The Committee for
Joint Action (CJA) strongly urges the Government of Ghana and the Public
Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) to reverse the decision to increase
utility tariffs as a matter of urgency.
We note that since
the increases were announced last week, groups such as the Socialist Forum of
Ghana, The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), the Peoples
National Convention (PNC) and organized labour have all condemned the measure
as unreasonable and insensitive.
All these groups with
different ideological and political persuasions cannot be wrong and it is
important for Government to demonstrate that in pursuing its policies, it will
listen to the concerns of the people.
The CJA strongly believes that the increases
in utility tariffs will pass on the cost of inefficiency, maladministration and
corruption to innocent consumers.
We insist that it is
time to take a long term view of meeting the energy and water needs of Ghana.
This must necessarily include efforts to reduce the cost of generating power and producing portable water for mass
distribution.
The CJA is able and
willing to join hands with organized labour and genuine organizations which
want to press home the need to reverse these increases.
Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.
For Convener.
ISLAMIC YOUTH BRIGADE (IYB)
MOURNS PROFESSOR KOFI AWOONOR
 |
| Dauda Mohammed Suru |
We watched in shock, and horror, the events of Saturday, September 21st, and the unfolding of the ripple effect of this terrible tragedy in Nairobi - Kenya. We strongly condemn the terror attack at Nairobi’s Westgate Shopping Mall by Somalia’s militant group al-Shabab. The act which is targeted on innocent civilians including children in our considered view is against Islamic teachings and can only be a premeditated massacre of innocent civilians.
The Holy prophet Mohammed (SAW) is an embodiment of the Islamic religion and peaceful co-existed with people of other faith.
For us in Ghana it is significant and refreshing to observe that Muslims have enjoyed peaceful co-existence with people of other faiths in Ghana and we must ensure that that admirable state of affairs is maintained.
We call on all imams and leaders in our communities to actively engage young people in continuous dialogue about the dangers of extremist ideologies and shed light on correct Islamic teachings and perspectives. It is our sincere believe that Muslim youth will reject any attempt to lure them into extremist groups like al-Shabab.
The Islamic Youth Brigade asserts that, terror and mindless violence remain misguided and self defeating measures which cannot resolve the problems of oppression and exploitation in all their forms.
Signed.
Mohammed Dauda Suru
(Spokesperson)
0244 – 126292
• A member of Allende’s bodyguard recalls September 11, 1973 in La Moneda Palace
 |
| Salvador Allende |
Explaining how he joined the bodyguard at such a young age, he said, "My grandfather, Juan González, was a founding member of the Socialist Party and all of our family of working class origin were members. In addition to being trustworthy, I was educated and very discreet, practiced kung-fu and knew about weapons. That made me a suitable candidate."
On September 11, 1973, Eladio – Luis Renato’s combat name – began his turn of duty at the presidential residence on Tomás Moro 200, at 6:00am. He was to remain there until 9:00am.
"Early on, there was an alarm call, but my compañeros and I had orders not to wake the Doctor [Allende], who had been in a meeting until very late the previous night. There was talk of a possible coup, but initially not much attention was paid to that, because there had been various alarms of that kind before. Afterward, things changed," he recalled.
After Police General Jorge Urrutia communicated with Allende and informed him of the real situation, the President gave orders and the garrison chief assigned Eladio to Allende’s personal escort, to depart rapidly for La Moneda. He was one of 16 bodyguards who took part in the action within the presidential palace.
"When we got there, the chief called us in for a meeting, talked to us, and thanked us for being there with him, in what was a devious coup d’état by the military in conspiracy with Washington. He was aware of the danger of remaining there and gave us the option to decline and leave. Nobody left. He did make clear his intention of remaining on war footing until the end."
In the middle of the attack and the aerial bombardment, Allende continued giving instructions and showing concern for the condition of those defending him. He wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, González affirmed.
"However, the figure democratically elected by the masses, always calm and in control of the situation, fought gallantly; he exposed himself to the bullets in defense of the palace and even fired a bazooka."
After a battle in which, with tremendous resistance and courage, just a few people were capable of standing up to a military force eminently more powerful (Sherman tanks, 75mm non-recoil cannons mounted on jeeps, hunter aircraft and 200 troops from two regiments), the coup perpetrators entered La Moneda and detained the GAP members with kicks and savage blows. "I did not witness Allende’s final moment," González stated.
So much happened afterward to that young man that it was almost like a film set: in the central command post, where he was transferred for some strange reason, he passed himself off as an orderly and escaped his captors. After a brief stay in a safe house, he sought asylum in the Mexican embassy.
He subsequently moved into a long period of exile between Mexico and, in particular, Cuba, which he made his second homeland. "I lived for 30 years in Cienfuegos, where I worked for the Multi-Crop and Glucose Enterprise and had my son Iván." After the 1988 referendum victory, rejecting the continuing rule of dictator Pinochet, he returned to Chile.
Luis Renato is one of four living former members of the GAP (Two are in Chile, another in France. After the assault on La Moneda Palace many were detained and subsequently assassinated) He returned to his country, but a kidney disorder prompted his son to bring him back to Cuba.
Some months ago, he returned to Cienfuegos, where he was successfully treated in the Nephrology Unit of the Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Provincial Hospital, and now lives a normal life with his son Iván and two grandchildren.
On the 40th anniversary of the death of the Chilean President,
Luis Renato emphasized Allende’s beautiful friendship with Fidel, and the
everlasting value of his example. "His work was not destroyed, because his
ideals live on. The grand poplar-lined avenues of Latin America are opening and
peoples are speaking up."
Bandar bin Sultan: Prince of
Terrorists
 |
| Prince Bndar |
Bandar
bin Sultan is the director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency. In that
capacity, he has earned a well-deserved reputation as the “Prince of
Terrorists.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Bandar is
leading the rebel forces trying to overthrow the Syrian government. Many analysts
consider Bandar a prime suspect in the apparent false-flag chemical weapons
attack in al-Ghouta.
Adam Entous of the Wall Street Journal says that
Prince Bandar and his Saudi Intelligence Agency manufactured “evidence” that
the Syrian government had used sarin gas prior to the al-Ghouta attack.
Entous stated during a Democracy Now interview: “Bandar’s
intelligence agency concluded that chemical weapons were being used on a small
scale by the regime. Followed by that, the Brits and the French were convinced
of the same conclusion. It took US intelligence agencies really until-until
June to reach that conclusion.”
In other words, Bandar used his money, clout, and connections to
make sure that “the intelligence would be fixed around the policy” - just like
Bush did with the alleged Iraqi WMDs in 2003.
How did Bandar convince Western intelligence agencies to accept
his extremely dubious claims that Assad was using sarin gas? Bandar found a
Syrian who had been exposed to sarin and flew him to Britain to be tested. When
the Syrian victim tested positive for sarin, Bandar pushed his Western
intelligence colleagues to accept the far-from-obvious conclusion that Assad
must have been responsible.
According to Entous: “What the British found when they did the
testing was that this Syrian was exposed to sarin gas, which the US and British
and French intelligence believe is only in the possession of the Syrian
regime.”
But do the US and British and French intelligence really believe
that Bandar - who commands hundreds of billions of dollars and a sophisticated
network of covert operators and killers - could not have poisoned the Syrian
victim himself? Obviously, they are not that naïve. Western intelligence is
complicit in Bandar's attempt to frame Assad for the use of sarin. They were
looking for an excuse to attack Syria, and Bandar gave it to them.
Then when the huge sarin attack struck al-Ghouta on August 21st,
knowledgeable observers immediately suspected a false-flag attack by Bandar's
forces. According to Associated Press Mideast correspondent Dale Gavlak and
Yahya Ababneh: “... from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents,
rebel fighters and their families, a different picture (from the Western
mainstream media narrative) emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received
chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan,
and were responsible for carrying out the deadly gas attack.”
More evidence that the terrorist prince orchestrated the attack on
al-Ghouta emerged when it was revealed that the photos of dead children were
not what they appeared. According to VoltaireNet.org:
"Following the broadcasting of the images of the massacre in
Ghouta, distributed by the Free Syrian Army and relayed by US and French
services, Alawite families from Latakia have filed a complaint for
murder."
"Some of these videos were filmed and posted on Youtube before the events they picture."
"They show children suffocating from a chemical intoxication that can’t possibly be sarin gas (the latter provokes yellow drool, not white drool)."
"The children do not correspond to a sample of the population: they are all almost of the same age and have light hair. They are not accompanied by their grieving families."
"They are in fact children who were abducted by jihadists (i.e. mercenaries of Prince Bandar) two weeks before in Alawite villages in the surroundings of Latakia, 200km away from Ghouta."
"Contrary to the claims of the Free Syrian Army and the Western services, the only identified victims of the Ghouta massacre are those belonging to families that support the Syrian government. In the videos, the individuals that show outrage against the 'crimes of Bashar el-Assad' are in reality their killers."
Is terrorist prince Bandar really shameless enough to kidnap
children, murder them, and then present the dead children as alleged victims of
his enemies? In a word: Yes.
Bandar's shamelessness knows no bounds. The dissolute chief of
“radical Islamic terrorists” actually had the audacity to threaten Russian
President Putin with a terrorist attack on the Winter Olympics if Putin didn't
stop supporting the Syrian government! Bandar claimed that he had the full
support of the American government in delivering his bribe offers and terrorist
threats to President Putin.
Bandar, an intimate of the Bush crime family who is
affectionately known as “Bandar Bush,” also appears to have been involved in
the 9/11 false-flag attacks. Let's look at some of the evidence - admittedly
circumstantial - that links Bandar to 9/11.
Of the alleged 19 hijackers, 15 were Saudis. CIA sources
have confirmed testimony from Michael Springman, the former head of the US Visa
Bureau in Jeddah, about the Saudi “muscle hijackers”: They were CIA agents,
presumably with a background in Saudi intelligence, who came to America on CIA
“snitch visas.” These were special visas that the CIA offered as a reward to
Saudis who spied for the US. (Saudi Intelligence is so closely connected to the
CIA that it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.)
While living in the US, the future alleged 9/11 hijackers
lived charmed lives. They trained at secure US military facilities, including
Pensacola Naval Air Station, where Mohamed Atta was a regular partier at the
officers' club, and Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Two of the alleged
hijackers received regular checks totaling tens of thousands of dollars from
Prince Bandar and his wife, funneled through US-Saudi intelligence asset Omar
al-Bayoumi.
Immediately after 9/11, all air traffic in the US was
grounded. The only planes allowed to fly were special private jets that Bush
and Cheney arranged to fly Bandar, along with Bin Laden family members and
other Saudi suspects, out of the country before they could be interrogated by
the FBI.
Evidence suggests that Prince Bandar has been the operations
chief of al-Qaeda, the CIA data-base of its Arab legion of mujahideen fighters,
ever since the Afghan war of the 1980s. It is these CIA-supported,
Mossad-supported al-Qaeda fighters that Bandar commands today in Syria.
In short, it is Bandar Bush, Prince of Terrorists - not the
well-meaning dupe Osama Bin Laden, or the shrill ideologue al-Zawahiri - who
has always been the real commander of the Western intelligence operation known
as “al-Qaeda.”
Good one, President Putin
 |
| President Vladimir Putin |
By
Ron Bryan
Russian
President Putin knows a lot more about Syria than our President Obama does.
President Putin wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times a few days ago. He
presents a well-written article on his perspective of the Syrian situation.
I
don't want to belittle our prez when he's in the middle of a world crisis but I
don't have to - he's belittling himself with a lack of follow-thru regarding
his "red line" comment about Syria's use of chemical weapons - he
seems to be caught in a storm of vacillation. This is reminiscent of when he
was an Illinois state senator. He often voted "present" because he
could not make a "yes" or "no" decision. This particular
juncture of international politics is where Putin's warrior spirit and Obama's
pussyboy spirit meet. Guess which one will win?
Now,
if there was ever any doubt, the entire world knows that our President Obama is
indecisive and has no concept of military strategies or tactics. His
involvement in Syria is over two years late. I'm curious - I know that Valerie
Jarrett is actually taking care of many of the presidential duties - but is she
behind all of this presidential dithering? One thing is certain - a far-left
liberal, socialistic-leaning, pacifistic, gay-loving, Saul Alinsky follower
cannot a commander-in-chief be - that would be oxymoronic.
It
is interesting to note that Russian President Putin is leading his country away
from the suppressive environment of communist-based totalitarianism and into
the refreshing atmosphere of a democracy-inspired market-driven economy. He is
doing an incredible job of improving the lives of the Russian people. Is Putin
perfect? Hell, no -- only God is perfect. But Putin is way ahead of whoever is
in third place.
President
Putin is now the world leader in solving the Syrian crisis. And I think that
that is a good thing. He is an expert on international policy in general and on
Syria in particular -- President Obama is not. Putin is a firearms expert and
Obama is not. Obama has a strong domestic agenda for America but he
is clueless when it comes to foreign policy. And Obama's domestic
agenda is, ironically, based on socialist principles - a political system Putin
has rejected. Obama is a weakling and Putin is a he-man.
Secretary
of State John Kerry and Obama are both trying to grapple with our international
problems with their eyes wide shut. Luckily, Putin, who always pays attention,
seems to be on the right track. He took Kerry's bumbling comment about Syria's
giving up its chemical weapons stockpile to the United Nations, claiming it
could never happen, and shoved it right back up Kerry's ass. This situation
caught Obama by surprise. Fortunately for all, Putin is a leader of men. Thanks
to his lightning-quick thinking and decisive action - we seem to be on the way
to a solution. Would I have preferred that Obama solve the problem with a
rational solution? Of course - I'm a patriotic American -- but I have been a
long-time fan of Vladimir Putin thanks in part to a martial arts buddy, former
UFC heavyweight champion Oleg Taktarov. I feel no animosity toward Putin - I
have openly admired him for years. And the Stalin era is ancient history --
Americans need to get over that.
This
clearly illustrates several points: Putin is more intelligent than either Kerry
or Obama who both have high-average IQs as accurately as I can tell, around 115
on the Stanford-Binet scale - the same category as JFK. I am aware that Fox
News Channel pundit Bill O'Reilly claims that Obama has a brilliant mind.
O'Reilly, of whom I am a fan, is flat-out wrong in this case. When asked by a
friend how I know that Obama is not highly intelligent my response was,
"Because I listen to what he says - not how he says
it. He's a dumb shit" And I do my own research. Obama was never a
university professor. He was a lecturer and a senior lecturer.
Putin,
as near as I can tell, is in the intellectually gifted category. He got his
initial university degree in international law and went on to get a PhD in
economics. And he has real-world experience in his early career choice - the
KGB. He had to put theory aside and deal with his opponents on a pragmatic
basis as he rose up in the ranks to Lt. Colonel. Once Putin entered the
political arena, his no-holds-barred style proved very useful. His keen mind
and strong martial arts background were the perfect complement to him. In
addition to Russian, Putin speaks English, French and German.
US
Secretary of State John Kerry, to his credit, speaks fluent French in addition
to English. Obama, although he has openly criticized Americans for their lack
of interest in foreign languages, speaks only English. This gives Kerry the
edge on international issues - learning a foreign language opens the door to
foreign cultures. Obama's early Indonesian Muslim upbringing does not seem to
have helped him in understanding other cultures.
I
see Putin loosely as Russia's equivalent to our President Regan. Putin is
decisive and is a man of action -- he lowered taxes in Russia, instigating a
flat tax for both personal income and business and helped lower the
unemployment rate. Now the Russian economy is improving despite global economic
problems.
Our
President Obama never owned a cap-gun as a child, never owned a BB gun and
never became involved with firearms. He never studied martial arts and was
never in fistfights. He was more of a sissy as a youth but he was pretty good at
conflict avoidance. He became good at talking his way out of fights and he
occasionally ran away. Because he was unwilling to confront conflict directly,
he never developed the fighting spirit so common to most Americans.
Neither
did Kerry, even though, again to his credit, he was a lieutenant in the US
Navy. However, he applied for and received an early discharge so he could run
for congress. Kerry developed a strong penchant for conflict avoidance while in
Viet Nam. He never understood that in battle, you are there to fight. He
was famous for fleeing the scene of skirmishes. This may partly be due to the
fact that he went to a Swiss boarding school as a child and spent a lot of time
with the French who are mostly a bunch of sissies - also known as surrender
monkeys.
I
find it mystifying that Obama and Kerry, both of whom received their higher
education in America, speaking standard American-English, cannot seem to
communicate with clarity to each other. Certainly, when elements of foreign
cultures are added, Obama is not the guy to get the job done. Kerry is better
at international affairs than the clueless Obama. Obama is a pencil-necked geek
who never made the first string in basketball, was too slow to run track and
too frail to play football. His body language suggests gayness. In contrast,
Kerry was a three sport athlete at Yale -- soccer, lacrosse and hockey.
However, like Obama, he was a mediocre player at best - partly because is a low
risk-taker. But he is an excellent skier, snow-boarder, windsurfer and stunt
flyer - he is licensed to fly nearly anything. On script for a low risk-taker,
he did chicken-out when he attempted to fly under the Oakland Bridge. Oh, well.
But, what happened to his face? My sympathies.
I
suggest that our politicians stop calling Putin a thug. Do a little of your own
research -- speaking of Putin in that way is just flaunting your own ignorance.
And Senator John McCain - just shut your yap. Even though I agree with your
lovely daughter Meghan that you are a badass -- you are so old school. Retire
and devote yourself to your beautiful wife Cindy and listen to Meghan - she has
a wonderful sense of humor and is politically savvy. But, I must give you
credit for being the only politician whom I have ever witnessed giving a straight
answer to an interviewer. You were on a talk show a few years ago and Letterman
or Leno asked you several questions. You replied to each question with a yes or
a no. Then you explained the salient details. That was brilliant. Others need
to take an example from that. And Senator Lindsey Graham, whom I think is gay,
is an embarrassment to most Americans. Graham has a talent for saying what his
immediate audience wants to hear. He should listen more and yammer less. And he
needs to take a lesson from Obama - get a beard.
Anyway,
since Russian President Vladimir Putin has become involved; the situation in
Syria should improve. We thank him for that. I hope he helps with Iran as well.
Iran could be a huge problem with its nuclear situation. Once Obama is out of
office, I hope that our next president will further strengthen our alliance
with Russia - this would be a good thing for the whole world.
Note
that for perspective, I'm a lifelong martial artist, have had scores of
fistfights, winning nearly all of them, and I'm a handgun and rifle expert. I
notice that Putin, who is a marksman, is right-hand dominant but aims with his
left eye. My friendly advice to him - always keep both eyes open when you shoot
no matter which eye is dominant. If you ever get to Phoenix; I invite you to go
out to the shooting range with me and I'll go over the benefits of so
doing.
Narcotics: Business of Western wars
By Gordon Duff
It
was only a week ago that the US government released Eric Harroun, a former
soldier who had been fighting with foreign backed al-Qaeda terrorists and the
CIA against the Assad government in Syria.
This week, former Army sergeant Joseph Hunter and a group of other
veterans, one from Germany’s armed forces, were arrested for much the same
thing, offering “security services” for Colombian drug cartels.
Were worldwide press censorship to ease, the public would learn
that America’s drone program is used more for maintaining control of drug
production and distribution than terrorism. In fact, according to Russian
officials, heroin from Afghanistan, all produced and exported under unspoken
but very public approval of US officials, killed over one million people last
year.
Drug production, when examined using economic modeling, makes oil
racketeering and arms trafficking seem primitive in comparison. No technology
is used, fertilizer financed through IMF programs, poppy fields irrigated
through USAID programs, heroin processed in German-built labs, shipped on
American truck convoys or CIA-leased aircraft, distributed around the world at
10,000% profit.
The CIA has been doing this since the early 1980s and, as every
sane person in the world knows, built the drug empire in Afghanistan, the
largest in the world.
By “security,” we mean killings, in this case, the group had
actually been hired by Americans posing as Colombian drug dealer.
Their job was to murder anyone, including drug enforcement
officers, public officials and their family members, even the president of the
United States, if asked.
There is a problem with all of this, perhaps more than one
problem.
Isn’t this exactly what thousands of Americans, members of
the military, the intelligence services, thugs working for USAID and NGOs, have
been doing all along.
Political power of the drug
America’s government faces a shutdown, this time because
powerful banks and insurance companies feel their profits and political power
threatened by health care laws that regulate their long despicable
practices.
The members of congress paid by the insurance and health
care racketeers were, in dozens of cases, put into office by drug money
laundered through offshore accounts controlled by former presidential candidate
Mitt Romney.
This marriage of power, the narcotics lobby, the pro-war
lobby, particularly McCain, Graham and Lieberman, is also the heart of the
Israel lobby.
Before the last election, in meetings with the former head
of the FBI’s drug task force, I was given documents outlining ties between top
Republican Party officials and the Mexican drug cartels, which are currently
terrorizing over a dozen American states.
Gangs of killers employed by these cartels, fully supported
by the Republican Party, control most of America’s southwest region and are
closely partnered with the LDS (Latter Day Saints) religious sect.
They have set up their own “kingdom,” called “Deseret”
inside the United States where they have married religious rule with organized
crime.
The Kingdom of Deseret still exists, a region covering
nearly 18% of the United States, extending from the Mexican border to the snowy
peaks of Idaho.
Citizens of Deseret control much of the FBI and CIA,
gambling operations in Las Vegas and have enjoyed over a century of partnership
with lawless elements in Mexico.
Extremists among the Deseret hierarchy boast of controlling
America’s naval vessels operating in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf and of
their ability to access nuclear weapons.
This is the group that controls the NSA. The NSA’s $4
billion “fusion center” is being constructed in Utah, an LDS-controlled region,
“ground zero” for the Kingdom of Deseret.
Background
As early as the 1840s, the LDS terrorized wagon trains
heading across the west, kidnapping women, murdering all others.
Within their own community, they maintained control through
“Avenging Angels,” assassins that enforced religious doctrine and hierarchical
control, though murder. This system still exists.
It was the model for America’s current privatization model, with mercenary groups answerable to extremist organizations and racketeers, all paid for by American taxpayers, running drugs, delivering poison gas to al-Qaeda and orchestrating terror attacks.
In the late 1800s, the LDS or “Mormons” as they are called,
fled to Mexico after an unsuccessful war against the United States. There, they
formed alliances with bandits and revolutionaries along the border, groups that
have now “morphed” into the drug cartels of today.
Those relationships are alive and well today and extend
through the heart of America’s financial centers and controlling America’s
lower legislative body, the House of Representatives.
Key members of that organization enjoy huge financial
benefits from offshore accounts that were made public during the last election,
made public and then forgotten.
This power is used in combination with the Israeli AIPAC
lobby to support NSA spying and widespread manipulation of financial markets,
particularly using the mass of proprietary data gleaned through spying and
given to Israel through the recently publicized Memorandum of
Understanding.
Call this a “front row ticket” to controlling all financial
transactions, technology and intellectual property of the United States,
controlling and peddling around the world through open and legalized
“piracy.”
Afghanistan
The war in Afghanistan has made the power of the narcotics
lobby over America’s military, intelligence and governmental organizations more
than obvious.
The narcotics cartels obviously control America’s
media.
During the 12 years of American rule, Afghanistan has gone
from a nearly drug free nation under the Taliban to a country of addicts and
the producer of over 95% of the world’s refined heroin.
Even the United Nations has been warned off, no longer even
reporting heroin production in Afghanistan. America talks about its anti-drug
efforts though former US envoy, Richard Hollbrooke, openly admitted that
narcotics production was key to America’s policy in Afghanistan.
No one has spoken of it since.
Invisible drug empire
Two weeks ago, the US government sentenced an African
American soldier, a West Point graduate, to prison for involvement in the
heroin trade in Afghanistan. From Navy Times:
“A West Point graduate and former Army captain busted for trafficking heroin from Afghanistan to the U.S. was sentenced Sept. 4 to 10 years in a federal prison.
Saleem Akbar Sharif, 36, of Johns Island, S.C., also agreed to surrender $100,000 in drug profits. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute heroin.”
“A West Point graduate and former Army captain busted for trafficking heroin from Afghanistan to the U.S. was sentenced Sept. 4 to 10 years in a federal prison.
Saleem Akbar Sharif, 36, of Johns Island, S.C., also agreed to surrender $100,000 in drug profits. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute heroin.”
There is a problem here.
The US government has never admitted that heroin is produced
in Afghanistan. They claim only opium paste is produced.
For a West Point graduate to be arrested for making only
$100,000 selling narcotics, the crime should have been laziness and inefficiency.
No document has ever admitted any heroin production in
Afghanistan, there are no records, and, in particular, not one photograph of
any heroin production facility.
The US has never found one, in its “war on drugs.”
Similarly, the US never found WMD’s in Iraq or the dozen or more massive
underground bunker complexes Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld cited when
advocating an American invasion of Afghanistan. In a televised interview with
Tim Russert, Rumsfeld spoke of facilities that housed thousands, underground
monorails, storage of armored vehicles, entire cities underground. He supplied
a graphic, not entirely unlike the cartoon Netanyahu held in his hands while
humiliating himself before the UN general assembly in his diatribe about Iran’s
nuclear energy program.
But heroin production does exist.
Yet, chemicals used to produce heroin are shipped into
Afghanistan at US government expense labeled “dry cleaning supplies.”
The same containers leave through the Pakistani port of
Karachi, laden with processed heroin, or so top security officials in Pakistan
have told me.
These containers, unnumbered and unregistered, move under
the full authority of the United States government.
If you check the Internet, looking for news of anti-drug
operations or photographs posted on social network sites, you will never see
opium transported, never see heroin processing facilities, never see a
container loaded or a plane packed with heroin flown out to NATO headquarters
in Brussels to be unloaded.
In a dozen years, there has been no evidence published, none
sought and much suppressed.
This is the power of the private and not so private armies
that protect and defend the world’s narcotics traffickers, a group which
includes political leaders, the US, Canada, Britain, France, Israel,
Switzerland, Turkey, certainly Afghanistan but more, so many more.
Heroin trafficking is the lubrication that keeps the wheels
of Western politics moving as intended.
Libya in Anarchy Two
Years after NATO Humanitarian Liberation
In 2011 when Muhammar Qaddafi refused to leave
quietly as ruler of Libya, the Obama Administration, hiding behind the skirts
of the French, launched a ferocious bombing campaign and a No Fly zone over the country to aid the
so-called fighters for democracy.
The US lied to Russia and China with help of the
(US-friendly) Gulf Cooperation Council about the Security Council Resolution on
Libya and used it to illegally justify the war. The doctrine, responsibility to
protect was used instead,
the same doctrine Obama wants to use in Syria. It’s useful
top look at Libya two years after the NATO humanitarian intervention.
Chaos in oil industry
Libya’s economy is dependent on oil. Just after the war, Western media hailed the fact the oil installations were not damaged by the population bombing and oil production was near normal at 1.4 million barrels/day (bpd). Then in July the armed guards hired by the government in Tripoli suddenly revolted and seized control of the eastern oil field terminals they were supposed to protect. There is where the vast bulk of Libya’s oil is produced, near Benghazi. It goes by pipeline to tankers on the Mediterranean for export.
Libya’s economy is dependent on oil. Just after the war, Western media hailed the fact the oil installations were not damaged by the population bombing and oil production was near normal at 1.4 million barrels/day (bpd). Then in July the armed guards hired by the government in Tripoli suddenly revolted and seized control of the eastern oil field terminals they were supposed to protect. There is where the vast bulk of Libya’s oil is produced, near Benghazi. It goes by pipeline to tankers on the Mediterranean for export.
When the government lost control of the terminals
production and export fell sharply. Then another armed tribal group seized
control of two oilfields in the south blocking oil flow to terminals on the
northwest coast. The tribal occupiers demanded more pay and went on strike to
demand pay and an end to corruption. The end result is today, early September
Libya pumped a mere 150,000 barrels of its capacity of 1.6 million bpd. Exports
have fallen to 80,000 barrels per day.
Armed Militias vs Muslim Brotherhood
Libya is an artificial state like much of the Middle East and Africa, carved out in the colonial era of World War I by Italy. It is ruled by tribal consensus among numerous tribes. Qaddafi was chosen in a long process of voting by tribal elders that can take up to 15 years I was told by one expert. When he was murdered and his family hunted, NATO forced rule by a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated National Transitional Council (NTC).
Libya is an artificial state like much of the Middle East and Africa, carved out in the colonial era of World War I by Italy. It is ruled by tribal consensus among numerous tribes. Qaddafi was chosen in a long process of voting by tribal elders that can take up to 15 years I was told by one expert. When he was murdered and his family hunted, NATO forced rule by a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated National Transitional Council (NTC).
Now in August a new Assembly was elected
dominated again by the Brotherhood as in Morsi Egypt or Tunisia. Sounds nice on
paper. The reality is that, by all accounts lawless bands, armed for the first
time during the war with modern weapons, including foreign Al Qaeda and other
jihadists are carrying out daily bombings across the country for local control.
Tripoli itself has numerous armed gangs controlling sections of the capitol. It
is turning into an armed battle between local tribal millitias that are forming
and the Brotherthood that controls the central government. Leaders in the
provinces of Cyrenaica and Fezzan are considering breaking away from Tripoli
and rebel militias mobilizing across the country.
Bombings in Tripoli are daily as lawlessness spreads
Nuri Abu Sahmain, Muslim Brotherhood President of
the newly elected Congress has summoned militias allied to the Brotherhood to
the capital to try to prevent a coup, in a move the opposition sees very much
like a coup by the Brotherhood. The main opposition party, a center-right
National Forces Alliance, as a result just deserted Congress together with
several smaller ethnic parties, leaving the Brotherhood’s Justice and
Construction party heading a government with crumbling authority. Congress has
basically collapsed, said one diplomat in
Tripoli.
The Obama
Administration has promoted a takeover across the Muslim world from Egypt to
Tunisia to Syria by the secretive Muslim Brotherhood as part
of its long-term strategy of controlling the Muslim Arc of Crisis from
Afghanistan to Libya. As the Saudi-backed military coup against Brotherhood
president Muhammed Morsi in Egypt in July showed, the Obama strategy has some
problems.
Riots and lawlessness
With rising violence the Interior Minister
Mohamed Khalifa al Sheikh resigned in August. Some 500 prisoners in Tripoli
jail did a hunger strike to protest being held two years without charges. When
the government ordered the Supreme Security Committee to restore order, they
began shooting prisoners through the bars. In July 1200 prisoners escaped a
jail after a riot in Benghazi. In short lawlessness and anarchy is spreading.
Ethnic Berbers, whose militia led the assault on
Tripoli in 2011, temporarily took over the parliament building in Tripoli.
Because the US and NATO was adamant it wanted no boots on the ground, instead they freely gave arms to any and
all rebels who would shoot at the Qaddafi government troops.
Now they still have the guns and Libya was described to me by one French
journalist who had recently been there as the world’s largest open air arms
bazaar, where for cash
anyone can buy any modern NATO weapon.
Foreigners have mostly fled Benghazi since the American ambassador was murdered in the
US consulate by jihadi militiamen last September. And Libya’s military
prosecutor Colonel Yussef Ali al-Asseifar, in charge of investigating
assassinations of politicians, soldiers and journalists, was himself
assassinated by a bomb in his car on 29 August.
Prospects are grim as the lawlessness spreads.
Sliman Qajam, a member of the parliamentary energy committee, told Bloomberg
that the government is running on its reserves. If the situation doesn’t
improve, it won’t be able to pay salaries by the end of the year.
The Obama
Administration argues that the not-yet-proven use by the Assad government of
chemical weapons in Syria justifies a bombing war by NATO and allies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Jordan, based on the humanitarian doctrine deceptively known as responsibility
to protect, which argues that certain violations of human rights or safety are
so serious as to transcend international law, UN Charters or
US constitutional requirements and allow on moral grounds any US President to
bomb any country he or she chooses. Something is not quite right here.
[1] Krishnadev Calamur, Libya Faces Looming Crisis As Oil Output Slows To Trickle, NPR, September 12, 2013, accessed in http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/09/12/221725022/libya-faces-looming-crisis-as-oil-output-slows-to-trickle
[2] Patrick Cockburn, We all thought Libya had moved on — it has, but into lawlessness and ruin, 3 September 2013, accessed in http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/special-report-we-all-thought-libya-had-moved-on–it-has-but-into-lawlessness-and-ruin-8797041.html
[3] Chris Stephen, Libyans fear standoff between Muslim Brotherhood and opposition forces, The Guardian, 20 August, 2013, accessed in http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/libya-rebels-muslim-brotherhood-blockade
South Africa: The
Tripartite Alliance Has Sold Its Soul
 |
| Nelson Mandela |
By
Raymond Suttner
For some time political commentators have been
proved wrong when predicting the collapse of the tripartite alliance and
suggesting that splits in these organisations could lead to the formation of a
new political party that might displace the ANC.
At this moment, for the first time one can say
without any sense of exaggeration that the ANC, South African Communist Party,
Cosatu alliance, insofar as it exists, has no ideological coherence or
significance and provides little political leadership and direction. It may
exist as a name but it no longer captures the moral fervour that led millions
to place their hopes in them.
The glue that binds survives at the leadership
level, where the spoils of office have been spread to a significant number of
members of the SACP leadership and a fair number of former Cosatu leaders. With
the absorption of the top Cosatu leadership into the ANC's national executive
committee, the relationship is consolidated by the prospect of their being
offered Cabinet posts or other rewards, which are part of the largesse that the
ANC in government can dispense.
At the time of writing, there is a brewing
scandal about the allocation of shares by gold-mining company Gold Fields,
which sought a licence to mine and appears to have believed that offering
shares approved by the ANC leadership would ensure that this would happen, and
that a failure to accommodate ANC demands would result in the licence not being
granted.
One of the facilitators of the deal was Gayton
McKenzie, a convicted bank robber no longer surprising in these times. He
appears to have been amply rewarded for his work.
The most significant beneficiary, from what we
know, was ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete: she was granted R28-million in shares,
as opposed to the previous R2-million's worth of shares she was initially
offered.
There is no evidence of any value that Mbete (or
for that matter most ANC leaders who go into business or are drawn into similar
"empowerment" deals) brings to this deal. She brings her name and
position, which supposedly signifies access to people who make decisions that
benefit Gold Fields in ways that far exceed the shares she has been granted.
In this deal, which was supposed to be about
empowering the formerly disempowered, there is no condition set by the ruling
party that would relate to how the mine should operate; nothing about whether
it should provide conditions for the accommodation of the miners that are fit
for human habitation, say. There is nothing built into the agreement that would
address the needs of surrounding communities or the afterlife of the mines once
they are depleted.
In short, the poorest of the poor are not of any
concern. The deal only relates to rewarding the "players", the people
who are in the inner circle of the ANC leadership.
This is just one instance, but it is a most
glaring instance that exemplifies the erosion of any semblance of moral
integrity once attached to the ANC. It has nothing to do with the ANC that once
pledged to make "a better life for all".
Inequality
At the same time as powerful individuals are
being enriched, communities are forced to drink and wash in polluted water,
live in the streets or inhabit homes with sewerage running through them - and
they are shot at when they protest.
In voting ANC, which many of these communities
may still do, they are represented by an alarming number of corrupt
councillors. One of the features of our times is the indifference that the ANC
and its allies show to their own constituency, the poorest of the poor.
The Marikana massacre is remembered most vividly
by the ANC, the SACP and Cosatu for the displacement of the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM) as the dominant union on the platinum belt. That is what they
see as the real crime at Marikana, instead of recognising that there is a
problem in the capacity of an allied union, led by the SACP chairperson,
Senzeni Zokwana.
Startlingly, there has been little attempt to
commiserate with or care for the families of the dead and injured, a
callousness that stands in sharp contrast with what one would previously have
associated with this liberation movement.
Not only was it alleged that the police opened
fire and killed people when there were other options available to them, it has
now emerged that the evidence has been tampered with to ensure that the Farlam
Commission of Inquiry cannot know what actually happened.
Should we be surprised?
That is not to say we should no longer be
shocked, but we have seen the way in which the Guptas are allowed to operate as
if they are above the law in South Africa.
We have seen, in only one case, how nearly
R280-million has been used for the private benefit of the president. We have
seen how numerous ministers have embezzled funds with impunity and how the
president does everything to avoid having his "day in court" to face
corruption charges.
The ANC led a variety of forces because it
previously offered a political direction that unified a broad range of people.
This was because they believed they saw, through the ANC, a plan that could
unfold in a way that benefited the people of South Africa as a whole.
The ANC can no longer offer such direction. Its
leaders are too greedy. And they have shut down debate.
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