Nederlandse Leger Martelt 11

De actie van Nederlandse mariniers op 21 oktober 2003 op de schapenmarkt te As Samawah.

De Volkskrant blijft de zaak over het martelen van Nederlandse militairen in Irak goed volgen:

'Marechaussee meldt wangedrag in Irak.
Van onze verslaggevers Jan Hoedeman, Theo Koelé

DEN HAAG - Marechaussees hebben ‘schendingen van mensenrechten’ door mariniers in Zuid-Irak gemeld bij de onderzoekscommissie-Van den Berg. Een kleine honderd Iraakse verdachten zijn in oktober 2003 een dag zonder eten en drinken geblinddoekt gevangen houden. Plastic handboeien zijn bij een aantal zo strak aangetrokken dat de handen niet meer doorbloedden, toiletbezoek was niet mogelijk. De waardigheid van gedetineerden werd geschonden doordat leidinggevenden voor privégebruik kiekjes maakten.
De onderzoekscommissie-Van den Berg is ingesteld na berichten in de Volkskrant over wangedrag van Nederlandse militairen bij de behandeling van Iraakse gevangenen. Volgens meldingen die ook de top van de Koninklijke Marechaussee hebben bereikt, was er sprake van strafbare feiten tijdens en na een actie van mariniers op 21 oktober 2003 op een schapenmarkt te As Samawah, gericht tegen illegale wapenhandel.'

Lees verder: http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article426612.ece/
Marechaussee_meldt_wangedrag_in_Irak

Het is te prijzen dat de twee Volkskrant-journalisten deze zaak boven water hebben gebracht en blijven volgen. Van een geheel ander journalistiek niveau is NOS Journaal-hoofdredacteur Hans Laroes.

Een tijd geleden schreef ik op deze weblog:

'Vanochtend schreef Laroes een directief voor zijn ondergeschikten, de radio en televisieredacties van de NOS, waarin hij zonder overleg met deze redacties bepaalde dat de Nederlandse militaire schendingen van de mensenrechten 'wangedrag' moesten worden genoemd. Dus geen marteling, maar 'wangedrag.' Hans is geen jurist maar toch dacht hij de juiste benaming te hebben gevonden. Zijn ondergeschikten lachten er besmuikt over, toen ze juristen vroegen hoe dit 'wangedrag' genoemd moest worden, want deze deskundigen antwoordden onmiddellijk dat deze militaire handelingen in strijd zijn met het internationaal recht. Het maakt in wezen niet uit wat men het precies noemt, wrede behandeling of onmenselijke behandeling, vernederende behandeling, het is absoluut in strijd met de normen en waarden van het internationaal recht. Sommige juristen noemen het dan ook marteling. Zeker is dat het woord wangedrag in dit verband absurd is. Zie ook Amnesty International.' Waarom spindoctorde jij dit woord? Het ging hier niet over een uit de hand gelopen studenten feestje, of het urineren op de dansvloer, maar over mishandeling van mensen in gevangenschap, burgers die alleen nog maar verdacht werden van iets!'

Ik ben benieuwd hoe de oekaze van Hans zal luiden zodra het onderzoeksresultaat officieel bekend wordt gemaakt. Wangedrag? Martelen? Oorlogsmisaden? Schendingen van de mensenrechten?

Het Neoliberale Geloof 36

Het neoliberale geloof verordonneert dat alles onder het beheer van de gemeenschap in handen moet komen van totalitaire instituten die geen enkele democratie kennen, want dat dan alles beter gaat verlopen. Iedereen wordt rijker en de wereld krijgt meer water. En zoals elk geloof spoort het niet met de werkelijkheid.

Bericht van Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth International, Transnational Institute, A SEED Europe, World Development Movement):

'Protest tegen Nederlandse steun voor waterprivatiseringsagenda Wereldbank

Op 23 mei brengen activisten een onverwacht bezoek aan de
jaarvergadering van een omstreden Wereldbank-agentschap in
Scheveningen. De activisten zullen middels een swingende
actie protesteren tegen de privatisering van watervoorziening
in arme landen. Het bevorderen van privatisering is een van
de voornaamste activiteiten van het agentschap, de
Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF).

De Nederlandse regering blijft een van de grote verdedigers
van de PPIAF en haar beleid. Dit blijkt uit recente
uitspraken van minister van ontwikkelingssamenwerking Bert
Koenders. Deze opstelling staat haaks op de situatie binnen
Nederland, waar drinkwatervoorziening uitsluitend verzorgd
wordt door publieke waterbedrijven, tot algemene
tevredenheid. De Nederlandse steun voor het
privatiseringsbeleid van de Wereldbank is tegenstrijdig en
ongeloofwaardig, zegt Olivier Hoedeman van Corporate Europe
Observatory (CEO). In plaats van vast te houden aan een
achterhaald beleid, zou Nederland op internationaal niveau
een voortrekkersrol kunnen spelen bij het versterken van de
publieke drinkwatervoorziening in ontwikkelingslanden,
bijvoorbeeld door het bevorderen van publiek-publieke
samenwerking. Noorwegen trok zich eerder dit jaar terug uit
de PPIAF. Verwacht wordt dat binnenkort meer donorlanden het
Noorse voorbeeld zullen volgen.

De privatiseringsgolf van de afgelopen jaren heeft niet
geleid tot meer of beter water voor de armen. Bovendien
ondermijnt de PPIAF het recht van arme landen om zelf te
bepalen hoe zij hun drinkwatervoorziening willen inrichten.
Vandaag roepen we de Wereldbank en regeringen dan ook op om
de stop uit de PPIAF te trekken, zegt Janneke Bruil van
Friends of the Earth International. Op de agenda voor de
PPIAF-top 23 en 24 mei staat een verdere uitbreiding van
het mandaat van dit Wereldbank-agentschap. In een open brief
vroegen 140 maatschappelijke organisaties en vakbonden van
over de hele wereld vorige week al aan regeringen hun steun
in te trekken voor de PPIAF. De ludieke actie van 23 mei zet
deze eis steun bij.

Dinsdag 22 mei vindt in Den Haag het internationale
NGO-forum 'Stop waterprivatisering - Alternatieven voor de
PPIAF' plaats. Sprekers zijn kritische deskundigen op het
gebied van Wereldbankbeleid alsmede activisten uit India,
Malawi en Paraguay - landen waar de PPIAF consultants heeft
gefinancierd om waterprivatisering te bevorderen.'

Zie ook: http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=16838&banner=banner2&keywords=

11 september 2001 (28)

De New York Times bericht:

'Senators Want CIA to Release 9/11 Report

The Associated Press

Washington - A bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation that would force the CIA to release an inspector general's report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The CIA has spent more than 20 months weighing requests under the Freedom of Information Act for its internal investigation of the attacks but has yet to release any portion of it.
The agency is the only federal office involved in counterterrorism operations that has not made at least a version of its internal 9/11 investigation public.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and two other intelligence committee leaders - chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and senior Republican Kit Bond of Missouri - are pushing legislation that would require the agency to declassify the executive summary of the review within one month and submit a report to Congress explaining why any material was withheld.
The provision has been approved by the Senate twice, but never made into law.
In an interview, Wyden said he is also considering whether to link the report's release to his acceptance of President Bush's nominations for national security positions.
"It's amazing the efforts the administration is going to stonewall this," Wyden said. "The American people have a right to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those critical months before 9/11.... I am going to bulldog this until the public gets it."
Completed in June 2005, the inspector general's report examined the personal responsibility of individuals at the CIA before and after the attacks. Other agencies' reviews examined structural problems within their organizations.
Wyden, who has read the classified report several times, wouldn't offer any details on its findings or the conversations he has had with CIA Director Michael Hayden, former CIA Director Porter Goss and former National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.
But he did say that protecting individuals from embarrassment is not a legitimate reason for protecting the report's contents from public review. He also said the decision to classify the report has nothing to do with national security, but rather political security.'

Lees verder: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-CIA-Sept-11-Probe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Of:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051807O.shtml

Irak 206

'Iraq Is on the Verge of Collapse: Report
By Ibon Villelabeitia
Reuters

Baghdad - Iraq's government has lost control of vast areas to powerful local factions and the country is on the verge of collapse and fragmentation, a leading British think-tank said on Thursday.
Chatham House also said there was not one civil war in Iraq, but "several civil wars" between rival communities, and accused Iraq's main neighbors - Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - of having reasons "for seeing the instability there continue."
"It can be argued that Iraq is on the verge of being a failed state which faces the distinct possibility of collapse and fragmentation," it said in a report.
"The Iraqi government is not able to exert authority evenly or effectively over the country. Across huge swathes of territory, it is largely irrelevant in terms of ordering social, economic and political life."
The report also said that a U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad launched in February has failed to reduce overall violence across the country, as insurgent groups have just shifted their activities outside the capital.
While cautioning that Iraq might not ultimately exist as a united entity, the 12-page report said a draft law to distribute Iraq's oil wealth equitably among Sunni Arabs, Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds was "the key to ensuring Iraq's survival."
"It will be oil revenue that keeps the state together rather than any attempt to build a coherent national project in the short term," the influential think-tank said.
The oil law, among benchmarks Washington has set Baghdad as critical steps to end sectarian violence, has yet to be approved by parliament. Ethnic Kurds, whose autonomous Kurdistan region holds large unproven reserves, oppose the draft's wording.
Rather that one civil war pitting majority Shi'ites against Sunnis nationwide, the paper said Iraq's "cross-cutting conflicts" were driven by power struggles between sectarian, ethnic and tribal groups with differing regional, political and ideological goals as they compete for the country's resources.
The author of the report, Middle East expert Gareth Stansfield, said instability in Iraq was "not necessarily contrary to the interests" of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
"(Iraq) is now a theatre in which Iran can 'fight' the U.S. without doing so openly," Stansfield said, adding that Iran was the "most capable foreign power" in Iraq in terms of influencing future events, more so than the United States.'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051807N.shtml Of:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSKIM74750720070517

Paul Wolfowitz 3

1 neonconservatief minder:

'Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank
By Peter S. Goodman
The Washington Post
Friday 18 May 2007

World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz resigned this afternoon, effective June 30, giving in to overwhelming pressure from bank staff and governments around the globe that he depart to end the ethics controversy that has consumed the institution.
Wolfowitz agreed to resign in negotiations with the bank's executive board, pre-empting a growing likelihood that he would have been formally reprimanded or fired, said bank officials who spoke on condition they not be named, citing the political sensitivity of the proceedings.
His resignation came as key members of the bank's 24-member executive board were mobilizing to push through a resolution expressing no-confidence in his leadership, a step that would have made it effectively impossible for him to continue, senior bank and Bush administration officials said.
The bank's board was moving toward that unprecedented step after a committee report that found that Wolfowitz broke ethics rules and undermined the reputation of the institution when he directed staff to award a substantial raise to his girlfriend and then covered up the details.
But in agreeing to leave, Wolfowitz extracted a significant measure of exoneration - his key demand in the negotiations. Sources said the board will soon issue a statement ascribing to the bank some of the blame for the ethics controversy while acknowledging that Wolfowitz believes he acted ethically.
"He assured us that he acted ethically and in good faith in what he believed were the best interests of the institution," the statement will read, according to a person familiar with the draft wording. "We accept that."
That statement appears to hand Wolfowitz and his attorney, Robert S. Bennett, considerable vindication: They have repeatedly argued that he tried to protect the bank in resolving a conflict of interest by transfering his longtime companion, Shaha Riza, to another job while increasing her pay as compensation for the disruption to her career.
In recent weeks, as the investigating committee heard testimony from bank officials, as staff openly campaigned for his ouster, and as political leaders from Berlin to Johannesburg called for his exit, Wolfowitz resolutely insisted he would stay. He dismissed the movement against him as a "smear campaign."'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051807L.shtml Of:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051700216.html?hpid=topnews

Noam Chomsky 18

'Starving the poor
By Noam Chomsky

The chaos that derives from the so-called international order can be painful if you are on the receiving end of the power that determines that order’s structure. Even tortillas come into play in the ungrand scheme of things. Recently, in many regions of Mexico, tortilla prices jumped by more than 50 per cent.In January, in Mexico City, tens of thousands of workers and farmers rallied in the Zocalo, the city’s central square, to protest the skyrocketing cost of tortillas. In response, the government of President Felipe Calderon cut a deal with Mexican producers and retailers to limit the price of tortillas and corn flour, very likely a temporary expedient. In part the price-hike threat to the food staple for Mexican workers and the poor is what we might call the ethanol effect — a consequence of the US stampede to corn-based ethanol as an energy substitute for oil, whose major wellsprings, of course, are in regions that even more grievously defy international order. In the United States, too, the ethanol effect has raised food prices over a broad range, including other crops, livestock and poultry. The connection between instability in the Middle East and the cost of feeding a family in the Americas isn’t direct, of course. But as with all international trade, power tilts the balance. A leading goal of US foreign policy has long been to create a global order in which US corporations have free access to markets, resources and investment opportunities. The objective is commonly called “free trade,” a posture that collapses quickly on examination. It’s not unlike what Britain, a predecessor in world domination, imagined during the latter part of the 19th century, when it embraced free trade, after 150 years of state intervention and violence had helped the nation achieve far greater industrial power than any rival. The United States has followed much the same pattern. Generally, great powers are willing to enter into some limited degree of free trade when they’re convinced that the economic interests under their protection are going to do well. That has been, and remains, a primary feature of the international order. The ethanol boom fits the pattern. As discussed by agricultural economists C Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, “the biofuel industry has long been dominated not by market forces but by politics and the interests of a few large companies,” in large part Archer Daniels Midland, the major ethanol producer. Ethanol production is feasible thanks to substantial state subsidies and very high tariffs to exclude much cheaper and more efficient sugar-based Brazilian ethanol. In March, during President Bush’s trip to Latin America, the one heralded achievement was a deal with Brazil on joint production of ethanol. But Bush, while spouting free-trade rhetoric for others in the conventional manner, emphasized forcefully that the high tariff to protect US producers would remain, of course along with the many forms of government subsidy for the industry.'

Lees verder: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17722.htm

Studs Terkel 2

Om opgewekt naar bed te gaan.

Hij is mijn held, een van de allergrootste journalisten ooit en hij leeft nog, 95 jaar oud, Studs Terkel. De auteur Jan Donkers kent hem en heeft mister Terkel geinterviewd voor de VPRO. Give 'Em Hell, Mr. Terkel. Nooit cynisch geworden, altijd opkomend voor de onderkant, met een geweldig respect voor iemand anders persoonlijke integriteit en de waardigheid van gewone medemensen. Hij heeft een prachtig gezicht, een van de mooiste mensen die ik ken.

Amy Goodman van Democracy Now schrijft:

'Give ’Em Hell, Mr. Terkel
Posted on May 15, 2007


Studs Terkel, the great journalist, raconteur and listener, turns 95 this week. He was born in New York City on May 16, 1912, to a tailor and a seamstress. He says: “I was born in the year the Titanic sank. The Titanic went down, and I came up. That tells you a little about the fairness of life.”
His life’s work has been to tell the stories of the working class, the down and out, the forgotten and ignored. I interviewed him in a Chicago studio, his white hair made even more unruly by the headphones he puts on to hear better. His hands leaning on his cane, Studs exclaims: “Ordinary people are capable of doing extraordinary things, and that’s what it’s all about. They must count!”
Characters pour forth as Studs spins the stories of hundreds into a coherent tapestry of this century just past. His recall is extraordinary, his store of anecdotes prodigious. Without missing a beat, Studs threads together early icons of the labor movement, from Eugene V. Debs, to anti-Vietnam War organizer David Dellinger, one of the Chicago Seven charged with organizing the famed protests in Chicago in 1968, back to legendary miser Hetty Green.
He has written a dozen books, won the Pulitzer Prize, had a play produced on Broadway, won the National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American letters, the George Polk Career Award and the presidential National Humanities Medal. He hosted a daily radio show on WFMT in Chicago from 1952 through 1997.
His parents moved to Chicago, opening a rooming house. There Studs learned of the essential dignity of work, of working people, of self-esteem. The residents worked in tool-and-die factories, on ships that plied the Great Lakes, and, sometimes, as prostitutes. He watched the devastation these folk endured when the Great Depression hit. The workers sat around then, drinking and fighting. Studs feels passionate about the New Deal, and about its Works Progress Administration, the WPA, which put people to work during the Depression. “Working class means you work!” he shouts. “With shovels and rakes. And there was work for artists!” In fact, work for him. Though he graduated from University of Chicago Law School, he was a WPA actor and writer. “There were artists and painters and dancers and singers. This was all part of the New Deal!”'

Lees verder: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070515_give_em_hell_mr_terkel/

De Israelische Terreur 196

Heeft u deze informatie in de Nederlandse commerciele massamedia uitgebreid behandeld gezien?

De New York Times bericht:

'Red Cross Report Says Israel Disregards Humanitarian Law By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM,— The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a confidential report about East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, accuses Israel of a “general disregard” for “its obligations under international humanitarian law — and the law of occupation in particular.”The committee, which does not accept Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, says Israel is using its rights as an occupying power under international law “in order to further its own interests or those of its own population to the detriment of the population of the occupied territory.” With the construction of the separation barrier, the establishment of an outer ring of Jewish settlements beyond the expanded municipal boundaries and the creation of a dense road network linking the different Israeli neighborhoods and settlements in and outside Jerusalem, the report says, Israel is “reshaping the development of the Jerusalem metropolitan area” with “far-reaching humanitarian consequences.” Those include the increasing isolation of Palestinians living in Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and the increasing difficulty for some Palestinians to easily reach Jerusalem’s schools and hospitals. The Red Cross committee, which is recognized as a guardian of humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, does not publish its reports but provides them in confidence to the parties involved and to a small number of countries. This report was provided to The New York Times by someone outside the organization who wanted the report’s conclusions publicized. The leak came just days before Israel’s celebration of Jerusalem Day this Wednesday, observing the 40th anniversary of the unification of the city.The committee is better known for its role in visiting prisoners all over the world to try to ensure humanitarian conditions. It has been involved for decades with the Israeli-Palestinian situation as part of its role in upholding the Geneva Conventions, which cover the responsibilities of occupying countries. But its reports rarely surface. The report considers all land that Israel conquered in the 1967 war to be occupied territory. It was the result of nine months of work by the committee and was delivered in late February “to Israel and to a small number of foreign governments we believe would be in the best position to help support our efforts for the implementation of humanitarian law,” said Bernard Barrett, a spokesman for the committee in Jerusalem.Israeli officials said that they respected the committee and that they had cooperated with it gladly on issues ranging from the release of captured Israeli soldiers to asking its officials to give briefings on international law to Israeli diplomats and commanders serving in the occupied West Bank.They confirmed having received the report, but disagreed with its premises and conclusions.“We reject the premise of the report, that East Jerusalem is occupied territory,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. “It is not. Israel annexed Jerusalem in 1967 and offered full citizenship at the time to all of Jerusalem’s residents. These are facts that cannot be ignored.”'

Lees verder:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17702.htm Of:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/world/middleeast/15jerusalem.html?_r=2&ref=middleeast&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

De Pro-Israel Lobby 40

'AIPAC to pay Weissman's legal fees AIPAC reached a deal with lawyers for its former Iran analyst, Keith Weissman, to pay for his defense against Espionage Act charges.

"AIPAC is fully paying for Keith Weissman's defense through appeal if necessary," a source close to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee told JTA on Saturday. Sources close to the defense confirmed the deal. Spokesmen for Arent Fox, the law firm representing Weissman, could not be reached over the weekend for comment.
No such deal has yet been achieved with Abbe Lowell, the lawyer for Steve Rosen, AIPAC's former foreign policy chief who faces trial along with Weissman on charges that they dealt in classified information.
Arent Fox accepted a deeply discounted package, sources close to the defense said - as little as half of what its lawyers said was owed them. Critically, however, Weissman retains his right to sue AIPAC if he is acquitted or if charges are dismissed.
Parallel negotiations between Lowell and AIPAC have apparently been complicated by Lowell's recent move from the law firm of Chadbourne Parke to McDermott Will and Emery.
The case, alleging that Rosen and Weissman dealt in classified information about Iran, first came to light in August 2004, when FBI agents raided AIPAC offices. AIPAC at first strongly supported Rosen and Weissman, but fired them in March 2005, cutting off fees for their defense a few months later; it subsequently made a number of offers to resume payment contingent upon the defendants' giving up their right to sue AIPAC.'

Lees verder:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1178708595983

The Empire 248

'The Cost of War

By Bill Moyers B

ill Moyers Journal

TRANSCRIPT:
Finally, at the beginning of its fifth year, let's take a look at the cost of this war.
Bob Woodruff (ABC): "It was an impressive sight from the deck of the Abraham Lincoln, this war time president soaring overhead."
Cynthia Bowers (CBS): "The White House has sent a clear signal. It is pulling out all the stops, choreographing this finale to the War."
Bill Moyers: Yes, the war was over, the winner was George W. Bush, hailed by the press as a conquering hero.
Chris Matthews (Hardball): "He won the war, he was an effective commander, everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics."
Lou Dobbs (CNN): "He looked like alternately Commander in Chief, rock star, movie star and one of the guys."
Tom Brokaw (NBC): "Here, now, is the President of the United States as he walks across the deck with 2000 sailors and officers on board for his address to the nation on the recently completed war in Iraq."
President George W. Bush: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
Bill Moyers: By this point - 140 U.S. troops had died during the mission.
But back in Iraq, reality was writing the script.
Every day since that choreographed victory lap, violent act has followed violent act.
This April was the cruelest month of the year. The deadliest so far.
Even the supposedly protected heart of American power in Baghdad, The Green Zone, was shattered by an al Qaeda attack. Al Qaeda was not a presence in Iraq before the mission but it has a firm foothold there now.
Entering its fifth year, the war's costs are soaring so fast the Web site costofwar.com uses a non-stop digital counter to keep up with the spending. In today's dollars, it's projected to become the most expensive war in recent history - reaching nearly one-trillion dollars.
According to the National Priorities Project, the money spent on the war so far could have provided America:
1.8 million new teachers.
Over 20 million college scholarships.
Health insurance for over 60 million children.
Or nearly 4 million new housing units.
But no price tag can be put on the lost human lives.
Our government hasn't wanted us to see the human cost of the war.
It took grieving families and friends and veterans to create their own memorials like this one - crosses all in a row - on a California beach.'

Zie en lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051407A.shtml Zie ook:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05112007/transcript4.html

Paul Wolfowitz 2

Een andere rotzak in de politiek.

De Guardian bericht:

'Angry Wolfowitz in four-letter tirade
Richard Adams in Washington

An angry and bitter Paul Wolfowitz poured abuse and threatened retaliations on senior World Bank staff if his orders for pay rises and promotions for his partner were revealed, according to new details published last night.
Under fire for the lavish package given to Shaha Riza, a World Bank employee and Mr Wolfowitz's girlfriend when he became president, an official investigation into the controversy has found that Mr Wolfowitz broke bank rules and violated his own contract – setting off a struggle between US and European governments over Mr Wolfowitz's future.

Sounding more like a cast member of the Sopranos than an international leader, in testimony by one key witness Mr Wolfowitz declares: "If they fuck with me or Shaha, I have enough on them to fuck them too."
The remarks were published in a report detailing the controversy that erupted last month after the size of Ms Riza's pay rises was revealed. The report slates Mr Wolfowitz for his "questionable judgment and a preoccupation with self-interest", saying: "Mr Wolfowitz saw himself as the outsider to whom the established rules and standards did not apply."
The report brushed off Mr Wolfowitz's defence that he thought he had been asked to arrange Ms Riza's pay package, observing that "the interpretation given by Mr Wolfowitz ... simply turns logic on its head".
The investigators have sent their completed report to the bank's governing board, containing a string of withering criticisms of Mr Wolfowitz's behaviour and casting doubt on his ability to continue running the bank, a multibillion-pound international agency with 12,000 staff based in Washington.
According to the report, Mr Wolfowitz's actions "had a dramatic negative effect on the reputation and credibility" of the bank.'

Lees verder: http://www.guardian.co.uk/imf/story/0,,2079877,00.html

Het Kabinet 6

Dit is het vlezige gelaat van een neoliberale rotzak, sorry, maar er is geen ander woord voor deze christelijke staatssecretaris. In elk geval past hij kennelijk naadloos in dit neoliberale kabinet.

De Volkskrant bericht:

'De dubbele moraal van Jan Kees de Jager.
Achtergrond
Van onze verslaggevers Merijn Rengers, John Schoorl

AMSTERDAM - Jan Kees de Jager (Kapelle, 1969) was niet zomaar een ondernemer in de ICT-sector die in februari staatssecretaris van Financiën werd. De Jager gold als jong, ambitieus en als een begenadigd netwerker. ‘Een parel aan de kroon van Nederlands ondernemerschap’, noemde ex-CDA-coryfee Joop Wijn, voor wie De Jager een eigen website maakte, hem.
‘De Nederlandse Bill Gates’, zo zette Jan Peter Balkenende, ook een geboren Zeeuw, hem drie jaar geleden neer. ‘Een inspirerend rolmodel voor andere ondernemers’, vond Paul ’t Hoen, voorzitter Adviesraad ICTRegie hem bij de overhandiging van de ICT Personality 2007 Award.
Een deel van het (oud-)personeel van het Rotterdamse softwarebedrijf ISMe Company (ISM) had echter een heel ander beeld van De Jager. ‘Een niet-integere man’, aldus een voormalig lid van de Personeelsvertegenwoordiging (PVT). Een ander: ‘Ik was zeer verbaasd dat hij staatssecretaris werd.’
‘Zijn hele houding was weinig sociaal’, zegt een ex-werknemer die een conflict met hem had over niet-betaalde pensioenpremies. ‘Hij was de personificatie van een vervelende bedrijfscultuur.’
Die ‘vervelende bedrijfscultuur’ uitte zich vooral in conflicten over de rechten van het personeel en de plichten van ISM. De Jagers directeurschap werd gekenmerkt door een aaneenschakeling van problemen over arbeidsvoorwaarden, vertellen ex-ISM-ers, die allen anoniem wensen te blijven.'

Lees verder: http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/article426029.ece/
De_dubbele_moraal_van_Jan_Kees_de_Jager

The Empire 247

'U.S. healthcare expensive, inefficient: report
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans get the poorest health care and yet pay the most compared to five other rich countries, according to a report released on Tuesday
Germany, Britain, Australia and Canada all provide better care for less money, the Commonwealth Fund report found.
"The U.S. health care system ranks last compared with five other nations on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes," the non-profit group which studies health care issues said in a statement.
Canada rates second worst out of the five overall. Germany scored highest, followed by Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
"The United States is not getting value for the money that is spent on health care," Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis said in a telephone interview.
The group has consistently found that the United States, the only one of the six nations that does not provide universal health care, scores more poorly than the others on many measures of health care.
Congress,
Bovenkant formulier
President George W. Bush' name=c1>SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3>
Onderkant formulier
President George W. Bush, many employers and insurers have all agreed in recent months to overhaul the U.S. health care system -- an uncoordinated conglomeration of employer-funded care, private health insurance and government programs.'

Lees verder: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070515/
us_nm/healthcare_usa_dc;_ylt=ApadZNsvz6csD9zXgGIJhHTMWM0F

Iran 162

Common Dreams bericht:

'CENTCOM Commander’s Veto Sank Bush’s Threatening Gulf Buildup
by Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush’s nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM, according to sources with access to his thinking. Fallon’s resistance to the proposed deployment of a third aircraft carrier was followed by a shift in the Bush administration’s Iran policy in February and March away from increased military threats and toward diplomatic engagement with Iran. That shift, for which no credible explanation has been offered by administration officials, suggests that Fallon’s resistance to a crucial deployment was a major factor in the intra-administration struggle over policy toward Iran.
The plan to add a third carrier strike group in the Gulf had been a key element in a broader strategy discussed at high levels to intimidate Iran by a series of military moves suggesting preparations for a military strike.
Admiral Fallon’s resistance to a further buildup of naval striking power in the Gulf apparently took the Bush administration by surprise. Fallon, then Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, had been associated with naval aviation throughout his career, and last January, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates publicly encouraged the idea that the appointment presaged greater emphasis on the military option in regard to the U.S. conflict with Iran.'

Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/15/1212/

Trouw Misschien Wel 28

Trouw bericht:

'''Christelijk leger grijpt macht.''
Cokky van Limpt

Nederlandse politici vinden Michelle Goldbergs schrikbeeld van de opmars van christelijk rechts in de VS ''overdreven''.
Erg geschokt reageerden haar Nederlandse debatpartners niet op het afschrikwekkende beeld dat Michelle Goldberg schetste van de groeiende invloed van christelijk rechts in de politiek, zorg, dienstverlening, het onderwijs en de rechtspraak van de Verenigde Staten. De Amerikaanse (seculier joodse) onderzoeksjournaliste was even in Nederland voor het verschijnen van de Nederlandse vertaling van haar boek ’Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism’. Ze gaf maandagavond een lezing over haar boek in het Amsterdamse Felix Meritis, gevolgd door een debat over ’de toenemende macht van christelijke organisaties in de Verenigde Staten én in Nederland’.'

Lees verder: http://www.trouw.nl/deverdieping/religie_filosofie/article713535.ece/

Christelijk_leger_grijpt_macht

Mij gaat het onder andere om deze omschrijving: 'De Amerikaanse (seculier joodse) onderzoeksjournaliste...' Waarom staat haar joodse afkomst erbij in Trouw? Wat is relevant aan deze informatie? Dat een van haar joodse geloof gevallen onderzoeksjournalist Amerikaanse christelijke fundamentalisten analyseerd? Die etikettering leidt bij sommigen tot stereotypering. Ik bedoel: wie is Cokky van Limpt? Is ze een (nog) niet van haar geloof gevallen christen, die via de journalistiek haar geloof in bescherming neemt? Het zou kunnen. Niets is uitgesloten. En als dat zo is dan gaat de lezer haar verslag heel anders lezen. Nietwaar? Maar waarom zou ik dit schrijven, zolang het niet relevant is? En wonderlijk ook dat het bijvoeglijke naamwoord 'joodse' als zelfstandig naamwoord wordt gebruikt. Waarom gebruikt Trouw niet de juiste omschrijving: 'seculiere jodin?' Zou dat komen omdat het zelfstandige naamwoord 'jodin' meteen zoveel connaties oproept met een tijd waarin de meeste Nederlanders de andere opkeken terwijl hun joodse langenoten naar vernietiginskampen afgevoerd werden? Net zoals onze christenen na de oorlog altijd zeggen 'joodse mensen' als ze het over joden hebben. Ik weet het niet, leg ons uit Cokky. Vooralsnog zou ik zeggen: hou in godsnaam op met het etiketteren van mensen als het niet relevant is.

Nu we toch bezig zijn: waarom begint Cokky's verslag meteen met een kwalificatie? 'Nederlandse politici vinden Michelle Goldbergs schrikbeeld van de opmars van christelijk rechts in de VS ’overdreven’. In de goede journalistiek is het gebruikelijk om eerst de feiten te geven en pas dan eventueel meningen. Dus eerst vertellen wat de (indien relevant) 'seculier joodse' onderzoeksjournaliste te melden heeft en pas dan de reactie van twee Nederlandse politici. Waarom is het voor Trouw relevanter om eerst de meningen van twee Nederlandse politici te geven, mannen die niets onderzocht hebben, en pas dan enkele feiten? Moeten de Trouw-lezers gerustgesteld worden? En vervolgens: 'Nederlandse politici vinden Michelle Goldbergs schrikbeeld van de opmars van christelijk rechts in de VS ''overdreven''.' Hebben ze alletwee het begrip 'overdreven' gebezigd? En 'Nederlandse politici'? Het staat er wel erg absoluut, terwijl het om slechts twee politici gaat, van wie 1 een christen is.

Ik heb mijn vragen andermaal doorgestuurd naar de Trouw-redactie, maar ik heb tot nu nooit een antwoord gekregen op de talloze vragen die ik gesteld heb. Wel kreeg ik van de uitgever van Trouw het verbod te citeren uit de krant. Ik heb als journalist geweigerd om me te houden aan dat verbod. De uitgever wilde stappen ondernemen en vroeg ruim anderhalve maand geleden om advies van de bedrijfsjurist van Trouw. Nooit meer iets van gehoord. Zie: http://www.denieuwereporter.nl/?p=838

Nederlandse Leger Martelt 10

NOVA bericht:

'"DRIE MILITAIREN MARTELDEN IN IRAK"
Het feitenrelaas over de behandeling van gearresteerde Irakezen vermeldt het gebruik van hoofdkappen en de electrode-stok.

Eind vorig jaar leidt een verhaal in de Volkskrant over de marteling van Iraakse gevangenen tot grote beroering. Iraakse gevangen zouden tijdens ondervragingen zijn natgespoten, geblinddoekt en zijn onderworpen aan hard geluid. Minister Kamp reageerde verontwaardigd op het verhaal, maar stelde toch een onderzoekscommissie in. De conclusies van die commissie, onder leiding van de SGP-er van den Berg, worden half juni verwachtt, maar NOVA heeft het feitenrelaas van de commissie in handen. Daarin staat van dag tot dag beschreven wat er precies is gebeurd in het gebouw in As Samawa waar een aantal Iraakse arrestanten werd verhoord door Nederlandse militairen. Nieuw feit is dat in het feitenrelaas ook sprake is van hoofdkappen en elektroden . NOVA sprak met een getuige, die werkte in het gebouw waar de gevangen Irakezen zaten. NOVA kreeg tevens beelden in handen van arrestaties die door militairen zelf gefilmd zijn. De zogenoemde 'martelingen' zijn uitgevoerd door drie militairen van de MIVD , de militaire inlichtingendienst: één luitenant-kolonel en twee onderofficieren. Zij gingen in een klein aantal gevallen over de schreef. In NOVA de belangrijkste feiten.

Zie: http://www.novatv.nl/index.cfm?
ln=nl&fuseaction=videoaudio.details&reportage_id=5158&
CFID=22630868&CFTOKEN=67987899

Waarom was het Nederlandse leger ook weer in Irak. Oh ja, om er de democratie te brengen en de mensenrechten.

Leest u ook de andere stukjes op deze weblog over Het Nederlandse Leger Martelt. En nu afwachten welke politieke consequenties hieruit worden getrokken. De voormalige wethouder van Borculo en oud-minister van Defensie de VVD-er Henk Kamp is inmiddels minister af, dus ontspringt de dans. Moet u straks opletten op het gedraai en de leugens. Iedereen had het kunnen weten, maar niemand is verantwoordelijk, het poldermodel in optima forma.

Ondine de Kroon

Sonja attendeerde me op het volgende:

Een kennis van me maakt heel bijzondere kleurenlinosnedes:

http://www.ondinedekroon.nl

Inderdaad: schitterend.

Over onder andere de onderste afbeelding schreef Ondine de Kroon:

'Ik maakte onder deze titel zeven linoleumsneden naar aanleiding van een reis door het Zuidwesten van de Verenigde Staten. Ze gaan over de kleurrijke bevolking van het platteland, de armen die met veel creativiteit in een onherbergzaam landschap hun bestaan bijeenschrapen onder de zegen van de Amerikaanse vlag, het kapitalisme en de brandende zon.H Een kennis van me maakt heel bijzondere kleurenlinosnedes:et was hartje zomer. Ik reisde met mijn vriend mee die moest spreken op een ecologiecongres linoleumsneden.'

Ondine de Kroon, linoleumsneden

Den Haag, 1964

Sander van Hoorn

Hoewel zijn verslaggeving een verademing is vergeleken met de steeds verkramptere verslaggeving van zijn voorganger Eddo Rosenthal, maakt Sander van Hoorn als correspondent in Israel toch wonderlijke fouten. Zo zei hij vanavond in het NOS-Journaal dat Palestijnen in Oost-Jeruzalem zich 'bezet voelen.' Beste Sander, ze mogen zich ongetwijfeld bezet 'voelen' maar ze zijn het objectief gesproken daadwerkelijk ook. Net zoals de Nederlanders in Nederland vijf jaar lang door de Duitsers werden bezet, zo worden de Palestijnen in onder andere Oost-Jeruzalem nu al bijna 40 jaar lang bezet, acht maal langer dan de bezetting van Nederland. Ik ken je sinds je mijn collega was bij de VPRO-radio, ik weet dat je een serieuze journalist bent. Ik begrijp dat je je zo onafhankelijk mogelijk probeert op te stellen, maar een bezetting presenteren als een een gevoel is geen onafhankelijke opstelling, maar een een absurditeit. Net zoals de bezetting van Oost-Jeruzalem presenteren als de bevrijding van Jeruzalem voor Israelische joden een absurditeit is. Zij mogen zich dan wel beroepen op een tekst uit een millennia oud boek, maar dat is een niet ter zake doende rechtvaardiging in een moderne wereld, waarin de verhoudingen tussen volkeren via het internationaal recht worden geregeld. Volgens dat internationaal recht wordt Oost-Jeruzalem illegaal bezet door Israel. Vandaar ook dat de Verenigde Naties 'de joodse natie' al 40 jaar lang oproept de bezette gebieden op te geven. Het gevaar van jouw soort verslaggeving is dat je op zijn minst suggereert dat de argumenten van de twee partijen gelijkwaardig zijn. En dat zijn ze natuurlijk niet. Volgens het internationaal recht is een militaire bezetting illegaal, en even voor alle duidelijkheid, het gewapende verzet daartegen niet. Toch doen politici en journalisten alsof dit precies andersom is. Een valse voorstelling van zaken veroorzaakt door een combinatie van cynische machtsoverwegingen, schuldgevoel en onnozelheid. Val niet in de propagandakuil. Behandel Israel niet anders dan je elk ander democratisch land zou behandelen. Doe gewoon je journalistieke werk. Nog een tip: als het weer wat rustiger is, maak dan enkele reportages over de positie van Palestijnse Israeli's. Ze worden al sinds 1948 behandeld als tweederangs burgers. Dat gaat straks fout.

Siemen Dijkstra

Nederland kent zoveel uitmuntende beeldend kunstenaars.

Dit landschap is van Siemen Dijstra.

'Siemen Dijkstra is een autoriteit op het gebied van kleurenhoutsneden. Als geen ander weet hij een subtiele sfeer neer te zetten vol kleurnuances en met een grote rijkdom aan details. Zijn liefde voor de natuur vertaalt hij in intieme panorama’s van bomen, bladeren en rimpelend water. Siemen is een schepper van sferen die veelal bezieling en nostalgie weerspiegelen. Zijn landschappen laten dan ook meer zien dan de zichtbare werkelijkheid.Hoewel Siemen Dijkstra geboren is in Noord-Holland, is hij getogen in Zuidwest-Drenthe. Met zijn vader, die amateur-archeoloog is, ging hij al op jonge leeftijd het Drentse landschap in, om samen de akkers af te struinen op zoek naar archeologische vondsten, zoals schrabbers, stekers en vuistbijlen. Wat begon als spannende ontdekkingstocht, werd een bron van inspiratie in zijn leven als kunstenaar. Tussen 1986 en 1991 werd hij opgeleid aan de Academie Minerva in Groningen. Hij studeerde af in de vakken illustratie en grafiek. Grafiek werd hem gedoceerd door Wim van Veen, die hem de ´houtsnede volgens de reductie´ leerde. Deze methode om kleurenhoutsneden te maken, gebruikt hij nog steeds en het typeert zijn werk. De houtsnede volgens de reductiemethode is een vorm van reliëf- of hoogdruk. Bij de reductiemethode wordt steeds meer uit dezelfde houtplaat gesneden. Passen bij perfectionisme gebruikt Dijkstra acht tot soms wel vijftien drukgangen, die hij telkens een andere kleur geeft. Het resultaat is een serie kleurrijke, gedetailleerde afbeeldingen van artefacten en landschappen.'

Zie: http://www.galeries.nl/mnkunstenaar.asp?artistnr=848&vane=1&em=&meer=&sessionti=127055336

Het Kabinet 5

Frank Zappa was er nog eerlijk over: 'We are only in it for the money!'

De Volkskrant bericht over de christen-democraat Jan Kees de Jager:

'Staatssecretaris De Jager overtrad arbeidswet
Van onze verslaggevers Merijn Rengers en John Schoorl

AMSTERDAM - Jan Kees de Jager, staatssecretaris van Financiën, hield zich als softwareondernemer niet aan de arbeidswetgeving. De Jager, eigenaar en directeur van het Rotterdamse softwarebedrijf ISM, betaalde stelselmatig pensioenpremies te laat, werkte de oprichting van een ondernemingsraad tegen, sloot arbeidscontracten waarin onwettige passages staan en verbood personeelsleden om in werktijd over hun rechten te vergaderen.
Dat blijkt uit officiële documenten en gesprekken met betrokkenen. Die tonen aan dat de conflicten tussen De Jager en zijn personeel over arbeidsvoorwaarden groter en structureler waren dan naar buiten kwam vlak na zijn benoeming tot staatssecretaris.
Eerder in opspraak

Toen raakte De Jager in opspraak over de pensioenafdracht bij één van zijn bedrijven. De rechtbank in Den Bosch veroordeelde ISM-dochter Codim, omdat de onderneming de ontslagvergoedingen en pensioenpremies van 4 oud-medewerkers niet had betaald.'

Lees verder: http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article425528.ece/

Staatssecretaris_De_Jager_overtrad_arbeidswet

Dat is de eerste uit het kabinet dat lekker alles samen met ons wil doen.

Ik kijk naar het portret, hij heeft een vlezig gezicht, maar verder zie ik er niets in. Wat zou deze christen, die het evangelie van christus, zijn belangrijkste overtuiging vindt, in werkelijkheid bezielen? Wat gaat er in zijn hersenen om? Hij is op veel geld uit, dat is duidelijk. Maar waarom? Waarom zou hij daarvoor de wet willen schenden en toch staatssecretaris willen zijn? Waarom kent deze man niet de normen en waarden van een democratisch burger? Een raadsel. Eens kijken of hij gedwongen wordt door zijn christelijke en socialistische collega's om op te stappen.

Waarom werd hij gevraagd staatssecretaris te worden terwijl het CDA en de PVDA hier toch van geweten moeten hebben. Ik bedoel, elke werknemer bij de overheid wordt tegenwoordig gescreend, dus ik ga er blind vanuit dat de antecedenten van De Jager ook gecheckt zijn.

En nu we toch bezig zijn: Waarom werd nu juist Jan Kees gevraagd en niet een ander? Ik heb van de parlementaire pers begrepen dat de leden van dit kabinet naar de mensen in het land wil luisteren. Naar wie luistert De Jager 100 dagen lang? En dan de vraag: gezien zijn verleden, is het verstandig om de kat op het spek te binden? Hij is bij Financien de op 1 na hoogste baas. 'We are only in it for the money!'

Let u op welke van deze vragen mijn wakkere collega's van de parlementaire pers gaan stellen. Misschien kunnen de jongens en meisjes in Den Haag eens een serieus onderzoek instellen naar de achtergronden van onze ministers en staatssecretarissen. Dat lijkt me nu juist een taak van de pers in een parlemenaire democratie. De jacht op quootjes kunnen ze aan de stageaire overlaten. Per slot van rekening kan iedere amateur met een microfoon of een aantekenboekje in de hand urenlang in een gang staan wachten om 1 regeltje uit de mond van een politicus op te vangen. Ondertussen kunnen de journalisten die in het vak gepokt en gemazeld zijn het serieuse onderzoekswerk doen.

Waarom zouden mijn collega's dit nou juist nauwelijks of niet doen? Zouden ze de democratie niet zo belangrijk vinden? Een raadsel.

Nederland en Afghanistan 132

Precies twee weken geleden berichtte de NRC dit:

'Ook in Uruzgan is de laatste dagen zware strijd geleverd. Het ministerie van Defensie in Den Haag meldt dat Talibaan-strijders een politiepost in Chora hadden ingenomen, op een moment dat veel agenten waren weggebleven van hun werk om thuis te helpen met de papaveroogst. Nederlandse militairen zijn Afghaanse troepen te hulp geschoten die probeerden de post te ontzetten. Uiteindelijk is de post met een bombardement vernietigd. Zeker twee opstandelingen zijn gedood. De operatie was vandaag nog gaande.'

Zie: http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2007/04/nederland-afghanistan-131.html

Vandaag ontving ik dit artikel:

'Heroin is "Good for Your Health": Occupation Forces support Afghan Narcotics Trade

Multibillion dollar earnings for organized crime and Western financial Institutions

By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions.

The proceeds of this lucrative multibllion dollar contraband are deposited in Western banks. Almost the totality of revenues accrue to corporate interests and criminal syndicates outside Afghanistan.

The Golden Crescent drug trade, launched by the CIA in the early 1980s, continues to be protected by US intelligence, in liason with NATO occupation forces and the British military. In recent developments, British occupation forces have promoted opium cultivation through paid radio advertisements.

"A radio message broadcast across the province assured local farmers that the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would not interfere with poppy fields currently being harvested.

"Respected people of Helmand. The soldiers of ISAF and ANA do not destroy poppy fields," it said. "They know that many people of Afghanistan have no choice but to grow poppy. ISAF and the ANA do not want to stop people from earning their livelihoods." ( Quoted in The Guardian, 27 April 2007)

While the controversial opium ads have been casually dismissed as an unfortunate mistake, there are indications that the opium economy is being promoted at the political level (including the British government of Tony Blair).

The Senlis Council, an international think tank specialising in security and policy issues is proposing the development of licit opium exports in Afghanistan, with a view to promoting the production of pharmaceutical pain-killers, such as morphine and codeine. According to the Senlis Council, "the poppies are needed and, if properly regulated, could provide a legal source of income to impoverished Afghan farmers while, at the same time, depriving the drug lords and the Taliban of much of their income." (John Polanyi, Globe and Mail, 23 September 2006)

The Senlis Council offers an alternative where "regulated poppy production in Afghanistan" could be developed to produce needed painkillers. The Senlis statement, however, fails to address the existing structure of licit opium exports, which is characterised by oversupply .

The Senlis' campaign is part of the propaganda campaign. It has contrbuted to providing a false legitimacy to Afghanistan's opium economy. (See details of Senlis Project), which ultmately serves powerful vested interests.

How much opium acreage is required to supply the pharmaceutical industry? According to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), which has a mandate to exame issues pertaining to the supply of and demand for opiates used for medical purposes, "the supply of such opiates has for years been at levels well in excess of global demand".(Asian Times, February 2006) The INCB has recommended reducing the production of opiates due to oversupply.



At present, India is the largest exporter of licit opium, supplying approximately 50 percent of licit sales to pharmaceutical companies involved in the production of pain-killing drugs. Turkey is also a major producer of licit opium.

India's opium latex "is sold to licensed pharmaceutical and/or chemical manufacturing firms such as Mallinckrodt and Johnson & Johnson, under rules established by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the International Narcotics Control Board, which require an extensive paper trail." (Opium in India)

The area allocated to licit State controlled opium cultivation in India is of the order of a modest 11,000 hectares, suggesting that the entire demand of the global pharmaceutical industry requires approximately 22,000 hectares of land allocated to poppy production. Opium for pharmaceutical use is not in short supply. The demand of the pharmaceutical industry is already met.

Soaring Afghan Opium Production

The United Nations has announced that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has soared. There was a 59% increase in areas under opium cultivation in 2006. Production of opium is estimated to have increased by 49% in relation to 2005.

The Western media in chorus blame the Taliban and the warlords. Western officials are said to believe that "the trade is controlled by 25 smugglers including three government ministers." (Guardian, op. cit).

Yet in a bitter irony, US military presence has served to restore rather than eradicate the drug trade. Opium production has increased 33 fold from 185 tons in 2001 under the Taliban to 6100 tons in 2006. Cultivated areas have increased 21 fold since the 2001 US-led invasion.

What the media reports fail to acknowledge is that the Taliban government was instrumental in 2000-2001 in implementing a successful drug eradication program, with the support and collaboration of the UN.

Implemented in 2000-2001, the Taliban's drug eradication program led to a 94 percent decline in opium cultivation. In 2001, according to UN figures, opium production had fallen to 185 tons. Immediately following the October 2001 US led invasion, production increased dramatically, regaining its historical levels.

The Vienna based UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that the 2006 harvest will be of the order of 6,100 tonnes, 33 times its production levels in 2001 under the Taliban government (3200 % increase in 5 years).

Cultivation in 2006 reached a record 165,000 hectares compared with 104,000 in 2005 and 7,606 in 2001 under the Taliban

Multibillion dollar trade

According to the UN, Afghanistan supplies in 2006 some 92 percent of the world's supply of opium, which is used to make heroin.

The UN estimates that for 2006, the contribution of the drug trade to the Afghan economy is of the order of 2.7 billion. What it fails to mention is the fact that more than 95 percent of the revenues generated by this lucrative contraband accrues to business syndicates, organized crime and banking and financial institutions. A very small percentage accrues to farmers and traders in the producing country.

(See also UNODC, The Opium Economy in Afghanistan,

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/publications/afg_opium_economy_www.pdf , Vienna, 2003, p. 7-8)

"Afghan heroin sells on the international narcotics market for 100 times the price farmers get for their opium right out of the field".(US State Department quoted by the Voice of America (VOA), 27 February 2004).

---

Based on wholesale and retail prices in Western markets, the earnings generated by the Afghan drug trade are colossal. In July 2006, street prices in Britain for heroin were of the order of Pound Sterling 54, or $102 a gram.

Narcotics On the Streets of Western Europe

One kilo of opium produces approximately 100 grams of (pure) heroin. 6100 tons of opium allows the production of 1220 tons of heroin with a 50 percent purity ratio.

The average purity of retailed heroin can vary. It is on average 36%. In Britain, the purity is rarely in excess of 50 percent, while in the US it can be of the order of 50-60 percent.

Based on the structure of British retail prices for heroin, the total proceeds of the Afghan heroin trade would be of the order of 124.4 billion dollars, assuming a 50 percent purity ratio. Assuming an average purity ratio of 36 percent and the average British price, the cash value of Afghan heroin sales would be of the order of 194.4 billion dollars.

While these figures do not constitute precise estimates, they nonetheless convey the sheer magnitude of this multibillion dollar narcotics trade out of Afghanistan. Based on the first figure which provides a conservative estimate, the cash value of these sales, once they reach Western retail markets are in excess of 120 billion dollars a year.

(See also our detailed estimates for 2003 in The Spoils of War: Afghanistan's Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade, by Michel Chossudovsky, The UNODC estimates the average retail price of heroin for 2004 to be of the order of $157 per gram, based on the average purity ratio).

Narcotics: Second to Oil and the Arms Trade

The foregoing estimates are consistent with the UN's assessment concerning the size and magnitude of the global drug trade.

The Afghan trade in opiates (92 percent of total World production of opiates) constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $400-500 billion.

(Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a Changing World, Technical document No. 4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also United Nations Drug Control Program, Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1999, E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations, Vienna 1999, p. 49-51, and Richard Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February 2000).

Based on 2003 figures, drug trafficking constitutes "the third biggest global commodity in cash terms after oil and the arms trade." (The Independent, 29 February 2004).

Afghanistan and Colombia (together with Bolivia and Peru) consitute the largest drug producing economies in the world, which feed a flourishing criminal economy. These countries are heavily militarized. The drug trade is protected. Amply documented the CIA has played a central role in the development of both the Latin American and Asian drug triangles.

The IMF estimated global money laundering to be between 590 billion and 1.5 trillion dollars a year, representing 2-5 percent of global GDP. (Asian Banker, 15 August 2003).

A large share of global money laundering as estimated by the IMF is linked to the trade in narcotics, one third of which is tied to the Golden Crescent opium triangle.

De Israelische Terreur 195

'World Bank exposes the blatantly obvious

Sonja Karkar,

The Electronic Intifada,

14 May 2007

It should have happened sooner, but at least it has happened now. Israel has been exposed by the august World Bank for its oppressive control of the West Bank. Three weeks before global protests begin against 40 years of Israel's occupation, the report reveals what every government knows, but not one has been prepared to stop. Effectively, the report challenges the notion of a viable two-state solution under Israel's current restrictions and illegal land appropriations. According to the report, the West Bank has been fragmented into 10 isolated non-contiguous ghettoes which is an impossible configuration for any viable state, and this is made even more bizarre by the presence of some 250,000 illegal Jewish settlers (excluding those in East Jerusalem) who exercise control over 50 percent of the West Bank. And the Wall, says the report, exceeds at times Israel's security needs and seems rather to contribute to, along with restrictive zoning and land use rules and practices, Jewish settlement expansion.The Bank's report is timely and welcome, but curiously it does not mention the effects of the sanctions that the West and Israel imposed on the Palestinians at the beginning of last year. At the time, the World Bank had stated that the Palestinian economy would shrink by 27 percent in 2006 -- "a one year contraction that compares to the Great Depression in the US". In other words, the Palestinian economy was in danger of collapse even then and the warnings were not acted upon. Instead, the world cavalierly continued with its sanctions because it did not approve of the newly elected Hamas government -- democratically elected in fair and transparent elections overseen by former US president Jimmy Carter. Now, the World Bank is ratcheting up its dire warnings about the prohibitive restrictions that have decimated the Palestinian economy: as long as the political situation remains unresolved and the economy continues to depend on foreign assistance simply for survival, there is very little prospect of a sustainable economic recovery. Certainly not the sort of sustained growth rates that can provide decent living standards for an expanding population. Any reversal of the situation, says the report, would have to entail dismantling Israel's grid of physical and administrative barriers.'

Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6889.shtml

En nu kijken welke commerciele massamedia in Nederland serieus verslag gaan doen van dit onderwerp. En welke Nederlandse politici aan dit rapport van de Wereldbank consequenties verbinden. De terreur van vijf jaar Duitse bezetting herdenken wij nog steeds. Hoe moeten Palestijnen zich voelen onder de dagelijkse terreur van een al bijna 40 jaar durende Israelische bezetting?

Turkse Militairen

Turkse militairen die trots poseren met de afgehakte hoofden van Koerden.

In de jaren tachtig en negentig bezocht ik gebieden waar het Turkse leger met veel terreur de Turkse bevolking onderdrukte. Ik trok ook door zuid-oost Turkije waar een guerilla van het Koerdisch verzet gaande was. Overal zag ik de grootschalige terreur van het Turkse NAVO-leger. Ik schreef erover in tijdschriften en mijn reisboek Overal Ziet Men Zichzelf en maakte voor de VPRO een radioprogramma daarover. In totaal werden in de jaren negentig door de Turkse strijdkrachten 3400 Koerdische dorpen verwoest, werden meer dan 3 miljoen Koerden van hun geboortegrond verdreven en werden 37.000 mannen, vrouwen en kinderen vermoord, de meerderheid van hen Koerden. Het verbaast mij dan ook dat de commerciele massamedia zonder enige terughoudendheid in termen spreken van Turkse militairen die de seculiere democratie verdedigen tegen het zogeheten moslim fundamentalisme. Alsof Turkse burgers niet het recht hebben om op een democratisch wijze op een moslimpartij te stemmen, omdat het Westen dat niet wil. Leest u dit artikel van een van de best geinformeerde deskundigen.

´Unholy Alliance.

Commentary: How secularists and generals tried to take down Turkish democracy.
By Dilip Hiro
article originally appeared on TomDispatch.com.

Recently Turkey came close to experiencing a soft military coup. In late April, faced with the prospect of the moderate Islamist Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul becoming president, the country's top generals threatened to overthrow the elected government under the guise of protecting "secularism." When the minority secularist parliamentarians boycotted the poll for president, the Constitutional Court, powerfully influenced by the military's threat, invalidated the parliament's vote for Gul on the technical grounds that it lacked a two-thirds quorum -- something that had never been an issue before.
This demonstrated vividly that secularists are not invariably the good guys engaged in a struggle with the irredeemably bad guys from the Islamic camp. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkýnma Partisi or AKP) called the Court's verdict "a bullet fired at the heart of democracy." Other critics pointed out that earlier Presidents had been elected without the presence of two-thirds of the 550-member Parliament.
Here was an example of the complex interplay between secularism and Islam in a Muslim country. The Turkish secular elite, fearing a further loss of power, raised the cry of "Secularism in danger!" and got their way -- for now -- even though a recent poll showed that only 22% of Turks agreed with this assessment.
During its nearly five years in office, the AKP government, led by the charismatic, incorruptible Erdogan, has kept religion separate from its politics -- the sort of behavior the American Constitutional system used to emphasize -- while expanding democratic, human, and minority (that is, Kurdish) rights through the most thorough overhaul of Turkish laws in recent memory. The AKP has also been vigorously pursuing Turkey's full membership of the European Union (EU).
"The primary reason behind the intervention of the secular establishment was not the fear that Turkey would become Islamic," noted Suat Kiniklioglu, director of the German Marshall Find of the United States' Ankara Office, in an International Herald Tribune op-ed. "Their fear was that the democratization drive, led in part by hopes of entering the European Union, will erode their power."´

Lees verder http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/tomdispatch/hiro_turkey.html?src=email&hed_20070514_ts1_unholyalliance

De Commerciele Massamedia 62

Net zoals op de Nederlandse televisie ziet men in de VS dezelfde witte hoofden in iets wisselende samenstellingen op de beeldbuis, voor de overgrote meerderheid man en heel erg blank. Dat is de programma-invulling van de tv-bazen in de multiculturele samenleving.

'News Shows: White Men's Realm
By Joe Garofoli
The San Francisco Chronicle

Study documents lack of diversity on Sunday programs.
Here's a silver lining in last month's avalanche of news coverage of Don Imus: The disc jockey's racist and sexist remarks inspired at least one Sunday morning talk show to invite women and people of color to discuss Imus' comments.
Seeing nonwhite men on the Sunday shows is as rare as seeing them on the floor of the U.S. Senate. According to a study to be released Monday by the liberal media organization Media Matters for America, which was obtained by The Chronicle, at least 77 percent of the 2,150 guests who appeared on the four major Sunday shows in 2005-06 were men; at least 82 percent were white.
So that made the April 15 episode of NBC's "Meet the Press" somewhat unusual. PBS anchor Gwen Ifill and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson - both African Americans - were invited as panelists in the wake of the Imus controversy. On the show, Ifill criticized host Tim Russert for tacitly endorsing Imus' history of bigoted remarks by repeatedly appearing on the DJ's show.
"There has been radio silence from a lot of people who have done this program who could have spoken up and said, 'I find this offensive or I didn't know,'" Ifill said. Turning to Russert, Ifill said, "These people didn't speak up. Tim, we didn't hear from you."
Not only did the moment make for good TV, it was a rare example, analysts said, of how broadening the pool of talking heads can lead to a more inclusive and representative national conversation. Sunday shows are closely monitored by the nation's decision-makers, as a barometer of Beltway buzz.
"The April 15 broadcast of NBC's 'Meet the Press' is an excellent example of how much better these programs are capable of being when a group of diverse personalities and voices are brought together to discuss issues of the day," said Media Matters spokesman Karl Frisch. Ifill's comments showed how the chummy Beltway media could foster "an environment where Imus' history of bigoted language could be tolerated."'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051407P.shtml Of:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/13/MNGI7PQ9901.DTL

Paul Wolfowitz

De New York Times bericht:

'Bank Files May Undercut Wolfowitz, Critics Say
By Steven R. Weisman
The New York Times

Washington - Documents circulating at the World Bank suggest that Paul D. Wolfowitz, the bank president, understood that his role in ordering a pay increase and promotion for his companion in 2005 might be seen as a conflict of interest but insisted on proceeding anyway, bank officials who are critics of Mr. Wolfowitz said Sunday.
The officials, speaking on the eve of a fateful week for Mr. Wolfowitz's efforts to remain head of the bank, said testimony and notes that Xavier Coll, vice president of human resources, provided to a bank committee investigating the matter supported the charge that Mr. Wolfowitz was aware of engaging in favoritism. One said the documents were "devastating" to Mr. Wolfowitz's case.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity because the bank bars disclosure of evidence in the case, the officials said Mr. Coll's testimony and notes have become central to the charges Mr. Wolfowitz is fighting.
The officials did not provide the documents. It was unclear whether Mr. Wolfowitz's supporters would read the same information differently and insist that it buttressed his insistence that his actions were encouraged by others and subsequently cleared by them.
Robert S. Bennett, Mr. Wolfowitz's lawyer, in an interview Sunday evening disputed that any such evidence existed and suggested that there might be some misinterpretation of the evidence. Mr. Bennett has reviewed extensive amounts of the testimony in the case.
"Because of the instructions of the World Bank board, I am very uncomfortable talking about the evidence of the case," he said. "But I will say that a careful review of all the documents shows, if anything, that there was no bad faith on Mr. Wolfowitz's part."
He added that the evidence from Mr. Coll and other officials shows that Mr. Wolfowitz "agreed that he should not be involved" in setting the arrangements for his companion, but that the ethics committee "wanted him to get a concrete, practical result in a very sticky situation."'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051407O.shtml Of:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/14/washington/14wolfowitz.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Empire 246

Common Dreams bericht:

'The Lethal Media Silence on Kent State’s Smoking Guns
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

The 1970 killings by National Guardsmen of four students during a peaceful anti-war demonstration at Kent State University have now been shown to be cold-blooded, premeditated official murder. But the definitive proof of this monumental historic reality is not, apparently, worthy of significant analysis or comment in today’s mainstream media.
After 37 years of official denial and cover-up, tape-recorded evidence, that has existed for decades and has been in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has finally been made public.
It proves what “conspiracy theorists” have argued since 1970—that there was a direct military order leading to the unprovoked assassination of unarmed students. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents show collusion between Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes and the FBI that aimed to terrorize anti-war demonstrators and their protests that were raging throughout the nation.
It is difficult to overstate the political and cultural impact of the killing of the four Kent State students and wounding of nine more on May 4, 1970. The nation’s campuses were on fire over Richard Nixon’s illegal invasion of Cambodia. Scores of universities were ripped apart by mass demonstrations and student strikes. The ROTC building at Kent burned down. The vast majority of American college campuses were closed in the aftermath, either by student strikes or official edicts.'

Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/07/1021/

G8-Top

Wat is dit nu? Vrijheid van Meningsuiting, daar zijn we toch zo trots op. Ik kreeg het volgende bericht gemaild naar aanleiding van mijn stukje getiteld Bevrijd http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2007/05/bevrijd.html:

'Anoniem zei...
Deze 5 mei tekst doet me denken aan (vind ik goed passen bij) het verslag van een 56-jarige vrouw dat ik kortgeleden las. Zij werd in Utrecht op 5 mei gearresteerd tijdens een ludieke fietstocht tegen de komende G8-top. Zie: http://zapruder.nl/zaplog/artikel/getuigenis_slachtoffer_5_mei_arrestatie_in_utrecht/
11:31 AM'

Op 5 mei vond er in Utrecht een fietsdemonstratie plaats. Rond 14.30 vertrokken er ruim 100 fietsers vanaf het Jaarbeursplein. Ook reden er meerdere politiebusjes met ze mee en na een half uur werd de groep bij elkaar gedreven en omcirkeld door de ME. In totaal werden er 105 mensen gearresteerd omdat ze geen bevelen van de politie op zouden volgen. ’s Avonds laat werden de meeste arrestanten weer vrijgelaten. Op maandagmiddag 7 mei werd de laatste arrestant vrijgelaten.

Lees verder: http://www.dissent.nl/index.php?page=fietskaravaan