The kindness of strangers during the Gezi Park protests have made Istanbul feel like home
I have been living in Istanbul, in Taksim, for the last year and a half. This weekend I felt at home here for the first time. Against the tense backdrop and amid the clouds of tear gas people are being exceptionally kind.
The Rainbow Warrior was bombed by the French secret service in 1985
Today is the 27th anniversary of the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by French secret service agents here in Auckland harbour. That is a long time ago now, but every year at this time I am
reminded in crystal clear detail of the day and the times, and of
Fernando.
Rainbow Warrior sails 20 miles from the port of Bushehr, Iran. 2007
Kumi's blog was originally published by IPS, before the Istanbul summit took place.
Disruptive diplomacy may be the only way out of the Iran-Israel nuclear crisis, the only way to pierce the hegemony of hypocrisy dominating the power politics of nuclear weapons control, of those who have them, and of those who are accused of developing them.
Otherwise, this weekend's meeting on Iran's nuclear programme is likely to be yet another missed opportunity, yet another exercise in futility.
Posted by louise -
18 May 2011 at 4:32pm -
Comments
A
while back I got a letter from the Lib Dems telling me "Trident
will not be renewed this parliament - not on a Liberal Democrat watch”.
This
ran though my mind today as I watched Defence Secretary Liam Fox stand up in
parliament to pronounce ‘thunderbirds are go’ on the next phase of building a
replacement for Trident.
A freedom of information request made by Greenpeace reveals that the MoD plans to purchase a whole series of “long lead” items for Trident replacement submarines in the next few years - estimated to cost billions.
Submarine explorers
planting Russian flags under the North Pole. Military tension between Nato and
Russia. US diplomats manoeuvring in the wings. Aircraft carriers lurking and
strike fighters changing hands.
Sound like something from
a James Bond plot? Unfortunately it’s not.
New Wikileaks releases today have shown the Arctic oil rush
is not just a threat to the environment and our climate, but also to peace.
While cuts are being made to public services, why is money being spent on weapons we neither want or need?
At the mention of nuclear today our thoughts turn to the situation in Japan and all of those affected by
the earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear emergency. I can only hope that the
situation at Fukushima
is soon contained and the risks minimised for everyone affected.
Here in the UK, there is
another nuclear issue that is silently inching forward without parliamentary
approval or public awareness – nuclear weapons replacement.
Posted by louise -
21 January 2011 at 11:49am -
Comments
Yesterday's headline in the FT shouted "MoD faces fresh crisis over funding". It turns out that the Ministry of Defence have checked over last October's defence review and found out that they actually need an extra £1 billion a year over the next four years to deliver it.
Remember the defence review? The one
that left us marvelling at the Alice in Wonderland world we inhabit - where we
build two giant aircraft carriers we don’t actually want because building them
is actually cheaper than cancelling them? The one that said we can’t actually
afford to buy any planes
to put on those carriers?
