August 2012
Vol 12, No.08
GLOBAL SUPER RICH HOARD $31 TRILLION IN TAX HAVENS
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new report by the Tax Justice Network released Sunday reveals that between $21 trillion and $31 trillion is currently tucked away in global tax havens by the global super-rich—an amount that far exceeds previous estimates. Through exploiting gaps in global tax rules, the global financial elite are managing to hide “as much as the American and Japanese GDPs put together” from taxation, leaving the world’s poor to carry the burden of global debt through harsh austerity measures.
By Common Dreams
ordinary people of these countries through their governments,” the report says.
$32 trillion of hidden financial assets in offshore tax havens represents up to to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues, according to the study released to the Guardian’s Observer.
In the report, The Price of Offshore Revisited, the Tax Justice Network details the ways in which the trillions of dollars are essentially smuggled out of countries into tax free havens such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands through private banks. According to the calculations, £6.3tn of assets is owned by only 92,000 people—0.001% of the world’s population
The report pools data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and global central banks.
“The problem here is that the assets of these countries are held by a small number of wealthy individuals while the debts are shouldered by the
“These estimates reveal a staggering failure: inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people,” said John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. “People on the street have no illusions about how unfair the situation has become.” James Henry, who compiled the report, stated: “[Wealth is] protected by a highly paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy.” 22 July, 2012 Soruce: www.commondreams.org
ARTICLES .THE US- NATO WAR
ON SYRIA: WESTERN NAVAL FORCES CONFRONT RUSSIA OFF THE SYRIAN COASTLINE BY MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY ....................................P 2
.MINERAL RESOURCES BEHIND US PUSH TO AFRICA BY NILE BOWIE ..................................................P 8
.WEST’S BATTLE FOR RUSSIAN ‘HEARTS AND MINDS’: NGOS ON STEROIDS BY VERONIKA KRASHENINNIKOVA.............................P 5
.CUBA DEVELOPS CROPS ADAPTED TO CLIMATE CHANGE
.MALI PROFILE
.FAITH AND POWER: POWER AS SACRED TRUST BY CHANDRA MUZAFFAR .....................................P11
BY BBC NEWS ...................................................P 6
BY IVET GONZALEZ .............................................P 9
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THE US-NATO WAR ON SYRIA: WESTERN NAVAL FORCES CONFRONT RUSSIA OFF THE SYRIAN COASTLINE By Michel Chossudovsky “As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan.” Former Nato Commander General Wesley Clark
attack on Iran,...” In relation to the current naval deployment, Russia’s navy chief, Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov, confirmed, however, that while the [Russian] flotilla was carrying marines, the warships would “not be engaged in Syria Tasks.” “The ships will perform “planned military manoeuvres,” said the [Russian Defense] ministry.”
“Let me say to the soldiers and officials still supporting the Syrian regime -- the Syrian people will remember the choices you make in the coming days....” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Friends of Syria conference in Paris’ July 7, 2012 While confrontation between Russia and the West was, until recently, confined to the polite ambit of international diplomacy, within the confines of the UN Nations Security Council, an uncertain and perilous situation is now unfolding in the Eastern Mediterranean. Allied forces including intelligence operatives and special forces have reinforced their presence on the ground in Syria following the UN stalemate. Meanwhile, coinciding with the UN Security Council deadlock, Moscow has dispatched to the Mediterranean a flotilla of ten Russian warships and escort vessels led by the Admiral Chabanenko anti-submarine destroyer. Russia’s flotilla is currently stationed off the Southern Syrian coastline. Back in August of last year, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin warned that “NATO is planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad with a long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an
later this Summer in war games codenamed Exercise Cougar 12 [2012]. The games will be conducted in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a Franco-British “Response Force Task Group” involving Britain’s HMS Bulwark and France’s Charles De Gaulle carrier battle group. The focus of these naval exercises will be on amphibious operations involving the (planned simulated) landing ashore of troops on “enemy territory.” Smokescreen: The Proposed Evacuation of Western Nationals “Using a Humanitarian Naval Fleet of WMDs”
The US-NATO alliance has retorted to Russia’s naval initiative, with a much larger naval deployment, a formidable Western armada, consisting of British, French and American warships, slated to be deployed later this Summer in the Eastern Mediterranean, leading to a potential “Cold War style confrontation” between Russian and Western naval forces. Meanwhile, US-NATO military planners have announced that various “military options” and “intervention scenarios” are being contemplated in the wake of the Russian-Chinese veto in the UN Security Council. The planned naval deployment is coordinated with allied ground operations in support of the US-NATO sponsored “Free Syrian Army”(FSA). In this regard, US-NATO has speeded up the recruitment of foreign fighters trained in Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. France and Britain will be participating
Barely mentioned by the mainstream media, the warships involved in the Cougar 12 naval exercise will also participate in the planned evacuation of “British nationals from the Middle East, should the ongoing conflict in Syria further spill across borders into neighboring Lebanon and Jordan.” The British would likely send the HMS Illustrious, a helicopter carrier, along with the HMS Bulwark, an amphibious ship, as well as an advanced destroyer to provide defenses for the task force. On board will be several hundred Royal Marine commandos, as well as a complement of AH-64 attack helicopters (the same ones used in Libya last year). A fleet of French ships, including the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, carrying a complement of Rafale fighter aircraft, are expected to join them. Those forces are expected stay offshore and could escort specially chartered civilian ships meant to pick up foreign nationals fleeing Syria and surrounding countries (ibtimes.com, 24 July 2012). continued next page
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continued from page 2 Sources in the British Ministry of Defense, while confirming the Royal Navy’s “humanitarian mandate” in the planned evacuation program, have categorically denied “any intention of a combat role for British forces [against Syria]”.
The evacuation plan using the most advanced military hardware including the HMS Bulwark and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier is an obvious smokescreen. The not so hidden agenda is military threat and intimidation directed against a sovereign nation located in the historical cradle of civilization in Mespotamia: “The Charles De Gaulle alone is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with an entire squadron of jets more advanced than anything the Syrians have — is sparking speculation that those forces could become involved in a NATO operation against Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad ... The HMS Illustrious, which is currently sitting on the Thames in central London, will likely only be sent to the region after the end of the Olympics” (Ibid). This impressive deployment of Franco-British naval power could also include the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier, which is to be sent back to the Middle East: “[On July 16, 2912], the Pentagon also confirmed that it would be redeploying the USS John C. Stennis, a nuclear-powered supercarrier capable of carrying 90 aircraft, to the Middle East ... The Stennis would be arriving in the region with an advanced missile-launching cruiser, ... The carrier USS Eisenhower is already expected to be in the Middle East by that time (two carriers currently in the region are to be relieved and sent back to the U.S.). Amid unpredictable situations in
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both Syria and Iran, that would have left U.S. forces stretched and overly burdened if a firm military response were needed in either circumstance (Ibid, emphasis added). The USS Stennis strike group is to be sent back to the Middle East “by an unspecified date in the late summer” to be deployed to the Central Command area of responsibility: “The Defense Department said that the early deployment had come from a request made by Marine Corps General James N. Mattis, the commander for Central Command (the U.S. military authority area that covers the Middle East), partly out of concern that there would be a short period where only one carrier would be located in the region” ((Strike group headed to Central Command early - Stripes Central - Stripes, July 16, 2012). Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, “asked to move up the strike group’s deployment based on “a range of factors,” and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approved it ...” (Ibid). A Pentagon spokesman stated that the deployment shift of the USS Stennis strike group pertained to “a wide range of U.S. security interests in the region.” “We’re always mindful of the challenges posed by Iran. Let me be very clear: This is not a decision that is based solely on the challenges posed by Iran, ... This is not about any one particular country or one particular threat,” intimating that Syria was also part of planned deployment (Ibid, emphasis added). “Intervention Scenarios” This massive deployment of naval power is an act of coercion with a view to terrorizing the Syrian people. The threat of military intervention purports to destabilize Syria as a nation state as well as confront and weaken Russia’s
A R T I C L E S role in brokering the Syrian crisis. The UN diplomatic game is at an impasse. The UN Security Council is defunct. The transition is towards Twenty-first Century “Warship Diplomacy”. While an all out allied military operation directed against Syria is not “officially” contemplated, military planners are currently involved in preparing various “intervention scenarios”: “Western political leaders may have no appetite for deeper intervention. But as history has shown, we do not always choose which wars to fight sometimes wars choose us. ‘Military planners have a responsibility to prepare for intervention options in Syria for their political masters in case this conflict chooses them. Preparation will be proceeding today in several Western capitals and on the ground in Syria and in Turkey.’ Up to the point of Assad’s collapse, we are most likely to see a continuation or intensification of the under-the-radar options of financial support, arming and advising the rebels, clandestine operations and perhaps cyber warfare from the West. ‘After any collapse, however, the military options will be seen in a different light’” (Daily Mail, July 24, 2012, emphasis added). Concluding Remarks The World is at a dangerous crossroads. The shape of this planned naval deployment in the Eastern Mediterranean with US-NATO warships contiguous to those of Russia is unprecedented in recent history. History tells us that wars are often triggered unexpectedly as a result of “political mistakes” and human error. The latter are all the more likely within the realm of a divisive and corrupt political system in the US and Western Europe. continued next page
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US-NATO military planning is overseen by a centralised military hierarchy. Command and Control operations are in theory “coordinated” but in practice they are often marked by human error. Intelligence operatives often function independently and outside the realm of political accountability. Military planners are acutely aware of the dangers of escalation. Syria has significant air defense capabilities as well as ground forces. Syria has been building up its air defense system with the delivery of Russian Pantsir S1 airdefense missiles. Any form of US-NATO direct military intervention against Syria would destabilize the entire region, potentially leading to escalation over a vast geographical area, extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with Tajikistan and China. Military planning involves intricate scenarios and war games by both sides including military options pertaining to advanced weapons systems. A Third World War scenario has been contemplated by US-NATO-Israeli military planners since early 2000. Escalation is an integral part of the military agenda. War preparations to attack Syria and Iran have been in “an advanced state of readiness” for several years. We are dealing with complex political and strategic decision-making involving the interplay of powerful economic interest groups, the actions of covert intelligence operatives. The role of war propaganda is paramount not only in moulding public opinion into accepting a war agenda, but also in establishing a consensus within the upper echelons of the decision-making process. A selective form of war propaganda intended for
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“Top Officials” (TOPOFF) in government agencies, intelligence, the Military, law enforcement, etc. is intended to create an unbending consensus in favor of War and the Police State. For the war project to go ahead, it is essential that both politicians and military planners are rightfully committed to leading the war “in the name of justice and democracy.” For this to occur, they must firmly believe in their own propaganda, namely that war is “an instrument of peace and democracy.” They have no concern for the devastating impacts of advanced weapons systems, routinely categorized as “collateral damage,” let alone the meaning and significance of pre-emptive warfare, using nuclear weapons. Wars are invariably decided upon by civilian leaders and interest groups rather than by the military. War serves dominant economic interests which operate from behind the scenes, behind closed doors in corporate boardrooms, in the Washington think tanks, etc. Realities are turned upside down. War is peace. The Lie becomes the Truth. War propaganda, namely media lies, constitutes the most powerful instrument of warfare. Without media disinformation, the USNATO led war agenda would collapse like a deck of cards. The legitimacy of the war criminals in high office would be broken. It is therefore essential to disarm not only the mainstream media but also a segment of the self proclaimed “progressive” alternative media, which has provided legitimacy to NATO’s “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) mandate, largely with a view to dismantling the antiwar movement.
A R T I C L E S The road to Tehran goes through Damascus. A US-NATO sponsored war on Iran would involve, as a first step, the destabilization of Syria as a nation state. Military planning pertaining to Syria is an integral part of the war on Iran agenda. A war on Syria could evolve towards a US-NATO military campaign directed against Iran, in which Turkey and Israel would be directly involved. It is crucial to spread the word and break the channels of media disinformation. A critical and unbiased understanding of what is happening in Syria is of crucial importance in reversing the tide of military escalation towards a broader regional war. Our objective is ultimately to dismantle the US-NATO-Israeli military arsenal and restore World Peace. It is essential that people in the UK, France and the US prevent “the late Summer” naval WMD deployment to the Eastern Mediterraean from occurring. The British Ministry of Defense has announced that several British warships are required “to ensure the security” of the Olympic Games. HMS Bulwark is stationed in Weymouth Bay for the duration of the games. HMS Illustrious is “currently sitting on the Thames in central London.” The deployment of British warships including HMS Bulwark and HMS Illustrious to the Middle East is envisaged “after” the Olympic Games. 2 August, 2012 Michel Chossudovsky is professor of economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa. Chossudovsky has been a visiting professor internationally, and has been an advisor to governments of developing countries. He is the President and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Editor of GlobalResearch.ca. Source: Globalresearch.ca
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By Veronika Krasheninnikova The Russian Duma has just passed amendments to the Russian NGO law. Russian NGOs receiving foreign funding will now have to register at the Ministry of Justice as an “NGO carrying out functions as a foreign agent,” make public their sources of funding by marking it on the materials they distribute, and report semiannually to the Ministry of Justice on their activities. This law, a great majority of Russians believe, is long overdue. In the past 25 years, billions of dollars have been pouring into Russia from the US State Department and its subsidiary agencies like the US Agency for International Development (USAID – nearly $3 billion alone), as well as from so-called “private foundations” like the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and George Soros’s Open Society Institute. All of these institutions, judging by their activities and leadership’s biographies, have important ties to the US State Department, the intelligence community, Cold War and the “color revolutions.”
the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and now in Syria. But “victory without war” is cheaper and more effective, as the collapse of Soviet Union has tragically shown.
What did Western funding do to the Russian civil society while pursuing military objectives by “peaceful means?” Might it have accidentally contributed to building democracy in Russia? The word “democracy” here is understood in its original sense, as government of the people for the people, not in Washington’s interpretation as a loyal regime subservient to US interest.
The goal of all this money was not to express Washington’s generous love of Russia, its culture or its people. In addition to building a loyal infrastructure, it aimed at “winning hearts and minds” – and along the way oil, gas, and military capacity. It has all been about “opening” – “open society,” “open economy,” “open Russia,” “open government” – open for brainwashing, economic plunder, for hijacking Russia’s domestic and foreign policies.
In fact, the multibillions of Western funding have profoundly distorted Russian civil society. A marginal pro-American group of NGOs that was pumped up with US dollars like a bodybuilder with steroids -it has gained much muscle and shine. Those few Russians willing to serve foreign interests were provided nice offices, comfortable salaries, printing presses, training, publicity, and political and organizing technology which gave them far more capacity, visibility, and influence that they could possibly have had on their own. Money and spin are the only means to promote unpopular ideas, alien to national interests.
Conquest by war is always an option for the US, as we have seen in
On the other side is the silent majority of people who is squeezed out
of the public space. In Western, and also in Russian media, civil society turns out to be represented by Ludmila Alekseyeva (The Helsinki Group), Boris Nemtsov and Gary Kasparov, rather than by a worker from the Urals, teacher from Novosibirsk or a farmer from Krasnodar Region. Moreover, Russian NGOs not addicted to Western funding are put under serious pressure from Western funders and their local outlets to join the club. Once the Russian organization shows its effectiveness, its leadership receives a call from US Embassy, and an invitation to visit. Money offers follow shortly. If the Russian NGO dares to refuse the bait, one or several mirror organizations are created that, with massive funding and publicity, hijack the subject, fill it out with its agenda and occupy the field. For projects in education, for example, suddenly it will be all AngloSaxon models and values. For projects fighting abuse by the police, this fight will be selective and serving to compile incriminatory evidence on loyal officials designed to create hostility to the government in general, rather than truly fighting these intolerable practices. In the field of business associations, one Russian NGO was denounced by a major US-allied corporation for “excessively defending the rights of domestic producers.. No, Western funding does not contribute to strengthening Russian democracy. It only extends the battle field for pro-American forces against patriotic forces. Like steroids, Western funding is injected in the weaker spots of the targeted civil society. Like steroids, it is addictive. Like steroids, continued next page
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it corrupts the mind and body of the political organism. It transforms the target nation into a sick and dependent collaborating entity deprived of independent will, mind, and heart. Russia and other countries subject to Western funding infusions must take charge of their domestic problems.
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Building a patriotic civil society cannot be outsourced. Democratic processes and national security cannot be outsourced – all the more so to openly hostile governments. These NGO amendments, by correcting an evident gap in our laws, take a major step in leveling the playing field. But this step needs to be followed
A R T I C L E S by further measures that strengthen our national civil societies. 13 July, 2012 Veronika Krasheninnikova, Director General of the Institute for Foreign Policy Research and Initiatives in Moscow, for Russia Today. Source: www.rt.com
MALI PROFILE By BBC News
Mali is engulfed in a tragic conflict that pits rival tribes and groups against each other. There is very little background information in the mainstream media on Mali and its history to enable readers to understand what is going on. This profile on Mali is a modest attempt to fill that gap — Editor
A Chronology of Key Events 11th century - Empire of Mali becomes dominant force in the upper Niger basin, its period of greatness beginning under King Sundiata in 1235 and peaking under Mansa Musa who ruled between 1312 and 1337 and extended empire to the Atlantic. 14th-15th centuries - Decline of the Empire of Mali, which loses dominance of the gold trade to the Songhai Empire, which makes its base in Timbuktu - historically important as a focal point of Islamic culture and a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route. Late 16th century - Moroccans defeat the Songhai, make Timbuktu their capital and rule until their decline in the 18th century. 19th century - French colonial
advance, and Islamic religious wars which lead to creation of theocratic states. 1898 - France completes conquest of Mali, then called French Sudan.
1985 - Mali and Burkina Faso engage in border fighting. 1991 - Traore deposed in coup and replaced by transitional committee.
1959 - Mali and Senegal form the Mali Federation, which splits a year later.
Democracy 1992 - Alpha Konare wins multiparty elections to become Mali’s first democratically-elected president.
Independence 1960 - Mali becomes independent with Modibo Keita as president. It becomes a one-party, socialist state and withdraws from the Franc Zone.
1995 - Peace agreement with Tuareg tribes leads to return of thousands of refugees.
1968 - Keita ousted in coup led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore. 1977 - Protests erupt following Keita’s death in prison. 1979 - New constitution provides for elections; Traore re-elected president.
1999 - Former President Moussa Traore sentenced to death on corruption charges, but has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment by President Konare. 1999 October - Several people killed in fighting in the north between members of the Kunta tribe and an continued next page
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Arab community over local disputes. 2000 February - Konare appoints former International Monetary Fund official Mande Sidibe prime minister. 2001 December - Manantali dam in southwest produces its first megawatt of hydro-electricity, 13 years after it was completed. Amadou Toure 2002 April - Amadou Toumani Toure elected president by landslide. Poll is marred by allegations of fraud. 2002 September - France says it will cancel 40% of debts owed to it by Mali, amounting to some 80m euros ($79m, £51m). 2002 October - Government resigns, without public explanation. New “government of national unity” is unveiled.
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2007 April - President Toure wins a second five-year term in elections.
Terror challenge 2010 April - Mali, Algeria, Mauritania and Niger set up joint command to tackle threat of terrorism.
2007 August - Suspected Tuareg rebels abduct government soldiers in separate incidents near the Niger and Algerian borders.
2012 January - Fears of new Tuareg rebellion following attacks on northern towns which prompt civilians to flee into Mauritania.
2008 May - Tuareg rebels kill 17 soldiers in attack on an army post in the northeast, despite a ceasefire agreed a month earlier.
2012 March - Military officers depose President Toure ahead of the April presidential elections, accusing him of failing to deal effectively with the Tuareg rebellion. African Union suspends Mali.
2008 December - At least 20 people are killed and several taken hostage in an attack by Tuareg rebels on a military base in northern Mali.
2004 April - Prime Minister Mohamed Ag Amani resigns and is replaced by Ousmane Issoufi Maiga.
2005 June - World Food Programme warns of severe food shortages, the result of drought and locust infestations in 2004. 2006 June - The government signs an Algerian-brokered peace deal with Tuareg rebels seeking greater autonomy for their northern desert region. The rebels looted weapons in the town of Kidal in May, raising fears of a new rebellion.
Festival in the Desert - is moved from a desert oasis to Timbuktu because of security fears.
2007 July - The ruling coalition, Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), strengthens its hold on parliament in elections. Rebel activity
2003 August - Clashes between rival Muslim groups in west kill at least 10 people.
2004 September - Agriculture minister says severe locust plague has cut cereal harvest by up to 45%.
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2009 February - Government says the army has taken control of all the bases of the most active Tuareg rebel group. A week later, 700 rebels surrender their weapons in ceremony marking their return to the peace process. 2009 May - Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda. 2009 August - New law boosts women’s rights, prompts some protests. 2010 January - Annual music event -
2012 April - Tuareg rebels seize control of northern Mali, declare independence. Military hands over to a civilian interim government, led by President Dioncounda Traore. 2012 May - Junta reasserts control after an alleged coup attempt by supporters of ousted President Toure in Bamako. Pro-junta protesters storm presidential compound and beat Mr Traore unconscious. The Tuareg MNLA and Islamist Ansar Dine rebel groups merge and declare northern Mali to be an Islamic state. Ansar Dine begins to impose Islamic law in Timbuktu. AlQaeda in North Africa endorses the deal. 2012 June-July - Ansar Dine and its Al-Qaeda ally turn on the MNLA and capture the main northern cities of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao. They begin to destroy many Muslim shrines that offend their puritan views. 28 June, 2012 Source: BBC News Africa
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MINERAL RESOURCES BEHIND US PUSH By Nile Bowie
As public interest in African affairs briefly found a place in mainstream talking points following a controversial viral video campaign about Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), both the United States and the African Union are mobilizing military forces to Central Africa to counter further threats to civilian safety posed by the group. Following the US deployment of one hundred military personnel to Uganda in 2011, the African Union has recently deployed a 5,000-solider brigade to LRA affected areas, tasked with pursuing the group and its leader, Joseph Kony. In the United States, a new bill co-authored by U.S. Representative Edward Royce has been introduced to the Congress calling for the further expansion of regional military forces into the nations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and the newly formed South Sudan. Although the Lord’s Resistance Army has been accused of recruiting child soldiers and conducting crimes against humanity throughout its twodecade campaign for greater autonomy against the Ugandan government, the group is presently comprised of less than two hundred soldiers and remains a questionable threat. Meanwhile, China’s deepening economic engagement in Africa and its crucial role in developing the mining and industrial sectors of several nations is reportedly creating “deep nervousness” in the West, according to David Shinn, former US ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. As the Obama administration claims to welcome the peaceful rise of China on the world stage, recent policy shifts toward an increased US military presence in several alleged LRA hotspots threaten deepening Chinese commercial activity
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, widely considered the world’s most resource rich nation.
As China maintains its record of consistently strong economic performance, Washington is crusading against China’s export restrictions on minerals that are crucial components in the production of consumer electronics such as flat-screen televisions, smart phones, laptop batteries, and a host of other products. As the United States, European Union and Japan project international pressure on the World Trade Organization and the World Bank to block financing for China’s extensive mining projects, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s irresponsible accusations of China perpetuating a creeping “new colonialism” of the African continent remain rather telling. As China is predicted to formally emerge as the world’s largest economy in 2016, the successful aggregation of African resources remains a key component to its ongoing rivalry with the United States. The villainous branding of Joseph Kony may well be deserved, however it cannot be overstated that the LRA threat is wholly misrepresented in recent pro-intervention US legislation. The vast majority of LRA attacks have reportedly taken place in the northeastern Bangadi region of the
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Democratic Republic of the Congo, located on the foot of a tri-border expanse between the Central African Republic and South Sudan. However, the small number of deaths reported by official sources in recent times relies on unconfirmed reports, where LRA activity is “presumed” and “suspected.” Considering the Congo’s extreme instability after decades of foreign invasion, falsely crediting the LRA with the region’s longstanding cases of violence for political gain becomes relatively simple for those looking to gain enormous contracts for Congolese resources. In a 2010 white paper entitled “Critical Raw Materials for the EU,” the European Commission cites the immediate need for reserve supplies of tantalum, cobalt, niobium, and tungsten among others; the US Department of Energy 2010 white paper “Critical Mineral Strategy” also acknowledged the strategic importance of these key components. In 1980, Pentagon experts acknowledged dire shortages of cobalt, titanium, chromium, tantalum, beryllium, and nickel, eluding that rebel insurgencies in the Congo inflated the cost of such materials. Additionally, the US Congressional Budget Office’s 1982 report “Cobalt: Policy Options for a Strategic Mineral” notes that cobalt alloys are critical to the aerospace and weapons industries and that 64% of the world’s cobalt reserves lay in the Katanga Copper Belt, running from southeastern Congo into northern Zambia. During the Congo Wars of the 1996 to 2003, the United States provided training and arms to Tutsi Rwandan and Ugandan militias who later invaded the Congo’s mineral rich eastern continued next page
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provinces to pursue extremist Hutu militias following the Rwandan genocide. Although over six million deaths were attributed to the conflict in the Congo, findings of the United Nations suggest that neighboring regimes in Ugandan, Rwanda and Burundi benefitted immensely from illegally harvested conflict minerals, later sold to various multinational corporations for use in consumer goods. The US defense industry relies on high quality metallic alloys indigenous to the region, used primarily in the construction of highperformance jet engines. The sole piece of legislation authored by President Obama during his time as a Senator was S.B. 2125, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006; Section 201(6) of the bill specifically calls for the protection of natural resources in the troubled regions of eastern Congo. The Congo maintains the second lowest GDP per capita despite having an estimated $24 trillion in untapped raw minerals deposits; it holds more than 30% of the world’s diamond reserves and 80% of the world’s coltan, the majority of which is exported to China for processing into electronicgrade tantalum powder and wiring. The control of strategic resources in the eastern Congo is a vital element of the ongoing US-China rivalry, as Chinese commercial activities in the DRC continue to increase in the fields of mining and telecommunications. The
Congo exported $1.4 billion worth of cobalt to China between 2007 and 2008, while the majority of Congolese raw materials like cobalt, copper ore and a variety of hard woods are exported to China for further processing; 90% of the processing plants in resource rich southeastern Katanga province are owned by Chinese nationals. In 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blocked a trade deal between a consortium of Chinese companies, who were granted the rights to mining operations in Katanga in exchange for US$6 billion in infrastructure investments, including the construction of two hospitals, four universities and a hydroelectric power project. The framework of the deal allocated an additional $3 million to develop cobalt and copper mining operations in Katanga, but the IMF argued that the agreement between China and the DRC violated the foreign debt relief program for so-called HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) nations. The marginalization of China by financial regulatory bodies is a strong indication of its throttling rivalry with American and European corporate communities, many of who fear being diluted in China’s increasing economic orbit. While subtle economic warfare rages between partnered superpowers, the increasing western military presence in the Congo is part of a larger program to expand AFRICOM, the United States Africa Command, through a proposed
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archipelago of American military bases in the region. In 2007, US State Department advisor Dr. J. Peter Pham offered the following on AFRICOM and its strategic objectives of “protecting access to hydrocarbons and other strategic resources which Africa has in abundance, a task which includes ensuring against the vulnerability of those natural riches and ensuring that no other interested third parties, such as China, India, Japan, or Russia, obtain monopolies or preferential treatment.” The push into Africa has more to do with destabilizing the deeply troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo and capturing its strategic reserves of cobalt, tantalum, gold and diamonds. More accurately, the US is poised to employ a scorched-earth policy by creating dangerous war-like conditions in the Congo, prompting the mass exodus of Chinese investors. Similarly to the Libyan conflict, the Chinese returned after the fall of Gaddafi to find a proxy government only willing to do business with the western nations who helped it into power. The European Union’s recently offered contribution of $12 million to joint military operations against the ailing Lord’s Resistance Army suggests signs of a coming resource war in Central Africa. 4 April, 2012 Nile Bowie is an American freelance researcher and video maker who resides in Kuala Lumpur.
CLIMATE CHANGE
By Ivet Gonzalez Cabbage, broccoli, carrots, onions and other resistant vegetables are being grown by researchers in Cuba, who for decades have been working to design plants adapted to the tropical conditions in the Caribbean region.
Resistance to drought is one of the main aims of crop improvement researchers in Cuba. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS “We are now focused on trying to
develop new varieties, with a view to climate change,” Laura Muñoz, the researcher who heads a crop improvement team in the “Alejandro de Humboldt” National Institute for continued next page
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Basic Research in Tropical Agriculture (INIFAT), a government institution, told IPS. The task involves extreme dedication and long hours of work. Depending on the species, coming up with a resistant variety can take from five to 15 years. The characteristics sought in the new plants are “growth, resistance and vitality,” Muñoz explained. In the meantime, the climate continues to change. A 2009 report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) forecasts mild consequences in the region from global warming by 2020, but says they will become especially acute after 2050. As a result of global warming, extreme events will become more frequent in the near future, such as forest fires, floods, drought, and more intense storms and hurricanes. This makes changes in all spheres of life necessary in developing countries and island nations like Cuba. The ECLAC report, Climate Change and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: Overview 2009, says “Adaptation also brings with it some opportunities to pursue more sustainable development, such as better infrastructure, (and) crop variety research and development,” to help sustain food supplies. Some steps in that direction have already been taken in this Caribbean island nation. Since the early 1960s, Muñoz’s team has identified “five annual planting seasons, with different conditions,” a finding that “did a great deal to improve understanding of the climate problem.” Today, they are studying more than 30 species of vegetables, to develop resistant varieties. These include tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and cucumber, some of the most widely consumed vegetables in Cuba. Others
are melons, watermelons, carrots, beans, aubergine and lettuce. Muñoz said that thanks to the work carried out over the last few decades, Cuba now has varieties that are more resistant to pests and drought, and which can be produced outside of the normal growing seasons. The idea is to develop plants that are adaptable to the climate of the future, when both winter and summer will be warmer. A good part of the vegetables on Cuban tables are the product of urban and suburban agriculture, grown in backyards and empty lots in and around the cities. This kind of agriculture has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two decades, in response to an effort to promote sustainable, agroecological agriculture and boost food production.
breeds, and methods adapted to each territory, taking water availability into account.” The programme’s “organoponic” crops – a term coined for organic production in reduced spaces – have been moved to eastern Cuba, he said, because the sources of water where they were previously located dried up. The “marien” variety of cabbage is now grown by urban farmers. It took 12 long years of work in genetic improvement to produce this new drought-resistant variety, designed by INIFAT researcher María Benítez. The cabbage is more “compact and more resistant to pests,” she said. It also has a higher yield. Marien, named after its designer, is also the first species of cabbage that produces seeds in Cuba. Until it was introduced to the market, all cabbage produced in this country was grown from imported seeds. Every year, Cuba buys five tons of cabbage seed, but in 2011, it produced one ton of marien seed.
“Between 40 and 45 percent of fresh produce comes from urban and suburban agriculture,” a sector in which 300,000 people work, Nelson Companioni, the national executive secretary of agriculture, told IPS. INIFAT also coordinates the development of urban farming in the country, he said. “Those crops that were adapted to periods when it didn’t rain and relative humidity was low are now facing the opposite conditions. So they are attacked by fungal diseases, caused mainly by excess moisture,” said Companioni, who is also the director of urban farming in Cuba.
Benítez is now working on genetic improvement of arugula, a salad green that is not well-known in Cuba. And Caribe 71, a variety of onion developed by Muñoz, was included this year in the national plan for replacing imports – one of the priorities of the government of Raúl Castro. This purple onion can be stored at room temperature for up to eight months, which makes it possible to put it on the market when onions grown with imported seeds run out. And a variety of broccoli, Tropical F8, adapted by INIFAT to grow in dry tropical conditions, is now produced in some parts of the country. *With reporting by Patricia Grogg.
He said the challenge faced by the programme is to achieve “an adequate web of crop varieties and livestock
27 June, 2012 Source: www.ipsnews.net
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By Chandra Muzaffar Faith is belief in, or attachment to, God, to a Transcendental Reality. More often than not faith is expressed through religion. But faith goes beyond religion. As the illustrious mystical philosopher, Jalaluddin Rumi, put it, “The true lovers of God have no religion but God.” Religion may sometimes even be an impediment to true faith which is to love God, to be good and to do good. Power is often equated to strength and/or authority. Power is relational. It manifests itself in relation to someone or something. Power expresses itself in multifarious forms and settings. My concern in this presentation is largely with political power. The nexus between faith and power is complex. Right through history women and men of faith have challenged the misuse and abuse of power. Indeed, the great faith messages of the Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad were all conceived in the struggle against abuse of power, injustice and bigotry. Power in turn has shaped faith. The way a particular faith is understood and practised is often determined by the prevailing power structures. If feudal or capitalist structures are more dominant, the different faiths practised in society also acquire some of their characteristics.
More than that, since time immemorial faith has been misinterpreted and distorted to justify and legitimise the misuse and abuse of power. In this perversion of faith, power elites have invariably been aided and abetted by religious elites. The perversion of faith hits its nadir when it is abused to legitimise oppression, exploitation and greed. Why is faith so easily seduced by power? Why are religious elites and why are men and women of faith prepared to betray fundamental values and principles in their religions in pursuit of power or in order to please power? Is it because of distorted interpretations of some text or teaching? Is it because of self-interest? Is it because of their ego? Is it because of perks and allurements? Is it because of their awe of power? Or is it because of their fear of authority? It will not be possible to eliminate completely the abuse of faith by power or the abuse of power by faith. Nonetheless we must all endeavour to minimise this abuse. Exposing and confronting such abuse with courage and conviction should become our collective mission. It is the abuse within our own religious community that should be our primary concern. We should also ensure that we are not one-sided or biased in our censure. What this means in concrete terms is that while we condemn the terrorism
of a group of religious fanatics we should not hesitate to express our outrage over the religiously motivated violence of a state or refrain from venting our anger over mass massacres committed by a global hegemon who may be pursuing the agenda of a certain religious constituency. At the same time, we should raise the understanding and awareness of the entire populace on the meaning of holistic justice and fairness, inclusive kindness and compassion and the total dignity of all living beings embodied in all our faiths. The kernel of these values is a view of power which all our faiths share to a greater or lesser degree. Power is a sacred trust. Whatever its level or form of manifestation, power has to be exercised with a profound sense of responsibility. This is the trust that defines our faith. It is because we bear this trust that we are God’s stewards on earth. It is this trust that joins faith to power. 6 March, 2012
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). The above is a summary of a presentation made at the “Faith and Power” workshop organised by the Noordin Sopiee Chair in Global Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, in Penang, on 6 March, 2012.
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