In recent years the Army has been stepping up its recruitment drive mainly due to the fact they have been fighting in two bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  However more shockingly the Army has been using slogans and setting up enlisting centres in socially deprived areas to specifically attract poorer, unemployed working class people.  In addition to this we have seen public transport, mainly buses, become a centre of their advertising campaign.  Why would they do this?  Well buses are on the whole used by poorer people who are more likely to either be in a low paid job or not in employment.  When people are on the dole, can’t find a job and depressed are promised a job, fun, travelling and prospects they are obviously attracted to army life and the apparent positivty it entails.

Jobs Jobs Jobs

What the glossy posters fail to mention is that you are going to be fighting another persons war in a strange foreign land and have a high probability of being torn to shreds by an I.E.D (Improvised Explosive Device).  You may find employment and a living wage but is that wage really worth it when you will cease to live?

When you examine the motives behind these recruitment drives into working class areas it is sickening.  They are quite literally exploiting young people to die for them based around tall tales of fun, sun and sand in Helmand.  This Gary Tank Commander like portrayal of Army  life is being fed over and over to each new recruit that walks through the recruitment office.   Historically the working class for centuries have been the backbone or to put it bluntly the cannon fodder of the Army and it looks like the Army wish for it to remain the same in the 21st Century.

It’s a depressing scenario now being played out throughout housing schemes in the country.  ‘Nae job nae money fuck it I’ll join the army.’  What can be done to try and stop people becoming tomorrows statistic?

I would like to see the development of picketing of these recruitment centres to try and educate people on the truth of why they are being targeted and what’s in store for them when they touch down in Helmand.  Hopefully this is something the SSY can instigate in the coming months.  With the numbers unemployed set to soar it’s an issue which will get worse.  We need to put the message out there that it is not worth your life to die for another persons war or for a war you don’t believe in.   I have no doubt in my mind the Army will step up in the summer months their attempts to enlist young working class people.

It’s no coincidence that they will be seen on a high street near you this summer.  With those in school enjoying their summer holidays they will be seeking out young people to fill their brains with tales of wonderful times being shot at, blown to bits and suffering from mental illnesses for the rest of their adult lives if they are lucky enough to survive.

Let’s put out a positive message to our fellow working class youths that they are worth more than being mere cannon fodder to generals of the army.

Russians, shortarse Frenchmen, artistic pictures of horses and people who duet with Blue: Just some of the things that the US government HATES

The publication last week of the first few batches of leaked US embassy cables has brought whistleblower website WikiLeaks – as well as the fate of its founder and editor in chief Julian Assange – dramatically to the front pages and top bills of news media around the world. As this article was being drafted, Assange, the website’s principal spokesperson and main public figure, is reported to be have been taken into custody in London, in connection with alleged sex offences in Stockholm in August this year. Unlike some others, SSY prefers to take rape allegations seriously, at least until substantial evidence suggests we should do otherwise.

To deal with this issue first, first of all let’s say something – Wikileaks is not Julian Assange, and Julian Assange is not Wikileaks. Attempting to repress and punish Wikileaks for being inconvenient and worrying to the establishment is not the same as a man being arrested because he is suspected of the very serious crime of rape. Let’s not confuse Assange with Wikileaks. Wikileaks (with Assange as its public face), as we will go on to discuss, has made a brilliant contribution to anti-imperialist activism and we absolutely applaud it for that. Do not let the fact that Wikileaks has got the right ideas about freedom of information blind us to the fact that rape is one of the most reprehensible crimes someone can commit, and that violence (sexual, physical, psychological, emotional) against women (which the overwhelming majority of the time goes unpunished) should be opposed in all its forms – and perpetrators brought to justice where it has been committed.. We offer no opinion on whether Julian Assange is guilty of the crimes that he has now been charged with. It wouldn’t be appropriate. But neither is it appropriate for socialists to promote the position that the women who have made allegations against him should be disbelieved, simply because Assange’s organisation Wikileaks do good things, or because of what the women have said on the internet in the past, or because they are women – which is what a lot of the ‘Defend Assange’ stuff out there on the interwebs is boiling down to. Just because we consider someone to be a “good man” who promotes some of the same ideals that we do does not mean that, if they HAVE abused women, they should get away with it, sticking it to the man yeah? Many men, men who consider themselves to be left wing, are using this arrest as an excuse to propagate often repeated rape myths, and this is unacceptable. Rape myths should always be challenged, no matter how suspicious you find the timing of Assange’s arrest. It’s sad to see people we respect, like Naomi Wolf join in the reactionary smear campaign against the women who reported Assange to the Swedish authorities. This is a misguided approach to anti-imperialism. You have to be anti-patriarchy too, or sorry, you’re not a socialist. For a brilliant article on the meaning of the word ‘consent’, visit Feministe. No means no, and tricking someone in to consenting to sex is rape. That goes in all cases, not just the ones where there’s no left wing icons who might be involved. Now, on to the substantial issue of the leaked cables..

WikiLeaks was founded in 2006, originally adopting a wiki-style of organisation (similar to Wikipedia, where users could freely upload, edit and discuss documents. However it has since taken on a far tighter editorial policy, as it became clear the wiki format wasn’t appropriate for the organisation’s aims.

The ongoing release of US embassy cables – taken from the US military internet system SIPRNet (insert Terminator joke here) and representing a database of some quarter of a million secret communications from US embassies around the world – is just the latest in a long line of high profile stories broken by the organisation.

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We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight the Taliban

Today is Remembrance Sunday, a day when we stop for a moment of silence, or watch veterans’ parades, or wear red poppies on our tops “to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts”.

It was originally named the Earl Haig Appeal after the man who caused tens of thousands of needless deaths in World War I. There is nothing to celebrate about the first World War. It was a completely unjustified war for colonies, wealth and markets.

Today, Remembrance Sunday is basically a state-enforced institution, where criticism and dissent of the principle of celebrating this is not on any level tolerated, and this year it has reached fever pitch. Virtually every UK citizen is subjected to a form of hysterical bullying to participate. No one is allowed to be featured on the BBC unless they are wearing a red poppy, all political leaders wear them -- even if it deeply offends the people that they are visiting -- and children are forced to buy and sell them in schools.

This year, it has arrived in a fanfare of glitz and glamour, with the commercialisation of Poppy Day more noticeable than ever before. The Saturdays opened the ‘celebrations’ in London this year, inexplicably. On The X Factor, that barometer of our society’s values, the judges wore £84.99 diamond encrusted poppies, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘conflict diamonds’. (This is of course unfair, we all know that Cheryl Cole has a deep sympathy and understanding for the sacrifices made at Ypres and the Somme, and is an avid fan of the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen). Obviously you’ve got to spend more to remember more.

At the heart of the “celebrations” this year has been the commodification of wholesale slaughter and the monetization of mass murder. The poppy has become a fashion statement, one that’s supposed to display your commitment to Britain, to ‘our heroes’ and to the continued fetishisation of the ‘glory’ of war. Wearing a poppy for many people is genuinely about remembering those who were forcefully drafted against their will into a horrific world war, but you can now buy t-shirts that proclaim ‘I *poppy* our heroes”. In today’s world, the ‘heroes’ fixation is a direct endorsement of the imperialist and unjust wars Britain is still undertaking in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earl Haig: how can he be a hero? He doesn't even have any superpowers. Get back to us when you've been bitten by a radioactive spider.

Another reason people buy poppies and the various new related merchandise is because the poppy fund is a charity which provides for veteran soldiers. It’s an indictment of our fucked up priorities that we expend so much energy talking about how much we value the heroism of fighting for Britain in wars, yet it’s left to a charity to provide for those who have survived them. One in eleven prisoners in the UK formerly served in the armed forces. Up to a quarter of homeless people are former servicemen and women. There are countless veterans suffering from mental health issues who aren’t receiving proper support (although at least we no longer execute returned soldiers for suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder like we used to). The politicians that brandish their poppies are directly responsible for this -- they don’t actually care about veterans -- they prefer the idea of veterans to the reality of what life is like for those who have seen the horrors of war. The poppies they wear allow them to justify their inaction. It shouldn’t be left to charity donations to pay to look after veterans.

Here at SSY, we don’t agree with glorifying war and British imperialism. The actions of British troops today in Afghanistan and Iraq are far from heroic. For decades, the memory of the evils of fascism has been used to justify other imperialist conflicts which are in no way comparable, e.g. Kenya (even today, British forces based in Kenya for training continue to rape local women with impunity, which has been going on for three decades; these women are slandered by the British, and rejected by their own communities as well), Malaya, Yemen and Ireland. Remembrance Day, alongside the far more blatant Armed Forces Day, has been hijacked to promote and endorse the militarisation of British life and to encourage young people to sign up, for the “glory” of being remembered as a “hero” after you’ve been blown to bits fighting for the geopolitical and ideological aims of the elite who will never represent you.

We’re not the only ones who don’t appreciate every part of the message of the ideology of Remembrance Day. Legitimate dissent is not tolerated when it comes to Poppy Day -- just look at the recent “ban sick bastards” style headlines when the Green Brigade, a left-wing Celtic fan group had a half time banner display in protest at the club’s decision to impose a poppy on the Celtic shirt, going against the wishes of the majority of fans. In Glasgow, it’s fair to say that there’s a lot of people who don’t appreciate being forced to participate in a celebration of British troops who caused misery in the north of Ireland for so many years. Like SSY, the Green Brigade has no problem with the individual choice to wear a red poppy, but rather to the bullying nature of the political campaign which expects everyone to wear poppies and to support the cause without reservation.

On a state visit to China last week, David Cameron and pals caused offence by wearing the poppy, without thinking of the fact that in the 19th Century British forces went to war with China to force them to accept imports of our opium (which is of course derived from poppies). This is a clear example of why a little bit more historical memory about the role of British forces and the British Empire in the world is necessary. The peoples who were wronged by Britain haven’t forgotten, even if we have.

This is what our generation does to remember the war dead. Not in our name, we don't want it to happen again

An official alternative to the poppy cult is the White Poppy Campaign, advocated by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The idea is to remember the deaths of all who have died in wars, not just soldiers, and to advocate peace, not militarisation. This campaign has not been without controversy. In 1986, Maggie Thatcher (gonny just die already?) expressed her “deep distaste” for the white poppy symbol, and their spread in Canada has proved contentious to the point of being banned from being sold at markets and has drawn public criticism from the Royal Canadian Legion. You’re unlikely to see a white poppy on tv, where red poppies are ubiquitous throughout November.

The above views might seem controversial to some, but this year, veterans (and even the Queen’s composer) have spoken out against the use of the red poppy as a “political tool”. Former SAS soldier Ben Griffin rightly stated that

“Calling our soldiers heroes is an attempt to stifle criticism of the wars we are fighting in.

It leads us to that most subtle piece of propaganda: You might not support the war but you must support our heroes, ergo you support the war.”

Remembrance Day should be about honouring those who died needlessly in needless wars. The best way to honour the dead, and the point of remembering, is to ensure it never happens again. Anti-militarism and dissent against war is the way to honour those people, not diamond encrusted poppies, military parades and the stifling of dissent. As a youth organisation, we are proud of our record of opposing military recruitment and the lies spread to young working class folk to persuade them to become cannon fodder for the imperialist war machine that is the British Army.

Last word goes to the late Harry Patch, the last surviving person to have served in World War I

“Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims.”

An armed forces day message to unarmed civil rights protesters

Today the city I call home didn’t feel like home for me. The city centre of Glasgow, like towns and cities all over Scotland, played host to a massive display of weaponry, Union Jacks, and mass recruitment to the British military.

Today is armed forces day, the second time that an annual “celebration” has been held, allegedly to “Show Your Support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community.”

I want to make clear from the outset that I have no problem with charities collecting money to support soldiers and veterans. God knows, the way that people who leave the military are treated by the state, they need it. 20,000 veterans, traumatised and psychologically damaged from their experiences, are in prison, probation or parole. As many as a quarter of those sleeping rough in the UK may have been in the forces, and there are hundreds of veterans on the streets or in hostels. Then there’s the harder to measure damage the wars the British government has engaged in has caused to British troops: the mental health problems, the alcoholism, the divorces, the suicides.

But you wouldn’t have heard much about that today. In Glasgow, although the charities that pick up the pieces of these broken lives were round the fringes of George Square, the heart of the city centre was instead given over to a massive celebration of British imperialism, war and military recruitment.

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Raging, or just constipated: McChrystal

This week Obama sacked his top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. What the affair proves is that, for US commanders, it doesn’t matter how many innocent civilians you kill, or deaths you cover up; what really matters is slagging off colleagues.

McChrystal had given exclusive access to a reporter from Rolling Stone, who went on to report some of the stuff he said about other top US officials in Afghanistan. Basically, he and his team don’t think very highly of them.

McChrystal and his aides said of Obama that he was “unprepared” and “intimidated”, and of US Vice-President Joe Biden, “Who’s that? Joe Bite Me?” They called a meeting with a French minister about war policy “fucking gay.” They say the President’s national security adviser is “a joke”. They call the President’s special adviser to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, “a wounded animal”, and react to him contacting them with “Not another fucking email from Holbrooke!”

The comments are so extraordinary they have made some people ask if McChrystal was actually trying to get fired to avoid taking the blame for failure in Afghanistan. Obama has made a promise to start pulling out troops next July, but this is of course dependent on the situation being stabilised to the US’ liking, something which looks just as unlikely as it has done for the last few years. Certainly there seems to be a recognition by pretty much everyone interviewed in the article that the US is not going to succeed in getting what it wants from Afghanistan. In a long piece, the words “win” or “victory” are not uttered by the general or his team. One commander who does say win says:

“It’s not going to look like a win, smell like a win or taste like a win. This is going to end in an argument.”

But a perhaps more convincing explanation is that McChrystal is a product of a society that now accepts permanent war as a part of reality, and glorifies the soldier above the political “wimps” and “pen pushers” back home. The US is an incredibly militarised society, a process which has accelerated dramatically over the past decade. The idea of unending war for global dominance has become acceptable in a way that it wouldn’t have been not that long ago. McChrystal spoke out as part of a culture that loves “mavericks” who ignore what those above them think, causing maximum destruction in the process.

Movies and popular culture help create the context in which McChrystal felt he could publicly speak his mind so dramatically. His backstory reads a perfect action movie character. As a student he defied authorities and was a hard drinker, before going into the special forces to command black ops on behalf of the US government. This is the kind of character who is constantly glorified to the American public. His team of special advisers, who surely must share some of the blame for his gaffes, was composed of special forces veterans, and called themselves ‘Team America.’

The reporter for Rolling Stone himself was suckered into this atmosphere, gleefully describing how, after the “fucking gay” dinner, Team America found the “least Gucci” (unfancy) Paris bar to get “shit faced”, dance, sing incoherent songs about Afghanistan and declare how they would die for each other.

America's top people in Afghanistan

What the tales of macho heroism ignore however is the truth of what a special forces based, counter insurgency strategy actually means. Sacking McChrystal, Obama declared he was making “a change of personnel not of policy.” That is, the plan that McChrystal fought for in Afghanistan remains in place.

The plan is basically to flood Afghanistan with US troops, who will carry out special forces missions to assassinate the networks of opposition, gaining intelligence on how people organise against the US presence and eliminating them. In Iraq, McChrystal headed death squads that systematically hunted US opponents. The article refers to this operation as a “killing machine”, and McChrystal as “a terrorist hunter.”

The only problem with this plan is that it’s been shown again and again not to work. Leave aside all your preconceptions of Jack Bauer lone warrior types from movies, and examine the places were these kinds of tactics have been used before. Algeria, where the French were defeated by the national resistance and independence achieved in 1962. Or Vietnam, where year upon year of American actions failed to remove the political support for the National Liberation Front among the people.

The new US commander, veteran of death squads in Iraq General David Petraeus, wrote a manual on counter insurgency that praises Operation Phoenix in Vietnam. This programme used capture, torture, assassinations, terrorism and infiltration to disrupt the civilian population of Vietnam who supported the Communist resistance to the US. It targeted civilian members of the Communist Party, and led to untold deaths and misery. At least 26,000 people were killed. One former US serviceman called it “a sterile depersonalised murder programme.”

Insurgencies, or guerilla wars, fundamentally depend on the support of the people. Mao famously once wrote that “the guerilla must swim in the people as the fish swim in the sea.” Therefore, counter insurgency programmes inevitably end up killing a lot of civilians.

A good example of what the policy means for people in Afghanistan is a night time raid in Khataba earlier this year. US special forces attacked a home, killing a teenage girl, two pregnant women, alongside an Afghan police officer and government prosecutor who were on their fucking side.

On discovering they had made a mistake, the soldiers then carved their bullets out of the bodies with knives, and carved more out of the walls of their home. They washed blood from the scene with alcohol, and went on to tie up the corpses, claiming that was how they had found the scene. McChrystal, as overall commander, supported this cover up. It was only exposed because of journalists who were willing to dig a little deeper. However, McChrystal has suffered no reprimand as a result. If it had turned out that the men in the house had been “enemy combatants,” you can bet they wouldn’t even have bothered with the cover up.

Death covered up: Pat Tillman

McChrystal’s only other major previous brush with trouble was the affair of Pat Tillman. Tillman was a celebrity recruit for the military, a former NFL American Football player, who very publicly joined the special forces after 9/11, in what was a propaganda coup for the military and government. He was later accidentally killed by his own troops in Afghanistan, something which McChrystal helped cover up by signing off on a falsified report aiming to make it look like he had been killed by hostile fire. But even when this was exposed he got away with it, even though this time it was an American celebrity dead rather than a (to the US public) anonymous Afghan girl.

So the conclusion to take away from all this is clear: the US government doesn’t care about civilian deaths, or even that much about the deaths of their own grunts. Deaths are what they send commanders abroad to cause. But when you start fucking with your fellow officials and commanders, well then your job really is on the line.

Over at the Israeli Defence Force Propaganda Mouthpiece Spokesperson blog, they’ve put up pictures of the dangerous tools weapons and knives used by activists to defend themselves against attack by Israeli naval commandos.

Here’s a devastating collection of stuff you would need on a boat use to overthrow one of the most heavily armed states in the world. You can see such weapons as hammers, spanners and pliers that could never have a single peaceful use on a ship that sails the sea. Also, note that these deadly terrorists must have seen Shaun of the Dead, and noted the potential for records and CDs to be used as deadly shurikens.

Here’s a close up of the six-boat flotilla’s collection of kitchen and pocket knives deadly swords. These could easily be used to devastate a loaf of bread Israeli commando, and whip up a nice wee sandwich stab them to death.

The thing is, this pile of knives, to the casual viewer, looks kind of scary. If this were a street fight in Glasgow, the guy that owned that collection would be someone to worry about. Unfortunately for the propaganda blog, this wasn’t a knife fight in a scheme. The aid workers on the boats clearly actually just had these knives for practical purposes on a boat. If they were really intending to get in a fight with Israeli special forces, you’d think they’d prepare a little better. Especially when you have a look at what they would be up against.

This is the IWI Galil MAR, the standard issue weapon used by Israeli naval commandos. We don’t know for sure this was the rifle used to kill unarmed aid workers, but it probably was. It’s a sub-machine gun designed for close quarters combat and “crowd control”, rather than real military operations against other armies, as evidenced by the fact it’s not much use for penetrating body armour. The reason for this is it’s meant to be used against people who won’t be wearing any, in this case peaceful people trying to bring aid to the people of Gaza.

Here’s a picture of the highly trained, expensively equipped Shayetet 13 naval commandos. If the picture of the knives above gave you any sympathy for these guys, we hope we’ve dispelled that. These men boarded a boat carrying aid by helicopter, and conducted a completely unprovoked assault on a group of aid workers trying to bring help to the people that other Israeli soldiers have kept under a military siege in Gaza.

They used weapons that the Israeli government can only afford because of generous military and economic support from its western allies, including Britain, to murder at least 19 people in cold blood. At least three of the people who were on the boats,  were from Scotland. One of those, Hassan Ghani, a Stirling Uni student from Glasgow, remains unaccounted for, and his father spoke to the demo this evening in Glasgow.

Since we last reported on Thailand, the unelected Thai government has completed its brutal crackdown on the protest camp in the heart of Bangkok’s business and shopping district.

Showing that they valued the property of the area, and their own power, more than human life, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajjiva ordered troops to violently clear the site. In the process, at least 88 people were killed by army snipers and assault tanks. Over 1000 were injured.

Thailand’s 20th century history is littered with the intervention of the army to protect the aristocratic and business elite’s power against the majority of Thais who live in poverty. Now once again, Thais are living under a military curfew, with mass censorship of the media and internet and hundreds of political prisoners facing long sentences or possible execution.

Among the many prisoners facing trial is a British man, Jeff Savage, who lives in Thailand and was part of the protests.

But despite their short term retaking of the streets, the government has solved nothing by using violence against the overwhelmingly poor and working class Red Shirt protesters. The huge economic and class inequality in Thailand remains, and the poor are demanding democracy in order to try and get a government that will do something about it.

In parliament itself, opposition politicians have voiced their anger about the way the government has conducted itself, calling for Eton educated Abhisit to be impeached.

“Up until now, almost 100 people have died. Can you continue reading the budget and balance sheets like that? Do you have any feelings?” said Surapong Tovichakchaikul, an opposition member from Chiang Mai, a northern city where support is strong for the Red Shirts. Regional inequalities are also an important factor in the division of Thailand. The Red Shirts are particularly strong among the peasants and small farmers of the Thai north and northeast, which are ethnically and linguistically different from both central and southern Thailand. The peoples of these regions have been bounded to the rest of the country by borders established in the times of western colonialism.

Further evidence that Thailand is riven by discontent was the news that two bombs exploded in the south of the country this week, set by Islamic insurgents who want an independent south. The south of Thailand was an autonomous Islamic enclave before being annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century.

School contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson Abhisit Vejjajjiva

Fundamentally, the conflict in Thailand is about the desire of the traditional nobility and business elite to hold on to power. They were threatened when, for the first time in Thai history, the 1997 constitution allowed both houses of parliament to be directly elected. This led to the rise of billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, who was able to fill the vacuum on the left of Thai politics once filled by the Communist Party.

In the absence of a credible left alternative, Thaksin established policies like the first universal healthcare scheme and economic support for small farmers that won him huge support among the Thai poor. Ousted by a military coup in 2006, he now lives in exile and the current Thai regime is seeking his arrest through Interpol.

The demand for democracy by the mass of Thai people is, therefore, a demand to be allowed to vote in a government that will represent their interests. They are frustrated in this by the so-called ‘Human Rights’ organisations and NGOs, who support the monarchy and anti-democracy, middle class Yellow Shirt movement, which has used violence and intimidation. The National Human Rights Commission is now actively taking part in the prosecution of Red Shirts.

The complicity of the monarchy in the current crisis has for virtually the first time in Thai history brought out open criticism of the institution, and the radicalisation that is likely to follow the government crackdown can only increase this. The current King Bhumibol has been on the throne for 55 years, and is ailing in health. He still retains widespread support, especially concentrated in the more well off. Check out this scene from the national Thai TV awards, where an audience of the entertainment elite applaud a pro-monarchy statement by one of those winning an award. Such total shows of total submission to the monarchy are common among the Thai elite. (The term “Father” refers to the King.)

However, his son and heir apparent, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, is held in much less esteem by most people. As a military officer, he participated directly in crackdowns against the Communist Party in the 70s. And his personal life has drawn a lot of criticism: he has been married several times, abandoning different wives and children. In Thailand, laws that prevent offences against the monarchy have been used to silence republican opposition. That’s why Thai socialist Giles ji Ungpakorn, who we’ve linked to before, lives in exile in Britain: he faces charges for criticising the monarchy at home. However, the Crown Prince has gone even further than that. In divorce proceedings, he accused a former wife of being totally responsible for the breakdown of their relationship, and she couldn’t answer back for fear of contravening the law!

It’s virtually certain that although crushed militarily for now the Red Shirt movement will re-emerge, quite possible greatly radicalised by this show of state violence. The fact of the matter is that the crackdown is a hollow victory for the Thai elite, for instead of taking any steps to resolve the contradictions at the heart of Thai society, their actions have only heightened them. The future of Thailand as a country is highly uncertain.

A protester shot by government snipers

Since we last reported on the situation a couple of days ago, the standoff between pro-democracy protesters and the unelected government in Thailand has escalated dramatically.

Troops, acting under orders from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, have begun firing live ammunition on the protest camp in the middle of the capital Bangkok. At least three people have been killed, including two unarmed photographers. Military officer turned Red Shirt leader Seh Daeng, who we previously featured footage of, is also reported to be in a critical condition after being attacked by snipers.

Bangkok is reportedly a warzone, with protesters struggling to fight back against advancing government troops with improvised weapons, including bamboo staves, golf clubs and homemade rockets. Below there’s some footage:

There’s also reports of clashes in other parts of the country. The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the Red Shirts official name, has issued the following statement:

“1. The Government must stop the use of force, cease fire and immediately withdraw troops back to barracks. The Government must end the State of Emergency which has been an excuse to kill citizens.
2. Parliament should be dissolved immediately, and Abhisit and Deputy Sutep must step down from public office since they have no legitimacy.
3. Those responsible for the violence, the assassination attempt against Seh Daeng, and the killings of at least two civilians and numerous injuries, must face the justice system, just like the UDD leaders will do because of Government instigated charges.
If the Government does not accept these demands, the situation in Bangkok and other parts of the country will be extremely serious.”

There is already a civil war situation.

The Red Shirts are made up overwhelmingly of the poorest people from the Thai urban and rural working class. They are protesting the fact that the Thai army, at the behest of the aristocratic and business elite, and with the complicity of the King (who’s the richest monarch in the world), overthrew a democratically elected government in 2006. Although far from perfect, that government had won the support of the poor by carrying out some wealth redistribution and instituting the country’s first universal healthcare scheme. These actions angered the rich, who had it overthrown, and ultimately replaced with the current government, under Eton educated Abhisit.

Protester fires a homemade rocket in defence of their camp from advancing troops

The Red Shirts’ demand was simple: they wanted Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call immediate elections, so that Thailand could have a democratically elected government. However, if the Thai government wants to push its conflict with the Red Shirt movement, which has proved powerful enough to put hundreds of thousands of poor people in the street, to the point of civil war, then it’s likely the situation could spiral out of control. The majority of Thais who live in poverty are sick of the exploitation and domination of the traditional elite, who today once again are using the force of the military to try and crush them.

Update: Reports now of up to 50 people murdered by the troops firing indiscriminately at protesters. Those shot include reporters, a paramedic, and a 10 year old boy, who is in critical condition. Possibly hundreds of injured.

The acquiescence of the King in the state violence is pushing more and more Red Shirts towards a republican position.

After the break, I’ve added images from Giles ji Ungpakorn’s blog, showing the results of the government attacks, some of which could be a bit disturbing.

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. . .is that these guys’ skills are clearly being wasted in Afghanistan, and they should be back home contributing to their communities.

The real question? Who's under his hands, just out of shot?

In an absolutely bizarre move, retired senior US General and former NATO commander John Sheehan has attempted to blame gay soldiers for what has been called the worst massacre in Europe since World War 2.

In 1995 a small force of 400 Dutch peacekeepers guarding the Bosnian town of Srebrenica was overwhelmed by Serb forces who went on to kill thousands of Bosnian Muslim men.

Now Sheehan has come out to say that the reason this happened is because Europeans have “socialised” their militaries.

“They declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialise their military – that includes the unionisation of their militaries, it includes open homosexuality. That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war,” he said.

“The case in point that I’m referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs. The battalion was under-strength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them. That was the largest massacre in Europe since world war two.”

The General feels awkward: He's not hugging back

In testimony to Congress, Sheehan tried to depict gay people as in some way insanely sex-crazed, claiming that same-sex attraction would undermine a unit more than attraction to the opposite sex in a unit containing men and women.

He also tried to claim that Dutch senior officers told him that having gay soldiers “sapped morale” and contributed to the disaster. His claims have been dismissed as “total nonsense” and “not worthy of a soldier” by Dutch officials. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands said his comments were “shameful”, “unthinkable” and “beneath anything”.

Presumably if the soldiers had been fully red blooded, beef munching, super hetero troops like the American Army, then a force of 400 on a peacekeeping mission would never have been overwhelmed by a larger force of hardcore paramilitaries. I mean, just look at how hard they are in Iraq and Afghanistan, relying on air power from thousands of feet above, satellite guided missiles and FUCKING KILLER ROBOTS to fight for them.

Honestly, is there actually ANYTHING Americans won’t blame gays for?