cartoon: uncle obama's cabin

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http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/039/a/4/Uncle_Obama__s_Cabin_by_Latuff2.jpg



Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff

european football: murders and bribes

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,666905,00.html

The Hunt for The 'Doner Killer'

Mystery Murders May be Linked to Betting Scandal

14 december 2009

The investigation into match-fixing and illegal gambling in Europe has provided a lead in one of Germany's most mysterious series of murders in which nine men -- eight Turks and one Greek -- have been shot dead in cities across Germany since 2000. They may have run up gambling debts.

Police say they may have a lead in one of the most mysterious series of murders in German criminal history -- the execution-style killings of nine shop owners since 2000, eight of them Turks and one Greek.

They were shot dead in cities across Germany between 2000 and 2006. Police couldn't find a motive, and the only link they found between the murders was the weapon used -- a Czech-made Ceska 83 pistol with a 7.65 millimeter caliber.
The press dubbed the murders the "Doner Killings" because the victims were all small businessmen and included a kebab shop owner, a grocer, a tailor, a flower seller and a key cutter.

Police now believe the killings may be linked to the European soccer match-fixing and betting scandal uncovered by public prosecutors in Germany last month.

In October, police had monitored several telephone conversations about a murder in Turkey in which a 42-year-old Turk suspected of belonging to an illegal gambling syndicate was named as having hired the hitman.

Police say there's a link between the murder in Turkey and the nine killings. "The 42-year-old plays a role in this case," Thomas Koch, the spokesman for the Nuremberg district court, told SPIEGEL. He declined to give details.

Gambling Bosses Used Violence to Collect Debts

The link with the gambling world could finally provide a motive for murders which have puzzled police forces around Germany for years. Had the murdered men run up gambling debts?

The Bochum investigators have found that the people being probed for fixing matches and engaging in illegal gambling also behaved violently towards people who got behind in repaying gambling debts.

Police have no doubt that the "Doner Killings" were committed by a professional assassin. The attacker or attackers walked up to the victims in broad daylight, shot them in the head and walked away. There were never any eyewitnesses, and the relatives always insisted the victim had no enemies, debts or gambling addiction.

But perhaps they did. There's no paper trail in the world of gambling now being investigated by prosecutors based in the western city of Bochum. The gamblers know how much they owe and when they have to pay up. They can defer payments, but get charged interest of 10 percent per month. And anyone who can't pay is in bad trouble.

Police investigating the betting scandal came across debtors who reported having been locked in a cellar and beaten up because they couldn't pay.

The lawyer of the 42-year-old Turkish suspect told SPIEGEL that his client had nothing to do with the murders and that the accusations were based on slander that had long since been disproved.

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20 november 2009

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,662479,00.html

Football Betting Scandal

Prosecutors Say up to 200 Matches Were Fixed

Prosecutors in Germany have revealed the scope of the match-fixing scandal that has shocked European football. Around 200 games are suspected of having been fixed, with more than 30 of those played in Germany.

European football is reeling from news of a fresh match-fixing scandal involving nine countries and up to 200 games.

German prosecutors investigating the manipulation revealed on Friday that 15 people have been arrested in Germany and two in Switzerland. A series of around 50 raids were carried out on Thursday, during which documents, around €1 million in cash and valuables were seized.

At a news conference the prosecutors said that about 200 games were thought to be affected, including three Champions League games and 12 Europa League games. The investigation, carried out with the European football association UEFA, has been ongoing since the beginning of 2009.

The betting scandal involves huge sums of money placed with Asian bookmakers on matches in Europe and players, coaches, referees and officials are included among the suspects. In all around 100 people could be involved in the match-fixing conspiracy.

Fix On in Germany as Well?

Games in at least nine European leagues are being probed, including matches played in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.

On Thursday Harald Stenger, spokesman for the German Football Federation (DFB), said: "The UEFA and DFB early warning system for the overseeing of the betting markets had not given any indications of match-fixing in Germany."

However, on Friday the prosecutors said that 32 games in Germany alone are suspected of having been fixed. There are indications that four games in the second league, three from the third league and 18 from regional leagues are tainted, as well as matches in the youth leagues and international competitions.

Thursday's arrests included two Croatian brothers, Ante and Milan Sapina, who were at the center of a previous match-fixing scandal in Germany in 2004. That case saw referee Robert Hoyzer sentenced to two years and five months in prison after he admitted to accepting bribes to manipulate games.

smd

New German Betting Scandal Suspected: Football Bodies to Investigate Match-Fixing Claims (09/01/2008)

Interview with Match-Fixing Investigator Declan Hill: 'I Am Sure the Game Was Manipulated' (09/01/2008)

Soccer Scandals: UEFA Probes Match-Fixing by Betting Syndicates (12/03/2007)

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,662828,00.html

23 november 2009

The World from Berlin

Match-Fixing Scandal 'Struck at the Heart of Soccer'

The European match-fixing scandal is tragic for soccer fans whose faith in fair play risks being shattered, write German commentators. But corruption can infect any business, and the undercover police operation that exposed it is a positive sign, they add.

Last Friday's revelation of the latest European soccer match-fixing scandal predictably caused a public outcry that was fanned by investigators' claims that the figure of 200 manipulated matches may be only the tip of the iceberg.

Police carried out around 50 raids on Thursday in Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Austria. Authorities arrested 15 people in Germany and two in Switzerland and seized over €1 million ($1.5 million) in cash and property.

The case centers on a Berlin-based betting shop, Café King, which featured in a similar scandal five years ago that led to the conviction of German referee Robert Hoyzer.

The suspected games in Germany were played in the second division or lower. Other countries involved are Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Austria. Croatian-born Ante Sapina was among five people arrested in Berlin. He was convicted of fraud in 2005 and sentenced to 35 months in prison for fixing or attempting to fix 23 games by paying Hoyzer to rig matches.

SPIEGEL has learned that a German referee registered with the DFB German Football Association also appears to have been bribed, in a lower-division match played in May. The DFB was kept in the dark about the investigation into the alleged match fixing.

Meanwhile on Monday Italian police arrested nine people on suspicion of manipulating matches in the country's third division and betting illegally.

Writing in the Monday's editions of German newspapers, several media commentators said the case highlights the successful undercover investigation conducted by the public prosecutor's office in the western city of Bochum in cooperation with police forces in other countries over the last eight months. They were helped by members of the UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, which founded an anti-corruption unit this year.

Commentators say the DFB's "early warning" system, which was introduced after the first scandal five years ago and which aims to detect corruption by analyzing conspicuous changes in betting odds, appears to have failed.

The left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes:

"There's no question that corruption poses an existential threat to football that is comparable to the destructive impact doping has had on endurance sports. The audience must not lose its faith that the outcome of the match is uncertain. It must remain convinced that skill and fortune alone are the determining factors, and not some shady backroom dealmakers.

"What the task force of UEFA and the prosecutors in Bochum who specialize in economic crime have presented is not a diagnosis. Instead, it's the promising result of a global attempt to solve the problem which seems to make more sense than the early warning system introduced in this country following the match-fixing scandal surrounding referee Robert Hoyzer. The effectiveness of that system must now be called into question.

"It seems that plots conducted in secret must be countered by secret means. Football, a billion-euro business with absurd growth rates, is an almost uncontrollable area due to the impenetrable links between sports officials, politicians, sponsors and the media.

"Following the American example, more cops must be deployed to infiltrate the dark network of fraudsters. And if the network of agents doesn't work, one should maybe one day think about a general ban on sports betting."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"At the news conference on Friday in Bochum, a police officer used the much-quoted image of the tip of the iceberg. But police officers aren't the Oracle of Delphi and a degree of caution is warranted in cases like this one. It's not such a big surprise that matches can be fixed in the second Belgian division or in the Balkans. The less a player earns, the greater the danger that he will do dodgy things for dirty money. It's rather more remarkable that the first German Bundesliga (editor's note: the top German soccer league) hasn't appeared on the list. Do high incomes, legally paid, protect players from infection?

"The Bochum investigators deserve praise. They haven't shied away in their investigations from probing the leagues in Belgium or Slovenia. If they're serious about their probe, they shouldn't be left alone in this never-ending task."

Franz Josef Wagner, a columnist for the mass-circulation daily Bild, writes:

"The match-fixing supposedly happened in the lower divisions. Players with mega-salaries in the first division can't be bought. So the cheating happened where the heart of soccer beats. The cheated fans are the ones who stand shivering on the sidelines in the wind, the cold and the rain. The ones who turn up every Sunday and yell things like 'go on, shoot!,' 'pass the ball,' 'what are you waiting for?' or 'my granny could have saved that one!'

"I feel sorry for those fans. It wasn't a lack of fighting spirit that kept your player from hurling himself at the opponent. It was a few euros. From today on, I'm taking a break from football. I don't want to be screwed anymore."

-- David Crossland

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,664332,00.html

1 december 2009

European Sports Scandal

Case Files Reveal Unscrupulous Methods of Match-Fixers

By Sven Röbel, Jörg Schmitt and Michael Wulzinger

Ante Sapina and his gambling associates, under investigation for alleged match-fixing, were also aware of an attempt to manipulate a World Cup qualifying match. The case files reveal the unscrupulous methods used by the defendants and indicate that a Malaysian gambling kingpin named Lim was also involved.

The match between FK Slavija Sarajevo and the Slovak club MFK Kosice on July 30 was nothing out of the ordinary in the match schedule of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was just the third qualifying round for the Europa League, and only 1,400 fans watched the game.

But one man who was particularly interested in the match was not in the stadium: Ante Sapina, 33, the leader of a gambling ring operating out of Berlin's Café King. Sapina has a criminal record and was arrested last month on charges of being one of the ringleaders of an alleged gambling syndicate believed to have fixed at least 200 soccer matches across Europe. He is suspected of having fixed this match in Bosnia, too.

It was a perfidious plan that police in the western German city of Bochum uncovered in a covert investigation. With the help of a 22-year-old Swiss national and a 34-year-old Croat, Sapina is believed to have contacted a doctor working for FK Slavija Sarajevo before the match. The doctor was told to pay a €3,000 ($4,470) bribe to a cook at the hotel where the guest team, MFK Kosice, was staying. The cook's job was to stir drugs into the lunch of the Kosice players, drugs designed to reduce their performance, because Sapina was betting on a Sarajevo win.

The investigators are convinced that the cook accepted the bribe. However, they are unable to prove without a doubt, based on wiretapped telephone conversations, that the drugging actually took place. And even if it did, Sapina's bet wouldn't have paid off: MFK Kosice won the match 2-0.

'Manipulating the Game'

But the plan alone offers "insights into the structure of the perpetrators," who "unscrupulously ignored the dangers to completely non-involved professional football players." Sapina and his associates, the investigators noted, were "even pleased and amused by this new approach to manipulating the game."

A screenwriter working on a film about gambling syndicates couldn't have been more effective at conjuring up this episode from the shady world of European professional football, which is identified as Case File 10.10 in the investigative report. It shows how much criminal energy was behind the efforts by Sapina and his associates to fix football matches. Some of the defendants come from a background in which extortion, theft and assault appear to be part of everyday business -- men like Deniz C., a 30-year-old Turk who owns several nudist and sauna clubs in Germany's Ruhr region and is now behind bars.

The sheer scope of the alleged cases documents the obsession with which these gamblers pursued their fraudulent betting activities. The day after 15 suspects had been arrested in a nationwide series of raids, police said that about 200 matches in nine European countries were suspected of having been fixed. The number of countries involved has now increased to 17.

First Player Ready to Testify

Meanwhile, the first of the accused professional players is now willing to come clean. A former second division player and his attorney are scheduled to meet with prosecutors in Bochum in the next few days. The player is expected to report how members of the gambling syndicates made him dependent on them by granting him a six-figure loan. In return, his creditors are believed to have forced him to help them fix matches.

The case is growing by the day. Contrary to the claims of sports officials seeking to downplay the situation, the match-fixing activities of Sapina and his cohorts have not just affected matches in lower leagues, such as the Upper League South of the Northeast German Football Association or the Third Turkish League. Investigators have also set their sights on top-level events, where any evidence of match-fixing would be potentially devastating to this highly profitable entertainment industry. There is probably nothing more detrimental to business than the suspicion that matches could have been fixed.

According to investigators, one of the matches being looked at is the World Cup qualifying match between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Turkey on Sept. 9. They believe that an attempt was made to bribe the Bosnian coach with €500,000, so as to enable the Turks to achieve a "guaranteed victory." Sapina is believed to have known about the attempt to fix the match, but the coach apparently turned down the offer.

Investigators also believe that two matches in the second qualification round for the Champions League may have been fixed: both the first leg between FC Copenhagen and FK Mogren Budva on July 15 and the return match in Montenegro a week later. In both cases, the Danes won 6-0, and in both cases Marjia C., a Croat living in the southern German city of Nuremberg and one of the key defendants in the criminal investigation proceedings, is believed to have tried to bribe players and officials.

By the end of last week, prosecutors had not provided the attorneys with photocopies of the roughly 300-page investigative report -- apparently "for reasons relating to investigation tactics."

As a result, a defense attorney who was trying to determine what exactly the charges against his client were, was forced to travel to Bochum, to an office on the 11th floor of a building that houses the local judicial authorities. Andreas Bachmann, the public prosecutor conducting the investigation in the case, opened a secured glass door to allow his visitor to enter the office, but only after the visitor had entered the correct four-digit code at the entrance, and then led him to a small room furnished with a chair, two tables and a plain wooden shelf with 45 binders on it.

Malaysian Connection

Those binders contain the key documents in the case: an investigative report filed under reference number 35 Js 40/09, the case files on the individual defendants and telephone surveillance reports. The attorneys are prohibited from photocopying anything, although note pads and dictaphones are permitted.

The information in the documents is potentially explosive. For instance, one of Sapina's backers is believed to have been William Bee Wah Lim, a Malaysian who was supposed to "implement gambling interests among Asian gambling syndicates."

Lim is a colorful figure in the betting world. On June 1, 2007, a Frankfurt court convicted Lim of attempted match-fixing and sentenced him to two years and five months in prison. After proceedings that lasted more than a year, the betting kingpin confessed that he attempted to manipulate six matches in the German Second League and in regional leagues, as well as two matches in Austria's top league.

When they searched his confiscated computers, investigators with the Hesse State Office of Criminal Investigation found plenty of incriminating evidence that Lim had wagered millions of euros in the Asian betting market on matches in German professional football, matches that he had most likely manipulated. The most noticeable was a match between Hannover 96 and 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Nov. 26, 2005. Lim had bet €2.8 million ($4.2 million) on a Hannover victory.

How to Win €2.2 Million on a Match

The match, which Hannover won 5-1, made Lim €2.2 million. The match had hardly ended before Lim wrote the word "Beer" in an instant message via Skype to his agent in Asia, who had placed the bets for him. The agent replied: "Congrats!!!! Hehehe. Dance."

The 200 pages of records of Lim's Skype communications were not admitted as evidence in court because the public prosecutor's office felt that they were not sufficiently conclusive. Lim, a former cook who used multiple names, apparently had both a Chinese and a British passport and used various dates of birth in his documents, was released on bail of €40,000 before the end of his sentence. He fled Germany shortly after his release, and a warrant for his arrest was issued at the beginning of 2008. Lim's former defense attorney was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.

Now Lim has resurfaced. He is believed to have been in close contact with the Croat national Marjio C. from Nuremberg, who apparently ran the gambling ring together with Sapina. The defendant C., according to the files, described Lim as "his good friend." Investigators have not been able to pinpoint the fugitive Lim's whereabouts in Europe or Asia, and they have only managed to locate one of his accounts -- with a bank in the Swiss capital, Bern.

According to the documents, Sapina usually placed his bets on the Asian betting market through a brokerage firm in West London, where he was in touch with two employees, one of whom called himself Joseph Chang and the other Eric Ho. Both were part of the "China connection," which investigators believe includes Sapina's contacts in the Netherlands and Malaysia.

Accounts Around the Globe

Sapina's betting millions circle the globe, but they left no traces in German accounts. The betting mastermind from Café King had learned his lesson from the Hoyzer scandal. Sapina apparently had a man in Malaysia named Marc launder the illegal proceeds he is believed to have earned from fixed football matches. Investigators have discovered that this Marc withdrew the money from Sapina's betting accounts with two Asian betting operations, deposited it into accounts with the Bank of China in Hong Kong and Malaysia, and then transferred it back to England. Other defendants are believed to have circumvented the German tax authorities by having their illegal betting earnings transferred to accounts in Austria, Scotland, the Netherlands and Malta.

Ivan P., a German of Croatian origin who investigators believe acted as a "bookkeeper" of sorts for Sapina, was apparently one of the middlemen who allegedly transferred the betting proceeds abroad. They also accuse Ivan P., who is now under arrest, of having passed bribes to football players in five cases. Commenting on the charges, P.'s defense attorney Michael Tsambikakis told SPIEGEL: "Based on the information at my disposal to date, I cannot see that my client played a manipulative role in relation to a football match." Last Monday, Tsambikakis filed an appeal against the warrant for his client's arrest.

Meanwhile, criminal investigation specialists are trying to disentangle the international web of dubious monetary transactions. The investigators noted: "Based on the results of telecommunications surveillance, there is evidence of cash flows in the millions."

For a period lasting several weeks and ending in January 2009, investigators tracked down balances totaling about €3.5 million in five "Sapina accounts" in Asia. This spring, €721,500 was apparently deposited into another of Sapina's betting accounts over a period of six weeks to cover 17 bets. Contrary to his gambling nature, he invested his betting proceeds in foreign real estate, as investigators have discovered.

Football was apparently not the only sport Sapina and his associates bet on when "structuring matches according to their needs." According to the last few pages of the investigative report, investigators suspect that the gambling syndicate also manipulated a women's doubles match at a professional tennis tournament in Fes, Morocco. They also believe that Sapina tried to fix a game in the playoffs in Germany's national basketball league.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

German National Team Keeper Commits Suicide

bae admits "bribing" saudis

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/05/bae-saudi-yamamah-deal-background

what BAE sells:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2007/jun/01/internationalnews1?picture=329962681

BAE and the Saudis: How secret cash payments oiled £43bn arms deal

BAE admits wrongdoing after US justice department lays out how British firm used intermediaries to hide money

David Leigh and Rob Evans

Friday 5 February 2010 19.26 GMT

Prince Bandar, the Saudi royal at the centre of the BAE bribery allegations. Illustration: Martin Argles

The Saudi contract called al-Yamamah – which means "the dove" – was Britain's largest-ever arms agreement, and the source of intense scrutiny and controversy ever since it was signed in the mid-1980s.

Today – after years of denying claims of corruption and bribes – the company finally admitted that the deal was mired in wrongdoing.

The US department of justice today filed a telling indictment to which BAE has agreed to plead guilty.

It says, among other accusations, that BAE "used intermediaries and shell entities to conceal payments to certain advisers who were assisting in the … [Saudi] fighter deals".

The statement goes on to give examples: "BAE agreed to transfer sums totalling more than £10m and more than $9m to a bank account in Switzerland controlled by an intermediary. BAE was aware that there was a high probability that the intermediary would transfer part of these payments to the [Saudi] official."

To Britain's shame, these admissions have been forced out of BAE, not by the UK's own prosecutors, but those of another country.

The stakes around al-Yamamah were always high. The deal was immensely lucrative for BAE at the time, generating £43bn of revenue and keeping the firm afloat for more than two decades.

It was important enough for the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to be involved in helping to clinch the long-running deal in 1985. And, standing behind the politicians at the signing ceremony, was the smiling Prince Bandar, son of the Saudi defence minister [now crown prince] Sultan.

It was later to become plain how much he had to be pleased about.

The agreement was substantial and involved expensive military hardware.

In the first phase, Britain sold the Saudis 72 Tornado planes, 30 Hawk trainers and 30 other trainer planes. A further batch of 48 Tornados was sold in the second phase of the deal agreed in 1993, and a third tranche, agreed after the end of the Serious Fraud Office investigation, involved the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoons.

The Guardian first started its lengthy investigations into BAE back in 2003. The paper obtained evidence that the company was operating a slush fund through front companies to provide substantial treats and favours to Saudi dignitaries.

Whistleblowers came forward to reveal how the arms dealers were spending huge sums to keep the head of the Saudi air force sweet.

But those sums proved relatively small in the grand scale of things. The Guardian discovered that BAE was paying secret sums of money to confidential agents all around the world through a global system of offshore anonymous companies. An undeclared subsidiary called Red Diamond was acting as a vast laundry. A parallel entity called Poseidon made specific Saudi payments.

Or, as the justice department in Washington put it today: "BAE took steps to conceal its relationships with … advisers and its undisclosed payments to them. For example, BAE contracted with and paid certain of its advisers through various offshore shell entities beneficially owned by BAE. BAE also encouraged certain of its advisers to establish their own offshore shell entities to receive payments while disguising the origins and recipients of such payments."

The justice department states the arms firm operated a deceptive system of parallel overt and covert payments to its agents, who could then use the secret supplies of cash to pay bribes.

"BAE retained and paid the same marketing adviser both using the offshore structure and without using the offshore structure."

In the UK, the SFO launched its own inquiry in 2004. Its investigators started to get close to the Saudi royal family, uncovering evidence of huge sums being paid to Swiss bank accounts linked to middlemen including the well-connected billionaire Wafic Said.

In September 2006, the Swiss were preparing to disclose the bank records to the SFO. The firm and its lobbyists started a public campaign warning that huge numbers of arms-manufacturing jobs could be lost.

Behind the scenes, the Saudis were issuing their own threats. They claimed they would stop supplying vital intelligence about al-Qaida terrorists to Britain if the investigation was allowed to continue. SFO investigators were told dramatically that they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they carried on.

It was reported that the Saudis had issued an ultimatum that the inquiry had to be terminated within two weeks, and in December 2006, Lord Goldsmith, then the attorney general, rose in the House of Lords to announce that the investigation had indeed been brought to a halt.

It transpired that Tony Blair had written a "secret and personal" letter to Goldsmith demanding that he stop the investigation.

He hoped for a new arms deal from the Saudis. Plus, he claimed, there was a "real and immediate risk of a collapse in UK/Saudi security, intelligence and diplomatic co-operation".

The prime minister said he "would be failing in his duty" if he had not made his views known.

Inside the SFO, threats were privately discounted, on the grounds they were coming from Prince Bandar himself, a recipient of BAE's largesse.

But that was not the end of the matter. In 2007, the Guardian revealed that the claims the SFO had been investigating included one that BAE had secretly paid more than £1bn to Prince Bandar through a US bank, as well as making him the free gift of an airliner.

The US justice department decided to launch its own investigation. At its heart were claims that BAE had been paying £30m every quarter for at least a decade to the colourful prince.

The US prosecutors could take jurisdiction as the payments had been channelled through a US bank in Washington where Bandar was the Saudi ambassador for 20 years.

The British government refused to hand over documents about the Bandar payments to help the American prosecutors, payments allegedly made with the knowledge and authorisation of Ministry of Defence officials. Ministers had claimed for 20 years that there were no secret commission payments, and BAE officially promised the US government the same in a 2000 official letter which later proved to be its undoing.

further reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/05/bae-systems-arms-deal-corruption

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/07/bae-chiefs-linked-bribes-conspiracy

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/7169485/BAE-fined-400m-over-Saudi-payments.html

radiations: int'l committee against body scanners

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aoG.YbbvnkzU&pos=11

Airport Body Scanning Raises Radiation Exposure, Committee Says

By Jonathan Tirone

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Air passengers should be made aware of the health risks of airport body screenings and governments must explain any decision to expose the public to higher levels of cancer-causing radiation, an inter-agency report said.

Pregnant women and children should not be subject to scanning, even though the radiation dose from body scanners is “extremely small,” said the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety report, which is restricted to the agencies concerned and not meant for public circulation. The group includes the European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.

A more accurate assessment about the health risks of the screening won’t be possible until governments decide whether all passengers will be systematically scanned or randomly selected, the report said. Governments must justify the additional risk posed to passengers, and should consider “other techniques to achieve the same end without the use of ionizing radiation.”

President Barack Obama has pledged $734 million to deploy airport scanners that use x-rays and other technology to detect explosives, guns and other contraband. The U.S. and European countries including the U.K. have been deploying more scanners at airports after the attempted bombing on Christmas Day of a Detroit-bound Northwest airline flight.

“There is little doubt that the doses from the backscatter x-ray systems being proposed for airport security purposes are very low,” Health Protection Agency doctor Michael Clark said by phone from Didcot, England. “The issue raised by the report is that even though doses from the systems are very low, they feel there is still a need for countries to justify exposures.”

3-D Imaging

A backscatter x-ray is a machine that can render a three- dimensional image of people by scanning them for as long as 8 seconds, the report says. The technology has also raised privacy issues in countries including Germany because it yields images of the naked body.

The Committee cited the IAEA’s 1996 Basic Safety Standards agreement, drafted over three decades, that protects people from radiation. Frequent exposure to low doses of radiation can lead to cancer and birth defects, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Most of the scanners deliver less radiation than a passenger is likely to receive from cosmic rays while airborne, the report said. Scanned passengers may absorb from 0.1 to 5 microsieverts of radiation compared with 5 microsieverts on a flight from Dublin to Paris and 30 microsieverts between Frankfurt and Bangkok, the report said. A sievert is a unit of measure for radiation.

European Union regulators plan to finish a study in April on the effects of scanning technology on travelers’ privacy and health. Amsterdam, Heathrow and Manchester are among European airports that have installed the devices or plan to do so.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has said that it ordered 150 scanners from OSI Systems Inc.’s Rapiscan unit and will buy an additional 300 imaging devices this year. The agency currently uses 40 machines, which cost $130,000 to $170,000 each, produced by L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. at 19 airports including San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington D.C.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone at jtirone@bloomberg.net

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further reading:

http://noworldsystem.com/2009/12/31/full-body-scanners-to-fry-travelers-with-radiation/

http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2010/01/study_looks_into_potential_side_effects_of_terahertz_full_body_scanner_technology.html

http://arxiv.org/abs/0910.5294

http://www.rense.com/general41/airporttravelerstoget.htm

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24331/

http://www.examiner.com/x-26624-Miami-Air-Travel-Examiner~y2010m1d2-Health-Risk-Fears-Raised-Over-Airport-Body-Scanners?cid=exrss-Miami-Air-Travel-Examiner

cartoon: brazilian agribusiness

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http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/030/5/2/Brazilian_Agribusiness_by_Latuff2.jpg





Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff

assad: peace comes after a peace treaty

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http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/02/direct-quotes-bashar-assad.html

February 3, 2010

Direct Quotes: Bashar Assad

Posted by Seymour M. Hersh

I spoke to Bashar Assad, the president of Syria, this winter in Damascus. Assad assumed the presidency after his father’s death, in 2000, when he was thirty-four years old, and he expressed some empathy for President Barack Obama, who, like Assad, was confronted with a steep learning curve.

One note: a transcript of our talk, provided by Assad’s office, was generally accurate but it did not include an exchange we had about intelligence. A senior Syrian official had told me that, last year, Syria, which is on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, had renewed its sharing of intelligence on terrorism with the C.I.A. and with Britain’s MI6, after a request from Obama that was relayed by George Mitchell, the President’s envoy for the Middle East. (The White House declined to comment.) Assad said that he had agreed to do so, and then added that he also has warned Mitchell “that if nothing happens from the other side”—in terms of political progress—“we will stop it.”

Quotes from our conversation follow.

President Barack Obama:

Bush gave Obama this big ball of fire, and it is burning, domestically and internationally. Obama, he does not know how to catch it.

The approach has changed; no more dictations but more listening and more recognition of America’s problems around the world, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. But at the same time there are no concrete results…. What we have is only the first step…. Maybe I am optimistic about Obama, but that does not mean that I am optimistic about other institutions that play negative or paralyzing role[s] to Obama.

If you talk about four years, you have one year to learn and the last year to work for the next elections. So, you only have two years. The problem, with these complicated problems around the world, where the United States should play a role to find a solution, is that two years is a very short time…. Is it enough for somebody like Obama?

Hillary Clinton:

Some say that even Hilary Clinton does not support Obama. Some say she still has ambition to be President some day—that is what they say.

The press conference of Hillary with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu [in which she appeared to walk away from the Administration’s call for a freeze on settlements] was very bad, even for the image of the United States.

Israel and the United States:

To be biased and side with the Israelis, this is traditional for the United States; we do not expect them to be in the middle soon. So we can deal with this issue, and we can find a way if you want to talk about the peace process. But the vision does not seem to be clear on the U.S. side as to what they really want to happen in the Middle East.

Negotiations with Israel:

I have half a million Palestinians and they have been living here for three generations now. So, if you do not find a solution for them, then what peace you are talking about?

What, I said, is the difference between peace and a peace treaty? Peace treaty is what you sign, but peace is when you have normal relations. So, you start with a peace treaty in order to achieve peace…. If they say you can have the entire Golan back, we will have a peace treaty. But they cannot expect me to give them the peace they expect…. You start with the land; you do not start with peace.

The Israelis:

You need a special dictionary for their terms…. They do not have any of the old generation who used to know what politics means, like Rabin and the others. That is why I said they are like children fighting each other, messing with the country; they do not know what to do.

[The Israelis] wanted to destroy Hamas in the war [in December, 2008] and make Abu Mazen strong in the West Bank. Actually it is a police state, and they weakened Abu Mazen and made Hamas stronger. Now they wanted to destroy Hamas. But what is the substitute for Hamas? It is Al Qaeda, and they do not have a leader to talk to, to talk about anything. They are not ready to make dialogue. They [Al Qaeda] only want to die in the field.

Europe and the Iranian nuclear negotiation:

This is not European but Bush’s initiative adopted by the Europeans. The Europeans are like the postman; they pretend that they are not like this but they are like a postman; they are completely passive and I told them that. I told the French when I visited France.

Iran:

Imposing sanctions [on Iran] is a problem because they will not stop the program and they will accelerate it if you are suspicious. They can make problems to the Americans more than the other way around.

If I am Ahmadinejad, I will not give all the uranium because I do not have a guarantee [in response to American and European insistence that most of Iran’s low-enriched uranium be sent abroad for further enrichment to make it usable for a research reactor, but not for a bomb]…. So, the only solution is that they can send you part and you send it back enriched, and then they send another part…. The only advice I can give to Obama: accept this Iranian proposal because this is very good and very realistic. [Note: the Iranian position appeared to be shifting this week.]

Lebanon:

The civil war in Lebanon could start in days; it does not take weeks or months; it could start just like this. One cannot feel assured about anything in Lebanon unless they change the whole system.

Cooperating with the United States in Iraq:

They [American officials] only talk about the borders; this is a very narrow-minded way. But we said yes. We said yes—and, you know, during Bush we used to say no, but when Mitchell came [as Obama’s envoy] I said O.K.… I told Mitchell by saying this is the first step and when find something positive from the American side we move to the next level…. We sent our delegation to the borders and [the Iraqis] did not come. Of course, the reason is that [Nouri] al-Maliki [the Prime Minister of Iraq] is against it. So far there is nothing, there is no cooperation about anything and even no real dialogue.

George Mitchell:

I told him, you were successful in Ireland, but this is different…. [Mitchell] is very keen to succeed. And he wants to do something good, but I compare with the situation in the United States: the Congress has not changed…. But the whole atmosphere is not positive towards the President in general. And that is why I think his envoys cannot succeed.

Criticisms of some Israeli policies at the J-Street founding conference:

Ahh … that is new!… But we should educate them that if they are worried about Israel, then the only thing that can protect Israel is peace, nothing else. No amount of airplanes or weapons could protect Israel, so they have to forget about that.

Pakistan’s government:

They supported [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai and realized he cannot deliver. I do not know why they supported him and why—nobody knows why.

American power:

Now the problem is that the United States is weaker, and the whole influential world is weak as well…. You always need power to do politics. Now nobody is doing politics…. So what you need is strong United States with good politics, not weaker United States. If you have weaker United States, it is not good for the balance of the world.

Keywords

• Ahmadinejad;
• Al Qaeda;
• Barack Obama;
• Bashar Assad;
• Benjamin Netanyahu;
• Damascus;
• George Mitchell;
• George W. Bush;
• Hamas;
• Hillary Clinton;
• Iran;
• Israel;
• J-Street;
• Lebanon;
• Mahmoud Abbas;
• Middle East;
• Nouri al-Maliki;
• Palestinians;
• Seymour Hersh;
• Sy Hersh;
• Syria

inceste entre etats et ong

.
source: réseau Voltaire

français: http://www.voltairenet.org/article163755.html

espanol: http://www.voltairenet.org/article163836.html

Les liaisons incestueuses des ONG avec les Etats et les transnationales

par Julien Teil

30 janvier 2010

Toulouse

Pour conduire leur action, les ONG humanitaires courtisent les gros donateurs : les firmes transnationales et les Etats. Cette proximité favorise l’affairisme des dirigeants et la politisation des grands causes. Lentement, certaines associations dérivent vers des objectifs sans rapport avec leurs buts officiels. Julien Teil explore cette évolution à travers plusieurs exemples.

Sobre el poster aparece la frase: «La ayuda humanitaria no se hace de manera improvisada»

De nombreux programmes de solidarité internationale sont plébiscités par les organisations inter-gouvernementales, suivis de près par les ONG et les médias. Certains d’entre eux ne semblent pourtant pas représenter les valeurs et idéaux qu’ils revendiquent. Un court panorama permet de déchiffrer certaines relations qui y sont nouées. Nous nous attarderons ici sur un concept né dans les années 90 et sur un programme de solidarité en cours d’élaboration. Il ne s’agit pas d’accuser les différents acteurs et intermédiaires de ces programmes, mais d’analyser les rapports qui y sont entretenus, afin de dresser un tour d’horizon de la perspective dans laquelle ils s’engagent.

Le 1%, l’Afrique et ses réseaux

C’est lors de l’émission La marche du Siècle du 5 janvier 1994 que le président du Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine et ministre de l’Intérieur, Charles Pasqua, déclare : « Il faut que la France prenne la tête d’une véritable croisade en faveur du développement. On sait qu’à l’heure actuelle, tous les experts sont là pour le dire, si nous consacrons à l’aide au développement des pays sous industrialisés, sous-développés, l’équivalent de 1 % de notre PIB, le problème serait résolu ». Cette pratique est d’ailleurs déjà instituée au sein de la société d’économie mixte (SEM) Coopération 92, fondée à l’initiative de M. Pasqua et dirigée par ses proches.
Les actions réelles de Coopération 92 au Gabon ont été réalisées sans appels d’offre et se sont avérées fort coûteuses. Sans lien officiel avec ce qui précède, des sommes équivalentes à ce qui a été dépensé ont été offertes par le chef de l’Etat gabonais pour financer les activités politiques de M. Pasqua et de ses collaborateurs. [1]. Ce n’est que 14 ans plus tard, le 24 octobre 2008 que le Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine vote la dissolution de la société, qui faisait pourtant l’objet de vives critiques depuis plus d’une décennie. L’opposition (PS, Verts, PC) dénonçait son opacité et regrettait l’absence d’ONG dans les projets [2].

Le fait de consacrer une partie du budget d’un organisme public ou mixte à des opérations de solidarité internationale alors que ce n’est pas la vocation de cet organisme constitue un détournement de fonds publics, quelque soit le caractère louable de ces opérations. Ou plutôt, « constituait un détournement de fonds », car la loi Oudin-Santini, entrée en vigueur le 27 janvier 2005, permet aux communes, à certains établissements publics de coopération, aux syndicats mixtes en charge des services publics d’eau potable, aux agences de l’eau, etc., d’affecter 1% de leur budget à des actions de solidarité internationale et de coopération. Cette loi, selon André Santini « est à la fois un moyen d’exporter le modèle de gestion français de l’eau, mais aussi un moyen de conquête de nouveaux marchés pour les groupes français » [3].

Cette disposition législative a légalisé une pratique jusque là délictuelle existante notamment dans certaine agences de l’eau (Seine Normandie et Rhin-Meuse), dénoncèes par la Cour des comptes en 2002 [4].

Les truculents Charles Pasqua et André Santini ont créé un réseau d’ONG de développement inextricablement lié à la Françafrique.

André Santini, principal auteur de cette loi, était le vice-président du groupe d’étude parlementaire sur les problèmes de l’eau. Ce proche de Charles Pasqua était par ailleurs son vice-président au Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine, président du Syndicat des eaux d’île-de-France (SEDIF) et du Comité du Bassin Seine Normandie.
La gestion des eaux en Île-de-France a été confiée jusqu’en 2010 à la Générale des eaux, renommée Vivendi Environnement, puis Veolia.
Au Comité du Bassin Seine Normandie, responsable de l’eau dans sa région, M. Santini est secondé par un vice-président, Paul-Louis Girardot, par ailleurs président du conseil de surveillance de Veolia Eau et vice-président du conseil d’administration de Veolia Environnement.

Veolia Environnement a lancé en 2006 son comité d’évaluation indépendant afin « d’enrichir la vision stratégique de Veolia Environnement ». On y trouve entre autres Jean Michel Severino, directeur général de l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD) et Philippe Lévêque directeur général de l’ONG Care France. Care France bénéficie du partenariat en vigueur par l’intermédiaire de la loi Oudin-Santini et remercie les différentes agences de l’eau ainsi que le conseil général des Hauts de Seine dans son rapport d’activité 2009.

Premier bénéficiaire de la loi Santini et premier partenaire de Coopération 92, l’association SOS Sahel se consacre à reverdir le désert. C’est suite à la grande sécheresse des années 1973-1974 que Léopold Sédar Senghor, alors président du Sénégal, invita la société civile française et africaine à créer une association afin de lutter contre la famine. Ainsi est née à Dakar, en Novembre 1976, SOS Sahel.

L’ONG Action Contre la Faim milite pour « ratifier [la loi Santini] à l’échelle européenne (afin de pouvoir aider plus de personnes à avoir un accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement et ce en accord avec les Objectifs du Millénaire) » [5]. Cette proposition devrait susciter de vives critiques dans la mesure ou elle consiste à légaliser à l’échelle européenne une pratique qui reste délictuelle dans de nombreux Etats.

Action Contre la Faim est une association internationale créée en novembre 1979 sous le nom d’Action Internationale Contre la Faim (AICF) sous l’égide d’intellectuels atlantistes dont Françoise Giroud, Guy Sorman, Jacques Attali et Bernard-Henry Lévy. Il s’agissait à l’époque de nourrir au Pakistan les islamistes afghans fuyant l’Armée rouge.
Quatre mois après sa fondation, en février 1980, AICF participe à un évènement médiatique : « la marche pour la survie ». A l’appel de Médecins sans frontières, des célébrités escortent un convoi humanitaire qui est arrêté à la frontière cambodgienne. S’en suivent des images déchirantes où Bernard Henry-Lévy et Elie Wiesel supplient les troupes communistes vietnamiennes de laisser passer l’aide humanitaire destinée aux Khmers rouges, qu’ils viennent de renverser et laisseraient mourir de faim. La marche a été organisée en sous-main par la CIA avec l’aide de Claude Malhuret [6]. Il s’avérera ultérieurement qu’il n’y a pas eu de famine dans les camps de réfugiés Khmers rouges.

La création de l’association aurait été financée par Michel David-Weill, alors président de la banque franco-américaine Lazard et politiquement engagé dans la croisade anti-soviétique. Jean Guyot, qui lui est entré en 1955 chez Lazard, sera le fondateur et le premier président de l’ONG CARE France.
Guy Sorman explique : « David-Weill voulait nous faire ce chèque. Mais à l’époque, celle du contrôle des changes, c’était compliqué de transférer des fonds entre les Etats-Unis et la France. Nous avons donc décidé de créer une filiale américaine » [7].

Ainsi, les liens entre les collectivités locales, les ONG et de généreux mécènes paraissent entachés d’arrières-pensées politiques ou affairistes bien éloignées des idéaux affichés.

La Global Water Initiative et le programme Water Efficient Maize for Africa

En 2007, un généreux mécène offre 15 millions de dollars annuels sur 10 ans à un collectif d’ONG pour des actions de long terme favorisant l’accès à l’eau. C’est la Global Water Initiative (GWI).

Le projet est conduit au Burkina Faso, au Mali, au Niger, au Sénégal et dans neuf autres pays d’Afrique et d’Amérique centrale. Il ambitionne de fournir aux communautés un accès durable à l’eau potable et aux systèmes d’assainissement, et surtout un accès à l’eau pour les besoins de la production rurale.

Sept ONG participent à la GWI :

Action Against Hunger / Action contre la Faim (AAH / ACF)
CARE [8]
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
The World Conservation Union - IUCN
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Oxfam America
SOS Sahel. [9]

Le programme a été façonné par David Blanc (directeur du département des opérations d’Action Contre la Faim USA) en collaboration avec la Howard G. Buffett Foundation qui finance le projet dans sa totalité [10].

Howard G. Buffett

Howard Graham Buffett est le fils de Warren Buffett, classé deuxième fortune mondiale par le magazine Forbes en 2008. Il se présente comme un agriculteur, philanthrope, passionné de photographie. Son parcours passe malgré tout par la gestion de plusieurs entreprises dont l’Archer Daniels Midland de 1992 à 1995, l’une des plus importantes sociétés agro-alimentaires des Etats-Unis. Cette société, négociante en céréales, exerce une influence importante dans la diffusion des organismes génétiquement modifiés (OGM). La fondation Howard G. Buffett est née en 1999 et s’est donnée pour mission de procurer l’accès aux besoins essentiels pour les populations les plus démunies et marginalisées du monde. La fondation accorde une importance particulière à l’accès à l’eau en Amérique Centrale et en Afrique, ainsi qu’au développement des ressources agricoles pour les petits agriculteurs locaux.

Parmi les sept participants à la GWI, l’IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), a joué un rôle idéologique de premier plan dans la renaissance du malthusianisme et la mobilisation contre le réchauffement climatique.
Grâce à un financement de l’Aspen Institute [11], l’IIED a été fondé en 1971 par l’économiste britannique Barbara Ward (aussi connue sous le nom de baronne Jackson of Lodsworth) et par l’homme d’affaire canadien Maurice Strong, qui fut le maître d’oeuvre des « sommets de la Terre ».
L’IIED est de nos jours financé par des ministères (ministère français de l’Ecologie, ministère britannique des Affaires étrangères, etc..) ; par des agences supra étatiques (Banque mondiale, FAO, Commission européenne, etc.) ; par des ONG (Care Danemark, etc.) et par un incroyable nombre de fondations (Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation [12], etc.).

L’IIED est actuellement présidé par Camilla Toulmin, qui a auparavant géré son programme « terres arides » de 1987 à 2002. Son parcours lui a notamment permis d’étudier le renforcement des alliances dans le domaine du développement durable, les droits fonciers en Afrique et dans toutes les régions. Son travail s’est concentré sur le développement social, économique et environnemental dans les zones arides d’Afrique. Elle est d’ailleurs l’auteur d’un compte rendu, co-écrit avec Simon Pepper (président du WWF–Ecosse) dont le titre est Réforme foncière au Nord et au Sud. Une des conclusions de ce rapport est édifiante : « En Afrique, le programme de réformes foncières est en grande partie à l’ordre du jour du fait des donateurs internationaux, tels que la Banque mondiale, le Royaume-Uni, la France, l’Allemagne et les Etats-Unis. Cet engagement provient du sentiment qu’une réforme foncière est indispensable en vue d’assurer une sécurité foncière suffisante pour favoriser l’investissement dans l’agriculture, réduire les conflits et allouer des terres aux utilisateurs plus productifs. Cette vision table également sur l’ouverture de nombreux pays africains aux investissements extérieurs dans l’agriculture. On estime que les entreprises internationales ont besoin de titres de propriété sécurisés avant d’investir leurs capitaux dans les économies africaines à haut risque. Il y a aussi d’importants intérêts nationaux qui poussent à l’acquisition des terres coutumières lorsque celles-ci sont mises sur le marché. » [13]. Une conclusion sans doute en adéquation avec les intérêts réels des approbateurs du GWI, dont la fondation Howard Buffett est l’unique investisseur.

Parallèlement, la fondation Howard Buffett et la fondation Bill & Melinda Gates financent le programme Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) à hauteur de 47 millions de dollars. Il a pour objectif de résoudre les problèmes de sécheresse rencontrés par les cultures locales africaines en créant de nouvelles variétés de maïs en collaboration avec Monsanto, le géant US des organismes génétiquement modifiés (OGM) [14]. Le programme est encadré par l’USAID.

Dans le cas du GWI et du WEMA, les intérêts privés sont encore surreprésentés : D’une part à travers les fondations issues du privé qui financent ces projets. Mais aussi par l’incontestable rôle que jouent les multinationales dont les représentants participent parfois à l’administration des dites ONG. Là encore, les contradictions entre le concept de solidarité et les intérêts représentés sont flagrantes.

Solidarité et gouvernance mondiale

Les deux exemples succinctement exposés sont représentatifs d’une réalité équivoque. De nombreux autres programmes censés répondre aux problématiques humanitaires reposent sur des partenariats entre secteurs public, humanitaire et marchand. En outre, le microcrédit est une composante qui est couramment ajoutée à certains de ces programmes. Pourtant le social business (ou entreprenariat social) recouvre lui aussi une réalité bien moins efficace que ce que prétendent ses fameux disciples : Jacques Attali, fondateur de Planet Finance et Bill Drayton, fondateur d’Ashoka Fund [15].

Le microcrédit et les partenariats entre ONG et entreprises font actuellement l’objet de discussions fructueuses. Certains y perçoivent une solution à la crise économique mais aussi une réponse aux enjeux sociaux et environnementaux de ces dernières années. Leurs existences reposent sur de nombreux forums qui érigent ces nouveaux modèles de gouvernance associative en tant qu’expression de la société civile au sein de la « future gouvernance mondiale » [16].

Malgré les divergences évidentes entre la société civile et les entreprises privées transnationales, les ONG accompagnent bien plus le secteur privé et les Etats qu’elles n’agissent comme acteurs indépendants, voire comme contre-pouvoir.
Ce comportement manifeste la lente dérive des grandes ONG de solidarité internationale, celles-ci représentant progressivement la défense d’intérêts extérieurs à la démocratie. Pis, l’idée —qui fait son chemin— d’une gouvernance mondiale à laquelle des ONG seraient associées est contradictoire avec la définition de la démocratie.

[1] Noir Silence, par François Xavier Verschave, Les Arènes (2000), p.436-437.

[2] « Hauts-de-Seine : Dissolution de la SEM coopération 92 », Les Echos, 24 Octobre 2008.

[3] Association S-Eau-S.

[4] « La colère de Santini face aux questions de Bakchich », par Hélène Constanty et Marion Gay, Bakchich, 25 février 2008 :

[5] Dossier de Presse d’Action Contre la Faim à l’occasion de la journée mondiale de l’eau 2008 . La loi Oudin-Santini est traitée dans l’ouvrage Lobby Planet Paris, guide des Lobbys sorti en novembre 2009.

[6] Rescuing the World, by Andrew F : Smith, préface d’Henry Kissinger, State University of New York Press, 2002, pp. 123-129.

[7] « Action contre la Faim à la conquête de l’Amérique », par Emmanuel Saint-Martin, French Morning, 12 Octobre 2009.

[8] « Les ONG, instruments des gouvernements et des transnationales ? », par Julien Teil, Réseau Voltaire, 30 juillet 2009

[9] Présentation du GWI sur le site de l’ONG partenaire Care-USA.

[10] Page de David Blanc sur le site de Action Against Hunger.

[11] « L’Institut Aspen élève les requins du business », Réseau Voltaire, 2 septembre 2004,

[12] « La Fondation Ford, paravent philanthropique de la CIA » et « Pourquoi la Fondation Ford subventionne la contestation », par Paul Labarique, 5 et 19 avril 2004.

[13] Reforme foncière au Nord et au Sud , Camilla Toumin & Simon Pepper.

[14] Site internet de la société [Monsato-°http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto_to...].

[15] William « Bill » Drayton, tout comme Jacaues Attali, estime que l’entreprenariat social permet de résoudre les problèmes de pauvreté. C’est pourquoi il a fondé, en 1981, le fond Ashoka afin de développer cette activité. Il a été sous l’administration Carter, assistant administrateur de l’Agence de l’Environnement U.S. C’est à ce titre qu’il lança le principe de marché du carbone (trade and cap).

[16] La sortie en 2008 d’un compte rendu d’un de ces forums éclaire sur la nature des relations qui y sont nouées. En 2008, s’est notamment tenu le forum « contestataires contestées... quel avenir pour les ONG dans la nouvelle gouvernance mondiale ? » Le contenu est détaillé dans la publication éponyme publiée par l’IRIS et l’ONG Handicap International.

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Las incestuosas relaciones de las ONGs con Estados y transnacionales

por Julien Teil

Para concretar sus acciones, las ONGs humanitarias tratan de seducir a los grandes donantes, que son generalmente las transnacionales y los Estados. Esa relación favorece el lucro de los dirigentes y la politización de las grandes causas. Poco a poco, algunas asociaciones se desvían hacia objetivos no relacionados con las causas que dicen defender. Julien Teil analiza esta evolución a través de varios ejemplos.

Muchos programas de solidaridad internacional, de los que siguen de cerca las ONGs y los medios de difusión, cuentan con el aval de las organizaciones intergubernamentales. Pero algunos de esos programas no parecen representar los valores e ideales que supuestamente defienden. Un rápido análisis permite comprobar en ellos la aparición de ciertos vínculos.

Estudiaremos aquí un concepto que apareció en los años 1990 y un programa de solidaridad que viene elaborándose. No es nuestro objetivo acusar aquí a los diferentes actores e intermediarios de dichos programas sino analizar las relaciones que se establecen al calor de estos, para ofrecer un panorama del rumbo que van adoptando.

El 1%, África y sus redes

El 5 de enero de 1994, durante el programa televisivo La marche du Siecle, Charles Pasqua, el entonces ministro francés del Interior y presidente del Consejo General de la región Hauts-de-Seine, declara: «Francia tiene que ponerse a la cabeza de una verdadera cruzada a favor del desarrollo. Se sabe que actualmente, todos los expertos lo están diciendo, si dedicamos a la ayuda al desarrollo de los países subindustrializados, subdesarrollados, el equivalente del 1% de nuestro PIB, el problema se resolvería».

Esa práctica ya está incluso instituida en el seno de la sociedad de economía mixta (SEM) Cooperation 92, fundada por iniciativa del propio Pasqua y dirigida por gente de su entorno.
Las acciones concretas de la Cooperation 92 en Gabón se han realizado sin que mediaran procesos previos de licitación o concurso público y resultaron extremadamente costosas. Sin que existiera oficialmente vínculo alguno con lo anterior, el jefe de Estado gabonés ofreció sumas equivalentes a esos costos para financiar las actividades políticas de Pasqua y de sus colaboradores [1].

No es sino al cabo de 14 años, el 24 de octubre de 2008, que el Consejo General de la región francesa Hauts-de-Seine vota la disolución de la sociedad Cooperation 92, que venía siendo objeto de duras críticas desde hacía más de un decenio. La oposición (Partido Socialista, Verdes y Partido Comunista) denunciaba concretamente la total falta de transparencia de aquella empresa y deploraba la ausencia de ONGs en la realización de los proyectos [2].

Dedicar parte del presupuesto de un organismo público o mixto a operaciones de solidaridad internacional ajenas a la vocación misma del organismo en cuestión es una forma de desvío de fondos públicos, por muy encomiable que sean esas operaciones. O más bien «constituía un desvío de fondos», ya que la ley Oudin-Santini, que entró en vigor el 27 de enero de 2005, permite que las comunas, ciertos establecimientos públicos de cooperación, los sindicatos mixtos encargados de los servicios públicos de agua potable, las agencias del agua, etc., destinen el 1% de su presupuesto a acciones de solidaridad internacional y de cooperación.

Esa ley, según André Santini, «es a la vez una forma de exportar el modelo francés de manejo del agua y también una herramienta para la conquista de nuevos mercados para los grupos franceses» [3].

Esa disposición legislativa legalizó lo que hasta entonces había sido una práctica delictiva existente esencialmente en ciertas agencias del agua (Seine-Normandie y Rhin-Meuse), ya denunciadas en 2002 por la Contraloría francesa [4].

André Santini, principal autor de esa ley, ocupaba la vicepresidencia del grupo parlamentario de estudio sobre los problemas del agua. Este amigo de Charles Pasqua ocupaba también la vicepresidencia del Consejo General de la región francesa Hauts-de-Seine, la presidencia del Sindicato de Aguas de la región Ile-de-France (SEDIF), además de ser presidente del Comité de la Cuenca Seine-Normandie.
Hasta el año 2010, el manejo del agua en la región Ile-de-France estuvo está en manos de la compañía Generale des Eaux, rebautizada con el nombre de Vivendi Environnement [en español, Vivendi Medio Ambiente] y más tarde como Veolia.

En el seno del Comité de la Cuenca Seine-Normandie, responsable del manejo del agua en esa región, el señor Santini tiene como segundo a un vicepresidente, Paul-Louis Girardot, quien es además presidente del consejo de vigilancia de Veolia Eau [en español, Veolia Agua] y vicepresidente del consejo de administración de Veolia Environnement.

En 2006, Veolia Environnement puso en marcha su comité independiente de evaluación para «enriquecer la visión estratégica de Veolia Environnement». Entre los miembros de ese comité se cuentan Jean-Michel Severino, director general de la Agencia Francesa de Desarrollo (AFD), y Philippe Leveque, director general de la ONG Care France. Care France goza de las prerrogativas de la forma de asociación puesta en vigor a través de la ley Oudin-Santini y su informe sobre las actividades correspondientes al año 2009 expresa su agradecimiento a las diferentes agencias del agua así como al Consejo General de la región Hauts-de-Seine.

Como primera beneficiaria de la ley Santini y primer socio de Cooperation 92, la asociación SOS Sahel se dedica a reverdecer el desierto. Como consecuencia de la gran sequía de los años 1973-1974, el entonces presidente de Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor, invitó a la sociedad civil francesa y africana a crear una asociación de lucha contra el hambre. Así apareció en Dakar, en noviembre de 1976, la asociación SOS Sahel.

La ONG Action Contre la Faim [en español, Acción Contra el Hambre] milita a favor de «ratificar [la ley Santini] a escala europea (para poder ayudar a más personas a tener acceso al agua y al saneamiento conforme a los Objetivos del Milenio)» [5]. Esta proposición debería suscitar duras críticas ya que se trata de legalizar a escala europea una práctica que sigue siendo delictiva en numerosos Estados.

Action Contre la Faim es una asociación internacional creada en noviembre de 1979, con el nombre de Action Internationale Contre la Faim (AICF) y apadrinada por una serie de intelectuales atlantistas, como Francoise Giroud, Guy Sorman, Jacques Attali y Bernard-Henry Levy. En aquel entonces el objetivo era alimentar, en Pakistán, a los islamistas afganos que huían del Ejército Rojo.

Cuatro meses después de su fundación, en febrero de 1980, AICF participa en un suceso mediático: «la marcha por la supervivencia».
Respondiendo al llamado de Médicos Sin Fronteras, un grupo de celebridades escolta un convoy de ayuda humanitaria que será detenido al tratar de pasar la frontera de Camboya. Se producen entonces conmovedoras escenas en las que Bernard-Henry Levy y Elie Wiesel suplican a las tropas comunistas vietnamitas que permitan el paso de la ayuda humanitaria destinada a los khmers rojos, a los que supuestamente estaban dejando morir de hambre después de haberlos derrocado.

La marcha había sido organizada en realidad por la CIA, con la ayuda de Claude Malhuret [6]. Posteriormente se supo que en los campamentos de refugiados de los khmers rojos no existía ninguna hambruna. La creación de la asociación parece haber sido financiada por Michel David-Weill, entonces presidente del banco franco-americano Lazard y políticamente comprometido con la cruzada antisoviética. Por su parte, su socio Jean Guyot financió Care France.

Guy Sorman explica que «David-Weill quería hacernos el cheque. Pero en aquella época, con el control de cambio [de moneda], era complicado transferir fondos entre Estados Unidos y Francia. Así que decidimos crear una filial americana» [7].

De esa manera, los vínculos entre las colectividades locales, las ONGs y generosos mecenas se ven implicados en cálculos políticos o maniobras comerciales que nada tienen que ver con los ideales invocados.

La Global Water Initiative y el programa Water Efficient Maize for Africa

En 2007, un generoso mecenas ofrece 15 millones de dólares al año por un periodo de 10 años a un colectivo de ONGs por la realización de acciones a largo plazo a favor del acceso al agua. Se trata de la Global Water Initiative (GWI).

El proyecto se aplica en Burkina Faso, Malí, Níger, Senegal y en otros 9 países de África y de América Central. Tiene como objetivo proporcionar a las comunidades un acceso durable al agua para cubrir las necesidades de la producción rural.

Siete ONGs participan en la GWI:

Action Against Hunger / Acción Contra el Hambre (AAH / ACF, siglas en ingles y francés)
CARE [8]
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
The World Conservation Union - IUCN
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Oxfam America
SOS Sahel. [9]

David Blanc (director del departamento de operaciones de Acción Contra el Hambre USA) conforma el programa en colaboración con la Howard G. Buffett Foundation, que financia enteramente el proyecto [10].

Howard Graham Buffett es el hijo de Warren Buffet, clasificado en 2008 como propietario de la segunda fortuna más importante del mundo por la revista Forbes. Se presenta como agricultor, filántropo y amante de la fotografía. Su historial lo sitúa, sin embargo, como administrador de varias empresas, como la Archer Daniels Midland (de 1992 a 1995), una de las más importantes empresas agroalimentarias de Estados Unidos.

La Archer Daniels Midland, que se dedica a negociar con cereales, goza de gran influencia en la difusión de los organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM). La fundación Howard G. Buffet nació en 1999 y adoptó como misión el garantizar la satisfacción de las necesidades esenciales de las poblaciones más desfavorecidas y marginadas del mundo.

Esta fundación concede particular importancia al acceso al agua en América Central y en África, así como al desarrollo de los recursos agrícolas para los pequeños agricultores locales.

Uno de los 7 participantes de la GWI, el IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), a desempeñado un papel ideológico de primer plano en el renacimiento del maltusianismo y la movilización contra el calentamiento climático.

El IIED fue fundado en 1971, gracias al financiamiento del Aspen Institute [11], por la economista británica Barbara Ward (también conocida como la baronesa Jackson of Lodsworth) y por el hombre de negocios canadiense Maurice Strong, arquitecto de las «Cumbres de la Tierra».

Hoy en día, el IIED es financiado por varios ministerios (el ministerio francés de Ecología, el ministerio británico de Relaciones Exteriores, etc.), agencias supraestatales (Banco Mundial, FAO, Comisión Europea, etc.), varias ONGs (Care Dinamarca, etc.) y por una increíble cantidad de fundaciones (Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation [12], etc.).

El IIED se encuentra hoy bajo la presidencia de Camilla Toulmin, quien ya había administrado anteriormente, desde 1987 hasta 2002, su programa «tierras áridas». Su trayectoria le ha permitido esencialmente estudiar el fortalecimiento del desarrollo duradero así como el derecho sobre la tierra en África y en todas las regiones. La actividad de Camilla Toulmin se ha concentrado en el desarrollo social, económico y medioambiental en las zonas áridas de África. Camilla Toulmin es además la autora, junto a Simon Pepper (presidente de WWF-Escocia), de un informe titulado Reforma de la propiedad de la tierra en el Norte y en el Sur.

Una de las conclusiones de ese informe resulta reveladora: «En África, el programa de reformas sobre la propiedad de la tierra es de actualidad en gran parte debido a los donantes internacionales, como el Banco Mundial, el Reino Unido, Francia, Alemania y Estados Unidos. Este compromiso proviene de la impresión de que se hace indispensable una reforma sobre la propiedad de la tierra en aras de garantizar en ese aspecto la seguridad suficiente para favorecer la inversión en la agricultura, reducir los conflictos y atribuir tierras a los utilizadores más productivos.

Esa visión espera también que muchos países africanos se abran a la inversión externa en la agricultura. Se estima que las empresas internacionales tienen que contar con títulos de propiedad garantizados antes de invertir sus capitales en las economías africanas de alto riesgo. Existen también importantes intereses nacionales que estimulan a la compra de las tierras ancestrales cuando éstas salen al mercado» [13]. Se trata de una conclusión evidentemente vinculada a los intereses de quienes dan la luz verde en el seno del GWI, cuyo único inversionista es la fundación Howard Buffett.

De forma paralela, la fundación Howard Buffet y la fundación Bill & Melinda Gates financian el programa Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) aportándole alrededor de 47 millones de dólares. El objetivo es resolver los problemas de sequía que encuentran los cultivos locales africanos a través de la creación de nuevas variedades de maíz en colaboración con Monsanto, el gigante estadounidense de los organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM) [14]. La dirección del programa está en manos de la USAID.

En el caso del GWI y del WEMA también se evidencia una excesiva representación de los intereses privados. Por un lado a través de las fundaciones nacidas de las empresas privadas que financian los proyectos, así como por el indiscutible papel que desempeñan las multinacionales cuyos representantes participan a veces en la administración de las supuestas ONGs. También en este caso son flagrantes las contradicciones entre el concepto de solidaridad y los intereses representados.

Solidaridad y gobernanza mundial

Los dos ejemplos que aquí hemos expuestos en forma sucinta son representativos de una equívoca realidad. Otros muchos programas, que supuestamente deberían dar respuesta a las problemáticas humanitarias, se basan en asociaciones entre el sector público, el sector humanitario y el mercantil. Además, el microcrédito es un componente corrientemente agregado a algunos de esos programas.

Pero el llamado “social business” (o empresariado social) incluye también una realidad mucho menos eficaz de lo que afirman sus famosos discípulos Jacques Attali, fundador de Planet Finance, y Bill Drayton, fundador de Ashoka Fund [15].

El microcrédito y las asociaciones entre ONGs y empresas son actualmente tema de fructíferas discusiones. Algunos ven en ellas una solución a la crisis económica, pero también una respuesta a las problemáticas sociales y medioambientales de estos últimos años. Su existencia se basa en numerosos foros que construyen esos nuevos modelos de gobernanza asociativa como expresión de la sociedad civil en el seno de la «futura gobernanza mundial» [16].

A pesar de las evidentes divergencias entre la sociedad civil y las empresas transnacionales, las ONGs están sobre todo comprometidas con el sector privado y con los Estados, en vez de actuar como actores independientes o incluso como contrapoder.

Ese comportamiento evidencia el lento desvío de las grandes ONGs de solidaridad internacional, que poco a poco van convirtiéndose en representantes de la defensa de intereses que nada tienen que ver con la democracia. Peor aun, la idea –que poco a poco va imponiéndose– de una gobernanza mundial a la que estarían asociadas las ONGs contradice la definición misma de democracia.

[1] Libro en francés: Noir Silence, por François Xavier Verschave, editor Les Arènes (2000), p.436-437.

[2] «Hauts-de-Seine: Dissolution de la SEM coopération 92», informe del municipio francés publicado en Les Echos, 24 de octubre de 2008.

[3] Association S-Eau-S.

[4] «La colère de Santini face aux questions de Bakchich», por Hélène Constanty y Marion Gay, Bakchich, 25 de febrero de 2008.

[5] Dosier de Prensa de Action Contre la Faim en ocasión del Dia Mundial del Agua de 2008. El libro Lobby Planet Paris, guide des Lobbys, en venta desde noviembre de 2009, aborda la ley Oudin-Santini.

[6] Rescuing the World, por Andrew F. Smith, prefacio de Henry Kissinger, State University of New York Press, 2002, pp. 123-129.

[7] «Action contre la Faim à la conquête de l’Amérique», por Emmanuel Saint-Martin, French Morning, 12 de octubre de 2009.

[8] «Las ONGs, ¿instrumentos de gobiernos y transnacionales?», por Julien Teil, Réseau Voltaire, 30 de julio de 2009.

[9] Presentación del GWI en el sitio web de la ONG Care-USA.

[10] Página de David Blanc en el sitio web de Action Against Hunger.

[11] «El Instituto Aspen educa a los tiburones del business», Red Voltaire, 3 de febrero de 2004.

[12] «La Fundación Ford, fachada filantrópica de la CIA» y «Por qué la Fundación Ford subvenciona la oposición», Red Voltaire, por Paul Labarique, 5 y 19 de abril de 2005.

[13] Reforme foncière au Nord et au Sud, Camilla Toumin & Simon Pepper.

[14] Sitio web de la empresa Monsato.

[15] Al igual que Jacques Attali, William «Bill» Drayton estima que el “social business” permite resolver los problemas inherentes a la pobreza. En la época de la administración Carter, Drayton fue administrador asistente de la Agencia estadounidense de Medioambiente. Fue desde ese cargo que promovió el principio del mercado del carbono (trade and cap).

[16] La publicaón, en el año 2008, de un recuento de uno de esos foros aclara la naturaleza de las relaciones que se establecen en el marco de tales encuentros. En 2008 se celebró el foro «oposición a opositores… ¿qué futuro tienen las ONGs dentro de la gobernanza mundial?» El contenido se describe detalladamente en la publicación del mismo nombre que publicaron el IRIS y la ONG Handicap International.

ipcc's report: bogus science!

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7111525/UN-climate-change-panel-based-claims-on-student-dissertation-and-magazine-article.html

added feb 6th 2010: http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2476086.ece/New_mistake_found_in_UN_climate_report

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7157590/India-forms-new-climate-change-body.html

UN climate change panel based claims on student dissertation and magazine article

The United Nations' expert panel on climate change based claims about ice disappearing from the world's mountain tops on a student's dissertation and an article in a mountaineering magazine.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent and Rebecca Lefort

30 Jan 2010

The IPCC's remit is to provide an authoritative assessment of scientific evidence on climate change.

In its most recent report, it stated that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was being caused by global warming, citing two papers as the source of the information.

However, it can be revealed that one of the sources quoted was a feature article published in a popular magazine for climbers which was based on anecdotal evidence from mountaineers about the changes they were witnessing on the mountainsides around them.

The other was a dissertation written by a geography student, studying for the equivalent of a master's degree, at the University of Berne in Switzerland that quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps.

The revelations, uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph, have raised fresh questions about the quality of the information contained in the report, which was published in 2007.

It comes after officials for the panel were forced earlier this month to retract inaccurate claims in the IPCC's report about the melting of Himalayan glaciers.

Sceptics have seized upon the mistakes to cast doubt over the validity of the IPCC and have called for the panel to be disbanded.

This week scientists from around the world leapt to the defence of the IPCC, insisting that despite the errors, which they describe as minor, the majority of the science presented in the IPCC report is sound and its conclusions are unaffected.

But some researchers have expressed exasperation at the IPCC's use of unsubstantiated claims and sources outside of the scientific literature.

Professor Richard Tol, one of the report's authors who is based at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland, said: "These are essentially a collection of anecdotes.

"Why did they do this? It is quite astounding. Although there have probably been no policy decisions made on the basis of this, it is illustrative of how sloppy Working Group Two (the panel of experts within the IPCC responsible for drawing up this section of the report) has been.

"There is no way current climbers and mountain guides can give anecdotal evidence back to the 1900s, so what they claim is complete nonsense."

The IPCC report, which is published every six years, is used by government's worldwide to inform policy decisions that affect billions of people.

The claims about disappearing mountain ice were contained within a table entitled "Selected observed effects due to changes in the cryosphere produced by warming".

It states that reductions in mountain ice have been observed from the loss of ice climbs in the Andes, Alps and in Africa between 1900 and 2000.

The report also states that the section is intended to "assess studies that have been published since the TAR (Third Assessment Report) of observed changes and their effects".

But neither the dissertation or the magazine article cited as sources for this information were ever subject to the rigorous scientific review process that research published in scientific journals must undergo.

The magazine article, which was written by Mark Bowen, a climber and author of two books on climate change, appeared in Climbing magazine in 2002. It quoted anecdotal evidence from climbers of retreating glaciers and the loss of ice from climbs since the 1970s.

Mr Bowen said: "I am surprised that they have cited an article from a climbing magazine, but there is no reason why anecdotal evidence from climbers should be disregarded as they are spending a great deal of time in places that other people rarely go and so notice the changes."

The dissertation paper, written by professional mountain guide and climate change campaigner Dario-Andri Schworer while he was studying for a geography degree, quotes observations from interviews with around 80 mountain guides in the Bernina region of the Swiss Alps.

Experts claim that loss of ice climbs are a poor indicator of a reduction in mountain ice as climbers can knock ice down and damage ice falls with their axes and crampons.

The IPCC has faced growing criticism over the sources it used in its last report after it emerged the panel had used unsubstantiated figures on glacial melting in the Himalayas that were contained within a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report.

It can be revealed that the IPCC report made use of 16 non-peer reviewed WWF reports.

One claim, which stated that coral reefs near mangrove forests contained up to 25 times more fish numbers than those without mangroves nearby, quoted a feature article on the WWF website.

In fact the data contained within the WWF article originated from a paper published in 2004 in the respected journal Nature.

In another example a WWF paper on forest fires was used to illustrate the impact of reduced rainfall in the Amazon rainforest, but the data was from another Nature paper published in 1999.

When The Sunday Telegraph contacted the lead scientists behind the two papers in Nature, they expressed surprise that their research was not cited directly but said the IPCC had accurately represented their work.

The chair of the IPCC Rajendra Pachauri has faced mounting pressure and calls for his resignation amid the growing controversy over the error on glacier melting and use of unreliable sources of information.

A survey of 400 authors and contributors to the IPCC report showed, however, that the majority still support Mr Pachauri and the panel's vice chairs. They also insisted the overall findings of the report are robust despite the minor errors.

But many expressed concern at the use of non-peer reviewed information in the reports and called for a tightening of the guidelines on how information can be used.

The Met Office, which has seven researchers who contributed to the report including Professor Martin Parry who was co-chair of the working group responsible for the part of the report that contained the glacier errors, said: "The IPCC should continue to ensure that its review process is as robust and transparent as possible, that it draws only from the peer-reviewed literature, and that uncertainties in the science and projections are clearly expressed."

Roger Sedjo, a senior research fellow at the US research organisation Resources for the Future who also contributed to the IPCC's latest report, added: "The IPCC is, unfortunately, a highly political organisation with most of the secretariat bordering on climate advocacy.

"It needs to develop a more balanced and indeed scientifically sceptical behaviour pattern. The organisation tend to select the most negative studies ignoring more positive alternatives."

The IPCC failed to respond to questions about the inclusion of unreliable sources in its report but it has insisted over the past week that despite minor errors, the findings of the report are still robust and consistent with the underlying science.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7009705.ece

From The Sunday Times

January 31, 2010

UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim

Jonathan Leake

A STARTLING report by the United Nations climate watchdog that global warming might wipe out 40% of the Amazon rainforest was based on an unsubstantiated claim by green campaigners who had little scientific expertise.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its 2007 benchmark report that even a slight change in rainfall could see swathes of the rainforest rapidly replaced by savanna grassland.

The source for its claim was a report from WWF, an environmental pressure group, which was authored by two green activists. They had based their “research” on a study published in Nature, the science journal, which did not assess rainfall but in fact looked at the impact on the forest of human activity such as logging and burning. This weekend WWF said it was launching an internal inquiry into the study.

This is the third time in as many weeks that serious doubts have been raised over the IPCC’s conclusions on climate change. Two weeks ago, after reports in The Sunday Times, it was forced to retract a warning that climate change was likely to melt the Himalayan glaciers by 2035. That warning was also based on claims in a WWF report.

The IPCC has been put on the defensive as well over its claims that climate change may be increasing the severity and frequency of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods.

This weekend Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, was fighting to keep his job after a barrage of criticism.

Scientists fear the controversies will be used by climate change sceptics to sway public opinion to ignore global warming — even though the fundamental science, that greenhouse gases can heat the world, remains strong.

The latest controversy originates in a report called A Global Review of Forest Fires, which WWF published in 2000. It was commissioned from Andrew Rowell, a freelance journalist and green campaigner who has worked for Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and anti-smoking organisations. The second author was Peter Moore, a campaigner and policy analyst with WWF.

In their report they suggested that “up to 40% of Brazilian rainforest was extremely sensitive to small reductions in the amount of rainfall” but made clear that this was because drier forests were more likely to catch fire.

The IPCC report picked up this reference but expanded it to cover the whole Amazon. It also suggested that a slight reduction in rainfall would kill many trees directly, not just by contributing to more fires.

It said: “Up to 40% of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to even a slight reduction in precipitation; this means that the tropical vegetation, hydrology and climate system in South America could change very rapidly to another steady state. It is more probable that forests will be replaced by ecosystems that have more resistance to multiple stresses caused by temperature increase, droughts and fires, such as tropical savannas.”

Simon Lewis, a Royal Society research fellow at Leeds University who specialises in tropical forest ecology, described the section of Rowell and Moore’s report predicting the potential destruction of large swathes of rainforest as “a mess”.

“The Nature paper is about the interactions of logging damage, fire and periodic droughts, all extremely important in understanding the vulnerability of Amazon forest to drought, but is not related to the vulnerability of these forests to reductions in rainfall,” he said.

“In my opinion the Rowell and Moore report should not have been cited; it contains no primary research data.”

WWF said it prided itself on the accuracy of its reports and was investigating the latest concerns. “We have a team of people looking at this internationally,” said Keith Allott, its climate change campaigner.

Scientists such as Lewis are demanding that the IPCC ban the use of reports from pressure groups. They fear that environmental campaign groups are bound to cherry-pick the scientific literature that confirms their beliefs and ignore the rest.

It was exactly this process that lay behind the bogus claim that the Himalayan glaciers were likely to melt by 2035 — a suggestion that got into another WWF report and was then used by the IPCC.

Georg Kaser, a glaciologist who was a lead author on the last IPCC report, said: “Groups like WWF are not scientists and they are not professionally trained to manage data. They may have good intentions but it opens the way to mistakes.”

Research by Richard North

secret detention = crime against humanity

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http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/6730490/secret-detention-may-amount-to-crime-against-humanity-un-experts/

Secret detention may amount to crime against humanity: UN experts

January 28, 2010, 6:53 am

GENEVA (AFP) - UN human rights experts warned in a report on Wednesday that "widespread and systematic" secret detention of terror suspects was continuing and could pave the way for charges of crimes against humanity.

The report listed 66 countries that have allegedly been involved in secret detentions -- from Ethiopia to Romania, from Kosovo to Pakistan -- and called on governments to investigate and prosecute those who ordered such detentions.

In their first in-depth global study on secret detentions, the UN experts said that virtually no judicial steps had been attempted against the practice despite the "widespread" manner in which suspects were held in a legal limbo.

"Secret detention continues to be used in the name of countering terrorism around the world" in spite of international human rights norms, said the study, which is due to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

"If resorted to in a widespread and systematic manner, secret detention might reach the threshold of a crime against humanity," the authors cautioned.

The "global war on terror," which was launched by President George W. Bush's administration after the September 11 attacks, had "reinvigorated" the use of secret detentions in an organised manner, they said.

The campaign saw the creation of "a comprehensive and coordinated system of secret detention of persons suspected of terrorism, involving not only US authorities, but also other states in almost all regions of the world."

The study was compiled by two independent UN experts on counter-terrorism and torture, as well as UN panels overseeing arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.

Campaign group Amnesty International said in a statement that governments must be held to account.

"States must act swiftly to implement the recommendations in this important study, to confront and end secret detention and the human rights violations it entails and enables," said Widney Brown, Amnesty's director of international law, citing torture and unlawful executions.

The UN study welcomed commitments by US President Barack Obama to dismantle and investigate secret detentions.

But the experts also called for clarification of outstanding issues such as short term CIA holding facilities and those operated by the military Joint Special Operation Command.

Human rights campaigners say other countries took advantage of secret detentions to crack down on their own political opponents or restive ethnic groups.

Extraordinary rendition involved abducting suspects without legal proceedings, and flying them to foreign countries or secret CIA prisons.

Drawing on its own interviews with former detainees, witnesses, officials and its own analysis of flight records, as well as published material, the UN study named dozens of secret detainees -- including some alleged to have died in custody.

Thailand denied that it had hosted a secret detention facility for the United States in a response to the experts, but the study maintained that it was "credible that a CIA black site" existed there.

The study also welcomed a Lithuanian parliamentary inquiry into similar allegations, which had concluded that there was no evidence to back them up.

However, it stressed that the findings "in no way constitute the final word on Lithuania's role in the programme."

The UN study also cited evidence of secret US-run facilities in Romania, Poland, and Kosovo as well as several in Afghanistan and Iraq, including "Dark Prison" and "Salt Pit."

Accounts by detainees added weight to claims that Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Djibouti were proxy centres where "detainees have been held on the CIA's behalf," the report added.

german police: we're training fighters for talibans

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,674579,00.html

01/28/2010

New Strategy?

German Military and Police Blast Merkel's Afghanistan Plan

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emphasized the need for a new "strategic direction" in Afghanistan. But many German officials question Berlin's plan to slightly boost the number of troops and police trainers in the war-torn country. "We are training fighters for the Taliban," said one police spokesman.

For German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the importance of Thursday's Afghanistan conference in London is clear: "In London, nothing less than a new strategic direction is at stake," she said on Wednesday in an address to the German parliament.

She is not alone in that assessment. In a Thursday contribution for the London Times, NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote, "this conference must and will be different. It will deliver results."

In the last few days, Merkel's government has made clear how it plans to contribute to those results. Berlin intends to send 500 additional troops, with 350 more to be part of a "flexible reserve" for extraordinary situations. Beyond that, Merkel's cabinet has agreed to increase the number of German police trainers in Afghanistan and Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg wants to see German soldiers show a greater presence on the streets of northern Afghanistan, where the Bundeswehr is based.

It is perhaps not surprising that the plan, in a country where public support for the war continues to drop, has not been well received. But the plan's greatest detractors, it has become clear this week, are not just to be found in the parliamentarian opposition. Both Germany's police unions and military association are skeptical of Merkel's new Afghanistan formula.

'Will Achieve Nothing'

Wilfried Stolze, spokesman for the German Federal Armed forces Association, told German radio on Thursday that Guttenberg's intention to have military trainers fight side-by-side with their charges in battles with the Taliban means a much greater danger for the German troops. He said that a strong focus on civilian reconstruction remains vital and that simply sending more soldiers "will achieve nothing."

His critique was echoed by association head Ulrich Kirsch in an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper. "Just talking about numbers doesn't help," he said. "Five hundred soldiers more or less -- that is inconsequential for the success of the mission. That cannot be called a new strategy."

There was also pointed critique from Germany's two major police unions of Berlin's pledges to almost double the number of police trainers in Afghanistan. The increase is not huge -- from 119 currently in the country to 200 -- but German police have complained for years of difficulties finding enough officers willing to do a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Paramilitary Units

And on Wednesday, they went on the offensive. "The plans are utopian," said Konrad Freiberg, head of the German police union GdP. "As German police officers, we don't want to become part of a civil war."

In an interview with the daily Münchner Merkur, he also appeared to call into question the very efficacy of the police training program. "We have to look at things realistically," he said. "Afghanistan needs a police force that can secure areas against Taliban fighters. In some cases, they will have to use heavy weaponry in their fight against the terrorists. We are not talking about ... crime scene investigators who collect finger prints. We are talking about paramilitary units. That is something that we cannot provide -- nor do we want to provide training on the job."

Rainer Wendt, head of the competing police union, called the German Police Union (DPolG), agreed with his colleague's assessment. "The incoming Afghan police officers receive just a brief crash course from us," he told the daily Stuttgarter Nachrichten. "We would already consider it a success if the future security personnel wouldn't bash people on the head, cut off the hands of thieves and stone women."

He also voiced concern that many of those trained by German police might join the Taliban once their instruction is complete. "We are training fighters for the Taliban," Wendt said. "We should be concerned that many of the Afghan police candidates don't even join the force after their training course. Instead, they go directly to the Taliban. They pay twice as much." Afghan police officers earn $100 per month, according to the German Foreign Ministry.

Diplomatic Silence

Still, despite the critique, training Afghan security forces is the crux of NATO's strategy in Afghanistan. In all, the Western alliance wants to increase the number of trained soldiers to 134,000 and police to 109,000. A secret draft communiqué circulated prior to Thursday's conference -- and obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE -- expresses hope that Afghan security forces can take the lead on a "majority of operations in insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years."

NATO itself seems to doubt whether the German contribution will make much of a difference. The US has established an immense training facility in northern Afghanistan, not far from the German base, which is capable of training many more security personnel than its German counterpart.

Upon being questioned recently about the German contribution to the training effort, a NATO spokesman in Kabul responded, "let's just maintain a diplomatic silence when it comes to the German contribution to police training in Afghanistan."

cgh -- with wire service

cartoon: taliban ipad

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1246551/iPad-Steve-Jobs-unveils-Apples-revolutionary-tablet-computer.html

the best currency of the decade vs. gold & silver

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http://goldmoney.com/commentary-the-decades-best-national-currency.html

GoldMoney Alert

25 January 2010

The Decade's Best National Currency

In my last alert I presented two tables that showed the appreciation of gold and silver against nine of the world's major currencies. A number of readers have asked me to provide these calculations for more currencies.

Most readers had the same objective. They wanted to know which of the various national currencies of the world ranks as the best one. In other words, they wanted to know which of them lost the least amount of purchasing power when using gold as the numéraire. Gold is an excellent 'measuring stick', but I also did the calculations for silver. The rates of appreciation of gold and silver in terms of 23 world currencies from 2000-to-2009 are presented in the tables below.

Gold's Rate of Appreciation Against 23 World Currencies
		2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Average
Switzerland	franc	-4.1%	5.0%	3.9%	7.0%	-3.0%	36.2%	13.9%	22.1%	-0.3%	20.3%	10.1%
Denmark	krone	1.3%	7.7%	5.8%	-0.2%	-2.2%	35.5%	10.2%	18.8%	10.9%	20.3%	10.8%
euro/DEM	euro	1.1%	8.1%	5.9%	-0.5%	-2.1%	35.1%	10.2%	18.8%	11.0%	20.4%	10.8%
Canada	dollar	-2.1%	8.8%	23.7%	-2.2%	-2.0%	14.5%	22.8%	11.5%	31.1%	5.9%	11.2%
New Zealand	dollar	10.8%	8.9%	-0.9%	-4.4%	-4.2%	25.1%	19.3%	19.5%	40.5%	-1.5%	11.3%
Norway	krone	3.6%	4.5%	-3.6%	14.9%	-4.0%	31.0%	13.5%	14.6%	36.0%	2.8%	11.3%
Australia	dollar	11.2%	11.3%	13.5%	-10.5%	1.4%	25.6%	14.4%	18.1%	33.0%	-3.6%	11.4%
China	yuan	-5.7%	2.5%	24.8%	19.5%	5.2%	15.2%	18.8%	22.9%	-1.0%	24.0%	12.6%
Singapore	dollar	-2.1%	9.3%	17.2%	17.1%	1.1%	20.4%	13.3%	23.1%	6.0%	21.0%	12.6%
Thailand	baht	5.0%	4.3%	21.8%	9.7%	3.0%	24.9%	8.2%	7.4%	24.6%	19.0%	12.8%
Sweden	krona	4.7%	13.5%	3.7%	-1.0%	-2.5%	40.7%	5.8%	24.2%	29.1%	12.6%	13.1%
Malaysia	ringgit	-5.7%	2.5%	24.7%	19.6%	5.2%	17.6%	14.7%	23.2%	10.3%	22.9%	13.5%
Japan	yen	5.5%	17.4%	13.0%	7.9%	0.9%	35.7%	24.0%	23.4%	-14.0%	27.1%	14.1%
Hong Kong	dollar	-5.4%	2.4%	24.7%	19.1%	5.4%	17.9%	23.2%	31.8%	5.2%	24.0%	14.8%
USA	dollar	-5.7%	2.5%	24.7%	19.6%	5.2%	18.2%	22.8%	31.4%	5.8%	23.9%	14.9%
Taiwan	dollar	-0.4%	8.1%	23.7%	17.1%	-1.7%	22.1%	22.1%	30.8%	6.9%	20.9%	15.0%
UK	pound	1.8%	5.4%	12.7%	7.9%	-2.0%	31.8%	7.8%	29.7%	43.7%	12.1%	15.1%
South Korea	won	5.2%	6.2%	12.6%	20.2%	-8.6%	15.3%	13.1%	32.3%	42.7%	14.3%	15.3%
India	rupee	1.3%	5.8%	24.0%	13.5%	0.0%	22.8%	20.5%	17.4%	30.5%	18.4%	15.4%
Brazil	real	1.7%	21.4%	91.0%	-2.2%	-3.5%	3.9%	12.3%	9.6%	37.9%	-6.8%	16.5%
South Africa	rand	15.9%	62.4%	-10.8%	-6.7%	-11.3%	32.5%	36.6%	28.1%	43.5%	-1.9%	18.8%
Mexico	peso	-4.3%	-2.4%	42.0%	28.9%	4.4%	12.7%	24.8%	32.9%	34.0%	17.0%	19.0%
Sri Lanka	rupee	8.8%	15.2%	29.7%	19.6%	13.5%	15.6%	29.3%	32.9%	10.0%	25.5%	20.0%

The best currency compared to gold is the Swiss franc, but even this venerable national currency lost 10.1% per annum on average for the past ten years.

Silver's Rate of Appreciation Against 23 World Currencies
		2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Average
New Zealand	dollar	-0.4%	6.2%	-16.7%	-0.9%	4.1%	37.2%	41.2%	4.9%	1.1%	18.6%	9.5%
Australia	dollar	-0.1%	8.5%	-4.6%	-7.3%	10.2%	37.7%	35.3%	3.7%	-4.3%	16.1%	9.5%
Canada	dollar	-12.0%	6.1%	4.0%	1.4%	6.5%	25.5%	45.3%	-2.1%	-5.7%	27.6%	9.7%
Norway	krone	-6.9%	1.8%	-18.9%	19.1%	4.3%	43.6%	34.3%	0.6%	-2.1%	23.8%	10.0%
Switzerland	franc	-13.9%	2.3%	-12.6%	11.0%	5.4%	49.3%	34.8%	7.2%	-28.2%	44.9%	10.0%
Denmark	krone	-9.0%	5.0%	-11.1%	3.5%	6.2%	48.5%	30.3%	4.3%	-20.2%	44.8%	10.3%
euro/DEM	euro	-9.1%	5.3%	-11.0%	3.2%	6.4%	48.1%	30.4%	4.3%	-20.1%	45.0%	10.3%
Thailand	baht	-5.6%	1.7%	2.4%	13.7%	12.0%	36.9%	28.0%	-5.7%	-10.4%	43.3%	11.6%
Sweden	krona	-5.9%	10.6%	-12.8%	2.6%	6.0%	54.2%	25.1%	9.1%	-7.1%	35.5%	11.7%
Singapore	dollar	-12.0%	6.5%	-1.5%	21.4%	9.8%	32.0%	34.1%	8.1%	-23.7%	45.7%	12.0%
China	yuan	-15.3%	-0.1%	4.9%	23.9%	14.3%	26.3%	40.5%	7.9%	-28.8%	49.3%	12.3%
Malaysia	ringgit	-15.3%	-0.1%	4.8%	24.0%	14.3%	28.9%	35.7%	8.2%	-20.6%	48.0%	12.8%
Brazil	real	-8.6%	18.3%	60.5%	1.4%	4.9%	13.9%	32.9%	-3.8%	-0.8%	12.2%	13.1%
UK	pound	-8.5%	2.7%	-5.3%	11.9%	6.5%	44.4%	27.5%	13.9%	3.4%	35.0%	13.2%
South Korea	won	-5.5%	3.5%	-5.3%	24.6%	-0.7%	26.4%	33.8%	16.2%	2.7%	37.6%	13.3%
India	rupee	-9.0%	3.1%	4.3%	17.7%	8.6%	34.6%	42.6%	3.1%	-6.1%	42.6%	14.1%
Taiwan	dollar	-10.5%	5.4%	3.9%	21.5%	6.8%	33.9%	44.4%	14.9%	-23.1%	45.6%	14.3%
Hong Kong	dollar	-15.0%	-0.2%	4.9%	23.4%	14.5%	29.3%	45.8%	15.8%	-24.3%	49.3%	14.3%
USA	dollar	-15.3%	-0.1%	4.8%	24.0%	14.3%	29.6%	45.3%	15.4%	-23.8%	49.3%	14.4%
Japan	yen	-5.2%	14.4%	-5.0%	11.9%	9.6%	48.8%	46.7%	8.3%	-38.1%	53.0%	14.4%
South Africa	rand	4.1%	58.3%	-25.0%	-3.2%	-3.7%	45.3%	61.6%	12.5%	3.3%	18.1%	17.1%
Mexico	peso	-14.0%	-4.9%	19.4%	33.6%	13.4%	23.5%	47.7%	16.7%	-3.5%	41.0%	17.3%
Sri Lanka	rupee	-2.3%	12.3%	9.0%	24.0%	23.3%	26.7%	52.9%	16.8%	-20.9%	51.2%	19.3%

The best currency compared to silver is a tie between the New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar. They lost 9.5% per annum on average for the past ten years.

So what really is the world's best currency in terms of preserving purchasing power? It is gold, and silver is a close second. When viewed in terms of the above tables, no national currency even comes close. This conclusion is also confirmed by the following chart which presents a base-100 analysis of crude oil prices against three national currencies and the precious metals.

Both gold and silver purchase essentially the same amount of crude oil they did at the beginning of this decade. In fact, an ounce of gold or silver purchases basically the same amount of crude oil that they did at any time during the past 60-year time span presented in the above chart. The precious metals have a proven track record of preserving purchasing power.

lebanon: the real hezbollah

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http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17170

How Lebanon Organized the Resistance against Israeli Aggression in the 2006 War

An interview with Franklin Lamb

by Mike Whitney

Mike Whitney--- Are the Lebanese people grateful to Hezbollah for forcing Israel to retreat in the war of 2006?

Franklin Lamb---I think in their hearts most Lebanese are indeed grateful and even proud that for the first time since the founding of the State of Israel Lebanon has been able to effectively resist its numerous aggressions. Certainly Hezbollah has plenty of detractors particularly among the American and to a lesser extent French supported right wing Phalangist Christian factions and some Sunni communities fearful of the rise of the long discriminated against Lebanese Shia. But when Lebanon is threatened by Israel they tend to unite behind the National Lebanese Resistance. Expelling Israel on May 24, 2000 earned Hezbollah general respect in Lebanon and the region.

MW---Why was the Lebanese army never deployed to fight the advancing IDF?

Franklin Lamb--On July 13, 2006 when it became obvious that Israel was trying to launch a deep penetration into Lebanon both the US and the French vetoed any participation by the Lebanese army in the conflict. Both expected Hezbollah to take a real beating by Israeli forces while being blamed by the Lebanese for the destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure.

MW--- In a recent article, you cite a "Policy Declaration" that was issued on November 26, 2009 by the Lebanese government which states: "It is the right of the Lebanese people, Army and the (Hezbollah led—ed.) Resistance to liberate the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba Hills and the northern part of the village of Ghajar as well as to defend Lebanon and its territorial waters in the face of any enemy by all available and legal means.”

This is a stunning development. Doesn't this basically "legitimize" Hezbollah (armed resistance) and leave US/Israeli policy in ruins?

Franklin Lamb---The Lebanese government “Policy Declaration” affixes Lebanon’s imprimatur to what has been a fact for many years and that is the arms of the Hezbollah led National Lebanese resistance will remain and dramatically increase until Lebanon is no longer occupied or threatened and until Palestine is fully liberated or the Palestinians themselves agree on how much of their land they will agree to accept. Some here don’t like to speak publicly about the second point but its clear in my view. The ‘peace process’ in a cruel hoax perpetrated on the Palestinian people and only by an international Resistance led by Hezbollah will the Zionist colonial enterprise be expelled and the full Right of Return realized. My personal view is that history shows clearly that only Resistance, in its hundreds of forms, in its persistence in uniting the many to defeat the few, will achieve Liberation and Return.

You are quite correct in my view that the “Policy Declaration” legitimizes the arms of the National Lebanese Resistance. But the United States and Israel will continue to employ their projects and arsenals to achieve a “New Middle East”. Their intervention in Lebanon and the region teaches us that they will fail but will likely shed much blood in the process. As Israel continues to weaken and fracture, America may well be able to normalize relations with the Middle East countries based on mutual respect and fair dealing among sovereign states.

MW---Israel has attacked or invaded Lebanon 6 times in the last 60 years. Why hasn't the Lebanese government developed a credible deterrent to Israeli aggression? Weapons systems, larger army, special forces etc?

Franklin Lamb---The 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, which in some ways continues today in a ‘cold war’ phase was a factor in preventing a national identity forming or enough unity to support a national force. Frankly this situation obtains still.

In addition, the US has not allowed effective weapons to be given to the Lebanese Armed Forces without Israeli agreement and because 60% of command structure of the Lebanese Army, which historically has been overwhelming Maronite and Phalange Christian is believed now to be Shia or supportive of Hezbollah. You will recall that in 1975 and in 1983-84 the army split deeply along sectarian lines. The US believes this might happen again or, worse from their point of view, the arms would be used to defend Lebanon against Israeli attacks or conceivably to help liberate Palestine. American ‘military’ aid is limited to shoring up the internal Lebanese policing agencies to ‘fight terrorism’ as the EU Embassy regularly declares. I do not believe the LAF is in danger of fracturing currently and when the next war comes they will likely fight Israel to the best of their limited ability, alongside Hezbollah, Palestinians, regional volunteers and others.

MW---You recently reprinted part of the Hezbollah Manifesto which stated:

"We want a government that works for its citizens and provides the appropriate services in their education and medical care and housing to secure a decent life and to address the problem of poverty and provide employment opportunities..."We want a government that works to strengthen the role of women in society and enhance their participation in all fields"...and that “guarantees public liberties, ensures national unity and protects its sovereignty and independence with a strong and capable army.”

Is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah sincerely committed to democracy or is this some kind of public relations scam?

Franklin Lamb---Well, Mike certainly he works, as does the Party’s numerous institutions of education, medical services, women’s and youth groups to broaden Hezbollah’s appeal among the Lebanese population. I think Hezbollah’s New Manifesto reflects this and reveals their evolution over the past quarter century.

Nasrallah is not a small D democrat in the sense that you or I might think we are. He accepts the authority of Iran’s Supreme leader, Ali Khameini as Hezbollah’s Wali al Faqui (jurisconsult). He believes there is a major role for religious authorites in achieving a fair and just society and that they are more qualified than the masses to make religious and many political decisions. The Wali al fiqui, for example, has life and death authority over all subjects civil and religious based on an 11th century Shia interpretation of the Koran used by Grand Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iran Revolution. Both Khomein and Khameini have nearly complete power. Hasrallah agrees with this but does declare from time that it is not suitable for Lebanon and Hezbollah has rejected the idea of an Isalmic Republic for Lebanon which was in their first “open letter” of 1985. That is far to much power in one leader to be democratic. Some have said that its like giving the religious powers of the Pope, who claims infallibility in all matters of Church and combining them with infallibility in all matters of politics. The Wali was not elected and many, if not the majority of Shia, reject this recent innovation.

Having said that, it appears incongruous but Hezbollah is considered the most secular sect in Lebanon with the exception of the Palestinians. Hezbollah supporting Shia women wear shorts or Hijab depending on their personal preferences. The Party no longer enforces dress codes nor does it bar women from any aspect of its work except armed combat. In many ways women and youth run Hezbollah’s institutions.

Shia Islam has a long history of seeking justice for the downtrodden and this is reflected in its modern views as noted in its recent Manifesto. It offers its political platform during elections and is now the most active party in Parliament working for what we in the west would call a progressive liberal agenda. Nasrallah and Hezbollah want universal health care, universal affordable education and state sponsored jobs programs. It is why in 1992 Hezbollah decided to enter into Lebanese electoral contests. It felt is could achieve a better quality of life for all Lebanese and it has been doing that.

MW---Why is Nasrallah demonized as a terrorist and a religious fanatic in the western media?

Franklin Lamb---He is demonized because he is a threat of US-Israeli plans to dominate the Middle East, obtain its oil resources and exercise hegemony. His appeal to too broad and it is growing across sectarian lines.

It has been easy, without proof, for Israel and its US lobby and the American government to cite the 1980’s and the resistance to US forces in Lebanon that joined Lebanon’s civil war against the majority of the population as terrorism. It was not terrorism for the Lebanese resistance to attacks those who were killing Lebanese civilians and aiding on faction. When US forces ceded their peacekeeping missions to joining one side they became legitimate military targets under the laws of armed conflicts.

One reason Hezbollah has so much support is that it has done much for the Shia population and others living in its areas. Their schools, hospitals, social services, are considered among the best in Lebanon and the Middle East. Their social programs benefit them politically and socially.

Repeated charges of Terrorism and religious fanaticism in the pro Israel main stream media obviously affect the popular western view of Hezbollah but they are not credited much in this region. Lebanon’s population tends to believe that such charges are politically motivated and they are not taken seriously.


Franklin P. Lamb, PhD is the Director of Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Wash.DC-Beirut and the Acting Chair of the Sabra-Shatila Memorial Scholarship Program Laptop Initiative Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp

Mike Whitney is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

haiti - venezuela: disinformation in full swing

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http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

français: http://www.voltairenet.org/article163692.html

english: http://www.voltairenet.org/article163729.html

Venezuela. Propaganda war being waged against Hugo Chavez. Venezuelan leader never accused U.S. of launching an earthquake weapon against Haiti. Chavez was erroneously connected to a story on the Internet penned by "Sorcha Faal," a notorious Internet hoaxer whose is also known as David Booth. Booth/Faal normally claims to be funneling information from Russian government sources.

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http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/media250110.html

Hugo Chavez Did Not Accuse the U.S. of Causing the Haitian Earthquake

by The Anti Press

On January 19, Spanish newspaper ABC, a newspaper of record in Spain, published a story entitled "Chavez Accuses US of Causing Earthquake in Haiti."

The story was quickly picked up by websites around the globe -- most quoting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as saying the U.S. used a new tectonic weapon to induce the Haitian earthquake. This was, according to Chavez -- "only a drill, and the final target is destroying and taking over Iran."

Within the actual story, ABC noted that the information came from an obscure opinion post on the website of a Venezuelan state television channel, VIVE Television. The post referenced a supposed Russian military report on American seismic weapons.

All quotes subsequently attributed to Chavez regarding Haiti and earthquake weapons were in fact direct quotes from this web posting -- none of which was ever uttered by Chavez.

Spurred on by the international attention being received by its first story, ABC posted a second article on January 20 under the banner "The Secret Weapon to Cause Earthquakes" in which it cites Chavez as having blamed the US for razing Haiti.

By the time the story had run its course, it had been covered with varying degrees of accuracy by corporate news channels, foreign outlets eager to accuse the U.S. of another evil deed, and conspiracy websites happy to have their ideas officially validated.

In the end, it serves as one more reminder to those who prefer truth over ideological delusion: there are some subjects for which the myths of journalistic standards will still be displayed -- stories about the government of Venezuela are not one of those subjects.

---

This article was first published by The Anti Press on 22 January 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. Vea también: "Otra mentira de la prensa derechista: Chávez se suma a la teoría conspiranoica del HAARP" (libreXpresion.org, 20 Enero 2010).
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belgique: "jaures, reviens, ils sont devenus fous !"

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http://www.pereubu.be/?p=1125#more-1125

Cet article a été publié le Lundi 25 janvier 2010 à 10:16

INBEV : Les syndicats mis en bière

Impuissants. Marx et Jésus n’y peuvent rien. Ni la FGTB ni le Mouvement ouvrier chrétien et sa Centrale syndicale chrétienne n’est capable d’inverser la logique infernale de la mondialisation capitaliste. De Côte d’Or à Fortis, les joyaux de la couronne sont tous passés sous pavillon étranger dans l’indifférence générale des « représentants des travailleurs ». Tout pour les actionnaires, rien pour les ouvriers ? Alors que la logique ultra-financière, trahison de l’esprit d’entreprise a lobotomisé nos richissimes familles belges propriétaires d’InBev, les syndicats contemplent le désastre de notre Jupiler nationale avec les méthodes du 19e siècle : arrêts de travail, piquets de grève moules frites, prières au Ciel des permanents qui ne savent pas sur quoi négocier. Et qui s’en foutent. Du moment qu’on sauve la peau des délégués, la valetaille ouvrière peut aller pointer au chômage.

Est-ce que la diminution de la consommation de bière justifiait 300 licenciements au pays de la Bière ? Evidemment non. Mais face à la mondialisation et aux centres de décision lointains et hautains, face aux délocalisations [cette fois en Hongrie], ça fait belle lurette que les directions syndicales ont abdiqué. Forts de 600 millions d’euros de recettes selon une enquête explosive de Trends-Tendance datant déjà de 2002 [la CSC y reconnaissait 250 millions de recettes et 25 millions placés au… Luxembourg], on ne peut pourtant pas dire que les « défenseurs des travailleurs » manquent de moyens. Dans la fonction publique, l’Etat paie des centaines de permanents à faire du syndicalisme à plein temps. Les délégués syndicaux sont protégés par une indemnité de licenciement qui varie entre 4 et 8 ans. Ils sont partout : à l’INASTI, à l’ONEM, à l’Office des Pensions, au Bureau du Plan, à l’INAMI, à la commission de l’Index. Ils sont juges dans les tribunaux du Travail. Leurs services juridiques [le Setca bruxellois notamment] pèsent autant que des gros cabinets d’avocats. Ils co-écrivent le droit du travail. La FGTB assiste chaque vendredi au bureau du PS, le Mouvement ouvrier chrétien a enfanté plusieurs ministres et même un Premier ministre. Et rien que le paiement du chômage leur rapporte 12 euros par versement [soit la bagatelle de presque 150 millions d’euros chaque année]. Des centaines d’employés des syndicats ne font que ça : payer les chômeurs. Et tant que la CAPAC [la caisse auxiliaire [sic] de paiement des allocations de chômage] dysfonctionne avec la bénédiction de son conseil d’administration contrôlé par les syndicats, la manne céleste n’est pas prête de se tarir. Oui : vous avez tout compris: quand le chômage baisse, les syndicats licencient, quand il augmente, par ici la caisse enregistreuse!
Confortablement assis à signer des accords inter-professionnels interminables pour décider d’une ou deux décimales sur votre feuille de paie, c’est pas demain que ces lourdingues iront défendre nos intérêts au Brésil ou en Inde. Jaurès, reviens, ils sont devenus fous !

Karl UBU

yemen: huthi rebels cease-fire announced

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http://www.esisc.org/

17:56 cet
jan 25th 2010

Yemen/Insurgency:

Zaidi rebels announce truce with Saudi Arabia

Al Arabiya television reported on Monday that Abdul Malik al-Huthi, the leader of Yemen's Shiite-Zaidi “Huthi” rebels, has announced a cease-fire with Saudi Arabia. “We announce our total withdrawal from all the Saudi positions and territories under the control of the Saudi regime,” he said in an audio message first broadcasted on the insurgency website Alminbar al-ikhbari.

In this audio, the rebel leader stated that his group would pull out all its fighters from Saudi territories. He stated that he had offered this initiative to “avoid more bloodshed and to stop aggression on civilians.”

However, he demanded Saudi Arabia to stop immediately its attacks against his group's positions in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada. “Its (Saudi Arabia) insistence to continue the aggression after this initiative gives us the legitimacy to open new fronts and to wage an open war,” Abdul Malik al-Huthi warned

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/saudis-suffer-heavy-losses-in-yemens-other-war/article1442483/

Saudis suffer heavy losses in Yemen's other war

Patrick Martin

Sanaa

Globe and Mail

Monday, Jan. 25, 2010 5:07AM EST

In Yemen, one war must end before another can really begin.

In order to free up forces to confront al-Qaeda operatives in the country, Yemeni troops and their Saudi allies have intensified the fight against Huthi rebels in the northern province of Saada.

The operation, dubbed “Blow to the Head,” is being waged against a group that has fought Yemen's government since 2004, complaining of economic and religious marginalization. The Huthi are members of a Shia sect, known as Zaydism, and they once ruled in the north of the mostly Sunni country.

The recent surge has not come without casualties. While Yemen remains mum about its losses, Saudi Arabia announced this weekend that 133 Saudi troops have been killed in the fighting. The figures took account of the bodies of 20 missing Saudi soldiers found late last week.

Prince Khaled bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's deputy defence minister, also told reporters that Riyadh has “confirmed information” that al-Qaeda has been communicating and co-ordinating tactics with the Huthis. It is a charge that both Yemen and Saudi government officials have made several times in recent months, without substantiation.

The latest charge comes just days before a pivotal conference opens Wednesday in London. The two-day meeting is intended to focus world attention on what Yemen needs to effectively combat terrorist activities in its hinterland. Saudi Arabia launched its operations against the rebels in November after accusing them of killing a Saudi border guard and occupying two Saudi villages near the frontier.

It was to avoid such high losses – unheard of in Saudi Arabia where its army has seldom been tested in battle – that Riyadh sought a painless way to conduct its fighting.

The country's first action was carried out by Saudi warplanes that bombed several Huthi positions on both sides of the border. Since then, however, the Saudi infantry also has been thrust into battle, as the aerial assault proved ineffective.

“It was very embarrassing to have the Huthi occupying Saudi territory,” said Abdel-Ghani Iryani, a Yemeni political analyst.

“Initially, they [the Saudis] entered the war thinking they would easily defeat the Huthi.”

Unable to win from the air, and leery about taking too many losses on the ground, the Saudi operation has increasingly relied on fighters from another Yemeni group, the Hashed tribe, to take the fight to the Huthi.

The Hashed, who hail from the north-central province of Amran, have long been rivals of the Huthi.

“The trouble is, these tribesmen have an incentive in continuing the fighting,” Mr. Iryani said, noting that they make a great deal of money from fighting for the Saudis.

Sometimes, Mr. Iryani said, they come up with some ingenious schemes to prolong it.

“If they're given the mission of taking a particular mountain, for example, they'll call up the Huthi leaders and tell them: ‘We're getting five million riyals to take the mountain. We'll split it with you if you withdraw tonight and let us take over.'“ “After the tribesmen take charge, they hand it over to the Saudis,” he said. “The next day, the Huthi return and defeat the Saudis and retake the mountain.”

“It's been happening like this for weeks.”

Such tactics have brought on the increase in Saudi fatalities, it would seem.

“Saudi Arabia got sucked into the war because they wanted to take charge of the region and have more influence in Yemen as a whole,” Mr. Iryani said.

Until the 1960s, Saudi Arabia dominated the region, even supporting the Zaydi imamate (leadership) of the Huthi, and supporting various other tribes as well. After the war that brought Yemeni republicans to power in the mid 1960s, however, Riyadh and Sanaa quarrelled over their mutual border, only settling their differences in 2000 with the signing of the Jeddah Treaty.

Over the years, Saudi Arabia has sought to maintain its influence in the area – through financial incentives with the Yemeni leadership and through close relations with some of the tribes in the border areas, but not the Huthi.

The Huthi, whom some claim now are being supported by Iran, have distanced themselves from the once-supportive Saudi authorities, even though claims of Iranian sponsorship have never been fully substantiated.

A desire to curry favour with Islamist fringes that oppose the Shiites might also have been behind the Saudi intervention, says Joost Hiltermann, deputy program director for the Middle East at the International Crisis Group.

Mr. Hiltermann notes that last year's merging of the terrorist groups al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda in Yemen, as well as the group's relocation to Yemen, are worrying to Riyadh.

With good reason: In August, the group claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's top counterterrorism official.

However, says Mr. Hiltermann, “the capacity of Yemen-based al-Qaeda militants to carry out [such] attacks beyond the border … is unlikely to be reduced by Saudi Arabia's military intervention.” Such an intervention will likely serve only to expand areas of instability where groups such as al-Qaeda can find safe haven, he said.

But it's hard for Riyadh to resist taking some kind of action.

“The Saudis see what's happening in Yemen [the push to end the fighting against the Huthi] and can't let the war end while Huthis are still occupying some of their territory,” Mr. Iryani said.

“That's why the sense of urgency.”

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kelly's murder, raison d'etat: 70 years secret!

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245599/David-Kelly-post-mortem-kept-secret-70-years-doctors-accuse-Lord-Hutton-concealing-vital-information.html

http://arthurzbygniew.blogspot.com/2007/10/british-mp-says-dr-kelly-was-murdered.html

David Kelly post mortem to be kept secret for 70 years as doctors accuse Lord Hutton of concealing vital information

By Miles Goslett

23rd January 2010

Vital evidence which could solve the mystery of the death of Government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly will be kept under wraps for up to 70 years.

In a draconian – and highly unusual – order, Lord Hutton, the peer who chaired the controversial inquiry into the Dr Kelly scandal, has secretly barred the release of all medical records, including the results of the post mortem, and unpublished evidence.

The move, which will stoke fresh speculation about the true circumstances of Dr Kelly’s death, comes just days before Tony Blair appears before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War.

It is also bound to revive claims of an establishment cover-up and fresh questions about the verdict that Dr Kelly killed himself.

Whistle-blower: Dr Kelly died after casting doubt on Government claims about Saddam's weapons

Tonight, Dr Michael Powers QC, a doctor campaigning to overturn the Hutton findings, said: ‘What is it about David Kelly’s death which is so secret as to justify these reports being kept out of the public domain for 70 years?’

Campaigning Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has also questioned the verdict that Dr Kelly committed suicide, said: ‘It is astonishing this is the first we’ve known about this decision by Lord Hutton and even more astonishing he should have seen fit to hide this material away.’

The body of former United Nations weapons inspector Dr Kelly was found in July 2003 in woods close to his Oxfordshire home, shortly after he was exposed as the source of a BBC news report questioning the Government’s claims that

Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, which could be deployed within 45 minutes.

Lord Hutton’s 2004 report, commissioned by Mr Blair, concluded that Dr Kelly killed himself by cutting his wrist with a blunt gardening knife.

It was dismissed by many experts as a whitewash for clearing the Government of any culpability, despite evidence that it had leaked Dr Kelly’s name in an attempt to smear him.

Only now has it emerged that a year after his inquiry was completed, Lord Hutton took unprecedented action to ensure that the vital evidence remains a state secret for so long.

A letter, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, revealed that a 30-year ban was placed on ‘records provided [which were] not produced in evidence’. This is thought to refer to witness statements given to the inquiry which were not disclosed at the time.

In addition, it has now been established that Lord Hutton ordered all medical reports – including the post-mortem findings by pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt and photographs of Dr Kelly’s body – to remain classified information for 70 years.

The normal rules on post-mortems allow close relatives and ‘properly interested persons’ to apply to see a copy of the report and to ‘inspect’ other documents.

Lord Hutton’s measure has overridden these rules, so the files will not be opened until all such people are likely to be dead.

Last night, the Ministry of Justice was unable to explain the legal basis for Lord Hutton’s order.

The restrictions came to light in a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council to a group of doctors who are challenging the Hutton verdict.

Last year, a group of doctors, including Dr Powers, compiled a medical dossier as part of their legal challenge to the Hutton verdict.

They argue that Hutton’s conclusion that Dr Kelly killed himself by severing the ulnar artery in his left wrist after taking an overdose of prescription painkillers is untenable because the artery is small and difficult to access, and severing it could not have caused death.

In their 12-page opinion, they concluded: ‘The bleeding from Dr Kelly’s ulnar artery is highly unlikely to have been so voluminous and rapid that it was the cause of death. We advise the instructing solicitors to obtain the autopsy reports so that the concerns of a group of properly interested medical specialists can be answered.’

Tonight, Dr Powers, a former assistant coroner, added: ‘Supposedly all evidence relevant to the cause of death has been heard in public at the time of Lord Hutton’s inquiry. If these secret reports support the suicide finding, what could they contain that could be so sensitive?’

The letter disclosing the 70-year restriction was written by Nick Graham, assistant head of legal and democratic services at Oxfordshire Council.

It states: ‘Lord Hutton made a request for the records provided to the inquiry, not produced in evidence, to be closed for 30 years, and that medical (including post-mortem) reports and photographs be closed for 70 years.’

Nicholas Gardiner, the Chief Coroner for Oxfordshire, confirmed that he had seen the letter.

Order: Lord Hutton has secretly barred the release of all medical records, including the results of the post mortem

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday today, he said: ‘I know that Lord Hutton made that recommendation. Someone told me at the time. Anybody concerned will be dead by then, and that is quite clearly Lord Hutton’s intention.’

Asked what was in the records that made it necessary for them to be embargoed, Mr Gardiner said: ‘They’re Lord Hutton’s records not mine. You’d have to ask him.’

He added that in his opinion Lord Hutton had embargoed the records to protect Dr Kelly’s children.

The inquest into Dr Kelly’s death was suspended before it could begin by the then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer. He used the Coroners Act to designate the Hutton Inquiry as ‘fulfilling the function of an inquest’.

News that the records will be kept secret comes just days before Mr Blair gives evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry on Friday.

To date, Dr Kelly’s name has scarcely been mentioned at the inquiry. One source who held a private meeting with Sir John Chilcot before the proceedings began said that Sir John had admitted he ‘did not want to touch the Kelly issue’ .

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: ‘Any decision made by Lord Hutton at the time of his inquiry was entirely a matter for him.’

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said yesterday that it would not be possible to search their records during the weekend.

The Mail on Sunday was unable to contact Lord Hutton.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245599/David-Kelly-post-mortem-kept-secret-70-years-doctors-accuse-Lord-Hutton-concealing-vital-information.html#ixzz0dYHLHGvI

iraq: baathists plan panarab sunni coup

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116882&sectionid=351020201

Baath plans 'Meteor Revolution' in Iraq

Sat, 23 Jan 2010

19:23:16 GMT

A report suggests that Baath, the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is to launch a coup in the lead-up to the country's elections.

The allegations emanate from a new classified document obtained by some Iraqi parties from the dissolved faction's leaders based at home or abroad.

According to the document, the Baath party, in cooperation with some Arab states, most notably Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, and in coordination with some current Iraqi political heavyweights plans to stage a comeback through a military coup, codenamed Naizak (Meteor).

Jordan recently hosted a major Baath meeting, in which the former party leader, Saddam was glorified through special a ceremony, it adds.

The 38-page document, which is yet to be verified by the Iraqi security authorities, identifies some of the prerequisites for a successful coup as: Infiltration into the body and the leadership of the Iraqi security and military apparatuses, weakening of the incumbent government through disturbance of the security situation with widespread explosions that cause maximum casualties, rumor-mongering across the society, penetration into the institutions linked to the provinces hosting holy Shia sites, recruiting tribesmen and identification of the tribal leaders with Baathist orientations.

The papers refers to some famous Iraqi political figures, specially the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and the first post-Saddam Iraqi prime minister and the head of the secular Al-Iraqiya Alliance party, Ayad Allaw, as advocates of a Baathist return.

Al-Hashemi complicated the passage of an electoral law last year by using his veto power to bar an earlier version of the law. Allawi was, at the time of his premiership, widely known as a US ally and operative in the initial American-installed government in Iraq. His attempts to win back his position in the next two elections soundly failed.

The two, the document says, are in secret contact with the Baath leaders and the Arab countries disappointed by the current political trend in Iraq.

It alleges that the Saudi security apparatus is responsible for funding the uprising, while the Egyptian intelligence service leads its planning and the manner in which the coup scheme is to be implemented.

The document, drawn up last year, also refers to al-Hashemi's clandestine meeting in Jordan with the head of the Saudi security apparatus and Allawi's contact with some Baath leaders and Arab authorities.

It names Shia politicians Abbas al-Bayati and Karim Fuzi in connection with likely assassination attempts against political figures in the run-up to the March 7 parliamentary polls as a means of disturbing the domestic situation.

Though the papers have not specified a timetable, experts say the political developments and massive explosions throughout the past weeks and months match the details referred to in the document.

The current government of Premier Nouri al-Maliki has been named there as the biggest obstacle to the realization the Baath's goals.

The text, accordingly, urges that a second victory by the current government be prevented. To this end, it concluded, insecurity must be spread across the country, high-profile political figures should question the government's deficiencies and the Arab media should offer their relevant cooperation.

The text also refers to secret contact between some Baath leaders and American officers without giving details.

HN/HGH/MMN
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http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116947&sectionid=351020201

'US to surrender Iraq to extremists'

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:02:23 GMT

An Iraqi parliamentarian warns of alleged US plans to surrender the country to extremists, urging resistance on the part of Baghdad.

The Iraqi Press Agency (IPA) quoted female Shia lawmaker Maha al-Douri as saying that the United States aims to cede the country to Baath, the outlawed party of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and Takfiris — both considered to be extremist groups.

Al-Douri, which serves the parliamentarian bloc associated with senior Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, said a recent visit by US Vice President Joe Biden had been in line with the plans.

Biden met with the Iraqi leadership on Saturday after the country's Justice and Accountability Commission barred more than 500 candidates from contesting the country's eagerly-anticipated parliamentary elections on March 7, linking some of the questionable figures to the Baath party.

The visit, some say, was aimed at reversing the decision

The IPA called Biden an advocate of Iraq's disintegration into three federal states along ethnic and religious lines, the US 2003 invasion of the country and 2001 occupation of Afghanistan.

Two of the candidates barred by the commission were Dhafer al-Ani and Saleh al-Mutlaq, who reportedly had strong Baathist orientations.

Al-Ani prompted concerns after he lavished praise on the Baath in several television interviews. Iraq's President Jalal Talabani subsequently ordered for al-Ani to be stripped of his immunity as the chairperson of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc and that he be tried in a court of law.

Al-Douri said Iraq should not bow to US demands as submission equaled ignoring the country's sovereignty and violating the Iraqis' civil rights.

Meanwhile, a new classified document, obtained by some Iraqi parties from the Baath leaders based at home or abroad, says that the Baath is after staging a comeback on the political stage through a coup.

The subversive plan is to be implemented in cooperation with some Arab states and coordination with a number of current Iraqi political heavyweights, it added

The document has named some famous Iraqi political figures, specially Allaw and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi as advocates of a Baathist return, claiming the two are secretly contacting the Baath leaders and the Arab countries disappointed by the current political trend in Iraq.

It also referred to secret liaison between some Baath leaders and American officers without giving details.

HN/MMN

global warming: wwf retreats melting glaciers claim

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http://www.c3headlines.com/2009/10/does-increase-in-co2-cause-global-warming-simple-bar-chart-.html

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http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/press_centre/?3671/WWF-Statement-on-Himalayan-Glaciers

20 January 2010

WWF recently became aware that a 2005 report contained erroneous information about the rate at which glaciers are melting in the Himalayas

The WWF report, An Overview of Glaciers, Glacier Retreat, and Subsequent Impacts in Nepal, India and China, quoted an article published in 1999 which predicted a high likelihood of Himalayan glaciers disappearing entirely by 2035 due to climate change.

Although scientists remain deeply concerned about glacier retreat in that region, this particular prediction has subsequently proved to be incorrect.

At the time the WWF report was issued, we believed the source of the statement to be reliable and accurate.

We regret any confusion caused by our role in repeating the erroneous quote in the 2005 report and in subsequent publications and statements.

As the world’s leading science-based conservation organisation, WWF is strongly committed to ensuring the information we provide to the public is thoroughly reviewed to meet the highest standards of accuracy.

Our offices around the world are taking action to correct this information in WWF publications and websites.

pakistan: us "gunboat" diplomacy

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http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/latest_col.php?id=113

What Robert Gates Didn’t Say - And US Media Hides - About Blackwater In Pakistan

Two Pakistani employees of an American defense contractor engaged by the US Embassy in Islamabad have been linked to two attacks on Pakistani military and the assassination of a Brigadier. If this is not alarming, then consider that US Ambassador Anne Patterson’s name has come up in an investigation where thousands of dollars were paid in bribes to Interior Ministry to smuggle illegal weapons into Pakistan. Not to mention how Washington is empowering India in Afghanistan at Pakistan’s cost. When Pakistan takes countermeasures, US officials like Mr. Gates and Mr. Holbrooke accuse Pakistan of ‘anti-Americanism’ and harassing US diplomats. Time for some straight talk.

By AHMED QURAISHI

Saturday, 23 January 2010.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted during an interview with a Pakistani TV station that Blackwater [now ‘Xe International’] and DynCorp are operating in Pakistan. Immediately after the statement, Pentagon tried to put a spin on his words.

But US meddling inside Pakistan –by posting private US defense contractors under diplomatic cover of the US embassy – is a reality for most Pakistanis. Some of these Americans have been caught disguised as Taliban right in the heart of Islamabad. Some Pakistanis were manhandled by some of these American militiamen on the streets of at least two Pakistani cities in recent months.

Since Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan despite all the US direct and indirect misinformation, these US covert operators were arrested on several occasions.

The mainstream US media continues to keep the good American people and the world opinion in the dark about this. But this is probably one of the biggest untold stories in America’s war on terror. This is about United States trying to put boots on the ground inside Pakistan through the help of a pro-US government in Islamabad that shares [or at least key figures in it] the US objective of containing and limiting the ability of Pakistan’s military to influence the country’s foreign policy. This is about Pakistan wanting to keep an independent foreign policy versus Pakistan blindly serving US policy on Afghanistan, India and China.

Mr. Gates tried to put a gloss on this US covert meddling when he said, ‘Well, they're [Blackwater and DynCorp] operating as individual companies here in Pakistan, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.’

Not true. The truth is that the issue is so serious that, according to Pakistani investigators, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson is a suspect in a case of bribes amounting to little over US $ 270,000 paid by DynCorp in 2009 to senior officials at the federal Interior Ministry in Pakistan. The money went in exchange for allowing illegal weapons into Pakistan to be used by private US defense contractors without informing the country’s security departments and intelligence agencies. Ms. Patterson personally lobbied Pakistani officials for this concession to DynCorp. She even wrote a letter to Pakistani officials, followed by a letter by her Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Gerald Feierstein, asking Pakistani Interior Ministry officials to issue permits for weapons to be used by DynCorp in the ‘entire territory of Pakistan.’ The US ambassador is directly linked to the probe, which has resulted in the arrest of a key aide to Pakistan’s Minister of State for the Interior. But the government of President Zardari will not dare allow Pakistani investigators to pursue US Ambassador’s role in the scandal. A key question in the probe is how the US Embassy and DynCorp allowed the cargo of illegal weapons into Pakistan. According to one lead, a huge cache of weapons reached a Pakistani tribal leader on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, who in turn wrote to the Interior Ministry announcing he was ‘gifting’ the weapons to a Pakistani subcontractor of DynCorp.

Incidents like this and others raised alarm bells inside Pakistani security departments and the intelligence community. In effect, key figures in President Zardari’s government were found to have given approval for the entry of a large number of US citizens into Pakistan for ‘official US government business’ without explaining what that is. When Pakistani authorities tried to get to the bottom of how private US defense contractors ended up inside Pakistan in large numbers and what they were exactly doing here, US officials and media launched what appears to be a media trial of Pakistan, accusing the country of ‘harassing’ US diplomats and denying visas to them because of alleged anti-Americanism.

The unwillingness of the Zardari government to confront Washington and Pakistan’s generally weak media outreach skills allowed Washington to pain this as a case of anti-Americanism fueled by war on terror.

‘Conspiracy theories’ is another label that US officials and media have increasingly used recently as a cover to hide serious violations of diplomatic norms and sovereignty involving undercover private US operatives inside Pakistan.

This is how the Wall Street Journal tried to delegitimize serious Pakistani concerns raised during Mr. Gates’ visit in a report filed from Islamabad whose opening line read as follows, “U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is overseeing wars with Sunni militants in Iraq and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. In Pakistan, he's facing a different foe: the pervasive conspiracy theories that fuel widespread anti-American feelings here.”

The truth is that there are no conspiracy theories but real events, reported and documented, that raise questions over US political, diplomtic, and covert meddling inside Pakistan. Here is a list:

1. NUCLEAR ESPIONAGE: In July 2009, four US ‘diplomats’ were arrested inside the maximum security perimeter around Pakistan’s premier nuclear facility at Kahuta. They failed to tell Pakistani investigators what they were doing there and how they managed to slip through the security checkpoints in the area. US Embassy intervened to rescue the four ‘diplomats’ after almost three hours in detention, citing diplomatic immunity. President Zardari’s government refused to let Pakistani security authorities press charges.

2. SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT: On Oct. 6, 2009, Pakistani police arrested two Dutch diplomats roaming the streets of Islamabad without a number plate carrying advanced weapons. Pakistani police were surprised when security personnel from the US Embassy reached the scene to rescue the Dutch. The Americans used their contacts within the Zardari government to get everyone released. Later, Pakistan Foreign Office summoned US and Dutch diplomats for a private meeting over the incident. But the Pakistani government refused to demand a public explanation from US and Dutch diplomats despite recommendations from police and security officials.

3. FACILITATING INDIAN ACTIVITIES: In this high profile case in May 2009, a US diplomat arranged a small meeting between an Indian diplomat and several senior Pakistani federal government officials at a private house. The invited Pakistanis worked in civilian positions, including one with access to Prime Minister’s Office. It appeared that the US diplomat was basically facilitating the Indian to meet senior officials who otherwise would be inaccessible for him. Pakistan Foreign Office took serious exception to the meeting, publicly reprimanded the Pakistani officials who attended the meeting but stopped short of seeking explanation from the US embassy. According to Pakistani investigators, for a US diplomat to indulge in facilitating possible espionage linked to an Indian diplomat was a matter of grave concern. It also fitted with the US policy of exercising tremendous pressure on the pro-US government in Islamabad to give concessions to India at the expense of Pakistani strategic interests.

4. COVERT US MILITIAS IN THE HEART OF PAKISTAN: In September 2009, undercover US agents were found to have recruited a total of 100 former elite Pakistani military commandos to create rapid-intervention teams for unknown purposes. A 100 more were under training at a secret facility camouflaged as a workshop on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital when it was raided by Pakistani police. It turned out that DynCorp was training the men. US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson brought DynCorp to Pakistan by telling Pakistani officials that the private defense contractor would provide security to embassy buildings. But she never explained why DynCorp was secretly raising private militias on Pakistani soil without informing the Pakistani government or military or the intelligence agencies. Some of those who were under training at the time of the raid said that DynCorp focused on recruiting retired officers who had links and contacts within the Pakistani military and could glean information from their sources. [See video and pictures]

5. PUSHY US DIPLOMATS: The US Embassy in Islamabad has made it its business to mount pressure on owners of Pakistani newspapers to curtail or expel columnists and commentators critical of US policy. Of special target are those who expose how US Embassy is meddling in Pakistani affairs and expanding the US footprint inside Pakistan. Last year, Ambassador Patterson sent a letter to one of the largest Pakistani media groups accusing a columnist of endangering American lives and succeeded in pushing her out. The US Embassy is also recruiting opinion makers within the Pakistani media, academia and military in order to promote the US agenda even at the cost of Pakistani interests, dismissing critics as ‘conspiracy theorists’ and accusing them of anti-Americanism. A senior Pakistani journalist Syed Talat Hussain exposed US activities in the following words, “Pro-American lobby in Pakistan is growing in direct proportion to the scaling up of suspicions about the US. The main task of this lobby is to reduce the complexity of the US’s objectives towards Pakistan to romantic levels of trust (…) A motley crew of former diplomats, retired generals, socialites, slick civil society begums, self-styled analysts, businessmen, journalists, and now also lawyers — they are the darlings of the US embassy staff. They are the instruments of positive outreach and public diplomacy that US diplomats are so keen to expand in Pakistan.”

6. HARASSING PAKISTANIS: Private US security contractors, or militiamen, have been involved in at least three incidents registered by the Pakistani police where armed Americans physically assaulted unarmed ordinary Pakistanis in public places. In one case, the nephew of a senior member of President Zardari’s own government was manhandled and locked up in the toilet of a gas station by men described as armed military-looking civilian Americans.

7. RESISTING POLICE CHECKS: In at least five incidents, US ‘diplomats’ disguised as Taliban, complete with beards and Pashto language skills, were stopped at several police checkpoints in Islamabad and Peshawar. In some cases, these American ‘diplomats’ tried to speed through police barriers. In one recent case, this resulted in a brief police chase, where a Pakistani officer dragged the US ‘diplomats’ back to the police picket and forced the Americans to apologize to Pakistani police officers. Again, no charges were pressed because these private US agents carried diplomatic passports.

8. ENGINEEING DOMESTIC POLITICS: As recently as December 2009, US ambassador in Islamabad was found meeting senior Pakistani politicians at private homes of mutual friends in unannounced meetings restricted to 3 to 4 persons. The ambassador asked her guests to publicly support the embattled pro-US President Zardari. US diplomats in Islamabad and officials in Washington have been blatantly interfering in Pakistani politics. In addition to helping form the incumbent coalition government in Islamabad, made up of pro-US parties, US officials have been busy trying to save both Mr. Zardari and his key political adviser and ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani. US officials in Washington have been briefing sympathetic US journalists about this. In one case, columnist Trudy Rubin had this to say while discussing Pakistan in an article published last month: “Here is the first piece of good news: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari seems to have weathered a campaign by opponents, including the military, to force him out of office. Zardari has deep flaws, but his ouster would have hampered efforts to fight the jihadis. So would the removal, now averted, of Pakistan's effective ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, whom the Pakistani military had unfairly blamed for conditions that Congress imposed on aid to Pakistan.”

9. BRIBES AND ILLEGAL WEAPONS: This case is stunning because of the direct involvement of US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson in lobbying for DynCorp. The company ended up bribing Interior Ministry officials to smuggle banned weapons into Pakistan and then went on to raise private militias and hire retired Pakistani military officers to run rapid deployment teams and possibly even spy on the Pakistani military.

10. DEMONIZATION OF PAKISTAN: Since 2007, US officials and US media has systematically demonized Pakistan worldwide, creating false alarm over Pakistan’s strategic arsenal. US officials and media have also pushed to bracket Pakistan along with Iraq and Afghanistan in order to justify a possible military intervention. When Pakistan resisted US meddling recently, US media again went on rampage, accusing Pakistan of ‘anti-Americanism’ and harassment of US diplomats. Additionally, there has been a marked increase of lectures and studies by US think-tanks inviting unknown separatist individuals and groups to speak and fan ethnic separatism inside Pakistan and theorize on the breakup of the country.

11. ABETTING TERROR INSIDE PAKISTAN: The suspicions about why DynCorp was secretly raising private militias inside the federal Pakistani capital almost turned real when a suspect in the attack on the Pakistani military headquarters in October 2009 was allegedly found to have been recruited by DynCorp. In a second case, another suspected DynCorp recruit was found involved in assassinating a senior Pakistani military officer as he drove to work. In other words, two Pakistani employees of a US defense contractor engaged by the US embassy have been linked to two terrorist attacks on the Pakistani military. Add to this that Pakistan’s military and intelligence are a favorite punching bag for the United States and its allies, like India and Britain, and the picture of what the US is doing in Pakistan becomes even more disturbing.

These points explain how ill-motivated the US complaints about delaying visas and alleged anti-Americanism in Pakistan are. This is what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr. Holbrooke and Mr. Gates are loath to share with the American people and the world public opinion.

© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved

federal reserve: volcker rule

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http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/glass-steagall-vs-the-volcker-rule/

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60L5UD20100122

January 22, 2010

Glass-Steagall vs. the Volcker Rule

By LOUIS UCHITELLE

For the second time in less than 80 years, the nation’s commercial banks are being told to stick to their knitting. Their knitting is taking deposits, handling checking accounts, lending money and managing the nation’s payment system. Twice now, they have ventured beyond these standard activities, gotten into trouble and almost brought down the financial system.

The solution in the 1930s, and once again now, is this: get out of the sideline businesses that caused so much trouble. Those sidelines were different in the 1930s than they are now. And while people talk of re-enacting Glass-Steagall Act — the solution that helped resolve the 1930s crisis — what President Obama proposed this week is a somewhat different animal, worthy of its own name.

The Banking Act of 1933 — forever known as the Glass-Steagall Act in recognition of its sponsors, Senator Carter Glass and Representative Henry B. Steagall — required banks to spin off or shut down their brokerage and investment operations.

These operations had lost huge sums in the 1929 stock market crash and in the early years of the Depression. The banks, for example, would underwrite corporate stock offerings, and if they had trouble selling the stock they would buy it with money drawn from depositors’ accounts, sometimes without a depositor’s knowledge.

Or as William Donaldson, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, put it in an interview: “If they were underwriting a stock offering and had trouble getting rid of the stuff, they would buy it with people’s deposits.”

The restrictions imposed by Glass-Steagall kept bank deposits, and banks themselves, at a safe distance from the markets. But that distance gradually shrank, and in the heady, free-market days of the late 1990s, Glass-Steagall itself was formally revoked.

So commercial banks — the big ones, at least — returned to the Wall Street marketplace. This time they got into trouble by engaging in proprietary trading — that is, the buying and selling of securities for their own account, particularly subprime mortgages packaged as bonds. When that market crashed in 2008, the federal government bailed out the banks, and now the president is asking Congress to bar banks from proprietary trading.

The president is acting on a proposal that Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, has been pushing for months. It is sometimes referred to as “Glass-Steagall in spirit.” But the behavior involved and the proposed solution are different enough for the legislation to have its own nickname — and Obama himself has suggested one: “The Volcker Rule.”

further reading: http://arthurzbygniew.blogspot.com/2009/12/paul-volker-financial-system-puts.html

biofuel genocide, 25% of us grain for cars!

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/22/quarter-us-grain-biofuels-food

One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars - not people, new figures show

John Vidal, environment editor,

Friday 22 January 2010

New analysis of 2009 US Department of Agriculture figures suggests biofuel revolution is impacting on world food supplies

One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the biofuel revolution launched by former President George Bush in 2007 is impacting on world food supplies.

The 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture shows ethanol production rising to record levels driven by farm subsidies and laws which require vehicles to use increasing amounts of biofuels.

"The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank ithat conducted the analysis.

Last year 107m tonnes of grain, mostly corn, was grown by US farmers to be blended with petrol. This was nearly twice as much as in 2007, when Bush challenged farmers to increase production by 500% by 2017 to save cut oil imports and reduce carbon emissions.

More than 80 new ethanol plants have been built since then, with more expected by 2015, by which time the US will need to produce a further 5bn gallons of ethanol if it is to meet its renewable fuel standard.

According to Brown, the growing demand for US ethanol derived from grains helped to push world grain prices to record highs between late 2006 and 2008. In 2008, the Guardian revealed a secret World Bank report that concluded that the drive for biofuels by American and European governments had pushed up food prices by 75%, in stark contrast to US claims that prices had risen only 2-3% as a result.

Since then, the number of hungry people in the world has increased to over 1 billion people, according to the UN's World Food programme.

["...the number of malnourished people in the world rose by 44 million in 2008," Oxfam said..."]

"Continuing to divert more food to fuel, as is now mandated by the US federal government in its renewable fuel standard, will likely only reinforce the disturbing rise in world hunger. By subsidising the production of ethanol to the tune of some $6bn each year, US taxpayers are in effect subsidising rising food bills at home and around the world," said Brown.

"The worst economic crisis since the great depression has recently brought food prices down from their peak, but they still remain well above their long-term average levels."

The US is by far the world's leading grain exporter, exporting more than Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Russia combined. In 2008, the UN called for a comprehensive review of biofuel production from food crops.

"There is a direct link between biofuels and food prices. The needs of the hungry must come before the needs of cars," said Meredith Alexander, biofuels campaigner at ActionAid in London. As well as the effect on food, campaigners also argue that many scientists question whether biofuels made from food crops actually save any greenhouse gas emissions.

But ethanol producers deny that their record production means less food. "Continued innovation in ethanol production and agricultural technology means that we don't have to make a false choice between food and fuel. We can more than meet the demand for food and livestock feed while reducing our dependence on foreign oil through the production of homegrown renewable ethanol," said Tom Buis, the chief executive of industry group Growth Energy.

haiti: us troops to prevent return of aristide

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http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20100115_1

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20100115&articleId=17000

U.S. troops in Haiti to prevent Aristide's return

by Wayne Madsen

January 15-17, 2010

President Obama, in keeping with his CIA lineage, has permitted the Pentagon under Robert Gates to take charge of the humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti. As Cuban and Venezuelan field hospitals were already rendering first aid and trauma care to Haitians injured in the mega-quake, Obama was gathered at a White House photo op with Vice President Joe Biden and other Cabinet officers to state that U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft would fly over Haiti to assess the situation from the air. A U.S. P-3 Orion spy plane from Comalapa air base in El Salvador was dispatched to conduct the surveillance operation, an act that was already being accomplished by earth satellites, the images of which were available on Google Maps.

As Obama was garnering praise from such sycophantic White House outlets as the largely-discredited Washington Post, an 37-person Icelandic search-and-rescue team was pulling trapped earthquake victims from the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince. Iceland, a nation bankrupted by Obama's banker pals on Wall Street and in the City of London, was able to react in a way that the slumbering and oafish dying super-power, the United States, could not -- with action aimed at providing immediate assistance to the Haitian people.

Obama's generals and admirals, who are mostly more concerned about their appearance than in taking charge and moving out, were still scratching their heads about where to land the U.S. Marines and 82nd Airborne. In fact, military aircraft carrying weapons and other war supplied crowded the airport aprons at Port-au-Prince airport that could be used by planes from other countries carrying much-needed food, water, and medical supplies. Argentine doctors already on the scene in Haiti complained that they were running out of simple sewing kits being used as stitches for the injured who had undergone surgery.

When U.S. Special Operations forces hit the ground at Port-au-Prince airport they pointed their weapons at desperate Haitians at the airport perimeter who wanted help not a gun pointed in their faces. Russia, Spain, Mexico, Chile, and Guatemala were rushing in food and water for Haiti.

Meanwhile, Obama was phoning former President George W. Bush to ask for his a former President Bill Clinton to launch a fund drive for Haitian earthquake relief. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was partly behind engineering the 2004 coup that deposed democratically-elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, attended a Haitian relief fundraiser at a Washington hotel called "W." The symbology could not have been worse -- it was Bush who showed the world that he was totally disinterested in the 2004 Asian earthquake and tsunami and hurricane Katrina in 2005 that decimated New Orleans and surrounding areas.

Apparently, the so-called media-savvy Obama failed to realize the revolting nature of asking Bush to do anything related to Haiti when people remembered his lack of action over Katrina. Bodies of African-Americans floating in the streets of New Orleans became juxtaposed with the bodies of Afro-Haitians piling up in the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, of course, Obama is the "Max Headroom" of America's political leadership -- a talking head -- whose rhetorical flourishes speak louder than principles or concrete action.

Aristide, from an exile in South Africa imposed by the United States, France, and Canada, vowed to return to Haiti to be with his people in their time of stress and despair. Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, served the people of the Haitian slum of La Saline and he understands best the plight of his people. On the other hand, Rene Preval, the U.S. stooge who was placed in power twice by the CIA and the U.S. Southern Command to replace Aristide, once in a fraudulent election [Preval won in 1995 with 88 percent of the vote in a 25 percent voter turnout] and the other in a coup, could only complain to CNN's Sanjay Gupta about not having any place to sleep for the night, "I cannot live in the palace. I cannot live in my own house, because the two collapsed."

Preval has been reaping all sorts of "free trade" deals that caused Haiti's agrarian population to stream into Port-au-Prince to work in the sweat shops heralded as "progress" by the likes of George Soros and his gang of thieves on Wall Street. Because of Port-au-Prince's swelled population of sweat shop workers, the death count from the earthquake will be much higher as the result of collapsed tenements that housed more people than they were designed for.

Dr. Gupta, who was Obama's first choice to be Surgeon-General of the United States, was more interested in using dying Haitians in makeshift hospitals as stage props for CNN's ratings than in rendering medical assistance to the injured. Imagine, being one of the few doctors available to the severely injured and breaking away to go on camera and tell some old fool like Larry King or some Israeli agent of influence like Wolf Blitzer about how awful the situation is in Haiti.

However, Gates and his military brass will ensure that Aristide will not show up to threaten Preval's continuing disastrous leadership of Haiti. It was Gates, who was George H. W. Bush's nominee to be CIA director, who helped plan the military coup that ousted Aristide the first time in September 1991. Gates, at the time, was Bush's deputy national security adviser.

Clinton helped Aristide regain his presidency from the CIA-backed coup leader General Raoul Cedras in 1994. But Clinton's disastrous flip-flopping on Haitian refugees from the Cedras dictatorship plunged his new administration into a major crisis. It is certain that when Haiti's earthquake struck, people like Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel were conducting focus group polls to find out how U.S. assistance to Haiti would be received by the public. Although a clear majority of Americans favor helping the beleaguered people of Haiti, and many feel that Obama's assistance has been extremely slow, Emanuel only seems to be concerned about the handful of Americans, including Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, who have uttered racist language in reacting to the Haitian tragedy, are worth listening to. But Emanuel does not view things through the enlightened lenses of America's founders but through the religious myopic eyesight of Talmudic interpreters.

Haiti under Aristide and Preval, was forced by Clinton to agree to horribly one-sided "free trade" deals that saw Haiti's workers press ganged into toiling away in Port-au-Prince sweat shops to produce clothing for America's major retailers like Disney. Haiti had no choice -- Clinton imposed devastating economic sanctions against Aristide to force his compliance with the diktats of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Clinton sweetened the pie for his Arkansas rice growing cronies by ensuring that Haiti went from being an exporter of nutritional rice to an importer of expensive bleached and genetically-modified "junk rice" primarily from Arkansas.

When Aristide regained the presidency in 2000, he took immediate steps to improve the lot of the Haitian workers -- he raised the minimum wage to two dollars a day. Bush decided it was time for the CIA and the Southern Command to remove Aristide, which they did with the help of France and Canada. Aristide was exiled to the Central African Republic and then South Africa.

Preval regained office in 2006 after a phony election engineered with the help of the National Endowment for Democracy's International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), two CIA contrivances acting under the aegis of the U.S. Republican and Democratic Parties, respectively. Soros has adopted Haitian politicians like former Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis who continue to advocate disastrous "free trade" policies and provides them with funding and travel expenses through his Open Society Institute (OSI).

UN "peacekeeping" forces in Haiti have ensured that Aristide and his Lavalas Party does not regain power. One of the methods the UN uses is periodically raiding pro-Aristide slums and killing Lavalas activists in their homes. Bill Clinton was rewarded last year for his guile and deceit committed against Haiti by being named by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the UN's Special Envoy for Haiti.

When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya also raised the minimum wage in his country, the CIA and Southern Command arranged for a military coup to remove him. Obama has now decided to place the Southern Command, headquartered in the right-wing Latin American exilee rat's nest of Miami, to coordinate humanitarian relief in Haiti along with the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) a CIA pass-through headed by Rajiv Singh, a one-time political hack for Pennsylvania's corrupt Democratic Governor Ed Rendell.

The perfidy that is America's relationship with Haiti extends to Bill Clinton's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She has appointed her chief of staff Cheryl Mills to oversee America's role in Haiti. Mills has stated: "We actually see our role as ensuring that the leadership of Haiti is able to provide the leadership that the Haitian people properly expect them to provide." That represents an endorsement of the hapless leadership of Preval and a thumbs down to any return for Aristide.

Note: The editor's book, "Jaded Tasks" is named for the covert Pentagon and CIA coperation that removed Aristide in 2004: Operation Jaded Task. Aristide was presented a signed copy of the book in South Africa with a note that states I hope he is rightfully restored to the presidency in Haiti. Haiti needs Aristide more now than it has ever needed him in the past. People like Obama, Gates, Emanuel, the Clintons, Mills, and Southern Command commander General Douglas Fraser need to step out of the way and allow the legitimate president of Haiti to lead his people out of the rubble of their country, "moving from misery to poverty with dignity," as he said from Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg awaiting permission for a return to his native country.

israel: idf faces massive draft dodging problem

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http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3834123,00.html

Officer: IDF on brink of abyss over draft dodging

Army's Personnel Directorate chief says number of Jewish youths evading military service may reach 40% over next decade

01.13.10

Shmulik Hadad

Head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Major-General Avi Zamir, visited an Ashdod high school Wednesday and met with its teachers as part of a military initiative meant to try and reintroduce military values to youths.

Zamir, who focused on the rising numbers of draft dodgers, warned that the coming decade may see up to 40% of Jewish teenager evade military service.

The situation, he added, can turn even worse: "Taking into consideration Israeli Arab youths, we are facing a situation in which 70% of youths will not enlist to military to national service.

"Even now the notion of 'the people's army' is fraying and of these trends continue we'll be on the brink of an abyss," he said.

According to IDF data for 2008, 72% of teenage Jewish boys and 54% of girls enlist in the military, placing draft dodging rates at 37%.

Zamir was especially critical of the 38% of teenage girls who use a false claim of religious observance to dodge the draft. "That, to me, is cynical abuse of the law. We're not too far off from seeing those numbers hit 50%."

The military and the Prime Minister's Office are also working together to increase the number of haredim who perform military service, and so far, according to Zamir, their numbers have increased to 1,000 a year.

The head of the IDF Personnel Directorate also said that the military must do more to aid soldier who complete their service, and especially the 20,000 combat soldiers who are discharged of service every year after an extremely grueling service.

Zamir noted that the burden of reserve duty is far from being equally distributed: The IDF currently has 450,000 reservists between the ages of 21-40, but only 100,000 of them carry our 10 days or more of reserve duty every year, "And we must assist then."

wh staffer about infiltration of conspiracy groups

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http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/got-fascism-obama-advisor-promotes.html

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585

Got Fascism? : Obama Advisor Promotes 'Cognitive Infiltration'

Your government appointees at work:
Cass Sunstein seeks 'cognitive' provocateurs

By Marc Estrin

January 11, 2010

Cass Sunstein is President Obama's Harvard Law School friend, and recently appointed Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

In a recent scholarly article, he and coauthor Adrian Vermeule take up the question of "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures." (J. Political Philosophy, 7 (2009), 202-227). This is a man with the president's ear. This is a man who would process information and regulate things. What does he here propose?

[W]e suggest a distinctive tactic for breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories: cognitive infiltration of extremist groups, whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of believers by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups, thereby introducing beneficial cognitive diversity. (Page 219.)

Read this paragraph again. Unpack it. Work your way through the language and the intent. Imagine the application. What do we learn?

• It is "extremists" who "supply" "conspiracy theories."
• Their "hard core" must be "broken up" with distinctive tactics. What tactics?
• "Infiltration" ("cognitive") of groups with questions about official explanations or obfuscations or lies. Who is to infiltrate?
• "Government agents or their allies," virtually (i.e. on-line) or in "real-space" (as at meetings), and "either openly or anonymously," though "infiltration" would imply the latter. What will these agents do?
• Undermine "crippled epistemology" -- one's theory and technique of knowledge. How will they do this?
• By "planting doubts" which will "circulate." Will these doubts be beneficial?
• Certainly. Because they will introduce "cognitive diversity."

Put into English, what Sunstein is proposing is government infiltration of groups opposing prevailing policy. Palestinian Liberation? 9/11 Truth? Anti-nuclear power? Stop the wars? End the Fed? Support Nader? Eat the Rich?

It's easy to destroy groups with "cognitive diversity." You just take up meeting time with arguments to the point where people don't come back. You make protest signs which alienate 90% of colleagues. You demand revolutionary violence from pacifist groups.

We expect such tactics from undercover cops, or FBI. There the agents are called "provocateurs" -- even if only "cognitive." One learns to smell or deal with them in a group, or recognize trolling online. But even suspicion or partial exposure can “sow uncertainty and distrust within conspiratorial groups [now conflated with conspiracy theory discussion groups] and among their members,” and “raise the costs of organization and communication” -- which Sunstein applauds as "desirable." "[N]ew recruits will be suspect and participants in the group’s virtual networks will doubt each other’s bona fides." (p.225).

And are we now expected to applaud such tactics frankly proposed in a scholarly journal by a high-level presidential advisor?

The full text of a slightly earlier version of Sunstein's article is available for download here.

[Marc Estrin is a writer and activist, living in Burlington, Vermont. His novels, Insect Dreams, The Half Life of Gregor Samsa, The Education of Arnold Hitler, Golem Song, and The Lamentations of Julius Marantz have won critical acclaim. His memoir, Rehearsing With Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater (with Ron Simon, photographer) won a 2004 theater book of the year award. He is currently working on a novel about the dead Tchaikovsky.]

The Rag Blog

israel turkey: chaplinesque diplomacy

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http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/303487,israel-says-no-disrespect-meant-to-turkish-ambassador.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8456804.stm

One newspaper captioned the picture "the height of humiliation" [Image: Lior Mizrahi/Israel Hayom]

Israel says 'no disrespect' meant to Turkish ambassador

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:28:01 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel's deputy foreign minister Wednesday apologized Wednesday for his treatment of Turkey's ambassador to Tel Aviv, saying he had meant no "disrespect" and seeking to calm a diplomatic spat sparked by an anti-Israeli Turkish television drama. Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon had summoned the ambassador, Ahmet Oguz Celikko, to Jerusalem Monday to protest against the new drama series. Israel regards the films a "anti-Semitic" because it portrays unscrupulous operatives of its Mossad intelligence agency kidnapping Turkish babies. In a break from diplomatic norm, Ayalon invited the press to take photographs, made sure he sat on a tall chair while the Turkish envoy sat on a lower chair, and when housekeeping brought refreshments, ordered them to take them back. Celikko was also filmed waiting in a corridor for the meeting to begin. He later told reporters that never in his 35-year diplomatic career had he experienced such humiliation. He said Turkey demanded an apology. Ayalon subsequently issued a brief statement Wednesday, saying:"My protest against the attacks on Israel in Turkey remains valid. Nevertheless, it is not my way to disrespect ambassador's honour and in the future I will clarify my position in a diplomatically acceptable manner."Other Israeli cabinet ministers, although also angered by the television drama, said Ayalon's treatment of the Turkish ambassador had been unnecessarily harsh and humiliating. Turkey has been a key strategic partner to Israel in an otherwise largely hostile region, but ties between the allies have deteriorated since last winter's Gaza war, which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly harshly criticized. Another, earlier Turkish television drama series, which among others portrayed the Israeli military as shooting squads against the Palestinians, had also sparked a diplomatic row. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said late Tuesday he was concerned Turkey was distancing itself from the West and moving closer to Islamic states seen as Israel's enemies, including Iran. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is due to visit Turkey Sunday.
Copyright DPA