FRAUD! US Group of companies Dupes Thousands

By Ekow Yeboah

Thousands of Ghanaians have been duped by a company which styles itself as US Group of companies.

Some of the victims of this company have lost as much as GHȻ 100,000.00 (one hundred thousand Ghana cedis).

Amongst the victims are several police and military personnel they got from the implementation of the single Spine salary structure (SSSS) .

Other are teachers, artisans and traders.

A soldier who spoke to “The Insight” said he had lost GHȻ 15,000.00.

A policeman also claimed to have lost GHȻ20,000.00.

The US Group of companies enticed innocent Ghanaians to invest in various schemes in return for very huge returns.

Some of them were promised returns of up to 100 and 150 per cent.

So far cheques issued to most investors to be cashed at the fidelity Bank have bounced.

A cheque issued to Kwabena Mensah Ofori, an investor for GH¢72,500.00 dated September 13, 2013 bounced like a tennis ball.

Mr Ofori has o far visited the office of the company seeking explanation for more than 10 times.

On each occasion he is given date on which the cheque will mature.

One investor said “he has lost all hope of recovering his money”.

Yaw Badu, another investor said he reported the company to the police and was told that the Director of the company are so powerful that only the police headquarters can deal with the case.

Many investors interviewed by The Insight said they expected the security service to investigate the company and to take action to recover their investments.

Editorial

MOROCCAN PROPAGANDA

Over the last couple of weeks, Morocco has intensified its propaganda over its colonial occupation of Western Sahara.

It has gotten some writers to plant articles in Ghanaian newspapers claiming that large parts of Western Sahara or the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic constitute its western region.

 The point is that Morocco cannot redeem its sunken image by engaging in needless propaganda deliberately calculated at throwing a cloud of dust into the eyes of the people of Ghana.

It is a fact that Morocco has pulled out of the African Union because African States have said no to its colonial occupation of Western Sahara and the blatant abuse of the rights of the Saharawi people.

 No one can also deny the fact that Morocco is doing everything in its power to subvert the enjoyment of the right to self- determination by the Saharawi People.

Morocco ought to realise that the people of Ghana, in spite of their political differences are united in their opposition to colonialism and no effort at propaganda can change this.

It is time for Morocco to get out of Western Sahara and for the Saharawi people to chart their own cause of national development.

Morocco can never win this battle.

Worst than aids

WHO confirms worse fears on new virus 

Logo of the WHO

 For a year, in this column, growing evidence has been presented about the possibility of a new deadly virus being transmitted from human to human, a virus with a mortality rate of 42.6%. Questions have been raised as to what the world health authorities have been doing to protect us, and now the chilling truth: it is transmitted from human to human.

The new virus is called Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). It appeared in 2012 and its incidence has been focused principally around the Gulf States.

In January (1), I raised the alarm, presenting my first fears about how the WHO would handle what was then a new and deadly virus with an unknown transmission mechanism.

In February (2), I warned: "The scientific community is facing its worst nightmare: a pathogenic virus with the capacity to make a species jump and then become transmissible from human to human. It is called NCoV, or Novel coronavirus", in an article which posed the question as to whether all cases were being reported, and whether or not human to human transmission had occurred.

The World Health Organization, the same organism that stood back and watched as Influenza A H1N1 became a pandemic, informing us of the different phases the disease was passing through, without imposing any restrictive measures on movement of people or goods, yet again reduced its activities to saying "be vigilant" and not advising any travel restrictions.

In May (3), I asked about the "confirmed cases in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France, Germany, Tunisia and the United Kingdom" and again questioned how the statistics were drawn up and whether or not there were cases outside the loop that were not being considered.

In September (4), I referred to "the latest four laboratory-confirmed cases were reported by the World Health Organization on August 30, a 55-year-old man from Medina, Saudi Arabia who is hospitalized and another man, 38, from Hafar-al-Batin, Saudi Arabia, who died nine days after contracting the disease", raising the issue that "Two of his family members are also infected (a 16-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl)".

And now, the latest bulletin from the World Health Organization, dated November 4, states that the latest patient to die of the disease, a 56-year-old woman who became ill on October 26 and died on October 30, "had no contact with animals, but had contact with a previously laboratory confirmed case".

The report continues: "Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 150 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 64 deaths". That is a death rate of 42.6%, making it one of the most deadly viruses ever to have appeared. Spanish Influenza (1918-1920), which killed between 3 and 5 per cent of the world's population, had a mortality rate of 20 per cent at worst.

Yet what does the WHO recommend? It encourages member states to continue surveillance (i.e. sit back and watch), test recent travelers who develop SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infections) for MERS-CoV (while allowing them to make the Hajj instead of prohibiting it). The WHO, in stating "Health care facilities that provide care for patients suspected or confirmed with MERS-CoV infection should take appropriate measures to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus to other patients, health care workers and visitors" is admitting that human to human transmission exists.

However, the cherry on the cake: "WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event nor does it currently recommend the application of any travel or trade restrictions". Yet the issue is serious enough for an Emergency Committee to have been set up.

With friends like this to protect us, who needs enemies?  Could it be that the way is being paved for the Pharmaceutical lobby to swing into action once enough patients have fallen ill with this new disease? And could it be that one journalist with zero background in medical sciences is doing far more to protect the world population from a potential killer than the army of experts employed and paid by the WHO?

PRESIDENT MAHAMA IS ON COURSE

Minister of Sports Elvis Afriyie Ankrah

It gives me great pleasure for the opportunity to reiterate the government’s and for that matter H.E. President Mahama’s commitment and resolve to deal with corruption comprehensively. I refer specifically to the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) corruption saga.

It must be noted that, the decision to form a five-member Impact Assessment and Review Committee was a cabinet one, with the full blessing of H.E The President. There was neither an external pressure nor any prompting from anybody to do so. Credit must therefore be given to President Mahama for the initiative to instigate investigations into the activities of GYEEDA.

Secondly, when the issue came up, people were sceptical that there was going to be any action. In spite of the massive propaganda that absolutely nothing would happen, the committee was eventually formed and inaugurated publicly. This means the step was taken without any malice aforethought.

I recall that, whilst the committee’s work was ongoing, our detractors claimed it was a charade. Even when portions of the report were leaked to the press, government insisted that the final report will be released. Owing to the voluminous and complexity of the committee’s report, the president tasked the P. V. Obeng team to thoroughly study it, which they did expertly and issued an action paper in a form of a roadmap to implementing the recommendations. Eventually the final report was published publicly and has since been in the public domain.

After the full unedited report was published, President Mahama directed the Attorney General and Economic and Organised Crime Office(EOCO) to take immediate action. So far, as part of EOCO’s investigations, 15 people who wereimplicated have beeninvited. Their statements were taken and they were granted bail. Some of them, including Osborn Dyeni, Omar Nyamiya, Robert Lartey, Peter Anderson and King George Fokuo were detained.

Significantly, every single service provider including Zoomlion, RLG, Asongtaba, Zeera, Better Ghana Management Services, New Vision, to mention a few has been invited to write statements as part of the investigations. Some of them are on bail. No one is shielding or covering up for any of the parties involved. Indeed, both EOCO and the Attorney General have requested for all the documents used by the working committee and copies have been painstakingly done and nicely packaged for delivery to them.

As a matter of fact, as the current Minister of Youth of Sports, I have been grilled for three hours as witness and my statement has been duly taken. No one is been spared in this thorough ongoing investigations. The Attorney General and relevant agencies are leaving no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the case for the benefit of our dear nation.

As far as institutional changes are concerned, the President has appointed no less a person than a former Deputy Minister of State, Hon. Kwabena Akyeampong to spearhead. He reports directly to the President through the Chief of Staff, since the President wants to keep his eye on the ball. This certainly shows how H.E. The President is serious and committed to GYEEDA. While investigations and legal processes go on, Mr. Akyeampong’s mandate will include seeing to strengthening the institution by establishing systems that would prevent the perpetuation of fraud in future. Eventually the proposed systems will go to parliament for the appropriate legislative environment to be created. What again can you ask for?

After all, we are in a constitutional era and rule of law and due process must be respected. There is precedence for situations where contracts were cancelled with indecent haste and the consequences were calamitous. Indeed I painfully recall that, after rushing through the processes with regard to the Ghana @ 50 scandal, not a single pesewa was retrieved for the state although the case was later referred to court. Today, there is a whole Judgment Dept Commission and we are witnesses to the startling revelations. There is a threat to auction AMA’s asserts. Examples abound and we don’t have to repeat those mistakes.

In as much as there is the temptation to ‘take action’ hastily for political expediency, we are being guided by having the national interest at heart, hence our resolve to follow due process. Meanwhile, some of those who shout the loudest and claim government lacks the commitment to fight corruption have no shred of moral right to do so. Their corrupt activities and their shameless attempts to either endorse or cover up are still fresh in Ghanaians’ minds.

The good people of Ghana have given the President their mandate and President Mahama will not let them down.

Signed:

ELVIS AFRIYIE-ANKRAH
[Minister for Youth & Sports]

Victoria Hammah justifies Right to Information Law!!

Victoria Hammer, sacked Deputy Minister of Communication

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

News reports that Lawrence Quayeson, driver of dismissed former Deputy Communications Minister (Victoria Hammah) “says his life is in danger” must wake every Ghanaian up to face reality.

Quayeson, who is a cousin of the dismissed Deputy Minister, claims he had to run away to a hideout Sunday morning to escape house arrest by family members. (See: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2013/November-10th/i-framed-rachel-vickys-driver-confesses-says-his-life-is-in-danger.php)

In doing whatever he could to expose Victoria Hammah as a fraud in national politics, Quayeson deserves commendation, not personal harm. I urge all well-meaning Ghanaians to rise to the occasion to ensure that those after him are exposed and punished. I trust that the law-enforcement agencies are not conniving with those after Quayeson and will do their duty to protect limb and property.

There is no need for the disgraced Victoria Hammah and her family members to turn their anger at Quayeson. Victoria Hammah sent herself to the slaughter house and must suffer the ignominy and loss of face and the million dollars that she had set her eyes on while in public office. A disgrace!!

It will be recalled that Quayeson was arrested by the police on Thursday evening following an official complaint lodged by Ms. Hammah, accusing him of secretly recording her private conversation. He was however bailed by the father on Friday evening without any charge.

Folks, did you read this part well: “accusing him of secretly recording her private conversation”?

Private conversation? About private or official matters? The interest is in the issues she rambled about, not the nature of the rambling or the venue for it. All that gushed out from her mouth was in bad taste, for which she is now suffering and must learn not to worsen her plight in disgrace.

I expect the police to end their procedures there. In Ghana, we have no law against recording any event, provided one knows how to do it without incurring the anger of the people and issues at stake. Secretly recording something may be unethical but not criminal.

That’s why the police must know their limits in this sensitive matter which, to me, has more benefits for the President/government and the country than the raw deal that Ms. Hammah might claim to have been dealt by Quayeson’s act. I applaud Quayeson a zillion times for being patriotic and bold. I recommend him for a national award as the boldest whistleblower for now!!

Indeed, he needs no protection at all if all the citizens know the value of his role as a whistleblower-in-disguise. He has done a good service and no one should think of harming him. Those in the Hammah family who are angry because of his undercover work and may want to harm him should be monitored and dealt with if they make any faulty move.

If we can get people of this driver's type to risk all and expose frauds of Victoria Hammah's type, our society should be making some progress at the level of morality/ethical conduct in public office. It is an eye-pulping moment and all government functionaries (be they at the Presidency, Ministries, Departments/Agencies, or anywhere at all) had better watch out.

If the MPs (Parliament) and the Executive are afraid of passing the Right to Information Law to allow for unimpeded access to information, they will be hounded with such undercover work to expose them. And I expect this "secret-tape matter" to take on new twists and turns and some sophistication (in the form of video-recording or visual aspects) to authenticate whatever is captured so none turns round to deny ever making such pronouncements.

As for me, I will continue to encourage public-spirited individuals to tail all these government functionaries—be at their heels—to know how they conduct government business in public or in private. Anything that can be "captured" to expose them should be encouraged.

In other countries, those who occupy public office know the ramifications of ill-motivated conduct and the repercussions to them and the system. That is why relevant laws are enacted on ethical behaviour and enforced to the letter and spirit. In those systems, the law is no respecter of persons and bites deep, even if it doesn't bark.

Take Ghana's situation, for instance, and you will be left slack-jawed at the impudence and unconscionable manner in which public office holders approach issues. They assume so much power and authority as to become untouchables. Our laws bark a lot and waste their effect in the process. They don't bite. Even if all is set for them to bite, a mere word from "somewhere" can change matters to the advantage of the culprit. That is despicable and must be rejected for all the negative impact that it has on moral conduct in public office.

We expect this Victoria Hammah case to mark a huge turning point in the affairs of government business. If the Right to Information law cannot be passed, the citizens must arm themselves with all kinds of gadgets to record and expose the maladjusted functionaries with dangerous ulterior motives for being in politics.

I encourage all citizens who have the ability to follow Quayeson's steps to arm themselves with all kinds of gadgets to step up the game. That's a very purposeful way to insert themselves into Ghanaian politics to keep those in power on their quivive. At least, if they cannot perform competently to solve problems, they shouldn't be allowed to have sway anyhow.

Let's keep the heat on them so they will always look over their shoulders before speaking or acting. In that sense, they will be afraid of their own shadows and behave well for fear of being exposed and damned to lose their privileges.

Exposing the charlatans and frauds in Ghanaian politics is an interesting endeavour. Folks, hop for it!!

I shall return…

E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com

Your manifesto; our manifestoes: Ghana’s woes!!

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Folks, some aspects of our national politics are really annoying. No consistent development plan for Ghana to ensure that a consistent path is toed for nation building!

Dr. Nkrumah had a 5-year and 15-year development plan that his detractors threw overboard when they kicked him out of office. Dr. Busia’s plan materialized mostly at the level of rural development. Nothing again till Rawlings’ Vision 2020 that Kufuor booted out and replaced with one whose name I can’t even recall.

The military governments had their own agenda for looting and messing up the economy, not building it, although Kutu Acheampong’s Operation-Feed-Yourself stood out as laudable but erratic and impulsive.

In effect, no development plan for Ghana means no consistent path toward development. Pathetic!!

The ongoing policy hiccups facing the Mahama-led administration bring to mind one major limitation of Ghanaian politics: Why is it difficult for our politicians (in government and in opposition) to share ideas and use strategies for national development without tagging each other?

One major baffling issue is clear: It is difficult for the government of the day to enunciate and implement workable economic development policies from only its own manifesto. What the NDC has put forward to prosecute its agenda of Social Democracy isn’t the abracadabra that Ghana’s economy and development challenges need. Neither could the NPP’s own manifesto be regarded as such. So also might it be for those of the other political parties. So, what prevents the government of the day from tapping into all the available manifestoes?

Is it because of some quaint self-respect, fear of being labelled a thief of ideas from its political opponents? Not so because anything that can help solve problems should be used. Or, plain laziness and short-sightedness? I think so.

Ghana hasn’t made the progress that its citizens expect, apparently because of leadership crisis and extraneous factors bordering on wayward policy initiatives, lack of commitment, endemic corruption, and many more. These are terrible problems that a responsible government should endeavour to solve, not worsen to endanger governance and good citizenship. Ghanaians (home and abroad) are unhappy that the various governments can’t solve problems to improve living conditions.

That is not what democracy should lead to. Nonetheless, Ghanaians are determined to sustain the Fourth Republic and are resolved that political stability is a certainty to be defended with their blood and sweat. It is non-negotiable. But the worsening economic situation is preventing the democracy from deepening.

The pre-1992 perennial scourge of military adventurism is consigned to the dustbin of history and will be kept there as a relic of the country’s sordid and chequered political past. No military intervention will be countenanced. The soldiers have had sufficient knowledge to know that intervening in national politics is not their specialty nor will it be accepted by the populace. Their role as the defenders of the country’s sovereignty (against foreign aggression or internal subversion) is why they remain relevant as a national institution being supported with the tax-payers’ money. If they think otherwise and attempt to re-inscribe their place in national affairs, they will do so at their own peril.

This understanding places a heavy burden on the government charged with sustaining national integrity and administering affairs to grow our democracy. That is why no government will be pardoned if it fails to use the mandate of the people to do the right thing to move the country out of the woods. There is no doubt about the country’s vast material, natural, and human resources to be mobilized for national development. What is making it difficult to develop the country is the failure of the various governments to use these resources productively and appropriately.

We have seen instances of lethargy, lack of direction, and painful incompetence to such a worrisome extent as to make us wonder whether those we have entrusted with leadership roles are really worth the mandate given them.

I want to suggest here that the problems that we have had so far in trying to develop the country can be traced to one major lapse: the narrow-mindedness of our leaders. I won’t mince words and will say it clearly here that the continuing state of gloom in the country is a manifestation of the wickedness of our leaders. It has moved beyond the level of incompetence to that of criminal conspiracy to abuse the material and human endowments of the country to serve narrow, parochial, and selfish ends. That is why our leaders don’t bat an eyelid to solve problems and prevent the agitations that characterize labour-government relations. For as long as their bread will be buttered, they care less about others’ fate.

As we brace up for the impact of the series of industrial actions put in place by the leadership of the TUC, we can only hope that the situation doesn’t deteriorate further to worsen living conditions. Poor workers, happy and contented politicians!!

At the heart of it all is the government’s inability to enunciate workable policies to achieve desired results. Why is it difficult for the government to do so? In even implementing its own political party’s manifesto, not to take about harnessing the good ones from its political opponents?

I want to say that there is much to prick one’s conscience. Let’s take the pre-elections Presidential Debates organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs, for instance. Of course, some have complained about some political bent or biases of the IEA to suggest that it was in bed with the opposition NPP, which was why Rawlings never bothered his head over its invitation to participate in its debates before Election 1996.

I remember very well how the late President Mills pooh-poohed the invitation to participate in the IEA debates for Election 2000 and 2004/2008. Then also, ex-President Kufuor didn’t do so for Election 2004; right?

But Akufo-Addo took advantage of it for Elections 2008 and 2012, even if the outcome turned out not to traumatize him. The incumbent President made his mark at the 2012 forum, coming out with good ideas that seem to have vanished into thin air now that he is in power and most needs to implement them.

The other participants (Hassan Ayariga and Dr. Abu Sakara) also proffered good ideas. Dr. Nduom did same from the fringes. Where are all those useful ideas?

One resounding benefit of the IEA debate is the provision of input on policies and programmes for national development. In fact, as I listened to the candidates speak on their vision for Ghana, I got a lot to prove that they knew what the country’s development problems were and how to tackle them. Unfortunately, the majority of the electorate went for only one whose aspirations for national development aren’t materializing yet. The problems are mounting.

Here is the thrust of my arguments, then. Why is it that the government in power cannot tap into the policy initiatives from the opposition camps? Why is the government not using all the laudable programmes of action that the political opponents laid bare at the IEA debate?

Is it for fear of being labelled as a copy-cat? What is wrong with using ideas from any quarters to solve the country’s problems, especially if the government’s own stock of ideas isn’t working well?

Apparently, the government is hesitating because of the negative politics that goes on in our part of the world regarding ideas. We have heard political opponents blame the government of the day for “stealing” its ideas. To avoid being so belittled, the government stays put, paralyzed as the situation deteriorates.

For fear of being belittled and undermined as bereft of “original” ideas/plans for national development, the party the government finds it difficult to tap into the ideas of its opponents and sticks to its own narrow focus. That is the trend, which hasn’t helped us move anywhere beyond the poverty line that we have been condemned to because of the incompetence of our governments.

The ideas that the IEA debate offered prior to Election 2012 are rich and still relevant can be tapped into by the incumbent administration. The only stumbling block is a useless ego and desire to protect a useless self-image.

If, indeed, all the ideas that cropped up at the debate are still available, they should be collected and collated for use by the Mahama-led administration. After all, it is all meant to move the country forward, regardless of who the originators are. The only hindrance is that the incumbent is shy and doesn’t want to be downgraded as lacking ideas and, therefore, turning to its political opponents’ for redemption. A useless desire to protect a useless integrity of nothingness!!

There is nothing basically wrong with using ideas from the camp of political opponents to serve the national interest. In Ghanaian politics, however, that is a tough call, which is why the incumbent may be bent on enunciating its own policies and claiming ownership for it even if they aren’t beneficial to the country. Are our leaders so daft as to remain fixated on this narrow focus in handling national affairs?

The plain truth is that the ordinary Ghanaian doesn’t care who originates which policy for improving living conditions. The end justifying the means for them is all they expect.

In this regard, I expect the Mahama administration to look far afield for input (even from the political opponents) to move the country forward. No need to feel shy at all. The Ghanaian situation calls for pragmatism, which must be the resounding imperative for national development. It is time to swallow that foolish pride!

I see nothing wrong with a government using the ideas of its opponents, especially after the general elections have determined which political party the electorate want to superintend over national affairs. Once installed in office, the government should use all means to solve national problems. If it sticks to its own, regardless of whether they are effectual or not, it will not solve problems but compound them. That’s been our lot in Ghana so far. The time for change is now. Something has to be done to make governance all-inclusive!! No single party’s vision can be the panacea for the country’s problems.

I shall return…

E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com

Confirmed: Yasser Arafat was poisoned

Yasser Arafat died by poisoning

On the ninth anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, scientists analyzed tissue taken from his body, exhumed a year ago, and confirm that there was poisoning with polonium 210, the deadly radioactive element.

By Baby Siqueira Abrão *

Scientists at the Centre for Forensic Medicine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, have discovered the remains of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) contained a level 18-36 times higher than normal of the radioactive element polonium. The announcement was made yesterday by journalists David Poort and Ken Silverstein, of network Al - Jazeera, which obtained an exclusive report of 108 pages prepared by the experts of the university (1).

With characteristic caution, the scientists who carried out the tests ensure that they are no more than 83 % sure that Arafat was poisoned. But Dave Barclay, renowned forensic scientist and retired detective from the UK, heard by Al - Jazeera, has no doubts it was poisoning: he said he was convinced it was murder. "Arafat died as a result of poisoning by polonium. We have found the weapon that killed him," said Barclay. "The level of the substance in the ribs of the Palestinian leader is 18-36 times the normal average, depending on the literature," he added.

On November 27, 2012, Swiss, French and Russians scientists withdrew body tissues from Arafat, exhumed at the request of the widow Sura Arafat from the mausoleum where he was buried in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Also it was she who sent the journalist Clayton Swisher , Al Jazeera , the suitcase with the clothes that Arafat carried when he was taken, already very ill, from Palestine to the Percy Military Hospital in France.

Swisher delivered this material, as well as x-rays and medical reports to the Center of Legal Medicine of the University of Lausanne on February 3, 2012. Some months later the test results confirmed a level that was "inexplicable and intolerable of polonium 210" - powerful and deadly radioactive element - in "the personal belongings of Mr. . Arafat", as at the time François Bochud, director of the Center, explained.

Yasser Arafat began to feel ill on the night of October 12, 2004, after dinner. He had been held since 2002 in the Muqata, the group of buildings housing the presidency of the PNA (Palestine National Authority). Surrounded by the Israeli army, under daily bombardment, the buildings were nearly destroyed and the Muqata had its water and electricity cut off. Arafat was only able to get out because his health worsened, causing him to go to France for treatment. He died on French soil, aged 75, on 11 November 2004, without the doctors who attended him - Tunisians and Egyptians in Ramallah, and French doctors in Percy, being able to agree on a diagnosis of the cause of death.

In Palestine, however, they always spoke of poisoning. And the Palestinians have accused Israel as being responsible for the murder. Pointing to a 2001 interview, given to the Israeli newspaper Maariv by the then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he says verbatim that he "regrets" not having "settled" Arafat when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 - the year that Sharon was Defence Minister and Arafat lived in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. In 2003, Ehud Olmert, the second coalition government headed by Sharon, told Israeli army radio that the assassination of Arafat was "definitely an option," according to what was reported by Eric Silver, The Independent (2).

Moreover, Israel has a long history of assassinations and attempted assassinations against Palestinians, both authorities and citizens (remember the attacks on Gaza and its thousands of victims), and has proven existence of and use of polonium 210. Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olan site, remembers an event that occurred in 1957 in the laboratory of the Weizmann Institute, operated by the Atomic Energy Committee of Israel. The accidental release of polonium 210 killed several Israeli scientists.

On January 9, 2013, Shimon Peres, the current president of Israel, let slip in an interview with The New York Times, that Arafat was actually murdered. I gave the news of the newspaper Brazil de Fato, and it was republished by the site of a famous journalist. Pressed by Brazilian Zionists - which claimed that the information was untrue - he just removed the post. But the Zionists were wrong, as evidenced by the excerpt from the interview in which Peres speaks of the assassination of the Palestinian leader: Ronen Bergman, Interviewer: You did not think Arafat would be assassinated.

Peres: No. I thought it was possible to negotiate with him. Without it, it was much more complicated. Who else would have closed the Oslo Accords with? Who else could we complete the Hebron agreement with?

As it turns out, Peres was trapped by what was contained in the reporter's question. The New York Times reported that he just did not put the blame of the murder on agents of Israel, but the site editor of HispanTV, Abu Talebi, in electronic correspondence sent to me on January 22 this year, confirmed that Sharon had given this information in an interview on Israeli radio, heard by reporters from the Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published in London.

It is not surprising. The Zionists, although they invariably control all governments of Israel, from 1948 until today, comprise different currents of opinion. Getting some consensus is always a difficult experience, as evidenced by the delay in the composition of the current cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau. These differences , existing just after the formation of the Jewish Zionist movement in the 19th century , are the basis of the different views held by Israeli politicians. This explains why Peres was against the murder of Arafat, while Sharon and Olmert considered this possibility.

No matter what happened, history shows that sooner or later the most complicated mysteries are eventually resolved.

Jerusalem Pilgrims: Wailing for an Ailing Nation 

Nigerian President Good luck Jonathan

By Sheyi Oriade 

Never having been to  Jerusalem or Mecca or for that matter to any of the other ‘holy places’ scattered across this largely unholy world, one wonders, in contrast to those who have gone and done obeisance in such places, what effect – epiphanic, redemptive, reformative, transformative or cathartic – that visitations to such places have on their visitors.

It is common knowledge that recently much of the executive branch of the Nigerian government relocated to Israel to undertake a widely publicised spiritual/secular pilgrimage. Colourful snapshots of which were circulated courtesy of the Social Media/Information Unit of the presidency. As a courtesy - I presume - to the Nigerian viewing public; to enable them to participate digitally and vicariously in the president’s pilgrimage. Several photographic images capturing the president and his posse of political and religious brethren in reverent and exuberant poses; doing obeisance and genuflecting in various ‘holy places’ were liberally distributed. Although none of the snapshots featured the pilgrims posing or reposing in the Holy of Holies. This is not altogether surprising, since access to inner sanctums is strictly restricted to those with pure hearts and clean hands.

Nonetheless, notwithstanding their restriction to the Outer Courts, the joy on their faces seemed other-worldly. Moving as they did in rapture, from ‘holy place’ to ‘holy space’, retracing the footsteps of the exemplar of the Christian faith; in the territory in which he was born, undertook his ministry, suffered crucifixion and achieved resurrection; and thereafter departing to the hereafter. One wonders what impact the spiritual symbolism of the trip had on the presidential pilgrim party. Did it achieve the required redemptive resonance in their hearts? And are they now minded to mend and amend their ways?

Although one is dubious about the necessity of seeking salvation or absolution for one’s shortcomings in far flung lands; whether such lands be in the Middle, Near or Far East. Since the Most High is omnipotent as well as omnipresent. One wonders to what extent these religious expeditions abroad are a direct corollary of the rapid morphing of religious houses in Nigeria into currency exchanges, overseen by clerics more adept at corrupting, rather than converting souls under their charge. They primarily pursue a pastime of procuring, purloining and possessing the proceeds of parishioners’ purses and pockets, rather than promote proper pastoral purposes. The position is further compounded by the fact that our indigenous religious, traditional and cultural norms, no longer seem to possess the efficacy to reform and transform society, much less the political class.

So, if one accords to the president and his posse of co-pilgrims the benefit of the doubt, that their visit to the ‘holy land’, apart from its bilateral political aspects with the State of Israel, was driven by a desire on their part to seek redemption abroad. One does hope that the significance of the trip was not lost on them. That the land upon which they trod was also trod upon millennia before them, by various prophets, priests, disciples and Christ himself. Generations of selfless men and women dedicated to the service of others, whose trust they rarely betrayed, often sacrificing themselves for their benefit. In the hope that their converts’ earthly pilgrimages would become more tolerable and that they would thereafter achieve a better existence in the hereafter.

Considering the wide publicity given to the pilgrimage, one suspects that against the religious backcloth of the trip, there was also an overriding political calculation preoccupying the minds of the politically savvy in the pilgrim party. To wit, that the trip was an unprecedented photo opportunity. Aware, as they must have been of its potential to generate political capital amongst the teeming millions of Nigerians who subscribe to the religious philosophies evolved in that geographical space millennia ago. And in whom the images were likely to evoke favourable sentiments. Sentiments, which if carefully cultivated, could be converted into votes at the next general election. The battle lines of which, are not only being drawn, but have already begun to crystallise around strong religious themes. So it would seem remiss of any self-serving politician of any religious persuasion not to play the religious card - overtly or covertly - ahead of those elections.

It may seem odd to some, but one must commend the compiler of the list of pilgrims, for his inclusion within it, of certain political functionaries. It seems that his compilation was influenced either – consciously or subconsciously – by the awareness that many in the government/ruling party needed redemption, reformation and immersion in the River Jordan. What a shame it is, that room was not found within the cohort of pilgrims for many opposition politicians of shared religious persuasion. Like their political counterparts in the national ruling party, many also require redemption and reformation. Having missed inclusion in the president’s pilgrim’s party, they will have to make do with the pilgrimage experience of their political peers who hold frequent flier miles to, and from, Mecca.

But back to the actual pilgrimage; in one’s opinion, the most arresting snapshot of the pilgrimage was the image of the president in a yarmulke (his ever present fedora given a well deserved rest for a change!) standing before the Wailing Wall in fervent and fevered supplication. One wonders, what formed the substance of his petitions? Was it for the salvation of his nation? Or did he wail for the renewal of his electoral mandate? Or did he petition for the electoral annihilation of his disloyal party members? Or did he wail for the ailing state of Nigeria? Or was his cry of a more personal nature? One can only wonder.

It is a shame that Syria is presently at war with itself. Had it not been, it would have been wonderful for the president's pilgrimage to have taken him down the road to Damascus. One wonders whether he, like Saul, would have undergone a Damascene conversion. Would a bright light have shone down from above? Would a voice have admonished him to stop kicking against the pricks, especially the disloyal pricks in his political party? Would the scales have fallen off his eyes too? And would he have become properly sighted to see, address and redress the pitiful plight of his people? One can only wonder. 

One can also only speculate as to the effect the Jerusalem pilgrimage had on the president. Was it epiphanic, reformative, transformative or cathartic? But regardless of the effect, one does hope that he at least caught a glimpse of redemptive light while on it; and that that light inspires him to begin to reform and transform his wailing and ailing nation. 

Orgasm for Dummies: Neuroscience Explains Why Sex Feels Good

By Anjan Chatterjee

Before I realized what was happening, the patient reached down between my legs and grabbed my genitals. It was 1985, in the middle of the night during my medicine internship. I was working about 110 hours a week. Every third night I was on call and felt lucky if I got a couple of hours of sleep. That night, I was taking care of this patient for another intern. On my endless to do list was the task of placing an intravenous line. When I got to her room it was dark. I didn’t know what her medical condition was. I was focused on starting her IV and then moving on to my next task. I turned on the soft light over her hospital bed and gently woke her. She seemed calm. I loosened her restrained arm to look for a good vein. That was when she grabbed me.

Even in my sleep-, food-, and sex-deprived state, I recognized that my charms were not the reason for her attention. She acted indiscriminately. She grabbed nurse’s breasts and students buttocks with the same enthusiasm. I had not yet started my neurology residency and did not know that she was suffering from a human version of Klver-Bucy syndrome. The syndrome is named after Heinrich Klver, a psychologist, and Paul Bucy, a neurosurgeon, who observed that rhesus monkeys changed profoundly  when their anterior-medial temporal lobes were removed. They became placid. They were no longer fearful of objects they would normally avoid. They became hyper-oral, meaning they would put anything and everything in their mouth. They also became hypersexual. A similar syndrome occurs in humans. The patient I encountered that night had an infection affecting parts of her brain analogous to those parts in monkeys that Paul Bucy removed. All the cultural and neural machinery that puts a check on such behavior was dissolved by her infection. She displayed sexual desire, the deep-rooted instinct that ensures the survival of our species, in its most uninhibited form.

People are preoccupied by sex. In an American national survey from the mid-1990s, over half the men and a fifth of the women reported thinking about sex at least once a day. In an earlier survey from the 1970s, people were called at different times of the day and asked if they had thought of sex in the last 5 minutes. For people between 26 and 55, 26% of men and 14% of women said yes. Sex sells. Pornography is one area that has not had trouble surviving commercially on the Internet. By some accounts, over $3,000 are spent every second on Web-based pornography. Lest you think this propensity is a peculiarly human obsession, it turns out that male rhesus monkeys also watch pornography. Researchers at Duke University found that male monkeys choose to watch pictures of aroused female monkey behinds even if it means foregoing juice rewards. As an aside, they also look a lot at high-status males. Our preoccupation with sex and power is built into the hardware of our simian brains.

Despite the fact that sex takes up a huge part of our cognitive and emotional mental  space, scientific research on sex has been limited. Breakthrough reports, such as those by Kinsey or Master’s and Johnson, remain unusual. Perhaps overzealous notions of propriety have historically inhibited such research and investigators are easily branded  as perverts. Recently, Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam examined sexual desires on the basis of search terms that more than 2 million people use on the Internet. In their sample of 400 million, more than a quarter of all search terms were about sex. Their fascinating book, A Billion Wicked Thoughts, generated controversy, ranging from being heralded as providing new and unprecedented insights into human sexuality to reifying cultural stereotypes and simplifying gender differences in sexual desire. Despite  wariness in this research, knowledge about the neurobiology of sex is growing. Some themes that emerge from this research will be familiar from our rumination on food.

We can think of sex as a play with different acts. The first act is desire, the next one is sexual stimulation and pleasure, and the final act is the aftermath, the languorous glow of the sexually sated. Most of what we know about how the brain responds in these acts comes from studies of young heterosexual men. These specimens are found in abundance on college campuses and are quite willing to volunteer for sex studies.

We approach things that we desire and, as we saw before, the amygdala helps us do that. In the last chapter, we saw that the amygdala plays this role in our approach to food, and it seems to be true for sex as well. In animals, the amygdala activates their sexual response, a pattern also seen in humans. When young men look at short arousing video clips, their amygdalas are active. We think such activity arouses them to move toward objects of their desire. After a successful approach, when the penis or clitoris is stimulated, the amygdala becomes less active. Thus, amygdala activation is critical in getting us to act on our desires and then settles down when we receive them.

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays an important role in our desires. The brainstem sends dopamine to many areas of our reward systems, like the ventral striatum (especially its major subcomponent, the nucleus accumbens), the amygdala, the hypothalamus, the septum, and the olfactory tubercle.  As we saw earlier, these areas are involved when we desire food. They are also involved when we desire sex. The neuroscientist Itzhak Aharon and his colleagues showed that heterosexual men will exert extra effort to view pictures of attractive women, and that this effort is associated with more neural activity in the nucleus accumbens. Cocaine and amphetamines amplify the effects of dopamine and enhance the desire for sex. Neural activity in the hypothalamus that increases during sexual arousal is enhanced with the drug apomorphine, which works on dopamine receptors. Conversely, antipsychotic  medications and some antidepressants that block dopamine receptors inhibit sexual desire.

Dopamine lets us anticipate sex but does not itself cause the intense peak of sexual pleasure. When men with erectile dysfunction are given apomorphine, they have more neural activity in their brains in response to sexually arousing images, without increasing their pleasure. Neuroscientists can conduct studies of how dopamine regulates the anticipation of sex in rats with a detail not possible in humans. By inserting very small catheters, they measure the chemical environment in areas important for rewards. When a male rat is separated from a receptive female by a barrier, his nucleus accumbens is flooded by dopamine. If the male rat is then allowed to copulate with the female rat, dopamine levels plummet. However, if the rat then sees a new female, his arousal and the dopamine levels rise again.

Given how engaging sexual experiences can be, it is no surprise that many parts of the brain are active when people are sexually aroused. The insula, the anterior cingulate, and the hypothalamus get into the act. The insula monitors the internal state of the body and regulates our autonomic nervous system, including heart rate, blood pressure, and sweat responses. The anterior cingulate monitors for mistakes to guide future behavior. The hypothalamus regulates the secretion of hormones such as prolactin and oxytocin into our bloodstream. In addition to the usual reward systems, parts of sensory cortex also get engaged.

As you can imagine, it is hard to study what happens in the brain during orgasm. From the little information we have, the ventral striatum is active in men and in women. That activity is to be expected, since so many studies link the nucleus accumbens, a major subcomponent of the ventral striatum, to pleasure. Interestingly, activity in many parts of the brain decreases during orgasm. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate, the parahippocampal gyrus, and the poles of the temporal lobes decrease their activity. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is engaged when we think about ourselves and about our fears. The anterior cingulate is engaged when we monitor mistakes. The ends of the temporal lobes organize our knowledge of the world, and as we saw in the discussion of landscapes, the parahippocampus represents our external environment. What could a drop in neural activity in these areas mean? Perhaps it means that the person is in a state without fear and without thought of themselves or their future plans. They are not thinking about anything in particular and are in a state in which the very boundaries that separate them from their environment have disappeared. This pattern of deactivation could be the brain state of a purely transcendent experience enveloping a core experience of pleasure.

In French literature, the release from orgasm is famously referred to as la petite mort, the little death. Freud thought that orgasms opened the way for Thanatos (the death instinct) after Eros had departed. These death images capture the lassitude that follows orgasm, but not the emotionally satisfied feeling. The satisfied state probably results from release of a combination of beta-endorphins, prolactin, and oxytocin. The hypothalamus regulates the production of prolactin and oxytocin. Prolactin, a hormone that helps women produce milk when breastfeeding, contributes  to the sense of sexual satiety. At least in men, prolactin plays an important role in the refractory period after orgasm during which men have little further sexual desire. Given the blockbuster sales to men of drugs like Viagra, it is no surprise that prolactin-inhibiting drugs are being researched with the hope of minimizing this refractory period. Oxytocin is a hormone associated with trust and a sense of affiliation. In sex, it is the cuddling hormone. Users of the death metaphor for the post-orgasmic state simply ignore the warm glow of endorphins and oxytocin, unless they know something about death that the rest of us do not.

When people are sexually satisfied, they have more neural activity in the lateral OFC. This is the same pattern of increased neural activity seen in people who are sated with food. Neural activity in this area suppresses our reflexive tendency to act on urges. Damage to this area as well as to the anterior and medial temporal lobe can produce hypersexuality. These areas that regulate behavior, either because desires have been satisfied or because acting on desires could get us into trouble, were almost certainly damaged in the patient that made a grab for me.

Pleasures are more than simple reflexive reactions to desirable things. We saw this principle with food, and the same applies to sex. The context in which we encounter objects makes a big difference in our subjective experiences. For example, pain can topple into pleasure. Women have higher thresholds for pain when sexually aroused. These thresholds increase on average by 40% with vaginal stimulation and by 100% near and during orgasm. Despite these changes in what counts as pain, the sensation itself is not dulled and is no less arousing. Rather, the same intense sensation is not experienced as pain. In the brain, the insula and anterior cingulate are active during arousal. These same areas are active when people feel pain. Curiously, people’s faces take on similar contortions when experiencing intense pain as when experiencing  orgasms. Here the sensations producing pain are still experienced, but they are not unpleasant.

Why should brains have a mechanism to keep the arousing properties of pain and discard their unpleasant ones? The adaptive significance of this mechanism is probably to reframe the pain of childbirth. Minimizing pain during the vaginal stimulation of childbirth is a good thing if women are to repeat the event. This adaptive mechanism explains why otherwise painful stimulation can be pleasurable during sex. The sensations remain intense and during sexual arousal are not aversive. An adaptive mechanism that evolved for procreation got co-opted for recreation.

Pleasures help us learn. In animals, food or juices are commonly used as rewards. In the same way that food can be paired with something neutral to make Pavlov’s dogs salivate to bells and whistles, sex can be associated with neutral objects. This association is one way that fetishes develop. In the 1960s, researchers exposed young men to sexually arousing images along with knee-high boots. After the exposure, these men found boots sexually arousing. Linking sex to neutral things may be especially powerful during adolescence when our brains and behaviors are being molded by sex hormones. This phenomenon explains in part why fetishes can seem bizarre to people who do not share the fetish. It is the intrinsic neutrality of the fetish object that makes it seem so strange if you have not had the experience of pairing it with the pleasure of sex.

The use of sexual pleasure for learning has a dark side. The annals of medical therapy  include the use of this kind of learning for deeply disturbing purposes. The episode that I am about to recount is a detour from the main points of this chapter, but I feel compelled to tell it, perhaps as a confessional in shame for my profession. Anhedonia is a medical word for the lack of pleasure. It is a common symptom in mental illnesses like depression and schizophrenia. In the 1950s and 60s, researchers were making great strides in mapping the neural bases of emotions. They discovered that electrically or chemically activating deep parts of the limbic system produced intense pleasure. The researchers were probably stimulating the nucleus accumbens. In people, such stimulation produced multiple orgasms. Robert Heath, a psychiatrist, worked with these stimulation techniques to alleviate anhedonia in patients. He was an early advocate of biological psychiatry, believing that most psychiatric illness had a physical basis, before this was a popular idea. He also thought that the stimulation technique could treat homosexuality.

In 1972, Heath published a study with Charles Moan that used deep brain stimulation in a man referred  to as B-19. This 24-year-old man had a troubled psychological and social background. His father was abusive and drank excessively. His mother was withdrawn and rigid. B-19 had no memory of ever being embraced by her. He was expelled from schools three times by the age of 11. He then dropped out of school and had a few short-lived jobs. Then he enlisted, but was discharged because of homosexual tendencies. He was described as being hypochondriacal and paranoid. He became addicted to alcohol and drugs, but said that he did not receive pleasure from them or from sex. Heath and his team placed electrodes throughout B-19’s brain, including frontal, parietal, septal, and hippocampal regions. Only electrical activity in the deep limbic regions produced pleasure. Dr. Heath saw an opportunity to cure homosexuality, which at the time was labeled as a disease by the American psychiatry establishment. B-19 was shown 15-minute  stag films of a man and woman having sex while his brain was stimulated. To test the effectiveness of his treatment, a 21-year-old prostitute was brought to his room. B19 was able to have sex with her. After this treatment, he had a short-lived affair with a married woman. He continued to have sex with men because (according to the researchers report) hustling was a quick way to make money. However, the doctors concluded that an important part of the study was the effectiveness of pleasurable stimulation in the development of new and more adaptive sexual behavior. The next year, in 1973, homosexuality was removed from the list of diseases in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. To my knowledge, studies such as those done with B-19 did not continue.

What can we say about sex and pleasure? Clearly, sexual pleasure is adaptive in the most basic of ways. Enjoyment in sex guaranteed that our Pleistocene ancestors begat us. They did not have the option of making babies in a lab. This pleasure system, like that of food, has components of desire, components of actions to satisfy those desires, and components that revel in pleasure itself. There are systems that put breaks on our sexual behavior. Pleasures help us learn and develop emotional bonds to objects that are not inherently pleasurable. Finally, the pleasure of sex can change depending on its context. Painful things can become pleasurable and pleasurable things can become painful if doused with guilt and shame. Like food, the basic pleasure of sex is malleable. The fact that these experiences are so supple is critical to understand when we consider our responses to beauty and to art. Aesthetic encounters too can change radically depending on the context and the experiences we bring to the encounter.

Pleasures are promiscuous. The fetish example shows us that pleasures attach easily to other objects. These other objects include money. Some time ago, I was eating a fine dinner at an upscale Italian restaurant in West Palm Beach, Florida. West Palm Beach is one of the richest communities in the United States. I was there as part of a fund-raising effort on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. A few professors gave brief talks about science to an ultra-rich audience in the hopes that they would feel good about learning and then feel good about writing big checks to support the institution. This fancy dinner topped off the event. To my left was a dapper man in his late 70s. His date, a woman about 25 years younger, was wearing jewelry  that oozed money. My dapper companion turned out to be a charming conversationalist. Our discussion took off when he found out about my interests in aesthetics. He talked about his own dabbling with painting over the years and past interactions with the painter Fernand Lger. I mentioned to him that I was planning to write a book on the science of aesthetics. As he listened to me, coddled by food and wine, he drew me in close to share his wisdom. If you want the book to sell, he said, make sure you include a lot of sex.