quote: ‘…The United States’ relationship with Colombia is, as says, a “special” one. Outside the so-called Greater Middle East, no country has received more U.S. military aid and training in the past three decades.
That brings us to [United States Army General John F. Kelly’s] real mission, which the general lets slip following a run of particularly tired cliches. Colombia, he writes, has “taught us that the battle for the narrative is perhaps the most important fight of all.” It’s the closest he comes to acknowledging his editorial for the ceaseless barrage of willful misinformation it is.
Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published “On their Watch,” a 95-page report that should eliminate any doubt as to the maliciousness of Kelly’s intentions. Having reviewed months of in-depth interviews and research, the report’s authors concluded, “There is abundant evidence indicating that numerous senior army officers bear responsibility” for the widespread Colombian military practice known as “false positives.“
False positives is a euphemism, an innocuous technical-sounding shield for a phenomenon HRW Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco has characterized as “one of the worst episodes of mass atrocity in the Western Hemisphere in recent years.” That it has stuck, and that even people who understand what it means still use it, is just one testament to the extent to which Kelly and company have been able to dictate the terms of the narrative “battle.”
What false positives actually entails is the systematic cold-blooded murder of civilians for profit and political gamesmanship, a coherent military strategy to inflate statistics by passing off executed civilians as rebels killed in combat. Often, units involved in the practice–and virtually every brigade in the Colombian Army has been–targeted the most vulnerable elements of society: the poor, drug-addicted, and mentally handicapped. In some cases, soldiers received fresh corpses from right-wing death squads and dressed them in rebel fatigues. This barbaric enterprise was, at the very least, condoned by the highest levels of the military and executive office and explicitly incentivized with bonuses, paid vacations, and promotions.
No one has ever accused Colombian justice of being among the “strong institutions” Kelly claims to admire, and false positives offers a fairly representative case study. According to HRW, prosecutors are assessing some 3,000 alleged false positive extrajudicial executions committed between 2002 and 2008.
via Rewriting the History of Plan Colombia | NACLA.
Category: news dump
Guantanamo was big mistake, says Major General Michael R. Lehnert (retired)
Major General Michael R. Lehnert (retired): "We squandered the goodwill of the world after we were attacked by our actions in Guantanamo, both in terms of detention and torture," Lehnert wrote. "Our decision to keep Guantanamo open has helped our enemies because it validates every negative perception of the United States."
…The United States has since held 779 men at the facility and 162 remain.
[Lehnert wrote] “If we make a mockery of our values, it calls us to question what we are really fighting for.”
via Guantanamo was big mistake: U.S. Major that was there from beginning – NY Daily News.
Remember when debt relief was political?
It always has been political.
New York Times March 1991:‘Western governments have agreed to forgive about half the $33 billion that Poland owes them…’
via POLAND IS GRANTED LARGE CUT IN DEBT – NYTimes.com.
CIA: Psychologists have an obligation to the nation
what kind of Nazi shit is this???
‘…The report concludes that some of the association’s top officials, including its ethics director, sought to curry favor with Pentagon officials by seeking to keep the association’s ethics policies in line with the interrogation policies of the Defense Department, while several prominent outside psychologists took actions that aided the C.I.A.’s interrogation program and helped protect it from growing dissent inside the agency.
The C.I.A. chose Mel Gravitz, a prominent psychologist who was also a member of the agency’s advisory committee. In early 2003, Mr. Gravitz wrote an opinion that persuaded the chief of the agency’s counterterrorism center that Mr. Mitchell could continue to participate in and support interrogations, according to the Hoffman report…..
Mr. Gravitz’s opinion, which the Hoffman report quotes, noted that “the psychologist has an obligation to (a) group of individuals, such as the nation,” and that the ethics code “must be flexible [sic] applied to the circumstances at hand.”
via Psychologists Shielded U.S. Torture Program, Report Finds – The New York Times.
The International Monetary Fund Says Trickle-Down Economics Doesn’t Work
It is a testament to the power of global state ideology and its media system that this paragraph’s contents are not more widely known – especially considering the source!
‘…"If the income share of the top 20% (the rich) increases, then GDP growth actually declines over the medium term, suggesting that the benefits do not trickle down. In contrast, an increase in the income share of the bottom 20% (the poor) is associated with higher GDP growth," the report says.
The paper looks at 159 advanced and developing economies between 1980 and 2012, investigating how income is distributed in each society and its level of national growth. It finds that when the income share of the top 20% increases 1%, economic growth is then down 0.08% in the following five years. At the same time, a 1% increase for the bottom 20% leads to increased GDP of 0.38% in the following years…’
via The International Monetary Fund Says Trickle-Down Economics Don't Work | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.
An Open Letter From Thomas Piketty to Angela Merkel – Austerity Has Failed
In the 1950s, Europe was founded on the forgiveness of past debts, notably Germany’s, which generated a massive contribution to post-war economic growth and peace. Today we need to restructure and reduce Greek debt, give the economy breathing room to recover, and allow Greece to pay off a reduced burden of debt over a long period of time. Now is the time for a humane rethink of the punitive and failed program of austerity of recent years and to agree to a major reduction of Greece’s debts in conjunction with much needed reforms in Greece.
To Chancellor Merkel our message is clear; we urge you to take this vital action of leadership for Greece and Germany, and also for the world. History will remember you for your actions this week. We expect and count on you to provide the bold and generous steps towards Greece that will serve Europe for generations to come.
via Austerity Has Failed: An Open Letter From Thomas Piketty to Angela Merkel | The Nation.
Eric Holder’s Revolving Door of Legal Corruption
This is why his Justice Department coordinated repression against the Occupy Movement and he is now being rewarded for it.
‘[Obama’s U.S. Attorney General (Min. of Justice) Eric] Holder also did a great deal to protect big banks during his tenure at the Department of Justice.
As journalist Lee Fang pointed out in the Intercept on Monday, “The Department of Justice under Holder not only failed to pursue criminal prosecutions of the banks responsible for the mortage meltdown, but in fact de-prioritized investigations of mortgage fraud, making it the ‘lowest-ranked criminal threat,’ according to an inspector general report.”
Moreover, Holder is famous for his ethos and phrase: big banks are “too big to jail.”…’
via After 6-Year Tenure Not Prosecuting Banks, Eric Holder Returns 'Home' to Defend Them | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
WikiLeaks reveals what the US is afraid of from France
‘…According to the documents released by Wikileaks, Sarkozy is said to have considered restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks without US involvement…’
via François Hollande holds emergency meeting after WikiLeaks claims US spied on three French presidents | World news | The Guardian.
Young children carry out Restorative Justice
‘…"What surprised us is that children responded equally to the theft, unfairness, and loss conditions," Jensen says. "They treated all of them equivalent, whether they were affected or whether the puppet was affected." The children viewed a third-party violation with as much disdain as they did a personal one, and where adults might discriminate between outright theft, loss, or an unfair situation, the children punished them all equally. The children preferred restoration to punishment, and when they were able to restore stolen or lost items, they usually returned the hot items to the original owner, "even if the original owner was another puppet," Jensen says.
Taken together, the findings indicate that children’s reactions to third-party violations were more about responding to the needs of the "victim" than they were about punishing perpetrators.
"Young children seem to be very responsive to the distress that another individual might be feeling. This is called effective perspective taking," Jensen says. "This ability to show concern for others seems to be a very strong motivational force."
As adults, our sense of justice is based on learned rules and norms; we wield punishment as a deterrent and a form of revenge. But "in young children, it seems that we start with the pro-social aspect of [justice]," Jensen says, starting "with the concern we have for the individual who’s harmed. Those other aspects of justice then become layered on top of that."…’
via Toddlers Carrying Out Restorative Justice – Pacific Standard.
The diplomatic beatings administered to Syriza
Aditya Chakrabortty writes…
‘…The diplomatic beatings administered to Syriza since it came to power this year can only be seen as Europe trying to set an example to any Spanish voters who might be tempted to support its sister movement Podemos. Go too far left, runs the message, and you’ll get the same treatment.
Whatever the founding ideals of the eurozone, they don’t match up to the grim reality in 2015. This is Thatcher’s revolution, or Reagan’s – but now on a continental scale. And as then, it is accompanied by the idea that There Is No Alternative either to running an economy, or even to which kind of government voters get to choose.
The fact that this entire show is being brought in by agreeable-looking Wise Folk often claiming to be social democratic doesn’t render the project any nicer or gentler. It just lends the entire thing a nasty tang of hypocrisy.
via Greece is a sideshow. The eurozone has failed, and Germans are its victims too | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian.
Tavis Smiley Interviews Chris Hedges (June 8, 2015)
https://youtu.be/ANxy9KGO2iQ
‘Chris Hedges describes how the media’s inability to do its job has weakened our democracy, and why the public’s loss of faith in traditional mechanisms of power has placed us on the brink of revolution.’
via The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS — Interview with Chris Hedges | June 8, 2015 – YouTube.
liberté / sécurité
Goldman Sachs restricts workday to 17 hours a day
Go home before midnight, and don’t come back before 7am. Goldman Sachs – one of Wall Street’s toughest firms – has told interns they have got to work hard, but not too hard.
The new rules, introduced for this summer’s crop of investment banking interns, have been introduced “to improve the overall work experience of our interns”, a Goldman Sachs spokesman said. All of its summer interns across the world were informed of the new working hours rule on their first day in the office earlier this month.
Wall Street’s shift to caring capitalism comes in the wake of the death of a 21-year-old Bank of America Merrill Lynch intern who had regularly pulled all-nighters in a desperate bid to impress his bosses.
Moritz Erhardt was found dead in the shower at his London accommodation after working 72 hours straight. An inquest found he died of an epileptic seizure that could have been a triggered by his long working hours.
via Goldman Sachs restricts intern workday to 17 hours in wake of burnout death | Business | The Guardian.
Goldman Sachs only wants for their own employees what they also impose on entire nations…
Euronews video: 2011
Thomas Jefferson’s ‘algebraical’ formula defining ‘negro’
‘…it becomes a Mathematical problem of the same class with those on the mixtures of different liquors or different metals…’
To Francis C. Gray — Monticello Mar. 4. 1815.
Dear Sir
Dispatching to mr Ticknor my packet of letters for Paris, it occurs to me that I committed an error in a matter of information which you asked of me while here. it is indeed of little importance, yet as well corrected as otherwise; and the rather as it gives me an occasion of renewing my respects to you. you asked me in conversation what constituted a mulatto by our law? and I believe I told you 4 crossings with the whites. I looked afterwards into our law, and found it to be in these words. ‘every person, other than a negro, of whose grandfathers or grandmothers any one shall have been a negro, shall be deemed a mulatto, and so every such person who shall have one fourth part or more of negro blood; shall in like manner be deemed a mulatto.’ L. Virga. 1792. Dec. 17 the case put in the first member of this paragraph of the law isexempli gratiâ. the latter contains the true Canon, which is that ¼ of negro blood, mixed with any portion of white, constitutes the mulatto. as the issue has one half of the blood of each parent, and the blood of each of these may be made up of a variety of fractional mixtures, the estimate of their compound, in some cases, may be1 intricate. it becomes a Mathematical problem of the same class with those on the mixtures of different liquors or different metals. as in these therefore, the Algebraical notation2 is the most convenient & intelligible. let us express the pure blood of the white in the capital letters of the printed3 alphabet, the pure blood of the negro in the small letters of the printed alphabet, and any given mixture of either, by way of abridgment in MS. letters.
let the 1st crossing be of a, pure negro, with A. pure white. the Unit of blood of the issue being composed of the half of that of each parent, will be a/2 + A/2 call it, for abbreviation, h (half-blood)
let the 2d crossing be of h. and B. the blood of the issue will be h/2 + B/2, or substituting for h/2it’s equivalent, it will be a/4 + A/4 + B/2. call it q (quarteroon) being ¼ negro blood
let the 3d crossing be of q. and C. their offspring will be
q/2 + C/2 = a/8 + A/8 + B/4 + C/2. call this e. (eighth) who having less than ¼ of a. or of pure negro blood, to wit ⅛ only, is no longer a mulatto. so that a 3d cross clears the blood.
from these elements let us examine other compounds.
for example, let h. and q. cohabit. their issue will be
h/2 + q/2 = a/4 + A/4 + a/8 + A/8 + B/4 = ⅜ + ⅜ + B/4 wherein we find ⅜ of a. or of negro blood.
let h. and e. cohabit. their issue will be
h/2 + e/2 = a/4 + A/4 + a/16 + A/16 + B/8 + C/4 = 5a/16 + 5A/16 + B/8 + C/4 wherein 5/16a. makes still a mulatto.
let q. and e. cohabit. the half of the blood of each will be
q/2 + e/2 = a/8 + A/8 + B/4 + a/16 + A/16 + B/8 + C/4 = 3a/16 + 3A/16 + ⅜ + C/4 wherein 3/16 of a is no longer mulatto.
and thus may every compound be noted & summed, the sum of the fractions composing the blood of the issue being always equal to Unit. it is understood in Natural history that a 4th cross of one race of animals with another gives an issue equivalent for all sensible purposes to the original blood. thus a Merino ram being crossed 1st with a country ewe, 2dly with this daughter, 3dly with this grandaughter, and 4thly with the great grandaughter, the last issue is deemed pure Merino, having in fact but 1/16 of the country blood. our Canon considers 2. crosses with the pure white, and a 3d with any degree of mixture, however small, as clearing the issue of the negro blood. but observe that this does not reestablish freedom, which depends on the condition of the mother, the principle of the civil law, partus sequitur ventrem, being adopted here. but if e. beemancipated, he becomes a free white man, and a citizen4 of the US. to all intents and purposes—so much for this trifle, by way of correction.
I sincerely congratulate you on the peace, and more especially on the close of our war with so much eclat. our 2d and 3d campaigns have, I trust, more than redeemed the disgraces of the 1stand proved that altho a republican5 government is slow to move, yet, when once in motion, it’s momentum becomes irresistable, and I am persuaded it would have been found so in the late war, had it continued. experience had just begun to elicit those among our officers who had talents for war, and under the guidance of these one campaign would have planted our standard on the walls of Quebec, and another on those of Halifax. but peace is better for us all, and if it could be followed by a cordial conciliation between us and England it would ensure the happiness and prosperity of both. the bag of wind however on which they are now riding must be suffered to blow out, before they will be able soberly to settle on their true bottom. if they adopt a course of friendship with us, the commerce of 100. millions of people, which some now born will live to see here, will maintain them for ever as a great Unit of the European family. but if they go on checking, irritating, injuring, and hostilizing us, they will force on us the motto ‘Carthago delenda est.’ and some Scipio Americanus will leave to posterity the problem of conjecturing where stood once the antient and splendid city of London? nothing more simple or certain than the elements of this calculation. I hope the good sense of both parties will concur in travelling rather the paths of peace, of affection and reciprocations of interests. I salute you with sincere and friendly esteem, and if the homage offered to the virtues of your father can be acceptable to him, place mine at his feet.
Th: Jefferson
Source: http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-08-02-0245
IMF study disproves the Trickle Down theory (2015)
even the communists at the IMF agrees…
‘First, we show why policymakers need to focus on the poor and the middle class. Earlier IMF work has shown that income inequality matters for growth and its sustainability. Our analysis suggests that the income distribution itself matters for growth as well. Specifically, if the income share of the top 20 percent (the rich) increases, then GDP growth actually declines over the medium term, suggesting that the benefits do not trickle down. In contrast, an increase in the income share of the bottom 20 percent (the poor) is associated with higher GDP growth. The poor and the middle class matter the most for growth via a number of interrelated economic, social, and political channels…’
— http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1513.pdf
Walmart hid $76bn of assets in foreign tax havens #LuxLeaks
‘…Walmart hid $76bn of assets in tax havens across the world, including $64.2bn managed by 22 different subsidiaries in Luxembourg, where Walmart has no stores, according to a study published on Wednesday.
The study, published by campaign group Americans for Tax Fairness and funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, alleged that Walmart has “kept its tax haven subsidiaries secretive by burying mention of their existence”. Walmart denied the claims.
[….] According to the report, since 2011 Walmart has transferred ownership of its stores in Brazil, Japan, Puerto Rico and South Africa to Luxembourg. It claims that Walmart’s Luxembourg operations paid less than 1% in tax on profits of more than $1.3bn between 2010 and 2013…‘
via Walmart hid $76bn of assets in foreign tax havens, new study claims | Business | The Guardian.
No New Bushes!
Obama at Nike HQ says ‘Just do it!’
Naomi Klein couldn’t even make a joke this sad…
‘…Obama tried to turn the focus away from potential job losses in the US to the potential to grow US exports. The president warned that the US must lead in trade negotiations. “If we don’t write the rules for trade around the world, guess what? China will,” Obama said. “And they’ll write those rules in a way that gives Chinese workers and Chinese businesses the upper hand.”
But apart from providing an apposite corporate slogan for the measure’s passage – “Just do it” – choosing Nike as a location didn’t quite reinforce his message….’
via Obama at Nike headquarters: why push trade deal at an outsourcing giant? | US news | The Guardian.
CIA spent $100,000 per year for every anti-Assad rebel
The cost of that CIA program has not previously been disclosed, and the figure provides the clearest indication to date of the extent to which the agency’s attention and resources have shifted to Syria. At $1 billion, Syria-related operations account for about $1 of every $15 in the CIA’s overall budget, judging by spending levels revealed in documents The Washington Post obtained from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. U.S. officials said the CIA has trained and equipped nearly 10,000 fighters sent into Syria over the past several years — meaning that the agency is spending roughly $100,000 per year for every anti-Assad rebel who has gone through the program.
via Secret CIA effort in Syria faces large funding cut – The Washington Post.
Gary Sick explains Saudi Arabia’s War
Listen to Gary Sick (also: wikipedia)
‘…Saudi Arabia’s decision to place the political threat from Iran above the actual military and ideological threat from radical Sunni Islamism is questionable at best. Both Al Qaeda and the self-styled Caliph of the Islamic State have openly proclaimed their intent to overthrow the corrupt Saudi royal family and take control of the two holy places—Mecca and Medina—that define the Islamic credentials of Saudi rule. Indeed only last week ISIL claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia that killed more than 20 people.
This threat from radical Sunni Islamism is the only credible external threat to Saudi independence and territorial integrity. No other movement, state or institution in the Middle East has undertaken anything remotely like this concerted anti-Saudi campaign. The Iranian regime has never evinced an aspiration to destabilize, much less attack, Saudi Arabia or any other Sunni state. Iran’s horrific eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s came in response to an outright invasion by Saddam Hussein, explicitly supported and funded by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies.
Today, Saudi Arabia, together with Qatar and Turkey, is supporting and funding radical Sunni Islamists in Syria (Nusra Front and other al-Qaeda affiliates). This effort may well achieve its goal of overthrowing the Assad regime, or at least carve out a mini Sunni state within Syria, but the result would be to empower a vicious and uncontrollable coalition of extremists whose policies make them essentially indistinguishable from ISIL. Deposing Assad will not end the Syrian civil war; it will simply reverse the players, turning many current regime supporters into insurgents while fueling a contest for supremacy among the Al-Qaeda militias and ISIL….’
Via Saudi Arabia's Widening War – Gary Sick – POLITICO Magazine
Part One and Part Two.
A Greek run on the banks as Syriza in last ditch negotiations with ECB/IMF
‘…In the meantime, Greeks continue to withdraw cash from local banks amid fears that capital controls may be imposed if the negotiations run into problems, or if Athens is unable to pay a series of four loan instalments totalling €1.5bn to the IMF this month.
Last week depositors pulled more than €2bn out of their accounts, according to two senior bankers. The outflows resumed this week but in smaller amounts, they said….’
Alexis Tsipras grounded by dissent from within Syriza
WikiLeaks leaks 17 secret documents of the ‘Trade in Services Agreement’
If it were not for Wikileaks would have anyone ever heard of TISA?? Short answer: No.
Thank you Julian Assange
WikiLeaks releases today 17 secret documents from the ongoing TISA (Trade In Services Agreement) negotiations which cover the United States, the European Union and 23 other countries including Turkey, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Taiwan & Israel — which together comprise two-thirds of global GDP. "Services" now account for nearly 80 per cent of the US and EU economies and even in developing countries like Pakistan account for 53 per cent of the economy. While the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become well known in recent months in the United States, the TISA is the larger component of the strategic TPP-TISA-TTIP ‘T-treaty trinity’. All parts of the trinity notably exclude the ‘BRICS’ countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
via WikiLeaks – Trade in Services Agreement.
100% of White Male American Terrorism Experts Agree….
Discovery: Yes, your brain and thoughts are connected to your health
‘…In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist. The discovery could have profound implications for diseases from autism to Alzheimer’s to multiple sclerosis.
[….] “Instead of asking, ‘How do we study the immune response of the brain?’ ‘Why do multiple sclerosis patients have the immune attacks?’ now we can approach this mechanistically. Because the brain is like every other tissue connected to the peripheral immune system through meningeal lymphatic vessels,” said Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, professor in the UVA Department of Neuroscience and director of UVA’s Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). “It changes entirely the way we perceive the neuro-immune interaction. We always perceived it before as something esoteric that can’t be studied. But now we can ask mechanistic questions.”
“We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role,” Kipnis said. “Hard to imagine that these vessels would not be involved in a [neurological] disease with an immune component.”…’
Missing link found between brain, immune system; major disease implications
‘…”For over 60 years, scientists believed these structures existed but by imaging them for the first time, we’ve provided visual evidence that they are really there,” said Cleo Loi of CAASTRO at the University of Sydney.
[….]The innermost layer of the magnetosphere is the ionosphere, and above that is the plasmasphere. They are embedded with a variety of strangely shaped plasma structures including, as has now been revealed, the tubes….’
via Press release: real-time, 3D movies of plasma tubes
also at: http://www.news.com.au/technology/science