NEWS AND VIEWS

Archive 20 May  - 10 October 2003

Items I find interesting or important - not directly connected with my business. Recent items are on the main NEWS AND VIEWS page, other older items are listed at the FULL NEWS ARCHIVE INDEX. Index shows date of posting on this website.

You may also be interested in LINKS to sites on related topics, especially the HEALTH, DIRECTORIES and CHANGING THE WORLD sections, and the Adult Education courses "TALKING POLITICS" and "CHANGING OURSELVES, CHANGING OUR WORLD"

You can use Edit/Find or Ctrl+F to search this page. Or use the site search page.

INDEX -  OTHER NEWS WEBSITES - ZNN ALTERNATIVE NEWS

OTHER NEWS WEBSITES; Common Dreams "News and views for the progressive community" - US based. Complementary Healthcare Information Service (CHIS-UK) Friends Of The Earth UK (Press releases) From The Wilderness Mike Ruppert's excellent site. What's wrong with official story on Sept. 11 2001, US plans for war in Colombia, CIA, USA politicians and the drugs trade, peak oil....No longer updates, but archives are still online. Mirror site was at http://www.copvcia.com Globalinfo.org "Daily news service of the developing world" - news on site, also offers free news feed to your website. Indymedia UK  "network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues". Some good impartial comment, and some total pillocks. ZNet "A community for people committed to social change". Includes articles by Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Robert Fisk and many more.

2003

10 October ARNOLD'S ENRON SECRET

10 October DIVVYING UP THE IRAQ PIE

6 October DUDE WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?

3 October WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANSWERS TO THESE 9/11 QUESTIONS?

22 August LICENSING BILL NOW LAW

21 August THE WORLD SAYS NO TO THE WTO

18 August LONDON FACES 'PRINTER CARTRIDGE MOUNTAIN' THREAT - LOOPHOLE MAY DESTROY FLEDGLING RECYCLING INDUSTRY

26 July COLLATERAL LANGUAGE: AN  INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY

16 July THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST BP's BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE

10 July HOUSE OF LORDS SUPPORTS LAW ALLOWING BLAIR TO FLUORIDATE THE WHOLE UK

27 June WANT TO LIVE LONGER? EAT LIKE A GREEK - MASSIVE RESEARCH ON 'MEDITERRANEAN DIET' SHOWS LIFESPAN BENEFITS

25 June US NATURAL GAS CRISIS

22 June THE NEW U.S. NUCLEAR POSTURE

10 June CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH ON HEALTH AND NUTRITION

23 May UK GOVERNMENT CRITICISED OVER SUPPORT FOR INDONESIAN MILITARY IN ACEH

20 May SAUDI ARABIA, WEST AFRICA - NEXT STOPS IN THE INFINITE WAR FOR OIL?

 

10 October ARNOLD'S ENRON SECRET

Extracts. Full story by Greg Palast at AlterNet.Org

"The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.... It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off. 

Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the "Unfair Business Practices Act." This litigation, heading to trial now in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion they filched from California electricity and gas customers. It takes real cojones to bring such a suit. Who's the plaintiff taking on the bad guys? Cruz Bustamante, Lieutenant Governor and reluctant leading candidate against Schwarzenegger. 

... One month after Cruz brings suit, Enron's Lay calls an emergency secret meeting in L.A. of his political buck-buddies, including Arnold. Their plan, to undercut Davis (according to Enron memos) and "solve" the energy crisis – that is, make the Bustamante legal threat go away. 

How can that be done? ....While Bustamante's kicking Enron butt in court, the Davis Administration is simultaneously demanding that George Bush's energy regulators order the $9 billion refund. Don't hold your breath: Bush's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is headed by a guy proposed by ... Ken Lay. 

But Bush's boys on the commission have a problem. The evidence against the electricity barons is rock solid: fraudulent reporting of sales transactions, megawatt "laundering," fake power delivery scheduling and straight out conspiracy (including meetings in hotel rooms). So the Bush commissioners cook up a terrific scheme: charge the companies with conspiracy but offer them, behind closed doors, deals in which they have to pay only 2 cents on each dollar they filched. 

Problem: the slap-on-the-wrist refunds won't sail if the governor of California won't play along. Solution: Recall the Governor.....

10 October DIVVYING UP THE IRAQ PIE

Extracts. Full story by Stephen Pizzo at AlterNet.Org

"The Wall Street Journal describes it as "the largest government reconstruction effort since Americans helped to rebuild Germany and Japan after World War II." Just how much the rebuilding of Iraq will cost American taxpayers is a figure still too elusive to capture. But the President's request for an additional $87 billion in September, atop the $3.7 billion a month we are already spending, indicates the final figure will be, as one pundit described it, quite "an adult number." Recent estimates now put the final figure somewhere between $200 billion to as much as half a trillion dollars over the next ten years. 

America's Iraq-sticker-shock may turn to anger when taxpayers discover the small group of men and companies reaping the benefits of President Bush's newly found appreciation for nation building. While Vice President Dick Cheney's company, Halliburton, has attracted most of press attention for its Iraq-related contracts, Halliburton is hardly the whole story. Halliburton's share is but a slice of multi-billion dollar pie being divided up among a brotherhood of unusually well connected and economically related individuals and entities".

E.g. "The Associated Press describes Science Applications International Inc. (SAIC) as "the most influential company most people have never heard of." The Asia Times calls it "the most mysterious and feared of the big 10 defense giants." SAIC's board changes to reflect the politics of the time. Gone from SAIC's board are directors with expertise in Cold War and Iran/Contra eras like former Nixon Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, Ex-CIA Director Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former CIA Director John Deutch. They have been replaced by people with more timely contacts, such as SAIC director Gen. Wayne Downing, (US Army retired.) Before the war Downing served as a lobbyist for the US-backed Iraqi National Congress and its head, Ahmad Chalabi. Downing (along with Bechtel director George Shultz) also served on the board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq."

Re Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's internal think-tank, the Defense Policy Board; "Among its members; Ken Adelman (who made the rounds of network talk shows assuring Americans a war in Iraq would be "a cake walk,") Newt Gingrich, Richard Perle, Dan Quayle and Bechtel senior vice president, retired Army General Jack Sheehan. The Center for Public Integrity reports that of the 30 DPB members nine have ties to companies that have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts last year".

6 October DUDE WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?

Michael Moore

I have written a new book, and this Tuesday it's being released. It's called, "DUDE, WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?" Because its content is likely to upset more than a few people, the publisher has "embargoed" the book until midnight Monday (which means no store or media outlet or anyone has access to a copy of the book until then.

They have taken these measures because I have written a book that seeks not to defeat the Bush people next year, but to have them removed from Washington right now. I know, I'm not asking for much. But I have spent the better part of the past year researching and writing this new book, and when you read it you'll see why the current criminal investigation of the White House for outing a CIA agent in revenge is, in my opinion, just the tip of the iceberg. I can only hope that my book will make a small contribution toward that day when we'll see one long perp walk of administration officials in handcuffs being led out of the White House and into a waiting paddy wagon. Like I said, I'm not asking for much.

"Dude, Where's My Country?" is also my humble attempt to violate the Patriot Act on every single page of the book. And, I have learned that many want to get on John Ashcroft's evildoer list with me. There are already a record number of orders from bookstores across the country. The first printing alone is almost one million copies (my last book's first printing was 50,000). Chapters include "Oil's Well That Ends Well," "The United States of BOO!", "How to Talk to Your Conservative Brother-in-law," and more. (Click here to see the cover that will win me a free ticket to Gitmo).

If you get the New York Times, you may have noticed a mysterious ad for the past four days in the Arts section. Each day, the ad simply asks a new, pointed question of Mr. Bush. They are questions from my new book, from a chapter entitled, "Seven Questions for George of Arabia." We are running one ad each day until the book comes out on Tuesday. In case you've missed them, here are the first four: 1. Dear Mr. Bush, is it true that the bin Ladens have had business relations with you and your family off and on for the past 25 years?
2. Dear "Mr. President," what is the "special relationship" between the Bushes and the Saudi royal family?
3. Dear "Mr. President," who attacked the United States on September 11th-a guy on dialysis from a cave in Afghanistan, or our friends, the Saudi Arabians?
4. Dear "Mr. President," why did you allow a private Saudi jet to fly around the U.S. in the days after September 11th and pick up members of the bin Laden family and then fly them out of the country without a proper investigation by the FBI?
In my book, I provide some of the answers and all of the background evidence. It is astounding, and it is criminal. Will there be one Democrat in Congress willing to begin the investigation?

After the book's release, I take off on a 30-city tour over 25 days. Many of these dates are already sold-out, so check my website first to see where you can find me. I will also be on the "Today Show" on Tuesday, and "The View" and "Conan" on Wednesday.

You may want to stay in touch with my website as I'll be putting up a lot of new stuff over the next few days and weeks. I'm also planning to keep a diary of my tour, complete with photos from the road.

For me, this is the kickoff of a 12-month campaign for regime change in Washington, DC. I hope you can join me and the millions of other Americans who are committed to Bush Removal in '04. "Dude, Where's My Country?" is my guidebook on how to create a majority of sane Americans who are increasingly fed up and want their country back.

Click here to get your copy, and I hope to see you somewhere across this great land in the next month.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mike@michaelmoore.com

PS. As I head into the release of this new book, I want to thank EVERYONE who read "Stupid White Men" and made it the largest selling non-fiction hardcover book of the year. It is now in its 53rd printing in the U.S., with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. This success only strengthens my resolve that things are getting better and we are not alone.

PPS. For my friends outside the U.S., "Dude, Where's My Country?" is being published in over four dozen countries this autumn. In the UK and Ireland, it's coming out this Tuesday. That's one of the perks you get when one of you are in the Coalition of the Willing!

3 October WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANSWERS TO THESE 9/11 QUESTIONS?

Article in Philadelphia Daily News 11.09.03, by William Bunch.

 "No event in recent history has been written about, talked about, or watched and rewatched as much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - two years ago today.....So, why after 730 days do we know so little about what really happened that day?

No one knows where the alleged mastermind of the attack is, and none of his accomplices has been convicted of any crime. We're not even sure if the 19 people identified by the U.S. government as the suicide hijackers are really the right guys. Who put deadly anthrax in the mail? Where were the jet fighters that were supposed to protect America's skies that morning? And what was the role of our supposed allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?

There are dozens of unanswered questions about the 2001 attacks, but we've narrowed them down to 20 - or 9 plus 11". Full article.

22 August LICENSING BILL NOW LAW

The Licensing Bill (as mentioned in articles of 29 January and 25 February) was passed into law in July. Lobbying produced many positive changes, but did not remove the fundamental principle of live music having to be licensed at all. For a summary of changes to the original proposals regarding live music see Roger Gall "Licensing Bill passed!"  - a posting in the discussion forum at  www.musiclovers.ukart.com. The HMSO website has the full text of the Licensing Act 2003 and the Explanatory Notes. I have removed the pages on this site of explanatory notes and the Schedule to the Bill as they may not reflect later amendments. 

21 August THE WORLD SAYS NO TO THE WTO

Extracts - full article at United For Peace

September 13: Worldwide Day of Action
Against Corporate Globalization and War

From September 10 to 14, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold its Fifth Ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico. Pushed by multinational corporations, the United States, the European Union, and other developed countries are seeking to launch a new round of "free trade" negotiations and expand corporate globalization - further eroding human rights, workers' rights, environmental protections, and democracy - in the interest of corporate control.

Popular movements in Mexico and their international allies will mark these meetings with massive demonstrations to demand a world that puts democracy and human dignity ahead of corporate profits. Solidarity actions around the world will focus on September 13 as a Worldwide Day of Action Against Corporate Globalization and War.

WHOSE TRADE ORGANIZATION?

The WTO is designed and managed for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of most of the world's population and the environment. The neoliberal agenda of "free trade," deregulation, privatization and special corporate protections enshrined in the WTO leads to greater poverty, inequity, gender inequality and indebtedness, while concentrating the world's wealth in the hands of a few. The corporate agenda implemented by the WTO pits worker against worker and nation against nation in a race to the bottom.

THE "WATCHTOWER STATE"

Under the rules of the WTO and proposed agreements like the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the government's role in regulating the marketplace to promote fair labor conditions, access to basic services, safe products and a clean environment is strictly constrained. WTO rules provide a "security exception" that protects and fosters weapons manufacture and the
arms trade. Under agreements being negotiated now, virtually all other governmental services - including schools, health care, public transit, water supply and other public utilities - could be subject to corporate takeover. Basic worker and consumer rights and environmental protections could be jettisoned as "unfair barriers to trade." The vision of government enshrined in the WTO and the FTAA is a "watchtower state" - a fortress security state on a permanent war footing.

THE ASSAULT ON IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

Corporate globalization has destroyed the lives and livelihood of millions of workers and farmers throughout the world. Many are forced to leave their homes, their land, and often their countries in search of increasingly scarce jobs. Yet trade agreements that protect the flow of money and goods across borders don't allow the free movement of people. Borders are
militarized and immigrants are criminalized - even as millions of people are dislocated by "free trade."

More than nine million undocumented workers who live in the United States today lack basic legal protections and human rights, living in constant fear of round-ups, detentions, and deportation. The WTO and FTAA would create new injustices for immigrants by giving corporations the right to import people
to work in industrialized countries like the United States, while maintaining the low wages and minimal worker protections of their home countries, creating a system of legalized sweatshops.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

We have before us a choice: the world of militarism and corporate globalization, or a world built on global solidarity, rooted in a foundation of democracy, dignity, sustainability, and cooperation. This fall we have an opportunity to bring our vision to life, through a series of actions and campaigns that will build toward a better world.

18 August  LONDON FACES 'PRINTER CARTRIDGE MOUNTAIN' THREAT - LOOPHOLE MAY DESTROY FLEDGLING RECYCLING INDUSTRY

MILLIONS of printer cartridges currently being recycled could end up in London's landfill sites - thanks to a loophole in EU rules designed to encourage MORE recycling of electronic waste, the capital's Green Party Euro-MP Jean Lambert has warned.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), to be implemented in the UK by August 2004, aims to reduce the amount of electrical and electronic waste disposed of in landfills and incinerators by establishing separate collection and recycling systems for such waste. By making manufacturers responsible for the disposal of electronic goods at the end of their useful lives, WEEE will also provide direct incentives for producers to improve the recyclability of these products.

But according to the UK Cartridge Recycling Association (UKCRA), WEEE will have the opposite effect on printer cartridges, consigning millions of empty cartridges to landfill sites and destroying the growing inkjet cartridge recycling industry. Keith Moss, chair of UKCRA, said that the Government plans to exclude consumable goods used by electric or electronic equipment from the directive. Printer cartridges would be exempt, so manufacturers would have no responsibility to ensure they were recycled rather than dumped in landfill.

This would pave the way for manufacturers to fit inkjet cartridges with 'smart chips' designed to prevent their recycling and reuse, meaning the 30 per cent of cartridges currently being recycled would be destined for landfill too. UKCRA predicts this would force the developing cartridge recycling industry to the wall within three years.

Green Party MEP Jean Lambert, whose London constituency houses an estimated 40 per cent of the UK's business computer systems, said WEEE was clearly intended to encourage recycling of both durable and consumable electronic goods. "The important factor is whether goods are electrical or electronic in nature. The recycling industry's fears are based on the use of cartridges containing smart chips, an electronic component that would clearly fall under WEEE's strict recycling requirements. To classify printer cartridges as anything other than electronic waste would be simply ridiculous.

"If the WEEE directive has the effect of worsening the UK's recycling rate for printer cartridges, it will have failed. The Government must ensure this loophole is firmly closed when it implements the directive into UK law during the next Parliament.

26 July COLLATERAL LANGUAGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY

Ranges from the origins of modern propaganda in Britain during World War 1, and its subsequent use to control supposedly democratic societies, through to the erosion of civil liberties and international law under George Bush, via the history of the movement against the Vietnam war and the control of US citizens in the workplace.

"When you go to Turkey or Colombia or Brazil or somewhere else, they don't ask you, "What should I do?" They tell you what they're doing. It's only in highly privileged cultures that people ask, "What should I do?" We have every option open to us. None of the problems that are faced by intellectuals in Turkey or campesinos in Brazil or anything like that. We can do anything. But what people here are trained to believe is, we have to have something we can do that will be easy, that will work very fast, and then we can go back to our ordinary lives. And it doesn't work that way. You want to do something, you're going to have to be dedicated, committed, at it day after day. You know exactly what it is: it's educational programs, it's organizing, it's activism. That's the way things change. You want something that's going to be a magic key that will enable you to go back to watching television tomorrow? It's not there". 

Full article at Infoshop News.

16 July THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST BP's BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE

BP wants taxpayer's money to finance a huge new oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea, through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, to the Mediterranean. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline would cause serious human rights abuses, and would rob local people of their land and livelihoods. The pipeline legal agreements make BP the effective governing power over a strip of land 1,750 miles long, over-riding all environmental, social, human rights or other laws, present and future, for the next 40 years. More detail at Baku Ceyhan Campaign.

10 July  HOUSE OF LORDS SUPPORTS LAW ALLOWING BLAIR TO FLUORIDATE THE WHOLE UK

"Water fluoridation contravenes EU directives, the European Convention on Human Rights and Medicine, and the Poisons Act 1972"

Voting last night on the Water Bill (Wednesday 9 July), the House of Lords (UK) passed a number of government amendments intended to make it possible to fluoridate all of Britain's water supplies. The Bill, if it became law, would require water companies to fluoridate the supply wherever a health authority demands this. Notwithstanding widespread concerns about the health impacts of fluoridation, and the fact that the general world trend is against fluoridation with only five countries still fluoridating to any extent, health authorities usually favour the controversial mass medication measure.

But human rights barrister Hugo Charlton, the Green Party's home affairs spokesperson, has warned the government could face strong legal challenges if its proposed amendments to the Water Bill go through. He said today "The Water Bill would extend the power of the health sector to enforce fluoridation of public water supplies. The Bill also proposes to extend indemnity against liability to water suppliers. These proposals violate English and European Union provisions governing the use of medicinal substances."

Mr Charlton continued: "The use of the specified chemicals for water fluoridation is illegal under the Poisons Act. Fluorosilicates are considered poisonous under the 1972 Poisons Act, and the Medicines Control Agency has repeatedly stated that they have no medicinal use. They have not been registered as a medical substance, nor have they been tested for safety.

"The proposals are also incompatible with international standards relating to medical ethics, and the protection of the rights of the individual under the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. Politicians or even a public majority do not have the right to medicate individuals without the consent of those individuals. If mass fluoridation goes ahead the right of the individual to refuse medication will be violated."

He added: "The declaration made by Lord Whitty on the compatibility of the Water Bill with the European Convention on Human Rights fails to address these incompatibilities and is therefore invalid." Mr Charlton concluded "Mass studies from across the world indicate that fluoridation will not reduce tooth decay. The Green Party has grave concerns about adding to our drinking water a chemical that has been linked to problems ranging from thyroid trouble and irritable bowel syndrome, to fatal cancers."

The Green Party's only peer, Lord Beaumont of Whitley, spoke against fluoridation. "But," he commented, "the pro-fluoridation people lobbied very hard. Lords were getting letters from doctors and dentists urging them to support fluoridation, although it's long-established in medical ethics that the patient must have the right to refuse or discontinue medication."

27 June WANT TO LIVE LONGER? EAT LIKE A GREEK - MASSIVE RESEARCH ON 'MEDITERRANEAN DIET' SHOWS LIFESPAN BENEFITS

"The Big Fat Greek Diet may not be particularly calorie conscious but adherence to traditional Mediterranean eating increases longevity by 25 per cent, according to the largest such study ever done". Details at Ivanhoe.com and Medindia. (Links changed 6.11.03).

25 June US NATURAL GAS CRISIS

Article at From The Wilderness. "The single greatest threat to the U.S. right now comes from a critical shortage of natural gas. The impending crisis will affect all consumers directly in the pocket book, and it may well mean that some people won't survive next winter. The problem is not with wells or pumps. The problem is that North America is running out and there is no replacement supply".

22 June THE NEW U.S. NUCLEAR POSTURE

Bulletin from MoveOn.org with links to other articles.

"De-escalation has not ruled the day. The focus has shifted from communists to terrorists and while there is no evidence that terrorists have nuclear weapons, there is evidence they are trying to procure them. Precisely because dismantling never occurred, Russia still possesses nuclear weapons in great numbers, but they are now less securely protected. Once again, nuclear weapons must be preserved as a deterrent.

More frighteningly, smaller nuclear weapons must be developed which would serve not as a deterrent, but as a usable complement to conventional weapons. These changes are immediate history -- the Bush-Putin nuclear arms treaty signed this week, the ban on developing small nukes lifted only last month -- and that history continues to unfold. This week's bulletin will prepare you to participate in the history to come." 

Full bulletin here (separate page on this site).

10 June CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH ON HEALTH AND NUTRITION

From "Holistic Connection" Newsletter 9 June 2003

Here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies. 

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 

3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans 

4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you. 

23 May UK GOVERNMENT CRITICISED OVER SUPPORT FOR INDONESIAN MILITARY IN ACEH

Human rights activists are preparing a demonstration at the UK Foreign Office today over Indonesia's military offensive in Aceh - and the Green Party has criticised Tony Blair's "moral inconsistency" in his dealings with oppressive regimes.

The Green Party will be represented at the demonstration by its Executive Policy Coordinator, Danny Bates, who is also secretary of TAPOL, the Indonesia human rights organisation, and Principal Speaker Margaret Wright. Margaret Wright commented this morning:

"A few years ago Indonesia used British weapons to terrorise the people of East Timor - now the same thing is happening in Aceh.

"When the Blair government came to power it chose to ignore calls made by human rights organisations to revoke the licences for these weapons. Instead, it chose to accept reassurances from Indonesia. Events proved the human rights organisations to be correct."

She added: "In failing to act, the British Government, to its shame, will be complicit in the widespread violations of human rights likely to occur in Aceh. Indeed they have already begun. (Indonesian forces have been accused of killing 18 people on Monday - including the shooting of two 12-year olds at point blank range - as part of a series of raids on villages in Aceh.

"This outrageous situation shows that the Blair government continues to put profit from military sales before any concern for human life or human rights."

Notes:

1. TAPOL, the Indonesia human rights organisation and joint organiser (with Campaign Against the Arms Trade) of today's demonstration, says Aceh could become another East Timor. Around 50,000 Indonesian troops will be involved in the offensive, as will some of Indonesia's most high-tech military equipment, including British-made Scorpion tanks and Hawk jets. See http://tapol.gn.apc.org/pr030519.htm or http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,959492,00.html 

2. TAPOL expects the military operations will result in massive violations of human rights and widespread loss of life, with the majority of victims likely to be civilians. Human rights activists in particular are said to be at grave risk. TAPOL says many of the Indonesian troops will be deployed in support of US oil-giant Exxon Mobil, which has been associated with numerous rights violations in the past.

3. TAPOL predicts that the war will cost impoverished Indonesia tens of millions of dollars and will mean that Aceh will forfeit millions of dollars in development aid promised by an international donors' conference last December.

4. Aceh, on the northwestern tip of the island of Sumatra, has for over a quarter of a century been an area of intense conflict between the Indonesian armed forces, TNI, and the Free Aceh Movement, GAM, which is pressing for independence from Indonesia. According to TAPOL the conflict has cost around 15,000 lives. A peace process mediated by the Geneva-based Henri Dunant Centre has been destroyed by the Government's declaration of martial law and its military offensive.

5. Jeremy Corbyn MP put down the following Early Day Motion, EDM 1161 on 8 May 2003:

SITUATION IN ACEH 08.05.03
That this House is alarmed at reports of new troop deployment in Aceh by Indonesian forces; understands from published reports that over 2,500 troops supported by aircraft, tanks and amphibians are preparing for a new round of action; requests that the Foreign Secretary make immediate representations to the Indonesian Government to halt the military action, re-state the peace process and allow international observers to visit Aceh; and is further concerned that, despite previous assurances, UK military equipment is being prepared for use in these intended military operations by the Indonesian Government.

20 May SAUDI ARABIA, WEST AFRICA - NEXT STOPS IN THE INFINITE WAR FOR OIL?

Article at From The Wilderness. Following the suicide bombings in Riyadh; "FTW predicted Saudi destabilization nine months ago. As venerable progressive icons belatedly discover the inconsistencies and lies of 9/11, the moves for the next conquests are already in play. Deployment of US troops for the Iraqi invasion was also the preparation for the seizure of Saudi Arabia's reserves, the largest in the world. And the smaller but more accessible prizes of West African reserves have become predictably threatened byrebel uprisings and - Surprise! - al Qaeda. Peak Oil is confirmed yet again." 

BACK TO TOP

Page updated 24.05.08

INDEX -  OTHER NEWS WEBSITES - ZNN ALTERNATIVE NEWS

---

My address from 30.04.12 is 14 Holly Bank Grove, York YO24 4EA, U.K.

contact me on: 01904 621510

info@paulboizot.co.uk