Jean Ziegler: This World Order is not just murderous, it is absurd

Dandelion Salad

Sent to DS by the author, thanks, Siv.

by Cathy Ceïbe
Translated By Siv O’Neall
axisoflogic.com
Nov 23, 2008, 07:56

INTRODUCTION

Jean Ziegler is a senior professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris. He is one of the leading protagonists in the world for the anti-globalization movement and has taken a continued stand for human rights, the right to food and a decent livelihood for all people. In 2000, he was appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

He kept this position until March 2008 in spite of much hard criticism from the neoliberal leaders of the U.S. and the UN for his categorical stand for equal rights for all people. His continued fight against poverty, hunger and chronic malnutrition in the world has been a constant embarrassment to the West. He is now the Swiss member of the UN Human Rights Council. His is one of the very few voices heard on the international scene speaking out loudly against the criminal financial system that has put the world in its present tailspin with hunger and lack of human rights, devastating a continually increasing mass of the world’s 6.6 billion population. Unfortunately he is not very well known in the Anglophone world, where, for obvious political reasons, his humanitarian message is hushed up.

Modern Slavery

Dandelion Salad

Truth Alone Triumphs on Feb 16, 2009

The slave market is estimated to be worth $42 billion. All over the world, people continue to be kidnapped, transported, bought and sold like commodities. But in the 21st century how can anybody be forced into slavery? And can those who escape lead normal lives? Find out in a new XL report on RT.

Bewitched, Baffled and Bewildered By William Bowles

By William Bowles
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Creative-i
26 November 2008

“Whatever else yesterday’s great budget gamble aspired to do, one thing was left unattended to: the thing which is the central disaster at the core of the financial crisis. That thing is, of course, the lack of credit coming from the banks. And there’s no sign that anyone is going to be able to force the banks to do anything. But tonight we’re asking why.“ Indeed, there are an awful lot of “whys” when it comes to the banking sector. I’m beginning to wonder whether I’ve been in some way asleep for some portion of it. Did I miss any senior bankers being arraigned in front of the Commons treasury select committee? Have I missed the attorney general sizing up who she can move against in the criminal law courts?

“It seems that whilst these activities have been going on across the Atlantic, nothing is to happen here. Faisal Islam is looking at how credit might be got moving, and we’ll see what we can do on the other matters. — Snowmail, Channel 4 News, 25 November, 2008

Now who is speaking with forked tongue here? Let me get this straight: is Jon Snow giving us his opinions on the cause of the capitalist crisis, or is this the editorial line of Channel 4 News, because I know I’m baffled by this admission of total ignorance of the facts of the situation?

Either, Snow is saying that Channel 4’s ‘news’ mavens, have, over the preceding years, misled the viewing public into thinking that the economy was solid, when in fact they had no idea one way or the other what the economy would do, except on a day-to-day basis, and even that could go pear-shaped.

Or, he’s admitting to the editorial bias implicit in every piece of news ‘analysis’ as being fixed from the getgo, simply because ‘news’ is a business, just like every other business and hews to the line in its almost mystical belief in the power of the ‘market’. ‘Cept when it fails of course.

US Plans to Stage Bomb Attacks in Iraq + Iran has uncovered Mossad espionage network

compiled by Cem Ertür
featured writer
Dandelion Salad

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8709050246

US Plans to Stage Bomb Attacks in Iraq

Fars News Agency, 25 November 2008

US troops plan to launch a series of bomb attacks in different parts of Iraq to force the country’s parliament to approve the controversial security pact through insecurity in the war-torn country, a source said.

“Following increasing protests by the people in Iraq against the approval of the security pact with the US and the likely disapproval of the agreement by the Iraqi parliament, the US military troops are planning several explosions in different parts of Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, to create an atmosphere of insecurity and pressurize the Iraqi parliament and government,” an informed source told FNA.

The US has for months been in talks with Iraqi officials to get them to sign a provocative security agreement which secures long-term US presence in Iraq.

If ratified by the Iraqi parliament, the Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) would also grant US forces in Iraq immunity from prosecution.

It also gives the occupation forces a free rein to stage military operations wherever and whenever they deem necessary.

The proposed pact has faced widespread opposition among Iraqi people and politicians.

Many fear Washington has plans to keep permanent bases, despite a denial of any such plan written into the agreement. Iraqis say the agreement would infringe on Iraq’s sovereignty by giving US forces too much freedom to operate.

“Americans intend to spread these bomb attacks to the Al-Khadra’ region (the Green Zone),” the source added.

Al-Khadra’ is a maximum security region in Baghdad where most diplomatic centers and missions are located.

“Before the endorsement of the security pact by the Iraqi government, Americans had clearly warned that they would freeze the country’s assets in case Baghdad refused to sign the agreement,” the source said, adding, “Spreading rumors about possible coup d’état was also among the other pressure levers used by the Americans to bully the Iraqi statesmen into signing the security pact.”

Iraqi cabinet last Sunday approved signing the deal with the US according to which American troops must evacuate the country by the end of 2011.

Last Monday, Hoshiyar Zebari and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker signed the draft of the agreement which took a year to reach this point.

Iraq’s parliament must approve the deal which has also faced strong criticism from members of al-Maliki’s own coalition. The Iraqi parliament is due to announce its view on the agreement through a vote on November 26.

Two Iraqi officials familiar with the negotiations have warned that opposition in the legislature was so widespread that it stood no chance of winning approval without significant changes in the US position. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy surrounding the negotiations.

***

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628538,00.html

excerpts from Iran seeks death penalty for ‘Mossad spies’
by Dudi Cohen, Ynetnews, 25 November 2008

On Monday Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said security forces had uncovered a Mossad espionage network that had been “trying to gather intelligence about the Iranian nuclear program, about the working of the Revolutionary Guard and about various people.” He described the discovery as “a severe blow to the Mossad.”

….

The men had been caught with digital cameras, which they had allegedly used in order to document different sites in the country, as well as satellite GPS equipment and laptop computers outfitted with special programs used to send and receive messages.

…..

Mortazavi said they were trained in warfare, assassination, explosive devices, operational motorcycle driving, and the execution of terrorist acts with the use of computers and satellites.

see

U.S. Uses al-Qaeda To Justify Foreign Policy By Fidel Castro Ruz

Miliband’s speech in Abu Dhabi + Iraq’s neighbors rejects using Iraqi lands as base for attack

Michael Schwartz: US-Iraq: What’s the deal?

“Bush’s Iran War Plan Delivered to Obama” + “Iran threatens global order”

Georgian diplomat: Georgia started the war

Dandelion Salad

RussiaToday

Georgia’s former ambassador to Russia Erosi Kitsmarishvili has accused his own country of starting the war in South Ossetia. His comments almost led to a fistfight between politicians.

Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan

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Democracy Now!
Nov 25, 2008

Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan

On Monday Obama named New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner to the post of the Treasury Secretary. Former Treasury Secretary under Clinton Lawrence Summers was named the Director of the National Economic Council in the White House. Obama also called for a stimulus plan that will “give a jolt to the economy.” We host a roundtable discussion about Obama’s latest economic moves [includes rush transcript].

Real Video Stream

Real Audio Stream

MP3 Download

via Democracy Now! | Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan

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IWantDemocracyNow

Russian analyst predicts decline and breakup of U.S.

Dandelion Salad

Updated: Jan 1, 2009 Added map and link to another story and another video report

Updated: Nov 27, 2008 added video

MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti)
19:31 | 24/11/2008

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily Izvestia published on Monday: “The dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.”

The paper said Panarin’s dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year’s events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: “It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world’s financial regulator.”

[…]

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts – the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that “we could claim Alaska – it was only granted on lease, after all.”

[…]

via RIA Novosti – World – Russian analyst predicts decline and breakup of U.S.

***

Update

“There will be civil war in US in 2009”

RussiaToday

The break-up of America into six pieces? Alaska joining the Russian Federation? Will Russia survive the crisis? Igor Panarin, a Russian professor of economics, discusses these questions when he dropped by the RT studio on Thursday.

`There will be civil war in US in 2009`

***

Updated

More: Barack Obama: the United States of America’s forty-third, and last, President? – OPERATION ITCH

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Russian Professor Predicts the USA Disintegrates

heathr456

CNN talks to Prof. Igor Panarin who theorizes that by 2010 the United States will fracture.

Russian Professor Predicts the USA Di…

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You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet By Mike Whitney

Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy

Colossal Financial Collapse: The Truth behind the Citigroup Bank “Nationalization” by F. William Engdahl

$20 billion here, $20 billion there… by Josh Sidman

Kucinich: Bankers party while America burns

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Mosaic News – 11/24/08: World News from the Middle East

Dandelion Salad

Warning

.

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

linktv

Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute

“Woman in suicide attack as 19 die in Baghdad bombings,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar”
“PLO declares Abbas ‘symbolic president of State of Palestine’,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Israelis in US desperate to return home,” IBA TV, Israel
“Jerusalem The Capital of Arab Culture,” Dubai TV, UAE
“The military implications if the Gaza cease-fire collapses,” Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
“Egyptian court orders gas export halt to Israel,” New TV, Lebanon
“Kasala, Sudan: A Town of Coexistance,” Nile TV, Egypt
“The Chicken Hawks,” Saudi TV, Saudi Arabia
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Mosaic News – 11/24/08: World News fr…“, posted with vodpod

U.S. Uses al-Qaeda To Justify Foreign Policy By Fidel Castro Ruz

Dandelion Salad

By Fidel Castro Ruz
ICH
November 25, 2008 “Granma”

Reflections of Fidel – Stella Calloni

HER book exposes a series of atrocious crimes recently committed by the United States against the Latin American peoples. It is a basic text for understanding the real meaning of the Yankee imperialism. It is the most objective and detailed denunciation that I have read to date, unsurpassed in its style and eloquence. She gives an impressive list of outstanding figures, both military and civilian, vilely assassinated inside and outside their respective countries, including such prestigious personalities as the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the Chilean Generals Schneider and Prats, presidents of other nations, as well as the conspiracy in Chile which concluded with the death of Salvador Allende and the establishment of a fascist government. There were U.S. Presidents directly involved, like Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr.  Stella is known in our country for that work.

But it was the paper given by the Argentine author to the International Conference “Revolution and Intervention in Latin America,” which took place recently in Caracas, which called my attention to her again. She sent a copy of the paper to us in Cuba.

She refers to a silent invasion on all fronts: the weapon of disinformation, the neocolonization of Latin America, the “backyard” as the “strategic reserve” of the empire, operative counterinsurgency, the “soft” blows, the informatics intoxication, left-wing groups acting together with extreme-right pro-coup sectors; the powerful enemy deliberately assaulting the soul of the peoples, their culture and identity; advanced colonialists and belated colonialisms. The author reminds us of the brutal invasion of Panama on December 20, 1989, preceded by a disinformation campaign which, in this case, managed to penetrate progressive and leftist sectors. She recalls incredible and crude media manipulation of the reasons advanced by the United States to invade the small nation of little more than two million inhabitants – a country divided into two by a colonial enclave maintained there by the hegemonic power since the beginning of the past century – and the still incomprehensible paralysis of Latin America. Up until today, she told us, it is unknown that thousands of people died there. “Panama was the Guernica of Latin America.”

The System Implodes: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008

Dandelion Salad

by Robert Weissman
Multinational Monitor

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Multinational Monitor’s annual list of the 10 Worst Corporations of the year.

In the 20 years that we’ve published our annual list, we’ve covered corporate villains, scoundrels, criminals and miscreants. We’ve reported on some really bad stuff — from Exxon’s Valdez spill to Union Carbide and Dow’s effort to avoid responsibility for the Bhopal disaster; from oil companies coddling dictators (including Chevron and CNPC, both profiled this year) to a bank (Riggs) providing financial services for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet; from oil and auto companies threatening the future of the planet by blocking efforts to address climate change to duplicitous tobacco companies marketing cigarettes around the world by associating their product with images of freedom, sports, youthful energy and good health.

But we’ve never had a year like 2008.

The financial crisis first gripping Wall Street and now spreading rapidly throughout the world is, in many ways, emblematic of the worst of the corporate-dominated political and economic system that we aim to expose with our annual 10 Worst list. Here is how.

[…]

Companies:
AIG
Cargill
Chevron
CNPC
Constellation Energy
Dole
General Electric
Imperial Sugar
Philip Morris Int’l.
Roche

via Multinational Monitor

h/t: Global Research

see

Who Is A.I.G. And Why Should You Care? By Mike Ruppert (2001)

The Burmese Regime’s Lifeline – Chevron’s Pipeline By Amy Goodman

Eaten Up By Ed Pilkington

Colossal Financial Collapse: The Truth behind the Citigroup Bank “Nationalization” by F. William Engdahl

Dandelion Salad

by F. William Engdahl
Global Research, November 24, 2008

On Friday November 21, the world came within a hair’s breadth of the most colossal financial collapse in history according to bankers on the inside of events with whom we have contact. The trigger was the bank which only two years ago was America’s largest, Citigroup. The size of the US Government de facto nationalization of the $2 trillion banking institution is an indication of shocks yet to come in other major US and perhaps European banks thought to be ‘too big to fail.’

The clumsy way in which US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, himself not a banker but a Wall Street ‘investment banker’, whose experience has been in the quite different world of buying and selling stocks or bonds or underwriting and selling same, has handled the unfolding crisis has been worse than incompetent. It has made a grave situation into a globally alarming one.

‘Spitting into the wind’

A case in point is the secretive manner in which Paulson has used the $700 billion in taxpayer funds voted him by a labile Congress in September. Early on, Paulson put $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 billion for his old firm, Goldman Sachs. However, if we compare the value of the equity share that $125 billion bought with the market price of those banks’ stock, US taxpayers have paid $125 billion for bank stock that a private investor could have bought for $62.5 billion, according to a detailed analysis from Ron W. Bloom, economist with the US United Steelworkers union, whose members as well as pension fund face devastating losses were GM to fail.

That means half of the public’s money was a gift to Paulson’s Wall Street cronies. Now, only weeks later, the Treasury is forced to intervene to de facto nationalize Citigroup. It won’t be the last.

Paulson demanded, and got from a labile US Congress, Democrat as well as Republican, sole discretion over how and where he can invest the $700 billion, to date with no effective oversight. It amounts to the Treasury Secretary in effect ‘spitting into the wind’ in terms of resolving the fundamental crisis.

$20 billion here, $20 billion there… by Josh Sidman

Josh

by Josh Sidman
Dandelion Salad
featured writer
Josh’s Blog Post
November 25, 2008

The late Senator Everett Dirksen famously quipped, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Times have changed. Nowadays a billion is a mere rounding error, ten billion elicits little more than yawns, a hundred billion might start to raise a few eyebrows.

In the latest of a never-ending series of public bailouts, today the government injected $20 billion into Citigroup (on top of a previous infusion of $25 billion). In response, the stock price of the company surged 60%, representing an increase in shareholder wealth of approximately $13 billion. In other words, while increasing numbers of Americans are crushed by a financial crisis caused in large part by companies like Citigroup, the government saw fit to take another $20 billion of taxpayer money and give it to the very people who caused the problem in the first place.

Now, I agree with the notion that a company like Citigroup may be “too big to fail”. The consequences of letting an institution like Citi go under would be dramatic and far-reaching, but this is no argument for rewarding shareholders. Those who profited from the excesses of the lending bubble ought to bear the full brunt of the crisis they helped to create, and if that means that the stock price goes to zero, so be it.

Let’s think about what we could do with $20 billion if we decided not to use it to reward the very people who caused the problem in the first place.

We could open the phone book and select 20,000 people at random and give each of them a million dollars. I bet that would stimulate the economy. Or we could select 400,000 high school seniors and give them each $50,000 to put toward a college education. Or we could identify 20 companies that are likely to play a leading role in the “green economy” of the 21st Century and give each of them a billion dollars to invest in research and development.

And that’s just one bailout. Imagine what we could have done with all of the money that has been plowed into AIG, Fannie, Freddie, etc., etc. I guess all of this should come as no surprise given that the man in charge is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. And, hopeful as I am that President Obama will deliver on his promises of change, his appointments of such establishment figures as Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Tom Daschle doesn’t instill a great deal of confidence that his administration will represent a true changing-of-the-guard.

Aw hell, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I think I’m just gonna try to figure out which will be the next mega-corporation to receive a $20 billion bailout and buy their stock. Heck, I might even see if I can put it on my credit card.

see

Is Citigroup Thankful for Corrupt Government and Robbed Taxpayers? by Cindy Sheehan

Kucinich: Bankers party while America burns

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet By Mike Whitney

Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse

Kucinich: Bankers party while America burns

Dandelion Salad

RussiaToday

A Democratic Congressman in the US has launched a scathing attack on some bank executives, who he accuses of throwing parties while the US economy goes up in smoke. Dennis Kucinich added that restoring good relations with Russia is vital for the recovery of the American economy.

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet By Mike Whitney

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By Mike Whitney
November 24, 2008 “Information Clearinghouse”

“The problems we face today cannot be solved by the minds that created them” — Albert Einstein

Obama hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and already the Wall Street cheerleaders are celebrating his first great triumph. According the pundits, the stock market staged a surprise 494 point rally on Friday because–get this–it was announced that Timothy Geithner would be appointed Obama’s Treasury Secretary.

Timothy who?

What nonsense. The sudden turn-around in stocks had a lot more to do with short-covering than anything else, but don’t let that get in the way of a good story. Even so, the last minute surge on the NYSE couldn’t stop another week-long bloodbath that ended with the Dow and S&P 500 tumbling another 5 percent. That’s not to say that Geithner is not bright and talented guy. He is; and so is his White House counterpart, Lawrence Summers. But the media hype is way overdone. Geithner doesn’t drive the markets and he isn’t “change you can believe in”. In fact, he’s a protege of Henry Kissinger, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has the same political pedigree as his predecessor, Henry Paulson. They’re both part of the ruling fraternity and their views of the world are nearly identical. There’s no doubt that Geithner will be more competent and effective than Paulson but, then again, who wouldn’t be? Paulson may be the biggest flop at Treasury since Andrew Mellon steered the country onto the reef during the Great Depression. The recent flap over the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) just proves the point. After convincing Congress to pass a $700 billion bailout plan–by invoking the specter of economic Armageddon and martial law–the former G-Sax chairman proceeded to set up a program for buying back mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other junk paper from his banking buddies. Paulson argued that removing the crappy loans would help the banks get back on their feet and start lending again. Of course, no one could really figure out how the process was going to be executed, but maybe that’s just nit-picking. Fortunately, Paulson never got a chance carry out his plan. He was torpedoed by the stock market which plunged seven days in a row losing nearly 20 percent of its value until Paulson threw in the towel and did what 200 economists had suggested from the very beginning—buy preferred shares in the banks so they could rev-up their credit engines again.

Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy

Dandelion Salad

http://www.telegraph.co.uk
25 Nov 2008

The money will be used to buy mortgage- and asset-backed securities to try to get banks lending to consumers again, in the form of car and student loans, mortgages and credit cards.

The vast sum is in addition to the $700billion bank bailout announced last month.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said: “Millions of Americans cannot find affordable financing for their basic credit needs.”

He added that the boost could grow “over time” to cover other types of assets.

The loan system for this type of debt in the US came to a near-standstill in October.

The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to holders of AAA-rated asset-backed securities for a term of at least one year, with holders of the securities expected to accept “a haircut” reflecting the reduced market value.

via Federal Reserve announces new $800bn boost to strengthen US economy – Telegraph + video

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Federal Reserve

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse