RAWLINGS: His Discordant Note At The UDS

By Adam G. Nasser

University of Ghana

Jerry Rawlings

On Saturday, October 12, 2013 the UDS finally conferred an honorary doctorate degree on Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings at a Special Congregation in Tamale. 

The citation accompanying the conferment eulogized his unique contribution to the establishment of the UDS in 1992 at a time of formidable opposition from a section of the Ghanaian intellectual elite. Even the international donor community at that time opposed the establishment of another public university and vowed never to provide assistance for a project they believed was a quixotic enterprise. The government of the NDC, under the leadership of Flt. Lt. Rawlings persevered, and time has eventually proved the skeptics wrong, and decisively so. The UDS has blossomed into a mature university with a current student population of more than 20,000. The ceremony on the award of the honorary degree was part of a series of events marking the 20^th anniversary celebrations of the University. It was Rawlings’ day, and knowing his penchant for always sounding discordant notes, many in the audience waited in nervous suspense, especially as His Excellency President John Mahama was going to be present at the occasion.

The subsequent Daily Graphic report on the event was a sanitized account of what really happened. Jerry Rawlings almost ruined the joy of the occasion with his trademark loquacious diatribe. Going off his prepared speech and in a direction tangential to the occasion, he went on a tirade reminiscing about June 4, 1979 which he singlehandedly continues to glorify as the flagship event in Ghana’s political history. Returning almost monotonously to the theme of the recent election petition, he had some justifiable and well-deserved praises for Justice Atugba. But in a somersault in rational discourse, he commended Nana Akufo Addo for announcing his acceptance of the Supreme Court ruling and stepping back from the brink of the abyss towards which he had pushed the entire nation. It was the metaphorical equivalent of congratulating an arsonist for putting out his own fire.

The worst part of Rawlings’ vituperations was his direct attack on the leadership of President Mahama. It was completely unnecessary, and the occasion was also wrong. The Chairman of the UDS Council and his colleagues, together with the Vice Chancellor and his staff had put in so much effort to let the event happen. More importantly His Excellency President Mahama had given maximum support to the decision by the Council of UDS to confer the long-over-due honorary degree. The President had even insisted on being present at the ceremony to add a graceful dimension to the occasion. A considerable part of Rawlings’ speech was deliberately abrasive and condescending to His Excellency President Mahama. Placing himself on a moral high ground, he pontificated about corruption in the corridors of political power in Ghana and alleged that President Mahama had surrounded himself with a coterie of venal people.

While we are on this topic, it is important to call to question the sanctity of this holy pedestal that Rawlings often arrogates to himself when he sermonizes on matters relating to corruption and integrity. One critical question which comes up in this regard is whether he can measure up to the standards which were used to condemn and execute by firing squad such officers as Air Vice Marshall Boakye, General Utuka, Colonel Feli and others. Certainly those military tribunals would not have tolerated an explanation from let’s say General Kutu Acheampong that a family friend took care of the school fees of his ward attending one of the most expensive universities in Europe. And on the questions of probity and accountability, it would be very difficult for Rawlings to confirm in all honesty that all the money and resources which were mobilized and expended to secure his victory in the 1992 and 1996 elections were clean.

It may be true that Rawlings could well come clean on the corruption index; otherwise, the fine-tooth-comb investigations into his tenure as Head of State by the NPP administration would have yielded some incriminating evidence with which to deflate his moral authority. This was something the National Reconciliation Commission failed to do. Others have argued that such brazing and courageous ranting and raving about corruption in high government places cannot be coming from someone who is corrupt himself. They may simply be the tantrums of someone with an excessive obsession for power which, until recently, he wielded in almost unrestrained quantity.  

But whatever the case may be, in the final analysis Rawlings’ legacy would be judged not necessarily by his record of apparent incorruptibility, but more importantly by the extent of his success or otherwise in transforming the socio-economic fortunes of the country he ruled for a cumulative period of almost twenty years. From the tumultuous chaos following the June 4^th mutiny, to the fire-and-brimstone days of the PNDC and except the NDC era, he ruled with the unchallenged power of an autocrat. A leader with a vision would have taken advantage of this unique opportunity to lay a solid foundation for an independent national socio-economic transformation. Kwame Nkrumah’s Seven Year Development Plan contained such a vision, aborted only by the reactionary coup of 1966. Unlike Rawlings, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore used analogous experiences of political authority and longevity in office to transform their hitherto underdeveloped countries into economic giants.

Returning to the Special Congregation of the UDS and Rawlings’ irreverent attitude towards President Mahama, the only rational explanation for this type of conduct is the frustration associated with power dispossession disorder. For most of the nineteen years that he was at the apex of political power in Ghana, his word was law, and the style of leadership he evolved was anchored on absolute power. The introduction of multiparty democracy put some limits to this hitherto unbridled power, much to his chagrin and resentment. His mind was, and still is stagnating in its militant thirties and is unlikely to grow beyond that age. That was why he found it very difficult to reconcile himself to the limitations imposed on his hitherto unchallenged powers by the 1992 constitution. His frustrations occasionally translated into violent aggression and direct physical assault against anyone who disagreed with him, as was the case when he belaboured his then Vice President Kwaw Akah with punches to the upper body and kicks to the groin and other delicate parts of the poor man’s anatomy.

Fortunately, such arrant tempestuousness at the highest echelons of power has given way to levelheaded and self-controlled leadership. This is the mould in which President John Mahama is cast. It was this demeanor that he presented to the Ghanaian electorate in the 2012 presidential election under the NDC banner, and won.  

Yes, President John Mahama was not the answer to the prayers of the Rawlingses, but he received the most votes from the masses of the people. On account of that, he is the President of the Republic of Ghana today, with a solid legitimacy. In spite of this, President Mahama has not let his spectacular rise to the presidency get into his head. He has tried to remain as simple as is practicably permissible by the protocol and security demands of the presidency. He has also bent backwards to breaking point just to accommodate the irascible nature of Rawlings, granting him all the necessary respect and courtesies. But in response to any gesture of goodwill from President Mahama, Rawlings’ handshake always goes beyond the elbow.

As founder of the NDC, Rawlings has unrestricted access to all the party’s structures and officials, and to the President himself. He could have availed himself of alternative platforms to point out those things he went public with at that Special Congregation. He chose not to do that in a deliberate attempt to expose President Mahama to public ridicule, challenge his authority and to draw attention to the Rawlings colossus which he considers to be the permanent centre of political gravity in Ghana. 

But in the final analysis it is President Mahama who has to decide on the type of working relationship he would like to have with Flt. Lt. Rawlings. The president should realize by now that no matter how far backwards he is prepared to lean over in order to accommodate Rawlings, nothing short of total submission to him will suffice. This, of course, is not an option. While it is in the nature of President Mahama to float like a butterfly, he has the capacity to sting like a bee. And he should.

Editorial

STOP MOROCCO

The Colonial occupation of Western Sahara by Morocci is clearly an affront to the conscience of the world and all peace-loving people have a responsibility to protest against this injustice to the Saharawi people.

Over the last few weeks, the Socialsit Forum of Ghana has been collecting signatures as part of the campaign to free the Saharawi people from the indignity of colonial occupation.

The Insight identifies itself fully with this campaign and call on all freedom loving Ghanaians to join in.

The Saharawi people have a right to self determination.

Development Of “Critical Infrastructure” In Ghana- The Role Of Offshore Companies.

His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama

By Peter Kofi  Amponsah

Rapid economic development requires access to Capital, Technology, and Market. This must be Ghana’s top priority at the moment.

The kind of money that we need is not 300 or 500 million dollars, but billions of dollars. In fact, we need between 4 and 6 billion dollars at a time. We must borrow from whoever is prepared to lend us money, and then adopt a credit utilization strategy. Once we borrow to put the necessary infrastructure in place, the economy will expand exponentially, and our ability to quickly repay the loans will not be a problem at all.

There was a marked extension of bank loans to developing countries in 1973-75. The quadrupling of the price of crude oil, and the Western world energy and economic crisis, promoted a fourfold increase in the total current account deficit of the oil-importing developing countries- from $11 billion in 1973 to $45 billion in 1975.

Many developing countries, not having the funds to pay the new ‘oil bills’ were forced to resort to the international market to borrow on commercial terms; the creditors, furthermore, welcomed the appearance of a new category of borrowers in the shape of countries with practically unlimited financial needs.

In the second half of the 1970s the annual flow of money to Third World countries, mainly from private foreign sources, was between $40 billion and $44 billion, compared with $11 or $12 billion in the late 1960s. See New Times No 43, October 1983, p. 18.

This was also the period during which the Acheampong’s government managed to obtain sufficient loan for the construction of Ghana’s second Hydroelectric Dam at Kpong. Were it not for the fact that the VRA could not supply the 130MW of power required by the Integrated Iron and Steel Project at Opon-Manse in the Western Region, that project would also have been a reality by now.

This makes adequate and reliable electric power supply a top priority in any economic development programme. But this issue will be dealt with in another paper.

Commercial banks were encouraged by their governments, which were worried that the tendency of oil exporters’ favourable balance of payment on current account to grow ( increased from $7 billion in 1973 to $68 billion in 1974) would be maintained for an indefinite time, owing to the real limits of OPEC members absorbing purchasing capacity.

The banks in which OPEC members had placed the greater part of their financial surpluses were encouraged by governmental agencies to recycle these funds. From mid-1970s to the second jump in the oil prices (in 1979) the bank loans advanced to developing countries rose steeply.

In the end their total foreign debt jumped from $86 billion in 1971 and $173 billion in 1975 to $262 billion in 1977 and $390 billion in 1979, increased by a factor a little under five in nine years. In the same period, moreover, their debts with commercial banks rose from $10 billion to $123 billion, more than twelve-fold.

Developing countries’ total external debt reached $812.4 billion in 1984, of which a little less than $100 billion consisted of short-term loans, while only 11 countries had had to reschedule their debts between 1976 and 1979, the number rose to 39 between 1980 and 1982. See Financial Times 21/3/1984.

On the whole, according to approximate estimates, some 1,500 American banks involved in lending to developing countries had put around $130 billion into that business. See The Economist, 26/2/1983, page 62.

The liquidity position of the biggest Western banks actively involved in international financing have been directly affected by the financial difficulties of the developing countries, and that many of these banks’ possibilities of normal functioning depended on the solution of the developing countries’ payment problems.

Total balance of the ten leading US banks’ loan investments in the Third World countries was nearly 70% higher than their aggregate share and reserve capital which meant in practice that they would not only lose all their own funds in the event of complete suspension of developing countries' payments but would also not be able to settle with their own creditors. See International Herald Tribune. 21 March 1983.

A statistical centre was set up under the BIS in Basel to which banking institutions must communicate detailed data about all foreign loans they and their foreign affiliates grant, plus a list of the borrowers in accordance with existing agreements.

In the mid-80s, a need arose among private commercial banks to get detailed information on the financial position of potential debtor states. For that purpose an International Finance Institute (IFI) was founded in Washington as a business organisation. From the standpoint of its founders (commercial banks and bankers associations), the Institute would help avoid situations when separate banks continued to lend to debtors, especially on a short-term basis, without possessing the requisite information about the scale of the borrower’s obligations. This was a substantial factor in the sharpening of the problem of servicing the foreign debt of many countries.

In addition to its information function, the IFI has begun to perform a function even more important for commercial banks, viz, to estimate the potential risk of granting loans to a country. The Institute originally had 37 members, but later more than 1400 banks had been invited to take part in its work.

The steep growth of financial indebtedness has drawn greater attention to guarantees of the solvency of borrowers so as to protect creditors’ interests.

Legislation relating to this situation which has considerably increased lenders opportunities to evaluate debtors’ solvency under credit agreement (transactions) and to take defensive measures in relation to insolvent debtors, has been in place for more than two decades in all Western countries.

A number of orders and special instructions were issued for that purpose in 1980-85 in the USA, Great Britain, Japan, and other Western countries, which set definite limits for national banks to the totals of foreign loans granted, limited the banks’ involvement as lenders on the international foreign exchange markets for a certain period, and introduced a regime for accounting for banks and other juridical persons involved in credit operations.

Most of these laws and regulations work against the developing countries, and therefore many banks, to circumvent these laws and regulations in granting big loans to developing countries have to operate through off-shore companies most of which are owned by the banks themselves such as the case of the controversial Presidential jet. The fact of the matter is that the company involved in that transaction, by which I mean the transaction involving either the sale or lease of the Presidential Jet in question to the Government of Ghana, was an offshore company suspected to be owned by the HSBC Bank itself. Without off-shore companies, it will be extremely difficult for us to obtain private loans of required amount for our development. This is because offshore companies are not affected by these limitations mentioned above.

A number of measures have now been adopted to strengthen the dollar whose position depend in the view of most specialists, primarily on the influx of capital into the USA.

The transfer of considerable funds (including OPEC countries investment reserves) from the USA and West European banks to banks in South-East Asia, Australia and Oceania was a big problem for the US.

Consequently, the US has been forced to develop a system the essence of which is to permit US banks to render international banking services for foreign customers so as to attract bank deposits from abroad that were being directed to offshore banks in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands, where taxation is lighter and reserve requirements are often not enforced at all.

In the light of the above, I strongly suggest that we must find a way of dealing with offshore companies which have special, proven relationships with major banks. This is the main secret behind the rapid economic transformation of the four Tiger Club of Asia.

The experience of the Asian countries has demonstrated that we cannot overcome our economic lag by relying mainly on the international monetary credit organizations set up by the West.  We need to take other measures to help solve development problems, promote economic integration and the expansion of trade and economic ties among the developing countries.

The emergence of China as the world’s largest foreign currency reserve holder and also the most reliable lender to the developing countries, has sent the IMF and the West back to the drawing board. Heavy amount of loans to the developing countries which previously could only be obtained through offshore companies with considerable efforts can now be easily provided by China.

China has about 3.2 trillion dollars at the moment and needs to invest part of this huge reserve in productive assets in the developing countries before something happens to the US dollar.

Ghana needs to take advantage of this situation before it is too late, and with the adoption of credit utilization strategy as I explained above, the repayment of any amount of money borrowed  for this purpose will not be a problem.

We need adequate capital for comprehensive and nation-wide development of road and rail systems. (2) Massive Air and Sea Transportation Facilities. (3) Adequate and reliable electric power supply. (4) State-of-the-art and nation-wide telecommunication infrastructure. (5) Nation-wide development of efficient water supply system. These five main areas constitute a “critical infrastructure” considered as indispensable in the development of any modern economy.

However, of these five areas, electric power supply remains the number one priority. Once these systems are put in place, the economy will expand exponentially, and the ability of the country to generate enough foreign exchange to repay whatever money that was borrowed will not be a problem at all.  As I have already said above, this was the method employed by the Four Tiger Club of Asia, which do not have even a fraction of the natural resources that we have.

We need to constantly replenish and sharpen our knowledge base as we grapple with the radical changes underway in the global economy. Knowledge and ideas are critical to development. We need more innovative research, and more new ideas.

 E-mail: cwsi2008@gmail.com

Biological Attack

Polio is back from the brink of extinction -- ravaging the battlefields of Syria and spreading across the Middle East.

By Laurie Garrett 

As the annual hajj came to its end in early October, and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims departed Saudi Arabia having honored the highest traditions of Islam, the kingdom cautiously breathed a sigh of relief: No epidemic erupted among the roughly 1.4 million visitors. But though it may have seemed that attentions were focused on concern over the possible spread of the Middle East respiratory syndrome MERS -- a disease that has affected more than 135 people in eight countries, killing 45 percent of those infected -- for months Saudi health authorities have been keeping a nervous eye on another disease, polio, which is spreading rapidly across the Middle East, most recently inside war-torn Syria.

Though Saudi Arabia has been polio-free for decades, its Ministry of the Hajj has always borne special responsibility for the health and safety of all religious pilgrims to the holy city of Mecca. In Muslim tradition Crown Prince Abdullah, himself, is the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, accountable for any tragedies that befall sacred visitors.

Given the intense religious significance of Saudi Arabia's responsibilities, all possible disease outbreaks among pilgrims are a concern for the government. But it has been a long time since the Ministry of the Hajj had to take a position that stands diametrically opposite to the stance held by some followers of the faith: when it came to polio, the Kingdom stood firmly against Muslim extremism. This year, the ministry insisted that all pilgrims be fully immunized against polio, and bring proof of vaccination as part of their visa application process. Given that Muslim extremists -- the Taliban and some al-Qaeda adherents -- oppose polio vaccination, and have executed immunizers, the Saudi position was gutsy.

Whether it was successful, however, we'll have to wait and see. The hajj has ended, and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are now returning to their homelands all over the world. Because the incubation time for polio can be as long as 35 days Saudi authorities will not be sure that their measures worked until mid-November.

Nonetheless, it's clear that polio -- which just two years ago was on the verge of eradication, with active cases confined to just three countries -- is resurgent, and the news is grim.

For the first time in 16 years, wild polio viruses are spreading in war-torn Syria, causing paralysis in afflicted children. On Oct. 19, the regime's Ministry of Public Health declared a polio emergency and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a "hot outbreak" that is actively expanding around Damascus. In the last week, polio cases have been identified in Ethiopia, Somalia, and among about a dozen Somali refugees in Kenya. As of Oct. 16, the number of 2013 active polio cases found in the three "endemic nations" (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria) are far outnumbered by the toll in new outbreaks outside those countries: 99 children have contracted the disease in endemic nations, versus 197 in outbreak areas like the Horn of Africa, which had been free of polio. And in mid-October the United Nations Security Council called upon Khartoum and Juba to carry out mass vaccination campaigns after three cases of polio were found in the new nation of South Sudan.

Polio is not a mysterious disease -- how it is spread among people and the role vaccination can play in its prevention are well understood. The world has struggled for decades to eradicate polio -- a global effort that has cost billions of dollars and millions of man hours. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates added his weight and wealth to the polio campaign a few years ago, noting this summerthat, "We're raising the money to get it done by 2018. When these problems leave the rich world, they're out of sight, out of mind.... Polio is where we have a very concrete plan. It's raising $5.5 billion -- of which the [Bill & Melinda Gates] Foundation is going to give $1.8 billion. If we get credibility from the polio success, we can be more articulate about a malaria or measles elimination plan."

But politics and religion can foil even the best technology and financing.

Victory seemed near in 2011 when vaccination coverage reached levels sufficient in most of the world to stop spread of the virus (which typically occurs through fecal transmission from infected individuals into water supplies or via close contact with others). By early 2011, polio was confined to Pakistan, northern Nigeria, and Afghanistan -- all areas in which distrust of government and Western health services in Muslim communities was high. Backed by the Rotary Club International, Gates, and the Global Alliance of Vaccine Initiatives (GAVI), health officials worked closely with leadingimams worldwide to assuage fears about immunization and counter false claims that the vaccines would either sterilize children or give them AIDS. The WHO was finally full of optimism about the polio fight.

But that summer, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency narrowed its 10-year search for Osama bin Laden to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In hopes of confirming bin Laden's presence behind the compound's fortifications, American recruited Pakistani physician Dr. Shakil Afridi to carry out a fake hepatitis B immunization effort in the area. The scheme called for Afridi to gain entry to the compound, needle-immunize the children inside, and bring the used syringes to CIA operatives for DNA identification of the youngsters. Afridi never managed to get permission from the compound's sentries, and the effort failed.

When the CIA scheme was reported in July 2011 by the Guardian, it spurred outcry from public health leaders (myself included) regarding the peril posed by linking the agency's efforts to already politically sensitive vaccination campaigns. Horribly, the backlash unfolded as we had predicted. Today, polio is spreading in Somalia and Pakistan in areas where Taliban and other Islamist extremist groups have managed to contort the entire CIA/hepatitis saga: Collusion in immunization efforts is, they claim, tantamount to supporting the CIA, U.S. drone attacks, and a laundry list of other perceived American sins against Islam. Never mind that the polio vaccine is oral, no needles are used, and the Afridi/CIA scheme was all about those needles -- the "Big Lie" has spread. To date, extremists in Pakistan have waged countless attacks on polio immunization workers -- most of them, unpaid female volunteers -- and their security details, killing at least 20 of them since December 2012, and injuring many more in bomb, knifing, and gun assaults.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this summer issued unique health requirements for umrah and hajj pilgrims hoping to avoid spread of disease, after the WHO in May called upon all travelers worldwide to get vaccinated. Among them was insistence on polio vaccination, including a requirement of valid certification from local health authorities. Which meant that those waging attacks on polio vaccinators (allegedly in the name of Islam), could not engage in the religion's most holy ritual unless they could prove that they were fully immunized.

But the Islamic world now faces a genuine crisis with polio, as radical factions continue to attack vaccinators and decry immunization as a dangerous Western scheme. The full extent of the Somali outbreak is not known, as foreign health professionals now find the country too dangerous. Even the die-hard war zone physicians of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) gave up on Somalia in Augustciting the deteriorating security atmosphere. MSF workers have suffered stolen medical supplies, kidnappings, violence of all kinds, and other atrocities. The organization's departure left Somalia's health system in a shambles, undermining an already fragile network of public health clinics that had served as the primary centers of child vaccination. The United Nation's child health program, UNICEF, distributes vaccine supplies to Somalia, but has pulled its personnel back to Kenya. (Somali refugees have carried the virus into Kenya and Ethiopia.) And since June, when al-Shabab attacked a U.N. complex in Mogadishu, there has been a steady outflow from the country of both humanitarian organizations and Somali refugees. Last month's al-Shabab attack on a Nairobi shopping mall has further cemented belief that the nation's security situation is unraveling, putting all forms of public health -- including polio control -- in a tailspin.

Across the Arab Spring regions of the Middle East, the public health situations have spiraledout of control, with outbreaks and failed vaccination efforts noted this year from Morocco to the Iranian borders, Alexandria to Lake Victoria.

And now, some seven million Syrians are now displaced, scattered across Syrian territory and neighboring nations of Turkey, Kurd-controlled Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan. At least 1 million of them are children under 12 years of age, according to UNICEF. Inside Syria, the public health situation has deteriorated so markedly that the population is now beset by the return of most vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, hepatitis B, whooping cough, and polio. More than a third of the nation's hospitals have been bombed to smithereens, another 20 percent have sustained sufficient damage to render them useless, and some 15,000 health professionals have fled the nation. On Sept. 15, a group of doctors and Nobel laureates issued a plea to the world, saying Syria's healthcare was "at the breaking point."

This month, Jordan will launch a costly national child immunization program to stop the spread of measles and polio from the encampments of Syrian refugees to the rest of the nation. Lebanon and Turkey are anxiously watching as the Syrian refugee populations within their borders swell to the point of bursting and illnesses spread. For Lebanon, the situation is especially dire: not only does the added Syrian population increase the country's human population by 25 percent, but it brings with it many of the same factions and disputes that were behind Lebanon's bloody civil war in the 1980s. And Israel, which has been conducting a mass immunization campaign, vaccinating approximately 850,000 children since August 2013 -- when polio viruses were discovered in sewer systems located in several parts of the country -- is far from completing its efforts on this front.

Indeed, the core of the polio crisis remains in radical Islamist areas of Pakistan and these attacks on immunizers have been brutal, security details have been unable to protect themselves, much less the healthcare workers, and there is discussion of issuing a global travel advisory regarding the dangers of contracting polio in the country.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia practices Sharia law, under Sunni Wahabbi interpretations. As the home of the Islamic world's most sacred sites, and birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed, Saudi Arabia can set standards for Muslims worldwide. Having issued a decree over the summer calling upon all pilgrims to the hajj to demonstrate they had received valid polio immunization, authorities took an important step: Riyadh signaled that regardless of what shenanigans Afridi and the CIA were involved in two years ago, protecting children from permanent paralysis merits support for vaccination. We can only hope that the Saudi health decree will be heard and heeded across the Muslim world -- before it is too late and polio spreads to under-vaccinated regions of Africa, Asia, perhaps even Europe. Given the shocking decline in child immunization compliance across much of Europe and the United Kingdom, driven by false claims that vaccines cause autism, many children may be especially vulnerable were polio to be reintroduced to the region.

Syria: The shocking truth

Free Syria Army rebels murder young children with hammer

By Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Luckily for President Obama, President Putin is an experienced politician, a seasoned diplomat, an honest statesman and a responsible player of the international community who does not spend his time cavorting with terrorists to destabilize countries and who does not stage false flag operations with his special forces to create excuses for war.

Luckily for President Obama, President Putin was astute enough to provide him with a ladder to start climbing down after a pathetic display of sabre-rattling more befitting of a ten-year-old squeaking threats from a tree-top at his neighbor before running inside sniveling to mommy upon being stung by a wasp.

However this is not a laughing matter and the more we look, the more we see the dark cloud looming on the horizon, a cloud which incriminates the Obama regime in Washington as it promises to uncover the lies, skullduggery and sheer dishonesty behind the failed campaign to attack Syria... because the policy to back the Syrian opposition terrorists was failing.

Firstly let us take a look at the "evidence" Obama and Kerry were peddling. For a start, John Kerry makes his mark under Peter's Principle as a failed Presidential candidate. As a diplomat and statesman, as US Secretary of State, he is either an incompetent jackass or else he is a barefaced, blatant liar, either case rendering him totally unfit for the job.

One of the photos he was waving around as evidence to incriminate President Al-Assad was taken in Iraq in 2003. Remember Colin Powell's lies? It seems to be a question of which US Secretary of State can lie the most.

  

Secondly let us examine the photographic evidence being used by Obama to underline his failed military strike campaign. The United Nations Human Rights Council has apparently confirmed what Russia has been saying all along, that videos and photographs apparently showing victims of a chemical attack in Ghouta on August 21 were fabricated. International experts had presented their evidence to the XXIV Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 9.

The same evidence has confirmed suspicions that the ones using chemical weapons that night were indeed the terrorists supported by the West.

Thirdly, the USA was made aware in 2012 by the Iranian Foreign Ministry that the Syrian terrorists were in possession of chemical weapons, so John Kerry's statement they were not is another blatant lie. There are also photographs of the western-backed Syrian terrorists firing such weaponry from artillery pieces.

Fourthly, and here is the bombshell, reports of hacked emails supposedly sent among US military officials show that the USA was not only aware of, but possibly privy to, such chemical weapons strikes, which were described as a "successful operation" and which apparently reveal that the video evidence of children was staged by US intelligence.

Fifthly, Obama hid behind these images of children, so where are the images of Syrian soldiers caught up in this attack and where are the images of the Syrian rescue services caught up in this attack? What would US firefighters think if someone armed terrorists and instigated an attack against them?

Sixthly, Obama's claims that this is the first use of chemical weapons this century is baloney. The first use of chemical weapons was in Kosovo and later, on a massive scale, Iraq. The horrific birth defects centred on Fallujah General Hospital and other hospitals especially in Anbar Governorate, apart from other regions in Iraq, have been exposed in a recent campaign launched by Dr. Samira Alaani, a pediatrician, who reveals that for every 1,000 live births in Iraq there are 144 babies born with deformities. The problem is growing worse as time goes on. She calls for the research undertaken by the Iraqi Health Ministry and the World Health organization to be released. It was promised at the beginning of 2013. It is now September 12. Where is it?

Seventhly, why did the Syrian "Revolution" begin exactly when the huge natural gas field was destroyed off Syria's coast?

Eighthly why does the Islamic cleric who launched this revolution in Dera'a now live in Benghazi, Libya?

Ninthly, several movements have been launched for the Nobel Peace Prize to be taken away from President Obama who since he received it has launched his forces illegally into Libya, which was an act of intrusion forbidden under international law, he has increased the number of murderous cowardly drone strikes, Guantanamo Bay concentration and torture camp remains operating despite his lies and now in Syria the USA is unanimous with supporting Islamist terrorists.

Moral: President Obama does not have a leg to stand on in his neo-conservative elitist dream to take Syria by force and install a US-friendly regime to give the USA control over the country's resources before the upcoming attacks against Lebanon and Iran.

An American nobody

John McCain

Dear Mr. Sudakov, President Putin and the People of Russia,

My name is Bridgette.

I live in the United States of America.

I work a lot, raise my daughter on my own, smoke too much, talk too loud, wear my pajamas all day when I am home,  and love staying at nice hotels when I have some extra money.

I am a nobody. No one special and not very important to anyone but my dog most days.

I also a nobody who is not afraid to stand up when people like John McCain and Butch McKeon falsely claim to speak on my behalf so please allow me to speak for myself.

When we heard of President Obama's "red line", American's fought hard against our leaders in Washington, DC. According to our congressmen and women, their phone's were flooded with calls 10 to 1 against any action in Syria, with the exception of humanitarian aid. I believe the American voice has never been so strong and so loud so our politicians and President had no choice but to stand down.

President Putin, who is obviously very sharp, saw the strength and the rationale of our people in action and very respectfully addressed us personally via the NYT. Despite DC's phony posturing, we got it. We understand his comment on exceptionalism. It is good we all strive for exceptionalism, but it is never good to think ourselves exceptional.
For President Putin's respect and intelligence, I am grateful.

Our leaders, however, resorted to and responded with lies, insults, and childish name-calling. For this I am very sorry. Mr. McCain not only insulted the President of russia but the Russian people as well by thinking you are foolish enough to believe his tirade. Don't feel too bad or alone, we get a daily dose from him and DC everyday. If the stakes weren't so high we could all sit back, grab a beer and enjoy the show together but unfortunately he is name calling like a child during a very dangerous time for us all.

John McCain states that he is more pro-Russian than "the regime who misrules the Russian people today". He can say a lot of things of President putin, but your President's unyielding love for his Country is obvious to all.

Strike one Mr. McCain.

He then rambles on, "I believe you (The Russian People) should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government's". I suppose he forgot the overwhelming majority of calls to the House and Senate (99%  according to Congressmen themselves) on Syria were against any US action yet he still insists on war. Please repeat yourself Mr. McCain.

Possibly the best..."President Putin terrorizes and even assassinates those who oppose him". Edward Snowden Mr. McCain? You remember, The young man you want dead or in solitary for life for exposing your treasonous corruption?

Strike two and three Mr. McCain.

John McCain also refers to President Putin's time in the "evil" KGB. I wonder if he is aware of the USA's CIA, FBI, NSA and Military special operatives. Maybe he thinks the men he sent to Benghazi in September of 2012 were passing out lollipops to the Syrian rebels. Maybe that's why our leaders ordered our Military to stand down as they watched our men being slaughtered in real time....they wanted to send purple lollipops instead of the red one's to the 'rebels'. Sarcasm aside, The US has much blood on our hands.

Strike four.

I love my Country and it pains my heart to know how compelled I am to publicly call to light the lies of a fellow American, but my heart would be more broken if I did not. I can walk around or over a small mound of lies, but cannot see past the mountain of untruth's blocking my entrance to Washington, DC.

John McCain's words are so disrespectful and so full of arrogance on every level, I am ashamed to be grouped in his rant. I cannot apologize for another's actions as I cannot control anyone else, but I hope Russia understands that this American does not stand behind those in DC who falsely speak for me.

I try not speak for others but I did take a look at Senator McCain's facebook page today where He bragged about his op-ed in Pravda. he promptly got a good old American smack-down in just about every response left concerning his ridiculous rant.

Russia, you are a strong Country. Your President did well for you and is leading with dignity. I hope you have all the successes personally, and as a Sovereign Nation, that you absolutely deserve.

Thank you for your time,

Bridgette
An American nobody

Syria: The Faces Behind The Terror

Syrian rebels opens the skul of a baby with machete

By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

In her extraordinarily bold and direct speech addressed to the Irish Parliament, Clare Daly (TD, Dublin North) called Obama a “war criminal”and “hypocrite of the century”.

In describing the fawned reception of Obama in Ireland akin to pimping and prostituting of that nation, Ms. Daly hit the nail on the head. Sadly, America dwarfs Ireland and elsewhere in the undignified category of prostitution – the 29 standing ovations from Congress in May 2011 for war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu attests to this tragic fact.

While Daly was quite right in censuring Obama for his criminal policies, including aiding terrorists in Syria, it is worthwhile noting that Obama is merely a willing instrument; the faces and factors behind his handlers and the policies merit greater scrutiny and exposure.

Backing and arming the so-called Syrian opposition distracts from the threat posed by Israel and its expansionist agenda by internalizing the enemy in order to weak the State. As former Israeli Intelligence Chief, Amos Yaldin told the audience at the Israel Policy Forum in February 2013:

“And this military [Syrian], which is a huge threat to Israel , is now also weakening and, in a way, disintegrating. We still have risk from Syria– a risk of being an AlQaeda country, a Somalia-type country — but from military point of view, each one of these are less dangerous than the Syrian regular army.”

Perpetuating adversaries to kill each other is a time-tested tactic – one which was used during the bloody eight year Iran-Iraq war; a war which according to Leon Wieseltier[i]was a “distraction” when Israeli boots were on the ground in Southern Lebanon. In that war, the United States was providing arms and intelligence to both sides. When asked what the logic was in aiding both sides in the bloody war, a former official replied: “You had to have been there”[ii]. But why Syria ?

The Need for Water

The primary goal of the early Zionist leadership was to control and secure the region’s waters. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Chaim Weizmann declared that ‘it was of vital importance not only to secure all water resources feeding the country, but to control them at the sources – and the development of these waters became the primary aim of the Yishuv as a whole[iii]. This policy remained in place. As Israel ’s third Prime Minister Levi Eshkol put it, water was “the blood flowing through the arteries of the nation”.

As previously stated (Here and Here), the chaos we witness in Syria today has been in the making for years with the aid and backing of Israel-firsters in order to accommodate Israel’s agenda – expansion and control of regional water supplies while weakening its adversary/ies.

Israel faced one of its worst droughts in 1990-91. A second more serious drought in 1998, forced it to turn to water rich Turkey . Turkey and Israel engaged in serious negotiations starting in May 2000 to import 50 billion cubic meters of fresh water from Turkey using tanker ships, but using tankers was not cost effective for the transport of water. Alternate plans were suggested.

In September 2000, the same year that young Bashar-al Assad succeeded his father as President of Syria, a strategy paper entitled “The Geopolitics of Water” by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS) opined that “Since extensive water planning proposals will necessitate the establishment of pipelines and energy grids stretching across borders, a political and military structure that can ensure the safety and security of the carriers will be the prerequisite to effective water sharing” ….. “But an effective regional system would require political-military cooperation against Syria ”.

How to achieve this?

Israeli-Firsters to the rescue

Media mogul Haim Saban became involved in politics in the mid 1990’s with a view to support Israel . Saban professes that his greatest concern is the“protection” of Israel . At a conference in Israel , Saban described his method of influencing American politics : ‘Make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets’. (Saban penned an opinion piece in The New York Times in support of President Obama in his 2012 re-election bid).

It was no surprised therefore that in 2002, Saban pledged $13 million to start a research organization at the Brookings Institution called the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Saban Center would play an important role in propping up Syrian opposition (as it did in fermenting unrest post-2009 Iran elections with their June 2009 publication titled: “Which Path to Persia ? Options for a New American Strategy Towards Iran “[1]). In 2006, Time Magazine revealed that that the US had been agitating, funding, and supporting “opposition” in Syria . According to the Time, the U.S. was “supporting regular meetings of internal and diaspora Syrian activists” in Europe . The document bluntly expresses the hope that “these meetings will facilitate a more coherent strategy and plan of actions for all anti-Assad activists.”

It is worthwhile mentioning here that America ’s support of the so-called “opposition” which includes criminals, terrorists, and foreign fighters to effect regime change underscores America ’s stark hypocrisy. According to 18 USC § 2385 -Advocating overthrow of Government (Cornell Law), advocating the overthrow of the government, ‘organizing or help or attempt to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of the government of the United States or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence’bears serious consequences including fines and prison sentence of up to 20 years.

What is most revealing about the abovementioned Time Magazine piece of 2006 is that America ’s efforts to aid the opposition and undermine Assad were run through a foundation operated by Amar Abdulhamid, a Washington-based member of a Syrian umbrella opposition group known as the National Salvation Front (NSF). Abdulhamid was a visiting Fellow at the Saban Center (2004-2006) before moving on to the Neocon-run National Defense of Democracies.

When in 2008, Israel-firster Dennis Ross met with the “opposition” to discuss “Syria in Transition”, Saban’s fellow – Amar Abdullhamid was present. In February 2009, Dennis Ross joined the Obama Administration team. In April 2009, the US funded, London-based Baraada TV started its anti-Assad propaganda into Syria (The epicenter of the uprisings’ was Baraada over water distribution). Baraada TV’s chief editor, Malik al-Abdeh, is a cofounder of the Syrian exile group Movement for Justice and Development headed by Anas al-Abdah who was in attendance at the 2008 meeting with Dennis Ross.

It came as no surprise that John McCain who was a member of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) formed to rid Iraq of Saddam Hossein, and a cheerleader for the Libya intervention, the Egyptian opposition to Mubarak, for bombing Iran, and so on…..visited Syrian “opposition” (via Turkey) in order to encourage more bloodshed. And expectedly, he was de-briefed — not at the White House, but at the Saban Center!

Soon after McCain’s presentation at the Saban Center , the White House disputed UN’s account and claimed that that Syria had crossed the ‘red line’ and used chemical weapons.

It is not the intention of this article to exclude the plethora of other individuals, think tanks, forums, and media pundits who have institutionalized Israel’s policies and promoted them as ‘America’s interests’; these are too numerous to mention here. However, a notable other Israel supporter must be named.

The Evangelical Factor

While various groups in Washington perpetuate and support Israel ’s aggressive and expansionist policies — at a cost to America , non have the zeal and the zest of the Evangelicals who support Israel to death. According to the dispensational model, a time of turmoil lies ahead, but believers will be “raptured” away before it begins. This period of tribulation will culminate in the final battle at Armageddon, a valley northwest of Jerusalem .

The close association between American evangelicals and Israel has been a clear goal of Israeli politicians, especially those in the Likud party. According to Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum of AJC, “the evangelical community is the largest and fastest-growing bloc of pro-Jewish sentiment in this country”[iv]. Israel and Jewish organizations continue to rely on the support of Evangelicals to justify Israel ’s occupation of Arab land even as Christian Zionists zest for evangelizing Jews remains a point of tension.

For example, within days of the June 1982 invasion of Lebanon (with a green light from Reagan), full-page ads appeared in leading papers requesting Evangelical support for the invasion[v]. In 1998, when Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington , he met with Jerry Falwell and numerous fundamentalist Christians before meeting with President Clinton. Similarly, as recently as April 2013, Pat Robertson warned that brokering peace between Israel and Palestine would bring punishment on America.

It has been alleged that funds raised in America by right wing Christians is funneled to West Bank settlements. The mayor of Ariel on the West Bank had estimated that two thirds of all Jewish settlements were funded by Christian Zionists.[vi]

Building for Armageddon?

While Evangelicals (not all) are rupture-ready and encourage Israel ’s expansionist agenda, Israeli politicians are not yet Armageddon-ready; at least, not yet.

In March 2013, Business Insider revealed that the United States is spending hundreds of millions of dollars building bunkers in Israel due to be completed 900 days from February 13, 2013. The project called Site 911 “will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory — all wedged behind shock resistant doors — with radiation protection and massive security. Only one gate will allow workers entrance and exit during the project and that will be guarded by only Israelis”.

Each door of the facility will have a detailed description of the mezuzahs written in“in-erasable ink”.

This should be heartwarming news to Americans whose taxes are spent on such projects while the bridges at home are crumbling.

The Future

The political establishment and the media has pimped out the nation. The list of conflicts awaiting us is long and bloody.

Syria will not be the last conflict. This has been a brief and incomplete overview of what drives our nation, and where we are headed, the handlers and the willing instruments (in the words of Clare Daly, pimps and prostitutes).

We continue to sink our head in sand and hope for a hero – for ‘something to happen’. There is only one hope for the future, and the only one power that can alter this destructive path: “We, The People".