Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Harlot, Mishnah and Sex with Children
Do you call it pedophilia and abomination? In Islam and Christianity you won’t find these types of abomination.
"Harlot" (prostitute)?
A "Harlot" (prostitute) is designated in the Torah as any women who is not "a daughter of
Source: http://muslimvillage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29589&hl= for confirmation or reference and not for promotion of any one’s blog or web.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Suicide for Fun to Desperate Kids of Palestine
Suicide for Fun to Desperate Kids of
Further to Bush hails Israel's 'chosen people' provoked issues like Why did Nancy Pelosi make this remark and do you agree with her?. However, Why Do The Palestinians Commit Suicide? and American Terrorist Leader George Bush Praise Mass suicide of Massada failed to attract attention of the corporate media outlets!
The sad part is, the Zionists forced Nancy Pelosi to change her position and she was compelled to visit Israeli for a retraction.
Why did Nancy Pelosi make this remark and do you agree with her?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also responded during her weekly press conference, saying, "I think that what the president did in that regard was beneath the dignity of the office of president and unworthy of our representation at that observance in
Since posting of The USA Under Israeli Feet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to visit Israel and issue the Media Release below beside many other Israeli boot licking episodes like all other past and present US
The meaningless Pelosi Statement on Gaza Flotilla Incident is another testimony of US bondage to Israel
Congressional Delegation Statement on Middle East Trip
Washington, D.C. – A senior bipartisan Congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today following their visit to Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
In addition to Pelosi, the delegation included Representatives David Hobson of
“The purpose of the visit to the Middle East was to assess the impact of events in the region on the national security interests of the
“During our trip to
“Our meetings with Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora, Saad Hariri, and Speaker Berri reinforced our belief that the people of
“In our visit to the
“In the interest of our national security and the stability of the region, the delegation strongly urged President Assad to control
“We emphasized to President Assad that peace with
“President Assad declared that he is ready to resume the peace process and enter into negotiations. The test will be whether
“We requested Assad's help in freeing missing and kidnapped Israeli soldiers including: Gilad Shalit; Ehud Goldwasser; Eldad Regev; Guy Hever; Zachary Baumel; Tzvi Feldman; Yehuda Katz; and Ron Arad. And we requested the return of the remains of Eli Cohen for burial in
“In
“The delegation had an extended meeting in
“In the meeting with the Shoura Council, the delegation discussed regional threats including
Monday, February 1, 2010
Endemic Corruption in the Taxi Industry
Endemic Corruption in the Taxi Industry
Preamble
A Critical Observation re NSW Upper House Inquiry
Beyond A Critical Observation re NSW Upper House Inquiry
Humorous Submission with Reality
The Outcome of the NSW Upper House Inquiry
Source: Faruque Ahmed’s Submission to the NSW Upper House Inquiry re Taxi Industry
Faruque Ahmed! Is he a victim of mafia conspiracy?
For more information:
1. Please Support Faruque Ahmed
2. NSW Taxi Drivers Association is Under Control of the Taxi Mafia
3. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary NSW Taxi Drivers Association and
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Australian Culture
The other day in the very early hours of the morning a community activist was working away at a net shop computer. During that time his mobile phone rang and he was explaining Australian culture to someone. He said, “Australian culture is based on cock sucking, some of us also like it in the arse, even when it bleeds”. He was interrupted by a female voice, “excuse me I find these comments offensive”.
Community Activist: Beg your pardon, why are you listening to my private conversation? By the way, are you telling me that you have not sucked a cock in your life?
Female Person: But I don’t take it thorough my ass.
CA: Some people do.
At that point in time a couple of more people join in the discussion by saying, “why don’t you like this country and why are you so rude”?
CA: Nothing wrong with this country and in fact some leaders and media outlets have got it wrong. I am not rude. I am telling the truth and I am not obliged to make any explanation. However, I won’t disappoint you.
He continued.
CA: Do you like racism, sexism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination?
FP: No.
CA: Well we believe the same thing and it appears we can be friends. You see in the year 2001 they had a World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination at
Always kowtowing, sycophantic and submissive at great cost to the Australian people. The people involved in this conversation above are well meaning average people of
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Friday, August 15, 2008
Georgia and Zionist/Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
Georgia and Zionist/Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
Here are the Cold Hard Facts:
1) Ossetia is a ninety percent Russian area. Georgia has made repeated efforts to ethnically cleanse the region. Russian peacekeeping troops have been in Ossetia for years and were approved in international agreements so as to protect the citizens of the region from attacks by the Georgian military.
2) Georgia, not Russia, started this war. Georgia invaded Ossetia trying to take control of the region and ethnically cleanse the Russian population.
3) The Georgian Army, commanded by their Minister of Defense (who is also an Israeli citizen), launched a surprise invasion and attack that caused the deaths of at least a thousand people in its first 24 hours. This attack was committed while the attention of the world was on the Olympics.
4) In the wake of Georgia’s military invasion and massacres, Russia responded by battling to protect the Ossetian people and fighting the Georgia military so it could not continue its invasion and assault. Thousands of Ossetian civilians became refugees from the Georgian assault.
5) Instead of reporting these cold, hard facts to the world, the Jewish-influenced media has been dishonestly reporting that the Zionist-allied Georgian state is a victim of “Russian aggression” and a “Russian invasion.” Georgia invaded, bombed, and massacred the people of Ossetia to start this conflict. On the cable news networks for hours after the Georgian launched invasion and massacres in Ossetia, all Americans were permitted to see was the Georgia President and Jewish U.S. State Department officials screaming about how Georgia was “invaded” by Russia!
6) Instead of condemning Georgia from the outset for the invasion and massacre, Neocon controlled politicians such as George Bush are condemning Russia and attempting to move America and Europe toward a completely unjustified conflict with Russia.
Now I offer you six reasons why the heavily Jewish-influenced media and political establishment of America side with Georgia:
1) As Israeli newspapers freely report, Israel has long allied itself with Georgia, trained its troops, and supplied weapons to Georgia. Key figures in the Georgia government are Israeli citizens and partisans for Israel, including the “Georgian” who directly launched the war, Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili. The major “Georgia” Spokesman is Temur Yakobashvili, also an Israeli citizen, is Georgia’s minister of reintegration.
2) Israel has strategic oil pipeline and economic interests in Georgia that it wants to keep under control.
3) Israel and Jewish powerbrokers around the world are angry with Russia because Russia keeps the Jewish Neocon-controlled United States from total domination of United Nations policy toward Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and toward a war against Iran.
4) The Russian government has had the courage to prosecute some of the Jewish criminal Oligarchs in Russia such as Berezovsky, Gusinsky, Khodorkovsky and others, a great many of whom have fled with their stolen billions to Israel and other nations.
5) Russia is a democratic state, and not controlled by special interests such as the United States is by AIPAC and Jewish campaign money. While Jewish-influenced newspapers and politicians complain about “democracy in Russia,” America maintains a completely controlled two party system that is structured to stifle Third Party dissent and representation. Russia is no longer a communist state but an anti-communist state in the true sense. While Russia has moved toward more freedom and healthy national sentiment, America has moved toward more state control of every aspect of life. Ironically, today American policy is dominated by Neocons, a Jewish extremist led group that was founded by followers of Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstein) the notorious Jewish Bolshevik head of the Red Army in the early years of the Communist revolution in Russia, a man who murdered millions of Christians.
6) Zionists are trying to make the great, overwhelming White nation of Russia an enemy of America and Europe because nationalist Russia stymies their plans for the Mideast and for the New World Order. The conflict between Russia and Georgia is not in the true interest of either country, but one in which their main enemy, Russia is weakened both financially and in the court of world opinion, and Israel gets to sell Georgia more weapons. Once you understand the powerful role of the Jewish supremacists in media and government you can begin understand the nature of the world’s major conflicts.
What it all boils down to is simply the fact that powerful Jewish influence in politics and media in the United States see it in Israel’s interest and the interest of the Jewish people to side with Georgia and try to harm Russia. Sadly, as reflected by our Israeli policy, by our catastrophic War for Israel in Iraq, by our Jewish-influenced tottering to the brink of a cataclysmic war with Iran, and by this insane escalation of conflict with anti-communist Russia, we are acting not in the interest of the American people, not in the interest of freedom, justice or fairness, but simply showing our complete subservience to the Jewish extremists.
Source
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:Re: Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
I would like to prosecute Georgian President and his advisors for war crimes and genocide. Because it was them who have initiated military actions and violence to solve a complex political problem rather than genuinely seeking for a pragmatic solution! Should we proceed in such a direction, they may tell us the perpetrators who incited this violence and misguided them in the first place. Penultimately, we would be in a position to prosecute Bush and co for their crimes in the Russian region and elsewhere.
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, John Robinson wrote:freeamericanow] Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
Grandma,
Here are the Cold Hard Facts:
1) Ossetia is a ninety percent Russian area. Georgia has made repeated efforts to ethnically cleanse the region. Russian peacekeeping troops have been in Ossetia for years and were approved in international agreements so as to protect the citizens of the region from attacks by the Georgian military.
2) Georgia, not Russia, started this war. Georgia invaded Ossetia trying to take control of the region and ethnically cleanse the Russian population.
3) The Georgian Army, commanded by their Minister of Defense (who is also an Israeli citizen), launched a surprise invasion and attack that caused the deaths of at least a thousand people in its first 24 hours. This attack was committed while the attention of the world was on the Olympics.
4) In the wake of Georgia’s military invasion and massacres, Russia responded by battling to protect the Ossetian people and fighting the Georgia military so it could not continue its invasion and assault. Thousands of Ossetian civilians became refugees from the Georgian assault.
5) Instead of reporting these cold, hard facts to the world, the Jewish-influenced media has been dishonestly reporting that the Zionist-allied Georgian state is a victim of “Russian aggression” and a “Russian invasion.” Georgia invaded, bombed, and massacred the people of Ossetia to start this conflict. On the cable news networks for hours after the Georgian launched invasion and massacres in Ossetia, all Americans were permitted to see was the Georgia President and Jewish U.S. State Department officials screaming about how Georgia was “invaded” by Russia!
6) Instead of condemning Georgia from the outset for the invasion and massacre, Neocon controlled politicians such as George Bush are condemning Russia and attempting to move America and Europe toward a completely unjustified conflict with Russia.
Now I offer you six reasons why the heavily Jewish-influenced media and political establishment of America side with Georgia:
1) As Israeli newspapers freely report, Israel has long allied itself with Georgia, trained its troops, and supplied weapons to Georgia. Key figures in the Georgia government are Israeli citizens and partisans for Israel, including the “Georgian” who directly launched the war, Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili. The major “Georgia” Spokesman is Temur Yakobashvili, also an Israeli citizen, is Georgia’s minister of reintegration.
2) Israel has strategic oil pipeline and economic interests in Georgia that it wants to keep under control.
3) Israel and Jewish powerbrokers around the world are angry with Russia because Russia keeps the Jewish Neocon-controlled United States from total domination of United Nations policy toward Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and toward a war against Iran.
4) The Russian government has had the courage to prosecute some of the Jewish criminal Oligarchs in Russia such as Berezovsky, Gusinsky, Khodorkovsky and others, a great many of whom have fled with their stolen billions to Israel and other nations.
5) Russia is a democratic state, and not controlled by special interests such as the United States is by AIPAC and Jewish campaign money. While Jewish-influenced newspapers and politicians complain about “democracy in Russia,” America maintains a completely controlled two party system that is structured to stifle Third Party dissent and representation. Russia is no longer a communist state but an anti-communist state in the true sense. While Russia has moved toward more freedom and healthy national sentiment, America has moved toward more state control of every aspect of life. Ironically, today American policy is dominated by Neocons, a Jewish extremist led group that was founded by followers of Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstein) the notorious Jewish Bolshevik head of the Red Army in the early years of the Communist revolution in Russia, a man who murdered millions of Christians.
6) Zionists are trying to make the great, overwhelming White nation of Russia an enemy of America and Europe because nationalist Russia stymies their plans for the Mideast and for the New World Order. The conflict between Russia and Georgia is not in the true interest of either country, but one in which their main enemy, Russia is weakened both financially and in the court of world opinion, and Israel gets to sell Georgia more weapons. Once you understand the powerful role of the Jewish supremacists in media and government you can begin understand the nature of the world’s major conflicts.
What it all boils down to is simply the fact that powerful Jewish influence in politics and media in the United States see it in Israel’s interest and the interest of the Jewish people to side with Georgia and try to harm Russia. Sadly, as reflected by our Israeli policy, by our catastrophic War for Israel in Iraq, by our Jewish-influenced tottering to the brink of a cataclysmic war with Iran, and by this insane escalation of conflict with anti-communist Russia, we are acting not in the interest of the American people, not in the interest of freedom, justice or fairness, but simply showing our complete subservience to the Jewish extremists.
Source
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque"
I would like to prosecute Georgian President and his advisors for war crimes and genocide. Because it was them who have initiated military actions and violence to solve a complex political problem rather than genuinely seeking for a pragmatic solution! Should we proceed in such a direction, they may tell us the perpetrators who incited this violence and misguided them in the first place. Penultimately, we would be in a position to prosecute Bush and co for their crimes in the Russian region and elsewhere.
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, John Robinson
Grandma,
This is height of hypocrisy and shows the true colors of US. I think what US means is "Do not do what I am doing but do what I am saying".
President Bush sought to contain the explosive conflict in Georgia on Sunday as the White House warned that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered."
Mr. Bush what will you do, other than holding your own dick. You do not have enough resources to open a third front. As it is, you are begging whole world to provide troops.
Cheney told Saakashvili that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said.
Lying again. International community does not have the face to face Russia. What was it doing in the face of naked aggression by USA and its allies in Afghanistan & Iraq.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.
Lying again. International community does not have the face to face Russia. What was it doing in the face of naked aggression by USA and its allies in Afghanistan & Iraq.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.
"We cannot just go out alone on this and talk and act unilaterally. We don't have much impact, I believe, in terms of our unilateral declarations anymore with the administration' s approach to the world," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We've got to stand together with European allies."
Sorry Senator. You got a bigger problem. It is called credibility. Regarding Allies. russia also has come allies, who will be willing to have a final solution to this problem of Europeans attacking Asian nations and then crying when one of their own gets the same medicine.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."
"It has to be condemned and the world needs to stand against it," Levin said. Oh yeah. Same way as world condemned your attack on Iraq and Afghanistan and vietnam and so on. I hope Russia will also respond in the same way as you did to international criticism.
Sorry Senator. You got a bigger problem. It is called credibility. Regarding Allies. russia also has come allies, who will be willing to have a final solution to this problem of Europeans attacking Asian nations and then crying when one of their own gets the same medicine.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."
"It has to be condemned and the world needs to stand against it," Levin said. Oh yeah. Same way as world condemned your attack on Iraq and Afghanistan and vietnam and so on. I hope Russia will also respond in the same way as you did to international criticism.
Sanjay Pandey
BangaloreKarnatakaIndia
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque"
The world knows about Georgia's illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Georgia did it because the biggest terrorist gangs of the world told the Georgian stupid and greedy leadership, "if you are with us you are one of us and we will protect you should you get invaded or attacked … ". When the whole world attention was focused on the Beijing Olympics the Bush gang gave the green light to use force and violence to address a complex political problem. The Georgian gangs went on to conduct ethnic cleansing like the mighty Israel! Russia acted with force similar to the misguided Bush "clones" while terrorist Bush chickened out for very good reasons. Yet, the most violent and brutal terrorist leader Bush got the audacity to say, "violence is not the solution"!!
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "Jodie" wrote:
Re: Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
Sanjay I am sickened, witnessing the "height of hypocrisy" and true colors demonstrated by the U.S. I will have to say that, although I do not approve of war and death and destruction, I was glad to see Cowboy Putin, with his guns a-blazing; riding his horse back into the arena ... right up to the edge of that Oil Pipeline. "Don't even try it..."
Of course, uninformed U.S. citizens are being fed the usual baby food this morning by the U.S. media, with anti-Russian statements by Bush, Obama, and others... Bush: "Such an inhuman action (by Russia) is unacceptable in the 21st Century. Americans are standing by you !! " ( While Bush was thinking... "We want control of that oil pipeline !! No oil for Russia." )
Grandma
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:
Re: Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
I did not know Bush follows Mahatma Gandhi!
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, sanjay pandey wrote:
Re: [freeamericanow] Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "Jodie"
Re: Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
Sanjay I am sickened, witnessing the "height of hypocrisy" and true colors demonstrated by the U.S. I will have to say that, although I do not approve of war and death and destruction, I was glad to see Cowboy Putin, with his guns a-blazing; riding his horse back into the arena ... right up to the edge of that Oil Pipeline. "Don't even try it..."
Of course, uninformed U.S. citizens are being fed the usual baby food this morning by the U.S. media, with anti-Russian statements by Bush, Obama, and others... Bush: "Such an inhuman action (by Russia) is unacceptable in the 21st Century. Americans are standing by you !! " ( While Bush was thinking... "We want control of that oil pipeline !! No oil for Russia." )
Grandma
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque"
Re: Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
I did not know Bush follows Mahatma Gandhi!
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, sanjay pandey
Re: [freeamericanow] Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
Grandma,
This is height of hypocrisy and shows the true colors of US. I think what US means is "Do not do what I am doing but do what I am saying".
President Bush sought to contain the explosive conflict in Georgia on Sunday as the White House warned that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered."
Mr. Bush what will you do, other than holding your own dick. You do not have enough resources to open a third front. As it is, you are begging whole world to provide troops.
Cheney told Saakashvili that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said.
Lying again. International community does not have the face to face Russia. What was it doing in the face of naked aggression by USA and its allies in Afghanistan & Iraq.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.
Lying again. International community does not have the face to face Russia. What was it doing in the face of naked aggression by USA and its allies in Afghanistan & Iraq.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.
"We cannot just go out alone on this and talk and act unilaterally. We don't have much impact, I believe, in terms of our unilateral declarations anymore with the administration' s approach to the world," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We've got to stand together with European allies."
Sorry Senator. You got a bigger problem. It is called credibility. Regarding Allies. russia also has come allies, who will be willing to have a final solution to this problem of Europeans attacking Asian nations and then crying when one of their own gets the same medicine.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."
Sorry Senator. You got a bigger problem. It is called credibility. Regarding Allies. russia also has come allies, who will be willing to have a final solution to this problem of Europeans attacking Asian nations and then crying when one of their own gets the same medicine.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."
"It has to be condemned and the world needs to stand against it," Levin said.
Oh yeah. Same way as world condemned your attack on Iraq and Afghanistan and vietnam and so on. I hope Russia will also respond in the same way as you did to international criticism.Sanjay PandeyBangaloreKarnatakaIndia
--- On Mon, 11/8/08, Jodie wrote:
From: JodieSubject: [freeamericanow] Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in GeorgiaTo: freeamericanow@yahoogroups.comDate: Monday, 11 August, 2008, 7:34 AM
To Bush and Cheney : SHUT UP !!!!!!!!!!
===========
Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago
BEIJING - President Bush sought to contain the explosive conflict in Georgia on Sunday as the White House warned that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered."
The crisis over a breakaway province, South Ossetia, appeared to ebb as Georgian troops began retreating and honoring a cease-fire, a claim Russia disputed. U.S. officials said Moscow was only broadening its retaliation against Georgia for trying to take control of the region..
The sheer scope of Russia's military response has the Bush administration deeply worried. Russia on Sunday expanded its bombing blitz in areas of Georgia not central to the fighting.
Vice President Dick Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Cheney press secretary Lee Ann McBride said. "The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," McBride said.
Cheney told Saakashvili that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said.
A Russian official said more than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday; the figure could not be confirmed independently.
The president was to end his weeklong stay to Asia by attending a baseball game and other events Monday at the Beijing Olympics. The trip was meant mostly for fun and games â€" there have been plenty of both. But the fast-moving conflict in Georgia has grabbed his attention.
Bush, pressing international mediation, reached out Sunday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who heads the European Union. The two agreed on the need for a cease-fire and a respect for Georgia's integrity, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.
"We cannot just go out alone on this and talk and act unilaterally. We don't have much impact, I believe, in terms of our unilateral declarations anymore with the administration' s approach to the world," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We've got to stand together with European allies."
Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali. In response, Russia launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops.
"We're alarmed by this entire situation, and every escalatory step is a further problem," deputy national security adviser Jim Jeffrey told reporters.
The U.S. military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled the soldiers following the outbreak of fighting with Russia. The decision was a timely payback for the former Soviet republic that has been a staunch U.S. supporter and agreed to send troops to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition. Georgia was the third-largest contributor of coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain, and most of its troops were stationed near the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq.
The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war increased when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive them out of a small part of the province they control.
Also, Ukraine warned Russia it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.
"If those Russian ships leave that port in the Black Sea and if Ukraine decides that it is not going to allow those ships back into that port ... that is a potentially much greater conflagration involving a wider regional area," Levin said.
The White House sought to reassure that the administration â€" including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen â€" were talking to parties on both sides and trying for a diplomatic solution.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."
"It has to be condemned and the world needs to stand against it," Levin said.
Source: Free America Now
--- On Mon, 11/8/08, Jodie
From: Jodie
To Bush and Cheney : SHUT UP !!!!!!!!!!
===========
Bush seeks to contain violent conflict in Georgia
By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago
BEIJING - President Bush sought to contain the explosive conflict in Georgia on Sunday as the White House warned that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered."
The crisis over a breakaway province, South Ossetia, appeared to ebb as Georgian troops began retreating and honoring a cease-fire, a claim Russia disputed. U.S. officials said Moscow was only broadening its retaliation against Georgia for trying to take control of the region..
The sheer scope of Russia's military response has the Bush administration deeply worried. Russia on Sunday expanded its bombing blitz in areas of Georgia not central to the fighting.
Vice President Dick Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Cheney press secretary Lee Ann McBride said. "The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," McBride said.
Cheney told Saakashvili that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said.
A Russian official said more than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday; the figure could not be confirmed independently.
The president was to end his weeklong stay to Asia by attending a baseball game and other events Monday at the Beijing Olympics. The trip was meant mostly for fun and games â€" there have been plenty of both. But the fast-moving conflict in Georgia has grabbed his attention.
Bush, pressing international mediation, reached out Sunday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who heads the European Union. The two agreed on the need for a cease-fire and a respect for Georgia's integrity, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in condemning Russia's actions.
"We cannot just go out alone on this and talk and act unilaterally. We don't have much impact, I believe, in terms of our unilateral declarations anymore with the administration' s approach to the world," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We've got to stand together with European allies."
Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali. In response, Russia launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops.
"We're alarmed by this entire situation, and every escalatory step is a further problem," deputy national security adviser Jim Jeffrey told reporters.
The U.S. military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled the soldiers following the outbreak of fighting with Russia. The decision was a timely payback for the former Soviet republic that has been a staunch U.S. supporter and agreed to send troops to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition. Georgia was the third-largest contributor of coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain, and most of its troops were stationed near the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq.
The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war increased when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive them out of a small part of the province they control.
Also, Ukraine warned Russia it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.
"If those Russian ships leave that port in the Black Sea and if Ukraine decides that it is not going to allow those ships back into that port ... that is a potentially much greater conflagration involving a wider regional area," Levin said.
The White House sought to reassure that the administration â€" including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen â€" were talking to parties on both sides and trying for a diplomatic solution.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole variety of international institutions and organizations to get the fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement, though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its action "is way out of line."
"It has to be condemned and the world needs to stand against it," Levin said.
Source: Free America Now
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Mugabe's Biggest Sin
Anglo-American and Chinese interests clash over Zimbabwe's strategic mineral wealth
Mugabe's Biggest Sin
By F. William Engdahl
July 30, 2008
www.globalresearch. ca
Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, presides over one of the world's richest minerals treasures, the Great Dyke region, which cuts a geological swath across the entire land from northeast to southwest. The real background to the pious concerns of the Bush Administration for human rights in Zimbabwe in the past several years is not Mugabe's possible election fraud or his expropriation of white settler farms. It is the fact that Mr. Mugabe has been quietly doing business, a lot of it, with the one country which has virtually unlimited need of strategic raw materials Zimbabwe can provide—China. Mugabe's Zimbabwe is, along with Sudan, on the central stage of the new war over control of strategic minerals of Africa between Washington and Beijing, with Moscow playing a supporting role in the drama. The stakes are huge.
Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe is a very very bad man. This we all know from reading the newspapers or hearing the pronouncements of George W. Bush, earlier Britain's Tony Blair and more recently Gordon Brown. In their eyes he has sinned badly. They charge that he is a dictator; that he has expropriated, often with violence, the farms of whites as part of land reform; they claim he rigged his re-election by vote fraud and violence; that he has ruined the economy of Zimbabwe.
Whether Robert Mugabe deserves to be in Washington's honor roll of villains alongside Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, Ahmadinejad, and Adolf Hitler, however, it is not the reason Washington and London have made Zimbabwe regime change priority number one for their Africa policy.
What his sin is seems to have more to do with his attempts to get out from under Anglo-American neo-colonial serfdom dependency and to pursue a national economic development independent of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. His real sin seems to be the fact that he has turned to the one nation that offers his government credits and soft loans for economic development with no strings attached—The Peoples' Republic of China.
Western media accounts conveniently tend to omit the second major party to what is a huge tug of war between Anglo-American interests and China to get control of Zimbabwe's vast mineral wealth. We should keep in mind that for Washington there are always "good dictators" and "bad dictators." The difference is whether the given dictator serves US national interests or not. Mugabe clearly is in the latter category.
Cecil Rhodes' legacy
Zimbabwe is the name of what under the era of British Imperialism a century ago was named Rhodesia. The name Rhodesia came from the British imperial strategist and miner, Cecil Rhodes, founder of the Rhodes scholarships to Oxford, and author of a plan for a vast private African zone, to be chartered from the Queen of England, from Egypt to South Africa. Cecil Rhodes created the British South Africa Company, modeled on the East India Company, along with his partner, L. Starr Jameson of Jameson Raid notoriety, to exploit the mineral riches of Rhodesia. It controlled what was later named Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia-Nyasaland. The model was that the British Government would assume all risks to militarily defend Rhodes' looting while Rhodes and his London bankers, above all Lord Rothschild, who was a close associate, would assume all the gains of the business.
Rhodes, a seasoned geologist, knew well that there was a remarkable geological fault running from the mouth of the Nile at the Gulf of Suez south through Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, down through today's Zimbabwe on to South Africa. Rhodes had already instigated several wars to gain control of the diamonds of Kimberly and the gold of Witwatersrand in South Africa. This geological phenomenon he, as well as enterprising German explorers, had discovered in the 1880's. They named it the Great Rift Valley.
Rhodesia, like South Africa after the bloody Boer wars, was settled by white settlers to secure future minerals gains for allied interests of the City of London, mainly those of the powerful Oppenheimer family and their gold and diamond enterprises in the region.
In 1962 when Africa was undergoing the wave of national liberation from colonial rule, a wave calculatedly supported by "non-colonial power" Washington, Rhodesia was one of the last bastions, along with former British colony South Africa, of white Apartheid rule. Whites in Rhodesia constituted only 1-2% of the total population so their methods of holding on to power were rather ruthless.
White supremacist Prime Minister, Ian Smith, declared Rhodesian independence from Britain in 1965 rather than agree to the slightest compromise on race or power sharing with black nationalists. Britain got UN trade sanctions imposed to force Smith to buckle under. Despite sanctions, there was considerable support from conservative business interests in London. Britain's Tiny Rowland, head of the Lonrho mining conglomerate, secured the bulk of his African profits from Rhodesian copper mining and related ventures under the Smith regime. The City of London knew very well what riches lay in Rhodesia. The question was how to secure enduring control. Smith's Rhodesian backers had little interest in giving it all to London.
Following a long and bloody struggle, in 1980 the leader of the black African Popular Front coalition, Robert Mugabe, overwhelmingly won election as the first Prime Minister of a new Zimbabwe. Twenty eight years later, the same Robert Mugabe is under escalating attack from the West, especially Zimbabwe's former colonial master, England, including strong economic sanctions designed to bring the country to the brink of collapse, to force him to open the economy to foreign (read Anglo-American and allied) investment. Ironically, the issue seems not all that different from the Ian Smith era: London and US control of the resources of the rich land, and Zimbabwean efforts to resist that control.
The Great Dyke
Within Zimbabwe, a portion of the rich Great Rift is called the Great Dyke, an intrusive geological treasure zone running over 530 kilometers from the northeast to the southwest of the country, in places up to 12 kilometers wide. A river runs along the fault and the region is volcanically active. Here also lie vast deposits of chromium, of copper, platinum and other metals.
The US State Department, as well as London, is aware of the vast minerals and other riches of Zimbabwe. It states in a recent report on Zimbabwe,
"Zimbabwe is endowed with rich mineral resources. Exports of gold, asbestos, chrome, coal, platinum, nickel, and copper could lead to an economic recovery one day...The country is richly endowed with coal-bed methane gas that has yet to be exploited.
With international attractions such as Victoria Falls, the Great Zimbabwe stone ruins, Lake Kariba, and extensive wildlife, tourism historically has been a significant segment of the economy and contributor of foreign exchange. The sector has contracted sharply since 1999, however, due to the country's declining international image.(sic).
Energy Resources
With considerable hydroelectric power potential and plentiful coal deposits for thermal power station, Zimbabwe is less dependent on oil as an energy source than most other comparably industrialized countries, but it still imports 40% of its electric power needs from surrounding countries--primaril y Mozambique. Only about 15% of Zimbabwe's total energy consumption is accounted for by oil, all of which is imported. Zimbabwe imports about 1.2 billion liters of oil per year. Zimbabwe also has substantial coal reserves that are utilized for power generation, and coal-bed methane deposits recently discovered in Matabeleland province are greater than any known natural gas field in Southern or Eastern Africa. In recent years, poor economic management and low foreign currency reserves have led to serious fuel shortages."
In short, chrome, copper, gold, platinum, huge hydroelectric power potential and vast coal reserves are what is at stake for Washington and London in Zimbabwe. The country also has unverified reserves of uranium, something in big demand today for nuclear power generation.
It is clear of late that so long as the tenacious Mugabe is running things, not the Anglo-Americans, but rather the Chinese, are Zimbabwe's preferred business partners. This seems to be Mugabe's greatest sin. He's not reading from the right program as George W. Bush's friends see it. His real sin seems to be turning East not West for economic and investment help.
The Chinese connection
During the Cold War China recognized and supported Robert Mugabe. In recent years as China's search for secure raw materials escalated its foreign diplomacy, relations have become stronger. According to the Chinese media, China has invested more in Zimbabwe than any other nation.
Already back in July 2005 as Tony Blair turned the sanctions screws tighter on Zimbabwe, Mugabe flew to Beijing to meet with the top Chinese leadership, where he reportedly sought an emergency loan of US$1 billion and asked increased Chinese involvement in the economy.
It began to bear fruit. In June 2006 state--owned Zimbabwean businesses signed a number of energy, mining and farming deals worth billions of dollars with Chinese companies. The largest was with China Machine-Building International Corporation, for a $1,3bn contract to mine coal and build thermal-power generators in Zimbabwe, to reduce Zimbabwe's electricity shortage. The Chinese company had already built thermal-power stations in Nigeria and Sudan, and had been involved in mining projects in Gabon.
In 2007 the Chinese government donated farm machinery worth $25 million to Zimbabwe, including 424 tractors and 50 trucks, as part of a $58 million loan to the Zimbabwean government. The Mugabe administration had previously seized white-owned farms and gave them to blacks, damaging machinery in the process. In return for the equipment and the loan the Zimbabwean government will ship 30 million kilograms of tobacco to the People's Republic of China.
Other Zimbabwe-China agreements included a deal between the Zimbabwe Mining Development and China's Star Communications, forming a joint venture to mine chrome, with funding from the China Development Bank. Zimbabwe also agreed to import road-building, irrigation and farming equipment from the China National Construction and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corporation and China Poly Group. Zimbabwe also relies on China for imports of telecommunications equipment, military hardware and many other critical items it can no longer import from the west because of the British-led sanctions.
Relations have become so important that Zimbabwe's police have a dedicated "China desk" to protect Chinese interests in the country.
In April 2007 the chairman of China's top political advisory body, Jia Qinglin, head of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference, flew to Harare to meet with Mugabe. It was a follow-up to the 2006 Beijing China-Africa Cooperation Summit where the Chinese government invited the heads of more than 40 African states to discuss relations. Africa has become a diplomatic and economic priority for China and its economy.
At that time, Beijing got an open invitation to help develop dormant mines in the country. The deputy speaker of Zimbabwe's parliament called for more Chinese investment in the country's mining sector, according to China's Xinhua news agency. Zimbabwe's mining laws were
changed to allow the government to reallocate mining claims that were not being exploited.
Mining generates half of Zimbabwe's export revenue. It is the only sector in the country that still has foreign investors after the collapse of the main agricultural sector. Western companies with mining claims in Zimbabwe were not exploiting them. "We would appeal to the Chinese government to come in full force to exploit these minerals," Zimbabwean Deputy Parliamentary Speaker, Kumbirai Kangai said to the official Xinhua.
Kangai assured potential Chinese investors that they would not expose themselves to legal action if they took over claims held by Western companies.
A few months after, in December 2007, Chinese company, Sinosteel Corporation, acquired 67 percent stake in Zimbabwe's leading ferrochrome producer and exporter Zimasco Holdings. Zimasco Holdings is the fifth largest high carbonated ferrochrome producer in the world. It used to produce 210,000 tons of high-carbon ferrochrome per year, nearly all of it along the mineral-rich Great Dyke, accounting for 4 percent of global ferrochrome production.
Zimasco has also the world's second largest reserves of chrome, after South Africa. It was formerly owned by Union Carbide Corporation, now part of Dow Chemicals Corp. Oh, oh! Alarm bells went ringing in London and in Washington at that news.
China clearly views Africa as a central part of its strategic plan, most notably for its oil reserves and vital raw materials such as copper, chrome, nickel. The continent is also at the same time becoming an important region for Chinese manufactured exports. But the raw materials battle is at the heart, and the real reason by all accounts, why Washington recently decided to form a separate Africa Command in the Pentagon.
Controlling China's economic emergence is an un-stated strategic priority of United States foreign and military policy and has been since before September 11, 2001. The only delicate point in the business is the fact that China, with well over $1.7 trillions of foreign exchange reserves, most believed in form of US Treasury securities, could trigger a complete dollar panic and further collapse of the US economy should she decide for political reasons it were too risky to continue holding its hundreds of billions of US dollar debt. In effect, by buying US Government debt with its trade surpluses, China has been indirectly financing US policies counter to Chinese national interest such as the Iraq war, or even the $100 million or so annually that Condi Rice's State Department spends on Tibet.
China is refusing to play by the rules of the Anglo-American neo-colonial game. It does not seek IMF or World Bank approval before dealing with African countries. It makes soft loans, regardless who might be running the country. In this it does nothing different from Washington or London. The Chinese see American influence in Africa less entrenched than in the rest of the world, thus offering unique opportunities for China to pursue its economic interests.
It may or may not be cynical. It may be Realpolitik. If it results in the ability of certain African countries to use China as a political counterweight to the one-sided Anglo-American domination of the Continent, that itself could be a major benefit to Africans depending on how they use it.
Clearly, it has been extremely positive for Chinese access to vital economic minerals for its economy as well as oil from places such as Darfur and southern Sudan, or Nigeria.
Mineral wealth has once more put Africa on center stage of a battle for mineral riches between East and West. This time, unlike during the Cold War era, however, Beijing is playing with far more assets, and Washington with far less.
F. William Engdahl is author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press), and Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ***
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE and Ayaan Hirsi Alitoo
Mugabe's Biggest Sin
By F. William Engdahl
July 30, 2008
www.globalresearch. ca
Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, presides over one of the world's richest minerals treasures, the Great Dyke region, which cuts a geological swath across the entire land from northeast to southwest. The real background to the pious concerns of the Bush Administration for human rights in Zimbabwe in the past several years is not Mugabe's possible election fraud or his expropriation of white settler farms. It is the fact that Mr. Mugabe has been quietly doing business, a lot of it, with the one country which has virtually unlimited need of strategic raw materials Zimbabwe can provide—China. Mugabe's Zimbabwe is, along with Sudan, on the central stage of the new war over control of strategic minerals of Africa between Washington and Beijing, with Moscow playing a supporting role in the drama. The stakes are huge.
Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe is a very very bad man. This we all know from reading the newspapers or hearing the pronouncements of George W. Bush, earlier Britain's Tony Blair and more recently Gordon Brown. In their eyes he has sinned badly. They charge that he is a dictator; that he has expropriated, often with violence, the farms of whites as part of land reform; they claim he rigged his re-election by vote fraud and violence; that he has ruined the economy of Zimbabwe.
Whether Robert Mugabe deserves to be in Washington's honor roll of villains alongside Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, Ahmadinejad, and Adolf Hitler, however, it is not the reason Washington and London have made Zimbabwe regime change priority number one for their Africa policy.
What his sin is seems to have more to do with his attempts to get out from under Anglo-American neo-colonial serfdom dependency and to pursue a national economic development independent of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. His real sin seems to be the fact that he has turned to the one nation that offers his government credits and soft loans for economic development with no strings attached—The Peoples' Republic of China.
Western media accounts conveniently tend to omit the second major party to what is a huge tug of war between Anglo-American interests and China to get control of Zimbabwe's vast mineral wealth. We should keep in mind that for Washington there are always "good dictators" and "bad dictators." The difference is whether the given dictator serves US national interests or not. Mugabe clearly is in the latter category.
Cecil Rhodes' legacy
Zimbabwe is the name of what under the era of British Imperialism a century ago was named Rhodesia. The name Rhodesia came from the British imperial strategist and miner, Cecil Rhodes, founder of the Rhodes scholarships to Oxford, and author of a plan for a vast private African zone, to be chartered from the Queen of England, from Egypt to South Africa. Cecil Rhodes created the British South Africa Company, modeled on the East India Company, along with his partner, L. Starr Jameson of Jameson Raid notoriety, to exploit the mineral riches of Rhodesia. It controlled what was later named Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia-Nyasaland. The model was that the British Government would assume all risks to militarily defend Rhodes' looting while Rhodes and his London bankers, above all Lord Rothschild, who was a close associate, would assume all the gains of the business.
Rhodes, a seasoned geologist, knew well that there was a remarkable geological fault running from the mouth of the Nile at the Gulf of Suez south through Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, down through today's Zimbabwe on to South Africa. Rhodes had already instigated several wars to gain control of the diamonds of Kimberly and the gold of Witwatersrand in South Africa. This geological phenomenon he, as well as enterprising German explorers, had discovered in the 1880's. They named it the Great Rift Valley.
Rhodesia, like South Africa after the bloody Boer wars, was settled by white settlers to secure future minerals gains for allied interests of the City of London, mainly those of the powerful Oppenheimer family and their gold and diamond enterprises in the region.
In 1962 when Africa was undergoing the wave of national liberation from colonial rule, a wave calculatedly supported by "non-colonial power" Washington, Rhodesia was one of the last bastions, along with former British colony South Africa, of white Apartheid rule. Whites in Rhodesia constituted only 1-2% of the total population so their methods of holding on to power were rather ruthless.
White supremacist Prime Minister, Ian Smith, declared Rhodesian independence from Britain in 1965 rather than agree to the slightest compromise on race or power sharing with black nationalists. Britain got UN trade sanctions imposed to force Smith to buckle under. Despite sanctions, there was considerable support from conservative business interests in London. Britain's Tiny Rowland, head of the Lonrho mining conglomerate, secured the bulk of his African profits from Rhodesian copper mining and related ventures under the Smith regime. The City of London knew very well what riches lay in Rhodesia. The question was how to secure enduring control. Smith's Rhodesian backers had little interest in giving it all to London.
Following a long and bloody struggle, in 1980 the leader of the black African Popular Front coalition, Robert Mugabe, overwhelmingly won election as the first Prime Minister of a new Zimbabwe. Twenty eight years later, the same Robert Mugabe is under escalating attack from the West, especially Zimbabwe's former colonial master, England, including strong economic sanctions designed to bring the country to the brink of collapse, to force him to open the economy to foreign (read Anglo-American and allied) investment. Ironically, the issue seems not all that different from the Ian Smith era: London and US control of the resources of the rich land, and Zimbabwean efforts to resist that control.
The Great Dyke
Within Zimbabwe, a portion of the rich Great Rift is called the Great Dyke, an intrusive geological treasure zone running over 530 kilometers from the northeast to the southwest of the country, in places up to 12 kilometers wide. A river runs along the fault and the region is volcanically active. Here also lie vast deposits of chromium, of copper, platinum and other metals.
The US State Department, as well as London, is aware of the vast minerals and other riches of Zimbabwe. It states in a recent report on Zimbabwe,
"Zimbabwe is endowed with rich mineral resources. Exports of gold, asbestos, chrome, coal, platinum, nickel, and copper could lead to an economic recovery one day...The country is richly endowed with coal-bed methane gas that has yet to be exploited.
With international attractions such as Victoria Falls, the Great Zimbabwe stone ruins, Lake Kariba, and extensive wildlife, tourism historically has been a significant segment of the economy and contributor of foreign exchange. The sector has contracted sharply since 1999, however, due to the country's declining international image.(sic).
Energy Resources
With considerable hydroelectric power potential and plentiful coal deposits for thermal power station, Zimbabwe is less dependent on oil as an energy source than most other comparably industrialized countries, but it still imports 40% of its electric power needs from surrounding countries--primaril y Mozambique. Only about 15% of Zimbabwe's total energy consumption is accounted for by oil, all of which is imported. Zimbabwe imports about 1.2 billion liters of oil per year. Zimbabwe also has substantial coal reserves that are utilized for power generation, and coal-bed methane deposits recently discovered in Matabeleland province are greater than any known natural gas field in Southern or Eastern Africa. In recent years, poor economic management and low foreign currency reserves have led to serious fuel shortages."
In short, chrome, copper, gold, platinum, huge hydroelectric power potential and vast coal reserves are what is at stake for Washington and London in Zimbabwe. The country also has unverified reserves of uranium, something in big demand today for nuclear power generation.
It is clear of late that so long as the tenacious Mugabe is running things, not the Anglo-Americans, but rather the Chinese, are Zimbabwe's preferred business partners. This seems to be Mugabe's greatest sin. He's not reading from the right program as George W. Bush's friends see it. His real sin seems to be turning East not West for economic and investment help.
The Chinese connection
During the Cold War China recognized and supported Robert Mugabe. In recent years as China's search for secure raw materials escalated its foreign diplomacy, relations have become stronger. According to the Chinese media, China has invested more in Zimbabwe than any other nation.
Already back in July 2005 as Tony Blair turned the sanctions screws tighter on Zimbabwe, Mugabe flew to Beijing to meet with the top Chinese leadership, where he reportedly sought an emergency loan of US$1 billion and asked increased Chinese involvement in the economy.
It began to bear fruit. In June 2006 state--owned Zimbabwean businesses signed a number of energy, mining and farming deals worth billions of dollars with Chinese companies. The largest was with China Machine-Building International Corporation, for a $1,3bn contract to mine coal and build thermal-power generators in Zimbabwe, to reduce Zimbabwe's electricity shortage. The Chinese company had already built thermal-power stations in Nigeria and Sudan, and had been involved in mining projects in Gabon.
In 2007 the Chinese government donated farm machinery worth $25 million to Zimbabwe, including 424 tractors and 50 trucks, as part of a $58 million loan to the Zimbabwean government. The Mugabe administration had previously seized white-owned farms and gave them to blacks, damaging machinery in the process. In return for the equipment and the loan the Zimbabwean government will ship 30 million kilograms of tobacco to the People's Republic of China.
Other Zimbabwe-China agreements included a deal between the Zimbabwe Mining Development and China's Star Communications, forming a joint venture to mine chrome, with funding from the China Development Bank. Zimbabwe also agreed to import road-building, irrigation and farming equipment from the China National Construction and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corporation and China Poly Group. Zimbabwe also relies on China for imports of telecommunications equipment, military hardware and many other critical items it can no longer import from the west because of the British-led sanctions.
Relations have become so important that Zimbabwe's police have a dedicated "China desk" to protect Chinese interests in the country.
In April 2007 the chairman of China's top political advisory body, Jia Qinglin, head of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference, flew to Harare to meet with Mugabe. It was a follow-up to the 2006 Beijing China-Africa Cooperation Summit where the Chinese government invited the heads of more than 40 African states to discuss relations. Africa has become a diplomatic and economic priority for China and its economy.
At that time, Beijing got an open invitation to help develop dormant mines in the country. The deputy speaker of Zimbabwe's parliament called for more Chinese investment in the country's mining sector, according to China's Xinhua news agency. Zimbabwe's mining laws were
changed to allow the government to reallocate mining claims that were not being exploited.
Mining generates half of Zimbabwe's export revenue. It is the only sector in the country that still has foreign investors after the collapse of the main agricultural sector. Western companies with mining claims in Zimbabwe were not exploiting them. "We would appeal to the Chinese government to come in full force to exploit these minerals," Zimbabwean Deputy Parliamentary Speaker, Kumbirai Kangai said to the official Xinhua.
Kangai assured potential Chinese investors that they would not expose themselves to legal action if they took over claims held by Western companies.
A few months after, in December 2007, Chinese company, Sinosteel Corporation, acquired 67 percent stake in Zimbabwe's leading ferrochrome producer and exporter Zimasco Holdings. Zimasco Holdings is the fifth largest high carbonated ferrochrome producer in the world. It used to produce 210,000 tons of high-carbon ferrochrome per year, nearly all of it along the mineral-rich Great Dyke, accounting for 4 percent of global ferrochrome production.
Zimasco has also the world's second largest reserves of chrome, after South Africa. It was formerly owned by Union Carbide Corporation, now part of Dow Chemicals Corp. Oh, oh! Alarm bells went ringing in London and in Washington at that news.
China clearly views Africa as a central part of its strategic plan, most notably for its oil reserves and vital raw materials such as copper, chrome, nickel. The continent is also at the same time becoming an important region for Chinese manufactured exports. But the raw materials battle is at the heart, and the real reason by all accounts, why Washington recently decided to form a separate Africa Command in the Pentagon.
Controlling China's economic emergence is an un-stated strategic priority of United States foreign and military policy and has been since before September 11, 2001. The only delicate point in the business is the fact that China, with well over $1.7 trillions of foreign exchange reserves, most believed in form of US Treasury securities, could trigger a complete dollar panic and further collapse of the US economy should she decide for political reasons it were too risky to continue holding its hundreds of billions of US dollar debt. In effect, by buying US Government debt with its trade surpluses, China has been indirectly financing US policies counter to Chinese national interest such as the Iraq war, or even the $100 million or so annually that Condi Rice's State Department spends on Tibet.
China is refusing to play by the rules of the Anglo-American neo-colonial game. It does not seek IMF or World Bank approval before dealing with African countries. It makes soft loans, regardless who might be running the country. In this it does nothing different from Washington or London. The Chinese see American influence in Africa less entrenched than in the rest of the world, thus offering unique opportunities for China to pursue its economic interests.
It may or may not be cynical. It may be Realpolitik. If it results in the ability of certain African countries to use China as a political counterweight to the one-sided Anglo-American domination of the Continent, that itself could be a major benefit to Africans depending on how they use it.
Clearly, it has been extremely positive for Chinese access to vital economic minerals for its economy as well as oil from places such as Darfur and southern Sudan, or Nigeria.
Mineral wealth has once more put Africa on center stage of a battle for mineral riches between East and West. This time, unlike during the Cold War era, however, Beijing is playing with far more assets, and Washington with far less.
F. William Engdahl is author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press), and Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ***
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE and Ayaan Hirsi Alitoo
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