December 2002

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

¤ U.S.-British Jets Bomb Iraq Facilities
¤ Israel bribery crisis deepens
¤ Iraq protests against US air strike
¤ Kuwaitis seethe with anger as U.S. war drum beats
¤ Arafat aide: Increased violence is Israeli pre-election policy
¤ B.C. sighting adds twist to manhunt
¤ What are we being driven to?
¤ U.S. bombs hit Pakistan town after border clash
¤ Dangerous deficiencies in Bush's budget deficits
¤ NY Times Takes Control of Herald Tribune
¤ White House aims to reshape world
¤ Sharon takes on rabbis over Jewish identity
¤ South Korea Questions U.S. Plan on North
¤ Six Killed in Philippines' Bombing
¤ 1.7 million have wrong gas masks
¤ S.Koreans Ignore North's Nukes at Anti-U.S. Rally
¤ Bush: Iraq War, Yes; Korea War, No
¤ US fans fatal flames in a lawless land
¤ An Elusive Victory in Afghanistan
¤ Mass demo held in support of Arafat's Fatah
¤ Dow Jones Closing With Worst Annual Loss in 25 Years
¤ Crisis in Korea: America's dilemma
¤ At Least 4 Killed in Philippines' Blast
¤ 'No basis' for Iraq war now
¤ Iraq accuses US of seeking false information
¤ Annan: No argument' so far for strike on Iraq
¤ Saudis still smarting over Al-Jazeera programme
¤ 15 Freighters Believed to Be Linked To Al Qaeda
¤ North Korea: Confrontation Is Inevitable
¤ South Korea denounces US pressure on Stalinist North
¤ Cricket team's visit 'would endorse Mugabe's regime'
¤ Three US medical workers killed by fundamentalist gunman in Yemen
¤ The insistent, pervading fear of terror that will continue to blight our lives
¤ Howard retreats in Iraq-N Korea confusion
¤ Musharraf warned Indian PM of 'unconventional warfare'
¤ Powell ups pressure on Iraq as war preparations gather pace
¤ 27 killed in Iranian prison fire
¤ Eight militants killed; informer beheaded
¤ Pentagon build-up reaches unstoppable momentum
¤ Rumsfeld 'offered help to Saddam'

Petro-Politics Fueling Venezuelan Crisis
Posted: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

By Stephen Kangal

An appreciation of the internal dynamics of the tri-dimensional configuration of the current petro-politics being conducted by the protagonists in Venezuela is fundamental to an understanding of the current month-long crisis/4th strike that has hitherto virtually paralysed the oil-rich country.

Petro-politics underpins the strategies adopted both by Chávez and the Opposition (Coordinadora Democratica) that includes the private press/ electronic media, the Unions (CTV), The Fedecamaras (Caracas Chamber of Commerce), PDVSA and led by Carlos Ortega. PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil monopoly is pivotal to the anti-Chávez strike action. It earns 80% of Venezuela's foreign exchange earnings and contributes 50% of Government's revenues.

Petro-politics is the common thread underlying the escalation of the crisis and therefore serves as an instrumental and appropriate tool of crisis analysis and understanding. It is manifested in and determines the nature of the daily action-reaction/stimulus-response that is unfolding simultaneously at the national, regional and international levels. In fact the confrontational nature of the petro-politics is fueling the crisis. It is both the cause of as well as the short and long- term solution to the political situation in Venezuela.

The National Dimension

President Chávez has since assuming the Venezuelan Presidency in 1998 prosecuted his own genre of strident tri-dimensional petro-politics to foster and promote the viability of his own reformist national social agenda geared to reduce inequity and poverty among 80% of Venezuela's 24 million that supported his Bolivarian Revolution so overwhelmingly (56% of votes) that he eliminated the COPEI and Accion Democratica parties in the 1998 elections. Chávez's commitment to achieving a strong and viable OPEC predicated, inter alia, on Venezuelan determination to adhere rigidly to established OPEC production quotas was responsible for OPEC oil price stabilisation much to the dismay of the Americans who have a penchant for cheap oil irrespective of the long term high costs.

Internally he set himself the task introducing more Government controls by reforming the operations/management of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) that were controlled by the traditional middle-upper class elitist oligarchy. They siphoned away 80% of PDVSA's revenues with only 20% going to the State. The remaining dissident management with workers of PDVSA itself is using an oil-shutdown, aided by crews of tankers, trucks joining forces with the Opposition Chilean-style, as a weapon in Venezuelan petro-politics designed to remove Chávez prematurely and unconstitutionally from the Mira Flores Palace. Workers of PDVSA have also defied a Court Order to return to work.

The President of PDVSA, Ali Rodriguez said of the petro-politics: "What can be gained by using PDVSA for an action that is clearly political"? (Newsday Dec.2, p. 57)

They have also picketed the T&T Embassy in Caracas in retaliation for T&T's state-owned Petrotrin undertaking to ship gasolene to Caracas on New Year's Day.

Venezuelan petro-politics has caused oil production to plummet from 3m bpd to 300,000 bpd and a revenue loss of $50m daily ($1.3 bn so far) causing Venezuela to import its first shipment of 520,000 barrels of gasolene from Brazil (Express 27 Dec, p.4). It is unable to supply regional partners including Cuba (Express 23 Dec., p.4) and most Caricom countries under the Caribbean Oil Facility that was itself an expression of Caribbean petro-politics designed to up-stage T&T and enhance Venezuela's influence in the Caribbean.

Chávez has instituted military control over most of the operations of PDVSA (30,000 of 40,000 employees support the strike), purged some anti-Chávez elements from senior management and will enforce effective 1 January a Hydrocarbon Reform Law to wrest control of PDVSA from the parasitic oligarchy to contribute more oil revenues to the national coffers to fund his social initiatives. In the aftermath of April 12 he also purged the army of potential opponents that explains why the military now supports his regime. This virtually rules out a military coup at present since the army chief also accused PDVSA employees of economic sabotage.

In fact the stubborn unwillingness of the Opposition elements to wait until the August 3 mid-term constitutional referendum is due is influenced by the fact that the economic position of Venezuela can improve from high oil prices following an Iraqi invasion and thereby enhance Chávez's political fortunes. Venezuela's economy shrank 6% last year, unemployment is at 17 % and inflation at 30%.

The Regional Dimension

Venezuela's regional petro-politics symbolised notably by its Caribbean Oil Facility offering oil on concessionary terms to Caribbean/ Central American countries was instrumental in galvanising diplomatic support for the embattled Chávez regime both within the OAS and bilaterally. The accession to the presidencies of two oil-producing neighbouring countries, Brazil and Ecuador by populist, leftist leaders Lula De Silva (1 Jan/03) and Lucio Gutierrez(10 Jan/03) respectively has made the overthrow of the Chávez regime more untenable (Guardian Editorial, Dec 9., p.24). The OAS Resolution passed 32-0 with solid Caribbean support backing the legitimacy of the Chávez regime is not only democratically inspired but also a manifestation of Caribbean petro-politics.

Shipments of 300,000 barrels of gasolene to be effected on New Year's Day from Petrotrin (Sunday Express 29/12, p.5) as well as food supplies received from the Dominican Republic and Colombia to be paid for in Venezuelan oil are indicative of regional solidarity with Venezuela as well as of strategic alliances.

The International Dimension

The beginning of hostilities against Iraq would appear to be conditional on the resolution of the strike at PDVSA since together they supply 5.5 million bpd and can trigger an oil price in excess of US$ 40.00 that will cause havoc in the world economy (The Probe, 29 Dec., p.4). Any attempt to ignore this reality of the petro-politics that can be catastrophic to developed and the developing world alike will be deemed extremely irresponsible on the part of the UK and USA as well as insensitive to the notion of the emerging globalised village.

It is to be noted that OPEC has issued a statement supporting the Chávez regime (Newsday 28 Dec., p. 9). The Allies would appear to be in a dilemma since no military action can responsibly be initiated against Iraq in the face of a closure of Venezuelan pipelines. Iraq and Venezuela contribute 5 million bpd of the 76m world- oil market. The US has released crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to make up for dwindling supplies (Guardian Dec. 24, p. 13).

In fact US support for the removal of Chávez both in April and at present is closely linked to securing reliable supplies of Western Hemispheric energy in the face of the volatility of supplies from the Middle East and Chávez's own leftist anti- US stance. Removal of Chávez is the target of US petro-politics at the international level with no regard or precedence being accorded to the democratic basis of Chávez's election to the presidency. This reminds one of a similarity with the 1973 overthrow of democratically elected Salvador Allende of Chile with CIA complicity.

Venezuela: Interventions 'r' US
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

by Dale Allen Pfeiffer, FTW Contributing Editor for Energy

[Ed. Note: Remember the cardinal rule: Since the Second World War oil prices spikes have invariably led to recession. Recessions are a way of curbing demand for oil. Unemployed people buy less gasoline. And recessions never hurt the rich; only the middle classes and the poor. - MCR]

Who is the United States' number one opponent in its quest for imperialism? Forget about Osama Bin Laden, George Dubya certainly has. And don't fret about Saddam Hussein, he is simply an excuse for intervention. Never mind looking down the road to see when Russia or China will step into the fray. Our no. 1 opposition is a business cartel with the power to strangle the U.S. economically. As global oil production begins to decline, OPEC could become the most powerful organization on the planet, providing that George Dubya Bush does not smash it first.

Taking over Iraq and placing the Saudi oil fields under U.S. protection would break OPEC and establish the U.S. as the premier energy broker in the declining days of oil. And the Bush Administration has been very eager to do just this, though it is attempting to keep the international community appeased while making this power play. Now, however, the Iraq invasion is likely to be delayed until we have reined in another OPEC member much closer to home.

The oil industry in Venezuela has been idled by its upper management, as part of a supposed general strike intended to topple the Chavez government. This is a strike of the rich, and the vast majority of Venezuelans are not supporting it. The strike is a failure in every other respect but for the critical shutting down of oil exports. In this crucial industry, which provides most of Venezuela's wealth, the lockout has cut oil exports to a trickle.

Venezuela is the fifth biggest oil producer in the world, and is the third largest supplier to the U.S., exporting oil to this country at the rate of 1.5 million bpd. Venezuela's oil production has dropped from just under 3 million bpd to barely more than 825,000 bpd. Little more than one month ago Venezuela was supplying one out of every ten barrels of oil that the U.S. consumed. Now the country is having troubles just meeting its own oil demands. In fact, Venezuela has resorted to the short term importation of refined gasoline to keep its economy moving.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called for the military to intervene in the oil lock out, echoing President Reagan's actions in the air traffic controllers' strike. And the military has acted to take control of a few of the idled tankers. But production and shipping are still down to a trickle of what they once were. The Supreme Court issued a temporary ruling ordering the striking employees back to work, but production remains stifled as oil executives continue their defiance.

President Chavez will have to end this strike soon and bring production back to normal levels, and do so without giving the U.S. cause to intervene. The longer this strike goes on, the longer it will take to get production back in order once the strike has ended.

The U.S.

The Venezuelan strike has already sent up oil prices. In the U.S., oil has already gone to over $32 per barrel, with prices rising at the pump as a result. If the strike continues, oil prices will continue to climb.

Look for the price climb to be led by Citgo Petroleum Corporation, which is owned by a subsidiary of Venezuelan PDVSA. Citgo is buying crude on the open market, but their refineries are geared for the heavy Venezuelan crude, and their production is being affected by the strike. Many other Gulf Coast refiners are also feeling the loss.

Already faced with possible natural gas price spikes if this is a cold winter, we are also going to see the price of gasoline rise. Either one could be fatal for our ailing economy.

While Dubya doesn't seem too concerned about the U.S. economy, the oil strike in Venezuela could upset his plans for Iraq. Former Venezuelan energy minister Calderon Berti said that if both the Venezuelan and Iraqi oil supplies were cut off, oil prices would soar to over $40 per barrel. Before Dubya can attack Iraq, he needs to secure the Venezuelan oil supply.

COUP

For this reason, the U.S. may sponsor a coup in Venezuela within the next month or so. And this is what the strikers want. Their goal is to disrupt Venezuela's economy until the military has to intervene against President Chavez. This strike was choreographed by experienced coup plotters in the U.S. The unions behind the strike, and the corporate media who have lied about it are financially tied to the National Endowment for Democracy, which is a cover for CIA financing.

Otto Reich of the State Department and Elliott Abrams of the National Security Council are overseeing the efforts to install a more compliant regime in Caracas. Both men are veterans of the contra war against Nicaragua. It is their plan to destabilize the country and then aid a military coup. They had hoped to pull off this coup months ago, but had not reckoned on Chavez's popularity with the vast majority of the population. Since then, they have been trying to erode that popularity while attempting to turn the military against Chavez.

Now that their plans have come to impede the invasion of Iraq and threaten the U.S. economy, Abrams and Reich will be urged to either bring their plans to fruition or allow somebody else to broker a settlement with Chavez. And there are other urgent deadlines in imposing a diplomatic junta on Venezuela. Jan. 1, Brazil will inaugurate Lula da Silva as president, and ten days later Ecuador will inaugurate Colonel Lucio GutiŽrrez. These men will provide a left-leaning block that could act in opposition to Washington's plans for the region. And perhaps most importantly, the Hydrogen Law will take effect on Jan. 1, giving Chavez the tools he needs to reform the state-owned oil industry. The Hydrogen Law is a piece of Venezuelan legislation which will socialize more of the profits of the oil business and keep them in Venezuela for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. This is perhaps the single most important issue for Chavez's opponents both at home and abroad.

For all of these reasons, for the U.S. economy, and for the invasion of Iraq, Washington is going to seek a quick resolution to the Venezuelan situation.

OPEC

OPEC may actually step in to help lower oil prices, should the current situation go on for too long. To extract the maximum profit without putting too much stress upon the world economy, OPEC has a target range for oil prices of between $22 and $28 a barrel. Below that price, OPEC members lose their profits, and above that price, the market begins to dry up. Within OPEC there is an agreement to step up production if the price of oil stays above $28 per barrel for 20 consecutive days. Let us not forget, however, that while it only takes five days for a shipment of Venezuelan crude to reach the U.S., it takes five weeks for a shipment of Middle East crude to reach the U.S. Any relief from the Middle East will be delayed by over a month.

And there are those who wonder if OPEC has the spare capacity to cover Venezuela's 3 million bpd. Virtually all OPEC countries are currently pumping in excess of their quotas. However, the current oil production is barely enough to stabilize the market. This question of spare capacity will become increasingly important in the years ahead. The amount of oil in the ground does not matter if you are pumping as much as you possibly can through all of the wells in operation.

Beyond the question of production capacity, is it in OPEC's best interest to aid the U.S. in the military domination of OPEC member states? It must be obvious to members of the cartel that the U.S. seeks to undermine their power and take over control of the planets remaining hydrocarbon deposits.

How can OPEC stand aside and do nothing while the U.S. stages coups in Venezuela, prepares to invade Iraq, and vilifies Saudi Arabia while eyeing that country's oil deposits? Certainly, the economic weapon which OPEC wields is a two-edged sword, but if you are fighting a war, then you must expect to make sacrifices. However, before OPEC will become a fighting machine, it needs a leader who can bring all of the member nations to see that they are in fact at war with the United States. And that will be a tough chore.

Perhaps OPEC will wake up in time. But it is just possible that the U.S. could be in control of a major portion of the world's remaining oil supplies when OPEC finally does wake up.

OUTLOOK

If the U.S. can back a successful coup in Venezuela and take Iraq quickly, Washington will be in a very powerful position and will rule a global empire for some time to come. And this prospect seems quite imminent to those who are calling the shots in Washington.

On the other hand, if operations become bogged down in either Venezuela or Iraq, the result could very well be the ruination of U.S. dreams of global imperialism. In Venezuela, if Chavez retains the backing of a major segment of the population and the military, then we could see a bloody civil war, which could disrupt oil supplies for some time to come. The situation could become quite ugly if U.S. intervention led to collaboration between Pro-Chavez forces and Colombian rebels. We could easily find ourselves in a regional conflict that could make Vietnam look like a Sunday picnic.

Likewise, if Saddam Hussein prepares his nation for urban guerrilla fighting, then we could find ourselves fighting a war of attrition in the Middle East. In this case, the extended warfare in oil producing regions could precipitate a global economic meltdown, for which the U.S. would be entirely responsible.

For the moment, keep your eye on Venezuela. The situation there must be resolved before Bush invades Iraq. President Chavez is an amazing man, and with the full support of the people, he has thwarted several attempts to unseat him, just in this past year alone. He has also won six elections in the last four years. Hugo Chavez may retain his presidency long enough to see George W. Bush lose his.

[© Copyright, 2002, From The Wilderness Publications, www.fromthewilderness.com. All rights reserved.
May be copied, distributed or posted on the Internet for non-profit purposes only.]

World News
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

¤ Carrying a religious mission to Muslim countries
¤ Thousands Mourn Guyana's Desmond Hoyte
¤ Israel Rules Reserves Must Serve in Occupied Territories
¤ Clone cult firm raided in S Korea
¤ Stock markets down third year in row
¤ Yemen Arrests Man in Slaying of Americans
¤ U.N. Security Council Votes for New Restrictions on Iraqi Imports
¤ White House aims to reshape world
¤ Powell insists N. Korea not a crisis
¤ Iraq Accuses U.S. of Double Standards with N.Korea
¤ Saudis deny letting US use bases
¤ Massive US buildup continues, inspectors find no arms
¤ Court rejects Israeli reservists' appeal
¤ Jordan steps up warnings against US war on Iraq
¤ The Accidental Imperialist
¤ Making a prison of Palestine
¤ Questions That Bother and Bewilder
¤ Air Defense Is Key
¤ 'Arms Inspectors' Bolster Canadian Anti-war Movement
¤ Suspected Islamic extremist kills three US doctors in Yemen
¤ US fed-up with UN dithering over Iraq as war clouds gather
¤ South Korean president slams US policy on North Korea nuke crisis
¤ Bush's 'War on Terror' Faces Mounting Criticism
¤ Take Time to Question Rush to War
¤ U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup
¤ The Penn paradox -- When actors take an unpopular stand
¤ Riyadh denies allowing US to use bases, airspace against Iraq
¤ US would protect Iraqi oil fields, may raise output
¤ French Police Arrest Airport Employee with Weapons, Explosives
¤ Spanish anti-terror judge blasts Bush
¤ Agreement On US 3.2 Billion Gas Pipeline Project Signed
¤ U.S Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact
¤ Protesters in Turkey Burn U.S. Flags
¤ Report: U.S. slow to pay New York in terror attacks
¤ German Nobel Laureate: Bush "Threat to World Peace"
¤ US, British aircraft bomb two Iraqi radar bases
¤ Historic victory for Kenya's opposition
¤ Lieberman: Al-Qaida Eying Saudi Arabia
¤ War with N. Korea is now the unavoidable choice facing U.S.
¤ US threatens North Korea with ruinous economic stranglehold
¤ It is wrong to overreact to the supposed threat of North Korea
¤ Philippines President Arroyo will not seek new term
¤ Lula prepared to take control in Brazil
¤ Ten Palestinians die as Israel turns up the heat
¤ Afghan leader warns foreign troops to leave
¤ Kremlin is afraid of peace
¤ Moscow aims to restore its influence in Central Asia
¤ Sharon approves new Middle East 'roadmap'
¤ Pyongyang defiant as Downer joins critics
¤ Report ties two African leaders to al-Qaeda diamond spree
¤ Texas executed more inmates than any other state in 2002

Update : Dec. 30, 2002
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

Trinidad and Tobago ships gasoline to Venezuela
PETROTRIN'S recent decision to ship gasoline to Venezuela will have no effect on its regular customers, the company's public relations officer Oliver Flax stated yesterday.
NOTE: Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited, PETROTRIN, integrated oil company incorporated January 1993, is fully owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad will ship large quantity of gasoline to Venezuela on New Year's Day, officials say
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- Trinidad's state-owned oil company will ship some 300,000 barrels of gasoline on New Year's Day to Venezuela, officials said Monday.
The arrangement is part of a commercial arrangement between both countries to trade crude oil for refined products, said Oliver Flaks, spokesman for Trinidad's state-owned oil company Petrotrin. The shipment is not related to an ongoing general strike in Venezuela, Flaks said. - Associated Press via www.sfgate.com

Venezuela: Interventions 'r' US
Who is the United States' number one opponent in its quest for imperialism? Forget about Osama Bin Laden, George Dubya certainly has. And don't fret about Saddam Hussein, he is simply an excuse for intervention. Never mind looking down the road to see when Russia or China will step into the fray. Our no. 1 opposition is a business cartel with the power to strangle the U.S. economically. As global oil production begins to decline, OPEC could become the most powerful organization on the planet, providing that George Dubya Bush does not smash it first. - by Dale Allen Pfeiffer

Trinidad and Tobago ships gasoline to Venezuela
Posted: Monday, December 30, 2002

Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited, PETROTRIN, integrated oil company incorporated January 1993, is fully owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

From: Newsday, T&T

PETROTRIN'S recent decision to ship gasoline to Venezuela will have no effect on its regular customers, the company's public relations officer Oliver Flax stated yesterday.

This in response to reports in a daily newspaper that Petrotrin has agreed to ship US$15 million worth of gasoline to strike-torn Venezuela in the wake of a formal bail-out request by the Hugo Chavez administration facing revolt and a series of crippling strikes which have led to food shortages and dry pumps at Venezuela's service stations.

It was reported that Petrotrin responded to this request by establishing a pro quid trading arrangement in which Venezuela will supply crude to Petrotrin in exchange for refined products, mainly gasoline.

In a telephone interview with the Newsday Flax said while the company planned to export approximately 300,000 barrels of gas to Venezuela's national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) this was only due to a "company to company arrangement".

"We are not involved in the politics of Venezuela," Flax stated. "We are in the business of refining and selling products. In this case we are not dealing with the Venezuelan government at all, we are on a company to company business. We have a standing contract arrangement with PDVSA where they supply us with crude oil and we pay them money. On this occasion they said instead of giving them money we should give them gasoline and we agreed."

He said this arrangement is "a one-time thing" and would have no effect on Petrotrin's regular customers.

"In addition to supplying to our regular customers we also sell gasoline to other customers on the international market," he pointed out. "That is a regular thing. In this case they will continue to get what they are contracted to get. They are our number one priority and this arrangement will have no effect on them."

PDVSA's last shipment of crude oil arrived at the Pointe a Pierre jetty on Boxing Day and Flax said plans are in place to ensure that Petrotrin's shipment is expected to leave Trinidad either tomorrow or Wednesday.

But, Flax said, while there are no plans to continue shipping gasoline in exchange for crude oil to Venezuela the company would be willing to do so if asked.

"As long as the price is right we would sell it," he said. "We are in the business of selling products and we would sell it to anybody who could pay for it."

World News
Posted: Sunday, December 29, 2002

¤ Kashmir: Indian army gets latest Israeli killing kits
¤ After 24 years, Kenya gets new leader
¤ U.S. Says No Attack Planned on N.Korea
¤ US Government probes cloning claim
¤ Cloned Baby Coming Home to U.S. on Monday
¤ Lessons from the fall of an empire
¤ Saudi makes U-turn on helping US in Iraq attack
¤ We're fine despite everything, says Saddam
¤ Passionate attachment to Israel
¤ Sharon diverts publicity from scandal to war with Iraq
¤ Israeli army murders two Palestinian school children
¤ Western warplanes attack two Iraqi radar sites
¤ Military Filming Protesters at D.C. Demonstrations
¤ Sharon after inciting US to wage war on Lebanon, Syria: daily
¤ Health Minister "anti-Zionistic" and "anti-Jewish" remarks
¤ Saudi Arabia ready to help US in Iraq war no sources given
¤ 9/11 Inquiry Chair Tied To Osama's Brother In Law
¤ Most see U.S. as a 'bully,' survey finds
¤ US warns N Korea of economic collapse
¤ 'Human shields' head for Iraq
¤ Chechnya suicide bombers 'used Russian military links'
¤ Briton tells of ordeal in Bush's torture jail
¤ '1m refugees' will flee Iraq war
¤ Now Pyongyang vows to expel UN nuclear inspectors
¤ Six killed in revenge raid
¤ Is it a clone or a con?
¤ Rumsfeld signs deployment order
¤ Unhappily ever aftermath
¤ Seoul appeals to China over North Korea
¤ GM crops are breeding with plants in the wild
¤ A terrorist outrage that underlines the need for a settlement in Chechnya
¤ Landslide smashes Moi's grip on Kenya
¤ U.S. Seeks Economic Pressure on N. Korea
¤ Iraq Names Scientists Involved in Weapons

Update : Dec. 29, 2002
Posted: Sunday, December 29, 2002

Chavez Frias thanks Brazil and Caribbean countries for support in oil war.
President Hugo Chavez Frias has publicly thanked Brazilian Fernando Cardoso and president-elect Lula da Silva for sending 520,00 barrel of gasoline on the "Amazon Explorer" which docked in Puerto La Cruz on Saturday.
Chavez Frias has let it be known that he has received gestures of support from the governments of Jamaica, Curacao, Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic.
Trinidad & Tobago, the President says, will send 300,000 barrels of gasoline to cover the deficit until refineries start up again.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members have offered help, along with the Russians, which is expected to send a committee of businessmen to help reactivate the oil industry.
Copyright © 2002VHeadline.com

Racial Label Surprises Many Latino Immigrants
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

By Darryl Fears - The Washington Post
December 28, 2002

At her small apartment in Washington, D.C., Maria Martins quietly watched as an African American friend studied a picture of her mother. "Oh," the friend said, surprise in her voice. "Your mother is white."

She turned to Martins. "But you are black."

That came as news to Martins, a Brazilian who, for 30 years before immigrating to the United States, looked in the mirror and saw a morena--a woman with caramel-colored skin that is nearly equated with whiteness in Brazil and some other Latin American countries. "I didn't realize I was black until I came here," she said.

That realization has come to hundreds of thousands of dark-complexioned immigrants to the United States from Brazil, Colombia, Panama and other Latin nations with sizable populations of African descent. Although most do not identify themselves as black, they are seen that way as soon as they set foot in North America.

Their reluctance to embrace this definition has left them feeling particularly isolated--shunned by African Americans who believe they are denying their blackness; by white Americans who profile them in stores or on highways; and by lighter-skinned Latinos whose images dominate Spanish-language television all over the world, even though a majority of Latin people have some African or Indian ancestry.

The pressure to accept not only a new language and culture, but also a new racial identity, is a burden some darker-skinned Latinos say they face every day.

"It's overwhelming," said Yvette Modestin, a dark-skinned native of Panama who works as an outreach coordinator in Boston. "There's not a day that I don't have to explain myself."

E. Francisco Lopez, a Venezuelan-born attorney in Washington, said he had not heard the term "minority" before coming to America.

"I didn't know what it meant. I didn't accept it because I thought it meant 'less than,"' said Martins, whose father is black. "'Where are you from?' they ask me. I say I'm from Brazil. They say, 'No, you are from Africa.' They make me feel like I am denying who I am."

Exactly who these immigrants are is almost impossible to divine from the 2000 Census. Latinos of African, mestizo and European descent --or any mixture of the three--found it hard to answer the question "What is your racial origin?"

Some of the nation's 35 million Latinos scribbled in the margins that they were Aztec or Mayan. A fraction said they were Indian. Nearly forty-eight percent described themselves as white, and only 2 percent as black. Fully 42 percent said they were "some other race."

Race matters in Latin America, but it matters differently.

Most South American nations barely have a black presence. In Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia, there are racial tensions, but mostly between indigenous Indians and white descendants of Europeans.

The black presence is stronger along the coasts of two nations that border the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela and Colombia--which included Panama in the 19th century--along with Brazil, which snakes along the Atlantic coast. In many ways, those nations have more in common racially with Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic than they do with the rest of South America.

This black presence is a legacy of slavery, just as it is in the United States. But the experience of race in the United States and in these Latin countries is separated by how slaves and their descendants were treated after slavery was abolished.

In the United States, custom drew a hard line between black and white, and Jim Crow rules kept the races separate. The color line hardened to the point that it was sanctioned in 1896 by the Supreme Court in its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that Homer Plessy, a white-complexioned Louisiana shoemaker, could not ride in the white section of a train because a single ancestor of his was black.

Thus Americans with any discernible African ancestry--whether they identified themselves as black or not--were thrust into one category. One consequence is that dark-complexioned and light-complexioned black people combined to campaign for equal rights, leading to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

By contrast, the Latin countries with a sizable black presence had more various, and more fluid, experiences of race after slavery.

Jose Neinstein, a native white Brazilian and executive director of the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute in Washington, boiled down to the simplest terms how his people are viewed. "In this country," he said, "if you are not quite white, then you are black." But in Brazil, he said, "If you are not quite black, then you are white."

The elite in Brazil, as in most Latin American nations, are educated and white. But many brown and black people also belong in that class. Generally, brown Brazilians, such as Martins, enjoy many privileges of the elite, but are disproportionately represented in Brazilian slums.

Someone with Sidney Poitier's deep chocolate complexion would be considered white if his hair were straight and he made a living in a profession. That might not seem so odd, Brazilians say, when you consider that the fair-complexioned actresses Rashida Jones of the television show "Boston Public" and Lena Horne are identified as black in the United States.

Neinstein remembered talking with a man of Poitier's complexion during a visit to Brazil. "We were discussing ethnicity," Neinstein said, "and I asked him, 'What do you think about this from your perspective as a black man?' He turned his head to me and said, 'I'm not black,"' Neinstein recalled. " ... It simply paralyzed me. I couldn't ask another question."

By the same token, Neinstein said, he never perceived brown-complexioned people such as Maria Martins, who works at the cultural institute, as black. One day, when an African American custodian in his building referred to one of his brown-skinned secretaries as "the black lady," Neinstein was confused. "I never looked at that woman as black," he said. "It was quite a revelation to me."

Those perceptions come to the United States with the light- and dark-complexioned Latinos who carry them. But here, they collide with two contradictory forces: North American prejudice and African American pride.

Vilson DaSilva, a native of Brazil, is a moreno. Like his wife, Maria Martins, he was born to a black father and a white mother. But their views on race seem to differ.

During an interview when Martins said she had no idea how they had identified themselves on the 2000 Census form, DaSilva rolled his eyes. "I said we were black," he said.

He is one of a growing number of Latin immigrants of African descent who identify themselves as Afro-Latino, along the same color spectrum as African Americans.

"I've learned to be proud of my color," he said. For that, he thanked African American friends who stand up for equal rights.

DaSilva agreed that nuances separate African Americans and Afro-Latinos, but he also believes that seeing Latin America through African American eyes gave him a better perspective. Unfortunately, he said, it also made him angrier and more stressed.

When DaSilva returned to Brazil for a visit, he asked questions he had never asked, and got answers that shocked him.

His mother told him why her father didn't speak to her for 18 years: "It was because she married a black man," he said. One day, DaSilva's own father pulled him aside to provide his son some advice. "`You can play around with whoever you want,"' DaSilva recalled his father saying, "`but marry your own kind."' So DaSilva married Martins, the morena of his dreams.

She is dreaming of a world with fewer racial barriers, a world she believes she left in Brazil to be with her husband in Washington.

As Martins talked about the nation's various racial blends in her living room, her 18-month-old son sat in front of the television, watching a Disney cartoon called "The Proud Family," about a merged black American and black Latino family. The characters are intelligent, whimsical, thoughtful, funny, with skin tones that range from light to dark brown.

The DaSilvas said they would never see such a show on Latin American TV.

Martins said her perspective on race was slowly conforming to the American view, but it saddened her. She doesn't understand why she can't call a pretty black girl a negrita, the way Latin Americans always say it, with affection. She doesn't understand why she has to say she's black, seeming to deny the existence of her mother.

"Sometimes I say she is black on the outside and white on the inside," DaSilva said of his wife, who threw her head back and laughed.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

World News
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

¤ Spin of the Year
¤ Troops, Protesters Clash in West Bank
¤ U.S. Offers Aid to Turkey in Event of War
¤ A UN mandate does not make war on Iraq right!
¤ Getting our priorities straight
¤ Cloning Skeptics: Show Us The DNA
¤ Kenya's vice president loses seat
¤ Asia's Splits Deepen Korea Crisis (Registration)
¤ U.N. Inspectors To Leave North Korea Next Week
¤ Rescuers Comb Ruins Of Chechen Heaquarters
¤ U.S. Orders Thousands Of Troops To Gulf
¤ Iraq Shrugs Off US Buildup
¤ Bush Says U.S. Must Confront Iraqi Danger In 2003
¤ In Afghanistan, 'anyone with a gun is the government'
¤ Iraqi scientist blasts U.N. experts over interview
¤ Iraq gives UN inspectors list of scientists
¤ US-led group triggered N-crisis, says Moscow
¤ Six dead in Islamic Jihad revenge attack on Jewish settlement
¤ Insider gives UN details of Iraq arms
¤ Americans to man Israeli defences
¤ Iraq says UN can question hundreds of scientists
¤ A terrorist outrage, the need for a settlement in Chechnya
¤ War fears and strike to force petrol up by 4p
¤ Belfast execution heralds new war among loyalists
¤ West urges China to bring North Koreans into line
¤ Threats will change nothing, says Russia
¤ At least 46 killed as rebels destroy Russian HQ in Chechnya
¤ Israeli Army assassinates string of Palestinians
¤ To humankind, a clone - or a new-born fraud
¤ N Korea to expel nuclear inspectors
¤ Al-Jazeera gives West a new slant on Arab world
¤ We are ready to back US in Iraq, says NATO boss
¤ For Iraqis, too, war may not be lesser evil

A UN mandate does not make war on Iraq right!
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

www.transnational.org
By Jorgen Johansen, TFF Associate, Director of the Centre for Peace Studies at Tromsø, University, Norway, and Jan Oberg, TFF director

A UN mandate does not turn war into peace

Governments, editors, commentators and even supporters of the United Nations currently express the view that a war against Iraq is, or will be, acceptable if the United States and others "go back" to the Security Council and obtain a "UN mandate" before they attack.

But, this is false logic and could spell the end of the UN as a peace organisation. If you think that the planned war is or entails a violation of international law, such a mandate does not make it more legal. If you think that the war is morally wrong or unfair, such a mandate won't make it right or just. If you think that war has nothing to do with conflict-resolution but must be categorised as aggression, a resolution - inevitably the result of horse-trading among the Five Permanent (and nuclear) Security Council members and the other ten under the leadership of Columbia - does not turn war into wise politics.

The Security Council has no magic formula and no magic wand to wave in order to turn war into peace and human folly into wisdom.

A Security Council resolution that endorses war is not the same as a "UN" mandate, as is often stated. It's hard to believe that something like a referendum among all members in the General Assembly would result in a go-ahead. There is still little enthusiasm for this war among "we, the peoples" around the world. If the Security Council self-importantly decided that it is the High Judge and that Judgement Day has come, all talk of an "international community" standing behind a war with Iraq would be grossly misleading.

A mandate is no comfort; no UN mandate is the better option

It is as if a "UN mandate" serves to make some people feel better about this war. The Swedish government, as an example of a country whose solidarity with the UN has never been questioned, seems to hope that it will not be forced to criticise the United States. Because, if there is such a UN mandate, it would be possible for Sweden to say, "well, we don't like wars, but this one has a UN mandate, and therefore it is acceptable to us." The Danish government, still the head of the EU for a few more days, has declared that it is willing to participate directly in the war if there is such a mandate.

There are two important arguments against a UN "mandate". Firstly, if there is no such mandate, it will be considerably more difficult for many member states to accept it or go along with it. That is, the United States would rather stand alone and carry the major burden of a political, legal and moral disaster. Secondly, it would save the UN from being dragged down into the quagmire called bombing, invasion, occupation and control of Iraq - not to mention the humanitarian consequences and the resources needed to rebuild the country physically, as well as psychologically. With no UN mandate, the UN could say "not in our name" and remain a genuine peace organisation true to the words and the spirit of its charter.

To put it simply, if George W. Bush and the people around him want to destroy Iraq, they should go it alone. The UN must never be misused to legitimate bellicose policies of any member state. The UN can hardly survive with repeated humiliation as has been the case in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Somalia and Afghanistan.

The planned war violates the Charter's words and spirit

Let us hope that the war against Iraq will never receive approval from the United Nations. The Charter of the UN is clear; the organisation's highest purpose is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." And "Armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest". There exists no common interest to do what is being planned against Iraq.

The war against Iraq has been going on for eleven years now. Since September 11 last year, the Security Council has lost colossal legitimacy due to a number of resolutions that have been passed. The tragic new interpretation of International Law itself and the implementation of it has seriously undermined the foundation of a system constructed to handle international conflicts. The principles and conventions developed in the post-Westphalian era have been damaged due to paranoid policies of revenge after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Centre.

Since September 11, the UN has suffered even more blows

This loss of legitimacy is naturally more obvious among the 1,300 million Muslims in the world. They are about to loose confidence in an organisation in which 80 per cent of the permanent members of the supreme body are Christian countries. Seen from their vantage point, the Four Permanent members possess, if you will, Christian bombs and share the basic Old Testament image of the world that "the others" are either with us or they are against us and must be exterminated.

When the UN accepted to use International Law and not Criminal Law for the reaction to September 11, it opened doors that will be (mis)used by many actors in the future. Up until then, political and violent crimes had been handled by the police and not by the military. This shift is very dangerous. Then the U.S. decided, and the UN accepted, to use the principle of "self defence", but with a delay of almost a month (September 11 to October 7). In the field of Criminal Law, this would resemble that the attacked escapes from the attacker, locate him a month later and (with a bunch of friends) exercise his "self-defence" out of proportion to the first crime committed.

The Bush regime moves from MAD to NUTS

The UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq represent an even more dodgy new interpretation. This time the act of self-defence will be carried out years before the attacked assesses that he could, perhaps, be hit, i.e. pre-emptively. Unfortunately for the UN, international law holds no provisions for such pre-emptive policies or wars. They are found only in recent strategic documents from the Bush regime. Even worse, they contain a philosophical demolition of the principles of deterrence that enables the United States to use weapons of mass-destruction against countries that are not known to possess such weapons but are judged to be able to possess them some time into the future.

In short, instead of moving towards general and complete disarmament world-wide, or the abolition of all WMD (Weapons of Mass-Destruction) we are moving from MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) to the fundamentally immoral and destabilising NUTs (Nuclear Use Theories).

Kidnapping Iraq's report and keeping U.S. involvement in Iraq's military secret

In spite of its real importance, the weapons inspection process is exploited as a game by the United States. Its representatives have done their best to provoke and find Iraqi violations of resolutions by the Security Council, including SC Resolution 1441. The recent U.S. kidnapping of the 12,000-page report produced by Iraq is one of the most serious in a long line of aggressive acts.

The U.S. claims that it wants to know everything about Iraqi military programs, but obviously not which U.S. and other Western companies have made them possible. Money doesn't smell of course until it comes out into the open. Instead of causing an outrage forcing the Bush regime to back down, most members accept this gross violation of decency and of the integrity of the United Nations.

Colin Powel returned from a short visit to Bogota on December 4 where he had announced major increases in American military aid to Colombia. Colombia presently serves as the chair of the Security Council. In exchange for the military support, Colombia presumably promised to let the U.S. steal Iraq's report to "edit" it, i.e. to practise censorship.

Kofi Annan should remember Article 99 and 100 and use them to save the UN

Despite the serious injury done to the UN, there is no other organisation that can assume global responsibility in the situation we are facing today. The Iraqis will suffer no less because "there was a UN mandate." A UN mandate only means that the UN will suffer too, most likely beyond repair. Western countries that bomb Muslim countries only amplify the hate against West. The number of potential suicide-bombers and terror attacks must be expected to grow with every military attack on innocent Muslims. They cannot possibly see the UN as a trustworthy world organisation.

Let the UN get back its status as a legitimate actor working for "peace by peaceful means." Let the U.S. establishment stand alone as the naked aggressor. The United Nations has already administered a genocide of up to 1 million Iraqis due to a sanctions regime only the U.S. insists on maintaining.

We prefer our world to be running according to the norms of the UN, not those of the U.S.! Article 99 of the UN Charter states that the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. Thus, he stands over and above the member governments. If he thinks that a U.S.-led war on Iraq is a threat to world peace, he has the power to act. Article 100 states that the Secretary-General and his staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organisation.

If the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, makes use of Article 99 and 100 of the Charter, war on Iraq will not happen. Will he do so?

The U.S. tail must not wag the UN dog...

Letting the tail (the U.S.) wag the dog (the UN) is morally unacceptable and a violation of the Charter. The U.S. has tried and will try to do it again. Now is the time for the UN to stand up for itself, for the genuine international community.

Or will 2003 be remembered by future generations as the year in which a few members, against the will of the greater majority, decided to destroy the UN as a peace organisation? And got away with it only because the Secretary-General and member states who didn't want the war, failed to show civil courage in time and hid behind a self-condemning "UN mandate"?

© TFF 2002

Update : Dec. 28, 2002
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 2002

Alí Rodríguez anuncia importación de gasolina desde Trinidad Con el propósito de garantizar la existencia de suficiente combustible para abastecer el mercado interno el Gobierno nacional procederá a la importación de 400 mil barriles de Trinidad los cuales ingresarán a nuestro país en dos buques para ser descargados en Puerto La Cruz y distribuidos hacia los distintos puntos. - www.globovision.com

Why Such Meddling?
The U.S. media coverage reflects not only the Bush administration line, but also the anti-Chávez bias of most Venezuelan news outlets. The television networks Globovisión, Televen and Venevisión openly supported the coup and blacked out protests supporting Chávez. "It was a media coup," said veteran Unión Radio reporter María Lilibeth Da Corte, who added that most editors censored any reporting that put the coup in a negative light.
The media hostility toward Chávez may have something to do with his main base of support-the poor people who constitute 80 percent of Venezuela's population. Chávez opponents, in contrast, come mostly from the middle and upper classes and don’t want him to fulfill his promise to distribute more oil revenue to the poor.
- By Jessie Duncan, www.americas.org

World News
Posted: Friday, December 27, 2002

¤ Afghan pipeline deal inked
¤ Get Real... How Safe Are You?
¤ Gunmen kill Jewish settlers
¤ Top Talent Lining the War Path
¤ Two powerful bombs blast in Chechen capital
¤ N Korea to expel nuclear observers
¤ Chechnya bombing kills at least 40
¤ 35 Killed in Bombing at Chechen Government Headquarters NY Times
¤ UN Refugee Chief Says Iraq War Would Be Disaster
¤ Cult says it has first human clone
¤ Downer says North Korea is not a direct threat to Australia
¤ Israeli army kills 9 Palestinians, including guard at Ramallah hospital
¤ Israeli army kills seven Palestinians
¤ Russia yesterday widened a UN Security Council rift over Iraq
¤ Saddam readies Iraq for total war
¤ CIA accused of torture at Bagram
¤ US 'is using torture techniques' to interrogate top al-Qa'ida prisoners
¤ Russia and Iran boost nuclear pact
¤ Al-Jazeera broadcasts in English
¤ Korea's nuclear strategy attacked by UN
¤ Pyongyang may have A-bomb in 30 days
¤ Nato chief says alliance has moral duty to back Washington's line
¥ It should read, 'a racist duty' to back Washington's line
¤ Price of war may be more than US thinks, says study
¤ In Russia they no longer execute, they kill
¤ Thank You, Mr Bush
¤ In expectation of a war
¤ Pyongyang denies restarting nuclear program
¤ Price of war may be more than US thinks, says study
¤ Warlord says he has joined al-Qaeda to expel foreign soldiers
¤ New claims link army to US killings in Papua
¤ Hopes for end to Chechen war fade
¤ Israeli troops kill 7 in West Bank, re-enter Bethlehem
¤ Two die, 14 injured in Brazil air force crash
¤ U.S., UK warplanes attack Iraqi sites
¤ U.S. paper exposes CIA's 'brass knuckle' grillings
¤ Iraq says scientists may refuse to talk to UN inspectors
¤ War on Iraq could boost international terrorism: Russia
¤ Iran has abolished 'death by stoning'

Update : Dec. 27, 2002
Posted: Friday, December 27, 2002

Venezuela crisis has U.S. in a bind
The Bush administration is straining to find the right tone in its approach to the growing crisis in Venezuela. One day White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says the United States would like to see new presidential elections; the next day, it's a referendum.
However, at a time when Washington can least afford to see oil production disrupted, few people in Latin America believe the US claim that it stands for democratic rule. Washington’s influence in Venezuela’s crisis has been deeply eroded by its own actions.
By Frida Ghitis via www.abs-cbnnews.com

World News
Posted: Thursday, December 26, 2002

¤ Bogus Case Against Black Citizens In Tulia, Texas
¤ Israel: Refusal to serve could be contagious
¤ Brand America
¤ Sharon's war?
¤ Israeli troops kill six Palestinians - BBC
¤ In Christmas, Israel continues killings and destruction
¤ U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations
¤ Interrogating Captives: 'After 9/11, the gloves come off'
¤ Iraq Says Israeli WMD Claim 'Absolute Lies'
¤ Syrian spokesman refutes Israeli allegations on chemical weapons
¤ Philippines Ambush Kills 12
¤ New Fears Over N. Korea Nukes
¤ Iraq Stockpiles Food for War
¤ Powerball $314.9 million Winner Breaks The Bank
¤ At least 12 killed in ambush in southern Philippines
¤ Venezuela talks, protests resume - CNN
¤ N Korea nuclear moves alarm UN - BBC
¤ Iraq stockpiles food for war - BBC
¤ MI chief: Iraq won't attack before U.S. offensive
¤ Church leaders launch unified attack on war plans
¤ Iraqis ready for 'holy war and martyrdom'
¤ FBI asks colleges to hand over files on all foreigners
¤ The British monarchy is in need of radical reform
¤ Nuclear chill as Pyongyang warns US
¤ Washington has a new theory: these guys aren't crazy
¤ Iraq urges people to put lives on the line
¤ The humble latrine is making Madagascar a safer place
¤ Al-Qaeda's hideaway
¤ China frees dissident to improve ties with US
¤ Saudi reiterates it will not help US in war against Iraq
¤ Israeli leaders accuse Sharon of lying, creating hysteria
¤ Hekmatyar: Jihad against America will not end until liberation
¤ Turkey renews US permission to use bases in northern Iraq

Update : Dec. 26, 2002
Posted: Thursday, December 26, 2002

National dialogue sessions to resume today
The national dialogue table renews its sessions today in Venezuela in the midst of a situation of conflict provoked by the national strike led by the opposition, which is entering its 25th day. - www.granma.cu

Venezuela's opposition demands election
oil prices hit two-year high
- by James Anderson, AP Writer, via sfgate.com

Venezuela imports fuel as oil sector still halted
- Reuters News Service, via sfgate.com

International mass media conspiracy against Venezuela
Since decades, even centuries, as downtrodden peoples and revolutionaries of Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania, the Caribbean, and elsewhere, we are used to the distortions, lies, half-truths, character assassination, racism, discrimination, plots; to the body, mind and thought control mechanisms, to the inculcation of a master-slave mentality, of inferiority complexes, to our wonderful "education" and "socialization", to the "freedom of thought", to the "freedom of expression", to the magnificent "freedom of the press", to the "family" of Venevision, Globovision; of the fantastic "news" of "El Nacional", "El Universal", of the "Voice of Russia", the "Voice of America", UPI, Reuters, ARD, ZDF, CNN, BBC, dpa, New York Times, FAZ, Der Spiegel, BILD, etc., etc. (Now, we may also add the "Toronto Star!")
- by Dr. Franz J. T. Lee, www.aporrea.org

World News
Posted: Wednesday, December 25, 2002

¤ Gulf War I leftovers
¤ Bloody Prison Riot Kills 18 in Guatemala
¤ Democrats say they can work with Frist
¤ Renegade Afghan Warlord Warns of Stepped Up 'holy War'
¤ Zinn and the Art of Anti-War Movement Maintenance
¤ North Korea issues fiery warning
¤ Santa Claus Workshops Are Appalling Sweatshops...
¤ Afghan warlord threatens foreigners
¤ Dozens of Millionaires in 2002 Congress
¤ Syria Denies Sharon's Iraq Weapons Claim
¤ Attacks Mar Christmas in Pakistan, India
¤ Breathtaking Nuclear Hypocrisy
¤ Once again, there is no room at the Bethlehem Inn
¤ Bush labels Santa an "enemy combatant"
¤ The Dangers Behind America's Misguided Foreign Policy Plans
¤ Don't Let Democracy Fade into the Sunset of American Life
¤ Pope warns against Iraq war
¤ Israeli Soldiers Kill Top Palestinian Militant in West Bank
¤ Christmas cheer, Christmas fear around the world
¤ World seeks counterweight to North Korea's nuclear threat
¤ 45 Ukrainians and Russians die in air crash
¤ 13 dead as bomb goes off at Philippines mayor's home
¤ Clintons top list of 2002's 'most corrupt'
¤ MI chief: Iraq won't attack before U.S. offensive
¤ Khatami against pressure on Pak N-programme
¤ 'New Europe' struggles to flex muscle as war looms
¤ Iraq war is not inevitable, says Germany
¤ Iraqi fighter shoots down American drone in no-fly zone

World News
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

¤ Alarm as GM pig vaccine taints US crops
¤ There appear to be two countries called 'Venezuela'
¤ Bush to blame for North Korea crisis: Russia
¤ Israel Elections: Sharon May Sink in Likud Money Scandals
¤ Hizbullah provides Canadian reporter with recording of Nasrallah speech
¤ Sharon Says Iraq May Be Hiding Weapons in Syria
¤ 'It's Time To Get Tough With Israel' - US Army Brig General
¤ VIEWS: US silent about Israeli nukes
¤ Hezbollah Becomes Potent Anti-U.S. Force
¤ Saudi press raps US for vetoing UN text on Israel
¤ The specter of total privacy invasion
¤ Another War, Still No Proof
¤ In U.S., Terrorism's Peril Undiminished
¤ Chávez defies his opponents and remains on top of crisis
¤ UN prepares for Iraq war
¤ Philippines blast kills 13
¤ Rumsfeld gets tough on North Korea
¤ N.Korea defence chief vows to punish 'U.S. hawks'
¤ Nuclear peril from Iran, N. Korea
¤ Rumsfeld says U.S. can win war in two theaters
¤ Russia, France, and China - say they are not yet convinced
¤ Gulf states to U.S. war planners: It's now or never
¤ Hezbollah Becomes Potent Anti-U.S. Force
¤ Woman who nursed puppies has no regrets
¤ Lott seen as scapegoat to help party look inclusive
¤ Why vegans were right all along
¤ US plane shot down as Iraqis heighten tension
¤ Most British Muslims do not blame al-Qa'ida for attacks
¤ Mr Bush hangs another opponent out to dry
¤ Plane crash in central Iran kills 46
¤ North Korea 'greater risk than Saddam'
¤ Afghanistan is promised good neighbours
¤ Blair bowing to terrorism, says Netanyahu
¤ Jamaica wants to bring back hanging
¤ American Samoa bans nationals from 23 countries
¤ Supporters at UN turn against Baghdad

Update : Dec. 24, 2002
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

There appear to be two countries called 'Venezuela'
In the Venezuela in the real world, an extremely tiny number of racist rich people, who, not coincidentally, happen to be of European rather than Indian descent, and who completely control the Venezuelan media and run the oil companies, are attempting to stage a coup by making it appear that the government of Hugo Chavez is unpopular, and by trying to force U. S. involvement in removing Chavez by threatening U. S. access to the Venezuelan oil supply (as an aside, the current relatively diplomatic American positions on Iraq probably relate to this uncertainty about the Venezuelan oil supply). - xymphora

Chávez defies his opponents
and remains on top of crisis
The result is that Mr Chávez is on top of the crisis, even if the situation remains dire and could deteriorate further. There are signs that public support for the strike is starting to slip, as ordinary Venezuelans become increasingly frustrated at the disrupting effect it is having on their daily lives. - By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas, Financial Times

NAR Backs Manning On Venezuela
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Newsday/TT

THE National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) has commended Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for expressing solidarity with the embattled, democratically-elected administration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In a statement yesterday, NAR Political Leader Lennox Sankersingh called upon Manning and other Caricom leaders to "publicly call on the United States Government to stay out of the internal affairs of Venezuela".

At a post People's National Movement (PNM) General Council meeting two weeks ago, the Prime Minister reiterated his government's support for Chavez and said there were no plans to evacuate nationals living in Venezuela despite the ongoing nation-wide strike there by opposition forces.

The Trinidad and Tobago Consulate in Venezuela has urged nationals not to travel there unless it is absolutely necessary.

Sankersingh said the NAR "condemns the involvement of the USA in Venezuela's internal affairs". "The NAR expresses its amazement at the hypocrisy of the government of the US which on the one hand is demanding some measure of democracy in Iraq while on the other hand, is destroying a democratically-elected government in Venezuela," he declared.

Sankersingh expressed concern that the present unrest in Venezuela could spread to neighbouring Ecuador or Brazil "where these leaders are seen as socialist reformers and whose administrations the US will undermine".

Putting Afro In Cuba Tours
Posted: Tuesday, December 24, 2002

by Willie Thompson

On the "Afro-Cuban Connections" tour, nine African North Americans who traveled to Havana, Regla and Santiago de Cuba with the Carlton Goodlett Institute and Marcus Books Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, reluctantly understood and accepted the reality that the alienation and compromised patriotism felt by many African North Americans are not shared by African Cubans, who, except for a few scary traitors who would welcome a U.S. invasion, are super patriots. Understanding, accepting and acting on these realities is a challenge, though not insurmountable, for connecting with the people of African descent in Cuba and elsewhere in the Americas, ending the United States travel ban and blockade against Cuba, ending racism and improving the social and economic conditions of people of African descent in the United States, Cuba and all the Americas.

How is it that these two westernized people, African North Americans and Cubans, differ so strongly on the national component of their identity? C.L.R. James, the Trinidadian intellectual and author of the best book on the Haitian revolution, "The Black Jacobins," said in an interview in the Black World that "it has to be realized that we in the United States, and in the Caribbean, are people who are to a substantial degree westernized."

Cubans agree strongly with their intellectual founding father, Jose Marti, who said, "More than Black, more than White, we are Cubans." The Cubans further believe that they have destroyed the pre-Castro governments that were dominated by the United States and are now free to reclaim what they want from Africa in the "new" Cuba.

On the other hand, Africans in the United States are deeply alienated and conflicted in a racist, materialistic, supra-rational, hegemonic white supremacist nation that was built, during its agricultural era, by our enslaved African ancestors and their descendants - work for which we have never been paid. This African North American alienation and compromised nationalism and patriotism can be partly understood by a brief review of the racist legacy of some of the icons of the U.S. indelibly instilled in its scientific, religious, symbolic, economic and political institutions.

Thomas Jefferson, the very personification of the United States, wrote: "I advance it … that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowment both of body and mind" (quoted by Elaine Brown in "The Condemnation of Little B," page 128, from "The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson," edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden, p. 243).

This sentiment is expressed by another "great American," Abraham Lincoln, who said, "There is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality … and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race" (Howard Zinn, "A People's History of the United States," page 184).

The fact that Jefferson and Lincoln are not repudiated by North Americans has prompted many Black leaders to lead their Black audiences in the chant, "We are an African people," and to the spelling of Amerika with a K as in the Ku Klux Klan. The latter is the notorious vigilante group organized with state and federal sanctions following emancipation. The KKK numbered 2 million strong in the 1920s and carried out 100 years of lynchings of African North Americans.

African North Americans still confront a formidable European secular, scientific, economic and military dominance in the United States. Much of this dominance was made possible by an agricultural economy built with the unpaid labor of enslaved Africans and descendants of Africans for which we are now demanding reparations. Although we have always resisted this dominance, destruction and subjugation and participated at high levels in all U.S. institutions and served with valor and honor in its just and unjust wars, many African North Americans feel a profound alienation and compromised or debilitated patriotism. Our Cuban contacts boast of a strong identification with mestizo Cuba and feel assured that the African presence in the mestizo Cuban economic, political, religious, educational and scientific life is strong and will naturally grow stronger.

The members of the Afro-Cuban Connections tour often went our separate ways. Four of us spent our second evening and early morning with James Early, director of cultural heritage at the Smithsonian Institution. Early is highly regarded by the Cubans, but we learned from him that both the Cuban Communist Party and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba have failed to heed his appeal to them to deal with the volatile issue of race in Cuba. These groups maintain this stupidity even though President Fidel Castro, son of a mulatta servant, openly admitted in 1985 that racial discrimination still exists in his country and that measures need to be taken against it, according to Eugene Godfried in an article on AfroCubaWeb.

In September 2000, Dr. Castro told the Pedagogia 99 Congress in Havana: "It was some time before we discovered that marginality and social discrimination with it are not something that one gets rid of with a law or even with 10 laws, and we have not managed to eliminate them completely in 40 years."

Most of us met the anthropological research team called Project Orunmila in Regla, Cuba, 10 minutes from Havana. I spent the last day alone with this family-run document recovery, transcription and dissemination project that also operates a farm to provide financial support. I had earlier misunderstood the extremely important work of this group and unjustly accused them of insufficient rage at the historical and contemporary color prejudice still extant in Cuba, as though rage and alienation are the only appropriate responses. I clearly undervalued the depth and significance of their work and the African originated materials they are diffusing in Cuba and beyond.

I quote from an annotation on one of their volumes, called "Awo Orunla Dice Ifa":
"This book is the widest and most complete compilation of the complex panorama of legends that once belonged to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and that are still standing in Cuba and in different areas of the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc.), the USA and several Latin American countries (Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil). The work is organized according to the Oduns of Ifa. All writings are therefore placed in corresponding order. This leads the user to a better comprehension and understanding of the panoramic vision of the mythological world of Ifa. It relates an organized knowledge about the men's event as individuals, the way of thinking of those men, and about the society in which they live."

Sponsorship is needed for Project Orunmila to continue publication. The project may be reached by email at proyecto@orunmila.net or adeyeri@orunmila.net; by phone at 97-0677 (the home of Elsa, a neighbor) or by writing to Camilo Cienfuegos #109 e/c Oscar Lunar Y Nico Lopez, Regla 12 C.P. 11200, Ciuidad de la Habana Cuba.

The members of our group who visited the Agricultural Cooperative in Santiago rated it the best for its achievements, its holistic focus, the presence of Black Cubans in leadership positions and its warmth and receptivity. Some of our members said that they could have spent the entire day there. However, then we would not have been able to visit the Cuban Women's Federation or spend time with Eugene Godfried of the Radio Habana Caribbean Desk, who traveled by taxi from Guantanamo, Cuba, with the minister of culture for a frank and open discussion of African Cuban and African North American connections. We would also have missed Dr. Manuel Fernandez Carcasses, director of the Ateneo Cultural Center, who is an important link to the Oakland-Santiago de Cuba Sister City Committee.

The Casa de Africa at Humboldt's House in Havana was a superlative religious lecture-tour, music and dance experience by Los Ibeyis, directed by Daniel Rodriguez Morales (phone 99-2022). This foot-stomping, hand-clapping audience participation experience was superior to our visit to the Cuban International Ballet, which was enjoyable and included an orchestra directed by an African Cuban with several African Cuban musicians.

Afro-Cuban Connections may be the beginning of a more intense African North American tour that deepens fun, analysis, learning and action around the different realities of race, nationalism and patriotism and the alienation and resistance to violations by the United States of the constitutional rights of its own citizens and the sovereign rights of other countries who disagree with it.

We are deeply indebted to Dr. Raye Richardson, owner of Marcus Books in San Francisco and Oakland, for making this trip possible, with the cooperation of the Carlton Goodlett Institute and Global Exchange and a great deal of individual ingenuity and flexibility.

World News
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

¤ U.S. is losing the worldwide propaganda war
¤ Saddam planned to use bioweapons in Gulf War CIA Propaganda
¤ 10 Things About Frist Unsaid Yesterday
¤ Karzai's presence felt more strongly abroad than at home
¤ Netanyahu is finding Europeans hard to convince
¤ For U.N. Labor of Hercules, a Talk- and Walk-Through
¤ Attacks on U.S. forces downplayed
¤ France said ready to assist U.S. in Iraq invasion
¤ U.S. Testing Missiles and Spy Planes in Its Gulf Buildup
¤ Anti-War Not The Same As Anti-Defense
¤ Many Tools of Big Brother Are Up and Running
¤ Iraq 'Ready to Deal' With Questions
¤ Russians angered by Iraq's oil deal threat
¤ Same as It Ever Was: South Carolina and It's Flag
¤ Iraqi fighters shot down drone, says US
¤ Silence about Israel's nuclear weapons
¤ Tactics Switch Gives U.S. Head-Start for Iraq War
¤ Santa Claus reined in by U.S. border police
¤ U.S.: North Korea to produce bombs within months
¤ Blacks and the Anti-War Movement: Anti-War Hardcore v. Anti-War Lite
¤ The Other Trent Lotts - NY Times, (Registration)
¤ Federally funded study measures porn arousal
¤ Cities Urge Restraint in Fight Against Terror
¤ N Korea flouts nuclear monitoring
¤ Banned Farrakhan reaches UK audience via satellite
¤ Brazil Ferry Sinking Death Toll Rises
¤ Experts whose verdict could start a war: but can they stop it?
¤ US troops to join Israelis in Iraq war exercises
¤ The High and the Mighty
¤ France entangled in Ivory Coast war after Legionnaires kill rebels
¤ Russians angered by Iraq's oil deal threat
¤ Netanyahu criticises Blair over Assad's British visit
¤ Church leaders differ over war on Iraq
¤ UN chief issues secret orders for war in Iraq
¤ Stray bullet kills another youngster as Fonda tours West Bank
¤ British clergy have doubts about virgin birth

Update : Dec. 23, 2002
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

A Brit Reporter's Undisclosed Venezuela Conflicts
Phil Gunson and Eric Ekvall Are Upset with Narco News With Unabridged Letters from Phil Gunson and Eric Ekvall
- By Al Giordano, narconews.com
Editor's Note: Long article but worth reading to fully understand the journalists and their hidden agendas behind many reports that appear in the mainstream media on Venezuela's crisis.

Does the British Ambassador know something we don't? - by VHeadline.com News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan security forces have begun boarding oil tankers
Venezuelan security forces have begun boarding oil tankers that have remained paralyzed due to the 3-week lockout-strike imposed by political opponents to President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Venezuelan Military Intelligence (DIM) foils dissident PDVSA plans

VHeadline.com Updates
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

VHeadline.com

Venezuelan security forces have begun boarding oil tankers that have remained paralyzed due to the 3-week lockout-strike imposed by political opponents to President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Striking Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) employees who do not turn up for work today will be declared in breach of their labor contract, will face summary dismissal and possible criminal sabotage charges.

Military Intelligence reports say opposition elements are growing desperate as the "El Paro" disintegrates and that they are capable of anything ... including booby-trapping the oil tankers to cause maximum environmental damage or explosions as Army boarding parties take over the ships. "They are really crazy now," a senior government official told VHeadline.com Venezuela. "We're taking the threats seriously ... they believe they have nothing to lose and, although we don't think they want to die for their cause, we have to take the eventuality into consideration."

There are increased fears that the US CIA or other covert intelligence agencies may already have advanced plans to assassinate President Hugo Chavez Frias and security around the person of the Head of State has been increased substantially in recent days.

In the event of a successful bid on the President's life, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel would immediately step into his shoes under terms enshrined in the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution and it is seen as most likely that he (Rangel) would appoint current Interior & Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello as Vice President to see out the remainder of President Chavez Frias' Presidential mandate.

Even if a non-binding referendum were to be set in motion it is seen as unlikely that it could possibly meet a projected February 2 deadline and would logistically be more likely held in April or May. Further to that, in the event that President Hugo Chavez would not win approval by a majority of the voters in any such election, he could simply refuse to recognize the result and shift the question forward to a binding referendum bote which could be scheduled only in August 2003. Only at that juncture, the whole process of setting up a referendum (estimated to take at least two months to prepare) would only begin, thus scheduling any referendum date for October 2003. THEN ... if the vote went against the President, it would take a further process to remove him from power but fresh elections would necessarily have to be incurred to elect a new President and government.

ERGO: apart from a bloody overthrow of the democratically-elected President of Venezuela, political analysts concur that Chavez Frias will remain in power for at least another year, perhaps more.

VHeadline.com Venezuela

Caracas Needs A Christmas Star
Posted: Monday, December 23, 2002

VHeadline.com commentarist Charles Hardy writes:

There is a strange symbol in Venezuela that dominates the winter sky in many parts of Caracas. It is the Cross of Christmas. High on Mount Avila, there is a brilliant white cross that is illuminated at this time of the year and that, theologically, makes no sense.

A star is the usual symbol of the Nativity, recalling the star of Bethlehem.

It appears on Christmas cards, on wrapping paper and in crib scenes. But nowhere have I encountered the cross on any card I have received this year, on any gift paper. I have looked at in the stores or in any creche that I have passed by. It just wouldn't make sense to have a crucifix, for example in the middle of a Nativity scene.

But for some odd reason, someone decided to put a massive white cross on Mount Avila and light it at Christmas time.

I first noticed it during the Christmas season of 1990. I was sleeping in the South Cemetery at that time as bodies in black garbage bags were being removed from a part of the cemetery known as La Peste (The Plague). The cadavers were of people who "disappeared" in February and March of 1989 during the government of Carlos Andres Perez. They had been thrown in a common pit by the authorities and the government denied that any such place existed. I spent several nights there with other volunteers to assure that the government could not destroy the site.

68 bodies were removed ... three were positively identified and then the process of identification stopped.

Are there more such common graves in the South Cemetery?

What is the total number of the "disappeared"? Who will ever know?

The first body identified was that of a 16-year-old boy, Jose del Carmen Pirela. It is interesting to recall that no banks closed at that time to express their solidarity with the victims as they did recently after the deaths in Plaza Altamira. Possibly their executives were too busy planning how they would move their money out of the country a couple of years later when their banks would close. That left the ordinary person without their money and the government with the responsibility of trying to find some way to repay them. And don't let anyone try to tell you that the victims were simply looters. Someday I'll tell you the stories of some of them. (Speaking of looters, it would be hard to find any barrio person who could compete with the bankers of Venezuela.)

The volunteers would take turns sleeping and keeping vigil. Usually there were few moments of sleep as we talked and reflected about life in Venezuela. Often there were two Metropolitan Police present. I use the word "often" deliberately ... they were supposed to be there at all times, but seemed afraid in the cemetery environment. It was not hard for them to find reasons to leave for prolonged moments. The need for hot coffee was a frequent one ... it would sometimes take them a few hours to find it ... they had a vehicle; the volunteers didn't.

Well, it was there, on a Christmas hillside high above the tombs of the poor who had been buried recently and the wealthy who had been buried there before the newer and more elegant private East Cemetery existed, that we looked at the Cross of the Nativity ... it was from there that the cross seemed to make some sense, a macabre sense.

Christmas, was a time to speak of new life, new hope for the world. There, almost two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, we were surrounded by needless symbols of death in the bodies being exhumed. Were those who put the Cross of the Nativity on Mount Avila prophesying what would some day happen in Caracas?

The question comes to mind again, even more strongly.

I went to Plaza Altamira the other evening to see if I could see the Cross from there ... I couldn't and so I asked a couple who lived in the area about it. They told me that the high buildings around the plaza hide it.

I wondered to myself if the 5-star-hotel generals could see it from their hotel rooms. It seemed to me that it would be a perfect symbol for them and possibly the motivation behind what they are doing to the Venezuelan people this Christmas time.

I don't understand it, but some people seem to enjoy crucifying others.

Well, I have a suggestion for the present Venezuelan government. Take the Cross of the Nativity off Mount Avila. Put it in Plaza Altamira and leave it there forever as a reminder of the cruelty that some human beings can inflict on other.

But on Mount Avila ... PUT A STAR! Let there be a new symbol of hope to fill the December sky in Caracas.

Possibly the 5-star-hotel generals, Carlos Ortega and Carlos Fernandez and their PDVSA friends won't be able to see it because of the high buildings, but the ordinary Venezuelan won't