George talks about the next Viva Palestina convoy

In this edition of the Real Deal, George Galloway talks about the next Viva Palestina convoy from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

George Barda of the Occupy London Movement talks about the enshrined freedom in the British Constitution which, as he says, is being violated.

This episode also includes an interview with Patricia DeGennaro, from the World Policy Institute. She believes the drumbeats for war with Iran is getting louder and louder, but yet both sides should push for more diplomacy.

This week's EU Summit in Brussels and the British Prime Minister David Cameron's fight with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the Euro, Barack Obama's State of the Union address and the US Presidential elections, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard attacked at a restaurant and much more are all reviewed in this episode.

GALLOWAY BEGINS TWO WEEK TOUR OF THE FAR EAST IN SUPPORT OF THE PALESTINIAN RIGHT OF RETURN

George Galloway, founder of the worldwide Viva Palestina movement, arrived today in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This is the start of a two week speaking tour of the Far East in support of the Right of Return of all Palestinians whose families were driven from the country by the Catastrophe of 1948 and subsequently.

Galloway will address public events in Jakarta and Bandung - birthplace of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM). He is scheduled to meet parliamentarians ministers and opposition leaders, including Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of NAM founder member President Sukarno.

 Galloway moves on to a similar programme in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 3rd.

 Galloway was received on arrival by leading figures from the governing coalition party PKS and met later with representatives of Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri's foundation.

WHERE NOW FOR EGYPT AND THE MIDDLE EAST?

Public meeting

On the first anniversary of the fall of the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak....
WHERE NOW FOR EGYPT AND THE MIDDLE EAST?

Speakers include:
Dr Kamal El-Helbawy, Chair of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism
George Galloway, Founder of Viva Palestina
Kate Hudson, General Secretary of CND
Andrew Murray, Founder and former Chair of the Stop the War Coalition
The meeting will be chaired by Seumas Milne, Guardian columnist

Sunday 12th February, 3.30pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre
School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London, WC1

Organised by The Respect Foundation

The drumbeats of war are getting louder

It is 12 months since the heroic shabab of Tunisia overthrew EU-favourite Ben Ali and set in motion the Arab masses across the region.

Now we see clearly the response of the ailing Western powers which were thrown off kilter as their system of client states creaked, cracked and began to fall apart. It is war - actual and threatened.

The drumbeats for war with Iran are getting louder, and the escalating provocations by Western capitals are developing a logic of their own. It admits of no alternative and points in only one direction – towards military conflict. Or to put it more accurately, towards open military conflict. The head of Britain's MI6 has already called for covert military operations in Iran - which are, of course, an act of war - and they have been taking place. So are the drone overflights, which are also legally an act of aggression.

Are there great difficulties facing any such venture? There most certainly are - huge ones, which would make it a disaster of world historic proportions. But it is a false, if comforting, logic which says that on account of such catastrophic consequences war with Iran is unthinkable. Many will recall that "unthinkable" was the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's response to the proposition a few years ago. We now know, thanks to some first class journalism at the Guardian, that that is no longer the position of the mandarins of the British state. It is, in fact, to sign up our country to a war in advance.