Europe

The Scottish government has again defended its decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. In the US, the decision has been criticized. Scotland’s spokesperson said that: **”Compassionate release is not part of the US justice system but it is part of Scotland’s.”**

Scotland’s Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill released the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. Al-Megrahi is the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. MacAskill made a non reciprocal decision: compassion and mercy for Al-Megrahi although he did not show them to his victims.

Lack of consensus between the participating countries on procedures related to the working agenda of the UNO Conference on Disarmament continues. The calendar to start the negotiations to prohibit the production of materials essential for the production of nuclear weapons is one of the questions that have led to this impasse.

Nonviolent direct action group gets arrested for walking into the home of nuclear-armed Trident submarines in Scotland in a peaceful manifestation and is waiting for possible prosecution as serious crime organizers. They have released the statement that is published below in what they call for the process of disarmament of Trident nuclear weapons to begin.

Switzerland wants to reduce its army by one third within the next 12 years. Swiss Minister of Defence, Ueli Maurer said there are currently 120,000 professional Swiss soldiers and that that number must come down to 80,000. The number of reservists must also shrink from 80,000 to 40,000. Switzerland wants to place more emphasis on humanitarian missions to foreign countries.

The recent anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki prompted Montserrat Ponsa i Tarrés to write the following impassioned article. A journalist with a decades-long commitment to the culture of peace, she will be a member of the core team of the first World March for Peace and Nonviolence that will circle the globe.

Altogether 18 participants of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence met in Vieste, Southern Italy, to receive all of the information necessary for the challenge which awaits them for three months around the world.
The members of the team committed themselves to exhibit flexibility, tolerance, humility, and an open heart in order to incarnate the spirit of this initiative.

Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its foundation with a concert tour of Europe, during which it will visit some of Europe’s leading festivals and concert halls. This orchestra “represents an alternative model, based on the idea of equality, cooperation and justice for all, to the current situation in the Middle East”.

Since August 12th, 1949, 194 countries have signed the 4th Geneva Convention which regulates civilian protection, prisoners of war, wounded and humanitarian workers during war conflicts. The Geneva Conventions and their additional Protocols are the backbone of the Humanitarian International Right, that determines the limits to war methods and procedures.

The Copenhaguen conference calls for Arctic nuclear-weapon-free zone to be demilitarized as Antarctica. It was attended by parliamentarians, academics, scientists, indigenous representatives and activists from Arctic countries and from established nuclear-weapon-free zones. Participants are flying to Thule military base, Greenland – site of B52 nuclear bomber crash in 1968.