cúisle mo chroí

Just returned from a fascinating lecture given by Jake Kosek, Assistant Professor of Geography at UC Berkeley, at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment.  The talk was entitled “The Natures of the Beasts: On Honeybees and the Bio-Politics of Terror, and focused on Kosek’s current research on the militarization of [...]

If you read any of the commentary on Obama’s administration picks, read “This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House,” by journalist Jeremy Scahill.  Scahill writes of the momentus opportunity that Obama has to create real change–how he was elected on a popular mandate to challenge the militaristic [...]

I heard about this recent article in the Progressive by one of my favorite writers, Eduardo Galeano, through an email list that I’ve long since been trying to get off of…funny how that works.  Anyway, I think Galeano is incredible, and I am in the process of reading Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries [...]

Went to hear Jeremy Scahill speak at UM the day before Halloween.  I thought this would be a suitable post for the holiday, seeing as how *actually* terrifying the subject is, but I am only getting around to it now.  I have yet to read his book, Blackwater: The Rise of America’s Most Powerful Mercenary [...]

The following action alert was issued by the Pat Finucane Centre in remembrance of the anniversary of Peter McBride’s murder:
Peter Mc Bride Anniversary Action Alert-Lobby Barack Obama
Last year a supporter of the PFC in the US contacted Senator Barack Obama regarding the controversial Pentagon contract with LT Col Spicer, the former Scots Guards officer whose [...]

The following statement was just released by Relatives for Justice:
British paratrooper Lee Clegg was convicted of the 1990 murder of West Belfast teenager Karen Reilly, an incident that also claimed the life of Martin Peake and the wounding of a teenage girl -Markievitz Gorman - when a joint British army RUC patrol fired upon a [...]

Just got this message from Pitstop Ploughshare Damien Moran, who was just refused entry into the United States:
As well as a a ploughshares acquittal to my name I now have the privilege of being sent packing on a one-way flight from Chicago airport to Warsaw just 5 hours after I had landed.
I was immediately detained [...]

Article by David Granville from the Irish Democrat:
THE MOTHER of the Peter McBride, the Belfast teenager murdered by two Scots Guardsmen on 4 September 1992, has appealed to the Iraqi government to cancel the contracts of private security firm Aegis Defence Services and to expel it from the country.
Jean McBride’s appeal follows a decision [...]

From the Pat Finucane Centre:
Following the decision  of the Iraqi government to expel private security company Blackwater*from the country Belfast mother Jean Mc Bride has appealed to the Iraqis to ‘also show the door’ to British company Aegis Defence Services.   The CEO of Aegis is former Scots Guards officer and mercenary Tim Spicer. Soldiers under [...]

The Mercenary Revolution by Jeremy Scahill exposes the corruption behind the use of private military contractors in Iraq (the US has deployed almost 200,000 to date!). Normally I like to repost articles in their entirety, but this is a bit long. In any case, it’s a fascinating read, and you can be sure [...]