alanjjohnstone
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, America’s top defense official, vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to counter its “dangerous use” of suicide drones in the wider Mideast.
At an event put on by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, he stated, “… if Iran isn’t willing to engage seriously, then we will look at all of the options necessary to keep the United States secure…Our potential punch includes what our friends can contribute and what we have prepositioned and what we can rapidly flow in.”
What annoys me is that people are risking their and their families lives on rickety unsafe boats or crammed into the back of lorries, and crossing Europe, when very many have the funds to simply buy air tickets and even to pay for hotels.
But airlines are legally obliged to refuse flight tickets to those without the appropriate visa or face fines if they even mistakenly permit an illegible traveller a seat on their plane.
(they can bend the rules as I personally know when I had to sign a waiver that I would be responsible for paying for another ticket if I was refused admission because I didn’t fulfil a country’s immigration rules of having a return ticket)
Why is it the government to save lives don’t lift such restrictions and permit asylum seekers to arrive at the airport to claim sanctuary?
The statistics bear out the fact that the vast majority of those presently gambling their lives with people smugglers would indeed be granted political asylum as legitimate refugees.
It would be very easy to let airlines fly refugees to safe havens where they would undergo immigration checks. Have reception centres at airports that treat applicants with respect and dignity.
Likewise, with the cross-channel ferries and arrival ports.
(I’m only making the distinction between who are deemed genuine refugees and not economic migrants to emphasise the hypocrisy of Priti Patel in classing all newcomers as one category – illegal and undesirable)
It is all the EU’s fault that more than 24,500 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats this year.
“Let’s not forget that the real problem on illegal migration flows is the EU has no border protections whatsoever – Schengen open borders,” Priti Patel, the Home Secretary stated. “You have people coming from the Sahel, you have them coming from Libya, right into Italy, Greece…if you speak to my French counterpart, and even their civil servants, they would all say 70 per cent of people come into northern France. They all come from Belgium. That is a fact because of open borders.”
In a move she says will help to combat antisemitism, Priti Patel,
the home secretary, said Hamas will be proscribed by the government under the Terrorism Act. It means anyone who expresses support for Hamas, flies their flag or arranges meetings for the organisation will be in breach of the law. Supporters of Hamas could face up to 14 years in jail.Until now, the UK has banned only its military wing – the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
She says it is a vital step towards protecting the Jewish community.
“Hamas is fundamentally and rabidly antisemitic. “Antisemitism is an enduring evil which I will never tolerate. Jewish people routinely feel unsafe – at school, in the streets, when they worship, in their homes, and online. This step will strengthen the case against anyone who waves a Hamas flag in the United Kingdom, an act that is bound to make Jewish people feel unsafe.”
The latest study determines the Wuhan Food Market was indeed the location of the first Covid-19 case
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/first-covid-patient-in-wuhan-was-at-animal-market-study-finds
“In this city of 11 million people, half of the early cases are linked to a place that’s the size of a soccer field. It becomes very difficult to explain that pattern if the outbreak didn’t start at the market.”As one comrade says, perseverance and persistence can piss a hole through stone.
Modi apparently concedes defeat and says he will repeal the farm laws.
From an initial ten, UK troop deployment has gone up to 150, ostensibly engineers to presumably install more razor wire fences.
Where is the furore from the Brexiteers who demanded out of EU but now silent about strengthening Fortress EU? Immigrationdefinitely should not be the responsibility of NATO commitments
China’s military has deployed long-range bomber planes to its border with India, in a move described by analysts as a strong but measured warning.
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/india-china-border-long-range-bomber-b1959153.html
More evidence that there is a potential audience out there that could be tapped into.
Conducted for Unicef by Gallup for World Children’s Day, surveyed two age groups in 21 countries – aged 15-24 and 40-plus – sampled from different socioeconomic groups, to compare attitudes.
The results suggest the younger generation are more positive and globally-minded than their elders, sceptical of what they read on social media (only 17% of young people said they trusted social media platforms “a lot” for information) and more invested in science and the possibility of global cooperation and international institutions.
Biden is also failing to protect voting rights that are being undermined in several Republican-controlled states.
And just what chance has Biden in passing the union rights PRO Bill?
Our answer to those who said vote for the lesser evil is see for yourself the fruits of such a strategy.
More tax cuts for the rich, higher spending on the military and loosening of climate change regulations and many more corporate-friendly policies.
An essay critical of Bill Gates mini-reactor plans based upon the Union of Concerned Scientists report
https://ucsusa.org/resources/advanced-isnt-always-better#read-online-content
Now that we have identified one of the major differences in analysis with environmentalists, we should now tailor our articles highlighting the flaw in the eco-warriors campaigns.
To adapt I think one of your early remarks, reformism by direct action but nevertheless still reformism.
Cheers for that extra information. It makes things clearer
From previous leafleting, the response is definitely a positive improvement in obtaining a follow-up.
I think you have also suggested that we create a sticker campaign featuring the QR code as another step forward.
A sticker with an attractive logo and an appealing slogan accompanying the QR bringing people to a new designed landing page also has the makings of a success.
Every member should be automatically provided with a stock of those stickers, once they become available and also have them included in the free 3-issue offer and prospective new members enquiry pack.
Who says I’m always doom and gloom?
Biden begins the auction of more than 80m acres of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas extraction, a record sell-off that will lock in years, and potentially decades, of planet-heating emissions.
The enormous size of the lease sale – covering an area that is twice as large as Florida – is a blunt repudiation of Biden’s previous promise to shut down new drilling on public lands and waters. It has stunned environmentalists who argue the auction punctures the US’s shaky credibility on the climate crisis and will make it harder to avert catastrophic impacts from soaring global heating.
