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Daily Archives: April 3, 2009
Council on Foreign Relations Program for Global Governance
International Institutions and Global Governance Program
World Order in the 21st Century
A New Initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations
The Rise of the Technocracy
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CFR Unveils Global Governance Agenda
CFR Unveils Global Governance Agenda |
By Daniel Taylor | OldThinkerNews.com | March 31, 2009
The Council on Foreign Relations, often described as the “real state department”, has launched an initiative to promote and implement a system of effective world governance.
The program, titled “The International Institutions and Global Governance Program,” utilizes the resources of the “…David Rockefeller Studies Program to assess existing regional and global governance mechanisms…” The initial funding for the program came with a $6 million grant from the Robina Foundation, which claims that the grant is “…one of the largest operating grants ever received in Council history.”
The IIGG program, launched on May 1st, 2008, is the latest manifestation of an agenda that has existed since and before the founding of the Council on Foreign Relations. Former CFR member, Rear Admiral Chester Ward, stated regarding the group,
“The most powerful clique in these elitist groups have one objective in common – they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and the national independence of the United States. A second clique of international members in the CFR comprises the Wall Street international bankers and their key agents. Primarily, they want the world banking monopoly from whatever power ends up in the control of global government.”
The International Institutions and Global Governance Program identifies several “global issues” that require a system of world governance. Environmental issues, terrorism, the global economy and energy are all mentioned. The project then states that a system of “universal membership” could be pursued, or alternatively a regional organization, such as the European Union model.
“In each of these spheres, the program will consider whether the most promising framework for governance is a formal organization with universal membership (e.g., the United Nations); a regional or sub-regional organization; a narrower, informal coalition of like-minded countries; or some combination of all three.”
The program calls for the “Re-conceptualizing” of national sovereignty, citing the European Union’s “pooling” of sovereignty as a model. The CFR project recognizes that historically, the United States has been resistant to the ideals of global governance. The project states, “Among the most important factors determining the future of global governance will be the attitude of the United States…”
The IIGG program continues, “…few countries have been as sensitive as the United States to restrictions on their freedom of action or as jealous in guarding their sovereign prerogatives.” The program then states that the separation of powers as stated in the Constitution, along with the U.S. Congress, stand in the way of the United States assuming “new international obligations.”
As stated,
“…the country’s longstanding tradition of liberal “exceptionalism” inspires U.S. vigilance in protecting the domestic sovereignty and institutions from the perceived incursions of international bodies. Finally, the separation of powers enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress a critical voice in the ratification of treaties and endorsement of global institutions, complicates U.S. assumptions of new international obligations.”
The actions of the Military Industrial Complex under the Bush Administration have served globalist interests well. “Global structures” are now presented as the mechanism to prevent such atrocities. America’s demonization is central to building a system of world governance. Patrick M. Stewart, who is currently the director of the CFR IIGG program, is anticipating the Obama administration “…to seek to turn the page on what many perceived to be ‘cowboy unilateralism’ of the Bush years, by embracing multilateral cooperation, re-kindling U.S. alliances and partnerships, and engaging in sustained diplomacy within the UN framework,” as reported by Xinhua. The IIGG project itself stated in May of 2008 that, “Regardless of whether the administration that takes office in January 2009 is Democratic or Republican, the thrust of U.S. foreign policy is likely to be multilateral to a significant degree.”
Globalist forces are hard at work in the economic and political realms in an attempt to shape the future of the world, furthering the dominance of the global elite. Calls for a global currency in response to the economic crisis are regularly occurring, drawing the tacit support of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, speaking to the CFR.
Henry Kissinger, a CFR member, anticipates that President Obama will, “…give new impetus to American foreign policy partly because the reception of him is so extraordinary around the world. I think his task will be to develop an overall strategy for America in this period when, really, a new world order can be created. It’s a great opportunity, it isn’t just a crisis.”
The Council on Foreign Relations global governance program will undoubtedly be pursued under the Obama administration, which is filled with CFR members. President of the CFR, Richard Haass, is serving as a top adviser to the Obama administration. As the IIGG program admits, regardless of who sits in the White House, the globalist agenda moves forward full speed ahead.
Read the full IIGG project report here
“Fox News” Creeps Agree With “Conspiracy People” About New World Order
Hannity, Morris Agree with “Conspiracy People” About New World Order
| Former Clintonite Dick Morris declares “those people who have been yelling, oh, the UN is going to take over… they’ve been crazy, but now they’re right.” |
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
March 31, 2009
Infowars
March 31, 2009
In the video here, the former Clintonite Dick Morris, who is now a darling of Fox News, tells Sean Hannity the globalists will put the “American economy under international regulation” and “those people who have been yelling, oh, the UN is going to take over… they’ve been crazy, but now they’re right.”
“Those conspiracy people,” Sean Hannity interjects, “had suggested that for years… you’re not wrong.”
It’s the “international regulation of the financial institutions” we have to worry about, warns Dick Morris. It will happen under “IMF control… Remember, the IMF is run by the Europeans and backed by Americans.”
It’s too bad Mr. Morris didn’t give us the rest of the story. The IMF is a loan sharking operation created by the bankers under the Bretton Woods scheme and its primary purpose to date has been to get third world nations into hock so they can be more effectively looted. It is now poised, as Morris eludes, to embark on a far more ambitious bankster scam — to initiate something called “global quantitative easing” by printing billions of dollars worth of a global “super-currency,” deceptively billed as a way to address the economic crisis manufactured by the global elite.
“Alistair Darling and senior figures in the US Treasury have been encouraging the Fund to issue hundreds of billions of dollars worth of so-called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in the coming months as part of its campaign to prevent the recession from turning into a global depression,” the Telegraph reported on March 16.
SDRs are now based on four currencies — the US dollar, the Japanese yen, the euro and the British pound. They are used largely as a unit of account by the IMF and other international organizations.
Read between the lines and you get to the bottom of the real reason for the issuance of SDRs — to push for a world currency. Recall a few days ago Zhou Xiaochuan, China’s central bank’s governor, calling for the IMF to forge a new world reserve currency.
China demands a settlement system between the SDRs and other currencies so that they can be used in international trade and financial transactions. The IMF would manage these SDRs and they would gradually replace existing reserve currencies. As envisioned by our rulers, a world “super-currency” will ultimately require a world government. Morris blames the Europeans for this and he is only partially right — it is a scam long ago devised by international bankers primarily based in Europe and Britain and backed, as Morris admits, by the American financial elite.
The issuance of paper SDRs “would please the plutocratic international bankers” to no end, writes Robert Bradshaw, and this “move would allow them a golden opportunity to print fiat paper money in huge quantities to flood the world. We can be sure that the fat cats [the bankers] would love to have a new paper world currency in their greedy little hands. Since they already control the IMF and most world central banks, such a new global currency would definitely fit into their plans for world rule.”
It is hardly surprising that SDRs and world currency will be on the agenda at the G20 this week. The globalist George Soros has urged Obama to push the SDR agenda and has warned that if a world currency is not established and the global economy collapses (as planned) the United States “shall cease to be the dominant financial power” and “China is liable to come up ahead.” Soros is merely running a time-tested shell game in an effort to get the U.S. to pony up for what will ultimately be its demise, again as planned. China is the model to be used for our totalitarian future.
Dick Morris and the disinfo operative Sean Hannity may indeed be alarmed by this obvious push for world government. It is interesting to note that Hannity has only lately come around to the existence of the New World Order — formerly in the realm of crazy conspiracy theories — now that Obama is in the White House and the Democrats in control of Congress. Hannity and Morris are simply reading from a provided script.
Point is, the New World Order wants you to know what they have in mind for you. It tickles them to give you a preview of things to come now that the New Savior is in office and enjoying high popularity — a one world government with a high-tech control grid overlay designed to usher in a brave new world of hellish serfdom and eventually the dream of our eugenicist rulers: a mass culling of the herd who are considered little more than useless eaters.
Research related links
US Congress Authorizes $3.5 trillion Roll of the Dice
U.S. Congress approves $3.5 trillion budget
WASHINGTON: The Democratic-controlled Senate has passed a budget drafted to President Barack Obama’s specifications, voting a few hours after the House approved a similar plan.
The plan calls for spending of $3.5 trillion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 and has a deficit projected at $1.2 trillion.
The Senate vote Thursday was 55-43, along party lines. It provides for higher spending on domestic programs and clears the way for action later in the year on Obama’s call for an overhaul of health care, a new energy policy and changes in federal support for education.
The budget votes mark victories for the Obama administration, but tough battles lie ahead when lawmakers turn to the other items on the president’s agenda.
We Are Insignificant
Widespread Lies: An American Woe
Widespread Lies: An American Woe
By Emily Spence
11 June, 2007
Countercurrents.org
While on a recent business trip, I heard the jet’s stewardess announce, “And we thank any American troops onboard for their hard work to keep America free. We, especially, thank them for doing this in dangerous, far away places. We appreciate their honor and service on behalf of the great American way. They are true heroes doing whatever it takes to keep our freedom truly free at home.”
In response, I felt like calling out, “Excuse me, but how is destroying a country like Iraq keeping us free? How is warring to secure the ME oil fields for companies like Exxon-Mobile keeping us free? How is slaughtering countless civilians in dangerous, far away places (as you call them) keeping us free? Were Iraq and Afghanistan dangerous to be as a tourist before our country’s initial aggressive assaults? Perhaps our invasions fomented increased dangers from terrorists both abroad AND here. So, please stop spreading dangerous propaganda. It does us all a disservice!”
Instead I kept quiet because in the land of the free, free speech is curtailed. As a result, I’d have wound up arrested by airport security forces for “creating a disturbance” were I to contradict the flight attendant.
That perhaps would be ironically amusing if it weren’t so emblematic of the way that fostering of party-line lies and limiting truth generally prevail in the US. In this vein, the falsehoods often are so illogically absurd that they possess an Orwellian ring to them.
For example, many Americans (50% in 2006 according to a Harris Poll *) still believe that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq and provided a sufficient reason for US to preemptively attack. A considerable portion, also, think that the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq and that the Iraqi government had ties to Al Qaeda (64% according to same tally). Yet, none of this has been proven one iota true. Indeed, evidence suggests quite the contrary.
At the same time, 55% imagine that historical records will credit the US with providing democracy and freedom to Iraq. In a similar vein, 72% have concluded that Iraqis have better lives now than they did under the former regime.
While the judgment is still out on the first claim, the second is utterly wrong as chronic malnourishment, a massive number (655,000+) of civilian deaths, huge ongoing migrations (involving 10% of the prewar population) into other lands, widespread poverty, declining literacy, as well as lack of jobs, adequate housing, clean water, food, electricity, medical supplies, medical staff, sanitation and other basic provisions have impacted daily life in Iraqi. This is according to UN, Red Cross and other surveys conducted by reputable sources**.
All considered, the gap between the facts and the misconceptions held by a substantial number of hoodwinked Americans is, obviously, wide. This is so even when we don’t add in the outlooks of those amongst the evangelical masses, such as the silly notion that ME warring should be joyfully encouraged since it represent a sign from God that Armageddon is at hand.
Yet, how could such an immense disparity exist? In addition, the discrepancy begs other more critical questions: How could such a sizable portion of US citizens be so easily duped and what agents are responsible for such easy acceptance of erroneous conclusions? In other words, who created these bogus sets of facts and, equally important, were they deliberately crafted?
The answer is obvious. While fictitious interpretations of events are clearly founded in misinformation, their prevalence is quite understandable given that the US mainstream media is funded by advertising industry whose puppet strings are, ultimately, yanked by big multinational corporations — the same companies that our government courts and woos by creating expensive wars (in regions laden with resources coveted by those worldwide businesses) and myriad laws favoring globalization at the expense of American jobs.
So somewhere along the way, some devious group of people, both connected to the government and big business, developed a plot to bamboozle the American people to go along with the war, a not too difficult task following 9/11. This same group could have easily decided to not push for the reinstatement of the draft in that a mandatory draft became the indirect cause that led many Americans to protest the Vietnam War. (It got a little too close to home when one’s own middle and upper class sons were called to arm.)
Consequently, life, all in all, goes simply onward with misguided factual backdrops enduring intact because few reputable mainstream sources dare dispute them. This is especially the case as most news programs simply aren’t going to get beyond such topics as the best ways to fix your hair on high humidity days, the stores that have the cutest summer fashions, the highest grossing movie of the week, ways to make vegetables more appealing to children, the car accident in the next town, the foiled robbery at a local convenience store and so on — all making up the bland harmless pabulum demanded by sponsors, and that we can watch day after day if we choose such fatuous fare.
Meanwhile, oil’s still plentiful despite its continual rising price, which likely has, in part, resulted from the ME incursions. In addition, there’s, apparently, not too great worry about global warming (not enough, anyway, to curb use in oil for overseas vacations, miscellaneous car trips for ice cream and children’s sports games, multitudinous excursions to malls and myriad other incidental locations, as well as air conditioning, which will be, increasingly, set on high as global warming takes its toll).
Similarly not much thought seems to be given to the cost of the Iraq war ($432,805,108,172 according to
http://nationalpriorities.org/
index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182), the national debt at $8,844,982,217,061.83 as of June 9th, 2007 (source: www.brillig.com/debt_clock/); the average household US deficit, in 2006, set at $7,200 in revolving debt (largely due to credit cards) and $21,000 in accumulated debt (source: Debtors Search for Discipline via Blogs – New York Times); nor the total US debt, much of which is held by Japan and China, currently poised at $48 trillion and soaring (source: www.financialsense.com/editorials
/hodges/2007/0315.html).
However, it’s not easy to give up comfortable delusions that all is going great in “the land of the free, home of the brave.” As such, it’s hard for many people to admit that US military incursions are shameful, tragic and abominable while much in the rest of our collective life revolves around inordinate and perilous overspending for much that we do not really want, nor need.
All the same, there might exist a vague growing sense that all is not well in America. Although with a convenient whipping boy (immigrants) posed as the biggest immediate US problem, a convenient focus to redirect attention off of the warring can be fomented. (Exemplary of this is the assembled data in: Click here: Illegal Immigration Counters – Home Page; N.B., The extent of funds that the immigrants send abroad is a mere pittance compared to the amount that our government deliberately squanders.)
In addition, there exists increasing discouragement amongst some Americans about the ceaseless expansion of a US military presence despite that not much is being done to end our assaults from spreading through Africa and elsewhere across the globe. Nonetheless, this unease is shaping into various related opinions:
For example, 68% do believe that America is less respected by the rest of the world due to invasion of Iraq. 56% conclude that a stable democratic Iraqi government will not be formed — the same number that believe that the money spent in this war has resulted in less money being spent to guard the US from further terrorist attacks at home. Indeed, 61% consider the US invasion and occupation of Iraq as a prime motivator in further Islamic terrorists attacks against America while 58% do not deem the invasion as helpful in reducing additional terrorist attacks against the US. (This information is, also, from the Harris Poll.)
Meanwhile, what would happen if our troops were, gradually, brought home to help with some of our most urgent homeland difficulties (the reconstruction that still needs to be done in the aftermath of Katrina, work in development of programs to take care of homeless Americans such as the 80,000 that exist in LA alone and of whom a large proportion are mentally impaired, and many other problem areas of serious import)? What if they were, likewise, used to help with projects required in other countries? Providing support in areas of need, rather than warring to obtain whatever one wants, goes a long way in getting those goods (such as oil) in return. At the same time, they can, boost economies both here and abroad.
Yet, this is not the pattern in place. There seems simply not enough interest on the part of most Americans to push for these sorts of positive changes. In short, they appear, for the most part, largely passive and indifferent to whatever US troops are doing (or not doing), the location of US military incursions, the nature of US prison torture techniques, increasing limits in Constitutional rights at home, most national events (except sports related ones), and global affairs in general.
Instead, the here and now in daily personal affairs seems the overriding concern for many Americans such that, if the little that they know about Iraq comprises mendacious lies, what do they care as long as they have their small transitory pleasures in everyday life. All the same, a few do adamantly care.
So if you’re a stewardess on a jet, please spare us from having to listen to platitudinous fibs. We don’t like them and just as you wouldn’t, necessarily, want to be subjected to our opinions, we don’t wish to hear yours. In short, please just keep them to yourself instead of trying to create the perception that yours is a patriotic, pro-American airline in an effort to drum up future business. I don’t want such rubbish and neither should you.
Instead please keep in mind: “For those who stubbornly seek freedom, there can be no more urgent task than to come to understand the mechanisms and practices of indoctrination. These are easy to perceive in the totalitarian societies, much less so in the system of ‘brainwashing under freedom’ to which we are subjected and in which all too often we serve as unwilling instruments.” – Noam Chomsky
* Cited from www.harrisinteractive.com/
harris_poll/index.asp?PID=684
** (For details, please refer to “Iraqis Endure Worse Conditions Than Under Saddam, UN Survey Finds,” by Chris Shumway located at http://newstandardnews.net/content/?items=1816 and “War in Iraq Propelling A Massive Migration Wave Creates Tension Across the Middle East,” By Sudarsan Raghavan located at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2007/02/03/AR2007020301604.html.)
Emily Spence lives in MA and deeply cares about the future of the world.
Lieberman and Wiping Countries off the face of the Map
Lieberman and Wiping Countries off the face of the Map
Avigdor Lieberman, the Moldovan night club bouncer, is now foreign minister of Israel. The world has had a lot of fun laughing at the pronouncements of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who stands falsely accused of threatening to wipe Israel off the face of the map. But Ahmadinejad has protested that it would be wrong to kill large numbers of civilians.
In contrast, Lieberman has threatened to wipe at least two countries, Egypt and Palestine, off the map. Monstrously, he suggested bombing the Aswan Dam, which would have the effect of murdering all 80 million Egyptians and sweeping them into the Mediterranean in a vast continental African tsunami.
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Lieberman promptly announced on assuming office that the Mideast peace process is dead. Well, at least we have an outbreak of frankness.
Whereas Ahmadinejad was humiliated by Columbia University president Lee Bollinger on his visit to that university, which provoked public protests, Lieberman’s acceptance into the Israeli government has been greeted mildly and he was allowed to come to the Brookings Institution and meet with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Lieberman is a Central/Eastern European ultra-nationalist in the mold of Slobodan Milosevic and Jorg Haider, and it is shameful that he was allowed into the government and more shameful that this travesty has passed without a peep in the civilized world.
The The Electronic Intifada lists “Some of Avigdor Lieberman’s infamous statements”:
‘ # In 1998, Lieberman called for the flooding of Egypt by bombing the Aswan Dam in retaliation for Egyptian support for Yasser Arafat.
# In 2001, as Minister of National Infrastructure, Lieberman proposed that the West Bank be divided into four cantons, with no central Palestinian government and no possibility for Palestinians to travel between the cantons.
# In 2002, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Lieberman in a Cabinet meeting saying that the Palestinians should be given an ultimatum that “At 8am we’ll bomb all the commercial centers … at noon we’ll bomb their gas stations … at two we’ll bomb their banks …”
# In 2003, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Lieberman called for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel to be drowned in the Dead Sea and offered to provide the buses to take them there.
# In May 2004, Lieberman proposed a plan that called for the transfer of Israeli territory with Palestinian populations to the Palestinian Authority. Likewise, Israel would annex the major Jewish settlement blocs on the Palestinian West Bank. If applied, his plan would strip roughly one-third of Israel’s Palestinian citizens of their citizenship. A “loyalty test” would be applied to those who desired to remain in Israel. This plan to trade territory with the Palestinian Authority is a revision of Lieberman’s earlier calls for the forcible transfer of Palestinian citizens of Israel from their land. Lieberman stated in April 2002 that there was “nothing undemocratic about transfer.”
# Also in May 2004, he said that 90 percent of Israel’s 1.2 million Palestinian citizens would “have to find a new Arab entity” in which to live beyond Israel’s borders. “They have no place here. They can take their bundles and get lost,” he said.
# In May 2006, Lieberman called for the killing of Arab members of Knesset who meet with members of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.’
DID CHENEY ASSASSINATION RING TARGET PAT TILLMAN ?
DID CHENEY ASSASSINATION RING TARGET PAT
Pat Tillman Ho / Reuters file
With Seymour Hersh’s revelation of an executive assassination ring that reported directly to Dick Cheney now confirmed by former Cheney aide John Hannah ~ it’s time to re-open the investigation of Pat Tillman’s questionable death by friendly fire which was stonewalled by both the Bush administration and the Pentagon generals: Allen L Roland
This is not an April Fools joke ~ Yesterday, the American Progress Report wrote that Former Cheney national security aide John Hannah confirmed Seymour Hersh’s account of an executive assassination ring as being ‘ Certainly true ‘.
Also reported yesterday, CNN interviewed Hersh and former Cheney national security aide John Hannah. Although he expressed regret for revealing the story (calling it a “dumb-dumb”), Hersh stood by his initial statements.
“I’m sorry, Wolf, I have a lot of problems with it,” he said about the assassination scheme. “I know for sure…the idea that we have a unit that goes around, without reporting to Congress…and has authority from the President to go into the country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack somebody,” said Hersh. Hannah replied that Hersh’s account of the assassination scheme “is not true.” Yet, in the same breath, when asked about a “list” of assassination targets, Hannah largely echoed Hersh’s statements. Hannah said that “troops in the field” are given “authority” to “capture or kill certain individuals“ who are perceived as a threat. “That’s certainly true,” said Hannah. http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/03/pr20090331
Could one of those ‘certain individuals’ have been Pat Tillman, former NFL football star and Iraq war poster boy, who was about to go public with his anti-war views and support of John Kerry in 2004 during a Presidential election campaign ?
Pat Tillman’s questionable death on April 22, 2004 was stonewalled by top Pentagon Generals until the freedom of Information Act brought it to light . What were they hiding ?
The documents show that officers made erroneous initial reports that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, destroyed critical evidence and initially concealed the truth from Tillman’s brother, also an Army Ranger, who was near the attack on April 22, 2004, but did not witness it. What were they hiding ?
Here’s my column dated August 4th, 2007 along with the known facts ( courtesy of RJ Eskow, Huffington Post ) entitled TRUTH ABOUT TILLMAN / MURDER’S NOT ‘FRIENDLY FIRE’. http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/08/04.html
Read it and then you decide if Cheney was capable of not only outing Valerie Plame but eliminating a hero who was about to discredit his illegal war and occupation of Iraq ~ as well as upset his plans to steal the 2004 election.
RE-OPEN PAT TILLMAN INVESTIGATION
Allen L Roland
As US arms shipment reaches Israel, President Obama urged to halt further exports
the Wehr Elbe, a German cargo ship
As US arms shipment reaches Israel, President Obama urged to halt further exports
Source: Amnesty International (AI)
Date: 01 Apr 2009
The new delivery to Israel of a massive consignment of US munitions, revealed by Amnesty International today, throws into question whether President Obama will act to prevent the US fuelling further Israeli attacks against civilians that may amount to war crimes, as were perpetrated in Gaza.
According to new information received by Amnesty International, the Wehr Elbe, a German cargo ship which had been chartered and controlled by US Military Sealift Command, docked and unloaded its cargo of reportedly over 300 containers at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just 40 km north of Gaza by road. The German ship left the USA for Israel on 20 December, one week before the start of Israeli attacks on Gaza, carrying 989 containers of munitions, each of them 20 feet long with a total estimated net weight of 14,000 tons.
“Legally and morally, this US arms shipment should have been halted by the Obama administration given the extent of the evidence showing how military equipment and munitions of this kind were recently used by the Israeli forces for war crimes,” said Brian Wood. “Arms supplies in these circumstances are contrary to provisions in US law.”
Asked about the Wehr Elbe, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to Amnesty International that “the unloading of the entire US munitions shipment was successfully completed at Ashdod [Israel] on 22 March”. The spokesperson said that the shipment was destined for a US pre-positioned ammunition stockpile in Israel. Under a US-Israel agreement, munitions from this stockpile may be transferred for Israeli use if necessary. Another US official told Amnesty International that they are reviewing Israel’s use of US weapons during the Gaza conflict to see if Israel complied with U.S. law, but no conclusion has yet been reached.
“There is a great risk that the new munitions may be used by the Israeli military to commit further violations of international law, like the ones committed during the war in Gaza,” said Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s arms control campaign manager. “We are urging all governments to impose an immediate and comprehensive suspension of arms to Israel, and to all Palestinian armed groups until there is no longer a substantial risk of serious human rights violations.”
The US was by far the largest supplier of weapons to Israel between 2004 and 2008. The US government is also due to provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel, despite the blatant misuse of weaponry and munitions in Gaza and Lebanon by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to one US official, President Obama has no plans to cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel under a new 10-year contract agreed in 2007 by the Bush administration. This new contract is a 25 per cent increase compared to the last contract agreed by the previous US administration.
Amnesty International has reported in detail on suspected war crimes committed by the IDF and by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. On 15 January, Amnesty International called on all governments to immediately suspend arms transfers to all parties to the Gazaconflict to prevent further violations being committed using munitions and other military equipment.
Background:
The Wehr Elbe sailed from the US state of North Carolina on 20 December after collecting its large cargo of US munitions, initially bound for the port of Navipe-Astakosport on the west coast of Greece. Its transponder signal disappeared on 12 January when the vessel was sailing near Astakos and when the ship was unable to dock due to a protest by the Greek Stop the War Coalition. The vessel was then tracked as it passed through the port of Augusta, on the Italian island of Sicily, and then near Gibraltar in mid-February, before reappearing on 23 March en route from Ashdod to the Black Sea port of Odessa where it docked on 26 March in berth 7. Amnesty International is now aware that the vessel docked in Ashdodon 22 March and reportedly offloaded over 300 containers.
Amnesty International first drew attention to this arms ship’s voyage on 15 January. The ship’s charter, authorized by the Bush administration a week before the IDF launched their attack on Gaza, was to carry 989 shipping containers of “containerized ammunition and other containerized ammunition supplies” from Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal, North Carolina to Ashdod, as listed in the contract. US Military Sealift Command charters for a further two US munitions shipments from Navipe-Astakos (Greece) to Ashdod, which explicitly included white phosphorus munitions, were announced on 31 December during the Gaza conflict and then cancelled on 9 January, but a US military spokesperson subsequently confirmed that the Pentagon was still seeking a way to also deliver those munitions.
Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”. Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act authorizes the supply of USmilitary equipment and training only for lawful purposes of internal security, “legitimate self-defense,” or participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations or other operations consistent with the UN Charter. However, under the US Export Administration Act, security assistance may be provided if the President certifies that “extraordinary circumstances” exist, so Section 502B is circumvented. The Leahy Law prohibits the USA from providing most forms of security assistance to any military or police unit when there is “credible evidence” that members of the unit are committing gross human rights violations.
For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
A Simple Guide To Pakistan’s Enemies
A Simple Guide To Pakistan’s Enemies
A Pakistani bureaucrat learned from a senior Polish diplomat in 1969 why Pakistan will be destabilized by three major countries at all costs. Sounds as true now as it did forty years ago. A stunning read.
By SAFDAR ALI
Wednesday, 1 April 2009.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—To understand the current situation of PAKISTAN, LAHORE, MANAWAN attacks and all kind of instability in PAKISTAN, you must read this paragraph. By the end I am sure everyone will reach the conclusion as to who ‘ARE‘’ THE PLANNERS BEHIND THESE ATTACKS, direct and indirect.
A famous and an honest Pakistani bureaucrat, QUDRATUALLAH SHAHAB, wrote the following in his autobiography, SHAHAB NAMA, in page 778. I have translated this from Urdu to English:
‘‘In 1969, when I was a member of the executive board of UNISCO, one of my friends from Poland was angry that Russia is influencing Poland against the will of polish people. The Poles were against the Soviet bloc and they didn’t like the Soviet influence in Poland. But the Polish government was a client of the Soviet Union. My polish friend was one of the senior and experienced foreign affairs officers of his country.
One day during a chat and discussion he said, ‘Although Russia and America are enemies but on some issues they become friends.’
I was surprised and asked, ‘For example?’
He said, ‘For example, PAKISTAN.’
‘I was stunned. I requested him to explain.’
On my request he explained, ‘It is a reality not hidden from whole world that the Pakistani military is one of the highly disciplined and professional militaries in the WORLD. And that REALITY is not acceptable to both countries, I mean RUSSIA and AMERCIA.
1. RUSSIANS are looking towards AFGHANISTAN
2. RUSSIANS are looking towards ARABIAN SEA
3. RUSSIANS favor India and want to support that country
But the PAKISTANI MILITARY is the main OBSTRUCTION in the path of all these three RUSSIAN objectives.
And
1. AMERICA‘S real and original faith is with ISRAEL
2. AMERICA wants friendship and alliance with INDIA
America is a friend of Pakistan only in name. And the AMERICANS know very well that ONLY THE PAKISTANI MILITARY AND PAKISTANI NATION can confront American designs. And that the PAKISTANI ARMY AND NATION HAVE THE PASSION TO FIGHT AS WELL if attacked. So the PAKISTANI MILITARY is the main OBSTRUCTION in the path of American objectives.
INDIA also does not like the PAKISTANI MILITARY.
In this way, the decimation and destruction of the Pakistani military is the main objective of RUSSIA, AMERICA and INDIA.
That’s why they all want to weaken the Pakistani military and the Pakistani nation, destroy it and to make it useless.
‘But how will they achieve this combined goal?’ I asked.
He laughed and than said, ‘They shall engage PAKISTANI ARMY in civil and government matters as much as they can for a long period by pushing them to take over governments.’
Then QUDRATUALLAH SHAHAB comments:
‘‘This conversation took place in 1969, when the Soviet Union had not invaded Afghanistan, nor was Bangladesh movement started. Out of 17 years of independence, 13 years have gone to MARTIAL LAW. And I am in fear may be those American, Russian and Indian objectives are about to complete…”
Now we can understand very well, in 1969 after that discussion and chat of Qudratullah Shahab with his polish foreign secretary, we had martial law of 1974 by Gen. Yahya, 1977 by Gen. ZIA, and 1999 by Gen. Musharraf…and now AMERICAN are demanding PAKISTANI ARMY to do more, do more … but Gen. ISHAFAQ PARVEEZ KIANI IS RESISTING… (May ALLAH TALA protect him. Aameen).
Also read the report written by Bronwen Maddox in The Times London on Mar. 28, 2009: ‘’Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani creates new set of problems, any strategy to tackle the Afghan-Pakistani border will depend on the willingness of the Pakistani Army to hold its side of the line.’
When we read all the news headlines coming from Washington and its allies the Af-Pak policy continuously developing pressure on Pakistani Army and ISI, suicide attack in Mosque, current security situation in NWFP, peace deals in Swat and Bajaur, then everything becomes clear that who want instability in PAKISTAN
My conclusion: The enemies of Pakistani Army, direct or indirect, are behind these attacks.
Mr. Ali is a Pakistani writer. He can be reached at razian97ATyahoo.com
The Editor’s Note: Reading this article reinforces my belief that we need a new way of refashioning the Pakistani state. Both the elected governments and the old fashioned military coups have failed. President Musharraf’s coup was probably the last chance to refashion the Pakistani State and this chance was wasted. The constitution needs an overhaul, political parties have become family ownerships, and politics have become monopolized. Feudalism needs to be eliminated by the force of law in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, more administrative[ and not language-based] provinces need to be created, ethnic- and/or language-based parties proscribed, politicians banned from direct contact with foreign governments, and the nation needs to focus for at least a decade on economic development and education without wasting energies on politics. All of this can only happen through a creative new arrangement where a group of strong, committed and learned Pakistanis are invited to lead a non-elected government, backed by a plan and by the force of the Pakistani military. Events are confirming that this may be the only option left if we want to create a stable system where real democracy can flourish and the military is not forced by circumstances to intervene again in the future. We will have to create this setup. We can’t wait for time resolve the problem.—Ahmed Quraishi.
© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists
G-20: $1 trillion and ‘a new world order’
G-20: $1 trillion and ‘a new world order’
‘Capitalism with a conscience,’ French President Nicolas Sarkozy calls it.
Posted April 2, 2009 11:50 AM
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces G-20 initiatives aimed at restoring a global economic order. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
By Christi Parsons and Mark Silva
LONDON – The world’s economic powers are offering $1 trillion in aid for struggling economies, with official communiqués and promises of “a new world order” starting to roll out of the G-20 summit today: G-20 communique
Gordon Brown, prime minister of Great Britain and host of the summit, said: “We will do what it takes to restore global growth and hasten recovery…
“This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession,” Brown said. “Our message today is clear and certain. We believe that in this new global age, our prosperity is indivisible…We believe that growth to be sustained must be shared, and that trade must once again become an engine of growth.”
This is “largest economic stimulus” the world has ever seen, the prime minister said, vowing to save or create millions of jobs “in a period when we must combat unemployment.”
The European nations, the United States, Russia, Japan, China, India, Brazil and others that comprise the Group of 20 have committed $1 trillion for the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.
They have agreed to triple resources for the IMF to $750 billion and support a new Special Drawing Rights allocation of $250 billion, support at least $100 billion of additional lending by the Multilateral Development Banks, ensure $250 billion of support for trade finance, use additional resources from the IMF for concessional finance for the poorest countries and restore credit, growth and jobs
“This is available to all IMF members, and at the same time we will treble the resources of the IMF itself with up to an additional $500 billion,” Brown said. “Together these actions give us confidence that the global economy can return to trend growth even faster than the IMF is predicting.”
The official communiqué emerging from the summit states: “We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth, to be sustained, has to be shared; and that our global plan for recovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-working families, not just in developed countries but in emerging markets and the poorest countries of the world, too; and must reflect the interests not just of today’s population but of future generations, too.”
French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who had threatened to walk out of the summit if it didn’t produce what he was seeking, came out today a happy leader:
“Never could we have imagined that we would achieve such a broad-based agreement,” Sarkozy said. “And this is not the victory of one camp over another, one way of looking at things over another.
“It’s an awareness by all that the world needs to change.,” he said. “Of course there were tensions, of course there were wrestling matches, as it were….But even our Anglo-Saxon friends are totally convinced that, yes, we need rules.
“Getting the British, getting ourselves, all of us to agree with the British and Americans on a reasonable trade and remuneration regime, if that is not capitalism with a conscience, I don’t know what is.”
The nations’ leaders have pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to restore confidence, growth and jobs… repair the financial system to restore lending.. strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust.. fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones… promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism… build an inclusive, green and sustainable recovery.”
“There are no quick fixes,” Brown said, “But with the six pledges that we make today, we can shorten the recession and save jobs.”
In financial regulation, they have agreed to bring “the shadow banking system, including hedge funds, into the global regulatory net” and employ international accounting standards.
They have pledged to regulate credit-ratings agencies to remove conflicts of interest, end tax havens that aren’t open and create a new financial stability board that will spot risks and have global early-warning system.
“We will clean up the banks so that they increase lending to families and businesses,” Brown said. “And to enable this, we’ve agreed for the first time on a common global approach to how we deal with impaired or toxic assets.”
“We will ask the international institutions to strengthen their independent surveyance of the world economy” and to promote growth and economic stability, he said.
And they have pledged to “kick-start international trade,” encouraging the completion of world trade talks.
“We will act also to make our global recovery fair and more sustainable,” Brown said.
Finally, they have agreed that their fiscal stimulus should “promote low-carbon growth and… create the green jobs on which our future prosperity depends.” This includes looking for a global agreement on climate change controls at a summit in Copenhagen at year’s end.
When the Wall Street crashed in 1929, he said, it took 15 years to restore order.
“This time I think people will agree that it is different,” Brown said. “Today’s decisions of course will not immediately solve the crisis, but we have begun the process by which it will be solved…. Today the largest countries of the world have agreed a global plan of recovery and reform…. This is collective action, people working together at their best.
“I think a new world order is emerging,” he said. “We are resolved that from today we will manage the process of globalization to secure responsibility from all and fairness to all.”
Christi Parsons reported from London, Mark Silva from Washington. Michael Chu also contributed from London
Kyrgyz president signs law on foreign troop pullout from Manas by Aug. 20
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BISHKEK, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed on Thursday a law to end the deployment of foreign military contingents at the Manas airbase in the north of the country, the president’s press service said.
The law, which terminates agreements with Australia, Denmark, Italy, Spain, South Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Turkey and France, was passed by an overwhelming majority in parliament on March 6.
Bakiyev signed a decree to close the Manas airbase on February 20. Kyrgyzstan officially notified Washington about the termination of the agreement on a U.S. military presence at the base, and gave it 180 days to withdraw some 1,200 personnel, aircraft and other equipment.
The Kyrgyz parliament said the termination of the founding agreement with the U.S. made agreements with other countries “senseless.”
In late March, Kyrgyz officials dismissed reports that the country was considering allowing U.S. troops to remain at the Manas airbase.
The base, staffed mainly by U.S. Air Force personnel, had been used since 2001 to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan.
Bakiyev linked the decision to Washington’s refusal to pay more for the base and to the conduct of U.S. military personnel, including the killing of a Kyrgyz national by a U.S. soldier in December 2006.
Kyrgyz officials have rejected any connection between the decision and a recent Russian financial aid package under which Russia will write off Kyrgyzstan’s $180 million debt and grant the country a $2 billion soft loan and $150 million in financial assistance. Moscow has likewise denied any link.
Proof That Huffington Post Is a Neocon Outpost
PUMPING-UP THE ZIONIST PLAN TO ATTACK IRAN.
Does Iran Harbor Osama bin Laden?
Osama Bin Laden is in Iran, asserts Alan Howell Parrot, the director of The Union for the Conservation of Raptors (UCR), who for many years served as a Falconer for the rulers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and members of Saudi Royal family. In that capacity he was a regular guest in the seasonal Falconry-hunting camps and had access to all participants. Parrot has been offering evidence of Bin Laden’s sighting in Iran since November 2004 to a great number of U.S. government officials at the Department of Defense, the FBI, Senators and even to the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Gen. Michael V. Hayden. Government officials who asked to remain nameless confirmed Parrot’s contact with the government. Still, no one responded.
Pakistan, Do You Really Want These Thugs Disciplining Your Kids?
Pakistan says to lodge protest against U.S. drone attacks
Pakistan says to lodge protest against U.S. drone attacks |
Special Report: Pakistani Situation
ISLAMABAD, April 2 (Xinhua) — Pakistan will lodge a protest with the United States over the drone strikes inside the country’s tribal regions, a Foreign Office spokesman said on Thursday.
“Pakistan intends to make demarche to the United States on the issue,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said at the weekly news briefing here.
“Pakistan would raise the issue with American special envoy Richard Holbrooke, who is scheduled to visit Pakistan next week,” he said.
The drone attacks are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, counter-productive and not helpful in the efforts to win hearts and minds (of people), he said.
The statement came a day after a U.S. missile strike launched from drone killed at least 12 people including women and children in Orakzai tribal region.
Pakistan’s tribal areas have witnesses a string of U.S. drone attacks and recent media reports said that the U.S. planned to expand the attacks to the southwestern Balochistan province, which also shares a border with Afghanistan.
The spokesman said Pakistan had been able to develop a good cooperative framework with Afghanistan to deal with immediate issues of security, counter-terrorism and to move towards a robust economic partnership.
Anarchists battle police ahead of NATO summit
Protesters battle police ahead of NATO summit
By Gilbert Reilhac and Lucien Libert
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police in the French city of Strasbourg Thursday on the eve of a NATO summit, with one cornered soldier drawing his gun to escape attack.
Police fired tear gas at the hooded youths, forcing them back toward a campsite set up to house protesters during the two-day summit being co-hosted by France and Germany.
The rampaging protesters smashed windows, vandalized cars and barricaded a street in their bid to reach the city center.
“Mediators in the camp are trying to talk to activists and police and defuse the situation,” said Reiner Braun, one of the organizers of the anti-NATO movement, adding that police were not letting people enter or leave the campsite.
“We have no sympathy for the vandalizing,” he told Reuters.
Protest leaders have said they want to bring chaos to the NATO gathering by peaceful means and police have warned that clashes at the G20 meeting in London earlier this week have fueled tensions.
Rioters charged a military vehicle that happened to cross their path, with a masked youth hurling a pole through the windshield. One of the two occupants, who was wearing uniform, drew his gun and pointed it toward the sky, giving his partner time to drive off.
Police later detained dozens of demonstrators, making them lie face down before hauling them off. Journalists were stopped by police from approaching the campsite area.
Other youths headed into the surrounding woods, chased by security guards.
U.S. President Barack Obama is due to arrive in France on Friday morning and will take part in two events in Strasbourg before traveling to Baden Baden, just across the German border.
About a hundred people staged a peaceful demonstration in Baden Baden, calling on nations to spend less on defense and more on fighting poverty.
Security forces tried to restrict access to Strasbourg and Baden Baden Thursday, with helicopters circling overhead, crowd barriers strung along the streets and hundreds of police patrolling the highways.
German police said they feared violent confrontations on Friday when the NATO meeting formally begins in Baden Baden, Some 20,000 protesters are expected.
Rainer Wendt, head of German police trade union DPolG, said the situation had grown more tense following the death of a man at protests in London Wednesday night against the G20 summit.
“We’ve seen that it just takes 24 hours and you can already read on the Internet that police are apparently to blame. People wind each other up,” he told Reuters. Continued…
Clashes at Nato summit protests
Clashes at Nato summit protests
more about “BBC NEWS | Europe | Clashes at Nato s…“, posted with vodpod
Police have clashed with hundreds of anti-Nato protesters in Strasbourg, firing tear gas to stop a crowd getting to the city centre, reports say.
Masked protesters smashed bus shelters and set fire to rubbish bins. AFP reported around 100 arrests.
Security has been high in Strasbourg and across the German border in preparation for the summit.
Some 25,000 police are on duty to control the tens of thousands of protesters expected to attend.
Groups of youths, many wearing hoods or scarves, walked through a suburb of the city carrying banners saying: “Stop repression in London and Strasbourg”.
Bus stops and vehicles were vandalised, shop windows smashed and a barricade put up on one street.
Thousands of police officers are on duty to try to control the protests
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One protester rammed a pole through the front window of a police vehicle.
A passenger in the car appeared to be holding a handgun as it quickly reversed.
In a separate incident, AFP reported that a German photographer had been taken to hospital after being injured in the stomach by a rubber bullet.
An eyewitness who asked not to be named told the BBC that riot vans and water cannon had seen heading towards the protesters’ official camp in Ganzau, south of the city.
Leaders of Nato member states are due in the city on Friday for the alliance’s 60th-anniversary summit.
France last month announced it would be fully re-integrated into Nato.
For decades it has stood at a distance from the alliance, taking part in military operations but not in its central planning and decision-making.
Police teargas hundreds of anti-NATO protesters
Police teargas hundreds of anti-NATO protesters
STRASBOURG, France : Police clashed with hundreds of protesters on the eve of a NATO summit in Strasbourg Thursday, firing tear gas at the crowd to stop them entering the city centre, an AFP correspondent said.
Masked protesters smashed a dozen bus shelters, set fire to trash bins and built a street barricade in a south suburb of Strasbourg, after marching from a “peace camp” set up by activists on the outskirts of the French city.
Police said 600 people took part, but organisers put the figure at 2,000.
A protest group called “Anti-Repression” claimed on its website that police made “many arrests,” saying the marchers came “face to face with a colossal deployment of heavily-armed police, with more than 50 vehicles.”
Security forces fired tear gas at the rally, forcing part of the crowd back towards their camp.
Strasbourg and neighbours Kehl and Baden Baden in Germany are bracing for turbulence as 25,000 police ready to face huge protests during the two-day NATO summit which kicks off Friday.
US President Barack Obama will be joining 27 leaders for the gathering marking the alliance’s 60th anniversary.
Between 30,000 and 60,000 protesters — from radical leftists and anarchists to peaceniks — are converging on Strasbourg with the stated aim of disrupting the event.
