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Monday, February 14, 2011

[ALOCHONA] To walk across Bangladesh



To walk across Bangladesh
 
Frank Domenico Cipriani
 
While I was cleaning my house the other day, I came across an old notebook of mine, written 24 years ago in Argentina, precisely half a lifetime ago.

Housecleaning, "Squaw work", my Alaskan friend Jason used to call it (or anything else he was incapable of doing) has often been the epicentre of my personal life-changing earthquakes. Twenty-four years ago, I was berating myself for the dingy condition of my very first apartment. In bold letters, I wrote in my diary – "How can anyone hope to change the world if he can't even clean his own home???" Well, I guess you can improve bad habits over time. In 2011, my house is clean. Maybe it's finally time for me to think about helping to change the world, or at least to celebrate the amazing changes made by others.

I'll start with a letter to you all.

* * *

'Dear Readers, I want to reveal to you a secret desire of my heart. I want to celebrate the anniversary of your Independence with a walk across Bangladesh. I imagine myself following a rainbow-like 2000 km. route, from East to West, travelling with a handful of your people who are a cross-section of your society. I want to learn from all of them. I want to be joined by a school teacher, a university intellectual, a street kid, a rich kid, a poet, a businessman, a retired cricket player, an imam, a factory worker, someone from the AL and someone from the BNP. I want to walk with someone who was there in 1971. I want to walk with someone who was born in this millennium and who aspires to lead his or her people. I want to learn your language and immerse myself in your customs. I want to help you celebrate your Independence, and I want to carry the lessons I learn from your history to my own people, write a book, maybe plant a few trees. I can't do much, but I know I can walk.'

Yes. I'm crazy. And no, I don't care.

The danger of having a public forum is that if a writer descends into the lunacy of a 3AM idea and publishes the said idea, his readers just might hold his feet, almost literally, to the fire, and invite him to put his money where his mouth is.

The lucky thing for me is that my mouth is way bigger than my wallet.

Still, the difference between insane ideas and inspired ones are measured in terms of success. A crazy idea that works is no longer a crazy idea.

My motivation for this walk isn't the same as those of the thrill-seekers who want to climb Mount Everest. I have absolutely no interest in scaling the icy heights of the world for a few minutes of oxygen-aided sightseeing, while risking the loss of the tip of my prominent nose. I am way more horizontally-oriented. I don't think any Odyssey is worth embarking upon that does not include an opportunity to make new friends. In our overpopulated, virtualised, globally marketed world, each of us has an obligation to bear testimony to the mercy and compassion of the God that gave us life. We must celebrate the human heights to which God allows us to ascend. I count your Independence as one of those great pinnacles.

I am shocked that a country that has such a story to tell is so universally ignored here in the capital of the world. Why is it that evildoers can strap bombs to themselves and co-opt the American audience? The spotlight should shine instead on corners of the world where attention can actually effect positive change for people that have struggled so hard to be free.

Isn't shining a spotlight on you my duty as an American?

By virtue of the Revolution, Americans are charged to help let freedom ring. This doesn't mean storming beaches, building oil pipelines, or flying drones into enemy targets. This means making friends in distant corners of the world where the Spirit of '71 has found its kindred. By walking Bangladesh, I would hope to remind my own people of a precious Declaration to which a brave group of idealistic of men pledged "Their Lives, their Fortunes and their Sacred Honour".

My personal experience with walking has taken me on yearly two-week 250 mile journeys across New Jersey with seven adults and 21 children. As a group, our walkers have had close encounters with black bears, swarms of bees, and unpredictable weather (If you want to take a closer look check out www.walkingabout.org). I have discovered that by taking one's time and by travelling a road on foot, the pedestrian is able to appreciate the adage "God is in the details" to its fullest extent.

Were I to make such a journey in Bangladesh, it would require intense preparation, of both a linguistic and a physical nature. I would have to go into training, to learn and to understand the limits of my Western physique in terms of what I would need to provision this team (like what I could drink, what shots I'd need, how I would have to conduct myself to adjust to weather conditions, etc).

I would need to intensify my search for proper teachers of your language. This is no easy matter. To date, I have not found a textbook, not even a good piece of computer software to help me. Logistically, I do not know the routes. In short, I would need you, Dear Readers- your help, your suggestions, and your opinions. My main question is… what route should I take? What should be included along the way? What would the reaction be to such a journey? And, of course, who would come with me?

Ultimately, my desire would be to establish a beachhead of friendship on your democratic shores, to walk in your sandals, to speak in your cadences, and perhaps to reflect your own realities back to you with an American accent. I would hope to let my own people back home know that we have Democratic friends in Bangladesh. A Quixotic idea, perhaps, but at least worth considering.

If WikiLeaks has taught us anything, it's that diplomacy has absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the average person's life. Who are the true representatives of the nations? Whoever we declare them to be. I can friend you on facebook 'til the cows come home (or cross the border), but unless we are courageous enough to step down from our virtual "clouds", how can we hope to find common ground?

Having said all that, I know my walk is a pipe dream, and that it is possible that no one there in Bangladesh might have any interest in such a project. But I wanted to put it out there, at least as an intellectual exercise, and perhaps a point of embarkation for future articles.

Regardless of the outcome, I want you to know that your history is capable of moving this American, not just emotionally, but actually inspiring me to walk. So many of your people died, and so many who are left behind have suffered the loss of loved ones in order that I may have the freedom to write these words to you week after week. I don't know your heroes, I don't speak their language, and we don't even share a common religion. Still, I will not forget the debt I owe them. I will do all that is within my puny power to make sure that my neighbours here in America celebrate their sacrifice. The world owes your people its respect and admiration. It must become invested in your success.

My greatest desire when I write is that in some small way my words may be worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that were made to allow them to find purchase on your shore.

* * *

In the course of human events, we can easily leave a very big mess on this planet for our children to clean up. But I've learned that if I am careful, I do have at least enough discipline of character to make the world little bit less chaotic. I am an impatient man, I say more than I should, and I shoot from the hip. Twenty-four years from the words in my journal, these character flaws haven't disappeared. The insight I have gained in these additional decades is that life is a continually humbling experience. The bold declarations we make as we embark upon the path to wisdom are constantly challenged by the awesome and terrible truths that face us as we put one foot in front of the other. But that won't ever stop me from wanting to walk.

—————————————-
Frank Domenico Cipriani writes a weekly column in the Riverside Signal called "You Think What You Think And I'll Think What I Know." He is also the founder and CEO of The Gatherer Institute — a not-for-profit public charity dedicated to promoting respect for the environment and empowering individuals to become self-taught and self-sufficient. His most recent book, "Learning Little Hawk's Way of Storytelling", is scheduled to be released by Findhorn Press in May of 2011.

http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2011/02/15/1623/



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[ALOCHONA] Bangladesh bickers as overseas cash falters



Bangladesh bickers as overseas cash falters

By Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Bangladesh, which maintained annual economic growth of over 6% when the mightiest world economies were on their knees during the 2007-2009 financial turmoil, is facing a possible balance of payments crisis as a key part of that success story - remittances from overseas workers - appears set to decline.

Remittances, worth as much as 11% of gross domestic product, show signs of reversing their usual strong growth, with an actual fall-off in recent months. As the government and recruiting agents squabble over what is going wrong and how to fix it, Malaysia last month turned the screw by saying it would send home more than 300,000 Bangladeshi workers for visa-related reasons.

"It is definitely a matter of concern," Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (IDS) research director Zaid Bakht told Asia Times Online. The decline is due to sluggish migration, which in turn is linked to a slow global economic recovery, he said.

The changing trend of remittances from workers, most sent abroad by recruiting agencies such as Riaz Overseas Ltd, Greenland Overseas Ltd, Ahmed and Co Ltd, hurts families and also damages Bangladesh's foreign currency reserves and the country's ability to pay for imports.

"Remittances have always helped Bangladesh with a strong foreign currency reserve till now," said Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of the governing body of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) (Rural Work-Aid Foundation) Dhaka. "It is imperative for the Bangladesh government to determine the reasons behind the decline."

IDS director Bakht said: "If the declining trend in remittances persists, our economy will face serious balance of payment problems soon."

The country's overall balance of payments recorded a US$873 million deficit in the five months through November 2010 compared with a $2.2 billion surplus in the year-earlier period due to a lower growth of inward remittances and a deficit balance in the financial account, the central bank announced last week. The current account balance decreased by over 66% to $563 million from $1.67 billion.

"The pressure on external sector may continue in the near future following a widening trade gap and poor performance of inward remittances," Financial Express reported, citing director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Mustafa K Mujeri.

Pressure on foreign exchange reserve has increased a more is being paid for imports, particularly for fuel oils, food grains and power plant equipment, Financial Express reported.

Remittance growth slowed to a 13% increase, with cash flows rising to about US$11 billion, in the 12 months to June 30, 2010, down from 31% growth in early 2008. In January this year, remittances declined to $960 million from $969.4 million a month earlier and $998.98 million in November 2010.

That could point to an annual decline this financial year. As it is, workers sent home $7.7 million less to their families in the seven months through January than the $6.5 billion received in the corresponding months of fiscal 2010.

Remittances during the financial crisis helped the country to maintain vibrant growth, as exports of readymade garments and frozen food, the two most important export sectors, were affected by the global meltdown.

Money sent home from abroad is now worth more than three times the $3.37 billion sent in the year to June 2004 and, until the past few months, was climbing to almost double the $6 billion reached in 2006 and 2007, just before the global financial crisis struck, according to data from the Foreign Exchange Policy department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

The country's central bank, Bangladesh Bank (BB) says the latest figures point to dwindling export of manpower and warn that in lieu of drastic measures, the decline in remittance growth will continue.

BB sources attributed the change in remittance trend to Bangladeshi workers being laid off in top destinations in the Arabian Gulf and Asia Pacific countries. Middle Eastern countries employ over 65% of migrant Bangladeshi workers, and last year the number going to Saudi Arabia fell 55.4%, and to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates about 28% each, while further west 46.7% fewer went to Libya.

Overall, the number of workers heading from Bangladesh to other countries dropped more than 20% to 376,327 in calendar 2010 compared with 475,278 in 2009, even as the number of female workers sent overseas increased 11%, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). As many as 875,055 workers were sent abroad in 2008.

In Southeast Asia, Malaysia will send back some 350,000 Bangladeshi expatriates for overstaying or working without valid visa, Bangladesh expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, announced on January 4 this year. The number of workers sent to Malaysia had already dropped 93.5% in 2010 against 2009, according to BMET. Across the border in Singapore, 10.33% fewer Bangladeshi workers were employed last year.

The central bank in Dhaka recommended in its year-ending remittances statement in 2010 that the government explore "new markets for Bangladeshi workers as the existing markets, especially the Middle East, were reluctant to take more workers from the country".

But why this sudden fall?

The thousand or so recruiting agencies involved in moving workers overseas pin the blame on the government and its embassies for failing to identify potential markets and work projects. At a January 3 press conference titled "Deadlock in the manpower export sector", the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) said the state-owned international recruitment and training agencies, Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL) and BMET, had failed to accomplish their respective assignments of channeling manpower with jobs in foreign countries, training and sending manpower abroad.

It added, "We, about 1,100 recruiting agencies, are passing days in uncertainty as during the last three years, Bangladesh has lost a large chunk of job markets in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Oman and other countries."

The present government, after assuming office in 2009, promised to send workers to new destinations in Europe, North America and other continents, but "we are yet to see significant progress on these promises as the manpower export continues to fall," BAIRA secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury told Asia Times Online.

Chowdhury, who also speculated that recent labor unrest in Middle East countries played a role in migrant worker decline, said improper policy implementation and inefficient crisis management by the overseas employment ministry were important factors.

A government agency points the finger elsewhere, not least at the complaining recruiting agents, with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) singling them out in several of the 15 reasons it gives for the manpower export trend, according to Bangladeshi English-language newspaper The Independent, when on December 30 it cited a copy it had obtained of a DGFI report.

While pointing out that the country was producing too few skilled and professional personnel, the intelligence report accused some private recruiting agencies of profit grabbing and fraudulent behavior. Officialdom was also criticized, the report citing embassies that failed to find prospective projects where Bangladeshi workers could be sent, irresponsible bureaucrats, unethical government officials, and flaws in government foreign policy.

It also costs more to send a worker from Bangladesh overseas than it does to send workers from other South Asian countries to the same destinations, parliamentarians were told on January 2.

Negative propaganda by opposition party-members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, affected manpower export to most Muslim countries, especially to Saudi Arabia, the report said, while bad impressions were being created by Rohingyas who travel to foreign countries with fake Bangladeshi passports. The ethnic group, based in southwest Myanmar, speaks a language similar to Bangladeshis across the border.

Some of the DGFI claims were quickly dismissed. Tasneem Siddiqui, a professor of political science and chairperson of Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU) of Dhaka University, waived away the allegations of political propaganda.

"Political propaganda does not have the capacity to affect the export rate to such an extent. More than this, negative reports about Bangladeshi workers stealing items in foreign lands, labor unrest and so on have struck the export rate," Siddiqui told Asia Times Online.

A more effective government approach to tackling the problem would include PR campaigns "to build a stronger image for Bangladeshi workers", while worker training also had to be improved.

"Positive PR campaigns could have been initiated by the government, which needs to perceive this sector from a business angle as it is contributing so largely to the economy," Siddiqui said. "A $10 billion industry like the human resources export sector needs not just a bureaucratic ministry handling it, but an entire business system along with well thought-out marketing schemes.

"The 38 public technical training centers in Bangladesh are highly redundant in the training of migrant workers. Foreign trainers can be hired to train the trainers at these centers," she said, urging more coordination between the education, foreign and overseas employment ministries in this regard.

Most Bangladeshis working overseas are unskilled or semi-skilled, and "it's about time we developed skilled workforces who can satisfy the foreign countries' demands, channeling in more foreign currency [to Bangladesh]," Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said.

"Our exported workforce has remained unskilled and semi-skilled for the last two decades." Sri Lanka and Nepal "send a smaller population abroad compared to our exported population. However, they still enjoy higher remittances as the workers they send are being paid twice or thrice the salaries due to their sophisticated skills," he said.

Bakht of IDS said that "in the long run, the government must improve the language and technical skills of our workers."

The present government has taken steps to increase the export of workers, including introduction of BMET smart cards, ratification of the UN Convention 1990 on migrant workers' rights, and establishing the Prabashi Kalyan Bank (or Workers' Welfare Bank), which will make it easier for overseas workers to remit money home and obtain loans. The bank is expected to start operations this year.

Still, more needed to be done through concrete objectives, Saddiqui said.

Last month, the Labour and Overseas Employment Ministry published a statement that did not go well with the BAIRA members, following BAIRA's news conference on January 3, claiming that after meeting with the respective authorities of different countries, it came to know that the "Bangladeshi people were paying higher cost for getting overseas jobs but not earning salaries to the same extent."

The ministry said a team from Malaysia would be visiting Dhaka to "sort out an effective, fair and transparent way" for taking skilled workers from Bangladesh. The Malaysian team duly visited Dhaka by mid-January.

The government agencies claim not to be involved as a business entity but seek "help the people through their efforts". The BMET and government-formed company BOESL train and send workers on foreign government projects. If the Malaysian government, for example, is planning a large housing project, it might require thousands of semi-skilled workers at a lower cost if it hired Malaysian workers. Malaysian would then ask for tender applications for the project from other governments. If Bangladesh's offer is acceptable, the government in Dhaka will ask the BMET to train the workers according to the skills required and send them.

The BMET is also assigned to receive workers' complaints.

BOESL says it is "dedicated to ensure supply of quality workers within [the] shortest time span and minimum migration. Profit making is not motto of the company. The main purpose of creating this company is to provide honest, efficient and quick services to the valued foreign employers in the matter of recruitment and deployment of manpower."

While this is the case, the BMET and BOESL only sent around 700 people abroad in 2009 when the private recruiting agencies and individuals sent around 474,628 people. Again in 2010, the BMET did not send anyone and the BOESL sent only 1,941 when the private agencies and individuals sent around 289,963 workers.

There have been allegations that the BMET and BOESL have not been working as they should but are being bribed by the private recruiting agencies. Even then, there are doubts about the recruiting agencies' numbers, with claims that these are under-reported to evade taxes.

The government has "fixed 84,000 takas [US$1,160] for sending people to Malaysia, including all costs and one-way air fare". However, the statement added, migrant workers are currently being charged three to four times this amount by private recruiting agencies. These expenses are taken out of the workers' wallets by the agencies in the name of training, passport issuance expenses, immigration taxes and so forth. As the workers are mostly ignorant of the actual expenses, they rely blindly on what the private recruiting agencies are telling them.

Contracted workers, often poorly educated rural people many of whom sell their small holdings to finance the initial fees, are paid from 9,000 to 2,000 takas per month. Although told they will be provided food and expenses during their stay in the foreign countries, they often find once there that this is not the case and have to spend most of their income on their own upkeep, leaving little to send home although this was their motivation for going overseas in the first place.

The ministry statement concluded that despite repeated requests to BAIRA for proposing a reasonable fee, it had received no response from the trade body after two years.

BAIRA secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury, asked about the migration cost, told Asia Times Online, "the government needs to be more realistic about the sector. The allegations of higher costs are imaginary as there will be costs where there is trade." These also varied from one foreign destination to the other.

"We agree with notions that migration costs should be reduced and skilled workers should be sent. However, the government needs to make decisions after evaluating the demand and supply arrangements properly." The visit and evaluation by the Malaysian team was a "positive development", but "it will take some time for this process to reach a fruitful stage," he said.

Dhaka University's Siddiqui warned that by trying to reduce the migration costs, "the government seems to be in a conflict with the private recruiting agencies. While reduction in workers' exploitation and migration costs can help the overall situation, the private sector can be provided with incentives to increase their accountability as the private recruiting agencies are the biggest entrepreneurs in this sector."

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury is a senior staff writer at New Age in Dhaka.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MB15Df03.html


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[ALOCHONA] Mohammad Yunus's Grameen Bank in turmoil



Mohammad Yunus's Grameen Bank in turmoil

Mohammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning pioneer of "micro-loans" aimed at lifting millions of people out of poverty, is fighting to stop the Bangladesh government seizing control of the Grameen Bank.
 
 
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the man credited with launching the initiative which is now mired in controversy, vowed to resist what he says is a government campaign to force him out. He said he wants to stay at the helm until government ministers agree to preserve the bank's independence and original mission.
 
Professor Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006 in recognition of his microfinance scheme to give small loans to poor women in particular to help them start new businesses and generate new income for their families. His Grameen Bank now gives more than $1bn (£620m) in loans per year and has more than eight million borrowers.
 
But despite international acclaim, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, he has been attacked in recent months following claims in a documentary that money given in aid by the Norwegian government was switched from his bank to a subsidiary.
 
Norway's aid minister has since cleared Professor Yunus of any wrongdoing, but the Bangladesh government has seized on the claims and ordered its own inquiry. In December last year its prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said Grameen had been "sucking money out of the people after giving them loans".
"There has been no improvement in the lifestyle of the poor so far. They were just used as pawns to get more aid," she said.
Since then Professor Yunus has been called to appear in court to answer allegations that cheap vitamin-enriched yoghurts produced with Danone to improve nutrition among the poor were adulterated. More recently, the country's foreign minister, Dipu Moni, claimed in a meeting with diplomats earlier this month that Grameen was not an independent bank but "an organ of the state".
 
Last week, Professor Yunus's supporters said government figures had made three approaches in recent months to demand his resignation from the bank.According to Western diplomats in Dhaka, Professor Yunus is being targeted by the Awami League government because its leader, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, fears the professor's global prestige could lead to a political challenge. It dates, diplomatic sources say, from 2007, when Professor Yunus announced he was launching a political party after an army-backed caretaker administration arrested Sheikh Hasina and her chief opponent, Khaleda Zia, on corruption allegations.
 
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, a long-time supporter of Professor Yunus, is understood to have raised her concerns directly with Sheikh Hasina last month, but so far her intervention, and those of the World Bank and other Western governments, have failed to ease the pressure on him.
The moves coincide with growing criticism of micro-finance, in particular in India, where for-profit micro-loans have been linked with the suicides of 80 borrowers and which marks an extraordinary downturn in his fortunes which has baffled Western observers.
 
"He is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a winner of the Congressional Gold Medal and described as the Mother Teresa of Bangladesh," one Western diplomat in Dhaka told The Sunday Telegraph last week.
"The fear is that if government takes over, we don't have a history of government organisations running efficiently, because of political control," Professor Yunus said.
"When politicians or political leaders get involved in the management of a bank, the goal becomes winning elections and running many things [like corruption]."
 
He said government criticism that Grameen's interest on micro-loans is too high (it is fixed at a maximum of 25pc, 10pc for the cost of the fund plus 15pc) was unfair but that the government could offer better rates through its own state banks.
 
"If they want to run a programme for poor people, they can use one of their own before taking over something already running well," he said.
Now, he said, he wants to step down, but he fears the bank would be destabilised..
 
 



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[ALOCHONA] Iran:The war has already begun, total war is a possibility



Brookings Institute: Which Path to Persia?
 
The war has already begun, total war is a possibility.
 
Tony Cartalucci
 
While the corporate owned media has the plebeians arguing over whether or not Iran should have nuclear weapons or if it intends to commit genocide against the Jews (the largest population of Jews in the Middle East outside of Israel actually resides in Iran), the debate is already over, and the war has already quietly begun. Before it began, however, someone meticulously meted out the details of how it would unfold. That "someone" is the mega-corporate backed Brookings Institute.

Background

"
Which Path to Persia?" was written in 2009 by the Brookings Institute as a blueprint for confronting Iran. Within the opening pages of the report, acknowledgments are given to the Smith Richardson Foundation, upon which Zbigniew Brzezinski sits as an acting governor.The Smith Richardson Foundation funds a bizarre myriad of globalist pet projects including studies on geoengineering, nation building, meddling in the Caucasus region, and even studies, as of 2009, to develop methods to support "indigenous democratic political movements and transitions" in Poland, Egypt, Cuba, Nepal, Haiti, Vietnam, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, and Burma. Also acknowledged by the report is the Crown Family Foundation out of Chicago.

The Brookings Institute itself is a creation of the notorious globalist funding arms including the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, all who recently had been involved in the fake "
Ground Zero Mosque" controversy. Today, Brookings boasts a full complement of support and funding from America's biggest corporations. Upon the Brookings Institute's board of trustees one will find a collection of corporate leaders from Goldman Sachs, the Carlyle Group, the insurance industry, Pepsi (CFR), Alcoa (CFR), and various CFR affiliated consulting firms like McKinsey & Company.

Full details can be found within the pages of their
2010 annual report here.

To say Brookings is of big-business, by big-business and for big-business is a serious understatement. This is crucial to keep in mind as we examine their designs toward Iran and consider the terrible cost every single option they are considering has towards everyone but, unsurprisingly, their own bottom-lines.

Motivations Should be Obvious
We must look into the minds of those that shape US foreign policy and sweep aside the distracting rhetoric they feed us. US foreign policy is shaped by organizations like the Brookings Institute which consist of members of the largest corporations and banks on earth. These corporations are not only disinterested in security, but thrive on the war and conflict insecurity breeds. (See "
War is a Racket" and Eisenhower's Warning.)

Iran not only possesses massive oil reserves and an economic, political, and militarily strategic location in relation to Russia and China, it also boasts a population of 76 million. This is a large population that if left sovereign and independent can viably compete against the West's degenerate casino economy, or if invaded and corrupted, can become 76 million more consumerist human cattle.

The sheer scale of the military options considered by Brookings' strategy would be a boon alone for the defense contractors that sponsor it, whether the operation was a success or not. The incentive to domineer over Iran is quite obvious and only made more attractive from a corporate American point of view when considering all the risks of such domineering are completely "socialized," from the dead troops, to the broke tax payers. No matter how insane the following report may sound, keep in mind, "they have nothing to lose."

The globalists run think-tanks all over the world like Brookings where their policy wonks generate an immense amount of strategic doctrine. This doctrine then converges to form a general consensus. Knowing the details of this doctrine beforehand can give us clues as to what to look for on the geopolitical chessboard as their gambits play out.

Green revolutions, resigning admirals, bizarre troop build-ups in Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorist attacks within Iran, and high profile assassinations all make sense if you are aware of the playbook they are working from. The hyped and very
fake "war on terror" being ratcheted up on the home-front is also a telling and alarming sign, perhaps the most alarming of all.

Page 1: Bottom Line

With frank honesty, the report opens by declaring Iran a confounding nation that undermines America's interests and influence in the Middle East. Not once is it mentioned that the Islamic Republic poses any direct threat to the security of the United States itself. In fact, Iran is described as a nation intentionally avoiding provocations that would justify military operations to be conducted against it.

Iran's motivations are listed as being ideological, nationalistic, and security driven - very understandable considering the nations to its east and west are currently occupied by invading armies. This is the crux of the issue, where it's America's interests in the region, not security, that motivate it to meddle in Iran's sovereignty, and is a theme that repeats itself throughout the 156-page report.

Page 11: The Nuclear Non-Threat

The report concedes that Iran's leadership may be aggressive, but not reckless. The possession of nuclear weapons would be used as an absolute last resort, considering American and even Israeli nuclear deterrence capabilities. Even weapons ending up in the hands of non-state actors is considered highly unlikely by the report.

Similar
reports out of RAND note that Iran has had chemical weapons in its inventory for decades, and other reports from RAND describe the strict control elite military units exercise over these weapons, making it unlikely they would end up in the hands of "terrorists." The fact that Iran's extensive chemical weapon stockpile has yet to be disseminated into the hands of non-state actors, along with the fact that these same elite units would in turn handle any Iranian nuclear weapons, lends further evidence to this conclusion.

Brookings notes on page 24, that the real threat is not the deployment of these weapons, but rather the deterrence they present, allowing Iran to counter US influence in the region without the fear of an American invasion. In other words, the playing field would become level and America may be forced to recognize Iran's national sovereignty in regards to its own regional interests.

Page 23: Persuasion

The first option on the table is a means to coerce the Iranian government, without regime change, through crippling sanctions verses incentives. The incentives, in turn, seem more a relief from American imposed torment than anything of actual substance.

One incentive in particular is very telling. Brookings suggests "security guarantees" from an American invasion to address the very real concerns that would motivate Iran to construct nuclear weapons in the first place. Brookings notes that concrete action would would be needed by the US in order to fulfill this incentive, including drawing down US forces in the Middle East, a concession Brookings itself admits is highly unlikely over the next several decades.

Brookings interjects at this point, a brazen admission that under no circumstance should the US grant Iran a position of dominance nor should there be any ambiguity about what the US sees as Iran's role in the region. It is most likely postures like this that have driven Iran to such extremes to protect itself, its interests, and its very sovereignty.

This option of "persuasion" appears to have already played out and failed, both in drawing concessions from Iran through meaningless offers and at marshaling the international support needed to make additional sanctions effective.

Page 65: Total War

Indeed a conventional war with Iran is currently impossible. The globalists at the Brookings Institute acknowledge that. What is worrying is that they believe it would not be impossible if only America was presented with the "proper" provocations. Brookings' experts go on to say that Washington could take "certain actions" to ensure such provocations took place.

Furthermore, Brookings states that Iran has already gone through extreme measures specifically not to react to American provocations, raising the specter that provocations may take the shape of a staged event instead, should full-scale invasion be sought.

This is where the tireless efforts of 9/11 Truth have paid off and now stand between the American people and a costly, unprecedented war. They have at the very least made the term "false flag" mainstream, raising the stakes exponentially for anyone attempting to stage provocations.

Page 103: Supporting a Color Revolution

Hailed as the "most obvious and palatable method" of bringing about the Iranian government's demise, Brookings suggests fostering a popular revolution. It brazenly admits the role of the "civil society organizations" in accomplishing this and suggests massive increases in funding for subversive activities in Iran.

Of course the United States has already passed the
Iran Freedom Support Act, directly funding Iranian opposition groups inside of Iran with the explicit objective of overthrowing the current government. The passage of the act was followed by the 2009 "green revolution," which Iranian security forces were able to put down.

Currently, the "green revolution" in Iran is gearing up again. The US State Department and corporate sponsored
Movements.org has been following and supporting the US-backed Iranian uprisings since the beginning. Iranian-American Cameran Ashraf, described as a senior fellow at Movements.org, participated in the 2009 event. Movements.org featured on their front page recently, information on the upcoming "green" revolution set to feed off the US backed overthrow of the Mubarak regime in Egypt.

Indeed this option is currently being pursued. Brookings specifically mentions threatening Iran with instability as a means to leverage concessions from the government. It goes on to explicitly call for the promotion of unrest within Iran's borders, and when coupled with the crippling sanctions Iran is already under, constitutes an
overt act of war as pointed out numerous times by Congressman Ron Paul.

Brookings also suggests the use of military force in conjunction with their staged color revolutions, recognizing Iran's well developed internal security apparatus. This was not done in 2009, but should be considered and looked out for each time the "green" revolutionaries come out into the streets.

Page 113: Supporting Real Terrorism

Despite the shameless bravado displayed throughout the entire report, no section is as shocking as the one titled "Inspiring an Insurgency." Brookings is outright advocating the funding, training, and triggering of a a full-blown armed insurgency. The report specifically mentions Ahvazi Arab separatists, which would later be the subject of Seymour Hersh's "
Preparing the Battlefield" where he exposes the option as already being set in motion within Iran.

Kurds in the north, and Baluch rebels near Pakistan in the east are also mentioned as potential receipients of US aid in conducting their campaigns of armed terror against the Iranian people. The CIA is selected to handle supplies and training, while Brookings suggests that options for more direct military support also be considered.

In their subsection, "Finding a Proxy," Brookings describes how the use of ethnic tensions could fuel unrest. It laments the fact that many ethnic minorities still hold nationalism as a priority along with their fellow Persians. And despite being on America's official terrorist list for having previously killed US military men, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) are given ample consideration within Brookings' report.

In their subsection, "Finding a Conduit and Safe Haven," Brookings describes various methods of harboring their stable of US funded terrorists within the nations currently occupied by US troops and how to ferry them in and out of Iran between operations.

Page 145: Bringing it all Together

Brookings suggests that no single option is meant to stand alone. It suggests that options be pursued concurrently. Apparently Brookings' advice has been taken to heart as we have seen in the news, from Seymour Hersh's reports of covert US-backed terrorists, to the overtly staged "green" revolutions, to the
sabotage and assassinations plaguing Iran's nuclear program.
While it is quite obvious that many of Brookings' policies are being carried out verbatim, what is most alarming is what's suggested next should these combined ploys fail.


From the report itself, page 150:

"A policy determined to overthrow the government of Iran might very well include plans for a full-scale invasion as a contingency for extreme circumstances. Certainly, if various forms of covert and overt support simply failed to produce the desired effect, a president determined to produce regime change in Iran might consider an invasion as the only other way to achieve that end.

Moreover, the United States would have to expect Iran to fight back against American regime change operations, as it has in the past. Although the Iranians typically have been careful to avoid crossing American red lines, they certainly could miscalculate, and it is entirely possible that their retaliation for U.S. regime change activities would appear to Americans as having crossed just such a threshold.

For example, if Iran retaliated with a major terrorist attack that killed large numbers of people or a terrorist attack involving WMDs—especially on U.S. soil—Washington might decide that an invasion was the only way to deal with such a dangerous Iranian regime.

Indeed, for this same reason, efforts to promote regime change in Iran might be intended by the U.S. government as deliberate provocations to try to goad the Iranians into an excessive response that might then justify an American invasion."

Considering
Operation Northwoods, the falsified Gulf of Tonkin event, the myriad of lies that brought us into war with Iraq and Afghanistan, not the least of which was 9/11 itself, it is truly a frightening specter to think about what might come next.

We already see the absurd security apparatus being put into place across America and the
various declarations by European leaders that "multiculturalism" has failed, setting the stage for a "clash of civilizations." There is also an uptick in rhetoric by American leaders warning of an impending terrorist attack. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the US might attempt to provide their own "provocation" for war in the Iranians' stead.

Final Thoughts

It is quite obvious Brookings' suggestions and their execution are detrimental to all involved, from our brave but gravely misled troops, to the tax payers fleeced by underwriting the war, to the decimated Iranian people. Boycotting the very corporations sponsoring this policy undermines their self-serving objectives regardless of the means by which they try to accomplish them. Their very ability to fund studies like this, let alone carry them out is a direct result of our daily patronizing of their mega-corporations. Raising awareness that corporate interests, not security concerns, are the prime motivations for conflict with Iran is also essential in convincing citizens of both countries to step back from the brink.

In this world today, events seem astronomically bigger than any one of us. We feel there is no certainty we can succeed against such odds. What is essential to understand though, is that while acting does not guarantee success, not acting most certainly guarantees defeat. Follow the brave example of 9/11 Truth and other activists in the growing alternative media - fight against the manufactured consensus by adding yourself to a consensus on truth.

To read the entire Brookings Institute report, "Which Path to Persia?"
click herehttp://www.brookings.edu/~/media/files/rc/papers/2009/06_iran_strategy/06_iran_strategy.pdf

Tony Cartalucci's articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer.
 


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