Antonia Juhasz | June 17, 2008

Editor: John Feffer
Foreign Policy In Focus
www.fpif.org

The number of Americans who believe that the war in Iraq was a mistake has surpassed the number who felt the same way about Vietnam during that war. At the same time, a much quieter U.S. military build-up is underway on another continent. The ultimate objective of the two efforts is the same: securing Big Oil’s access to the regions’ oil. The impact in Africa will likely be the same as in Iraq: perpetual occupation, instability, and growing anti-Americanism.

In recognition of "the emerging strategic importance of Africa," in February 2007 President Bush ordered the creation of AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command. AFRICOM, like CENTCOM (Central Command) and EUCOM (European Command), centralizes all authority for the U.S. military operating in the African region under one command structure. AFRICOM also transfers many duties that previously belonged to nonmilitary US agencies – such as building schools and digging wells – to the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. While fighting terrorism in Africa is the primary reason given for the establishment of AFRICOM, oil appears to be the more pressing motivator. "A key mission for U.S. forces [in Africa] would be to insure that Nigeria’s oilfields, which in the future could account for as much as 25 percent of all U.S. oil imports, are secure," explains General Charles Wald, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Europe in an interview with Wall Street Journal writer Greg Jaffe.

To secure and maintain access to oil – if not for the nation, then most certainly for our oil companies – the Bush administration has increasingly turned toward the U.S. military. Author Kevin Phillips coined the term "petrol-imperialism" to describe the Bush administration’s policies in this regard, "the key aspect of which is the U.S. military’s transformation into a global oil protection force." Under the rubric of the Global War on Terror, the Bush administration has implemented the greatest realignment of U.S. forces since the end of the Cold War. With a map of Big Oil’s overseas operations, the world’s remaining oil reserves, and oil transport routes, one can now track the realignment and predict future deployments of the U.S. military.

--MORE

Ever wonder why the country is in trouble?

"Ethiopia, Zambia, Iraq. 29 intense trips in 12 years to the front to the saddest parts of Africa to quietly get to know the leaders."

Added: June 10, 2008

While most Oklahomans are familiar with Senator Inhofe's travels to Iraq and the front lines of the Global War on Terror, they may not know about his efforts in another area of strategic importance for the United States - Africa.

Update
Destroying African Agriculture

AFP

World at 'alarming juncture' as leaders gather for FAO summit

by Gina Doggett  2 hours, 8 minutes ago

World leaders gathered in Rome on Monday for a UN summit on food security, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warning that the world had come to an "alarming juncture."

"For years, falling food prices and rising production lulled the world into complacency," Ban told the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), adding: "You know better than anyone how we arrived at this alarming juncture."

"Governments put off hard decisions and overlooked the need to invest in agriculture," Ban said at IFAD's new Rome headquarters on the eve of the three-day Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summit.

--MORE--

FDA Puts Medical Test Subjects in Danger

By Sonia Shah

May 19, 2008

Now that 80 percent of clinical trials fail to recruit sufficient numbers of test subjects on deadline, drug companies increasingly export their trials to developing countries, where sick, undertreated patients abound. It's faster, it's cheaper and it's easier to conduct the placebo-controlled trials that companies and the FDA prefer. There is precious little oversight of these trials. Unlike for domestic trials, the FDA does not require advance notice before drug companies take their trials outside US borders. And with 90 percent of trials failing to gain FDA approval, a massive number of trials are conducted, fail and then vanish with no agency review at all--and little public record, if any. Until now, the FDA's sole requirement for these overseas trials is that they adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki (or local rules, on the off chance that they are more stringent). Signed by the United States and thirty-four other countries in 1975, the Declaration of Helsinki consists of several dozen pithy principles to govern ethical research on humans, and is widely considered the gold standard in research ethics. Crafted and updated by the World Medical Association, a group representing dozens of national physicians' organizations from around the globe, the Declaration of Helsinki (DOH) urges voluntary informed consent, the use of independent committees to review and oversee trials, that investigators prioritise their subjects' well-being, that research subjects be assured access to the best health interventions identified in trials and that their societies enjoy a "reasonable likelihood" of benefiting from the results of trials.

It's not a perfect document. It's very short. It's a little vague. The FDA does not bother to enforce it. Even when they know of infractions--such as in Pfizer's trial of the antibiotic Trovan in Nigeria, which not only failed to procure informed consent but didn't even have an oversight committee in place at the time of the trial--the FDA has done nothing and approved the drug anyway. We know of that particular trial's violations only because the Washington Post exposed them several years later. In researching a book I wrote on clinical trials in developing countries, I similarly found many examples of trials clearly in violation of Helsinki provisions that were nevertheless reviewed and approved by the FDA.

--MORE--

Related
GARDASIL Vaccine Turns Girl into a Gimp
Killing with kindness

It’s the perfect cover:  terrorize the public with the threat of a new disease, a coming pandemic and then magically produce a “vaccine” that will supposedly provide protection. 

My advice to all is to avoid any vaccines.  Although the perceived benefits of vaccinating against disease is firmly rooted in our minds, the facts about vaccines, their true uses and intents is far from beneficial and in fact actually the mechanism through which new diseases and pandemics are created.

The AIDs virus which has long been believed to have been lab created, is another of those pandemics meant to wipe out, in this case, what was perceived to be a segment of society that was and still is considered expendable.  HR 15090 that became Public Law 91-213 established the intent of our own government to produce a genocidal virus which in this specific instance was meant to wipe out the gay/lesbian communities.  It had one other intent…….to depopulate Africa.  The AIDS epidemic surfaced almost simultaneously in both Manhattan, New York, and in sections of Africa where our government was busily vaccinating selected populations against various common infections.

--MORE--

May 5

Monday, Rabi-ul-Sani

Israel provided military equipment to French occupation Army during Algerian war of independence.

Israel supplied military equipment and military tarining and shared intelligence with Idi Amin during his military coup. Idi Amin himself received military traing in Israel, before taking over power.

Israel helped Kurds during their rebbelion against Saddam Husein.

Israel sold arms to Marcos regime to fight against Muslims demanding self-rule in Muslim-majority provinces.

--MORE--