"We are the juncture of the most serious crisis in modern history"

[Dirk39]

Hello from Germany,
the most frightening issue in his speech for me is that he's supposing, the USA would have plans for another 9/11 and would attack Syria next. Is he paranoid?


The following is the background text of Michel Chossudovsky's public lecture at the Society for the Defense of Civil Rights and Human Dignity (GBM), Berlin, 10-11 December, 2003 and Humboldt University, Berlin, 12 December 2003.

On Human Rights Day, 10 December 2003, Michel Chossudovsky was awarded The 2003 Human's Rights Prize of the Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity (GBM).

"The Bush Administration has embarked upon a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.

The wars on Afghanistan and Iraq are part of a broader military agenda, which was launched at the end of the Cold War. The ongoing war agenda is a continuation of the 1991 Gulf War and the NATO led wars on Yugoslavia (1991-2001).

The post Cold War period has also been marked by numerous US covert intelligence operations within the former Soviet Union, which were instrumental in triggering civil wars in several of the former republics including Chechnya (within the Russian Federation), Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the latter, these covert operations were launched with a view to securing strategic control over oil and gas pipeline corridors.

US military and intelligence operations in the post Cold War era were led in close coordination with the "free market reforms" imposed under IMF guidance in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Balkans, which resulted in the destabilization of national economies and the impoverishment of millions of people."

America's War for Global Domination

[izzie]

1. Does this turn up in English any place? Looks about right.

Neo-cons and Right-wing are really doing evil with the money and power of the USA.One is not sure we can beat it, Evil men can take down a country with some help of those that like what they say and when they have deep pockets and the army it is a double hit.

[Dirk39]

3. Hi! The link leads to the whole lecture!

I'm esp. concerned about that quote from General Franks:

"General Franks, who led the military campaign into Iraq, pointed recently (October 2003) to the role of a "massive casualty-producing event" to muster support for the imposition of military rule in America. (See General Tommy Franks calls for Repeal of US Constitution, November 2003, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/EDW311A.html ).

Franks identifies the precise scenario whereby military rule will be established:

"a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world - it may be in the United States of America - that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event." (Ibid)

This statement from an individual, who was actively involved in military and intelligence planning at the highest levels, suggests that the "militarisation of our country" is an ongoing operational assumption. It is part of the broader "Washington consensus". It identifies the Bush administration's "roadmap" of war and "Homeland Defense." Needless to say, it is also an integral part of the neoliberal agenda.

The "terrorist massive casualty-producing event" is presented by General Franks as a crucial political turning point. The resulting crisis and social turmoil are intended to facilitate a major shift in US political, social and institutional structures.

General Franks' statement reflects a consensus within the US Military as to how events ought to unfold. The "war on terrorism" is to provide a justification for repealing the Rule of Law, ultimately with a view to "preserving civil liberties."

Franks' interview suggests that an Al Qaeda sponsored terrorist attack will be used as a "trigger mechanism" for a military coup d'état in America. The PNAC's "Pearl Harbor type event" would be used as a justification for declaring a State of emergency, leading to the establishment of a military government.

In many regards, the militarisation of civilian State institutions in the US is already functional under the facade of a bogus democracy.

War Propaganda"

Dirk

[area51]

9. Somewhat OT (Translations)

izzie said:

"Does this turn up in English any place?"

If you're interested in a free translation of a webpage (translations are available in several different languages), you could try this place:


Systran Software

I know it's not as good as a human translation, but it's better than nothing.

[Bill of Rights]

2. Wesley Clark

has been saying this about the Bush regime for a while. I tend to believe Clark and think the gentleman you quoted is not overly paranoid. After all, Bush henchmen have said they have a plan to "redo" the Middle East. I am just afraid that the American people could be talked into trying to do this.

[Character Assassin]

4. There are some pretty outrageous claims with no support

The new nuclear policy explicitly involves the large defense contractors in decision-making. It is tantamount to the "privatization" of nuclear war. Corporations not only reap multibillion dollar profits from the production of nuclear bombs, they also have a direct voice in setting the agenda regarding the use and deployment of nuclear weapons.

This one in particular.

[redqueen]

6. You want support? Here it is

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/030406/ft/5.html
Nine members of the Defence Policy Board have ties to defence contractors

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH16Ak02.html
Massive military contractor's media mess

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1210-03.htm
The Booming Defense Business (originally in LA Times)

http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve03/1143power.html
The Power Brokers (originally in The Guardian)

...In addition to being in government many are members of a group of "think tanks" with overlapping memberships.

A number of them are to be found on the Bush administration's Defense Policy Advisory Committee Board (DPB). The DPB gives allegedly "independent" policy advice to the Secretary of Defence and his deputies. Almost all of Board's 30 or so members are from the private business sector.

The Center for Pubic Integrity reports that the Board's members have ties to leading military corporations such as Boeing, TRW, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton and "at least nine have ties to companies that have won more than $US76 billion in defense contracts in 2001 and 2002". Some are registered lobbyists for defense contractors.

In many respects these powerful, privately sponsored institutes have become the most listened to advisers to the Government, a role more often associated with government departments whose staff are directly employed by the State. This is one form of the "privatisation of government" that is now taking place in Australia.
--------


That's just a few... you can find many more ties between military contractors and their lobbyists to the groups that directly influence US defence policy if you care to look.

[loudnclear]

13. Good answer!!

eom

[K-W]

12. Not really outrageous when you consider that

energy companies set energy policy, logging companies set forestry policy, pharmacutical companies and HMO's set health policy, it really only makes sense that defense companies would have a say in defense policy

Corporate america bankrolled these nut jobs so they would have say in just about everything.

[onecitizen]

5. No, not paranoid........

it's just the he "knows" already.

[seemslikeadream]

7. First, thanks for acknowledging my post about Congo Dirk39

I've written about Congo several times and no one responds. Have you any idea why? Is it just too horrific?

Speaking of civil wars the U.S. has had a hand in, and now George Bush Sr. reaping the benifits of (Barrick Gold), all for those presious minerials.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is possibly the most mineral rich place on earth - though this has proved a curse to the people of the Congo. The Congo holds millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese,uranium (the atomic bombs dropped on Hirochima and Nagaski were built using Congolese uranium), and coltan. Coltan, a substance made up of columbium and tantalum, is a particularly valuable resourse - use to make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and micro-capacitors.

Coltan looks like black mud, but is three times heavier than iron and only slightly lighter than gold. It is found in abundance in eastern Congo and can be mined with minimal equipment. Coltan is vital to the high tech economy. Wireless electronic communication would not exist without it. The "mud" is refined into tantalum - a metallic element that is both a superb conductor of electricity and extremely heat-resistant. Tantalum powder is a vital component in capacitors, for the control of the flow of current in miniature circuit boards. Capacitors are made of tantalum are found inside every laptop, pager, personal digital assistant, and mobile phone. Tantalum is also used in the aviation and atomic energy industries. A very small group of companies in the world process coltan. These include H.C. Starck(Germany,a subsidiary of Bayer), Cabott Inc. (US), Ningxia (China), and Ulba (Kazakhstan). The world's biggest coltan mines are in Australia and they account for about 60% of world production. It is generally believed, however that 80% of the world's reserves are in Africa, with DRC accounting for 80% of the African reserves.
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue13/issue13_part3.htm

Three million lives have been lost in Congo since 1998 alone

[redqueen]

8. Every time someone mentions the slaughter in Yugoslavia

I bring up the Congo.

No one can ever explain why the lives of people in that region are so much more worthy of defending than the lives of people in the Congo.

:(

[SoCalDem]

10. Lots of Americans do NOT want to know about Africa

Think about it.. For "most" people, Africa conjures up images of:

The old Tarzan movies.. These movies all portrayed Africans as dumb savages..
Apartheid..which we conveniently ignored for way too long
Slavery....which our country used for centuries, and yet have conveniently "sanitized" and about which,taught young people very little
AIDS...... Our government would benefit greatly by a depopulated Africa.. Sick people do not fight occupation as readilly as well ones.. The young men who contract this disease , die YOUNG, and the children they father are often infected too.. What a plan.:(.. In about 10 years, the US will have no problem with Africa.

Africa is only "valuable" to most Americans as a place to plunder their natural resources.. The Republicans are a patient lot.. They will wait and let disease and wars do their dirty work:(

[Dirk39]

11. Hi,

I really started to understand what's going on there in the Congo, when I did read Michel Chossudovskys' "The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order". I thought more people here would know him, at least from the globalresearch.ca webpage.
He's Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca. He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

I think the wrong image of Africa in many peoples' mind just fits perfectly. It's as if people, who are not able to build civilized societies become victims of their own inabilities, while the "rich" countries tried to support them so much, but without much results. And the image of tribal wars just perfectly fits. It's still the "wild black". Nothing is further from any truth. I know a lot about Africa, 'cause I know a lot of legal and illegal refugees from Africa here in Germany, mostly from Nigeria, Liberia and Ghana.
The truth about how tribal differences in the Congo were made-up and provoked within a long time, starting with Belgium and ongoing in the tragedy happening during the last years really seems to be something, only few people want to know about.
And in a way, stupidity, ignorance and cynicism meet, when the aids-tragedy in Africa somehow seems to be related to their population -growth in the minds of the uninformed.
Liebe Grüße,
Dirk

[seemslikeadream]

14. Congo History in a Nutshell

Fierce rioting in 1959 resulted in Belgium abruptly granting independence in 1960. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. Shortly after independence, the US took over in a bloddy coup. The CIA arranged the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the country's first elected leader. In his place they installed their paid agent Colonel Mubutu Sese Seko. In Mobutu's 37 years as ruler of the Congo (which he renamed Zaire) he managed to amass a huge personal fortune and continued to oppress the general population. Nevertheless, he remained popular with Weatern governments and companies. From 1965 to 1991, Zaire received more than 1.5 billion in US economic and military aid. According to the World Bank (a long time supporter of Mobutu), 64.7% of Zaire's budget was reserved for Mobutu's discretionary spending. Mobutu's greed was ultimately his downfall. When he tried to stop sharing the Congo's wealth with his Western backers, the US prepared for him to be overthrown. In October 1996, the Rwandan army along with Ugandan troops invaded Zaire and and by May 1997 had forced Mobutu to flee to Morocco.The invasion was disguised as a local rebellion. The Tutsi Rwandan forces called themselves the Alliance of Demicratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) and recruited Laurent Kabila, an exiled Congolese Marxist, as a figurehead leader. Kabila was installed as Presidnet and changed the country's name back to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In July 1998, Kabila expelled Rwandan and Ugandan forces from the Congo. On 2nd August, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the eastern region of the Congo and set up surrogate 'rebel' armies. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia sent their armies to support Kabila and Burundi joined the Twandans and Angolans. This was the start of the second Congo War. The US backed the Rwandan and Ugandan invasion and pressured Kabila into signing the Lusaka Accord which treated the conflict as a civil war. The result is a partitioned Congo with Rwanda and Uganda still occupying the eastern half and ignoring all deadlines for leaving. On 17th January 2001, on the fortieth anniversay of the assassination of Lumumba, Laurent Kabila was assassinated. Joseph Kabila, Laurent's son, took over as Presidnet.

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue13/issue13_part3.htm


Le gra