Road to Hell does not end in Sudan

It has all happened before, and it’s happening again. The Road to Hell does not end in Sudan, but for many of the good people out to "Save Darfur," it has certainly begun there.

By Adel – PeaceMaker

January 2, 2010

The conflict in Darfur is deliberate and indisputable campaign of genocide that the Government of Sudan (GOS) is waging against impoverished African tribes in Darfur. It has ruled Sudan from its capital, Khartoum, since the early 1990s, it has pursued foreign petroleum exploration and extraction in parallel with a scorched earth campaign marked by genocide against South Sudan and, now, Darfur.

The Darfur conflict revolves around oil and minerals, including uranium. These resources have set off fierce competition. The existence of these resources in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region has added a new twist to a bloody conflict, potentially turning the quest for peace into a tussle over resources.

Uranium ores were discovered years ago around the Nuba Mountains and in southern Kurdofan. Minex Company of the US obtained exploratory concession in the Kurdofan area in 1977, and the concession was increased in 1979. Uranium reserves (Israel covets uranium reserves are in Sudan for its nuclear programs) are also believed to exist near the western borders with Chad and Central African Republic.

Petroleum and other companies’ alliances with the Government of Sudan include Total Corporation, Agip, Talisman Oil, PetroChina and Asea Brown Baveri. Sudan announced in April 2005 that its ABCO Corporation, which is 37 percent owned by Swiss company Clivenden, had begun drilling for oil in Darfur, where preliminary studies showed there were "abundant" quantities of oil. The Sudanese people have never benefited from these (oil) discoveries.

The operations of Talisman Oil have been connected to atrocities, is one of the powerful Adolph Lundin (a Swedish national) companies (Lundin Oil is another) with corrupt mining and petroleum operations connected to war and mass murder in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Adolph Lundin’s Tenke Mining Corporation today holds major concessions in Katanga, DRC.

The CIA, as well as the State Department ensures that the fascists GOS in Khartoum remain in place, and have done everything possible to thwart attempts to remove it by the people of Sudan and the international human rights community. The State department has consistently downplayed the extent of the genocide.

From 1964 to 1984 Sudan was run by the corrupt US client dictatorship of Col. Jaafar Nimeiri. In March of 1984, Nimeiri instituted a purge against Islamic society, including mass arrests, executions and torture. Draconian IMF and World Bank "reforms" led to starvation, unemployment, mass riots and state repression.

Understand the conflict in Darfur means understanding Darfur’s relationship to other states in the region. The US is working with others through its proxy forces and regional allies on the frontline states of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad and Uganda. The geopolitical alignments and ongoing regional struggle reflect both deep divisions amongst the elites in the United States and Europe, and a hydra of multinational corporate and mercenary interests.

Every new contract signed in Khartoum makes it clearer that this genocide is fueled by the world's unquenchable thirst for petroleum. Oil rigs are now drilling on land seized from African farmers—who have been killed, raped, and driven off their land by their own government, in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

There are some very interesting characters connected to US oil and defense companies, like JackandPanther LLC, a privately-held military and aerospace consulting firm whose clients include top Pentagon agencies; Texaco; the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council; the American Petroleum Institute; United Technologies Corporation; Conoco Oil (a DuPont subsidiary involved in Somalia); H.J. Heinz Company, of the Heinz family and the world’s premier aerospace and defense behemoth, Lockheed Martin (a major financial backer of the global "humanitarian" organization, CARE, which is also working in Darfur).

How many connections to unaccountable military agencies, programs, institutions, corporations, mercenaries, rebel factions, or other questionable "parties" do we need to identify before we can determine that there is much more to Darfur than meets the eye?

With covert military operations and private military companies, the "humanitarian" relief and international charity industries, backed by multinational corporations and private profiteers, are the very foundations of the Darfur problem. Petroleum is one of the many spoils of this war.

This is not the appropriate behavior of humanitarians. It is the behavior of pigs at a trough and it applies to the entire misery industry.

Most global conflicts revolve around Big Oil and most global conflicts revolving around Big Oil involve the US military (the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Chad, Sudan…). The oil in southeastern Darfur is well documented, and that is why people have been driven from their homes to make way for the pipeline and drilling, as they have been in Kurdufan, and the Upper Nile regions.

If we reduce the Darfur conflict to the simplest terms, is that it is about oil. How do some powerful multinationals connected to the Anglo-American-Israeli power structure, with the cooperation of the Government of Sudan, get a piece of the Darfur oil pie?

• Create instability and chaos that gives the appearance of Arabs fighting Africans.
• Wage a media campaign that focuses public attention on the rising instability.
• Whip up public opinion and fury among a highly manipulated Western population who quite literally, believe anything.
• Demonize the "populace liberation movements" and their partners.
• Onward Christian soldiers and their "humanitarian" armies; enter "Save Darfur!" and, voila! A movement is born.
• Continue to chip away at the power of the populace liberation movements by chipping away at their credibility.
• Under the banners of high moral accord, and with full support of a deeply caring Western public, overthrow the malevolent forces and instill a benevolent, peace-loving, pro-democracy government.
• Finally, wipe away the sanctions, no longer needed, and bring much-needed "development" to another under-developed country. And there you have it: yet another civilizing mission to conquer those Arabs, and those starving, helpless, African tribes.

The US [oil] Foreign Policies have targeted Darfur’s oil by any means necessary. There is far more oil in Sudan than any of the oil companies is admitting publicly. Some “oil consulting firms”, states that there are an estimated 2.62 billion barrels of oil reserves in Sudan. But other unofficial estimates put the figure at 180 billion barrels.

At today's oil prices, 180 billion barrels is enough money for most CEOs to sell their soul to the devil for it.

Related Articles:

• A Complex Tragedy in Sudan
• A US-China Proxy Battle for Oil
• Darfur, tragedy of a people under attack
• Oil discovery adds new twist to Darfur tragedy
• Oil Underlies Darfur Tragedy
• The forgotten oil war in Sudan
• Tragedy in Darfur: unraveling the real causes

2010 Guide for the Behavior of Nations

By Adel – PeaceMaker
January 01, 2010

Excerpt from "Consider a New Ten Commandments for Nations”

Moses gave us the Ten Commandments to guide our personal lives 3000 years ago. 2010 is perhaps a good time to develop a Ten Commandments to guide the behavior of Nations. Given the state of the World and the damage and chaos created by the so called War on Terrorism, we should consider an application of the universal truths of Moses to international behavior:

1) Thou shalt not kill nations: Nations must not be invaded, subjugated, dismembered or subjected to genocide. Only if there is a true and demonstrated need for self defense should one nation go to war with another.

2) Thou shalt not steal from nations: From trade “agreements” to reserve currency privileges to expensive loans, one nation must not lord its superior economic power over another.

3) Thou shalt not bear false witness against nations: The “news” of false witness must stop. It is too easy for a superpower to demonize a nation with its massive media technology, and to repeat over and over again its lies. It is time to tell the truth.

4) Thou shalt not take advantage of weaker nations: The strong should be helping the under-developed nations rather than gaining by their vulnerabilities.

5) Thou shalt not ignore the suffering of nations: Malnutrition, disease and illiteracy are rampant on our planet. The wealthy nations must do their part to eliminate these maladies. We have the power to make these problems extinct, only our self absorption holds us back.

6) Thou shalt not dishonor the father and mother of nations: The father and mother of all nations IS the father and mother of the whole human race. We are one species, one great family. Honor your common ancestors and respect all your cousins.

7) Thou shalt not interfere in the affairs of other nations: Nations must not manipulate sides in another nation’s internal conflict. A developed nation must not interfere in the cultural development of another nation by exporting its values. Each nation evolves in its own way at its own pace. Advice is acceptable but meddling is absolutely not acceptable.

8) Thou shalt not put nationalism above morality: Personal ethics and values have always superseded nationalism. But when morality and national action are one and the same, then we have “righteous” behavior that can change everything.

9) Thou shalt not disrespect the Gods of other nations: There are many religions, philosophies and Gods on this planet, we must respect then all.

10) Thou shalt not act as a superpower in a community of nations: We want neither the extremes of world chaos nor Imperialism Version 2.0. Nations like people need a community of free association and independent sovereignty. Without systems controlled by a superpower, nations can build mutual institutions supported by all.

We mustn't Stand on the side of Injustice

By Adel – PeaceMaker
December 31, 2009

Psalms 82
Unjust judgments rebuked

GOD STANDETH in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Palestine has been a Muslim country for well over one thousand years. In that period it has endured numerous invasions by the Crusaders.

Finally they took Palestine with most of the Middle East at the end of the First World War with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. The Imperialist powers - Britain and France - carved the land into small pieces to divide between them. The British had control over Palestine at the end of the First World War.

Twenty years before this a political movement called Zionism had started among the Jews, they demanded a land of their own. They decided on Palestine for their exclusive Jewish state. Most of the Jews at the time rejected the idea; they condemned Zionism as a "blasphemy against Judaism". And in fact on November 10, 1975 the world condemned Zionism at the UN General Assembly as "a form of racism and racial discrimination".

It is only with the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe that Zionism gathered more support among the Jews. The Zionist realized that their plot to steal Palestine will require the support from the Imperialist powers of the day. They had predicted the British take over of Palestine before the end of the First World War. So they held secret meetings with the British government promising to be their watchdog in the Middle East, securing British interest like the Suez Canal in return for Britain's support in the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.

British Prime Minister Sir Campbell Bannerman reveals why Britain found it imperative to support the creation of a Zionist state in the heartland of Islam. This is a quote from the British Prime Minister over 40 years before the creation of Israel - he is talking about Muslims not just Palestinians:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradle of human civilizations and religions.

These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations.

No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another... if per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state; it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world.

Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”

This resulted in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which Britain promised the Zionists a national home in Palestine. At that time, at the end of the First World War there were very few Jews in Palestine - just 56,000 Jews compare to 1 million Palestinians, that's less than 6% of the population in Pales0tine.

Lord Balfour in a confidential letter revealed the plot:

"In Palestine we do not propose to even go through the formality of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants… The four powers are committed to Zionism."

The four powers being America, Britain, France and Russia, they all conspired to create Israel.

After the Second World War the British Empire was coming to an end. The US, the country least exhausted by the war emerged as a new power in the world, so the Zionists turned to America for support, For the Americans this was an attractive proposal. President Truman new that a Zionist state, completely dependent on the US for its daily survival, would be devoted to US interests in the region.

So in 1946 after the Zionists blew up the King David hotel in Jerusalem, slaughtering 91 innocent people, the Palestinian issue was hurriedly passed to the UN. The UN has no legal mandate to partition a country against the wishes of its people and yet with US domination of the UN, it proposed a partition plan for Palestine granting 55% of Palestine to the Jews who in fact owned only 6% of the land.

Even after massive US bullying, all the countries of Asia and Africa opposed the partition plan, except for three, one of which was white dominated South-Africa.

The UN ambassador of Haiti began to cry when he was forced to change his vote, similarly vulnerable Liberia threatened with a rubber embargo had to obey the US. This is the sort of shameful open bullying that went on that day to secure the votes for the partition of Palestine.

The Palestinians obviously rejected the theft of their land and a war broke out as the ruthless Zionist soldiers made a grab for the land slaughtering Palestinians wherever they found them. The Palestinians were left to fight alone; they had no army and few weapons to oppose the Zionist military that had been trained and armed by the British.

On 9th of April 1948 soldiers of the Irgun, a particularly fanatic Zionist terrorist group commanded by Menachem Begin who later became the Prime Minister of Israel, entered the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. And they slaughtered 250-300 men, women, and children in cold blood. Their bodies were purposely mutilated to terrorize the rest of the Palestinians into fleeing their homes from fear of similar massacres, thereby achieving the Zionist aim of ethnic cleansing.

Menachem Begin himself said:

“Deir Yassin massacre was not only necessary but without it the State of Israel would not have emerged.”

At Haifa, Jaffa and other cities the Zionists terrorized the population into fleeing. Those that didn't flee were slaughtered or forcefully removed - over 400 Palestinian cities and villages were depopulated like this. Over 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes.

This slaughter of Muslims in Palestine - their blood shed on the holy soil of the land of the first Qibla (the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays), the Masjid Al-Aqsa, that started with Deir Yassin continues to this day; like the siege and barbaric massacre at the Jenin Refugee Camp in 2002.

You might have read about the 15 Israeli soldiers that beat Muntaha Seraya and her four children after bursting into her home during the Jenin siege. The youngest was just 4 years old. She herself was four months pregnant… she suffered a miscarriage half an hour after the soldiers left.

They used her husband as a human shield, resting their M-16 rifles on his shoulder as they moved door to door firing in to the houses. When an Israeli sniper shot the "human shield" by mistake he was left bleeding for five days before being taken to the hospital.

This is the reality Palestinians live with every day.

You probably know the story of Rachel Corrie from my previous post. She felt her duty was to stand against injustice so she went to Palestine. She stood against this Israeli army bulldozer, defending a Palestinian home from destruction. The bulldozer drove directly over her, twice, crushing her body and she lost her life, standing for justice on the 16th of March 2003.

"I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive... Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with.” ~ Rachel Corrie

She was only 23 years old with her whole life in front of her. She had the same aspirations that all of us have for life and yet she sacrificed her life to stand against injustice.

If we can not stand for justice like Rachel Corrie did, what we mustn't do is stand on the side of injustice – we mustn't help the oppressor. For that, there is no justification.

Let’s Put Military Spending in Perspective

By Minuteman Media columnist William A. Collins
December 14, 2009

War’s expensive,
That’s just fine;
Taking care,
That I get mine.

It may be that by now, Americans have a good handle on just how much money the Pentagon actually spends. Or not. In broad terms, U.S. military expenditures are just about equal to those of all other nations combined. Or, looked at another way, Pentagon expenditures are just about equal to those of all other federal agencies combined.

In any case, it’s a lot, maybe double what we really need. There are a number of unsettling explanations for this waste, so let’s glance at a few:

1. Congress: Most states produce something that the military used to think it needed—fighter planes, submarines, landmines, nukes, etc. Though needs change, the old jobs must somehow be retained, by way of countless budget items to keep them going.

2. Wars: This isn’t 1945. Wars used to end when they were completed. No more. Today they go on for political reasons, even though our country is no longer in danger. Sometimes it’s about oil, sometimes empire, sometimes arrogance, sometimes ingrained irrational fear of a supposed enemy.

3. Bases: We have about 900 of them in other lands. These are costly, but if you’re going to dominate the world you’ve got to pay. Presumably the giant ones in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan will one day be turned over to those nations, but don’t count on it. It didn’t work out that way in Germany, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Cuba, etc. Many are still going strong.

4. Contractors: Military personnel used to do the cooking, cleaning, building, guarding, maintaining, translating, transporting, procuring, and all the other attendant work that goes with running a war or occupying a country. Today? Forget about that. We now have roughly a 1:1 ratio between troops and contractors. And most of them are expensive.

At the same time, still further giant expenses darken America’s military horizon. Interest on our debt is a biggie. We don’t pay for war and waste out of pocket, you know. We borrow it. From China, mostly. With luck we’ll be able to pay them back cheaply when the dollar isn’t worth much anymore. Maybe soon.

Then there are all those veterans. Step by grudging step, we are now paying them more for being poisoned by Agent Orange in Vietnam, 30 years late. Luckily, many have already died, and that holds down the cost. This script is currently being reprised with depleted uranium from Iraq. Happily, the longer we resist vets’ claims, the more of them pass on and the lower our liability. We may not get away so cheaply with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Thank heaven we don’t have to pay the Vietnamese, Iraqis, or Afghans.

Historically, it’s not uncommon for empires to get this overextended. They become intoxicated with power and domination and lose track of the price. At least if they are dictatorships there is someone in charge who can haul in on the reins when costs get out of hand. Democracies have a harder time. Everyone has a spoon in the pot. Retrenchment must overcome greed, power, fear, and tradition, a perhaps hopeless task for even the most motivated president. Britain needed a world war to pull it off.

So at the moment, President Eisenhower’s “military-industrial complex” still rules the roost, though it now has to share the spoils with Wall Street. Corruption on this scale makes the Afghans and Iraqis look like pikers.

Seven Principles of Public Life

By Adel – PeaceMaker

December 29, 2009

The Seven Principles of Public Life should apply to ALL in the public service, perhaps the most important, is integrity – Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties. These principles are:

1. Selflessness: Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other benefits for themselves, their family or their friends.

2. Integrity: Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

3. Objectivity: In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.

4. Accountability: Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

5. Openness: Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

6. Honesty: Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

7. Leadership: Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

Yet the authorities turn a blind eye to the various lobby organizations, which go to great lengths to influence not only those in power; but those wishing to achieve power in the future. Those lobbies have periodically been conspirators, controllers of the media, and of wielding undue power and influence over governments.