International Politics News

NATO dovetailed nicely into this plan as it would stealthily be mutated from a defense alliance to an instrument of American imperialism.

NATO HQ in Brussels is today a very unhappy place. There is a strong understanding among the various national militaries that an attack by Israel on a NATO member flagged ship in international waters is an event to which NATO is obliged - legally obliged, as a matter of treaty - to react.... nobody wants or expects military action against Israel. But there is an uneasy recognition that in theory that ought to be on the table, and that NATO is obliged to do something robust to defend Turkey....
You might [also] be surprised by just how high in Nato scepticism runs at the line that in some way occupying Afghanistan helps protect the west, as opposed to stoking dangerous Islamic anger worldwide...
Therefore what is troubling the hearts and souls of non-Americans in NATO HQ is this fundamental question. Is NATO genuinely a mutual defence organisation, or is it just an instrument to carry out US foreign policy? - --- Craig Murray, human rights activist, writer, former British Ambassador, and an Honourary Research Fellow at the University of Lancaster School of Law.  bloghttp://www.craigmurray.org.uk
 

Comment  and Excerpts transcribed from:
“Be nice to America or we’ll bring democracy to your country” animated cartoon by Bill Blum

The setting for this animated educational video is a classroom with a Professor offering  facts about US foreign policy while students question him.

Some Excerpts from the script:

“Since the end of WWII the United States has endeavored to [1] over throw more than 50 governments most of which were democratically elected- [2] grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least thirty countries- [3] waged war in some thirty countries,[4] attempted to assassinate more 50 foreign leaders, [5] dropped bombs on the people of some thirty country , [6] suppressed dozens of populist and nationalist movements in every corner of the world.” ….

“Professor What do all the terrible things you mentioned have to do with freedom and democracy “?

Is the Transatlantic Alliance Doomed?
By John Feffer

Contributors Note: 

Michael Chossudovsky talks of the militarization of "aid" to Haiti.  Aid will go to Haiti, and the people will be helped back to their status as exploited slave labour for the profit of foreign corporations - and U.S. policy for the region.

The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?

by Michel Chossudovsky

Haiti has a longstanding history of US military intervention and occupation going back to the beginning of the 20th Century. US interventionism has contributed to the destruction of Haiti's national economy and the impoverishment of its population.

The devastating earthquake is presented to World public opinion as the sole cause of the country's predicament.

A country has been destroyed, its infrastructure demolished. Its people precipitated into abysmal poverty and despair.

Haiti's history, its colonial past have been erased.

The US military has come to the rescue of an impoverished Nation. What is its Mandate?

Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?

 We are too easily led into believing that continued war is the only solution to the Afghanistan/Pakistan conflict. As the new decade approaches we might consider waging peace with the same zeal we wage war.  In fact, there are very credible options being proposed and following are just two.

The following article at Open Democracy should be of interest to Canadians in view of the current controversy surrounding the use of torture in Afghanistan and the Canadian  government being complicit in it.

The Americans finally come clean

 To date they get failing grades on all counts.

Paging through press reports it is less than comforting to hear the chorus of Western leaders indulge in their asinine game of brinksmanship with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

History is a weapon, arm yourself. The history we were taught in school was laced with mind numbing brain dumbing down drivel.

30 May 2009

www.greenleft.org.au/2009/797/41023

Mass protests by indigenous communities continue to spread throughout Peru. This is despite a violent crackdown by police and military forces following President Alan Garcia’s declaration of a 60-day state of emergency in the Cusco, Ucayali, Loreto and Amazonas regions on May 9.

Since April 9, indigenous communities have shut down oil fields and gas pipelines, and blocked roads, rivers, airports and other installations. These actions are in protest at government decrees that open access to indigenous people’s lands to facilitate oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies.

Garcia decreed the laws under special powers awarded to him by Congress to bring Peruvian law into line with a free trade agreement (FTA) signed with the United States in December 2007.

One of the most controversial decrees (Legislative Decree 1090) removes some 45 million hectares, or roughly 60%, of Peru’s jungles from the country’s Forestry Heritage protection system.