Thursday, October 25, 2007
Blackwater & Border
Blackwater's Run for the Border
The notorious security contractor has plans for a military-style complex near the U.S.-Mexico border. Critics worry the firm's "mercenary soldiers" could join the U.S. Border Patrol.
By Eilene Zimmerman
Oct. 23, 2007 There are signs that Blackwater USA, the private security firm that came under intense scrutiny after its employees killed 17 civilians in Iraq in September, is positioning itself for direct involvement in U.S. border security. The company is poised to construct a major new training facility in California, just eight miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. While contracts for U.S. war efforts overseas may no longer be a growth industry for the company, Blackwater executives have lobbied the U.S. government since at least 2005 to help train and even deploy manpower for patrolling America's borders.
Blackwater is planning to build an 824-acre military-style training complex in Potrero, Calif., a rural hamlet 45 miles east of San Diego. The company's proposal, which was approved last December by the Potrero Community Planning Group and has drawn protest from within the Potrero community, will turn a former chicken ranch into "Blackwater West," the company's second-largest facility in the country. It will include a multitude of weapons firing ranges, a tactical driving track, a helipad, a 33,000-square-foot urban simulation training area, an armory for storing guns and ammunition, and dorms and classrooms. And it will be located in the heart one of the most active regions in the United States for illegal border crossings.
While some residents of Potrero have welcomed the plan, others have raised fears about encroachment on protected lands and what they see as an intimidating force of mercenaries coming into their backyard. The specter of Blackwater West and the rising interest in privatizing border security have also alarmed Democratic Rep. Bob Filner, whose congressional district includes Potrero. Filner says he believes it's a good possibility that Blackwater is positioning itself for border security contracts and is opposed to the new complex. "You have to be very wary of mercenary soldiers in a democracy, which is more fragile than people think," Rep. Filner told Salon. "You don't want armies around who will sell out to the highest bidder. We already have vigilantes on the border, the Minutemen, and this would just add to [the problem]," Filner said, referring to the Minuteman Project, a conservative group that has organized civilian posses to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in the past. Filner is backing legislation to block establishment of what he calls "mercenary training centers" anywhere in the U.S. outside of military bases. "The border is a sensitive area," he said, "and if Blackwater operates the way they do in Iraq -- shoot first and ask questions later -- my constituents are at risk."
A spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied there are any specific plans to work directly with Blackwater. And Blackwater officials say the complex would be used only for training active-duty military and law enforcement officials, work for which the company has contracted with the U.S. government.
But statements and lobbying activity by Blackwater officials, and the location for the new complex, strongly suggest plans to get involved in border security, with potential contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, Blackwater enjoys support from powerful Republican congressmen who advocate hard-line border policies, including calls for deploying private agents to beef up the ranks of the U.S. Border Patrol. Lawmakers supporting Blackwater include California Rep. and presidential candidate Duncan Hunter -- who met last year with company officials seeking his advice on the proposal for Blackwater West -- and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, who is sponsoring a bill to allow private contractors such as Blackwater to help secure U.S. borders.
When questioned at a public hearing with the Potrero planning group on Sept. 13 about Blackwater West, Brian Bonfiglio, a Blackwater spokesman, said, "I don't think there's anyone in this room who wouldn't like to see the border tightened up." Blackwater currently had no contracts to help with border security, Bonfiglio said, but he emphasized that "we would entertain any approach from our government to help secure either border, absolutely." Bonfiglio was responding to questions from Raymond Lutz, a local organizer who opposes the new complex. (Lutz recorded the exchange and posted video of it on Oct. 12 at CitizensOversight.org.) Lutz also asked Bonfiglio if Blackwater West would be used as a base for deployment of Border Patrol agents. "Actually, we've offered it up as a substation to Border Patrol and U.S. Customs right now," Bonfiglio replied. "We'd love to see them there."
Ramon Rivera, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington, denied Bonfiglio's claim that the agency is entertaining an offer to use Blackwater West as a substation. "I think that's just Blackwater trying to sell themselves," Rivera said.
In fact, Blackwater has been selling itself for direct involvement in border security at least since May 2005, when the company's then president, Gary Jackson, testified before a House subcommittee. Jackson's testimony focused on Blackwater's helping to train U.S. Border Patrol agents and included discussion of contracts theoretically worth $80 million to $200 million, for thousands of personnel. Asked by one lawmaker if his company saw a market opportunity in border security, Jackson replied: "I can put as many men together as you need, trained and on the borders."
The company has turned to powerful allies on Capitol Hill for support, including Hunter, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and a longtime proponent of tougher border security. Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter, confirmed to Salon that Blackwater officials sought guidance from Hunter on getting Blackwater West approved for Potrero. Hunter met with Blackwater officials in May 2006, at which time Hunter recommended the firm contact Dianne Jacob, the county supervisor responsible for Potrero and one of five supervisors who would vote on countywide approval for Blackwater West. Blackwater officials then met with Jacob in May, and in June the company submitted its proposal to the county, where it now must go through an approval process.
Rep. Filner says Potrero residents have complained to him that Hunter also brought pressure locally for Blackwater West. "People in the area told me he called the landowner [of the proposed site] to urge him to sell [to Blackwater]. I don't know that he did, but it wouldn't surprise me," says Filner. "That's what people in the area are saying." (Hunter has ties to Potrero, which used to be part of his congressional district; after a redestricting in 2001, Potrero became part of Filner's district, which borders Hunter's district.)
Spokesman Kasper denied that Hunter called the landowner, whose identity remains unclear. But Kasper also said that Hunter "supports Blackwater and other private security contractors in Iraq, and he supports the training facility in Potrero."
One specific concern Potrero residents have raised with relation to Blackwater West is the high risk of wildfires in their part of the county -- a danger on display the last two days as Potrero has been ravaged by fire along with other parts of Southern California. Blackwater has in fact pushed as a selling point that the complex would be a "defensible location" during wildfires. But opponents, including Jan Hedlun, the only member of the Potrero Planning Group opposed to Blackwater West, foresee danger rather than a safe haven. As Hedlun wrote in a recent editorial in the San Diego Union-Tribune, "residents state they would not flee to a box canyon with one access point and an armory filled with ammunition and/or explosives."
Ever since illegal immigration became a top issue for the Bush administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, there have been growing calls for the U.S. to bring private security companies into border enforcement. In September 2006, the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington released a policy paper titled "Better, Faster, and Cheaper Border Security," which urged Congress and the president to beef up forces as fast as possible. "In particular," the report said, "private contractors could play an important role in recruiting and training Border Patrol agents and providing personnel to secure the border." Late last month, one of the report's authors hosted a symposium in Washington for an updated discussion on the topic, for which Rep. Rogers -- a proponent of both Blackwater and DynCorp International, another private security contractor with personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan -- was the keynote speaker.
On June 19 of this year, during a House subcommittee meeting titled "Ensuring We Have Well-Trained Boots on the Ground at the Border," Rep. Christopher Carney, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, acknowledged "it's no secret that CPB [Customs and Border Protection] as a whole lacks the manpower to fulfill its crucial mission." Robert B. Rosenkranz, president of the government services division of DynCorp, presented a plan for putting 1,000 DynCorp employees at the border in 13 months, at a cost of $197 million.
In May 2006, the Bush administration had called for a sharp increase in manpower, at least with the existing federal force. President Bush then signed a bill into law on Oct. 4, 2006, to boost the number of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on the ground by nearly 50 percent, from approximately 12,300 to approximately 18,300, by the end of 2008.
But even such an ambitious increase would do little to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, says T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents most U.S. Border Patrol agents. Bonner, himself a field agent in east San Diego County, told the House subcommittee in June, "Realistically, there is no magic number of Border Patrol agents required to secure our borders and even if there were, it would certainly be much higher than the 18,000 proposed by the administration."
Scott Borgerson, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in homeland security, says it makes sense that U.S. companies would try to position themselves to fill gaps in national security with lucrative private-sector solutions. "If I was running a company doing private security, it's definitely what I would do," he says of Blackwater's plan to locate near the border.
In an Oct. 15 article in the Wall Street Journal, Blackwater CEO Erik Prince said that the company now sees the market diminishing for the kind of security work its employees have done in Iraq. He said that going forward the company's focus "is going to be more of a full spectrum," ranging from delivering humanitarian aid to responding to natural disasters. But priorities for the Bush administration, including immigration and border security, could also figure into Blackwater's plans -- as Salon reported recently, the company's skyrocketing revenues during Bush's presidency are accompanied by the firm's close ties with influential Republicans and top Bush officials.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said that the notion of Blackwater vying for lucrative border security contracts is "merely speculation," and noted that the location for Blackwater West is close to San Diego's military bases, a major training market for the company. "But hypothetically," Tyrrell added, "if the government came to us and needed assistance with border security, we'd be honored."
Borgerson says there is a role for private contractors in helping keep the United States safe. "But certain jobs belong to trained U.S. government officials -- men and women in uniform who have a flag on their sleeves," says Borgerson, who was a Coast Guard officer for 10 years. "You recite an oath that says you will defend -- not Congress, not the president, not even the people -- but the Constitution. You don't sign that oath when you go to work for Blackwater."
Bonner, of the U.S. Border Patrol, remains skeptical about Blackwater getting involved, and he says others in the upper ranks of the Border Patrol are opposed to private contractors working alongside them. He sees potential problems with both training and patrolling. The much higher pay likely offered to private agents, for example, would threaten an already difficult-to-retain federal force. "It will entice people to jump over to the other side," he says, "especially if they don't have a long-term career in mind." Bonner also says it is crucial to have a single training curriculum, and a single chain of command, to help ensure effective and lawful operations. "This is a bad idea from so many perspectives," he says of potentially privatizing the force.
The issue may be linked to broader problems the U.S. is currently facing with national security. "If we weren't allocating a tremendous amount of our resources in Iraq, we wouldn't have to outsource to companies like Blackwater," Borgerson says. While securing the U.S. borders is an important priority, he adds, "I feel we shouldn't outsource our sovereignty."
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Shadow over Cuba
Under the Shadow of the Big Neighbor
Bush's Cuba Detour
By TARIQ ALI
October 24, 2007
Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, obsessed with Iran's rise as a regional power (a direct result of the wars in the aforementioned countries) the State Department has woken up to the fact that South America is in turmoil. Their last major intervention in the region was a crude attempt to topple the democratically elected government in Venezuela. This was in 2002, a year before the adventure in Iraq. Since then a wave of Bolivarian unity has swept the continent, successful in Bolivia and Ecuador, creating ripples in Peru and Paraguay and, above all, breaking the long isolation of Cuba. It is this that is causing the panic in Miami.
This tiny island that has defied imperial intervention, bullying and blockade for almost half-a-century remains an imperial obsession. Washington has been waiting for Fidel to die so that they could try and bribe senior military and police officials (and no doubt some well-chosen party apparatchiks) to defect. Bush's speech of 24 October is a sign of panic. They were so convinced that mega-bucks would do the trick that they had not done too much in recent years.
But yesterday we are told, without any sense of irony, that Raul Castro is unacceptable because he is Fidel's brother. This is not the transition that Washington had in mind. It's a bit rich coming from W, given his own family connections, not to mention the fact that if Mrs Clinton is nominated and wins, two families will have been in power for over two decades. And dynastic politics is now so deep-grained in official culture that it is being happily mimicked in tiny circles (the editorial chair of the neo-con mag Commentary has been smoothly handed over from father to son Podhoretz).
What has worried the Bush brothers and their clientele in Florida is the fact that Raul Castro has inaugurated a debate on the island encouraging an open debate on its future. This is not popular with apparatchiks, but is undoubtedly having an impact.
State censorship is not only deeply unpopular but has crippled creative thought on the island. The new opening has brought all the old contradictions to the fore. Cuban film-makers are publicly challenging the bureaucrats. Pavel Giroud, a well-known director explains how the censorship works:
"Censorship works here just like it does everywhere, except that because it's Cuba, it's closely scrutinized. It isn't a national monopoly. Every television network and publication in the world has its guidelines for broadcasting or editing, and whatever does not fit the requirements gets left out. HBO in the States refused to broadcast Oliver Stone's documentary about Fidel Castro, because it didn't take the focus that the network wanted. So they insisted on another interview with Fidel. In other words, what Stone wanted to say about his interviewee didn't matter -- what mattered was what the network wanted to show.
Personally, I prefer that a work of mine not be broadcast, rather than be told to change my shots or remove footage. Nor am I interested in hearing their explanations. The mere fact of being silenced is so serious that the reason why pales in comparison, because it will never be a good enough reason for the person who is silenced ... Banality and lack of creativity are favored everywhere. Turn on any music video channel in the world, and you'll see that for every artistically worthwhile video, you have to put up with several others. the same buttocks writhing around the machista reggaeton star, the same seductive gestures by the "in" singers, the same slow-moving shots of love scenes at sunset, the same sheen on the biceps, the same sensual moves, the same phony little smiles. I think we in Cuba are definitely not the principal producers of these.
"The same happens in politics -- there is opportunism on both sides, by the makers and by the broadcasters. The broadcasters know that a video full of praise for the system won't make any trouble for them, and the creators know perfectly well that they will get on television much faster if they write a song, produce a video or film, or paint a picture in praise of a political figure"
That the Cuban system needs to be reformed is widely accepted in the country. I have been told often that the decision 'forced on us by the embargo' to follow the old Soviet model was 'not beneficial.' The choice now is Washington or Caracas. And while a tiny layer of the Cuban elite will be tempted by the dollars, most Cubans would prefer a different model. They will not wish to see an end to their health and education systems, but they do want more economic and political diversity, even though the model of the Big Neighbour under whose shadow they live does not exactly offer that choice.
Tariq Ali's new book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, is published by Verso. He can be reached at: tariq.ali3@btinternet.com
October 24, 2007
Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, obsessed with Iran's rise as a regional power (a direct result of the wars in the aforementioned countries) the State Department has woken up to the fact that South America is in turmoil. Their last major intervention in the region was a crude attempt to topple the democratically elected government in Venezuela. This was in 2002, a year before the adventure in Iraq. Since then a wave of Bolivarian unity has swept the continent, successful in Bolivia and Ecuador, creating ripples in Peru and Paraguay and, above all, breaking the long isolation of Cuba. It is this that is causing the panic in Miami.
This tiny island that has defied imperial intervention, bullying and blockade for almost half-a-century remains an imperial obsession. Washington has been waiting for Fidel to die so that they could try and bribe senior military and police officials (and no doubt some well-chosen party apparatchiks) to defect. Bush's speech of 24 October is a sign of panic. They were so convinced that mega-bucks would do the trick that they had not done too much in recent years.
But yesterday we are told, without any sense of irony, that Raul Castro is unacceptable because he is Fidel's brother. This is not the transition that Washington had in mind. It's a bit rich coming from W, given his own family connections, not to mention the fact that if Mrs Clinton is nominated and wins, two families will have been in power for over two decades. And dynastic politics is now so deep-grained in official culture that it is being happily mimicked in tiny circles (the editorial chair of the neo-con mag Commentary has been smoothly handed over from father to son Podhoretz).
What has worried the Bush brothers and their clientele in Florida is the fact that Raul Castro has inaugurated a debate on the island encouraging an open debate on its future. This is not popular with apparatchiks, but is undoubtedly having an impact.
State censorship is not only deeply unpopular but has crippled creative thought on the island. The new opening has brought all the old contradictions to the fore. Cuban film-makers are publicly challenging the bureaucrats. Pavel Giroud, a well-known director explains how the censorship works:
"Censorship works here just like it does everywhere, except that because it's Cuba, it's closely scrutinized. It isn't a national monopoly. Every television network and publication in the world has its guidelines for broadcasting or editing, and whatever does not fit the requirements gets left out. HBO in the States refused to broadcast Oliver Stone's documentary about Fidel Castro, because it didn't take the focus that the network wanted. So they insisted on another interview with Fidel. In other words, what Stone wanted to say about his interviewee didn't matter -- what mattered was what the network wanted to show.
Personally, I prefer that a work of mine not be broadcast, rather than be told to change my shots or remove footage. Nor am I interested in hearing their explanations. The mere fact of being silenced is so serious that the reason why pales in comparison, because it will never be a good enough reason for the person who is silenced ... Banality and lack of creativity are favored everywhere. Turn on any music video channel in the world, and you'll see that for every artistically worthwhile video, you have to put up with several others. the same buttocks writhing around the machista reggaeton star, the same seductive gestures by the "in" singers, the same slow-moving shots of love scenes at sunset, the same sheen on the biceps, the same sensual moves, the same phony little smiles. I think we in Cuba are definitely not the principal producers of these.
"The same happens in politics -- there is opportunism on both sides, by the makers and by the broadcasters. The broadcasters know that a video full of praise for the system won't make any trouble for them, and the creators know perfectly well that they will get on television much faster if they write a song, produce a video or film, or paint a picture in praise of a political figure"
That the Cuban system needs to be reformed is widely accepted in the country. I have been told often that the decision 'forced on us by the embargo' to follow the old Soviet model was 'not beneficial.' The choice now is Washington or Caracas. And while a tiny layer of the Cuban elite will be tempted by the dollars, most Cubans would prefer a different model. They will not wish to see an end to their health and education systems, but they do want more economic and political diversity, even though the model of the Big Neighbour under whose shadow they live does not exactly offer that choice.
Tariq Ali's new book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, is published by Verso. He can be reached at: tariq.ali3@btinternet.com
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Castro Says
Castro Claims Bush Could Spark WWIII
HAVANA -- Fidel Castro wrote Tuesday President Bush is threatening the world with nuclear war and famine - an attack on Washington a day before the White House plans to announce new plans to draw Cuba away from communism.
"The danger of a massive world famine is aggravated by Mr. Bush's recent initiative to transform foods into fuel," Castro wrote in Cuban news media, referring to U.S. support for using corn and other food crops to produce gasoline substitutes.
The brief essay titled "Bush, Hunger and Death" also alleged that Bush "threatens humanity with World War III, this time using atomic weapons."
Bush is expected to announce new strategies toward Cuba on Wednesday. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said last week that Bush would "emphasize the importance of democracy for the Cuban people and the role the international community can play in Cuba's transition by insisting on free speech, free assembly, free and competitive elections and the release of all political prisoners."
In his essay, Castro predicted that Bush "will adopt new measures to accelerate the 'transition period' in our country, equivalent to a new conquest of Cuba by force." Cuban officials have long denounced U.S. efforts to produce a "transition" from Castro's government to a Western-style representative democracy.
Ailing and 81, Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery and ceding power to a provisional government headed by his younger brother Raul in July 2006.
While he has looked upbeat and lucid in official videos, he also seems too frail to resume power.
Life on the island has changed little under Raul Castro, the 76-year-old defense minister who was his elder brother's hand-picked successor for decades.
Cuba staged municipal elections on Sunday, the first step in a process that will determine if Fidel Castro is re-elected or replaced next year as Cuban leader.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Oil Israel America
Root Causes OF The Problem
Written by Scott Ritter over here
There is no shortage of examples of historical points of friction between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States to draw upon in order to illustrate the genesis of the current level of tension. One can point to the Islamic revolution that cast aside America’s staunch ally, Reza Shah Pahlevi, the period of reactionary exportation of Islamic “revolution” that followed, the take over of the US Embassy and subsequent holding of Americans hostage (replete with a failed rescue mission), the Iranian use of proxies to confront American military involvement in Lebanon, inclusive of the bombing of the Marine barracks and US Embassy compounds, America’s support of Saddam Hussein during the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq, the ‘hot’ conflict between Iran and the United States in the late 1980s, or Iran’s ongoing support of the Hezbollah Party in Lebanon. The list could continue.
With the exception of the current situation in Lebanon, most of these “friction points” are dated, going back nearly three decades past. And when one examines the ‘root’ causes of these past points of friction, we find that there is no simple ‘black and white’ causal relationship which places Iran firmly in the wrong. Much of the early animosity between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States was derived from the resentment most Iranians felt over American support for a brutal, repressive regime. This resentment, coupled with an uncompromising approach taken by the United States towards maintaining cordial relations with a post-Shah Iran, manifested itself in the furtherance of anti-American activity in Iran, which in turn hardened the posture of the US government against Iran, leading to a cycle of devolution that ultimately resulted in the severance of all ties between the two nations.
The animosity between the United States and Iran was further exacerbated by the US support for Saddam Hussein during the bloody 8-year war between Iran and Iraq. This support, which manifested itself by actually drawing the US military into a shooting war with elements of Iran’s military during the re-flagging of Kuwaiti oil tankers in the late 1980’s, in turn created the conditions which led to the policy of “dual containment” of both Iran and Iraq from 1991, in the aftermath of the first Gulf War. “Dual Containment” was more a product of the lack of policy between the United States and Iran than it was representative of a singular policy direction. The end result, namely a failure to achieve any discernable results, created the conditions for “policy drift,” which by 1998 led to the adoption of a policy of regime change in Iraq, and the embrace of ideologically-driven national security strategies which expanded regime change to be inclusive of the Islamic Republic of Iran. These policy directions on the part of the United States took place in a virtual reality-deprived atmosphere, being driven more from the perspective of a domestic American perspective based on inaccuracies and misperceptions of Iran than they were from any hard, factual analysis of the genuine state of affairs inside Iran. It is largely because of this systemic lack of intellectual curiosity regarding Iran that many in America, including the main stream media, find themselves divining models of national behavior derived from actions and events more than 20 years past.
Iran’s nuclear program, far from being the “root cause” of Iranian-American animosity, is simply a facilitator for those who are predisposed to accept at face value anything that paints Iran in a negative light. The same can be said of almost every effort undertaken by the US government, post-1998, regarding Iran. A major impetus behind this trend towards rhetorically-based negativism regarding Iran is the influence exerted on the US national security decision making process by the government of Israel, and those elements within the United States, both governmental and non-governmental, which lobby on behalf of Israel. Israel has, for over a decade, listed Iran as its most serious national security threat, and has lobbied extensively to get the United States to embrace a similar policy direction.
A pre-occupation with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during the 1990s up to 2003 precluded such a shift in policy. However, while the deteriorating situation in Iraq since the march 2003 invasion and occupation by the United States has dominated the US national security decision making hierarchy, the elimination of Saddam Hussein, coupled with a less than satisfactory outcome regarding holding to account the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the united States, created an ideologically-driven gap in the threat models pushed by those making policy in the United States, and since 2004 Israel has been successful in pressuring American policy positions vis-à-vis Iran to more closely model the positions taken by Israel, up to and including a characterization of Iran as a nation pursuing nuclear weapons ambitions, operating as a state sponsor of terror, and possessing a government which is fundamentally incompatible with regional and global peace and security.
The Israeli perspective on Iran is driven by two primary factors: a “zero tolerance” for the acquisition of nuclear weapons by any nation deemed a threat, either real or potential, that is so strict even nuclear energy-related programs permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (which Iran contends, and the IAEA concurs, is the case regarding its nuclear activities) are deemed unacceptable, and an inability to diplomatically resolve the reality of the Lebanese Hezbollah Party on its northern borders.
The Israeli posturing regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and America’s unquestioning support of the Israeli position, has nullified any chance of meaningful diplomacy in this regard, since diplomacy is at least nominally based upon the rule of law as set forth under relevant treaties and agreements, a reality Israel refuses to acknowledge as legitimate concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Hezbollah has further complicated the issue given the fact that it a) receives considerable support, financial and material, from Iran, and b) it has demonstrated an ability to embarrass Israel’s vaunted military machine on the field of battle. National hubris, more than legitimate national security concerns, drives Israel’s unyielding stance concerning Hezbollah, which in turn colors American policy pronouncements which list Iran as a state sponsor of terror, even though there is little in the way of concrete evidence to back up such claims other than Iran’s ongoing status as a major benefactor of Hezbollah.
But the key factor in the calculus of what serves as the root cause of conflict between Iran and the United States is energy, namely Iran’s status as one of the world’s leading producers of oil and natural gas. The United States has, for some time now, placed a high emphasis on Middle Eastern and Central Asian oil and gas when it comes to determining future economic development trends. In a fossil-fuel driven global economy, energy resources have become one of the major factors in determining which nation or group of nations will be able to dominate not only economically, but also militarily and politically.
In the “Power Equation” that gets factored into national security decision making here in the United States, fossil fuels play a dominant role. America’s interest in dominating the Middle Eastern region is driven almost exclusively by the energy resources of that region. Iran’s situation is further exacerbated by the reality that Iranian oil and gas represent a critical part of the future economic growth of the world’s two largest expanding economies, namely China and India. By leveraging its control over Iranian energy production, as well as the other major centers of fossil fuel production in the Middle east and Central Asia, the United States is positioning itself to be able to control the pace of economic expansion in China and India, a capability deemed vital when it comes to the national security posture of the United States in relation to these two nations and the rest of the world.
In short, there are many factors involved in what one might term the “root cause” of Iranian-US animosity. But the reality is all of the points of friction between Iran and the US could be readily resolved with viable diplomacy save two: Israel’s current level of unflinching hostility towards Iran, and America’s addiction to global energy resources. These two factors guarantee that there will be tension between Iran and the United States for some time to come, and place blame for the continuation of tension firmly on the side of the United States.
Scott Ritter was a Marine Corps intelligence officer from 1984 to 1991 and a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. He is the author of numerous books, including “Iraq Confidential” (Nation Books, 2005) , “Target Iran” (Nation Books, 2006) and his latest, “Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement” (Nation Books, April 2007).
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Zionism And Jews
This is not a long post analyzing that dimension, but personally I have had enough of that topic as people seems to either blindly tag every Jew a Zionist or vice versa, knowing the fact that in Lebanon that there are Lebanese Jews who enjoy the full right as anyone else. In fact, their presence in Lebanon has been re-inforced by the different governments who agreed to repair and preserve an old Jewish Synagogue (facing Starco).
The problem of Judaism is Zionism, it transformed them from a sect to a race. Pre-Zionists (dubbed as Isolationists) were highly active in isolating the Jews in the communities in the face of Assimilationists (example: there can be a French Jew just as there is a French Catholic, and the sort). Isolationists brought bad name to Judaism and remained a minority within the Jewish Community, till Hitler’s butchery of the Jews reinforced Zionism beyond what Ben Gurion, Ben Horin, and Weitz ever imagined. To Ben Gurion’s surprise, most of the Jews of Europe fleeing the Nazi racial butchery, they prefered the United States. Only 100,000 people prefered Palestine. However, this is not my focus, if I dwell on history, I will never finish.
A lot of the Lebanese factions think that a Jew and a Zionist are the same. When Finkelstein, Chomsky, and others visited , things changed. In the beginning it was not safe for any Jew to visit Lebanon: for example: Chomsky a decade earlier was scheduled to visit Lebanon, a lot of death threats hovered that he will be assassinated (he stepped down from visiting Lebanon then). Ironically, ever since he sat with Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, same people who threatened to assassinate him, endorsed him as a partner who is fighting for the "cause". Despite the lunch, a lot others face the dilemma of accepting him or he is just part of a grand conspiracy plan (which I find totally ridiculous).
Their argument that once a Jew is no longer a Zionist then that individual X is no longer a Jew. Most parties assume Israeli – Zionist – Jew are the same entity, disregarding the Jewish minority in Lebanon. Another argument would come that every Jew in Israel is filling the home of an expelled family in Palestine. This piece of information holds true, but the solution to the crisis has to be emancipatory in nature. We all know how the Zionists demolished the homes of the Palestinians when they were expelled from their houses back in 1948 (and afterwards). The bulldozer always remains the Zionist's best friend. Hence, Zionist and non-Zionist Jews would be regarded the same. The argument rotates that European Jews have a second nationality, while Palestinians have none, so there is no way to sort the crisis except one group destroying the other, which I don’t regard as a solution. In fact, Zionism can be blamed for that hatred, specially for their previous and on-going butchery of the Palestinians.
More to the point, Marxist figures had plenty of people who are originally Jews: Marx originally came from a Jewish Family, Leon Trotsky, Krupskaya, Leon Kamenev, Clara Zatkin, Rosa Luxemburg, Zinoviev, and so forth; however, to some they exist as a grand conspiracy plan by the free masons to destroy the Eastern Orthodox Church and subdue Russia and previous ex-USSR nations to the Free Masons. This is racism to the extreme. I was accused in the past of being a Zionist because I insisted there is a big difference between Zionism and Judaism.
Now luckily, in the 21st century, some extremist groups began accepting non-Zionist Jews. Marcy Newman is probably one example to give, Chomsky’s welcoming as a national hero was greeted by two primary figures: Hassan Nasrallah and Walid Junblatt. Nine years ago, Newman’s life would have been in dangerous situation if she visited Lebanon. Several members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party defended Newman’s stand when she was attacked by a certain pro-Zionist Professor who racially accused her of being “self-hating Jew”.
Bottom line, Jews lived in perfect harmony with their Arab citizens everywhere till Zionism sent us their racial ideas from Europe, and the division began. While the English had a racial term in London called: “Dirty Jew”, pre-Zionism arab nations didn’t seggregate between a Jew or any other Arab sect. Zionist butchery triggered the domino effect of bloodbaths and retribution to other Arab Jews (specially the Iraqi Jews). It is funny that Western Zionist Jews had to invent the notion of “empty Palestine” to build their “nation” in order to avoid “civilized Europe’s” racism to ruin the lifestyle of Arab Jews and render racism effective both ways.
For me, attacking Zionism does not mean racism. Zionism is a political exclusive racist theory that focused on expelling Palestinians from their homes, triggering a reactionary wave, pretend to be victims, then rewrite history as “bringers of civilization” to the Middle East. Zionism has not only Jews in the international arena supporting “poor Jews in a middle of Barbarian lands” but also non-Jewish sympathizers who believe in a single pure Jewish Israel and forgetting about Palestine. More to the point, I will never forgive the Zionists for triggering this racial division lines in this region of the world, not to forget the on-going slaughters, and also assisting indirectly in the rise of Islamist fundementalists. The Zionists remind me of Milosevic’s Serbia amidst the breakdown of Yugoslavia.
From our side, we have a long way to promote the idea that Zionism and Judaism are different. As much as this is a sensitive topic, I think it should be openly discussed and bluntly too. For this to happen, the following steps are needed to take place:
1) Zionist Jews should learn history as it happened and shouldn’t base their information from single Zionist sources, rather check both sides, check British archives of their mandate, the US, and history as a whole.
2) Arabs should dig up archives how Jews were regarded as a normal sect in their countries before the ressurection of Israel
3) Arabs should focus on the achievements of non-Zionist Jews and focus on the Internationalist dimension of humanity: people are people despite religion or race.
4) The discussions of the Iskra dialogues witnessed heavy offensive attacks from Trotsky on the Bund (Jewish Socialist Party) because they seperated the Proletariat as Jews and Non-Jews. This can trigger wonderful material for discussions.
5) Despite the racial practices of Israel on the Palestinians and triggering the domino effect of reverse racism in the Arab world and bringing us Islamist fundementalists, the non-Zionist Jews should be recognized in Israel. They are the key factor of bringing down a Zionist racial dogma, and hopefully transforming Israel into a secular real democratic nation, not having a big wall dividing Israel as Jews or non-Jews (at least a logical step one for the crisis instead of favoring a parallel logic similar to the Zionist logic of dumping non-Arab Jews into the sea.
6) More to the Point, the progressive Palestinians in Palestine/Israel should recognize the non-Zionist Jews as perfect allies and try togather to emancipate the Proletariat over there into a single movement. I seriously cant imagine any real solution except the unity of the Jews-Christians- Muslims of Palestine/Israel (which means Israeli/Palestinian civilians) unless the Palestinians/Israelis overthrow their oppressors and unify the proletariat as one.
7) The logic that “Jews rule the world” is over-rated and inflated (not to forget flawed) logic. In the end, Zionism is only one lobby in the US administration among many other factors. Again we separate between Zionists and Jews.
8) Not anyone who wants to “bring the destruction of Israel” is an ally. There are differences between those (say Ahmadinejad denying the existence of the Holocaust) , Qa’eda freaks, and progressive Marxists who want to emancipate the Proletariat as one. I am sure no one wounded recently the Zionists better than Yossi Schwartz’s “Origin of the Jews” (a Marxist from Israel). We have to always consider the difference between progressive forcesand non-progressive forces.
9) Edward Said at a one time was despised by the Palestinians for leaving the PLO when the Oslo agreement was reached. Personally Edward Said is a hero who proved Zionism is a typical 19th century European colonial movement. Azmi Bchara was accused by several people of treason for participating in the Israeli cabinet (and in defecto recognizing Israel through that act) but Azmi Bchara became persecuted by the Zionists when he resigned his position as an MP over there. Rather Azmi Bchara proved to the Arab world how certain form of progressiveness and emancipation can take place from within. Yossi Shwartz is a simple third 100% progressive example of the situation. He even shed light on how the Nazis and Zionists had hidden agreements.
10) Last but not least, as Marxists, we believe that the whole people should be unified as one despite race, gender, nationality, color, tendency, and religion. From here, the concept of one world will always rotate in the minds of the comrades everywhere in the world, and more importantly, we as Marxists dig up history EXACTLY as it happened.
MFL
The problem of Judaism is Zionism, it transformed them from a sect to a race. Pre-Zionists (dubbed as Isolationists) were highly active in isolating the Jews in the communities in the face of Assimilationists (example: there can be a French Jew just as there is a French Catholic, and the sort). Isolationists brought bad name to Judaism and remained a minority within the Jewish Community, till Hitler’s butchery of the Jews reinforced Zionism beyond what Ben Gurion, Ben Horin, and Weitz ever imagined. To Ben Gurion’s surprise, most of the Jews of Europe fleeing the Nazi racial butchery, they prefered the United States. Only 100,000 people prefered Palestine. However, this is not my focus, if I dwell on history, I will never finish.
A lot of the Lebanese factions think that a Jew and a Zionist are the same. When Finkelstein, Chomsky, and others visited , things changed. In the beginning it was not safe for any Jew to visit Lebanon: for example: Chomsky a decade earlier was scheduled to visit Lebanon, a lot of death threats hovered that he will be assassinated (he stepped down from visiting Lebanon then). Ironically, ever since he sat with Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, same people who threatened to assassinate him, endorsed him as a partner who is fighting for the "cause". Despite the lunch, a lot others face the dilemma of accepting him or he is just part of a grand conspiracy plan (which I find totally ridiculous).
Their argument that once a Jew is no longer a Zionist then that individual X is no longer a Jew. Most parties assume Israeli – Zionist – Jew are the same entity, disregarding the Jewish minority in Lebanon. Another argument would come that every Jew in Israel is filling the home of an expelled family in Palestine. This piece of information holds true, but the solution to the crisis has to be emancipatory in nature. We all know how the Zionists demolished the homes of the Palestinians when they were expelled from their houses back in 1948 (and afterwards). The bulldozer always remains the Zionist's best friend. Hence, Zionist and non-Zionist Jews would be regarded the same. The argument rotates that European Jews have a second nationality, while Palestinians have none, so there is no way to sort the crisis except one group destroying the other, which I don’t regard as a solution. In fact, Zionism can be blamed for that hatred, specially for their previous and on-going butchery of the Palestinians.
More to the point, Marxist figures had plenty of people who are originally Jews: Marx originally came from a Jewish Family, Leon Trotsky, Krupskaya, Leon Kamenev, Clara Zatkin, Rosa Luxemburg, Zinoviev, and so forth; however, to some they exist as a grand conspiracy plan by the free masons to destroy the Eastern Orthodox Church and subdue Russia and previous ex-USSR nations to the Free Masons. This is racism to the extreme. I was accused in the past of being a Zionist because I insisted there is a big difference between Zionism and Judaism.
Now luckily, in the 21st century, some extremist groups began accepting non-Zionist Jews. Marcy Newman is probably one example to give, Chomsky’s welcoming as a national hero was greeted by two primary figures: Hassan Nasrallah and Walid Junblatt. Nine years ago, Newman’s life would have been in dangerous situation if she visited Lebanon. Several members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party defended Newman’s stand when she was attacked by a certain pro-Zionist Professor who racially accused her of being “self-hating Jew”.
Bottom line, Jews lived in perfect harmony with their Arab citizens everywhere till Zionism sent us their racial ideas from Europe, and the division began. While the English had a racial term in London called: “Dirty Jew”, pre-Zionism arab nations didn’t seggregate between a Jew or any other Arab sect. Zionist butchery triggered the domino effect of bloodbaths and retribution to other Arab Jews (specially the Iraqi Jews). It is funny that Western Zionist Jews had to invent the notion of “empty Palestine” to build their “nation” in order to avoid “civilized Europe’s” racism to ruin the lifestyle of Arab Jews and render racism effective both ways.
For me, attacking Zionism does not mean racism. Zionism is a political exclusive racist theory that focused on expelling Palestinians from their homes, triggering a reactionary wave, pretend to be victims, then rewrite history as “bringers of civilization” to the Middle East. Zionism has not only Jews in the international arena supporting “poor Jews in a middle of Barbarian lands” but also non-Jewish sympathizers who believe in a single pure Jewish Israel and forgetting about Palestine. More to the point, I will never forgive the Zionists for triggering this racial division lines in this region of the world, not to forget the on-going slaughters, and also assisting indirectly in the rise of Islamist fundementalists. The Zionists remind me of Milosevic’s Serbia amidst the breakdown of Yugoslavia.
From our side, we have a long way to promote the idea that Zionism and Judaism are different. As much as this is a sensitive topic, I think it should be openly discussed and bluntly too. For this to happen, the following steps are needed to take place:
1) Zionist Jews should learn history as it happened and shouldn’t base their information from single Zionist sources, rather check both sides, check British archives of their mandate, the US, and history as a whole.
2) Arabs should dig up archives how Jews were regarded as a normal sect in their countries before the ressurection of Israel
3) Arabs should focus on the achievements of non-Zionist Jews and focus on the Internationalist dimension of humanity: people are people despite religion or race.
4) The discussions of the Iskra dialogues witnessed heavy offensive attacks from Trotsky on the Bund (Jewish Socialist Party) because they seperated the Proletariat as Jews and Non-Jews. This can trigger wonderful material for discussions.
5) Despite the racial practices of Israel on the Palestinians and triggering the domino effect of reverse racism in the Arab world and bringing us Islamist fundementalists, the non-Zionist Jews should be recognized in Israel. They are the key factor of bringing down a Zionist racial dogma, and hopefully transforming Israel into a secular real democratic nation, not having a big wall dividing Israel as Jews or non-Jews (at least a logical step one for the crisis instead of favoring a parallel logic similar to the Zionist logic of dumping non-Arab Jews into the sea.
6) More to the Point, the progressive Palestinians in Palestine/Israel should recognize the non-Zionist Jews as perfect allies and try togather to emancipate the Proletariat over there into a single movement. I seriously cant imagine any real solution except the unity of the Jews-Christians- Muslims of Palestine/Israel (which means Israeli/Palestinian civilians) unless the Palestinians/Israelis overthrow their oppressors and unify the proletariat as one.
7) The logic that “Jews rule the world” is over-rated and inflated (not to forget flawed) logic. In the end, Zionism is only one lobby in the US administration among many other factors. Again we separate between Zionists and Jews.
8) Not anyone who wants to “bring the destruction of Israel” is an ally. There are differences between those (say Ahmadinejad denying the existence of the Holocaust) , Qa’eda freaks, and progressive Marxists who want to emancipate the Proletariat as one. I am sure no one wounded recently the Zionists better than Yossi Schwartz’s “Origin of the Jews” (a Marxist from Israel). We have to always consider the difference between progressive forcesand non-progressive forces.
9) Edward Said at a one time was despised by the Palestinians for leaving the PLO when the Oslo agreement was reached. Personally Edward Said is a hero who proved Zionism is a typical 19th century European colonial movement. Azmi Bchara was accused by several people of treason for participating in the Israeli cabinet (and in defecto recognizing Israel through that act) but Azmi Bchara became persecuted by the Zionists when he resigned his position as an MP over there. Rather Azmi Bchara proved to the Arab world how certain form of progressiveness and emancipation can take place from within. Yossi Shwartz is a simple third 100% progressive example of the situation. He even shed light on how the Nazis and Zionists had hidden agreements.
10) Last but not least, as Marxists, we believe that the whole people should be unified as one despite race, gender, nationality, color, tendency, and religion. From here, the concept of one world will always rotate in the minds of the comrades everywhere in the world, and more importantly, we as Marxists dig up history EXACTLY as it happened.
MFL
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Nobel Peace
Prize Not
Al Gore is not a Man of PeaceThe real problem with Gore getting this award, an award who's past recipients include Jimmy Carter, Doctors Without Boarders, Kim Dae-Jung, Amnesty International, Bishop Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Unicef, MLK, and the Red Cross, is Gore has a pro-war record as a politician.
When he was in Congress, he supported Reagan's and Bush senior's wars. He voted to give aid to Reagan's "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua (although he later changed his opinion, too late), Angola, and Afghanistan. As one-half of Clinton/Gore, he brought us several questionable, if not unnecessary military conflicts, including the disastrous campaign in Somalia. He and Clinton continued the Iraq conflict which paved the way for GW Bush to invade.
Gore can speak out now against the war, but what about the bombing and sanctions against Iraq that were responsible for tens of thousands of deaths during the Clinton/Gore administration? Speaking of Nobel Prize winners, another was the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, in 1997. He and Clinton also opposed that ban.
Now the Nobel Peace Prize awards are not perfect, there have been bad choices. GW was nominated for the prize a few years ago! But at least he did not win. Past mistakes do not however excuse the committee from awarding someone the prize for things unrelated to peace, and who has never done anything to advance the cause of peace
# posted by Rancho Perros Bravos @ 10/13/2007 07:00:00 PM
In my opinion, people make too much of the Nobel Prize. It is a private institution - no more, no less. The prize is a donation from Alfred Nobel and the nomination process and requisites for the award are regulated in his will.
Secondly as for nominations one needs to know that ANY member of ANY national assemble, government, international court of law, ANY university chancellor and university professor can nominate anyone they please.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
American Insanity
Americanistic Personality Disorder 35% of US Americans Still Support Bush: Diagnosing the Insanity
By Jason Miller
Cluster B Personality Disorders
The essential features of Americanistic Personality Disorder include pervasive patterns of extreme self-absorption, profound and long-term lapses in empathy, a deep disregard for the well-being of others, a powerful aversion to intellectual honesty and reality, and a grossly exaggerated sense of the importance of ones self and ones nation. These patterns emerge in infancy, manifest themselves in nearly all contexts, and often become pathological.
These patterns have also been characterized as sociopathic, or colloquially as the Ugly American Syndrome. Note that the latter terminology carries too benign a connotation to accurately describe an individual afflicted with such a dangerous perversion of character.
For this diagnosis to be given, the individual must be deeply immersed in the flag-waving, nationalistic, and militaristic fervor derived primarily from the nearly perpetual barrage of reality warping emanations of the mainstream media, most commonly through the medium of television. Typically indoctrinated from birth to believe that they are morally superior, exceptional human beings, these individuals suffer from severe egocentrism, a condition further engendered by the prevalence of the acutely toxic dominant paradigm known as capitalism.
Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder are generally covertly racist, xenophobic, and openly speciesistic. They readily participate in the execution of heinous crimes against human and non-human animals, even if their complicity is banal and limited. As long as they are comfortable, safe, and enjoying the relative affluence and convenience afforded by their nation's economic extortion, cultural genocide, rape of other species and the environment, and imperial conquests, such individuals display an apathetic disregard for the well-being of other human beings, sentient creatures, and the environment.
Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder tend to exhibit unabated greed and an insatiable desire for material goods. Fueled by a compulsion to shop and acquire excessive amounts of material goods, a condition sometimes referred to as consumerism, they have no regard for the misery and destruction caused by their pathological need for more stuff. When confronted with the finitude and fragility of the Earth, they frequently react with level one ego defenses by denying that their behavior is a part of the problem or by distorting reality by asserting that concerns about Climate Change, resource depletion, and irreversible damage to the environment are over-blown. Their deeply entrenched sense of entitlement renders excessive consumption a nearly immutable aspect of their behavior.
Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder are virtually devoid of empathy or compassion. They view life as a game played by law of the jungle rules and co-exist with others in a chronic state of hyper-competitiveness, seeking only to advance their careers and keep up with the Joneses. Their desire to win, get ahead and protect what is theirs has been so deeply etched into their psyches that their capacity to empathize and experience true concern for the well-being of others is severely stunted or extinguished. The pursuit of property, profit, and power rules their malformed psyches, nearly eliminating their capacity for humane behavior.
Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder almost always rely on extortion or violence to get their needs met and to resolve conflict. Believing in their inherent superiority, they eschew laws or rules except when they can utilize them for personal gain or when they fear punishment. Given a choice between a just resolution to a situation and the opportunity to humiliate, subdue, or subjugate the other party, they will choose the latter with a high degree of frequency. They have an amazing capacity to justify their unethical or criminal behavior using false pretexts such as self defense, good intentions, ignorance of the consequences of their actions, or asserting that they were merely carrying out orders.
Individuals with Americanistic Personality Disorder tend to manifest traits indicative of two of Erich Fromms personality orientations. They thrive on adding to their possessions, and appreciate their acquisitions more when they attain them through coercion, theft, or manipulation, thus showing strains of Fromms exploitative type. They also exist at a very superficial level, offering the world the friendly face of the marketing personality that Bernays and Madison Avenue have taught them is the most effective way of advancing their selfish agenda. Opportunism, careerism, and narcissism poison nearly all of their interactions and relationships.
Specific Culture Features
Americanistic Personality Disorder appears to prevail in a very high percentage of those in the upper strata of the socioeconomic order in the United States (and to persist tenaciously because these individuals have little motivation to alter their pathological behavior as they are largely immune from the consequences of their actions). While it is epidemic amongst the opulent, this characterological deficiency does not recognize socioeconomic boundaries. Various segments of the middle, working and impoverished classes comprise a notable percentage of those exhibiting this condition, including those practicing deeply conservative Christianity, many residents of reactionary states such as those in the south, Kansas, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, and many members of the Republican Party.
Prevalence
The overall prevalence of Americanistic Personality Disorder was recently measured at approximately 35% of the overall population in the United States.
Diagnostic Criteria for 1776.0 Americanistic Personality Disorder:
A pervasive pattern of greed, selfishness, and lack of empathy, beginning the moment he or she begins to intellectualize and presented in nearly all contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1. lacks empathy due to an excessive degree of self-absorption
2. believes that he or she is exceptional and morally superior
3. frequently engages in exploitative behaviors
4. requires frequent acquisition of goods he or she doesnt need
5. usually resorts to some form of overt or covert violence, coercion, or extortion to resolve conflicts
6. perceives others as obstacles to his or her success
7. disregards laws and rules except as a means to achieve his or her agenda
8. demonstrates deep hypocrisy by projecting a righteous, benevolent image while committing reprehensible acts
9. refuses to accept the consequences of his or her actions
# posted by Rancho Perros Bravos @ 10/10/2007 04:45:00 AM
A previous study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that while the world wide rate of people with diagnosable mental disorder is 4%, or one 20, in the United States it is 26.2%, or one in four. That over abundance of nuts is just a symptom but not the root their problem. Whatever its causes, the world's problem reduces to that of those loonies let loose.
China & Africa
China’s Trade in Africa Carries a Price Tag KABWE, Zambia — The courtyard in front of the Zambia China Mulungushi Textiles factory is so quiet, even at midday, that the fluttering of the ragged Chinese and Zambian flags is the only sound hanging in the air.
The factory used to roar. From the day it opened more than 20 years ago, the vast compound had shuddered to the whir of rollers and the clatter of mechanical weaving machines spooling out millions of yards of brightly colored African cloth.
Today, only the cotton gin still runs, with the company’s Chinese managers buying raw cotton for export to China’s humming textile industry. Nobody can say when or even if the factory here will reopen.
“We are back where we started,” said Wilfred Collins Wonani, who leads the Chamber of Commerce here, sighing at the loss of one of the city’s biggest employers. “Sending raw materials out, bringing cheap manufactured goods in. This isn’t progress. It is colonialism.”
Chinese officials and their African allies like to call their growing relationship a win-win proposition, a rising tide that lifts all boats in China’s ever-widening sea of influence.
This year, China pledged $20 billion to finance trade and infrastructure across the continent over the next three years. In Zambia alone, China plans to invest $800 million in the next few years.
From South Africa’s manganese mines to Niger’s uranium pits, from Sudan’s oil fields to Congo’s cobalt mines, China’s hunger for resources has been a shot in the arm, increasing revenues and helping push some of the world’s poorest countries further up the ladder of development.
But China is also exporting huge volumes of finished, manufactured goods — T-shirts, flashlights, radios and socks, just to name a few — to those same countries, hampering Africa’s ability to make its own products and develop healthy, diverse economies.
“Most of our countries have been independent for 35 to 50 years,” said Moeletsi Mbeki, a South African entrepreneur and a political analyst. “Yet they have failed to develop manufacturing for a variety of reasons, and for the Chinese that’s a huge opportunity. We are a very important market for China.”
On the one hand, Chinese imports give Africans access to goods and amenities that developed countries take for granted but that most people here could not have dreamed of affording just a few years ago — cellular telephones, televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, computers. And cheaper prices on more basic items, like clothing, light bulbs and shoes, mean people have more money in their pockets.
“There is no doubt China has been good for Zambia,” said Felix Mutati, Zambia’s minister of finance. “Why should we have a bad attitude toward the Chinese when they are doing all the right things? They are bringing investment, world-class technology, jobs, value addition. What more can you ask for?”
But across Africa, and especially in the relatively robust economies of southern Africa, there are clear winners and losers. Textile mills and other factories here in Zambia have suffered and even closed as cheap Chinese goods flood the world market, eliminating jobs in a country that sorely needs them.
The Chinese investment in copper mining here has left a trail of heartbreak and recrimination after one of the worst industrial accidents in Zambian history, a blast at a Chinese-owned explosives factory in Chambishi in 2005 that killed 46 people, most of them in their 20s.
“Who is winning? The Chinese are, for sure,” said Michael Sata, a Zambian opposition politician who campaigned in last year’s presidential election on an anti-China platform. He lost, but with a surprisingly strong showing, and his party, the Patriotic Front, won many seats in local and parliamentary elections in Lusaka, the capital, and the Zambian industrial heartland, where China has made its biggest investments.
“Their interest is exploiting us, just like everyone who came before,” he said. “They have simply come to take the place of the West as the new colonizers of Africa.”
Saturday, October 06, 2007
It is Torture
Enhanced Interrogation Methods?
No, The Word Is "Torture"
[An article with a lot of truth that should be faced by the Americans. I only disagree with this authors last statement, "This is a cancer that must be quickly, loudly and publicly removed from the heart of America". America has no heart, and it is America and Americanization itself that must be got rid of].
I am sick to death of all the pussyfooting around the subject that has occupied the media for the duration of this premeditated, illegal war of terror that we the people of the United States have allowed to be waged against the people of Iraq, in our name, for the last several years.
No matter how much lipstick and rouge we smear on the face of this war no matter how we attempt to dress up the evil and bestial acts that have been performed in its unholy name, it still has the hideous countenance of an evil swine from hell.
It is an illegal war, begun and conducted under false pretenses, by a group of criminal liars and thieves in the United States Government, abetted by a cowardly congress who abrogated their constitutional duties in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds and furthered by a complaisant press that ignored their obligation to remain independent from government, from their sponsors and report the facts.
The members of the completely rogue executive department acted in their own self interest in a quest for personal power and wealth, in concert with the usual domestic and international corporate pirates who, in the depths of their insatiable greed, continually amplify human conflict to their own ends and bring poverty, war, suffering and death down upon the world.
There is no such animal as extraordinary rendition, nor do I know of the existence of any beasts called enhanced interrogation methods.
The first is kidnapping, it is illegal, a felony and the second word is torture, its meaning is clear:
NOUN:
1. Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.
2. An instrument or a method for inflicting such pain.
2. Excruciating physical or mental pain; agony: the torture of waiting in suspense.
3. Something causing severe pain or anguish.
Torture is illegal in this country, a felonious act, it is illegal in the world at large, according to several conventions that we are legally bound by. Anyone committing torture, causing it to be committed, directing its commission, or training others in its techniques is guilty, guilty of war crimes, of crimes against humanity and crimes against "Nature's God.
The people who lied us into this war are not statesmen, nor are they patriots acting out of a misguided love of country, as I have heard in some quarters. They are murderers, murderers, modern day Nazis or Fascists if you prefer, cold dispassionate sociopaths, heinous criminals, without conscience, without mercy, without humanity.
I read in the press and heard in the media yesterday and this morning of the "murky legal territory" in which the "private contractors" operate in Iraq and the murky area of law in which our dedicated public servants must operate as they determine just how far they can go in the extreme physical abuse of human beings before they stray in to a "gray area."
Bullshit, I think that when a lying pig of a lawyer like David Addington describes a "murky legal area" it means that he thinks he can get away with it. The legal situation in Iraq was intentionally designed to protect the mercenary scum that we send there to perform high priced serial murders as they fulfill bloated contracts to protect our criminal leadership, thieving diplomats and cowardly congressmen.
I believe that the actions of following people must be investigated and, if warranted by the evidence, tried in criminal courts, and if convicted, face the full consequences of both US and International law:
George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Eliot Abrams, Scooter Libby, John Hannah, David Wurmser, Andrew Natsios, Dan Bartlett, Mitch Daniels, George Tenet, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, David Addington
There are more, in every corner of the executive, the congress, among the highest levels of the military as well as the intelligence community, various think tanks, news organizations, public and private corporations and other NGOs.
This is a cancer that must be quickly, loudly and publicly removed from the heart of America.
Enough.
Bob Higgins
# posted by Rancho Perros Bravos @ 10/06/2007 01:41:00 AM
Good article. However, the cancer goes much deeper and is more wide spread than to Bush et al. The CIA rendition flights, aka torture flights, have been going on at least since 1998 according to ex British Foreign Minister Jack Straw.
School of the Americas, where torture techniques are taught, has operated since 1946.
It seems the cancer has not only affected the heart of America, it has affected the whole body.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Hypocrisy
The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. GW Bush declared increased sanctions in his UN speech.
Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, “The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime.”
Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” The most powerful supporters of the junta is one that Rice knows well: Chevron.
Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma’s Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labour, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. It’s Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers. Before Yadana went online, Burma’s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labour. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.
The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997, but there are loopholes. Unocal’s exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.
Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister also expressed ‘outrage’ at the Burmese government’s despicable behaviour but conveniently forgot to mention that UK companies are merrily investing away in Burma. Between 1988 and 2004 companies based out of British territories invested over £1.2bn in Burma, making Britain the second largest investor in this supposedly ostracised country. The sun it seems has not only set on the British Empire but also set on the conscience and honesty of its politicians.
hypocrisy [hi-pok-ruh-see] –noun, plural -sies.
a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, “The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime.”
Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” The most powerful supporters of the junta is one that Rice knows well: Chevron.
Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma’s Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labour, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. It’s Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers. Before Yadana went online, Burma’s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labour. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.
The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997, but there are loopholes. Unocal’s exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.
Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister also expressed ‘outrage’ at the Burmese government’s despicable behaviour but conveniently forgot to mention that UK companies are merrily investing away in Burma. Between 1988 and 2004 companies based out of British territories invested over £1.2bn in Burma, making Britain the second largest investor in this supposedly ostracised country. The sun it seems has not only set on the British Empire but also set on the conscience and honesty of its politicians.
hypocrisy [hi-pok-ruh-see] –noun, plural -sies.
a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Western Hypocrisy
Shame has Vanished from Western "Civilization." Hypocrisy has Taken its Place.
[An American Opinion, how sad more can't share this view]
On September 28, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown could be heard on National Public Radio decrying the use of violence against democratic protesters by the government in Burma. Brown declared the British people's revulsion over the violence inflicted by the Burmese government on its people. But Brown said nothing about the violence the British government was inflicting on Iraqis and Afghans.
George W. Bush also struck the blameless pose when he declared: "The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals."
Bush and Brown do not have the same sympathy for the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither Bush nor Brown stand in solidarity with those who are demanding their freedom from foreign occupation by American and British troops. Indeed, Bush and Brown, as commanders in chief, are on a killing spree that makes the government in Burma look extremely restrained by comparison.
Why were British soldiers sent to kill Iraqis and Afghans? September 11 had nothing whatsoever to do with the UK. No doubt but that the corrupt Tony Blair was paid off to drag the British people into Bush's Middle East war for American/Israeli hegemony, but Brown has done nothing to terminate Bush's use of the British military as mercenaries.
The NPR announcers also supported the Burmese people, but they, too, show little disturbance over Bush's five-year old wars that we now know were based entirely on lies. Al Qaeda is not the Taliban, and Iraq had no WMD. Neither country was a threat to the US. Now that we know this, why does the media still give Bush and Brown a free pass to use violence against Iraqis and Afghans?
To cut to the chase, what is the difference between Bush and Brown on one hand and the murderous Burmese government on the other? Bush and Brown are actually worse. They pretend to be democrats concerned with what people actually want. The Burmese government doesn't pretend to be anything but a military dictatorship. Moreover, the Burmese government is clean by comparison as it hasn't committed acts of naked aggression--war crimes under the Nuremberg standard--by invading other countries and attempting to occupy them.
Despite all the killing Bush has accomplished, he thirsts for yet more blood. Iran is in his and Israel's sights. All indications are that Bush is going to attack Iran. Propaganda, demonizations, and crass lies are pouring out of the Bush regime and its media and academic propagandists such as Columbia University president Lee Bollinger. Both parties in Congress have lined up behind the coming attack on Iran. The despicable senator Joe Lieberman even snuck language into a bill to give Bush the go ahead.
Who is going to stop Bush from a third war crime? Not his vice president, Not his national security adviser, not his secretary of defense. Not his secretary of state. Not Congress. Not the US military. Not the corporate fat cats. Not the Israel Lobby. Not the bought and paid for "allies." Not the anti-war movement. Not the American people. Certainly not the media.
Americans are content with whatever crimes their government commits as long as the justification is Americans' safety.
Americans' willingness to murder others out of fear for their own safety is a result of September 11. The antiwar movement is impotent, because it has accepted the government's 9/11 story. To oppose a war when you accept the government's reason for the war is an indefensible position.
The Bush regime knows that if people will believe its 9/11 story, they will believe anything. Propaganda silences facts, and Americans fall for one set of falsehoods after another. The alleged 9/11 hijackers all came from countries allied with the US, principally Saudi Arabia, but Americans believe the government's lies that Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria are responsible. Americans have been convinced that without "regime change" in these countries, the American superpower will remain helpless in face of stateless Muslims armed with box cutters.
Americans have been brainwashed to believe that Muslims hate us for our "freedom and democracy," whereas in fact the problem is the US government's immoral foreign policy and interference in the internal affairs of Muslim countries. Bush's message to the Middle East is clear: Be a puppet state or be destroyed.
In the meantime, to prevent democracy and civil liberties from getting in the way of making Americans safe, Bush has set aside habeas corpus, due process, right to legal representation, privacy, and the separation of powers mandated by the US Constitution. Otherwise, Bush says, we will lose the "war on terror."
Bush says he has made Americans safe by ridding them of these constitutional impediments to their safety. And once American bombs fall on Iran and Syria, those countries will be free and democratic, too, like Iraq and Afghanistan.
In leading Americans to this conclusion, Bush has sunk the United States to a new low in human intelligence and morality.
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
# posted by Rancho Perros Bravos @ 10/03/2007 08:01:00 PM
Monday, October 01, 2007
Iraqi Message
