The West and Others~~Western Civilization, Global Continuity & The 'Third' World~~
Photo; the Turf... a little bit of Heaven, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has said China had become the alternative market for Nigeria’s crude oil, following dwindling imports by the United States, which was the major buyer of Nigeria’s crude oil.
Speaking at the sidelines of a recent oil and gas conference in Lagos, Yakubu stated that China was a very good market for any shortfall in the United States’ imports.
“The decision of the United States is not driven by the fact that they don’t want to buy our oil; they have other issues. The Shale gas has been discovered and it is a major source of energy. But of course, the good news is that there are other parts of the world that are interested. As you know, major demand growth is going to come from China and the east. So, that is a very good replacement of whatever shortfall we have with the United States,” he said.
Nigeria’s crude oil export to the United States, which was over one million barrels per day (bpd) in December 2009, had declined to 352,000bpd, representing a loss of about 70 per cent of the United States’ market.
Statistics indicate that Nigeria was the third-largest supplier of crude oil to the United States in 2010, with the US accounting for 43per cent of Nigeria’s exports.
In September 2011, Nigeria’s crude export to the United States dropped to 580,000bpd, with the country assuming the sixth position, after Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela and Russia.
Nigeria’s crude export to the United States further dwindled to 352,000bpd as at February 2012.
Though refiners in Asia are said to be increasing crude oil imports, it is more difficult to ship crude oil from Nigeria to Asian countries than to the United States because of the long distances.
For instance, the distance from the Shell’s Bonny Export terminal in Rivers State, to Tianjin, China, is 12,172 miles, compared with 5,847 miles to New York Harbour in the United States.
With these long distances, Asian refiners are said to be demanding for discount to buy Nigeria’s crude.
Refiners that use Nigeria crude oil are also closing plants on the United States East Coast, the main destination for Nigerian exports, amid falling returns on investment.
Recent reports indicate that Sunoco stopped production at the 194,000-barrel per day Marcus Hook plant in Pennsylvania on December 2011.
ConocoPhillips stopped its 190,000-barrel per day Trainer, plant site on September 30, 2011 and the two facilities together accounted for half of East Coast crude oil processing capacity.
In recent years, China has demonstrated increasing appetite for Nigeria’s oil and gas resources.
Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), one of China’s largest state-run oil and gas producers, had agreed to buy a 45per cent stake in the license covering the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 field, which is owned by South Atlantic Petroleum.
CNOOC has been scouting for overseas oil and gas assets to supply China’s growing domestic market, as the country’s appetite for oil and gas is said to be second only to that of the United States.
CNOOC Chairman and Chief Executive, Mr. Fu Chengyu, had stated that the purchase would give CNOOC access to “an oil and gas field of huge interest and upside potential, located in one of the world’s largest oil and gas basins”.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Johnson & Johnson plans to remove potentially cancer-causing and other dangerous chemicals from nearly all its adult toiletries and cosmetic products worldwide within 3 1/2 years.
The health care giant late last year pledged to remove "chemicals of concern" from its baby products sold around the world after being pressed to do so for more than three years by a large coalition of health and environmental groups.
The company told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday that it remains on track to have baby products, including its Johnson's No More Tears baby shampoo, reformulated with safer ingredients by the end of 2013. Adult products will be reformulated by the end of 2015.
"We want people to have complete peace of mind when they use our products," said Susan Nettesheim, vice president of product stewardship and toxicology for J&J's consumer health brands.
Those include Johnson's baby lotion and bath products and Desitin for diaper rash, as well as adult skin care brands including Aveeno, Neutrogena, RoC, Clean & Clear and Lubriderm. J&J, based in New Brunswick, N.J., also makes prescription drugs and medical devices.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics began pushing J&J in May 2009 to remove harsh and toxic chemicals from its brands to protect consumers and workers. The coalition includes more than 175 nonprofit groups representing about 1.7 million members, from the Environmental Working Group and Friends of the Earth to the American Nurses Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility...
Research by the Environmental Working Group found most cosmetic and personal care products - other than those from small companies in the fast-growing natural products niche - contain potentially dangerous chemicals.
The key ones in question are 1,4 dioxane and the preservative formaldehyde, which is slowly released by a chemical called quaternium-15 to kill bacteria. Both 1,4 dioxane and formaldehyde are probable human carcinogens; formaldehyde also is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.
By 2015 Johnson & Johnson will phase out those two chemicals and others of concern, including triclosan, phthalates and parabens, as well as fragrance ingredients, which aren't disclosed on product labels. However, it will allow chemicals that release formaldehyde when no safe alternative will work and is reducing levels of 1,4 dioxane to below 10 parts per million.
Hillary Clinton’s six-and-a-half hour trip to Malawi literally went by in a buzz. The US Secretary of State has received not-so-warm welcomes from several countries she’s visited, but in Malawi she was reportedly chased onto her plane.
Chased onto her plane by a swarm of bees, that is.
Clinton ran for cover and boarded her jet to escape the bees, which attacked her at Malawi’s international airport, the local Nyasa Times quotes witnesses as saying. The Secretary was preparing to board a Johannesburg-bound flight when the stinging swarm forced her to make a quicker entry than planned.
Clinton wasn’t the only one spooked by the bees: “There was a slight panic as the bees winged across the airport. People could be seen running away to keep cover as the Secretary of State swiftly boarded her plane to avoid any stings,” a witness told the Nyasa Times.
The Secretary of State visited Malawi as part of an 11-day tour of Africa. While there, Clinton held bilateral talks with President Joyce Banda and pledged $36 million to strengthen Malawi’s agricultural value chain, the Nyasa Times reported.
Clinton began her African tour in Senegal, and has already been to Uganda, South Sudan and Kenya. She is expected to end her tour in Ghana on August 10, where she will attend the funeral of the country’s President John Atta Mills, who died on July 24.
Though her visit to Malawi was just a few hours long, Clinton will likely remember the trip for a while to come.
Easy rider: This biker practically has the road to himself.
Incredible: London Bridge Underground station was also totally clear during the supposed rush hour
Quiet: Streets in the central shopping area of Greenwich looked almost deserted as the final stages of the team equestrian event got under way
London City; vehicle barren
A usually heavily congested Blackwall Approach is virtually deserted
Roomy: Pedestrians walk on the pavement but there was a surprising lack of cars on London Bridge at 2pm
This shows the A4 close to Earl's Court
Empty: The scene on Millbank, outside Westminster Palace, at 6pm, when the roads are normally congested
This picture shows an empty Spitalfields Market during lunchtime
Worrying: Restaurants in Covent Garden are suffering a down turn in trade as customers stay away from the area
Clear run: Despite a packed Games schedule coinciding with the start of the working week, London's usually packed roads were at times as empty as they are on Christmas Day
Subdued: The normally bustling Carnaby Street in London's Soho has looked very different since the Olympics began at the weekend
Open: Westminster Bridge appears almost empty of pedestrians and vehicles during morning rush hour in central London
Central reservations: Foreign visitors in Trafalgar Square, with the National Gallery in the background. Major attractions have reported a fall in attendance around the Olympic period
In the aftermath of the unfortunate bombings and sporadic attacks that took place in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital and environs on the last Sallah Day, the Embassy of the United States in Nigeria hastily put out a public statement declaring that such like bombings should be expected in three well known hospitality establishments in Abuja the nation’s capital.
To discerning observers not only did that score high marks for bad manners as that was hardly what a nation still grieving and coming to terms with its losses expected from a supposedly friendly nation, but that the US embassy was being economical with information on what it actually knew about the incident, and more significantly, the role the US government itself has been playing in the whole gamut of acts of destabilization against Nigeria.
We have already been regaled with reports provided by the Wikileaks which identified the US embassy in Nigeria as a forward operating base for wide and far reaching acts of subversion against Nigeria which include but is not limited to eavesdropping on Nigerian government communication, financial espionage on leading Nigerians, support and funding of subversive groups and insurgents, sponsoring of divisive propaganda among the disparate groups of Nigeria and the use of visa blackmail to induce and coerce high ranking Nigerians into acting in favour of US interests.
Beyond what we know from the Wikileaks report, what many Nigerians do not know is that US embassy’s subversive activities in Nigeria fits into the long term US government’s well camouflaged policy of containment against Nigeria, the ultimate goal of which is to eliminate Nigeria as a potential strategic rival to the US in the African continent.
Today as Nigerians are reeling from the negative effects of the insurgency that has befallen our dear country and earnestly seeking answers to what all this portends for the future, the GREENWHITE COALITION a citizen’s watchdog can reveal the true nature of this silent, undeclared war of attrition waged against Nigeria by the Government of United States of America.
BACKGROUND TO US SUBVERSIVE ACTS AGAINST NIGERIA AND TIMELINES;
From ACRI to AFRICOM
ACRI stands for Africa Crises Response Initiative and it was set up during the Bush Jnr Administration as a counterweight to the Nigeria led ECOWAS Monitoring Group on the Liberian Civil War or ECOMOG as it is more popularly known. ACRI came into being from the secret reports and recommendations [separately produced by the Africa-America Institute and the Brooklyn Institute commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the American Government’s Directorate responsible for organizing foreign subversive activities.] on the Liberian civil war and the intervention of ECOMOG.
Both reports zeroed in on the pivotal role Nigeria was playing in the ECOMOG initiative and noted pointedly the phenomenal success recorded by ECOMOG in containing the Liberian crisis without any significant role or intervention from any of the major Western powers, including the United States.
The report concluded that should ECOMOG be allowed to go the whole hog, the major beneficiary will be Nigeria and that might form the basis for a pax Nigeriana in the West African sub-region eclipsing the influence of former colonial powers France and Britain.
The reports also called on the United States Government to note that Liberia being its creation should not be allowed to fall into Nigerian hands with consequences to US strategic interests in the country and the region. Specifically both reports noted that should Nigeria be allowed to have a foothold in Liberia, it will further embolden Nigeria to challenge the US and the West in carving its own sphere of interest at their expense.
In this regard, the report further recalled Nigeria’s role in helping to liberate the southern African countries in the 70’s and 80’s in clear opposition and defiance to the interests of the United States and its Western allies which resulted in a setback for Western initiatives in Africa at the time.
Both reports concluded with a recommendation that the US Government in conjunction with its allies should seek to contain the growing influence of Nigeria in the sub-region by forming a parallel organization to ECOMOG. But in order not to unduly alarm and antagonize Nigeria which the report admitted still had considerable influence in the region, the US government was advised to go about this using quiet diplomacy...
Unlike its precursor, the ACRI which sought to disguise US intentions in Africa particularly as it pertains to Nigeria under the cloak of multilateral humanitarian intervention, AFRICOM which came to being on October 1, 2008 is clearly programmed to serve US military-strategic interests especially with regards to the ever expanding global reach and influence of China in direct competition with the United States.
In response to the growing influence of a rapidly expanding industrial China in Africa, the goal of AFRICOM is to seize key strategic areas in Africa and bring them under US control in order to block China’s access to vital energy and mineral resources for its expanding economy. But to effectively carry this out, such African countries of strategic importance must first of all be weakened internally and made to feel so vulnerable that they would have to inevitably seek US protection or intervention. A spur to this interventionist program provides that any targeted African country that does not see the wisdom or resists the need to seek US “protection” will then have to suffer dismemberment with the pliant areas carved out of the supposedly hostile country and given US “protection”.
We have seen this happen in the great lakes area where US Special Forces have been deployed ostensibly to protect the countries there from so-called insurgents, who in the first place were sponsored by the same US. In Sudan, we have seen how a blanket cover of international humanitarian cries orchestrated by the United States on the so-called Darfur crisis served as a prelude to the dismemberment of Sudan to punish the government of El-Bashir for daring to conclude oil deals with the Chinese to the detriment of American companies.
We have also seen how Libya and Gaddafi were put to the sword for daring to sidetrack American oil interests. But the greatest prize for AFRICOM and its goal to plant a PAX AMERICANA in Africa would be when it succeeds in the most strategic African country, NIGERIA. This is where the raging issue of BOKO HARAM and the widely reported prediction by the United States Intelligence Council on the disintegration of Nigeria by 2015 comes into perspective.
BOKO HARAM: A CIA COVERT OPERATION
From the 1st October 2010 bombing (Independence Day Bombing) that rocked Abuja till date, Nigeria seems to be locked in a vice like grip of a growing and intractable insurgency manifested in bombings of public places and sporadic attacks on public institutions, resulting in the loss of scores of lives and destruction of properties. Predictably, there has been a discernible growth in panic and tension in the country and not a few people are beginning to think that perhaps the country seems headed inevitably for a long drawn insurgency leading to a split. With the exception of the 1st October 2010 bombing incident, a shadowy group which goes by the name Boko Haram, has laid claim to most of the subsequent bombings that have occurred in the country.
The seemingly intractable nature of the Boko Haram outrage has prompted a lot of questions from Nigerians. What really is this Boko Haram thing and what are their grievances if any? Why have they chosen to remain faceless in spite of the devastating effects of their activities on the psyche of the nation and entreaties from Nigerian authorities to come forward for negotiations? Why are they able to perpetrate their attacks with relative ease and why has there not been a single clue at the scene of their acts to lead to them?
For sure, Nigerians are not unused to sectarian violence. But the ones we have witnessed in this country have been predictable and the modus (operandi) and fault lines have been well known to the authorities who have always done well to keep them within tolerable limits. The Boko Haram of Mohammed Yussuf which predated this new one can be so categorized and was well known through its operations, leadership and locations.
But how did a ragtag collection of largely half literate unsophisticated persons operating mostly on Okada (motorbikes) transform literarily overnight to being able to design, manufacture and deploy bombs in buildings and in vehicles, costing in excess of a million naira, to carry out attacks in several locations around the country?
How have their reach grown from just a corner of Nigeria to virtually everywhere in the country? For them to be able to mount such a sophisticated operation, they must necessarily have a well structured command and control system which in spite of their best efforts at concealment cannot remain undetected for long. So how have they seemingly defied the best efforts of (our) combined security agencies in the country in detecting and foiling their activities?
The GREENWHITE Coalition can reveal that the current Boko Haram campaign is a covert operation organized by the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, and coordinated by the American Embassy in Nigeria. For some time now, the CIA has been running secret training and indoctrination camps along the porous and vulnerable borderlands of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. At these camps, youths from poor, deprived and disoriented backgrounds are recruited and trained to serve as insurgents. The agents who supply these youth lure them with the promise of better life and the work of Allah and further indoctrinate them to believe they are working to install a just Islamic order from the ungodly one that currently holds sway in Nigeria.
The American CIA program officers for this project, prudently remain in the background, leaving the day to day running of the camps to supervisors of Middle Eastern origin, specially recruited for this purpose. After several months of indoctrination and training on weapons handling, survival tactics, surveillance and evasion techniques, the insurgents are now kept on stand-by for the next phase of the operation.
The next phase of the operations involves the identification and selection of the targets which have already been mapped out by the American Embassy. If buildings are the targets for attack, the weapons and technical equipment to be used are kept in safe houses.
The countdown to the attack involves ferrying of the insurgents and quarantine at safe houses for the H hour. After the attack, in the ensuing panic, the insurgents make their escape into safe houses to dispose the weapons and disappear and dissolve later into the local population. The technical angle of sending out e-mails and messages of responsibility for the attack to the media in the name of Boko Haram is done through secure telecoms equipment by the American programmers of the operation which are hard to trace.
If the selected target is to be bombed by an IED, the building is cased for days and the devise inserted when security is lax. The devise is then detonated by an in-built timing mechanism or by a hand held detonator, some distance away from where the bomb is placed. If on the other hand, the attack is to be carried out by a suicide bomber, the person to carry it out would have been severely drugged with CIA manufactured LSD to disorientate him. In his state of mind he would have no clue as to what he is programmed to do having been turned into a veritable human robot.
TOWARDS 2015: HOW THE US PLANS TO DISMEMBER NIGERIA BY 2015
It is neither a coincidence nor guesswork that the National Intelligence Council of the United States Government estimated that Nigeria will disintegrate by the year 2015. The whole report actually is a coded statement of intentions on how using destabilization plots the US plans to eventually dismember Nigeria.
The whole goal of the destabilization campaign is to ensure that Nigeria is weakened internally by intractable crises, leading up to 2015 when the next general elections are expected to come up. By that year, there will be so much mutual suspicion among Nigerians that the elections itself might not hold or if they did at all, will set the stage for a full rapture of the Nigerian state. By its calculation and design, the Nigerian state will be so fractious by then; it will be fully ripe for intervention and break up. It is in actualization of this plan that the US strategic planners on Nigeria devised a three stage plan of implementation.
Stage 1: Pakistanizing Nigeria
With the scourge of Boko Haram as an existential reality, in the coming months the spate of bombings and attacks on public buildings are likely to escalate. High value symbolic targets like churches, mosques and large congregations of people of both faiths will be targeted. There will also be escalation in provocative statements and incitements by groups to violence. For good measure and effect, the bombings and attacks will be staged on days of observance of religious activities.
The goal is to exacerbate tension and mutual suspicion among adherents of the two faiths in Nigeria, leading to sectarian violence. This pattern of destabilization operation is taken out of the Pakistani manual of destabilization where a sustained spate of CIA sponsored bombings and sectarian violence stretched the ability and resources of the law and order agencies to cope, rendering the country weak and vulnerable to foreign intervention.
Stage 2: Internationalizing the Crisis
Having set the stage for an intractable sectarian violence pitting Christians against Muslims and between the various disparate groups in the country, there will be calls from the United States, European Union and United Nations for a halt to the violence. A plethora of advocacy groups around the world will struggle for the photo opportunity to mouth concerns about the carnage and humanitarian catastrophe. They will try to make a great show of providing humanitarian aid. For effect, there will be carpet bombing coverage by the International media on the Nigerian crisis with so-called experts discussing all the ramifications, who will strive to create the impression that only benevolent foreign intervention could resolve the crisis.
There will be a deluge of international conferences at various capitals around the world all ostensibly aimed to save Nigerians from themselves. Meanwhile, away from all the public flurry of activities, the US, which initiated the crisis in the first place, will be secretly drawing up plans to carve out Nigeria for its strategic and economic benefits.
Stage 3: the Great Carve out under UN Mandate
Following worldwide outrage at the scale of carnage resulting from all out war among various sections of Nigeria, secretly induced by the United States and its allies, the stage will now shift to the United Nations where debates will take place on how the world body will work to resolve the crisis.
There will be proposals, first for an international peace keeping force to intervene and separate the warring groups and/or for a UN mandate for various parts of Nigeria to come under mandated occupying powers. Of course, behind the scenes the US and its allies would have secretly worked out which areas of Nigeria to occupy, guided as it were by naked economic interests.
It is trite really which power or powers eventually occupies Nigeria for whatever reasons. By the time the UN comes to take a decision to hand over Nigeria for occupation under its mandate, no part of Nigeria will emerge or profit truly from the exercise. The rump areas of Nigeria will all come under occupation and puppet governments will then be set up at the behest of the occupying powers. Nigeria’s fall will be like that of humpty-dumpty, into pieces beyond recognition.
The main beneficiary will of course be the United States which started all this in the first place and which will be there to profit at the end. By engineering the break up of Nigeria, the United States would have eliminated a potential continental rival, paving the way for the institution of a Pax Americana in Africa, and secondly it would have limited its main global strategic rival, China, from direct access to badly needed energy and other mineral resources on the resource rich African continent.
FOCUS ON TERENCE P. McCULLEY, US AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA.
He is one of America’s top Foreign Service officers and in the parlance of the State Department, an “old Africa hand”. Do you know that Terence P. McCulley, the current United States Ambassador to Nigeria was one of the architects of the Africa Crisis Response Initiative, ACRI, which sought to undermine Nigeria’s involvement in ECOMOG?
Do you also know that he was also among the prominent resource persons that worked on establishing AFRICOM?
Do you also know that Ambassador McCulley’s alternate designation is State Department Coordinator of the AFRICOM, from which position he is to diplomatically sell and smoothen the way for the entry of AFRICOM into Nigeria? Do you know too that his main brief as Ambassador to Nigeria is to coordinate activities of the United States Government using the convenient cover of the Embassy of the United States in Nigeria?
Do you also know that the full classified report by the United States National Intelligence Council on the possible break up of Nigeria, which parts were only selectively released, contains details of how the US plans to carry out this desired end?
The full details of the bombing of the UN Building in Abuja; who did it and how it was done.
You might also need to know real mission of the so-called foreign security experts who came to “investigate” the bombing. Did they really come to investigate the incident and provide the details of their actual findings to Nigerian authorities or was their real brief to mop up any stray evidence from the bombing site in order to obscure the involvement of those who sponsored the act? The US Embassy in Nigeria operates a network of so-called safe houses all over Nigeria from where it runs various subversive operations, including electronic intelligence, surveillance, planning and carrying out of covert operations in Nigeria. We will provide details of the locations and addresses of such safe houses in Nigeria in the next GREENWHITE COALITION Report.
About the GREENWHITE COALITION.
The GREENWHITE COALITION as the name implies, is inspired from the colours of the Nigerian flag and has set out to rally Nigerians to the flag, in defence of the greater interest of the Nigerian nation in the face of plans by the United States to destroy our country and our future. It is a citizen’s volunteer watchdog made up of Nigerians of all ethnic groups and religious persuasions, who are alarmed at the dark plans of the United States of America to break up our dear country. We have taken it upon ourselves to spare no effort to expose and thwart the United States Government from carrying out its diabolical plans in Nigeria. For this, we are dedicated to ferreting out information and planning counter actions against any untoward moves by the United States Government in Nigeria. In this endeavour, we are fortunate to count on the support of well placed functionaries of the United States Government and other highly informed sympathizers who supply us with valuable inside information on the intentions of the United States Government as it affects Nigeria. These persons are themselves alarmed and appalled by the fact that the Government machinery of the United States has been hijacked by rogue elements, denying the vast majority of American citizens their fundamental constitutional rights as envisaged by the founding fathers of America. Needless to say, these persons, among who are those that served America diligently, are aghast at the foreign policy of the American government which purports to act in protection of the American people but in reality protects the corrupt corporate elements that have taken America and Americans hostage.
In the coming days and months the GREENWHITE COALITION will manifest in many ways, legally, in the Nigerian public domain in its efforts to prevent our country from coming under the American boot. This write up is the first in the series. Many more will come with pinpoint expose of the American Government plans against Nigeria. The United States Government is hereby put on notice; we will not allow our women to be turned to widows and our children orphans, as in Iraq and elsewhere. We will not be turned to refugees at the mercy of so-called humanitarian charities. Nigeria must take its place under the sun.
ILIYASU GADU Ilgad2009@gmail.com
On behalf of the GREENWHITE COALITION
Prized Olympic tickets entrusted to foreign delegations are being openly sold by touts on the streets of Britain, it emerged last night. They are cashing in on the huge demand for seats by selling tickets sent overseas by Games organizers.
The revelation came as a row raged over embarrassing scenes of banks of empty seating at many Games venues – including last night’s swimming finals. Last night Scotland Yard said every illegal seller arrested so far had held tickets despatched overseas to national committees and official re-sellers. One of the touts held is from Germany, another from Slovakia.
The discovery raises further questions about the way in which precious tickets are allocated by the International Olympic Committee. And it will fuel anger among millions of British sport fans who have been left watching events on TV because they failed to get a seat in last year’s ballot.
All by himself: A spectator sits among empty seats as he waits for the start of the final session on the first day of the swimming competition at the Aquatics Centre
The Yard confirmed that about 20 people had been arrested attempting to sell tickets since the opening ceremony on Friday.
Yesterday spectators who bought tickets for the Olympic Park, because all venues inside were sold out of lower-priced tickets, had the frustration of watching pictures on the big screen of unfilled seats. But a prickly Lord Coe insisted the ticketing process had worked. He even dismissed pictures of empty seats as ‘holiday snaps’ before admitting troops and students could be used to fill gaps.
‘We take it seriously,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to see swathes of those seats empty and that’s why we will make sure, where we can, people are in those seats when they are not used.’ The London 2012 chairman added: ‘Let’s put this in perspective. Those venues are stuffed to the gunwales. The public are in there.’
Initially, the empty spaces were blamed on ‘no-shows’ from blocks given to sponsors but yesterday the finger was pointed at the athletes, media and sports federations, who cannot be bothered to use their entitlement to a seat at the venue.
Designer Paul Chandler, 42, who travelled down to the Olympic Park from Nottingham with his family, added: ‘Standing in the wet watching pictures of empty seats on the big screen, we feel betrayed.’
Sally Pookey, 31, who lives less than a mile from the Olympic Park, said: ‘I felt disgusted when I saw all the gaps in the stands.’ Last night, Team GB cyclist Geraint Thomas said: ‘It’s quite sad, seeing all the empty seats.’
Soldiers drafted to fill empty games venue
Lord Coe revealed yesterday how troops, students and teachers were being drafted in to help end the embarrassing spectacle of empty seats at Olympic venues. The Locog chairman said fans with tickets could have them upgraded so they can sit in more expensive areas reserved for VIP members of the 'Olympic family'. He added that tickets for sports held in double sessions, such as hockey, basketball, water polo and handball, were being recycled and re-sold as people leave.
Deserted: Gymnast Pierre Yves Beny of France competes in front of empty seats in the North Greenwich Arena
A MoD spokesperson said: LOGOG has kindly offered service men and women working on venue security to make use of unutilised seating when they are off duty. These seats will be made available to venue security personnel to utilise on a voluntary basis when off duty. Olympics organisers had to call in extra military personnel before the Games after private firm G4S failed to provide enough civilian security guards.
Asked whether the military would always be brought in whenever anything went wrong during the Games, Lord Coe joked: 'We won't be cancelling leave to make sure they're sitting in our venues.
Though not yet announced by the Saudi authorities, the death of Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been confirmed to Voltaire Network by unofficial sources.
Prince Bandar had just been appointed head of Saudi intelligence on July 24: a promotion which was interpreted as a reward for having organized the attack in Damascus on July 18. The Saudi services, with logistical support from the CIA, had managed to blow up the headquarters of the Syrian National Security during a Crisis Cell meeting: Generals Assef Chaoukat, Daoud Rajha and Hassan Tourkmani were killed instantly. General Amin Hicham Ikhtiar died soon after from his wounds. This operation, called "Damascus Volcano" was the signal for the attack on the capital by a swarm of mercenaries, mainly coming from Jordan.
Prince Bandar was himself the target of a bomb attack on July 26, and subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
A brilliant and cynical personality, Prince Bandar was 63 years old. He was the son of Prince Sultan (irremovable defense minister from 1963 until his death in 2011) and of a slave. Confidant of King Fahd, Bandar was ambassador to Washington throughout his reign (1983-2005). He became close to George H. Bush (then Vice-President of the United States), who regarded him as an "adopted son," prompting the U.S. press to dub him "Bandar Bush". Endowed with an outstanding genius for covert action, he brokered the Al-Yamamah arms deal, managing to divert more than one billion pounds, according to British official sources. He then used this windfall, and many more, to finance the activities of jihadist groups around the world, including Al Qaeda.
In early 2010, Prince Bandar attempted to overthrow King Abdullah to place his own father on the throne. The plot failed and he was banished from the kingdom, but the monarch’s declining health enabled him to return to Saudi Arabia a year later. Since the death of Prince Sultan in October 2011, he had become the de facto leader of the Sudairi clan, the hawkish wing within the royal family.
His death constitutes a serious blow to the whole system of Western covert action in the Muslim world. It took Syria only one week to mount this spectacular reprisal operation.
"We must move forward, striking out tirelessly against imperialism. From all over the world we have to learn lessons which events afford. Lumumba’s murder should be a lesson for all of us”. — Che Guevara, 1964.
“Dead, living, free, or in prison on the orders of the colonialists, it is not I who counts. It is the Congo, it is our people for whom independence has been transformed into a cage where we are regarded from the outside…” — Patrice Lumumba, October 1960.
IntroductionThe truth surrounding the brutal murder of Patrice Lumumba is an embarrassing event which, when exposed to the African youth of today, will definitely send the US government scratching its head. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had a troubled history since the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Currently there is conflict in the eastern DRC. But who are the main actors in the conflict at this time?
Lumumba was a strong African revolutionary leader whose Pan-Africanist vision of a united Congo gained him many enemies from the outside world. Like Kwame Nkrumah, Lumumba sought for a country where the numerous resources of the Congo will benefit not only the Congo but the African people as a whole. In his famous first ever independence speech, as newly elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba who had not been scheduled to speak, stood up and made this speech (30th June 1960):
"You who have fought for independence, and are today victorious, I salute you in the name of the Congolese government. We have been subjected to insults and sarcasms, to the blows we had to endure from morning to night just because we were Africans. We learnt that the law was never the same according to whether it was applied to whites or blacks. Who will ever forget the shootings or the barbarous jail cells awaiting those who refused to submit to this regime of injustice, oppression and intimidation?"
With this speech, it was said that he signed his death warrant. From the very first day, the West especially the American and the Belgian governments started to sabotage Lumumba’s government and sought the immediate removal of Lumumba at all cost. Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of the best book on this crime, qualifies it as "the most important assassination of the 20th century". His assassination's historical importance lies in a multitude of factors, the most pertinent being the global context in which it took place, its impact on Congolese politics since then and Lumumba's overall legacy as a nationalist leader, writes Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina, author of “The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History”.
"Today, it is impossible to touch down at the (far from modernized) airport of Lubumbashi in the south of the DR Congo without a shiver of recollection of the haunting photographs, taken of Lumumba there shortly before his assassination, and after beatings, torture and a long, long flight in custody across the vast country which he so loved". — Victoria Brittain, The Guardian, 2011.
Exposing The Facts and Debunking The Then Media Distortions
It is a fact that both the Belgian government and the United States actively sought to have him eliminated. The CIA ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. Instead, the United States and Belgium covertly funnelled cash and aid to rival politicians (just as they recently did in Libya) who seized power and arrested Lumumba. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had said something [to CIA chief Allen Dulles] to the effect that “Lumumba should be eliminated". This was revealed by a declassified interview with then US National Security Council minute keeper, Robert Johnson, which was released in August 2000 from Senate intelligence committee's inquiry on covert action. The committee later claimed that while the CIA had conspired to kill Lumumba, it was not directly involved in the actual murder. Therefore one must ask: on whose orders was the actual murder executed if not the United States? Which elements in the CIA ever faced justice for such a brutal murder?
In his book, “In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story” John Stockwell (1978), revealed that a CIA officer in Elizabethville was in direct touch with Lumumba’s killers the night he was assassinated. Later, another CIA agent admitted to have had the body in the trunk of his car to try and get rid of it (p. 105). This leaked cable went on to state that Lumumba was first picked up from the airport by "all white guards", taken to the bush where his fate was decided and his body completely dissolved in acid, leaving no traces whatsoever...
Having realized the complicity of the United Nations and the world powers, in this brutal murder, Kwame Nkrumah thus made a broadcast to the people of Ghanaian:
“Somewhere in Katanga in the Congo- where and when we do not know- three of our brother freedom fighters have been done to death. They have been Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, Maurice Mpolo, the Minister in his government who was elected from Katanga Province and Joseph Okito the Vice-President of the Congolese Senate. About their end many things are uncertain, but one fact is crystal clear. They have been killed because the United Nations, whom Patrice Lumumba himself as Prime Minister had invited to the Congo to preserve law and order, not only failed to maintain that law and order, but also denied to the lawful Government of the Congo, all other means of self-protection.” Kwame Nkrumah, (Challenge of the Congo, page 129).
“History records many occasions when rulers of states have been assassinated. The murder of Patrice Lumumba and of his two colleagues, however, is unique in that it is the first time in history that the legal ruler of a country has been done to death with the open connivance of a world organisation (the United Nations) whom that ruler put his trust”, Nkrumah concludes (page 129/130).
I believe what happened in Libya in 2011 goes to affirm the real agenda of the UN, so long as Africa is concerned. Just as it had always been, it is always the same for Africa... Between 1961 and 1973 alone, six African independence leaders were assassinated by their ex-colonial rulers, including Patrice Lumumba of the Congo.
Complicity of the Belgian Government
A recent report by a Belgian Commission revealed that Belgium wanted Lumumba arrested and was not particularly concerned with Lumumba's physical well-being. Though informed of the danger to Lumumba's life when later arrested, Belgium did not take any action to avert his death. Under its own laws, Belgium was legally culpable for failing to prevent the assassination of the leader of a country where it had colonial ties. It was also in breach of its obligation (under U.N. Resolution 290 of 1949) to refrain from acts or threats "aimed at impairing the freedom, independence or integrity of another state.
In 2001, a Belgian Commission exposed that there had been previous U.S. and Belgian plots to kill Lumumba. Among them was a CIA-sponsored attempt to poison him, which might have come on orders from the then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A CIA chemist, Sidney Gottlieb, was made to devise a poison disguised as toothpaste for the elimination of Lumumba for which the corporate media intended to blame on “opposition elements”. This plot however backfired.
In another book, “Congo Cables”, the author details many communications by local CIA Station Chief, Larry Devlin, at the time who continually urged the total elimination of Lumumba as the only outcome the US government wanted to see (p. 53, 101, 129-133, 149-152, 158-159, 184-185, 195). Thanks to the power of suppression, political intimidation, as well as the fear and panic on the part of many African leaders who surrender at the expense of the African people, the bloody hand of colonialism, imperialism and neo-colonialism has always fought hard to bury the facts surrounding the brutal murder of many African heroes, African reggae legends and tens of thousands of our people. The African people of today, continue to live under the illusion of so-called 'independence', as foreign pressure continues to mount on their leaders to either comply or face similar fate.
That notwithstanding, we the African generation of today, cannot sit aside and watch our history become distorted or completely buried for the sake of satisfying the wishes of oppressors. Our revolutionary leader, Patrice Lumumba, has underlined that the history of the African people must be written. This history should not be the type that Brussels, Paris, Washington, the United Nations nor the corporate media will teach. Rather, Africa’s history should be written by the African people and should be taught in all the countries emancipated from colonialism and its current puppets… a history of glory and dignity.
African scholars and all historians of African origin therefore owe our children, the youth and our children’s children, that responsibility to teach them the true history of their ancestors. The future generations have every right to know the sacrifices and the price which many of their ancestors had to pay (with their blood) before we were able to attain our political independence. It was Lumumba’s wish that “Africa writes her own history; a history of glory and dignity”.
by Honourable Saka
The author is a regular writer, a political analyst on African affairs and a well-known social commentator in Africa. He is currently seeking the establishment of the "Project Pan-Africa" to create a mental revolution across Africa. He is the editor of “The Doctor’s Report”, your most reliable source of critical analysis on African affairs. He is a strong Pan-Africanist, a youth activist and founder of the “Leaders of Tomorrow”; a transformational and inspirational group of possible future leaders. Please visit his blog at www.honourablesaka.blogspot.co.uk or email him at honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk
You may have entertained the idea of an improbable civilization ending events such as a ‘global killer’ asteroid, earth crust displacement or massive solar storms, but what if there existed a situation right now that was so serious that it literally threatened our very existence?
According to a host of scientists, nuclear experts and researchers, were are facing exactly such a scenario – and current efforts may not be able to stop it.
When the Fukushima nuclear plants sustained structural damage and a catastrophic failure of their spent fuel cooling systems in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, it left the government of Japan, Tokyo Power and nuclear regulatory agencies around the world powerless to contain the release of deadly radiation. A year on, the battle for control of Fukushima continues to no avail.
It’s estimated that tens of thousands of people in Japan and the whole of North America have been affected, with reports indicating that children in Japan and the U.S. are already being born with birth defects, as well as thousands who have already succumbed to radiation related illness. As we initially followed the breaking news during the first thirty days of the accident, we suggested the Fukushima disaster would be worse than Chernobyl. Not even we could have imagined how much worse it would be.
If current estimates are correct, Fukushima has already released as much radiation into the atmosphere and Pacific Ocean as Chernobyl, and the potential for a disaster at least ten times worse is highly probable in the event of another earthquake or accident that leads to a collapse of the cooling structures which are above ground and have already suffered significant damage.
According to U.S. Army General Albert N. Stubblebine (ret.) of the Natural Solutions Foundation, the situation is extremely serious and poses a significant danger to our entire civilization. Since TEPCO and the Japanese government have refused the entombment option (as the Russians did with Chernobyl) the world is at the mercy of nature. A mistake here would cause the deaths of tens of millions of people across the globe.
If there ever existed a threat that could cause the end of the world as we know it, it’s the ongoing and unresolved nuclear saga in Japan:
When the highly radioactive Spent Fuel Rods are exposed to air, there will be massive explosions releasing many times the amount or radiation released thus far. Bizarrely, they are stored three stories above ground in open concrete storage pools. Whether through evaporation of the water in the pools, or due to the inevitable further collapse of the structure, there is a severe risk. United States public health authorities agree that tens of thousands of North Americans have already died from the Fukushima calamity. When the final cataclysm occurs, sooner rather than later, the whole Northern Hemisphere is at risk of becoming largely uninhabitable.
Fact. On March 11, 2011, Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station with six nuclear reactors suffered cataclysmic damage that some believe was a man made event,and the resulting Tsunami. Hydrogen explosions…at least one nuclear explosion… and then subsequent deterioration of the visible plants at five of those reactors have created a threat situation unparalleled in human history.
Fact. Despite denial and cover-up, the reality has emerged, that enormous amounts of radioactive material has been spewing into the atmosphere, polluting the groundwater, and the food of Japan, and entering by the tens of millions of gallons the waters of the Pacific.
There’s no way to sugarcoat these facts. Denying them, blocking them out, pretending that they are not real is of no help to you and your family, and it leaves you totally unprepared for a danger that the Natural Solutions Foundation has been warning about since the first day. As of three weeks ago the levels of radiation inside of the spent fuel pools of unit no. 2 are too high to measure. Get that… too high to measure. And, the water there is evaporating, meaning that heat and radiation could easily build to very high levels.
Very simply put, if this much Cesium 137 is released, it will destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants.
This is an issue of human survival.
We can play the denial game all day long and pretend that, because the mainstream media is not reporting on it, there is no threat, but the facts are quite clear.
This is, without a doubt, the most immediate threat faced by the world. It’s so serious, in fact, that the Japanese government has considered and put into place evacuation plans for the whole of Tokyo – some 40 million people. Reports are also emerging that suggest a collapse of the spent fuel pools would be so serious that the entire country of Japan may have to be evacuated. The entire country – that’s 125 million refugees that will cause an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
Before you argue that these are the ravings of just alternative media conspiracy theorists and fearmongers, consider the assessment put forth by Robert Alvarez, a senior policy adviser to the Secretary for National Security and the Environment for the US Department of Energy:
"The No. 4 pool is about 100 feet above ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.
The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters.
The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).
It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site, have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet."
Regulatory agencies all over the world are warning of the potentiality of a further degradation of the Fukushima nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools, and the subsequent nuclear fallout that would follow.
If these reactors go – and they could at any moment for any number of reasons – we’re looking at a situation for which you simply cannot stock enough food, or water, or supplies. Radiation would spread across the entire northern hemisphere and would be impossible to contain.
While we’ve argued in the past that there is no place we’d rather be than in the United States of America in the event of a socio-economic collapse or global conflict, if these spent fuel pools collapse, then an international exit strategy may be the only option.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Quotable Quotes
"People, governments and economies of all nations MUST serve the needs of multinational banks and corporations."
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Former US National Security Adviser, now serves as a counselor and trustee for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington policy research organization.
