War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11
By Michel Chossudovsky
Global Outlook ISBN: 0-9731109-0-2
158 Pages. List Price US $14.95
Reviewed by Kéllia Ramares
Online Journal Associate Editor
What were Rep. Porter Goss and Senator Bob Graham and other members of the Senate and House intelligence committees doing, together with the alleged money-man behind 9-11, at breakfast on Capitol Hill on the morning of September 11? –Michel Chossudovsky
June 7, 2004—Last Thursday, George Tenet resigned as director of Central Intelligence. Rep. Porter Goss is one of the favorites to succeed Tenet. If he is nominated, will any of the senators at his confirmation hearing have the guts to ask the above question? And if he is not nominated, will it be because of what the answer to that question is?
This reviewer knows from personal experience that many Americans reflexively enter a state of denial when confronted with questions such as the one above, which Prof. Michel Chossudovsky posed on page 151 of his book “War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11.” Certain Americans, including prominent leftist analysts, are quick to denounce as “conspiracy theorists” anyone who says, as Chossudovsky, I and others have done, that the United States government was complicit in the September 11 attacks. They prefer to think that simultaneous multi-agency incompetence and failure ruled the day. In other words, they prefer to adopt the government’s position rather than to accept the fact that the same government that supports all manner of assassinations, death squads, wars, and coups abroad is behind mass murder at home.
The United States government foments terrorism against its own people. Prof. Chossudovsky’s book, “War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11,” deftly tells how and why.
In a mere 158 well-referenced pages, Chossudovsky, a University of Ottawa (Canada) economics professor who studies globalization, explains how Washington has supported Islamic terrorism since the Carter administration. He links Osama bin Laden to the CIA and shows that the Pakistani intelligence agency—the ISI—has close ties to both the CIA and al Q’aeda. Chossudovsky dispatches “The Blowback Thesis,” i.e. the notion that Osama and his allies have turned against the United States, and he shows how Islamic terrorism actually benefits Washington’s agenda.
“War and Globalisation” draws on official government papers, political statements, reports from major national and international press, and important independent research, including some of Chossudovsky’s own, to document many reasons why the U.S. government supports Islamic terrorism. Internationally, there’s the conquest of oil, control of the drug trade, and continued antagonism toward and competition with Russia and China. Domestically, there’s the suppression of dissent and the militarization of U.S. politics and economics.
Ultimately, Chossudovsky’s book presents its readers with a harsh reality: terrorism is a tool used to maintain and expand the growth of corporate capitalism, led by the U.S. dollar and backed by U.S. military might; true democracy, and the Rule of Law, domestic and international, be damned.
“War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11,” is one of those “connect-the-dots” works that should be required reading, especially for media-misled, history-starved Americans.
Anti-globalization activists of all nations will find Chapter IX “Disarming the New World Order” of particular interest. Its first sentence is the bedrock on which dissent against the New World Order must rest: “The war on terrorism is a lie.” But, in this chapter, Chossudovsky also critiques the methods of the dissenters. He states that “Labour leaders and leftist politicians have been co-opted… Demands, petitions and declarations are formulated to little avail…The organization of counter-summits cannot constitute the basis of this struggle.“
In light of the fact that 15 million people worldwide marched against the invasion of Iraq only to see it happen about a month later, political activists would do well to read Chossudovsky’s critiques of social protest before embarking on their next effort. In fact, a more thorough treatment of the challenge of creating effective dissent would be a worthy subject for another Chossudovsky book.
Michel Chossudovsky is director of the Centre for Research on Globalisation.
“War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11,” which has been translated into 10 languages, is available from the centre’s website. A companion video is also available.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Some inconvenient truths about competition
by Kellia Ramares
Here is an excerpts of a story that appeared in the New York Times on October 21, 2009. The title of the story was “$13 an hour? 500 sign-up, 1 wins a job”.
"The 34-year-old recruiter decided the fairest approach was simply to start at the beginning, reviewing resumes in the order in which they came in. When she found a desirable candidate, she called to ask a few preliminary questions, before forwarding the name along to Chris Kelsey, the school's director. When he had a big enough pool to evaluate, she would stop. Anyone she did not get to was simply out of luck."
The paragraph above exposes the lie that one's employability is basically a function of the individual's own ability and that if you don't have a job, it is your fault. Built into any competitive economic system are several fundamental, interrelated and inconvenient truths.
Here is an excerpts of a story that appeared in the New York Times on October 21, 2009. The title of the story was “$13 an hour? 500 sign-up, 1 wins a job”.
"The 34-year-old recruiter decided the fairest approach was simply to start at the beginning, reviewing resumes in the order in which they came in. When she found a desirable candidate, she called to ask a few preliminary questions, before forwarding the name along to Chris Kelsey, the school's director. When he had a big enough pool to evaluate, she would stop. Anyone she did not get to was simply out of luck."
The paragraph above exposes the lie that one's employability is basically a function of the individual's own ability and that if you don't have a job, it is your fault. Built into any competitive economic system are several fundamental, interrelated and inconvenient truths.
Monday, October 19, 2009
ARCHIVE: My Experience with Retro-Intention
[Originally published on my page at The Living The Field Community on April 3, 2009].
Of course, I didn't know what I was doing or even that I was doing it at the time. In the late 1980s, I sang with a local community chorus. We were all amateurs. But late in my tenure there, a woman who had been a professional singer I'll call S. joined us. She was older than most of us and more used to being a soloist. We did our annual Christmas concert, which was recorded, as usual, on cassette tape, the high technology of the day. Each of us were then given cassettes as a remembrance of the concert. When I listened to my cassette, I was disturbed by the fact that S. was much louder than the rest of us. She just couldn't, or made no effort, to blend.
Of course, I didn't know what I was doing or even that I was doing it at the time. In the late 1980s, I sang with a local community chorus. We were all amateurs. But late in my tenure there, a woman who had been a professional singer I'll call S. joined us. She was older than most of us and more used to being a soloist. We did our annual Christmas concert, which was recorded, as usual, on cassette tape, the high technology of the day. Each of us were then given cassettes as a remembrance of the concert. When I listened to my cassette, I was disturbed by the fact that S. was much louder than the rest of us. She just couldn't, or made no effort, to blend.
ARCHIVE: Intention and Very Sick Babies
[Originally published on my page of The Living The Field Community on January 19, 2009].
by Kellia Ramares
In the middle 80's, I had a roommate named Karen who was studying to be a labor coach. As part of her training, she worked for a time in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There she met a male nurse. I don't recall if she ever mentioned his name, so I will call him Manuel. He was Mexican and the son of a curandera, a traditional Mexican healer. He noticed that the visiting doctors, medical students in tow, were very cold to the babies, sometimes even speaking not in terms of the whole child but only of the problematic body part(s). They referred to this heart, this liver, etc. Manuel noticed that the babies' vital signs would always go down after these rounds.
One day he and Karen decided that they would "talk up" the babies after rounds. They would tell each one not to pay attention to the doctors, that they were doing great and were going to be fine. The babies' vitals would improve after Manuel and Karen talked the babies up.
I met another NICU nurse who couldn't deal with babies dying. So at the start of every shift, she announced that fact to the babies, and said that while she understood that some of them had to go, they could not do so on her shift. No babies ever died on her shift.
by Kellia Ramares
In the middle 80's, I had a roommate named Karen who was studying to be a labor coach. As part of her training, she worked for a time in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There she met a male nurse. I don't recall if she ever mentioned his name, so I will call him Manuel. He was Mexican and the son of a curandera, a traditional Mexican healer. He noticed that the visiting doctors, medical students in tow, were very cold to the babies, sometimes even speaking not in terms of the whole child but only of the problematic body part(s). They referred to this heart, this liver, etc. Manuel noticed that the babies' vital signs would always go down after these rounds.
One day he and Karen decided that they would "talk up" the babies after rounds. They would tell each one not to pay attention to the doctors, that they were doing great and were going to be fine. The babies' vitals would improve after Manuel and Karen talked the babies up.
I met another NICU nurse who couldn't deal with babies dying. So at the start of every shift, she announced that fact to the babies, and said that while she understood that some of them had to go, they could not do so on her shift. No babies ever died on her shift.
ARCHIVE: Nuclear and Bioweapons Research in Livermore, CA
by Kellia Ramares
[Originally published in Sprol on February 26, 2007. Pictures from that site have been omitted, but the citations have been left in so that you can find them if you wish].
The Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), a premier nuclear weapons research facility, is unique among America’s national labs in that it is in an urban area. It is in Livermore, California, cheek-by-jowl to homes built across the street. Moreover, Livermore itself is part of San Francisco’s East Bay region. Seven million people, including this writer, live within a 50-mile radius of the city. Airplanes heading in and out of San Francisco International, Oakland International, and Minetta International (San Jose) fly over it daily.
Scientists at the lab perform experiments with plutonium, highly-enriched uranium, and tritium (radioactive hydrogen) in an earthquake zone. There are three major seismic faults in the region: the Calaveras, the Hayward, on which thousands of homes and businesses sit — this fault bisects the Cal Berkeley football stadium — and the famous San Andreas Fault, which is west of the San Francisco Bay, but still capable of causing tremendous damage to the East Bay region if it quakes in the “right” place.
[Originally published in Sprol on February 26, 2007. Pictures from that site have been omitted, but the citations have been left in so that you can find them if you wish].
The Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), a premier nuclear weapons research facility, is unique among America’s national labs in that it is in an urban area. It is in Livermore, California, cheek-by-jowl to homes built across the street. Moreover, Livermore itself is part of San Francisco’s East Bay region. Seven million people, including this writer, live within a 50-mile radius of the city. Airplanes heading in and out of San Francisco International, Oakland International, and Minetta International (San Jose) fly over it daily.
Scientists at the lab perform experiments with plutonium, highly-enriched uranium, and tritium (radioactive hydrogen) in an earthquake zone. There are three major seismic faults in the region: the Calaveras, the Hayward, on which thousands of homes and businesses sit — this fault bisects the Cal Berkeley football stadium — and the famous San Andreas Fault, which is west of the San Francisco Bay, but still capable of causing tremendous damage to the East Bay region if it quakes in the “right” place.
ARCHIVE: Pete Rose
[Originally published on my baseball blog on July 30, 2009]
We have just had inductions to the Hall of Fame and the ritual would not be complete without a mention of Pete Rose.
ROSE SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAME. Yeah, he bet in baseball, but unlike the 1919 Black Sox, there is no evidence that he bet against himself or his team or otherwise did anything to throw a game.
Of course, it would have been better if he hadn't gambled at all. Now he's just a parody of himself hawking whatever he can sell. But I wonder if his ban hasn't been lifted because of his attitude rather than his misdeeds. And if so, MLB should look itself in the mirror about its own attitude toward gambling. It's a lot different from the days when Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were suspended from involvement in baseball because of their PR jobs with casinos that involved things like playing golf with the high rollers. Now you can go to Chase Field and watch the players drape themselves over the dugout fence that has VeeQuiva Casino written all over it.
Either Baseball gets the casino names out of its stadiums or it lets Pete Rose back in. I prefer the latter considering the Hall is full of reprobates who have done far worse things than waste money gambling.
We have just had inductions to the Hall of Fame and the ritual would not be complete without a mention of Pete Rose.
ROSE SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAME. Yeah, he bet in baseball, but unlike the 1919 Black Sox, there is no evidence that he bet against himself or his team or otherwise did anything to throw a game.
Of course, it would have been better if he hadn't gambled at all. Now he's just a parody of himself hawking whatever he can sell. But I wonder if his ban hasn't been lifted because of his attitude rather than his misdeeds. And if so, MLB should look itself in the mirror about its own attitude toward gambling. It's a lot different from the days when Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were suspended from involvement in baseball because of their PR jobs with casinos that involved things like playing golf with the high rollers. Now you can go to Chase Field and watch the players drape themselves over the dugout fence that has VeeQuiva Casino written all over it.
Either Baseball gets the casino names out of its stadiums or it lets Pete Rose back in. I prefer the latter considering the Hall is full of reprobates who have done far worse things than waste money gambling.
ARCHIVE: Greening MLB
[Originally published on my baseball blog on August 8, 2009]
I just got a notice on my Facebook page that there was article talk about how the sports world was looking to be more clean and green. Here is my response:
Speaking as a baseball fan, I think MLB could be more green by going retro at the park. Manually operated scoreboards instead of these monster electronic jobs that use so much electricity. Also day games on the weekends. Take out the free WiFi that is starting to go into stadiums. That must have a carbon foot print. New stadiums should be built with public transit access. Domes in places like Phoenix should be used sensibly. There they leave the dome open and run the A/C in all but the hottest weather so as to give the fans the feel of an outdoor stadium without Phoenix's 100 degree weather. Speaking of Phoenix, what baseball stadium really needs a swimming pool? We have got to get back to the days when we went to the ball park to see a baseball game, not to swim, be on computers or wave our VISA cards to the cameras on the big screen. That would save a lot of energy!
UPDATE: Let's hear some other ideas. How about going back to traditional 2 for the price of one doubleheaders on Sunday and off days on Mondays and Thursday? Having the stadiums dark two days a week would save energy. It would probably be better for the players as well. Most other jobs get two days off per week, why not baseball players? I just heard this weekend that the San Francisco Giants just concluded a streak of twenty days in a row. That's got to mean tired players who are more likely to get injured. And we wonder why players might use amphetamines?
I just got a notice on my Facebook page that there was article talk about how the sports world was looking to be more clean and green. Here is my response:
Speaking as a baseball fan, I think MLB could be more green by going retro at the park. Manually operated scoreboards instead of these monster electronic jobs that use so much electricity. Also day games on the weekends. Take out the free WiFi that is starting to go into stadiums. That must have a carbon foot print. New stadiums should be built with public transit access. Domes in places like Phoenix should be used sensibly. There they leave the dome open and run the A/C in all but the hottest weather so as to give the fans the feel of an outdoor stadium without Phoenix's 100 degree weather. Speaking of Phoenix, what baseball stadium really needs a swimming pool? We have got to get back to the days when we went to the ball park to see a baseball game, not to swim, be on computers or wave our VISA cards to the cameras on the big screen. That would save a lot of energy!
UPDATE: Let's hear some other ideas. How about going back to traditional 2 for the price of one doubleheaders on Sunday and off days on Mondays and Thursday? Having the stadiums dark two days a week would save energy. It would probably be better for the players as well. Most other jobs get two days off per week, why not baseball players? I just heard this weekend that the San Francisco Giants just concluded a streak of twenty days in a row. That's got to mean tired players who are more likely to get injured. And we wonder why players might use amphetamines?
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