Twelfth Bough

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Archive for category France

the flames burning all around

Jan 23

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, CIA, Central America, Corruption & Crime, Drug Trafficking, France, Identities, India, Iran, Israel, Nigeria, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Southeast Asia, Terrorism, UK | No Comments

Current interlinked narratives — apologies for the length:

1. UK raises the terror alert to “severe.” AS A RESULT of underpants bomber, the security services have tightened their vigilance.

Thus we shall be grateful for the crisis narrowly averted, hmm? It has borne the fruits of hyper-vigilance, a symptom, by the way, of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But who’s counting…

“We still face a real and serious threat to the U.K. from international terrorism, so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity,” he said, adding that U.K. residents and travelers need to be “more aware.” — Home Secretary Alan Johnson, as reported in USA Today

This brings UK policies in line with US DHS policies. We are all on the same page now, hallelujah. A terrorist attack is “highly likely,” but there’s no “intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent.”

What is the “intelligence” “suggesting?”

1. The increased concern followed intelligence analysis. Communications and activities of terror suspects were being monitored. The new “severe” threat is the second highest possible.

2. ‘We have a very adept and very focused counter-terrorism facility, people should be reassured by that.’ He said that moving to the different threat level meant people had to be more alert.

3. The danger assessment was made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which constantly reviews the situation. It looks at the intent and capabilities of terror groups. Although it means an attack is now believed to be almost certain, Mr Johnson stressed it was not expected in the very near future.

So the attack is “almost certain,” but not in the “very near future.” The “intelligence” “suggests” people need to be more “alert,” and more “concerned,” and to “carry on reporting suspicious events” to the “appropriate authorities” and “to support the police and security services” in their efforts to “discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity.” Roger that.

Note that all such vigilant efforts can be tied back to patsy underpants, who, by almost taking down that commercial airliner over Detroit, alerted us once again to the ever-present menace of international terrorism. SO he did us a favor in a way. See? He justified the increased vigilance, which now pays off. We Hope. Because, of course, we know the terrorists are so very wily, and they seem magically able to outwit even our best, most vigilant efforts. Let’s hope we don’t have any more of that unfortunate bugaboo: Human Error.

2. The tie to Africa and the Caribbean.

The UK terror alert measures followed a Tuesday meeting between Brown and President Obama. Brown said Britain and other countries face a “sharply growing threat” from al qaeda linked terrorists in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia.

On Thursday Newtime Africa reported that the Jamaican cleric Abdullah al-Faisal had finally been deported, on the second attempt, from Kenya back to Jamaica. He was due in court. He left Kenya on a private chartered Gulfstream jet, last week.

Nairobi - Kenya has sent controversial Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal back to his homeland, a state prosecutor said Thursday, days after protests demanding his release turned deadly. Edward Okello told a Nairobi court where al-Faisal was due to appear that the cleric had been put on a private jet to Jamaica. Al-Faisal, who has served time in the UK for inciting racial hatred and is on international terrorist watch list, arrived in Kenya from Tanzania in late December, and was arrested around a week later. Kenya tried to deport him to The Gambia earlier this month, but he was sent back. Police on Friday broke up a demonstration in support of al-Faisal, firing bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Five protesters died from bullet wounds. The 45-year-old cleric was sentenced to four years imprisonment in Britain in 2003 after he called on his followers to kill Jews and Hindus. He was deported upon his release in 2007. Born Trevor William Forrest in St James, Jamaica, he went to Saudi Arabia aged 16 and converted to Islam.

Yes, he seems to get around, that notorious terrorist hater. He must have connections. But now, and I tell you this with a straight face, his whereabouts are not exactly known. Because, evidently, of the many righteous people in positions of authority, who have declined to issue him a transit visa, lest he pollute their pristine airspace with his terrorist fumes…or something….I guess it’s not exactly Human Error, or maybe it is but it is Well Intentioned. In any event it seems EXCEEDINGLY OBTUSE AND LEGALISTIC CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES for people who claim to be serious about fighting terrorism twenty four seven.

Their first effort stalled after several countries denied him an intransit visa and airlines that fly to friendly countries refused to transport him….Al Faisal’s exact location was not immediately clear. Officials say he had already left Kenya on a privately-chartered Gulfstream jet. But leader of the Kenya Muslim Rights Forum Al-Amin Kimathi, told the media the preacher was still at Nairobi airport. However sources at the airport later confirmed the plane had left, but not until several hours after he had been due in court.

Another source: First Tanzania refused him entry, and then on his way to the Gambia, an airline refused to take him beyond Nigeria because he is on several international terror watchlists.…“We wanted to be furnished with documents to show which anti-terrorism police unit officers followed him, who is the pilot, which plane, and such other documents,’ Harun Ndubi said.

Another source: In Nairobi, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’ appealed to Britain and the United States governments to allow a-Faisal to transit through their countries. He said the government was stuck with the preacher because all routes to Jamaica must connect through either Britain or America.

The minister said if al-Faisal was to be flown out of the country by the national carrier, Kenya Airways, the connection would be at Gatwick in Britain then to Kingston, Jamaica. However Britain has been adamantly opposed to allow al-Faisal to transit through London. The preacher once served a four-year jail term in that country for hate speech.

The other option available to Kenya, according to Mr Kajwang’ said, was an offer by the Qatar government allowing al-Faisal to transit through its capital Doha. However, the flight must connect through Miami in Florida, USA.

South Africa had also accepted to allow the preacher to pass through its airport en route to Brazil who have no problem either. But the flight has to go through Havana, Cuba, where authorities have declined the arrangement.

As such, Mr Kajwang’ said, Kenya was left “with the last option of hiring a plane but it must connect through somewhere to fuel and again we do not have the money.” Al-Faisal was expected in Kingston on Wednesday, the Jamaican newspaper reported.

Another source: Radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal is expected to arrive in Jamaica today. A Senior Officer in the Jamaica Constabulary Force told the Gleaner that El Faisal is to arrive at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston sometime this morning. The source also said the controversial cleric is to be placed under extra scrutiny by the police. However, the source declined to elaborate on the matter.

Despite international reports of the deportation, the Police High Command and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have both claimed ignorance of the exact date of arrival of El Faisal. They have also said that no extra security measures are to be implemented against the cleric despite the fact that he is on an international watch list of terrorists.

What a pain in the ass. Finally, it appears that he did indeed arrive safely in Jamaica! Phew! Traveling in style like a Rock Star.

JAMAICAN-BORN Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, was quizzed by Special Branch investigators for nearly an hour [hoo boy that sounds like a brutal interrogation! - ed.] when he returned to the island last night.

One investigator made it clear that al-Faisal had not broken any laws here, but said the police wanted to make sure they knew where and how to find him “because of the international attention he has received”.

“He is a very smart man. He can tell us he is going to be here or there, but we want to make sure,” said one investigator, who recorded the licence plate of the minibus that whisked al-Faisal from the Norman Manley International Airport. [GOOD IDEA! - ed.]

Confronted by reporters as he exited the airport, the controversial Muslim cleric said he was too tired to answer any questions after two days of flying.

He would not disclose the route his plane took, but said the flight had been paid for by a South African company.

Informed sources told The Gleaner that after leaving Kenya, al-Faisal’s plane made fuel stops in the West African country of Burkina Faso, the Republic of Cape Verde and Antigua.

One source said al-Faisal told investigators the trip cost US$500,000.

The controversial cleric was ordered deported by Kenyan officials who labelled him a security threat. However, since the deportation order, several countries, including the United States, have refused to allow planes carrying al-Faisal to fly over their air space or provide him with an in-transit visa.

(I can’t believe they made him carry his own bags!)

This is as good a time as any to point out that some people in Nigeria and some people in Jamaica find it grossly unfair to be associated in the public mind with patsy underpants and notorious criminal al-Faisal, seeing as both men were raised and educated elsewhere.

“This is just one instance of a Nigerian who, it is clearly established, has no link with any fundamentalist group or any interest group within Nigeria, not even with his parents….America should look inward and search their souls, there is something wrong with their system and they should not punish Nigerians who are very law-abiding and good international citizens for the failure and irresponsibility of American operatives, Nigeria will not take that.” - Nigerian Senate President David Mark

“Indeed, he is a citizen of Jamaica by birth and no one can deny him access. However, he was taught and trained in a foreign territory and not in Jamaica. For example, he was converted to Islam and completed eight years of studies at a university in Saudi Arabia. He resided in the United Kingdom for 26 years and was deported from that country on May 25, 2007 after spending time in prison for criminal offences…His only connection to Jamaica is by birth, and he did not relinquish his citizenship or ties with Jamaica. Therefore, Jamaica has to accommodate such an individual in a country that already has a tarnished image. Abdullah al-Faisal has created a bad image for himself and has cast a bad shadow on everybody living in Jamaica, especially the Muslim group whose members are law-abiding citizens. Upon his arrival, authorities will have their work cut out for them in order to monitor his whereabouts.” — letter to the editor, Jamaica Observer

Except that the authorities appear to be treating al-Faisal like a ROCK STAR after his half mil private chartered Gulfstream flight paid for by some South African company after the US and UK were prevented — by a fit of moral compunction — to facilitate the criminal’s extradition to a court of law.

Weird, huh? After all that talk about vigilance.

3. Meanwhile, Gates had barely left India for Pakistan when the terrorist threats began in earnest there.

http://cbs2.com/national/Britian.terror.threat.2.1443420.html

This move by British officials comes as Indian authorities issued a terrorism alert over chatter that al Qaeda operatives planned to hijack a plane. India has largely been free of terror attacks since 10 heavily armed militants affiliated with a Pakistan-based militant group rampaged through the commercial capital Mumbai for three days in November 2008, killing 166 people.

India issued a terror alert at all its airports Thursday after the government received warnings about a possible attack, aviation spokeswoman Moushumi Chakravarty said.

A report in The Indian Express newspaper, which Chakravarty confirmed, said intelligence officials had uncovered a plot by militants linked to al Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group to hijack an Air India or Indian Airlines flight destined for an unspecified South Asian country. There were no indications that the United Kingdom was in any way related to the uncovered hijack plot.

I collected about twenty or so stories this week here and here to flesh this out. The overall arc is the US will give cover to India while Pakistan-linked terrorists attack India or another Southeast Asian country, involving India. The key point being, evidently, to justify a response from India.

Just like the patsy underpants attack justified a response from the US and the UK.

This post deals with the connections between India, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and terrorism.

4. Meanwhile, the Clash of Civilization fires burn brightly, and Nicholas Sarkozy has the gasoline ready just in case.

But the UK is in Europe. In order for terrorism to be an international menace, problems must be seeded all over the world. *YOU* may experience difficulty traveling, but unlike you, terrorists use their mysterious international connections to travel, so that they show up halfway around the world, dammit, to commit mayhem in The West, and nobody can understand anything except that they came from a Muslim country.

Nicholas Sarkozy seems to have a special skill for mind-fucking. Notice that he parrots, almost religiously, whatever position Tel Aviv favors. Notice at the same time, he plays kiss kiss hug hug with Lebanon. Israel wants to bomb Lebanon again, just as they did in 2006. Make no mistake about it. Whether it’s Ghajar, or the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, or an attack on UNIFIL — something will take place to justify attacking Lebanon. And Lebanon is connected to Hizbollah, and Hizbollah is connected to Iran, and so whatever happens it will progress like a lit fuse with Wile E. Coyote until it reaches Iran.

To that end, Sarkozy makes various inflammatory statements. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3838323,00.html

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday that he is “convinced that Iran is pursuing a nuclear program and the Israel will not abide that,” the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported.

According to the report, Sarkozy, who met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Paris, said France has proof that Tehran is developing a nuclear bomb and that Israel may choose to take action to neutralize the threat.

Oh, well, PLEASE DO SHARE THE “PROOF!”

The paper also quoted Sarkozy as saying that if given a choice between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he would choose the latter.

The French president also spoke of the recent international sanctioned proposed against the Islamic Republic by the UN Security Council, saying such sanctions may soon become a reality.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy also announced that Paris was willing to supply Beirut with whatever military equipment it needed.

Talk about running both sides of the conflict. Even though France worries, they just worry half to death, that the weapons will end up in Hizbullah’s hands.But, at the same time, they don’t want to leave the Lebanese unprotected.

Sources close to the French president told al-Hayat that Sarkozy said his country “cannot support and protect Lebanon’s independence without giving its military the necessary means of defense.” France, he reportedly added, needs neither the US nor Israel’s permission to support Lebanon’s independence. Should Israel views the issue as problematic, he added, “We will reach an understanding with it on the matter.”

In any case, there’s nothing to worry about because France and Israel are friends, and the only danger to Lebanon comes from Hizbullah and Iran. !!

Kouchner said Lebanese’ mounting concerns amid Israeli threats of another war were “not justified.” “Israel is our friend, and if there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hizbullah in the best interest of Iran,” Kouchner warned.

Un-flipping-believable. So while all that is going on, Sarkozy — big world leader — keeps Muslim women in his cross-hairs in France, making sure that the French people have an annoying distraction caused by Muslims, while spinning it all as a morality play, and being a big tease about the whole thing just to keep the tension simmering.

Mr Sarkozy last week reiterated his view that the full veil was not welcome in France “because it is contrary to our values and contrary to the ideals we have of a woman’s dignity”. But he stopped short of calling for a legal ban in all public places, as proposed by some members of his party.

Another source: In a country whose national emblem is Marianne, a bare-chested woman, there is deepening concern over the all-encompassing garb, often black or brown and worn with gloves, attire typical in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Here, it is widely viewed as a gateway to radical Islam, an attack on gender equality and other French values, and a gnawing away at the nation’s secular foundation.

And of course he faithfully channels whatever Bibi would say regarding Iran.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday called for “strong measures” by the United Nations Security Council against Iran, to exert pressure on Tehran to return to negotiations on its nuclear program. Speaking in Paris, Sarkozy said that the European Union should also “assume its responsibilities” in putting pressure on Iran to enter into talks.
Sarkozy warned that hesitation by the international community on the issue would carry “a great weight of responsibility”, reports Reuters. “Despite all our efforts, and a new engagement by the United States, and despite our ambitious proposals for cooperation, the Iranian authorities are blocked in a one-way street of proliferation and radicalism,” he said in an address to diplomats based in France.
“Today, they have added to that the brutal repression of their own people,” he added.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed that world powers would “not back down” in the face of Iran’s continued refusal to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful. Iran has shunned a United Nations-brokered nuclear fuel deal, aimed at easing the standoff over its nuclear program. Tehran, which insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, has vowed to press forward with its uranium enrichment program, despite UN demands to halt such work.

They demand Iran prove a negative, and they offer NO PROOF of Iran’s supposed nuclear program. They have none. If France has some proof, show it to the world. There’s probably nothing there but another forged document.

Why does this next war need to happen? The nuclear program narrative justifies what they want to do — which is bomb various targets in Iran. Iran’s alleged nuclear program, for which no evidence has ever been provided, makes a good excuse to bomb Iran’s oil fields — to control Iran’s resources. Which must happen because the failing fiat currency, the US dollar, needs to be replaced, and they don’t want any Islamic non-usurious banking system luring their wage slaves away. Who controls the currency? The Rothschilds and the Rockefellers and the other banking families.

All the rest is psyops and profiteering and human sacrifice.

Africa developments

Jan 21

Posted by A. Peasant in Africa, Corruption & Crime, France, Immigration, Israel | No Comments

1. bibi says “infiltrators” from Africa dangerous to israel — another barrier needed to save israel. you know it must be hard to be as wonderful as israel.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned that ongoing illegal African immigration posed a threat to Israel, and announced that he will ask the government to endorse a plan to erect a barrier along Israel’s border with Egypt to prevent infiltration from Africa. The barrier is meant to prevent an expected “flood” of African immigrants seeking jobs in Israel, Netanyahu said.

According to Netanyahu’s plan, border guards and electronic systems will safeguard the proposed barrier, which will be partly above ground. In addition tothe barrier, the government will work to increase law enforcement against employers who hire illegal foreign workers.

Addressing the Manufacturers Association General Assembly, Netanyahu warned that African immigrants infiltrating Israel from Egypt were changing the “demographic landscape” in Israel. “I don’t know if you have been to Eilat and have seen what’s going on there. In Tel Aviv there are places you wouldn’t recognize, this is something that must be stopped,” Netanyahu said.

The problems are accumulating and could have disastrous implications if they are not solved, the prime minister warned. “One of the problems is the result of Israel’s successful economy- the economy is currently considered as developed, and in international comparisons we are weathering the financial crisis better than almost all the developed countries. The outcome is that we are rising up towards the First World. Unfortunately, this is not the situation in the Third World,” Netanyahu explained. “Some of the states and economies in our area are suffering immensely. That is the reason for the attraction- our economy is growing, and in the process attracts people from underdeveloped countries. In fact, Israel is the first and only country that people from the most economically deprived countries in the world can reach by foot,” Netanyahu said. “The illegal immigration of illegal workers to Israel may increase, changing our demographic landscape,” Netanyahu added, warning of “negative” social, cultural and national implications. “It must be stopped,” he concluded.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1263147945689

2. Kenyan government to continue with crackdown on illegal immigrants

The Minister said security forces were concerned with the dangers posed by illegal aliens in the country, particularly Somalia’s Al-Shabaab sympathisers whom he blamed for taking part in demonstrations last Friday….The Internal security minister maintained that the Jamaican cleric Sheikh Al-Faisal stay in the country pretense a great danger to the national security and the government was working on modalities to deport him in his country of origin and it was only a matter of time before he was deported. Newstime Africa has however learnt that Al-Faisal could be deported tonight since he is to appear in court tomorrow following court ruling last week that he do so.

more @ newstime africa

3. police and private security in Africa, and dangerous partnerships  — corruption as police protection becomes something you pay for

With crime on the rise and government police forces ill-equipped and distrusted by many of the people they are supposed to serve, Africa’s well-to-do are turning to private security companies for protection. But at what cost to the public? Investigation.

…the absence of police protection for the majority while private companies guard the wealthy few is common all over Africa.

Historically African police units were tools of colonial repression, Adedeji Ebo, who oversees the security sector reform team in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said. Only a few countries have successfully transformed their police into service institutions. “That is a fundamental deficit about policing in Africa,” Mr. Ebo observes. “Rather than being associated with safety, the uniform is often seen as a source of fear and oppression, abuse and extortion.”

…As the gap between the population’s need for security and government’s ability to provide it widened, wealthier citizens have turned to the private sector. The number of private security companies has mushroomed. In Nigeria, some 1,500 to 2,000 security firms employ about 100,000 people. Kenya has about 2,000 companies. But because private security officers are generally not allowed to carry guns, security firms often informally “hire” police officers to accompany their patrol vehicles. At first glance such cooperation may appear to help both the police and security firms be more effective. However, as researchers have discovered, these arrangements can actually reduce public security instead of improving it.

more @ afrik.com

4. money laundered through real estate market in Kenya

The hike in real estate prices in the Kenyan capital has prompted a public outcry and a government investigation this month into property owned by foreigners. The investigation follows allegations that millions of dollars in ransom money paid to Somali pirates are being invested in Kenya, Somalia’s southern neighbor and East Africa’s largest economy.

Even as housing prices have dropped sharply in the United States, prices in Nairobi have seen two- and three-fold increases the last half decade.

“There is suspicion that some of the money that is being collected in piracy is being laundered by purchase of property in several countries, this one being one of them,” said government spokesman Alfred Mutua. “Especially at this time when we are facing global challenges of security such as terrorism and others, it is very important for us to know who is where and who owns what.”

more @ newsmeat

5. France wants to invest in Nigeria’s Imo state — very specific — i wonder what kind of “agricultural” programs and “natural resources” are in Imo?

LAGOS, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) — The French government has the intention of investing in southeast Nigeria’s Imo state, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Thursday, citing Consul General of the French Embassy in Nigeria Jean-Luc Bodin.

…He said he was impressed with the agricultural programs in the state. The state had a chance to benefit from the research breakthroughs of the Tropical Institute, based in France, Bodin told the governor.

According to him, Nigeria remained France’s biggest social and economic partner in the continent, stressing the need for Nigeria to diversify its economy and reduce its dependency on oil and gas. Bodin said he would scout for intermediate investors who would be interested in other sectors of the economy, apart from oil and gas. He advised Nigeria to intensify efforts at promoting its image abroad to encourage foreign investors to show interest in the country’s economic potential.

Earlier, Ohakim told the consul general that the state had other economic potential apart from oil and gas. He urged France to look at the state’s agriculture, health, transportation and education sectors. The governor said the state government had strived to provide the enabling environment for foreign investors to operate.

He added that now was time for France to be more committed to the affairs of Nigeria and Africa as a whole, lauding the policies of French President Nikolas Sarkozy. He urged the consul general to reach out to French investors because the state was blessed with abundant human and natural resources that would guarantee good returns on investments.

source: chinaview


coincidence?

Jan 11

Posted by A. Peasant in France, Germany, Human Trafficking, Israel, UK | No Comments

1. ICTS — providing airport security to the following countries:

The company prides itself on employing 1,300 persons and providing security services to airports in 11 countries including France, Britain, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Russia.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141434.html

2. SE European countries jointly combat human trafficking

Romania, both a source and a transit country for human trafficking, passed the Law on Combating Trafficking in Persons in2004. It has also set up the National Agency against people trafficking….In Romania’s southern neighbor Bulgaria, also a source and transit country, victims are trafficked from the Middle East, Ukraine, Moldova and Romania through Bulgaria to Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece and Turkey. About 15 percent of the human trafficking victims in the country are children.

read more @ chinaview

this is like watching world wrestling

Oct 14

Posted by A. Peasant in Brazil, France, Hasbara, Iran, Israel, Oil | No Comments

It does not necessarily make a lot of sense….BUT:

Nice tights.

Brazil’s economy added payroll jobs for the eighth straight month in September, the latest sign of an economic recovery that is prompting companies to hire workers to meet growing demand for manufactured goods and new homes, government data showed on Wednesday….Brazil emerged from a brief recession in the second quarter of this year, becoming one of the first major economies to bounce back from the global crisis.

Big muscles. http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6494

The recently signed agreements between Brazil and France are about much more than the purchase of armaments. They indicate the creation of a military industrial complex, a goal which forms part of the National Defense Strategy of Brazil. This new industrial superpower, owner of the seventh largest oil reserves of the world and the world’s largest area of natural biodiversity in the Amazon, is now seeking to protect its riches and assert itself as a new military power.
…
The recent treaty between Colombia and the United States allowing the latter country to use seven military bases in Colombia provoked much high-level military discussion in the Brazilian press. Luis Eduardo Paiva Rocha, retired general and professor at Brazil’s Officer Training Academy, published an article in Defesanet provocatively entitled, “Strategic short-sightedness and military indigence are the biggest threats to Brazilian sovereignty.”13 The general criticizes the “populist hysteria” of the Bolivian leadership with regard to the Colombian military bases and points out that neither Brazil nor any other neighboring country presented an alternative: “The Colombian bases to be used by the United States would not present a problem for Brazil if Brazil had the military power which reflects the international standing in the world it purports to have. What threatens us is our weakness because ‘amongst other things, to be unarmed is to be insignificant (Machiavelli).’”

He adds that “the Brazilian Armed Forces are completely incapable of resisting an invasion from a modern military power.” The threats will most probably come from those attempting to gain control of the riches of the Amazon or the oil reserves of the South Atlantic. The current commander of the navy, Julio Soares de Moura Neto, responded much in the same vein when asked to comment on the French deal by the Folha de Sao Paulo: “Brazilians must become aware of the fact that we have enormous wealth in the sea and the navy must be constantly on alert in order to defend the nation’s sovereignty.”14

The admiral continues by warning that the risks have increased dramatically now that Brazil is not only an emerging economic power but also a potential oil-producing super-state. One comment in particular reveals the changed attitude toward the United States: when George Bush reactivated the Fourth Fleet and deployed it to the South Atlantic, the decision “was conveyed to Brazil neither politically nor diplomatically.”

This must be why Lula, sure that Brazil is well on its way to becoming a great power in the 21st century, is also building the framework which will ensure that the country can defend itself militarily. Brazil will have the largest navy in Latin America as well as the largest air force. It will have the only military industrial complex in the region. The fact that it has sought the help of France, a country that has so openly maintained its political and military independence from Washington, is very significant.

It is possible, as maintained by the analysts of Dedefensa, that Washington will regard the actions of both Brazil and France as a “declaration of war.”15 This development would fit in perfectly with the world vision as seen by the elites who benefit most from the Washington Consensus. The situation was perhaps best summarized by the Italian Dario Azzellini, a specialist in the “new wars”: “War is no longer needed to establish a new economic model—war itself is the model.”16

OK so let me get this straight. Nicky Sarkozy the Zionist tag-teams up with Brazil’s Lula ‘we must never deny the Holocaust’ da Silva, to face off against the American team of Zionists, a team too deep to even contemplate but on the brink of financial ruin?

(scroll down: http://www.jewishresearch.org/newsletter.htm)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva joined Jewish leaders to mark the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps, saying the Holocaust must never be denied and urging the world to prevent it from ever happening again. “In the 21st century we cannot accept the denial of the Holocaust as a historical fact…nor can we accept those who deny that six million Jews were massacred,” Silva told some 500 people at the Sao Paulo Jewish Congregation’s synagogue on Friday.

“Each time we pay homage to the victims of the Holocaust, we strengthen those forces that will prevent that same horror from repeating itself,” he said after praising the United Nation’s General Assembly for last week’s approval of a resolution condemning the denial of the Holocaust. Silva’s remarks came at a ceremony held to commemorate the January 27, 1945 liberation and to mark the second International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

He did not specifically mention Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the congregation’s chief rabbi, Henry Sobel, said the Brazilian president’s presence at Friday’s event represented a repudiation of Ahmadinejad’s insistence that the Holocaust was a myth. Sobel also said he was concerned by what he called growing anti-Semitism in Venezuela. “President Hugo Chavez’s rhetoric is anti-Semitic and he is a close ally of the president of Iran, and both of them share a profound hatred of Israel,” Sobel said.

Chavez has cultivated friendly ties with Ahmadinejad and last year called Israeli attacks in Lebanon during a conflict with Hezbollah militants a new Holocaust. He has made other remarks criticized by some Jewish groups as anti-Semitic, though he said his comments were misinterpreted. At about 130,000 strong, Brazil’s Jewish community is the second-largest in South America after Argentina, which is home to an estimated 200,000 Jews.

Crazy Don King style manager hyping everything.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=345512&CategoryId=13303

Dear President Lula, Again,

I wrote to you in the spring, deeply concerned about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit to Brasilia on May 6. Thankfully, that visit did not take place. Sadly, it is now slated to occur next month. Mr. President, please reconsider.

You are a widely admired political leader. Brazil, under your guidance, has rapidly emerged on the world stage, to quote you, as a “first-rate citizen” of the international community. Why would you wish to confer your considerable prestige on Ahmadinejad, who craves it but surely does not deserve it? And why would Brazil, today a towering bastion of democratic values, seek closer ties with Iran, your polar opposite?

Mr. President, you spoke passionately at the UN a few weeks ago about the kind of world you seek to build. You called for the preservation and expansion of human rights. Under the current regime, however, Iran has trampled on human rights – flagrantly, brutally, repeatedly.

You expressed support for disarmament and non-proliferation. Under the current regime, however, Iran is rapidly arming and is violating binding UN Security Council resolutions and International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines on nuclear proliferation. {LIES}

You appealed for a confrontation with terrorism “without stigmatizing ethnic groups and religions.” Under the current regime, however, Iran actively promotes and funds terrorism and has targeted specific ethnic groups and religions, including the Jewish community in your own backyard, South America. {PROOF??}
And you articulated a vision of a two-state solution, a Palestinian state living alongside Israel. Under the current regime, however, Iran seeks a world without Israel, pure and simple. {GIVE IT A REST!}

In other words, Mr. President, not only does Iran not share your core views, it actively opposes them. You will perhaps assert that dialogue between nations can change minds. At times, yes, absolutely. But many have already tried that kind of dialogue with Iran, each claiming they could find the key to usher in a promising new era with Tehran. The results prove the contrary. Iranian leaders have only hardened their stance over the years, while seeking to exploit the diplomatic and commercial opportunities they have been afforded in visits to capitals from Ankara to Moscow, from Kuala Lumpur to New Delhi.

Now, as you know, there is a new dialogue with Iran, but this one is meant to be different. Earlier this month, representatives of six nations, the permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, met with Iranian officials to tell them that patience is quickly wearing thin with Tehran’s all-too-familiar pattern of denial and deceit regarding its nuclear program.

For now, at least, these talks hold out the best hope for diverting Iran from its dangerous course. Why the need to host President Ahmadinejad, when the effect, however unintended, could be to complicate the negotiations still further?

Mr. President, last spring when I wrote to you, the case against Ahmadinejad’s Iran was already compelling. In the ensuing months, it has only become more so.

Consider the June 12th elections in Iran. It is clear there was massive tampering and vote-rigging. {CIA? MOSSAD?} Or the aftermath. How many Iranians who took to the streets in protest have been arrested, beaten, tortured, and killed? Recall the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan, who came to symbolize the regime’s violence against its own people. {CIA? MOSSAD?} Consider the fate of seven Baha’i leaders, members of a long persecuted community, who were seized on trumped-up charges and face the death penalty. The trial is scheduled for this month, having been postponed from August, since their attorney was thrown in prison after the elections.

Consider Ahmadinejad’s hateful speech on Al-Quds Day, September 18th. Once again, he called the Holocaust a fabrication. Consider his UN remarks a few days later, in which he accused Jews of all sorts of nefarious crimes, prompting a walkout from the General Assembly of many European and Latin American delegations, though, regrettably, Mr. President, not yours.

Consider Iran’s trumpeted launch of Shabab-3 and Sejil-2 missiles the same month. Are these symbols of Iran’s commitment to peaceful coexistence with its neighbors?

And then, of course, there was Qum. Despite Iran’s effort to “spin” the story of its undeclared enrichment facility, it is clear that Iran was caught red-handed in a grand deception. {OH REALLY?????} How many other such undeclared facilities might there be in Iran? And what is their purpose if not to advance Iran’s quest for nuclear-weapons capability?

Mr. President, do the right thing. For the sake of your commitment to human rights and democratic values, do the right thing. For the sake of your pursuit of non-proliferation and peaceful coexistence, do the right thing. For the sake of the brave Iranians who have risked their lives, in some cases paid with their lives, to challenge the regime’s abuse of power, do the right thing. For the sake of all those in Brazil and beyond outraged by Iran’s treatment of women, gays, religious minorities, independent journalists, student activists, and labor union organizers, do the right thing. For the sake of Brazil’s conscience and its example to the world, do the right thing.

Or, next month, will it be the red carpet, the extended hand, the captivating smile, the warm embrace, the signed deals, and the promise of closer ties with Iran? Mr. President, while there is still time, I urge you to reconsider – and do the right thing.

Oh, and really big asses.