onsdag den 17. november 2010

Søren Pind om den aktivistiske udenrigspolitik

I en kronik i Jyllands-Posten den. 20.07.08 med titlen "Dette moralske tomrums røst: Fortsat dialog." går Søren Pind til angreb på modstanderne af den aktivistiske udenrigspolitik. Pind lader os forstå, at modstanderne af state-building gennem krig mod verdens diktaturer, herunder modstanderne mod Irak-krigen, blot ønsker "fortsatte cocktailpartys med disse moderne svar på Hitler og Stalin." mens "Argumentet om, at en blodig diktator er fjernet" ikke bider på krigsmodstanderne.

Først og fremmest er det intet mindre end overordentlig interessant, at Pind karakteriserer begivenhederne som ledte op til den anden Golf-krig som et cocktailparty, idet det anslås at sanktionspolitikken har kostet op mod en halv million børn livet, mens opretholdelsen af No-Fly Zones bombardementerne forvoldte at Irak var under angreb fra luften fra august 1992 frem til den anden Irak-krigs begyndelse i marts 2003.

Når Pind fremhæver "at en blodig diktator er fjernet" uden at nævne krigens mange negative konsekvenser er det vanskeligt at undlade at se hans argumentation som et forsøg på hvidvaskning af krigen, idet de mange negative konsekvenser af krigsførelsen bekvemt udelades. Et kort men ufuldstændigt overblik over de negative konsekvenser lyder således: 1.9 millioner mennesker er flygtet ud af landet og bor nu i flygtningelejre i nabolandene; 2,6 millioner mennesker er ligeledes flygtet fra deres hjem men befinder sig fortsat indenfor landets grænser; det er fortsat uvist hvor mange omkomne der er tale om, men tabstallene er sekscifrede; de økonomiske omkostninger måles i mange hundreder milliarder dollars, hvis ikke i billioner; krigen har gjort Irak til et arnested for terrorisme og Al-Qaeda har nu en tilstedeværelse i landet; en stor dels af verdens kulturarv er forsvundet og landets infrastruktur ligger mange steder i ruiner.

Dette nævner Pind som sagt ikke med et eneste ord i sin kronik, men fortsætter i stedet med at beskylde krigsmodstanderne for at svigte den vestlige verdens værdier: "De, der befordrer løgnen, svigter dermed ikke kun de undertrykte i disse lande verden over. De svigter samtidig den verdensdel, der siden den amerikanske uafhængighedserklæring har stået fast på, og været en lysende fakkel for den afmægtigt bastede og bundne med påstanden om, at hvert enkelt menneske er en unik skabning og at denne skabning, har ret til liv, frihed og stræben efter lykke."

Når vi holder de negative konsekvenser for de mange irakere jeg ovenfor nævnte in mente, fremstår det netop citerede nærmest demagogisk. Pinds argumentation er endvidere igen mangelfuld, idet han bekvemt undlader at nævne, at det netop er en væsentlig del af den vestlige verdens juridiske og kulturelle arv, at man ikke begiver sig ud i krig med mindre der er tale om (selv)forsvar. Irak-krigen kan imidlertid ikke retfærddigøres som en forvarskrig, da Irak ikke truede Danmark eller nogle af de andre krigsførende parter på daværende tidspunkt. Krigen var heller ikke sanktioneret af FNs sikkerhedsråd som ikke gav hjemmel for krigsførelse. Krigen var altså en ikke-sanktioneret angrebskrig og en sådan er ulovlig i henhold til international lov, men ikke alene er angrebskrig ulovlig, det er intet mindre end den største internationale forbrydelse man kan begå iflg. dommer ved Nurnberg-processerne Ross H. Jackson. Da Søren Pind er cand.jur må vi antage at han er bekendt med gældende international lov.

tirsdag den 16. november 2010

[Iraq] No-Fly Zone War.

NYTimes (August 13, 1999): "With Little Notice, U.S. Planes Have Been Striking Iraq All Year."

The Guardian (December 4, 2002): "Britain and US step up bombing in Iraq."

IraqJournal.org (December 10, 2002): "No-Fly Zones Over Iraq: Washington's Undeclared War on "Saddam's Victims".

Washington Post (December 22, 2002): "Casualties of an 'Undeclared War': Civilians Killed and Injured as U.S. Airstrikes Escalate in Southern Iraq."

The Independent (23 February 2003): "US and Britain Pound Iraqi Defenses in Massive Escalation of Airstrikes."

NYTimes (July 19 2003): "U.S. Attacked Iraqi Defenses Starting in 2002."

Links omhandlende USAs uddannelsessektor.

The Guardian: The corporate takeover of American schools.

Extraordinary Renditions.

BBC: Amnesty says EU 'failing' over CIA renditions.

BBC: What happened in Europe's secret CIA prisons?

BBC: CIA 'tortured suspects' in secret prison in Poland.

Huffington Post: Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Europe and Extraordinary Rendition.

The Guardian: The necessary reckoning on rendition and waterboarding.

mandag den 15. november 2010

Obama og Indonesiens specialstyrker.

Tidligere i år valgte man fra Obama-administrationens side at genoptage støtten til Kopassus, Indonesiens specialstyrker, som ellers var faldet i unåde grundet specialstyrkens centrale rolle i folkemordet i Øst-Timor, der estimeres at have kostet op mod en sjettedel af Øst-Timors befolkning livet.

Umiddelbart samtidig med Obamas besøg i Indonesien kom det imidlertid frem, grundet et lækket internt dokument fra Kopassus, at specialstyrken fortsat idag gør sig i uhyrligheder, idet dokumentet omtaler, at specialstyrken begår mord og foretager bortførelser samt generelt betragter civile kritikere i den besatte West Papua region som fjenden. Obama nævnte imidlertid ikke dette med et eneste ord under sit besøg.

OMTALE:

The Guardian: West Papua deserves Barack Obama's attention.

AllainNairn.com: Secret Files Show Kopassus, Indonesia's Special Forces, Targets Papuan Churches, Civilians. Documents Leak from Notorious US-Backed Unit as Obama Lands in Indonesia.

The Guardian: Obama's missed opportunity in Jakarta.

The Constitution and National Security: The First Amendment Under Attack

Irak-krigens konsekvenser.

Den amerikanske tænketank Center for American Progress om Irak-krigens menneskelige, strategiske og økonomiske omkostninger.

Link.

Lancet-undersøgelsen:

The Lancet, one of the oldest scientific medical journals in the world, published two peer-reviewed studies on the effect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation on the Iraqi mortality rate. The first was published in 2004; the second (by many of the same authors) in 2006. The studies estimate the number of excess deaths caused by the occupation, both direct (combatants plus non-combatants) and indirect (due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poor healthcare, etc.).

The first survey published on 29 October 2004, estimated 98,000 excess Iraqi deaths (with a range of 8,000 to 194,000, using a 95% confidence interval (CI)) from the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq to that time, or about 50% higher than the death rate prior to the invasion. The authors described this as a conservative estimate, because it excluded the extreme statistical outlier data from Falluja. If the Falluja cluster were included, the mortality estimate would increase to 150% over pre-invasion rates (95% CI: 1.6 to 4.2).

The second survey published on 11 October 2006, estimated 654,965 excess deaths related to the war, or 2.5% of the population, through the end of June 2006. The new study applied similar methods and involved surveys between May 20 and July 10, 2006.[4] More households were surveyed, allowing for a 95% confidence interval of 392,979 to 942,636 excess Iraqi deaths. 601,027 deaths (range of 426,369 to 793,663 using a 95% confidence interval) were due to violence. 31% (186,318) of those were attributed to the Coalition, 24% (144,246) to others, and 46% (276,472) unknown. The causes of violent deaths were gunshot (56% or 336,575), car bomb (13% or 78,133), other explosion/ordnance (14%), air strike (13% or 78,133), accident (2% or 12,020), and unknown (2%).
Link til Wikipedia artikel om undersøgelsen.

OM FLYGTNINGEPROBLEMATIKKEN:

Think Progress: Confronting The Iraqi Nakba.

between 2003 and 2009, in addition to the more than 100,000 Iraqis killed and many more wounded and maimed, more than 4.5 million Iraqis were expelled and displaced amid Iraq’s sectarian civil war — new, grim details of which are contained in the WikiLeaks trove. Around 2.6 million remain internally displaced in Iraq, unable to return to their homes. Another 1.9 million remain refugees, mostly in neighboring Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. It has utterly changed the face not only of Iraq, but of the region. If Americans are going to learn the right lessons from Iraq, and satisfy the huge moral debt we’ve incurred, we’ve simply got to regain our sense of shock about the enormity of what we have done there: Through a combination of hubris, idealism, incompetence, and plain ignorance, the United States facilitated, sponsored, and oversaw Iraq’s Nakba.
Link.

[Afghanistan-krigen] Økonomiske aspekter.

MANGLENDE FINANSIELT TILSYN:

Wireds Dangerroom-skribent Spencer Ackerman om manglende fnansielt tilsyn med millioner af dollars som lander i lommerne på afghanske embedsmænd og regeringsrådgivere:

"According to a new report from the U.S.’ independent Afghanistan-reconstruction auditor, Arnold Fields, American agencies spent at least three years paying Afghan government officials and “technical advisers” off the books — outside official channels and without “collecting any information” on who they paid and how much they doled out. From 2005 to 2008, and in some cases into 2010, both agencies declined to “centrally manage” their record keeping, allowing an untold amount of aid money to disappear into the pockets of their favored Afghans.

And that went into a lot of pockets. The Afghan Ministry of Finance estimates that U.S. and international donors pay $45 million annually to support 6,600 government employees and advisers, but that’s an undercount, reliant on “incomplete data.” Just this year, after the Ministry demanded the U.S. start a tally of who it pays, at least 900 government officials received U.S. cash, totaling $1 million each month."

Kilde.

fredag den 12. november 2010

Reagan's udenrigspoliitk.

Støtten til Saddam Hussein:

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

Dawoody: "Reagan & Saddam: The Unholy Alliance."
http://www.counterpunch.org/dawoody06082004.html

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Støtten til Muhammed Zia ul-Haq, Pakistansk fundamentalistiske muslimske diktator:

“Zia’s longevity as a ruler was made possible by the unstinting support he received from President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. administration after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979.”

“General Zia’s eleven-year rule was to have the most long-lasting and damaging effect on Pakistani society, one still prevalent today. Zia, who seized power from Bhutto in a coup in 1977, dealt with Pakistan’s identity crisis by imposing an ideological Islamic state upon the population. Many of today’s problems—the militancy of the religious parties, the mushrooming of madrassas and extremist groups, the spread of drug and Kalashnikov culture, and the increase in sectarian violence took place during the Zia era.”

“Between 1982 and 1990 the CIA, working with the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence; det pakistanske efterretningsvæsen, som USA var med til at opbygge] and Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service, funded the training, arrival, and arming of some thirty-five thousand Islamic militants from forty-three Muslim countries in Pakistani madrassas to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. This global jihad launched by Zia and Reagan was to sow the seeds of al Qaeda and turn Pakistan into the world center of jihadism for the next two decades.”

Kilde - Ahmed Rashid: ”Descent into Chaos: The U.S. And the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.”

History Commons: Context of 'April 1981: Reagan Administration Says It Can Turn a Blind Eye to Pakistani Nuclear Program'

The Guardian: "The man who knew too much."

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GUATEMALA.

Robert Parry: "Guatemala: A Test Tube of Repression."
http://www.truth-out.org/guatemala-a-test-tube-repression63859

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EL SALVADOR:

Washington Post: Former Salvadoran Foes Share Doubts on War.

Dennis Hans. "From Afghanistan to El Salvador: Reagan's Dark Global Legacy".

http://www.counterpunch.org/hans06072004.html

Wiki-article on the Salvadoran Civil War:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvadoran_Civil_War

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/enemiesofwar/elsalvador2.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29546-2004Jun9.html

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/reagans_bloody_legacy.php

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IRAN-CONTRA SCANDAL:

the lost chapter.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/062908.html

Perception Management.

Lost History: CIA's Perception Management
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/lost12.html

The October Surprise.

Key October Surprise Evidence Hidden.
http://consortiumnews.com/2010/050610.html

The Tricky October Surprise Report.
http://consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html

Richard Allen's Notes on Bush 'October Surprise' Call.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/allen-shackley-notes.html

How Two Elections Changed America.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/110409.html

The Russian Report.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russiantext.html
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russianreport1980.html

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lørdag den 18. september 2010

Prison Industrial Complex Research

Etnicitet og fængsling.
IPS NEWS: Money for Prisons, Not for Social Services.
Litteraturhenvisninger.
Wikiartikel om The Prison-Industrial Complex.

PRISONS: HUMAN RIGHTS.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/11/confronting-human-rights-abuses-in-us-prisons/
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0712-08.htm
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Human_Rights/Rights_Police_USA_RFA.html

War on drugs.

According to FBI data released yesterday, police arrested 1,663,582 people on drug charges in the United States last year, slightly fewer than the 1,702,537 arrested in 2008. A little more than half of the drug arrests involved marijuana, and nearly 9 out of 10 marijuana arrests involved possession, as opposed to sale or manufacturing. The number of marijuana arrests, 858,408, was up slightly from the previous year's total, 847,863, but still lower than the historic peak of 872,721 in 2007.

As I've noted before, there is no obvious relationship between marijuana arrests and marijuana use. Although arrests have more than doubled since the early 1990s, the number of pot smokers was no lower in 2008 than it was in 1990 and perhaps somewhat higher, even allowing for methodological changes that seem to have boosted self-reported drug use after 2001.




http://reason.com/blog/2010/09/16/drug-arrests-down-pot-arrests


Omtale af en ny rapport som omhandler narkorelaterede fængslinger i USA.


“Despite comparable usage of illicit drugs, in 2008, African Americans, who make up 12.2 percent of the general population, comprised 44 percent of those incarcerated for drug offences, according to the report.

Researchers say that disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in communities of colour destabilises families and communities and decreases the likelihood of positive outcomes for children and other family members left behind.

Due to the prolonged economic meltdown, many states are now making drastic cuts in funding for social services - such as health, education, and public housing - but not on policing and prison improvement and expansion.”

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52868

Greenwald om Obama

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/17/obama/index.html

lørdag den 31. juli 2010

US Government

FOREIGN POLICY:
Obama seeks to expand arms exports by trimming approval process

MILITARY: INTELLIGENCE.

Washington Post: Top Secret America.

PRISONS: HUMAN RIGHTS.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/11/confronting-human-rights-abuses-in-us-prisons/
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0712-08.htm
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Human_Rights/Rights_Police_USA_RFA.html

fredag den 11. juni 2010

Brain Food June

ANCIENT HISTORY:
Mystery seafaring ancestor found in the Philippines.
Crocodile and Hippopotamus Served as 'Brain Food' for Early Human Ancestors.
Some Like It Hot: Site of Human Evolution Was Scorching.
Sahara cave may hold clues to dawn of Egypt.
Skulls show New World was settled twice.
Pagan Antiquities Unearthed in Israel.
Ancient cave paintings found in Romania.
Turkmen capital is 8 thousand years old, archeologists say.

LIFE:
The real Avatar: Ocean bacteria act as 'Superorganism'.
Hormone that triggers love can also lead to war.
All Modern Life on Earth Derived from Common Ancestor.
A new view of fossils: The behavior of ancient life forms.
Sperm whale faeces 'helps oceans absorb CO2'.
Chimpanzees kill to win new territory.

AGRICULTURE:
The Story of Soil.
Fertile ground: The dark side of nitrogen.
From Seeds of Suicide to Seeds of Hope: Why Are Indian Farmers Committing Suicide and How Can We Stop This Tragedy?

MIND:
The God Chemical: Brain Chemistry And Mysticism.
Psychologist Says Antidepressants Are Just Fancy Placebos.
Coffee Consumption Unrelated to Alertness: Stimulating Effects May Be Illusion.
Relaxed people 'heal twice as quickly'.
Intelligent people have 'unnatural' preferences and values that are novel in human evolution.

TECH:
Finally! 3D Without the Glasses.
Scientists take first steps in growing working livers.

Solar plane set for night flight.
Researchers Develop 90% More Efficient Air Conditioning!
You Want Range? Mid-East Electric Vehicle Promises 2,236 Miles.
Building organs block by block.
UAE Announces Plans for World's Largest Solar Plant.
Noninvasive Ultrasound Pulses Could Treat Neuro Disorders, Enhance Cognitive Function.
EU sees solar power imported from Sahara in 5 yrs.
Highly Efficient Solar Cells Could Result from Quantum Dot Research.
MIT Uses Carbon Nanotubes to Boost Lithium Battery Power 10x
New tech moves beyond the mouse, keyboard and screen.

torsdag den 4. marts 2010

MASSEFÆNGSLINGER.

Udvikling i USA

Army National Guard Advertises for “Internment Specialists”


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8801


Sammenlignende site.

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/wpb_stats.php?area=all&category=wb_poptotal

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/wpb_country.php?country=190


Kina / Laogai [genopdragelses- og arbejdslejre]:


Wikipedia-article



Human Righs Watch: Reeducation through Labour in China.



USA – Current developments.




HISTORISK RELEVANTE ARTIKLER OG LINKS.

Colonial Burma’s prison: continuity with its pre-colonial past?

“The practice of confining convicted criminals in prison for a stipulated period of time – to punish or reform – is a modern western innovation. Pentonville in north London, opened in 1842 and said to be the first modern prison, had four wings radiating from a central hub from which guards could observe every cell, each holding a single prisoner. The ‘modern’ prison then became one of many western innovations (including the railway, scientific medicine and the filing cabinet) transported to the colonial world from the mid-19th century.”

http://www.iias.nl/nl/39/IIAS_NL39_05.pdf


Koncentrationslejrenes opståen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_camp#Concentration_camps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camps

Gulag:

Katorga. Precursor to the Gulag: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katorga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Prisoner_of_War_Camps.pdf


Reconcentrados:

http://chss.montclair.edu/witness/Reconcentrados.html

http://www.historyofcuba.com/gallery/gal10.htm



US Citizen Isolation Camps: A Conservative Hails FDR’s Concentration Camps
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory31.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment



The Ideological Uses of Japanese-Americans in U.S. Concentration Camps:

http://www.paradigme.com/sources/SOURCES-PDF/Pages%20de%20Sources04-1-3.pdf


The Civil War Concentration Camps:

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v02/v02p137_Weber.html



FRANSK KOLONIALISME / IMPERIALISME


The Colonial Bastille: A History of Imprisonment in Vietnam.

Description: Peter Zinoman's original and insightful study focuses on the colonial prison system in French Indochina and its role in fostering modern political consciousness among the Vietnamese. Using prison memoirs, newspaper articles, and extensive archival records, Zinoman presents a wealth of significant new information to document how colonial prisons, rather than quelling political dissent and maintaining order, instead became institutions that promoted nationalism and revolutionary education.

Excerpt.

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8991/8991.ch01.pdf

onsdag den 3. marts 2010

Neurofood 2010

WEEK NINE.

Sean Carroll on the arrow of time.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sean_carroll_on_the_arrow_of_time.html

Freethinking About Finances.
http://nobeliefs.com/finances.htm

Intelligent people have 'unnatural' preferences and values that are novel in human evolution
http://www.physorg.com/news186236813.html

NATURAL BUILDING: Idustrial-Strength Fungus.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1957474,00.html

Center For Cognitive Liberty and Ethics on Drug Policy

http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/faqs/faq_drugpolicy.htm

US Waves White Flagin Disastrous 'War on Drugs'.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-waves-white-flag-in-disastrous-war-on-drugs-1870218.html

Indra's Net: Alchemy and Chaos Theory as Templates for Transformation
http://www.realitysandwich.com/indras_net_alchemy_transformation

America, the fragile empire
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ferguson28-2010feb28,0,7706980.story

Green fuels cause more harm than fossil fuels, according to report
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7044708.ece