Anarchoblogs

 

       Austerity is the cry from governments across the world, but that only applies to the social side of society. Every budget gets trimmed, benefits get cut, wages get frozen, social services get decimated and their costs go up. However this all looks ridiculous when it comes the that side of the state apparatus called “military”. The case of the super-duper, F-35 “do-everything” fighter, makes you scratch your head and wonder, why do we tolerate such idiots running our affairs. This power monger's toy is estimated to cost the US almost $400 billion and rising. It was to be operational in 2012 but is now thought to be 2015/18, what a wonderful money spinner for the arms industry, no austerity there. It will be available to their NATO buddies and some other “friendly” nations, who will chip-in to the development fund, some of their taxpayers money for the privilege of being able to buy a few of these toys. Once you buy this money eater, you are lumbered with astronomical costs just to keep the thing running. Norwegian Rear Admiral Arne Roksund estimated the his country's 52, F-35's, will cost $769 million EACH, over their operational lifetime. When the state apparatus talks to us about “austerity”, they are really just laughing at us, and taking us for a bunch of idiots. And we are if we tolerate this unbelievable waste of time, energy and resources to be spent on the toys of empire, while millions live in poverty, millions starve and others die from preventable diseases. What will the people of the world gain from this multi-billion dollar state status symbol?

       I keep mouthing off about the financial Mafia driving us back to the deprivation of the Victorian era in their attempt at creating a European sweatshop economy, well we are half way there. The figures from a newly published study from the High Pay Centre makes for some interesting reading. Its conclusions are that the UK has returned to the pay inequalities that have not been seen since the 1930's. While we, the ordinary people have seen our incomes shrivel, the top 1% have seen their share of the national income more than double since 1979, they now claim 14.5% of the national income. The national average wage in the UK sits at £20,500, while the 26,000 top earning parasites of this country receive more than that in a month after tax, taking home a tidy sum of at least £21,500 a month. Of course average earnings can be misleading, we have approximately 6.75 million people in the UK earning less than £800 a month. Think of the difference in your standard of living, £800 a month or £21,500 a month, how do you justify that disparity?

     At least one rich retired business man doesn't seem to like this. The Independent on Sunday reported that a certain Sir Mike Darrington, retired CEO of Greggs, has written to the remuneration boards of all the FTSE 100 companies begging them to show restraint on executive pay, no this is not a joke. Strange that he should write this letter AFTER he retired and not before. However I wouldn't hold my breath on a positive response from his FTSE 100 colleagues.

     Of course it is not just in Europe that this great divide is ever widening, in the US they have the same pattern, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In that land of the free and opportunity, for the year 2009, a mere 311 Americans shared between them a staggering $54 trillion, while 80% of the American population share just 7% of the national wealth. As for the bottom 40%, well they get by with barely any wealth at all. Ah well, that's capitalism for you.

      If we want to change this, and what ordinary sane person wouldn't, we will have to take a very different approach from our Sir Mike Darrington, It is no use appealing to the charity of a bunch of greedy parasites, we have to get rid of them. Would the chickens ask the fox to help them?

     Barbara Dowling's long delayed trial for allegedly refusing to fully complete her census form will be held on 19 February, in Glasgow Sheriff Court. Even if you can't come along for the whole of the trial, please show your support by joining us outside the court from 9.30am.

or phone:       07936432519 or 07786630764

      President Obama's inaugural speech last month was the voice of hypocrisy, The Prince of Peace stated, and stated without a hint of embarrassment, that “A decade of war is now ending,” --”We, the people, still believe that enduring and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.” What that translates into is, “We will not be sending so many of you overseas to kill and maim, you will be able to do this from a comfortable office in Nevada and Saudi Arabia.

     We are now seeing foreign invading troops preparing to leave Afghanistan without having achieved their object, since nobody seems to be able to say what was the object. That doesn't mean the end of the military campaign, the war will continue from computer screens in the form of drones. According to a report from the area of North Waziristan, from 2008 to 1012, there have been around 147 drone strikes, killing 894 people with 211 injured. This year has seen an escalation in the number of drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen.

      The face of imperialist wars is changing, weapon laden armour plated boots will still be called on to do some of the dirty work, but this will be their cleaning up operations. The real slaughter will be done by young smooth faced office workers, sitting at their desks marking up scores on hits, just like any other computer game. Only this time it is for real, real bodies being blown to bits, real children dying, real homes being demolished. No need to be a battle hardened trained killer, you can make you way up the military ladder by having the highest score of hits in the office.

       Just to encourage those 9 to 5 office work killers and make them feel part of the “hero” brigade, they are considering creating a medal for the cyber-killers. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced that the Pentagon is creating a medal that can be awarded to troops who have a direct impact on combat operations, but do it well away from any combat zone.

     To those on the receiving end of drone warfare, the result is just as bloody, destructive and terrifying as any other type of warfare. There is no such thing as clean humane warfare. Drones of course sanitise it for the perpetrators of that destructive violence. You can kill from 9 to 5 and then go home to your family and have a night out. This is the new imperialist warfare. In an interview Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta. Asked by journalist Martha Raddatz whether the 2014 pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan would mean an increased reliance on drones, Panetta said: “ I think that's reality. We've done that in Pakistan. We're doing it in Yemen and elsewhere. And I think the reality is it's going to be a continuing tool of national defense in the future.”

     There is a ready trained army of computer literate kids, experts at computer games all well able to spend a few hours a day playing their game and getting paid and walking away as if it were “just a game”. It is a frightening thought, but it is our future, unless we do something to change the system.

 

          There is a quiet revolution taking place in the developed world and there isn't much coverage in our babbling brook of bullshit, the media. It is considered illegal to send armed assassins into another country and blow somebody's head off. However America does this almost on a daily basis, the reason they seem to get away with it is that they have managed to do this without sending in armed humans. They send their armed drones across borders and and pull the trigger from some air conditioned office in the US. The difference with this method and an assassin, is that a human assassin may succeed with a simple bullet to the head, the drone on the other hand will blow up a building, a car or a truck and tough luck if you happen to be an innocent by-stander. Ten years ago in America's war against the world, less than 5% of its military aircraft were unmanned, now it is approximately 40% unmanned.

          This type of technology is far to good an opportunity for the authorities to ignore, millions of pounds of public money are being poured into the development of drones of all sizes. BAE leads a consortium of defence companies that have been handed almost £31 million in regional funding to come up with a way of making drones capable of sharing our skies with other air users. At the cost of £17 million an old military site in Aberporth in Wales has been turned into the first and largest centre in Europe specifically for flying and testing civilian drones. US congress as asked the Air Space Regulator, The FAA, to free up American airspace for drone use by 2015, the UK is expected to follow suit latter. The FAA also stated that it expected about 10,000 unmanned commercial drones flying in America's airspace by 2017.

       Though they talk of civilian drones, it is the surveillance aspect that authorities are more concerned about. Five police forces in England have tested the use of drones and Staffordshire police still use them. Kent police have teamed up with their partners in UK, France and the Netherlands to try to come up with a policy for using unmanned drones in the English Channel.

The US Homeland Security use unarmed predator drones to police the Mexican border. Big Brother has truly arrived.

        In about 3 years I would expect to see unmanned drones hovering over demonstrations, parades, marches and football grounds, and while you're enjoying that rock concert, have a wee look skywards. There appears to be no limit to which these drones can be put, from the very small, photographing everything the authorities want to keep an eye on, to the larger armed ready to direct force to where the authorities think it is necessary. Control, that's what it is all about, control of you and me.

          The war in Afghanistan has been a costly, bloody and brutal affair, it has been 11years of savage conflict where the NATO countries have poured in money and young lives. The total NATO deaths has passed the 3,000 mark, of those more than 2,000 were American forces and over 400 were from UK forces. On top of that there has been tens of thousands of physically injured and mentally scarred young people from the NATO forces. Then of course there is the figures that get very little coverage in that babbling brook of bullshit, Western media, Afghan civilians killed. The figures are horrendous, according the UN figures almost 13,000 have been killed in the last six years, 2,332 in 2011 alone, a 10% increase on the previous year. Then it being a capitalist war we have to look at the financial side. The estimated cost to the US tax payer, calculated up to September this year, will be a staggering $487.6 billion, and to the UK tax payer it will be £20billion. How much is that in social services?

        Why have the Western nations poured so much in suffering and money into this poor country? To catch/kill, Osama bib Laden? To bring democracy to the Afghans? Well they have succeed the first mentioned, at what cost? They have of course failed miserably in the latter.

       However could the reason for this costly savage slaughter be clarified by this extract from a BBC article: