Monday, October 31, 2011
China and the US: The roadmaps While Beijing tries to address the West's concerns, Hillary Clinton has a conflicting vision for the 21st century. Pepe Escobar
Inquiring minds scattered across the world have been pondering whether Washington elites are sneakily slouching towards Beijing - as in eventually focusing on China as the ultimate bogeyman and catalyst of the Pentagon-denominated Long War.
It's as if Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention Libya and the fight for African resources, were mere pawns in the master chess game of the 21st century featuring the US and China.
The Arab Spring, in its early Tunisian and Egyptian chapters, led to the impression that the neo-conservatives promoted 'clash of civilisations' was over.
But the 2012 race to the White House has revealed that it is a return of the living dead. With the troubling add-on that Washington reserves for itself the right of nuclear first strikes against any possible confrontation with competitors - China and Russia.
So it's time to back off and examine how the leadership in Washington and Beijing is interpreting the future.
Exhibit A is China's Peaceful Development, a white paper released by the State Council Information Office, the cabinet at the heart of the system in Beijing.
Exhibit B is America's Pacific Century, a wittily-titled essay published by Foreign Policy magazine and written by “global superstar” (according to CNN) and smart power practitioner US Secretary of State Hillary “We came, we saw, he died” Clinton.
Readers are strongly encouraged to read both documents and draw their own conclusions.
Don't rock my domestic boat
First a word on how Beijing works. The 370-member Central Committee - including ministers, provincial leaders, the top military brass, heads of state companies - is a sort of mega-board of directors of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Central Committee selects the 25-member Politburo. And the Politburo selects the nine-member Standing Committee, the holy of the holies. It's fair to assume the white paper has been commissioned and approved by these gentlemen.
The Politburo and the Standing Committee are responsible for the Communist Party's tight grip on the Chinese state, the economy, the civil service, the military, police, education, the media, and last but not least, the carefully constructed official narrative of how China finally got rid of repeated historical humiliations by foreigners and is now a resurgent civilisation.
The white paper has a crystal clear objective; to explain the Chinese model - and the mind-bending subtleties of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" - to the West.
The target audience is Washington and London, Paris, Berlin and Rome.
Yet the fact that Western corporate media barely noticed - not to mention discussed - the paper is already troubling.
The white paper stresses China's "strong collective consciousness" and "sense of social responsibility" as much as the "multipolarity" of international relations. At the same time, in a subtle nod towards Washington, it rejects a "dangerous cold and hot war mentality".
Three ultimate fears prevail in Beijing's narrative. 1) A hardened Cold War mentality blinding the West; 2) The possibility of a trade war with the West; 3)Luan ("chaos") of the political kind, provoked by outsiders who resent China's phenomenal economic success.
Even while discussing foreign policy, the paper makes it clear China's top priority is domestic stability.
China’s interpretation of foreign investment, for instance, is that it is welcomed as long as it enhances domestic stability.
Thus everything is subordinated to "harmonious development" - Chinese President Hu Jintao’s trademark doctrine.
"China's top priority is domestic stability." - Pepe Escobar |
That even implies, in the future, mechanisms to allow the Chinese people to "supervise the government" - something that in the West may be interpreted as democracy, even though not related to Scandinavia’s.
While Beijing endlessly worries about domestic stability, the paper also stresses how dangerously easy it would be for a global economic crisis to force countries - another nod to Washington - to go to war.
So, essentially, Beijing wants "a peaceful mainly economic development in a peaceful multipolar world". Yet the multi-trillion dollar question is whether the 'Atlanticist' West will let it happen.
Hillary's concerns
Hillary’s essay is bound to express the views of the State Department, which may not necessarily be shared by the Pentagon and the CIA.
For all the smart power rhetoric, the stress is on "continued American leadership well into this century".
Beijing will also be slightly disturbed that "our treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Thailand are the fulcrum for our strategic turn to the Asia-Pacific".
Hillary feels obliged to nod to her "Chinese counterparts, State Councillor Dai Bingguo and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi", as they have been engaged in "candid discussions about important challenges like North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and developments in the South China Sea."
"Challenges" is the understatement of the century; China and the US fiercely disagree on all these dossiers.
A measure of wishful thinking is at hand, as in "we look to China to take steps to allow its currency to appreciate more rapidly, both against the dollar and against the currencies of its other major trading partners."
It won’t happen - and Beijing has already made it clear.
As in a Freudian slip, Hillary let it know that "Europe, home to most of our traditional allies, is still a partner of first resort". And then "we move forward to set the stage for engagement in the Asia-Pacific over the next 60 years".
So what is it going to be; a special relationship with Europe and just "engagement" with Asia-Pacific?
Unlike Beijing in the white paper trying to address the West's concerns, Hillary only seems bothered to address Americans.
What she does not say, but leaves implied, has more impact than the text itself. The eternal notion of the US as the indispensable nation. The barely disguised feeling of "danger" about the rise of China. The US in Asia as a benevolent outside power.
Beijing would have noticed there is not a word on Washington's global drive to control remaining sources of oil, while trying to make life to Beijing as hard as possible.
Not a word on the Pentagon-defined "arc of instability": from the Maghreb to - you guessed it - Western China.
Not a word on the "need of strategic stability" for the Indian Ocean - which will put the US on a collision course not only with China but also with India.
"Unlike Washington and Tehran, who never talk to each other, at least Washington and Beijing are talking, even if past one another." - Pepe Escobar |
Not a word on the US Navy's 2007 maritime strategy - "sustained, forward presence" in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. Or the US Marine Corps 2008 "Vision and Strategy" - covering up to 2025 - defining the Indian Ocean as a privileged theatre of conflict.
Unlike Washington and Tehran, who never talk to each other, at least Washington and Beijing are talking, even if past one another.
Beijing has already announced its peaceful intentions. But when it looks at Africa - and sees its trade and commercial deals being counter-acted by a Pentagon-led militarisation drive - the conclusion is self-evident.
One can only hope that the parties will keep speaking softly - while carrying no big stick. http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/10/2011102812222630653.html
Is Capitalism Losing the Debate? by Carl Finamore
A remarkable shift in mass public opinion is occurring right before our eyes. It does not happen often. Normally, only when there is a severe breakdown in public confidence about the future.
Now is such a time.
Millions are demanding clear explanations for the economic turmoil surrounding their lives and rejecting en masse standard platitudes from an increasingly discredited political establishment.
Fox-News pundits, Heritage Foundation business scholars, glib right-wing loud mouths and two-faced politicians from both major parties have been exposed as stand-in ventriloquists for the wealthy – shockingly, all in a few short weeks.
It all began with only a few hundred protestors camped out on Wall Street challenging conceited notions of the one percent.
Through it all, the Occupy Movement is discovering what my generation learned during the civil rights, antiwar, feminist and gay rights struggles begun some 65 years ago – the ideas of the rich and powerful just don’t stand up.
They don’t hold water. That is, they do not accurately explain what is happening around us, the measure most rational people use to determine if something is true or false. READ MORE
Sunday, October 30, 2011
U.S. to boost Gulf presence after Iraq pullout: report | Reuters
U.S. to boost Gulf presence after Iraq pullout: report | Reuters
Endless wars without borders is now our main stay.
Colonialism at it's finest.
Wonder if we would stay if we got off fossil fuels?
No !
It is time to nationalize all energy corporations.
Divide and conquer.
Encroach, and surround Iran.
When will we stop being the agent of chaos for Israel, and Saudi Arabia?
Endless wars without borders is now our main stay.
Colonialism at it's finest.
Wonder if we would stay if we got off fossil fuels?
No !
It is time to nationalize all energy corporations.
Divide and conquer.
Encroach, and surround Iran.
When will we stop being the agent of chaos for Israel, and Saudi Arabia?
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Agreement between the Swiss Federal Council and the Bank for International Settlements to determine the Bank’s legal status in Switzerland
 |
| Go on. You know you want to. Take a peek behind this curtain of the powers that be. |
(of 10 February 1987; text as amended
effective 1 January 2003 by the exchange of letters
of 18 December 2002/13 January 2003)
1
The Swiss Federal Council
of the one part, and
The Bank for International Settlements
of the other part.
Having regard to the Convention of 20th January 1930
respecting the Bank for International Settlements, the
Constituent Charter and Statutes of the Bank, and the Protocol
of 30th July 1936 regarding the immunities of the Bank for
International Settlements;
Desiring, in the light of the practice followed since 1930, to
settle their mutual relationships in a Headquarters Agreement;
Have agreed upon the following provisions: READ MORE
Americans: Awash In Spin by Paul Craig Roberts
I have come to the conclusion that Big Brother’s subjects in George Orwell’s 1984are better informed than Americans.
Americans have no idea why they have been at war in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa for a decade. They don’t realize that their liberties have been supplanted by a Gestapo Police State. Few understand that hard economic times are here to stay.
On October 27, 2011, the US government announced some routine economic statistics, and the president of the European Council announced a new approach to the Greek sovereign debt crisis. The result of these funny numbers and mere words sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its largest monthly rally since 1974, erasing its 2011 yearly loss. The euro rose, putting the European currency again 40% above its initial parity with the US dollar when the euro was introduced.
On National Public Radio, a half-wit analyst declared, emphatically, that the latest US government statistics proved that the recovery was in place and that there was no danger whatsoever of a double-dip recession. And half-brain economists predicted a better tomorrow.
Europe is happy because the European private banks, the creditors of the European governments, have agreed to eat 50% of Greece’s sovereign debt and to be recapitalized by public money handed to them by the European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund. The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, thinks that Greece’s debt is the only sovereign debt to be written down and that the debt of Italy, Spain, and Portugal will somehow be bailed out through other means, including a Chinese contribution to the EFSF rescue fund. Obviously, if all EU sovereign debt has to be cut by 50% as well, the rescue fund would not be up to the job.
For our corrupt financial markets, any news that can be spun as good news can send stocks up. But what are the facts?
For facts, one has to turn to serious people, not to the presstitute media. Among those who give us real facts is John Williams of shadowstats.com. In his October 27 report, Williams exposes the happy second quarter 2011 economic growth figure of 2.5% as nonsense. Every other economic indicator contradicts the spin.
For example, personal consumption is reported to have increased 1.7%, but this surge in consumption took place despite a 1.7% collapse in consumer disposable income! In other words, if there was an increase in personal consumption, it came from drawing down savings or from incurring higher consumer debt.
A country’s consumers cannot forever draw down savings or go deeper into debt. For an economy to recover, there must be growth in consumer income. That growth is nowhere to be seen in the US. A large percentage of the goods and services sold to Americans by American corporations are now produced abroad by foreign labor. Thus, Americans no longer received incomes from the production of the goods and services that they consume. The American consumer market is on its way out.
The Dow Jones rose 339.51 points on the phony good news, but consumer sentiment is in the basement. John Williams reports that “consumer confidence hit the lowest levels ever recorded in 2008 and 2009” and that consumer confidence has now “fallen back to that 2008 level.” But the stock market boomed. Somehow a population 23% unemployed with debt up to its eyeballs is going to spark an economic recovery.
Recovery can only happen in the delusional world created for us by the concentrated media. No longer permitted to utter one world of truth, the presstitutes proclaim non-existent recoveries and weapons of mass destruction and demonize Washington’s chosen opponents.
The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has distracted Americans from the much worst crisis in their country. After two decades of exporting US manufacturing and middle class jobs, and after a decade of consumer debt growth that has resulted in millions of foreclosed homeowners and massive credit card and student loan debt that cannot be paid, consumers have no income growth or borrowing capacity with which to fuel an economy based on consumer demand.
European banks, already ruined by purchases of Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s AAA ratings of junk derivatives, now find themselves threatened by sovereign debt. Greece’s debt crisis, caused with Goldman Sachs’ help in hiding the true debt of the country as was done for Enron, has brought to light that Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain, in addition to Greece, have more debt than the governments can service.
In the EU, unlike the US and UK, which have their own central banks that can create new money to bail out the over-indebted governments, the EU central bank is prohibited by treaty from printing money in order to purchase bonds from member states that cannot be redeemed.
Regardless of the treaty prohibition, the EU central bank has been lending Greece the money to pay its bond holders. The imposed austerity that is part of the deal created political instability in Greece.
Now that European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has announced a 50% write-off by private banks of Greek sovereign debt, can the same treatment be denied Portugal, Italy, and Spain?
The European Central Bank is following the lead of the Federal Reserve and creating new money to bail out debt. The cost will be paid in inflation and flight from the euro and the dollar. As an indication of the future, despite the positive spin on the news and the rise in US stocks, on October 27 the Japanese yen rose to a new high against the US dollar. http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/10/29/americans-awash-in-spin/
China to the rescue?
Eurozone rescue fund tries to tempt China with bonds issued in yuan - Telegraph: The head of the European rescue fund says it could issue bonds in yuan, as he attempted to tempt China into backing Europe’s bailout.
“We have so far only issued euro bonds but we are authorised to use any currency we want if it seems efficient,” Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said.
"It also depends on the Chinese authorities, whether they would approve that. I think it is probably more difficult. But I could imagine that over the years it might happen," he added.
China has the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world, valued at $3.2 trillion (£2 trillion)
Mr Regling also said that investors may be protected against a fifth of any initial losses.
“The EFSF will take a certain tranche that will be a junior tranche, which means if something goes wrong, the first loss will be carried by the EFSF. It could be around 20pc,” Mr Regling said in a speech at Tsinghua University.
(read more)
The euro-zone crisis: China to the rescue? The Economist… IT WAS only a matter of time before China was heralded as Europe’s escape route from its debt crisis. News that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, called Hu Jintao, his opposite number in China, after the crisis summit on October 27th sparked speculation that China might put substantial amounts of money into the debt of troubled euro-zone borrowers. The chatter grew louder when Klaus Regling, the head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the euro area’s bail-out fund, visited Beijing a day later. And a poor post-summit Italian bond auction has made the need for a deus ex machina seem even greater.
China certainly has lots of money to invest. its foreign-exchange reserves are reckoned at $3.2 trillion. It trades more with the EU than any other partner. It has exposure to the euro already. How much is not known, but currency analysts suspect that about a quarter of those reserves are already euro-denominated, giving it an incentive to keep the currency strong. It also suits China to play the part of a constructive economic actor.
Then again, we have been here many times before during the euro-zone saga. You can trace the growing seriousness of the crisis by the list of countries that have had talks with the Chinese about investments: first Greece, then Portugal, Spain and now countries at the very core of the euro zone. The pattern to date has always been the same: lots of encouraging rhetoric, perhaps even a little cash, but not enough to meet initial expectations.
There is at least something different on offer now. In the past, investment in euro-zone debt has meant taking on as much risk, and sometimes more risk, than the Europeans themselves have been willing to absorb. No one could ever explain why the Chinese would want to do that. Now China will be able to choose to invest in euro-zone debt that is ensured by the EFSF, or to buy senior tranches of the special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) that the EFSF will capitalise. China would explicitly be taking less risk than the Europeans.
(read more)
“We have so far only issued euro bonds but we are authorised to use any currency we want if it seems efficient,” Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said.
"It also depends on the Chinese authorities, whether they would approve that. I think it is probably more difficult. But I could imagine that over the years it might happen," he added.
China has the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world, valued at $3.2 trillion (£2 trillion)
Mr Regling also said that investors may be protected against a fifth of any initial losses.
“The EFSF will take a certain tranche that will be a junior tranche, which means if something goes wrong, the first loss will be carried by the EFSF. It could be around 20pc,” Mr Regling said in a speech at Tsinghua University.
(read more)
The euro-zone crisis: China to the rescue? The Economist… IT WAS only a matter of time before China was heralded as Europe’s escape route from its debt crisis. News that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, called Hu Jintao, his opposite number in China, after the crisis summit on October 27th sparked speculation that China might put substantial amounts of money into the debt of troubled euro-zone borrowers. The chatter grew louder when Klaus Regling, the head of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the euro area’s bail-out fund, visited Beijing a day later. And a poor post-summit Italian bond auction has made the need for a deus ex machina seem even greater.
China certainly has lots of money to invest. its foreign-exchange reserves are reckoned at $3.2 trillion. It trades more with the EU than any other partner. It has exposure to the euro already. How much is not known, but currency analysts suspect that about a quarter of those reserves are already euro-denominated, giving it an incentive to keep the currency strong. It also suits China to play the part of a constructive economic actor.
Then again, we have been here many times before during the euro-zone saga. You can trace the growing seriousness of the crisis by the list of countries that have had talks with the Chinese about investments: first Greece, then Portugal, Spain and now countries at the very core of the euro zone. The pattern to date has always been the same: lots of encouraging rhetoric, perhaps even a little cash, but not enough to meet initial expectations.
There is at least something different on offer now. In the past, investment in euro-zone debt has meant taking on as much risk, and sometimes more risk, than the Europeans themselves have been willing to absorb. No one could ever explain why the Chinese would want to do that. Now China will be able to choose to invest in euro-zone debt that is ensured by the EFSF, or to buy senior tranches of the special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) that the EFSF will capitalise. China would explicitly be taking less risk than the Europeans.
(read more)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Pambazuka - The United States and the Lord’s Resistance Army
Pambazuka - The United States and the Lord’s Resistance Army
cc T EWith the US announcing that 100 troops will be sent to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army, Gary K. Busch unpacks the history of US intervention in Africa - and points to recent oil discoveries in East Africa as the real reason for the military intervention.
cc T EWith the US announcing that 100 troops will be sent to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army, Gary K. Busch unpacks the history of US intervention in Africa - and points to recent oil discoveries in East Africa as the real reason for the military intervention.
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77435
Printer friendly version
US President Barack Obama said on Friday 14 October 2011 that 100 troops would help Uganda track down Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel chief Joseph Kony and other senior LRA leaders. This is interesting, indeed, but it is not news. The US has been among those who have been fighting LRA for over 15 years without any discernible success. The fight against the LRA has brought together in the US Congress a consensus from all wings of the political process - from one extreme to the other. The legislation was sponsored by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold and involved almost every humanitarian NGO and outraged citizen groups arrayed against the depredations of the LRA.
The US has a very poor track record in attacking the LRA. An earlier US military co-involvement with Uganda’s army - Operation Lighting Thunder - in December 2008, was a disastrous failure, leading to additional massacres of Congolese civilians. There’s not a single place in Africa where US military intervention has resulted in a favourable resolution and restoration of peace and stability. It is not for the want of trying. There are around 2,500 service personnel permanently stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The Camp supports approximately 2,500 US, joint and allied forces military and civilian personnel and US Department of Defense contractors. Additionally, the base provides employment for approximately 1,200 local and third country nation workers. Camp Lemonnier provides, operates and sustains and supports regional and combatant command requirements; and enables operations in the Horn of Africa and nearby.
There are around 320 additional Special Forces personnel operating in West Africa, including three teams in the Niger Delta. The upsurge of Boko Haram violence in Northern Nigeria has attracted more. Others are working, with the Marines, in training exercises across Africa. There are three ‘Psychops’ groups operating in East Africa, especially in Kenya’s Northeast Frontier. This is in addition to scores of private military corporations (like Dyncorp or the several companies formed by retired US brass). READ MORE
Liberals get 'deja vu' and complain Dems have bungled in debt talks - TheHill.com
Liberals get 'deja vu' and complain Dems have bungled in debt talks - TheHill.com
When will these so called "liberals" wake the EFF up, and understand that the RepuloCratic party does not represent them.
They sold out to the oligarchs long ago.
The whole system is corrupt and dysfunctional.
They are accused of [caving] [surrendering] [appeasing] etc.
NO, they are one in the same.
One is just a lighter, gentler, kinder version than the other.
The end result is the same.
The Neocons took us to war.
The Neolibs will keep us in an endless war without borders.
Of course they use the justification of [ responsibility to protect R2P].
Nonsense.
It is all to further the empire of the transnational corporations.
Our blood, sweat, and tears, for their bottom line.
Mistake after mistake, is not a mistake.
It is just suppose to look like one.
Damn be these Masters of War that are leading our country and the world into the abyss.
When will these so called "liberals" wake the EFF up, and understand that the RepuloCratic party does not represent them.
They sold out to the oligarchs long ago.
The whole system is corrupt and dysfunctional.
They are accused of [caving] [surrendering] [appeasing] etc.
NO, they are one in the same.
One is just a lighter, gentler, kinder version than the other.
The end result is the same.
The Neocons took us to war.
The Neolibs will keep us in an endless war without borders.
Of course they use the justification of [ responsibility to protect R2P].
Nonsense.
It is all to further the empire of the transnational corporations.
Our blood, sweat, and tears, for their bottom line.
Mistake after mistake, is not a mistake.
It is just suppose to look like one.
Damn be these Masters of War that are leading our country and the world into the abyss.
CIA History of DCI William Colby Finally Qualifies as "Non-Secret"
CIA History of DCI William Colby
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 362
Washington, D.C., October 28, 2011 - CIA director William Colby rebuffed criticisms from senior Agency operators about disclosure of CIA misdeeds by describing the difference between "bad secrets," "non-secrets," "good secrets" and "lesser" secrets, according to a previously SECRET internal CIA history of the Colby tenure, published today on the Web by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org).
Colby responded in March 1974 to the head of the CIA's clandestine service, who claimed that any public discussion would "degrade the fabric of our security" and "lead inevitably to a further exposure of intelligence sources and methods," by writing:
The posting features an introduction and review written by Archive senior fellow John Prados, author of the widely-praised biography, William Colby and the CIA: The Secret Wars of a Controversial Spymaster (University Press of Kansas, 2009). The favorable Prados review points out some shortcomings as well, including the history's lack of attention to Colby's fraught relationships with Presidents Nixon and Ford, and most of all, Henry Kissinger. Declassified Kissinger transcripts show Kissinger fuming about Colby's airing of the CIA's dirty laundry, but Prados concludes that Colby in effect saved the CIA from possible abolition as an agency.
Opening in Washington, D.C. on October 28 at the Landmark E Street Theater is a biographic documentary produced by Colby's son Carl, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby.
From the film's Web site: "A son's riveting look at a father whose life seemed straight out of a spy thriller . the story is at once a probing history of the CIA, a personal memoir of a family living in clandestine shadows, and an inquiry into the hard costs of a nation's most cloaked actions .. The film forges a fascinating mix of rare archival footage, never-before-seen photos, and interviews with the 'who's who' of American intelligence, including former National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense and Director of CIA James Schlesinger, as well PulitzerPrize journalists Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh and Tim Weiner."
 |
| DCI William Colby speaks during a National Security Council meeting on the situation on Vietnam. April 28, 1975. Clockwise, left to right, Colby; Robert S. Ingersoll, Deputy Secretary of State; Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State; President Ford: James Schlesinger, Defense Secretary; William Clements, Deputy Secretary of Defense; Vice President Nelson Rockefeller; General George S. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (lower left corner). Image A4234-11A ,http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/avproj/vietnam.asp Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, MI |
CIA Director Distinguishes "bad"/"good"/"lesser" and "non-secrets"
Colby Bio-Documentary Opens in Washington October 28
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 362
Posted - October 28, 2011For more information contact:
John Prados - 202/994-7000
nsarchiv@gwu.edu
Washington, D.C., October 28, 2011 - CIA director William Colby rebuffed criticisms from senior Agency operators about disclosure of CIA misdeeds by describing the difference between "bad secrets," "non-secrets," "good secrets" and "lesser" secrets, according to a previously SECRET internal CIA history of the Colby tenure, published today on the Web by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org).
Colby responded in March 1974 to the head of the CIA's clandestine service, who claimed that any public discussion would "degrade the fabric of our security" and "lead inevitably to a further exposure of intelligence sources and methods," by writing:
"There are some 'bad secrets' which are properly revealed by an aggressive press. there are some older 'non-secrets' which no longer need to be kept secret and which we should gradually surface, but there are some 'good secrets' which deserve greater protection than we have been able to give them, in part by reason of their association with 'secrets' of lesser importance."The latest declassification (in August 2011) from a series of secret studies by the CIA History Staff of the agency's directors, the volume gains credibility from its authorship by veteran CIA analyst and operative Harold Ford, who courageously presented to the Congress well-documented internal critiques of CIA director-designate Robert Gates during his confirmation hearings in 1991. To win confirmation, Gates had to promise Congress not to fire Ford in retaliation. The history, William Colby as Director of Central Intelligence, 1973-1976, provides detailed accounts of key episodes such as the firing of counterintelligence chief James Angleton, Colby's role in the revelation of the CIA "family jewels," and the collapse of South Vietnam, where Colby had spent much of his career.
The posting features an introduction and review written by Archive senior fellow John Prados, author of the widely-praised biography, William Colby and the CIA: The Secret Wars of a Controversial Spymaster (University Press of Kansas, 2009). The favorable Prados review points out some shortcomings as well, including the history's lack of attention to Colby's fraught relationships with Presidents Nixon and Ford, and most of all, Henry Kissinger. Declassified Kissinger transcripts show Kissinger fuming about Colby's airing of the CIA's dirty laundry, but Prados concludes that Colby in effect saved the CIA from possible abolition as an agency.
Opening in Washington, D.C. on October 28 at the Landmark E Street Theater is a biographic documentary produced by Colby's son Carl, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby.
From the film's Web site: "A son's riveting look at a father whose life seemed straight out of a spy thriller . the story is at once a probing history of the CIA, a personal memoir of a family living in clandestine shadows, and an inquiry into the hard costs of a nation's most cloaked actions .. The film forges a fascinating mix of rare archival footage, never-before-seen photos, and interviews with the 'who's who' of American intelligence, including former National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense and Director of CIA James Schlesinger, as well PulitzerPrize journalists Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh and Tim Weiner."
Egypt: We Will Not Pay the Debts of Tyranny
We Will Not Pay the Debts of Tyranny
“In the transition from an oligarchy or a tyranny to a democracy…persons refuse to fulfill their contracts or any other obligations, on the ground that the tyrant, and not the state, contracted them”—Aristotle.
Egypt owes about thirty-five billion USD (or 210 billion EGP) in foreign debts, which impose on us an annual burden of about eighteen billion EGP. These debts were accumulated under the previous regime in accordance with its political and economic priorities. We are paying off these debts from our own pockets instead of spending on healthcare, education or social services. A number of activists and civil society organizations inside and outside of Egypt have, therefore, designated 31 October the global day for Egyptian debt cancellation This is a prelude to a popular campaign that aims to remove this burden off the shoulders of the Egyptian people, who were neither responsible in any way for the decision to take on these debts, nor were they ever consulted in how these funds were spent.
Dropping Odious Debts READ MORE
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