tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45245040478761655022024-03-16T02:09:42.679+01:00The International CoalitionThe International Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089603742181810635noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-68670338607922724052011-11-12T18:15:00.001+01:002011-12-21T17:08:24.681+01:00The "Black sheep" of the European crisis<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/sicherheitschaffen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/sicherheitschaffen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Europe is in crisis, it’s what we all know and can’t deny anymore. While travelling to university I like to read the newspapers but lately it’s starting to become highly annoying. Not because the crisis has become a normal fact but simply the focus is only laid on the problem itself. I know the crisis is gigantically damaging for Europe and even for the whole world but what is going on behind the crisis is maybe even more scary. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So what is going on then, right? Well it is quite simple, people are starting to lose their jobs, earn less money, paying more tax but for who or what? And that is where it goes so wrong this moment. The western European governments are asking their citizens for more and more money, for example increasing tax and cost for social security. This all while these same governments lent gigantic amounts, talking about millions of Euros, to countries who are in economical crisis. And why are these countries in an economical crisis, well because they were never bothered to care about their finances and lived like we Europeans say; “As gods in the south of France”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So now you might think, what is the problem then? Well it’s the opinion of the citizens of west-Europe, let’s say France, Belgium, The Netherland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Scandinavian countries. I know Switzerland is not part of Europe but geographically it does and so does it support Europe in the battle against the crisis. Those countries all show one thing in common, the extreme growth in supporters of nationalist and right wing parties and ideas. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01289/svp_poster_birds_1289684c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01289/svp_poster_birds_1289684c.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open the doors for abuse? NO! (Swizterland)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">In the Netherland the political party of Geert Wilders, the PVV (Party of freedom), is the second party of the country, in Finland the party called Perussuomalaiset (True Finns) won the election, in Switzerland the party called Schweizerische Volkspartei (Swiss people’s party) is the biggest in parliament and i can continue with this country by country. Everywhere right wing and nationalist parties start to win the confidence and support of the people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And let us not forget the horrific act of the terror attacks happened in Norway this year by Anders Behring Breivik, killing in Total 77 innocent and young persons. All died because according to Breivik we should protect and save the European culture. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.newsnet14.com/images/tabloid-racism.php_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.newsnet14.com/images/tabloid-racism.php_.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This move towards the right show the growing opinion that immigrants are the cause of the crisis. Within many countries there is no “us” anymore, there has come a growing “we and them” culture. Of course I speak in general but I’m sure a big majority of Europeans will agree with me on this. Now am I not willing to go as far as comparing this situation with the crisis in Germany in 1930ths . Because of that crisis Adolf Hitler came to power with as result the killing of 6 million Jews and many other persons. But for sure the growth of right wing parties and ideas is something we should pay more attention to than we are giving it now. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Are we willing to give up our ideas of freedom, equal rights included in that? Freedom that counts for everybody and that we are trying to spread in other part of the world. While more and more people get affected by the crisis, the search for the guilty is getting stronger. And while our political leaders, in general now without nationalist and extreme right ideas, keep silent and keep their eyes closed, it are the nationalist and right wings parties offering that “black sheep”. What will happen in the coming year will greatly depend on how this problem is dealt with right now. We learned for our past that this hate towards immigrants can cause immense damage. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">While thinking about this in my daily bus trip to university I came to the simple conclusion. History has always been a circle, through the years we see that same happenings happen all over again. In a different form and identity. Will this be such example, let hope not. Let’s hope we did learn from the past and get back together to fight the real cause of the crisis, the gigantic failure of our political leaders throughout the last decade. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Marije</i></div>The International Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089603742181810635noreply@blogger.com343tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-63457013654797647952011-11-02T23:34:00.002+01:002011-11-12T23:46:53.861+01:00THE G-20 MEETINGTomorrow the G-20 Meeting begins, that is the meeting of the most developed and wealthy countries on the planet: the United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and the European Union as a separate entity but with the right to participate; they are the fundamental bastions of NATO plus its allies Japan, South Korea, Australia and Turkey in its double aspect of developing country and NATO member, just as Saudi Arabia – a gigantic reservoir of light oil in the hands of western transnationals, extracting from it 9.4 million barrels a day, whose value at current prices totals one billion dollars per day – on one side of the table, and on the other, a group of countries having growing economic and political clout who, as a matter of fact, because of the number of inhabitants and natural resources, are becoming an expression of the interests of the majority of our long-suffering and pillaged world: the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.<br /><br />Spain, also a NATO ally, is just a “Guest Country”.<br /><br />We are talking about a meeting among the great producers of industrial machinery and articles and of the great suppliers of raw materials that, over half a millennium following the Conquest, were European colonies and in the past century supplied them with agricultural products, minerals and energy resources, victims of a pitiless unequal exchange.<br /><br />This dark period in history has been going on since the descendants of the Barbarian tribes populating Europe “discovered” and conquered this hemisphere, armed with swords, cross-bows and harquebuses.<br /><br />“The discoverers”, so covered with excuses by the so-called western world, as if a part of humanity hadn’t been living on the continent for 40 million years, harboured the aim of seeking a shorter trade route to China.<br /><br />In that country, with which they had antecedents via the silk merchants and merchants of other products prized by the aristocracy and burgeoning European bourgeoisie, they had found a fabulous civilization having a written language, refined arts, agriculture, metals, gunpowder and advanced principles of political and military organization, including armies with tens or perhaps thousands of cavalry.<br /><br />They were on the point of capsizing when they sighted land, in the vicinity of Cuba. A short while later Columbus took possession of our island in the name of the King of Spain. Would he have been able to do that had he actually landed in China, as he had proposed? His error cost this hemisphere tens of millions of lives that were lost as consequence of the partitioning of the Americas by the Papal Bull between the two kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, and in the constant conflicts among the medieval nobility.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGZeB883zqInnWJMfOTAm2zyBqvbpV1VUnzDUxuIjvMl_pais7Iqt3x9CFNEcZH9z4vFgJCIohDFiawgIakyYoHYob4q2gMVb2tbrLaGpZ7wW6UIJDO2WvXLDGwCLo-3ueivhlOywqR7e/s1600/G20+finance+ministers+feb.+2011+sitting+good+pic.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGZeB883zqInnWJMfOTAm2zyBqvbpV1VUnzDUxuIjvMl_pais7Iqt3x9CFNEcZH9z4vFgJCIohDFiawgIakyYoHYob4q2gMVb2tbrLaGpZ7wW6UIJDO2WvXLDGwCLo-3ueivhlOywqR7e/s400/G20+finance+ministers+feb.+2011+sitting+good+pic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674244211463684306" border="0" /></a><br />The Conquest and the search for gold and silver, as the genial native painter Oswaldo Guayasamín pointed out, cost 70 million lives of those living in the hemisphere, birthplace of important civilizations.<br /><br />Black Africa can also speak about what that Conquest meant for millions of its children, ripped away and sold as slaves in this hemisphere.<br /><br />The multi-million-dollar oligarchy, whose Heads of State or Government will be meeting in Cannes with the representatives of almost 6 billion inhabitants that aspire to a decent existence for their peoples, should meditate on these realities.<br /><br />Those countries would like to monopolize technologies and markets through patents, banks, the most modern and costly transportation means, cybernetic supremacy over complex production processes, control of communications and the mass media in order to dupe the world.<br /><br />Now that the inhabitants of the world number 7 billion, the states representing only one out of seven persons, who, judging by the massive protests in Europe and the United States, are not very happy, put the survival of our species at risk.<br /><br />Could anyone forget that the US was the country that impeded the Kyoto Agreement when we had a little more time to prevent a catastrophe with the climate change that is being produced as we watch?<br /><br />On the 28th and 29th of October past, another meeting of Heads of State and Governments took place: the community of Ibero-American countries. Among the calamities that the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking peoples have had to put up with is the fact that they are the region in the world with the most inequalities in terms of the distribution of their wealth.<br /><br />Cuba’s Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla travelled from the UN meeting in New York on the blockade of Cuba to the capital of Paraguay where that second meeting was being held. There, highly interesting things were being said about the crisis that is sweeping over the European Community.<br /><br />The new prime minister of Portugal poured out his bitterness with the European Union when he declared that it has become exhausted and without funds with the record rescue of Greece. It could face up to a crisis in Portugal but it would be bankrupt, unable to aid Italy, the seventh world economy, and this would drag down France whose banks hold the greatest part of the Italian debt.<br /><br />The Iberian leaders doubt that the commitment assumed with Greece would be fulfilled and if it is not fulfilled they predict a longer crisis than that of 1929.<br /><br />This morning, the news dispatches inform about the drastic consequences of the never-before-seen rainfall in Thailand, the major rice exporter whose sales will be reduced from 25 million tons to 19.<br /><br />In contrast, news about China increasing its production of metal copper to almost 5 million tons caused considerable effect.<br /><br />However, while the US keeps intact its veto power at the International Monetary Fund, China is being denied the simple right of approving the Yuan as convertible currency in that body. How long will that tyranny prevail?<br /><br />It is through this looking-glass that we must analyse every single word that is spoken at the G-20 Summit.<br /><br />Fidel Castro Ruz<br />November 2, 2011<br />8:54 p.m.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-8137834440566284572011-11-02T22:03:00.005+01:002011-11-04T20:13:57.105+01:00NATOS’S GENOCIDAL ROLE (PART FOUR)On March 2nd, under the title of “NATO’s Inevitable War” I wrote:<br />
<br />
“In contrast with what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies the first spot on the Human Development Index for Africa and it has the highest life expectancy on the continent. Education and health receive special attention from the State. The cultural level of its population is without a doubt the highest. Its problems are of a different sort. […] The country needed an abundant foreign labour force to carry out ambitious plans for production and social development.”<br />
<br />
“It had enormous incomes and reserves in convertible currencies deposited in the banks of the wealthy countries from which they acquired consumer goods and even sophisticated weapons that were supplied exactly by the same countries that today want to invade it in the name of human rights.<br />
<br />
“The colossal campaign of lies, unleashed by the mass media, resulted in great confusion in world public opinion. Some time will go by before we can reconstruct what has really happened in Libya, and we can separate the true facts from the false ones that have been spread.”<br />
<br />
“The empire and its main allies used the most sophisticated media to divulge information about the events, among which one had to deduce the shreds of the truth.”<br />
<br />
“Imperialism and NATO – seriously concerned by the revolutionary wave unleashed in the Arab world, where a large part of the oil is generated that sustains the consumer economy of the developed and rich countries – could not help but take advantage of the internal conflict arising in Libya so that they could promote military intervention.”<br />
<br />
“In spite of the flood of lies and the confusion that was created, the US could not drag China and the Russian Federation to the approval by the Security Council for a military intervention in Libya, even though it managed to obtain however, in the Human Rights Council, approval of the objectives it was seeking at that moment.”<br />
<br />
“The real fact is that Libya is now wrapped up in a civil war, as we had foreseen, and the United Nations could do nothing to avoid it, other than its own Secretary General sprinkling the fire with a goodly dose of fuel.<br />
<br />
“The problem that perhaps the actors were not imagining is that the very leaders of the rebellion were bursting into the complicated matter declaring that they were rejecting all foreign military intervention.”<br />
<br />
One of the rebellion’s ringleaders, Abdelhafiz Ghoga, declared on February 28th, in an encounter with journalists: “What we want is intelligence information, but in no case that our sovereignty is affected in the air, on land or on the seas.”<br />
<br />
“The intransigence of the people responsible for the opposition on national sovereignty was reflecting the opinion being spontaneously manifested by many Libyan citizens to the international press in Benghazi”, informed a dispatch of the AFP agency this past Monday.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXtuqyyKeNcPZIgIO-hj57pjR2zctH8VVsLzaGYYgHWGDsfuEbqWilVFIp0LrH3cr1inYVjvbUKZvSkeLolBqDKSeaiZFTNC_z0L9eUWHmGzMS5wau3nZHxMJWG0Tl4ZEkfueOXVoqfSB/s1600/if-you-dont-come-to-democracy-democracy-will-come-to-you.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670507440482929266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXtuqyyKeNcPZIgIO-hj57pjR2zctH8VVsLzaGYYgHWGDsfuEbqWilVFIp0LrH3cr1inYVjvbUKZvSkeLolBqDKSeaiZFTNC_z0L9eUWHmGzMS5wau3nZHxMJWG0Tl4ZEkfueOXVoqfSB/s400/if-you-dont-come-to-democracy-democracy-will-come-to-you.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 334px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
“That same day, a political sciences professor at the University of Benghazi, Abeir Imneina, adversary of Gaddafi stated:<br />
<br />
“There is very strong national feeling in Libya.”<br />
<br />
“‘Furthermore, the example of Iraq strikes fear in the Arab world as a whole’, she underlined, in reference to the American invasion of 2003 that was supposed to bring democracy to that country and then, by contagion, to the region as a whole, a hypothesis totally belied by the facts.”<br />
<br />
“‘We know what happened in Iraq, it’s that it is fully unstable and we really don’t want to follow the same path. We don’t want the Americans to come to have to go crying to Gaddafi’, this expert continued.”<br />
<br />
“A few hours after this dispatch was printed, two of the main press bodies of the United States, The New York Times and The Washington Post, hastened to offer new versions on the subject; the DPA agency informs on this on the following day, March the first: “The Libyan opposition could request that the West bomb from the air strategic positions of the forces loyal to President Muamar al Gaddafi, the US press informed today’.”<br />
<br />
“The subject is being discussed inside the Libyan Revolutionary Council, ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’ specified in their online versions.”<br />
<br />
“’In the event that air actions are carried out within the United Nations framework, these would not imply international intervention, explained the council’s spokesperson, quoted by The New York Times‘”.<br />
<br />
“‘The Washington Post’ quoted rebels acknowledging that, without Western backing, combat with the forces loyal to Gaddafi could last a long time and cost many human lives.”<br />
<br />
In that Reflection, I immediately wondered:<br />
<br />
“Why the effort to present the rebels as prominent members of society demanding bombing by the US and NATO in order to kill Libyans?”<br />
<br />
“Some day we shall know the truth, through persons such as the political sciences professor from the University of Benghazi who, with such eloquence, tells of the terrible experience that killed, destroyed homes, left millions of persons in Iraq without jobs or forced them to emigrate.”<br />
<br />
“Today on Wednesday, the second of March, the EFE Agency presents the well-known rebel spokesperson making statements that, in my opinion, affirm and at the same time contradict those made on Monday: “Benghazi (Libya), March 2. The rebel Libyan leadership today asked the UN Security Council to launch an air attack ‘against the mercenaries’ of the Muamar el Gaddafi regime.’”<br />
<br />
“Which one of the many imperialist wars would this look like?<br />
<br />
“The one in Spain in 1936? Mussolini’s against Ethiopia in 1935? George W. Bush’s against Iraq in the year 2003 or any other of the dozens of wars promoted by the United States against the peoples of the Americas, from the invasion of Mexico in 1846 to the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982?<br />
<br />
“Without excluding, of course, the mercenary invasion of the Bay of Pigs, the dirty war and the blockade of our Homeland throughout 50 years, that will have another anniversary next April 16th.<br />
<br />
“In all those wars, like that of Vietnam which cost millions of lives, the most cynical justifications and measures prevailed.<br />
<br />
“For anyone harbouring any doubts, about the inevitable military intervention that shall occur in Libya, the AP news agency, which I consider to be well-informed, headlined a cable printed today which stated: “The NATO countries are drawing up a contingency plan taking as its model the flight exclusion zones established over the Balkans in the 1990s, in the event that the international community decides to impose an air embargo over Libya, diplomats said’.”<br />
<br />
Any honest person capable of objectively observing the events can appreciate the danger lying in the ensemble of cynical and brutal events that characterize United States policy and explain the embarrassing solitude of that country in the UN debate on “The need to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba”.<br />
<br />
I am closely following the Pan-American Games of Guadalajara 2011, despite my work.<br />
<br />
Our country swells with pride for those young people who exemplify for the world their selflessness and spirit of solidarity. I warmly congratulate them; nobody can take away from them the place of honour they have earned.<br />
<br />
To be continued on Sunday the 30th.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 28, 2011<br />
7:14 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-52023401216821638532011-11-02T21:57:00.005+01:002011-11-04T20:13:48.659+01:00NATO’S GENOCIDAL ROLE (PART THREE)On February 23rd, under the title of “The Cynical Danse Macabre”, I set out:<br />
<br />
“The policy of plundering imposed by the United States and their NATO allies in the Middle East has gone into a crisis. ”<br />
<br />
“Thanks to the treason committed by Sadat at Camp David, the Palestinian State has not been able to exist, despite the UN treaties of November 1947, and Israel became a strong nuclear power, an ally of the United States and NATO.<br />
<br />
The US Military Industrial Complex supplied Israel with tens of billions of dollars every year as well as to the very Arab States that were submitted and being humiliated by Israel.<br />
<br />
The genie has escaped from the bottle and NATO doesn’t know how to control it.<br />
<br />
They are going to attempt to wrest the most benefits from the regrettable events in Libya. Nobody can know at this moment what is happening over there. All the figures and versions, even the most implausible ones, have been spread by the empire via the mass media, sowing chaos and disinformation.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that inside Libya a civil war is brewing. Why and how did this happen? Who will pay the consequences? Reuters Agency, echoing the opinion of the well-known Nomura Bank of Japan, stated that oil prices could go beyond any limits:”<br />
<br />
“…What would be the consequences in the midst of the food crisis?<br />
<br />
“The main NATO leaders are all worked up. British Prime Minister David Cameron, ANSA informed, ‘…admitted in a speech in Kuwait that the western nations made a mistake in backing non-democratic governments in the Arab world.’.”<br />
<br />
“His French colleague Nicolas Sarkozy stated: ‘The extended brutal and bloody repression of the Libyan civilian population is disgusting.”<br />
<br />
“Italian Chancellor Franco Frattini stated as ‘believable’ the figure of one thousand dead in Tripoli […] ‘the tragic numbers shall be a bloodbath’.”<br />
<br />
Hillary Clinton stated: “…the ‘bloodbath’ is ‘completely unacceptable’ and ‘it has to stop’…”<br />
<br />
“Ban Ki-moon spoke: “‘The use of violence in the country is absolutely unacceptable’.”<br />
<br />
“…‘the Security Council will act according to whatever the international community decides’.”<br />
<br />
“‘We are considering a series of options’.”<br />
<br />
What Ban Ki-moon is really hoping is that Obama pronounces the last word.<br />
<br />
The president of the United States spoke this Wednesday afternoon and stated that the Secretary of State would be leaving for Europe in order to agree with their NATO allies on the measures to be taken. On his face once could note the opportunity to spar with John McCain, the far-right-wing Republican senator, pro-Israel Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut and the leaders of the Tea Party, in order to ensure the Democratic Party demands.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfZfBZtjp9qMx_H6EIBa3bgkYsJv0YI_LncDRbeGyZIzIvpXPfGI0pOPE7_AWGTfezfNl1PIuujFFe1YZVU2PYMSWsuYNOOePjau3u-Ew4RSWCatVMU6yw4lYueBgmQSFNTFO6DA8dxqc/s1600/libya-milwaukee-protest.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670506774513845650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfZfBZtjp9qMx_H6EIBa3bgkYsJv0YI_LncDRbeGyZIzIvpXPfGI0pOPE7_AWGTfezfNl1PIuujFFe1YZVU2PYMSWsuYNOOePjau3u-Ew4RSWCatVMU6yw4lYueBgmQSFNTFO6DA8dxqc/s400/libya-milwaukee-protest.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
The empire’s mass media has prepared the terrain for action. There would be nothing strange about a military intervention in Libya; besides, with that, Europe would be guaranteed almost two million barrels of light oil per day, unless before that events would put an end to the leadership or the life of Gaddafi.<br />
<br />
“Anyway, Obama’s role is rather complicated. What will the reaction of the Arab and Muslim world be if blood should flow in abundance in that country as a result of that exploit? Would NATO intervention in Libya stem the revolutionary tidal wave surging in Egypt?<br />
<br />
In Iraq, the innocent blood of more than a million Arab citizens was spilt when the country was invaded under false pretexts. ”<br />
<br />
“Nobody in the world would ever agree with the deaths of defenceless civilians in Libya or anywhere else. And I wonder: will the US and NATO apply that principle on the defenceless civilians that the unmanned Yankee planes and the soldiers of that organization kill every day in Afghanistan and Pakistan?<br />
<br />
It is a cynical danse macabre.”<br />
<br />
While I was meditating upon these events, the debate scheduled for yesterday, Tuesday, October 25th, began at the United Nations, on the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”, something that has been addressed by the immense majority of the member countries of that institution over the course of 20 years.<br />
<br />
This time, the numerous basic and just reasons – that for US administrations were nothing more than rhetorical exercises – made clear as never before the political and moral weakness of the most powerful empire that has existed, to whose oligarchic interests and insatiable lust for power and wealth all the inhabitants of the planet have been submitted, including the people of that very country.<br />
<br />
The United States tyrannizes and pillages the globalized world with its political, economic, technological and military might.<br />
<br />
That truth becomes ever more obvious after the honest and valiant debates that have been taking place in the last 20 years at the UN, with the support of the states that one presumes express the will of the immense majority of the planet’s inhabitants.<br />
<br />
Before Bruno’s address, many countries’ organizations expressed their points of view via one of their members. The first of these was Argentina on behalf of the Group of 77 and China; Egypt followed on behalf of the Non-Aligned Nations; Kenya on behalf of the African Union; Belize on behalf of CARICOM; Kazakhstan on behalf of the Islamic Cooperation Organization; and Uruguay on behalf of MERCOSUR.<br />
<br />
Besides these group-based expressions, China, a country with growing political and economic clout in the world, India and Indonesia firmly supported the Resolution through their ambassadors; among the three of them they represent 2.700 million inhabitants. The ambassadors of the Russian Federation, Belorussia, South Africa, Algeria, Venezuela and Mexico also spoke. Among the poorest countries of the Caribbean and Latin America, there were vibrating words of solidarity, such as the ones by the ambassador of Belize, who spoke on behalf of the Caribbean community, also the ambassador of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who spoke on behalf of his country and the one from Bolivia, whose arguments related to solidarity with our people, despite a blockade that is now lasting 50 years, will be an undying stimulus for our physicians, educators and scientists.<br />
<br />
Nicaragua spoke prior to the vote, to courageously explain why it would be voting against that treacherous measure.<br />
<br />
Also speaking earlier was the United States representative, to explain the unexplainable. I was sorry for him. It was the role they had given him.<br />
<br />
When the time for the vote arrived, two countries were absent: Libya and Sweden; three abstained: the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau; two voted nay: the US and Israel. Adding up those who voted nay, abstained or were absent: the United States with 313 million inhabitants; Israel with 7.4 million; Sweden with 9.5 million; Libya with 6.5 million; Marshall Islands with 67.100; Micronesia, 106.800; Palau with 20.900, the total comes to 336 million 948 thousand, equivalent to 4.8% of the world’s population which this month is at 7 billion.<br />
<br />
Following voting, to explain their vote, Poland spoke on behalf of the European Union which, in spite of its close alliance with the United States and its forced participation in the blockade, is against that criminal measure.<br />
<br />
Afterwards, 17 countries spoke, to resolutely and decisively explain why they voted for the Resolution against the embargo.<br />
<br />
To be continued on Friday the 28th.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 26, 2011<br />
9:45 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-61658020019983252332011-11-02T21:52:00.007+01:002011-11-04T20:13:34.088+01:00NATOS’S GENOCIDAL ROLE (PART TWO)A little over eight months ago, on February 21st of this year, I stated with complete conviction: “The NATO plan is to occupy Libya”. With that title I dealt with the subject for the first time in a Reflection whose content seemed to be the product of a fantasy.<br />
<br />
I include in these lines the elements for the opinion that led me to that conclusion.<br />
<br />
“Oil has become the principal wealth in the hands of the great Yankee transnationals; through this energy source they had an instrument that considerably expanded their political power in the world.”<br />
<br />
“Upon this energy source today’s civilization was developed. Venezuela was the nation in this hemisphere that paid the highest price. The United States became the lord and master of the huge oil fields that Mother Nature had bestowed upon that sister country.”<br />
<br />
“At the end of the last World War, it started to extract greater amounts of oil from the oil fields of Iran, as well as those in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Arab countries located around them. These became the main suppliers. World consumption progressively increased to the fabulous figure of approximately 80 million barrels a day, including those being extracted on United States territory, to which later gas, hydro and nuclear energies were added.”<br />
<br />
“The squandering of oil and gas is associated with one of the greatest tragedies, not in the least resolved, which is suffered by humankind: climate change.”<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDI8h72AIO6O7VlB4vRBEuEz1KBWLbpCuBdj1uHLSU4ix51LR8iHw-avyklCB2QrR9HMhps6oaCEJEpt4Ez8-XgenN1EKgWtjcX7g0vkeR1RXL5BLfN9HxH113gE6SN4yjRGLQ06fPiayB/s1600/110322_libya_fighting_ap_605.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670505194915938722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDI8h72AIO6O7VlB4vRBEuEz1KBWLbpCuBdj1uHLSU4ix51LR8iHw-avyklCB2QrR9HMhps6oaCEJEpt4Ez8-XgenN1EKgWtjcX7g0vkeR1RXL5BLfN9HxH113gE6SN4yjRGLQ06fPiayB/s400/110322_libya_fighting_ap_605.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 217px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
“In December of 1951, Libya becomes the first African country to attain its independence after WW II, during which its territory was the stage for important battles between the troops of Germany and the United Kingdom…”<br />
<br />
“Ninety-five percent of its territory is completely made up of desert. Technology permitted the discovery of vital oilfields of excellent quality light oil that today reach one million 800 thousand barrels a day along with abundant deposits of natural gas. […] Its harsh desert is located over an enormous lake of fossil waters, equivalent to more than three times the land area of Cuba; this has made it possible to construct a broad network of pipelines of fresh water that stretch from one end of the country to the other.”<br />
<br />
“The Libyan Revolution took place in the month of September of the year 1969. Its main leader was Muammar al-Gaddafi, a soldier of Bedouin origin who, in his early years, was inspired by the ideas of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Without any doubt, many of his decisions are associated with the changes that were produced when, as in Egypt, a weak and corrupt monarchy was overthrown in Libya.”<br />
<br />
“One can agree with Gaddafi or not. The world has been invaded with all kinds of news, especially using the mass media. One has to wait the necessary length of time in order to learn precisely what is the truth and what are lies, or a mixture of events of every kind that, in the midst of chaos, were produced in Libya. For me, what is absolutely clear is that the government of the United States is not in the least worried about peace in Libya and it will not hesitate in giving NATO the order to invade that rich country, perhaps in a matter of hours or a few short days.”<br />
<br />
“Those who with perfidious intentions invented the lie that Gaddafi was headed for Venezuela, just as they did yesterday afternoon on Sunday the 20th of February, today received an fitting response from Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolás Maduro…”<br />
<br />
“As for me, I cannot imagine that the Libyan leader would abandon his country; escaping the responsibilities he is charged with, whether or not they are partially or totally false.”<br />
<br />
“An honest person shall always be against any injustice being committed against any people in the world, and the worst of all, at this moment, would be to remain silent in the face of the crime that NATO is getting ready to commit against the Libyan people.”<br />
<br />
“The leadership of that war-mongering organization has to do it. We must condemn it!”<br />
<br />
At that early date I had realized something that was absolutely obvious.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, on Tuesday October 25th, our chancellor Bruno Rodríguez will speak at UN Headquarters to denounce the criminal blockade of the United States against Cuba. We shall be closely following that battle which will once again make clear the necessity of putting an end to, not just the blockade, but the system that spawns injustice on our planet, squanders its natural resources and puts human survival at risk. We shall be paying particular attention to Cuba’s declaration.<br />
<br />
I shall continue on Wednesday the 26th.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 24, 2011.<br />
5:19 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-2043361142599861822011-11-02T21:38:00.012+01:002011-11-04T20:13:19.344+01:00NATO’S GENOCIDAL ROLE (PART ONE)That brutal military alliance has become the most perfidious instrument of repression known in the history of humankind.<br />
<br />
NATO took on that global repressive role as soon as the USSR, which had served the United States as an excuse for its creation, ceased to exist. Its criminal purpose became obvious in Serbia, a Slavic country, whose people had so heroically fought against Nazi troops in WW II.<br />
<br />
When in March of 1999 the countries of this ill-fated organization, in its efforts to disintegrate Yugoslavia after the death of Josip Broz Tito, sent their troops in support of the Kosovar secessionists, they ran into strong resistance from that nation whose experienced forces were still intact.<br />
<br />
The Yankee administration, advised by the Spanish right-wing government of José María Aznar, attacked the Serbian TV stations, the bridges over the Danube River and Belgrade, that country’s capital. The embassy of the People’s Republic of China was destroyed by Yankee bombs, several of the officials died and there could not have been any error as the authors alleged. Many Serbian patriots lost their lives. President Slobodan Miloševiс, overwhelmed by the power of the aggressors and the disappearance of the USSR, ceded to NATO demands and admitted to the presence of that alliance’s troops in Kosovo under the UN mandate; this finally led to his political downfall and subsequent trial by The Hague courts which were less than impartial. He died a strange death in prison. Had the Serbian leader resisted a few more days, NATO would have entered into a serious crisis which was on the point of exploding. The empire thus had much more time to impose its hegemony among the every more subordinated members of that organization.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYdIKvfebT9-P0RS2TIE7d2ccIUMU7pGvJ0mUq9BK_jWgsrOyqq2wjXAWL-K0RrBymD0AbAOnLsYgK6sMy9m7J2NNJFUHLYCDKk77MLfiJf9nwGbB1OLojkAqLNsF9DyxZ8269cMKRtnvm/s1600/stop_genocide350.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670502792419508242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYdIKvfebT9-P0RS2TIE7d2ccIUMU7pGvJ0mUq9BK_jWgsrOyqq2wjXAWL-K0RrBymD0AbAOnLsYgK6sMy9m7J2NNJFUHLYCDKk77MLfiJf9nwGbB1OLojkAqLNsF9DyxZ8269cMKRtnvm/s400/stop_genocide350.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 318px;" /></a><br />
Between February 21st and April 27th of this year, I published nine Reflections on the subject on the CubaDebate website; in them I amply dealt with NATO’s role in Libya and what, in my opinion, was going to happen.<br />
<br />
Therefore I find myself obliged to synthesize the essential ideas that I put forth, and the events that have been happening as foreseen, just that now the central figure in that story, Muammar Al-Gaddafi, was seriously wounded by the most modern NATO fighter-bombers which intercepted and incapacitated his vehicle, he was captured while still alive and murdered by men that organization had armed.<br />
<div class="entry-content"><br />
His body has been kidnapped and exhibited as a trophy of war, conduct that violates the most basic principles of the norms of Muslim and other religious beliefs in the world. It is being announced that very soon Libya shall be declared a “democratic state and defender of human rights.”<br />
<br />
I find myself obliged to dedicate several Reflections to these important and significant events.<br />
<br />
I shall continue tomorrow, on Monday.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 23, 2011<br />
6:10 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-27892527213454691662011-11-02T21:14:00.009+01:002011-11-04T20:12:45.181+01:00THE EXPLOITS IN GUADALAJARAI am taking a brief pause in my political analyses to dedicate this space to the exploits of our Cuban athletes at the Sixteenth Pan-American Games.<br />
<br />
The Olympic Games and the international sports competitions revolving around them and which arouse such interest for billions of persons, have a beautiful history that should be remembered not for having been abused.<br />
<br />
The contribution of the creator of the Olympic Games was particularly unblemished, more so than that of Nobel who, at one stage of his life, seeking to create a more efficient means of production, produced the explosive whose economic fruits he assigned to carry out his wishes for peace, awarding both scientists and brilliant writers as well as the head of an empire who orders the murder of an adversary in the presence of his family, the bombing of a tribe in central Asia or of a small independent country in northern Africa and the extermination of its commanding bodies.<br />
<br />
Baron Pierre de Coubertin was the father of the modern Olympic Games; an aristocrat by birth, born in France, a capitalist country where peasants, workers or artisans were not given the possibility by that society to undertake that task.<br />
<br />
Ignoring the wishes of his family who wanted him to become an army officer, he broke with the Military Academy and dedicated his life to pedagogy. In some ways, his life is reminiscent of Darwin, the discoverer of the laws of natural evolution. Coubertin becomes the disciple of an Anglican minister, founds the first magazine dedicated to sports and manages to get the French government to include it in the World Exhibition of 1889.<br />
<br />
He begins to dream of bringing together sportsmen from every country in a sporting competition under the principle of union and fraternity, without any profits and driven by the desire to attain glory.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNeWmgvdzR-DcAxPmsVPiRKGndx2X312h9OHXvZ3u5wHwodiK_vkEevByh-eVasXrHjX72KcvfHF_oiuOGen0wnkgXny8rPl4ZdFp-maHm4XrYFk2LWze9tFWFPMCAySVAJaIP2OHgz3u/s1600/CUBA1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670496434731997042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNeWmgvdzR-DcAxPmsVPiRKGndx2X312h9OHXvZ3u5wHwodiK_vkEevByh-eVasXrHjX72KcvfHF_oiuOGen0wnkgXny8rPl4ZdFp-maHm4XrYFk2LWze9tFWFPMCAySVAJaIP2OHgz3u/s400/CUBA1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 264px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
At first, his ideas were not understood but he persisted, travelling all over the world speaking of peace and union among peoples and all human beings.<br />
<br />
Finally, the International Physical Education Congress being held in Paris in 1894 created the Olympic Games.<br />
<br />
The idea met with resistance and lack of understanding in England, the principal colonial power; boycotted by Germany, the powerful rival empire; and even opposed by Athens, the city chosen for the first Olympiad.<br />
<br />
Pierre de Coubertin was successful in committing emperors, kings and governments in Europe with his tireless efforts and diplomatic talent.<br />
<br />
The principal factor was, in my opinion, the depth and nobility of his ideas that won the support of peoples around the world.<br />
<br />
For the first time, on March 24, 1896, the King of Greece declared the First International Olympic Games of Athens to be inaugurated, 115 years ago.<br />
<br />
Two destructive and shattering wars have occurred since then, both originating in Europe, costing the world tens of millions of persons dead in combat, adding to that the civilians who died in the bombings or because of the hunger and disease that followed. Peace is not guaranteed. What we know is that, in a new world war, modern weaponry could destroy humankind several times over.<br />
<br />
It is in the light of these realities that I so admire the conduct of our sportsmen and sportswomen.<br />
<br />
The most important thing about the Olympic movement is the conception of sport as a instrument for education, health and friendship among peoples; a real antidote for vices such as drugs, smoking, abusing alcoholic beverages and the acts of violence that so affect human society.<br />
<br />
In the mind of the Olympic founder, the idea of salaried sports or the buying and selling of athletes never occurred. That was also the noble objective of the Cuban Revolution, involving the duty of promoting sports just as health, education, science, culture and the arts, always the undeniable principles of the Revolution.<br />
<br />
Not only that, our country promoted the practice of sports and the training of coaches in Third World countries that were struggling for their development. The International School for Physical Education and Sports has been functioning in our Homeland for many years and it has trained many coaches who efficiently carry out their jobs in countries that at times compete in important sports with our very own athletes.<br />
<br />
Thousands of Cuban specialists have provided their services as coaches and sports technicians in many countries of what is known as the Third World.<br />
<br />
It is within the framework of those principles being applied during dozens of years that our people feel proud of the medals that their athletes obtain at the international competitions.<br />
<br />
The transnationals of professional sports have left the dreams of the creator of the Olympics far behind.<br />
<br />
Taking advantage of the prestige created by the sporting competitions, excellent athletes, many of them born in the poor nations of Africa and Latin America, are bought and sold on the international market by those companies and, only on a handful of occasions are they allowed to play on teams of their own countries where they were promoted as prestigious athletes by their personal efforts and because of their own qualities.<br />
<br />
Our people, austere and sacrificing, has had to face up to the claws of those money-grubbing merchants of professional sports who offer fabulous amounts of money to our athletes and, at times, deprive the people of their presence with those gross acts of piracy.<br />
<br />
As a sports fan, I have chatted many times with the most outstanding of them and that is why, on this occasion, I am really pleased to see the sports successes of our delegation on TV and their victorious return to the Homeland, back from Guadalajara where the United States, despite having approximately 27 times more inhabitants than Cuba, was only able to obtain 1.58 times more standings and the corresponding gold medals than Cuba which obtained 58.<br />
<br />
Brazil, with more than 200 million inhabitants, got 48.<br />
<br />
México, with more than 100, got 42.<br />
<br />
Canada, a wealthy developed country with 34 million inhabitants, got only 29.<br />
<br />
The total number of gold, silver and bronze medals won by Cuba was proportional to the number of standings mentioned.<br />
<br />
Quite a few of our young athletes had truly amazing successes.<br />
<br />
Despite the victories which fill our people with pride, we have the duty to continue excelling.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 30, 2011<br />
10:11 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-14895516920451718742011-11-02T21:03:00.006+01:002011-11-04T20:12:16.951+01:00THE TWO VENEZUELASYesterday I spoke about the time when Venezuela was an ally of the US empire and the country where Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch carried out their plans for the brutal in-flight bombing of a Cuban plane that caused the death and disappearance of all people aboard, including the youth fencing team that had just won all the gold medals at the Central-American and Caribbean Championships held in Venezuela. With the Pan-American Games underway in Guadalajara, we remember them with great sadness.<br />
<br />
It was not the Venezuela of Rómulo Gallegos and Andrés Eloy Blanco but that of the scoundrel, traitor and venomous Rómulo Betancourt. A man who was jealous of the Cuban Revolution and who, as an ally of the imperialists, cooperated so much with their attacks against our homeland. At the time Venezuela was an oil property of the United States and, after Miami, represented the epicenter for counterrevolutionary actions against Cuba. History recalls how Venezuela played a significant role in the imperialist attack on Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs), the economic blockade and countless other crimes against our people. It was the beginning of the dark ages in Venezuela that came to an end when Hugo Chávez was sworn in on the “dying constitution” held in the trembling hands of former President Rafael Caldera.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGgZ08YktDIh71BkL49CdCUAG0Om0yccRFlUv_4Y_9f4M3LSE2OVpb-A2rPbWlDOcvhDR_cYiR-p1NRXoz3_JfN6rT6e8UNxsQqVGNoC2-H5k4FtjpCX9aNu27yHZfOeoKH0o5wE1Htt3g/s1600/bolivar2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670493859307513138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGgZ08YktDIh71BkL49CdCUAG0Om0yccRFlUv_4Y_9f4M3LSE2OVpb-A2rPbWlDOcvhDR_cYiR-p1NRXoz3_JfN6rT6e8UNxsQqVGNoC2-H5k4FtjpCX9aNu27yHZfOeoKH0o5wE1Htt3g/s400/bolivar2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 348px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 257px;" /></a><br />
Forty years had passed since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and more than a century since the Yankee plundering of Venezuela’s oil, natural resources and sweat.<br />
<br />
Many Venezuelans died amidst the ignorance and misery imposed by US and European gunboats!<br />
<br />
Fortunately the other Venezuela exists, the Venezuela of Bolívar and Miranda, of Sucre and of a legion of brilliant leaders and thinkers who were able to conceive that great Latin American homeland of which we feel a part of and for which we have resisted aggressions and blockades for more than half a century.<br />
<br />
“…so that Cuba’s independence will prevent the expansion of the United States throughout the Antilles, allowing that nation to fall, ever more powerfully, upon our American lands. Everything I have done, everything I will do, is toward this end,” wrote the apostle of our independence Jose Marti the day before he died in combat.<br />
<br />
Included among us today is Hugo Chávez who is visiting a part of that great Latin American and Caribbean homeland envisioned by Simón Bolívar. Hugo Chávez understands better than anybody the José Martí principal that “…what Bolívar left undone, is still undone today. Bolívar has things yet to do in America.”<br />
<br />
I spoke with him at length yesterday and today. I told him about the great passion with which I dedicate the energy I have left to the dreams of a better and more just world.<br />
<br />
It is not difficult to share dreams with the Bolivarian leader when the empire is already showing unequivocal signs of a terminal illness.<br />
<br />
Saving humanity from an irreversible disaster is something that today may be compromised by the stupidity of any of those mediocre presidents who in the most recent decades have led that empire or by one of those increasingly powerful leaders of the industrial military complex that rules the destiny of that country.<br />
<br />
Friendly nations that have become increasingly important in the world economy —given their economic and technological advances and their condition as permanent members of the Security Council, such as the Popular Republic of China and the Russian Federation, along with the peoples of the so-called Third World in Asia, Africa and Latin America— could achieve this goal. The peoples of the developed and rich nations, increasingly sucked dry by their own financial oligarchies, are also starting to play a role in this battle for human survival.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the Bolivarian people of Venezuela are organizing themselves and uniting to challenge and defeat the sickening oligarchy at the service of the empire that once again is attempting to take over the government of this country.<br />
<br />
Venezuela, given its extraordinary educational, cultural and social developments, and its vast energy and natural resources, is called on to become a revolutionary model for the world.<br />
<br />
Chávez, who came out of the ranks of the Venezuelan Army, is methodical and tireless. I have observed him over the course of 17 years, since his first visit to Cuba. He is an extremely humanitarian and law-abiding person; he has never taken revenge on anybody. The most humble and forgotten sectors of his country are profoundly grateful to him that for the first time in history there is a response to their dreams of social justice.<br />
<br />
Hugo —I told him—, I clearly see that in a very short time the Bolivarian Revolution will create jobs, not only for the Venezuelan people, but also for their Colombian brothers, a hardworking people, who fought along with you for the independence of America, and of whom 40 percent live in poverty; a significant portion of them in extreme poverty.<br />
<br />
I had the honor to speak with our distinguished visitor, the symbol of this other Venezuela, about these and many other topics.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 18, 2011<br />
10:15 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com160tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-972225336909079362011-11-02T20:12:00.011+01:002011-11-04T20:11:06.515+01:00THE WILL OF STEEL (PART TWO)When, in 1976, the most serious terrorist acts were committed against Cuba, in particular the in-flight sabotage of a Cuban airliner which had departed from Barbados with 73 persons aboard – among them pilots, flight attendants and auxiliary personnel offering their services to the airline, the complete juvenile fencing team which had won all the gold medals contested in the Central American and Caribbean Championship, Cuban passengers and those from other countries who had confidence in that plane. The act created such indignation, that the most extraordinary crowd ever seen in the Plaza de la Revolución gathered to close the mourning period, of which there is graphic evidence. The painful scenes were and are unforgettable. Perhaps leaders in the United States and many people around the world did not have the opportunity to see them. It would be illustrative to have those images disseminated by the mass media so that others might understand the motivation of our heroic anti-terrorist fighters.<br />
<br />
Bush Sr. was an important official within the U.S. intelligence services when these forces were given the mission of organizing the counterrevolution in Cuba. The CIA created, in Florida, the largest operations base in the Western Hemisphere, which took charge of subversive efforts in Cuba. It organized attempts to assassinate leaders of the Revolution and took responsibility for the plans and plots which, had they been successful, would have cost many lives on both sides, given the resolve of our people demonstrated in Playa Girón [Bay of Pigs], to struggle to their last drop of blood. Bush never understood that Cuba's victory saved many lives, both Cuban and U.S. ones.<br />
<br />
The monstrous Barbados crime was committed when he was head of the CIA, with almost as much authority as President Ford.<br />
<br />
In June of that year, he called a meeting in Bonao, in the Dominican Republic, to create the Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, under the personal supervision of Vernon Walters, the CIA deputy director. Take note: "United Revolutionary Organizations."<br />
<br />
Orlando Bosch and Posada Carriles, active CIA agents, were designated leaders of this organization. Thus a new stage of terrorist acts against Cuba was initiated. October 6, 1976, Orlando Bosch and Posada Carriles personally directed the sabotage which caused the Cubana plane to explode in flight.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMqo8LeP5DYyFzBP-br292ko5HmczRH9XMGqNUHsWXdqHRHJHmhx0nhP4NafK8IF4Aedfga3GQMQFFTLXv3yTLzIJO4dE1ZcVM34Ic-I0DbRipK25ymlHBHyeIwn5zc7oTVwJMfo5GVu6I/s1600/ve-lgflag.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670492435748906098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMqo8LeP5DYyFzBP-br292ko5HmczRH9XMGqNUHsWXdqHRHJHmhx0nhP4NafK8IF4Aedfga3GQMQFFTLXv3yTLzIJO4dE1ZcVM34Ic-I0DbRipK25ymlHBHyeIwn5zc7oTVwJMfo5GVu6I/s400/ve-lgflag.gif" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 224px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 319px;" /></a><br />
Authorities in Barbados arrested the four persons involved and returned them to Venezuela.<br />
When in 1976 the most serious acts of terrorism against Cuba took place, especially the destruction of a Cuban airliner in mid-flight that had taken off from Barbados with 73 persons onboard – including pilots, flight attendants and auxiliary personnel who were providing their noble services on that airline, the complete youth team that had obtained all the gold medals that were being contested at the Central American and Caribbean Fencing Championship, passengers from Cuba and other countries who were travelling full of confidence in that plane – the facts caused such great indignation that during the wake held at Revolution Square the most extraordinary and overflowing crowd ever seen came together and we have photographic records of this.<br />
<br />
Perhaps the United States leaders and many in the world had no possibility of seeing them. It would be illustrative that those scenes were to be broadcast by the mass media in order to understand full well the motivations driving our heroic anti-terrorist combatants.<br />
Bush Sr. was already an important official in the US intelligence services when they received the mission of organizing the counter-revolution in Cuba. In Florida the CIA created the largest base of operations in the western hemisphere. It became responsible for all the subversive actions carried out in Cuba, including the assassination attempts on leaders of the Revolution and it became responsible for plans and calculations that, had they been successful, would have meant an enormous number of casualties on both sides given the decision of our people, as demonstrated at Girón, of fighting to the last drop of blood. Bush never understood that Cuba`s victory saved many lives, both Cuban and American.<br />
<br />
The monstrous Barbados crime was produced when he was already head of the CIA, with almost as much authority as President Ford.<br />
<br />
In June of that year he called a meeting at Bonao in the Dominican Republic in order to create the Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations with the personal supervision of Vernon Walters, then deputy director of the CIA. Take note: “United Revolutionary Organizations”.<br />
<br />
Orlando Bosch and Posada Carriles, active agents in that organization, were appointed leaders of that organization. Thus begins a new phase of terrorist activities against Cuba. On October 6th of 1976, Orlando Bosch and Posada Carriles personally direct the sabotage for the blowing up of the Cuban airliner in mid-flight.<br />
<br />
The authorities arrested the men involved and sent them to Venezuela.<br />
<br />
The scandal was so big that the government of that country, then a US ally and accomplice to crimes inside and outside of Venezuela, had no other alternative than to place them at the disposal of the Venezuelan courts.<br />
<br />
The Sandinista Revolution triumphed in July of 1979. The bloody dirty war promoted by the United States broke out in that country. Reagan was by then the President of the United States.<br />
<br />
When Gerald Ford replaced Nixon, such was the scandal caused by the assassination attempts on foreign leaders that he prohibited the participation of US officials in such actions. Congress denied funding for the dirty war in Nicaragua. They needed Posada Carriles. The CIA, through the so-called Cuban-American National Foundation, bribed the jailers involved with copious sums and the terrorist got out of jail as just another visitor. Urgently moved to Llopango in El Salvador, not only did he direct arms supplies that caused thousands of dead and wounded among the Nicaraguan patriots, but also, with CIA cooperation, he acquired drugs in Central America, brought them into the United States and bought American weapons for the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
In the interest of brevity, I am omitting numerous facts in the brutal story.<br />
<br />
It is not possible to understand why the illustrious Nobel Prize laureate who presides over the government of the United States is pleased to reiterate the stupid idea that Cuba is a terrorist country, keeping four Cuban anti-terrorists isolated in prisons and in inhumane conditions, a punishment that nowadays is not applied to any US enemy country, much less if no US military force admits to having being put at risk by them and prohibits René from returning to his homeland and to the heart of his family.<br />
<br />
The same Sunday October 9th that René sent his valiant message to the people of Cuba, he taped another fraternal “Message to Fidel and Raúl”. Under advice of Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly, neither of the two messages was made public until the Probation Official of the Federal Court of Florida should formally communicate the conditions being imposed on him for the three years of “supervised liberty”.<br />
<br />
Now that this requisite has been fulfilled, I am pleased to inform our people about the textual content of that message that so much honours our heroes and expresses their exemplary conduct and will of steel:<br />
<br />
Dear Commander:<br />
<br />
First of all, an embrace, my thanks, the feeling of appreciation not only for the support with which you have showered us, for the way in which you have mobilized an entire people and mobilized international solidarity in favour of our cause but, in the first place, for having served as our inspiration, for having been the example we have followed during these 13 years and for having been for us a flag behind which we were never going to stop marching.<br />
<br />
For us this mission has been nothing other than the continuation of everything you have done, what your generation did for the Cuban people and for the rest of humankind.<br />
<br />
For me it is an enormous pleasure to send this message to you, to send you a temporary embrace, that goes to you by this channel because I know that we shall embrace at the end; no matter how much our adversaries try to prevent it, I know that we are going to be able to have that embrace. I know that we, the Five, shall return because you promised and because you have mobilized the energy, the best of humankind, the will of the entire world so that it may happen.<br />
<br />
For us it is an honour to serve the cause that you have inspired in the people of Cuba, to be your followers, followers on the road that you and Raúl opened up, and we shall never stop being worthy of that trust you have deposited in us.<br />
<br />
To the two of you, to you Fidel, to Raúl who is now guiding us in this new difficult stage, a complicated but glorious stage in which we are embroiled to break the economic dependency that ties us down still and which prevents us from building the society we want, I send you an embrace on behalf of the Five, I tell you that we always had trust in you. When we were alone in The Hole, when we were put in solitary confinement, when we weren`t getting any news, when my four brothers knew nothing about their families because they couldn`t be told, we always trusted you, we always knew that you would not abandon your sons because we always knew that the Revolution never abandons those who defend it. That is why it deserves to be defended and that is why we are always going to do that.<br />
<br />
And even though I am not sure we deserve all the honours we have been receiving, I can say that the rest of our lives shall be dedicated to deserving it, because you two inspire us, because you are the flag that taught us how to conduct ourselves and until the end of our days we shall try to deserve the trust you have deposited in us.<br />
<br />
For me now this is a trench in which I shall continue in the same battle for which you have called me and I shall be there until the end, until justice is done, following your orders, doing whatever needs to be done.<br />
<br />
And I say to Fidel and to Raúl: Commanders, both of you, at your orders!<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 17, 2011<br />
10:35 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-6126347422205067002011-11-02T20:11:00.003+01:002011-11-04T20:10:55.049+01:00THE WILL OF STEEL (PART ONE)Two days ago on Friday October 14th, Granma and Juventud Rebelde, the Communist Party and Youth League newspapers, published a brave and energetic message from René González, Hero of the Republic, to the people of Cuba, after the odious and unfair 13-year punishment had finished, separately, like the other four heroes who are serving longer sentences in prisons that are hundreds of miles away from each other. Not for one instant did the unshakeable steadfastness of each one of them falter, even when they were repeatedly thrown into punishment cells, veritable sepulchres, without any space to move, just as “Yankee justice” decreed, with no crime or any kind of evidence. If there was anything in which such “justice” didn’t make a mistake, it was in the selection of the type of men it was punishing.<br />
<br />
René was additionally prohibited from returning to his Homeland to be with his family and his people for three years. He will have to remain in the territory of the country that had imposed such unfair punishment on him.<br />
<br />
For everyone, and especially for those of us who have lived through critical years in the history of our Homeland, René’s words profoundly sized it up.<br />
<br />
“The fact that I am now out of prison – he stated – only means that one avenue of abuse to which I was subjected has been closed, […] we still have four brothers whom we have to rescue and whom we need with us with their families, to be among you giving the best of themselves…”<br />
<br />
“For me, this is only a trench, a new place in which I am going to continue fighting for justice so that the Five of us can return together to you.”<br />
<br />
“…to all the people who have accompanied us over the years, who have been thousands, and through whom we have been able, little by little, to break through this information blockade, to break through the wall of silence that the corporate media have built around the case, I extend to you, on behalf of the Five, my most profound gratitude, my commitment to continue representing you as you deserve, which is definitely what we Five are doing, because we are not only Five, we are a whole people who have resisted for 50 years, and it is thanks to that that we are still resisting, […] and will never fail you and will always rise to the heights that you deserve<br />
<br />
René’s sincere, steadfast and energetic words, the unmistakable tone of voice of a fighter who has withstood 13 infinite years of brutal and unfair punishment without faltering for one second, are really impressive.<br />
<br />
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Imperial tyranny will not be able to sustain its gross lies about the injustice committed against the Five Cuban Anti-terrorist Heroes. It doesn’t matter how treacherously the information media in its control does its best to present them as agents and spies that placed United States security at risk. The President of the National Assembly and the prestigious lawyer José Pertierra have been in charge of pulverizing the gross Yankee lies about the heroic Cuban anti-terrorists.<br />
<br />
The memory of the victorious battle our people waged for the return of the boy Elián González to his family and homeland crossed my mind. In the face of the monstrous behaviour of the Cuban counter-revolutionary mafia of Miami and its contempt of the country’s authorities, the very president of the United States at that time, Bill Clinton, was forced to send security forces in order to impose American law and order on the fascist groups who were being contemptuous and setting symbols and flags of that country on fire, headed by the “ferocious she-wolf” Ileana Ros, among others, who today is nothing less than the Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives and dictates rules on that country’s foreign policy.<br />
<br />
René González’ message to the people of Cuba, at his own initiative and bravely taking on any risk, reinforces our profound conviction that the position of the US government in terms of the Five Cuban heroes is by now unsustainable, just as its justification of the criminal economic blockade against our homeland and the punitive measures it applies on foreign enterprises that do business with our country.<br />
<br />
Such a policy, brutal and unusual, has been transformed by the powerful empire into an international norm, despite the practically unanimous opinion of all the members of the United Nations, with the exception of the US and Israel.<br />
<br />
Facts irrefutably show that in the globalized world of today, under the aegis of the Yankee empire, no security guarantee exists for any other country. In the UN one can repeat time and time again the unanimous rejection of the economic blockade on Cuba, or any other measure such as the right of the Palestinian people to their constitution as a state, but unless such a right, or any other, fits in with the empire’s interests, it has no validity whatsoever.<br />
<br />
Without it being a deliberate purpose of the Revolution, our country has become an example of what a small state can achieve if it steadfastly sustains a policy of principles even when scientific and technological advances, its patents and the distribution of the planet’s wealth is in the hands of the most developed and richest nations, that in times past were the colonial powers, disseminators of looting and poverty in our countries.<br />
<br />
In its long struggle against the empire, our country’s combatants have been at the point of being the target for nuclear weapons at the service of that power: the first time in October of 1962; and the second time in mid-1988. On neither of these two occasions did our Homeland succumb to Yankee blackmail: in 1962, it permitted no inspection of any sort on its territory, and in 1988, after the battle of Cuito Cuanavale and the advance of 50,000 Cuban and Angolan soldiers over the South African forces equipped by the West and provided with nuclear missiles, they decided to negotiate the independence of Namibia and the end of Apartheid.<br />
<br />
The peoples of the Third World recognize and are thankful for the unselfish solidarity of Cuba in areas that are so important such as health and education.<br />
<br />
Who can believe the strange lie about Cuba supporting terrorism?<br />
<br />
Such a dull and stupid fib on the part of the powerful country which, only 90 miles away from its shores, not only applied against it a criminal blockade but also perpetrated the most grotesque acts of terrorism. The fires set in educational, recreational and business centres; the live phosphorus in the sugar cane plantations; the use of explosives in factories; the pirate attacks against port facilities and fishing and cargo vessels; the organizing of counter-revolutionary gangs; infiltrations by agents and providing weapons to mercenary gangs began in 1959, after the First Agrarian Reform Law, leaving a trail of death and destruction in our Homeland.<br />
<br />
The bombing of our air force bases and the landing of mercenary troops at the Bay of Pigs, escorted by American aircraft carriers and warships cost innumerable victims when our revolutionary process was barely starting. Can the United States deny these facts?<br />
<br />
Assassination plans on the leaders of the Revolution organized by US intelligence services were innumerable; in fact their gross actions didn’t limit themselves to that. Viruses and bacteria were introduced into our country to sabotage the production of plants and animals; even worse, diseases that didn’t even exist in this hemisphere were introduced into Cuba against the population. Haemorrhagic dengue affected hundreds of thousands of persons and around 150 of them, mainly children, died. That disease still creates havoc in this hemisphere.<br />
<br />
The tale of what the United States has committed against our people would be endless.<br />
<br />
To be continued tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
October 16, 2011<br />
9:05 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-5457211391976220662011-11-02T19:58:00.006+01:002011-11-04T20:30:03.624+01:00OBAMA’S SUPERVISED SHAMENot because it was brutal or clumsy or anticipated was there any less indignation about the Yankee judge from the South Florida District denying René González, the Cuban anti-terrorist hero, the right to return to the heart of his family in Cuba after having served the unfair sentence imposed on him.<br />
<br />
After a cruel and undeserved 13-year prison sentence, the United States government – that gave birth to monsters such as Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch who, as CIA agents had a hand in the exploding of a Cuban airliner full of passengers in mid-flight – forces René to remain in that nation, where he shall be at the mercy of unpunished murderers for three long years, under a regime described as supervised “freedom”. Still unfairly and vengefully imprisoned for long terms of confinement, are another three Cuban heroes, and another one sentenced to two life terms. That is how the empire responds to the growing world clamour for the freedom of these men.<br />
<br />
If that were not the case, then the empire would cease to be an empire; and Obama would cease to be a fool.<br />
<br />
Of course the Cuban heroes shall not be there forever. On the foundations of the unequalled example of dignity and steadfastness, solidarity in the world and in the very heart of the American people shall grow, and it shall put an end to the stupid and unsustainable injustice.<br />
<br />
The uncouth decision was made when the UN General Assembly was in the midst of developing a profound debate on the necessity of re-founding that institution. Never have we heard such solid and energetic criticisms.<br />
<br />
The Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez opened it up with his first message to the General Assembly published on the evening of September 21st. Chávez’ second letter, transmitted in an energetic and vibrant tone by Chancellor Nicolás Maduro, was lapidary. In that message, he also denounced the criminal imperialist blockade against our Homeland and the scandalous and cruel vengeance against the 5 Cuban anti-terrorist Heroes.<br />
<br />
Such circumstances have forced me to write a third Reflection. I shall transmit the essential ideas of that forceful message, using the very words of the author:<br />
<br />
“[…] We do not look for the peace of the cemetery, as said Kant ironically, but a peace based on the most zealous respect for international law. Unfortunately, the UN, through all its history, instead of adding and multiplying efforts in favor of peace among nations, ends up supporting, sometimes through its actions and other times by omission, the most ruthless injustices.”<br />
<br />
“From 1945 on, wars have done nothing but inexorably increase and multiply themselves.”<br />
<br />
“I want to call on the governments of the world to reflect: since September 11th, 2001, a new and unprecedented imperialist war began, a permanent war, in perpetuity.<br />
<br />
“We have to look directly at the terrifying reality of the world we live in. […] Why is the United States the only country that scatters the planet with military bases? What is it afraid of to allocate such a staggering budget for increasing its military power? Why has it unleashed so many wars, violating the sovereignty of other nations which have the same rights on their own fates? How can international law be enforced against its insensible aspiration to militarily hegemonizing the world in order to ensure energy sources to sustain their predatory and consumer model? Why does the UN do nothing to stop Washington? […] the empire has awarded itself the role of judge of the world, without being granted this responsibility […] therefore, imperialist war threatens us all.<br />
<br />
“Washington knows that a multi-polar world is already an irreversible reality. Its strategy consists of stopping, at any price, the sustained rise of a group of emerging countries […] the goal is to reconfigure the world so it is based on Yankee military hegemony.”<br />
<br />
“What is behind this new Armageddon?: the absolute power of the military-financial leadership which is destroying the world in order to accumulate ever more profits; the military-financial leadership which is subordinated, de facto, to an increasingly larger group of States. Keep in mind that war is capital’s modus operandi: the war that ruins the majority and makes richer, up to the unthinkable, a few people.<br />
<br />
“Right now, there is a very serious threat to global peace: a new cycle of colonial wars, which started in Libya, with the sinister objective of refreshing the capitalist global system, within a structural crisis today, but without any limit to its consumerist and destructive voracity.”<br />
<br />
<br />
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“Humanity is on the brink of an unimaginable catastrophe: the world is marching inexorably toward the most devastating ecocide; global warming and its frightening consequences are announcing it, but their perspective on the ecosystem, which resembles the ideology of the conquistadors Cortés and Pizarro , as the influential French thinker Edgar Morin rightly pointed out […] The energy and food crises are sharpening, but capitalism continues to trespass all the limits with impunity.<br />
<br />
“…the great U.S. scientist Linus Pauling, awarded the Nobel Prize on two occasions, continues enlightening our path: “I believe that there is a greater power in the world than the evil power of military force, of nuclear bombs — there is the power of good, of morality, of humanitarianism. I believe in the power of the human spirit”. Let us mobilize all the power of the human spirit: it is time now. It is imperative that we unleash a great political counter-offensive in order to prevent the powers of darkness from finding justifications for going to war, from unleashing a widespread global war through which they attempt to save the western capital.”<br />
<br />
“The warmongers, and especially the military-financial leadership that sponsors and leads them, must be defeated.<br />
<br />
“Let’s build the balance of the universe foreseen by the Liberator, Simón Bolívar – the balance that, according to his words, cannot be found within war; the balance that is born out of peace.”<br />
<br />
“…Venezuela, alongside the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), was actively advocating for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the Libyan conflict. That is also what the African Union did. However, in the end, the logic of war decreed by the UN Security Council and put into practice by NATO, the armed wing of the Yankee empire, was imposed. […] the “Libyan Case” was brought before the Security Council on the basis of an intense propaganda by the western mass media, who lied about the alleged bombing of innocent civilians by the Libyan Air Force, not to mention the grotesque media setting of the Green Square of Tripoli. This premeditated bunch of lies was used to justify irresponsible and hasty decisions by the Security Council, which paved the way for NATO’s military regime change policy in Libya.”<br />
<br />
“… What has the no-fly zone established by Security Council resolution 1973 become? How could NATO perform more than 20,000 missions against the Libyan people if there was a no-fly zone? After the Libyan Air Force was completely annihilated, the continued “humanitarian” bombing shows that the West, through NATO, intends to impose their interests in North Africa, turning Libya into a colonial protectorate.”<br />
<br />
“What is the real reason for this military intervention?: Recolonizing Libya in order to capture its wealth. Everything else is related to this goal.<br />
<br />
“…the Residence of the Venezuelan Ambassador in Tripoli was invaded and looted, and the UN kept it to itself, remaining ignominiously silent.”<br />
<br />
“…Why is the Libyan seat in the UN granted to the “national transitional council,” while the admission of Palestine is blocked by ignoring, not only its lawful aspiration, but also the existing will of the majority of the General Assembly? Venezuela hereby ratifies its unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people and its total support for the Palestinian national cause, which naturally includes the immediate admission of Palestine as a full member state within the United Nations.<br />
<br />
“And the same imperialist pattern is being repeated regarding Syria.”<br />
<br />
“It is intolerable that the powerful of this world intend to claim for themselves the right to order legitimate and sovereign governments rulers to step down. This was the case in Libya, and they want to do the same in Syria. Such are the existing asymmetries in the international setting and such are the abuses against the weakest nations.”<br />
<br />
“If we direct our eyes to the Horn of Africa we will witness a heartbreaking example of the UN’s historical failure: most serious news agencies report that 20-29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in the last three months.”<br />
<br />
“What is needed to face this situation is $400 million, not to solve the problem, but just to address the emergency that Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia are going through. According to all sources, the next two months will be crucial to prevent more than 12 million people from dying, and the worst situation is that of Somalia.<br />
<br />
“This reality could not be more atrocious, especially if, at the same time, we ask ourselves how much is being spent to destroy Libya. This is the answer of U.S. congressman Dennis Kucinich, who said: “This new War will cost us $500 million during its first week alone. Obviously, we do not have financial resources for that and we will end up cutting off other important domestic programs’ funding.” According to Kucinich himself, with the amount spent during the first three weeks in Northern Africa to massacre the Libyan people, much could have been done to help the entire region of the Horn of Africa, saving tens of thousands of lives.”<br />
<br />
“…it is frankly regrettable that in the opening address of the 66th General Assembly of the UN, an immediate appeal to solve humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa was not made, while instead we were assured that “the time has come to act” on Syria.”<br />
<br />
“We are also crying out for the end to the shameful and criminal blockade of our sister Republic of Cuba: a blockade that, for more than fifty years, is being exercised by the empire with cruelty and brutality, against the heroic peoples of José Martí.<br />
<br />
“As of 2010, 19 UN General Assembly votes confirm the universal will demanding that the United States stop the economic and trade blockade against Cuba. Since all sensible international arguments have been exhausted, we have no choice but to believe that such cruel actions against the Cuban Revolution result from imperial arrogance in view of the dignity and courage shown by the unsubmissive Cuban people in their sovereign decision to determine their own fate and fight for their happiness.<br />
<br />
“From Venezuela, we believe it is time to demand of the U.S. not only an immediate and unconditional end to the criminal blockade imposed against the Cuban people, but also the release of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters held hostage in the prisons of the American Empire for the sole reason of seeking to prevent the illegal actions of terrorist groups against Cuba, under the shelter of the U.S. government.”<br />
<br />
“For us, it is obvious that the UN is not improving, nor will it improve from the inside. If the Secretary General, along with the President of the International Criminal Court, take part in an act of war, as in the case of Libya, nothing can be expected from the current structure of this organization and there is no longer time for reform.”<br />
<br />
“It is unbearable that there is a Security Council that turns its back, whenever it wants to, on the clamor of the majority of nations by deliberately failing to acknowledge the will of the General Assembly. If the Security Council is some sort of club with privileged members, what can the General Assembly do? Where is its room for maneuver, when Security Council members violate international law?<br />
<br />
“Paraphrasing Bolívar when he spoke of nascent Yankee imperialism in 1818, we have had enough of the weak following the law while the strong commit abuses. It cannot be us, the peoples of the South, who respect international law while the North violates it, destroying and plundering us.<br />
<br />
“If we do not make a commitment, once and for all, to rebuilding the United Nations, this organization will lose its remaining credibility. Its crisis of legitimacy will be accelerated until it finally implodes. In fact, that is what happened to its immediate predecessor: the League of Nations.”<br />
<br />
“The future of a multi-polar world in peace lies with us. In the articulation of the majority peoples on the planet to defend ourselves from the new colonialism and to attain balance in the universe that neutralizes imperialism and arrogance.<br />
<br />
“This broad, generous, respectful call with no exclusions is addressed to all the peoples of the world, but especially to the emerging powers of The South that must take on with courage the role they are being called upon to play in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
“From Latin America and the Caribbean, powerful and dynamic regional alliances have arisen, seeking to configure a democratic regional space, respectful of special characteristics and wishing to accentuate solidarity and complementariness, fostering what unites us and politically resolving whatever divides us. And this new regionalism admits diversity and respects the rhythms of all. […] the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) moves forward as an experiment of the vanguard of progressive and anti-imperialist governments, seeking formulas to break with the governing international order and strengthening the capacity of the peoples to collectively face the factual powers. But this does not impede our members from making a decisive and enthusiastic thrust for the strengthening of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a political bloc confederating the 12 sovereign states of South America with the aim of grouping them in what The Liberator Simón Bolívar called “a Nation of Republics”. And further along down the road, we the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are getting ready to take that historic step and found a great regional entity that will group us all together, with no exclusions, where we may jointly design the policies that must guarantee our well-being, our independence, our sovereignty, on the basis of equality, solidarity and complementariness. Caracas, capital of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is now swelling with pride to host the Summit of the Heads of State and Government next December 2nd and 3rd, an event that shall definitively found our Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).”<br />
<br />
With these profound ideas, thus concludes the second message of the Bolivarian President Hugo Chávez to the UN General Assembly.<br />
<br />
According to the AFP dispatch dated today in Washington: US President Barack Obama declared this Wednesday that while he is president he shall be willing to change the policy with Cuba, as long as significant political and social changes are produced.<br />
<br />
What a nice man! How smart he is! So much virtue has not allowed him to understand yet that 50 years of blockade and the crimes against our Homeland have not been able to bring our people to their knees. Many things shall change in Cuba, but they shall change because of our efforts and despite the United States. Perhaps that empire shall crumble first.<br />
<br />
The unyielding resistance of the Cuban patriots is symbolized by our 5 Heroes. They shall never back down! They shall never surrender! As Martí proclaimed, and I have mentioned on other occasions: “Before continuous efforts to free and prosperous country, will join the South Sea to the North Sea and a snake will hatch from an eagle’s egg.”<br />
<br />
It is obvious that the judge from the South Florida District has put the spotlight on “Obama’s supervised shame”.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
September 28, 2011<br />
7:37 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-73657801218638615022011-11-02T19:08:00.015+01:002011-11-04T20:10:32.662+01:00CHÁVEZ, EVO AND OBAMA (PART TWO)If our Nobel laureate is deluding himself, something that is still to be proven, perhaps that explains the incredible contradictions in his thinking and the confusion sown among his listeners.<br />
There is not one shred of ethics, and not even of politics, in his attempt to justify his announced decision to veto any resolution to recognize Palestine as an independent State and member of the United Nations. Even politicians, who in no way share socialist philosophy and lead parties that were closely allied with Augusto Pinochet, are proclaiming Palestine’s right to be a member of the UN. <br />
Barack Obama’s words on the principal matter that is being debated today in the General Assembly of that organization can only be applauded by NATO cannon, rockets and bombers. <br />
The remainder of his speech are empty phrases, lacking any moral authority and meaning. Let us observe, for example, how these words were devoid of ideas when in the world, starved and pillaged by the transnationals and the consumerism of developed capitalist countries, Obama announces: <br />
“To stop disease that spreads across borders, we must strengthen our system of public health. We will continue the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. We will focus on the health of mothers and of children. And we must come together to prevent, and detect, and fight every kind of biological danger — whether it’s a pandemic like H1N1, or a terrorist threat, or a […] disease.”<br />
“We must not put off action that climate change demands. We have to tap the power of science to save those resources that are scarce. And together, we must continue our work to build on the progress made in Copenhagen and Cancun, so that all the major economies here today follow through on the commitments that were made. Together, we must work to transform the energy that powers our economies, and support others as they move down that path. That is what our commitment to the next generation demands. And to make sure our societies reach their potential, we must allow our citizens to reach theirs”<br />
Everyone knows that the United States was not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and that it has sabotaged all efforts to preserve humankind from the terrible consequences of climate change, in spite of being the country which consumes a considerable and disproportionate part of fuel and world resources.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjTB2S9A-Lp6OcIOIp5EjlQw5XX8PZ0ZnjXpbtPViuWvXrKwnxO46wLhKYFyy_Cxwr0CcMBMEdmtbSmwWvz0YacFD4z3wtqlKhbxQopExTbgObMSAaZRTm1zXk4skLK7CG0jyUrpKvyvv/s1600/United-Nations.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670468308481869602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjTB2S9A-Lp6OcIOIp5EjlQw5XX8PZ0ZnjXpbtPViuWvXrKwnxO46wLhKYFyy_Cxwr0CcMBMEdmtbSmwWvz0YacFD4z3wtqlKhbxQopExTbgObMSAaZRTm1zXk4skLK7CG0jyUrpKvyvv/s400/United-Nations.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
Let us put on the record the idyllic words with which he would like to cajole the men of State meeting there: <br />
“I know there’s no straight line to that progress, no single path to success. We come from different cultures, and carry with us different histories. But let us never forget that even as we gather here as heads of different governments, we represent citizens who share the same basic aspirations — to live with dignity and freedom; to get an education and pursue opportunity; to love our families, and love and worship our God; to live in the kind of peace that makes life worth living. It is the nature of our imperfect world that we are forced to learn these lessons over and over again.”<br />
“…because those who came before us believed that peace is preferable to war, and freedom is preferable to suppression, and prosperity is preferable to poverty. That’s the message that comes not from capitals, but from citizens, from our people. And when the cornerstone of this very building was put in place, President Truman came here to New York and said, “The United Nations is essentially an expression of the moral nature of man’s aspirations.” As we live in a world that is changing at a breathtaking pace, that’s a lesson that we must never forget. Peace is hard, but we know that it is possible. So, together, let us be resolved to see that it is defined by our hopes and not by our fears. Together, let us make peace, but a peace, most importantly, that will last.”<br />
“Thank you very much.”<br />
Listening to them right up to the end deserves something more than gratitude; it deserves a prize.<br />
As I have already stated, early in the afternoon, Evo Morales Ayma, president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, took to the podium; he swiftly went into the essential topics.<br />
<br />
“…there is a clear difference in the culture of life as opposed to the culture of death; there is a clear difference in truth as opposed to falsehood, a profound difference between peace and war.” <br />
“…I think that it will be difficult to understand each other with economic policies that concentrate capital in just a few hands. Information shows us that 1% of the world population concentrates 50% of the wealth. If such profound differences exist, how can poverty be resolved? And if we do not abolish poverty, how can a long-lasting peace be guaranteed?”<br />
“As a child, I remember perfectly well that earlier, whenever there was a rebellion by the people against a capitalist system, against the economic models of the permanent pillage of our natural resources, the labour union leaders, the left-leaning political leaders, were accused of being communists in order to arrest them; the social forces were under military intervention: confinement, exile, massacres, persecution, imprisonment, accusations of being communist, socialist, Maoist, Marxist-Leninist. I think this has now stopped; now they no longer accuse us of being Marxist-Leninist, now they have other instruments such as drug-trafficking and terrorism …”<br />
“…they prepare interventions when their presidents, when their governments, when their peoples are not pro-capitalist or pro-imperialist.”<br />
“…we speak of long-lasting peace. How can there be long-lasting peace with American military bases? How can there be long-lasting peace with military interventions?”<br />
“What is the use of this UN when a group of countries decide on interventions, on massacres?”<br />
“If we were to want this organization, the United Nations, to have the authority to cause resolutions to be respected, then we have to start thinking about re-founding the United Nations …”<br />
“Every year, at the United Nations decisions are made—by almost one hundred percent of the nations, except the US and Israel— to unblock, to end the economic embargo on Cuba. And who causes that to be respected? Of course, the Security Council is never going to cause that UN resolution to be respected […] I cannot understand how in an organization made up of all the countries in the world, their resolutions are not respected. What is the UN?”<br />
“I would like to tell you that Bolivia is not turning its back on the recognition of Palestine in the United Nations. Our position is that Bolivia welcomes Palestine to the United Nations.”<br />
“You know, dear listeners, that I come from the Indigenous Peasant Movement, and when our families talk about a company, we think that the company has a lot of money, it deals with a lot of money, that they are millionaires, and they couldn’t understand how a company asks a State to loan them money for corresponding investment.<br />
“Therefore I say that these international financial bodies are the ones doing business through the private companies; but who has to pay for that? It is exactly the peoples, the States.”<br />
“…Bolivia has a historic case against Chile for the return to the sea, with sovereignty to the Pacific Ocean, with sovereignty. Therefore, Bolivia has made the decision to turn to international courts in order to sue for a useful sovereign exit to the Pacific Ocean.<br />
“The UN General Assembly Resolution 37/10 of November 15, 1982, establishes that ‘turning to an International Court of Justice to resolve litigation between States should not be considered a non-friendly act.’<br />
“Bolivia is protected by the right and the reason of turning to an International Court because having been cut off is the product of an unfair war, an invasion. Suing for a solution on the international stage, represents for Bolivia reparation of a historical injustice.<br />
“Bolivia is a pacifist State that favours dialogue with neighbouring countries, and therefore it keeps the channels of bilateral negotiation with Chile open, without that meaning a renunciation of its right to turn to an International Court …”<br />
“Peoples are not responsible for cutting off Bolivia from the coast; the causes are the oligarchies, the transnationals, who took over the natural resources as they always do.<br />
“The 1904 Treaty brought neither peace nor friendship; it resulted in the fact that for more than a century Bolivia had no access to a sovereign port.”<br />
“…in the region of the Americas, another movement of Latin American and Caribbean countries is being born, I should call it a new OAS without the US, to free ourselves from certain impositions, fortunately, with the bit of experience we have in UNASUR. […] we no longer need, whenever a conflict between countries arises […] for them to come down from the north and from the outside to establish order.”<br />
“I would also like to take this opportunity on a central issue: the fight against drug trafficking. The fight against drug trafficking is being used by US imperialism for clearly political aims. In Bolivia, the United States’ DEA did not fight against drug-trafficking; it controlled drug trafficking for political purposes. If there was some trade union leader, or some anti-imperialist political leader, that’s what the DEA was for: to involve them. Many leaders, many of us politicians, saved ourselves from those dirty imperialist jobs to involve us in drug trafficking. They are still trying to do that, until the present.”<br />
“In past weeks some of the media from the United States was saying that the presidential plane was detained in the US with traces of cocaine. What a lie! They attempt to confuse the population; they try to create a dirty campaign against the government, even against the State. Nevertheless, what does the US do? It decertifies Bolivia and Venezuela. What moral authority does the US have to certify or decertify countries in South or Latin America, when the United States is the number one consumer of drugs in the world, when the United States is one of the world marihuana producers, the number one producer of marihuana in the world […] With what authority can it certify or decertify? It is another way of frightening or intimidating countries, teaching them a lesson. However Bolivia, with great responsibility, goes on fighting against drug trafficking.<br />
“In the same report from the United States, I mean, from the US State Department, a net decrease in the production of coca growing is acknowledged; that has improved the indictment.<br />
“But where is the market? The market is the origin of drug trafficking and the market is here. And who decertifies the US because the market hasn’t dried up?<br />
“This morning, President Calderón of Mexico was saying that the drug market keeps on growing and why there are no responsibilities to eradicate the market […] Let’s wage the war under a shared co-responsibility […] In Bolivia we are not afraid and we must terminate the banking secret if we want to wage frontal war against drug trafficking.”<br />
“…One of the crisis, besides the crisis of capitalism, is the food crisis. […] we have a little experience in Bolivia: we give loans to rice, corn, wheat and soy growers, with zero percent interest, and they can even pay back their debt with their products; we are talking about food; or soft loans to encourage production. Nevertheless, international banks never take into account the small producers, they never take into account the associations, cooperatives, who can really contribute well if given the opportunity. […] We must put an end to competitive business.<br />
“In a competition, who wins? The most powerful, the one having the most advantages, always the transnationals. And what about the small producers? And what about that family that wants to get ahead with their own efforts? […] With competition policy we are surely never going to resolve the issue of poverty.<br />
“But finally, to conclude this speech I would like to tell you that the crisis of capitalism can no longer be paid […] The economic crisis of capitalism is not just critical, it is structural. And what do the capitalist or imperialist countries do? They look for any excuse to intervene in a country and to take over their natural resources.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqSiVf4d961x0xOWHPlh8lLUKw0-AzcuHKbIb9TxIktIBkOkUxZ9v33U7qF5_0RUMkkviIS1yU3jaV1CqC_bQTAJr6YxwOevPmF6Pg2V2MSwlrIP9zoPM0wCwMeIj_lTAGFyC_gr9ztJkC/s1600/alba.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670463623921915362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqSiVf4d961x0xOWHPlh8lLUKw0-AzcuHKbIb9TxIktIBkOkUxZ9v33U7qF5_0RUMkkviIS1yU3jaV1CqC_bQTAJr6YxwOevPmF6Pg2V2MSwlrIP9zoPM0wCwMeIj_lTAGFyC_gr9ztJkC/s400/alba.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 330px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" /></a><br />
“This morning the president of the United States was saying that now Iraq was liberated, they are going to govern themselves. The Iraqis may govern themselves, but in whose hands has Iraqi oil now fallen?<br />
“They said that autocracy has ended in Libya, that now they have a democracy; it may be a democracy, but in whose hands will Libyan oil now be? […] the bombing cannot be blamed on Gaddafi, the fault of some rebels, but it is because of the search for Libyan oil.”<br />
“…Therefore, its crisis, the crisis of capitalism, they want to get over it, they want to fix it by taking over our natural resources, on the basis of our oil, our gas, our natural resources.<br />
“…we have a huge responsibility: to defend the rights of Mother Earth.”<br />
“…the best way of defending human rights is now to defend the rights of Mother Earth […] herein we have our huge responsibility to pass the rights of Mother Earth. Just 60 years ago they passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Just 60 years ago they realized in the UN that the human being has rights. After political rights, economic rights, the rights of the indigenous peoples, now we have the huge responsibility of knowing how to defend the rights of Mother Earth.<br />
“We are also convinced that the infinite growth of the planet is unsustainable and impossible, the limit for growth is the degenerative capacity of the Earth’s ecosystems […] we make a call for […] a new decalogue of social vindications: in financial systems, over natural resources, over basic services, over production, over dignity and sovereignty, and on this basis to re-found the United Nations so that the United Nations may be the supreme authority for solving the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSKt1dBGpuyUBdIC1NeTZuCjnl3ZXGfAL3R_ubvUhE3Jq1AFiXIMQVZygp6q40-DQowajr_pgjlgFFPEs1KKogP7vHCgLXhCQ45suGO1NfttsX6RxDDGXZS_jSA-WOIxHBhJ3yQjS3bbn/s1600/United-Nations.jpg"><br />
</a>problems of peace, poverty and the dignity and sovereignty of the peoples of the world.”<br />
“We hope that this experience as President can be of some good for all of us, just as I am learning from many of you in order to go on working for the equality and dignity of the Bolivian people.<br />
“Thank you very much.”<br />
Following Evo Morales’ convincing concepts, President Mahmud Abbas of the National Palestinian Authority, who took to the podium two days later, laid out the dramatic suffering of the inhabitants of Palestine: “…the crass historical injustice perpetrated on our people, therefore it was agreed to set up the State of Palestine on just 22% of Palestine’s territory and, above all, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967. Taking that historic step, applauded by the States of the world, allowed for exceeding acquiescence in order to reach a historical compromise, that would permit peace to be achieved in the land of peace.”<br />
“[…] Our people shall continue with their peaceful popular resistance to the Israeli occupation, their settlements and their policy of apartheid, as well as the building of the wall of racist annexation […] armed with dreams, courage, hope and slogans in the face of tanks, tear gas, bulldozers and bullets.”<br />
“…we would like to extend our hand to the government and people of Israel for peace to be imposed, and I say to you: let us build together, in an urgent manner, a future for our children where they may enjoy freedom, security and prosperity. […] Let us build relationships of cooperation that are based on the parity, equality and friendship between two neighbour States, Palestine and Israel, instead of policies of occupation, settlements, war and the elimination of the other side.”<br />
Almost half a century has gone by since that brutal occupation promoted and supported by the United States. However, it is barely a day since the wall was erected, monstrous mechanical machinery is destroying Palestinian homes and some young person, and even a Palestinian teenager, is wounded or killed.<br />
What profound truths Evo’s words hold!<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
September 26, 2011<br />
10:32 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-3307337179462287312011-11-02T17:52:00.015+01:002011-11-04T20:10:21.693+01:00CHAVEZ, EVO AND OBAMA (PART ONE)I take a break from the tasks that are occupying all of my time these days to dedicate a few words to the unique opportunity presented by the political science of the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly.<br />
<br />
The yearly event demands singular effort from those taking on the greatest of political responsibilities in many countries. For them, it constitutes a tough test; for the fans of that art, and there are many since it vitally affects everybody, it is difficult to remove oneself from the temptation of observing the interminable but educational show.<br />
<br />
In the first place, there are infinite thorny subjects and conflicts of interests. For a great number of the participants it is necessary to take positions on events that constitute flagrant violations of principles. For example, what position to take on the NATO genocide in Libya? Would anybody like to leave proof that under their leadership the government of their country supported the monstrous crime being committed by the US and their NATO allies, whose sophisticated fighter planes, manned or unmanned, undertook more than twenty thousand attack missions on a small Third World State that has barely six million inhabitants, alleging the same reasons that were used yesterday to attack and invade Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan and which today threaten to do likewise in Syria or some other country in the world?<br />
<br />
Was it not precisely the government of the State hosting the UN that ordered the butchery in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the mercenary attack on the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, the invasion of Santo Domingo, the “Dirty War” in Nicaragua, the occupation of Grenada and Panama by US military forces and the massacre of Panamanians in El Chorrillo? Who promoted the military coups and genocides in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay that cost tens of thousands of deaths and disappeared? I am not speaking about things that happened 500 years ago, when the Spanish were starting the genocide in the Americas, or 200 years ago when Yankees exterminated native peoples in the United States or enslaved Africans, despite the fact that “all men are born free and equal” as the Philadelphia Declaration of Independence states. I am speaking of events that occurred in the last few decades and which are happening today.<br />
<br />
These events have to be remembered and repeated whenever an occurrence having the importance and prominence of the meeting taking place at the United Nations where the political integrity and ethics of governments are being put to the test.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRfEpXj_JgyeadqAMVwKFXRilYp7_ySYvZvhwxnjqUXjvjhhk0uphBV8OULl3SKQga8K2EA9ro0WWbLWEoMa3ZUBDCHD1VZWtBJcf2dRCj0_B-PlGM3lXUPvN6YZHcTtYKiXkal8LKDGya/s1600/untitled+iraq.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670450685095232914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRfEpXj_JgyeadqAMVwKFXRilYp7_ySYvZvhwxnjqUXjvjhhk0uphBV8OULl3SKQga8K2EA9ro0WWbLWEoMa3ZUBDCHD1VZWtBJcf2dRCj0_B-PlGM3lXUPvN6YZHcTtYKiXkal8LKDGya/s400/untitled+iraq.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 215px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 331px;" /></a><br />
Many of these represent small and poor countries needing support and international cooperation, technology, markets and loans that the developed capitalist powers have handled at their whim.<br />
<br />
Despite the unabashed monopoly of the mass media and the fascist methods of the United States and their allies to confuse and dupe world opinion, resistance of the peoples grows, and that can be seen in the discussions that are being produced in the United Nations.<br />
<br />
Quite a few Third World leaders, despite the obstacles and contradictions indicated, have laid out their ideas with courage. The very voices emanating from the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean no longer bear the lackey and scandalous accent of the OAS that characterized the statements of Heads of State in past decades. Two of them have addressed that forum; both of them, Bolivarian President Hugo Chávez, a mixture of the races that make up the peoples of Venezuela and Evo Morales, pure descendent of age-old native roots, poured out their concepts at that meeting, one of them via a message and the other speaking live, in response to the speech given by the Yankee president.<br />
<br />
Telesur broadcast the three statements. Thanks to that, from the evening of Tuesday the 20th, we were able to learn of President Chavez’ message that was thoroughly read out by Walter Martínez on his program, Dossier. Obama gave his speech on Wednesday morning as the Head of State of the UN host country, and Evo gave his speech early that same afternoon. For the sake of brevity, I shall take essential paragraphs of both texts.<br />
<br />
Chávez was unable to personally attend the UN Summit, after 12 years of struggle, without one single day’s rest that put his life at risk and affected his health and who today is struggling in self-sacrifice for his full recovery. Nevertheless it was difficult for his courageous message to not deal with the most crucial topic at the historic meeting. I transcribe it, almost in its entirety:<br />
<br />
“I address these words to the UN General Assembly […] to ratify, on this day and in this setting, Venezuela’s full support of the recognition of the Palestinian State: of Palestine’s right to become a free, sovereign and independent state. This represents an act of historic justice towards a people who carry with them, from time immemorial, all the pain and suffering of the world.<br />
<br />
“The great French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, […] wrote with the full weight of the truth: The Palestinian cause is first and foremost the set of injustices that these people have suffered and continue to suffer. And I dare add that the Palestinian cause also represents a constant and unwavering will to resist, already written in the historic memory of the human condition […] Mahmoud Darwish, the infinite voice of the longed-for Palestine, with heartfelt conscience speaks about this love: “We don’t need memories/ because we carry within us Mount Carmelo/ and in our eyelids is the herb of Galilee./ Don’t say: If only we could flow to my country like a river!/ Don’t say that!/ Because we are in the flesh of our country/ and our country is in our flesh.’<br />
<br />
“Against those who falsely assert that what has happened to the Palestinian people is not genocide, Deleuze himself states with unfaltering lucidity: From beginning to end, it involved acting as if the Palestinian people not only must not exist, but had never existed. It represents the very essence of genocide: to decree that a people do not exist; to deny them the right to existence.<br />
<br />
“…conflict resolution in the Middle East must, necessarily, bring justice to the Palestinian people; this is the only path to peace.<br />
<br />
“It is upsetting and painful that the same people who suffered one of the worst examples of genocide in history have become the executioners of the Palestinian people: it is upsetting and painful that the heritage of the Holocaust be the Nakba. And it is truly disturbing that Zionism continues to use the charge of anti-Semitism as blackmail against those who oppose their violations and crimes. Israel has, blatantly and despicably, used and continues to use the memory of the victims. And they do so to act with complete impunity against Palestine. It’s worth mentioning that anti-Semitism is a Western, European, scourge in which the Arabs do not participate. Furthermore, let’s not forget that it is the Semite Palestine people who suffer from the ethnic cleansing practiced by the Israeli colonialist State..”<br />
<br />
“…It is one thing to denounce anti-Semitism, and an entirely different thing to passively accept that Zionistic barbarism enforces an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people. From an ethical standpoint those who denounce the first, must condemn the second.”<br />
<br />
“…Zionism, as a world vision, is absolutely racist. Irrefutable proof of this can be seen in these words written with terrifying cynicism by Golda Meir: How are we to return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to. There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. It is not as people think, that there existed a people called Palestinians, who considered themselves as Palestinians, and that we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn’t exist.’”<br />
<br />
“Read and reread the document historically known as the Balfour Declaration of 1917: the British Government assumed the legal authority to promise a national home in Palestine to the Jewish people, deliberately ignoring the presence and wishes of its inhabitants. It should be added that Christians and Muslims lived in peace for centuries in the Holy Land up until the time when Zionism began to claim it as its complete and exclusive property.”<br />
<br />
“By the end of World War II, the Palestinian people’s tragedy worsened, with their expulsion from their territory and, at the same time, from history. In 1947, the despicable and illegal UN resolution 181 recommends dividing Palestine into a Jewish State, an Arab State, and an area under international control (Jerusalem and Belem). […] , 56 percent of the territory was granted to Zionism to establish its State. In fact, this resolution violated international law and blatantly ignored the will of the vast Arab majority: the right to self-determination of the people became a dead letter.”<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwqHdt-vdr3LQsShDlG4z-Xg4pYsJ5MM-sqNLMjCUpD_Hc42VcfMKGWJlQCSKnL2hobe3qJop9qumNLuBxTqmxsT_gnS-N5rQoFnqJWd0kMuWL3sxTgwlEj-iKfREAtAngmbqvSBXibKXZ/s1600/Evo_Morales_Barack_Obama.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670447756764692178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwqHdt-vdr3LQsShDlG4z-Xg4pYsJ5MM-sqNLMjCUpD_Hc42VcfMKGWJlQCSKnL2hobe3qJop9qumNLuBxTqmxsT_gnS-N5rQoFnqJWd0kMuWL3sxTgwlEj-iKfREAtAngmbqvSBXibKXZ/s400/Evo_Morales_Barack_Obama.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 239px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 360px;" /></a><br />
“…contrary to what Israel and the United States are trying to make the world believe through transnational media outlets, what happened and continues to happen in Palestine —using Said’s words— is not a religious conflict, but a political conflict, with a colonial and imperialist stamp. It did not begin in the Middle East, but rather in Europe.<br />
<br />
“What was and continues to be at the heart of the conflict?: debate and discussion has prioritized Israel’s security while ignoring Palestine’s. This is corroborated by recent events; a good example is the latest act of genocide set off by Israel during its Operation Molten Lead in Gaza.<br />
<br />
“Palestine’s security cannot be reduced to the simple acknowledgement of a limited self-government and self-policing in its “enclaves” along the west bank of the Jordan and in the Gaza Strip. This ignores the creation of the Palestinian State, in the borders set prior to 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital; and the rights of its citizens and their self-determination as a people. This further disregards the compensation and subsequent return to the Homeland of 50 percent of the Palestinian people who are scattered all over the world, as established by resolution 194.<br />
<br />
“It’s unbelievable that a country (Israel) that owes its existence to a general assembly resolution could be so disdainful of the resolutions that emanate from the UN, said Father Miguel D’Escoto when pleading for the end of the massacre against the people of Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.<br />
<br />
“It is impossible to ignore the crisis in the United Nations. In 2005, before this very same General Assembly, we argued that the United Nations model had become exhausted. The fact that the debate on the Palestinian issue has been delayed and is being openly sabotaged reconfirms this.<br />
<br />
“For several days, Washington has been stating that, at the Security Council, it will veto what will be a majority resolution of the General Assembly: the recognition of Palestine as a full member of the UN. In the Statement of Recognition of the Palestinian State, Venezuela, together with the sister Nations that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), have denounced that such a just aspiration could be blocked by this means. As we know, the empire, in this and other instances, is trying to impose its double standard on the world stage: Yankee double standards are violating international law in Libya, while allowing Israel to do whatever it pleases, thus becoming the main accomplice of the Palestinian genocide being carried out by the hands of Zionist barbarity. Edward Said touched a nerve when he wrote that: Israeli interests in the United States have made the US’ Middle East policy Israeli-centric.’”<br />
<br />
“I would like to conclude with the voice of Mahmoud Darwish in his memorable poem On This Earth: We have on this earth what makes life worth living: On this earth, the lady of earth, Mother of all beginnings/ Mother of all ends. She was called… Palestine./ Her name later became… Palestine./ My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.’”<br />
<br />
“It will continue to be called Palestine: Palestine will live and overcome! Long-live free, sovereign and independent Palestine!<br />
“Hugo Chávez Frías<br />
<br />
“President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”.<br />
<br />
When the meeting convened the next morning his words were already in the hearts and minds of all the persons meeting there.<br />
<br />
The Bolivarian leader was never an enemy of the Jewish people. A man with special sensitivity, he deeply detested the brutal crime committed by the Nazis on children, women and men, young and old in the concentration camps where gypsies were also victims of atrocious crimes and extermination attempts, something nobody of course remembers and is never mentioned. Likewise, hundreds of thousands of Russians perished in those extermination camps, considered to be an inferior race by Nazi racial concepts.<br />
<br />
When Chávez returned to his country from Cuba on the night of Thursday September 22nd, he indignantly referred to the speech given by Barack Obama at the United Nations. Few times have I heard him speak with such disappointment about a leader whom he treated with determinate respect, as a victim of his own history of racial discrimination in the United States. He never thought him capable of acting as George Bush would have and he held on to a respectful memory of the words they exchanged at the Trinidad and Tobago meeting.<br />
<br />
“Yesterday we were listening to a number of speeches, also the day before yesterday, over there at the UN, lovely speeches like the one made by President Dilma Rousseff; a highly ethical speech like the one made by President Evo Morales; a speech we might catalogue as a monument to cynicism, President Obama’s speech, is a monument to cynicism because his own face was betraying him, his own face was a poem; a man calling for peace, imagine that, Obama calling for peace, with what kind of morals? A historical monument to cynicism, that’s what President Obama’s speech was.<br />
<br />
“Lovely speeches, guiding speeches, that’s what we were listening to: the speech by President Lugo, that of the Argentine president, setting courageous positions before the world.”<br />
<br />
When the New York meeting convened on the morning of Wednesday, September 21st, the President of the United States, –on the tail of the words spoken by the President of Brazil which opened up discussions and after the de rigueur introduction – took to the podium and began his speech.<br />
<br />
“Over nearly seven decades, ―he began ―, even as the United Nations helped avert a third world war, we still live in a world scarred by conflict and plagued by poverty. Even as we proclaim our love for peace and our hatred of war, there are still convulsions in our world that endanger us all.”<br />
<br />
We don’t know when, according to Obama, the UN prevented World War III.<br />
<br />
“I took office at a time of two wars for the United States. Moreover, the violent extremists who drew us into war in the first place — Osama bin Laden, and his al Qaeda organization — remained at large. Today, we’ve set a new direction. At the end of this year, America’s military operation in Iraq will be over. We will have a normal relationship with a sovereign nation that is a member of the community of nations. That equal partnership will be strengthened by our support for Iraq — for its government and for its security forces, for its people and for their aspirations.”<br />
<br />
What country is Obama really talking about?<br />
<br />
“As we end the war in Iraq, the United States and our coalition partners have begun a transition in Afghanistan. Between now and 2014, an increasingly capable Afghan government and security forces will step forward to take responsibility for the future of their country. As they do, we are drawing down our own forces, while building an enduring partnership with the Afghan people. So let there be no doubt: The tide of war is receding<br />
<br />
“When I took office, roughly 180,000 Americans were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. By the end of this year, that number will be cut in half, and it will continue to decline. This is critical for the sovereignty of Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s also critical to the strength of the United States as we build our nation at home. Moreover, we are poised to end these wars from a position of strength. Ten years ago, there was an open wound and twisted steel, a broken heart in the center of this city. Today, as a new tower is rising at Ground Zero, it symbolizes New York’s renewal, even as al Qaeda is under more pressure than ever before. Its leadership has been degraded. And Osama bin Laden, a man who murdered thousands of people from dozens of countries, will never endanger the peace of the world again.”<br />
<br />
Who was Bin Laden’s ally, who really trained and armed him to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan? It wasn’t the socialists, or the revolutionaries in any part of the world.<br />
<br />
“This has been a difficult decade. […] But today, we stand at a crossroads of history with the chance to move decisively in the direction of peace. To do so, we must return to the wisdom of those who created this institution. The United Nations’ Founding Charter calls upon us, “to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.”<br />
<br />
Who has military bases everywhere throughout the world, who is the greatest exporter of weapons, who possesses hundreds of spy satellites, who invests billions of dollars every year on military expenses?<br />
<br />
“This year has been a time of extraordinary transformation. More nations have stepped forward to maintain international peace and security. And more individuals are claiming their universal right to live in freedom and dignity.”<br />
<br />
Then he cites the cases of Southern Sudan and Côte d’Ivoire. He doesn’t say that in the former, the Yankee transnationals launched themselves on the oil reserves of that new country, whose president, at that very UN Assembly, said that it was a valuable resource, but would run out and he proposed its rational and best use.<br />
<br />
Neither did Obama state that peace in Côte d’Ivoire was reached with the backing of the colonialist soldiers of an eminent member of belligerent NATO which had just dropped thousands of bombs over Libya.<br />
<br />
A little later on he mentions Tunisia and he attributed the US with the merit of the popular movement that overthrew that country’s government, imperialism’s ally.<br />
<br />
Even more mind-boggling, Obama would like to ignore that the US was responsible for Egypt installing the tyrannical and corrupt Hosni Mubarak government, which betrayed Nasser’s principles and allied itself with imperialism, stealing tens of thousands of millions from his country and tyrannizing that courageous people.<br />
<br />
“One year ago ― Obama states―, Egypt had known one President for nearly 30 years. But for 18 days, the eyes of the world were glued to Tahrir Square, where Egyptians from all walks of life — men and women, young and old, Muslim and Christian — demanded their universal rights. We saw in those protesters the moral force of non-violence that has lit the world from Delhi to Warsaw, from Selma to South Africa — and we knew that change had come to Egypt and to the Arab world.”<br />
<br />
“Day after day, in the face of bullets and bombs, the Libyan people refused to give back that freedom. And when they were threatened by the kind of mass atrocity that often went unchallenged in the last century, the United Nations lived up to its charter. The Security Council authorized all necessary measures to prevent a massacre. The Arab League called for this effort; Arab nations joined a NATO-led coalition that halted Qaddafi’s forces in their tracks”<br />
<br />
“Yesterday, the leaders of a new Libya took their rightful place beside us, and this week, the United States is reopening our embassy in Tripoli.<br />
<br />
“This is how the international community is supposed to work — nations standing together for the sake of peace and security, and individuals claiming their rights.”<br />
<br />
“Now, all of us have a responsibility to support the new Libya — the new Libyan government as they confront the challenge of turning this moment of promise into a just and lasting peace for all Libyans.”<br />
<br />
“The Qaddafi regime is over. Gbagbo, Ben Ali, Mubarak are no longer in power. Osama bin Laden is gone, and the idea that change could only come through violence has been buried with him.”<br />
<br />
Observe the poetic form with which Obama deals with the Bin Laden affair, whatever had been responsible for this former ally, executing him by shooting him in his face in front of his wife and children and throwing his body into the sea from an aircraft carrier, ignoring the religious customs and traditions of more than a billion religious persons and the basic legal principles established by all penal systems. Such methods do not lead, nor will they ever lead, to peace.<br />
<br />
“Something is happening in our world, —he carries on, regarding Libya ― The way things have been is not the way that they will be. Dictators are on notice. Technology is putting power into the hands of the people. The youth are delivering a powerful rebuke to dictatorship, and rejecting the lie that some races, some peoples, some religions, some ethnicities do not desire democracy.<br />
<br />
“The promise written down on paper — “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” — is closer at hand The measure of our success must be whether people can live in sustained freedom, dignity, and security. And the United Nations and its member states must do their part to support those basic aspirations. And we have more work to do.”<br />
<br />
Right away he starts in on another Muslim country where, as it is well-known, his intelligence services along with those of Israel, systematically murder the most distinguished military technology scientists.<br />
<br />
He follows up with a threat on Syria, where Yankee agressivity could lead to a massacre even more horrifying than that in Libya: “today, men and women and children are being tortured, detained and murdered by the Syrian regime. Thousands have been killed, many during the holy time of Ramadan. Thousands more have poured across Syria’s borders.<br />
<br />
“. The Syrian people have shown dignity and courage in their pursuit of justice — protesting peacefully, standing silently in the streets, dying for the same values that this institution is supposed to stand for. And the question for us is clear: Will we stand with the Syrian people, or with their oppressors? Already, the United States has imposed strong sanctions on Syria’s leaders. We supported a transfer of power that is responsive to the Syrian people But for the sake of Syria — and the peace and security of the world — we must speak with one voice. There’s no excuse for inaction. Now is the time for the United Nations Security Council to sanction the Syrian regime, and to stand with the Syrian people.”<br />
<br />
Could it be that some country has been left out of the bloody threats made by this illustrious defender of security and international peace? Who granted such prerogatives to the United States?<br />
<br />
“Throughout the region, we will have to respond to the calls for change. In Yemen, men, women and children gather by the thousands in towns and city squares every day with the hope that their determination and spilled blood will prevail over a corrupt system. America supports those aspirations. We must work with Yemen’s neighbors and our partners around the world to seek a path that allows for a peaceful transition of power from President Saleh, and a movement to free and fair elections as soon as possible.<br />
<br />
“In Bahrain, steps have been taken toward reform and accountability. We’re pleased with that, but more is required. America is a close friend of Bahrain, and we will continue to call on the government and the main opposition bloc — the Wifaq — to pursue a meaningful dialogue that brings peaceful change that is responsive to the people. We believe the patriotism that binds Bahrainis together must be more powerful than the sectarian forces that would tear them apart. It will be hard, but it is possible.”<br />
<br />
He doesn’t mention one single word about the fact that that’s where one of the largest military bases in the region is and that the Yankee transnationals control and dispose of at will the greatest oil and gas reserves of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Emirates.<br />
<br />
“We believe that each nation must chart its own course to fulfill the aspirations of its people, and America does not expect to agree with every party or person who expresses themselves politically. But we will always stand up for the universal rights that were embraced by this Assembly. Those rights depend on elections that are free and fair; on governance that is transparent and accountable; respect for the rights of women and minorities; justice that is equal and fair. That is what our people deserve. Those are the elements of peace that can last.”<br />
<br />
“…the United States will continue to support those nations that transition to democracy — with greater trade and investment — so that freedom is followed by opportunity. We will pursue a deeper engagement with governments, but also with civil society — students and entrepreneurs, political parties and the press.<br />
<br />
“We have banned those who abuse human rights from traveling to our country. And we’ve sanctioned those who trample on human rights abroad. And we will always serve as a voice for those who’ve been silenced.”<br />
<br />
After this long-winded speech, the distinguished Nobel Prize laureate embarks on the thorny issue of his alliance with Israel that certainly doesn’t come up among the privileged possessors of one of the most modern system of nuclear weapons and means capable of reaching distant targets. He knows full well how arbitrary and unpopular that policy is.<br />
<br />
“I know, particularly this week, that for many in this hall, there’s one issue that stands as a test for these principles and a test for American foreign policy, and that is the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. One year ago, I stood at this podium and I called for an independent Palestine. I believed then, and I believe now, that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own.<br />
<br />
But what I also said is that a genuine peace can only be realized between the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves. One year later, despite extensive efforts by America and others, the parties have not bridged their differences. Faced with this stalemate, I put forward a new basis for negotiations in May of this year. That basis is clear. It’s well known to all of us here. Israelis must know that any agreement provides assurances for their security. Palestinians deserve to know the territorial basis of their state. Now, I know that many are frustrated by the lack of progress. I assure you, so am I. But the question isn’t the goal that we seek — the question is how do we reach that goal.<br />
<br />
Peace is hard work. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations — if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now<br />
<br />
Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians — not us –- who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and on security, on refugees and Jerusalem.<br />
Ultimately, peace depends upon compromise among people who must live together long after our speeches are over, long after our votes have been tallied.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVGv8VQ6SZ-CjWVAapjWozefhqA6e2ipAUxreLC3cZjHqaUnHSF1MmlO-FLV5PjW-dDqPNDDCrZbM5LSLFItbo4doZfazZETS-gZOqwL4VX23SqYCH_UoWWMQuVJz17b1Ro4seTRuDsMyx/s1600/Free_Palestine_by_artstuck.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670447629140819042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVGv8VQ6SZ-CjWVAapjWozefhqA6e2ipAUxreLC3cZjHqaUnHSF1MmlO-FLV5PjW-dDqPNDDCrZbM5LSLFItbo4doZfazZETS-gZOqwL4VX23SqYCH_UoWWMQuVJz17b1Ro4seTRuDsMyx/s400/Free_Palestine_by_artstuck.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 281px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 361px;" /></a><br />
Next, he goes on to verbosely explain and justify the unexplainable and unjustifiable.<br />
<br />
“…There’s no question that the Palestinians have seen that vision delayed for too long. It is precisely because we believe so strongly in the aspirations of the Palestinian people that America has invested so much time and so much effort in the building of a Palestinian state, and the negotiations that can deliver a Palestinian state. But understand this as well: America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. Our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring..”<br />
<br />
“The Jewish people have forged a successful state in their historic homeland. Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbors. And friends of the Palestinians do them no favors by ignoring this truth.<br />
<br />
“…each side has legitimate aspirations — and that’s part of what makes peace so hard. And the deadlock will only be broken when each side learns to stand in the other’s shoes; each side can see the world through the other’s eyes. That’s what we should be encouraging. That’s what we should be promoting.”<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the Palestinians remain exiled from their own homeland, their homes are destroyed by monstrous mechanical machinery and an odious wall that is much higher than the Berlin Wall was, separating Palestinian from Palestinian. The best Obama might have acknowledged is that the very Israeli citizens are by now tired of the waste of resources invested in the military sphere that deprives them of peace and access to the elementary means for living. Just like the Palestinians, they are suffering from the consequences of these policies imposed by the United States and the most warlike and reactionary elements in the Zionist State.<br />
<br />
“...even as we confront these challenges of conflict and revolution, we must also recognize — we must also remind ourselves […]. True peace depends on creating the opportunity that makes life worth living. And to do that, we must confront the common enemies of humanity: nuclear weapons and poverty, ignorance and disease.”<br />
<br />
Who can understand this gibberish spoken by the President of the United States before the General Assembly?<br />
<br />
He follows up with his unintelligible philosophy:<br />
<br />
“To lift the specter of mass destruction, we must come together to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. Over the last two years, we’ve begun to walk down that path. Since our Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, nearly 50 nations have taken steps to secure nuclear materials from terrorists and smugglers”<br />
Could there be any terrorism greater than the aggressive and bellicose policy of a country whose arsenal of nuclear weapons could destroy life on this planet several times over?<br />
<br />
“America will continue to work for a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons and the production of fissile material needed to make them”, Obama goes on to promise us. “And so we have begun to move in the right direction. And the United States is committed to meeting our obligations. But even as we meet our obligations, we’ve strengthened the treaties and institutions that help stop the spread of these weapons. […]. The Iranian government cannot demonstrate that its program is peaceful<br />
<br />
Back to the same old refrain! But this time Iran is not alone; it is accompanied by the Democratic Republic of Korea.<br />
<br />
“North Korea has yet to take concrete steps towards abandoning its weapons and continues belligerent action against the South. There’s a future of greater opportunity for the people of these nations if their governments meet their international obligations. But if they continue down a path that is outside international law, they must be met with greater pressure and isolation. That is what our commitment to peace and security demands.”<br />
<br />
To be continued tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
September 25, 2011<br />
7:36 p.m.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-54158329255216047672011-10-22T12:54:00.004+02:002011-11-12T18:15:52.191+01:00COLUMN: MUAMMAR GADDAFI'S DEATH IS A GIFT TO WESTERN LEADERS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/buzzfeed-media/Images/2011/10/gman+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/buzzfeed-media/Images/2011/10/gman+5.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Nobody in this world could have missed the news on Muammar Gaddafi’s death. The video and pictures on which we could see his face covered with blood, filled the news, the papers and the internet. While the Libyans celebrate the end of the Gaddafi era, the reactions on his dead by political leaders started. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">While surfing the internet the following reactions filled my screen:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“For four decades, the Gaddafi regime ruled the Libyan people with an iron fist. Their human rights were denied. Innocent civilians were detained, beaten and killed. Libya's wealth was squandered and enormous potential of Libyan people was held back and terror was used as a political weapon. Today we can definitively say that the Gaddafi regime has come to an end.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">US president Barack Obama<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2010/11/29/54252-libyas-leader-muammar-gaddafi-clasps-hands-with-european-cou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2010/11/29/54252-libyas-leader-muammar-gaddafi-clasps-hands-with-european-cou.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Van Rompuy and Gaddafi</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“The death of Gaddafi marks the end of an era of despotism, said Herman Van Rompuy, the bloc's president. That Gaddafi died in a raid in Sirte means an end also to the repression from which the Libyan people have suffered for too long.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">The European Union</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“This day marks a historic transition for Libya. In the coming days, we will witness scenes of celebration as well as grief for those who lost so much. Now is the time for all Libyans to come together. Libyans can only realise the promise of the future for national unity and reconciliation. Combatants on all sides must lay down their arms in peace. This is the time for healing and rebuilding, for generosity of spirit, not for revenge.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“I am happy I will be visiting a country fully liberated from a dictator who has imposed his iron fist for more than 40 years. Now Libya can truly turn the page,”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB"> “People in Libya today have an even greater chance after this news of building themselves a strong and democratic future.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">British prime minister David Cameron<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/1qgNzwy4PmQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p>Berlusconi kissing hand of Gaddafi</o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“Now the war is over. Sic transit gloria mundi [Thus passes the glory of the world]”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“The disappearance of Muammar Gaddafi is a major step forward in the battle fought for more than eight months by the Libyan people to liberate themselves from the dictatorial and violent regime imposed on them for more than 40 years.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">French president Nicolas Sarkozy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-GB">“With this, a bloody war comes to an end, which Gaddafi led against his own people. Libya must now quickly take further resolute steps towards democracy and make the achievements so far of the Arab Spring irreversible.<b> </b>“<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">German chancellor Angela Merkel</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">After reading the above reactions, I don’t know whether laughing or crying is the best way to deal with them. What a bunch of hypocrites they are. In the article <a href="http://theinternationalcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post.html">Today’s friend tomorrow’s enemy</a>, Christian showed how friendly we were with the man we now call a <b>suppressor</b> and a <b>dictator. </b> The same man with who they had tea in a tent in the Libyan dessert. Didn’t they see at the time that the Libyan people were suppressed and dictated, or didn’t it matter at those days as contracts for oil were signed in favour of western leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The Arabic Spring hasn’t been a revolution for Arabs alone. The Arabs are opening the eyes of many western people, who can’t escape the image of their “leaders” losing credibility day by day. I so hoped that Muammar Gaddafi would come to my country to be judged in front of the International Court of Den Haag (the Hague). Not even because he deserves punishment or what so ever but just to see what he would tell about his friendly contacts with the western leaders. Now he has taken those secret to his grave.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Maybe that’s the reason why the western leaders are so happy about his dead, not for the Libyan people but simply for themselves. The sad part about it all is that we western people accept the behaviour of our leaders. The leaders who carry double faces and we all know that but still we let it happen. Wouldn’t it be a great achievement if we start our own revolution. To not accept the lies told to us, to not let them decide for us how to live our lives and most of all to reform our current policies based on fraud, corruption and shady contracts between countries to a policy in where the truth is the red wire.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I know it’s easy to say let’s start a revolution but the Arabs, often in Western media called underdeveloped, did it. They said <b>NO, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Can’t we learn from them that change can be made by citizens as long as we unite to tell our corrupted leaders that we had <b>ENOUGH!</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><b><i>By Marije</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/10/20111020135216487214.html">source</a></span></div>The International Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089603742181810635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-5499800378422752812011-07-09T06:20:00.022+02:002011-11-04T20:30:18.243+01:00THE OBAMA DECEPTIONThe Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.<br />
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It was produced by Alex Jones, who is a recognized American talk radio host, actor, anti-Globalist activist and filmmaker.<br />
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The film was released in March 2009. Two years have passed since then, but there are still many people who have not watched it. If you haven’t seen the film yet, I really recommend you to take the time to watch it.<br />
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The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed as savior in an attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery.<br />
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We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order's plans. It's not about Left or Right: it's about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Covered in this film</span>: who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Od8bcCvX3jU" width="560"></iframe></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Watch the Obama Deception and learn how:</span><br />
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- Obama is continuing the process of transforming America into something that resembles Nazi Germany, with forced National Service, domestic civilian spies, warrantless wiretaps, the destruction of the Second Amendment, FEMA camps and Martial Law.<br />
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- Obama's handlers are openly announcing the creation of a new Bank of the World that will dominate every nation on earth through carbon taxes and military force.<br />
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- International bankers purposefully engineered the worldwide financial meltdown to bankrupt the nations of the planet and bring in World Government.<br />
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- Obama plans to loot the middle class, destroy pensions and federalize the states so that the population is completely dependent on the Central Government.<br />
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- The Elite are using Obama to pacify the public so they can usher in the North American Union by stealth, launch a new Cold War and continue the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">You can download the whole movie here:</span> <a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=USYIXAAF">The Obama Deception</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqq_k7NldKtz6pEZ4eYaUkPjTYLm50JfEw2ktfFvvO-ZlEbu9pfClkZWpXSPYt2C8cHfG-QkN4r6zI0eVoMYmqX32Vc4ETmZsDL8qpPtCFZwUYLRtFWY6oC6uR2c5pDS8oztIgWLiN_OK7/s1600/3397968613_3e4b50797a_o.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627203071631002674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqq_k7NldKtz6pEZ4eYaUkPjTYLm50JfEw2ktfFvvO-ZlEbu9pfClkZWpXSPYt2C8cHfG-QkN4r6zI0eVoMYmqX32Vc4ETmZsDL8qpPtCFZwUYLRtFWY6oC6uR2c5pDS8oztIgWLiN_OK7/s400/3397968613_3e4b50797a_o.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 304px;" /></a><br />
The famous American rapper and political activist, KRS-One, compares the presidency of the United States with Burger King, and how people never get to see who is above all.<br />
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KRS speaks on secret societies running the United States and the world as well as his views on the nation's first African-American President:<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">"If they controlled it before, what makes you think they’re not controlling it now? The country was on the verge of revolution. They threw a Black man up, now we like this (complacent). They put a Black face on the New World Order and now we all happy. KRS ain’t buying it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">“Everyone is pointing to Barrack right now, President Obama and saying, 'You gotta get the economy together, you gotta get the economy together.' When in fact the president has very little to do with the economy. It's the Federal Reserve Chairman that at least sets the policy… that's a privately owned company. The Federal Reserve Bank, they set the agenda.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">"Barack is like the manager of Burger King. All presidents are, including Bush. It's like this -- when your fries are cold, if your burger's not done right, you go back to Burger King -- America, or your government -- and you say, 'My burger's cold! I want new fries!' First, you go to the cashier, that's the courts. You argue to the courts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">"The courts, if you can't get no justice with the cashier, you say 'Let me see the manager! I want to go to the Supreme Court! I want to see the President!' The manager comes out. 'Hi. What can I do for you?' Now, the manager can override the decisions of the cashier. But you never get to see the franchise owner of Burger King.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">"If you really have a problem with your burger, you need to go see the franchise owner. We need to go to the top, or to the bottom. We need to go to where the real architecture of government is, and it's not in a President. It's in a global scheme."</span><br />
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Another person that appears in the film is the journalist, lecturer and geopolitical analyst, Webster Griffin Tarpley, that also offer his review about the economic and diplomatic team that Barack Obama chose to work with:<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">"If you look also at the people that Obama has put on his appointments list, it's all Wall Street. It's government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. There's nobody from heavy industry. There's nobody from the auto sector. Nobody from Silicon Valley. Nobody from big oil. Nobody from defense. No labor, no women, no retirees, no small business, nothing. It's pure Wall Street. The only people who have a voice in Obama's councils are Wall Street finance oligarchs. That's all there is. Nobody else counts for anything under Obama. It's the most extreme Wall Street administration we've ever had."</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5J2W7gFzChM" width="560"></iframe></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
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In the film you will also learn about the empty promises of<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>President<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>Obama, the media's full support for him and the meetings in secrecy.<br />
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In my opinion The Obama Deception is not about Left or Right but about the enormous power that Secret Societies have, and how they plan to establish a totalitarian One-World Government.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
The American trend forecaster, Gerald Celente, referring to the speaking of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner – <span style="font-weight: bold;">“he was the former President of the NY Federal Reserve and now he’s our Treasury Secretary?” </span><br />
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International Bankers have the control of USA and the World. The Federal Reserve seems to be more powerful than the President and the Congress.<br />
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That is what Henry Ford and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter warned decades ago when they said:<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”</span><br />
Henry Ford<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">“The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.”</span><br />
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter<br />
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It is not weird that politicians do not keeping their pre-electorial promises. Only very few do what they promised and many of them would say anything just to get elected.<br />
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The film augured that the Obama presidency would be a prolongation of the Bush one and it was right. I personally do not see substantial changes between both presidencies. Change seems nearly impossible at this point. The level of incompetence is stunning. It can not be tolerated any longer.<br />
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I really hope that this film helps to understand in a better way, the complexity of the world in which we live. <span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US"></span><span lang="EN-US"></span> <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
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</span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-71280664243990462112011-07-08T22:32:00.015+02:002011-11-04T20:08:44.905+01:00FIDEL CASTRO'S REFLECTIONS: NATO’S FASCIST WARYou didn’t have to be clairvoyant to foresee what I wrote with great detail in three Reflection Articles I published on the CubaDebate website between February 21 and March 3: “The NATO Plan Is to Occupy Libya,” “The Cynical Danse Macabre,” and “NATO’s Inevitable War.”<br />
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Not even the fascist leaders of Germany and Italy were so blatantly shameless regarding the Spanish Civil War unleashed in 1936, an event that maybe a lot of people have been recalling over these past days.<br />
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Almost 75 years to the day have passed since then, but nothing that has happened over the last 75 centuries, or even 75 millenniums of human life on our planet can compare.<br />
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Sometimes it seems that those of us who serenely voice our opinions on these issues are exaggerating. I dare say that we have actually been naive to assume that we all should be aware of the deception or colossal ignorance that humanity has been dragged into.<br />
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In 1936 there was an intense clash between two systems and ideologies of more or less equal military power.<br />
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The arms back then seemed more like toys compared with today’s weapons. Humanity’s survival was not threatened despite the destructive power and the locally lethal force deployed. Entire cities and even nations could have been virtually destroyed. But never was the human race, in its totality, at risk of being exterminated several times over for the stupid and suicidal power developed by modern science and technology.<br />
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With these current realities in mind, it is embarrassing to read the continuous news reports on the use of powerful laser-guided rockets with 100% accuracy, fighter-bombers that go twice the speed of sound, potent explosives that blow apart uranium-hardened metals that have an everlasting effect on the inhabitants and their descendants.<br />
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Cuba stated its position regarding the internal situation in Libya at the meeting in Geneva. Without hesitating, Cuba defended the idea of a political solution to the conflict in Libya and was categorically opposed to any foreign military intervention.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJjyPNKX4hXKccAG4hCS0MkHOmKraCTWt7ABzvV1k8RgQQ4lRAr-FWZ64xU_I2kUlZGMNWwr0uJAUJYhkmJJflrapGPHOOAfplL4sSYFtpAxyK1_9RMxLasR7pMSSEaOeABpJ-1o88vPq/s1600/Nato_AWACS_and_USAF_F16_fighter_aircraft2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627083164569317282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJjyPNKX4hXKccAG4hCS0MkHOmKraCTWt7ABzvV1k8RgQQ4lRAr-FWZ64xU_I2kUlZGMNWwr0uJAUJYhkmJJflrapGPHOOAfplL4sSYFtpAxyK1_9RMxLasR7pMSSEaOeABpJ-1o88vPq/s400/Nato_AWACS_and_USAF_F16_fighter_aircraft2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 286px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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In a world where the alliance between the United States and the developed capitalist powers of Europe increasingly take hold of the people’s resources and fruits of their labor, any honest citizen, whatever their standpoint to the government, would be opposed to a foreign military intervention in their country.<br />
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But most absurd about the current situation is the fact that before the brutal war broke out in Northern Africa, in another region of the world, nearly 10 000 kilometers away, a nuclear accident had occurred in one of the most populated areas of the world following a tsunami caused by a 9.0 earthquake, which has already cost a hard-working nation like Japan nearly 30 000 lives. Such accident would have not occurred 75 years before.<br />
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In Haiti, a poor and underdeveloped country, a nearly 7.0 quake according to the Richter scale, caused over 300 000 deaths, countless people wounded and hundreds of thousands harmed.<br />
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However, what was terribly tragic in Japan was the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant, whose consequences are still to be assessed.<br />
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I will only recall some of the main stories published by the news agencies:<br />
ANSA.- Fukushima 1 nuclear plant is releasing “extremely high and potentially lethal radiations,” said Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the US nuclear entity.<br />
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EFE.- The nuclear threat stemming from the serious situation at a Japanese plant, following the earthquake, has triggered security revisions in atomic plants around the world and has made some countries paralyze their plans.<br />
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Reuters.- Japan’s devastating earthquake and deepening nuclear crisis could result in losses of up to $200 billion for Japanese economy, but the global impact remains hard to gauge.<br />
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EFE.- The deterioration of one reactor after another at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear center continued to feed fears of a pending nuclear disaster as desperate attempts to control a radioactive leak did nothing to provide even a glimmer of hope.<br />
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AFP.- Japan´s Emperor Akihito expressed concern about the unpredictable character of the nuclear crisis hitting Japan following the quake and tsunami that killed thousands of people and left 500 000 homeless. New quake reported in the Tokyo area.<br />
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There are reports talking about even more concerning issues.<br />
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Some refer to the presence of toxic radioactive iodine in Tokyo’s drinking water, which doubles the tolerable amount that can be consumed by the smallest children in the Japanese capital. One of these reports says that the stocks of bottled water are shrinking in Tokyo, a city located in a prefecture at more than 200 kilometers from Fukushima.<br />
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This series of circumstances poses a dramatic situation on our world.<br />
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I can express freely my views on the war in Libya.<br />
I do not share political or religious views with the leader of that country. I am a Marxist-Leninist and a follower of Marti, as I have already said.<br />
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I see Libya as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and a sovereign State of the nearly 200 members of the United Nations.<br />
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Never, a large or small country, in this case with only 5 million inhabitants, was the victim of such a brutal attack by the air force of a militaristic organization with thousands of fighter-bombers, more than 100 submarines, nuclear aircraft carriers, and sufficient arsenal to destroy the planet many times over. Our species had never encountered this situation and there had been nothing similar 75 years ago, when the Nazi bombers attacked targets in Spain.<br />
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Now, however, the criminal and discredited NATO will write a ”beautiful” little story about its “humanitarian” bombing.<br />
If Gaddafi honors the traditions of his people and decides to fight to the last breath, as he has promised, together with the Libyans who are facing the worst bombing a country has ever suffered, NATO and its criminal projects will sink into the mire of shame.<br />
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The people respect and believe in men who fulfill their duty.<br />
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More than 50 years ago, when the United States killed more than a hundred Cubans with the explosion of merchant ship “La Coubre” our people proclaimed ”Patria o Muerte.” (Homeland or Death). They have fulfilled this, and have always been determined to keep their word.<br />
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“Anyone who tries to seize Cuba,” said the most glorious fighter in our history-”will only gather the dust of her soil soaked in blood.”<br />
I beg you to excuse the frankness with which I address the issue.<br />
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Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
28 March 2011<br />
8:14 p.m.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-1306144227766431032011-07-08T19:11:00.025+02:002011-11-04T20:08:31.771+01:00JOHN COLEMAN - GLOBAL WARMING IS A SCAMJohn Coleman is perhaps the best known meteorologist of the United States. Founder of Weather Channel U.S. and has over 40 years managing weather programs.<br />
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Based on Coleman's statements he claims global warming is a complete hoax and that there are monetary motives behind it all.<br />
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"It's the greatest hoax in history. I'm amazed, appalled and offended by this. Many scientists with political motives have manipulated the data to create the illusion of an imminent global warming. Other then have pointed to the car saying that support these 'investigations '. later they began to get political and government funding to keep this movement, and soon sold us that there was a consensus' "<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKWBS7hIthMqvR0vxDOPndTEGttJSvFh1M3xKZQHOL0vvwdo_iCOqPEmr-WEMS286BrAWDq7R2miBfmpi5d4DwwG9_VH-kphFkY7BJbff1OV-fyrH8P-IOmDKfN55kW8d_Obk9P5-osI7/s1600/global-warming-is-a-lie.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635314321435099042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKWBS7hIthMqvR0vxDOPndTEGttJSvFh1M3xKZQHOL0vvwdo_iCOqPEmr-WEMS286BrAWDq7R2miBfmpi5d4DwwG9_VH-kphFkY7BJbff1OV-fyrH8P-IOmDKfN55kW8d_Obk9P5-osI7/s400/global-warming-is-a-lie.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 250px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The whole article of John Coleman:</span><br />
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It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming... it is a SCAM.<br />
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Some misguided scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long-term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental-extremism type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.<br />
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Environmental extremist, notable politicians among them then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda.<br />
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Now their ridiculously manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment.<br />
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I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party.<br />
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However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you "believe in." It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won't believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.<br />
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I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with PhD’s in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with PhD’s. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJ0QPxwOSAg_a5Rky-WYGrXvDJQmw7LN8tLzger6Bs8JQExDO7ovbCE4LuGZP2PQsqDB19pOphcI73ItgM2SIFQXO6mA-woTUrJjgkS0wql1RhzpXCMHgr3im4sYj08vimXCzoLs7SidN/s1600/foot11carbon.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635314320938123314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJ0QPxwOSAg_a5Rky-WYGrXvDJQmw7LN8tLzger6Bs8JQExDO7ovbCE4LuGZP2PQsqDB19pOphcI73ItgM2SIFQXO6mA-woTUrJjgkS0wql1RhzpXCMHgr3im4sYj08vimXCzoLs7SidN/s400/foot11carbon.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 238px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father was a PhD-University type. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a PhD in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else.<br />
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And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and the results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way.<br />
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Remember the United Nations had formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the late 1980's with the mission of accessing and countering manmade climate change. The UN had established this global bureaucracy on climate change. It had become the "world series" or "Olympics" for Climatologists and Meteorologists and scientists in related fields. You had to strive to be accepted, invited to present and review papers and travel to international meetings of the committee. Otherwise you were a nobody in your field.<br />
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So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like-minded PhD colleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question.<br />
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There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them and brushed their studies aside.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1JuSmfAXaNVAnbtvG-3OnPIctuSuuh4qE8s4HyyPxIryMtOv-nqr2uh3VFZn-3Wv9_0DFu-5gHrgXBkmNcm7nffcu-pHKyyotEtw9sdbajNGLAsciKTzU9y3A3X_0KGaSJUKAWWiL6DQ/s1600/ing112805a.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627046488238594082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1JuSmfAXaNVAnbtvG-3OnPIctuSuuh4qE8s4HyyPxIryMtOv-nqr2uh3VFZn-3Wv9_0DFu-5gHrgXBkmNcm7nffcu-pHKyyotEtw9sdbajNGLAsciKTzU9y3A3X_0KGaSJUKAWWiL6DQ/s400/ing112805a.gif" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 282px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science.<br />
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I am not alone in this assessment. There are hundreds of other meteorologists, many of them PhD’s, who are as certain as I am that this global warming frenzy is based on bad science and is not valid.<br />
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I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.<br />
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In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped.<br />
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The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway.<br />
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I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-903064040974881682011-07-08T18:01:00.045+02:002011-11-04T20:08:01.523+01:00FIDEL CASTRO'S REFLECTIONS: NATO, WAR, LIES AND BUSINESSAs some may be aware, in September of 1969, Muammar al-Gaddafi, an Arab Bedouin soldier of a peculiar character and inspired by the ideas of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, promoted in the heart of the armed forces a movement overthrowing King Idris I of Libya, a country almost completely covered by desert and having very little population, located in northern Africa between Tunisia and Egypt.<br />
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Libya’s important valuable energy resources were progressively being discovered.<br />
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Born to a tribal Bedouin family of nomadic desert shepherds in the region of Tripoli, Gaddafi was profoundly anti-colonialist. It is affirmed that his paternal grandfather died fighting against the Italian invaders when Libya was invaded by them in 1911. The colonial regime and fascism changed everyone’s lives. It is also said that his father was imprisoned rather than make his living as an industrial worker.<br />
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Even Gaddafi’s adversaries assure us that he stood out for his intelligence as a student; he was expelled from high-school for his anti-monarchic activities. He managed to enrol in another high-school and later graduated in law at the University of Benghazi at the age of 21. Then he enrolled in the Benghazi Military College where he created what was called the Secret Unionist Movement of Free Officers, concluding his education later on in a British military academy.<br />
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This background explains the notable influence he wielded afterwards in Libya and on other political leaders, whether today they are pro-Gaddafi or not.<br />
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He had begun his political life with events that were without question, revolutionary.<br />
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In March of 1970, after massive nationalist demonstrations, he managed to have British soldiers evacuated from the country and in June, the United States vacated the great air base near Tripoli, handing it over to military instructors from Egypt, a Libyan ally.<br />
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In 1970, several western oil companies and banking companies having the participation of foreign capital were affected by the Revolution. At the end of 1971, the famous British Petroleum had the same fate. In the agricultural sector, all Italian properties were confiscated, and the colonists and their descendents were expelled from Libya.<br />
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State intervention was directed to the control of the great companies. Production in that country came to enjoy one of the highest levels in the Arab world. Gambling and the drinking of alcohol were prohibited. The traditionally limited legal status of women was improved.<br />
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The Libyan leader got involved in extremist theories that were opposed both to communism and capitalism. It was a stage when Gaddafi dedicated himself to theorizing, something that doesn’t have any place in this analysis, other than to point out that the first article of the Constitutional Proclamation of 1969 established the “Socialist” nature of the Great Socialist People’s Libya Arab Jamahiriya.<br />
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What I wish to emphasize is that the United States and its allies were never interested in human rights.<br />
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The hornet’s nest taking place in the Security Council, at the meeting of the Human Rights Council at the Geneva headquarters and in the UN General Assembly in New York was pure theatre.<br />
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I completely understand the reactions of the political leaders involved in so many contradictions and sterile debate, given the tangled web of interests and problems they must look after.<br />
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We all know very well that the character of permanent member, the power of veto, the possession of nuclear weapons and quite a few institutions are sources of privileges and interests imposed by force onto humankind. One can agree or not with many of them, but one can never accept them as fair or ethical measures.<br />
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The empire now wants to see events revolve around what Gaddafi may or may not have done, because it needs to intervene militarily in Libya and strike a blow at the revolutionary wave unleashed in the Arab world. Up to now, not one word was said; they kept their mouths shut and carried on with business.<br />
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With the latent Libyan rebellion being promoted by Yankee intelligence, or by Gaddafi’s own errors, it is important that the people don’t let themselves be deceived, since very soon world opinion shall have enough elements to know what to expect.<br />
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In my opinion, and that’s what I said from the very first instant, we must denounce NATO’s war-mongering plans.<br />
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Like many Third World countries, Libya is a member of NAM, the Group of 77 and other international organizations, through which relations are established separately from its economic and social system.<br />
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As an outline: the Revolution in Cuba, inspired by Marxist-Leninist principles and those of Marti, had triumphed in 1959, 90 miles away from the United States which imposed on us the Platt Amendment and owned the economy of our country.<br />
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Almost immediately, the empire promoted the dirty war against our people, counter-revolutionary gangs, the criminal economic blockade, the mercenary invasion of the Bay of Pigs, watched over by an aircraft carrier and their Marines ready to land if the mercenaries were to gain determinate objectives.<br />
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Just a year and a half later, they threatened us with their nuclear arsenal. A nuclear war was on the point of breaking out.<br />
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All the Latin American countries, with the exception of Mexico, took part in the criminal blockade which is still in place today, with our country never surrendering. It is important to be reminded of this, for those lacking historical memory.<br />
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In January of 1986, using the idea that Libya was behind the so-called revolutionary terrorism, Reagan ordered economic and commercial relations with that country to be broken.<br />
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In March, a force of aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Sidra, inside what is considered to be Libyan national waters, launched attacks that caused the destruction of several naval units armed with missile launchers and coastal radar systems that that country had acquired in the USSR.<br />
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On April 5th, a Berlin disco that US soldiers went to was the victim of plastic explosives; three persons died, two of them American soldiers, and many were wounded.<br />
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Reagan accused Gaddafi and ordered the Air Force to retaliate. Three squadrons took off from the Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers and bases in the United Kingdom, attacking seven military targets in Tripoli and Benghazi with missiles and bombs. Around 40 people died, 15 of them civilians. Warned of the bombers’ advance, Gaddafi assembled his family and was abandoning his residence located at the Bab Al Aziziya military complex to the south of the capital. The evacuation was in progress when a missile made a direct hit on his residence; his daughter Hanna died and two other children were wounded. The occurrence was broadly condemned: the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning violation of the UN Charter and International law. So did NAM, the Arab League and the OAU, in energetic terms.<br />
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On December 21, 1988, a Pan Am Boeing 747 flying from London to New York disintegrated in mid-air after a bomb exploded; the remains of the plane fell over Lockerbie and the tragedy tolled 270 lives, of 21 nationalities.<br />
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At first the US government suspected Iran acting in retaliation for the death of 200 persons in the downing of an airbus from its state airline. According to the Yankees, investigations implicated two Libyan intelligence agents. Similar imputations against Libya were made for a French airliner on the Brazzaville-N’Djamena-Paris route, implicating Libyan officials that Gaddafi refused to extradite, for facts he categorically denied.<br />
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A sinister legend was fabricated against him with the participation of Reagan and Bush Sr.<br />
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From 1975 up to the final stage of the Reagan government, Cuba had devoted itself to its internationalist duties in Angola and other African countries. We were aware of the conflicts developing in Libya, or around it, because of reading material or eye-witness accounts written by people who were closely connected to that country and the Arab world, as well as because of the impressions we had about various personalities from different countries with whom we had been in touch during those years.<br />
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Many well-known African leaders with whom Gaddafi had close ties tried to seek solutions for the tense relations between Libya and the United Kingdom.<br />
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The Security Council had imposed sanctions on Libya that were starting to be overcome when Gaddafi accepted to put the two people accused for the plane downed over Scotland on trial, with certain conditions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmvRXdZOBupXK4uu-YoySNGwXDb4r7j1GqmwWPdR54Y0QCfc0LM6Ovs7Q97CbMyaRMlo3LUumjRvzzGsITQdtUdbsIca6x98KrhDox9aTcSjy2xik0jGh2ZqlJmSrUkBmvBLnb_Sk1qi6/s1600/war-in-libya-cartoon-598x457.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627014725089741762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmvRXdZOBupXK4uu-YoySNGwXDb4r7j1GqmwWPdR54Y0QCfc0LM6Ovs7Q97CbMyaRMlo3LUumjRvzzGsITQdtUdbsIca6x98KrhDox9aTcSjy2xik0jGh2ZqlJmSrUkBmvBLnb_Sk1qi6/s400/war-in-libya-cartoon-598x457.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 306px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Libyan delegations began to be invited to inter-European meetings. In July of 1999, London initiated the re-establishing of full diplomatic relations with Libya, after some additional concessions.<br />
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In September of that year, the European Union ministers accepted withdrawing the restrictive measures on commerce that had been taken in 1992.<br />
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On December 2nd, Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema of Italy made the first visit of a European head of government to Libya.<br />
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With the USSR and the European Socialist bloc gone, Gaddafi decided to accept the demands of the United States and NATO.<br />
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When I visited Libya in May of 2001, he showed me the ruins caused by the traitorous attack with which Reagan had killed his daughter and had been on the point of exterminating his entire family.<br />
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At the beginning of 2002, the State Department informed that diplomatic talks were going on between the US and Libya.<br />
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In May, Libya had been included again on the list of states sponsoring terrorism even though, in January, President George W. Bush had not mentioned the African country in his famous speech on the members of the “axis of evil”.<br />
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As 2003 began, because of the economic agreement on the compensations reached between Libya and the suing countries, the United Kingdom and France, the UN Security Council lifted the 1992 sanctions against Libya.<br />
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Before 2003 drew to a close, Bush and Tony Blair informed about an agreement with Libya, a country that had handed over to United Kingdom and Washington intelligence experts documentation on the non-conventional weapons programs such as ballistic missiles with a range of more than 300 kilometres. Officials from both countries had already visited various installations. It was the result of many months of talks between Tripoli and Washington as Bush himself revealed.<br />
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Gaddafi fulfilled his promises of disarmament. In a few months Libya handed over five units of Scud-C missiles with a range of 800 kilometres and the hundreds of Scud-Bs whose range surpassed the 300 kilometres for short-range defensive missiles.<br />
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From October of 2002, the marathon of visits to Tripoli began: Berlusconi in October of 2002; José María Aznar in September of 2003; Berlusconi again in February, August and October of 2004; Blair in March of 2004; Germany’s Schröeder in October of that year; Jacques Chirac in November of 2004. Everybody was happy. Mr. Money is a powerful gentleman.<br />
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Gaddafi triumphantly toured Europe. He was received in Brussels in April of 2004 by Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission; in August of that year the Libyan leader invited Bush to visit his country; Exxon Mobil, Chevron Texaco and Conoco Philips finalized the re-establishing of extracting crude by means of joint ventures.<br />
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In May of 2006, the United States announced the withdrawal of Libya from the list of terrorist countries and the establishment of full diplomatic relations.<br />
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In 2006 and 2007, France and the US signed agreements for nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes; in May of 2007, Blair once again visited Gaddafi at Sidra. BP signed an “enormously important” agreement according to statements, in order to explore for gas fields.<br />
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In December of 2007, Gaddafi made two visits to France and signed contracts for military and civilian equipment for the total of 10 billion Euros; and a visit to Spain where he met with President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Million-dollar contracts were signed with important NATO countries.<br />
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What is it that has now caused the precipitated withdrawal from the embassies of the United States and the other NATO members?<br />
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It’s all extremely odd.<br />
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George W. Bush, father of the stupid anti-terrorism war, stated on September 20 of 2001 to the West point cadets that:<br />
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Our security will require [...] transforming the military you will lead, a military that must be ready to strike at a moment of notice in any dark corner of the world. And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and [...] our lives.<br />
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We must uncover terror cells in 60 or more countries[...] Along with our friends and allies, we must oppose proliferation and confront regimes that sponsor terror, as each case requires.<br />
What will Obama think about that speech?<br />
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What sanctions will the Security Council impose on those who killed more than a million civilians in Iraq and on those who every day are killing men, women and children in Afghanistan, where in recent days the enflamed population thronged into the streets to protest the massacre of innocent children?<br />
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An AFP dispatch from Kabul, dated today on March 9th, reveals that: “Last year was the most deadly for civilians in nine years of war between the Taliban and international forces in Afghanistan, with almost 2,800 dead, 15% more than in 2009, a UN report indicated on Wednesday, underlining the human cost of the conflict for the population.”<br />
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“…the Taliban insurrection intensified and gained ground these last few years, with guerrilla actions further from its traditions bastions to the south and east.”<br />
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“With exactly 2,777 the number of civilian deaths in 2010 increased 15% as compared to 2009, indicates the annual joint report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan…”<br />
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“President Barack Obama stated on the 3rd of March his “profound condolences” to the Afghan people for the nine dead children; US General David Petraeus, commander in chief of the ISAF and Secretary of the Defence Robert Gates made similar statements.”<br />
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“…the UNAMA report emphasizes that the number of civilian dead in 2010 is four times greater than the number of international forces soldiers killed in combat in that same year.<br />
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“The year 2010 has been by far the most deadly year for foreign soldiers in nine years of war, with 711 dead, confirming that the Taliban guerrilla has intensified despite the sending of 30,000 US reinforcements last year.”<br />
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For 10 days, in Geneva and in the UN more than 150 speeches were made about violations on human rights that were repeated millions of times by TV, radio, Internet and the printed press.<br />
Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez, in his speech on March 1st before the Foreign Ministers meeting in Geneva, stated:<br />
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“Human conscience rejects the deaths of innocent people in any circumstance and in any place. Cuba fully shares world concern for the losses in civilian lives in Libya and wishes that their people attain a peaceful and sovereign solution to the civil war happening over there, without any foreign interference, and ensuring the integrity of that nation.”<br />
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Some of the final paragraphs of his speech were noteworthy:<br />
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“If essential human rights are a right of life, is the Council ready to suspend the membership of states that unleash war?”<br />
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“Will it suspend states that finance and supply military aid used by the receiving state in massive, flagrant and systematic violations on human rights and in attacks on civilian populations, such as what is happening in Palestine?”<br />
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“Will it apply that measure against powerful countries that carry out extra-judicial executions on the territory of other states, using high technology such as smart bombs and unmanned planes?<br />
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“What would happen with states that accept on their territory illegal secret prisons, facilitate secret flights carrying kidnapped persons or participate in acts of torture?”<br />
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We fully share the courageous position of the Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez and ALBA.<br />
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We are against the internal war in Libya, in favour of immediate peace and full respect for life and the rights of all citizens, with no foreign intervention that would only serve to prolong the conflict and NATO interests.<br />
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Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
March 9, 2011<br />
9:35 p.m.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source:</span> <a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-68291122382592325792011-07-08T18:01:00.044+02:002011-11-04T20:07:47.070+01:00FIDEL CASTRO'S REFLECTIONS: THE NATO PLAN IS TO OCCUPY LIBYAOil has become the principal wealth in the hands of the great Yankee transnationals; through this energy source they had an instrument that considerably expanded their political power in the world. It was their main weapon when they decided to easily liquidate the Cuban Revolution as soon as the first just and sovereign laws were passed in our Homeland: depriving it of oil.<br />
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Upon this energy source today’s civilization was developed. Venezuela was the nation in this hemisphere that paid the highest price. The United States became the lord and master of the huge oil fields that Mother Nature had bestowed upon that sister country.<br />
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At the end of the last World War, it started to extract greater amounts of oil from the oil fields of Iran, as well as those in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Arab countries located around them. These became the main suppliers. World consumption progressively increased to the fabulous figure of approximately 80 million barrels a day, including those being extracted on United States territory, to which later gas, hydro and nuclear energies were added. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, coal had been the basic source of energy that made industrial development possible, before billions of automobiles and engines consuming the liquid fuel were produced.<br />
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The squandering of oil and gas is associated with one of the greatest tragedies, not in the least resolved, which is suffered by humankind: climate change.<br />
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When our Revolution arose, Algeria, Libya and Egypt were not yet oil producers and a great part of the abundant reserves of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and the United Arab Emirates were still to be discovered.<br />
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In December of 1951, Libya becomes the first African country to attain its independence after WW II, during which its territory was the stage for important battles between the troops of Germany and the United Kingdom, conferring fame and glory on Generals Erwin Rommel and Bernard L. Montgomery.<br />
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Ninety-five percent of its territory is completely made up of desert. Technology permitted the discovery of vital oilfields of excellent quality light oil that today reach one million 800 thousand barrels a day along with abundant deposits of natural gas. Such riches allowed it to reach life expectancy that is almost at 75 years of age and the highest per capita income in Africa. Its harsh desert is located over an enormous lake of fossil waters, equivalent to more than three times the land area of Cuba; this has made it possible to construct a broad network of pipelines of fresh water that stretch from one end of the country to the other.<br />
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Libya, which had a million inhabitants when it attained independence, today has somewhat more than 6 million.<br />
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The Libyan Revolution took place in the month of September of the year 1969. Its main leader was Muammar al-Gaddafi, a soldier of Bedouin origin who, in his early years, was inspired by the ideas of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Without any doubt, many of his decisions are associated with the changes that were produced when, as in Egypt, a weak and corrupt monarchy was overthrown in Libya.<br />
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The inhabitants of that country have age-old warrior traditions. It is said that ancient Libyans were a part of Hannibal’s army when he was at the point of destroying Ancient Rome with the troops that crossed the Alps.<br />
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One can agree with Gaddafi or not. The world has been invaded with all kinds of news, especially using the mass media. One has to wait the necessary length of time in order to learn precisely what is the truth and what are lies, or a mixture of events of every kind that, in the midst of chaos, were produced in Libya. For me, what is absolutely clear is that the government of the United States is not in the least worried about peace in Libya and it will not hesitate in giving NATO the order to invade that rich country, perhaps in a matter of hours or a few short days.<br />
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Those who with perfidious intentions invented the lie that Gaddafi was headed for Venezuela, just as they did yesterday afternoon on Sunday the 20th of February, today received an fitting response from Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolás Maduro when he literally stated that he was “wishing that the Libyan people would find, in the exercise of their sovereignty, a peaceful solution to their difficulties, that would preserve the integrity of the Libyan people and nation, without the interference of imperialism…”<br />
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As for me, I cannot imagine that the Libyan leader would abandon his country; escaping the responsibilities he is charged with, whether or not they are partially or totally false.<br />
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An honest person shall always be against any injustice being committed against any people in the world, and the worst of all, at this moment, would be to remain silent in the face of the crime that NATO is getting ready to commit against the Libyan people.<br />
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The leadership of that war-mongering organization has to do it. We must condemn it!<br />
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Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
February 21, 2011<br />
10:14 p.m.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-11599668636486844392011-07-08T04:15:00.013+02:002011-11-04T20:07:18.717+01:00FIDEL CASTRO'S REFLECTIONS: THE CYNICAL DANCE MACABREThe policy of plundering imposed by the United States and their NATO allies in the Middle East has gone into a crisis. It has inevitably unravelled with the high cost of grains, the effects of which can be felt more forcefully in the Arab countries where, in spite of their huge resources of oil, the shortage of water, areas covered by desert and the generalized poverty of the people contrast with the enormous resources coming from the oil possessed by the privileged sectors.<br />
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While food prices triple, real estate fortunes and the treasures of the aristocratic minority reach millions of millions of dollars.<br />
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The Arab world, mainly Muslim in its culture and beliefs, has seen itself additionally humiliated by the imposition of blood and fire by a State that was not capable of fulfilling the basic obligations that were part of their origin, from the colonial order existing up to the end of WW II, by virtue of which the victorious powers created the United Nations Organization and imposed world trade and economy.<br />
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Thanks to the treason committed by Anwar El-Sadat at Camp David, the Palestinian State has not been able to exist, despite the UN treaties of November 1947, and Israel became a strong nuclear power, an ally of the United States and NATO.<br />
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The US Military Industrial Complex supplied Israel with tens of billions of dollars every year as well as to the very Arab States that were submitted and being humiliated by Israel.<br />
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The genie has escaped from the bottle and NATO doesn’t know how to control it.<br />
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They are going to attempt to wrest the most benefits from the regrettable events in Libya. Nobody can know at this moment what is happening over there. All the figures and versions, even the most implausible ones, have been spread by the empire via the mass media, sowing chaos and disinformation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6oifDkTmt3PnMABYfd7vlyYX-mlNCRFxKWJHp3t7iOqeGXbej_B08coqnwRQGG7zyImHiwDtddjydJz8tv0QCkeb_4ElectjusD_dsOdpP4X_kIDDkVQ28xbHLjM_Hqnxqk3zPo3DcLG7/s1600/War-In-The-Middle-East.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626802317366292898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6oifDkTmt3PnMABYfd7vlyYX-mlNCRFxKWJHp3t7iOqeGXbej_B08coqnwRQGG7zyImHiwDtddjydJz8tv0QCkeb_4ElectjusD_dsOdpP4X_kIDDkVQ28xbHLjM_Hqnxqk3zPo3DcLG7/s400/War-In-The-Middle-East.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 335px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<br />
It is obvious that inside Libya a civil war is brewing. Why and how did this happen? Who will pay the consequences? Reuters Agency, echoing the opinion of the well-known Nomura Bank of Japan, stated that oil prices could go beyond any limits:<br />
<br />
“‘If Libya and Algeria suspend oil production, prices could reach a maximum of more than 220 dollars a barrel and OPEC’s inactive capacity would be reduced to 2.1 million barrels per day, similar to levels seen during the Gulf War and when values touched 147 dollars a barrel in 2008’, the bank asserted in an article.”<br />
<br />
Who could pay that price these days? What would be the consequences in the midst of the food crisis?<br />
<br />
The main NATO leaders are all worked up. British Prime Minister David Cameron, ANSA informed, “…admitted in a speech in Kuwait that the western nations made a mistake in backing non-democratic governments in the Arab world.” One has to congratulate him on his frankness.<br />
<br />
His French colleague Nicolas Sarkozy stated: “The extended brutal and bloody repression of the Libyan civilian population is disgusting”.<br />
<br />
Italian Chancellor Franco Frattini stated as “‘believable’ the figure of one thousand dead in Tripoli […] ‘the tragic numbers shall be a bloodbath’.”<br />
<br />
Hillary Clinton stated the following: “…the ‘bloodbath’ is ‘completely unacceptable’ and ‘it has to stop’…”<br />
<br />
Ban Ki-moon spoke: “‘The use of violence in the country is absolutely unacceptable’.”<br />
<br />
“…‘the Security Council will act according to whatever the international community decides’.”<br />
<br />
“‘We are considering a series of options’.”<br />
<br />
What Ban Ki-moon is really hoping is that Obama pronounces the last word.<br />
<br />
The president of the United States spoke this Wednesday afternoon and stated that the Secretary of State would be leaving for Europe in order to agree with their NATO allies on the measures to be taken. On his face once could note the opportunity to spar with John McCain, the far-right-wing Republican senator, pro-Israel Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut and the leaders of the Tea Party, in order to ensure the Democratic Party demands.<br />
<br />
The empire’s mass media has prepared the terrain for action. There would be nothing strange about a military intervention in Libya; besides, with that, Europe would be guaranteed almost two million barrels of light oil per day, unless before that events would put an end to the leadership or the life of Gaddafi.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Obama’s role is rather complicated. What will the reaction of the Arab and Muslim world be if blood should flow in abundance in that country as a result of that exploit? Would NATO intervention in Libya stem the revolutionary tidal wave surging in Egypt?<br />
<br />
In Iraq, the innocent blood of more than a million Arab citizens was spilt when the country was invaded under false pretexts. Mission accomplished!: proclaimed George W. Bush.<br />
<br />
Nobody in the world would ever agree with the deaths of defenceless civilians in Libya or anywhere else. And I wonder: will the US and NATO apply that principle on the defenceless civilians that the unmanned Yankee planes and the soldiers of that organization kill every day in Afghanistan and Pakistan?<br />
<br />
It is a cynical dance macabre.<br />
<br />
Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
February 23, 2011.<br />
7:42 p.m.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source:</span> <a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-33414315702044708972011-07-08T03:52:00.044+02:002012-01-03T19:18:44.427+01:00NOAM CHOMSKY - TOP 10 MEDIA MANIPULATION STRATEGIESNoam Chomsky, the distinguished American philosopher, political activist and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has compiled a list of the ten most powerful and efficacious strategies used by “masters of the world” to establish a manipulation of the population through the media.<br />
<br />
The strategies are so well-elaborated that even the countries with the best educational systems, succumb to the power and terror of those mafias. Many things are reported in the news but few are explained.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBjGrE5HQ84mQ6Ge3E8E5M-ICQboDYninaJ3dudPNekwzE9eQD-Q-Cc607TC_PwfU_c_7hPDsZQM19JciUSm8YMy7apT2wBPp5pCmMXi_CEgbszvUr0SHv19L9NLImXiiQ-ZZ1jWaTAKyC/s1600/bensko.brainwashing.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689053768531717266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBjGrE5HQ84mQ6Ge3E8E5M-ICQboDYninaJ3dudPNekwzE9eQD-Q-Cc607TC_PwfU_c_7hPDsZQM19JciUSm8YMy7apT2wBPp5pCmMXi_CEgbszvUr0SHv19L9NLImXiiQ-ZZ1jWaTAKyC/s400/bensko.brainwashing.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 226px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 276px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The journalistic tendency t</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">o balance stories with two opposing views leads to a tendency to ‘build stories around a confrontation between protagonists and antagonists’ (Ricci 1993: 95). Issues such as garbage and sewage sludge only get coverage, despite their importance, when there is a fight over the siting of a landfill or incinerator and the coverage is then on the ‘anger and anguish of affected citizens, or the conflicting claims of corporate spokesmen, government regulators and environmental activists’ rather than the issues and technical background to them </span>(Gersh 1992: 16).<br />
<br />
The job of media is not to inform, but to misinform: Divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by the political and economic elites, by the technique of flood or continuous flood of distractions and insignificant information.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Journalists who have access to highly placed government and corporate sources have to keep them on their side by not reporting anything adverse about them or their organizations. Otherwise they risk losing them as sour</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">ces of information. In return for this loyalty, their sources occasionally give them good stories, leaks and access to special interviews. Unofficial information, or leaks, give the impression of investigative journalism, but are often strategic manoeuvres on the part of those with position or power (Ricci 1993: 99). ‘It is a bitter irony of source journalism … that the most esteemed journalists are precisely the most servile. For it is by making themselves useful to the powerful that they gain access to the “best” sources’ </span>(quoted in Lee and Solomon 1990: 18).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1OJY2lKM0PtxwDgnGcfGc8nKRRE4f-87fpQoQ_uIMMK3tTE33rOTfUJK9wq7NZSuk1UTweDlxRJThVclsU26JN6wkgetAmnkYqunPK2SB10HTrMe7sVJTXqx6i_yTpLHe6DuPbSSvfrm/s1600/220px-Chomsky.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688984280424220082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1OJY2lKM0PtxwDgnGcfGc8nKRRE4f-87fpQoQ_uIMMK3tTE33rOTfUJK9wq7NZSuk1UTweDlxRJThVclsU26JN6wkgetAmnkYqunPK2SB10HTrMe7sVJTXqx6i_yTpLHe6DuPbSSvfrm/s400/220px-Chomsky.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 262px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 196px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The 10 Strategies</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">1. The strategy of distraction</span><br />
<br />
The primary element of social control is the strategy of distraction which is to divert public attention from important issues and changes determined by the political and economic elites, by the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.<br />
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Distraction strategy is also essential to prevent the public interest in the essential knowledge in the area of the science, economics, psychology, neurobiology and cybernetics.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">“Maintaining public attention diverted away from the real social problems, captivated by matters of no real importance. Keep the public busy, busy, busy, no time to think, back to farm and other animals</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> (quote from text<a href="http://www.syti.net/GB/SilentWeaponsGB.html"> Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars</a>).<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Create problems, then offer solutions</span><br />
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This method is also called “problem -reaction- solution.”<br />
<br />
It creates a problem, a “situation” referred to cause some reaction in the audience, so this is the principal of the steps that you want to accept.<br />
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For example: let it unfold and intensify urban violence, or arrange for bloody attacks in order that the public is the applicant’s security laws and policies to the detriment of freedom.<br />
<br />
Or create an economic crisis to accept as a necessary evil retreat of social rights and the dismantling of public services.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbqBMTw3J4jPqyamgzySecyQqXjt62vdKy4Qa7J7E3DwVQbP6yt6FrQjQezyxZSA_g1zaaq5OY5RznACP6nDljtD65LKL_wXYghz3WfdmKi-XIbw8Jw7afZy1xebd7Q8rFpuHzNgP5dBUg/s1600/brainwash.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688984155780320386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbqBMTw3J4jPqyamgzySecyQqXjt62vdKy4Qa7J7E3DwVQbP6yt6FrQjQezyxZSA_g1zaaq5OY5RznACP6nDljtD65LKL_wXYghz3WfdmKi-XIbw8Jw7afZy1xebd7Q8rFpuHzNgP5dBUg/s400/brainwash.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 264px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 214px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">3. The gradual strategy</span><br />
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Acceptance to an unacceptable degree, just apply it gradually, dropper, for consecutive years.<br />
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That is how they radically new socioeconomic conditions (neoliberalism) were imposed during the 1980s and 1990s:<br />
<br />
• the minimal state<br />
• privatization<br />
• precariousness<br />
• flexibility<br />
• massive unemployment<br />
• wages<br />
• do not guarantee a decent income,<br />
<br />
...so many changes that have brought about a revolution if they had been applied once.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">4. The strategy of deferring</span><br />
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Another way to accept an unpopular decision is to present it as “painful and necessary”, gaining public acceptance, at the time for future application.<br />
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It is easier to accept that a future sacrifice of immediate slaughter.<br />
<br />
• First, because the effort is not used immediately<br />
• Then, because the public, masses, is always the tendency to expect naively that “everything will be better tomorrow” and that the sacrifice required may be avoided<br />
<br />
This gives the public more time to get used to the idea of change and accept it with resignation when the time comes.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPqiqwrm0jboOV7cHs_xu2ZLl69yWgi-9407ZHplv1H94JeD5RABsvYYpZxq0aZ3Ffqr07-jImK4oMNI2JU69e7POBNJRqK4hCNuGYlYXic1GVrtw47Bq3KEzeY-7o5zeW7-9Vx-gBQTW/s1600/brain+wash.jpeg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688984035447487746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPqiqwrm0jboOV7cHs_xu2ZLl69yWgi-9407ZHplv1H94JeD5RABsvYYpZxq0aZ3Ffqr07-jImK4oMNI2JU69e7POBNJRqK4hCNuGYlYXic1GVrtw47Bq3KEzeY-7o5zeW7-9Vx-gBQTW/s400/brain+wash.jpeg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 256px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
5. Go to the public as a little child</span><br />
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Most of the advertising to the general public uses speech, argument, people and particularly children’s intonation, often close to the weakness, as if the viewer were a little child or a mentally deficient.<br />
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The harder one tries to deceive the viewer look, the more it tends to adopt a tone infantilizing.<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">“If one goes to a person as if she had the age of 12 years or less, then, because of suggestion, she tends with a certain probability that a response or reaction also devoid of a critical sense as a person 12 years or younger.”</span> (see<a href="http://www.syti.net/GB/SilentWeaponsGB.html"> Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLRb53DreIoGcLhFwVvU2vvr_9YT6vBnXHOS9OzbTmXBn6kYUK9QjKiofu4cWapr4gr6pmlpWYTlk_Ao1vwEEj61VPRPzchnizfCtDGSybr2feIrFseF3rWBQExmH1-CUIpOpKD8FywlK/s1600/OK_dees.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688983813514452658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLRb53DreIoGcLhFwVvU2vvr_9YT6vBnXHOS9OzbTmXBn6kYUK9QjKiofu4cWapr4gr6pmlpWYTlk_Ao1vwEEj61VPRPzchnizfCtDGSybr2feIrFseF3rWBQExmH1-CUIpOpKD8FywlK/s400/OK_dees.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 228px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 265px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Use the emotional side more than the reflection</span><br />
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Making use of the emotional aspect is a classic technique for causing a short circuit on rational analysis, and finally to the critical sense of the individual.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, the use of emotional register to open the door to the unconscious for implantation or grafting ideas , desires, fears and anxieties , compulsions, or induce behaviors …<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Keep the public in ignorance and mediocrity</span><br />
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Making the public incapable of understanding the technologies and methods used to control and enslavement.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">“The quality of education given to the lower social classes must be the poor and mediocre as possible so that the gap of ignorance it plans among the lower classes and upper classes is and remains impossible to attain for the lower classes.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">”</span> (<a href="http://www.syti.net/GB/SilentWeaponsGB.html">See Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars</a>).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">8. To encourage the public to be complacent with mediocrity</span><br />
<br />
Promote the public to believe that the fact is fashionable to be stupid, vulgar and uneducated…<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">9. Self-blame Strengthen</span><br />
<br />
To let individual blame for their misfortune, because of the failure of their intelligence, their abilities, or their efforts.<br />
<br />
So, instead of rebelling against the economic system, the individual auto-devaluate and guilt himself, which creates a depression, one of whose effects is to inhibit its action.<br />
<br />
And, without action, there is no revolution!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeG0_gYhzhAHalXwcUiBe3rvx0qqxT6OUibuhv_IFEKgDb5rJGZ8d1Yspm-uqzIBVmSgeth5pyiHFihYKEzlq0Gx_8HKUGEIL-Po64Yf5ijAvgVtFD_iPUvI3LiBCic5xBj2L2t6AH5K3L/s1600/brain-wash.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689044430652514226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeG0_gYhzhAHalXwcUiBe3rvx0qqxT6OUibuhv_IFEKgDb5rJGZ8d1Yspm-uqzIBVmSgeth5pyiHFihYKEzlq0Gx_8HKUGEIL-Po64Yf5ijAvgVtFD_iPUvI3LiBCic5xBj2L2t6AH5K3L/s400/brain-wash.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 247px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 351px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">10. Getting to know the individuals better than they know themselves</span><br />
<br />
Over the past 50 years, advances of accelerated science has generated a growing gap between public knowledge and those owned and operated by dominant elites.<br />
<br />
Thanks to biology, neurobiology and applied psychology, the “system” has enjoyed a sophisticated understanding of human beings, both physically and psychologically.<br />
<br />
The system has gotten better acquainted with the common man more than he knows himself.<br />
<br />
This means that, in most cases, the system exerts greater control and great power over individuals, greater than that of individuals about themselves.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">References:</span><br />
<br />
Article written by Sylvain Timsit, collected in <a href="http://www.pressenza.com/npermalink/les-dix-strategies-de-manipulation-de-masses">Pressenza</a>: <span style="font-weight: bold;">“TOP 10 MEDIA MANIPULATION STRATEGIES. </span>Paris. September 21, 2010. The article is derived from: <a href="http://www.syti.net/Manipulations.html">http://www.syti.net/Manipulations.html</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syti.net/GB/SilentWeaponsGB.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars.</span> </a>This document dated May 1979, was found on July 7, 1986 in an IBM copier bought at an auction of military equipment. Negligence or intentional leak, this text has been in possession of the secret services of the U.S. Navy. For safety reasons, the document does not include the signature of the organization where it came from. But information and dates clippings left believing that these Bilderberg Group, a " discussion club " that meets the extremely powerful worlds of finance, economics, politics, the armed forces and services secrets.<a href="http://www.syti.net/GB/SilentWeaponsGB.html"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars</span></a> was published as an appendix to the book <a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LF7Z8VQM">"Behold A Pale Horse"</a> by William Cooper, Light Technology Publishing, 1991.<br />
<br />
Gersh, D. 1992, ‘Covering solid waste issues.’ Editor & Publisher 125(29 August): 15-6.<br />
<br />
Lee, M.A., and N. Solomon 1990. Unreliable Sources: A guide to detecting bias in news media. New York: Carol Publishing Group.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com409tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-70424505580606876912011-06-12T01:06:00.019+02:002011-11-04T20:28:31.838+01:00HOW WAR MADE THE BUSH FAMILY RICH<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When interested in the connection between the Iraq War and the Bush family, only clicking in Google is enough to find a wealth of information. Remarkably, we never get any information about it by our own media, kind of strange, right?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/George_W._Bush_and_family.jpg/800px-George_W._Bush_and_family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/George_W._Bush_and_family.jpg/800px-George_W._Bush_and_family.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The many connections between the Bush family, defence industry and the global arms trade are only known by a certain group of people. The average American or any other world citizen has not the faintest idea of it.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The following article written by Evelyn J. Pringle gives a clear image of it:</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> Why Are We In Iraq?</b></span></div><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bush Family $$$ Signs</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">After Dick Cheney's tenure at the Pentagon ended in 1993, he spent much of the next two years deciding whether to run for President. He formed a political-action committee, and crossed the country making speeches and raising money. (Contact Sport, <i>The New Yorker</i>, 2/16/04).</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) shows that Cheney's PAC contributors included executives of the companies that have since won the largest contracts in Iraq. Among them were Thomas Cruikshank, Halliburton's CEO at the time; Stephen Bechtel, whose family's firm now has a contract in Iraq worth as much as $2.8 billion; and Duane Andrews, then senior VP of Science Applications International Corporation, which has won seven contracts in Iraq.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">However, while Cheney and his pals may well be the most blatant profiteers in Iraq, they are by no means the only ones involved in this grand war profiteering scheme commonly referred to as the "War on Terror." The #1 spot on the list belongs to the First Family.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>War Is Family Business</b></span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Here's where the web of deceit really gets complicated. There are so many ties between the Bush family, the defense industry and the global arms trade, that it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif;">'</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">s almost impossible to keep track of them all. But yet the widespread ties are hardly ever even mentioned in the mainstream med</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ia. Or a revelation might show up for a day or two and then its like oh well, what's new.</span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lets Start At The Top - The First President Bush</b></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">When Jr. took office, Bush (Sr.) was a member of the Carlyle Group. The firm is almost entirely made up of ex-government officials and it is said to be the world's most politically connected private equity firm.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://overing89.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/bush_senior_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://overing89.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/bush_senior_large.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">The complaints about the Bush family connections with the Carlyle Group began long before 9/11. As early as March 3, 2001, shortly after Bush Jr.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif;">'</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">s inauguratio</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">n, Judicial Watch issued a press release that said:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;">Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government abuse and corruption, called on former President George Herbert Walker Bush to resign immediately from the Carlyle Group, a private investment firm, while his son President George W. Bush is in office. Today's New York Times reported that the elder Bush is an "ambassador" for the $12 billion private investment firm and last year traveled to the Middle East on its behalf. The former president also helped the firm in South Korea.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;">The New York Times reported that as compensation, the elder Bush is allowed to buy a stake in the Carlyle Group's investments, which include ownership in at least 164 companies throughout the world (thereby by giving the current president an indirect benefit). James Baker, the former Secretary of State who served as President George W. Bush's point man in Florida's election dispute, is a partner in the firm. The firm also gave George W. Bush help in the early 1990's when it placed him on one of its subsidiary's board of directors.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;">This is simply inappropriate. Former President Bush should immediately resign from the Carlyle Group because it is an obvious conflict of interest. Any foreign government or foreign investor trying to curry favor with the current Bush Administration is sure to throw business to the Carlyle Group. And with the former President Bush promoting the firm's investments abroad, foreign nationals could understandably confuse the Carlyle Group's interests with the interests of the United States government," stated Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 34.75pt; margin-right: 34.75pt; text-align: justify;">Questions are now bound to be raised if the recent Bush Administration change in policy towards Iraq has the fingerprints of the Carlyle Group, which is trying to gain investments from other Arab countries who [sic] would presumably benefit from the new policy," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">As a rule, I'm not a major fan of Judicial Watch; however in this case their comments are almost prophetic.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, it became known that Bush Sr. was financially linked to the bin Laden family. The Sept 28, 2001 <b>Wall Street Journal (WSJ)</b> reported that, <b>"George H.W. Bush, the father of President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm."</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">When Sr. hooked up with the Carlyle Group, his special area of influence was the Middle East, and especially Saudi Arabia investors. One of the investors that he brought to Carlyle was the Bin Laden Group, a construction company owned by the family of none other than future US #1 enemy Osama bin Laden. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://degroenemaan.web-log.nl/.a/6a013480948730970c01538e45962d970b-800wi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://degroenemaan.web-log.nl/.a/6a013480948730970c01538e45962d970b-800wi" width="214" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">According to an investigation by the<i>WSJ</i>, Sr. convinced Osama's brother, Shafiq bin Laden, to invest $2 million of Bin Laden Group money with Carlyle.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">According to the WSJ, <b>"The senior Bush had met with the bin Laden family at least twice in the last three years -- 1998 and 2000 -- as a representative of Carlyle, seeking to expand business dealings with one of the wealthiest Saudi families which, some experts argue, has never fully severed its ties with black sheep Osama in spite of current reports in a mainstream press that is afraid of offending the current administration."</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">I'm no expert, but I even knew that 6 months prior to 9/11, Osama appeared in a video taken at his son's wedding, along with his mother, his son and his son's new wife. I guess they family must have got into a tiff after the wedding.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">The WSJ went on to outline the details of the family's investment. The bin Laden firm invested $2 million in Carlyle Partners II Fund, which raised a total of $1.3 billion overall. The fund purchased several aerospace companies among 29 deals. <b>"So far, the family has received $1.3 million back in completed investments and should ultimately realize a 40% annualized rate of return,"</b> a Carlyle executive told the WSJ.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">On Sept 27, the WSJ said it confirmed that a meeting took place between Sr. and the bin Laden family through Sr's Chief of Staff Jean Becker, but only after the WSJ showed Becker a personal thank you note that Bush Sr. sent to the bin Ladens after the meeting.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Here's a little known fact that may bring goose bumps to some. On 9/11, Shafiq bin Laden was at a meeting in the office of the Carlyle Group, and stood watching TV as the WTC was destroyed under the instruction of his brother.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">So in a nutshell, Osama's attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, which lead to a massive increase in defense spending, most likely made the Bush family a great deal of money. And the real kicker is that the attack may have even enriched his own family.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>How Does Carlyle Make Its Money?</b></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">It's been estimated that Carlyle has investments in over 300 companies, and the majority of them derive revenues from military and security contracts. In fact, Carlyle is the countries 11th largest defense contractor. In 2002, it received $677 million in government contracts, and in 2003, it was awarded contracts worth another $2.1 billion.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Business has definitely improved for the firm since Jr. took office. For example, one of its subsidiaries, Vought Aircraft, now holds over $1 billion in defense contracts. Prior to 2001, the company's future was iffy at best. Right before 9/11, it had actually laid off 20% of its workforce. But low and behold, business picked right back up with the air strikes on Afghanistan and the war in Iraq.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1Kjlk0vF0Q_LXEjkhh47qnh8ZYLTfDz6A7OJ-teOlM0mZbkTbhA-c1-a65VzxSZG2VOrPFx80Se3oZKVHRWNMRM6deicGjzXcpWj-fnJPTxK1aBEL00d5DStAboCbObkYBuJOnTuQnY/s400/CarlyleGroup2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq1Kjlk0vF0Q_LXEjkhh47qnh8ZYLTfDz6A7OJ-teOlM0mZbkTbhA-c1-a65VzxSZG2VOrPFx80Se3oZKVHRWNMRM6deicGjzXcpWj-fnJPTxK1aBEL00d5DStAboCbObkYBuJOnTuQnY/s320/CarlyleGroup2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Carlyle's ties go directly into the Oval Office. In fact, a list of past employees has Jr.'s name on it. He was actually employed by Carlyle at on point in his life. According to a story in <b>Harper's Magazine</b>, Jr. held a position as a corporate director on the board of the Carlyle subsidiary, Caterair. Until he was politely told to hit the road because he didn't have anything to offer the company.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">In addition, in March 1995, while Jr. was governor of Texas governor and a senior Trustee of the University of Texas, the University of Texas Endowment placed $10 million in investments with the Carlyle Group. Who knows how much of that investment money benefited the bin Ladens.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;">Side-Kick James Baker<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Sr.'s top sidekick, James Baker, is also a player with the Carlyle Group. He joined the firm immediately after his stint as Sr.'s Secretary of State ended, bringing a briefcase packed full of global connections to the firm. Carlyle's revenues tripled after Baker came on board.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Much like Bush Sr., Baker's main duty was to manage the firm's relationships with Saudi clients. He not only handled investment deals, it was also his job to look after the key interests of Saudi investors. For instance, when the Justice Department began an investigation into the financial dealings of Saudi Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, guess who the prince turned to for help? You got it, Baker.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">And get this, Baker is currently defending the prince in a trillion dollar lawsuit brought by the families of the victims of the 9/11. The suit accuses the prince of using Islamic charities to funnel millions of dollars to known terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Carlyle is also cashing in on the Homeland Security front and the enactment of the Patriot Act. Two Carlyle companies, Federal Data Systems and US Investigations Services, hold multi-billion dollar contracts to provide background checks for airlines, the Pentagon, the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security. USIS used to be a federal agency, until it was privatized in 1996 and snatched up by Carlyle. Needless to say, it's now making money hand over fist.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Baker & Carlyle Hard At It</b></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Baker and Carlyle have been hard at it behind the scenes, profiting in ways so blatant that a secret deal revealed by<b>The Nation</b> magazine (and since reported in most major newspapers) gives a whole new meaning to the term war profiteering.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">As most people know, Bush Jr. appointed Baker to be his special envoy on Iraq's debt. His mission was to meet with presidents and prime ministers around the world and ask them to forgive Iraq's debt in the name of the reparation needs of the country.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">When Baker was appointed, questions about conflict of interest were raised because of his ties to the Carlyle Group, which has extensive business interests in the Middle East. His law firm, Baker Botts, was also brought up because both firms have strong links to the Saudi Royal Family, which happens to hold a great deal of Iraq's debt. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">In fact, the New York Times<b> </b>published an editorial upon the announcement of Baker being appointed special envoy that called for Baker to resign from both Carlyle because he was a partner, and Baker Botts. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">In response to the editorial, Jr. said he doesn't read editorials, but assured the world that Baker was a man of high integrity. Carlyle submitted a signed statement that said: <b>"Carlyle does not engage in lobbying or consulting." and "Carlyle does not have any investment in Iraqi public or private debt."</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Well that was then and this now. According to confidential documents obtained by <b>The Nation</b>, including a 65-page proposal to the Kuwaiti government, Carlyle has sought to secure a $1 billion investment from Kuwait using Baker's influence as debt envoy. The secret deal involved a plan to transfer ownership of up to $57 billion in unpaid Iraqi debts owed to Kuwait.<br />
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The debts would be assigned to a foundation created by a consortium in which the key players are the Carlyle Group and the Albright Group, headed by former secretary of state Madeline Albright, along with several other well-connected firms.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">So it boils down to this, the Carlyle Group was engaged in lobbying to secure Iraq's debt at the same time that Baker was asking the world to forgive those debts. Under the deal, Kuwait would give the consortium $2 billion up front to invest in a private equity fund, with half of it going to Carlyle.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><i>The Nation</i> showed the documents to Jerome Levinson, an international lawyer and expert on political and corporate corruption at American University. He called it <b>"one of the greatest cons of all time. The consortium is saying to the Kuwaiti government, 'Through us, you have the only chance to realize a substantial part of the debt. Why? Because of who we are and who we know.' It's influence peddling of the crassest kind."</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University and a leading expert on government ethics and regulations, told <b>The Nation</b>, that this means Baker is in a "classic conflict of interest. Baker is on two sides of this transaction: He is supposed to be representing the interests of the United States, but he is also a senior counselor at Carlyle, and Carlyle wants to get paid to help Kuwait recover its debts from Iraq." She said, <b>"Carlyle and the other companies are exploiting Baker's current position to try to land a deal with Kuwait that would undermine the interests of the US government."</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Just listen how they described The Carlyle Group, <b>"a private equity team, has earned its reputation by successfully consummating deals at the intersection of politics and finance, with its roster of political stars, including, among others, former US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, former British Prime Minister John Major, and until recently, former US President George Bush." </b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><b>I like that "stars." Is that kind of like Hollywood stars except they are from Washington?</b><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">The document goes on to state: "The extent to which these individuals can plan an instrumental rule in fashioning strategies is now more limited ... due to the recent appointment of Secretary Baker as the President's envoy on international debt, and the need to avoid an apparent conflict of interest." Yet it goes on to say that this will soon change: "We believe that with Secretary Baker's retirement from his temporary position, that Carlyle and those leading individuals associated with Carlyle will then once again be free to play a more decisive role..." according to<b>The Nation.</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">I wonder if this means we're going to lose our special envoy.<b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Retirement?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">The proposal goes on to tell Kuwait that in the near future, 40 state-owned Iraqi enterprises will be available for leasing and management contracts. Is that kind of like privatizing public utilities? 40 of them, huh? You mean we are going to do all that for Iraq? Does that mean that the Iraqis might have clean water, and not have raw sewage in their streets anytime soon? I suppose that would be a good thing.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Now where in the world did the Iraqis ever get the idea that we wanted to take over their country? I've never been able to figure out why they would ever think that.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">For those readers wondering about how much progress Baker has made in the 10 months in his position as special envoy, I'd have to say not much. The negotiations apparently are kind of stalled. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Senator Joe Biden recently asked Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq, about the status of the international negotiations to get other countries to forgive Iraq's debts. He asked, "Has a single nation in the G8 ... formally said or requested of their parliaments to forgive Iraqi debt?" "Not yet. No sir," Schlicher answered.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">According to <i>The Nation</i>,<b> "Not only has Baker failed to deliver any firm commitments for debt forgiveness; at the annual meeting of the International Fund on October 2, it emerged that France had done an end run around Washington and was pushing a debt-relief deal of its own. ... a plan to cancel only 50% of Iraq's debts -- a far cry from the 90-95 % cancellation Washington had been demanding. Yet Baker was nowhere to be found."</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Evelyn J. Pringle is an Ohio-based investigative journalist, and a columnist for Independent Media TV. She can be reached at: <b><span style="color: windowtext;">e.pringle@sbcglobal.net</span>. </b>(C) Copyright 2004 Evelyn J. Pringle.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.internetweekly.org/images/bush_chamber_pot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.internetweekly.org/images/bush_chamber_pot.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After reading the above article, can we still look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the same? It is unacceptable to have such conflicting interests, still it happens and the media stays silent. Are we really living in a open democracy or is that just a dream that vanished many years ago?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1188tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-91057952712036694532011-05-28T01:29:00.046+02:002011-11-04T20:02:41.990+01:00TODAY'S FRIEND IS TOMORROW'S ENEMY<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">The last 2 months have been specially hard for Libyan citizens. Speculations come and go everyday from all sides, specially from Western and Arabic media. The same happens with politicians. One day Western leaders are Gaddafi's best friends and another day they are their enemies. Who can understand that double standard?<br />
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What follows are some pictures of Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi with different European, Latin American and African leaders.</div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjRFrqev95J6ts9a3O8uTY571X2iWVLSu0R-02idcX2F3gUmotOMFGTmSsY_VcIrdPspiTHMkVoTxV-TKBSpKqB2tJqecDRYHJCq20wEuYk3IlVCVDMFS2zGA5z2RMmKObOgkErzT0i9Y/s1600/With+Barack+Obama.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612605851810891122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjRFrqev95J6ts9a3O8uTY571X2iWVLSu0R-02idcX2F3gUmotOMFGTmSsY_VcIrdPspiTHMkVoTxV-TKBSpKqB2tJqecDRYHJCq20wEuYk3IlVCVDMFS2zGA5z2RMmKObOgkErzT0i9Y/s400/With+Barack+Obama.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 259px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shook hands with U.S. President Barack Obama at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy on Thursday, July 9, 2009. After 39 years, Gadaffi could meet a U.S president. But, were Gadaffi and Obama very good friends?</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZA2H-HQ0g_etSIn16g0C84HYtUhufkyC9Q0iAmhoXlzWTjJJLxVM1F1s59uCdBpwshWUxvYR8dlDDXyloJSq2QSpNEYXq-VAEieV6Q6XQR-P6MrN75x98BDX-3vJ8y0bOVVfeC8DtEkx/s1600/Brown-gaddafi-415x334.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612588328883584882" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZA2H-HQ0g_etSIn16g0C84HYtUhufkyC9Q0iAmhoXlzWTjJJLxVM1F1s59uCdBpwshWUxvYR8dlDDXyloJSq2QSpNEYXq-VAEieV6Q6XQR-P6MrN75x98BDX-3vJ8y0bOVVfeC8DtEkx/s400/Brown-gaddafi-415x334.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 296px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddafi and Gordon Brown</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBgvkvytTv6NjEgWjHkCsNdf777oBqlNBketGCsZeTJvEkuow0jsJDyGN5qb_reDNuDfGDHT7Rmq7NpwXz6pPGv4XB_g8eTRUnBCeOhINwz0B2gYwV7kq1Fsyru4eymMFkoz2HKO_4rhi/s1600/Giving+a+press+conference+at+the+headquarters+of+the+European+Union.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612576726859066962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBgvkvytTv6NjEgWjHkCsNdf777oBqlNBketGCsZeTJvEkuow0jsJDyGN5qb_reDNuDfGDHT7Rmq7NpwXz6pPGv4XB_g8eTRUnBCeOhINwz0B2gYwV7kq1Fsyru4eymMFkoz2HKO_4rhi/s400/Giving+a+press+conference+at+the+headquarters+of+the+European+Union.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 330px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddafi giving a press conference at the headquarters of the EU. The EU received a "terrorist" and nobody says anything, specially Romano Prodi.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9iOwJ5ayuYRNe_g60VTAzA427PSrR8G17SZJU9u0X7znEizq-aP8yAhyUEIsKrLljFWeUW53Ixjq6OJxwBrigGkB0ROLmWUCdNxPOPPhooE762_wk010yonqHb7eV35PwwCOuECqONyF/s1600/With+Pascal+Lamy%252C+just+before+his+appointment+as+Director-General+of+the+World+Trade+Organization.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612574044102527842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9iOwJ5ayuYRNe_g60VTAzA427PSrR8G17SZJU9u0X7znEizq-aP8yAhyUEIsKrLljFWeUW53Ixjq6OJxwBrigGkB0ROLmWUCdNxPOPPhooE762_wk010yonqHb7eV35PwwCOuECqONyF/s400/With+Pascal+Lamy%252C+just+before+his+appointment+as+Director-General+of+the+World+Trade+Organization.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 264px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddafi with WTO Director-General <i></i>Pascal Lamy</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSS1UB-JUDIuF1X2bwCtPbXZg8XvbSDphjzDGhT1fnuALmOpBvrPsiikqUvMsTyPSaiHLfAiY8ywoHjTzgs4RvJ6aoQ3nII8w_Xr78KltfQU27wP-i-4cq5r7Q7hZkymSHyL8l4VR2EaT/s1600/chavez-gaddafi.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611964705466467650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSS1UB-JUDIuF1X2bwCtPbXZg8XvbSDphjzDGhT1fnuALmOpBvrPsiikqUvMsTyPSaiHLfAiY8ywoHjTzgs4RvJ6aoQ3nII8w_Xr78KltfQU27wP-i-4cq5r7Q7hZkymSHyL8l4VR2EaT/s400/chavez-gaddafi.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 302px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gadaffi with the Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez . They met at the Africa-South American Summit in Margarita Island, Venezuela in September 2009. Chávez has never denied that Gaddafi is his friend and is trying to mediate in the Libya's conflict. At least, we can see sincerity here.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic3TpnAeqM0tREOFaF710qoxtcEIW706RmMzeNJOMyrb8L5tB3smBsiAg9IuZ3k6JL0nCywqw-imFBKx4iQtCkAECD3eszuG1EUoFZpzTw5J_fcSZN495wO9JRsFA1e1cq9-ZU3vBxAp-a/s1600/gaddafi+mandela+1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611964699026855858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic3TpnAeqM0tREOFaF710qoxtcEIW706RmMzeNJOMyrb8L5tB3smBsiAg9IuZ3k6JL0nCywqw-imFBKx4iQtCkAECD3eszuG1EUoFZpzTw5J_fcSZN495wO9JRsFA1e1cq9-ZU3vBxAp-a/s400/gaddafi+mandela+1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 303px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Mandela with Gaddafi. What many people do not know it is that Gaddafi supported ANC fighters by training and arming them in order to finish with the Apartheid. The libyan leader helped South Africa in its worst moment and Mandela is very grateful.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEoTY5MkXnqDJgrLUrs1RT0Mmw8U9hsQf6JzCsQbaUtAICUwUTi_FYcjAw_S-1EGNq3QHn4nJuHNj13XKiliSw4wBo3Sp9ptdqqIwJ28TSHULazAF0xy3AmjOvuREFj8F1rvr88Ft-Q7R/s1600/juancarlos_qaddafi1-300x199.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611964696039683026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEoTY5MkXnqDJgrLUrs1RT0Mmw8U9hsQf6JzCsQbaUtAICUwUTi_FYcjAw_S-1EGNq3QHn4nJuHNj13XKiliSw4wBo3Sp9ptdqqIwJ28TSHULazAF0xy3AmjOvuREFj8F1rvr88Ft-Q7R/s400/juancarlos_qaddafi1-300x199.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 295px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 402px;" /></a> Moammar Gadhafi receiving King Juan Carlos of Spain in Tripoli in January 2009.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2117lU1J3TUX7ITxO1Dz_TDDj-VNeI9l26pMMTVoAA_jc9vvPy3hsS0i-PRNDoZyGDgn3Jau1eGGP37ZdkKn-OrgxxHng35NqaHNWVQxT9VuEmkA-IyN-VDCryzHoY8zlDSGy1SgRftCL/s1600/A+la+izquierda+David+O%25E2%2580%2599Sullivan%252C+secretario+general+de+la+Comisi%25C3%25B3n+Europea%252C+al+centro+el+espa%25C3%25B1ol+socialista+Joaqu%25C3%25ADn+Almunia%252C+miembro+de+la+Comisi%25C3%25B3n+Europea+encargado+de+los+asuntos+econ%25C3%25B3micos+y+monetarios%252C+a+la+derecha%252C+Gadafi..jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611306814258414642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2117lU1J3TUX7ITxO1Dz_TDDj-VNeI9l26pMMTVoAA_jc9vvPy3hsS0i-PRNDoZyGDgn3Jau1eGGP37ZdkKn-OrgxxHng35NqaHNWVQxT9VuEmkA-IyN-VDCryzHoY8zlDSGy1SgRftCL/s400/A+la+izquierda+David+O%25E2%2580%2599Sullivan%252C+secretario+general+de+la+Comisi%25C3%25B3n+Europea%252C+al+centro+el+espa%25C3%25B1ol+socialista+Joaqu%25C3%25ADn+Almunia%252C+miembro+de+la+Comisi%25C3%25B3n+Europea+encargado+de+los+asuntos+econ%25C3%25B3micos+y+monetarios%252C+a+la+derecha%252C+Gadafi..jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 330px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddaffi with ex-Secretary General of the European Commission and current Chief Operating Officer of the European External Action Service, David O'Sullivan (Left) and with the European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquín Almunia (Right).<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEOcjKFffiht82bgc1CrejkFI83IJrFefR1ubKpk6xkP-NkTVwUjh5k4l1Iyz4N9eIbXFymX2glPjZODnHhNIOXflIpHjfBdAydqsp9og-CG7e_Kru24Nfxpfm9L4JlPN5poPoCHrcyfV/s1600/gadafi+y+zapatero.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611306812710865394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEOcjKFffiht82bgc1CrejkFI83IJrFefR1ubKpk6xkP-NkTVwUjh5k4l1Iyz4N9eIbXFymX2glPjZODnHhNIOXflIpHjfBdAydqsp9og-CG7e_Kru24Nfxpfm9L4JlPN5poPoCHrcyfV/s400/gadafi+y+zapatero.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 291px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddafi with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjac41dVvnzAByJNYMSBMq8OoykXOkopUkZaBJVBoVxd9hEXOmowGd3tliDn1q_GSbAbn7L1ULe-NqIV1wn7i4ciOej_b9ci5GJDhyLjnNlpR0jYlDL-xSULMykZKMlyhpG8QM6lODOoJiO/s1600/Aznar.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610722169380517906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjac41dVvnzAByJNYMSBMq8OoykXOkopUkZaBJVBoVxd9hEXOmowGd3tliDn1q_GSbAbn7L1ULe-NqIV1wn7i4ciOej_b9ci5GJDhyLjnNlpR0jYlDL-xSULMykZKMlyhpG8QM6lODOoJiO/s400/Aznar.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 295px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>In a lecture at Columbia University, Aznar said that Gadaffi has supported “the West's efforts against terrorism”. Then, why the West is against Gadaffi?</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE6mCZkVElEHUBZAGETSzVWi3BoysMer6TVMKTEDM9ck1qb4CdCUflNUCNbRxkic8_fjyEwnD5HkI5h3rEuvJxkD6uKjChKz8zHSBcHYLV7losUw_3KSHxOw2CLPa7n3Bux4nq7309wvke/s1600/019-a717b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721832814401138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE6mCZkVElEHUBZAGETSzVWi3BoysMer6TVMKTEDM9ck1qb4CdCUflNUCNbRxkic8_fjyEwnD5HkI5h3rEuvJxkD6uKjChKz8zHSBcHYLV7losUw_3KSHxOw2CLPa7n3Bux4nq7309wvke/s400/019-a717b.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 303px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 403px;" /></a>Gaddafi's friends: Berlusconi, Sarkozy, Medvedev, Obama, and Ban Ki-moon</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBv0_u4Ud4DvbjzyMfkb-NFElzgwoaQViT5MZFOhoskW-YcMua27mQ1reCk3907Q2Prq_foYr_-6oSvtbQkZEGVGv8RabjE6RtGVyrrGP-PvU4oteW3818EvHrvCSF_j4V4uf5lJRcM2ei/s1600/Gadafi7.jpg"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKRMGMsBVK7jR6id0wOJfnxo61-SRdgaymG6y8ECZErfm9zvlZbDu5_g3BgvBh3ycMxGHUKOaWo0o9kT1PB61g6Hv7br2eq4A_IPg7m0v7eIKMP6RDsC6HcpwtpwfFTSe2ofyifn4M34N/s1600/El+l%25C3%25ADder+libio+Muamar+Gaddafi+saluda+a+su+llegada+a+Roma%252C+donde+fue+recibido+por+el+ministro+de+Relaciones+Exteriores+de+Italia%252C+Franco+Frattini.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721695221092258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKRMGMsBVK7jR6id0wOJfnxo61-SRdgaymG6y8ECZErfm9zvlZbDu5_g3BgvBh3ycMxGHUKOaWo0o9kT1PB61g6Hv7br2eq4A_IPg7m0v7eIKMP6RDsC6HcpwtpwfFTSe2ofyifn4M34N/s400/El+l%25C3%25ADder+libio+Muamar+Gaddafi+saluda+a+su+llegada+a+Roma%252C+donde+fue+recibido+por+el+ministro+de+Relaciones+Exteriores+de+Italia%252C+Franco+Frattini.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 289px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gadaffi with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. He looks so proud to be next to his friend. But, why he said that his Government had offered to manage the exile of Libyan leader in an African country?</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDuHt0UDjaLTUBAEiGKJMqEC20WfFW2Z0bjwOn2VFbRev55MXlnH6bWeUAA9Pjesvp17dWhESHlpFWcagPYHsTfkWjOmOPuwKqM7G-hMLMsyksRPOY77PMFwzq7ql3-byrfOu6ugu1GHpJ/s1600/Gadafi+con+el+actual+Presidente+de+Italia%252C+Giorgio+Napolitano.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721691278191506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDuHt0UDjaLTUBAEiGKJMqEC20WfFW2Z0bjwOn2VFbRev55MXlnH6bWeUAA9Pjesvp17dWhESHlpFWcagPYHsTfkWjOmOPuwKqM7G-hMLMsyksRPOY77PMFwzq7ql3-byrfOu6ugu1GHpJ/s400/Gadafi+con+el+actual+Presidente+de+Italia%252C+Giorgio+Napolitano.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 273px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 405px;" /></a>Libya’s President Muammar Gaddafi attends a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinale Palace on June 10, 2009 in Rome, Italy.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7JrqP9jzgLqF5JL5CEitGDBsFXmijpDc4pSkgpO3tD1rtVvRA8zXPhKG-1VvZfJCMDTJXph2-7cqJW6l4Bqt7GhMU-8JUVfKGZPBgNCNYDIMDVpLOUITTbBeHGJLlFGkpjteAK33evFv/s1600/HBFE0TtW_Pxgen_r_636x700.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721689462369410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7JrqP9jzgLqF5JL5CEitGDBsFXmijpDc4pSkgpO3tD1rtVvRA8zXPhKG-1VvZfJCMDTJXph2-7cqJW6l4Bqt7GhMU-8JUVfKGZPBgNCNYDIMDVpLOUITTbBeHGJLlFGkpjteAK33evFv/s400/HBFE0TtW_Pxgen_r_636x700.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 362px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 363px;" /></a>What a nice picture! Definitely, Berlusconi found a truly great friend. It is a pity that Berlusconi agreed to bomb Libya.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCvmEeflgYprg79JAQsyWz8Nf9kz-pXlvL10Ww-wlMeK3qe8zVrW7Zb-xIQN2YIGLnhc7Xa8pwV3n7eYVVGBtjfwVOSH32U1-1iMQqN3z51WagPfGrnc94jkzG9Gf5m9cRharmb_CaV8u/s1600/muammar_Gaddafi__51406109.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721708719403154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCvmEeflgYprg79JAQsyWz8Nf9kz-pXlvL10Ww-wlMeK3qe8zVrW7Zb-xIQN2YIGLnhc7Xa8pwV3n7eYVVGBtjfwVOSH32U1-1iMQqN3z51WagPfGrnc94jkzG9Gf5m9cRharmb_CaV8u/s400/muammar_Gaddafi__51406109.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 254px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 401px;" /></a>Gaddafi with the current Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He has criticised the NATO-led airstrikes in Libya, saying attacks on Muammar Gaddafi's palaces suggest the aim is to kill the Libyan leader.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF831S6QFPbCpbGOW4qDKrrRXYHSYD97SLA5yvBmrIZovlMMo0EG1PNv3yIzRz5a5e8EHmoijVaOE3hp6LmBJjyYac-ZZEhcs7snuDFeW0FzJ0tbcrIOFSVRxZqy6zjMQlCzmGoBtU6zeZ/s1600/020.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721232184696674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF831S6QFPbCpbGOW4qDKrrRXYHSYD97SLA5yvBmrIZovlMMo0EG1PNv3yIzRz5a5e8EHmoijVaOE3hp6LmBJjyYac-ZZEhcs7snuDFeW0FzJ0tbcrIOFSVRxZqy6zjMQlCzmGoBtU6zeZ/s400/020.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 298px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 390px;" /></a>Gadaffi with the ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRg051hWWvVoGcAemVBg6e9Nj1qfz5VFkAtRCqp1fdKJoo-PnVBufxNFX84AsX6bkcTr4fEj85Zjoh7MTlKkD2M1OtbwUWzuMn_eUUd6xch52AB47pCTvDNm4cOO1Yts5ez7odzq0EP7EC/s1600/024-48d00.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721228200392946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRg051hWWvVoGcAemVBg6e9Nj1qfz5VFkAtRCqp1fdKJoo-PnVBufxNFX84AsX6bkcTr4fEj85Zjoh7MTlKkD2M1OtbwUWzuMn_eUUd6xch52AB47pCTvDNm4cOO1Yts5ez7odzq0EP7EC/s400/024-48d00.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 301px;" /></a>Gaddafi and Barroso. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said recently: “He (Gaddafi) must go and this was the unanimous decision of the European Council supporting this approach. Time is running out, so we have to intensify the international pressure on the current regime to step down.” But the above picture shows the opposite. The smile on Barroso's face says it all.</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3I7FrmzOu2Wxj05dGd9VDY0c27I5JDjSi3xJ6Qhszrt1r9s6fUCD8sAGpzdhBMJn3zGhVZrVizmGz6SmU1p1XGCXAJTn8yBHBaDIBfX_NTPHFXdwg_oxjKoJ0IZ2yWuL8wR4S3RM0G-Z/s1600/gaddafi-sarkozy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610721211804365538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3I7FrmzOu2Wxj05dGd9VDY0c27I5JDjSi3xJ6Qhszrt1r9s6fUCD8sAGpzdhBMJn3zGhVZrVizmGz6SmU1p1XGCXAJTn8yBHBaDIBfX_NTPHFXdwg_oxjKoJ0IZ2yWuL8wR4S3RM0G-Z/s400/gaddafi-sarkozy.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 318px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddafi with Nicolas Sarkozy. The French President looks very happy being with Libyan leader. I wonder, why Sarkozy is using aircrafts to attack his good friend?<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpQokJxVphynxahi050bpjZ6Gau2q5A_jJpcOjeIHqCIhHYClzE1vTNKosYORAsYxLx_fQGeSWDQiIglENjB0rD3A9s2XX-jBYXRn1M5pJ-RPyZ6ukQlDxGOqe_RXwIwwPdRgaV8uZ7_b/s1600/reyes-gadafi.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610720698496130034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpQokJxVphynxahi050bpjZ6Gau2q5A_jJpcOjeIHqCIhHYClzE1vTNKosYORAsYxLx_fQGeSWDQiIglENjB0rD3A9s2XX-jBYXRn1M5pJ-RPyZ6ukQlDxGOqe_RXwIwwPdRgaV8uZ7_b/s400/reyes-gadafi.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 275px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 360px;" /></a>Muammar Gaddafi is welcomed by King Juan Carlos, and Queen Sofia of Spain during a ceremony at El Pardo Palace in December 2007.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBl0bsFrmvFxUl9DczzYStul9lwg7ZZUKquOJuDvcgr2s3wz9JdiSmLTTDvwN_paN9WhigJlE0TxwpPbF2QGDFouLknjLyinURW98DnVX1xh2uQMdHBlICy4irSusgmljjBGQMQlY1WiNJ/s1600/024--740b8.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610720694012419298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBl0bsFrmvFxUl9DczzYStul9lwg7ZZUKquOJuDvcgr2s3wz9JdiSmLTTDvwN_paN9WhigJlE0TxwpPbF2QGDFouLknjLyinURW98DnVX1xh2uQMdHBlICy4irSusgmljjBGQMQlY1WiNJ/s400/024--740b8.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 264px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Gaddafi with Romano Prodi</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSrYeeaOR7d9oO3Hg9z-Fna5mQV6Ylr5teZEcNPNzKNZnrYa1zT7ksWQzoX82q8CRyfkDPNypwOZkwhEGXn-HpWgZnen4jjclGzYTgO2lJp7utRS865P6HpA-qY_z2RYUvNvmqPMEQ9Kr/s1600/18vanrompuy-gaddafi.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610720687918371586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSrYeeaOR7d9oO3Hg9z-Fna5mQV6Ylr5teZEcNPNzKNZnrYa1zT7ksWQzoX82q8CRyfkDPNypwOZkwhEGXn-HpWgZnen4jjclGzYTgO2lJp7utRS865P6HpA-qY_z2RYUvNvmqPMEQ9Kr/s400/18vanrompuy-gaddafi.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 350px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 301px;" /></a>EU head Van Rompuy holding hands with Gaddafi. <i></i>They met in Tripoli at the EU-Africa Summit in November 2010. Since March. Gaddafi himself was among Europe’s best arms clients for a long time but Van Rompuy keeps silent.<i> </i>The most incredible here is that in only 5 months (November 2010 - March 2011), Gaddafi became a cruel dictator for the EU.<br />
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</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMx47qE9n4XQkLXwlebWYOcdHNBhT6c8ZSnqtEk6ROzvmYoFV8__0gVZaZz126594-PR8jg8V3kquMcPT_Xbqqw7OajYLqZxEQ8ZJTVpKdPaze3CAGxA3krngqnjZY42vEO4-z7Ren0xp/s1600/Gadafi_lideres_europeos_Hosni_Mubarak.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610720683598075666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMx47qE9n4XQkLXwlebWYOcdHNBhT6c8ZSnqtEk6ROzvmYoFV8__0gVZaZz126594-PR8jg8V3kquMcPT_Xbqqw7OajYLqZxEQ8ZJTVpKdPaze3CAGxA3krngqnjZY42vEO4-z7Ren0xp/s400/Gadafi_lideres_europeos_Hosni_Mubarak.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 289px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Again Gaddafi with his friends again. We can see the Chancellor of Germany among them. Angela Merkel urged Gaddafi to resign, saying the UN Security Council decision against his regime was a signal to all "despots" and declared “it is high time for him to go. But then, what we are talking about? Merkel calls Gaddafi a despot, but said nothing when she met the Libyan leader at the G8 summit 2009.</div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-yz8yWtwnIESWlp3nqlxFh7tMYb1mFkHGPDiJMapxgyAljSjG01ZuQWofCAH_PsCh40j0LBltiEPYeeSEtuot-vVAPTNWMj_n5qOxjRIt8XguOT3EGntq3FYtO5rsB_KgI9Bcjzum4t6/s1600/Aznar.jpg"><br />
</a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-74724754983020551912011-05-27T09:30:00.028+02:002011-11-04T20:02:14.203+01:00FIDEL CASTRO'S REFLECTIONS: NATO'S INEVITABLE WAR (PART TWO)When at just 27 years old Gaddafi, colonel in the Libyan army, inspired by his Egyptian colleague Abdel Nasser, overthrew King Idris I in 1969, he applied important revolutionary measures such as agrarian reform and the nationalization of oil. The growing incomes were dedicated to economic and social development, particularly education and health services for the reduced Libyan population living in the immense desert territory with very little available farm land.<br />
An extensive and deep sea of "fossil water" existed beneath that desert. When I heard about an experimental cultivation area I had the impression that, in the future, those aquifers would be more valuable than oil.<br />
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Religious faith, preached with the fervor that characterizes Muslim nations, in part helped to compensate for the strong tribal tendency which still survives in that Arab country.<br />
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Libyan revolutionaries devised and implemented their own ideas in relation to legal and political institutions, which Cuba, as a principle, respected.<br />
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We totally abstained from expressing any opinions concerning the concepts of the Libyan leadership.<br />
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We can clearly see that the fundamental concern of the United States and NATO is not Libya, but the revolutionary wave unleashed in the Arab world, which they wish to prevent at all costs.<br />
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It is an irrefutable fact that relations between the United States and its NATO allies in recent years were excellent until the rebellion in Egypt and in Tunisia arose.<br />
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In high-level meetings between Libya and NATO leaders, none of the latter had any problems with Gaddafi. The country was a secure source of high-quality oil, gas and even potassium supplies. The problems which arose between them in the early decades had been overcome.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxD9nond3EetencqWwUabBw6gdjbDvzRhC68LJC6Usoxn6Qp8nHSfd9AmYRr7mB3DXdiEtec6-U4m06wbmc0sLWuXj9RAudav5C6iiH9m1N8ObxLa78Jh80ryc3UwOEcvFnr2BQZSYm3BP/s1600/nato.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611302532603677586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxD9nond3EetencqWwUabBw6gdjbDvzRhC68LJC6Usoxn6Qp8nHSfd9AmYRr7mB3DXdiEtec6-U4m06wbmc0sLWuXj9RAudav5C6iiH9m1N8ObxLa78Jh80ryc3UwOEcvFnr2BQZSYm3BP/s400/nato.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Strategic sectors such as oil extraction and transportation were opened up to foreign investment.<br />
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Privatizations were extended to many public enterprises. The International Monetary Fund exercised its beatific role in the implementation of those operations.<br />
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Logically, Aznar was fulsome in his praise of Gaddafi and after him, Blair, Berlusconi, Sarkozy, Zapatero and even my friend the King of Spain, paraded past the sardonic regard of the Libyan leader. They were happy.<br />
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Although it might seem that I am mocking that is not the case; I am simply asking myself why they now want to take Gaddafi before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.<br />
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They are accusing him 24 hours a day of firing on unarmed citizens who were protesting. Why did they not explain to the world that the weapons and, above all, the sophisticated machinery of repression possessed by Libya, was supplied by the United States, Britain and other illustrious hosts of Gaddafi?<br />
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I strongly oppose the cynicism and lies currently being used to justify the invasion and occupation of Libya.<br />
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The last time that I visited Gaddafi was in May 2001, 15 years after Reagan attacked his very modest residence, where he took me to see what was left of it. It received a direct hit from the aircraft and was considerably destroyed; his little daughter three years of age died in the attack: she was murdered by Ronald Reagan. There was no prior agreement on the part of NATO, the Human Rights Committee, or the Security Council.<br />
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My previous visit had taken place in 1977, eight years after the beginning of the revolutionary process in Libya. I visited Tripoli; I took part in the General People’s Congress in Sebha; I toured the first agricultural experiments with water pumped from the vast sea of fossil waters; I visited Benghazi, I was the object of a warm reception. It was a legendary country which had been the scenario of historic battles in World War II. It did not as yet have six million inhabitants, nor were its enormous volumes of oil and fossil waters known. The former Portuguese colonies in Africa had already been liberated.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAivR29cgpvwNPhpXe6SEEfqQIevmUNEhRZiczfa82shvVeAIvfUm7sCBg1divj58nrdcFzhZ1s4N7uDntJMxUNuUdA_fWeblae4Wf_2FFjSL1PQnQXAgu93stCQbHqN4uO0IAdQ3HAgnU/s1600/large_h3-ap-080219-fidel-castro-resigns.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5611295211511291474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAivR29cgpvwNPhpXe6SEEfqQIevmUNEhRZiczfa82shvVeAIvfUm7sCBg1divj58nrdcFzhZ1s4N7uDntJMxUNuUdA_fWeblae4Wf_2FFjSL1PQnQXAgu93stCQbHqN4uO0IAdQ3HAgnU/s400/large_h3-ap-080219-fidel-castro-resigns.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 357px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
We had fought for 15 years in Angola against mercenary armies organized along tribal lines by the United States, the Mobutu government, and the well-equipped and trained racist apartheid army. This army, following U.S. instructions, as is now known, invaded Angola in 1975 in order to prevent its independence, reaching the outskirts of Luanda with its motorized forces. A number of Cuban instructors died in that brutal invasion. Resources were sent immediately.<br />
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Expelled from that country by Cuban internationalists and Angolan troops to the border of South African occupied Namibia, the racists were given the mission of eliminating the revolutionary process in Angola.<br />
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With the support of the United States and Israel they developed nuclear weapons. They already possessed them when the Cuban and Angolan troops defeated their land and air forces in Cuito Cuanavale and, defying the risk – using conventional tactics and means – advanced toward the border with Namibia, where the apartheid troops were attempting to resist. Twice in their history our forces have been at risk of attack by those kinds of weapons: in October of 1962 and in southern Angola, but on that second occasion, not even deploying those nuclear weapons that South Africa possessed could they have prevented the defeat which marked the end of the odious system. Those events took place under the government of Ronald Reagan in the United States and Piet Botha in South Africa.<br />
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There is no talk of that and the hundreds of thousands of lives which the imperialist adventure cost.<br />
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I regret having to recall those events when another great risk is hovering over the Arab peoples, because they are not resigned to continue being the victims of plunder and oppression.<br />
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The Revolution in the Arab world so much feared by the United States and NATO is that of those who lack all rights in the face of those who flaunt all privileges, and thus is destined to be more profound than the one unleashed in Europe in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille.<br />
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Not even Louis XIV, when he proclaimed that he was the state, possessed the privileges of King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia and far less the vast wealth that lies below the surface of that almost desert country, where yankee transnationals determine the extraction and thus the price of oil in the world.<br />
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When the Libyan crisis began, extraction in Saudi Arabia rose to one million barrels a day at minimum cost and, in consequence, by those means alone, the income of that country and those who control it has risen to one billon dollars a day.<br />
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No one should imagine that the Saudi people are swimming in money. There are moving accounts of the living conditions of many construction workers and those in other sectors obliged to work 13 to 14 hours a day for paltry wages.<br />
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Shocked by the revolutionary wave which is shaking the prevalent system of plunder, in the wake of what took place with workers in Egypt and Tunisia, but also unemployed youth in Jordan, the occupied territories of Palestine, Yemen and even Bahrain and the Arab Emirates with higher per capita income, the upper echelons of the Saudi hierarchy has been impacted by the events.<br />
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As opposed to other times, today the Arab peoples receive almost instantaneous information on events, albeit exceptionally manipulated.<br />
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The worst thing for the status quo of the privileged sectors is that these persistent events are coinciding with a considerable increase in food prices and the devastating impact of climate change, while the United States, the largest producer of corn in the world, is wasting 40% of that product and a significant part of soy production on biofuels to feed automobiles. Lester Brown, the best informed American ecologist in the world on agricultural products, can surely give us an idea of the current food situation.<br />
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The Bolivarian president, Hugo Chávez, is making a valiant effort to find a solution without NATO intervention in Libya. The chances of his attaining that objective would improve if he can achieve the feat of creating a broad movement of opinion before and not after the intervention takes place, and the peoples do not have to see the atrocious experience of Iraq repeated in other countries.<br />
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End of Reflection.<br />
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Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
March 3, 2011<br />
10:32 p.m.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source:</span> <a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/<br />
</a><br />
<a href="http://www.granma.cu/ingles/reflections-i/4marzo-NATO-2.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></a><a href="http://www.granma.cu/ingles/reflections-i/4marzo-NATO-2.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524504047876165502.post-70516337894359893222011-05-26T16:57:00.003+02:002011-11-04T20:01:56.936+01:00FIDEL CASTRO'S REFLECTIONS: NATO'S INEVITABLE WAR (PART ONE)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As opposed to the situation in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies first place in the Human Development Index within Africa and has the highest life expectancy rate on the continent. Education and health receive special state attention. The cultural level of the population is without a doubt higher. Its problems are of another nature. The population is not in need of food or basic social services. The country requires many foreign workers to implement its ambitious production and social development plans.</div><br />
Therefore it offers employment to hundreds of thousands of workers from Egypt, Tunisia, China and other nations. It has an enormous income and hard currency reserves deposited in the banks of rich countries, with which it acquires consumer goods and even sophisticated weapons, supplied by the very countries which now want to invade in the name of human rights.<br />
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The colossal campaign of lies unleashed by the mass media has created much confusion in world public opinion. Some time will pass before what really has happened in Libya is reconstructed, and real events are separated from the falsified ones which have been disseminated.<br />
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Serious and prestigious broadcasters such as Telesur have been obliged to send reporters and photographers to one group's activities and then to the opposite side's, in order to report what was really occurring.<br />
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Communications were blocked; honest diplomatic officials risked their lives touring neighborhoods, observing activities day and night to report what was transpiring. The empire and its principal allies employed the most sophisticated media to disseminate falsified information about the events, requiring one to infer traces of the truth.<br />
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No doubt, the faces of young people protesting in Benghazi, men and women, with veils and without, expressed real indignation.<br />
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The tribal component of this Arab country is noticeable, despite the Islamic faith sincerely shared by 95% of the population.<br />
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Imperialism and NATO – seriously concerned about the revolutionary wave unleashed in the Arab world, which produces a large portion of the oil sustaining the consumer economies of the rich, developed countries – could not miss the opportunity to take advantage of Libya's internal conflict to promote a military intervention. The statements formulated by the United States government from early on were clearly in this vein.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_fsG52f1Xp7sw6KPLOf4bYz5v0qV-kUO7F2K9sWAUmQMezvCRnCMnV74h1-J06vfffLKawdpV76jFi229NUvMzap6nC3Nq7A6Sb8Knfd_D1D04NP8r95fw0FpAPnzZngQyHYl7y9O0Oy/s1600/FidelCastroRuz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_fsG52f1Xp7sw6KPLOf4bYz5v0qV-kUO7F2K9sWAUmQMezvCRnCMnV74h1-J06vfffLKawdpV76jFi229NUvMzap6nC3Nq7A6Sb8Knfd_D1D04NP8r95fw0FpAPnzZngQyHYl7y9O0Oy/s320/FidelCastroRuz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
The circumstances could hardly be more propitious. The Republican right wing dealt President Obama, an expert in rhetoric, a severe blow during the November elections.<br />
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The fascist "mission accomplished" group, ideologically supported by the extremist Tea Party, has reduced the current president's options to a merely decorative role, with even his health program and the doubtful recuperation of the economy in danger, as a result of the budget deficit and the uncontrollable increase in the public debt, which has broken all historical records.<br />
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Despite the torrent of lies and the confusion created, the United States was unable to drag China or the Russian Federation into the UN Security Council's approval of military intervention in Libya, although it did achieve its current objectives within the Human Rights Council. As for a military intervention, the Secretary of State declared in words which did not leave the slightest doubt, "No option is off the table."<br />
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The fact is that Libya is involved in a civil war, as we had foreseen, and there is nothing the United Nations could have done to prevent it, except that its own Secretary General sprinkled a hefty dose of fuel on the fire.<br />
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The problem which these actors perhaps never imagined is that the very leaders of the rebellion have burst upon the complicated scene, declaring that they reject any foreign military intervention.<br />
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Various news agencies reported that Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, spokesperson for the Libyan National Council, stated on Monday 28th that "The rest of Libya will be liberated by the Libyan people."<br />
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"We can count on the army to liberate Tripoli," Ghoga assured, announcing the formation of a "National Council" to represent the country’s cities in the hands of the insurrection.<br />
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"What we want is intelligence information, but in no case that our air, land or sea sovereignty is affected," he added during a meeting with journalists in this city 1,000km east of Tripoli.<br />
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"The intransigence of opposition leaders over national sovereignty reflected opinions spontaneously expressed by many Libyan citizens to the international press in Benghazi," according to an AFP cable this past Monday.<br />
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That same day, Abeir Imneina, a professor of political sciences at the University of Benghazi, stated, "There is a very strong feeling of nationalism in Libya."<br />
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"Moreover, the Iraqi example scares everyone in the Arab world," she stressed, in reference to the 2003 U.S. invasion which was to have brought democracy to that country and then, by contagion, to the region as a whole, a hypothesis totally refuted by the facts.<br />
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The professor continues, "We know very well what happened in Iraq, which is in the throes of instability. Following in those footsteps is not appealing at all. We don't want the Americans to come and then to have to regret (the end of the rule of) Gaddafi." But according to Abeir Imneina, "There is also the feeling that this is our revolution and that it is up to us forge ahead."<br />
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Just a few hours after this cable was published, two of the major U.S. newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, hastened to provide new versions on the subject, as reported by the DPA news agency the following day, March 1, "The Libyan opposition could ask the West to undertake air strikes on the strategic positions of forces loyal to Muammar al Gaddafi, the U.S. press states today."<br />
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The issue is being discussed within the Libyan National Council, according to online editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post.<br />
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The New York Times notes that these discussions reveal the growing frustration of the rebel leaders at the possibility of Gaddafi retaking power.<br />
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"In the case of air strikes being executed within the framework of the United Nations, they would not imply international intervention," explained the Council spokesperson, quoted by The New York Times.<br />
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"The Council is composed of lawyers, academics, judges and prominent members of Libyan society."<br />
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The cable states:<br />
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"The Washington Post quoted rebels who recognize that, without Western support, battles with forces loyal to Gaddafi could last a long time and cost a large number of human lives."<br />
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It is striking that the cable does not mention one single industrial, agricultural or construction worker, anyone linked to material production or the young students or combatants who can be seen in the demonstrations.<br />
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Why the effort to present the rebels as prominent members of society demanding U.S. and NATO air strikes to kill Libyans?<br />
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Some day the truth will be known, through people like the professor of political sciences at the University of Benghazi, who narrated with such eloquence the terrible experience which killed, destroyed homes and left millions of people in Iraq jobless or forced to emigrate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwMrE5q3oCYDAbWNXFetp55DFMRY85xmDvY0-bg49L3oYtxOR_SOOwvqipmB-kysj7lEzh52qYBuD7WGv9YSJ3xyzCnatf7p_tlGt4VZWzvC1ARChOUPWv35XV1Xe1E2kMhKl239Wm3ztv/s1600/fidel-castro-921901.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwMrE5q3oCYDAbWNXFetp55DFMRY85xmDvY0-bg49L3oYtxOR_SOOwvqipmB-kysj7lEzh52qYBuD7WGv9YSJ3xyzCnatf7p_tlGt4VZWzvC1ARChOUPWv35XV1Xe1E2kMhKl239Wm3ztv/s320/fidel-castro-921901.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Today, Wednesday, March 2, the EFE news agency presents the known rebel spokesperson making statements that, in my view, simultaneously affirm and contradict those of Monday: "Benghazi (Libya) March 2. The Libyan rebel leadership today asked the UN Security Council to launch an air strike ‘on mercenaries’ from the Muammar al-Gaddafi regime."<br />
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"Our army cannot launch attacks on the mercenaries, given its defensive role," stated rebel spokesperson Abdel Hafiz Ghoga at a press conference in Benghazi.<br />
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"A strategic air strike is not the same as an international intervention, which we reject," emphasized the spokesperson for the opposition forces, which have consistently expressed opposition to any foreign military intervention in the Libyan conflict.<br />
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Which of the many imperialist wars would this one resemble?<br />
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That of Spain in 1936, that of Mussolini against Ethiopia in 1935, that of George W. Bush against Iraq in 2003 or any one of the dozens of wars promoted by the United States against the peoples of the Americas, from the invasion of Mexico in 1846 to that of the Malvinas in 1982?<br />
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Without excluding, of course, the mercenary invasion of Girón, the dirty war and the blockade of our homeland during 50 years, the anniversary of which is next April 16.<br />
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In all of those wars, such as that of Vietnam, which cost millions of lives, justifications and the most cynical measures reigned supreme.<br />
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For those harboring any doubt as to the inevitable military intervention which is to take place in Libya, the AP news agency, which I consider well informed, led with a cable published today affirming, "Some NATO countries are drawing up contingency plans modeled on the no-fly zones over the Balkans in the 1990s in case the international community decides to impose an air embargo over Libya, diplomats said."<br />
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It goes on to conclude, "The diplomats, who could not be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the options being looked into are modeled on the no-fly zone which the Western military alliance imposed over Bosnia in 1993 that had a U.N. mandate… and NATO's aerial offensive against Yugoslavia [via Kosovo] in 1999, WHICH DID NOT HAVE IT."<br />
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I shall continue tomorrow.<br />
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Fidel Castro Ruz<br />
March 2, 2011<br />
8:19 p.m.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Source:</span> <a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/">http://www.cubadebate.cu/</a></div><br />
</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08807762146423555516noreply@blogger.com2