War, Racism and the Empire of Poverty Posted: Friday, March 26, 2010
¤ Iran’s Natural Gas Riches: US Knife to the Heart of World Future Energy Critics have long suspected that the real reason for US and other western military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is to control the Central Asian energy corridor. So far, the focus seems to be mainly on oil. For example, there have been claims that a planned oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea via Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea is the main prize behind the US’s seemingly futile military campaign in those countries.
¤ War, Racism and the Empire of Poverty The global political economy is a system that enriches the very few at the expense of the vast majority. This exploitation is organized through imperialism, war, and the social construction of race. It is vitally important to address the relationship between war, poverty and race in the context of the current global economic crisis. Western nations have plundered the rest of the world for centuries, and now the great empire is hitting home. What is done abroad comes home to roost.
¤ Exclusive / Despite row, U.S. and Israel sign massive arms deal As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington this week absorbing the full wrath of the Obama administration, the Pentagon and Israel's defense establishment were in the process of sealing a large arms deal. According to the deal, Israel will purchase three new Hercules C-130J airplanes. The deal for the three aircrafts, designed by Lockheed Martin, is worth roughly a quarter billion dollars. Each aircraft costs $70 million.
¤ Permanent Aggression: War on the horizon in Latin America Latin America has suffered constant aggressions executed by Washington during the past two hundred years. Strategies and tactics of covert and overt warfare have been applied against different nations in the region, ranging from coup d’etats, assassinations, disappearances, torture, brutal dictatorships, atrocities, political persecution, economic sabotage, psychological operations, media warfare, biological warfare, subversion, counterinsurgency, paramiliary infiltration, diplomatic terrorism, blockades, electoral intervention to military invasions.
¤ Washington’s Cult of Narcissism and Iraq Hubris? We’re bigger than that! We’ve now been at war with, or in, Iraq for almost 20 years, and intermittently at war in Afghanistan for 30 years. Think of it as nearly half a century of experience, all bad. And what is it that Washington seems to have concluded? In Afghanistan, where one disaster after another has occurred, that we Americans can finally do more of the same, somewhat differently calibrated, and so much better. In Iraq, where we had, it seemed, decided that enough was enough and we should simply depart, the calls from a familiar crew for us to stay are growing louder by the week.
¤ Reining in U.S. Rent-a-Rambos According to a New York Times investigation and a torrent of Washington leaks, the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies fielded covert mercenary networks in Afghanistan, Pakistan (a.k.a. "Afpak") and Iraq to murder tribal militants and nationalists opposing western occupation. U.S. law forbids murder or using mercenaries. But, as Cicero said, "Laws are silent in times of war."
¤ My fellow Americans, tonight I'm going to talk frankly about a pesky little nation called Israel ... Don’t get excited. It’ll never happen. Is there really a crisis in US-Israeli relations? Yes and No. Yes, because the world’s premier power doesn’t care to have its vice president publicly humiliated by a midget of a nation whose entire population is smaller than that of Los Angeles county. No, because the elected politicians nominally running the government of the world’s premier power live in mortal fear of the Israel lobby in the United States.
¤ AFRICOM's Partner in Military Penetration of Africa "In 1884, the major European powers gathered at the Berlin Conference to divide up those parts of Africa that had escaped colonization and to create a consortium to dominate and exploit an entire continent and its peoples...The anti-colonial struggles after the Second World War put an end to that enforced order, but 126 years later there are ominous indications that the former colonial masters are nostalgic for their past power."
Pentagon says Venezuela a 'destabilizing force' Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010
Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, said the reversal of the general's position, to conform with statements by officials in the Obama administration, showed the United States has no proof of Venezuelan support for the FARC and the criticism was politically motivated. Full Article : thestar.com.my
US Military Commander: Venezuelan Government has no Links to Terrorists Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
General Douglas Fraser, Chief of the United States' Southern Command, confirmed yesterday that the Venezuelan government has no relation to the Basque separatist movement ETA nor the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Speaking to the US Senate, Fraser admitted that although the Southern Command has "continued to watch very closely for any connections between illicit and terrorist organization activity within the region" there is no evidence to link the Venezuela government with the armed rebel groups. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Billionaires and Mega-Corporations Behind Immense Land Grab in Africa Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010
¤ The Threatening Dangers It is not an ideological issue related to the definitive hope that a better world is, and should be, possible. It is a known fact that the homo sapiens has existed for about 200 thousand years, which is no more than a tiny span of the time passed since the emergence of the first basic forms of life on our planet approximately three billion years ago. The answers to the unfathomable mysteries of life and nature have fundamentally been religious. It would be senseless to pretend otherwise and I am convinced that it will forever be this way.
¤ Why America Should Apologize In an interview last week about his new book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, Mitt Romney was asked what he meant when saying that America need not apologize. He responded as follows: While we've made some mistakes, we have a record of promoting freedom, peace, and prosperity throughout the world. There is a view in Washington that America will be eclipsed by other nations. I think that would have grave consequences for freedom and world peace.
¤ The Sanitation Crisis in Port-au-Prince As the weeks drag into months I remain in awe of the ways in which people maintain their dignity, I am amazed by the discipline and kindness of hungry people. I think of how hunger can affect my own mood and wonder if I would be as compassionate and full of humor if I had not eaten for days. Despite the deepest resilience there is an anger brewing, a frustration with the fact that aid is not moving fast enough and as we move into the rainy season tens of thousands of people will be stranded without tents. Haiti has struggled with poverty for centuries but it was not a nation of homeless people.
¤ Clinton Family Pockets Haiti Assets in Telephone Company Privatization Backed by the might of the United States military and their own official positions, the Clinton power couple plus brother-in-law have muscled themselves into the Haitian telephone monopoly. This cozy public-private partnership poses huge conflicts of interest, says Paul Pumphrey, of Brothers and Sisters International – and robs the Haitian people of hundreds of millions in revenues a year. But then, that's what empires are for, isn't it?
¤ Haiti: Disaster Capitalism on Steroids "Two months after the devastating earthquake, the situation in Haiti is downright criminal," says Robert Roth. According to the spokesperson of the activist network Haiti Action Committee, major western players such as the US are more interested in defending their own geopolitical interests in Haiti than truly helping the hardly hit Caribbean country.
¤ The Social Earthquake in Chile Chile is one of the most inequitable societies in the world. Today, 14 percent of the population lives in abject poverty. The top 20 percent captures 50 percent of the national income, while the bottom 20 percent earns only 5 percent. In a 2005 World Bank survey of 124 countries, Chile ranked twelfth in the list of countries with the worst distribution of income.
¤ Clinton rebukes Israel over East Jerusalem plans, cites damage to bilateral ties Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday about the state of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, demanding that Israel take immediate steps to show it is interested in renewing efforts to achieve a Middle East peace agreement.
¤ Welcome to Israel, Joe! "The problem is the message from Washington to Israel has been far too ambiguous. The Israeli government, addicted to gobbling up Palestinian land, is taking every opportunity to exploit this ambiguity and embarrass American and Palestinian officials while they are at it."
¤ Leave yuan to us, China tells Obama The United States should not make a political issue out of the yuan, a Chinese central banker said on Friday, as the two countries lurched toward a potential bust-up over Beijing's currency regime. The latest rhetorical salvoes underlined how long-running friction caused by the yuan's de facto dollar peg could come to a head next month when President Barack Obama's administration decides whether to brand China as a "currency manipulator."
¤ Noam Chomsky: Iran Pursuing Nuclear Weapons Out of Fear Even the most radical conservative can agree with Noam Chomsky on at least one thing. "No one in their right mind wants Iran to develop nuclear weapons." But to Chomsky, nonproliferation requires reciprocal action, rather than international condemnation. Chomsky's reputation as a prolific author of books on subjects including linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, political science, and media might lead one to believe that his views stem from esoteric theoretical arguments, but Chomsky takes a pragmatic view of international relations. His conclusion is that Iran is developing nuclear weapons out of a rational fear for its national safety because of the systematically threatening posture of the United States and Israel.
¤ Relax, the Empire's in Safe Hands Are they really bumblers? The establishment’s opinion columns quiver with reproofs for maladroit handling of foreign policy by President Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, those who cherished foolish illusions that Obama’s election might presage a shift to the left in foreign policy fret about “worrisome signs” that this is not the case. It’s true that there have been some embarrassing moments.
¤ War in a Box The event on the House floor Wednesday afternoon was monumental -- the first major congressional debate about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan since lawmakers authorized the invasion of that country in autumn 2001. But, as Rep. Patrick Kennedy noted with disgust on Wednesday, the House press gallery was nearly empty. He aptly concluded: “It’s despicable, the national press corps right now.”
¤ Fiction of Marja as City Was U.S. Information War For weeks, the U.S. public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan War against what it was told was a "city of 80,000 people" as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marja was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centres in Helmand. It turns out, however, that the picture of Marja presented by military officials and obediently reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war, apparently aimed at hyping the offensive as a historic turning point in the conflict.
¤ The Rebellion: CIA uses USAID to be curtained “USAID top official acknowledged that CIA uses their organization to fund its operations”, said Eva Golinger in the article published by The Rebellion. USAID regional manager said recently three of CIA spies were captured in one of the African countries and Cuba. In 1974, the US Congress closed one of the USAID departments, which was used by CIA to fund training, armament of police forces in Latin America, Asia and Middle East. Office of Public Safety (OPS) was founded by President Eisenhower in 1957 for establishing and training of police forces abroad. OSP operations were funded at the expense of resources allocated for USAID.
¤ Welcome to the World's First Murdochracy What is a murdochracy? It is where the fealty and augmentation of Murdoch's editors and managers are undisguised, an inspiration to his choir on seven continents, where even his competitors sing along, and wise politicians heed the Murdochism: "What'll it be? A headline a day or a bucket of shit a day?"
¤ Precious and the Big Payback Suppose the producers of a nominated picture like “Hurt Locker,” donated one million dollars to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and on the night of the Oscar presentations “Hurt Locker” received Oscars for best picture, best actress, best supporting actress and a special honor was awarded to the “producer.”
Venezuela's revolution achieves social gains Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
By: W. T. Whitney Jr. March 12 2010
A revolution makes a difference. For the corporate media, however, what happens to people's lives and dignity goes by the boards, focused as they often are on stories aimed at casting Venezuela as a pariah state. Under discussion here is the business of a socialist revolution.
The National Institute of Statistics released data recently showing that poverty rates fell from 70 percent in 1996 to 23 percent last year, with extreme poverty dropping from forty to six percent. Venezuela's Human Development Index, a United Nations tool for composite surveys, advanced from 0. 802 in 2000, one year after President Hugo Chavez took office, to 0.844 in 2007. In one recent year Venezuela moved from 62nd in the world to 58th, from the "medium" range of rankings to "high." Full Article : peoplesworld.org
Ousted Honduran President Visits Venezuela Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Merida, March 2nd, 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – During a visit to Venezuela on Friday and Saturday, deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya met with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and spoke at the extraordinary congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Chavez and Zelaya met privately on Friday night and coming out of that meeting Foreign Affairs minister Nicolas Maduro told the press that they had decided that Zelaya would direct the political council of Petrocaribe, the Caribbean energy integration organization that Venezuela initiated in 2005.
Speaking at the PSUV congress, Zelaya said, "You have resisted everything, you have overcome an extremely conservative society, you have created a Latin American agenda, you have given freedom and struggle a place."
"I'm inspired by you, ...by the Bolivarian revolution," he said.
Celia Flores, vice-president of the PSUV, welcomed Zelaya and said that once again they expressed their solidarity with the Honduran people.
"Today we are with [Zelaya] in that we don't recognise any government in Honduras that is a product of a de facto government," she said.
Hortensia Zelaya, daughter of Zelaya, also spoke at the conference. She said the union of the peoples of Latin America is a step forward to show that "the socialist wave will keep growing... and they won't be able to shut us up."
In an interview on the program Dossier, on Venezuelan Television (VTV), Manuel Zelaya said that petroleum was the real reason behind the coup against himself, because his government had decided to end with the monopoly that transnational petroleum companies, Shell, Exxon, and Texaco had in Honduras.
He said the companies had a "corruption pact" in which Honduras was paying the companies 60 million dollars a year, and he asked the companies to change their selling prices.
In June last year Zelaya was removed by a military coup. He then returned clandestinely to the country in September and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy. Later, Porfirio Lobo was elected president under conditions of widespread repression.
Is Obama Already a Lame Duck? Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2010
¤ Ousted former Honduran leader to head Petrocaribe Ousted former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking on a new role: leading an energy consortium allowing poor Caribbean and Central American nations to buy oil on preferential terms from Venezuela. Zelaya accepted the invitation from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a strong ally both before and after Zelaya was removed from office in a coup last June. Zelaya has been taking refuge in the Dominican Republic.
¤ Greek Protests Mount as Parliament Passes Budget Cuts Striking Greek workers shut down transport and tried to storm parliament as lawmakers passed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts, including wage reductions, needed to trim the region’s biggest budget deficit.
¤ Our Own Greek Tragedy While President Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care "summit," thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split screen - because they're part of the same story. It's just that Greece is a little further along in the plot.
¤ Brazil rebuffs US, says it will go own way on Iran Brazil vowed Wednesday not to "bow down" to gathering international pressure to impose new economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program if further negotiations might be fruitful. With visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton standing beside him, Brazil's foreign minister said his country is concerned about Iran's nuclear intentions.
¤ Morales in Mexico It was a hot afternoon in central Coyoacán and the sun beat down heavily on the crowd as they awaited the appearance of charismatic Bolivian leader, Evo Morales. The public queued patiently and edged slowly into the Jardín Hidalgo, following mandatory security checks that are the norm at events of this nature. As the area filled, the more eager of the spectators began to climb onto the bandstand, trees and fences, to get a glimpse of their hero. The smaller members of the audience stood on their tiptoes in preparation for the Bolivian leader’s arrival. A scuffle broke out in the crowd, and the two perpetrators were comically berated by onlookers who reminded them that, “We are socialists, not neocons! Keep the peace.”
¤ Behind Washington’s Iran policy: Myths and reality While Washington’s Iran policy is often described as oriented toward containment of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the aims are much broader, and the assumption that Iran has nuclear weapons ambitions is without foundation. US policy is directed at eclipsing the rise of Iran as an independent economic, military and political power, and seeks as an ultimate objective the subordination of Iran to Washington, economically, militarily and politically.
¤ GM to recall 1.3M compacts for steering problem General Motors Co. is recalling 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compact cars sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to fix power steering motors that can fail.
¤ Blair warned in 2000 Iraq war was illegal An invasion of Iraq was discussed within the Government more than two years before military action was taken – with Foreign Office mandarins warning that an invasion would be illegal, that it would claim "considerable casualties" and could lead to the breakdown of Iraq, The Independent can reveal.
¤ The NAACP House of Shame Suppose the producers of a nominated picture like “Hurt Locker,” donated one million dollars to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and on the night of the Oscar presentations “Hurt Locker” received Oscars for best picture, best actress, best supporting actress and a special honor was awarded to the “producer.”
¤ Hillary in Latin America Hillary Clinton’s Latin America tour is turning out to be about as successful as George W. Bush’s visit in 2005, when he ended up leaving Argentina a day ahead of schedule just to get the hell out of town. The main difference is that she is not being greeted with protests and riots. For that she can thank the positive media image that her boss, President Obama, has managed to maintain in the region, despite his continuation of his predecessor’s policies.
¤ Obama Must Scrap Costly Nukes U.S. President Barack Obama will shortly issue a Nuclear Posture Review, a task each new president must perform. The Nobel Peace Laureate must decide what to do with America’s 5,500 nuclear weapons — enough to destroy the planet at least five times over. Obama, strongly influenced by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, will likely decide to spend $7 billion US modernizing nuclear weapons and plants. This when the U.S. is bankrupt and running on borrowed money.
¤ U.S. criticized on Iran sanctions The Obama administration is pushing to carve out an exemption for China and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council from legislation pending in the Senate and the House that would tighten sanctions on companies doing business in Iran, administration and congressional sources said.
¤ Executing Handcuffed Afghan Kids? When Charlie Company’s Lt. William Calley ordered and encouraged his men to rape, maim and slaughter over 400 men, women and children in My Lai in Vietnam back in 1968, there were at least four Americans who tried to stop him or bring him and higher officers to justice. One was helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr., who evacuated some of the wounded victims, and who set his chopper down between a group of Vietnamese and Calley’s men, ordering his door gunner to open fire on the US soldiers if they shot any more people.
The Accusation that Links Chávez with ETA and the FARC is Fraudulent Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2010
By Gonzalo Sánchez March 4th 2010 - Tercera Información, Axis of Logic
In an impressive and well coordinated smear campaign, the Spanish corporate media has launched a preemptive strike against President Hugo Chávez. The print media included Público, El País, ABC, El Mundo, La Razón, Cadena Ser, COPE, Libertad Digital as well as the TV Channels.
The media campaign then spread world-wide to the BBC, CNN, Fox News and of course the internet was flooded with this explosive story. As usual, the finger of guilt was pointed at Venezuela and President Chávez in particular.
The devil is in the details and the following text shows how the media as well as the Spanish Judge concerned, have worked up yet another attack on the Bolivarian revolution with virtually no real evidence to support such accusations. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
