Tuesday, January 31, 2012
WSJ And Climate Change Denial - Peter Gleick
Serious doubt has been cast on the actual expertise on climate science of the signers and on the accuracy of the content, here and elsewhere, and the strawman arguments and technical flaws of their opinion piece are evident to anyone actually versed in the scientific debate. For example, their op-ed has fundamental errors about recent actual temperatures, they use false/strawman arguments that climate scientists are saying climate change “will destroy civilization,” they launch ad hominem attack on particular climate scientists using out-of-context quotes, and so on. Formal responses are in the works, and will be available from a variety of groups in the next day or so. [Just as an example, as pointed out here previously, and at the Union of Concerned Scientists: the authors claim there has been a “lack of warming” for 10 years. The reality? 2011 was the 35th year in a row in which global temperatures were above the historical average and 2010 and 2005 were the warmest years on record.]
But the most amazing and telling evidence of the bias of the Wall Street Journal in this field is the fact that 255 members of the United States National Academy of Sciences wrote a comparable (but scientifically accurate) essay on the realities of climate change and on the need for improved and serious public debate around the issue, offered it to the Wall Street Journal, and were turned down. The National Academy of Sciences is the nation’s pre-eminent independent scientific organizations. Its members are among the most respected in the world in their fields. Yet the Journal wouldn’t publish this letter, from more than 15 times as many top scientists. Instead they chose to publish an error-filled and misleading piece on climate because some so-called experts aligned with their bias signed it. This may be good politics for them, but it is bad science and it is bad for the nation.
Science magazine, perhaps the nation’s most important journal on scientific issues, published the NAS letter after WSJ turned it down.
Do you have an open mind? Read both, side by side. And understand that every national academy of sciences on the planet agrees with the reality and seriousness of human caused climate change.
The letter signed by 255 National Academy of Sciences members, from Science magazine.
The letter signed by 16 “scientists” in the Wall Street Journal.
8 Industries China Leads Where America Used To
24/7 Wall St.: The most popular U.S. companies in China
Low labor costs are not the sole reason China has become the single largest provider of many goods. China’s 1.3 billion citizens have become voracious consumers as workers in its manufacturing sector have grown the number of its middle class. China also has decided that it is often financially better to provide its own raw material for its factories— items like cotton — than it is to import such items from overseas.
24/7 Wall St. examined the manufacturing, agricultural and financial businesses in which China has surpassed the U.S. China likely will become the world’s largest economy based on GDP. It certainly has shown that it has the capacity to advance on that position — one large industry at a time. Full article here.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Warfare For Cowards
'The ancient Greeks, unlike the Jews or the Christians, invested their gods with human failings. Divine judgement, they believed, was neither flawless nor dispassionate; it was warped by lust, vengeance and self-interest. In the hands of Zeus, the thunderbolt was both an instrument of justice and a weapon of jealousy and revenge.Those now dispensing judgement from on high are not gods, though they must feel like it. The people striking mortals down with drones are doubtless as capable as anyone else of self-deception, denial and cognitive illusions. More so perhaps, as the eminent fictions of the Bush years and the growing delusions of Obama suggest.'
Fully referenced article by George Monbiot here.
Afghanistan Exit - Operation Forked Tongue
'But in an apparent response to France's call for a speedier NATO exit from Afghanistan, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday this meant that "from mid-2013 we will start the final transition of provinces and districts to lead Afghan responsibility."'Based on NATO statement track records this, whatever it means and whatever part of NATO you care to believe, can be immediately discounted. Full story (fiction alert).
100,000 Pakistanis In Anti-Drone Protest
… “Movements like Occupy Wall Street are just the beginning of the end of the imperialism of America and its Western allies,” he [Rehman] said.
“We are being forced to become extremists. When you and your religion are humiliated in Guantanamo Bay detention centre and your children are being crushed under tanks, then what the victims will ultimately do? They’ll counter your extremism with extremism.” Link.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan - Immortal
RZ is temporarily hors de combat due to continuing technical difficulties probably connected to solar flares. This is for him with wishes of a speedy return. The great Ustad:
'He practiced for 18 hours a day, even on his deathbed he was thinking only of his music. He was a great man and a great soul and it shows in his music. You all talk of his greatness but to him he was just a beginner in music, he used to say that he knew nothing. This is how great he is, he could not see his own greatness and only the greatness of the music and maata sarasvati.' LINK.
Iran To Cut Oil To Certain EU Countries
The EU formally imposed an oil embargo on Iran and agreed to a freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Iran on Monday, but existing contracts will be honored until July 1.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Qasemi said, “According to the Oil Ministry’s future plans, we will cut our exports to certain countries.”
“Less than 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports are destined for Europe,” he said, adding that the sanctions will take their toll on the European people and will not create a problem for Iran’s oil exports even if exports to Europe are halted.
The Iranian parliament is discussing a plan calling for a halt to Iran’s oil exports to the European countries that voted for sanctions on its oil industry.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
George H.W. and Jeb Bush Pay Obama an Unscheduled Visit - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
George H.W. and Jeb Bush Pay Obama an Unscheduled Visit - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
NUFF SAID.
What the EFF were they talking about?
They are all one happy family.
Jeb will be coming out soon.
His grooming is still in progress.
O must be getting a few pointers [orders] from Papa.
NUFF SAID.
What the EFF were they talking about?
They are all one happy family.
Jeb will be coming out soon.
His grooming is still in progress.
O must be getting a few pointers [orders] from Papa.
Flickr/White House
Wall Street execs are major Obama fundraisers - Contraception - Salon.com
Wall Street execs are major Obama fundraisers - Contraception - Salon.com
Barack Obama (Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Hekmatyar's never-ending Afghan war by MUJIB MASHAL
|
The year was 1985. In the heat of the CIA-backed Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union, a delegation of Afghan resistance leaders met with US President Ronald Reagan in the While House, where they were declared the "moral equivalent" to the founding fathers of the United States.
But one prominent visiting commander, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, refused to see the US president, despite reportedly receiving a hefty share of the roughly $200m that the CIA funnelled annually to Afghan guerrillas for defeating the invading Red Army.
Hekmatyar's war never ended, as today, almost four decades later, he fights the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, probably with some of the same weapons that US tax dollars paid for. To many, he epitomises the short-sighted alliances of the US, siding with unreliable figures who, even during their cooperation, openly expressed their dislike for the US world view.
"Known for his Russian killing," as one analyst put it, Hekmatyar instead went on a speaking tour, addressing crowds - of mostly Afghan refugees - in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Asia challenges US, Europe over Iran by GARIBOV KONSTANTIN
China, India and Turkey have warned that they won’t support a ban on Iranian oil imports and will try and prevent the US from blocking Iranian oil supplies. Japan and South Korea are planning to follow suit. Europe introduced an emnargo on Iran oil imports this week. The Voice of Russia’s Konstantin Garibov reports.
The new package of sanctions against Tehran which was approved by EU foreign ministers on Monday provides for a gradual ban on the import of Iranian oil and oil products. The EU plans to stop purchasing oil from Iran by July 1st . Until recently, the main buyers of Iranian oil in Europe were Greece, Italy and Spain, who bought 600,000 barrels a day.
Europe decided to buy itself some time so that it could find alternatives to Iranian oil imports. Yevgeny Satanovsky of the Institute of the Middle East says:
"Europe will have no problems replacing Iranian oil with oil from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, or Kuwait. The Gulf Cooperation Council has already made it clear that it will recoup the losses."
Meanwhile, Europe might be facing quite a headache as its oil refineries were designed to refine Iranian oil, and what’s more, a particular brand of it. Experts have been speculating on who will be hit by the embargo harder, the seller or the buyers? The IMF predicts a 20-30% increase in the cost of oil. That means an increase by 20-30 dollars. Sergei Druzhilovsky of the Moscow Institute for International Relations says: READ MORE
US Plans for Perpetual War by Renee Parsons
As an attack on Iran remains temporarily on the backburner and Syria, home to US-identified terrorist group Hamas, moves up the queue as the next target for military intervention, both are part of a larger strategy proposed to newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996.
The "Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" suggested a "new approach to peace' premised on a 'clean break' from the Oslo peace process of the 1990's. Oslo would have withdrawn Israeli troops from the occupied territories while affirming Palestine's right of self-determination. Rather than pursuing a 'comprehensive peace' with the Arab world, Clean Break advocated an aggressive pre-emptive military strategy to destabilize Iraq and eliminate Saddam Hussein. In addition, Clean Break retained the 'right of hot pursuit' anywhere within the occupied territories and encouraged 'seizing the initiative' by "engaging" Hezbollah, Syria and Iran to trigger ultimate regime change.
The key authors of that document, American neo-cons Richard Perle, David Wurmser and Douglas Feith (who Gen. Tommy Franks called the 'f... stupidest guy on the face of the earth" i.e. Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack, pg 281), soon found themselves influential national security positions within a receptive Bush Administration from which to proselytize their recommendations. RED MORE
African Union's new Chinese-built headquarters opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | GlobalPost
African Union's new Chinese-built headquarters opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | GlobalPost
A view of the new African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa on January 24, 2012. The AU headquarters was built and fully funded by the Chinese government at a cost of $200 million. The building will host this year’s AU Summit in the Ethiopian capital, which brings together heads of state from across the continent. The towering building – Addis Ababa’s tallest – symbolizes China’s strengthening ties with Africa, a major source of foreign investment from China. (JENNY VAUGHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Trench: White House Propaganda Machine Set On Turbo
The Trench: White House Propaganda Machine Set On Turbo
| Dennis Ross and Bibi having a laugh. The joke is on us folks. Ross is an Israel firster and should be exposed for what he is. As long as he and his fellow traveling Likudnik Zionists keep the influence that they have in our government. We and world peace are doomed. |
Postponed Joint Israel-US War Games Back On? | Common Dreams
Postponed Joint Israel-US War Games Back On? | Common Dreams
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a United States Army system to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate ballistic missiles. THAAD was designed to hit Scuds and similar weapons, but also has a limited capability against ICBMs.DEBKAfile, the Jerusalem-based English language Israeli military intelligence website said of the earlier postponement:
A US 'Terminal High Altitude Area Defense' (THADD) missile launchSpeaking off the record, both US and Israeli authorities tell the JTA news wire that tensions with Iran indeed played a role in the rescheduling, but declined to say how exactly. Captain John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, tells the outlet that the plans were put on hold for routine reasons of wanting “optimum participation” by both the US and Israel.
On January 15th, Israeli and American officials mysteriously postponed plansfor a massive missile drill, but now the exercise, originally slated for this spring, will apparently be scheduled for October 2012.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a United States Army system to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate ballistic missiles. THAAD was designed to hit Scuds and similar weapons, but also has a limited capability against ICBMs.DEBKAfile, the Jerusalem-based English language Israeli military intelligence website said of the earlier postponement:US-Israeli discord over action against Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have ever staged, ready to go in spring, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was hesitant over sanctions against Iran's central bank and oil for fear of a spike in oil prices.
The row between Washington and Jerusalem is now in the open, undoubtedly causing celebration in Tehran.
Now, Austere Challenge 12 is reportedly back on the books and U.S. military officers begin arriving in Israel next week to prepare.
* * *
Israel's Ma’ariv newspaper broke the story Friday in an article in Hebrew. The Israeli media network Arutz Sheva reports:
Postponed Israel-U.S. Drill to be Held in October
The largest-ever anti-missile military exercise with the United States, which Israel postponed a week and a half ago, will be held in October, the Ma’ariv newspaper reported.
The report said that the decision to hold the exercise in October was reached late on Thursday night, after lengthy discussions between defense officials. [...]
Ma’ariv also noted that in preparation for the drill, U.S. military officers will arrive in Israel next week. About 3,000 U.S. soldiers are expected to arrive in Israel to take part in the large-scale exercise, the report said, and they will be joined by about 2,000 IDF soldiers.
* * *
And Russia Today (RT) reports:
US and Israel Revive Largest Joint Anti-Missile Drills
[...] Now after a brief delay, America will send thousands of troops and its anti-missile defense systems to Israel, albeit a few months later than planned. With the exercise back in the books, it could mean that an eventual war between the US and Iran is still in the works — and now the world has a timeline to see it through.
A US 'Terminal High Altitude Area Defense' (THADD) missile launchSpeaking off the record, both US and Israeli authorities tell the JTA news wire that tensions with Iran indeed played a role in the rescheduling, but declined to say how exactly. Captain John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, tells the outlet that the plans were put on hold for routine reasons of wanting “optimum participation” by both the US and Israel.“We remain dedicated to this exercise and naturally want it to be as robust and as productive as it can be,” adds the captain.
Parts of the program involve a troop surge in the thousands as well as the deployment of America’s Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system and the ship-based Aegis system overseas. Israel’s own Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome missile systems will work in cooperation with their US counterparts. The US troops, estimated to be at a tally of 3,000, could arrive in Israel as early as next week. They will join forces with around 2,000 Israeli’s involved in the country’s own missile program.
Earlier this month, the US deployed 15,000 troops to the nearby nation of Kuwait. Israel has also in recent weeks increased its defense budget to the tune of $700 million.
ZIMBABWE: To Yuan or Not to Yuan, That is the Question By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO , Jan 26, 2012 (IPS) - From downtown shops that stock cheap clothing and shoes that fall apart after one wear, to mining concessions in platinum, gold and diamonds - the Chinese finger is now in virtually every Zimbabwean pie.
From city sidewalks to low-income suburbs, the Chinese have become part of the local population, and if some senior government bureaucrats have their way, the country could soon find itself adopting the Chinese Yuan as its official currency.
For some influential monetary policy czars, the massive assailing of the Zimbabwean economy by the Chinese now only requires the Yuan to strengthen these economic reconstruction efforts.
Invited by President Robert Mugabe as part of his infamous 2004 "Look East" policy to participate in driving the economy and employment creation, after relations with former traditional investment partners the European Union and United States soured, China has been able to create its own little sphere of influence and establish an ubiquitous presence in Zimbabwe.
This is despite being unpopular with Zimbabwe’s industrial and commercial players, and general members of the public who accuse the Chinese of poor labour practices and shoddy goods and services.
Late last year, Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, seen by many as a close ally of Mugabe, announced he was in favour of having the Chinese Yuan as the country’s official currency. After the Zimbabwean dollar was suspended in 2008, the country has been using a multi-currency regime, which includes the use of the U.S. greenback, the South African Rand and the Botswana Pula.
According to Gono, the Chinese Yuan would be introduced alongside the Zimbabwean dollar. Mugabe’s political supporters have been calling for currency reforms to bring back the Zimbabwean dollar.
"With the continuous firming of the Chinese Yuan, the U.S. dollar is fast ceasing to be the world's reserve currency and the Euro-Zone debt crisis has made things even worse. As a country, we still have the opportunity to avoid being caught napping by adopting the Chinese Yuan as part of consolidating the country's "Look East" policy," Gono told state media in November last year. READ MORE
Nigeria: Thrown into Chaos and a State of Civil War: The Role of the IMF by F. William Engdahl
Nigeria: Thrown into Chaos and a State of Civil War: The Role of the IMF
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its largest oil producer, is from all evidence being systematically thrown into chaos and a state of civil war. The recent surprise decision by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to abruptly lift subsidies on imported gasoline and other fuel has a far more sinister background than mere corruption and the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) is playing a key role. China appears to be the likely loser along with Nigeria’s population.
The recent strikes protesting the government’s abrupt elimination of gasoline and other fuel subsidies, that brought Nigeria briefly to a standstill, came as a surprise to most in the country. Months earlier President Jonathan had promised the major trade union organizations that he would conduct a gradual four-stage lifting of the subsidy to ease the economic burden. Instead, without warning he announced an immediate full removal of subsidies effective January 1, 2012. It was “shock therapy” to put it mildly.
Nigeria today is one of the world’s most important producers of light, sweet crude oil—the same high quality crude oil that Libya and the British North Sea produce. The country is showing every indication of spiraling downward into deep disorder. Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States and twelfth largest oil producer in the world on a par with Kuwait and just behind Venezuela with production exceeding two million barrels a day. 1
The curious timing of IMF subsidy demand READ MORE
The Iranian oil embargo blowback By Pepe Escobar
By Pepe Escobar
If the sorry parade of European poodles - or what analyst Chris Floyd delightfully dubbed Europuppies - had any understanding of Persian culture, they would have known that blowback for their declaration of economic war in the form of an Iranian oil embargo would be nothing short of heavy metal.
Better yet; death metal. The Majlis (Iranian parliament) will discuss this Sunday, in an open section, whether to cancel right away all oil exports to any European country that approved the embargo - according to Emad Hosseini, the rapporteur of the Majlis Energy Committee. And that comes with the requisite apocalyptic warning, relayed via the Fars news agency, courtesy of member of Parliament Nasser Soudani: "Europe will burn in the fire of Iran's oil wells."
Soudani expresses the views of the whole Tehran establishment
when he says that "the structure of their [Europe's] refineries is compatible with Iran's oil", and so Europeans have no alternative as replacement; the embargo "will cause an increase in oil prices, and the Europeans will be compelled to buy oil at higher prices"; that is, Europe "will be compelled to buy Iran's oil indirectly and through intermediaries".
According to the EU sanctions package, all existing contracts will be respected only until July 1 - and no new contracts are allowed. Now imagine if this pre-emptive Iranian legislation is voted within the next few days. Crisis-hit Club Med countries such as Spain and especially Italy and Greece will be dealt a deathblow, having no time to find a possible alternative to Iran's light, high-quality crude.
Saudi Arabia - whatever the oily spin in Western corporate media - does not have the spare capacity; and on top of it, the absolute priority for the House of Saud is high oil prices, so it can bribe - apart from repressing - its own population into forgetting about noxious Arab Spring ideas.
So yes, already broken European economies would be forced to keep buying Iranian oil, but now from the winners of choice - middlemen vultures.
Not surprisingly, the losers lost in these Cold War tactics anachronistically applied to a global open market are the Europeans themselves. Greece - already facing the abyss - has been buying heavily discounted oil from Iran. The strong possibility remains of the oil embargo precipitating a Greek government bond default - and even a catastrophic cascade effect in the eurozone (Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain - and beyond).
The world needs a digital Herodotus to decode how these European poodles who claim to represent "civilization" were able, in a single stroke, to inflict simultaneous pain on Greece - the cradle of Western civilization itself - and Persia - one of the most sophisticated civilizations in history. In an astonishing historical replay of tragedy as farce, it's as if Greeks and Persians were bonded together at the Thermopylae facing the onslaught of North Atlantic Treaty Organization armies.
Hit the Eurasian groove
Now compare it with the action all across Eurasia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "Unilateral sanctions don't help matters". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, exercising immense tact, nevertheless was unmistakable; "To blindly pressure and impose sanctions on Iran are not constructive approaches."
Now compare it with the action all across Eurasia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "Unilateral sanctions don't help matters". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, exercising immense tact, nevertheless was unmistakable; "To blindly pressure and impose sanctions on Iran are not constructive approaches."
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, "We have very good relations with Iran, and we are putting much effort into renewing Iran's talks with the 5+1 [Iran Six - the United Nations Security Council permanent members plus Germany] mediators' group. Turkey will continue looking for a peaceful solution to the issue.”
BRICS member India - alongside Russia and China - also dismissed sanctions. India will keep buying Iranian oil and paying in rupees or gold. South Korea and Japan will inevitably extract exemptions from the Barack Obama administration.
All across Eurasia trade is fast moving away from the US dollar. The Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, crucially, also means that Asia is slowly disengaging itself from Western banks.
The movement may be led by China - but it's irreversibly transnational. Once again, follow the money. BRICS members China and Brazil started bypassing the US dollar on trade in 2007. BRICS members Russia and China did the same in 2010. Japan and China - the top two Asian giants - did the same only last month.
Only last week, Saudi Arabia and China rolled out a project for a giant oil refinery in the Red Sea. And India more or less secretly is deciding to pay for Iranian oil in gold - even bypassing the current middleman, a Turkish bank.
Asia wants a new international system - and it's working for it. Inevitable long-term consequences; the US dollar - and, crucially, the petrodollar - slowly drifting into irrelevance. "Too Big to Fail" may turn out to be not a categorical imperative, but an epitaph.
Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan(Nimble Books, 2009). http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NA28Ak05.html
Growing Elite Opposition to Military Option Against Iran By Jim Lobe
The amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) transits the Strait of Hormuz.
Credit:U.S. Navy
WASHINGTON, Jan 26, 2012 (IPS) - Like the imminent prospect of one's hanging, to paraphrase the 18th century British essayist Dr. (Samuel) Johnson, the suddenly looming possibility of war can concentrate the mind wonderfully.
If that aphorism didn't apply in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq 10 years ago, it appears to be the case now for key sectors of the U.S. foreign-policy elite - notably, liberal hawks who supported the Iraq war - with regard to the sharp rise in tensions between Iran and both the U.S. and Israel earlier this month.
Amid a crescendo of threats by senior Israeli officials to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, the murder, presumably by Mossad, of a fifth Iranian nuclear scientist in the past several years, and a sharp escalation of Western economic sanctions designed to "cripple" Iran's economy, Tehran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz brought the until-then hypothetical possibility of war - whether by design, provocation or accident - sharply into view.
The hawkish declarations by Republican presidential candidates eager to prove their love for Israel to Christian fundamentalists and Jewish voters and donors didn't help, nor did a renewed and intensified drumbeat for "regime change" by some of the same neo- conservatives from institutions like the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD) that led the drive to war in Iraq. READ MORE
Thursday, January 26, 2012
ASEAN and SCO: Same traditions and missions By Vitaly Vorobyev
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, widely known as ASEAN, will celebrate its 45th anniversary in August 2012.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) marked its 10th anniversary in 2011. Both organizations lie at the vast Euro-Asian terrain. The 10 ASEAN member states constitute a southern part of this territory, while the six SCO member states (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) cover its heartland — the northern and eastern parts.
The most crucial world shipping lanes between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans pass through the ASEAN area to the Atlantic Ocean and Europe. At the same time the SCO area may be called as a land transport corridor connecting the Pacific Basin with Europe and the Atlantic coast.
Despite an “age difference” both unions have already established a chain of dialogue partners and observers among which are the largest and the most powerful states of the modern world. READ MORE
Answering Iran - Richard N. Haass - Project Syndicate
Answering Iran - Richard N. Haass - Project Syndicate
Keep in mind that Richard N. Haass is President of The Council on Foreign Relations when you read this.
Barack Obama’s “unbreakable bond” with Israel | Richard Sudan | Independent Editor's choice Blogs
Barack Obama’s “unbreakable bond” with Israel | Richard Sudan | Independent Editor's choice Blogs
Barack Obama has taken pandering to the Israeli lobby to shameful new levels. In a frankly shocking video, even by US standards, in what I can only describe as one the most cynical pieces of electioneering I have witnessed in my lifetime, Obama’s team has released a video re-affirming the USA’s special relationship with Zionism, and their unwavering commitment to supporting a state which draws legitimate comparisons to South Africa under apartheid.
Barack Obama has taken pandering to the Israeli lobby to shameful new levels. In a frankly shocking video, even by US standards, in what I can only describe as one the most cynical pieces of electioneering I have witnessed in my lifetime, Obama’s team has released a video re-affirming the USA’s special relationship with Zionism, and their unwavering commitment to supporting a state which draws legitimate comparisons to South Africa under apartheid.All the usual clichés are thrown in – the ones that became the very backbone of his platitudinous speeches in the run-up to the election in 2008, which now make me fume whenever I hear them, and feel angry for allowing myself to be suckered like everybody else. I, like millions of others, allowed myself to entertain the notion that this President might be different. That was a mistake.
Fast forward to 2012 and we now have an administration which has continued with the direction and legacy inherited from the Neo-Cons and engaged in new conflicts. READ MORE
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Afghanistan: Coffins for the U.S. and NATO, Contracts for China and India
By Barry Lando
Some bitter ironies in Afghanistan these days: U.S. and French soldiers gunned down by the very Afghan troops they work with. America and its NATO allies, facing huge budget problems themselves, persist in squandering billions in Afghanistan to defeat Islamic radicals and create a propitious climate for growth and investment. Right now, the largest investments so safeguarded are Chinese.
In another paradox, it was American engineers who, in the summer of 2010, completed a survey concluding that Afghanistan sits atop $1 trillion of untapped copper, iron and lithium deposits. If it could just get its act together, the country had a promising future. Skeptics immediately claimed that rosy estimate didn’t take Afghanistan’s woeful infrastructure into account; it could cost more to mine those resources than they were worth.
But that’s not how the Chinese see it. A few weeks ago, China’s National Petroleum Corporation became the first foreign company to be allowed to explore Afghanistan’s oil and gas reserves in the Amu Darya Basin. The deal is estimated to be worth more than $700 million. Some speculate it could ultimately be worth 10 times that amount to China.
Even before that deal, however, China was already the largest foreign investor in Afghanistan. In 2007, Beijing signed a $3 billion agreement to explore huge copper deposits in Mes Aynak, south of Kabul.
India is the only other country to go after Afghan minerals. Last November a deal was signed giving Indian firms the rights to 1.8 billion tons of iron ore, one of the largest untapped deposits in Asia. READ MORE
All that glitters is ... oil By Pepe Escobar
By Pepe Escobar
In his State of the Union address, United States President Barack Obama said, "Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal."
In the real world, this means Washington is willing to go to war - the economic war is already on - against a country that subscribes to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is not seeking nuclear weapons, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the latest US National Intelligence Estimate.
Obama also said, "The [Tehran] regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent."
"Isolated"? Not really; see The myth of 'isolated' Iran(Asia Times
Online, January 18). And it's not the Iranian leadership that is subjected to crippling sanctions; it's the absolute majority of 78 million impoverished Iranians who will pay the price.
In an earlier statement, Obama had "applauded" the European Union's decision to slap its own Iranian oil embargo, adding, "These sanctions demonstrate once more the unity of the international community."
So, let's talk about the "unity of the international community" - which comprises the US, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, Israel and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf Counter-revolution Club); the rest of the world is just a mirage.
Join the oil-for-gold program
BRICS members India and China, together, buy at least 40% of Iran's oil exports, roughly 1 million barrels a day. That's 12% of India's oil needs. As for China, last year it bought 30% more oil from Iran than in 2010, an average of 557,000 barrels a day.
BRICS members India and China, together, buy at least 40% of Iran's oil exports, roughly 1 million barrels a day. That's 12% of India's oil needs. As for China, last year it bought 30% more oil from Iran than in 2010, an average of 557,000 barrels a day.
The real "international community" is now very much aware that India will start paying Iranian oil with gold - and not only rupees, via Indian state bank UCO and Turkish state bank Halk Bankasi. Beijing - which already trades with Iran in yuan - may also turn to gold. Needless to say, both Delhi and Beijing are major gold producers and holders of gold assets.
Talk about the Year of the Dragon starting with a bang. And talk about the new Year of the Dragon gold standard.
Everyone remembers the doomed United Nations oil-for-food program that starved Iraqis to death for years prior to the 2003 US invasion/occupation. Average Iraqis paid the terrible price for UN/US sanctions, and oil-for-food only benefited the Saddam Hussein system.
Now it's a much more serious business; the oil-for-gold program, a BRICS + Iran initiative that will benefit the Islamic Republic leadership and perhaps alleviate the effects of sanctions over the Iranian population. Global consequences: gold shooting up, petrodollar going down, oil traders opening bottles of Moet in droves.
Another BRICS member, Russia, is already trading with Iran in rials and roubles. And an aspiring BRICS member, Turkey - also a NATO member - will not follow the US/EU sanctions unless they are imposed by the UN Security Council (a no-no, because permanent members Russia and China would veto it).
In two months, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - who angers/terrifies Washington and Brussels to Vlad the Impaler levels - is certain to be back as president of Russia. That's when the Atlanticist poodles will see real hardball at play.
Meanwhile, Tehran will never bow down to Western sanctions - much less with multiple lateral/underground mechanisms to sell its oil involving three BRICS members plus US allies Japan and South Korea, which eventually will get exemptions from the Obama administration.
As this never was about a non-existent nuclear weapon, the Tehran leadership only has to follow a supreme strategic parameter; don't fall for any provocation or false flag black ops that would provide the casus belli for a US/British/Israel axis of war attack.
And all this while trends in the - overcast - horizon point to what could be dubbed an Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, which for many sharp minds in the developing world might pave the way for an energy-backed currency used by the BRICS and the Group of 77 (G-77) to counter the increasingly desperate - and clueless - Atlanticist West.
Back to the European poodle parade, one just has to examine the joint statement issued by these mediocrity monstrosities - British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and neo-Napoleonic "liberator of Libya", French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The trio said, "We have no quarrel with the Iranian people." Iraqis heard exactly the same thing from another set of mediocrities in 2002 and 2003. Then their country was invaded, occupied and destroyed.
Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan(Nimble Books, 2009).
He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NA26Ak02.html
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