Maravi: 12/29/13

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

(GLOBALRESEARCH, WSWS) Speaking from Gold Throne, UK Prime Minister David Cameron Proclaims Austerity Cuts to Be “Permanent”
By Robert Stevens
Global Research, November 14, 2013
World Socialist Web Site

British Prime Minister David Cameron used the annual speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London’s Guildhall to declare that the devastating austerity being imposed by his government will be “permanent.”

Surrounded by the opulence of the Guildhall’s grandest room, Cameron addressed 900 rich and well-pampered guests enjoying a sumptuous banquet, courtesy of the City of London Corporation’s £12 million fund for ceremony and hospitality.

Speaking from a gold throne and gilded lectern, Cameron said the government’s main priority was “an economy with a state we can afford”, denouncing those “who seem to think that the way you reduce the cost of living in this country is for the state to spend more and more taxpayers’ money.”

His remarks were in part aimed at the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, sitting alongside him. Welby had previously raised concerns about the social impact of cuts to welfare benefits.

“At a time when family budgets are tight, it is really worth remembering that this spending [on benefits] comes out of the pockets of the same taxpayers whose living standards we want to see improve. I hope the Archbishop of Canterbury will forgive me for saying—it’s not robbing Peter to pay Paul, but rather robbing Peter to pay Peter,” said Cameron.

The biggest threat facing Britain “is if our budget deficit and debts get out of control again… We have a plan—and we are carefully implementing that plan.”

Stating that the slashing of public spending under the coalition had already “cut the deficit by a third,” he said there was more to come. “But that doesn’t just mean making difficult decisions on public spending. It also means something more profound. It means building a leaner, more efficient state. We need to do more with less. Not just now, but permanently.”

Citing some of the massive job cuts and privatisations underway Cameron lauded a “leaner, more efficient, more affordable state… There are 40 percent fewer people working in the Department for Education—but over 3,000 more free schools and academies, with more children doing tougher subjects than ever before. There are 23,000 fewer administrative roles in the NHS—but 5,000 more doctors, with shorter waiting times.”

The implications of Cameron’s remarks are chilling. The NHS budget is being slashed by £20 billion by 2015, around one-fifth of its annual budget. Calls are now being made to increase this to £30 billion. This is being accompanied by speeding up privatisation with the introduction of the Health and Social Care Act of 2012.

On the same day Cameron spoke, the Royal College of Nurses revealed that NHS cuts were jeopardising patient safety. The RCN said that there was now a shortage of some 20,000 nurses in the health service, with inadequate staffing a common factor in especially high mortality rates in certain hospitals.

Similarly state education is being eroded and privatised with the widespread introduction of academies and free schools. Teachers are currently under a three-year wage freeze and cuts in pension rights have resulted in an estimated 12 percent fall in their pay.

This month the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development placed the UK on the lowest ranks of 65 countries on educational attainment, behind Russia, Poland and Hungary. In an earlier report, it described British schools as among the most socially segregated in the world.

As Cameron made clear, the real objective of mass job losses, privatisation, and falling living standards is not “reducing the national deficit” but satisfying the demands of the City of London, which he described as “the global home of finance.”

Cameron was unabashed in his glorification of the 1980s Thatcher government, whose policies laid the basis for a British economy which is today a custom-built tool of the banks and super-rich. Britain’s success “in the global race” meant “taking the country that led the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution and the market-based revolution of the 80s and equipping it to lead the economic revolution of today,” he said.

No one would have known that it was the rampant criminality, speculation and money mad profiteering, pioneered and led by the parasites at the London Stock Exchange and Wall Street and their “market-based revolution,” that resulted in the 2008 financial meltdown—a collapse that is paid for out of the living standards of workers in Britain, Europe and globally.

Demanding a “fundamental culture change in our country,” he cited one that “values that typically British, entrepreneurial, buccaneering spirit, and that rewards people with the ambition to make things, sell things and create jobs for others.”

Cameron was at least candid in outlining what the most rapacious sections of the British ruling elite are demanding. The original buccaneers were pirates who robbed Spanish ships in the Caribbean in the 17th century.

Cameron’s meaning certainly wasn’t lost on the right wing Daily Telegraph,who editorialised, “Such piratical imagery has, in the past, held negative connotations for capitalism—suggesting exploitation, even criminality. But Mr Cameron’s reclaiming of it promises a celebration of the wealth-creating potential of the private sector that many of his backbenchers will welcome.”

The “government should go starboard bound,” (to the right) it enthused, adding, “This is a good direction to sail in.”

Unsurprisingly billionaire oligarch Rupert Murdoch’s Sun endorsed Cameron’s message with the headline, “BUCCANEER WE GO—Build business and shrink the State.”

For the Daily Express Cameron’s speech was a “call to arms.”

As the representative of modern day looters, Cameron set out plans to gut public spending still further for the benefit of the super-rich. His government are cutting corporation tax to 20 percent, and “slashing” red tape on business. At the same time he defended the £21.8 billion cuts in welfare since 2010 that are throwing tens of thousands further into poverty.

Cameron also announced that he would lead a trade visit to China in early December. On a visit to the country in October, Chancellor George Osborne had warned that it was not appropriate to speak of China as a giant “sweatshop”, holding up its economy—one based on rampant capitalist exploitation by transnational corporations, protected and enforced by the methods of dictatorship—as the model Britain should emulate.

While the right wing media hailed Cameron’s speech, the nominally liberal press declared they were taken back by Cameron’s stated aim that austerity should be permanent. The Guardian and the New Statesman both cited Cameron’s claim on coming to office in 2010 at the head of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats that “I didn’t come into politics to make cuts,” in order to claim that the prime minister had changed tack.

This is nonsense, designed to chloroform their readers. In April 2009, more than a year before becoming prime minister, Cameron had declared that any government led by him would usher in an “age of austerity”. The media are well aware that this is the real agenda of the coalition—one that is shared by the Labour Party. If they are shocked it is only because Cameron has let the dirty secret of Britain’s ruling elite out of the bag.

Labels: AUSTERITY, DAVID CAMERON, NEOLIBERALISM, UK

Govt to formalise trading system for emeralds, gemstones
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thu 14 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

THE government plans to establish a formalised trading system for emeralds and gemstones as it gears ahead for value addition, says mines minister Christopher Yaluma.

Yaluma said Gemfields which is a world renowned player in the gemstone sector would lead the government's plans to locally add value to Zambia's gemstones and create domestic jobs.

Kagem, majority-owned by Gemfields, on Monday conducted the third auction in Lusaka this year at which 1.123 tonnes of commercial and low grade rough emeralds were put for sale to traders from Hong Kong, India, Germany and the US, among other countries.

Yaluma said the government was looking at migrating from the current export of rough emeralds to polished ones as a way of value-addition and to create jobs locally.

"We don't want the beneficiation to happen elsewhere," Yaluma said when he officially opened the one-week auction. "We want to support Kagem on their plans to become the best emeralds company in the world and we are driving to support them to that effect that they succeed. This also creates employment for the people of Zambia the people going to the emerald sub-sector; there will be polishing, there will be cutting; whatever is associated with adding value to our emeralds."

Yaluma said the government wanted to leverage Kagem's strong connection with India, one of the global top producers of emerald jewelries.

"We will try to assimilate what is done in India and Kagem will provide that platform," said Yaluma.

"We want the trading system to come here and people can walk in and purchase the emeralds and any other products of this can done. We want to put up a well-structured formalised trading system and the permanent secretary already advanced and ZCCM- IH and Kagem to put it up.

Gemstone and Kagem have been in this business for a long time and so it's just a matter of picking up ideas and come and customise for Zambia but with the influence and input from Zambian stakeholders. We need this sub-sector to grow just like copper and maximise the benefits and proceeds from this sub-sector."

Currently, copper mining contributes about 5.9 per cent of the gross domestic product while data on revenues and economic contribution of the gemstones sector remains scanty and haphazard.

And Kagem chairman William Nyirenda said the quality of Kagem's emeralds is competitive internationally.

"The return on your investment in our emeralds is competitive internationally. We take pride in the value addition chain of our emeralds so that the product we offer to you is a product that meets your imaginations and expectations," said Nyirenda.

Labels: CHRISTOPHER YALUMA, EMERALDS

Govt committed to upholding principles of equality - Inonge
By Fridah Nkonde
Thu 14 Nov. 2013, 14:01 CAT

GENDER minister Inonge Wina says it is the government's obligation to ensure that there is equality of rights between men and women as guided by the constitution, laws and culture.

During the Holy Day commemoration and birth of Baha'ullah, the prophet founder of Bahai faith in Lusaka on Monday night, Wina said the principles of Bahai faith and their translation had greatly contributed to the spiritual and material advancement of the people of Zambia.

"I wish to state that some of the principles greatly influence the mandate of my ministry and these include: the principle of equality of both men and women, principle of elimination of prejudices of all kinds, principle of universal compulsory education and the principle of universal peace on the world. These principles reinforce the millennium development goals which have strong bearing on the nation's developmental agenda such as to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, and promote gender equality and empower women," Wina said in a speech read for her by the ministry's director of child development, John Zulu.

She said the government was fully committed to upholding the principle of equality between men and women.

Wina said President Michael Sata had led the way by ensuring that women also occupied decision making positions, adding that, the various sectors of the government had also come on board to ensure that impediments which hinder women progression were removed and good practices were promoted.

She commended Bahai faith for partnering with the government in the promotion of girl child education.

Wina said, it was unfortunate that girls who were to be in higher grades were out of school as a result of being married off at tender ages, falling pregnant and long distances to schools.

She said Zambia was part of Bahai faith principle of elimination of prejudice of all kinds whether political, racial or religious because they destructed the devine foundation in humans.

"Zambia being a Christian nation recognises the supremacy of God almighty and respects the beliefs of various religions," said Wina.
And National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'ullah of Zambia Houman Rouhani said there was need for all people to make the world a better place.

Labels: INONGE WINA

DEC nabs German tour guide over cannabis
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Thu 14 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

COMMENT - Legalize it. What an assault on civil liberties, and what a waste of police time. - MrK

THE Drug Enforcement Commission has arrested a 42 year-old German tour guide for trafficking in cannabis.

DEC public relations officer Theresa Katongo stated on Tuesday that Albert M. Helmut, a German Tour Guide, had been arrested for trafficking in 200 grammes of cannabis concealed in a clear lunch box. Katongo stated that the suspect was apprehended at a weigh bridge in Livingstone.

In another development, Katongo stated that the commission has also arrested a 16-year-old pupil of Shishibeti village of Nchelenge in Luapula Province for being in possession of 0.02 grammes of cannabis.

She stated that others arrested in Luapula included Chama Musonda, 25, a carpenter of Mutuna village in Kawambwa for trafficking in 1.32 kilogrammes of cannabis, Douglas Chola, 22, a fisherman of Shinjoni village in Nchelenge for trafficking in 1.2 kilogrammes of cannabis and Francis Bwalya, 19, of Kawambwa for trafficking in 1.032 kilogrammes of loose cannabis.

And Katongo stated that on the Copperbelt, the commission had arrested Mike Zulu, 32, of Chifubu, Ndola, for trafficking in 20 tablets of diazepam and 7.4 mls of liquid diazepam.

She stated all suspects would appear in court soon.

Labels: CANNABIS, TOURISM

(NEWZIMBABWE) Nothing wrong with indigenising current foreign businesses
13/11/2013 00:00:00
by Kuthula Njokweni

COMMENT - For further reading, check out:
Bad Samaritans, by prof. Ha-Joon Chang
Reclaiming Development, by prof. Ha-Joon Chang
23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, by prof. Ha-Joon Chang - MrK

LOVEMORE Fuyane, in his article titled, “Indigenisation? Absolutely, but”, states that he supports indigenisation but opposes an approach that does not create its own businesses but takes over the existing ones. He says such an approach is a political tool that has a destabilising effect on the market, and will unlikely solve the problems of inequality and sustained economic growth.

First, this is an opinion which is not substantiated by empirical evidence. By his own admission, Fuyane argues that, “Distributive indigenisation via corporate transactions is simply no viable short cut to Zimbabwe and Africa’s economic emancipation. There is no successful precedent for it; South Africa has been at it since 1994 yet remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, this in spite prattling nonstop about broad based empowerment.”

First, Fuyane must understand that there is no contemporary precedence in Africa where such a program has been undertaken, not even in the world to compare against, to warrant using “no successful precedent”. However, the fact that there is no contemporary precedence to compare against in this world should not make it conclusive that indigenisation will cause inequality and fail to sustain economic growth.

Second, it is a bad example to compare the South African Black Economic Empowerment programme with Zimbabwe’s indigenisation and empowerment programs because they are based on two different models. The former intends to gradually integrate blacks into the mainstream without requiring changing the structure of existing foreign controlled businesses. Meanwhile, the latter intends to radically change the structure of the existing foreign-owned businesses as well as grow and integrate a new class of black businesspeople.

My main concern with Fuyane’s article is his preoccupation with wanting to see indigenisation become a process whereby local people have to start their businesses instead of taking over the existing ones! What is wrong with taking over the existing businesses in transparent commercial transactions, not along the rumoured approach suggesting that government will forcibly acquire businesses?

That rumour is nothing but a big lie. Businesses are taken over regularly: Nigel Chanakira’s bank, Kingdom Financial Holdings was taken over; TA Holdings has taken over many businesses. Internationally, the European Commission recently gave permission for Olympic Air to become a subsidiary of Aegean Airlines in a €72m deal. In Canada, Blackberry is lined up for possible takeover.

So the argument that Zimbabweans should start their own indigenous companies is flawed as it suggests that it’s not standard business practice to buy into a company. Government is not acquiring the shares forcibly but creating a framework that allows local investors to buy shares in a company if they (potential local investors) have capital or have struck up some agreed financing scheme. This is not a scandal at all.

Actually, Fuyane provides very convincing arguments why Zimbabwe should indigenise the current businesses under the current model. He states that all developed countries have ten of their biggest publicly traded corporations indigenous to their countries. He says, “Contrast that with Zimbabwe, where among the top ten largest companies you only really have the likes of Econet Wireless, Innscor, and National Foods among a list that includes the likes of South Africa’s SABMiller controlled Delta Corporation, Old Mutual, Shoprite South African controlled OK Zimbabwe, Hippo Valley Estates controlled by South African entity Tongaat Hullet Sugar and British American Tobacco whose name says it all. A substantial number of Zimbabwe’s largest corporations are foreign owned and/or controlled.”

I argue that it is for this very reason that we should indigenise these companies so that they resemble the international trend where the biggest national corporations are indigenous. It’s not that Zimbabwe abrogated creating these corporations, but they were created in a colonial historical context, and they have maintained dominance.

What the government of Zimbabwe seeks to do now, is to break that dominance and create equity in the business ownership structure, not equality as Fuyane suggests. The market mechanisms have failed to provide corrective measures. Now the obligation to intervene and take corrective measures to the problem lies with the government. The primary role of a government is to protect and advance the interests of its people. Fuyane has identified a situation which requires that intervention in order for Zimbabwe to establish its own corporations. The problem is that the current foreign controlled companies dominate the market and can manipulate the financial system and stifle competition. It is for this reason that government should step in and ensure that the playing ground is levelled.

Government intervention in the market to promote the national interest is not anything new or illegal. It is a standing internationally recognised and practiced standard! Social sciences like political economy, economics or development studies understand it as interventionist state or else a developmental state. As for the claim by Fuyane that the Zimbabwe indigenization model will not create sustainable economic growth, it’s just an assumption which is not backed by empirical evidence.

The people of Zimbabwe built these foreign corporations through blood and sweat. The workforce and the resources that have made them household names come from the sweat and blood of both professional and non-professional Zimbabweans. So it’s difficult to understand when someone suggests that we should start “our own companies” as if we already don’t have a stake invested in these companies. It’s like the value chain is composed of solely the foreign owners without any Zimbabwe human and non-human resources already invested.

Fuyane should understand that many of the companies that he provides as national champions were fostered predominantly by the state. Countries that he portrays as economic champions are a result of United States strategic geopolitical considerations. Economic advancement by South Korea and the then West Germany were both a result of such political intervention. The US poured enormous funds into South Korea and created preferential trade terms in order to create a buffer zone against the spread of communism. Same with West Germany through the Marshall Plan.

As a way of concluding, I offer the following: Government, as a developmental state, should perform its primary role of advancing the economic interests of its citizens by correcting a legacy of colonialism; Zimbabweans can build once again their own businesses from scratch even though they have spent a greater part of their productive years working for these foreign owned/controlled businesses, however, that should not preclude them from investing in these companies where they have already invested their blood and sweat; the indigenous businesses, will create equitable wealth and sustainable economic growth as demonstrated by the experience of other countries mentioned by Fuyane.

Kuthula Njokweni writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on kmnjokweni@gmail.com

Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), MDC

(HERALD ZW) 51 killed in robberies, domestic violence
November 15, 2013 Obert Chifamba Local News
Crime Reporter

COMMENT - Harare, a city of 1,606,000, has 51 homicides a year? Let's compare and contrast:

Sydney, AU: 43 (2011), population 4,627,345
Houston, TX: 198 (2011), population 2,160,821

- MrK

FIFTY-ONE people were killed in Harare during the last 10 months with most of the cases being victims of domestic violence and armed robberies. According to police statistics, 50 people were murdered in the city during the same period last year. Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tadius Chibanda yesterday said some people were killed by robbers after they tried to resist.

“Most of the cases were also over domestic disputes while others were drivers of pirate taxis who were attacked and killed after resisting the criminals,” he said.

He said others were also killed and robbed while walking alone in secluded areas during the night.
Insp Chibanda said armed robbery cases were on the decrease with 118 cases recorded so far as compared to 142 cases, between January and October last year.

He said the reduction was as a result of the arrests made this year of some of the criminals who were on police’s most wanted list.
He expressed concern over an increase in cases of plain robberies in and around the city.

So far a total of 2 656 cases have been recorded as compared to 2 244 last year.
Armed robberies involve the use of firearms or weapons, while plain robberies are cases where people are robbed without the use of firearms.

“Plain robberies are on the increase as a result of people who are now shunning the use of commuter omnibuses and resorting to the use of private vehicles and end up being robbed,” Insp Chibanda said.

He said some of the victims were also waylaid while coming from nightclubs and others in secluded areas.
Insp Chibanda said they would continue carrying out crime awareness campaigns in and around the city.

He urged the people to be wary of these criminals who were using the same modus operandi to attack their victims.
“Starting from tomorrow (today), November 15, we will be conducting crime awareness campaigns in the province and other residential areas.

“We will be conducting the campaigns at shopping centres, pick-up points and various other places,” Insp Chibanda said.
He said they would also conduct an operation targeting criminals in and around the city.

Early this month, a 31-year-old taxi driver was found hanging from a tree along the Harare-Bulawayo Road in Kuwadzana, Harare.
Portifa Mutera of Dzivaresekwa was suspected to have been strangled using a cord made from strands of sack fibre before being hanged on a fig tree.

Between January and June police recorded 100 215 cases of major crimes, a 2 percent decline compared to 102 288 cases during the same period last year, with a significant reduction in murder and armed robberies.

Speaking during a pass-out parade for 542 graduates at Ntabazinduna Police Training Depot in September, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri said during the first half of the year they recorded a 7 percent decrease in murder cases, while armed robberies went down by 31 percent.

At least 3 499 people were kidnapped and robbed by pirate taxi drivers countrywide in the first half of this year, while 284 others fell prey to armed robbers.

The situation was more critical in Harare where at least 1 200 cases of kidnap and robbery by pirate taxi drivers were recorded in the past four months alone, with most of the victims being offered lifts in and around the city.

The figures are high but reflect a 5 percent decrease compared to the same period last year when 4 108 cases were recorded.

Labels: CRIME, HARARE

(HERALD ZW) ‘Lifting of sanctions was long overdue’
November 15, 2013 Obert Chifamba Top Stories
Lovemore Chikova in ANTWERP, Belgium

The removal of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe’s diamond mining companies was long overdue and will now spur the development of the country’s natural resources, especially as it trades in its Marange gems at Antwerp, a Belgium official has said.

Speaking during a dinner hosted for the Zimbabwean delegation touring Antwerp, the world’s biggest diamond trading hub, on Wednesday, Antwerp’s vice mayor Mr Ludo Van Campenhout said it was good that the country was now part of the world diamond trading centre.

“We are happy that the embargo has been cancelled by the European Union,” he said. “That is a good thing and it gives us an opportunity to develop trade. The lifting of the sanctions was overdue. The diamond industry is part of the city and today you are now also part of the city.”

Mr Van Campenhout said Antwerp had a tradition of being open and friendly, with people from almost 170 nationalities living in the city in harmony. The trading of diamonds from Zimbabwe on the world market had been stalled by the illegal sanctions regime imposed on the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and its subsidiaries by the European Union.

ZMDC is a State enterprise in partnerships with five diamond mining companies in Marange, whose operations have all been certified by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Speaking at the same occasion, secretary for Mines and Mining Development Professor Francis Gudyanga said it was important that Antwerp played a role in ensuring that the sanctions were lifted.

“We know you have done a lot to have the sanctions lifted,” he said. “Our view is to try and learn how the business (of diamond trading) goes.

“There is so much expectation back home that the selling of our diamonds will translate into the building of roads and schools. We call on you to mentor us so that we have an efficient system in handling our diamonds.”

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Prof Gudyanga said the visit to Antwerp which started on Tuesday and ends on Monday next week had been so far productive.

He said the delegation had learnt a lot within the few days, especially on the technical issues required to successfully auction diamonds.

“We have been taken through various processes to do with finances, economic arrangements and we have also gone through the logistics on how the system works for bringing up the diamonds,” he said.

“But the most important thing we have come to understand is that we add value to our minerals. We are improving the system. We have to have integrity into the system that we operate.

“Whether it is the system of sorting our diamonds, the system of grading them, the system of purchasing, the system has to be really not tampered with. This is where we get maximum value of our diamonds.”

Prof Gudyanga said it was important to have Zimbabweans trained for them to operate the diamond system efficiently.

He said all stakeholders in the diamond industry, including producers, should be aware of all the various aspects so that the system becomes flawless.

“This involves various arms of Government, the producers, the security as well as the financiers, so it’s really a very integrated system which we hope we can introduce in Zimbabwe,” said Prof Gudyanga.

“The people here in Antwerp are very keen to assist us with all the various aspects. We are having various dialogues with various people so that every aspect of it is done according to well tested systems so that we have the best practices we will be bringing to Zimbabwe.”

Prof Gudyanga said if all the proper channels were followed, the country would get value from its gems.

The delegation, which is being led by Prof Gudyanga and made up of officials from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, the ZMDC and embassy officials, has so far toured a number of establishments associated with the marketing and auctioning of diamonds.

On Wednesday, the delegation was upraised by Belgian government officials on the procedures to be followed for the export of diamonds to Antwerp, before visiting the Diamond Office to observe the process.

The delegation yesterday visited Malca Amit, a company that provides security for diamonds in transit and those already at Antwerp, and also had sight of procedures at the diamond trading hub’s laboratory.

Labels: ANTWERP, BELGIUM, DIAMONDS, SANCTIONS

(HERALD ZW) ‘Diamond sanctions removal to spur development’
November 14, 2013
Lovemore Chikova in ANTWERP, Belgium

The removal of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe’s diamond mining companies was long overdue and will now spur the development of the country’s natural resources, especially as it trades in its Marange gems at Antwerp, a Belgium official has said.

Speaking during a dinner hosted for the Zimbabwean delegation touring Antwerp, the world’s biggest diamond trading hub on Wednesday, Antwerp’s vice mayor Mr Ludo Van Campenhout said it was good that the country was now part of the world diamond trading centre.

“We are happy that the embargo has been cancelled by the European Union,” he said. “That is a good thing and it gives us an opportunity to develop trade.

“The lifting of the sanctions was overdue. The diamond industry is part of the city and today you are now also part of the city.”

Mr Van Campenhout said Antwerp had a tradition of being open and friendly, with people from almost 170 nationalities living in the city in harmony.

The trading of diamonds from Zimbabwe on the world market had been stalled by the illegal sanctions regime imposed on the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and its subsidiaries by the European Union.

ZMDC is a state enterprise in partnerships with five diamond mining companies in Marange, whose operations have all been certified by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Speaking at the same occasion, Secretary for Mines and Mining Development Professor Francis Gudyanga said it was important that Antwerp played a role in ensuring that the sanctions were lifted.

“We know you have done a lot to have the sanctions lifted,” he said. “Our view is to try and learn how the business (of diamond trading) goes.

“There is so much expectation back home that the selling of our diamonds will translate into the building of roads, schools. We call on you to mentor us so that we have an efficient system in handling our diamonds.”

In an interview yesterday, Prof Gudyanga said the visit to Antwerp which started on Tuesday and ends on Monday next week had been so far productive.

He said the delegation had learnt a lot within the few days, especially on the technical issues required to successfully auction diamonds.

“We have been taken through various processes to do with finances, economic arrangements and we have also gone through the logistics on how the system works for bringing up the diamonds,” he said.

“But the most important thing we have come to understand is that we add value to our minerals. We are improving the system. We have to have integrity into the system that we operate.

“Whether it is the system of sorting our diamonds, the system of grading them, the system of purchasing, the system has to be really not tampered with. This is where we get maximum value of our diamonds.”

Prof Gudyanga said it was important to have Zimbabweans trained for them to operate the diamond system efficiently.

He said all stakeholders in the diamond industry, including producers, should be aware of all the various aspects so that the system becomes flawless.

“This involves various arms of Government, the producers, the security as well as the financiers, so it’s really a very integrated system which we hope we can introduce in Zimbabwe,” said Prof Gudyanga.

“The people here in Antwerp are very keen to assist us with all the various aspects. We are having various dialogues with various people so that every aspect of it is done according to well tested systems so that we have the best practices we will be bringing to Zimbabwe.”

Prof Gudyanga said if all the proper channels were followed, the country would get value from its gems.

The delegation,which is being led by Prof Gudyanga and made up of officials from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, the ZMDC and embassy officials, has so far toured a number of establishments associated with the marketing and auctioning of diamonds.

On Wednesday, the delegation was upraised by Belgian government officials on the procedures to be followed for the export of diamonds to Antwerp, before visiting the Diamond Office to observe the process.

The delegation yesterday visited Malca Amit, a company that provides security for diamonds on transit and those already at Antwerp and also has a site of procedures at the diamond trading hub’s laboratory.

Labels: ANTWERP, BELGIUM, DIAMONDS, FRANCIS GUDYANGA, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

Remove that irrational blockade against Cuba
By Editor
Fri 15 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

FOR twenty-two consecutive years, the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted against the United States' blockade of Cuba. This year, the vote saw only one country, Israel, joining the United States in supporting the blockade. A total of 188 United Nations member states called for an end to the United States' blockade of Cuba while three others - Micronesia, the Marshal Islands and Palau - abstained from the vote as was the case last year. This vote of the United Nations General Assembly underscores the irrationality of the United States' continuation of a five-decade-old blockade.

While the blockade has been through several legal iterations in the intervening years, the general tenor of the United States position toward Cuba is a hard-line not-in-my-backyard approach to communism a la the Monroe Doctrine. This position is not only outdated but hypocritical and counter-productive.

The United States spends massive amounts of money trying to keep Cuban goods out of the United States. At least ten different agencies are said to be responsible for enforcing different provisions of the blockade, and according to the Government Accountability Office, the United States government devotes hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of man-hours to administer this blockade each year.

At Miami International Airport, visitors arriving from a Cuban airport are said to be seven times more likely to be stopped and subjected to further customs inspections than are visitors from other countries. It is said that more than 70 per cent of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control inspections each year are centered on rooting out Cuban goods even though the agency administers more than twenty other trade bans. United States' government resources could be better spent on the enforcement of other sanctions, such as illicit drug trade from Colombia, rather than the search of contraband cigars and rum from Cuba.

At present, the United States is largely alone in restricting access to Cuba. The blockade has long been a point of friction between the United States and its allies in Europe, South America and Canada. Every year since 1992, the United States has been publicly condemned in the United Nations for maintaining counter-productive and worn-out trade and migration restrictions against Cuba despite the fact that nearly all the 5,911 United States companies nationalised during the Revolution have dropped their claims.

Moreover, since Europeans, Japanese and Canadians can travel and conduct business in Cuba unimpeded, the sanctions are rather toothless. The State Department has argued that the cost of conducting business in Cuba is only negligibly higher because of the blockade.

For United States transnational corporations wishing to undertake commerce in Cuba, foreign branches find it easy to conduct exchanges.
Yet, estimates of the sanctions' annual cost to the United States economy range from US $1.2 billion to US$3.6 billion, according to the United States Chamber of Commerce. Restrictions of trade disproportionately affect United States small businesses who lack the transportation and financial infrastructure to skate the blockade. These restrictions translate into real reductions in income and employment for Americans in states like Florida.

Removing the blockade would fit into an American precedent of lifting trade and travel restrictions to countries, who according to their criteria, demonstrate progress towards democratic ideals. Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary were all offered normal trade relations in the 1970s after preliminary reforms, even though they were still in clear violation of several United States resolutions condemning their human rights practices. China, a communist country and one consistently accused of human rights abuses, is the United States' second largest trading partner. And last year, trade restrictions against Myanmar were lessened, notwithstanding a 50-year history of genocide and human trafficking propagated by its military government. Cuba, although a communist country, cannot be accused of any of such things. Cuba's human rights record, when it comes to things that constitute true humanitarianism, the policy of promoting the dignity of human beings and their wellbeing, stands out.

Which, of course, begs the question: when will the United States see it fit to lift the blockade against Cuba? If Cuba is trending towards free markets, what litmus test must be passed for the embargo to be rolled back? Of course, all these economic reforms Cuba is undertaking, none of them can be said to be in pursuit of getting the blockade removed. They are being undertaken simply because Cuba, for one reason or another, needs them to improve its economy and the welfare of its people.

The cost of the blockade to the United States is high in both dollar and moral terms, but it is higher for the Cuban people, who are cut off from the supposed champion of liberty in their hemisphere because of an antiquated Cold War dispute. The progress being made in Cuba could be accelerated with the removal of the blockade.

A perpetual blockade of a developing nation that is doing the best for its people and that is assisting so many other poor countries makes little sense, especially when the United States allies are openly hostile to the blockade. It really makes no economic sense and it's time for this blockade to go.

And Cuba deserves respect and support for standing up for more than five decades, for over half a century to this blockade, to the United States' hostilities and blackmail. They are struggling and sacrificing for all of us and we should learn from them what it means to defend one's country's sovereignty, independence, dignity. So many lies have been told about Cuba and its Revolution. We have a duty to repeal the lies that are written or said about this generous and noble land. We know that there is a Spartan people in Cuba that can stand a blockade for more than half a century without capitulating, giving up their principles, dignity and revolution.

Of the Cubans can be said what the gravestone said in the Pass of Thermopylae: "Go tell the world that here there lie 300 Spartans, who preferred to die rather than surrender." They have confronted every difficulty, pressure and economic, political and other kinds of attack. But they have kept moving ahead. We have no doubt that blockade or no blockade, the Cuban Revolution will go winning new laurels and scoring new victories. And nothing and nobody can ever stop them. That irrational, outdated, hypocritical blockade is useless, counter-productive and should be removed.

Labels: CUBA, SANCTIONS

There're people after my life - Chikwelete
By Roy Habaalu
Fri 15 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

ROBERT Chikwelete says he has named and given evidence of people causing violence and attempting to kill him to the police but that the officers are not doing their job. And Chikwelete has accused senior police officers of shielding criminals.

Chikwelete said people that he worked with to champion the removal of Wynter Kabimba as PF secretary general were after his life. Chikwelete, who is former PF Chawama Constituency chairman and Lusaka mayor, disclosed that unknown people shot at the wall closer to his bedroom on Monday.

He said funders of the anti-Kabimba crusade were angry with him and had been planning to eliminate him.

"Around 22:00 hours on Monday, I was woken up by a bang of a gunshot that hit near my bedroom, causing my wife to scream and panic. I told her to remain calm and rolled off the bed and peeped through the window to check on the attackers," he said.

Chikwelete said together with his two nephews, he went outside the house but they retreated quickly fearing for their lives.

He said his son informed Kabwata police station who quickly dispatched an officer identified as Nyirongo to the scene.

Chikwelete said Nyirongo told him that it was people that knew him well that fired the shot.

"After he (Nyirongo) left, I saw four guys wearing long black coats wandering about my house. These may be people I know, people that didn't want me to reconcile with the secretary general and the party leadership. It's unfortunate that they are using weapons to shoot at my house and if this goes unchecked, it will cause anarchy in our country," Chikwelete said.

"What's surprising is that people doing this are known. I don't understand why the police are not arresting them. Those making noise in town, the same people going round disturbing the peace are known and the police know that."

Chikwelete said shortly after his reconciliation with the party, he reported people that were terrorising Lusaka and a docket was opened.
He said he gave the police names of people suspected to be causing violence.

Asked to name the suspects, Chikwelete responded; "I opened a docket of people threatening to kill me and I gave them (police) names, SMS (short messaging system) and time but no response. For now I don't want to mention names."

Chikwelete alleged that the police was not operating professionally.

"I strongly feel the police are not doing their job. It's now a month since I reported. Now people are shooting at my house. I can't rule out that senior police officers are working with these people. I salute the junior officers from Kabwata. Ask them what's happening to my docket," said Chikwelete.

Labels: ROBERT CHIKWILETE

Seyuba asks financial firms to help SMEs create wealth
By Vincent Chilikima in Solwezi
Fri 15 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

NORTH Western Province permanent secretary Augustine Seyuba has urged financial institutions in the province to tailor products that will enable local SMEs to create wealth.

Speaking during a meeting at his office for 11 financial institutions operating in Solwezi, Seyuba implored the managers to support the government's policy of reducing the cost of doing business.

He said the booming mining activities in the province required a vibrant and innovative banking sector that would tailor its products to accord an opportunity for local SMEs to create wealth.

"I do not subscribe to 'poverty reduction' but to 'wealth creation' because certain terminologies tend to maintain a status quo. So your cost of borrowing should not discourage SMEs in doing business," he said.

Seyuba cited invoice-discounting as one of the services that may be relevant to SMEs that conduct business with the mines, adding that banking institutions should focus on stimulating economic activities of the local people.

He further implored bankers to innovate localised bank products that take into consideration the disparities of poverty levels between the rural and urban dwellers adding that bank managers should feel obliged in helping the province to develop.

"You need to appreciate the locally available skills and resources so that you come up with relevant financial empowerment programmes. For example, we can develop our timber industry to produce world class furniture and products," he added.

Seyuba further called for relevant corporate responsibility projects that improve the social wellbeing of the people in the province such as support to agriculture, education, health and the welfare of the girl child.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the newly formed North Western Financial Institutions Forum, Davy Maibale, commended Seyuba's initiative of bringing bankers together and for providing a forum that would link them to government policies and operations.

Maibale, who is also Zanaco Solwezi branch manager, said the forum would be meeting quarterly to review how each financial institution was incorporating government and stakeholder suggestions in their operations.

He said banks would be considering product expansion such as ATMs to all the districts and social responsibility infrastructure development programmes such as borehole provision and youth development programmes.

Amongst the financial institutions present at the meeting include: Zanaco, NATSAVE, Barclays, FNB, Stanbic, Finance Bank, Stanchart, Cavmont, Investrust, Focus and ABI.

Labels: AUGUSTINE SEYUBA, BANKING, SMEs

US-based Zambian wins scientist of the year award
By Austin Mwange
Fri 15 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

DR ANTHONY Ng'oma, research associate and Radio-over-Fiber manager at Corning incorporated, has been named the 2013 Scientist of the Year by Black Engineer of the Year Awards and Minorities in Research Science.

Dr Ng'oma, a Zambian based in the United States, was selected from a pool of outstanding technology leaders from across the United States - from well-known institutions and Fortune 500 companies, which typically include institutions such as NASA, and companies such as IBM, General Motors, The Boeing Company, Chrysler and others.

The review committee was so incredibly impressed by Dr Ng'oma's technical achievements and contributions that he was the first nominee for all Minorities in Research Science (MIRS) categories (including Professional Achievement, Most Promising Scientist and Outstanding Technical Contribution), thereby earning him the Scientist of the Year Award - one of the most prestigious and competitive honours in science and technology management.

By winning the scientist of the year award, Dr. Ng'oma joins the exclusive club of Emerald honourees, who include some of the most creative and innovative professionals in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Dr Ng'oma will be honoured with the MIRS award at the 28thBEYA STEM Global Competitive Conference, convening in Washington, DC February 6 - 8, 2014, at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park.

The BEYA STEM Global Competitive Conference attracts the upper echelon in the STEM disciplines from academia, government and the private sector across the United States.

Labels: ANTHONY NG'OMA, AWARDS, ENGINEERING

Zanaco privatisation report yet to be released
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Fri 15 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

THE probe report into the privatisation of Zanaco has not yet been released, five months after finance minister Alexander Chikwanda said it had been overtaken by time.

In July when he received a K10.5 million dividend from Zanaco for the 25 per cent stake the government holds in the bank, Chikwanda said the government was focused to see the most capitalized bank in Zambia grow further.

"We don't want negatives; Zanaco is growing…I will not deal with that question. It has been overtaken by time," Chikwanda said in response to a question on the status of the probe report into the manner.

In January 2012, President Michael Sata instituted a commission of inquiry led by former justice minister Sebastian Zulu to probe the US $8.25 million transaction in which Rabobank bought 49 per cent shares of Zanaco which waswholly-owned by the government.

The inquiry into the 2007 sale of Zanaco closed in February last year but report had not been made public and the government was yet to state the position on the probe report.

And Zanaco which is majority-owned by Rabobank said it had not yet received the final formalities for the closed probe.

"The commission of inquiry completed its hearings and receiving of submissions on 9th February 2012," Zanaco's sponsoring broker, Stockbrokers Zambia Limited, announced in a cautionary update.

"Accordingly, we now await the announcement on the findings and recommendations of the inquiry.

Labels: ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA, MICHAEL SATA, NEOLIBERALISM, PRIVATISATION, SEBASTIAN ZULU, ZANACO

PF infiltrated - Katele
By Henry Sinyangwe
Fri 15 Nov. 2013, 14:01 CAT

DR KATELE Kalumba says the Patriotic Front has been infiltrated by individuals who do not understand President Michael Sata's vision. And Dr Kalumba, a former finance minister and MMD national secretary, says the PF are not only hacking each other but also 'hacking' the party down.

In an interview yesterday, Dr Kalumba said the real custodians of the PF cannot tolerate the party to disintegrate into squabbles.

"A disciplined party listens to what the party president says, but it appears that there are some elements who have infiltrated the party who don't care what the disciplinary rules of the party are. It is something that I expected the party to address, especially the committee responsible for discipline," he said.

Dr Kalumba said those that did not understand President Sata's vision were abusing authority.

"These squabbles are as a result of problems of handling power by those who may not have understood the vision of the party president clearly; certain people think they are the custodians of the state. Most of them appear to me that they don't understand the vision of the President," he said.

Dr Kalumba said the ruling party should concentrate on its responsibility to the Zambian people.

"They should always remember they're a governing party, they have a lot of responsibilities to the people of Zambia and I don't think the people of Zambia have time to see a governing party hacking each other, itself down," he said. "You can't allow mayhem to continue within the party which is ruling, it is not acceptable. I think the party should discipline the elements that are going out of line."

Dr Kalumba said delays in resolving the squabbles in PF would take away a lot of merit that people had invested in the ruling party and anxiety would grow as to whether there was governability in the party.

"I join the President's call that let the party get its house in order. And those organs responsible for discipline should act. They shouldn't leave it to President Sata, that's why there is a disciplinary committee. Secretary general, the disciplinary committee must do their job," said Kalumba.

"It is costing a lot of time, the party has good programmes, so let it concentrate on the development programmes that they have and not hacking the party down which is unacceptable."

And reacting to Dr Kalumba's concerns, PF disciplinary committee chairperson Edgar Lungu said the committee is eagerly waiting for the executive office to charge the indisciplined members.

Lungu, who is also home affairs minister, said he was embarrassed and heartbroken by the current squabbles in the party that had led to the death of two party cadres.

"You saw what happened to Given Lubinda, he was charged, not by me, but by other agencies of the party, other organs and we called for a hearing. And we are willing, even now we can call for a hearing of any alleged misdeeds on the part of our colleagues in the party if initiated by those who hold the executive office. I am not supposed to charge and try somebody. Let those who are responsible charge those people, and then we will move, even tomorrow we will move," said Lungu.

PF cadres belonging to different factions clashed on Thursday last week in Chelstone on their way to witness President Sata's commissioning of the reconstruction and expansion of Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, leading to the death of a cadre while several others were left injured in the process.

Labels: CORRUPTION, KATELE KALUMBA, PF

(GLOBALRESEARCH) The JFK Assassination: Beware of the Coverup of an Obvious Plot
By Dr. Gary G. Kohls
Global Research, November 14, 2013

This year the most important November date is the 22nd, the event that changed the course of world history – is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas TX.. The assassination and subsequent cover-up of the obvious conspiracy plot to get rid of the popular, left-leaning, peacemaker, anti-corruption, anti-organized crime president is a good example of how and why powerful anti-democracy groups conspire to orchestrate false flag operations, cover-up their deeds and create scapegoats to take the blame.

These powerful, ultra-rich, wealthy, and unelected anti-democracy groups have the motives, means and opportunities to accomplish treasonous acts and get away with them. They also have the resources (including control or ownership of media outlets, propaganda machinery, lapdog politicians, well-paid lobbyists and rafts of lawyers) to do the mind control, brain-washing and advertising to convince us naïve, ignorant and distracted folks to believe the Big Lies – laughing, as they say, all the way to the bank.

Since JFK’s assassination, there have been several copycat assassinations that have destroyed progressive movements that were offering hope for the war-weary, unemployed, impoverished, discriminated-against and down-trodden. These courageous progressive movements were seen as mortal enemies of psychopathic corporations and the ruling elite who worshipped at the altars of war and money. These ruthless groups saw that their political and economic power were at risk of being taken away from them. These wealthy conservatives were very willing to do whatever was necessary to keep things the way they always have been.

There is abundant evidence that these ruling elites (the 1%), along with help from their hireling enforcers in the FBI, CIA, NSA, Pentagon, Mafia and local law enforcement (often with the help of hired professional assassins) have often conspired to assassinate progressive leaders like Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr, Robert Kennedy and Paul Wellstone, and even some other minor prophetic voices who were equally courageous heroes who were also willing to sacrifice themselves by opposing the agendas of right-wing war-profiteers, weapons-makers, industrial giants, racists, organized crime, rabid anti-communists and other assorted quasi-fascist factions. All one has to do is look at the massive evidence that has often been recommended in any number of my past Duty to Warn columns. (Find some of them in the Reader Weekly archives at: http://duluthreader.com/articles/categories/200_Duty_to_Warn.

Just this past week, in an NBC interview, Secretary of State John Kerry let it slip on that he didn’t believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of JFK. When pushed to elaborate, he refused, saying it was just a personal opinion. Similarly, a month ago, on PBS’s McClaughlin Group show, Pat Buchanan showed that he believed (contradicting the official story and affirming what large percentages of the informed American public suspects) that the World Trade Center towers were not brought down by fires, but were demolished by controlled demolition when he blurted out that “Al Queda blew up the Twin Towers” on 9/11/01.

I remember reading an interview of Richard Nixon that inadvertently revealed that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI had been involved propagating the cover story that Lee Harvey Oswald was to be fingered as the “lone assassin”. Nixon had called up Hoover 20 minutes after Kennedy had been shot. Hoover,(head of the FBI, and devious above-the-law law-breaker himself, was a rabid racist and Kennedy-hater) told Nixon that “a commonist” (sic) was the one who had shot the president. Given the fact that Oswald had neither been found nor arrested for a couple of hours after the shooting, Hoover was essentially admitting that he had already been involved in a frame-up of Oswald.His statement represented foreknowledge of events that nobody else knew about and therefore Hoover was complicit in the crime – proving the truth of what Oswald was heard to say to journalists on national television the day before he himself was silenced: “I’m just a patsy”.

I write this essay to forewarn readers about the deluge of JFK retrospectives that are coming over the next few weeks leading up the November 22. The mainstream media will be essentially telling us: “never mind about the conspiracy theories about who killed JFK, they are just coming from silly conspiracy theorists”; “don’t look at the evidence) (that demands a real independent re-investigation); “believe us ‘experts’ we know what is best for you”; “the issue is dead, the history books have been published and everything has been neatly wrapped up, so don’t go rocking the boat”: “it was a demented lone assassin, rather than a plot, that killed Kennedy.”

To those who still have a skeptical and open mind: Be aware that most of the JFK coverage for the next two weeks (and, sadly, probably even from most of public radio) will consist of attempts to reinforce the official account that came out of the corrupted Warren Commission (eerily similar to what came from most of the corrupted 9/11 Commissioners). The selective testimony, the censored-out documents that didn’t fit with the foregone conclusions and the secretive way that the forensic evidence was handled by official government agencies after the JFK, MLK, RFK and Wellstone killings points to cover-up. And how Oswald, James Earl Ray and Sirhan Sirhan, the accused assassins of JFK, MLK and RFK were handled have all the fingerprints of economically, politically and militarily powerful groups manipulating the unwelcome truths of what really happened.

One of the best of a number of well-documented books that presents the evidence that contradicts the official Big Lies is JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, written by James Douglass.

The remainder of this essay consists of extended excerpts from a book review of Douglass’ powerful Amazon.com book written by blogger Nick Anez (dated June 8, 2008). Anez does a wonderfull job of pointing out many of the painful realities about the JFK conspiracy as Douglas has uncovered them.

Anez writes: “Many excellent books have proven that the assassination of JFK was the result of a conspiracy. Douglass … scrutinizes the historical facts surrounding the assassination, from the creation of the CIA to the gradual obliteration of the freedoms upon which this nation was founded.

“This book is primarily the story of John F. Kennedy who changes from a Cold Warrior to an altruistic leader willing to risk his life to ensure that the world’s children will not become victims of a nuclear catastrophe. … the book is a tragedy because it gradually becomes obvious that each step he makes toward peace steadily increases the hatred of his enemies who will eventually betray him.

“It is also the story of the designated patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Moved around the country like a pawn by government agencies (as was the second “Oswald”), he was being set up as the scapegoat. … Simultaneously, the Soviet Union was being set up as the evil empire behind the assassination, along with its satellite Cuba.

“Douglass credibly illustrates the origin of the Crime of the Century. During President Truman’s administration, the CIA was empowered to be a paramilitary organization with unlimited powers. Truman’s successor, President Eisenhower, fell out of favor with the CIA when he planned a summit meeting with Soviet Premier Khrushchev. …. (Eisenhower) subsequently issued his warning about the ‘military industrial complex’ in his farewell address. But he didn’t defy ‘this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry.’ He left that task to his successor, JFK.

“The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba was planned by the CIA to regain control of the island and to re-open the casinos for organized crime. President Kennedy refused to provide air support for the Cuban brigade because he knew that he had been lied to by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the CIA; the invasion had been designed to fail without U.S. support but they hadn’t told this to JFK who refused to fall into their trap. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK once again enraged the CIA and the Joint Chiefs by resisting their tremendous pressure on him to take military action which would have led to nuclear war.

“Following that crisis, JFK became intent on ending the Cold War by establishing a peaceful relationship with the Soviet Union. However, many CIA and Pentagon personnel believed that it was better to be ‘dead than red’ and that it was preferable to destroy civilization rather than let the Communists rule. They also knew that war generated billions of dollars for the arms industry. As a result, they would repeatedly subvert the President’s policies and isolate him within his own government. Enter some more despicable characters: Richard Bissell, Charles Cabell, Henry Cabot Lodge, Lyman Lemnitzer, Curtis LeMay and perhaps the most contemptible of all, Allen Dulles. Ironically, JFK learned to trust Khrushchev more than people within his own government.

“At American University on June 10, 1963, JFK spoke about his desire for world peace. He communicated his resolve to form a new relationship with Khrushchev. He spoke about the necessity of a pursuit toward disarmament. He related his intentions to establish a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He acknowledged his country’s past faults and recognized the Russian people as wanting peace as much as the American people. … Though this extremely important speech was ignored in the United States, it was disseminated throughout the Soviet Union, per order of Khrushchev, who was prepared to respond favorably to JFK’s peace initiative. The speech also certified JFK’s death warrant. With so many powerful enemies opposing his policies and hating him, JFK didn’t have a chance as he was being maneuvered into the crossfire in Dallas.

“President Kennedy was aware of the power of his enemies and he knew the dangers facing him. But he persevered and mandated that all U.S. personnel would be withdrawn from Vietnam; he was determined to never send in combat troops even if this meant defeat. He also refused to intervene militarily in Laos. He exchanged private letters with Khrushchev, which infuriated the CIA, and secretly initiated plans to attain rapproachement with Cuba, which further incensed the Agency. Cuba’s Fidel Castro, whom the CIA hated as intensely as it hated Kennedy, was equally eager to begin an American-Cuba dialogue. In fact, Castro was meeting with a JFK representative when the President was murdered. JFK died a martyr and the forces of evil that killed him also killed his vision of peace.

“Lyndon Johnson, the CIA’s ally, assumed the presidency. He cancelled talks with Khrushchev and refused Castro’s pleas to continue the dialogue. He reversed JFK’s withdrawal plan from Vietnam as well as his plan to neutralize Laos. The military industrial complex took control of the country. The policy of plausible deniability led the way to assassinations of foreign leaders, the overthrowing of foreign governments and horrors committed all over the globe.

“If JFK had not been murdered, we would not have had the prolongation of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the purported War on Terror and the steady moral deterioration of America. Interestingly, one month after JFK’s assassination, President Truman wrote an article for The Washington Post cautioning about the threat of the CIA taking over America.

“The author meticulously examines the evidence and draws conclusions which ring with unassailable truth:

(1) The CIA coordinated and implemented the assassination of President Kennedy, an act of treason which destroyed democracy in the U.S.

(2) The Warren Commission was created to propagate lies to conceal the truth from the American people.

(3) There has been a continued cover-up by successive administrations and their stooges in the mass media.

(4) The murder of JFK is directly related to the current domination of the American people by powerful oppressors within a shadow government that will continue to insist that only sustained war can keep the country safe from its enemies, never admitting that they themselves are the supreme evil.

“This is an exceptional book that will be used by future historians to determine the truth about the assassination and how it changed America. And it will also be used to honor John F. Kennedy as a courageous president who believed in doing God’s work on earth. In doing so, he came into conflict with the Unspeakable and his life was extinguished.”

Labels: ASSASSINATION, DAVID ROCKEFELLER, JFK, NELSON ROCKEFELLER

(GLOBALRESEARCH) Libya almost Imploding, Status Quo Unsustainable: Oil Industry Target of Violent Attacks
By Nicola Nasser
Global Research, November 13, 2013
Region: Middle East & North Africa
Theme: Oil and Energy, US NATO War Agenda

More than two years on since the “revolution” of Feb. 2011, the security crisis is exacerbating by the day threatening Libya with an implosion charged with potential realistic risks to the geopolitical unity of the Arab north African country, turning this crisis into a national existential one. Obviously the status quo is unsustainable.
“Libya is imploding two years after the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi” was captured and killed on October 20,” Patrick Cockburn wrote in British The Independent on last Oct. 10.

Libya’s oil industry has become the target of violent attacks and civil protests, closing export terminals in east and west or/and creating an oil black market. “Security guards” at the country’s main ports are on strike and selling oil independently in spite of a 67% in pay for employees of the state oil sector on last Oct. 31. Libyan oil minister, Abdulbari Ali al-Arousi, told the Financial Times on last April 29 that disruptions to production and export cost the country about $1bn over the previous five months only.

On this Nov. 11 Reuters reported that Protesters shut Libya ‘s gas export pipeline to Italy , its only customer, in the Mellitah complex, some 100 km west of Tripoli , after shutting down oil exports from there as well. A day earlier, Reuters reported that the separatist self-declared autonomous Cyrenaica government set up a regional firm called “Libya Oil and Gas Corp” to sell oil independently after seizing several ports in the east of the country, where Libya’s two most important oil ports, Sidra and Ras Lanuf, were blockaded by protestors.

Libya is Europe ’s single largest oil supplier. Cutting the Libyan oil and gas supplies to Europe on the eve of a winter that weather forecasts predict to be a very cold one would be an excellent pretext for inviting a European military intervention in the country, which seems the only option left for the transitional government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan that ran out of options for its survival.

It is noteworthy here that while the U.N. Support Mission in Libya can obviously “support” nothing, France, Italy, the UK and the U.S., who spearheaded the NATO campaign to topple the former ruling regime, in a joint statement on this Nov. 8, expressed their concern “at the instability in Libya and the threat that (it) poses to the successful achievement of the democratic transition” and reiterated their “support to the elected political institutions,” i.e. to Zeidan’s government.

Ironically, Zeidan on this Nov. 10 warned his compatriots of a possible “intervention of foreign occupation forces” in order to protect civilians under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter because “the international community cannot tolerate a state in the middle of the Mediterranean that is a source of violence, terrorism and murder,” which was the same pretext for the NATO military intervention that contributed mainly, if not created, the security crisis in the first place by destroying the military and police infrastructure of the central government and turned the country practically into a sponsor of regional terrorism in general and an exporter of arms and “Jihadists” to Syria in particular.

Zeidan’s warning of foreign “intervention” could also be interpreted as an implicit threat to ask for it to help rein in the security crisis lest it boils to an implosion of the country.

Forbes on last Aug. 30 reported that Libya’s “energy protection” was failing and quoted PM Zeidan as saying that his government would impose “order by force” when it came to protecting the oil and gas industry and expanded the Petroleum Facility Guards (PFG) to 18,000 members.

Months on, his efforts and threats failed to deter targeting pipelines, refineries and export terminals. His renewed threats since early last September to “bomb from the air and the sea” any oil tanker entering Libya’s territorial waters illegally and trying to pick up illicit Libyan oil have proved hollow and without teeth.

Libya is the second largest oil producer in Africa and the continent’s fourth largest natural gas supplier and already dominates the Southern Mediterranean ’s petroleum sector. According to the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC), more than 50 international oil companies were already present in the Libya on the eve of the “revolution.” The country’s potential is more promising; Austria’s OMV said on last Oct. 21 it had struck oil in Libya in its first new discovery since 2011.

On last Oct. 18, CNBC.com quoted Paolo Scaroni, the CEO of the Italian oil and gas firm ENI, which is Libya’s largest foreign partner, as saying: “Everyone is going to be wealthy” in Libya, citing statistics of what could be: “Five million people and 2 million barrels of oil (per day), which means that this country can be a paradise, and I am doubtful that Libyans will not catch this opportunity of becoming the new Abu Dhabi, or the new Qatar or the new Kuwait.”

Libyan Copy of Iraq ’s “Green Zone”

Yet Libyans seem determined to miss “this opportunity.” “Revolutionary” Libya, reminiscent of the U.S. – engineered “democratic” Iraq after some ten years of the U.S. invasion, is still unable to offer basic services to its citizens. Real unemployment is estimated at over 30%. Economy has stalled and frustration is growing. Gone are the welfare days of Gaddafi’s state when young families could get a house with benefits for free, people’s medication and treatment were paid by the state and free education made available to everyone. About one million supporters of the Gaddafi regime remain internally displaced; hundreds of thousands more fled for their lives abroad.

Remnants of the destroyed institutional infrastructure of law, order and security is hardly capable of protecting the symbolic central government in Tripoli , reminiscent of its Iraqi counterpart, which is still besieged in the so-called “Green Zone” in Baghdad . Late last October Libya ’s central bank was robbed of $55m in a broad daylight robbery. More than one hundred senior military and police commanders were assassinated.

“ Libya isn’t just at a crossroads. We are at a roundabout. We keep driving round in circles without knowing where to get off,” Libya’s Minister of Economy, Alikilani al-Jazi, said at a conference in London last September, quoted by The Australian on last Oct. 14.

On last Aug. 30, the Swiss-based group Petromatrix said: “We are currently witnessing the collapse of state in Libya , and the country is getting closer to local wars for oil revenues.” Four days later Patrick Cockburn reported in British The Independent that “Libyans are increasingly at the mercy of militias” and that the “Government authority is disintegrating in all parts of the country.”

Ironically, an estimated one-quarter of a million heavily armed militiamen, who are the main obstacle to creating and empowering a central government, are on government payroll.

Writing in The Tripoli Post on Oct. 31, Karen Dabrowska said that, “Local notables, tribal groups, Islamists and militias are all vying to keep the centre from extending its authority to their fiefdoms and this explains why disparate social groupings can only unite temporarily to prevent the centre from gaining power over them.”

It “goes without saying that the post – Moammar Gaddafi Libya is purely a failed state” governed by militia, Adfer Rashid Shah of the Jamia Millia Islamia, Central University in New Delhi, wrote on last Oct. 15.

Following the heavy infighting in the Libyan capital on this Nov. 7, Italian foreign minister Emma Bonino told newspaper La Republicca that the country was “absolutely out of control” and the situation is worsening, hinting that Italian oil and gas firm ENI was prepared to close its oil wells.

Zeidan’s abduction from his Tripoli ’s Corinthia Hotel on last Oct. 10, which the British Economist described as “the shortest coup,” highlighted the country’s deteriorating security crisis. It was interpreted as a “reprisal” for kidnapping five days earlier of Abu Anas al-Libi on suspicion of links with al-Qaeda by U.S. special forces, an act which exposed the inability of the central government to cooperate and coordinate with the American “ally” in his arrest on the one hand and on the other exposed its failure in protecting Libya’s sovereignty against a flagrant U.S. violation thereof.

Last July Zeidan threatened that his government may have to “use force” in Benghazi, the cradle of the “revolution” and the current focus of insecurity, tribalism, separatism, Islamist rebels, decentralization of government, assassination of regular army and security officers and attacks on foreign diplomatic missions who mostly closed their consulates in Libya’s second largest city, where the U.S. ambassador was killed in September last year.

Ahead of his visit to the eastern city on Monday, when he promised reinforcements and logistical support to the security forces there, Zeidan launched a show of force into the city the previous Friday with hundreds of armored troop carriers and army trucks mounted with guns.
But Zaeidan’s threat to “use force” will inevitably be counterproductive, not only because his government’s lack of “force” would compromise his credibility, but because, within the current balance of power between his government and the militias, it will make the security situation worse if it does not ignite a civil war.

Zeidan said his government would give the “revolutionaries” who have turned into rival and vying militias and warlords until next Dec. 31 to join the regular army and police or they will be cut from government payroll, that is if his coffers could afford to sustain their payroll if they accepted and if they did not accept his offer it will be another reason for more mutiny and rebellion.

More likely the government payroll may not be rolling because the government is facing a budget crisis and “from next or the following month, there could be a problem covering expenditure” according to Zeidan himself, as the security crisis has brought oil production to a standstill or out of its control because the “militia groups are behaving like terrorists, using control over oil as political leverage to extract concessions,” according to Dr. Elizabeth Stephens, head of political risk at insurers Jardine Lloyd Thompson, quoted by British The Telegraph on last Aug. 29.

An imminent constitutional crisis could create a power vacuum that in turn would worsen the security crisis. Published by RT on this Nov. 7, analyst Nile Bowie wrote: “In accordance with the transitional roadmap adopted by the transitional government in May 2011, the mandate of the current government in Tripoli is set to expire on February 8, 2014.

Failure to implement a new constitution by then would either force Tripoli into extending its mandate – a move which is seen as highly unpopular – or a potential power vacuum scenario which could set off a chain of events that could lead to a civil war or dissolution.”

Pentagon’s Plans No Help

Short of western “boots on the ground” it is doubtful that Zeidan’s government will survive. The U.S. administration of President Barak Obama was repeatedly on record against any U.S. boots on the ground in the Middle East . With the exception of France , which might be ready for the appropriate price to repeat its recent limited and temporary military intervention in Mali , Europe seems against it too.

Zeidan, with less than three months remaining for him in office, seems relying on Pentagon’s plans to arm and train, through “AFRICOM,” a new Libyan army called “a general purpose force.”

But “the case of a separate and underreported U.S. effort to train a small Libyan counterterrorism unit inside Libya earlier this year is instructive,” Frederic Wehrey wrote recently in Foreign Affairs, adding: The absence of clear lines of authority — nearly inevitable given Libya’s fragmented security sector — meant that the force’s capabilities could just have easily ended up being used against political enemies as against terrorists. In August militias launched a pre-dawn raid on the training camp which was not well-guarded. There were no U.S. soldiers at the camp, but the militia took a great deal of U.S. military equipment from the site, some of it sensitive. The U.S. decided to abort the program and the U.S. forces supposedly went home.
The obvious alternative to Zeidan’s western supported government would be a stateless society governed by militia warlords, while the survival of his government promises more of the same.

At the official end of the NATO war for the regime change in Libya on Oct. 31, 2011 U.S. President Obama proclaimed from the White House Rose Garden that this event signaled the advent of “a new and democratic Libya,” but more than two years later Libya is recurring to the pre-Gaddafi old undemocratic tribal and ethnic rivalries with the added value of the exclusionist terrorist religious fundamentalism wearing the mantle of Islamist Jihad.

In the wake of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s death on October 20, a Saudi Arabian Arab News’ editorial said: “The point about Qaddafi’s death is that it makes the next transition stage that much easier, that much safer. As long as he remained at large, he would have been in a position to destabilize the country.”

More than two years after Gaddafi’s death, Libya is more destabilized, insecure and fractured that its future is now questionable enough not to vindicate the Saudi daily’s prediction.

Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Birzeit, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

nassernicola@ymail.com

Labels: LIBYA

(NEWZIMBABWE, SAPA) Mozambique: Rebels attack top businessmen
13/11/2013 00:00:00
by SAPA

A GANG carrying guns and machetes has attacked and seriously wounded a wealthy businessman in northern Mozambique, police said on Tuesday, extending a wave of violence gripping parts of the country.

Some of the attackers wore dark green uniforms associated with members of former rebel group Renamo during the Monday assault on a property in the northern province of Nampula, police said.

"Ten men came to the smallholding, three of them dressed in Renamo uniforms carrying AK47s and the rest carrying machetes," provincial police spokesman Miguel Bartolomeu said. "They said they wanted money."

When the man, who runs a driving school, failed to give them money the group went on a rampage, attacking him and molesting his workers and security guards, Bartolomeu said.

"They attacked the owner with machetes. He is in a serious condition in Nampula Hospital," he said.

They also torched three houses and several vehicles, he said.
The attack occurred in Rampale district, about 35km outside the provincial capital, Nampula.

While the motive of the attack appears to have been robbery, it is the latest in a string of violent incidents in Mozambique, which is suffering some of the worst unrest since the end of its debilitating civil war in 1992.

Skirmishes have intensified in recent weeks between the army and fighters from Renamo, a guerrilla group-turned-opposition party that has struggled to attract voters.

Renamo has kept an undisclosed number of its so-called presidential guard in Nampula, where its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, was headquartered from 2009 until October last year, when he set up camp in the central Gorongosa mountains.

Days after government forces overran his Gorongosa base on 21 October, violence flared up briefly in Nampula province, including an attack on a truck outside the city.

Labels: MOZAMBIQUE, RENAMO

(NEWZIMBABWE, SAPA) Zim woman in SA court over explosives
13/11/2013 00:00:00
by SAPA

A ZIMBABWEAN woman arrested in possession of explosives will apply for bail at the Musina Magistrate's Court in Limpopo on Wednesday. Elitha Sibanda was arrested during routine checks on buses from Zimbabwe at the Beit Bridge border post last month.

Sibanda, who has already appeared in court on charges of un-authorised importation, supply or possession of explosives or incendiary devices, had the case postponed because the state was not yet ready to proceed with the bail application.

Upon arrest she was found to be in possession of 26 plastic cartridges and 100 detonators. The explosives are similar to those usually used during ATM bombings and illegal mining.

Police, however, say while the consignment was from Zimbabwe, it is not clear where the suspect was taking them and for what purpose.

Police preliminary investigations have yielded that the 23-year-old woman could have been just a mule.

Sibanda, who holds a valid Zimbabwean passport, has been living in the Mathole squatter camp in Roodepoort west of Johannesburg for the past two years.

Labels: ELITHA SIBANDA, EXPLOSIVES, TERRORISM

(NEWZIMBABWE) US remains engaged, despite poll regret
13/11/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

THE United States remains disappointed with the manner in which the July election was conducted but will continue to engage the government of Zimbabwe, Washington’s top envoy to Harare said Wednesday.

Ambassador Bruce Wharton, who was addressing reporters at the Naletale monuments in Shangani, said although his country does not recognise the July 31 election as credible, Washington will continue to engage Zimbabwe to boost its economy.

The US government donated $64,000 for the rehabilitation of collapsed walls at Naletale monuments through the US Department of State initiative, the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.

“The election was peaceful and a major improvement from the 2008 poll. There is no doubt about that. But the whole process was flawed,” he said.

Washington and the European Union have refused to accept President Robert Mugabe’s re-election in the July 31 elections despite observers from the African Union (AU) and the regional SADC grouping endorsing the vote.

“Even the AU and SADC did not say the election was credible; they said ‘generally credible’. As the US we do not see the election as credible, it did not express the will of the people of Zimbabwe,” said Wharton.

“But that disappointment does not mean the US government has any plans to disengage with the government of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is important not only to the region but the world as a whole.”

Wharton said the US would continue to assist Zimbabwe in all sectors of the economy to support recovery.

“We have committed $125m to the health sector and we help in agricultural development programmes targeting small scale farmers. So Washington will continue to look for ways to engage Zimbabwe,” he said.

Harare would however, prefer that Washington removes sanctions imposed about a decade ago over allegations of rights abuses and electoral fraud which are denied by President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.

Mugabe blames the sanctions for Zimbabwe's economic problems.

Labels: AMBASSADOR, BRUCE WHARTON

Access to State House
By Editor
Wed 13 Nov. 2013, 14:00 CAT

GARRY Nkombo, the opposition UPND member of parliament for Mazabuka, says State House needs to be accommodative to everyone. Garry says, "State House is supposed to bind us together; it must be magnetic rather than repulsive. Accessibility to State House should not just be there if a carrot is dangled".

Is Garry really serious about State House being accessible to every Zambian? We ask this question because the key leadership of his party, the UPND, does not tolerate such type of contacts with State House for its members. If Garry starts going to State House to have a chat with the President over a cup of munkoyo, tea or coffee or even some chibwantu if he takes some with him, there will be problems for him. He will be viewed by the key leadership of his party as being a sell-out, an agent.

But knowing what we know of Garry, we think he means what he is saying and is sincere about it. Garry is one of the most sensible, most reasonable, most accommodative of the UPND leaders. Garry has little difficulty straying out of the UPND laager to genuinely mix with non-members of the laager. So for him, he may see nothing wrong with having access to State House. But let him try to go to State House and see what will happen to him when he comes back to the laager.

Equally, knowing President Michael Sata, as we know him, we don't think he will refuse to welcome to State House Garry or any other Zambian who wants to see him if time permits. It is important to realise that a president of a country doesn't have much time, has very limited time because of the endless list of formal things to attend to. But we have no doubt that even with that, Michael will find time to allow Garry or any of his colleagues to have access to State House.

And moreover, for a member of parliament like him, he is part of government and the President has a duty to see him when he makes such an appointment. But we don't think that a person like Hakainde Hichilema can go to State House to see the President with the civility and humility of Garry. Just listening to the language the two speak, it is not difficult to discern the difference between them. Garry is decent to others in his language even when he is on the attack. Hakainde's language lacks civility. He is always trying to humiliate, demean or belittle others. Which independent person, other than those seeking favours from him, can entertain him? Hakainde doesn't know how to deal with political opponents, people who hold different views from his. To him, disagreement and holding a different outlook, among other things, amounts to enmity. How can such a person go to State House and visit the President? State House is not a kraal where any type of language or behaviour is permissible.

We don't think access to State House is restricted by the current principal occupant of that place. The inhibition lies in the hearts of those who don't want to go there, who can't stand the fact that today's principal occupant of State House is Michael. If someone else they accept, they like or who is probably a member of the laager occupies State House, they will have no problem going there.

If on Monday, you are denouncing someone, on Tuesday, you are insulting that same person and on Wednesday, you want to go where they reside, they will have difficulties accepting to host you. If all the time you are accusing someone of trying to kill you and then all of a sudden you start seeking an appointment to visit them, they will have difficulties opening the door for you.

The truth is the UPND leadership has engaged in the type of opposition politics that are extremely antagonistic. Hakainde himself has openly rejected the concept of a loyal opposition, misinterpreting it to mean accepting to be swallowed or to be controlled by those in the ruling party.
The truth is the majority of UPND leaders and members are afraid of being seen near State House because they will be in trouble; they will be questioned about what they were doing there. Any UPND member seen at State House risks being isolated and becoming a subject of suspicion.

If Garry really wants to see more of his colleagues in the UPND visiting State House, the starting point is to change the attitude of his party towards their members who are seen to be friendly towards Michael.

Truly, as Garry correctly observes, "State House is supposed to bind us together; it must be magnetic rather than repulsive" because State House belongs to all citizens and the President is the President of all Zambians regardless of their political affiliations. But do the key leaders of the UPND truly accept Michael as their President? We don't think they do. If they did, they would be treating him very differently from the way they do. They don't seem to have accepted him as their President despite him being very democratically elected. In a democracy, you have to accept and respect the winners. In a multi-party democracy, those in the opposition have to co-operate with the ruling party to solve problems of society. That's what loyal opposition means and demands.

We do appreciate that in the last elections, the UPND joined hands with the then ruling MMD to defeat the Patriotic Front and Michael. They failed individually and collectively to achieve that goal. The UPND was not treating Rupiah Banda the way they are treating Michael Sata, despite the fact that he led a clearly corrupt regime. Despite Hakainde accusing Rupiah of corruption, he had no difficulties embracing him and working with him. Even when Rupiah lost power, Hakainde and his party tried very hard to make sure that his presidential immunity was not removed so that he could be prosecuted for corruption. Instead, Hakainde and his party still extend solidarity to a man who clearly stole from the Zambian people. Where does that type of behaviour leave the UPND and its leaders? Are these the type of politicians one should befriend and support? Can such politicians be trusted? How does one deal with politicians who defend corruption and the corrupt the way Hakainde and his colleagues are doing?

Labels: GARRY NKOMBO, MICHAEL SATA, STATE HOUSE, UPND

Maravi

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

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