Kurdistan, Turkey And Iran

In acting against the PKK, Turkey would be upsetting the apple-cart of what is also going on in northern Iraq -- Kurdish militant actions against Iran, with the US turning a blind-eye/covertly aiding them, depending on whom you believe.

The P.K.K., about two years ago [2005 - SR] split into four parties in each of the countries where is the Kurds live. In Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran. So the P.J.A.K. is the Iranian affiliate. In order to get to the P.J.A.K. interviews that I did, you had to go through two P.K.K. based camps with walkie-talkies and soldiers and guerillas and so on. Among other Kurdish groups that I spoke to, no one thinks that the P.K.K. and the P.J.A.K. are really separate organizations. At a minimum they very clearly coordinate their activities, get funding, weapons, et cetera. But I think in practice, their function is one organization.

On the one hand, the United States is very much opposes to the P.K.K.'s actions in Turkey. On the other hand they're supporting P.K.K.'s attack on Iran.

[The US is] playing a very similar game with the Mujahadeen al-Halb, another Iranian group and with groups in Baluchestan which is near the Pakistan-Iranian boarder where some revolutionary guard buses were blown up.

The Turks know exactly what's going on, they don't believe the disclaimers issued by the United States ... at a time when the U.S. is escalating the war in Baghdad, threatening to attack Iran, suddenly Turkey could get involved in clashes with the Kurdish regional government in Iraq. So what is now a mess, will become an incredibly bigger mess.

Destitute Asylum Seekers In Coventry

A letter in the Independent today:

A solution must be found to end destitution among refused asylum-seekers. Far from encouraging people to return home, destitution has had the reverse effect. The authorities have lost contact with asylum-seekers, who have entered a cycle of fear, hunger, and mental and physical deterioration. They've become caught in a "destitution trap".

One solution would be for the government to provide ongoing asylum benefits – or permission to work – to refused asylum-seekers until their case is resolved. In return, these asylum-seekers would be expected to engage in a case-resolution process, helping them work through the issues that prevent them from returning home. As well as reducing the numbers of refused asylum-seekers who become destitute, "disappear" or work illegally, such a scheme would also boost voluntary returns, reducing the costs of forced removal.

Asylum applications in the UK are at their lowest for 17 years, giving us a unique opportunity to reassess the way asylum-seekers here are treated at all stages of the process.

Sandy Buchan
Chief Executive
Refugee Action

Environmental Taxis

"Mark Gruberg has been driving cabs for over 20 years. But these days, he's the new kid on the block. Mark, and a few of his cab driver friends, have started up San Francisco's first all-green taxi company, the appropriately named Green Cab."

Coventry And Peak Oil

The Germany-based Energy Watch Group is releasing a study on global oil production in London today.

Their report says that world oil production has already peaked and will fall by 7% a year. It also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.

- Coventry doesn't have a plan to deal with peak oil.
- The draft climate change strategy, out for consultation, doesn't mention peak oil.
- The city council has a "risk register" with threats evaluated for impact (1 to 5 points, 5 being high) and "how soon" (1 to 5, 5 being more than once a year). Peak oil is not on the risk register at all.

Other cities (notably, Portland, in the US) have had citizen task forces on peak oil and peak energy -- holding 40 meetings and involving dozens of policymakers, experts, stakeholders and interested citizens in gathering information on peak oil and preparing a report for public comment.

It's the kind of thing that we need to do in Coventry, so we're ready when higher energy prices come.

The EWG study relies more on actual oil production data which, it says, are more reliable than estimates of reserves still in the ground. The group says official industry estimates put global reserves at about 1.255 gigabarrels - equivalent to 42 years' supply at current consumption rates. But it thinks the figure is only about two thirds of that.

Jeremy Leggett, one of Britain's leading environmentalists and the author of Half Gone, a book about "peak oil" - defined as the moment when maximum production is reached, said that both the UK government and the energy industry were in "institutionalised denial" and that action should have been taken sooner.

Secret Prison On Diego Garcia

Months after a report by the Council of Europe, the all-party Commons committee on foreign affairs is going to investigate the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and whether it has served as a Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib type prison for the US in its war on terror.

Diego Garcia remains nominally British territory, but it has been leased to the US until at least 2016.

It's hard to overstate how important Diego Garcia is as a US base.

It's a naval refuelling and support station. It has a James Bond-esque submarine support facility. It has an air base that has supported B-52 and Stealth bomber attacks in Afghanistan, in the two wars on Iraq, and in any future war on Iran. It's a regular deployment site for US Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. Diego Garcia is part of the US "Space Surveillance Network". It's a Space Shuttle emergency landing site. It's not even subject to a nuclear weapons free zone for Africa, even though the rest of its archipelago is included.

Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's legal director, said he was "absolutely and categorically certain" that prisoners have been held on the island. "If the foreign affairs committee approaches this thoroughly, they will get to the bottom of it," he said.

Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star US general who is professor of international security studies at the West Point military academy, has twice spoken publicly about the use of Diego Garcia to detain suspects.

In May 2004 he said: "We're probably holding around 3,000 people, you know, Bagram air field, Diego Garcia, Guantánamo, 16 camps throughout Iraq." In December 2006, he repeated the claim: "They're behind bars...we've got them on Diego Garcia, in Bagram air field, in Guantánamo."

In 1984, a review by the US government's general accounting office of construction work on the island reported that a "detention facility" had been completed the previous December. British ministers have also disclosed that a building on the island was redesignated as a prison after the September 11 attacks.

The Threat Of Bird Flu

Once upon a time, the media was awash with concern over bird flu/avian flu/H5N1/1918 Spanish Flu. The threat hasn't gone away. An August 2007 summit of avian flu experts put the risk of a pandemic during the next year as between 5 and 20 per cent. The government's working estimate of the risk of a pandemic? 3%.

An article in the Times today highlights that the recent NHS spending review contains no reference to a possible avian flu pandemic or any indication of where funds could be found.

"In contrast to other developed countries, British stockpiles of the antiviral Tamiflu are less than half those of France and comparable to those of Slovenia and Algeria. To deal with the first wave of the pandemic, we need at least as much as France has. The Department of Health ordered 14.6 milion courses of Tamiflu in September 2006, enough for 25 per cent of the population ... We also need stockpiles of the antiviral Relenza, in case resistance to Tamiflu develops. But one disadvantage with Relenza is that, unlike Tamiflu, it does not penetrate the brain: in 1918 the virus left progressive, residual brain damage in some cases."

"When you insure your house you don't just go for the cheapest option, you go for the one that gives you enough cover."

"NHS contingency plans warn that a pandemic could kill as many as 750,000 people in Britain. Documents released alongside the risk assessment predict that hospitals would be overwhelmed, with one per cent of the population needing up to 10 days of intensive care. That would require 100 times more beds than are available."

Coventry Peace Month

Events are continuing until the 14th November.

You can download the pamphlet of all activities here.

The next notable event will be tomorrow, Thursday 18th October, from 1030am until noon, at the Council House's council chamber. The British Pensioners' Trade Union Action Association welcomes Mehei Kia, co-editor of Middle East Review, to talk about the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

You can contact Dr David Spencer for more details on 02476 450 027.

Top 20 Green Blogs For 2007

(Rushing across a stage, kissing Halle Berry) I'd like to thank the Academy, my parents, my wife, and all the little people that helped me finish at #18.

There is an overall vote underway, amongst the top 20, to decide "the best of the best" -- feel free to vote for me -- but I think it should/will be won by "Transition Culture."

Transition Culture is looking for a full-time Office Administrator for the Transition Network ... 1% of your salary would be paid in Totnes Pounds, how cool is that?

Women And Party Leadership

All the media chatter is about two candidates, perhaps three, to succeed Menzies Campbell. All three are male (Nick Clegg, Chris Huhne, and Steve Webb).

You look at the "front bench" leadership of the Lib Dems, and it's overwhelming male (4 out of 25).

Same with the "front bench" of the Tories (5 women out of 28), and the full cabinet of Labour (5 women out of 23).

20% of our country isn't women, so why is only 20% of political leadership made up of women?

By design, the Green Party has two principal speakers, one male, one female, to represent us in the media. Their mandate is renewed each year at our autumn conference.

The female principal speaker race this year was between two heavyweights: Caroline Lucas (MEP for the South-East, PPC for Brighton Pavillion) and Jenny Jones (Green member of the London Assembly, former Deputy Mayor). For 2007/2008, Lucas was elected with 77% of the vote.

Not by design, but it worked out that way, half of the Green Party's council candidates in Coventry were women in 2007 (in Binley and Willenhall, Foleshill, Longford and Wainbody wards).

I don't get a vote in the Lib Dem leadership race, but I hope that Susan Kramer (former president of the Oxford Union, former candidate for mayor of London) and Lynne Featherstone (short-listed in the "Rising Stars" category for the 2006 Channel Four Political Awards) take a shot at the title.

David Cameron, Los Angeles And Gangs

David Cameron has just returned from a trip to California, hoping that Ah-nuld's political stardust rubs off on him. He talked with "senior officers from the LAPD, the mayor of LA, and former gang members" about "learning from their strategies."

Los Angeles has pursued decades of zero-tolerance suppression policies, and it's led to 11 gangs commiting 17000 violent crimes last year.

Now, the police are finally trying pilot programmes of "gang intervention workers" -- these workers try again and again – often at considerable personal risk – to stop one incident from blowing up into a full-scale street battle. Los Angeles is now on track to see its lowest annual murder rate since 1970.

What people did Cameron speak to -- only the police chiefs, or gang intervention workers as well? If he's serious about avoiding the decades of mistakes in Los Angeles, David Cameron will need to rein in David Davis and his talk of zero-tolerance, police expansion, and prison expansion.

Supermarkets In Coventry

Grocery markets across Europe are dominated by a handful of large supermarkets. We think we're bad with Asda, Saino's, Tesco and Morrisons accounting for three-quarters of all grocery sales (supermarkets + convenience stores). Finland is actually worst, with five companies making up over 90% of their grocery sector. This kind of dominance has led to less consumer choice and smaller players forced out of business.

One of Britain's two Green MEPs, Caroline Lucas, is putting what's called a "Written Declaration" before the European Parliament. She, and four other co-signing MEPs, are demanding that the EU Commission "examine whether supermarkets abuse their dominance, and propose tough new rules to protect rural economies and the environment." If half of all MEPs support it, it will become official policy of the European Parliament – and will be formally passed to the European Commission for action.

Will this get media coverage, compared with incessent calls for an EU referendum? C'mon, do newspapers want to lose all the supermarket advertising in their glossy weekend magazines?

The Attack On "An Inconvenient Truth"

So, Stewart Dimmock was the school governor who challenged Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," in court.

His funding came from a Scotland-based political party, The New Party.

The Observer has found that the New Party has received nearly all of its money - almost £1m between 2004 and 2006 - from Cloburn Quarry Limited, based in Lanarkshire.

Clobrun Quarry Ltd's owner, who is also the chair of the New Party, is Robert Durward.

- With Mark Adams, a former private secretary to Tony Blair, Durward set up the Scientific Alliance, a not-for-profit body comprising scientists and non-scientists, which aims to challenge many of the claims about global warming.
- The Scientific Alliance advised Channel 4 on the Great Global Warming Swindle.
- The Scientific Alliance co-authored a report with the George C Marshall Institute, a US body funded by Exxon Mobil, that attacked climate change claims.
- One of Durward's letters to newspapers stated: "It is time for Tony Blair to try the "fourth way", declare martial law and let the army sort out our schools, hospitals and roads."

The recent court case on "An Inconvenient Truth" is part of a co-ordinated international attempt to sow confusion about climate change, to get people thinking that there is "two sides" to the issue, rather than an overwhelming consensus.

Tin Angel And Taylor John's House

There's a fundraising auction tonight at Taylor John's House, in the canal basin. The Tin Angel and Taylor John's are under threat of closing.

The loss of the Tin Angel's entertainment licence in the summer has led them to a dire situation. They want to raise sufficient money, so that they can restructure and become a not-for-profit enterprise.

Free recording sessions guitars, paintings, and photos are all on offer. Bids can be made online on their website, http://www.thetinangel.co.uk/, up until 6pm today.

To outbid the online offers, you have to be at Taylor John’s (before the Gilad Atzmon jazz gig, £8 in adv, £10 on the door, he's great!) from 7pm when the items will be awarded to the highest bidder.

If you're on Facebook, more info on the auction can be found here, and Taylor John's has a site of its own here.

Talking Therapy On The NHS

Credit where credit's due. Labour has announced an extra £170 million in new funding for "talking therapy" -- non-drug psychological therapy to address the mental health crisis in Britain.

6 million of us (1 in 10) suffer from depression or anxiety. There are more mentally ill people on incapacity benefits than the total number of unemployed people on benefit. Only 18% of those with mental health problems are in work, the lowest employment rate of all disabled groups. Only a quarter of those who are ill are receiving any treatment – in most cases medication.

Therapy can be as effective as drugs, and often more successful in the long-term. Under the plans, over the next four years, all GP practices will have access to nondrug treatments.

Lord Richard Layard, co-author of the London School of Economics Depression Report, said: "This is great news and just what we have all been waiting for. Mental health is the biggest social problem in our country. This new service will bring relief to millions."

Drop Dead Racist?

"I can't remember being sent a model who wasn't white," said the former fashion manager. "I don't know if it's racism, or just the fashion industry languishing in the doldrums, but it needs to change. Agencies only seem interested in leggy white blonde girls."