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Bill Totten | 1 Oct 2010 02:28
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[BillTottenWeblog] The Real 'Merchants of Death'

by Conn Hallinan

Foreign Policy in Focus (September 21 2010)

Accused Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is a centerpiece for the
book Merchant of Death (2008)and the model for the Hollywood movie
The Lord of War (2005). He is the archetypal bad guy. Washington
apparently traded military hardware to the Thais to get him
extradited from a Bangkok jail {1}.

Is Bout a major actor in the international arms trade, as Hollywood
portrays him? In reality, he's a penny-ante operator who can't hold
a candle to the real "merchants of death" like Lockheed Martin, BAE
Systems, General Dynamics, Dassault Aviation, Finmeccanica, Boeing,
Rosoboronexport, and Northrop Grumman. Bout is like the guy who
sells you a Saturday night special in a back alley. If you want
something that will flatten a village you need a Massive Ordinance
Penetrator from Boeing, or a General Atomics "Reaper" drone armed
with Lockheed Martin "Hellfire" missiles.

The former Russian naval officer is accused of running guns to the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Taliban, and
anti-government insurgents in Somalia. The United States has sent
{2} some $5 billion in military aid to the Colombian government to
fight the FARC, has spent over $300 billion trying to defeat the
Taliban, and props up the current Somali government.

Exporting Death

The global arms trade is a $60 billion yearly business. The United
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Gary Crethers | 1 Oct 2010 08:03
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Coup Attempt in Equador

Coup Attempt In EquadorSeptember 30th, 2010  
Reports of a protest by the Police have turned to a Coup attempt  with President 
Correa injured and was in a hospital surrounded by  hostile police. Apparently 
the military rescued President Correa. The  military claims to support the 
President. Some are blaming the former  president Gutierrez for attempting a 
Coup. Reports below. 

This is from Xinhua News Service
Former president plots coup, says Ecuador’s deputy FM
English.news.cn   2010-10-01 04:49:50 
BOGOTA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) — Ecuador’s Deputy Foreign Minister Quinto  Lucas 
accused on Thursday the former Ecuadorian president, Lucio  Gutierrez, of 
plotting a coup against incumbent President Rafael Correa.
During a telephone interview with Colombian local radio station RCN,  Correa 
said that “there are sections of the political opposition, mainly  former 
president Gutierrez who is responsible for this coup attempt.”
Lucas said “it is a protest carried out by the police, but there are  interests 
to transform it into a coup. This is what we are denouncing.”
Lucas said that the government has decided to talk with the policemen.
Editor: Mu Xuequan 
This from Sky News Service
Ecuador President Hurt During ‘Coup Attempt’
12:14am UK, Friday October 01, 2010
David Williams, Sky News Online
A state of emergency has been declared in Ecuador after President Rafael  Correa 
was hurt during protests led by members of his security forces.
Unrest in Ecuador
Ecuador’s foreign minster claims the unrest is orchestrated by ‘ill-informed’ 
police
Police angered at plans to limit their pay burned tyres in the  streets of
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Bill Totten | 1 Oct 2010 11:10
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[BillTottenWeblog] Money Reform: A Progressive Innovation

Prosperity (August 2004)

by Alistair McConnachie

Here is an original and innovative change in the monetary system
which, if implemented, would provide significant additional
financing for public investment in society, leading to social and
economic benefit throughout Britain.

To summarise: Our economies are divided into Private and Public
Sectors. The private sector operates primarily on the basis of
self-interest and its public counterpart exists for the common
weal. The former is financed by bank lending - and the latter by
taxation and government borrowing.

This innovation stems from the observation that in today's world we
measure virtually every activity in money terms. It is a convenient
and universal measure of affordability - but it ignores the latent
capability of our society. It is undeniable that we have untapped
capability to build schools and hospitals, railways, and
environmentally sustainable power generation systems.

Our research has revealed that a serious flaw has developed in our
money system - over the past fifty years.

In 1948, with the country financially broke after World War Two,
the State was able to finance vast outlays in schools, hospitals,
housing and similar social investment, yet kept inflation at lower
levels than today.
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Gary Crethers | 1 Oct 2010 22:19
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Tankers Blow Up In Pakistan, US Supply Lines To Afghanistan Unstable

Tankers Blown Up As Pakistan Blocks Khyber PassOctober 1st, 2010  
This is a point I have made before. The USA is dependent upon  Pakistan to 
supply the troops in Afghanistan. Otherwise they have to use  all air links via 
Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan where there has been  political instability of late 
or the costly overland rail route through  Uzbekistan. There is the option of 
using Iran, but then that would  require coming to some kind of agreement with 
the Iranian regime.  Turkmenistan supposedly is neutral in regards to US bases 
but there is  evidence that the US is using air bases and shipping supplies 
through  that country.
The USA is engaged in supplying its military in Afghanistan by  deals made with 
regimes in the region that are all somewhat unstable and  potentially 
unfriendly. The USA is exposed in Afghanistan and may have  to invade Pakistan 
or Iran simply to keep its supply lines open. This is  a totally absurd 
situation to be in and goes further to show the USA  simply does not belong 
there with a military presence.
Meantime the Chinese are making economic deals all over central  Asia and are 
rapidly bringing the entire region into its orbit. 

Some 30 percent of supplies come through rail lines in Uzbekistan and 
Turkmenistan. See articles below.
The majority of the balance of supplies come through Pakistan. With a  small 
amount being airlifted in. It would be impractical for the USA to  try to 
airlift all the supplies required. It would be impractical for  the USA to 
occupy the central Asian nations mostly because of Russian  and Chinese 
opposition. Pakistan and Iran are on the fringe and could  more easily be 
threatened although China with a border on Pakistan is  not likely to support a 
US invasion. Iran on the other hand is  relatively isolated. It had better hope 
the Chinese and Russians will  protect it from US domination. It seems that in 
the geopolitical game  the US wants to keep that part of the world safely in 
hand, for the sake  of the oil. Taliban be damned.
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Intense Red | 2 Oct 2010 00:32
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Re: Tankers Blow Up In Pakistan, US Supply Lines To Afghanistan Unstable

 > The USA is exposed in Afghanistan and may have  to invade Pakistan
 > or Iran simply to keep its supply lines open.

   I agree with you on the overall weakness of the geopolitical position the 
US finds itself in, but the above is vastly overstated. The US has been 
exposed like this for years. The Russians, Chinese or other regional powers 
are likely semi-happy with the US position, and are content to let the 
war-mongers in Washington slowly bleed to death -- until *they* decide to 
change the status quo.

   The US has no real capability to "invade" Pakistan or Iran to keep a 
supply line open, short of waging a major war of the type that would make 
our current combined wars seem like child's play. To do such an operation 
would require either another "Pearl Harbor-like event" to rally the 
American people, or massive oppression here in the US, or both. In short, 
there's not a large chance of that happening.

   The US will simply buy people off, may try harder to overthrow the 
Iranian gov't, or, most likely, work to replace the current Pakistani gov't 
with a more pliable one that is even more distant from the Pakistani 
people.

--

-- 
The US is world leader in prison population, whether measured in percentage 
of population or total number of prisoners. We have more people in jail 
than China, which has 4 times the population of the US. And we dare call 
ourselves the "land of the free?"

_______________________________________________
Rad-Green mailing list
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Bill Totten | 2 Oct 2010 02:16
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[BillTottenWeblog] The Disservice Industry

by James Howard Kunstler

Comment on current events by the author of
The Long Emergency (2005)

kunstler.com (September 27 2010)

Let's put aside for a few moments the moral insanity of anyone - myself
for instance - flying in airplanes hither, thither, and yon in order to
make a living. Don't worry, we'll return to this. But for now, let's just
consider the exorbitant sadism of the airlines and the quality of
experience in traveling with them.

I had to get from Detroit to New Orleans via Atlanta last week on Delta.
We boarded the Atlanta flight on time, a small miracle in itself these
days and a sign of smooth sailing ahead. Everyone adjusted his/her
personal air blower, deployed reading material, drew the window shade
against the low evening sun, and waited ... waited ... waited for
something to happen - such as, for the jetway to retract, the aircraft to
push back from the gate, the flight attendants to commence the vaudeville
of flight safety. None of this occurred.

By and by, someone in the cockpit got on the PA system and said, "Uh,
folks [note: the ominous salutation, folks, intended to convey a sense of
solidarity, an aura of 'we're all in this together' camaraderie] folks,
we've been instructed to put on a little extra fuel in case we have to fly
around some weather en route. It'll take a couple of minutes and we have
to fill out some paperwork, and then we'll be off. We apologize and thanks
for your patience."
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Suzanne de Kuyper | 2 Oct 2010 07:42
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Re: Tankers Blow Up In Pakistan, US Supply Lines To Afghanistan Unstable

I do not know to whom this message was addressd as had not responded
to the news article itself about the tankers blowing up, but I think
your sanguinity is unstable too...same-same can change to
same-different in a heartbeat or a one-too-many drone attack.  The
'natives' are not the same as they were 100 years ago.     Suzanne

On Sat, Oct 2, 2010 at 12:32 AM, Intense Red <intnsred <at> golgotha.net> wrote:
>  > The USA is exposed in Afghanistan and may have  to invade Pakistan
>  > or Iran simply to keep its supply lines open.
>
>   I agree with you on the overall weakness of the geopolitical position the
> US finds itself in, but the above is vastly overstated. The US has been
> exposed like this for years. The Russians, Chinese or other regional powers
> are likely semi-happy with the US position, and are content to let the
> war-mongers in Washington slowly bleed to death -- until *they* decide to
> change the status quo.
>
>   The US has no real capability to "invade" Pakistan or Iran to keep a
> supply line open, short of waging a major war of the type that would make
> our current combined wars seem like child's play. To do such an operation
> would require either another "Pearl Harbor-like event" to rally the
> American people, or massive oppression here in the US, or both. In short,
> there's not a large chance of that happening.
>
>   The US will simply buy people off, may try harder to overthrow the
> Iranian gov't, or, most likely, work to replace the current Pakistani gov't
> with a more pliable one that is even more distant from the Pakistani
> people.
>
>
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Steven Robinson | 2 Oct 2010 07:47
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Ecuadorean Women say "No" to the coup

Ecuador  -No to the coup
Defend the rule of law

International Viewpoint
IV428 - September 2010

[The kidnapping by police of Ecuador's leftist president demands urgent
attention. It is currently hard to understand the real dimensions of what is
happening, but it is difficult to imagine that this is just a local gripe by
some of the police. 150 troops seized Quito's international airport. Members
of the Women's Assembly, whose statement is below, are out in the streets
opposing the attempted coup, along with thousands of others in Ecuador and
other countries.]

As women organized in the Popular and Diverse Assembly of Women of Ecuador,
we reject any coup attempt wherever it comes from. In Latin America we went
through decades of cruel dictatorship which resulted in the disappearance,
torture and murder of entire generations, which left people without rights,
silenced and which opened the way to the advance of neoliberalism across the
continent. So we cannot allow the return of coups and dictatorships:

Never again a Honduras in Latin America!

No to the coup attempts in Ecuador!

No to the CIA's interference in our countries!

We will not allow coups that go against the popular mandate and establish
regimes of terror, persecution and intimidation. The Constitution of
Montecristi, adopted in 2008, is the product of many of our struggles, it
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Steven Robinson | 2 Oct 2010 07:52
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Unearthed - US syphilis experiments in Guatemala

Wellesley professor unearths a horror: Syphilis experiments in Guatemala
 US apologizes for performing unethical study in 1940s

By Stephen Smith
The Boston Globe
October 2, 2010

Picking through musty files in a Pennsylvania archive, a Wellesley College
professor made a heart-stopping discovery: US government scientists in the
1940s deliberately infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis and
gonorrhea in experiments conducted without the subjects' permission.

Medical historian Susan M. Reverby happened upon the documents four or five
years ago while researching the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study and later
shared her findings with US government officials.

The unethical research was not publicly disclosed until yesterday, when
President Obama and two Cabinet secretaries apologized to Guatemala's
government and people and pledged to never repeat the mistakes of the past -
an era when it was not uncommon for doctors to experiment on patients
without their consent.

Even so, Reverby found in the files a story of almost singular exploitation
and deception, conducted in a foreign land because, the nation's surgeon
general at the time acknowledged, it could not have been done in the United
States.

"I was just completely blown away,'' Reverby said in an interview. "I was
floored.''
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Gary Crethers | 2 Oct 2010 10:26
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Re: Tankers Blow Up In Pakistan, US Supply Lines To Afghanistan Unstable

I think the natives never were the same when it comes to Afghanistan. My own 
theory is that the only way to win there is to move in and go native. There were 
plenty of conquerors through history who took over that region, but they were 
mostly nomads from the north, Persians from the west and Indians from the south, 
who stayed and intermarried. When the Europeans came they were not willing to 
settle down and intermarry with the locals. They tried to simply exploit, and 
that doesn't set well with the local people of the Afghan region. The American 
version won't work any better unless the troops plan on moving in and becoming 
family.

________________________________
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk <at> gmail.com>
To: garyrumor2 <at> yahoo.com
Sent: Fri, October 1, 2010 10:42:51 PM
Subject: Re: [R-G] Tankers Blow Up In Pakistan, US Supply Lines To Afghanistan 
Unstable

I do not know to whom this message was addressd as had not responded
to the news article itself about the tankers blowing up, but I think
your sanguinity is unstable too...same-same can change to
same-different in a heartbeat or a one-too-many drone attack.  The
'natives' are not the same as they were 100 years ago.     Suzanne

On Sat, Oct 2, 2010 at 12:32 AM, Intense Red <intnsred <at> golgotha.net> wrote:
>  > The USA is exposed in Afghanistan and may have  to invade Pakistan
>  > or Iran simply to keep its supply lines open.
>
>   I agree with you on the overall weakness of the geopolitical position the
> US finds itself in, but the above is vastly overstated. The US has been
> exposed like this for years. The Russians, Chinese or other regional powers
(Continue reading)

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Gmane