"Latin America and Asia are at last breaking free of Washington's grip"

[bloom]

Latin America and Asia are at last breaking free of Washington's grip

The US-dominated world order is being challenged by a new spirit of independence in the global south

Noam Chomsky
Wednesday March 15, 2006
The Guardian

...Regional integration in Asia and Latin America is a crucial and increasingly important issue that, from Washington's perspective, betokens a defiant world gone out of control. Energy, of course, remains a defining factor - the object of contention - everywhere.

China, unlike Europe, refuses to be intimidated by Washington, a primary reason for the fear of China by US planners, which presents a dilemma: steps toward confrontation are inhibited by US corporate reliance on China as an export platform and growing market, as well as by China's financial reserves - reported to be approaching Japan's in scale.

In January, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah visited Beijing, which is expected to lead to a Sino-Saudi memorandum of understanding calling for "increased cooperation and investment between the two countries in oil, natural gas and investment", the Wall Street Journal reports.

Already much of Iran's oil goes to China, and China is providing Iran with weapons that both states presumably regard as deterrent to US designs. India also has options. India may choose to be a US client, or it may prefer to join the more independent Asian bloc that is taking shape, with ever more ties to Middle East oil producers. Siddharth Varadarjan, the deputy editor of the Hindu, observes that "if the 21st century is to be an 'Asian century,' Asia's passivity in the energy sector has to end".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1731009,00.html

[bemildred]

1. F*ckin' A!

And let me tell you children, that is good for us here in the states too, this will lead to the day when we pry these evil bastards hands from the levers of power and give them to leaders who think our needs are worthy to be addressed.

PS: It's good that Noam finally took notice of what's going on, makes me feel like maybe I'm not so confused.

[cliss]

3. You are so right, bemildred.

I could give so many examples of how our Empire Stranglehold has in fact hurt US, as much as the countries we usurp.

The U.S. has become soft and weak from having its oil hegemony for many decades. Europe, for example, has a little higher population than the U.S. But they use less than half the gas we do. They have teeny-tiny trucks, tiny cars, and they have learned to manage with less. And yet, their output is similar to ours. In fact, in spite of our amazing advantages, our GDP has actually been flat in the past few years.

Amazingly, other countries are in fact doing better than the US! Like the BEM's (Big Emerging Economies) which are located mostly in Asia and Latin America. How does Bush explain that?

Hegemony = Downfall

[acmavm]

2. Gee, you would think that all these events would make the clowns in

Washington really push for research and development of alternative energy sources.

But I guess since there are oil families in charge they figure to use up the military and every damn last piece of land (and even out into the oceans) to promote the industry the feeds their bank accounts.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Welcome to real world--as distinguished from the world brought to

you by US war profiteering corporate news monopolies--that is, BushWorld. A world of lies, deception, delusion, greed, theft, murder and disloyalty.

A great article! The two things that we never hear about that are most important in the REAL world right now, bar none: 1) the leftist revolution that has swept Latin America, and 2) "third world" (Asia/Latin America) economic and other cooperation and rebellion against the Bush junta and U.S. financial interests.

The Bush junta is acting in its OWN PRIVATE interests, not OURS. We need to get that straight. We have a government that is NOT acting in the interest of the United States or the American people or even in the interest of much of the U.S. business community. Many of the latter--especially the smaller, less global concerns--stupidly accept tax cuts for the rich, tax breaks for business and vast deregulation, for short term profit--but all of which are killing the "golden goose" of the American middle class that makes their businesses viable. Meanwhile, Latin America and Asia are CREATING a middle class--with vast education, health, jobs and other programs, and booming economies providing the goods and services that these rising middle classes want.

We--the great American majority including our once amazingly large middle class--are being hung out to dry, drained of all our resources, including even the lives of our young people in the military, in resource wars that enrich giant corporations, not us. While other countries are discovering democracy (not unimportantly via TRANSPARENT elections) we are being impoverished and oppressed with the most rotten government in our history--a junta, a "banana republic" coup.

Read these paragraphs and weep--for the lost opportunities, and for the sheer joy of knowing that some people are freeing themselves from the deadly grip of US-originated Corporate Rule: (See especially *******)

"Venezuela, the leading oil exporter in the hemisphere, has forged probably the closest relations with China of any Latin American country, and is planning to sell increasing amounts of oil to China as part of its effort to reduce dependence on the openly hostile US government.

"Venezuela has joined Mercosur, the South American customs union - a move described by Nestor Kirchner, the Argentinian president, as 'a milestone' in the development of this trading bloc, and welcomed as a 'new chapter in our integration' by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president.

*******"Venezuela, apart from supplying Argentina with fuel oil, bought almost a third of Argentinian debt issued in 2005, one element of a region-wide effort to free the countries from the controls of the IMF after two decades of disastrous conformity to the rules imposed by the US-dominated international financial institutions.

"Steps toward Southern Cone integration advanced further in December with the election in Bolivia of Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president. Morales moved quickly to reach a series of energy accords with Venezuela. The Financial Times reported that these 'are expected to underpin forthcoming radical reforms to Bolivia's economy and energy sector' with its huge gas reserves, second only to Venezuela's in South America."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1731009,00.html

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A thrill--at the success of others, and, of all people, the horribly oppressed people of South America--in cutting the toxic US umbilical cord, and SEEKING THE INTEREST OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE, in their own self-determined way.

A cry of grief--at our own sad state, and at having a government imposed on us by NON-TRANSPARENT elections that cannot rejoice at these wonderful developments in other countries and cooperate with the historic, peaceful, democratic revolution that is occurring.

Sad, sad, sad--for us.

-----------

We need first of all to restore our right to vote. Our elections are now controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, using 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, in the new, highly insecure and hackable electronic voting systems, with virtually no audit/recount controls.

Our right to vote is the mechanism by which we exercise our sovereignty as a people. Our right to vote, and thus, our sovereignty, were sneakily hijacked, during the 2001-2004 period, with the $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle called the 'Help America Vote Act,' designed by the two biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney.

We MUST get them back--and when we do, we're going to see a revolution in this country as well.

Throw Diebold, ES&S and all election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

Power to the people!

-------------

Some resources:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.verfiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)
Sign the petition (Russ Holt, HR 550, great bill-has 169 sponsors). http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)

Also of interest:

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy!)
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Bob Koehler's latest: "Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

-----------------------

Throw Diebold, ES&S and all election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

[bloom]

5. yes - that jumped out at me as well *********

""Venezuela, apart from supplying Argentina with fuel oil, bought almost a third of Argentinian debt issued in 2005, one element of a region-wide effort to free the countries from the controls of the IMF after two decades of disastrous conformity to the rules imposed by the US-dominated international financial institutions."


It is good to hear that countries are working things out without us.

It's sad to me that the young people that I know that are doing "well" are ending up in some form of the war machine. Whether actually in the military or the NSA or the like.