February 28 - A Pointless Anniversary.

         Today 28 February 1856 the protagonists of the Crimean War, after three years of slaughter, came together in Paris and through hours of huffing and puffing, signed an armistice, which was to end on the 31 March 1856. However both sides continued the build up their defences, but they did managed to calm their blood lusts, and on March the 30 1856 the Treaty of Paris was signed, and the blood soaked land got a little respite.

      Since then right up to the present hour, the imperialists and nation states have continued to slaughter the lives of ordinary people. Treaties have come and treaties have gone but the power lust remains. Borders are crossed, borders are eliminated, power structures are destroyed and new power structures built in their place. None of this is for the benefit of those who stand in the front line, none of this carnage is for the benefit of the ordinary people. Through the years all that has changed is, why the slaughter. It used to be to further or defend the power of monarchs and imperial empires, today it is to further or defend corporate empires, resources and markets. But the pattern is still the same, we do the dying and the killing, they reap the rewards.

         Here we are in 2013 and they are still legitimising the destruction, while they make arrangements to take their killing machine out of Afghanistan, they are entering a new adventure in Mali, with warring glances at Iran. In all the recent carnage and misery, who have been the beneficiaries? An honest assessment would probably say, the arms industries and the oil and gas industry of the Western corporate empire. 

 

       The madness and killing will continue as long as we keep this greed driven system of capitalism, a system the seeks to build and defend the personal fortunes for the few. Of course there are alternatives, we could, as ordinary people, take control of our own lives and build structures that see to the needs of all our people, the type of society that we want, based on co-operation, justice, mutual aid and freedom. That means of course that capitalism must be destroyed.

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Rich Countries and Foodbanks.

      The capitalist system is now a world wide system, but a system that has failed miserably to see to the needs of the people of this planet. The world is split between rich, so called high income countries, and devastatingly poor countries. To the apologists of the capitalist system this is an ongoing process, to them, soon all the countries will be high income countries. However the facts on the ground tell a different story. Today most of people in those high income countries are seeing their incomes drop and in some case very dramatically, Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, to mention a few. So called poor countries are not always poor in resources, Niger and Mali spring to mind. Even in the so called high income countries poverty tugs at the sleeves of the ordinary people.

       In the “rich” high income countries approximately 60 million people turn to food banks to just get by. That is almost equivalent to the entire population of the UK. A staggering 7.2% of the entire population of all the high income countries need to get help from food banks to survive. This is the success story of capitalism in the rich countries, consider the poverty and hunger in the poor countries. It is not that the food and resources just aren't there, we live in a world of abundance, wealth is stockpiled, we have food rotting in shops and warehouses, a recent study showed that 50% of all the food we produce is thrown away. We could all sit at the planet's table and eat our fill. However we have devised a system that won't allow that to happen, unless a few parasites can make money from the process. Until we end this insane capitalist system, millions will go hungry and poverty will continue to grow.

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COLONIALISTS ALWAYS WELCOME.

   I came across this quote on the Angry Arab News Service.

Colonial Irony: the case of Mali

      Western media always ALWAYS claim that the natives warmly welcome the Western invaders but the invaders always leave humiliatingly after being chased out by armed natives.  Here is the NYT on the French invaders in Mali:  "“I want to thank the French people,” said Mamadou Traoré, a Diabaly resident. He said French airstrikes had chased away the militants without harming any civilians, a claim echoed by other residents."  And do you notice that Western media talk about being invited by the "Mali government" (just as the Soviets invaded Afghanistan after being invited by Babrak Karmal) as if the coup leaders were democratically elected. 

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MALI, A THREAT TO THE CIVILISED WORLD!!!

       It is difficult to get a true picture of what is happening in Mali, a country that few in the West could find on the map and fewer could tell you anything about the place. Now it is headline news, a country which suddenly, according to our millionaire lords and masters, is a threat to the entire civilised world. As Cameron has stated, it will require a world response, You and I might not have known what was going on in Mali, but our corporate pariahs have been in their milking the country assets at least since since 1988 as Mali followed the dictate of the World Bank and the IMF, (International Mankind Fuckers) and privatised most of its major public enterprises. (From Wikipedia) The Malian government participates in foreign involvement, concerning commerce and privatization. Mali underwent economic reform, beginning in 1988 by signing agreements with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund During 1988 to 1996, Mali's government largely reformed public enterprises. Since the agreement, sixteen enterprises were privatized, twelve partially privatized, and twenty liquidated. In 2005, the Malian government conceded a railroad company to the Savage Corporation. Two major companies, Societé de Telecommunications du Mali (SOTELMA) and the Cotton Ginning Company (CMDT), were expected to be privatized in 2008.[

      Now that the West holds most of their public enterprises, they want to get in and secure their natural resources. Mali is one of the biggest gold producers in Africa, the French with their massive nuclear energy facilities will be eager to get its hands on the Uranium, then of course their is gas and oil. Yes, Mali is a risk to our civilised world, so the lie goes.

This from International Journal of Socialist renewal:

‘Islamist terrorists’ etc., etc.
      The public relations version of the French et al invasion is a familiar refrain. “Islamic terrorists” and “jihadists” have taken control of northern Mali and are a threat to international security and to the wellbeing of the local population. Terrible atrocities against the local populace are alleged and given wide publicity by corporate media. Similar myths were peddled by the war makers when they invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
      It is true that Islamic fundamentalists have ruled northern Mali with an iron hand since taking over in 2012. But the reasons for this latest intervention lie in the determination of the world’s imperial powers to keep the human and natural resources of poor regions of the world as preserves for capitalist profits. West Africa is a region of great resource wealth, including gold, oil and uranium.
      The uranium mines in neighbouring Niger and the uranium deposits in Mali are of particular interest to France, which generates 78 per cent of its electricity from nuclear energy. Niger’s uranium mines are highly polluting and deeply resented by the population, including among the semi-nomadic Touareg people who reside in the mining regions. The French company Areva is presently constructing in Imouraren, Niger, what will become the second-largest uranium mine in the world.

Read the full article HERE:

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OUR LOVE OF THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA!!

        It would appear that our lords and masters, the millionaire cabal, can't do without a war somewhere. There's talk of UK troops coming out of Afghanistan after 12 years of pointless killing and destruction, and now our pampered and privileged millionaire Prime Minister has announced that, despite our need for austerity, we will be sending aircraft to support the French military, who are fighting in Mali. For many years Mali was the centre of a large empire, controlling trade routes for gold, salt and among other things, slaves. In the West's greed for empire and riches the French grabbed that part of the world and called it their own. After breaking free from the French imperialists the people of Mali have struggled to sort out their country and there have been several massive peaceful demonstrations over the years, that have been brutally put down. Mali is mainly flat and mostly dust covered, so why are the French in there with their fire power, and now the UK?  Could it be because Mali faces several environmental challenges such as desertification, soil erosion, deforestation and shortage of water? Is it simply the Western governments love of the people of Africa coming to the fore? Perhaps this is the West showing its benevolence in its desire to see the people of Mali live the good life? Or, heaven forbid, there might be another motive other than love and affection!! Could it possibly be anything to do with the fact that Mali has considerable natural resources, such as gold, uranium, phosphates, kaolinite, salt and limestone, being the most widely exploited. 

     This is corporate capitalism at work doing its usual thing. Where there are resources the corporate West will take them with the backing of the military might of their puppets, the Western governments, with no thought for the people of that particular area. We have screwed the people of Africa for centuries and it will continue until we get rid of the system that is based on greed, and profit for the few at the expense of the many. Mali is just one little bit of their destructive and plundering activities that are killing people and destroying the planet.

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