Thatcher boosts junta

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BM Box 5965, London WC1N 3XX commission on Central America'. Head of the commission is warmonger Henry Kissenger, who has openly advocated the use of troops in Central America, and whose bloody record includes 'destabilisation' of Allende's Chile and the genocidal bombing of Vietnam.

Of course in the USA the two main parties, Republicans and Democrats, are both bosses' parties, though both las the [LA convention shows] are able to enlist support from various sections of the trade union bureaucracy. A bipartisan' commission is simply an exercise to debate the various views of the American ruling class.

Kirkland is a veteran, vicious anti-communist in the mould of his late predecessor George Meany. The AFL. CIO's international department works hand-in-glove with the CIA as an agency for the suppression of left kers movement. • influence in the worThe confederation actively supported the US war effort in Vietnam.

But even the AFL-CIO is notionally pledged to oppose American intervention in EI Salvador. And leaders of 12 US unions have sponsored a National Labour Committee in support of Democracy and Human Rights in El Salvador — which has just completed a fact-finding tour of El Salvador that returned denouncing current US policies.

The fight to build on this opposition, and pull Kirkland out of the Reagan/Kissinger committee must be linked to the fight for labour movement boycott and strike action to halt the war drive in Central WELL pleased with his official visit to the Thatcher government in Britain, Turkish Foreign Minister Iter Turkmen told an Ankara press conference that:

'Britain is pleased with the developments in Turkey, and has agreed that democracy in Turkey should be developed in keeping with the dictates of the stability the country needs.' For the Thatcher government to refer to General Evren's savage military junta in Turkey as 'developing • democracy' is perhaps an indicator of the kind of 'democracy' they have in mind for British Currently 64 leaders of the main left wing union confederation DI SK face possible death senten ces in a show trial centred on their politiTHE USA is stepping up its military and nuclear presence in the Pacific. In particular, this means pressure on the rightwing Nakasone government in Japan to allow US nuclear bombers on Japanese soil and Japanese involvement in preparations for submarine warcal activity prior to the coup.

Hundreds more political opponents of the regime face trial and possible draconian sentences.

British MPs have writted to support the defendants in one such trial, who are linked to the Turkish Peace Association: in return the MPs have been accused of committing an illegal act by the Turkish military court!

Captain Atilla Ulku accused them of 'seeking to unduly influence, pressurise and thereby threaten the court, and asked for additional proceedings to be taken against one of the defendants named in the letter.

The Turkey Solidarity Japanese fare. This will mean an increase in the Japanese defence budget of 8% to 16,400 billion yen per annum.

The US Army completed its major withdrawal from Japan in 1957, leaving behind a small force in Okinawa, and the headquarters of the 9th Army Corps in Camp Zama near Tokyo, considered to be merely a paper command, but actually capable of carrying out a vast plan of operations on a quick build-up of strength. The US Air Force has not been present in Japan for some 10 years.

All this changed in 1978 with the 'Guidelines for Japan -US Defence Co-operation' Since then joint manoeuvres have been strengthened and accelerated to the point. where Nakasone can say, 'Japan is a partner of the Western allies' implying that the relations now equal those of the NATO alliance.

The participation of the Japanese Armed Forces in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC 80) exercise was the turning point in this development. The Reagan administration is putting tremendous pressure on Japan to accept the responsibility for ASW (anti-submarine warfare) operations, air defence and readiness to mine the 3 straits (Soya, Tsugaru and Tsushima), the defence of 1,000 miles of sea lanes from the north of the Philippines to the west of Guam, and much more. This fits into paign in Britain is planning for a series of events around the third anniversary of the coup on September 12.

A public meeting is being held in Hackney Town Hall on Saturday September 10 with speakers invited from Hackney and Islington councils.

A feature of this event will be the British première of a video on the trial of 770 people from the Black Sea town of Fatsa, 268 of whom face a possible death penalty, and the launching of a pamphlet on the struggle. of the Fatsa townspeople, which has been produced by the Islington and Hackney borough councils.

It is also hoped to have in attendance a representative from one of the delegations which have visited the trial this year.

US strategy for a counter-offensive against the Soviet Union from the sea in case of an emergency (for example in the middle East), an addition to its reliance on the RDF (Rapid Deployment Force) and Swing Strategy.

The dramatic build-up of the US Navy and the scheduled deployment of Tomahawk missiles (sea-launched Cruise missiles) in the Pacific in June 1984 is to be seen in the same context.

As the US/Japan joint exercises make progress, US forces are now returning to mainland Japan, in the shared use of Japanese Defence Forces bases including • anti-aircratt radar stations. The most symbolic development is the planned deployment of 48 F16 fighterbombers at Misawa, which has been approved by the Japanese government.

At Misawa the F16s will be capable of carrying out 'penetration missions' deep into Soviet air-space for direct theatre nuclear attacks targetting ground, air and naval bases and military concentrations of the USSR. The USA is now demanding that housing for US officers and families be built at Misawa, at the cost of 500 milion dollars, and a new runway is also part of the demand. The Japanese Defence Forces are quite willing to meet these costly. demands, as with other bases.

Gensuikya (the Japanese CND) sees this Misawa base as the thin end of the wedge and is determined to fight it every inch of the way

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Is Reagan bluffing o -Interna THREE flotillas of US warships cruising off the Caribbcan and Pacific shores of Nicaragua equipped with helicopters, fighter aircraft, artillery and cruise missiles; 5,000 US troops on six month 'exercises' near the Honduran border with Nicaragua; and open blustering threats to 'quarantine' the Sandinista regime: has. Ronald Reagan' administration stepped across the threshhold and embarked upon a military intervention in Or is the whole massive build-up an exercise in traditional 'gunboat diplomacy' simply designed to force political concessions from the Sandinistas, the liberation fighters in El Salvador and the Cuban leadership?

It is certainly the case that when so much fire power is concentrated in such a heated atmosphere, the dividing line between a show of force and the outbreak of a shooting war may well prove to be a faint and narrow one.

But despite the murderS times bigger than Falkland The claim of Soviet involvement is a handy pretext for Is flag-ship Invincible, USS Ranger heads o petty bourgeois leaders of the FDR-FMLN political alliance 'ut of San Diego to 'show the flag' andef a Dance plan by Commander • Urtega, Reagan: a war in Nicaragua woula be a regional war.

Guatemala, Honduras and Slavador is a fool's erra which can only mislead i working class and endang the gains that have been ma in the Nicaraguan revol tion.

There seems little dou that in responding this * to US gunboat diploma the revolutionary' lead ships of Central Ameri are overestimating Reagar strength and capacity to folk through on his threats:

It is comparatively ea for the President to whis up a task force of battleshi and dispatch troops for 'exi cises': but to engage in serious intervention in eith El Salvador or Nicarag would trigger a regional #

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INFORMATION IBULLETIN FATSA: TOWN ON TRIAL