International

Imperialism International

The new scramble for Africa

Failing to see the irony, the Government and Fianna Fáil voted—on World Refugee Day, of all days!—to send fourteen members of the army’s Ranger Wing (Ireland’s SAS) to war in Mali.
The minister for defence, Paul Kehoe, told the Dáil that the country was a victim of “terrorism,” and we must play our part.
Mali is not just some poor country plagued by “terrorism.” It’s worse: it’s a poor country plagued by imperialism.

International

The spoils of economic war How the United States and Saudi Arabia profit from sanctions on Venezuela and Iran

The United States has been playing the role of the world’s economic bully. So far it has imposed sanctions against Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Crimea, Cuba, Cyprus, Eritrea, Haïti, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

International

The EU tightens its grip

Over the course of the many referendums fought on the various EU treaties, the Irish establishment always sold the idea that neutrality and foreign-policy decisions would remain with the Irish state. But, as time progressed, those forces that strongly opposed these treaties and argued that there was only one direction […]

International

A victory for pro-Venezuela activists

A group of determined American activists forced Juan Guaidó’s shadow ambassador, Carlos Vecchio, to flee from a rally that was supposed to mark his triumphant entry into the Venezuelan embassy in Washington. It was supposed to be a day of triumph for the Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaidó and his […]

International

Venezuela’s internal coup crumbles

The situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate as the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States (Trump’s policy, a continuation of Obama’s) and the European Union continue to have an impact upon workers, the urban and rural poor and farmers. The Venezuelan oligarchs have used every possible manoeuvre—economic, political, and […]

International

Chronicle of a coup foretold

The attempted coup d’état of 23 January in Venezuela is unique in one respect: it was promoted and organised openly and publicly by the government of the United States, supported by its allies and client states in Europe and Latin America. One hundred years ago the United States declared its […]

International

Who’s being gulled?

Many regions on the outskirts of Dublin have been plagued in recent years by an invasion of aggressive gulls, which soil houses and clothes-lines and scatter refuse, as well as killing smaller birds. Most people, it seems, have either not speculated about the cause of this new plague or else […]

International

Venezuela screaming

Robert NavanVenezuela-Ireland Network “Make the economy scream” was Richard Nixon’s instruction to the CIA when the United States decided in 1973 to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile. Other countries in Latin America have seen democratically elected leaders ousted by the United States or its proxies. […]