Guest Post: Africa in the Crosshairs

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A friend of mine and an extremely astute observer of news at the excellent new aggregator site Top the News, wrote the following piece and he has given me permission to post it.  Unfortunately, many of the proxy wars that are certain to be fought in the future will see Africa as a staging ground, and this piece does an excellent job giving the reader some background of where we have been and where we are headed.  So without further ado…

Africa in the Crosshairs
“The Dark Continent” as it is known to many, has a dim history of modern foreign influence.  While much of Africa was technically independent by 1960, memories of colonization and cronyism have lasted much longer. Infamous dictators like Sani Abacha and Mobutu Sese Seko held net worth in the $ billion category, due in no small part to the hypocrisy of western nations like the United States.  However, starting with the funding of a nearly-$500 million railroad known as the Tazara Line in the 1970’s, a new player started their emergence in the region: China. With its vast natural resources and geopolitical position, Africa is now in the crosshairs of the world’s two superpowers. The Sino-U.S. rivalry is an ‘open secret’ in the hemisphere, destined to only grow.

In a collection of essays published by Columbia University titled China Returns to Africa, the authors highlight the “Chinese government’s strategic pursuit of resources and attempts to ensure raw material supplies for growing energy needs within China.” The Chinese hierarchy understands that with limited resources in the world, commodities will only become more valuable based on supply and demand alone-before debased currencies are accounted for.  Africa’s “fertile land, ample water, and (its status) among the world’s lowest farming productivity” all add up to foreign investment. Trade between China and Africa quadrupled from 2005-2011, passing the United States along the way as Africa’s largest partner. Even the African Union’s Ethiopian headquarters were funded by a $200 million ‘gift’ from the Chinese. Largely avoiding military intervention on the continent, instead focusing on “diplomacy, trade deals, debt forgiveness, and aid packages,” has helped China to establish a strong foothold and relationship, comparatively to the United States. As Andrew Malone pointed out a few years ago: “The strategy has been carefully devised by officials in Beijing, where one expert has estimated that China will eventually need to send 300 million people to Africa to solve the problems of over-population and pollution.”

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Piers Morgan is Now Calling for Gun Confiscation

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British citizen and CNN personality Piers Morgan has now stepped up his attacks on the 2nd Amendment by calling for actual confiscation of certain types of guns.  In a lengthy Op Ed in the UK’s Daily Mail he writes:

Obama should follow up by launching a Government buy-back for all existing assault weapons in circulation (as worked successfully in Los Angeles last week). I would go further, confiscating the rest and enforcing tough prison sentences on those who still insist on keeping one.

Either you ban these assault weapons completely, and really mean it, or you don’t.

Then he goes on to cherry pick some data from a recent Gallup poll when he writes:

I genuinely think Sandy Hook will act as a tipping point. A Gallup poll released on Thursday showed that 58 per cent of Americans now support new gun-control laws, up from 43 per cent in 2011. That’s a big jump.

Interestingly, if you read the actual report from Gallup, which was conducted after the Sandy Hook shooting, you will discover that:

Nevertheless, Americans’ views on the sale of assault rifles are unchanged. The slight majority, 51%, remain opposed to making it illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles.

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Ron Paul Blasts Both the NRA and Gun Control Pushers

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Ron Paul, once again, proves why he is an American treasure.  If more people were able to bust out of the ridiculous Republican-Democrat fake divide this country could be a wonderful place to live and work in.  From US News:

Rep. Ron Paul, not one to shy away from controversy, has blasted the National Rifle Association for proposing that every school hire armed guards to protect against mass shootings, and has also condemned liberals for promoting more government control of guns.

The impulse to have government ‘do something’ to protect us in the wake of national tragedies is reflexive and often well intentioned. Many Americans believe that if we simply pass the right laws, future horrors like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting can be prevented. But this impulse ignores the self evident truth that criminals don’t obey laws.

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Number of Homeless Iraq, Afghan Vets Doubles

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Yep, taking care of our troops.  So sad, I can’t imagine the pain and heartbreak that these poor kids experience once they realize that the wars have nothing to do with defending freedom and they are simply being used by the corporate state and political oligarchs to defend the Petrodollar.

From the Army Times:

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government data.

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In California, Lobbyists and Lawmakers Travel the World Together

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Crony capitalist sightseeing tours.  Nothing like being a corrupt political oligarch in today’s America!  Great story here from the Sacramento Bee:

It’s mid-November. The election is over, and the new legislative session has not yet begun. Perfect time for a lawmaker to take vacation – or go on an “educational” trip with some of the Capitol’s most powerful interest groups.

Destinations for the talks? Hawaii, Brazil, China, Australia and New Zealand.

He said the cost of the trip – not yet determined – will be reported as a gift to the lawmakers attending: Republican state Sens. Anthony Cannella of Ceres, Bill Emmerson of Hemet and Mimi Walters of Laguna Niguel, as well as Democratic Sen. Michael Rubio of East Bakersfield and Democratic Assemblyman Steven Bradford of Gardena, who chairs the utilities and commerce committee.

“They who pay for the education have a way to decide what the legislators are going to be educated on,” said Dan Jacobson, a lobbyist for Environment California, which is not a member of CFEE. “It’s not a full education – it’s a partial education and will end up being a (biased) education trip.”

Sharing hotels, meals and exciting experiences with interest groups creates an imbalance for legislators, Jacobson said, where moneyed interests are favored over everyday constituents.

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Another Bait and Switch: Congress Defeats E-Mail Privacy Legislation…Again

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This is how the corporate state rolls.  They remove all the important stuff at the last minute, you know, like provisions that might actually protect constitutional rights.  This is exactly what they just did with the NDAA, which I outlined in my post The Section Preventing Indefinite Detention of Americans without Trial Removed from Final NDAA Bill.  Now we find out from Wired that:

The Senate late Thursday forwarded legislation to President Barack Obama granting the public the right to automatically display on their Facebook feeds what they’re watching on Netflix. While lawmakers were caving to special interests, however, they cut from the legislative package language requiring the authorities to get a warrant to read your e-mail or other data stored in the cloud.

But another part of the same Senate package — sweeping digital privacy protections requiring the government, for the first time, to get a probable-cause warrant to obtain e-mail and other content stored in the cloud — was removed at the last minute.

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It’s Official: The FBI Classifies Peaceful American Protestors as “Terrorists”

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Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF), we have details for the first time of how government intelligence organizations and the corporate state worked together in secret to battle the Occupy Wall Street movement.  The best report I have read on this story comes from the PCJF themselves.  Here are some of their key findings:

“This production, which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a window into the nationwide scope of the FBI’s surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement.

FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF’s Freedom of Information Act demands reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful protest and did “not condone the use of violence” at occupy protests.

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Merry Christmas: Santa Arrested in Austin for Chalking the Sidewalk!

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What can I say; it’s a slow news day.  Merry Christmas everyone. From the Huffington Post: Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a man dressed as Santa Claus in Austin Friday on charges of criminal mischief after writing with chalk on the grounds of the state Capitol building, the Austin American-Statesman reports. … Read more

Coming to America…Biotech Salmon!

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The FDA always has your back.  This government agency, which is well known for corruption (watch the movie Burzynski), seems to be inching closer toward approving a biotech salmon product called AquAdvantage Atlantic salmon egg.  Sounds tasty!  From Reuters:

(Reuters) – A controversial genetically engineered salmon has moved a step closer to the consumer’s dining table after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday the fish didn’t appear likely to pose a threat to the environment or to humans who eat it.

AquaBounty officials said they were caught by surprise by the news that its product was a step closer to approval as years of controversy had followed the company’s application for a go-ahead from the regulator.

Hahaha.  Even the company itself was surprised its product could get approved so easily!

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Petition to Deport Piers Morgan Hits the 25,000 Threshold

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When I first heard of this petition I thought it was kind of amusing, but I never expected it to reach the 25,000 number required for a White House response so fast.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a petition get there so quick.  This was only created two days ago on December … Read more