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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Why Do 1,000 Refugees Get Free Wimbledon Tickets While Long Suffering Locals Get None? Mon Jun 30, 2025 19:37 | Jo-Anne Nadler
As Wimbledon gets underway, its SW19 neighbours have to put up with a lot, from encroaching development to security checks to get home. Yet, unlike 1,000 refugees, they're shut out from the tennis, says Jo-Anne Nadler.
The post Why Do 1,000 Refugees Get Free Wimbledon Tickets While Long Suffering Locals Get None? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Criminal Investigation Launched into Bob Vylan and Kneecap?s Glastonbury Performances as US Revokes ... Mon Jun 30, 2025 17:43 | Will Jones
Police have announced a criminal investigation into Bob Vylan and Kneecap's Glastonbury?performances as the Trump administration kills the punk duo's American tour by revoking their visa over antisemitic death chants.
The post Criminal Investigation Launched into Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Glastonbury Performances as US Revokes Punk Group’s Visa Over Antisemitic Death Chants appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link What is the Purpose of Sydney Sweeney?s Bathwater? Mon Jun 30, 2025 15:30 | Chris Bullick
Unilever ? the company that once declared "brands without purpose have no future" ? has bought the Sydney Sweeney bathwater soap brand. Woke is dead, says Chris Bullick.
The post What is the Purpose of Sydney Sweeney’s Bathwater? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Chris Whitty Was Behind Covid Guidance That Triggered Care Homes Spread, FOI Emails Reveal Mon Jun 30, 2025 13:01 | Will Jones
Professor Sir Chris Whitty?was responsible for government guidance that was believed to have triggered the spread of Covid into?care homes, the Telegraph has revealed.
The post Chris Whitty Was Behind Covid Guidance That Triggered Care Homes Spread, FOI Emails Reveal appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link An Inspector Calls ? and Then Tells You What to Think Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:00 | Jack Watson
Sixteen year-old Jack Watson confesses to lying about what he really thinks about socialism and climate change to get good grades in his GCSEs. If you criticise either, he says, you will be marked down.
The post An Inspector Calls ? and Then Tells You What to Think appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Broadband: Another Privatisation Mess

category national | sci-tech | press release author Friday October 19, 2018 22:10author by pbp - People Before Profit Report this post to the editors

Press Release - People Before Profit - 17th Oct 2018

Over half a million households in rural Ireland are missing out on broadband because of a disastrous privatisation policy.

Up to 1999, the telephone network was run by a state company, Telecom Eireann. But the Fianna Fail government decided to copy Margaret Thatcher and sell it off. Ever since then, disaster has piled on disaster.

Instead of providing long term investment to install broad band, a series of private owners simply asset stripped the company, which had been re-named Eircom.


By October 2010, for example, Ireland was ranked 29 out of 30 countries, ahead only of Mexico for broadband speed. Only a fifth of the population had access on that date.

Yet this disaster presented another opportunity for private companies to further blackmail the government.

Eir, which is the latest name for the company proposed, to charge €20 for every pole that the fibre optic cables would be hung on.

It was also allowed to cherry pick the easiest houses to connect and separate these out the more difficult ones.

The result as that only one private bidder, Enet, was left to negotiate a contract for the last half a million homes. It was actually backed by money from the state’s own Irish Infrastructure Fund which was set to take control of the company.

But suddenly Enet was downgraded to becoming only a supplier to a new consortium, Granahan McCourt. A Denis O Brien controlled company was then discovered to be part of the new consortium. They set about trying to squeeze even more money from the taxpayers for the contract.

Secret meetings between the former Minister for Communication, Denis Naughton, and the company’s chairperson, David McCourt, were all about getting these extra ‘incentives’.

Behind the whole sorry affair is a tale of greed for profit.

If the state retained control of its own telecommunications company, broadband would have been completed by now.

Yet again privatisation has proved a disaster.

We need a state owned company that completes the National Broadband plan in the interests of people – not profit

Related Link: http://www.pbp.ie/broadband-another-privatisation-mess/
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