Part I: Global Warfare
By Michel Chossudovsky
Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. War preparations to attack Iran are in “an advanced state of readiness”. Hi tech weapons systems including nuclear warheads are fully deployed.
This military adventure has been on the Pentagon’s drawing board since the mid-1990s. First Iraq, then Iran according to a declassified 1995 US Central Command document.
Escalation is part of the military agenda. While Iran, is the next target together with Syria and Lebanon, this strategic military deployment also threatens North Korea, China and Russia.
Since 2005, the US and its allies, including America’s NATO partners and Israel, have been involved in the extensive deployment and stockpiling of advanced weapons systems. The air defense systems of the US, NATO member countries and Israel are fully integrated.
This is a coordinated endeavor of the Pentagon, NATO, Israel’s Defense Force (IDF), with the active military involvement of several non-NATO partner countries including the frontline Arab states (members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative), Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, among others. (NATO consists of 28 NATO member states Another 21 countries are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), The Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative include ten Arab countries plus Israel.)
The roles of Egypt, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia (within the extended military alliance) is of particular relevance. Egypt controls the transit of war ships and oil tankers through the Suez Canal. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States occupy the South Western coastlines of the Persian Gulf, the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. In early June, “Egypt reportedly allowed one Israeli and eleven U.S. ships to pass through the Suez Canal in ….an apparent signal to Iran. … On June 12, regional press outlets reported that the Saudis had granted Israel the right to fly over its airspace…” (Muriel Mirak Weissbach, Israel’s Insane War on Iran Must Be Prevented., Global Research, July 31, 2010)
In post 9/11 military doctrine, this massive deployment of military hardware has been defined as part of the so-called “Global War on Terrorism”, targeting “non-State” terrorist organizations including al Qaeda and so-called “State sponsors of terrorism”,. including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan.
The setting up of new US military bases, the stockpiling of advanced weapons systems including tactical nuclear weapons, etc. were implemented as part of the pre-emptive defensive military doctrine under the umbrella of the “Global War on Terrorism”.
War and the Economic Crisis
Posted on 2010 07, 05 by duo
The following is an excerpt from comments recently made by a friend, I felt he touched on some nice points.
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From Rojodee:
How secure is the imperial rule of Washington, DC?
The ideology that supports big government has been undermined at the intellectual level and it is increasingly rejected at the public level. Lacking a coherent ideological structure for their rule, they rely on available ones that are leftovers from the New Deal/Cold War period of American history.
The political class flounders around demonizing civilian sectors that dare to resist its rule. What the commentators decry as public indifference to public affairs is actually a reflection of widespread revulsion at the character and actions of the political class.
Polls consistently reveal that about one third of the American people fundamentally object to the political system as it currently exists and instead seek radical change. Even government officials themselves sense the deep lack of public support for their activities. They believe a fundamental disconnect separates them from the public. Washington, DC, has become an armed camp, not to protect itself against foreign attack, but to guard against citizen reprisal. The young and talented no longer aspire to political office or public service. Voters no longer have faith in the integrity of the system.
Most important for gauging our present historical moment, discontent is spreading within the rank-and-file of the nation’s military. They are outraged at the politicization of promotions, disgusted by the wild-goose chases and murderous expeditions that the commander-in-chief has foisted on them, and no longer believe the patriotic clichés that once put a moral gloss on imperial globe-trotting.
Those who can flee for civilian sectors do so, while potential recruits are loathe to sign their lives away to people they no longer trust. Indeed, the dynamic of state collapse is already set in motion right here in the US. There’s no point in making predictions about precisely when and how the process will end. All we know, based on every other occupying power in human history, is that the means and the shape of the restoration of liberty will surprise us all. At some point, the people will tell Caesar precisely what he is entitled to and claim the rest for themselves, while those in captivity will ask in bemusement: “What has happened? Where are the guards?”
- The Faltering Empire (themoderatevoice.com)
(AFP) –
HANOI — Energy-short Vietnam announced an expansion of its nuclear power programme on Tuesday, with eight plants planned for operation over the next 20 years.
Atomic power will become one of the nation’s key energy sources, according to the decision posted on the government website.
Initial plans called for four reactors but the notice said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had approved eight nuclear facilities, each with at least four reactors, by 2030.
The eight plants will generate a total of 15,000-16,000 megawatts of electricity, the document said.
The government previously announced that a Russian firm had won the contract for Vietnam’s first nuclear power station, which is to begin operation in 2020.
Experts estimated the cost of Vietnam’s initial 4,000-megawatt facility at 11 billion to 18 billion dollars.
The government’s plan calls for “efficient and safe exploitation of nuclear power plants” and aims to increase participation of domestic industries in the projects gradually, with a view to “self reliance in design, building, installation, operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants.”
At an international conference in Hanoi last week, experts said Vietnam must now start to implement safety measures including public oversight for its first nuclear plant.
More than a third of the country’s energy currently comes from hydropower.
Vietnam had a shortage of two billion kilowatt-hours in the first five months of the year, according to a state electricity body.
Foreign businesses have expressed concern about a lack of energy and other infrastructure in Vietnam.
“Consumption of electricity keeps on growing by 15 percent annually, thereby substantially surpassing the economic growth rates,” the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam wrote last month.
Other Southeast Asian countries are exploring the possibility of nuclear power, despite what detractors say is the area’s lack of experience with the technology, and safety concerns in a region prone to natural disasters.
http://asianenergy.blogspot.com/2010/06/vietnam-plans-eight-nuclear-power.html
