Afghanistan Follow

The real aim of George Bush’s visit to Britain became clear on Monday when Gordon Brown announced more British troops for Afghanistan and "further sanctions" on Iran.

The latest British soldiers to die in Afghanistan were sent to their deaths with sickening bravado.

Some 500 peace and anti-war activists from ten countries met in Hanover, Germany, last weekend to plan how to step up the campaign against the war in Afghanistan.

Protesters demonstrated in Middlesbrough town centre last weekend against the government policy of deporting people to warzones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and DR Congo.

War criminal George Bush is coming to Britain as part of his "farewell tour" of Europe. And he brings with him plans for a new war on Iran and demands for more sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Tens of thousands of dock workers across the west coast of the US struck on 1 May in protest at the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US has announced it will deploy an additional 7,000 soldiers to Afghanistan to plug the gap left by its European allies. This brings the number of US troops in the country to 40,000—the highest since the invasion in 2001.

Any notion that the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan were "turning the corner" has evaporated in a week of bloody battles and growing instability.

1. Housing – An emergency council housing building programme.2. Transport – Decent and cheap public transport to encourage less car use. Cut fares and increase provision with new tube and rail lines.3. War – Bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. No attacks on civil liberties. Spend the money used for war on welfare.4. Education – Good schools for every child in every borough. No academies, no tuition fees for students.5. Health – No health rationing, stop hospital closures, no privatisation of doctors’ surgeries.6. Poverty –

In December 1979 the Russian army invaded Afghanistan.

Did China free Tibet? The most patronising argument used to defend China’s crackdown on Tibetan protests is that Chinese rule has benefited and developed Tibet. Some on the left even argue that Chinese domination liberates Tibetan women. The argument is all too familiar – the Russians, the US and Britain said the same thing about liberating women in Afghanistan.

Two soldiers – two very different fates. Last week saw the sickening spectacle of the mainstream media fawning over Prince Harry’s Afghanistan adventure.