Where 82 beats 92

Total of British dead in Afghanistan = 251

At mid-day today in the European Hemicycle in Strasbourg I moved that an emergency debate should take place on Thursday. The Bureau (or executive) of the Council of Europe (COE) , had decided otherwise.

The only way to overturn that decision was by a vote of the Assembly of MPs from 47 nations. Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock strongly supported my plea. One MP from Monaco and another from France argued against.  This was very annoying because they  gave the false impression that the Committee responsible did not approve of the need for a debate. The committee decided otherwise in Paris in December.

The vote was 92 in favour of my call for a debate, 82 against. A moral victory but not all votes are equal. The rules of the COE state that a two thirds majority is necessary to overturn the Bureau's decision.

Happily the two hour session on the subject still goes ahead - starting at 8.00 am tomorrow morning. Se tomorrow's blog for details/

Llanwern 3

This is an outrage.

Three Community union reps - Mark Hill, Kevin Mulhall and Gary Stewart - were all unfairly selected for redundancy because of their trade union activity. They worked at Corus Strip Products in Llanwern.

Community took their case to an employment tribunal and won. But rather than doing the right thing Corus are trying to appeal the decision and are still refusing to reinstate the Llanwern 3.  

The Union says, "This goes to the heart of what we do as a union. Community is built on volunteers like Mark, Kevin and Gary, who give their time to defend the interests of their colleagues. The action that Corus has taken against them is an attack on all our representatives and all our members within Corus.

Collectively Mark, Kevin and Gary have 70 years membership of Community and its predecessor union. Together they have 40 years of experience as union reps".

This is an abuse of Big Company Power against their own employees. there is petition to oppose the stubborn decision of Corus. This case make us blood boil. For more than 30 years I was a member and shop steward for Community. It then named BISAKTA then ISTC. The first name was one of the clumsiest union name ever -The British iron and Steel and kindred Trades Association. 'The name 'Community' is a great improvement.

Good luck to them in their fight for the Llanwern Three. Sign the petition here.

Iranian view There have been some moans that I have too many blogs about Afghanistan. For a change, this is one that I did not write. Remarkably it precisely reflects my views - unusual as it the result of a brief telephone interview. In the interests of clarity a Farzi version is printed below. Afghan war based on false premises, says UK MP London, Jan 24, IRNA – The Nato-led war in Afghanistan is based upon false premises,according to Paul Flynn, one of the longest-serving British MPs.

The government’s claim that Afghanistan presents a terrorist threat to Britain was a “foolish assumption,” said Flynn, who has been Labour Member of Parliament for Newport West, in Wales, since 1987. 

“The terrorist threat to Britain has stemmed from Yorkshire (in north England), Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Pakistan. There has never been a single Afghani convicted,” he said in an interview with IRNA. 

In December, Flynn secured an adjournment parliamentary debate on Afghanistan after the number of British soldiers killed in the country is reached 100 last year, questioning why the troops were being sacrificed. 

He also raised an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons condemning Army Chief General Sir David Richards for claiming that the Afghan campaign should not be judged by casualties alone, saying they should be the UK's “prime concern in determining future strategy.” 

Speaking ahead of next week’s conference on Afghanistan hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the 74-year old MP told IRNA that it was called for “three absorbed purposes.” 

These included the claim that corruption could be eliminated in the country under President Hamid Karzai’s regime and that peace and security could be based on the Afghan army and police that was “not possible.” 

Flynn, who is a member of the Public Administration Committee, believed that the real reason for the conference was for Britain and the US to pull out their troops as soon as possible and to “spin it as a victory.” 

But he suggested that it may expose division among Nato members because of Karzai’s desire to reach a deal with the Taliban and warlords. 

“Sooner or later an orderly deal will have to be made with the Taliban. It was the only sensible outcome,” said the veteran MP, who also opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

“The sooner the better,” he said, believing the longer British troops remained increased the risk of terrorism. Alternatively, he suggested that Nato may be forced to leave like the Americans when they were in Vietnam. 

Among other issues, Flynn has campaigned for Britain’s nuclear weapons to be included in disarmament negotiations to help achieve a successful nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference in May 2010." 

بود لندن - يکي از نمايندگان باسابقه مجلس عوام انگليس در آستانه برگزاري کنفرانس افغانستان در لندن گفت: جنگ تحت رهبري آمريکا و سازمان پيمان آتلانتيک شمالي(ناتو) در افغانستان از اساس غلط بود.

"پل فلين" که از 23 سال قبل در مجلس عوام انگليس عضويت دارد، در مصاحبه اختصاصي با خبرنگار ايرنا، گفت: ادعاهاي دولت انگليس مبني بر اينکه تهديدات تروريستي عليه اين کشور از سوي افغانستان بوده، بک برداشت غلط و احمقانه بوده و همين مساله باعث شده است که جنگ افغانستان از همان ابتدا بر پايه هاي اشتباهي قرارگيرد. 

وي افزود: تهديد تروريستي عليه انگليس از داخل خود انگليس از جمله از منطقه يورکشاير در شمال اين کشور، عربستان سعودي، سومالي و پاکستان مي آيد. تاکنون حتي يک تبعه افغان هم در انگليس به دليل انجام اقدامات تروريستي محکوم نشده است. 

فلين که به رغم عضويت در حزب حاکم کارگر انگليس از مخالفان جنگ افغانستان به شمار مي رود، اواخر سال گذشته ميلادي و هنگامي که تعداد تلفات ارتش انگليس در سال 2009 از رقم 100 نفر گذشت بحثي انتقادي را در پارلمان اين کشور درباره اين موضوع به راه انداخت. 

وي همچنين از سخنان ژنرال سر "ديويد ريچاردز" که گفته بود جنگ افغانستان را نبايد تنها با تلفات آن ارزيابي کرد، انتقاد کرد و گفت: کشته شدن سربازان بايد مهمترين موضوع نگراني دولت انگليس در تصميم گيري هايش درباره راهبردهاي آينده باشد. 

اين نماينده 74 ساله پارلمان انگليس در تحليل خود درباره کنفرانس لندن اظهارداشت: کنفرانس افغانستان با سه هدف در لندن برگزار مي شود که مهمترين آنها اين است که آمريکا و انگليس تلاش مي کنند راهي براي خروج هرچه سريعتر نيروهاي خود از افغانستان پيدا کنند و در عين حال اين جنگ را يک پيروزي براي خود جلوه دهند. 

فلين افزود: تلاش براي جا انداختن اين موضوع که تحت رهبري حامد کرزي مقابله با فساد در افغانستان امکان پذير مي باشد و همچنين امکان واگذاري مسئوليت صلح و امنيت در افغانستان به نيروهاي پليس و ارتش ملي آن کشور وجود دارد، از ديگر اهداف کنفرانس لندن است. 

وي پيش بيني کرد که به دليل علاقه حامد کرزي براي معامله و توافق با طالبان و جنگ سالاران افغان ممکن است اختلاف و شکاف جدي ميان اعضاي ناتو بروز کند. 

اين نماينده انگليسي در عين حال گفت که راه ديگري به جز رسيدن به يک توافق عمومي در داخل آن کشور براي پايان جنگ افغانستان متصور نيست و اين کار هرچه زودتر صورت بگيرد، بهتر است... چون احتمال اينکه نيروهاي ناتو مجبور شوند همانند خروج آمريکا از ويتنام، از افغانستان خارج شوند، وجود دارد. 

کنفرانس افغانستان در حالي قرار است در پنجشنبه هفته جاري در لندن برگزار شود، که گروههاي ضدجنگ و مدني و همچنين برخي کشورهاي دعوت شده به اين کنفرانس ملاحظات جدي درباره دستور کار آن دارند. 

تعدادي از کشور ها نسبت به دستور کار کنفرانس افغانستان در لندن ابراز بي اطميناني و نسبت به حضور در اين کنفرانس و موفقيت آميز بودن آن ابراز ترديد کرده اند. آنها معتقدند با نزديک بودن انتخابات سراسري در انگليس و با توجه به کاهش شديد محبوبيت حزب کارگر در ميان مردم اين کشور که ادامه جنگ افغانستان يکي از دلايل آن است، هدف اصلي کنفرانس لندن بهره برداري سياسي و حزبي از آن است. 

اروپام**345

انتهای خبر / خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی (ايرنا) / کد خبر

Comments

[mukhtar]

لندن بهره برداريهمچنين 74 لندن ينفساد درتلاش مي

سومالي و گفت که Brown Gordon راهشدن سربازان کرزي مقابله افغانستان

[Tony]

Just a thought on Blair and Brown ..
I think the anger comes out of disappointment. In some ways similar to Obama Blair promised a lot , a combination of a new way of doing things bringing the social justice of Labour while accepting the mixed economy. Seems to me that he failed by not bringing along his chief ministers.
What you got was Brown spending like a drunken sailor while the markets were let rip - and this point we missed both targets. Income inequality has grown, social mobility declined missing the Labour chief goals and the economic management of the economy has been really bad with us spending more than we earnt as a nation - and Blair and Brown are indivisable on that - and that IMAO will do for Labour at the election - they wanted it both ways and hit neither target

[dave]

this shows employment law has no teeth.
isnt it time the law was changed so it covered employees the same as employers.
even winning a tribunual doesnt mean you win your job back.
the fines for an employee being killed in work are also rediculous,25k being the average fine for the employer which does nothing to stop bad employers complying with with h&s law.
the easiest way of getting rid of an employee is accusing them of theft,you dont even have to prove the case.this cant be right.

[Tony]

0.1% growth eh?.. well its a start .. should I regard that as a unique positioning?

[patrick]

I think mukhtar has a point but Gordon Brown isn't 74 is he?