The Department of Transport has revealed that in 2014 a total of 272 flights were given permits to take weapons or explosives through Shannon Airport. In response to a freedom of information request by Shannonwatch they confirmed that the majority of the flights were taking US troops between military bases and locations in the Middle East. The information also shows that US troop carriers and aircraft with machine guns, rocket motors and other war material are routinely allowed to fly through Irish airspace. Again the majority of these are flying to or from US military bases around the world. read full story / add a comment

Fundraiser for Irish MAP for the QUDS Hospital in Gaza ,under the auspice of the Palestinian Red Cross / Red Crescent ) for urgently needed supplies.

Sat, 19 September 2015, 19:00 Abbey Tavern, Howth, Co. Dublin read full story / add a comment

As people flee from countries ravaged by war and poverty and European governments shut their doors in their faces, we have responsibilities as human beings to act. We must demand that our governments do everything they can to end the cruel deaths we see happening in the backs of lorries, in the sea, in other parts of the long tortuous journeys that the people of Syria, Eritrea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, South Sudan, Eritrea and elsewhere undertake in order to stay alive.

People like 3 year old Aylan Kurdi and his 5 year old brother Galib should not have to die while European leaders argue over the number of refugees to allow into their country. If the European Union has any meaning or relevance it must be to protect the basic human rights of people who desperately need protection, who have reached a point where they are prepared to risk everything, even their lives, to survive. And while it is good to see a widespread public reaction internationally to the death of Aylan Kurdi, the tragedy is that thousands of other children have died by drowning or from thirst and starvation as they crossed deserts. Countless others have been trafficked for exploitation, and their suffering has been largely ignored. read full story / add a comment

The vintage Hawker Hunter fighter plane that crashed on to a busy roadway during an air show in Shoreham, Sussex on 22 August also performed at recent air shows in Ireland at Shannon, Bray and Foynes. Between them these were attended by up to 150,000 people. read full story / add a comment

As Shannon Airport prepares to stage an air show on July 18th to celebrate its achievements in the world of aviation, peace groups in Ireland issue a reminder that its recent history is not one to be proud of. Since 2001 the airport has been used by the US military as a gateway to wars in the Middle East. These wars have resulted in the death of innocent men, women and children, left millions of people homeless, and destroyed communities and entire countries. read full story / add a comment

Shannon Airport will host what they call an "air display extravaganza" on July 18th, to mark the 70th anniversary of the first commercial transatlantic flight at the airport. They say the airshow will provide a visual treat from leading aerobatics performers, parachutists, helicopters, jet fighters and stunt fliers. read full story / add a comment

Global Research article on last March's appointment of Roger Carr,Chairman of Europe’s largest arms firm BAE Systems, as Vice Chairman of the BBC Trust.

Last March the Chairman of Europe’s largest arms firm BAE Systems, Roger Carr, was appointed Vice Chairman of the BBC Trust. Will Carr’s close ties to the arms industry “get the best out of the BBC for licence fee payers” as its mission statement promises?

On the trust’s web site we can read the following:

“The BBC exists to serve the public, and its mission is to inform, educate and entertain. The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC, and we make sure the BBC delivers that mission.”

For many years, however, the BBC has been caught delivering weapons of mass deception, lying, censoring important stories and engaging in war propaganda on more than one occasion. Here are just a few articles we published about BBC lies and propaganda: read full story / add a comment

It’s a rich irony – in fact a richness worth about $7.4 billion, and counting. In the same week that European Union envoys voted to extend trade sanctions on Russia, news emerges from the Paris Air Show that American aviation giant, Boeing, is moving ahead to sell a fleet of its 747 cargo planes – to Russia. read full story / add a comment

Veterans for peace have launched a series of short films as part of a new campaign to highlight the fact that 16 year olds can still be recruited into the army in the UK. They are based on the "action man" character and depict several aspects of war not shown in ordinary adverts. read full story / add a comment

Shannonwatch are appalled at today’s decision by a court in Ennis to convict TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly for their attempts to search a US military plane at Shannon. The two TDs were given maximum €1000 fines, despite the overwhelming evidence to support their case that they had no alternative but to do what they did.

“The court accepted without qualification the knowledge and expertise of the witnesses who outlined serious breaches of neutrality and other laws at Shannon.” said Clare Daly. “And let’s remember the details of this evidence as presented to the court. There was evidence of guns on military planes, of soldiers going to war through a country that claims to be neutral, of CIA rendition planes, and of ongoing refusals to inspect these planes. The judge accepted that Mick and I have been obstructed, sidetracked and ignored in our efforts to discover the truth about Shannon. Yet in sentencing us he took an extremely narrow of the law. He effectively admitted that his hands were tied, and he refused to deal with all the evidence presented to him.” read full story / add a comment

Edward Horgan of Veterans for Peace and Shannonwatch was detained at Shannon Airport last Saturday morning (April 18th) as a result of his attempt to search one of four US military Hercules C-130s at the airport. Speaking after being released by the Gardai, he said his action was a result of the failure of the Irish Government and the Gardaí to take steps to ensure that US military aircraft at Shannon are not acting in breach of international laws or Irish neutrality.

Dr Horgan was about to board a flight to London to attend the AGM of Veterans for Peace UK when he saw the Hercules aircraft nearby. He walked over towards the aircraft and he approached the first Hercules C130 he was stopped by an airport security officer. "I explained to him that I wished to search the four aircraft but he prevented me from doing so" said Dr Horgan. "He was then joined by other members of the airport police and I was taken to the terminal building where I was handed over to a Garda Immigration officer". read full story / add a comment

Veteran Brisbane peace activist Ciaron O'Reilly will stage an anti-war vigil today outside Gallipoli Barracks as 330 troops
deploy to Iraq. O'Reilly was imprisoned in the United States for disabling a B52 Bomber on the eve of the
1991 Gulf War. In 2003, he was among five activists charged in Ireland with $2.5 million criminal damage to a U.S.
war plane en route to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. read full story / add a comment

Dear Anti-War friends,

The German Left Party (DIE LINKE) has recently published an open letter to Mikhail S. Gorbachev to be presented and put up for vote at the main party convention on June 6/7.

The letter calls on the Former President of the Soviet Union to initiate a World Peace Conference in the face of escalating tensions not only in Ukraine but around the globe. read full story / add a comment

We are republishing this very interesting interview between 'The Saker' and Dr. Paul Craig Roberts a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Reagan and thereby someone with a key insider view and understanding and who writes compelling and hard hitting articles at his own site. The Saker is a blog that has grown in huge popularity because it has been providing very informative and insightful analysis of the situation in Ukraine and wider picture around it relating to the US empire and has accurately predicted the trajectory of this crisis and has helped counter the widespread propaganda that tries to hide the fact that the Kiev regime is a neo Nazi puppet regime used as a tool of Washington to try and destablize Russia and has explained and given context to how each of the European states and the EU are just vassel states of the US and how this crisis and the sanctions are hurting Europe and are essentially suicidal for its own well-being. The interview covers a number of wide ranging issues but what makes it great is the way it strips away all the pretensions that there is anything democractic at all in how the big game of geo politics is working and gets to the core issues and forces driving it
read full story / add a comment

A scenario that was thought to have ended with the Cold War seems set to return with vulnerable fishing communities in the front line. read full story / add a comment

TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly are back in court in Ennis at 2pm on Tuesday March 10th as a result of their attempt to inspect a US military aircraft at Shannon Airport.

This is the second day of a case that has already heard evidence from a number of witnesses who outlined the problematic nature of the US military presence at Shannon. These witnesses included Irish Times Security Analyst Dr Tom Clonan, former UN Deputy Secretary Denis Halliday, international lawyer and neutrality expert Roberto Zamora, and Dr Edward Horgan of Shannonwatch. read full story / add a comment

Would you like to come along to the next Open Meeting of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign?

The next meeting is on Thursday 26th February at 7.30pm

Venue: IPSC Office, 18 Capel Street, Dublin 1 read full story / add a comment

Shannonwatch are urging their supporters to come to Ennis District Court on Tuesday February 24th to support TDs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace who attempted to inspect a US military plane at Shannon last July. Their alleged offence is illegal entrance into a restricted area of the airport, and their action was in response to the failure of the authorities to inspect US aircraft at Shannon.

Shannonwatch have repeatedly called for an end to the US military use of Shannon. They also call for inspection of all military and suspected CIA aircraft at the airport for as long as they are being allowed to pass through. read full story / add a comment

A human rights lawyer who challenged the Costa Rican government on breaches of neutrality under its Constitution and won will speak at the Mechanics Institute in Limerick on Tuesday 24th Feb at 7pm.

Roberto Zamora works mostly on constitutional affairs and litigation for the protection of human rights. As a college student he challenged Costa Rican President Pacheco's decision to support the US/UK led aggression on Iraq. The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled the support as unconstitutional, and ordered the country's withdrawal from the coalition. He also successfully challenged a presidential decision to allow the manufacture of nuclear fuel and nuclear reactors "for all purposes" in Costa Rica. read full story / add a comment

We Americans (conditioned in the Hebrew tradition) have learned to see enemies in Biblical terms as one-sidedly evil as Satan. It takes a mass media of some very sophisticated accomplishment to continually portray people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, several Middle Eastern leaders as Satan. One needs to be somewhat steeped in the Biblical Literature to create such black and white conclusions. This is one legacy the Bible has bequeathed to modern politics—the absolutism of naming enemy in terms of good versus absolute evil. Israel plays a master game of such portrayal of their supposed enemies. The current leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad is the new version of Zionist Satan, but even this casting of totally evil Muslim figure is not good enough—we have a new entity that does the most obviously sensational sins—behead journalists and engage in egregious forms of violation—the ISIS/ ISIL phenomenon that America magically armed and some claim even trained (see in alternative media) and magically uses to create even more authoritarian war powers to an already criminal torture state that Barack Obama has no power to quell. read full story / add a comment