Lyndon Johnston told the nation:<br />
'have no fear of escalation,<br />
I am trying everyone to please!<br />
Though this isn't really war,<br />
we're sending fifty thousand more<br />
to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese'!"<br />
<br />
No to Lisbon and No to Increased Militarisation of the EU!Don't forget the CFSPhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2598132009-09-22T18:16:17+00:00Raymond DeaneOf course I agree with every word that Joe Higgins writes here, but wish that he...Of course I agree with every word that Joe Higgins writes here, but wish that he had referred to the Common Foreign and Security Policy in more than a passing way. CFSP is the context within which the militarisation of the EU is taking place. The surrender of an independent Irish foreign policy should be lamented not on nationalist but on internationalist grounds: EU and US foreign policy have converged during the Bush years (contrary to the myth that sees the EU as having provided some kind of counterbalance), NATO is becoming the equivalent of an EU army (Bertie Ahern dragged Ireland into NATO's "Partnership for Peace" without the referendum he had promised), and the US/EU have joined hands as Israel's unconditional guarantors, regardless of the abhorrent nature of its crimes. The result is a permanent "clash of civilisations" guaranteeing the arms manufacturers a permanent state of profitable belligerence. Ireland shouldn't merely "opt out" of these policies, but should forcibly oppose them and seek allies among the less imperially-minded EU countries in order to do so. 'Woman'....http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2598162009-09-22T18:38:07+00:00Michael Gallagher....the way this site doesn't work sometimes is when people shoot the messenger .......the way this site doesn't work sometimes is when people shoot the messenger and miss the message (intentionally or not) and also use pseudoynms. I was just trying to draw attention to the background image (maybe it's not clear enough) of a woman and the seductive way it's used to sell death, it's obvious target being young men. 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' is what this background picture says to me, I find it sexist and derogatory to woman. I think it also exposes the feeble mindedness and ignorance of some men and the way the female form is used in advertising again and again to sell all sorts of products.<br />
Would you care to comment please 'woman', will you tell me what you find sexist about my 'comments' above. Or maybe you are just a troll, editors decision.<br />
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I do welcome men's comments also.<br />
<br />
I hope we get back to the main points of Joe's article after this. <br />
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Who Owns Ireland Even Now?http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2598172009-09-22T19:04:37+00:00Fred JohnstonThe US has moved its 'borders' into Shannon Airport - I quote a US statement on ...The US has moved its 'borders' into Shannon Airport - I quote a US statement on the matter - and already have a permanent military presence there. No one in Ireland was asked, as I recall, about either predicament. So who owns Ireland? Who permitted the United States to extend its border into Irish territory through the utilisation of an emigration facility? The position with Europe will not be much different, only it may arguably be a tad more transparent. On the other hand, if Ireland were to ask the Yanks to leave Shannon, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that they would exercise sanctions first and bomb is later. Nonsense, you say! America's record in relation to its friends is the relationship of any scho9olyard bully: do as I say and you'll be my friend, refuse me something and we are enemies. We must at all costs say NO to Lisbon II. And we must be extension say no to the US.the greatest shamehttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2598742009-09-23T16:12:54+00:00old codgerThe greatest shame will be if Ireland votes Yes this time, it will show the Euro...The greatest shame will be if Ireland votes Yes this time, it will show the Europeans what cowards we are. The fear campaign of the politicians and the EU will be no excuse for a people that prostitutes it's principles.The truth about "Lisbon Treaty": See the complete movie on YouTube!http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2599332009-09-24T17:16:34+00:00JuergenhaagYou can listen the complete movie (in 5 parts) of a very interesting Speech from...You can listen the complete movie (in 5 parts) of a very interesting Speech from the leading German legal EU-expert Prof. Dr. Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider (excellent synchronized English version)! <br />
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#1 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzfZvKWOVw&hl=de" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzfZvKWOVw&hl=de">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzfZvKWOVw&hl=de</a> <br />
#2 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLWgjqnnIA" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLWgjqnnIA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLWgjqnnIA</a> <br />
#3 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXtF9aFrns&feature=related" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXtF9aFrns&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXtF9aFrns&feature=related</a> <br />
#4 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaBuv4rgUk&feature=related" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaBuv4rgUk&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaBuv4rgUk&feature=related</a> <br />
#5 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHy0KH6RS1o&feature=related" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHy0KH6RS1o&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHy0KH6RS1o&feature=related</a><br />
<br />
Schachtschneider is Professor for Law in Germany and <br />
the leading representative of the Anti-EU-Movement in Central Europe. <br />
He is a retired lecturer (eremitus) on state law and state theory and has become somewhat famous for challenging (successfully) the various attempts (Maastricht, EU constitution, Lisbon treaty) to promote a European Constitution on the grounds of those attempts not being compliant with the German Grundgesetz (Constitution). Schachtschneider is well renowned even amongst his critics.<br />
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Dear Irish People!<br />
<br />
I request You: YOU ARE THE ONLY NATION who is allowed to VOTE !<br />
PLEASE VOTE "NO" - for free European Nations !!Energy Veto gone under Lisbon !http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2599902009-09-25T20:40:02+00:00MargaretSomeone at the meeting last night made the point that Energy is one of the ares ...Someone at the meeting last night made the point that Energy is one of the ares where we will be losing our veto.<br />
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That information has not got any publicity in this debate yet the future consequences are painfully obvious to anyone who has been watching events in this area. The EU Plan to take our last resourcehttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600012009-09-25T23:51:02+00:00eillersthe estimated value of our oil and gas amounts to in excess of €400 billion.
The...the estimated value of our oil and gas amounts to in excess of €400 billion.<br />
The new areas AREAS TO WHICH QUALIFIED MAJORITY VOTING APPLIES ie where we loose our veto<br />
includes energy policy and energy infrastructure - so if they want to introduce nuclear power they call the shots, if they need our gas and oil they can have it at even more knock down prices! After Lisbon it becomes law, superceeding our law.<br />
even in wind energy/wave energy we will end up with only a fraction of it's worth.<br />
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Pinochet Shock and Awe & Lisbonhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600032009-09-25T23:59:20+00:00eillersHere in Ireland we are being subjected to the same 'shock and awe' tactics emplo...Here in Ireland we are being subjected to the same 'shock and awe' tactics employed by Pinochet over Chile.<br />
Scare the shit out of the people, bring them to their knees then introduce legally binding laws to create a totalitarian state that in desperation they will vote for.<br />
<br />
Democracy in new in Europe - remember Franco, Degalle, Moussillini, Stalin, Tito - we are much more familiar with facism than with democracy. Is it to be facism with a democratic window dressing? Realtieshttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600102009-09-26T11:20:19+00:00Cecil R Eillers last musing is as over the top as his previous ones. Pinochet employed ... Eillers last musing is as over the top as his previous ones. Pinochet employed torture, mass killings of political opponents and mass detentions. Unless I am missing something these techniques have yet to be employed here. It was to get away from fascism and Stalinism that the European project was launched. It is associated with figures s like Konrad Adenauer, Schumann and Monet – not Stalin, Franco or their ilk. They believed an international and collective approach among democratic states would safeguard democracy, prosperity and justice and avoid the problems that gave rise to the dictators and their wars in the 1930s. Mr.http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600212009-09-26T13:57:25+00:00NO means NO -> respect itI´m from Germany and like 500 Millions Europeans I can`t vote about the Lisbon t...I´m from Germany and like 500 Millions Europeans I can`t vote about the Lisbon treaty. You are only 3 million people who can vote about freedom and souvereignity of the European countries and only you have the chance to say NO.<br />
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A German song for you:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_Pv7McXVg" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_Pv7McXVg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_Pv7McXVg</a><br />
<br />
"We know that nine out of 10 people will not have read the Constitution and will vote on the basis of what politicians and journalists say. More than that, if the answer is No, the vote will probably have to be done again, because it absolutely has to be Yes." <br />
~Jean-Luc Dehaene, Former Belgian Prime Minister and Vice-President of the EU Convention, Irish Times, 2 June 2004 ~ <br />
NO to Lisbon! YouTube shows essential reasons why the Irish People should vote "NO"!http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600282009-09-26T15:28:19+00:00JuergenhaagThere You can listen an absolutely new movie (24th Sept. 2009: lecture carried f...There You can listen an absolutely new movie (24th Sept. 2009: lecture carried forward in Dublin) with Prof. Schachtschneider once more: <br />
A short centralisation of the essential points why the Irish people <br />
should vote "NO"! <br />
<br />
(Schachtschneider is Professor for Law in Germany and <br />
the leading representative of the Anti-EU-Movement in Central Europe!) <br />
<br />
See the new video: <br />
#1 of 4: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdLYmp42UTk" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdLYmp42UTk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdLYmp42UTk</a> <br />
#2 of 4: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTHk9oDV92U" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTHk9oDV92U">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTHk9oDV92U</a> <br />
#3 of 4: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpdqca-Pls" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpdqca-Pls">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpdqca-Pls</a><br />
#4 of 4: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSyrdYzmPt0" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSyrdYzmPt0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSyrdYzmPt0</a> <br />
<br />
See also this video (since 1 week): <br />
#1 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzfZvKWOVw&hl=de" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzfZvKWOVw&hl=de">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzfZvKWOVw&hl=de</a> <br />
#2 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLWgjqnnIA" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLWgjqnnIA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLWgjqnnIA</a> <br />
#3 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXtF9aFrns&feature=related" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXtF9aFrns&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clXtF9aFrns&feature=related</a> <br />
#4 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaBuv4rgUk&feature=related" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaBuv4rgUk&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqaBuv4rgUk&feature=related</a> <br />
#5 of 5: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHy0KH6RS1o&feature=related" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHy0KH6RS1o&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHy0KH6RS1o&feature=related</a>Undecided but veering to a yes votehttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600602009-09-26T21:27:57+00:00AttendeeI think the posters above are stretching credulity in saying that the EU will ta...I think the posters above are stretching credulity in saying that the EU will take our gas and oil and our wind and wave power should it get developed. Neither did the meeting did give Mr Costelloe a chance to get his points accross.<br />
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I will grant the emerald elvis youtube return to sender is very good.u decidehttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600692009-09-27T10:10:11+00:00the RECESSION ME .........JOBS:. dailymailonline EU Mums Not allowed to leave children with a friend while...JOBS:. dailymailonline EU Mums Not allowed to leave children with a friend while you work part-time.<br />
EXPENSES: dailytelegraph & The wives living it up at our expense <br />
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SAVE EUROPE, IRELAND!http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2600962009-09-27T21:47:04+00:00puchatyWe vote NO!
The Lisbon Treaty is an attempt to establish a European superstate ...We vote NO!<br />
<br />
The Lisbon Treaty is an attempt to establish a European superstate without asking Europeans for their permission. The approval of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean the transfer of the remainder of the decision-making power of European capitals to Brussels, where far away from us all a bureaucratic machine will decide our fates. The approval of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean a change for the worse, which will affect all of us. The Treaty of Lisbon, previously known as the European Constitution, was already voted on in France and the Netherlands, where the public voted a resounding NO. Then, the content of this document was apparently altered, but by less than a percent while, first and foremost, its name was altered to shove it down the throats of European nations. Only the fully democratic society of Ireland was given the opportunity to vote on the Treaty. The Irish also gave it a clear NO, but the European elite disregarded the vote and opted to bomb the Irish with propaganda, and to force them to re-vote on this defective document, a clear violation of all accepted democratic procedures and principles. This document was already rejected three times in separate democratic votes and, despite this, it is being forced upon Ireland, using economic blackmail, various forms of coercion and propaganda.<br />
<br />
The European Union spends over 2 billion Euros annually on Propaganda. One shouldn't then be surprised at the massive pro-EU advertising campaigns, which remain unanswered and without rebuttal by society.<br />
<br />
Free people and free nations cannot accede to such undemocratic coercion.<br />
<br />
We, Polish bloggers who acutely follow European politics, have decided to join our fellow Irish bloggers to appeal to the Irish public to vote against the Treaty of Lisbon. A NO vote is not only a vote against the numerous pitfalls of the Treaty, but is also a vote against the methods used to bring it to life.<br />
<br />
We thus appeal to the Irish to once again vote NO.<br />
Vote NO in the referendum.<br />
Vote NO for your own sake, vote NO for ours!Rejected EU constitution/Lisbon 1/2http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2601142009-09-27T23:01:58+00:00Ronoc"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free". -G..."None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free". -Goethe<br />
I recommend a No vote, but do as you please. Dont look at the media because they are biased. They are in favour of the political elite and their corporate masters. Why would you listen to the people who got Ireland into this mess? They dont give a f**k about the working class! They bail out their banking buddies, while the working class take the toll. They live the high life, while most working class are having harder times these days. A Yes vote will centralise power into the hands of the EU poltical elite, which is quite corrupt, but you wont see that on the news, but there are many MEPs who speak of this. You only need to look back at history to see what the centralisation of power can do! "Power corrupts, and absolute power, corrupts absolutely". "If you forget, history is doomed to repeat itself".<br />
Excuse me for my little rant, but do you think its democratic that only Ireland has a say in the future of Europe? Why has it not been put to all the people of Europe? Because most people dont want it. Television and media is a system of indoctrination, controlled by corporations, who at the end of the day only care of the bottom line, which is PROFIT, and that comes from the corporations that give them all their advertising revenue. As i said at the top -<br />
<br />
"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free". -Goethe<br />
<br />
We aint rocking in a free world. Just look around and see the state of affairs!!!<br />
Be wise, and dont be fooled. Im afraid of the Europe that is rising at the moment!!! And Im no fool...<br />
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Vote No, dont be fooled by those gombeens, reaping profits, while you suffer!!!<br />
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<a href="http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94238" title="http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94238">http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94238</a> - Vote No To Lisbon II<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162" title="http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162">http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162</a> - Lisbon II - How it pushes the Militarisation & the Armaments Industry<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1144" title="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1144">http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1144</a> - Long Live The New Union? <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1133" title="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1133">http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1133</a> - Brussels lobbyists have £445,000 whip-round to push Irish ‘Yes’ vote<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1131" title="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1131">http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1131</a> - <a href="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1131" title="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1131">http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1131</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1106" title="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1106">http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1106</a> - Patricia McKenna on the Lisbon Treaty Guarantees<br />
<br />
www.people.ie<br />
<br />
Check out this songhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2601092009-09-28T05:22:31+00:00LisbonlassieCheck out this songCheck out this songsome more detailed info of the security contracts and funds raised for "research"http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2601232009-09-28T13:49:20+00:00soundmigrationFrom a report published by the transnational institute this week . the full repo...From a report published by the transnational institute this week . the full report is available for downl;oad at <a href="http://www.tni.org/" title="http://www.tni.org/">http://www.tni.org/</a><br />
<br />
"Despite the often benign intent behind collaborative European ‘research’ into integrated land, air, maritime, space and cyber-surveillance systems, the EU’s security and R&D policy is coalescing around a high-tech blueprint for a new kind of security. It envisages a future world of red zones and green zones; external borders controlled by military force and internally by a sprawling network of physical and virtual security checkpoints; public spaces, micro-states and ‘mega events’ policed by high-tech surveillance systems and rapid reaction forces; ‘peacekeeping’ and ‘crisis management’ missions that make no operational distinction between the suburbs of Basra or the Banlieue; and the increasing integration of defence and national security functions at home and abroad.<br />
<br />
It is not just a case of “sleepwalking into” or “waking up to” a “surveillance society”, as the Britain’s Information Commissioner famously warned, it feels more like turning a blind eye to the start of a new kind of arms race, one in which all the weapons are pointing inwards. Welcome to the Neo-ConOpticon."<br />
<br />
The NeoConOpticon is a new report from the<br />
Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch by Ben<br />
Hayes. It examines the development and<br />
implementation of the European Security Research<br />
Programme (ESRP), a €1.4 billion EU ‘R&D’ budget<br />
line focused predominantly on surveillance and other<br />
law enforcement technologies. It reveals the extent to<br />
which the design of the programme has been<br />
outsourced to some of the corporations that have<br />
most to gain from its implementation.<br />
The research examined all 85 of the projects funded<br />
under the EU security research programme to the end<br />
of 2008, together with several thousand related EUfunded<br />
R&D projects from other thematic<br />
programmes. What also emerges from the<br />
bewildering array of contracts, acronyms and EU<br />
policies is the development of a powerful new<br />
‘interoperable’ European surveillance system that will<br />
be used for civilian, commercial, police, security and<br />
defence purposes alike.<br />
Defence giants including Thales, Finmeccanica, EADS, Saab and Sagem Défénsé Sécurité are<br />
amongst a host of corporations to which the European Commission has turned to help set the<br />
agenda for security research, develop Homeland Security strategies for Europe, and bring the<br />
relevant security technologies ‘to market’. The report also reveals the full extent of Israel’s<br />
participation in a rapidly developing EU security-industrial complex, which is controversial in the<br />
light of widespread criticism of Israel's security policies and human rights record.<br />
This comprehensive audit of the ESRP shows that there has been only minimal democratic<br />
scrutiny of the programme and even less monitoring of its implementation. Ad hoc bodies<br />
created outside the formal EU decision-making structure like the “Group of Personalities”,<br />
“Security Research Advisory Board” and “Security Research and Innovation Forum” have<br />
instituted a ‘revolving door’ between multinational defence and IT contractors and government<br />
officials tasked with developing security policies at national and EU level.<br />
The explicit aim of these bodies has been the integration of the ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ sides of<br />
‘Homeland Security’. Despite the stated commitment of the ESRP to the protection of privacy<br />
and civil liberties, critical civil society organisations, including privacy and civil liberties<br />
advocates, have been conspicuous by their absence. This framework of governance has<br />
promoted a range of security technologies that could engender systematic violations of<br />
fundamental rights.<br />
<br />
NeoConOpticon: The EU Security-Industrial Complex<br />
Executive Summary<br />
<br />
The NeoConOpticon is a follow-up to Arming Big Brother, a briefing paper on the European<br />
Security Research Programme published in 2006. The (ESRP) is a seven year programme<br />
predicated on the need to deliver new security enhancing technologies to the Union’s member<br />
states in order to protect EU citizens from every conceivable threat to their security. It runs from<br />
2007 to 2013 as part of the EU’s ‘FP7’ ‘framework programme’ for European research.<br />
Arming Big Brother set out a number of concerns about the then pending ESRP, including the<br />
implicit threat posed to civil liberties and fundamental rights by EU ‘research’ into surveillance<br />
and other security technologies. The report was also highly critical of the corporate influence on<br />
the EU security research programme and warned of various dangers in actively pursuing a<br />
‘security-industrial complex’ in Europe.<br />
The NeoConOpticon revisits the ESRP and examines its development and implementation to<br />
date. The title is a play on Jeremy Bentham’s “panopticon” design for an all-seeing prison (used<br />
by French philosopher Michel Foucault as a metaphor for the way in which surveillance acts to<br />
discipline and control society) and the right to limitless profit-making at the heart of increasingly<br />
neo-conservative EU homeland security and defence policies.<br />
The first part of the report examines the development of the European Security Research<br />
Programme. It shows the way in which design of the ESRP has been largely outsourced to<br />
corporations and other private interests that have much to gain from its implementation. It also<br />
shows the extent to which key actors within the arms industry are repositioning themselves as<br />
“Homeland Security” providers, and the EU’s efforts to support this transition.<br />
The second part of the report focuses on the implementation of the ESRP and the broader<br />
consolidation of the EU security-industrial complex. It examines specific security technologies<br />
and vendors and their relationship to EU research projects and EU policy measures.<br />
Key findings:<br />
<br />
1) A system designed by lobbyists, for lobbyists: In addition to enhancing European<br />
‘security’, the ESRP also has the explicit aim of fostering the growth of a lucrative and<br />
globally competitive ‘homeland security’ industry in Europe. This has engendered a<br />
structural conflict of interests at the heart of the ESRP arising from a failure to separate the<br />
development and implementation of the security research programme. By creating various<br />
“stakeholder platforms” of the “supply-and-demand sides” of security technology<br />
(respectively: corporations and state agencies), the EU has effectively outsourced the<br />
design of the security research agenda, inviting Europe’s largest defence and IT contractors<br />
and other private interests to shape the priorities of the ESRP and the annual calls for<br />
proposals, and then apply for the money on offer.<br />
<br />
2) Defence giants and military research institutes in key advisory positions: The<br />
European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF) is the current “multistakeholder”<br />
platform to bring together the demand and supply sides of the homeland<br />
security market to develop the blueprint for future security technologies. It is due to present<br />
its final report on 29 September 2009 in Stockholm. ESRIF is comprised of 11 working<br />
groups, a plenary committee and some 660 consultants, two-thirds of whom are drawn from<br />
the private security sector. A core group of multinational defence contractors including<br />
EADS, Finmeccanica, Thales, Sagem and the lobby group ASD (the AeroSpace and<br />
Defence Industries Association of Europe), together with military research institutes<br />
including TNO (Netherlands) and FOI (Sweden), has supplied a great deal of time and<br />
expertise to the European Commission and occupies key seats in the ESRIF structure.<br />
<br />
3) Defence industry profiting from security research contracts: Of 85 EU security research<br />
contracts awarded to the end of 2008 and worth some €210 million, 40 projects (47%) were<br />
led by companies that primarily service the defence sector.<br />
<br />
4) Five core missions, one high-tech agenda: The current framework for security research<br />
under FP7 was set out by ESRIF’s predecessor, ESRAB (the European Security Research<br />
Advisory Board), which identified five core ‘mission areas’ for EU R&D: ‘border security’,<br />
‘protection against terrorism and organised crime’, ‘critical infrastructure protection’,<br />
‘restoring security in case of crisis’ and ‘integration, connectivity and interoperability’. For<br />
each of these apparently distinct topics, the EU R&D agenda is strikingly similar: introduce<br />
surveillance capacities using every viable surveillance technology on the market; institute<br />
identity checks and authentication protocols based on biometric ID systems; deploy a range<br />
of detection technologies and techniques at all ID control points; use high-tech<br />
communications systems to ensure that law enforcement agents have total information<br />
awareness; use profiling, data mining and behavioural analysis to identify suspicious people;<br />
use risk assessment and modelling to predict (and mitigate) human behaviour; ensure rapid<br />
‘incident response’; then intervene to neutralise the threat, automatically where possible.<br />
Finally, ensure all systems are fully interoperable so that technological applications being<br />
used for one mission can easily be used for all the others.<br />
<br />
5) Securitising research, expanding the ESRP: The objectives of the European Security<br />
Research Programme reflect the over-representation of private interests in the governance<br />
of the ESRP. Annual calls for proposals favouring the pursuit of high-tech, high-cost<br />
homeland security solutions over critical research and social justice based responses to<br />
security ‘threats’. The FP7 programme has allotted an additional €200 million per year for<br />
space research, which includes a significant security component, and established further<br />
budget lines for critical infrastructure protection, so-called ‘migration management’, IT<br />
security and counter-terrorism research. ‘Security research’ also crops up in other thematic<br />
areas of the FP7 programme – food, energy, transport, information and communications<br />
technology, nanotechnology and the environment, for example, inevitably includes food<br />
security, energy security, transport security and so on.<br />
<br />
6) ESRP-supported technologies could engender systematic violations of fundamental<br />
rights: The ESRP is promoting the development of a range of technologies that implicitly<br />
favour the demands of government over the rights of individuals, and could engender<br />
systematic violations of fundamental rights. These systems include surveillance and profiling<br />
technologies, an apparently infinite desire to collect and analyse personal data for law<br />
enforcement purposes, automated targeting systems and satellite and space-based<br />
surveillance. The use of these high-tech surveillance systems is seen as potentially<br />
ubiquitous, for everything from law enforcement to environmental monitoring to earth<br />
observation; from border control to crowd control to traffic control.<br />
<br />
7) Obsession with surveillance and border control: The ESRP is predicated around an<br />
obsession with surveillance and high-tech border control systems. The €20 million TALOS<br />
project, for example, will develop and field test “a mobile, modular, scalable, autonomous<br />
and adaptive system for protecting European borders” using both aerial and ground<br />
unmanned vehicles, supervised by a command and control centre”. According to the TALOS<br />
project contract, these specially adapted combat robots “will undertake the proper measures<br />
to stop the illegal action almost autonomously with supervision of border guard officers”. A<br />
further €30 million has been spent on R&D projects into high-tech border surveillance,<br />
including STABORSEC (Standards for Border Security Enhancement), which recommended<br />
no less than 20 detection, surveillance and biometric technologies for standardisation at the<br />
EU level; the OPERAMAR project on the “interoperability of European and national maritime<br />
surveillance assets”; the WIMA2 project on “Wide Maritime Area Airborne Surveillance”; and<br />
EFFISEC, on “Efficient Integrated Security Checkpoints for land, border and port security”.<br />
Among the key beneficiaries are Sagem, the Thales Group and Finmeccanica companies.<br />
<br />
8) ESRP support for the implementation of biometric ID systems: EU legislation<br />
mandating the collection, storage and inclusion of biometric data in travel documents is also<br />
supported by a number of security ‘research’ projects. Having taken the decision to<br />
introduce compulsory fingerprinting in identity documents, the development of the<br />
framework for the implementation of biometric identification systems is effectively being<br />
outsourced to the companies and lobby groups promoting the technological infrastructure.<br />
Among the main beneficiaries of numerous EU R&D projects on the implementation of<br />
biometric identification systems is the European Biometrics Forum, an umbrella group of<br />
suppliers “whose overall vision is to establish the European Union as the World Leader in<br />
Biometrics Excellence by addressing barriers to adoption and fragmentation in the<br />
marketplace”.<br />
<br />
9) Funding the EU’s space race: Galileo and Kopernikus: Prominent multinational<br />
corporations have also played a central role in the development of Galileo (the EU’s GPS<br />
and satellite tracking system) and Kopernicus (the EU’s earth observation system). Galileo<br />
was once lauded as the world’s first would-be civilian GPS system, but military objectives<br />
are now central to its development and deployment. Kopernicus began life as the EU’s<br />
GMES (global monitoring environmental security) system but its scope has also recently<br />
been extended to cover law enforcement and military applications. Among the main<br />
beneficiaries of the EU’s space programme are two of the largest European space-industrial<br />
actors: EADS and Thales Alenia Space.<br />
<br />
10) Covert programme for unmanned aerial vehicles or ‘drones’: The EU has also<br />
funded what amounts to a covert programme favouring the introduction of UAVs (unmanned<br />
aerial vehicles or ‘drones’) for military, law enforcement and civilian purposes. More than a<br />
dozen research projects and studies championing the development and implementation of<br />
UAV systems have been commissioned by the EU, despite the current ban on their use in<br />
European airspace and the absence of public debate about the legitimacy or desirability of<br />
subsidising their introduction. Among the primary contractors are world-leading suppliers of<br />
combat UAVs like Israel Aerospace Industries, Dassault Aviation, Thales, EADS and<br />
Boeing.<br />
<br />
11) Prevalence of Israeli security experts in ESRP: Israel, which participates in the EU<br />
framework research programmes under the terms of a 2000 Cooperation Agreement, also<br />
features prominently in the ESRP. Of 46 security research contracts awarded in the first<br />
year of the FP7, Israeli actors or entities are participating in ten of the projects, leading four<br />
of them. The Counter Terrorism Bureau (CTB) of the National Security Council of the State<br />
of Israel has a seat on the ESRIF plenary, while the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), University<br />
of Tel Aviv and the Israeli emergency services are among the security experts advising the<br />
ESRIF.<br />
<br />
12) From terrorism to climate change - expanding the concept of security: The<br />
‘Homeland Securitisation’ of European policies across the justice and home affairs and<br />
security fields is linked to an expanding concept of national security, one that now<br />
encompasses everything from counter-terrorism to the ‘threat’ posed by climate change,<br />
organised crime and pandemics. The report examines the similarities between the recent<br />
national security strategies of France, Germany and the United Kingdom and the EU<br />
Security Strategies of 2003 and 2008, and notes how quickly these all encompassing<br />
definitions of homeland security have come to dominate western policy-making circles. This<br />
is likely to be a permanent legacy of the ‘war on terror’.<br />
<br />
13) Integration of EU security and defence bodies: The high-tech strategies developed to<br />
facilitate counter-terrorism, border controls and surveillance, crisis management,<br />
peacekeeping and other new techniques of government are increasingly linked to the<br />
strategies and technologies of war. This shift is linked to the increasing use of military<br />
technology and personnel for law enforcement and security purposes; the increasing<br />
diversification of the military-industrial complex into Homeland Security; and the expanded<br />
remits given to security and defence agencies in the 21st century. The report foresees an<br />
increasing integration of the activities of the European Defence Agency and the ESRP and a<br />
wider convergence of powers in the form of integrated EU security and defence bodies.<br />
<br />
14) Full Spectrum Dominance – a new model for European security? The report<br />
concludes that despite the often benign intent behind collaborative European ‘research’ into<br />
integrated land, air, maritime, space and cyber-surveillance systems, the EU’s security and<br />
R&D policy is coalescing around a high-tech blueprint for a new kind of security. It<br />
envisages a future world of red zones and green zones; external borders controlled by<br />
military force and internally by a sprawling network of physical and virtual security<br />
checkpoints; public spaces, micro-states and ‘mega events’ policed by high-tech<br />
surveillance systems and rapid reaction forces; and the increasing integration of defence<br />
and security functions at home and abroad.<br />
<br />
15) Wide ranging review of the ESRP urgently needed: The report calls for a full audit of<br />
the development and implementation of the ESRP; a redefinition of its priorities to put<br />
human rights and social justice at the heart of the programme; reorganisation of the current<br />
governance structure to ensure independent scrutiny and democratic control of the ESRP; a<br />
freeze on EU surveillance-enabling legislation; regulation of Homeland Security exports; and<br />
a programme of measures to bring law enforcement technology and related police powers<br />
under democratic and judicial control.<br />
Why all the mad rush?http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2607642009-10-12T14:55:42+00:00JamesIt seems the Czech Cabinet is due to meet in emergency session today to try and ...It seems the Czech Cabinet is due to meet in emergency session today to try and urgently persuade their President (Vaclav Klaus) to sign the Lisbon Treaty.<br />
<br />
France and Germany, who it is claimed are the "main drivers" behind the Lisbon Treaty, are said to be particularly impatient.<br />
<br />
Some think President Klaus has deliberately set out on "wrecking" course of action which depends on the election of a conservative government in the UK, and their longstanding pledge to carry out a referendum on the treaty: if it remains unratified in any of the other states at the time of an election victory for the conservatives.<br />
<br />
Not only that, "Prime Minister in Waiting Cameron" has in the past promised to personally lead the "NO" campaign: if there ever is a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the UK.<br />
<br />
Many might think that a referendum in the UK (or two perhaps?) would be VERY well worth waiting for?<br />
<br />
For more on today's Czech Cabinet meeting please see at <a href="http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/10/12/798461_czech-cabinet-meets-to-resolve-lisbon-treaty-impasse" title="http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/10/12/798461_czech-cabinet-meets-to-resolve-lisbon-treaty-impasse">http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/10/12/798461_czech-cabine...passe</a> <br />
Waithttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2607702009-10-12T16:47:12+00:00Mike hoganWhen all have signed the Lisbon Trteaty will be put in place, an EU Army will be...When all have signed the Lisbon Trteaty will be put in place, an EU Army will be raised with folk from every country. <br />
And when the body bags come to Ireland we will see tears from those who voted yes.Good news (for some) ...http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2607902009-10-13T11:38:46+00:00KayIt appears that the "crisis" over the EU Lisbon Treaty has deepened after the Cz...It appears that the "crisis" over the EU Lisbon Treaty has deepened after the Czech Republic's government apparently backed down yesterday (i.e. October 12th 2009) in a confrontation with President Vaclav Klaus over his refusal to sign the text.<br />
<br />
Consequently, concern in the "Pro Lisbon Camp" is at present growing across the EU it seems, because of fears that the unresolved Czech situation could drag ratification out into next year, and thus result in a British referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if David Cameron wins a general election next spring (as he is at present widely expected to do).<br />
<br />
Related link: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6308540/EU-Lisbon-Treaty-Czech-Republic-government-caves-in-to-eurosceptic-president.html" title="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6308540/EU-Lisbon-Treaty-Czech-Republic-government-caves-in-to-eurosceptic-president.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/630....html</a><br />
<br />
Time to support President Klaus to the hilt (when and where possible)?http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94162#comment2612572009-10-25T10:10:23+00:00PatrickAccording to a Time Magazine article published last Friday (i.e. October 23rd 20...According to a Time Magazine article published last Friday (i.e. October 23rd 2009), Czech President Vaclav Klaus still has lots of public support for his opposition to the Lisbon Treaty.<br />
<br />
Will that be enough though to prevent the "rulings elite" bullies from forcing him to sign up to this outrageous and extremely scary recipe for rampant tyranny in Europe and elsewhere in the world? <br />
<br />
The Time article in question can be viewed at: <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1931664,00.html" title="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1931664,00.html">http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1931664,0....html</a><br />
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