Washington imposes sanctions on Bolivia

The Bush administration has imposed fresh sanctions on Bolivia in retaliation for the decision of the country's president Evo Morales to expel the US ambasssador and close down US programs in the country.

Morales's actions came in response to thinly veiled US backing for what was described as a "civic coup" carried out by the ruling elites in the country's eastern "Half Moon" region, where the wealthy landowning elite has pushed for autonomy in order to gain control over the considerable energy resources that are concentrated in the area.

A coordinated uprising earier this month left scores dead and nearly 1,000 wounded. Among the worst atrocities carried out by right-wing rebellion was the massacre of some 30 peasants at El Porvenir, near Bolivia's northern border with Peru and Brazil on September 11.

Initial press reports represented the slaughter of peasant marchers as a shootout between two parties. Further investigation revealed, however, that the victims had been ambushed and attacked by a much more heavily armed force. The victims of the masacre were supporters of the Amalgamated Federation of Pando Agricultural Workers (FUTCP), part of a group of 1,000 men, women and children marching to rally support against pro-autonomy demonstrations that were taking place in Pando and the other eastern provinces. The demonstrators were attacked by an armed paramiltary group composed of 300 Bolivian, Peruvian and Brazilian gunmen.

According to a report from the Bolivian Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (BPAHR), "Officials from the Department and gunmen fired with cowardice against men, women, children, peasants and students." The BPAHR also accused road authorities of having sent digging crews to open trenches of up to two meters wide to make it harder for the demonstrators to advance, and, once the shooting began, to retreat.

The Prefect of the Department of Pando, Leopoldo Fernandez, is under arrest—charged with ordering the massacre—as are 14 other Pando officials. Ana Melena de Suzuki and other leaders of the so-called "civic committee," which represents the secessionist interests of the landed oligarchy in Pando, have fled to Brazil and are seeking asylum there, claiming persecution by what they call the Evo Morales dictatorship. As of now the Brazilian government has not granted political asylum to the civic committee leaders and, according to Pagina 12, a Buenos Aires daily, Suzuki and others had been spotted on the streets of Brazil's capital, Brasilia, though they are supposedly in "hiding."

The massacre was part of a series of coordinated attacks and provocations between September 9 and 14. These included the occupation of government buildings, and of natural gas installations, interfering with gas exports to Argentina and Brazil. There were also numerous unprovoked attacks on native Bolivians. A preliminary estimate puts the damages that resulted from what the government calls a campaign of sedicious terrorism at US$10 million. The Morales government charged the United States with supporting the rebellion and expelled Ambassador Philip Goldberg, charging him with working behind the scenes with leaders of the autonomy movement. Also shut down were offices of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for its complicity in the civic coup.

USAID is a branch of the US State Department created in 1961 with the supposed purpose of providing "economic and humanitarian assistance" to other countries. Behind this façade, however, the agency was, from the very beginning, employed as a tool to destabilize and overthrow governments that did not toe the US line. In Haiti, USAID was one of the US agencies that helped kidnap and expel President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In Venezuela, it helped finance and organize the failed military coup against President Hugo Chavez in April 2002. In the 1970s, USAID provided cover for torturers and CIA agents sent to exterminate the left in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. These included such figures as Dan Mitrione, who instructed the repressive personnel of the Brazilian and Uruguayan dictatorships in torture techniques.

In retaliation for the expulsions, the United States announced that it would no longer consider Bolivia a partner in the war on drugs and that it would initiate the legal process to raise duties on imports from Bolivia.

~ more... ~

 

'The credit crisis is working its way up the food chain'

It is the most dramatic and comprehensive bank bail-out in Europe since the Scandinavian rescues of the early 1990s and may serve as a model for Britain and other countries that so far have been muddling through from one mishap to another with a mish-mash of ad hoc policies.

The state guarantee exceeds 200pc of Irish GDP, marking a new phase in the escalation of the crisis.

The move came as Standard & Poor's cut Iceland's sovereign credit rating from AA- to A+ following its nationalisation of Glitnir Bank. It is a warning that the cascade of bank bail-outs on both sides of the Atlantic could start to undermine the credit-worthiness of Western states.

S&P warned that the tiny Nordic island is now saddled with liabilities that dwarf its economy.

The euro suffered the sharpest drop since the launch of the currency, dropping almost 3pc at one stage to $1.40 against the dollar in a day of high drama across Europe.

Belgium, France, and Luxembourg stepped in to rescue Dexia, the world's biggest lender to local authorities. The trio agreed to inject €6.4bn in fresh capital after the share priced crashed on Monday. Dexia's top management stepped down.

"We must have total confidence in the safety of the French banking system: there is absolutely no reason to panic," said Christian Noyer, head of the Banque de France.

~ more... ~

 

Amy Goodman First Journalist to Win “Alternative Nobel”

New York City, NY – Award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now! Amy Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely recognized as the world's premier award for personal courage and social transformation. The annual prize, also known as the Alternative Nobel, will be awarded in the Swedish Parliament on December 8, 2008.

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 to honor and support those "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today". Goodman has been selected for "developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media."

Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the country, Democracy Now! is a daily grassroots, global TV/radio/internet news hour airing on more than 750 public radio and television stations and at democracynow.org.

Goodman said, "I am deeply honored that grassroots, independent journalism and the hard work of my colleagues at Democracy Now! are being recognized in these critical times. I strongly believe that media can be a force for peace. It is the responsibility of journalists to give voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken and beaten down by the powerful. It is the best reason I know to carry our pens, cameras and microphones out into the world. The media should be a sanctuary for dissent. It is our job to go to where the silence is."

Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers were arrested last month at the Republican National Convention while reporting on street demonstrations. Charges were dropped after widespread public outcry. The video of Goodman's arrest was among the most watched YouTube video's during the convention week. It has now been viewed over 860,000 times.

~ more... ~

 

Seeing through the manufactured crisis and what might come next

by Colin Donoghue
9/27/08

This financial crisis is not caused simply by greed and uninformed consumers, as has become the Media's suggestion, it was manufactured, just like many previous financial emergencies of the past. See part 2 of zeitgeistmovie.com for a good overview of the Central Banking/Federal Reserve System and how it creates market crashes to further consolidate wealth and power in fewer hands. There are other excellent books and documentaries on the Federal Reserve that can be easily found worth seeing, but that's basically the crux of it, and that's what Benjamin Franklin said was the main cause of the Revolution: the colonists desire to disconnect from the Central Bank of England and the dependence and exploitation they caused. Unfortunately Americans forgot about that by 1913 and were duped into thinking the Fed would prevent a future financial crisis, but of course that was not the case. The Corporate Media has been talking a lot about the Fed in recent months, about how they are doing all they can to keep the economy afloat, by "bailing out" huge financial institutions. This is simply "Cover My Ass" maneuvering by the Fed (and corporate theft of our tax dollars), so that the current crisis, which may get worse,  will not appear (to those uniformed) to be the fault of the Central/International banks behind it all along.

Also worth noting is Bush calling for a "secret meeting" with Obama (to tell him the elections might need to be postponed?), and McCain's talk of canceling the debates. Not that the debates are really anything worth watching, since it's controlled by the Dem/Republican corporate faction that wont allow the views (i.e. Truth) of individuals like Cynthia McKinney (current Green Party presidential candidate) or Ralph Nader to be heard. Why these news bytes are significant is because it is in line with the fascist/neo-con ideology that says democracy can be postponed during a prolonged (manufactured) emergency. I suggest you read some of Bush's "Executive Orders" that support various dictatorial powers and FEMA police-state powers (mass illegal detentions of citizens, etc.), in the event of a "National Emergency":

http://www.freedomfiles.org/war/fema.htm

Among the many "Anti-Terror" laws (Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, etc.) that were passed with little to no attention by the corporate media, were details such as allowing martial law and the suspension of elections altogether if another attack or major crisis emerges. You see, rigging them like they did in 2000 and 04 is much more difficult due to the strong activism that has occurred based on the vast amount of documented evidence showing how they did it, so now they wouldn't even bother with that, they'll just cancel the election, and institute martial law. We may be one step away from that now.
What will that step be? Here are possibilities:

1) Complete collapse of US Dollar followed by the "solution" of a North American Union and the Amero currency.
2) Avian Flu outbreak (state-sponsored).
3) Another "terrorist" attack, possibly blamed on Iran, N. Korea, or their old CIA standby "Al Queda". (Illegal arrests and detention of activists, etc. who will be labeled "enemy combatants" is also likely in this scenario.)

There is a lot of evidence to suggest all of these are possible, and even likely, due to the amount of preparation that has already been done by the neo-con/fascists to carry out each of them. (Look into each are you not familiar with that evidence.) The reason why not of it is really far-fetched is because it has been shown beyond any reasonable doubt that 9/11 was an inside job, and therefore something similar happening while the same perpetrators are in power is actually probable. It's important for the public to be aware of these possibilities, so that if one actually occurs, they wont be fooled again.
If there is another trauma inducing event, please don't buy the line they feed you through their 4th Branch (aka the Media), like you may have bought the 9/11 Fairy Tale. Don't allow your Rights (and democracy) to be ignored in the name of their latest deception.

Over 1 million Iraqi and Afghani civilians (a fact the corporate media ignores), and thousands of our troops, have already been killed on an operation based on lies. The only thing that can probably stop their insane imperial/police-state agenda, bring our troops home and get our Rights back, is the same thing I and many others have been saying for years now: Impeachment (www.impeachbush.tv) & expose the 9/11 Lie which is the foundation of their entire agenda, through quality sources of information, like these:
a) Books:
1."The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions", "Debunking 9/11 Debunking", and "9/11 Contradictions: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press", all by David Ray Griffin
2."The Terror Timeline" by Paul Thompson
3."Crossing the Rubicon" by Michael Ruppert
4."The War On Truth: 9/11, Disinformation And The Anatomy Of Terrorism" by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
b) Documentaries:
1."9/11 Press For Truth" (http://www.911pressfortruth.com/),
2."9/11 Mysteries" (www.911Mysteries.com/)
3."Martial Law: 9/11 and the Rise of the Police State" (http://www.martiallaw911.info/)
c) Groups:
1.Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice: http://STJ911.org/
2.Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth: www.AE911truth.org/

It's an old game people and it's as simple as this: There have been a few that have always sought increased wealth and power no matter what harm that causes, and there have also always been the many that know there is much more to life than that and have no desire to harm anyone. The battle between good and evil, I'm sure you've heard of it. It's time to stop buying the lies of mass murderers and "strike at the root of evil" as Thoreau said, and in this time and this place, that means exposing the official 9/11 conspiracy theory for what is: pure bullshit.

 

Colin Donoghue has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of New Mexico and is currently trying to wake up the American People to crucial information the corporate media is mostly ignoring. He is the author of "The Progressive Manifesto"� and the essay "Eating The Apple"�, which contain more crucial and useful information for personal and political liberation, they can be found on his page: http://legalizehemp.gaia.com/.

~ OpEd News ~

 

Analysts: Dollar collapse would result in 'amero'

Think deep recession likely regardless of Fed's actions
Posted: December 13, 2006

 

"The key in how low the dollar goes is the interest rates," Chapman told WND. "In January, the Fed is going to have to make a decision which way to go. If Fed rates go up, the dollar will hold in the 78.33 range, but the stock market and the economy will tank. If next year the Fed lowers rates to keep the economy from crashing, the bottom will fall out of the dollar, and I see it going as low as 55. Once the dollar hits bottom, it will take the stock market and the economy right with it anyway. The Fed is in a box they can't get out of."

As WND reported earlier this week, in an unusual move, the Bush administration is sending virtually the entire economic "A-team" to visit China for a "strategic economic dialogue" in Beijing Thursday and Friday. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are leading the delegation, along with five other cabinet-level officials, including Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. Also in the delegation will be Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

But Chapman doubts the trip will help the Fed to engineer a slow dollar slide.

"The Chinese are going to do what the Chinese want to do, not what we want them to do," he said. "I believe the Chinese are going to send Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke home packing, with little or nothing to show for the trip."

How severe will the coming dollar collapse be?

"People in the U.S. are going to be hit hard," Chapman warned. "In the severe recession we are entering now, Bush will argue that we have to form a North American Union to compete with the Euro."

"Creating the amero," Chapman explained, "will be presented to the American public as the administration's solution for dollar recovery. In the process of creating the amero, the Bush administration just abandons the dollar."

~ more... ~