Het Neoliberale Geloof 41

Na 11 september 2001 verklaarde George Bush waar de zogeheten war on terrorism om draaide: "We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't conduct business or people don't shop. Terrorists want to turn the openness of the global economy against itself. We must not let them.. Out of the sorrow of September 11th, I see opportunity to expand our ties of trade."

Sleutelwoorden: terrorists, business, people don't shop, expand our ties of trade. Een uiterst korte en krachtige samenvatting van het consumentisme en kapitalisme dat de miljarden armen in de wereld buitensluit.

Tik de foto aan en zie wat dit systeem concreet betekent.

De Commerciele Massamedia 70

Daan de Wit van http://www.deepjournal.com/p/6.html wees me op het volgende:

De historicus Maarten van Rossum schrijft:

'Voorkennis: De vrije pers was niet kritisch genoeg
Apocalyptische retoriek

Als het zo voor de hand lag om te twijfelen aan de apocalyptische retoriek van de Amerikanen, waarom is dat dan niet op veel grotere schaal gebeurd? Dat is wat deze hele affaire zo beangstigend maakt. Een door ideologische waan gedreven Amerikaanse regering heeft een zeer ruime meerderheid van de Amerikaanse bevolking zonder grote moeite kunnen overtuigen met een reeks van evidente leugens. De pers is daarbij ernstig tekort geschoten in zijn kritische functie en datzelfde geldt voor de volksvertegenwoordiging.
Natuurlijk kan ter verklaring worden gewezen op de vrijwel onaantastbare populariteit van de president in deze periode en op het trauma van 9/11. Desondanks is het beangstigend te weten dat een leugenachtige overheid in een vrij en democratisch land met een vrije pers zo gemakkelijk een meerderheid van de bevolking kan overtuigen van de schijnbare noodzaak van een overbodige oorlog.'

Lees verder over de vrije pers:
http://www.depers.nl/buitenland/66647/Voorkennis-De-vrije-pers-was-niet-kritisch-genoeg.html

Zie ook: http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2007/05/laura-starink-3.html

De Commerciele Massamedia 69

FAIR bericht:

'Coup Co-Conspirators as Free-Speech Martyrs
Distorting the Venezuelan media story

The story is framed in U.S. news media as a simple matter of censorship: Prominent Venezuelan TV station RCTV is being silenced by the authoritarian government of President Hugo Chávez, who is punishing the station for its political criticism of his government.According to CNN reporter T.J. Holmes (5/21/07), the issues are easy to understand: RCTV "is going to be shut down, is going to get off the air, because of President Hugo Chávez, not a big fan of it." Dubbing RCTV "a voice of free speech," Holmes explained, "Chavez, in a move that's angered a lot of free-speech groups, is refusing now to renew the license of this television station that has been critical of his government."Though straighter, a news story by the Associated Press (5/20/07) still maintained the theme that the license denial was based simply on political differences, with reporter Elizabeth Munoz describing RCTV as "a network that has been critical of Chávez." In a May 14 column, Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl called the action an attempt to silence opponents and more "proof" that Chávez is a "dictator." Wrote Diehl, "Chávez has made clear that his problem with [RCTV owner Marcel] Granier and RCTV is political."In keeping with the media script that has bad guy Chávez brutishly silencing good guys in the democratic opposition, all these articles skimmed lightly over RCTV's history, the Venezuelan government's explanation for the license denial and the process that led to it.RCTV and other commercial TV stations were key players in the April 2002 coup that briefly ousted Chávez's democratically elected government. During the short-lived insurrection, coup leaders took to commercial TV airwaves to thank the networks. "I must thank Venevisión and RCTV," one grateful leader remarked in an appearance captured in the Irish film The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. The film documents the networks’ participation in the short-lived coup, in which stations put themselves to service as bulletin boards for the coup—hosting coup leaders, silencing government voices and rallying the opposition to a march on the Presidential Palace that was part of the coup plotters strategy.'

Lees verder: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3107

Zie ook: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

Het Neoliberale Geloof 40

'Crushing Sales
More home owners are struggling to make house payments

TRAVERSE CITY — Dawn and Scott Hentschel came within a sliver of losing their home after Scott, a construction worker, was laid off two months earlier than usual last fall.
The couple saw a legal notice in the newspaper and then a note in the mail that said their bank planned to foreclose on the two-bedroom, ranch-style house they bought two years ago.
"I was horrified,” Dawn said. "We have three kids. Where are you going to go next? I don't want my kids to be homeless.”
Last year saw a crush of local foreclosures, and the rate is even greater this year. Grand Traverse County recorded 179 sheriff's deed sales in 2006, more than any other year this decade. This year, there have already been 108 through May 11.
It's not just local.
In the fourth quarter of 2006, 44 states saw an increase in the foreclosure rate, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Michigan was the third highest, with 2.39 percent of mortgages being foreclosed, twice the national rate of 1.19 percent. Only Ohio and Indiana were higher.
In a typical foreclosure a homeowner receives notices from the bank for missing payments, before the bank places a foreclosure notice in the newspaper. The sheriff's department then includes the property in one of its regular foreclosure sales. After the sale, the owner has a set period of around six months to redeem the property by arranging an agreement with the high bidder or the bank.'

Lees verder: http://www.record-eagle.com/2007/may/27forenews.htm

Israelisch Expansionisme 44

De Independent bericht:

'Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal.
By Donald Macintyre

A senior legal official who secretly warned the government of Israel after the Six Day War of 1967 that it would be illegal to build Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories has said, for the first time, that he still believes that he was right.
The declaration by Theodor Meron, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal adviser at the time and today one of the world's leading international jurists, is a serious blow to Israel's persistent argument that the settlements do not violate international law, particularly as Israel prepares to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the war in June 1967.
The legal opinion, a copy of which has been obtained by The Independent, was marked "Top Secret" and "Extremely Urgent" and reached the unequivocal conclusion, in the words of its author's summary, "that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
Judge Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia until 2005, said that, after 40 years of Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank - one of the main problems to be solved in any peace deal: " I believe that I would have given the same opinion today."
Judge Meron, a holocaust survivor, also sheds new light on the aftermath of the 1967 war by disclosing that the Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, was " sympathetic" to his view that civilian settlement would directly conflict with the Hague and Geneva conventions governing the conduct of occupying powers.
Despite the legal opinion, which was forwarded to Levi Eshkol, the Prime Minister, but not made public at the time, the Labour cabinet progressively sanctioned settlements. This paved the way to growth which has resulted in at least 240,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank today.
Judge Meron, 76, is now an appeal judge at the Tribunal. Speaking about his 1967 opinion for the first time, he also tells tomorrow's Independent Magazine: "It's obvious to me that the fact that settlements were established and the pace of the establishment of the settlements made peacemaking much more difficult."
Blaming restrictions on Palestinian movement for the devasatation of the Palestinian economy, the World Bank earlier this month acknowledged Israeli security concerns but added that many of the restrictions were aimed at " enhancing the free movement of settlers and the physical and economic expansion of the settlements at the expense of the Palestinian population." The settlements and their "jurisdictions" effectively control about 40 per cent of the area of the West Bank.'

Lees verder: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2584164.ece

Iets hierover vernomen van de Nederlandse commerciele massamedia?

The Empire 252

De nieuwe vijand om de Amerikaanse oorlogsindustrie op volle toeren te laten draaien.

'China blasts Pentagon report on 'China threat theory'
PTI

BEIJING: Describing itself as a "peace loving country," China on Monday lashed out at the United States for "exaggerating" Beijing's military strength and interfering in the nation's internal affairs.
China expresses "strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to a report by the US Defence Department on the nation's build-up of its military strength, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Jiang Yu said.
"The report exaggerates China's military strength and expenditure with ulterior motives," she said.
"It disseminates the 'China threat' theory, severely violates norms of international relations and wantonly interferes with China's internal affairs," she said.
As a peace-loving country, China sticks to a path of peaceful development and adopts a defensive national defence policy, Jiang said.
"The international community has a fair judgment that China is an important force in promoting peace in the Asia-Pacific and the world," she said.
"It is the responsibility of any sovereign nation to conduct necessary national defence build-up to safeguard national security and territorial integrity," she said.
"This report propagating the 'China threat theory' is completely erroneous and futile," she commented.
Asserting that "Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory," the spokeswoman said and China firmly opposes any country that interferes in its internal affairs.
The report by Pentagon said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has acquired better missiles, submarines and aircraft. It also sought an explanation from the Asian giant to explain the purpose of such a buildup. '

Lees verder: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1099609

Irak 209

'Washington's Wars and Occupations:
Month in Review #25
May 29, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras

IRAQ: "HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL"
This time the admission came from a senior military official of Washington's only remaining major ally:
"The evidence does not suggest that the surge is actually working," said Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attache at the British Embassy in Baghdad May 20. According to Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Campbell also disclosed that U.S. commanders had decided that the criteria for "success" would be only a reduction in violence to the level prior to last year's bombing of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra. That means 800 dead Iraqis a month - a figure that the Telegraph admits "few would regard as anything remotely approaching peace."
The administration's utter failure in Iraq is the driving force behind Bush's loss of public support and the fracturing of his right-wing coalition. The latest poll (May 24) shows opposition to the Iraq war at an all-time high: 60% say the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq; 76% - including a majority of Republicans - say that the additional U.S. troops sent this year have had no impact or are making things worse. Bush's overall approval level is just 30% compared to 63% disapproval.
Bush won some breathing space when the majority of House and Senate Democrats caved in to "don't-stab-our-troops-in-the-back" demagogy and approved Iraq war funding. But defeat in Iraq and popular disgust with the war are here to stay. Even Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell predicted a change: "I think the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall." He added the Republican spin that Bush "is going to lead" this policy shift and the White House leaked its standard scam that Bush is "considering major troop reductions next year." But the President will be even weaker in September than he is now.
Indeed, the main trend this last month was one setback after another for the beleaguered White House. Paul Wolfowitz was forced out at the World Bank (because of Iraq and the Neocon agenda, not favoritism toward his female companion). British Prime Minister Tony Blair - "Bush's poodle" - had to step down before he planned. Alberto Gonzales is skewered daily - he's now a symbol of the drive to make the Justice Department a Stop-People-of-Color-From-Voting arm of the Republican Party.
The London Times decided that it would stick a thorn in Bush's eye by choosing one-time leftist turned war hawk Christopher Hitchens to make its point about U.S. politics today:
"The main noise in Washington right now is that of collapsing scenery. The Republican party is in total disarray. They've been dropping their most intelligent people over the side while the presidential candidates are all outbidding each other to be nice about the revolting carcass of (Jerry) Falwell."
Bush and the right are not surrendering any ground without fighting and fear-mongering. But dramatic shifts in the public mood over the last year provide huge openings for the antiwar and other progressive movements to expand our reach, become a force in mainstream debate, and exert independent leverage as the guardians of empire grapple with over-reach and crisis on almost every front.
THE DESPARATE "SECOND SURGE"
The crisis in Iraq is already out of Washington's control. Even to maintain a figleaf of progress the administration keeps sending more troops to kill and be killed. According to a Hearst Newspapers analysis May 22, "The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year... The little-noticed second surge... is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there... the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 - a record-high number - by the end of the year.
"'It doesn't surprise me that they're not talking about it,' said retired Army Maj. Gen. William Nash, a former U.S. commander of NATO troops in Bosnia. 'I think they would be very happy not to have any more attention paid to this.'"
But it's too late. Bush can escalate, but he can't hide.
TAKE IT OUT ON THE PALESTINIANS
With Iraq a lost cause, a desperate-for-success U.S. administration is unleashing its fury on the long-demonized Palestinians. It is an open secret throughout the Middle East that the latest intra-Palestinian violence in Gaza has the hand of Israel and Washington all over it. Even the Washington Post reported (May 17) that "Israel this week allowed the Palestinian party Fatah to bring into the Gaza Strip as many as 500 fresh troops trained under a U.S.-coordinated program to counter Hamas... The troops' deployment illustrates the increasingly partisan role that Israel and the Bush administration are taking in the volatile Palestinian political situation."
Veteran South African journalist and TIME.com senior editor Tony Karon cut to the heart of what's happening under the headline "Palestinian Pinochet Makes His Move":
"The Fatah gunmen who are reported to have initiated the breakdown of the Palestinian unity government may profess fealty to President Abbas, but it's not from him that they get their orders. They answer is Mohammed Dahlan, the Gaza warlord who has long been Washington's anointed favorite to play the role of a Palestinian Pinochet. Needless to say, only a U.S. administration as deluded about its ability to reorder Arab political realities in line with its own fantasies - and also, frankly, as utterly contemptuous of Arab life and of Arab democracy - as the current one would imagine that the Palestinians could be starved, battered and manipulated into choosing a Washington-approved political leadership."
Israeli government officials say outright that their own bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza (combined with support for Dahlan) is designed to destroy the Palestinian unity government and any Palestinian faction resistant to Israeli political demands. (Against this backdrop, the June 10 "The World Says No to Israeli Occupation" Mobilization - go to http://www.endtheoccupation.org/ for full information - is more important than ever.)
Palestinian civilians are also the main victims of the current fighting at Palestinian refugee camps in northern Lebanon. The U.S.-supplied Lebanese army is bombarding civilian areas in its fight with the Al-Qaeda-linked militant Sunni group Fatah al-Islam. Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee to other camps where they are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
Ironically, as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh told CNN International, it is U.S. policy that nurtured Fatah al-Islam in the first place:
"The current situation is much like that during the conflict in Afghanistan in the 1980s - which gave rise to al Qaeda - with the same people involved in both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and the same pattern of the U.S. using jihadists that the Saudis assure us they can control. Since the Israelis lost the war with [the Shia-based] Hezbollah last summer, the fear of Hezbollah in the White House, is acute. As a result... we're in the business of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shia... We're in the business of creating... sectarian violence."
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS VS. RACIST INDENTURED SERVITUDE
Another area where major damage is being done to human lives and human rights is so-called "immigration reform." The Republican-Democrat "compromise" bill announced last week includes a few concessions to the immigrant rights movement but overall is a formula for placing millions in a form of racist indentured servitude. It includes a temporary worker program where the "guest workers'" status is tied to approval by their employers and where these workers to not have any meaningful pathway to permanent legal residence. The League of United Latin American Citizens declares: "If enacted, the temporary worker provision alone would create a new underclass of easily exploited workers who would be forbidden from realizing the American Dream. This bill will dehumanize workers... "
The bill's future is uncertain. Opposition from immigrant communities, labor and the progressive movement is growing as more and more of the bill's specifics are revealed to the public. The bill is also coming under furious attack from the extreme nativist right. This battle is taking place as divisions on the right are increasing, the Bush administration (which supports this legislation) is losing leverage, and progressive activists are feeling new energy and momentum. This means there is a definite chance to defeat this anti-immigrant attack - provided the broad peace and justice movement acts on the principle that "an injury to one is an injury to all."
KEY PRIORITY: INDEPENDENT LEVERAGE
With the 2008 presidential race already underway, struggles on every front inter-mesh in complicated ways with candidates' calculations and electoral dynamics. On the pivotal issue of Iraq, for instance, the Democratic hopefuls are all scrambling to burnish their antiwar credentials. This is a telling comment on how these ambitious figures read opinion within the Democratic Party's mass constituencies, and it provides both a huge challenge and a huge opportunity to the antiwar movement. So do the unmistakable signs that congressional Republicans are anxiety-ridden that continuing the disaster in Iraq will end their careers in 2008.
The challenge is to create such a powerful wave of popular antiwar sentiment that every candidate for office is forced to bow to it or pay a huge political price. Attempts to turn this relationship on its head - to subordinate the grassroots movement to a candidate's agenda instead of the other way around - will come from foe and "friend" alike. To resist this dynamic - which is buttressed by the very structure of the U.S. electoral system - the antiwar movement needs to aggressively reach into every corner of political and social life and substantially strengthen its independent infrastructure.
A number of important gatherings and initiatives are already in motion toward those ends, from next month's U.S. Social Forum and United for Peace and Justice National Assembly to the Iraq Summer effort initiated by Americans Against Escalation and the proposals being discussed in ever-wider circles for an Iraq Moratorium beginning in September and a "No War/No Warming" mobilization in October. A great deal rests on the capacity of some or all of these efforts to gain large-scale traction and make a dent among the millions of people whose thinking and actions will determine the next phase of U.S. politics.'