Just International

Salam Fayyad, The World Bank And The Oslo Game

By Neve Gordon

27 September, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Most Palestinian analysts maintain that the Oslo agreements are to blame for the collapse of the Palestinian economy

Triggered by gas-price increases, tens of thousands of Palestinian taxi, truck and bus drivers in the West Bank observed a one-day strike, effectively shutting down cities. This, as Al Jazeera reported, was the culmination of several days of protests where thousands of Palestinians, frustrated by the economic crisis in the West Bank, took to the streets. After these protestors forced the closure of government offices, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad decided to decrease fuel prices and cut the salaries of top Palestinian Authority officials in an effort to appease his angry constituents.

Prime Minister Fayyad, a former IMF executive, undoubtedly knows that both his previous decision to increase gas prices as well as his recent decision to decrease them will have no real effect on the looming economic crisis. Report after report has documented the Palestinian economy’s complete dependence on foreign aid, while underscoring the severe poverty and chronic food insecurity plaguing the population. These reports all suggest that Israel’s occupation is to blame for the unfolding economic debacle, raising the crucial question of why the Palestinians’ wrath was directed at Fayyad rather than at Israel.

The clue to this enigma can be found in the missing chapter of a World Bank report published barely a week after the protests subsided. Warning that the fiscal crisis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is deepening, the World Bank blamed the Israeli government for maintaining a tight grip over sixty percent of the West Bank, denying Palestinians access to the majority of arable land in the area as well as limiting their access to water and other natural resources.

Remarkably, the economists who wrote the report highlight the impact of severe Israeli restrictions to Palestinian land but say nothing about economic policy. They seem to suggest that if only the Oslo process had been allowed to go forward, then the Palestinian economy would not be so badly off. Therefore they fail to mention the detrimental effect of the Paris Protocols, the Palestinian-Israeli Interim Agreement of April 1994 that spells out Oslo’s economic arrangements.

Interestingly, the three foundational documents that Fayyad has published since he began his tenure as Prime Minister—Palestinian Reform and Development Plan from 2008; Ending the Occupation and Establishing a State from 2009; and Homestretch to Freedom from 2010—also fail to discuss the stifling effect the Paris Protocols have had on Palestinian economy.

Spanning thirty-five pages—as opposed to NAFTA’s thousand pages—this economic agreement reproduces Palestinian subjugation to Israel, while undercutting the very possibility of Palestinian sovereignty. The agreement’s major problem, as Israeli economists Arie Arnon and Jimmy Weinblatt pointed out over a decade ago, is that it establishes a customs union with Israel based on Israeli trade regulations, allows Israel to maintain control of all labor flows, and prohibits the Palestinians from introducing their own currency, thus barring their ability to influence interest rates, inflation, etc.

Why, we need to ask ourselves, does Prime Minister Fayyad wish to “improve” the Paris Protocols, and why doesn’t the World Bank even mention the agreement, needless to say the severe limitations that it imposes on the Palestinian Authority’s ability to choose their own economic regime and adopt trade policies according to their perceived interests?

The answer has to do with a shared and ongoing investment in Oslo.

Prime Minister Fayyad, the World Bank and indeed most western leaders perceive the current economic crisis in the Palestinian territories as resulting from the collapse of the 1993 Oslo process. They would like to bring Oslo back on track, develop and expand it. By contrast, most Palestinian analysts currently maintain that the Oslo agreements are to blame for the collapse of the Palestinian economy.

The protesters know that the West Bank’s fragmentation, the Palestinians’ inability to control their own borders and the lack of access to huge swaths of land (which are highlighted in the reports), are intricately tied to the untenable customs union and the absence of a Palestinian currency. These restrictions are all part and parcel of the Oslo Accords and not an aberration from them.

Hence, it would be rash to think that the Palestinian protesters are blaming Prime Minister Fayyad for the economic crisis, since every West Bank resident knows all too well that the crisis is the result of the occupation. It consequently seems reasonable to assume that they are blaming Fayyad for continuing to play the Oslo game.

Palestinians have no sovereignty in the Occupied Territories, and yet they have a president, a prime minister and an array of ministers who for years now have postured as part of a legitimate government in an independent country. The only way to end the occupation is by forsaking Oslo; to force the Palestinian Authority to stop playing this futile game and to deal head on with its disastrous repercussions.

Neve Gordon is the author of Israel’s Occupation and can be reached through his website.

First published in Al Jazeera, September 27, 2012

Obama’s justice department grants final immunity to Bush’s CIA torturers

By closing two cases of detainees tortured to death, Obama has put the US beyond any accountability under the rule of law

The Obama administration’s aggressive, full-scale whitewashing of the “war on terror” crimes committed by Bush officials is now complete. Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the closing without charges of the only two cases under investigation relating to the US torture program: one that resulted in the 2002 death of an Afghan detainee at a secret CIA prison near Kabul, and the other the 2003 death of an Iraqi citizen while in CIA custody at Abu Ghraib. This decision, says the New York Times Friday, “eliminat[es] the last possibility that any criminal charges will be brought as a result of the brutal interrogations carried out by the CIA”.

To see what a farce this is, it is worthwhile briefly to review the timeline of how Obama officials acted to shield Bush torturers from all accountability. During his 2008 campaign for president, Obama repeatedly vowed that, while he opposed “partisan witch-hunts”, he would instruct his attorney general to “immediately review” the evidence of criminality in these torture programs because “nobody is above the law.” Yet, almost immediately after winning the 2008 election, Obama, before he was even inaugurated, made clear that he was opposed to any such investigations, citing what he called “a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards”.

Throughout the first several months of his presidency, his top political aides, such as the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, publicly – and inappropriately – pressured the justice department to refrain from any criminal investigations. Over and over, they repeated the Orwellian mantra that such investigations were objectionable because “we must look forward, not backward”. As Gibbs put it in April 2009, when asked to explain Obama’s opposition, “the president is focused on looking forward. That’s why.”

On 16 April 2009, Obama himself took the first step in formalizing the full-scale immunity he intended to bestow on all government officials involved even in the most heinous and lethal torture. On that date, he decreed absolute immunity for any official involved in torture provided that it comported with the permission slips produced by Bush department of justice (DOJ) lawyers which authorized certain techniques. “This is a time for reflection, not retribution,” the new president so movingly observed in his statement announcing this immunity. Obama added:

“[N]othing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past … we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future.”

Note how, in Obama’s new formulation, those who believed that Bush officials should be held criminally accountable for their torture crimes – should be subjected to the rule of law on equal terms with ordinary citizens – were now scorned as “the forces that divide us”. On the same day, Holder issued his own statement arguing that “it would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the justice department.”

But at least this limited immunity left open the possibility of prosecuting those agents who went beyond the limits of the DOJ memos in how they tortured: in other words, those “rogue” torturers who used brutality and savagery beyond even what was permitted by Bush lawyers. On several occasions, Holder had flamboyantly leaked that he was horrified by what he read in certain case files about detainees who were severely injured by torture or even killed by it – there were more than 100 detainees who died while in US custody – and that he could not, in good conscience, simply sweep all of that under the rug.

As a result, in August 2009, Holder announced a formal investigation to determine whether criminal charges should be brought in over 100 cases of severe detainee abuse involving “off-the-books methods” such as “mock execution and threatening a prisoner with a gun and a power drill”, as well as threats that “prisoners [would be] made to witness the sexual abuse of their relatives.” But less than two years later, on 30 June 2011, Holder announced that of the more than 100 cases the justice department had reviewed, there would be no charges brought in any of them – except two.

The only exceptions were two particularly brutal cases, both of which resulted in the death of the detainee. One involved the 2002 abuse of Gul Rahman, who froze to death in a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan known as the “Salt Pit”, after he was beaten, stripped, and then shackled to a cement wall in freezing temperatures.

The other was the 2003 death of Manadel al-Jamadi at Abu Ghraib, who died in CIA custody after he was beaten, stripped, had cold water poured on him, and then shackled to the wall. It was al-Jamadi’s ice-packed body which was infamously photographed with a smiling US Army Sgt Charles Granier standing over it giving the thumbs-up sign.

A US military autopsy declared al-Jamadi’s death a homicide due to “blunt force trauma to the torso complicated by compromised respiration”. Autopsy photos showed “lacerations and multiple bruises on Jamadi’s feet, thighs and arms”, though “his most significant injuries – five broken ribs – are not visible in the photos.” A physician told NPR back in 2005:

“‘How Jamadi was shackled ‘makes it very difficult to breathe because you are suspended in a very awkward position. When you combine it with having the hood over your head and having broken ribs, it’s fairly clear that this death was caused by asphyxia because he couldn’t breathe properly.'”

So, those are the two cases which the DOJ this week announced it was closing without any charges of any kind being brought. Because the Obama administration has systematically blocked all other cases besides these two from any possibility of criminal charges, yesterday’s decision means that nobody in the US government will pay any price for the systematic worldwide torture regime which that nation implemented and maintained for close to a decade.

This is so despite the findings of General Antonio Taguba, who investigated the torture regime and said that “there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes” and “the only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.” And it is done even in the face of General Barry McCaffrey’s extraordinary observation that:

“We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces and the CIA.”

The ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer yesterday said:

“That the justice department will hold no one accountable for the killing of prisoners in CIA custody is nothing short of a scandal … the decision not to file charges against individuals who tortured prisoners to death is yet another entry in what is already a shameful record.”

Beyond the disgust that these events, on their own, should invoke in any decent person, there are two points worth making about all of this which really highlight just how odious all of it is.

First, Obama has shielded Bush torture crimes not only from criminal prosecution, but any and all forms of accountability. Obama himself vigorously opposed and succeeded in killing even a congressional investigation into the torture regime at a time when his party controlled both houses of Congress.

Moreover, Obama’s top officials, as WikiLeaks cables revealed, secretly worked with GOP operatives to coerce other countries, such as Spain and Germany, to quash their investigations into the US torture of their citizens, and issued extraordinary threats to prevent British courts from disclosing any of what was done. And probably worst of all, the Obama administration aggressively shielded Bush officials even from being held accountable in civil cases brought by torture victims, by invoking radical secrecy powers and immunity doctrines to prevent courts even from hearing those claims.

In sum, the Obama administration has been desperate to ensure that there will be no accountability or even that meaningful investigations ever take place. That is almost certainly due to the fact that numerous high-level members of Obama’s own party were so complicit in these crimes. But at least equally important is this remarkable – and, it turns out, prescient – observation from a New York Times article by Charlie Savage in December 2008, on the prospect of torture investigations aimed at Bush officials:

“Because every president eventually leaves office, incoming chief executives have an incentive to quash investigations into their predecessor’s tenure.”

In other words, Obama is motivated to shield Bush officials from accountability for their crimes in the hope that once Obama leaves office, he, too, will be gifted identical immunity from the rule of law.

Second, although government torturers have now been fully protected by Obama from any accountability, those who blow the whistle on such crimes continue to be pursued by the same administration with unprecedented aggression. As Friday’s Times article on Holder’s announcement pointedly notes:

“While no one has been prosecuted for the harsh interrogations, a former CIA officer who helped hunt members of al-Qaida in Pakistan and later spoke publicly about waterboarding, John C Kiriakou, is awaiting trial on criminal charges that he disclosed to journalists the identity of other CIA officers who participated in the interrogations.”

Here, again, we see one of the prime precepts of American justice: high-level official who commit even the most egregious crimes are shielded from all accountability; the only real “criminals” are those who speak publicly about those crimes.

When Obama first announced his intent to run for president, he vowed that “the era of Scooter Libby justice … will be over” – meaning high-level officials will no longer be able to break the law with impunity. In mid 2008, Holder denounced Bush’s illegal torture and surveillance programs as showing “disrespect for the rule of law”, and he vowed:

“We owe the American people a reckoning.”

To say those pledges have been radically violated is to understate the case. Far worse, though, is that Obama officials have bolstered the warped precept at the root of so many of America’s disasters: that crimes committed by and at the behest of the powerful reside above and beyond the rule of law. In so doing, they have ensured that Bush officials who authorized torture continue to command mainstream respectability, while future leaders tempted to torture again have no reason whatsoever to refrain from doing so.

This final act in the sorry spectacle has long been predictable, even inevitable. But that does not make it any less repellent.

* * * * *

UPDATE: I was on Democracy Now this morning with Amy Goodman discussing Holder’s announcement. The seven-minute segment (which also included a discussion of Clint Eastwood’s spectacular stream-of-consciousness outburst at the GOP convention last night), can be seen on the player below; a transcript will be posted here a bit later in the day:

By Glenn Greenwald

31 August 2012

@ Guardian.co.uk

Whatever Happened to Iraqi Oil?

It was never exactly rocket science.You didn’t have to be Einstein to figure it out.In early 2003, the Bush administration was visibly preparing to invade Iraq, a nation with a nasty ruler who himself hadn’t hesitated to invade another country, Iran, in the early 1980s for no purpose except self-aggrandizement.(And the Reagan administration had backed him in that disastrous war because then, as now, Washington loathed the Iranians.)There was never the slightest evidence of the involvement of Saddam Hussein’s regime in the 9/11 attacks or in support of al-Qaeda; and despite the Bush administration’s drumbeat of supposed information about Saddam’s nuclear program (which was said, somehow, to threaten to put mushroom clouds over American cities), the evidence was always, at best, beyond thin and at worst, a potage of lies, concoctions, and wishful thinking. The program, of course, proved nonexistent, but too late to matter.

There was only one reason to invade Iraq and it could be captured in a single word, “oil,” even if George W. Bush and his top officials generally went out of their way to avoid mentioning it.(At one point, post-invasion, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz did point out that Iraq was indeed afloat “on a sea of oil.”)Unfortunately, oil as a significant factor in invasion planning was considered far too simpleminded for the sophisticated pundits and reporters of the mainstream media.They were unimpressed by it even when, as the looting began in Baghdad, it turned out that U.S. troops only had orders to guard the Oil Ministry and Interior Ministry (which housed Saddam’s dreaded secret police).

Mind you, far more than Iraqi oil was in the administration’s crosshairs, though that country, with its then-crippled energy sector, was considered a giant oil reservoir just waiting for Big Oil to set it free.To conquer and garrison — “liberate” — Iraq would put the U.S. in a position of ultimate domination in the oil heartlands of the planet, or so thought the top officials of the Bush administration, a number of whom had been in or associated with the energy business before scaling the heights of Washington. As Dick Cheney put it to the Institute of Petroleum Engineers in 1999, when he was still running the energy company Halliburton, “The Middle East, with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies.”

And the millions of protestors who took to the streets of the great cities (and small towns) of the planet in unprecedented numbers to oppose the coming invasion, waving signs like “No Blood for Oil!” “How did USA’s oil get under Iraq’s sand?” and “Don’t trade lives for oil!” grasped perfectly well just what they had in mind — and more prescient still, they knew it would be a disaster.If only they had been listened to.Instead, they were generally dismissed in the mainstream media for their hopeless naïveté.

They were right.It was about oil (though not oil alone, given the over-determined nature of all events on this planet of ours), while so many of the sophisticated types as well as the geopolitical visionaries of the Bush administration proved dismally wrong, completely mistaken in their assessment of our world of energy and how it might be controlled.Now, more than eight years later, no one here even wants to think about Iraq and the multi-trillion-dollar war we fought there.Mission accomplished?You be the judge.Recent headlines indicate that the new Iraq is actually helping Iran evade the Obama administration’s oil sanctions.Think of it as the grim geopolitical version of slapstick comedy.

As it happens, it took slightly longer than the disastrous invasion, occupation, and retreat from Iraq for a book to finally be published that actually focuses on oil as the pivotal commodity in America’s debacle there. I’m talking about Greg Muttitt’s new book, Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq. For all those of you who marched in the global streets, holding signs warning Bush and his cronies not to do it, this is the book that tells the story of just exactly how right you were. Tom

Mission Accomplished for Big Oil?

How an American Disaster Paved the Way for Big Oil’s Rise — and Possible Fall — in Iraq

By Greg Muttitt

In 2011, after nearly nine years of war and occupation, U.S. troops finally left Iraq. In their place, Big Oil is now present in force and the country’s oil output, crippled for decades, is growing again. Iraq recently reclaimed the number two position in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), overtaking oil-sanctioned Iran. Now, there’s talk of a new world petroleum glut. So is this finally mission accomplished?

Well, not exactly. In fact, any oil company victory in Iraq is likely to prove as temporary as George W. Bush’s triumph in 2003. The main reason is yet another of those stories the mainstream media didn’t quite find room for: the role of Iraqi civil society. But before telling that story, let’s look at what’s happening to Iraqi oil today, and how we got from the “no blood for oil” global protests of 2003 to the present moment.

Here, as a start, is a little scorecard of what’s gone on in Iraq since Big Oil arrived two and a half years ago: corruption’s skyrocketed; two Western oil companies are being investigated for either giving or receiving bribes; the Iraqi government is paying oil companies a per-barrel fee according to wildly unrealistic production targets they’ve set, whether or not they deliver that number of barrels; contractors are heavily over-charging for drilling wells, which the companies don’t mind since the Iraqi government picks up the tab.

Meanwhile, to protect the oil giants from dissent and protest, trade union offices have been raided, computers seized and equipment smashed, leaders arrested and prosecuted. And that’s just in the oil-rich southern part of the country.

In Kurdistan in the north, the regional government awards contracts on land outside its jurisdiction, contracts which permit the government to transfer its stake in the oil projects — up to 25% — to private companies of its choice. Fuel is smuggled across the border to the tune of hundreds of tankers a day.

In Kurdistan, at least the approach is deliberate: the two ruling families of the region, the Barzanis and Talabanis, know that they can do whatever they like, since their Peshmerga militia control the territory. In contrast, the Iraqi federal government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has little control over anything. As a result, in the rest of the country the oil industry operates, gold-rush-style, in an almost complete absence of oversight or regulation.

Oil companies differ as to which of these two Iraqs they prefer to operate in. BP and Shell have opted to rush for black gold in the super-giant oilfields of southern Iraq. Exxon has hedged its bets by investing in both options. This summer, Chevron and the French oil company Total voted for the Kurdish approach, trading smaller oil fields for better terms and a bit more stability.

Keep in mind that the incapacity of the Iraqi government is hardly limited to the oil business: stagnation hangs over its every institution. Iraqis still have an average of just five hours of electricity a day, which in 130-degree heat causes tempers to boil over regularly. The country’s two great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, which watered the cradle of civilization 5,000 years ago, are drying up.This is largely due to the inability of the government to engage in effective regional diplomacy that would control upstream dam-building by Turkey.

After elections in 2010, the country’s leading politicians couldn’t even agree on how to form a government until the Iraqi Supreme Court forced them to. This record of haplessness, along with rampant corruption, significant repression, and a revival of sectarianism can all be traced back to American decisions in the occupation years. Tragically, these persistent ills have manifested themselves in a recent spate of car-bombings and other bloody attacks.

Washington’s Yen for Oil

In the period before and around the invasion, the Bush administration barely mentioned Iraqi oil, describing it reverently only as that country’s “patrimony.” As for the reasons for war, the administration insisted that it had barely noticed Iraq had one-tenth of the world’s oil reserves. But my new book reveals documents I received, marked SECRET/NOFORN, that laid out for the first time pre-war oil plans hatched in the Pentagon by arch-neoconservative Douglas Feith’s Energy Infrastructure Planning Group (EIPG).

In November 2002, four months before the invasion, that planning group came up with a novel idea: it proposed that any American occupation authority not repair war damage to the country’s oil infrastructure, as doing so “could discourage private sector involvement.” In other words, it suggested that the landscape should be cleared of Iraq’s homegrown oil industry to make room for Big Oil.

When the administration worried that this might disrupt oil markets, EIPG came up with a new strategy under which initial repairs would be carried out by KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. Long-term contracts with multinational companies, awarded by the U.S. occupation authority, would follow. International law notwithstanding, the EIPG documents noted cheerily that such an approach would put “long-term downward pressure on [the oil] price” and force “questions about Iraq’s future relations with OPEC.”

At the same time, the Pentagon planning group recommended that Washington state that its policy was “not to prejudice Iraq’s future decisions regarding its oil development policies.” Here, in writing, was the approach adopted in the years to come by the Bush administration and the occupation authorities: lie to the public while secretly planning to hand Iraq over to Big Oil.

There turned out, however, to be a small kink in the plan: the oil companies declined the American-awarded contracts, fearing that they would not stand up in international courts and so prove illegitimate. They wanted Iraq first to have an elected permanent government that would arrive at the same results. The question then became how to get the required results with the Iraqis nominally in charge. The answer: install a friendly government and destroy the Iraqi oil industry.

In July 2003, the U.S. occupation established the Iraqi Governing Council, a quasi-governmental body led by friendly Iraqi exiles who had been out of the country for the previous few decades. They would be housed in an area of Baghdad isolated from the Iraqi population by concrete blast walls and machine gun towers, and dubbed the Green Zone.There, the politicians would feast, oblivious to and unconcerned with the suffering of the rest of the population.

The first post-invasion Oil Minister was Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a man who held the country’s homegrown oil expertise in open contempt. He quickly set about sacking the technicians and managers who had built the industry following nationalization in the 1970s and had kept it running through wars and sanctions. He replaced them with friends and fellow party members. One typical replacement was a former pizza chef.

The resulting damage to the oil industry exceeded anything caused by missiles and tanks. As a result the country found itself — as Washington had hoped — dependent on the expertise of foreign companies. Meanwhile, not only did the Coalition Provisional authority (CPA) that oversaw the occupation lose $6.6 billion of Iraqi money, it effectively suggested corruption wasn’t something to worry about.A December 2003 CPA policy document recommended that Iraq follow the lead of Azerbaijan, where the government had attracted oil multinationals despite an atmosphere of staggering corruption (“less attractive governance”) simply by offering highly profitable deals.

Now, so many years later, the corruption is all-pervasive and the multinationals continue to operate without oversight, since the country’s ministry is run by the equivalent of pizza chefs.

The first permanent government was formed under Prime Minister Maliki in May 2006. In the preceding months, the American and British governments made sure the candidates for prime minister knew what their first priority had to be: to pass a law legalizing the return of the foreign multinationals — tossed out of the country in the 1970s — to run the oil sector.

The law was drafted within weeks, dutifully shown to U.S. officials within days, and to oil multinationals not long after. Members of the Iraqi parliament, however, had to wait seven months to see the text.

How Temporary the Victory of Big Oil?

The trouble was: getting it through that parliament proved far more difficult than Washington or its officials in Iraq had anticipated. In January 2007, an impatient President Bush announced a “surge” of 30,000 U.S. troops into the country, by then wracked by a bloody civil war. Compliant journalists accepted the story of a gamble by General David Petraeus to bring peace to warring Iraqis.

In fact, those troops spearheaded a strategy with rather less altruistic objectives: first, broker a new political deal among U.S. allies, who were the most sectarian and corrupt of Iraq’s politicians (hence, with the irony characteristic of American foreign policy, regularly described as “moderates”); second, pressure them to deliver on political objectives set in Washington and known as “benchmarks” — of which passing the oil law was the only one ever really talked about: in President Bush’s biweekly video conferences with Maliki, in almost daily meetings of the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, and in frequent visits by senior administration officials.

On this issue, the Democrats, by then increasingly against the Iraq War but still pro-Big Oil, lent a helping hand to a Republican administration. Having failed to end the war, the newly Democrat-controlled Congress passed an appropriations bill that would cut off reconstruction funds to Iraq if the oil law weren’t passed. Generals warned that without an oil law Prime Minister Maliki would lose their support, which he knew well would mean losing his job. And to ramp up the pressure further, the U.S. set a deadline of September 2007 to pass the law or face the consequences.

It was then that things started going really wrong for Bush and company. In December 2006, I was at a meeting where leaders of Iraq’s trade unions decided to fight the oil law. One of them summed up the general sentiment this way: “We do not need thieves to take us back to the middle ages.” So they began organizing. They printed pamphlets, held public meetings and conferences, staged protests, and watched support for their movement grow.

Most Iraqis feel strongly that the country’s oil reserves belong in the public sector, to be developed to benefit them, not foreign energy companies. And so word spread fast — and with it, popular anger. Iraq’s oil professionals and various civil society groups denounced the law. Preachers railed against it in Friday sermons. Demonstrations were held in Baghdad and elsewhere, and as Washington ratcheted up the pressure, members of the Iraqi parliament started to see political opportunity in aligning themselves with this ever more popular cause. Even some U.S. allies in Parliament confided in diplomats at the American embassy that it would be political suicide to vote for the law.

By the September deadline, a majority of the parliament was against the law and — a remarkable victory for the trade unions — it was not passed. It’s still not passed today.

Given the political capital the Bush administration had invested in the passage of the oil law, its failure offered Iraqis a glimpse of the limits of U.S. power, and from that moment on, Washington’s influence began to wane.

Things changed again in 2009 when the Maliki government, eager for oil revenues, began awarding contracts to them even without an oil law in place. As a result, however, the victory of Big Oil is likely to be a temporary one: the present contracts are illegal, and so they will last only as long as there’s a government in Baghdad that supports them.

This helps explain why the government’s repression of trade unions increased once the contracts were signed.Now, Iraq is showing signs of a more general return to authoritarianism (as well as internecine violence and possibly renewed sectarian conflict).

But there is another possibility for Iraq. Years before the Arab Spring, I saw what Iraqi civil society can achieve by organizing: it stopped the world’s superpower from reaching its main objective and steered Iraq onto a more positive course.

Many times since 2003 Iraqis have moved their country in a more democratic direction: establishing trade unions in that year, building Shi’a-Sunni connections in 2004, promoting anti-sectarian politicians in 2007 and 2008, and voting for them in 2009.Sadly, each of these times Washington has pushed it back toward sectarianism, the atmosphere in which its allies thrive.While mainstream commentators now regularly blame the recent escalation of violence on the departure of U.S. troops, it would be more accurate to say that the real reason is they didn’t leave far sooner.

Now, without its troops and bases, much of Washington’s political heft has vanished. Whether Iraq heads in the direction of dictatorship, sectarianism, or democracy remains to be seen, but if Iraqis again start to build a more democratic future, the U.S. will no longer be there to obstruct it.Meanwhile, if a new politics does emerge, Big Oil may discover that, in the end, it was mission unaccomplished.

Greg Muttitt is the author of Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq (New Press), just published, and described by Naomi Klein as “nothing short of a secret history of the war.” Since 2003, he has worked with Iraqi trade unions campaigning against the privatization of Iraq’s oil, most of that time as co-director of the British charity Platform.

By Greg Muttitt

23 August 2012

@ http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175586/

80 Yanomami People Massacred As Shell Gets Arctic Drilling Permit

It has been a painful day for me. Two pieces of news came in this morning: one about the massacre of up to 80 Yanomami people at a settlement in the Amazon, and the other about Obama green lighting Shell’s drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Both are about resource wars that lead to killing—humans and/or animals, fast or slow, one to get gold, and the other to get oil.

“A massacre of up to 80 Yanomami people has taken place in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas,” The Guardian reported. “According to local testimonies an armed group [illegal gold miners] flew over in a helicopter, opening fire with guns and launching explosives into Irotatheri settlement in the High Ocamo area.”

Survival International, a London–based NGO that works with indigenous communities around the world (over the years I contributed my Arctic photographs for their campaigns) stated in a news release, “Witnesses of the aftermath described finding ‘burnt bodies and bones’ when they visited the community of Irotatheri in the country’s Momoi region, close to the border with Brazil.…The attack is believed to have happened in July, but news is only just emerging.”

Today about 20,000 Yanomami people live in small communities in the Amazon rainforest bordering Brazil and Venezuela. I first came to know about the Yanomami from the remarkable photographs of artist–activist Claudia Andujar. In the 1970s Andujar gave up her career as a photojournalist and embarked on an in–depth photo–essay about the Yanomami people. During this time she was witness to, “one of the most significant cultural dislocations to occur in Yanomami history, when the government began construction of a transcontinental highway in Northern Brazil. Villages were razed to pave roads, and the Yanomami suffered a devastating measles epidemic.” Then, during the 1980s, a new kind of devastation came into the Yanomami homeland, when thousands of garimpeiros, illegal, small–scale gold diggers came to the Amazon to make their fortunes. Twenty percent of the Yanomami died in the 1980’s as a consequence of the gold mining intrusion. Also the mining led to environmental destruction. Following a 15–year campaign, in which Andujar’s work played a crucial role, in 1992, with the help of Brazilian anthropologists and Survival International, the Brazilian government established the Yanomami Park “for protection and use by Yanomami people.”

The July massacre wiped out an entire indigenous settlement. Not the first time. One of the worst Indian massacres had taken place in the predawn hours of April 30, 1871, that came to be known as the Camp Grant Massacre, in which nearly 150 Apaches, including children, elders and women from a single settlement in the Aravaipa canyon in Arizona had been brutally killed. Historian Karl Jacoby writes about that incident in his powerful book “Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History.” From the companion website for the book you’ll learn about what Jacoby calls “the most familiar and yet the most overlooked subject in American history—violence against Indians.”

It will take time to figure out the details of the Yanomami massacre, but one thing is for certain, it’s a tragic case of resource wars—gold, in this case. Unfortunately such events will likely increase in the coming decades because much of the last remaining natural resources left on Earth are in lands inhabited by indigenous communities, or underneath oceans on which indigenous communities depend on—Amazon, Arctic, forests of India… Small illegal bands of garimpeiros or big corporations supported by governments will do everything to destroy and displace human and nonhuman communities to extract those resources.

Resource wars connect the Yanomami of the Amazon with the Iñupiat of the Arctic. On August 30, the Obama administration gave Shell the green light to begin drilling in the Arctic Ocean—Beaufort and Chukchi Seas of Alaska. Shell’s spill response barge, the Arctic Challenger is still sitting in Bellingham, Washington, waiting for the US Coast Guard certification. The administration couched their approval with a soft phrase, calling it “preparatory work.” What that means is that Shell will now begin drilling, but won’t get to the hydrocarbon layer until Arctic Challenger is certified and in place, which is expected to happen soon.

I have written extensively about Shell’s Arctic drilling since May 2010 that you can read here. Here is the key concern: the Obama administration, Shell, and the media are all focused on minutiae to distract the public from the real issues, which at its most basic is the fact that the administration has not done an Environmental Impact Statement on the Arctic Ocean drilling, and no one knows how to clean up a spill from underneath the ice, in the harsh conditions of the Arctic.

As I write this, on the table, I have two books. The first one is: “Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain Resource Assessment Final Report: Baseline Study of the Fish, Wildlife, and Their Habitats, Volume 1.” It is a 392–page report with chapters titled: “Soils and Vegetation,” “Birds,” “Mammals,” “Fish,” “Human Culture and Lifestyle,” and “Impacts of Further Exploration, Development and Production of Oil and Gas Resources.” Despite the fact that the Reagan administration gagged federal scientists to promote Arctic drilling, his administration did publish this extensive report in 1986. I learnt a lot about the Arctic Refuge ecology from that report.

The second book is: “Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska’s North Slope.” It is a 288–page book published by the National Research Council, a division of the US National Academies with chapters titled: “The Human Environment,” “The Alaska North Slope Environment,” “History of Oil and Gas Activities,” “Future Oil and Gas Activities,” “Effects on the Physical Environment,” “Effects on Vegetation,” “Effects on Animals,” “Effects on the Human Environment,” “Filling Knowledge Gaps,” and “Major Effects and their Accumulation.” Despite the fact that the George W. Bush administration gagged federal scientists and manipulated major scientific reports to promote Arctic drilling, his administration did publish this extensive report in 2003. It was the first of its kind and remains the most scholarly publication about the cumulative impact of oil development on Arctic tundra. Both reports are about the terrestrial environment of Arctic Alaska. Nothing like that exists about the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas which is home to more than 10,000 endangered bowhead whales, more than 60,000 beluga whales, nearly 4,000 threatened polar bears, tens of thousands of seals and walruses, and hundreds of thousands of sea birds, to name a few species. The Iñupiat people of the Arctic coast depend on the Ocean that they call “the garden,” for their economic, cultural and spiritual survival.

Now, if you ask the Obama administration if there is a report on the Arctic Ocean similar to the 1986 Arctic Refuge baseline study, the answer you will get would be: “nada,” “zero,” “zilch,” “zippo,” “zot,” “golla [that’s Bengali].” On September 13, 2010, Seth Borenstein wrote in an Associated Press story, “Tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in northwest Alaska because the sea ice they normally rest on has melted. Scientists with two federal agencies are most concerned about the one–ton female walruses stampeding and crushing each other and their smaller calves near Point Lay, Alaska, on the Chukchi Sea. The federal government is in a year–long process to determine if walruses should be put on the endangered species list.” Since then we have heard more than a hundred times that Shell has spent more than 4 billion dollars in their Arctic venture, but have you heard about what’s happening to the walruses? Over the past decade, Arctic warming has very significantly changed the ecological and cultural dynamic of the North and we do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of these rapid changes, yet Shell will drill there now, thanks to the Obama administration.

How is Obama getting away with approving the most dangerous form of drilling anywhere on earth without having done a comprehensive study on the Arctic Ocean to a company that is causing great destruction to the Niger Delta and the indigenous Ogoni people? Allow me to guess. With approving Shell’s drilling Obama has given his boots to the face of the environmental organizations, and us. He has figured he cannot afford to upset Shell (the company might pour too much money to zabbledabble his reelection campaign, thanks to Citizens United), but he can indeed afford to piss off the environmental community, which he believes (my guess) is “wimpy,” because they never challenged Obama, only appealed to him politely, again, and again, and again. Imagine the rage the green groups would have exhibited to a Republican president if she/he had done the things Obama has done: he hasn’t done anything on climate change and didn’t even mention the phrase in his 2012 Earth Day Proclamation—remember his top climate change advisor Carol Browner resigned after realizing she won’t get a thing done under this administration; sold the Powder River Basin of Wyoming to King Coal—a completely unnecessary act; approved the building of the southern half of the Keystone XL Pipeline, and now Shell’s Arctic drilling.

In her testimony in the recently published anthology “Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point” that I edited, Iñupiat elder and community leader Caroline Cannon wrote: “It feels as if the government and industry want us to forget who we are, what we have a right to, and what we deserve. They repeatedly overwhelm us with information, requests, and deadlines, and it seems as if they hope that we will either give up or die fighting. We are not giving up. We must fight.”

The fate of indigenous communities around the world is connected through destructive resource wars. For a long time, dominant cultures had referred to members of tribal communities as “barbarians.” Is a Yanomami barbarian? Is an Iñupiaq barbarian? Is a thug of a plutocratic society barbarian? Time has come to put that word ‘barbarian’ on its head. Indigenous communities are left with no choice but to fight and resist destruction.

By Subhankar Banerjee

31 August, 2012

@ Climatestorytellers.org

Subhankar Banerjee is a writer, photographer, and activist. Over the past decade he has worked tirelessly to conserve ecoculturally significant areas of the Arctic, and to raise awareness about indigenous human rights and climate change. He is the editor of a new book, Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point (Seven Stories Press) and won a 2012 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Award. His Arctic photos can be seen this summer in three exhibitions, all our relations at the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia, True North at the Anchorage Museum in Alaska, and Looking Back at Earth at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.

Exclusive: ‘We believe that the USA is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments’

Assad’s Foreign Minister gives his first interview to a Western journalist since the conflict began

The battle for Damascus could be heard inside the Foreign Minister’s office yesterday, a vibration of mortars and tank fire from the suburbs of the capital that penetrated Walid Muallem’s inner sanctum, a dangerous heartbeat to match the man’s words.

America was behind Syria’s violence, he said, which will not end even after the battle for Aleppo is over. “I tell the Europeans: ‘I don’t understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people’. And I tell the Americans: ‘You must read well what you did in Afghanistan and Somalia. I don’t understand your slogan of fighting international terrorism when you are supporting this terrorism in Syria’.”

Walid Muallem spoke in English and very slowly, either because of the disconcerting uproar outside or because this was his first interview with a Western journalist since the Syrian crisis began. At one point, the conflict between rebels and government troops in the suburbs of Douma, Jobar, Arbeen and Qaboun – where a helicopter was shot down – became so loud that even the most phlegmatic of Foreign Ministers in a region plagued by rhetoric glanced towards the window. How did he feel when he heard this, I asked him?

“Before I am a minister, I am a Syrian citizen, and I feel sad at seeing what’s happening in Syria, compared with two years ago,” he said. “There are many Syrians like me – eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security.”

I have my doubts about how many Syrians want a return to “the old days” but Muallem claims that perhaps 60 per cent of the country’s violence comes from abroad, from Turkey, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others.

“When the Americans say, ‘We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications’, isn’t this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with $25m – and much more from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia?”

A year ago, I told Muallem, I lunched with the Emir of Qatar, and he was enraged at what he called Bashar al-Assad’s lies, claiming that the Syrian President had reneged on a deal to allow Muslim Brotherhood members to return home.

Muallem nodded. “If you met the same Emir two years ago, he was praising Assad, and considered him a dear friend. They used to have family relations, spending family holidays in Damascus and sometimes in Doha. There is an important question: what happened? I met the Emir in Doha in, I think, November 2011, when the Arab League started their initiative [resulting in the sending of League observers to Syria] and we reached agreement … The Emir told me: ‘If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al Jazeera and I will tell [Sheikh] Qaradawi [a popular prelate with a regular slot on the television chain] to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria…’ .

“At the same time, when I was waiting to enter a meeting, there was the head of the Tunisian party Ennahda and the Emir issued orders to pay Ennahda $150m to help his party in the elections. Anyway, this was their business. But I asked the Emir: ‘You were having very close relations with Muammar Gaddafi and you were the only leader in his palace when Gaddafi hosted you during the summit – so why are you sending your aircraft to attack Libya and be part of Nato?’ The Emir said simply: ‘Because we don’t want to lose our momentum in Tunis and Egypt – and Gaddafi was responsible for dividing Sudan’.”

Of America’s power, Walid Muallem had no doubt. The Americans, he says, succeeded in frightening the Gulf countries about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, persuaded them to buy arms from the US, fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 dream of maintaining bases for oil transportation.

“We believe that the US is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments.” But wasn’t this all really about Iran? I asked, a dodgy question since it suggested a secondary role for Syria in its own tragedy. And when Muallem referred to the Brookings Institution, I groaned.

“You are laughing, but sometimes when you are Foreign Minister, you are obliged to read these things – and there was a study by the Brookings Institute [sic] called The Road to Tehran, and the result of this study was: if you want to contain Iran, you must start with Damascus…

“We were told by some Western envoy at the beginning of this crisis that relations between Syria and Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas are the major elements behind this crisis. If we settle this issue, they [the Americans] will help end the crisis. But no one told us why it is forbidden for Syria to have relations with Iran when most if not all the Gulf countries have very important relations with Iran.”

For the Syrian Foreign Minister, the crisis started with “legitimate demands” subsequently addressed by “legislation and reforms and even a new constitution”. Then along came “foreign elements” who used these legitimate demands “to hijack the peaceful agenda of the people”.

There followed a familiar tale. “I don’t accept as a citizen to return back centuries to a regime which can bring Syria backwards. In principle …no government in the world can accept an armed terrorist group, some of them coming from abroad, controlling streets and villages in the name of ‘jihad’.”

It was the duty of the Syrian government to “protect” its citizens. Assad represents the unity of Syria and all Syrians must participate in creating a new future for Syria. If Syria falls, its neighbour countries will fall. Muallem travels to the non-aligned summit in Iran tomorrow to burnish what he calls their “constructive efforts” to help Syria.

I asked about chemical weapons, of course. If Syria had such weapons, they would never be used against its own people, he said. “We are fighting armed groups inside Aleppo, in the Damascus suburbs, before that in Homs and Idlib and this means fighting within Syrian cities – and our responsibility is to protect our people.”

And the infamous Shabiha militia blamed for atrocities in the countryside? Walid Muallem doesn’t believe in them. There might be local unarmed people defending their property from armed groups, he says. But pro-regime, paid militiamen? Never. No war crimes charges against the Syrian Foreign Minister, then. But the guns still thunder away outside his windows.

By Robert Fisk

28 August 2012

@ The Independent

Syria News On 29th August, 2012

Twelve Citizens Killed, 48 Injured in Car Bomb Explosion during Escorting Martyrs in Jaramana, Damascus Countryside

Aug 28, 2012

DAMASCUS COUNTRYSIDE, (SANA) – A car bomb (a taxi) on Tuesday blew up in Tishreen neighborhood in Jaramana city, Damascus Countryside, during the escorting of two martyrs who were killed in the previous day in a terrorist blast in the city.

An official source told SANA reporter that the explosion of the car, which was parked near a cemetery in the abovementioned neighborhood, killed 12 citizens and injured 48 others, some in critical condition, in addition to damaging some of the surrounding buildings.

Early on the day, a family of two parents and their girl child were injured in the city due to a blast of an explosive device which terrorists had stuck to their car.

The Injured: The Terrorist Act Will Not Weaken the Syrians

Yazan Rukab, 18, one of the injured in the bombing lying in Jaramana Hospital, highlighted in a statement to SANA the hatred nursed by the criminals who carried out the terrorist blast against the Syrian people who have stood firm in the face of the conspiracy hatched against their country.

“These crimes will not weaken the steadfastness and determination of the Syrian people,” said William Shiya, another injured citizen, who strongly denounced the terrorist act which targeted a funeral procession for a number of martyrs killed the previous day in another terrorist act.

“I was at home when the blast happened…Our house’ façade was smashed and a number of my family members were injured,” said Ghazal al-Atrash, 16, who still was in a state of panic and shock.

She called for inflicting punishment upon the criminals who “are seeking to destroy the life of the safe Syrians.”

Dr. Bashar Rabah at al-Radi specialized hospital told SANA reporter that they received scores of injured people, at least 10 of them were in critical condition, to whom first aid treatment was applied.

He added that a number of the injured were transferred to Damascus Hospital because of their serious cases.

For his part, Director of Damascus Hospital, Dr. Adib Mahmoud, said 25 of the serious cases received by the hospital needed surgery, noting that 10 operation rooms have been preoccupied.

The fact that funeral procession included all members of mourning families, some of these families were inflicted with cases of martyrdom and injury among their members.

The 15-year-old Mohannad Mohammad Alloulo was martyred in the bombing, while his three-year-younger sister Alaa was injured lying on a bed in one of the emergency department’s rooms at Damascus Hospital.

“My sister was playing with her friends outside the house when she heard the boom. She fell to the ground and couldn’t move,” said Alla’s brother, Mustafa, who was sitting by her side.

“Those who are killing mourners and children can’t be Syrians,” Mustafa added, stressing that the Syrian Arab Army will eliminate the terrorists and foil their backers in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Damascus Countryside Governor: The Terrorist Act Represents the Highest Degree of Criminality

Damascus Countryside Governor, Hussein Makhlouf, along with the Commander of the Police Department in the province, visited the injured in the hospitals and checked their condition, wishing them a speedy recovery.

“This terrorist bombing represents the highest degree of criminality as it targets innocent mourners,” said Governor Makhlouf, asking that God has mercy upon the souls of the martyrs.

Authorities Inflict Heavy Losses upon Terrorists in Aleppo, Homs and Hama, Raid Terrorists’ Hideout in Qamishli

Aug 28, 2012

PROVINCES, (SANA)- Authorities in Aleppo on Tuesday carried out a qualitative operation in al-Bandara neighborhood and inflicted heavy losses upon the mercenary terrorists, SANA reporter said.

The reporter quoted an official source in Aleppo province as saying that units of the armed forces carried out another qualitative operation around Radio and TV broadcasting area in the city of Aleppo, arresting two terrorists and killing the others.

The source told SANA that six bomb boxes, ammunition, rifles, sniper rifles, a PKC machine gun, military uniforms and medical materials were confiscated in teh operation.

The source said that the security authorities clashed with terrorists in the area of Sheikh Saad in the city of Aleppo and kill a number of them and wound others.

Clashes also broke out between the security authorities and a number of terrorists in al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhood in Aleppo city.

SANA reporter said that 7 terrorists were killed in the clashes.

A number of terrorists were killed and tens of them were injured while 3 SUVs and a small truck were destroyed in Mizar street in Saif al-Dawla area in Aleppo during the armed forces’ work to clear the area.

The armed forces also eliminated a number of terrorists, most of them of Arab and foreign nationalities, who attempted to sneak from al-Sukkari neighborhood into Saif al-Dawla area.

Units of the Syrian Army storm hideouts of armed terrorist groups in a number of Aleppo areas

Units of the Syrian Army stormed hideouts of armed terrorist groups in a number of Aleppo areas, killing a big number of them while scores escaped.

A source told SANA reporter that a unit of the Army destroyed hideouts of terrorists in Kiljibrin in Azaz, Bishkaten, al-Eis.

Explosive Device Explodes in Car in Jaramana, Damascus Countryside, Killign Driver

Last night, in Jaramana, Damascus Countryside, an explosive device detonated in a car causing the killing of its driver.

The device was attached to the car by an armed terrorist group.

Authorities Pursue mercenaries in East al-Ghouta, Damascus Countryside

The competent authorities pursued today armed terrorist groups in East al-Ghouta, Damascus countryside.

A source told SANA that the authorities killed a big number of the mercenaries, arrested quantities of weapons, ammunitions and modern communication sets.

Authorities Confront Terrorists Who Mortared al-Mashrafah Village in Homs, Inflict Heavy Losses upon them

The authorities in Homs province confronted last night a group of armed terrorists who mortared al-Mashrafah village in eastern Homs causing injury to a number the citizens.

A source in the province told SANA reporter that the authorities succeeded in inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists and destroying their DShk-eqipped vehicles.

Army Unit Pursue Terorists in al-Madik Village in Hama

In Hama, an army unit pursued on Tuesday an armed terrorist group in the area of al-Madik village in the countryside of teh province and inflicted heavy losses upon them.

An official source told SANA that the operation resulted in seizing large amounts of weapons and ammunition belonging to the terrorists, adding that a workshop for making explosive devices was found.

The military engineering units dismantled ten explosive devices planted by armed terrorist groups in the area of al-Madik Castle.

SANA reporter said that four explosive devices were planted by terrorists inside a school, and other six explosive devices were planted near grain silos in the area.

Terrorists’ Hideout Raided in Qamishli, 11 Terrorists Arrested, Weapons Seized

In Qamishli province, the authorities raided a hideout for an armed terrorist group in Qaddor Beik neighborhood arresting 11 terrorists and injuring another.

SANA reporter quoted an official source in the province as saying that the raid resulted in seizing an amount of weapons found in the hideout including 10 machineguns, Nato sniper rifle, 3 pump-action rifles, 11 grenades, a military pistol, a hunting rifle and military uniforms.

An amount of heroine and narcotics, 23 communication devices, 4 computers and remote control devices for detonating explosive devices were also found in the terrorists’ hideout.

Authorities confront an armed terrorist group’s attempt to attack the civilians in al- Qseir countryside

The competent authorities today confronted an armed terrorist group’s attempt to attack the civilians in al-Ziraa, al-Shaiyahat and al-Mashtal in al-Qseir countryside.

SANA reporter quoted a source as saying that the clashes led to the killing of a number of terrorists among them Mohammad Khudre Mokheber know as the assassin.

Al-Moallem: We Believe that the USA is the Major Player against Syria and the Rest are Its Instruments

Aug 29, 2012

LONDON, (SANA) – Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem affirmed that We belive the USA is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments under its control.

In an interview with the British newspaper the Independent conducted by journalist Robert Fisk, al-Moallem said that America is behind Syria’s violence, and that he doesn’t understand its slogan of fighting international terrorism when it’s supporting terrorism in Syria.

He pointed out that over 60% of the country’s violence comes from abroad, specifically from Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others, adding “When the Americans say, ‘We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications’, isn’t this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with USD 25 million?”

Al-Moallem pointed out that the goal of what is happening in Syria is to pressure it regarding its relations with Iran and resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, saying “We were told by some Western envoy at the beginning of this crisis that relations between Syria and Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas are the major elements behind this crisis. If we settle this issue, they will help end the crisis.”

He went on to say that the Americans succeeded in frightening the Gulf countries about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, persuading them to buy arms from the US and fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 dream of maintaining bases for oil transportation.

Regarding the European positions towards the Syrian crisis, al-Moallem said “I tell the Europeans: I don’t understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people.”

As for Qatari-Syrian relations, al-Moallem noted that Qatar was the one who reneged on these relations, saying that he met Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in Doha in November 2011 when the Arab League launched its initiative which led to sending observers to Syria, pointing out that during this meeting, Hamad told him “If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al Jazeera and I will tell Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria.”

He added that he asked Hamad about having had very close relations with Muammar Gaddafi and why he sent his aircrafts to attack Libya and be part of NATO, with Hamad responding by saying simply “Because we don’t want to lose our momentum in Tunis and Egypt.”

Al-Moallem stressed that the crisis started with legitimate demands subsequently addressed by legislation and reforms and even a new constitution, but then came foreign elements who used these legitimate demands to hijack the peaceful agenda of the people.

“I don’t accept as a citizen to return back centuries to a regime which can bring Syria backwards. In principle …no government in the world can accept an armed terrorist group, some of them coming from abroad, controlling streets and villages in the name of jihad,” he said, adding that as a Syrian citizen, he is sad to see what’s happening in Syria, compared with how it was two years ago.

“There are many Syrians like me – eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security,” he concluded.

Russian Foreign Ministry: Foreign Military Support to Opposition Encourages it to Reject participation in National Dialogue

Aug 28, 2012

Moscow, (SANA)-The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the foreign military support to the Syrian opposition encourages it to go ahead in its method which rejects to take part in the national dialogue and pose a threat to escalating confrontation, destabilize the situation in Syria and the whole region.

“Russia has always stated that offering financial, ,military and technical assistance by foreign players to one side in Syria poses a threat to escalating confrontation in Syria, subsequently leading to dangerous repercussions that destabilize the security in the country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement broadcast by Russian Today site on Tuesday.

Commenting on reports about using bases by the British military in Cyprus to offer assistance to the armed terrorist groups in Syria, the Ministry added that such support paves the way for the opposition to go ahead in its method which rejects dialogue in contradiction with the UN Security Council resolutions, Annan’s plan and Geneva meeting.

Mansour Calls upon All Parties to Stop Supporting Gunmen in Syria…Zebari: What Is Going on in Syria Affects Iraq

Aug 28, 2012

TEHRAN, (SANA)- Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour underscored that solving the crisis in Syria should be form inside Syria and under a Syrian leadership, calling some foreign sides to stop supplying the gunmen with arms and money.

In an interview with al-Alam TV Channel on the sideline of his participation in the meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement Foreign Ministers in Tehran on Tuesday, Mansour expressed his country’s rejection of the foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs, stressing that Lebanon supports the internal political solution through dialogue between the Syrian leadership and opposition.

Mansour stressed that talking about establishing a no-fly zone over Syria is very dangerous as it doesn’t serve Syria’s unity and constitutes a flagrant interference in Syria’s internal affairs.

He called on the Non-Aligned countries to put pressures on Israel to commit to respect the international resolutions.

He also called for the establishment of a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

In a speech at the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement’s Foreign Ministers in Tehran, Mansour underlined that NAM must tackle the problems encountered in some members states and help them come out of the crisis without foreign intervention.

“The foreign military, financial, media and human interference in Syria became uncovered for the whole world through statements issued by some sides,” Mansour said, wondering about the role of NAM and how it could put an end to the interference in the affairs of member states.

Zebari Stresses Iraq’s Support to any Initiative for Political Solution to Crisis in Syria

Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, stressed on Tuesday that Iraq supports any initiative for political solution to crisis in Syria, adding that what is happening in Syria affects Iraq and all regional countries.

In an interview with al-Alam Channel, Zebari considered the Iraqi stance on the situation in Syria is based on the national interest of Iraq and the interests of the Syrian people as well.

He added that the scale of valence in Syria has reached advanced levels, stressing that violence will not solve the problem.

He warned that al-Qaeda is representing an enormous threat to all peoples of the region, pointing out that it practiced acts of killing and slaughtering against the Iraqis throughout the past years.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister condemned Turkey’s violation of the Iraqi sovereignty, saying that the neighboring countries to Iraq should in the first place respect this country, its people and government and deal with it according to the mutual interests and respect.

Regarding the recent visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to the north of Iraq, Zebari said that Iraq has condemned this visit and officially expressed rejection of it, considering it unacceptable.

Cabinet to Form Ministerial Committee to Follow up on Displaced Families

Aug 28, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – During a session chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Wael al-Halqi on Tuesday, the Cabinet discussed a number of services and economic issues of interest to citizens in light of the current circumstances.

Premier al-Hamqi stressed the need to stay in touch with citizens through the media, direct meetings, and field tours and to handle their complaints and demands according to available resources, all while explaining to citizens the difficulties hindering the work of the ministries and affiliated bodies.

He called for resolving the situation of families displaced due to the crimes of terrorist groups and providing support from all ministries to help the State Ministry for National Reconciliation Affairs carry out its duties.

Al-Halqi also called for resolving administrative entanglements among some ministries and monitoring administrative spending.

Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs and Minister of Local Administration Omar Ghalawanji and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Dr. Qadri Jamil briefed the Cabinet on the state of services and economy.

Ghalawanji reviewed the state of displaced families and the government’s efforts to provide them with shelter, services and aid,

The Cabinet decided to form a ministerial committee to follow up on displaced families on the ground, calling on displaced families to return to their homes in the areas that have been cleared of terrorists and have become stable and secure, affirming the government’s readiness to provide the necessary services and needs of these areas.

The Cabinet called on the Petroleum Ministry to double the number of fuel transport tankers to meet citizens’ needs across Syria, in addition to calling on the Health Ministry to provide milk for children in Hasaka Province.

The Cabinet also called on the Electricity and Communications and Technology Ministries to submit their needs and work requirements for approval, and instructed the Education Ministry to finish preparation for the upcoming school term on schedule.

Afterwards, the Cabinet passed a bill on the new state council law, terminating law no. 55 for 1959 and its amendments, in addition to approving the licensing of a number of newspapers and magazines.

NAM Foreign Ministers Discuss Bill of Summit’s Final Statement

Aug 28, 2012

TEHRAN, (SANA)_Works of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Tuesday started in the Iranian Capital of Tehran with the participation of a delegation from Syria to discuss the bill of the final statement conducted by experts of these countries during the past two days.

The ministers discuss during their meeting the situation in the region, the world and the Syrian crisis, in addition to supporting the legitimate rights of the member states and activating dialogue for solving the international problems and the joint management of the world.

Experts of NAM member states concluded their meetings in Tehran on Monday agreeing on the final document.

The final document NAM Experts’ underscored the determination to solve the crisis in Syria through peaceful means using all available potentials for this purpose.

The document condemned the western sanctions imposed against Syria, calling for rejection of violence allowing the Syrian Government to carry on with reforms.

Mohammad-Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, secretary of the expert-level meeting, said in press statements yesterday that the document rejects “resorting increasingly to unilateralism”, asserting that ‘NAM member states have expressed deep concern with the forceful economic tactics including unilateral sanctions against developing states…and reiterate that unilateral economic sanctions trample the fundamental rights of people in the targeted countries,”

“The document calls on all parties to take urgent action in view of implementation of Iran’s 1974 proposal for creating a Middle East free from nuclear weapons, and expresses profound concern about the nuclear arms held by Israel and the Israeli threats, and condemns the proliferation and stockpile of nuclear weapons,” Akhoundzadeh added.

Akhoundzadeh declared that the 688-paragraph document “In two paragraphs, the document highlights the inalienable right of all NAM member states to development and use of peaceful nuclear energy and full development of nuclear fuel cycle in compliance with the rights and obligations in the [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] NPT,”

Akhoundzadeh added that the document rejects all forms of occupation in the world and deplores double standards on the world issues, asserting that the signals sent by the NAM meeting are peace, justice and respect of law.

The 16th NAM Summit, held under the motto “Lasting Peace through Joint Global Governance ” continued today its deliberations at foreign ministerial level.

A number of NAM member countries’ Foreign Ministers call for not interfering in Syria’s domestic affairs

A number of Foreign Ministers of NAM member countries called for not interfering in Syria’s domestic affairs or militarizing the crisis.

India’s Foreign Minister S.M.Krishna expressed his country’s deep concern over the developments in Syria which could extend to the neighboring countries, renewing India’s support for a political process that brings together all Syrian parties to meet aspirations of the Syrian people.

For his part, Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Simbarashe mumbengegwi underlined that the resolution to the crisis in Syria depends on the Syrians only through a political dialogue which includes all Syrian sides away from any form of foreign military intervention.

Ghana’s Foreign Minister al-Haaj Muhammad Mumuni called for not using pretexts of the human protection to interfere in the internal affairs of countries or exploiting the humanitarian suffering to change the political regimes.

Nepal Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, for his part, called for halting the violence and end the crisis in Syria away from the foreign intervention in a way that lets Syrians decide their future.

Salehi: Need for an Opportunity of dialogue to resolve crisis in Syria

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that the Foreign Ministers who take part in the NAM meeting of Tehran presented different viewpoints to resolve the crisis in Syria, underlining the importance of availing an opportunity for dialogue between the Syrian government and the national opposition without any foreign intervention.

“The foreign ministers gave special importance for the crisis in Syria and proposed several viewpoints in this domain… the best way to end the war on Syria is to facilitate conducting a dialogue between the opposition and the Syrian government,” Salehi said in a statement.

He added that discussions regarding the crisis in Syria are still available at the meeting of NAM foreign Ministers, considering that if the regional countries and international organizations were able to facilitate dialogue between the opposition and the Syrian government, it would be useful and effective.

Abdullahian: Syria’s National Sovereignty to Be Maintained, Iran’s Efforts Focused on Political Solution

Aug 28, 2012

TEHRAN, (SANA)- Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdullahian, stressed that the national sovereignty of Syria is the most important to maintain, noting that Iran’s efforts are focused mainly on finding a mechanism for a peaceful political solution to the crisis in Syria.

In an interview with the Iranian al-Aalam channel published on Tuesday, Abdullahian said Tehran’s search for a political solution to the crisis is based on focusing on the plan of the former UN envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, which was adopted by the UN and is to be continued by the new envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in cooperation with the international and regional parties.

He highlighted that the national dialogue which the Syrian leadership has proposed and came in Annan’s plan has been included among the Iranian proposals.

“When we speak of the opposition we mean the opposition which adopts the political solutions inside Syria and which has its bases inside Syria and doesn’t resort to the terrorist solutions,” the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister told al-Aalam TV.

He said the opposition abroad is not united and lacks a popular base inside Syria, stressing the necessity that the national dialogue be comprehensive and include all the trends and spectra.

Abdullahian affirmed that Syria has passed the stage of danger and foiled the aspirations of the hostile powers targeting it and the entire region, considering that the entry of armed terrorist groups and extremist forces into Syria has impeded reaping the fruit of the reforms proposed by the Syrian leadership.

He reiterated that resorting to weapons is a terrorist act and not a political one.

The Iranian official described the behavior of the so-called ‘Free Army’ as “crimes being committed without any political reading that guarantees the safety of the Syrian people.”

“Therefore,” Abdullahian added, “the Syrian people reject these groups that kidnap and kill the nationals of other countries. Accordingly, these groups can’t be called opposition because they don’t deserve such a title at all.”

He pointed out that Iran already proposed solutions at Tehran consultation meeting a month ago and is having detailed deliberations about those solutions with the other countries, particularly the countries of the region, on the sidelines of the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Should Banks Be Allowed In Commodity Futures Trading?

It may sound surprising to some people, but it’s true that banks are not allowed to trade in commodities in India. The banks are allowed to trade in financial instruments (such as shares, bonds and currencies) in securities market but the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 strictly prohibits banks (both domestic and foreign) from trading in goods and therefore they are not allowed to trade in commodity futures market.

The Section 8 of Banking Regulation Act clearly states that no bank shall “directly or indirectly deal in the buying or selling or bartering of goods, except in connection with the realisation of security given to or held by it.” However, banks are allowed to finance commodity business and provide fund and non-fund-based facilities to commodity traders to meet their working capital requirements. Banks also provide clearing and settlement services for commodities derivatives transactions. In India, banks can also own a stake in the commodity exchanges. For instance, several banks (e.g., State Bank of India and HDFC Bank) own a stake in the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX). But banks cannot trade in commodities themselves.

The Growing Pressure

With the rapid liberalisation of Indian securities markets, pressure is exerted by big foreign banks — who have considerable international experience and expertise in commodity derivatives trading — to allow their entry in the commodity markets.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the push for amending the Banking Regulation Act has gained new impetus. In a post-crisis world, big international banks are shifting their focus to Asian markets (such as India and China) which are considered to be the “new engines” of economic growth. For these banks, a largely untapped Indian commodity futures market offer enormous profit-making potential. In 2009, Bank of Nova Scotia sought permission to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to trade agricultural goods and metals on the MCX and National Commodities and Derivative Exchange (NCDEX). But the proposal was rejected by the Reserve Bank of India (country’s central bank) as per the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act.

Since January 2012, New Delhi is considering an amendment in the Banking Regulation Act so as to allow banks’ entry into commodity futures besides providing similar access to mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to participate in the commodity markets.

The Weak Rationale

The arguments supportive of banks’ direct entry into the commodity trading are highly overstated and backed by very little hard evidence. The proponents argue that this move would enable banks to hedge their exposure to agricultural lending arising out of price fluctuations. In reality, banks in India lend money to farmers and commodity traders but they don’t have any direct exposure to commodities.

By the same logic, banks have large exposures in infrastructure sector, should they get directly involved in building bridges, airports, highways and power plants? At best, banks are expected to advise their borrowers to hedge their price risk in futures markets rather than hedging themselves. By acting as a trader/broker in the commodity derivatives market, banks would be moving away from their core competence — lending money to individuals and firms.

Given the ground realities in the country where 80 percent of farmers are small farmers, not even 0.1 percent of farm borrowers in India trade in the commodity futures exchanges.

Further, there is no rationale for allowing non-banking financial players such as mutual funds, insurance companies and FIIs in the agricultural commodity markets since they have no direct exposure to farm loans and farming community in India.

The Current Regulatory Framework

Banks’ entry into commodity futures trading could turn out to be a risky proposition for several valid reasons. To begin with, the commodity futures market in India is still in its nascent stage of development and therefore the existing regulatory environment cannot handle the sudden entry of big financial players such as banks.

Unlike equity markets regulator, the commodity trade regulator (Forward Markets Commission – FMC) is toothless and has weak regulatory powers to ensure fair trading in commodity exchanges. The FMC does not have any statutory power for compulsory registration of traders and brokers which makes it difficult to monitor and supervise traders. There are plenty of instances where the FMC failed to curb malpractices (such as parallel illegal trading) and prevent excessive speculative activities which distorted the price discovery and hedging function of commodity future markets.

In addition, the existing penalty provisions are grossly inadequate and not in tune with current trading volume in the Indian commodity derivatives markets. It may sound astonishing that FMC — regulating billions of dollars worth of commodity trade — has no powers to directly impose a financial penalty on the traders. At present, only a maximum penalty of Rs.1000 ($18) can be imposed on traders by FMC, and that too through court orders on conviction. A financial penalty of mere Rs.1000 (enforced through lengthy court process) does not act as a deterrent for potential offenders in the commodity markets.

Under the Forward Contracts Regulation Amendment Bill (2010), the government has allowed FMC to impose financial penalties to a minimum of Rs.25000 ($450) and in some offences (such as insider trading) up to Rs.2500000 ($45000). The proposed Bill is still under discussion. Given the fact that FMC is unable to effectively monitor and supervise the existing non-financial players, it would require considerable time, resources and technical expertise to deal with the high trading volumes which the entry of banks into commodity trading would bring about.

The Lack of Domain Knowledge

By and large, Indian banks (both public and private) lack market knowledge and expertise to benefit from trading in commodity futures. The RBI has also expressed concern on the risks posed by domestic banks that lack expertise and skilled manpower to deal with such risky trading instruments.

As pointed out by G. Chandrasekhar, Commodities Editor, The Hindu Businessline, “Given the lack of product knowledge and market knowledge among Indian banks and given the huge volatility of commodity markets, these institutions run the risk of losing money rather than safeguard it. Policymakers have to exercise utmost caution in allowing huge speculative funds to flow into the commodities derivatives, especially agricultural goods.”

The real beneficiaries of this move are likely to be big foreign banks who have a competitive edge over domestic banks in dealing with such businesses. Already foreign banks dominate the financial derivatives market in India. Most of these products are financial in nature with no actual bank lending involved. However, banks make money on these products through fee income. The off-balance-sheet exposure of foreign banks (e.g., currency forward contracts, interest rate derivatives) is currently very high in India. The off-balance-sheet exposure of foreign banks as proportion of their on-balance-sheet exposure was 1860 percent in 2010-11.

Inflationary Concerns

Even though there are various causes of high food inflation in India, the role of futures trading has remained contentious. In 2007, New Delhi had suspended the futures trading in key agricultural commodities due to their alleged role in triggering rapid price hike. “Participation of banks, MFs and FIIs can potentially distort the market instead of advancing it, as too much money would start chasing commodities in short supplies and result in inflation. By allowing more money to flow into commodity market, there is the danger of rising prices without corresponding benefits flowing back to those in the farm sector,” argues Chandrasekhar.

Other Policy Issues

Furthermore, this policy change is contrary to the positions India has taken at various international forums. Not long ago, India’s former Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, voiced concern at G20 over the growing influence of “financialisation” behind the increase in the level and volatility of global oil prices.

At a time when the Indian banks are struggling to raise fresh capital of Rs.4750 bn ($88 bn) before March 2018 to meet the Basel III requirements besides fulfilling mandatory financial inclusion and priority lending targets, such a move could divert resources from developmental banking to speculative trading activities which may weaken the otherwise stable banking system in the long run. For New Delhi, the first priority should be to remove structural bottlenecks in the agrarian economy and improve efficiency of the underlying spot markets in cooperation with state governments.

By Kavaljit Singh

28 August, 2012

@ Global Research.ca

This article is an excerpt from a Policy Brief published by Madhyam (New Delhi) in close collaboration with SOMO (Amsterdam).

Kavaljit Singh is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Kavaljit Singh

French President Hollande Calls For Formation Of Syrian Opposition Government

Yesterday, at a conference of France’s ambassadors held in Paris, newly-elected French President François Hollande called for the US-backed Syrian opposition parties to form a government, which he said France would recognize.

Hollande’s move comes one week after US President Barack Obama threatened to invade Syria if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared ready to use chemical weapons against US-backed anti-Assad fighters. This marked the first open threat of direct military intervention into Syria by the imperialist powers. Until then, they had organized the funding and arming of their proxy forces, largely Sunni Islamist fighters, through the offices of the Saudi and Qatari monarchies and the Turkish government.

Hollande’s comments addressed a range of international issues, but centered on the crisis in Syria and the Middle East. They amount to an official declaration by the French government, worked out with Washington, that it is pursuing regime-change by military force in Syria.

Hollande said: “France is asking the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government that will be both inclusive and representative, that can become the legitimate representative of the new Syria. We will work with our Arab partners to accelerate this process, and France will recognize the provisional government of the new Syria as soon as it is formed.”

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland echoed Hollande’s proposal. Speaking of the Syrian opposition, she said: “So that’s the first order of business—for them to all agree on what a transition ought to look like. Obviously, it’s a matter for them to decide if and when they may be prepared to start naming folks.”

This amounts to a plan for Paris, backed by Washington and its other imperialist allies, to impose a new government on Syria that has no popular legitimacy. The anti-Assad forces—comprised of Sunni Islamist militias, various petty-bourgeois “left” groups, and international Islamist terrorist groups affiliated to Al Qaeda—are deeply internally divided and unpopular, especially in Syria’s major cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

Hollande’s proposal is all the more brazen in that France is the former colonial power in Syria. It ruled the country when the League of Nations put it under French mandate in 1920 until shortly after the end of World War II, during which it was briefly controlled by the fascist Vichy regime.

Hollande made clear that he plans to carry out this policy by force of arms, aiding the proxy war by anti-Assad forces in Syria. He said: “We are helping notably those who are organizing the liberated zones on Syrian territory. We are working on the buffer zones proposed by Turkey. We are doing it with our closest partners.”

These proposals involve offering the military protection of France, Turkey, or their allies to anti-Assad forces, so they can seize parts of Syria’s territory and hold it against the Syrian government. Despite the euphemistic terminology, Hollande’s proposal is objectively an act of war, attacking Syria’s territorial integrity with the threat, or the use, of military force.

With his allusion to France’s “closest partners,” Hollande left no doubt that his declaration had been discussed with the United States.

Towards the beginning of his speech, moreover, he said: “Alliances, yes, we have one with the United States, and this relation today is marked by confidence. I have had the opportunity to note with President Obama the magnitude of our agreement on the major international questions, the economic crisis, and the imperative of [economic] growth.”

Hollande also echoed Obama’s threat of military intervention in Syria: “We remain very vigilant with our allies to prevent the use of chemical weapons by the regime, which would constitute for the international community a legitimate cause for direct intervention.”

The invocation of the threat of chemical weapons is no less cynical than Hollande’s concern for the human rights of the Syrian people, who routinely face bombings and shootings organized by Islamist forces armed to the teeth by the NATO powers and their Middle East allies. Even though the US proxy war has lasted for over a year, the Assad government has not used chemical weapons. Moreover, it has pledged not to use them against Syrians.

Far from being politically legitimate, the actions of the United States government and its European allies are fundamentally criminal. They are attempting to impose upon an ex-colonial country an unrepresentative and lawless government, which will be dependent on its ties with world finance capital and the military might of its imperialist backers.

One indication of the class character of such a regime is the record of the Libyan regime installed last year at the end of the NATO war in Libya, in a proxy war similar to the one now being waged in Syria.

Despite elections held on July 7, the country is still wracked by violence between the competing regional, tribal, and Islamist militias who served as NATO’s proxies in the war against the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdel Al was recently forced to resign over allegations of complicity in the desecration of Sufi shrines and the burning of libraries by ultraconservative Sunni Islamists.

As it resumed consular services in Libya on Monday, the US State Department advised American citizens that it was too dangerous to visit: “The Department of State warns US citizens against all but essential travel to Libya. The incidence of violent crime, especially carjacking and robbery, has become a serious problem. In addition, political violence in the form of assassinations and vehicle bombs has increased in both Benghazi and Tri

By Alex Lantier

28 August, 2012

@ WSWS.org

Rachel Corrie Death Ruled An Accident

A district court in Haifa has rejection a civil lawsuit that the state of Israel and its armed forces were at fault in the death of American human rights activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli Defense Force bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.

“I reject the suit,” Judge Oded Gershone said in the briefly worded verdict. “There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages.”

The lawsuit accused the Israeli military of either unlawfully or intentionally killing Rachel or of gross negligence.

The suit was filed by Rachel’s parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, who requested only $1 in damages and legal expenses.

Both were present for the reading of the verdict. “I am hurt,” Corrie’s mother said at a press conference after the verdict was announced.

“From the beginning it was clear to us that there was… a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military, to provide them with impunity at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do,” she said.

She added: “I believe this is a bad day not only for our family, but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel.”

The family’s lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, responded to the verdict by saying: “While not surprising, this verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness. Rachel Corrie was killed while non-violently protesting home demolitions and injustice in Gaza, and today, this court has given its stamp of approval to flawed and illegal practices that failed to protect civilian life. In this regard, the verdict blames the victim based on distorted facts and it could have been written directly by the state attorneys.”

Abu Hussein made assurance that the ruling would be appealed to Israel’s supreme court.

Human rights advocates bemoaned the verdict, with some calling for an intensification of the international divestment campaign against Israel and private companies who profit from the continued occupation of Palestinian lands and the destruction of Palestinian homes.

“At the time of her death, Rachel was trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes by Caterpillar bulldozers,” said Riham Barghouti, a member of the We Divest National Coordinating Committee. “Israel’s illegal policy of destroying Palestinian homes in the occupied territories, sometimes extending to entire villages, remains as urgent an issue today as it was when Rachel was killed. In Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and Hebron Hills, Palestinians continue to live with the daily threat of their homes and property being confiscated or demolished by Israeli authorities.”

Caterpillar, the US company that supplies the Israeli military with bulldozers like the one that killed Corrie, have long been a target of activists hoping to call attention to the interplay between private corporations and the ongoing military occupation of the West Bank and blockade Gaza.

By Common Dreams

28 August, 2012

@ CommonDreams.org

How Quickly Will The U.S. Leave Afghanistan?

In the wake of several deaths among its contingent of troops in a previously peaceful province in Afghanistan, New Zealand (like France and South Korea) is now expediting the departure of its 140 soldiers. That’s not exactly headline-making news here in the U.S. If you’re an American, you probably didn’t even know that New Zealand was playing a small part in our Afghan War. In fact, you may hardly have known about the part Americans are playing in a war that, over the last decade-plus, has repeatedly been labeled “the forgotten war.”

Still, maybe it’s time to take notice. Maybe the flight of those Kiwis should be thought of as a small omen, even if they are departing as decorously, quietly, and flightlessly as possible. Because here’s the thing: once the November election is over, “expedited departure” could well become an American term and the U.S., as it slips ignominiously out of Afghanistan, could turn out to be the New Zealand of superpowers.

You undoubtedly know the phrase: the best laid plans of mice and men. It couldn’t be more apt when it comes to the American project in Afghanistan. Washington’s plans have indeed been carefully drawn up. By the end of 2014, U.S. “combat troops” are to be withdrawn, but left behind on the giant bases the Pentagon has built will be thousands of U.S. trainers and advisers, as well as special operations forces to go after al-Qaeda remnants (and other “militants”), and undoubtedly the air power to back them all up.

Their job will officially be to continue to “stand up” the humongous security force that no Afghan government in that thoroughly impoverished country will ever be able to pay for. Thanks to a 10-year Strategic Partnership Agreement that President Obama flew to Kabul to seal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as May began, there they are to remain until 2020 or beyond.

In other words, it being Afghanistan, we need a translator. The American “withdrawal” regularly mentioned in the media doesn’t really mean “withdrawal.” On paper at least, for years to come the U.S. will partially occupy a country that has a history of loathing foreigners who won’t leave (and making them pay for it).

Tea Boys and Old Men

Plans are one thing, reality another. After all, when invading U.S. troops triumphantly arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in April 2003, the White House and the Pentagon were already planning to stay forever and a day — and they instantly began building permanent bases (though they preferred to speak of “permanent access” via “enduring camps”) as a token of their intent. Only a couple of years later, in a gesture that couldn’t have been more emphatic in planning terms, they constructed the largest (and possibly most expensive) embassy on the planet as a regional command center in Baghdad. Yet somehow, those perfectly laid plans went desperately awry and only a few years later, with American leaders still looking for ways to garrison the country into the distant future, Washington found itself out on its ear. But that’s reality for you, isn’t it?

Right now, evidence on the ground — in the form of dead American bodies piling up — indicates that even the Afghans closest to us don’t exactly second the Obama administration’s plans for a 20-year occupation. In fact, news from the deep-sixed war in that forgotten land, often considered the longest conflict in American history, has suddenly burst onto the front pages of our newspapers and to the top of the TV news. And there’s just one reason for that: despite the copious plans of the planet’s last superpower, the poor, backward, illiterate, hapless, corrupt Afghans — whose security forces, despite unending American financial support and mentoring, have never effectively “stood up” — made it happen. They have been sending a stark message, written in blood, to Washington’s planners.

A 15-year-old “tea boy” at a U.S. base opened fire on Marine special forces trainers exercising at a gym, killing three of them and seriously wounding another; a 60- or 70-year-old farmer, who volunteered to become a member of a village security force, turned the first gun his American special forces trainers gave him at an “inauguration ceremony” back on them, killing two; a police officer who, his father claims, joined the force four years earlier, invited Marine Special Operations advisers to a meal and gunned down three of them, wounding a fourth, before fleeing, perhaps to the Taliban.

About other “allies” involved in similar incidents — recently, there were at least 9 “green-on-blue” attacks in an 11-day span in which 10 Americans died — we know almost nothing, except that they were Afghan policemen or soldiers their American trainers and mentors were trying to “stand up” to fight the Taliban. Some were promptly shot to death. At least one may have escaped.

These green-on-blue incidents, which the Pentagon recently relabeled “insider attacks,” have been escalating for months. Now, they seem to have reached a critical mass and so are finally causing a public stir in official circles in Washington. A “deeply concerned” President Obama commented to reporters

By Tom Engelhardt

27 August, 2012

@ Tomdispatch.com