Here's an article on Modi & OBC politics written by Prof. Kancha Ilaiah on December 2002, which is more relevant today.

- Abhiyya

"There is a lesson here for the secularists and the communists. As Hinduism did not allow Dalits to get into temples they began to move towards Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. If the secularists and the communists do not allow the OBCs to grow in their organisations Mr. Modi will become their national leader and their Prime Ministerial candidate too. And in such a situation, feeble OBC voices like mine will be drowned."

The rise of Modi

By Kancha Ilaiah

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/26/stories/2002122600461000.htm

The BJP made serious efforts, much more than other parties, to include and accommodate the OBCs so as to provide Hindutva its muscle power.

NARENDRA MODI'S victory with a two-thirds majority in Gujarat has signalled the emergence of a strong, independent OBC (Other backward Class) leader in the BJP. Earlier, two independent OBC leaders — Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav — had emerged from the fold of socialist politics in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. But that was in the context of the Yadavs emerging as landed gentry with some socio-economic capital.

The others who became Chief Ministers in the Congress and the BJP were not independent leaders. In the BJP, Kalyan Singh tried to emerge as an independent leader but the Parivar structures did not allow him to do so. For a long time no independent OBC leader was allowed to emerge from within the Parivar. Only Atal Behari Vajpayee and L. K. Advani were allowed that autonomous space as they had social and economic clout around them.

Mr. Modi, member of a Backward Caste that has little socio-economic clout in Gujarat, used the Parivar policy of attacking the deliberately constructed enemy — Muslims — with a more organised network than that of the Parivar's Brahmin leaders. He has become a bigger hero than Mr. Advani by mobilising muscle power better than Mr. Advani did in 1992. He seems to have realised that only the weapon of violence — not sacrifice — can make an individual a hero and that the social value of Dharma is assigned to the victorious, not the sufferer.

Ever since the Hindutva network began to organise caste-ridden Indian society into a religious- nationalist social force, one of its main problems was how to bring the Sudras/OBCs into its fold without giving them equal rights in the spiritual realm. To achieve it, the Hindutva ideologues constructed an imaginary nationalist goal and asked the otherwise uneducated OBCs to participate in nation-building without granting them a share in the national wealth. This was necessary because the caste system was undercutting the social base of the Hindu religion as the Dalits and even some OBCs were embracing other religions. For political and social consolidation of the Brahminical ideology such a task was deemed necessary. The Mandal agenda of the OBCs, initiated by forces outside the Hindutva network, was seen as a plan to undercut Hindu nationalism and the consolidation of forces towards majoritarianism.

The Sangh Parivar successfully organised a large section of OBCs (not as many Dalits) because neither the Congress, which had been in power for several decades, nor the communists, who were talking about socialism, had granted any visible socio-political place in their party structures to the OBCs. In the general environment of Anglicised Brahminism dominating all political formations, a majority of the OBCs were getting attracted to the Parivar network which spoke the native idiom and promised a dream land of Hindu Rashtra if the Muslims were driven out of India. In that crucial period, V.P Singh and the small OBC lobby around him planned the Mandal agenda that disturbed every organised party but the BJP more. The BJP then raised the Mandir-Masjid issue as a diversionary tactic. For the OBCs in the Sangh Parivar it was an occasion where they could use their only asset — muscle power — against the constructed enemy, Muslims.

When the Sangh Parivar needed mass muscle power it had to turn to the OBCs within and it was in this situation that Mr. Advani with the help of Hindutva theoreticians such as Govindacharya worked out a mediating language of social engineering for advancing Hindutva. The Advani faction assigned some leadership roles to the OBCs. Mr. Kalyan Singh and Vinay Katiyar from Uttar Pradesh, Uma Bharti from Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Modi from Gujarat and so on got some positions in the Sangh Parivar. By then, the political ambitions of OBC leaders everywhere were whetted, but without a vision for the socio-spiritual transformation of Indian society. This was aided and abetted by the environment created by the Bahujan Samaj Party's Kanshi Ram with the "our votes for our seats" slogan.

The BJP made serious efforts, much more than other parties, to include and accommodate the

OBCs so as to provide Hindutva its muscle power. The secularists and communists remained more backward in this strategy than the Hindutva forces. The illiterate OBC masses did not understand the whole debate of secularism, socialism and communalism in relation to their own lives. They understood the Mandal discourse because it gave them some jobs. The communists promised heaven but no OBC was getting a visible place in those theory-centred organisations at the national and regional level. For such a social mass, the Parivar had a practical solution: participate in muscle power mobilisation and get the benefits. After the Babri demolition campaign the OBCs began getting the recognition within Hindu Brahminic civil society they had craved for long.

Those wanting to be leaders in the Sangh Parivar had only to abuse Muslims in the fiercest language possible. Mr. Modi and Ms. Bharti could do that well. In the Congress, one needed sophisticated education and the ability to speak the nuanced language of secularism to become a national leader. The P. V. Narasimha Rao period was the real Brahminic period of the Congress in which all OBC leaders with some stature were systematically set aside. The communists did not nurture a single OBC leader and even after the Mandal period they sought only alliances with leaders such as Mr. Mulayam Singh and Mr. Laloo Yadav with all the necessary care to see that their theory remained "pure". Now, for the average educated OBC the Hindutva party became the easy option.

However, it was not as if the temple-centered Hindu priestly class that had been giving full support to leaders such as Mr. Vajpayee and Murli Manohar Joshi was not uneasy with the new visibility of the OBCs. It was. Now, Mr. Modi has emerged as the hero of the OBCs within Parivar; he could even ignore Mr. Vajpayee and set his own agenda. For the first time an OBC leader had become praiseworthy for the Brahmin and other upper caste leaders and was in full command of Gujarat — the mini Hindu Rashtra. How did he do that? By deploying the muscle power of the OBCs under his command and asking the upper caste leaders of the BJP to simply supervise his command structure in attacking the imaginary enemy, constructed by the very same Brahminic theoreticians, in real, physical terms.

The media, busy retaining the secular image of India, did not realise how an average OBC viewed the rise of such a leader. His cutouts were bigger than those of Mr. Vajpayee or Mr. Advani. In this atmosphere, a section of upper castes — particularly Brahmins and Baniyas — seemed to have moved towards the Congress but the OBCs seemed to have voted en masse for their new hero. If Mr. Katiyar repeats this in Uttar Pradesh we will have one more hero, perhaps at the cost of more lives there.

There is a lesson here for the secularists and the communists. As Hinduism did not allow Dalits to get into temples they began to move towards Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. If the secularists and the communists do not allow the OBCs to grow in their organisations Mr. Modi will become their national leader and their Prime Ministerial candidate too. And in such a situation, feeble OBC voices like mine will be drowned.

With Regards

Abi

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[ALOCHONA] Urgency of forming National Security Council

Urgency of forming National Security Council

By Mohammad Zainal Abedin

The incumbent Bangladesh government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed undertook a historic and welcome decision of forming a National Security Council (NSC). If it is formed it will be historical milestone in the history of Bangladesh and this government will be remembered by all those our incoming generations. But a section of people seems to misinterpret and question the decision of the government. Having no argument against such welcome decision of the government, they say that a non-elected government has no right to form such a council.

The non-elected government, if could have taken hundreds of decisions bypassing the elected representatives and those are hailed by all quarters why its decision of forming NSC should be left for the elected government. At least 10 elected and non-elected governments ruled this country for the last 37 years, but none formed the council. Every nation has visions, policies and programmes to develop it economically, strengthen it militarily and solidify it politically. People through their mandate change their government, but the vision of the nation remains unchanged and the onward march towards prosperity remains unhindered due to the implementation of those policies.

But in case of Bangladesh it is something otherwise. Successive governments ruled this country without any integrated visions, policies and programmes. The new government abandons the policies of its predecessor that causes the nation seriously for which the country cannot reach its cherished goal. We need consensus national policy on education, defence, human and mineral resources, maritime, water, above all foreign affairs, etc. But all the governments ruled this country without national policy to suit party and personal interest. Party and personal interest got more priority than the national ones. As a result we are lagging behind day by day. An effective NSC could solve this problem. Being a non- party body, it will help the nation formulate impartial policies and the government will implement those suiting the needs of the time.

Other than economic consideration our unique geographical location having border in three sides with an overtly friendly but factually expansionist country throws our security to an awkward position. We do not have any formulated policy how to deal with our giant neighbour. Almost all the governments so came to power were seen extremely submissive to India and did little to minimize Indian influence and pressure. Utter failure of our successive governments to protect our national interest in different sectors, unequivocally unveils the necessity of an effective and strong NSC. The nation repeatedly felt the essentiality of NSC whenever national interests were sold out one after another on several occasions to the foreigners, particularly to India. Due to the lack of national policy, no government could take effective steps when India blockades the waters of the common rivers, floods and damages our country during the rainy season and desertifes in the dry season, kills our people living in the bordering areas, paralyses our campuses and industrial zones and squeezes us in all fronts through sabotage and subversive activities.

When 25-year so-called friendship and peace treaty was signed with India or Beru Bari was handed over to India, the then parliament did not play any role to resist them. Rather MPs okayed the treaty of handing over Berubari Union to India without having the sovereignty over Tin Bigha corridor. None of the MPs opposed it. None tried to resist Sheikh Hasina she when signed controversial 30- year Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India without consulting her cabinet and the then parliament.

Hasina's government also signed the most heinous and suicidal anti-Bangladesh Chittagong Hill

Tracts (CHT) so-called peace treaty with the Chakma terrorists ignoring the parliament. No debate was held in the parliament on the treaty. No opposition MPs were allowed to pass his opinion on the treaty. Unfortunately the then Treasury Bench MPs were allowed to speak hailing the treaty. Awami League MPs claimed that Sheikh did an historic deed signing the treaty for peace and they even proposed that she should be nominated as one of the candidates for Nobel Peace Prize. It needs no explanation how the suicidal treaty rewarded the Chakma traitors and weakened the foundation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country, how it degraded the Bengalees living in CHT to the status of 3rd grade citizens in their own country.

Almost all the treaties and agreements signed with India by different governments right from Sheikh Mujib to Khaleda Zia failed to protect the interest of the country. Even the treaties signed with various multinational companies failed to protect our interest. The parliament played no role to save national interest. How can we believe that such elected government or parliament government will form NSC? An effective National Security Council could solve these problems and formulate policies and guidelines how the government should sign treaties any country or multinational company protecting national interest. All the agreements so far signed with the forging companies on mineral resources went in favour of the foreign companies.

It was alleged that some of our politicians and bureaucrats, were bribed by the foreign governments and companies to get contract. It is also alleged that some ministers, particularly ministers for foreign affairs, communication, textile, finance, food, etc., were bribed by India to turn Bangladesh to its bazaar. Presently we are to depend on person, not on policy to deal with the foreigners. So a person can easily be purchased. For this reason, almost all the treaties signed so far went in favour of the foreigners.

Vital national interest in most cases remains unprotected since the inception of Bangladesh. No government after Zia tried to speak against Indian occupation in Talpatti Island. None tried to recover Padua from Indian occupation. When it was temporarily recovered by BDR (Bangladesh Rifles), it was handed over by the Sheikh Hasina government to India, which virtually proves that Bangladesh has no claim over the territory. No Bill condemning Indian constant aggression in our border or pushing Indian nationals into Bangladesh was ever passed in our parliament.

As India nurses many of our politicians sitting MPs, ministers and so-called civil societies, they act and speak in such a way so that they get Indian blessings all along. They remain busy in what way they can please India and they do not have moral courage to resist Indian pressure and demand and hence sign such uneven treaties that serve India interest. Government comes and goes, but they do little in reducing the problems the nation faces from our immediate neighnour. If NSC were in existence, it could formulate policies on different issues and government would that could help the government in facing external threats more effectively.

Many countries like America, even India, Thailand, Malaysia, etc., have such councils. These countries do not shift their policies overnight. Governments of these countries are changed, but the policies remain the same. For this reason, developmental activities of these countries remain unhindered and uninterrupted. They seldom bring about any major change in the internal and external policies of their country, as the major policies are formulated by the NSC. Elected parliaments and governments implement those policies.

The proposed NSC will go a long way to secure our overall interest. We should not question or oppose the formation of such an important Council. Let it start and work just now. We have no room to leave for the elected parliament. If the successive parliaments would have done it earlier, the non-elected incumbent government might not have the scope to form it now. There is no room to believe that the elected parliament will do it later. Our adversaries will apply all its influence and power to deter the formation and presence of any effective and Indian influence-free NSC in Bangladesh. So let it be formed and start from somewhere. It may undergo, if situation needs so, through many changes keeping uniformity with demand of the time. Everything is changeable.

Some quarters argue that there is no need of forming a National Security Council, as Bangladesh is not at war with any country or does not face any foreign aggression or internal or external threat. It is indeed a childish and funny argument. Nation may face external or internal threat anytime. None knows when country will face such problem. We should remain ready to face national calamity of any kind. We should not wait for a war to form this council. It is not an acceptable argument that government may form a Security Council when it faces problem. If any national crisis arises whether the government will tackle the problem or form a Council in abnormal situation. Where is the problem if such body is formed in advance? We had to form it far earlier. We should not linger it anymore. The nation lost a lot due to the absence of such body.

Let all the quarters comprehend the reality and extend their support to the government in forming such a vital body to safeguard our country from external and internal threats and ensure its march to prosperity peaceful and uninterrupted .*

-------------------------------
Mohammad Zainal Abedin is a freelance Journalist . Email: noazabd@gmail.com

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=193449

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[mukto-mona] Re: Attn.: Mehul The issue is NOT the billionaires or their billions

WRT: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/47487

There is hardly any dollop of veracity in Mehul's assertion that
Moveon.Org is solely financed by George Soros. I do not follow
George Soros that much because this man had once wrecked the Asian
financial market in late 1990s and many people in Asia had suffered
consequentially. Therefore, when an accusation was made to the
effect that this grassroots organization by the name Moveon.Org was
solely financed by Soros, it was a shock to me. Soros is trying to
reform by doling out millions in many parts of the world. Some of
the causes that he supports is praiseworthy especially in Eastern
Europe.

My problem with Mehul stems from his assertion that Moveon.org is
essentially a Soros organization. He has thrown the proverbial baby
with the bathwater. Mehul will not admit that Moveon.Org has a
membership of 3.2 million. One simply has to do a Google search to
verify this. Also, this organization started supporting Obama since
February 2, 2008. Before that, this organization had helped create
an opinion that Iraq War was misconceived by the gang of Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, etc. and executed by George Bush.

I would ask any rational person to read Mehul's disjointed note in
which he smelled a conspiracy theory on how Soros through Moveon.Org
is going to mobilize public opinion so that Obama will win the
election in November 2008 election.

Only months ago I held the view that both Obama and Clinton were
unelectable. But since Super Tuesday election did I change my mind.
I am a new convert who is beginning to see a sea change in attitude
in American electorates. Millions of Democrats and independents have
come to the same conclusion. The American society had imposed on us
a myth that only a white male is fit for the highest office. The
myth is about to be shattered in few months.

I would like to add here that NY Times and the Guardian are not the
sole provider of news. NY Times have done a great disservice in 2002
and 2003 when Bush was waging an all out effort to invade Iraq. It
will be gullibility of massive proportion for anyone to believe
whatever is printed in NY Times. If Mehul can prove to me that
Moveon.Org is not a grassroots organization, then he should not utter
any more word on this issue. If I am proven wrong, then I will
apologize publicly. Is it a deal, then?

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

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http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

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[mukto-mona] An endorsement from a veteran foreign policy doyen will surely energize Obama campaign

Obama picks up an endorsement from a veteran foreign policy doyen

A.H. Jaffor Ullah

There is an adage in South Asia which goes something like this - when all the elephants in the monsoon deluge are gasping for air, the mosquito says, how deep is the water? Something similar is going on here in America. I am yet to read any articles written by foreign policy experts who said that Senator Obama does not have enough exposure to foreign policy experiences to make him unfit for the nation's number one job. Still then, Senator Hillary Clinton who is novice as far as foreign policy is concerned had made this a big issue during primaries in Ohio and Texas in March 2008.

Senator Clinton had pooh-poohed him far too many times by saying that he has virtually no foreign policy background whatsoever. The Republican contender, Senator McCain, who considers him to be an expert on foreign policy, also thinks that way about the leading Democratic candidate for the White House. To defend himself from such terse criticism Obama has always said that a sound judgment is more important than experiences. Senator Clinton out of desperation during the primaries in Ohio came up with the famous 3:00 AM phone call to White House about an impending disaster about to be happening. The question was who was better prepared to answer the phone - Obama or herself? However, John McCain immediately gave the answer - of all 3 candidates for the White House he thinks he was the person who is most knowledgeable and had the experience to answer the phone call.

Both Senator McCain and Clinton are in full accord about Obama's "lack" of foreign policy experience. They also say that they are ready for the job from day one. The whole idea behind such statement is to undermine the capability of the junior senator from Illinois. Nowhere in the discussion however is mentioned whether they have the sound judgment vis-à-vis foreign policy in this dynamic and challenging world.

On April 2, 2008 I read the news in the Internet that caught my attention. The Bloomberg news network carried the item from which I learned that the presidential aspirant, Senator Obama, had received the endorsement from a veteran foreign policy expert, ex-member of House of Representatives, Lee Hamilton. Congressman Lee Hamilton also served as co-chairperson of 9-11 Commission. Mr. Hamilton is considered by most foreign policy analysts in America as one of the top Democratic Party's top foreign policy figures.

Mr. Hamilton, who served as the co-chairperson of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and headed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he was impressed by Obama's approach to national security and foreign policy.

Giving a glowing plaudits Hamilton said, "I read his national security and foreign policy speeches, and he comes across to me as pragmatic, visionary and tough. He impresses me as a person who wants to use all the tools of presidential power."

Congressman Hamilton's tribute is a slap to both Hillary Clinton and John McCain's assertion that Obama doesn't have the experience to deal with critical foreign policy matters. On February 25 Senator Clinton said in Washington, "He wavers from seeming to believe that mediation and meetings without preconditions can solve some of the world's most intractable problems, to advocating rash, unilateral military action without cooperation from our allies in the most sensitive region of the world."

The foreign policy sage, Mr. Lee Hamilton, also endorsed Senator Obama's seemingly controversial foreign policy statement in which he mentioned that if needed he as a president is willing to meet the chief of this nation's enemy such as the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unconditionally. Even President George Bush has criticized this notion of Senator Obama who also said that it is a dangerous idea. Senator John McCain also dittoed Bush's approbation. On the contrary Mr. Hamilton said he agreed with Obama's position on meeting with U.S. adversaries such as the leaders of Iran without conditions. Also, Obama's consideration of unilateral military action against terrorist hideouts in Pakistan is already U.S. policy.

This much needed endorsement from Hamilton, who was on the short list of former President Bill Clinton's 1992 vice presidential picks, may provide the much-needed boost to Obama in Indiana, where polls show a tight race ahead of the primary. Mr. Hamilton represented a congressional district from Indiana for 35 years and retired from active politics in 1999. Because of his extensive foreign policy background, Mr. Hamilton serves as the president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and serves on Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and his Homeland Security Advisory Council.

In summary, it was a coup de grâce for Obama campaign to have received Mr. Lee Hamilton's endorsement and a glowing encomium at this critical juncture. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain fail to understand that no one really comes to the White House prepared to tackle the job of the president. A good judgment is what is needed to be the president. If the president chooses right kind of advisors, then he or she should be able to react to emergencies brought on by external events. To have an open mind is a plus. Senator Obama has said all along that he is willing to listen to America's adversaries unconditionally. To this scribe, it means that Senator Obama is endowed with an open mind. This endorsement by the heavyweight of foreign policy will remove the dark cloud that is hanging over Obama campaign. It certainly was a good day for Barack Obama whose campaign is getting a shot in the arm almost every day.

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

Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA

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[mukto-mona] Kosovo:New revelation

Carla del Ponte: Kosovo leaders kidnapped Serbs and sold their organs (http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/02-04-2008/104752-Carla_del_Ponte-0)

Carla del Ponte, a former prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, now Switzerland's Ambassador to Argentina, made a sensational announcement. Her autobiographical book "The Hunt" reveals that Serbian men have been kidnapped and their organs were sold to international traffickers.
Carla del Ponte's announcements have already caused the criminal case institution in Serbia. District Court of Belgrade has already started the hearing of 300 young Serbians being kidnapped in the summer of 1999, who as del Ponte claims, were transported to Albania and had there their internal organs removed.

These villainous crimes, compared just to the horrors of Third Reich, were held by the leaders of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) whose co-leader was the present-day prime minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci. His profile, gathered by his opponents, contains the evidence of dozens of crimes made by him as a field commander against the Serbians in Kosovo.

According to Simo Spasich, the head of the Missing in Action Families Union, he met Carla del Ponte several times and gave her the documents, containing evidence of Kosovo's Serbians kidnapping and killing in concentration camps. However even after the prosecutor visited the house where the organs have been removed, in the town of Burel in the north of Albania, to see herself medical equipment and blood that proved del Ponte was right, no further investigation was proposed.

Belgrade 's Press shows the evidence that many Serbian organizations tried to make ICTY investigate crimes made by Albanians in Kosovo, mailed detailed maps of the concentration camps in the north of Kosovo and in the north of Albania. However, no investigation was ever initiated. In the recent interview to the Italian La Stampa Carla del Ponte convinced that today a war criminal's pursuit is connected with solely politics. It's not by chance that her book was released only after Prishtina proclaimed independence.

According to Belgrade's newspaper "The Press", the entire criminal business was controlled personally by Hashim Thaci. He earned millions of dollars on human organs' trade. This is what the former judge of the District court of Pristina Danic Marincovic tried to say during the proceedings against Slobodan Milosevic in the Hague. She also said that the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), headed at that time by France's Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernar Kushner, prohibited from investigation of the cases of people disappearance and kidnapping.

Meanwhile Carla del Ponte and her former helpmate Florance Artman state that the Un administration, under which jurisdiction the country has been existing for many years, prohibited from the attempts to charge Albanians. In one of the interviews Artman confessed that it was the members of the UNMIK that didn't let "iron Carla" institute a criminal case against Albanians that kidnapped people and traded their organs.

__._,_.___

***************************************** Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm ***************************************** Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf ***************************************** MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona. ***************************************** Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm ***************************************** Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day: http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm ***************************************** Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/ ***************************************** MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm ***************************************** German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members: http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/ Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day: http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm ***************************************** Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona: http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm **************************************************** VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/ **************************************************** "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190

__,_._,___

Re: [mukto-mona] Juktibaadir Bijoy- Reason has won the day

WRT: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/47487

The influence of Tantricks has long been in decline. Sanal Edamaruku was not needed to challenge this Tantrick Surindar Sharma. I do have enough strength to withstand any such tantrick. The main weapon of these trantricks is to create a fearful atmosphere reciting mantras with loud voice including specially smelling smoke to add more fear to it. To maintain the continuity of the fearful atmosphere, the exhausted Surindar recited many out of context mantras. The success comes by compelling the challenger to retreat out of the ultimate fear of death. Unfortunate Surindar had a stubbourn (!) this time. Edamaraku did not yield to any tactic.

Do we have courage to challenge for all such cases? Edamaruku is now a hero with no bounty on his head because nobody's sentiment is hurt. Surinder was leading a handsome life through some unethical means. Otherwise he was probably not the reason for anybody's death. There are countless similar but dreadful incidences causing deaths to thousands and millions. But we do not dare to make a mere mention of them. Can Edamaruku challenge any of these? Even if he dares, the government of India would say, "Shut up. Don't mess up with our vote bank."

Let us get courage from Edamaraku and build a culture of saying False to a false thing whoever it is related to.

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

*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm

*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf

*****************************************

MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm

*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm

*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona

http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/

*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari

http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm

*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/

Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm

*****************************************

Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:

http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190Yahoo! Groups Links

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[mukto-mona] A Fatwabaz Professor in Dhaka University

In Dhaka University, a Fatwabaz professor is teaching his own book on Fatwa for the course titled: "Oriental Political Thought." Quite contrary to the theme of the course, he is compelling the students to study on Islamic costumes, anti-islamic activities on Bengali new year's day, etc. The name of the faculty member is: Dr. Hasanuzzaman Chowdhury. Please read more on the teaching materials of Dr. Chowdhury in the link: http://www.thedailysangbad.com/index.php?news_id=4550&nature=1&cat_id=1&date=2008-04-03

Shabbir Ahmed

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[mukto-mona] A Bengali Poetry Evening at New School University

Dear Friends,

Shabdaguchha, the International Bilingual Poetry Journal, invites you to The Bengali Poetry Evening which will be held on 25th April at New School University. Participants of the event will read from the current issue, a translated issue, that presented 32 Bangladeshi poets. The event is a part of the magazine's 10th-year anniversary celebration and the observation of American Poetry Month.

Participants:

Stanley H. Barkan, poet and publisher, advising editor of Shabdaguchha

Joytirmoy Datta, Poet and journalist, advising editor of Shabdaguchha

Prof. Nicholas Birns, Department of English at New School University and the guest editor of the Shabdaguchha translated issue

Hassanal Abdullah, editor, Shabdaguchha

Tusher Gayen, poet

Faruque Azam, poet

and

Naznin Seamon, poet and the assistant editor of Shabdaguchha

Time of the event: 7pm to 8:50pm

Vanue: New School University

66 W. 12th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)

Room A-509

Direction: L Train to 6th Avenue or the 4/5/6/R/N to Union Square

No admission fee is required.

Please come to enjoy the event and get a taste of Bengali poetry.

Sincerely,

Hassanal Abdullah, editor

Shabdaguchha

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Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: What’s to be Done?

Mr Faruq Alamgir's comment was not only factually wrong, it is also literarily objectionable in the litereray perspective when he used the word "bas__rd" to some people (his opponenets in political views). It should have been edited/rejected by the moderators. It is very sad that when hundreds of people was killed/injured by these several terrorists activities some people are trying to undermine the loss of the country. On top of death of hundreds of epople, these bombings/killings effected the image of our country abroad tremendously. Unless this person is someway related to these terrorists, why he would term this several terrorist activity stray incidents. I personally would think any sympathyzer of these terrorism should be under custody for possible connection with terrorism.

A very good comment by musa sarker.

Fighter 1971

musasarkar <m_musa92870@yahoo.com> wrote:

What about Mufti Hannan and all the Moulanas that were arrested with
BNP-Jamaat minister Abdus Salam Pintu lately by the CTG? How can you
say, "one or two stray incidents occured and it was tackeld and the
guilty were already hanged." or "the conspirators has faced
ultimate justice and gone for good." Some are still out there
including one of the godfathers, Moulana Mohiuddin Khan. Did you
forget that episode of terrorist bombings at AL gathering on Aug 21,
2004; murders of two prominent MPs Kibria and Ahsanullah Master;
attacks on British highcommissioner; attacks at Ramna botomul,
Mymensingh Cinemal Hall, Udichi porgram; and numerous other attacks
and plans to attack by these hardcore terrorists? Some don't count
these as terrorist acts (their terrorists are our freedom fighters)
since most of them were against AL or left-wing entities.

Harkatul Jihad is a reality. "Bagla bhai doesn't exist, it is the
creation of the media," remember who said that? The Al-Badr chief
and mass murderer moilana Nijami. Looks like his foot soldiers are
doing his work, since he cannot give us much hidayat these days under
emergency rule.

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Faruque Alamgir <faruquealamgir@...>
wrote:
>
> Musfique Bhai
>
> It appears that there are conspiracy going on against Bangladesh
in multiple direction. The detractors are so much well prepared and
well paid that they are trying relentlessly to undo the peace,
stability and dignity of Bangladesh. These are in the name Chetona
and shoe jons are portraying Bangladesh as a radical Islamic
country. As you have mentioned that one or two stray incidents
occured and it was tackeld and the guilty were already hanged.
But "Shakhir Bongshi" is continuosly playing the same tune.
>
> These bastad's don't see the hindu fundementalist who are on
killing spree on regular basis of the minorities specially the
Muslims and lately Christians/Dalits and burn down Mosque and
Churches(Assam lately) led by their father Advani,Bal Thakrey,Shib
Sona.
>
> Friends, the equation is simple these traitors are paid heavily
by their father Pronob da/boddo buso gong.I wonder that they do not
have idea how the wb bengalis are subjugated undr the marwaris/up/cp
people. In near future the Bangla will vanish from WB totally. This
is not my statement but of sunil and others.I have seen sunil da's
breaking window pains shitters in New Market Calcutta to demand only
Bangla to written in the sign board alongwith hindi and english.
Shame shame sunil daaaa after 60 years you are demanding Bangla only
in the sign Board.Sham Shame Shame on you people. "Kichu Na jutley
Kochu gachey lotkiey mora uchit" ar majhey majhey amaader Bangla
Shikhatey ashen !! Dadara Bangladesher Bangalira aponader cheyo
onek beshi beshi Bangalee ebong Banglakey praner cheyo bhalobashey"
>
> Friends, Mostafa asked these quislings to go to Jahannam but I
will say the patriotic and conscious people will hoot them out to
either to their fathers land or to Jahannam.
>
> We the Bangladeshis will have to remain vigilant against the
concubines and bibhisons and challenge them anywhere and everywhere.
>
> I can control my emmotion about a patriotic Bhashan by their
leader Hasina Bu in 1986. She said in Paltan maidan She said quote :
Shoirachar Ershader odhiney jey nirbachon se hobey jatio beiman"
ebong ei Banglai tar jaoga hobey na" unquote.
> But people know who became "jatio beiman" in 1986. Hu lala ! Hu
lala ! Hu lala ! Ho !
>
> So, Bangladeshi should follow what the leader said.Anybody or
everybody found being Gaddar against the cause of our motherland we
shall implement what our leader Hasina bu
said !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Faruque Alamgir
>
> Musfique Prodhan <chena_kew@...>
wrote:
> As a regular guest speaker in BBC Bangla, Dr Ali Riaz may be a
scholar in his own educational field. However, since when BBC have
invited any rational no partisan speaker frequently. Since Dr Ali
Riaz's political believe matches with the current trend of BBC and
the West, hence he has been given the priority to speak his mind.
>
> Though there were a few incidences of violence occured in past
few years in the name of Islam (in Bangladesh), but the people were
quick enough to condemn such, and the conspirators has faced
ultimate justice and gone for good. People who are trying to stirr
fear among Bangladeshis in the name of those terrorists, are simply
assiting to keep the hype going to fullfill a specific "pupose"
>
>
> Musfique.
>
> PS: Since Archana had refrained from commenting on rebuttals on
her previous writeup, I assume that she acknowledges the rebuttals
as fact.
>
> Archana Abedin <shunagorik@...> wrote:
> Check this write-up by Ali Riaz. His most recent book
> is: Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: A Complex Web
> (London: Routledge, 2008). He has published four other
> books in English, including God Willing: The Politics
> of Islamism in Bangladesh (Rowman and Littlefield,
> 2004), and more than a dozen books in Bengali.
>
> Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh: What's to be Done?
>
> Ali Riaz
> Progressive Bangladesh
> http://www.ProgressiveBangladesh.org
>
> On March 6, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
> designated the Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh
> (HuJIB) a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). The
> official implications of such designation are very
> broad. Once an organization is so designated, it
> becomes illegal for persons in the United States or
> subject to US jurisdiction to provide material support
> to that organization. US financial institutions have
> to freeze any assets the organization holds, and the
> United States can deny visas to its representatives.
> The designation moreover carries a message greater
> than these legal implications: it indicates that the
> US State Department has been keeping track of the
> organization and is convinced that it constitutes a
> threat beyond its country of origin....
>
> http://www.progressivebangladesh.org/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=31
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
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>
>
> ---------------------------------
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>

__,_._,___

[mukto-mona] Who's In Control? A Reminder - In Their Own Words

Who's In Control?

A Reminder – In Their Own Words.

"The US is leader of the free world, and under this administration is beginning to act like it. If the Europeans don't like it, that's too bad. It's too late to do anything about it now."

(US Vice President George Bush, Chicago, Aug 16 1982.)

US imperialism has been advancing throughout the world steadily since it became industrialised more than a century ago. Like the British empire and other empires before it, including pretenders to empires such as the German Nazis, it is guided by immutable principles irrefutable and laws inherent and intrinsic in its national and global socio-economic relationships.

Except for the primitive communism necessarily practiced by tribes or societies for their own needs, and when it became possible to produce an economic surplus over requirements, societies have always consisted of socio-economic classes, where one class economically exploits and lives off the other – the one owning the means of production of wealth, the other, owning no means of production themselves and therefore entirely dependent on making or producing wealth for the owners of the means of production for a tiny share of the product in order to live. Each era had its particular set of classes with opposing socio-economic relations – owner and slave, patrician and plebeian, feudal landowner and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, and capitalist or bourgeoisie (French: capital owning class) and proletarian (working class by hand or brain). In short: exploiter and exploited.

Capitalism's inherent unsustainability is that it cannot remain confined in one country if it is not to stagnate and collapse. It must continually expand into ever increasing sources of cheap raw materials, cheap labour, and markets for the goods and profit as excess capital it produces.

Since capitalism is therefore inherently ultimately unsustainable, it can only survive by imperialism and war.

The history of this is evident and exemplified here – in their own words:

"Got Mit Uns."

(God is with us. Inscribed on Nazi Wehrmacht belts.)

"God... has marked the American people as His chosen nation to finally lead in the regeneration of the world."

(US Senator Albert Beveridge, 1900.)

"To see freedom sent around the world, this is our mission... It was God's charge to us."

(US Senator Barry Goldwater.)

"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope for man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."

(Ronald Reagan, 1964.)

"I have long believed that there is a divine plan which has entrusted this land to a people with a special destiny."

(US President Ronald Reagan, 1981.)

"I have read the Book of Revelations and yes, I believe the world is going to end."

(Caspar Weinberger.)

"You know, I turn back to your ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if — if we're the generation that's going to see that one come about."

(US President Ronald Reagan, Oct 18 1983.)

"If it takes a bloodbath... let's get it over with."

(Ronald Reagan, Governor of California.)

"What are they going to say about us? What are those people 100 years from now going to think? They will know whether we used those weapons... Well; what they will say about us a hundred years from now depends on how we keep our rendezvous with destiny. Will we do the things that we know must be done and know that one day down in history, a hundred years or perhaps before someone will say 'thank God for those people back in the 1980s for preserving our freedom, for saving for us this blessed planet called Earth'."

(Ronald Reagan, in his 1984 television election debate.)

"Retribution will be ours unless we put the world in order."

(US President Ronald Reagan.)

"In an ideal world we'd have God for President. Nothing is less appropriate for this nation. …so He will speak to His supporters in the polling booths and advise them of His Chosen Man. …candidate Reagan… believes what God tells us… He's for Adam and Eve and he's against what they call the Theory of Evolution… he's for America being number one again, having the strongest military since Creation… Capitalism is enshrined in the Book of Proverbs… Material wealth is God's way of blessing people who put Him first."

(US Moral Majority Born Again Christian leader Reverend Jerry Falwell.)

It might be said that these are the words of crackpots and bigots. Very well, let's see what respected upstanding "responsible" leaders have to say:

"Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world must and can be ours. And we shall get it, as our Mother England has told us how... We will cover the ocean with our merchant marine. We will build a navy to the measure of our greatness... Our institutes will follow our trade… American law, American order, American civilisation, and the American flag…"

(US Senator Albert Beveridge, 1898.)

"...to set forth the political, military, territorial and economic requirements of the United States in its potential leadership of the non-German world area, including the United Kingdom itself as well as the Western hemisphere and the Far East. The first and foremost requirement of the United States in a world in which it proposes to hold unquestionable power… Co-ordination and co-operation of the United States with other countries to secure the limitation of any exercise of sovereignty by foreign nations that constitutes a threat to the minimum world area essential for the security and economic prosperity of the United States."

(Economic and Financial Group of the US Council of Foreign Relations. 1940.)

"The measure of our victory will be the measure of our domination after victory."

(US Council of Foreign Relations Director Isaiah Bowman, Dec 15 1941.)

"… England… will be so impoverished economically and crippled in prestige that it is improbable that she will be able to resume or maintain the dominant position in world affairs that she has occupied for so long. At best, England will become a junior partner in a new Anglo-Saxon imperialism in which the economic resources and the military and naval strength of the US will be the centre of gravity… The sceptre passes to the US."

(Annual Convention of the Investment Bankers' Association of America, Dec 10 1940.)

"...the British Empire as it existed in the past will never re-appear and that the United States may have to take its place. ...must cultivate a mental view toward world settlement after this war which will enable us to impose our own terms, amounting to perhaps a Pax-Americana."

(US Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy, May 6 1942.)

"My dear Americans, we may be short of dollars, but we are not short of will... We won't let you down. … Standards of life may go back. We may have to say to our miners and to our steel workers: "We can't give you all we hoped for. We can't give you the houses we want you to live in. We can't give you the amenities we desire to give you." But we won't fail."

(British Labour Foreign Secretary Bevin to the American Legion, Savoy Hotel, London, Sept 10 1947.)

"If the threatened war comes, one of the leading America generals said not long ago that while London and most of Britain would be quickly destroyed, Britain would remain useful as an aircraft carrier for American bombers; they would still be able to use the excellent aerodromes built by Americans in East Anglia."

(New Statesman and Nation March 27 1948 )

"Today Americans know that they are the dominant Power in the world; they take pride in the position, they accept the responsibility of it, and they expect the rest of us to respect their leadership."

(Tory Lord Woolton, Sunday Times, July 16 1950.)

"Mr. Bevin went to New York, determined to prevent the precipitate rearmament of Germany... He failed... Faced with an American ultimatum... he toed the line."

(New Statesman and Nation, Dec 2 1950.)

"We British must recognise that American policy must prevail, if there is an honest difference of opinion between us as to what to do next in the world struggle. He who pays the piper calls the tune."

(Labour MP Commander King-Hall, National Newsletter, June 28 1951.)

"Consultation would be a matter of a telephone call as United States planes with atom bombs took off for targets."

(United States News and World Report, Dec 21 1951.)

"The United States will in fact have no other choice but to establish a world order it is able to live with, a world where there is relatively free access to the world's resources."

(US Wall Street Journal, Nov 26 1979.)

"We must be prepared for waging a conventional war that may extend to many parts of the globe. Many of the resources that we need for energy and many essential strategic minerals are found thousands of miles from our shores... If we are to safeguard our access, and the access of the free world, to these resources, we must increase our military and naval strength."

(US Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger, April 28 1981.)

"As the largest producer, the largest source of capital, and the biggest contributor to the global mechanism, we must set the pace and assume the responsibility of the majority stockholder in this corporation known as the world... Nor is this for a given term of office. This is a permanent obligation."

(Leo D. Welch, Secretary-Treasurer of US Standard Oil Company, 1946.)

"It will become increasingly difficult in the near future to protect US overseas interests with conventional weapons... I have in mind situations far from our shores,... where we would have difficulty, from a logistics point of view, at least, in reaching the areas in which we have considerable US interests. Such situations could well involve a non nuclear power... We just would not have the capability, quantitatively and qualitatively, to take care of the situation with conventional force...

…the need for the United States to look more and more overseas for the resources to provide economic strength... We will be looking increasingly towards Africa and the Middle East, as well as South America, for the materials required by our industrial economy... We will require free access and intercourse with many far distant nations of the world in order to remain a leading export - import nation…

We may have confrontations with non-nuclear states such as Cuba. We may have confrontations with nuclear or non-nuclear nations whose geographical location is such that we have no adequate means of protecting our interests with conventional weapons... The use of nuclear weapons with varying capabilities might be the only effective method of accomplishing our objectives, protecting our interests, and minimising the overall death and destruction that might accrue."

(Vice Admiral Gerald E. Miller, US Navy, House of Representatives, Washington 1976.)

"Commercial and industrial predominance forces a nation to seek markets, and where possible to control them to its own advantage by prepondering force... An inevitable link in a chain of logical sequences: industry, markets, control, navy bases."

(US naval historian Alfred Mahan.)

"We must maintain armed forces all over the world. The United States may have to occupy more countries before the cold war is ended."

(US Vice President Barkley, New Orleans, May 22 1950.)

"The United States, as an island nation heavily dependent on overseas raw materials, must continue its forward deployment of forces in Asia and the Pacific region. There is no cheaper way to American security."

(US Defence Secretary Frank Carlucci.)

"To use our strategic air power successfully we must have bases so located around the world that we can reach any target we may be called upon to hit."

(US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.)

"The West could, with relative impunity launch atomic attacks on the Soviet Union from a perimeter of 360 degrees, manned by more than 250 allied bases."

(General Norstad, US Supreme Commander of NATO, in The Times June 14 1957,)

"Both our interests and our ideals propel us westward across the Pacific."

(US President Nixon.)

"Now the Pacific has become an Anglo-Saxon lake, and our line of defence runs through the chain of islands fringing the coast of Asia."

(US General MacArthur, Daily Mail March 2 1949.)

"Geographically, our territory extends to the Aleutians, Hawaii and Guam in the middle of the Pacific Ocean... We are a global power with global tasks. We have to be prepared to fulfil the tasks facing us in Asia in the same ways as we are prepared to fulfil them elsewhere."

(Former US Defence Secretary Brown.)

"US global power projection rests upon a co-operative Caribbean and a supportive South America. The exclusion of Old World maritime powers from Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin America has helped the United States generate sufficient surplus power for balancing activities on European, Asian and African continents...

Any United States power base, be it in Latin America, Western Europe or the Western Pacific, cannot be allowed to crumble if the United States is to retain adequate extra energy to be able to play a balancing role elsewhere in the world. For a balancing state like the United States, there is no possibility of flexible global action if its power is immobilised or checked in any one area."

(From the Santa Fe Document, Inter-American Security Inc. Washington, 1980.)

"We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order..."

(Washington Post, May 1991.)

"In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn't such a great idea after all."

(US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbot, Time, July 20, l992.)

"We are at present working discreetly with all our might to wrest this mysterious force called sovereignty out of the clutches of the local nation states of the world."

(Professor Arnold Toynbee, Institute for the Study of International Affairs, Copenhagen, June l931.)

"We shall have world government whether or not you like it, by conquest or consent."

(Council on Foreign Relations member James Warburg, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, February 17, l950.)

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds' central banks which were themselves private corporations. …capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups."

(US Professor Carroll Quigley, Georgetown University, 1966.)

"The New World Order will have to be built... in the end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece…"

(US Council on Foreign Relations, April l974.)

"Somebody has to take governments' place, and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it."

(David Rockefeller, Newsweek International, Feb 1 1999.)

"… our policy must be both "global", ie: embrace every part of the world, and also "total", ie: include political, psychological, economic, military and special measures integrated into one whole.

In Europe we started with economic aid. It is quite possible that without the Marshall Plan we would have found it more difficult to form NATO. …a co-ordinated foreign policy using every kind of pressure, resulted in the creation of what we hoped was a solid military union…

In Asia… the importance of preliminary economic preparations for the alliances we wished to make. …military measures will often be found unobjectionable if the way to them is paved with economic aid...

By the use of economic aid we succeeded in getting access to Iranian oil and we are now well established in the economy of that country. The strengthening of our economic position in Iran has enabled us to acquire control over her foreign policy and in particular to make her join the Baghdad Pact. At the present time the Shah would not dare even to make any changes in his cabinet without consulting our Ambassador...

For us to have in Asia, Africa and other under-developed areas a political and military influence as great or greater than we obtained through the Marshall Plan in Europe. It is necessary for us to act carefully and patiently, and in the early stages confine ourselves to securing very modest political concessions in exchange for our economic aid (in some exceptional cases even without any concessions in return). The way will then be open to us, but at a later stage, to step up both our political price and our military demands...

…we should pick out the countries with anti-communist governments friendly to us, which are already bound to the US through stable long-term military agreements. In this case governmental subsidies and credits may take the form mainly of military appropriations. The hooked fish needs no bait... At the same time economic support for those strata of the local business community which are ready to co-operate with the US should be increased and the necessary conditions would be created for businessmen of this type to be put in key economic positions and accordingly for their political influence to be increased...

Such countries may be given direct economic aid as well but we must give them only as much as is necessary in order to keep suitable governments concerned in power and to check any hostile opposition elements."

…includes those countries which pursue or tend towards a neutralist policy. In this case the main emphasis in economic assistance as regards government subsidies and credits should be on creating conditions in which eventually the economic relations established by us would work for and make it natural for these countries to join military pacts and alliances inspired by us. The essence of this policy should be that the development of our economic relations with these countries would ultimately allow us to take over key positions in the native economy... By this means we can hope to divert the foreign policy of these countries in a more desirable direction.

…support should be given in particular cases and within due limit, to native businessmen who are struggling against their colonial status… if we do not support them we lose all hope of exercising a restraining influence on them until it is too late. If this happens the desire for independence may result in a nationalism so strong as to escape not only from the control of the old colonial powers but also from our own control.

Extensive economic aid to all three groups of countries should always be presented as an expression of a sincere and disinterested desire on the part of the US to help and co-operate with them."

(Millionaire Nelson Rockefeller, US Council on Foreign Relations, to President Eisenhower, January 1956.)

"We will never be able to put into effect our joint plans in this vital area unless quite exceptional efforts are made to check European tendencies towards neutralism, pacifism and unilateralism… If argument, persuasion and compacting the media fail, we are left with no alternative to jolt the faint-hearted in Europe through the creation of situations, country by country, as deemed necessary, to convince them where their interests lie. This would call for appropriate action of a sensitive nature which we have frequently discussed..."

(US NATO Supreme Commander Alexander Haig, in a letter to Secretary General of NATO – ex Nazi Joseph Lunz, June 1979.)

"Intervention is justified wherever it becomes necessary to guarantee the United States' capital and markets."

(US President Taft, 1912.)

"We do control the destinies of Central America... Until now Central America has always understood that governments which we recognise and support stay in power, while those we do not recognise and support fail."

(US Under Secretary of State Robert Olds, 1927.)

"The United States could never permit another Nicaragua, even if preventing it meant employing the most reprehensible means."

(Zbigniew Brzezinski, June 1980.)

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves."

(Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, about Chile prior to the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected government of socialist President Salvadore Allende in 1973. )

"I am against any interference in the internal affairs of the Latin American countries. But under certain conditions I consider exceptions possible."

(Henry Kissinger.)

"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force - the Marine corps... And during that time I spent most of my time being a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism... Thus I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped to make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the national city bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. I helped make Honduras right for American fruit companies in 1903."

(Testimony of US Marine Corps General Smedley Butler, McCormack Dickstein Committee. 1935.)

QUESTION:

"...I saw the helicopters... Americans moving towards our village... huge, towering men... we sat there huddled together... American appeared at the entrance... fired point blank at grandmother Toan. She sank slowly to the floor... grenade... I crawled out... bodies of my sister, little brother, uncle Duc, cousin Thu and her baby... Americans returned... mutilated bodies with bayonets... baby in convulsions... I hid... heard uncle Huong's voice... I asked him "is anyone else alive?" "No little one, everyone's killed." Please, tell me why were they all killed?"

(Twelve year old Vo Thi Lien, survivor of the US massacre of the inhabitants of the village of Son My, Vietnam (My Lai on US military maps) March 16 1969.)

ANSWER:

"Let us suppose we lose Indochina. The tin and tungsten that we so greatly value from that area would cease coming. We are voting for the cheapest way that we can to prevent the occurence of something that would be of a most terrible significance to the United States of America, our security, our power and ability to get certain things we need from the riches of the Indochinese territory and from Southeast Asia."

(US President Eisenhower, justifying US aid to France's war against Vietnam, Aug 4 1953; which later included the offer of the use of nuclear weapons during the seige of Dien Bien Phu.)

"Geographically, Vietnam stands at the hub of a vast area of the world - Southeast Asia - an area with a vast population of 249 million persons... He who holds or has influence in Vietnam can affect the future of the Philippines and Formosa [now Taiwan B.M.] to the East, Thailand and Burma with their huge rice surpluses to the West, and Malaysia and Indonesia with their rubber, ore and tin to the South... Vietnam thus does not exist in a geographical vacuum - from it large store-houses of wealth and population can be influenced and undermined."

(Former US Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge, Cambridge, Massachussets, in the Boston Sunday Globe, Feb 28 1965.)

"It is rich in many raw materials such as tin, oil, rubber and iron ore... This area has great strategic value... It has major naval and air bases."

(US Secretary of State Dulles, March 29 1954.)

"One of the world's richest areas is open to the winner of Indo-China. That's behind the growing US concern... tin, rubber, rice, key strategic raw materials are what the war is really about. The US sees it as a place to hold - at any cost."

(US News and World Report, April 4 1954.)

"… strategic resources of Southeast Asia and their significance for the global system that the US was then constructing, incorporating Western Europe and Japan. It was feared that successful independent development under a radical nationalist leadership in Vietnam might 'cause the rot to spread', gradually eroding US dominance in the region and ultimately causing Japan, the largest domino, to join in a closed system from which the US would be excluded… The idea that US global planners had national imperialist motives is intolerable to the doctrinal system, so this topic must be avoided in any history directed to a popular audience."

(Noam Chomsky, "The Vietnam War In The Age Of Orwell.")

"Agreement On Ending the War and Restoring Peace In Vietnam. January 27 1973. (The Paris Agreement.)

Article 21.- The United States anticipates that this Agreement will usher in an era of reconciliation with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as with all the peoples of Indochina. In persuance of its traditional policy, the United States will contribute to healing the wounds of war and to postwar reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and throughout Indochina.

"1. The Government of the USA agrees to contribute to post-war reconstruction in Vietnam without any political conditions.

2. The US contribution will fall in the range of 3—25 billion dollars of grant aid over 5 years."

Signed: For the Government of the United States.

William P. Rodgers.

Secretary of State."

(Agreement on ending the Vietnam war, 1973.)

Not one dollar has been paid.

"Well folks, that just about wraps up Vietnam. So let's all have a party and get outta here…"

(Admiral of the US command fleet, USS Blue Ridge, departing Vietnam for the last time, May 1 1975.)

Not about oil? They must be joking!

"Our aim is not simply to appropriate oil in one way or another (say in easily accessible Nigeria or Venezuela) but to crush OPEC. Therefore we have to use direct force in order to get hold of large and concentrated oil deposits which can be opened up rapidly so as to put an end to the artificial oil shortage and thus to lower the price... Since this is the ultimate and there is only one target possible: Saudi Arabia... Fortunately, these are not only rich oilfields but they are also concentrated in a very small area, a fraction of the Saudi Arabian territory... While Vietnam was full of trees and brave people and our national interest was almost invisible, what we have here is no trees, very few people and a clear objective."

(Advisor to the US Defence Department Professor Miles Ignotas, March 1975.)

"The economic health and well-being of the United States, Western Europe, Japan depend upon continued access to the oil from the Persian area."

(President Carter, Department of State Bulletin, April 1978.)

"Western industrialised societies are largely dependent on the oil resources of the Middle East region and a threat to access to that oil would constitute a grave threat to the vital national interests. This must be dealt with; and that does not exclude the use of force if necessary."

(US Secretary of State Alexander Haig, March 11 1981.)

"In the future, we are more likely to be involved in Iraq-type things, Panama-type things, Grenada-type things… Our position should be the protection of the oilfields. Now whether Kuwait gets put back, that's subsidiary stuff."

(Chairman of US Armed Services Committee Les Aspin, 1990.)

"They know we own their country [Iraq]. We own their airspace… We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need."

(US Brigadier General William Looney, Washington Post, August 30 1999.)

"US aid is to "improve U.S.-Kazakh military cooperation while establishing a U.S.-interoperable base along the oil-rich Caspian."

(U.S. State Department Report, 2002.)

"In oil's name, the United States is immersed in a new kind of colonialism, for the resources that lie under foreign feet. They couldn't care less about the people. Therein lies an even greater tragedy."

(U.S. Dept. of State, Congressional Budget Justifications: Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2003.)

And finally, some words of wisdom:

"The foreign policy that monopolistic capital imposes is a ruinous one for the people of the United States. The United States had some thirty billion dollars in gold in its reserves at the end of the Second World War; in twenty years it had used up more than half of these reserves. What has it been used for? With what benefit to the people of the United States? Does the United States perhaps have more friends now than before?

… But what kind of liberty is it that they are defending, that nobody is grateful to them, that nobody appreciates this alleged defence of their liberties? …What country has prospered and has achieved peace and political stability under that protection from the United States? What solutions has it found for the great problems of the world? The United States has spent fabulous resources pursuing that policy; it will be able to spend less and less, because its gold reserves are being exhausted.

… the United States has been carrying out a repressive and reactionary policy in the international field, without having solved the problems of a single underdeveloped country..."

(Fidel Castro, quoted by US journalist Lee Lockwood, May 1965.)

Compiled by Brian Mitchell. EVOLUTION.

This collection of quotations has been gathered from the following books by the same author:

1917 AND ALL THAT

The Untaught History Syllabus

In Their Own Words – A Political History Of The Cold War 1917-1983.

Brian Mitchell

MY FELLOW DISBELIEVERS

The Untaught Book Of Enlightenment For The Common Man

In Their Own Words

Compiled by Brian Mitchell.

Mental Health warning:

This book is dangerous to those with a British education.

It could change your mind (If you still have one.)

THE UNTAUGHT PHILOSOPHY SYLLABUS

Understanding The Hidden Nature Of Capitalism And How It Works

Or Marx For Beginners – Philosophy and Economics.

(Including Marx's essential exposé of the capitalist socio-economic system.)

Brian Mitchell

A fourth, non-political book:

THE WRITER'S, AUTHOR'S AND JOURNALIST'S COMPUTER GUIDE

A MORE OR LESS COMPLETE COMPUTER GUIDE FOR MORE OR LESS COMPLETE COMPUTER USERS

(Or Even Beginners)

WINDOWS AND WORD MORE FULLY EXPLAINED

(Updated for Windows 2000 and Word 2000.)

Written by a writer, with writers, authors and journalists in mind. And those who work alone without an IT department.

A wealth of fully explained and easy to understand guidance, instruction, tips and tricks and information of all sorts, including what to buy, how to set it up, how to maintain it and how to fix it when it throws a tantrum.

Aims to give all‑round competence and confidence to anybody who wants to use a computer as a fully featured writing machine without feeling like a dummy or idiot.

Brian Mitchell

__,_._,___

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