-Caveat Lector-
----- Original Message -----
From: "Worker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
________________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
http://www.ainfos.ca/
http://ainfos.ca/index24.html
________________________________________________
The arrest of a number of Algerian refugees on 14th
January for allegedly making the poison ricin, and the
accompanying death of a Special Branch officer, have
led to an ever-intensifying media panic. Strange that
this should suddenly happen now, when Blair is
having real difficulty selling Bush's oil war to his
cabinet colleagues, let alone the public. There have
been stories in the media since last year about
random terrorists of north African origin.
'Terror attack on Tube planned' was one
sensationalist headline in December, though the men
arrested for it were later released without charge,
like some of those arrested this time. But the
releases haven't made it into most of the mainstream
media while, with a couple of exceptions, journalists
have remained silent on the nature of ricin. This has
led people to believe a mass gas attack in the style of
Winston Churchill may have been planned.
The truth is that ricin is a lethal toxin. But it has to
be delivered into the body to work, so it's a weapon of
individual terror or assassination rather than the
indiscriminate terror that an F-15, say, is capable of.
The most infamous use of ricin was when Bulgarian
secret police murdered dissident Georgi Markov in
London in 1978, using a poisoned umbrella.
It's perhaps worth speculating why police made such
an elemental error when they arrested the men in
Manchester. In my experience, they're not slow in
handcuffing people. And this was an anti-terrorist
operation, which implies they at least thought the
men were dangerous. Did someone higher up in
Greater Manchester Police tell the officers to go easy,
or was it just a cock-up? It's unlikely we'll ever know
the full facts, but it's certainly convenient for Blair if
he can pretend these men have a link to Iraq. This,
however, may prove difficult.
The mainstream media have focused on the number
of Algerians coming to Britain and claiming asylum,
and how some of them may be terrorists. There's
been precious little attempt to understand why
Algerians might flee their homeland, why they might
turn to terror and why they may not want to go to
France.
In 1991, the Algerian generals scrapped elections
because the Islamic Salvation Front won them. Since
then, over 80,000 people have been slaughtered.
European, primarily French, intelligence services
knew all about this, but guess what - Algeria has oil
and gas, so they've kept schtum.
In 1997, Observer journalist John Sweeney wrote, "so
why the silence? Let us not underestimate the power
of the state of Algeria. It squats on huge oil and gas
deposits worth billions. It supplies the gas that
warms Madrid and Rome. It has a £1.8 billion
contract with British Petroleum. No western
government wants to make trouble with the state of
Algeria. Its wealth buys silence, buys complicity.
Since the military junta overthrew the country's
democracy, 80,000 have been killed: Europe's gas
bill."
The sad truth is that the Algerian military behave in
the same way Saddam Hussein does. They suppress
all opposition, particularly working class, ethnic and
Islamist groups. The only difference is that their
paymasters haven't fallen out with them yet.
Martin H.
See the current issue of Black Flag for a report of the
Kabylie revolt against the Algerian military
government. Available from Freedom Press, price £1
plus 50p postage in the UK, £1 elsewhere.
*******
********
****** The A-Infos News Service ******
News about and of interest to anarchists
******
COMMANDS: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
REPLIES: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
HELP: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/
INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org
-To receive a-infos in one language only mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] the message:
unsubscribe a-infos
subscribe a-infos-X
where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code)
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
