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31 FT readers against the war -- rank: 1000

In an opinion poll released yesterday, support for the war in Britain had shot up to (I quote from memory) 54% against about 30% against. So Blair's gamble that people would rally round the war, even without UN approval, has been proved correct. Possibly they big show of a full transparent debate provided the moral equivalent of that sense of due process. However the poll was taken at the weekend before the mounting troubles of the campaign. One detail was interesting, although the base numbers ...

Document Size:	5747
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Mar 26 01:11:02 PST 2003

32 Fwd: coalition close to crisis -- rank: 1000

>Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 00:49:58 +0000 >To: PEN-L >From: Chris Burford <cburford at gn.apc.org> >Subject: coalition close to crisis > >BBC2's news late night flagship announces that Blair is to fly to meet >Bush. No explanation or spin given. An assumption that it will be >presented as a routine update. BUT BUT BUT > >In another exceptionally well informed briefing of the military position, >so good that it seems likely the British government is using it t ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Mar 24 16:59:31 PST 2003

33 Brave black frags officers -- rank: 1000

London 8:45am For legal reasons it may perhaps be easier for me to post this than a citizen of the US. This morning the BBC handled without comment as a technical matter with a brief clip of a black soldier being led away. The incredible mystery from 11pm last night London time, of how 7-8 leaders of a US division could have a grenade rolled into their tent at 2 am, became revealed. Last night there was helpless speculation that this must have been the work of the terrorist group Al Ansar suppos ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Mar 23 07:33:15 PST 2003

34 IDS prays for British army -- rank: 1000

This is the signal that Blair has decided to go to war >The leader of the British opposition, Iain Duncan Smith, met Mr Blair on >Thursday morning and said he had been told a "second resolution is now >probably less likely than at any time before". > >Mr Duncan Smith reported the prime minister as blaming the "intransigence" >of France in rejecting Britain's efforts to find a compromise second UN >resolution.. > >"That, and to a lesser extent t ...

Document Size:	7305
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Mar 13 06:36:10 PST 2003

35 Russia tries to steady dollar! -- rank: 1000

Yes, seriously. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2467712,00.html >Sunday March 9, 2003 11:10 PM > >MOSCOW (AP) - The finance minister urged Russians not to shift their >savings out of dollars Sunday, saying there is no need to worry about the >U.S. currency falling dramatically despite recent declines. > >Russia is the biggest dollar economy outside the United States, and by >some estimates its citizens have tucked away as much as $40 billion in >mat ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Mar 10 00:01:42 PST 2003

36 "N Korea might accept inspections" -- rank: 1000

>under the auspices of a new bilateral understanding with the United States. After the contempt shown in the Security Council yesterday by the US and UK, the rest of the international community will completely understand this condition. Chris Burford London

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Mar 7 23:41:10 PST 2003

37 "No legal case for Iraq attack" -- rank: 1000

>No case for Iraq attack say lawyers > >Michael White and Patrick Wintour Friday March 7, 2003 The Guardian > >Tony Blair last night faced fresh pressure to abandon the threat of war >against Iraq when 16 eminent academic lawyers warned him that the White >House doctrine of "pre-emptive self-defence" has no justification under >international law. > >Not only do all the UN security council's existing resolutions on Iraq - >including 1441 passed unanimous ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Mar 7 00:02:05 PST 2003

38 Gallup poll -- rank: 1000

But the poll is not asking how support varies depending on whether the UN backs it or not. >Gallup on War: Pretty much the same > >From: Kevin Robert Dean (qualiall at union.org.za) >Date: Fri Mar 07 2003 - 00:33:30 EST Why has Daschle decided to tilt his hand now and suggest that the timing of the war may not be right? I note the strongly increasing proportion of those who put the war as their strongest anxiety. Why has Bush had to address the nation in what comes over on the BBC re ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Mar 6 23:51:24 PST 2003

39 economic terrorism -- rank: 1000

I notice that Pakistani authorities are already proudly announcing that the leading Al Qaeda suspect is giving information - about planning attacks on economic targets in the USA and middle east. They should not boast. In fact their US masters, if they are wise, will keep very quiet about it, and will shut them up. Late finance capitalism cannot be protected against economic terrorism. Why is Tony Blair having to negotiate today with the surrogates of the IRA? Bush does not yet realise that it i ...

Document Size:	5087
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Mar 4 00:30:59 PST 2003

40 Next in the "movement" -- rank: 1000

>Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 17:08:33 -0800 >From: "Ian Murray" <seamus2001 at attbi.com> >Subject: Re: re Next > >C'mon Chris, the issue is not issues, but the institutions! >IMF/WB/WTO/Federal Reserve/Treasury/Pentagon and the materiality/practices >that are constitutive of their contestable and unstable legitimacy. > >Ian >Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2003 20:52:21 -0500 >From: Chuck0 <chuck at mutualaid.org> >Subject: Re: re Next > > >Movemen ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Mar 4 00:22:30 PST 2003

41 re Next -- rank: 1000

> >From: Max B. Sawicky (sawicky at bellatlantic.net) >Date: Mon Mar 03 2003 - 09:22:57 EST > > >What we do until the shooting starts is plain enough: more of >the same. > >But the next question is what to do after it starts, while >fighting is going on. > >And the question after that is what to do, supposing there >is a cakewalk for the U.S. military, followed by a volatile >Afghanistan-type situation. My preference is for something broader than a peace ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Mar 3 16:54:32 PST 2003

42 to the wire in Turkey! -- rank: 1000

>The government's resolution was not able to get the simple majority vote >in the parliament; hence it was rejected. Out of 534 parliamentarians >only 264 supported the resolution when at least 268 supporters were >needed --251 opposed, 19 abstained. > > >As the parliament was in this 5 hour, rather turbulent closed session, >hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters were on the streets of Ankara. Congratulations on the courage and perseverance of those inside and ou ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sat Mar 1 10:32:39 PST 2003

43 Blair poor, IDS worse -- rank: 1000

More evidence of how Blair's centrism leaves him vulnerable to disillusion, but weakens the Conservative Party even more. Including suggestions that Conservative weakness has more profound reasons than personality ones. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$SDEFFNHRB2ON5QFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2003/02/28/ngov28.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/02/28/ixportal.html

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Feb 27 18:52:40 PST 2003

44 Blair suffers...IDS in peril -- rank: 1000

>Wed Feb 26 2003 - 20:36:04 EST > > >Not so. In fact one of the bye products of Blair's centrist politics is > >that the Conservative Party has virtually no where to go. Tonight Duncan > >Smith was warned by senior party leaders essentially that he is on > >probation. > >What about Kenneth "The Course Of War Had Been Decided Some Time Ago In >Washington" Clarke? What are his chances of replacing Smith? > >Carl Ian Duncan Smith (nothing as co ...

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Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Feb 27 00:08:39 PST 2003

45 Blair suffers huge rebellion -- rank: 1000

>BTW - does anyone have any clue why Mr. Cool Britania has transformed >himself into the mouthpiece of Bush administration, siding with the >Conservatives against his own party? > >Wojtek Not so. In fact one of the bye products of Blair's centrist politics is that the Conservative Party has virtually no where to go. Tonight Duncan Smith was warned by senior party leaders essentially that he is on probation. Blair's systematic centrism within UK politics has allowed the centre of g ...

Document Size:	10386
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Feb 26 16:15:47 PST 2003