THE HANDSTAND

AUGUST 2007

PEACEWORK:

Draft 'Constitution'for Europe

The Draft Constitution for Europe has now been finalised and we can see what the Government will be placing before us in a referendum at some date not yet revealed.These notes relate only to security policy as that is the area of interest of CND.

Some of the proposals are framed in the rather vague language that is often used in EU treaties. The European Court of Justice will be able to judge whether Ireland has followed the requirement to 'refrain from action contrary to the Union,' interests,and whether it has supported the common foreign policy 'unreservedly,' and whether it has upheld the Union's'position' in international organisations. However, the more definite commitments on security policy are exempted from the jurisdiction of the Court.

There is a "flexibility clause" under which the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs could sign the country up to measures not provided for specifically in the Draft Constitution, supposedly for promoting peace or resolving conflict, without referring back to the Irish people or even the Dail.

There is to be a European Foreign Minister who will obviously outrank our own Minister and we can expect more co-ordination of foreign policy than there is at the moment.

Ireland has to promise to improve its military capability. The Irish government might find itself participating in the political direction of military activity even if it was not part of the military operation. And there is a commitment to use military resources to help other member states if they are the victim of a terrorist attack.

Probably the most dangerous area is on the subject of 'mutual defence'. In changes to the Draft Constitution introduced after the Convention had finished sitting, Ireland promises to use all the means in its power to come to the help of any other member state which is attacked, a similar promise to the one in the Western European Union Treaty, which is an even stronger commitment than the one in the NATO Treaty. So why stay out of NATO if such promises are OK? If we make this promise, no-one could call us neutral any more whatever the Government might claim. How can a state be neutral and yet be bound to come to the defence of others?And it won't stop there, because there is a more definite commitment than before to a "common defence" at some time in the future.

The Government will try to sell this Treaty on many grounds. We must make sure that their claim to be safeguarding Irish neutrality is shown to be false.John Goodwillie http://indigo.ie/~goodwill/icnd/peacework1.html

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Just before the EU packs its holiday bags, member states are on Monday opening a formal round of negotiations on the Union's new treaty. The talks are meant to be strictly technical - but the Portuguese EU presidency could
face some political hurdles along the way.Portugal kicks off formal EU treaty talks

A film on these talks on Irish TV this evening culminated in a sinister final statement - that agreement on treaties at the heel of the hunt are no longer to do with content and its meaning for populations, but solely political strategy. There were also other remarks by Commissioners, ominous or amusing - mention of emotional heat and rancour, and a socialist who declared "The British Prime Minister (Tony Blair at the time this film was made) needs to get
some education.

Two men, one believed to be Mirror undercover reporter Tom Parry, were arrested this afternoon at Stonebridge Park depot, which is towards the northern end of the Bakerloo Line in north-west London. They were caught carrying their fake bomb by railway staff who asked what they were doing on the premises and then called the British Transport Police. The Mirror said its reporters were testing out security in a "legitimate and justified journalistic exercise" after managing to plant a fake bomb on a nuclear train last year. "Last year, Mirror journalists attempted and succeeded in planting a fake bomb on a nuclear train, which highlighted serious security lapses," a Mirror spokesman said. "We therefore felt that it was a legitimate and justified journalistic exercise to repeat the action in the interests of public safety. We are happy to see that the security procedures have now improved." Guardian newspaper Tues25.7.07

ENGLAND - OR SHOULD I WRITE SCOTLAND....?
If anyone had harboured illusions that Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, might adopt a less biased position towards Israel than his Zionist predecessor, Tony Blair, now is the time to dispel them.

To begin with, Gordon Brown has appointed Israel apologists to key positions in his government, with arch-Zionist James Purnell heading the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which has oversight responsibilities for the British media, including the BBC, and Douglas Alexander, a recipient of Labour Friends of Israel hospitality, taking over the Department for International Development.

They are complemented by another Israel apologist, Jim Murphy, who has become minister of state for Europe with responsibility for the BBC World Service and the British Council. Mr Murphy served as chairman of Labour Friends of Israel during 2000-02 and has also been a member of the Anglo-Israeli All-Party Parliamentary Group.

In addition, Gordon Brown has appointed Simon McDonald, a former British ambassador to Israel and a man described by Israeli officials as "a true friend to Israel", as his chief foreign policy adviser.

Another Israel fanatic, Meg Munn, becomes parliamentary under-secretary of state with responsibility for foreign affairs. Ms Munn is a former chairwoman of Labour Friends of Israel and is a recipient of hospitality from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
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EU court opinion rejects revealing identity of music pirates

20.07.2007 - 08:55 CET | By Helena Spongenberg
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Internet service providers (ISPs) are not obliged to hand over information on people suspected of illegally sharing music and other copyright material online, an advisor to the EU's highest court has said.

The advisor to the European Court of Justice (EJC), advocate general Juliane Kokott, said on Wednesday (18 July) that according to EU law, member states are allowed to 'exclude' revealing personal data on internet traffic in civil cases – unlike criminal cases where such compliance would be required.

The case was brought by a Spanish music and audiovisual association – Promusicae - after telecoms and internet provider Telefonica refused to hand over names and addresses linked to computers, which the music association believed used peer-to-peer file sharing tool KaZaA to illegally distribute copyrighted songs.

Promusicae wanted the personal data so that it could start taking legal action against the file sharers, but Telefonica claimed that it could only turn over such information as part of a criminal prosecution or in matters of public security and national defence.

A Spanish court hearing the case referred the issue to the ECJ for guidance on how to interpret EU law on the subject and Ms Kokott's legal opinion is the advice for the ECJ judges who will eventually rule on a recommendation for the Spanish court to take.

The final court decision is expected later this year. Once it comes out, it could form the basis for similar decisions throughout the 27-member EU bloc.

In Germany, however, criminal lawsuits are often brought to reveal the identity of suspected file sharers, who will then face an additional civil lawsuit once their identity is known.

The German branch of the international music industry federation IFPI has already completed over 20,000 such cases since 2004, according to the head of the branch Peter Zombik.

The opinion comes only days after the Swedish Justice Department proposed that copyright, patent and trade-mark owners should be able to request a court to force ISPs to give out the identity of internet users who have infringed their rights.

A Belgian court has in the meantime ruled that one of its national internet service providers must install a filter to prevent its internet users from illegally downloading music and the UK may also act similarly on ISPs by the end of the year.