Pure corporate propaganda II, the return? I have 6 weeks to take an internal training program about compliance with US export laws, boycott laws, and anti-boycott laws. "The company and all foreign affiliates must comply with export control and economic sanctions laws of the United States. All employees are required to comply with these laws without exception."

As a canadian working for a company registered in Denmark with a Danish employment contract, how can I be legally obliged to follow U.S.-specific export restrictions and laws? Neither Canada, the EU nor Denmark have export restrictions with Cuba. On what legal ground US laws should have precedence? This is confirmed by the European Commission which effectively neutralizes such extraterritorial laws.

The US anti-boycott law is even more controversial: it prohibits U.S. companies and their foreign affiliates from complying with economic boycotts in which the United States does not participate (The principal target being the Arab boycott of Israel). How can you ask an employee to break the laws of his country of residence? The EU is clearly against such laws: "It (the anti-boycott law) establishes the unwelcome principle that one country can dictate the foreign policy of others".

Already published on 6 Billion Brains, and an interesting read: America went to war to .. safeguard the American economy by returning the second largest oil reserve (Iraq) to trading oil in US dollars. Keeping the dollar as the exclusive oil currency is the only way "to protect the American way of life" in the most debt-ridden nation on earth.. (Not Oil, But Dollars vs. Euros, Geoffrey Heard, GlobalPolicy.org)

40 years in Politics for Jean Chrétien, Canada's Prime Minister. He is behind Canada's refusal to participate in a war without UN approval. "A question of principle: engaging Canada in a conflict cannot be decided based on economical considerations or friendship with another country."

Liberating Iraq.. for people passively absorbing mainstream news, one could almost feel content with the current situation: an easy win by the world's strongest army against .. well not much really, just the "weakest kid that nobody likes anyway". If defending oneself in Iraq is suicide and in the US unpatriotic, this doesn't make the whole issue any more justifiable. End result? All official reasons to go to war proved shaky: weapons of mass destruction? Where? Danger to the world? Far from it. Democracy? Far far far from it, both inside and outside America, both inside Iraq and on a world scale. So what is left? A religious war for petrol? A need to boost army morale to justify further army industry spending and further profits for the Bush cartel? A family sweet revenge for Bush padre? A stint at reviving patriotism in a country in disarray economically and above all, psychologically? All of the above, surely. Shame and sadness is all I can feel as a westerner.. Can't wait for that first lifeless and superficial shopping mall to open in Baghdad, it will be super! Let's get that global warming going!
yann.

Late evening Turkish humour! President BUSH went for a check up. His British doctor said: "Mr. President, I am your doctor; I am sorry to inform you, that you have a problem in your BRAIN. Your brain has two parts, one Left and one Right. The Left Part has nothing RIGHT in it, and the Right Part has nothing LEFT in it." :-)

This week the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) bared the only independent broadcasting voice in the Arab world, the television station Al Jazeera, because 'insufficiently supportive of America and its war in Iraq'. Suprisingly, other countries to ban Al Jazeera are .. Lybia, Tunisia and Jordan, because the station gives too much time to opposition leaders and Israeli officials. Too objective? For the Arab world to enjoy a free, democratic life, shouldn't Al Jazeera be encouraged instead? (New York Times)

Frustrated with the United Nations' "consistent, blatant regard for the will of its 188 member nations," the U.S. announced Monday the formation of its own international governing body, the U.S.U.N. Read it all on the ONION !

Pure corporate propaganda? Officially in reaction to the fictitious security alerts issued by the U.S. Government, my company 'Security Command Center' (sigh) is sending 'Travel Advisory' (sigh) emails explicitly requesting all employees to avoid demonstrations. American friends have confirmed receiving such emails at school or work, leading to beleive the neo-conservatists are behind all this..

March 26th: "Travel security tends to focus on air transportation, but now there are other personal safety issues for travelers, most notably avoiding anti-American/Coalition demonstrations in many parts of the world. Inadvertent exposure to these events could result in animosity or violence, and travelers could become targets of individual or crowd reaction."

February 10th: "There is significant concern that the initiation of military operations against Iraq will generate notable animosity in many parts of the world. This animosity will likely take the form of protests, demonstrations and possible terrorist activity. Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn into confrontational situations and possibly escalate into violence.. Avoid locations where demonstrations or large gatherings may occur." (see full mail here)

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."-- Franklin D. Roosevelt. A must read:"Bush has stampeded America into conflict" by the Chicago Tribune. (click here for local copy) "Bush is using fear as a weapon, not to build courage among Americans but to stampede them into endorsing a case for a war that has been built literally on a grab bag of possibilities, contingencies, ifs and maybes, of things that haven't happened but could happen, of bad guys who might hit us if we don't hit them first. Bush and his neoconservative advisers have manufactured an unneeded war, for reasons of their own, and are leading an America that, with its power and lack of restraint, is more dangerous to world order than Hussein ever could be. The thought that a Third World international pariah could multiply its strength and turn itself into a power sufficient to blackmail the most powerful nation in the history of the world is nothing but panic-mongering. National hysterias come and go, leaving a great deal of damage and creating a sense of communal shame when the panic wears off .."

Oh, civilian casualties update here. You can decide if they are 'heroes' or 'collateral damage'. ~300 as of today..

"Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity"

.. which the Danish fail to understand with 54% supporting the war and rising ..

"September 11 an 'America-changing' event but not a 'world-changing' event. The rest of the world sees American arrogance as at least responsible for the atrocities." (Financial Times today) -> Will this ever resonate in the US? The WTC bombing was indeed an America-changing event, but not as the world anticipated: the US rejected all blame and self-criticism, and saw the event as "a justification - whether merited or not is arguable - for a much more assertive American foreign policy doctrine, one that included the explicit idea of military action to pre-empt attack." So, since 9/11 didn't make the US learn from their mistakes, what will humble them? Another Vietnam? Sad ..

"Fears make the world go round" (Louise Bourgois, in Louisiana until June). She also said (and proves!) that "Art is the guarantee of sanity" .. "Cell (Glass Spheres and Hands)" (below), is enacting in space the drama of human-beings prisoners of their own fragile 'bubble' (on the chairs), not communicating together despite the hope of the 'hands' (on the table). (Kofi Annan as the hands, Bush, Blair, Chirac, Saddam, Sharon .. as the bubbles?)

From fears to fear culture, Michael Moore won the Oscar for Best Documentary with Bowling for Columbine: "Shame on you and your fictitious reasons and fictitious orange alerts, Mr. Bush".

In today's Financial Times: World overwhelmingly opposed to war even in countries supporting the US: Italy and Spain 81%, Russia 87%, Turkey 86%, UK 61% are opposed. "Military power alone will never be enough to guarantee America's security. Without the friendship, respect and support of its allies, it will ever be vulnerable.. We are back to the world in which right is measured only by might. Frightening." Finally, "Paris has been made the scapegoat for US and British diplomatic failure. This risks leaving the west with deep and lasting divisions. France must resist the dangerous drift to react to american 'francophobia', and not resort to tit-for-tat anti-Americanism and anglophobia."

"It is always a simple matter to drag (the common) people along (in a war) whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism"
(Nazi H.Goering after WWII)

A day of shame for the start of an illegal and illegitimate war: Kofi Annan and Hans Blix were sad and somber.. "Violating the norms of international behaviour" (China) - "Military action can in no way be justified." (Russia) - "I hope that all parties will scrupulously observe the requirements of international humanitarian law" (UN Kofi Annan) - "This is not an attack on Islam but an attack on humanity" (Asian Islamic leaders) - "This despicable war exposes the ugliness of America" (Malaysia) - "United Nations is the only legitimate framework to build peace in Iraq as elsewhere" (France). Meanwhile the US dares to call this "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (sigh). Now to start thinking about the best outcome for this for the world community: Mille Merci, président Bush (Paulo Coelho) (en Français)

Pictures of Baghdad we rarely see .. here

"How bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush"(Michael Moore) <- check his site for more..

Bush Idiot

So the question is, why does the "Bush Cartel" wants war so badly despite all consequences? Who benefits? Who loses?. The Persian golf has always been of vital interest to the US to maintain its economy and lifestyle, and the US considers multilateralism and all international agreements as a threat to its transformation into a new type of military state, similarly to old colonial powers, all in the name of grand ideals: democracy, civilisation, freedom. (Ignacio Ramonet - en français)

Shame, shame, shame..

Bush bullied and burried all international agreements, institutions and laws until the end. My view on this is straightforward: as human beings living on one planet with limited resources to share, as we are split into nations, the supreme power is the United Nations - the best we have as a democratic forum for all. As much as Bush would like to topple Saddam, "no single country should be allowed to police the world", however powerful they might be. As this is an illegitimate invasion of a sovereign country - similar to Iraq invading Kuwait for the same reasons really - the UN should .. stop and disarm the US. Some might argue the US can be trusted while others can't. I argue nobody can be trusted with power, the use of this power must always be monitored and controlled by a wider democratic body.. in this case, the UN. Some might argue the US liberated Europe and no other superpower introduced freedom: true, but things change, nothing can be taken for granted, and freedom is loosing a lot of ground in the US itself as the country is slowly building itself into a fortress, falling into disinformation, and transgressing more and more personal freedoms in the name of national security. As the US and Bush become the outlawed world policeman, democracy, freedom, justice, multicultural understanding and respect, and global long term security are now all at stake. Luckily, this 6 months of UN tractations will at least force the US to show restraint in their illegitimate invasion of Iraq, and prove to the world their claimed good intentions, notably by being very careful with 'collateral damage' (a nice term for what they call 'heroes' in the US i.e. civilian casualties).
Shame, shame, shame..

Remove the world's number 1 warmonger.. George Bush

Sick of the war? Boycott CNN .. and call sick on the first day of the war. Follow citizen actions in San Francisco (Indy Media) and New York (Village Voice)

CNN seemed so biased.. because it is. CNN reporters have been reminded to comply to the "script approval policy", where officials in Atlanta must approve and authorise all package scripts before they are aired. Robert Fisk, The Independent (Fisk won the Association of Journalists of Rome Silver Microphone award)

Who said "No one should have dominion over the world" ?

He lived a life as opposed as possible to technology. He refused to let the material world draw the boundaries of life. He came to think of the internal combustion engine as the greatest evil ever put upon this earth. Why? Because technology is powerful, seductive and addictive.. and everyone can be tempted into evil uses of power.

Suprise: it is Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings. His trilogy is the most read novel after.. the bible. He describes his work as "fundamentally religious and Catholic". But "No one should have dominion over the world" still 'rings' quite true today..

Insight from Harvard: why there is no american hegemony and why Europe is a key player in this 3D chess game. "US military expenditure is equal to the next two dozen countries combined.. but there are more European than US troops helping to keep the peace today in the Balkans and in Afghanistan.. Europe's culture, values and the success of the EU have produced a good deal of soft power, the ability to attract rather than merely coerce others." ("Europe is too powerful to be ignored" by Joseph Nye in Financial Times)

coincidence?

Friends fighting the beast from the inside..

(The Mission, San Francisco)

War is certainly not the path to democracy. The roots of international conflicts are numerous and complex, "elles plongent dans le tumulte des siècles", they cannot be solved by war. War will only bring further hatred, further cultural and identity clash. "Regardons les choses avec lucidité : nous sommes en train de définir une méthode de règlement des crises. Nous sommes en train de choisir l'organisation du monde dans laquelle nous voulons que vivent nos enfants." -> another lucid and committed speach by French Foreign Minister de Villepin.

Slowly bringing Big Brother to life: "Delta Airlines assigns a rating of green, yellow, or red to every airline passenger based on that person's credit, banking, and criminal history" (Wired, BoycottDelta)

"Civilization is threatened not only by terrorists but also by the means we use to fight them.." Though illegal in the US, the Bush commando claims their right to use 'stress and duress techniques' overseas to extract information from 'terrorists'. In violation of international laws and agreements, the CIA opened a torture facility in Bagram, Afghanistan. (Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Human Rights News)

In Denmark, nationalism is well alive - a stark contrast with its southern neighbour where waving the german flag brings unease (remember 'na' in nazi stands for nationalism).. Here, it is customary to decorate everything with Danish flags on special days. For my birthday, they were sensible enough to put... United Nations flags! Nice touch.

Inspections on the US weapons of mass destructions by Canadian and Danish members of parliament. Why in the US? According to the Bush administration, the most dangerous states are those run by leaders who
1) have massive stockpiles of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons (<- see the map)
2) ignore due process at the United Nations
3) refuse to sign and honour international treaties
4) have come to power through illegitimate means
Rooting out evil

Washington Post: "A preemptive war defies international law, signals the rebirth of colonialism and imperialism. An invasion serves only the Bush administration whose ignorance is matched only by their greed." Said Naggar, World Bank Veteran. "This is occupation, this is an American occupation of Arab land." Professor Mohamed Kamal, Cairo University

"We swear to destroy your planet.. to make money!" While some watch CNN, the French watch this. Hilarious.

Catching up on the daily dose of 'Impartial and objective journalism of the highest standard' on BBC world (CNN would not come close to claiming this, mind you). "No single country should be allowed to police the world" Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad (Malaysian PM). "The risk of Iraqi missiles hitting Israel on a scale of 10? .. zero" Barbara Plett, BBC correspondant interviewing Israeli official. Finally: Bruce Springsteen wins Grammys for his patriotic album - brainwashed or opportunist? Luckily some are wiser: "I am not anti-american.. I am anti the current american administration" Dustin Hofman

Mm the future looks sooo bleak.. Potential future US Democrat candidates: Richard Gephardt: "In the Middle East, it has always been imperative that our nation maintain unflinching support for Israel's security". John Edwards: "I supported the use of force to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein". John Kerry : "..we must redouble our information gathering efforts.. Oudated military equipment may please defense contractors, but it won't win tomorrow's battles." (still Kerry is the most reasonable..) Joseph Lieberman: "U.S. armed forces must pursue those terrorists more aggressively"
Americans must choose between extremist right-wingers and .. right-wing extremists.

Living free, or living scared? Just came back from watching Bowling for Columbine. A must to convince yourself, if need still be, that the world's first power is an America of chaos: "a culture of fear and consumption" Marylin Manson

The joke of the year: www.ready.gov! If radiation knocks on your door, do not answer. Check out the spoof. Note: overusing the rhetoric of fear to provoke and gain support for war is not new - Hitler was also pretty good at it.

"..And let's face it, Mr Bush's carefully thought-out policy towards Iraq is the only way to bring about international peace and security. The one certain way to stop Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers targeting the US or the UK is to bomb a few Muslim countries that have never threatened us.."
Terry Jones (yes, of Monty Python). Letter to the Observer Jan 26

In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations: "..States must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.."
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation on Nuclear Weapons (1968) (en français)