SYMBOLIC: But An important Step forward

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama

By Ebow Mensah

The decision of President John Mahama and his senior appointee to reduce their salaries by as much as 10 per cent is just symbolic but it is an important step forward.

 At the very least now we know that the national leadership is fully aware of the fact that it can survive even with a 10 per cent reduction in salary.

This reduction will not reduce the President and his appointees to the level of Private security guards who have to fend for themselves and family with only GhȻ 120.00 a month.

They will still have free cars, free petrol, free houses and be able to charge their lunch and dinner bills to the state.

 And for those of them who may enjoy “Kick backs” many month – watering offers will still come their way.

These big men and women will not suffer because they have reduced their salaries.

They will never experience the situation in which some workers wake up in the morning and begin to wonder how they may find the next meal.

They will never suffer the pain of watching a sick child die in your arms simply  because you cannot afford proper medical attention.

 The effect of the 10 per cent reduction is salary on the President and his appointees will not be the same as the impact of utility tariff  hikes on the unemployed and those in the low-income bracket.

 The move by the President and his appointees is only significant to the extent that it is a major departure from recent practice.

In the last couple of years national leaders have demanded more and more from the national coffers.

 Before President Kufuor left office, he set up a committee to review his own conditions of service and those of Parliamentarians and other office holders.

In Kweku Ananse fashion, the President approved what was set aside for Parliamentarians and Parliament rewarded him with the approval of benefits which would  be the envy of any Arabian King.

 The President was to be provided with an office, two houses or palaces, one in Accra and the other at a place of his choice. An office, a fleet of cars with drivers to boot and paid holidays abroad.

The poor state of Ghana was also required to give the President US $1 million to set up a non-governmental organisation in addition to pension and an exgratia award.

As for our members of Parliament they are still clamouring for more increases in their pay and allowances.

 Public sector mangers are demanding and receiving remuneration which gives them a lifestyle the Shah of Iran would have been proud of.

They take their cars and furniture away on retirement and fly around the world in first class.

 Their lunch bills are far bigger than the salaries of many of the workers who labour for their comforts.

They take their cars and furniture away on retirement and fly around the world in first class.

 Their lunch bills are far bigger than the salaries of many of the workers who labour for their comforts.

What President Mahama and his appointees have done is to say very loudly that our leaders need to make sacrifices for Ghana to move forward.

This is an important statement.

Editorial

TAXES

It must be clear to Ghanaian development planners by now that Ghana cannot meet the aspirations of its people simply by raising taxes.

 First, Ghana needs to find ways of maximising the benefits from the exploitation of its natural resources like gold, diamond, oil, gas, water, forest and others.

Secondly, the country needs to move away from the current situation in which it is almost completely dependent on other countries for the supply of most what it needs.

A paradigm shift is important if Ghana is to get out of the woods of a dependant neo-colony.

This is the task before Ghana’s development planners.

MINORITY AGAINST VAT - A STATEMENT BY THE NPP MINORITY CAUCUS ON MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Minority Leader

Last Friday, November 1 5, 2013 President John Mahama caused an increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate by two and a-half percent to be foisted on the nation.

The disingenuous contrivance was supported by the presiding person, Hon, Ebo Barton-Oduro, the 1st Deputy Speaker.  The confounding events culminating into the introduction of the 2 1/2% increase in the VAT rate are reprehensible and condemnable as they sounded the death-knell of Parliament. To that extent, last Friday's incident was a disgraceful and shameful to Parliamentary democracy and, indeed, to good democratic governance.

 The Value Added Tax Bill. 2013 was introduced in Parliament in July 2013. Ever since it was read the first time rumours had saturated Parliament to the effect that the John Mahama-led NDC government was purposed to use the opportunity to increase the rate of VAT.  

The Minority Leader upon enquiry from his caucus members engaged his counterpart, the Majority Leader, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor on the veracity of the rumour, but the Majority Leader flatly denied any such intentions on the part of government.  Dr. Kunbuor is the Minister in charge of Government Business in Parliament.

 On two other separate occasions, the Minority Leader engaged the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Seth Tekper on the persistent rumour.  The Minister's response was that no such consideration had come before Cabinet and that he had been informed that the managers of the National Health Insurance Scheme were the people who were lobbying for that.  The Minister firmly assured that the taxes and levies that had already been introduced were sufficient to rake in enough revenue to lubricate the system and hence government was not minded to increase the VAT rate.  This assurance, the second of which was in the week preceding last Friday, when the increase occurred, the Minority Leader again communicated to his Caucus Members.

 In the circumstance, the act of increasing VAT rate last Friday constituted a grotesque betrayal of trust. Parliament thrives on consensus-building. Is the Majority Leader to be taken serious by his colleagues from now on ?  The motion to increase the VAT rate which is an imposition of tax as done on behalf of President Mahama as article 108 provides.  The conduct of the Minister of Finance who earlier assured, on behalf of the President, that no enhancement of the rate was intended but whose Deputy moved the motion to increase the rate with the Minister sitting beside him is even more questionable. Is the Minister of Finance or, indeed, President Mahama to be believed by the people of this country from now on?  Has governance been reduced lo propaganda, deception and outright lies?

When the Deputy Minister moved to increase the rate of the VAT he introduced new policy intent and principles into a Bill that had been read the second time where the principles and policy had been debated.  If Parliament had to take it after the Deputy Minister had moved his amendment motion, then we had to discuss the policy and principles again but Order 128(2) provides that "at the consideration stage of a bill the House shall not discuss the principles of the bill".  In other words, nothing should be  introduced which will engender a re-visitation  to the principle of the bill.  Indeed, the introduction of the VAT rate enhancement clause was inconsistent with an earlier decision of the House which was that the rate of the (VAT) is 12  1/2 %  percent.  Order  128 (4)(b) provides that any amendment (including new clauses and new schedules) ''must  not be inconsistent with any clause already agreed to or any decision already come to by the House". The rate of the tax as contained in the clause 3 of the Bill had already been agreed to.

It is also important to note the indecent haste with which the Presiding Member curtailed further debate on the proposed amendment by the Minister.  Order 83(3) obligates the 1" Deputy Speaker,  after the Minister had moved for the deletion of the 12  1/2% rate, to have invited justification and counter reasons renewed debate or consideration and thereafter put the question and if the question was agreed to only then could he call for what was to be inserted.  The transaction of business did not conform to known procedures.  It was unorthodox, it was bizarre, it was all a mud rush.

Again, one notes the lightening speed with which the Presiding Member closed further deliberation on the Bill in the House by allowing a motion for the Third Reading of the Bill in flagrant breach of Order 131(1) which provides "A Bill having passed through the consideration stage, the Third Reading shall not be taken until at least twenty-four hours have elapsed".  Besides, it is instructive to note that when the Chairman of the Finance Committee moved his motion for a second consideration it was in respect of specific provisions in the bill as Order 130(1) provides, it was not for a reconsideration of the whole bill. In the circumstance, the Deputy Minister of Finance who moved to amend clause three (3) of the bill should have come with his own application for a second consideration in respect of the clause (3) as required by Order 130(1 ).

 He did not do that but chose to float on an earlier application for a specific purpose which had been made by the Finance Committee Chairman.  The 1st Deputy Speaker who was presiding had no business admitting the motion to amend clause 3 in the manner it was done.  Obviously, the Speaker was determined to do what he did and did not care whether or not our procedures were complied with. That is the Speakership which afflicts Ghana's Parliament. To the Speaker, the end justifies the means! !

Order 96(1) is particularly significant on the protection of the rights of the Minority.  Whereas the Majority in Parliament may always have their ways it is imperative that the Minority be accorded space to have their say.  This principle is pivotal to good governance.  If the Majority conspire to whittle away space for the minority, democracy is stabbed in the back as happened last Friday.

 The purpose of any bill is captured in the accompanying memorandum. That is provided for in Article 106(2)(a) of the 1992 constitution.  The purpose of the Value Added Tax Bill, 2003 is expressed in its accompanying memorandum.  The object of the bill is to revise and consolidate the laws relating to VAT.  Pursuant to this, the bill aims at simplifying tax legislation in respect of integration and modernization of revenue administration to make it more user-friendly and iron out the differences in compliance requirements.  It has nothing to do with increasing the rate of VAT.

Notwithstanding, if government purposes to increase taxes it is their prerogative.  However, any responsible government would want to and indeed engage the citizens if they want to impose taxation.  Even in the colonial regime citizens demonstrated and boycotted shops when the colonial government imposed taxation without consulting the people.  The NDC  believes that the Minority must not be engaged. The Representatives of  the people do not matter and that is why the Majority Leader was insistent that once the Speaker has put the question the matter was closed and nobody should be entertained.

 Increasing the VAT rate by 2  1/2% was done on behalf of the President.  It could not be done by an ordinary Member of Parliament.  It must come from someone that the President has sent for that purpose.  This is what Article 108 is about.   In that regard, it represents a major policy intervention by the President.  The intervention by the Majority Leader that increasing the VAT rate is not a policy measure could only be laughable.  The policy- drive and the principle underpinning the introduction ought to have been clearly established iEI the memorandum of the bill, unfortunately, it is not there.

 As Article 106(2)(a) requires, what the defects in the existing regime are, ought to have been established. What are the remedies to cure the identified defects in the new regime?  No such thing is captured in the memorandum.  What has occasioned the urgent necessity for its introduction?

Since the Minister of Finance had already assured that the new measures put in place are sufficient to generate enough revenue without any VAT rate enhancement what happens to those measures already in place?  Is government minded to review downwards or even repeal the tax measures put in place or at least some of them before this enhancement?  What are the financial implications?  The Finance Minister has already spoken about pressure from the managers of NHlS.  Is a portion of this new enhancement going to NHIS, and if so, how much?   What is going to be the impact on such a course?

The Minister alluded to the usage of such accumulation for infrastructural development.  Which infrastructural development did he have in mind?  Should Parliament have earmarked certain proportions to specific programs?  if Parliament had taken time to interrogate the request by the President, Parliament then would be better positioned to trace and track the use of the new tax increase and thereby strengthen its oversight over the Executive.  As it happened, Parliament has surrendered or weakened its oversight responsibility in this regard.  It is a tragedy that Parliament should thus shoot itself in the foot.

Ghana must remain very competitive in Africa and, in particular, in the sub-region.   How is this new regime going to affect our competitiveness in a holistic manner?  Parliament should have probed further into this.

In all these we should remember that Parliament is the body that represents the people of this country. The Executive are the servants of the people.  Those who serve (the Executive) cannot and should be allowed to lord it over the people or the Representatives of the People (i.e. Parliament). Unfortunately, it is clear that is the path that our Speakers of Parliament have chosen for the Parliament of Ghana.  It is a complete disservice to the people.  Those Members of Parliament who think that they must always do the bidding of the President must know they are stabbing the people they represent at the back.

The Parliament of Ghana was deprived of the opportunity to conduct due diligence in the increase in the rate of VAT.  This crude attempt to increase the VAT rate is happening at the time the nation has become aware of massive leakages in the system and also at the time of revelations of corruption of

scandalous proportions.  Even if Parliament was minded to agree with government on an upward adjustment of the VAT rate, Parliament ought to have demanded to know what commensurate measures government had put in place to plug the leakages in the system and combat corruption.  That the Parliament failed to do this is a dereliction of responsibility.  It is a deficit in Parliament's oversight responsibility.  If Parliament continues this way, it will remain a mere boot note in democratic governance.

The net detect of this increase in the VAT rate and in this form is that the purchasing power of consumers will contract.  The standard of living of the generality of Ghanaians will be lowered further, especially at a time when the local currency, the Ghana cedi, is suffering continuous depreciation against all the major currencies.  Agricultural production and local industry will be negatively affected. The economy will stagger and the projection of government to generate an additional GHC745 million is not likely to happen. That is why the Minority Caucus is opposed to Foisting the 2  1/2% VAT threshold increase which in itself translates to a 20% increase in the existing rate, in this manner on the already overburdened tax-payers of the country.

It is for this reason why we are calling on Ghanaians to rise up to resist the rule of the oppressors; a President who has no sense of compunction.  Why did it become necessary for the hikes in utility tariff rates to be lowered and then the VAT rate to be increased, so suddenly.  Is it the case of double speak.

 Mr. President?

Fellow countrymen, ladies and gentlemen, enough is enough.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the media.

Scenario of inequality

The scenario of socioeconomic inequality worldwide, reaffirmed in various reports issued by international organizations like the UN, FAO, ILO, World Bank and others, is most unfortunate: one in three people do not have access to electricity , one in five does not have access to drinking water, one in six is illiterate. One in seven adults and one child in three suffers from malnutrition.

By Marcus Eduardo de Oliveira
Every five seconds a child dies of hunger in the world, one person in every seven suffers from chronic hunger. Nineteen children under five years old die every five minute victims of pneumonia; 500,000 mothers every year die in childbirth due to inadequate medical care; 5 million children every year do not complete five years of age, do not enjoy five years of life.

Just over 300 million people worldwide have a life expectancy of less than 60 years, partly due to poor diets and on behalf of pathologies resulting from this lack.

Thirty- five percent of the world population does not have enough energy and protein in the diet. Worldwide, there are two billion people who are anemic, including 5.5 million who inhabit the countries of advanced capitalism.

As a result of chronic malnutrition, about 500 million children located in Latin America, Asia and Africa are at risk of permanent sequels in their bodies over the next 15 years.
It is never too late to remember that we inhabit a world where the daily cost to feed a child with all the vitamins and nutrients needed only costs 25 US cents.

According to NGOs (Save the Children), the death of 2 million children a year could be prevented if malnutrition were approached correctly.

However, there exists pervasive exclusion, segregation, separation among peers, making inequality an incurable wound. 20 % of the world population - or one in five people - is excluded from participation in the consumption of food and other goods.

According to the Human Development Report (RDH-2013), the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), about 1.57 billion people (30 % of the population of 104 countries surveyed in the report cited) are in a situation of multidimensional poverty (it is said to possess multidimensional multiple definitions and ways of measuring it). Brazilians who suffer from multidimensional poverty are 2.7 % of the population.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that 48 % of the 12.5 million children located in Latin America engaged in agriculture or family subsistence.

The Report issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO) , attests that the number of poor people increased between 2010 and 2011 in 14 of the 26 developed economies analyzed, including the United States, France, Spain and Denmark.
Also according to the ILO, there are more than 200 million unemployed persons around the world. The expectation is that by the end of 2015, this number will reach 208 million.

From the data in the report "Credit Suisse Wealth Report 2013", 0.7 % of the world population concentrates 41 % of global wealth, while 50 % of adults worldwide have 1 % of the wealth. The global wealth reached this year a record U.S. $ 241 trillion.
On one hand the exuberance of billionaires and on the other, the drama of the hungry. Just the United States focuses 37 of the top 100 billionaires in the world. In Russia there are another 11. In Germany there are six, while India and France has five, four respectively.

The joint fortune of the three greatest billionaires of the planet (Bill Gates, Carlos Slim and Amancio Ortega) reaches at 200.3 billion dollars.

While the wealth of the privileged is growing, the World Bank study elaborates by pointing out that to eliminate extreme poverty would require U.S. $169 billion per year (0.25 % of world GDP) or nine times less than is spent on military expenses in the world, whose frightening figure comes to $1.6 trillion.
It appears that expenses on military equipment are the priority. And thus walks Humankind. What a sad world this is!

Marcus Eduardo de Oliveira is an economist, professor and specialist in International Politics.

prof.marcuseduardo@bol.com.br

Scientists unravel biggest mystery of HIV

HIV Infection Diagram

By Anton Evseev

Scientists have finally found a way to outsmart the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or rather, its ability to hide from the antibodies and immune cells. This is the quality that makes HIV so dangerous. However, researchers were able to find a way to create an effective cure for AIDS using the substance tacrolimus and finally win over the dangerous disease.

The main difficulty against the human immunodeficiency virus (responsible for such a scary disease as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is that this malicious virus is completely elusive for human immune system. One gets the impression that it has some kind of invisibility power where antibodies cannot recognize it. A fairly strong variability of the HIV protein is to blame. This is precisely why the immune system is unable to develop antibodies that could "identify and detain" the virus exiting the cell.

However, in principle, there is another way of neutralizing HIV. The immune system can do it when the virus is still in the cell. All cells of the body have a semblance of integrated alarm activated when a pathogen enters a cell and start reproducing. Each infectious agent, be it a virus or a bacterium, penetrates the cell to bring along its own set of molecules that interact with cellular substances and activate the alarm. This signal represented by a chemical reaction rapidly comes to the immune system, attracting antibodies to the infected cell.

This is the usual way of neutralization of many viruses and bacteria that manage to get into cells, but it does not work with HIV. When penetrating a cell, this virus begins to breed, and manages to remain invisible to the alarm system. It was completely unclear how the virus manages to do it. However, the observations showed that the infected cell behaves as a healthy one, and therefore antibodies are not interested in it. How does the HIV achieve this effect? Recently, biologist Greg Towers and his colleagues at University College of London (UK) were able to figure it out. After a series of experiments, the researchers found that HIV, once in a cell, binds to three proteins, one of which is required for the maturation of mRNA, and the other two belong to the immune protein cyclophilin.

This is precisely what disables the cell signaling. In fact, mRNAs are involved in antiviral responses, preventing reading the information from the DNA of a virus. Cyclophilins provide interferon protection of a cell by triggering the synthesis of proteins from a group of interferons that, exiting the infected cell, come in contact with its neighbors, encouraging them to "produce" mRNAs and other cellular antiviral "drugs." That is, in fact, the interferon response is a major component of the cell alarm system.

The immunodeficiency virus associated with these proteins inhibits their activity. But is it possible to prevent this process? Biologists have conducted a series of experiments where they managed to do it. They removed one of the cyclophilin from the cells, replacing it with an analog cyclosporine - cyclic polypeptide consisting of 11 amino acids produced by soil fungi species Beauveria nivea. It has been long known that cyclosporine is a potent immunosuppressive agent capable of providing artificial immunosuppression, so it is often used for preventing rejection in transplantation of organs and tissues.

However, cyclosporine has another useful characteristic. They can bind to the proteins that HIV uses to become "invisible" to antibodies. The question was only in the selection of the analogue also capable of binding to these proteins, but without suppressing the immune response. After a series of trial runs, Dr. Towers and his colleagues were able to obtain a similar substance. As a result, when it was added to the infected cell, on the one hand, it blocked the attempts of HIV to bind the required proteins, and on the other hand did not suppress the activity of the proteins, so the interferon signaling worked. The cells quickly recognized the infected cell and destroyed it before the virus has had time to propagate.

Scientists believe that such material could in principle be an effective medicine against AIDS. However, scientists immediately notice that it cannot operate on its own, but only in conjunction with effective antibodies. Now they need to produce more antibodies immediately capable of identifying the proteins of the malicious virus.

Most recent intrigues of Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol has become that document in the international politics that world leaders prefer not to think about. The issue is particularly painful for the U.S., China and India. Will there be an extension of the protocol, or are the interested players wasting their time? This question was raised in "Point of View" project by Doctor of Technical Sciences Igor Ostretsov.

Igor, it seems that the Kyoto Protocol, an important international instrument on the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has been forgotten. Why has it happened?

"It's true. After all, what is the history of the Kyoto Protocol? It appeared in the mid-1990s, Russia ratified it only in 2005, and even then with difficulty. In 2012 it has expired. Then there were several meetings on its extension. As far as I know, only one thing has been agreed upon - to create the final version of the protocol by 2015 so that it is ready to operate in 2020.

I think that all those involved in this protocol are 100% percent sure that by that time the situation will be resolved one way or another. Either consumption will be reduced dramatically thanks to Western consumers, or there will be a sharp decline in population in some way. This is precisely why today the Kyoto Protocol is not discussed. There is little or no discussion because China and India (the main consumers of the future) have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Because, roughly speaking, what is the contradiction? Developing countries, especially China and India, demand defining quotas in proportion to the population, while the United States request to leave everything as is, and even reduce a little.

China and India cannot agree to this as they go through development, and the internal situation in the countries is extremely acute. Something has to be done. Therefore, the main consumers, the U.S, China and India are standing by. This means that in fact the Kyoto Protocol is non-existent, everyone is silent. Therefore, the most important issue related to energy consumption is not discussed at G-20, and instead corruption is discussed."

 What is the situation like with the conservation of natural resources in Russia? It seems that there is very little talk about it and very little is done. There is Greenpeace, for example, the worldwide organization. What do you think of its activities in the field of ecology?

"In the Soviet times, when the development was fast, the energy component was not considered much, especially after the discovery of massive reserves in Siberia. There are still some undeveloped territories there. There are resources, of course. But when the Kyoto protocol has emerged, it had a beneficial effect on Russia, I believe, as many have realized that the import of advanced technology and respect for the resources would allow selling quotas.

And we did sell a lot, earned some money. Technology has improved. This involved improvement of the atmosphere, reduction of emissions, but nevertheless it is not the main direction as it does not change the situation dramatically.

Compliance with the environmental standards for each particular firm, for each producer should be the most important task. This must be monitored by supervising organizations. I think that a lot is being done in Russia in this direction, but it is not done on a global scale."

Shame

By Cristina Pinto

What is the impact of shame in the lives of individuals? A University of Coimbra (UC) study shows how the experiences of shame in childhood and adolescence affect mental health/well -being in adulthood. Trauma in childhood is more likely to lead to distress later in life.

Individuals whose experiences of shame in childhood and adolescence act as traumatic memories and become central to their identity and life history, are more likely to develop psychopathology (psychological distress and emotional states) in adulthood, the study reveals. It is "Memories of shame that shape who we are," conducted by the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra (FPCEUC) over the past five years.

The research, the first international study on the phenomenology of the experiences and memories of shame (their emotional, cognitive and behavioral components), explored episodes of shame experienced in childhood and adolescence and to what extent they have come to function as traumatic and autobiographical memories, conditioned in their identity, behavior and mental health in adulthood. The study was comprised of 3000 interviews with the general population and 120 patients with different diagnoses (depression, anxiety, eating, behavior and personality disorders, etc.).

Fundamental to regulate our social relations and the formation of our identity, shame is still a thrill overlooked, but this study shows how 'shame can be quite a painful experience, intensely and with a harmful impact on how people and their well-being develop. We found that the experience of shame experienced in childhood and adolescence operate as traumatic memories and influence the construction of social identity (e.g., They see themselves as inferior people, devalued, failed , etc. ) and this contributes to the onset of symptoms of psychopathology, such as depression, anxiety, stress, paranoid ideation and social anxiety in adulthood, " says Marcela Matos, who developed her PhD thesis within this project.

The findings of this study point to the need for clinical intervention not only in shame, but also the memories of shame. "Clinicians should be more attentive to this emotion and its role in the symptomatology of the patient. Shame is an emotion trans-diagnosis and if not detected and treated early can not only act as a barrier to therapy, but also be associated with various symptoms of psychopathology and lead to self-destruction. It should also focus on the adoption of preventive measures in childhood and adolescence, particularly among educational agents,' says the researcher of the Centre for Research and Intervention Center for the Study of Cognitive-Behavioral at UC .

In the study, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and directed by professors José Gouveia Pinto, UC and Paul Gilbert, of the Mental Health Research Unit (UK), recognized as the world authority in the study of shame, the most traumatic memories reported by respondents were: experiences of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, criticism and devaluation, negative comments about the body, bullying and negative comparisons with others (e.g. siblings).
Cristina Pinto
University of Coimbra

U.S.: Chemical Weapons, Hypocrisy and a Forgotten History

"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." (J.Edgar Hoover,1895-1972.)

Since the fairy tale about weapons of mass destruction that can be launched against Western targets "within forty five minutes" is well past it's sell by date, the trans-Atlantic hasbara industry has dreamed up a new Grim Reaper for Syria, their latest quarry: chemical weapons.

By Felicity Arbuthnot

Stephen Zunes succinct quote that: " U.S. policy regarding chemical weapons has been so inconsistent and politicized that the United States is in no position to take leadership in response to any use of such weaponry by Syria"(i) hits the chemical warhead on the nose cone.

Never mind Israel's lethal stockpiles, for ever, seemingly, blind eye territory, as apparently is the United States 5,449 metric tons chemical weapons arsenal, which cannot be disposed of until at least 2021 due to the hazards involved (Japan Times, 12th September 2013.).

However the storm troopers of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) joined the other insurgents in Syria and in under a month: " ... completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable."(ii)

President Assad, his country, this year alone, being five times an illegal target of Israel's fearsome destructive power from just across the Golan Heights (iii) stated that his weapons were purely defensive - to use the cold war adage, a balance of terror. All nations have the legal right to self-defence - unless they are majority Muslim, it would seem.

Compared to the might of the countries threatening its destruction, Syria is now, if not quite a sitting duck, certainly a lamer one and must be mindful of the fate of Libya, when pressured and Iraq when forced to disarm.

Coincidentally, President Assad's assertions are almost exactly those used by the United States regarding chemical weapons - at a time when the U.S.  was certainly at no threat from external forces. 

On 28th March 1990, the Los Angeles Times reported that: "The U.S. government is considering forcing two defiant chemical companies to sell the Pentagon a key ingredient for producing nerve gas, Pentagon officials said ..."

Further: "The United States has said that it would need chemical weapons to deter the Soviets' use of chemical weapons during a non-nuclear conflict in Central Europe - a prospect even (the then) Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (termed) 'extremely remote.' "

This was five months after the fall of the Berlin Wall (9th November 1989) and fifteen months after then President Gorbachev had committed, at the UN, to cutting Soviet troops by a massive 500,000, including withdrawing significant military presence in eastern Europe.(iv) A hand of reconciliation to the U.S., by any standards, after approaching fifty years of hostilities.

Given the circumstances, was the US really concerned about the "Soviet threat" or was an un-noticed elephant lurking round the corner? The LA Times article was headed: "Firms Balk at Selling Nerve Gas Element to U.S.: Two chemical companies cite corporate policy and ethics. But the Pentagon may invoke an old law and force them to deliver the compound."

 "The Occidental Chemical Corp., and the Mobay Corp., said company policies forbid sales that would contribute to the proliferation of chemical weapons. Both refused to fill Defense Department orders for thionyl chloride, a widely used industrial and agricultural chemical that is needed to make a lethal nerve agent.

Thus: "The U.S. government is considering forcing two defiant chemical companies to sell the Pentagon a key ingredient for producing nerve gas ...

"Defense officials said the two firms are the only ones in the United States that now commercially produce the chemical agent. The firms' unwillingness to sell has brought the production of a new generation of U.S. chemical weapons, which began in 1987, to a halt.

"The Army needs 160,000 pounds of the ingredient by June to proceed on schedule, the Pentagon said. Government officials said they can compel the companies to sell the chemical under the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law designed to give the Pentagon first priority on war materiel."(My emphasis.)

What war did the Pentagon have in mind, since the Administration of the President George H.W. Bush was working: "to negotiate a worldwide ban" on chemical arms production and just four months earlier Bush had also: "proposed to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev that the superpowers sign an accord at their summit this June that would call for the destruction of 80% of their chemical weapons ..."

Yet regarding the purchase of the potentially lethal chemicals: "If the United States invokes the Defense Production Act, the companies will get the message that this is important and that they should reconsider their policies", said one official.

Occidental Petroleum Corp's: "Chairman and chief executive officer Armand Hammer (was) a longtime champion of improved U.S. relations with the Soviet Union and has been critical of the pace of U.S. arms control efforts."

A spokesman for Mobay, subsidiary of  German giant, Bayer: "said the Pentagon approached Mobay with an order for 160,000 pounds of thionyl chloride ..." It was needed by June (1990) for use in the production of the nerve agent Sarin, noted the New Scientist (7th April 1990.)

Mobay's man was robust: "We have told the government . . . that we have no intentions of selling thionyl chloride for these purposes." 

So, to the lurking elephant. It seems it was less about deterring "the Soviets' ..." and more about an Iraq, financially on its knees and fiscally relentlessly undermined and targeted by the U.S. since the end of the Iran-Iraq war (September1980-August1988) in which the U.S. had backed Iraq (and armed both sides.) 

During and after a U.S., driven war, devastating both countries, Kuwait, Iraq accused, had been slant drilling in to Iraq's Rumaila oil fields. In addition, since the end of the war, Kuwait had hugely exceeded OPEC production quotas, costing, Iraq claimed, $14 billion a year, in addition to the $2.4 billion estimated loss from the war period extractions of "some millions of barrels" - additionally "capturing some of Iraq's customers." (v)

Saddam Hussein had told a session of the Arab League: "We cannot tolerate this kind of economic warfare. We have reached a state of affairs where we cannot take the pressure." Whatever else, he was the proudest of men, the admission must have cost him dearly.

That America did not know something was about to give in the near future is unthinkable. The U.S. had flagged Kuwait's oil tankers with U.S., flags in 1987, to protect the statelet with the world's fifth largest oil reserves, from Iran - and they remained U.S. flagged. An attack on Kuwait would be an attack on a U.S., protectorate.

Interestingly, some in Washington were sympathetic to Saddam Hussein's view: "Henry M. Schuler, director of the energy security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that from the Iraqi viewpoint, the Kuwait Government was 'acting aggressively - it was economic warfare.' "

''Whether he's Hitler or not, he has some reason on his side'', Mr. Schuler said, adding that: "American officials needed to appreciate the economic and psychological significance the Rumaila field holds for the Iraqis and why Kuwait's exploitation of Rumaila, in addition to its high oil output in the 1980's, was an affront to the Iraqis.

''It's not just the emotional man in the street in the Arab world who finds the Iraq case appealing,'' he said: ''So do many of those who are thinking, intelligent people. If the Iraqi people feel they are the victims of aggression, and that their legitimate claims are being stifled now by American intervention, they will hang in there a lot longer than if that were not the case."

As recently as 2011, veteran, ten term Congressman Ron Paul talked in Congress on the slant drilling claims pointing out that: "Historian Mark Zepezauer notes that the equipment to slant drill Iraq's oil illegally was bought from (US National Security Advisor to President George H.W. Bush) Brent Scowcroft's old company. Kuwait was pumping out around $14-billion worth of oil from beneath Iraqi territory ... Slant-drilling is enough to get you shot in Texas, and it's certainly enough to start a war in the Mideast."(vi) (Emphasis mine.)

However, it was not just Kuwait targeting Iraq's frail finances, as Brian Becker wrote in a detailed account (vii.) The U.S., betrayal of their ally in the regional ravages of the Iran-Iraq war, was total:

"Having weakened Iran, the goal was then to weaken Iraq and make sure that it could not develop as a regional power capable of challenging U.S. domination. After the war ended, U.S. policy toward Iraq shifted, becoming increasingly hostile. The way it shifted is quite revealing; bearing all the signs of a well-planned conspiracy.

"The cease-fire between Iran and Iraq began on August 20, 1988. On September 8, 1988, Iraqi Foreign Minister Sa'dun Hammadi was to meet with U.S. Secretary of State George Schulz. The Iraqis had every reason to expect a warm welcome in Washington and to begin an era of closer co-operation on trade and industrial development."

In the event, two hours before the meeting, without warning to Hammadi,  State Department spokesman Charles Redman called a press conference charging that: "The U.S. Government is convinced that Iraq has used chemical weapons ... against Kurdish guerillas. We don't know the extent to which chemical weapons have been used but any use in this context is abhorrent and unjustifiable.We expressed our strong concern to the Iraqi Government which is well aware of our position that the use of chemical weapons is totally unjustifiable and unacceptable.''

"Redman did not allude to any evidence at all" and further mislead, since seemingly the Iraqi government was not informed of the charges.

When Hammadi arrived at the State Department for his meeting with Schulz, he was besieged by the media asking about the massacre and unable to give coherent answers. Bewildered, he repeatedly asked the journalists the basis for their questions.

The meeting with Schulz was a dismal: "with Iraq's expectations of U.S. assistance in rebuilding after the Iran-Iraq war dashed."

"Within twenty-four hours of Redman's press release, the Senate voted unanimously to impose economic sanctions on Iraq which would cancel sales of food and technology.

Whilst the genocidal and ecocidal U.N. blockade on Iraq from August 1990 is remembered, this previous U.S. stab in the back to a former ally on its financial knees is forgotten.

Thus, in addition to Kuwait's alleged fiscal sabotage was, from September 9th, 1988: "... a two year record that amounts to economic harassment of Iraq by the American State Department, media, and Congress."

However, after the chemical weapons announcement, the near daily rhetoric regarding Saddam from Washington and Whitehall was that: "he gasses his own people", "uses chemical weapons against his own people." And the drums of war beat ever louder.

In fact: "US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped Saddam Hussein build up his arsenal of deadly chemical and biological weapons ... As an envoy from President Reagan ... he had a secret meeting with (Saddam) and arranged enormous military assistance for his war with Iran ... a Senate committee investigating the relationship between the U.S. and Iraq discovered that in the mid-1980s - following the Rumsfeld visit - dozens of biological agents were shipped to Iraq under licence from the Commerce Department. (Emphasis mine.)

"They included anthrax, subsequently identified by the Pentagon as a key component of the Iraqi biological warfare programme ... ' The Commerce Department also approved the export of insecticides to Iraq, despite widespread suspicions that they were being used for chemical warfare.' " (viii)

Pressure on Iraq accelerating, the U.S.-U.K., and "coalition" was handed another propaganda coup, when, on 15th March 1990, Iraq executed Farzad Bazoft, an Iranian born freelance journalist with a desk at London's Observer newspaper. 

After a massive explosion as al-Iskaderia military complex, south of Baghdad, Bazoft had persuaded Daphne Parrish, a British nurse, working in Baghdad, to take him to the perimeter of the site of the explosion. There he took photographs and two containers of soil samples. He attempted to leave Baghdad the following day, but was arrested, with the samples and photographs at Baghdad airport. 

Iraq was again the Western media and governments' mega demon. But an Iranian acting as he did, after the appalling eight year war would surely have led any country, in such circumstances to act similarly. Witness U.S. paranoia after the tragedy of losing three buildings. Daphne Parrish's book: "Prisoner in Baghdad" gives the lie to any claims of Bazoft's innocence.

Just two weeks later America was demanding the chemicals for weapons "by June." On 25th July 1990, at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, America's Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie assured Saddam Hussein: "We have no opinion on your Arab - Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America.(ix) " On 2nd August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.

The response was the reduction of Iraq to a "pre-industrial age", as threatened by James Baker, in the forty two day blitz from January 17th 1991. On February 15, in the preamble to cease-fire proposal, Saddam Hussein said "The years 1988 and 1989 saw sustained campaigns in the press and other media and by other officials in the United States and other nations to pave the way for the fulfillment of vicious aims (i.e., war.) 

Had there been one more "vicious aim" though? Was the urging, indeed the threatening demands for chemical weapons ingredients been because the plan had been to use them and blame Iraq? Is it possible there was a plan to even sacrifice their own troops in a ploy that would have likely had U.N., backing invasion and overthrow Saddam Hussein's government had it been thought to have used such appalling weapons?

In the event, the chemical companies stood firm and: "left without the supply of thionyl chloride necessary to meet the production deadline, five weeks later the Bush administration 'offered' to halt binary production during chemical disarmament negotiations with the Soviet Union."(x)

The: "conclusion is that the US chemical industry's refusal to produce necessary precursor chemicals, left the Bush administration with no other option than to fully commit to chemical disarmament." 

In the event, the chemical - and radiological - weapons the U.S., used were in up to 750 tons of depleted uranium weaponry.

We will have to wait for another trove of documents to be "liberated" from the U.S., Administration to affirm whether the theory regarding the pressure for the chemical weapons is correct. However, given the propaganda parallels in media, from governments with the current situation with Syria and the near certainty that chemical horrors are being used by the Western backed insurgents and blamed on President Assad's policies, the all is well worth bearing in mind.

As Brian Becker concluded regarding Saddam's accusations:"The Washington Post's story on the cease-fire proposal of February 15, 1991 was titled simply: 'Baghdad's Conspiracy Theory of Recent History.' Some conspiracies theories just happen to be true."