Slavery still remains one of the most shameful phenomena in the life of modern mankind. On December 20, Interpol released 140 children in Africa's Gabon. The children were forced to work in markets and were virtually used there as slaves. Some of the children were not even six.
Criminals kidnapped the children or bought them from parents in other impoverished countries before taking them to Gabon's capital, Libreville. The rescued children have already been sent to orphanages.
Gabon is one of the most stable countries on the African continent. It is rich with oil, gas, manganese and uranium ores. As for income per capita ($13,900 in 2009), Gabon follows Equatorial Guinea and Seychelles.
According to unofficial sources, slavery also prospers in the countries where it was canceled not so many years ago. For example, slavery in Mauritania was abolished in 1980. However, many things were left in the country unchanged. Slaves were freed, but they had no place to go, so they just stayed with their owners to work for them.
In Niger, slavery was officially canceled in 1995. However, Timidria, an anti-slavery organization, said that over 870,000 people were enslaved in the country in 2003. The government of Niger denies the existence of slavery, but Timidria says that there are at least 43,000 slaves in the country nowadays. Many of them are known as "sadako" - female sex slaves. According to the UN and human rights organizations, the situation with slavery is also hard in Sudan, Somalia and Angola.
Sergey Karamayev, a specialist for Afric,a said in an interview with Pravda.Ru that slavery in Africa is still widely spread.
"Officially, slavery does not exist anywhere in the world, but the real state of affairs is absolutely different. Slavery continues to prosper in conflict-stricken countries, such as Congo and Sierra Leone.
Practically all feuding sides use slaves' services. There are several categories of slaves there. Combatants, for example, carry weapons and even struggle on the side of their kidnappers. Another category of slaves deals with servicing - they cook, do the laundry, perform sexual favors and do other things. There are also workers. They can often be seen in remote areas, where they live in special enclosures, mines and diggings, which may belong to Western enterprises.
"Slavery exists in other countries of the third world. Slaves can be found in South and South-East Asia (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma), in the Middle East and in Latin America. Slave labor is used on all continents. The only exception is Antarctica," the specialist said.
In Europe, there are from 400,000 to one million slaves. First and foremost, it goes about sex slavery. Sex slavery is widely spread in the USA, Israel, Turkey and Hong Kong. In total, there are up to 30 million slaves in the world today. According to UN experts, one sex slave brings up to $7,000 of income to her owners monthly.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Brazil: From Lula to Dilma
The tremendous class and poise with which President Dilma Roussef, Brazil's first female President, received those who went to attend her taking of office ceremony at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia was a telling sign that here is a person ably prepared to deliver what Brazil and the rest of the world not only wants, but needs: More of the same!
The fact that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva enters the final three months of his Presidency with a 79 per cent approval rating says it all. It therefore comes as no surprise that the transition within the PT (Workers' Party) from President Lula to Dilma Roussef, now Brazil's first woman President, has run so smoothly as Lula's popularity overflowed to his Chief of Staff.
Lula's two-term Presidency was a wake-up call for Brazil, which has finally reached its potential and has occupied its rightful place on the center stage of international relations. Subservient to nobody, confident and righteous, in the last decade Brazil has developed externally into a major player on the international scene and internally, social programmes have lifted millions out of poverty and have done much towards implementing social justice in a sustainable development model.
Lula came from the people and governed for the people. In eight years, 30 million Brazilians moved upwards from poverty into the middle class and 19 million moved out of extreme poverty. 40 per cent of the poorest sector of the population increased their wealth by over three per cent.
Central to his policies were Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) through which 12 million poor families were given a monthly subsidy of between 12 and 117 USD per child; Fome Zero (Zero Hunger), expanding programmes launched by his predecessor, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the fruit of the creation of his new Ministry of Social Development and the Eradication of Hunger.
Great importance was given to helping small farmers to develop and a new irrigation scheme was set up in the arid interior of Brazil's north-east, while the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC, Programa de Aceleração de Crescimento) strengthened infrastructure, creating jobs, bolstering the economy in a wide range of sectors.
Lula's sensible financial and economic policy saw Brazil pay off its debt to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule, saw the Sovereign Risk ratings plummet as the financial markets reacted, gaining confidence in Brazil, as the country grew in a climate of confidence and stability. Under Lula, Brazil passed for the first time from debtor to creditor.
Lula's two-term Presidency was not devoid of scandals but the fact is that he himself remained above any wrong-doing or abuse of influence and was quick to involve the Federal authorities in investigating corruption, and for the first time in its history, Lula leaves a Brazil where nobody is above the law.
External policy: Standing up for right and reason
Lula's external policy was equally successful, establishing Brazil not only as a major player in its geo-political sphere but also as a leader of the developing world, of Latin America, and on a wider stage, a power-broker in international relations, standing up for the precepts of debate, dialogue and discussion while others preached one thing and practised another.
Under Lula, Brazil stood for Latin American integration, forging closer relations among the MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL members, Brazil appeared as the mediator in the standoff between Venezuela and Colombia, assuming a leading role in the political crisis in Honduras and the humanitarian catastrophe in Haiti. Under Lula, Brazil deepened the relations among the BRIC members (Brazil, Russia, India, China) which is set to develop into a larger, massively powerful block including Iran, South Africa and Indonesia and possibly, Turkey. Under Lula, Brazil favoured a stance which favoured international law over hysteria and demonology (Iran's nuclear program) and led the developing world on a wide range of issues, from the environment to trading relations.
Under Lula, Brazil stood firm, defending positions which were not always popular with the EU or Washington and laying the foundations for an independent foreign policy gaining Brasilia much respect among the more reasonable members of the international community.
Lula could rightfully claim the title Man of the Decade.
Dilma: Same team, new captain
Those who claim Dilma Roussef has little international or Government experience and that she substitutes Lula because she was his protégé, basically ignore the fact that due to her personal merits, she saw her approval rating soar from 30 to over 55 per cent, winning the Presidential election clearly in the second round. Dilma Roussef is Brazil's real-life Action Lady.
Coming from a different social background from the Trade Union leader Lula, the economist Dilma Roussef from an early age became interested in social causes and after the military coup in 1964, she became a political activist in social justice organizations such as Comando de Libertação Nacional (COLINA) and Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares (VAR Palmares). Although her participation was political, and despite never having been involved in actions which caused human casualties, she was captured, imprisoned and tortured by Brazil's fascist and repressive regime, supported by the USA.
In 2005, speaking about this period of her life, she claimed: "I am not going to hide what I was and I do not have a negative view of it...I have rather a realistic view of that period. I was 22 years old, it was another world, it was another Brazil. We learnt a lot. It doesn't have anything in common with what I think today".
Freed from prison, she was later co-founder of the Democratic Worker's Party (PDT) and developed a career first as municipal secretary to the treasury in Porto Alegre, then as Secretary of the State of Minas Gerais for Mines and Energy. In 2001, she joined Lula's PT, drawing up his Government's plan for energy before becoming Minister of Mines and Energy, in which capacity she launched the campaign Electricity for All.
Her success in this post, her organizational skills and her tremendous skills in negotiating with all sectors of society laid the foundations for her being nominated as Chief Minister of the Cabinet Office.
As President Lula's Chief of Staff, she was deeply involved with all aspects of policy making behind the scenes; indeed, President Lula called her "Mother of the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC, Programa de Aceleração de Crescimento)" and since 2007, she has been groomed as Lula's successor.
Dilma Roussef is therefore excellently prepared to take over the Presidency in Brazil and with the political machinery of the PT behind her, it is a question of the same winning team gaining a new captain, a captain who beat an aggressive form of cancer of the lymph glands in recent years...one awesome lady.
If Lula is the Man of the decade, Dilma is the promise of the century.
The fact that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva enters the final three months of his Presidency with a 79 per cent approval rating says it all. It therefore comes as no surprise that the transition within the PT (Workers' Party) from President Lula to Dilma Roussef, now Brazil's first woman President, has run so smoothly as Lula's popularity overflowed to his Chief of Staff.
Lula's two-term Presidency was a wake-up call for Brazil, which has finally reached its potential and has occupied its rightful place on the center stage of international relations. Subservient to nobody, confident and righteous, in the last decade Brazil has developed externally into a major player on the international scene and internally, social programmes have lifted millions out of poverty and have done much towards implementing social justice in a sustainable development model.
Lula came from the people and governed for the people. In eight years, 30 million Brazilians moved upwards from poverty into the middle class and 19 million moved out of extreme poverty. 40 per cent of the poorest sector of the population increased their wealth by over three per cent.
Central to his policies were Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) through which 12 million poor families were given a monthly subsidy of between 12 and 117 USD per child; Fome Zero (Zero Hunger), expanding programmes launched by his predecessor, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the fruit of the creation of his new Ministry of Social Development and the Eradication of Hunger.
Great importance was given to helping small farmers to develop and a new irrigation scheme was set up in the arid interior of Brazil's north-east, while the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC, Programa de Aceleração de Crescimento) strengthened infrastructure, creating jobs, bolstering the economy in a wide range of sectors.
Lula's sensible financial and economic policy saw Brazil pay off its debt to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule, saw the Sovereign Risk ratings plummet as the financial markets reacted, gaining confidence in Brazil, as the country grew in a climate of confidence and stability. Under Lula, Brazil passed for the first time from debtor to creditor.
Lula's two-term Presidency was not devoid of scandals but the fact is that he himself remained above any wrong-doing or abuse of influence and was quick to involve the Federal authorities in investigating corruption, and for the first time in its history, Lula leaves a Brazil where nobody is above the law.
External policy: Standing up for right and reason
Lula's external policy was equally successful, establishing Brazil not only as a major player in its geo-political sphere but also as a leader of the developing world, of Latin America, and on a wider stage, a power-broker in international relations, standing up for the precepts of debate, dialogue and discussion while others preached one thing and practised another.
Under Lula, Brazil stood for Latin American integration, forging closer relations among the MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL members, Brazil appeared as the mediator in the standoff between Venezuela and Colombia, assuming a leading role in the political crisis in Honduras and the humanitarian catastrophe in Haiti. Under Lula, Brazil deepened the relations among the BRIC members (Brazil, Russia, India, China) which is set to develop into a larger, massively powerful block including Iran, South Africa and Indonesia and possibly, Turkey. Under Lula, Brazil favoured a stance which favoured international law over hysteria and demonology (Iran's nuclear program) and led the developing world on a wide range of issues, from the environment to trading relations.
Under Lula, Brazil stood firm, defending positions which were not always popular with the EU or Washington and laying the foundations for an independent foreign policy gaining Brasilia much respect among the more reasonable members of the international community.
Lula could rightfully claim the title Man of the Decade.
Dilma: Same team, new captain
Those who claim Dilma Roussef has little international or Government experience and that she substitutes Lula because she was his protégé, basically ignore the fact that due to her personal merits, she saw her approval rating soar from 30 to over 55 per cent, winning the Presidential election clearly in the second round. Dilma Roussef is Brazil's real-life Action Lady.
Coming from a different social background from the Trade Union leader Lula, the economist Dilma Roussef from an early age became interested in social causes and after the military coup in 1964, she became a political activist in social justice organizations such as Comando de Libertação Nacional (COLINA) and Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares (VAR Palmares). Although her participation was political, and despite never having been involved in actions which caused human casualties, she was captured, imprisoned and tortured by Brazil's fascist and repressive regime, supported by the USA.
In 2005, speaking about this period of her life, she claimed: "I am not going to hide what I was and I do not have a negative view of it...I have rather a realistic view of that period. I was 22 years old, it was another world, it was another Brazil. We learnt a lot. It doesn't have anything in common with what I think today".
Freed from prison, she was later co-founder of the Democratic Worker's Party (PDT) and developed a career first as municipal secretary to the treasury in Porto Alegre, then as Secretary of the State of Minas Gerais for Mines and Energy. In 2001, she joined Lula's PT, drawing up his Government's plan for energy before becoming Minister of Mines and Energy, in which capacity she launched the campaign Electricity for All.
Her success in this post, her organizational skills and her tremendous skills in negotiating with all sectors of society laid the foundations for her being nominated as Chief Minister of the Cabinet Office.
As President Lula's Chief of Staff, she was deeply involved with all aspects of policy making behind the scenes; indeed, President Lula called her "Mother of the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC, Programa de Aceleração de Crescimento)" and since 2007, she has been groomed as Lula's successor.
Dilma Roussef is therefore excellently prepared to take over the Presidency in Brazil and with the political machinery of the PT behind her, it is a question of the same winning team gaining a new captain, a captain who beat an aggressive form of cancer of the lymph glands in recent years...one awesome lady.
If Lula is the Man of the decade, Dilma is the promise of the century.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Dmitry Medvedev: We must listen to the people’s voice
President Dmitry Medvedev summed up this year’s results in a live television broadcast.
As in the previous years, he talked with the heads of Russia’s three major TV networks: Channel One, Rossiya and NTV. They reviewed major events of the outgoing year and wished the audience a happy New Year. The theme that ran through the entire conversation was that top government officials must listen to the people’s voice and work on correcting their mistakes.
Medvedev promised to rectify one of such mistakes immediately. Recently, the government submitted a bill to the State Duma on a new procedure for calculating maternity benefits. The proposal provoked an angry response from many women, who staged a picket in front of the Healthcare Ministry, bringing along small children and carrying moving slogans.
The president responded to this protest by instructing his subordinates to draft amendments to the bill that women would deem acceptable. He also emphasized that the document produced by the Healthcare Ministry does not help resolve the demographic problem.Medvedev urged all officials to respond to signals from the public and returned to this subject many times. He recalled the Khimki forest case, when highway construction project executives ignored public protests and he was forced to take a drastic step and put the project on hold. Had they listened to the public, many problems could have been avoided.
The president described the problem with the planned construction of the Okhta Center in St. Petersburg in much the same terms but stressed that in this case the decision to change the new center’s location was made by the municipal authorities. It is true, though, that he had to raise his voice – and “the president’s voice is loud,” as he put it himself – to compel the local authorities to respect the people’s wishes.
Medvedev brushed aside the concern voiced by NTV Director Vladimir Kulistikov that “the public will never stop pestering the officials.” He said that “deep totalitarian trends” are still very strong in Russia and it is too soon to worry about the riot of public opinion. It is necessary to listen carefully to public opinion and always take it into account.
Governors should do the same. Medvedev insisted that they should always be concerned about their ratings and popularity, if only because unpopular governors will not be reappointed. He did not forget to mention the once popular Yury Luzhkov, former mayor of Moscow, and explained the reasons for his dismissal. The president said in no uncertain terms that corruption in Moscow had reached an unprecedented scale while the former mayor was only interested in his personal PR and political intrigues.
Medvedev contrasted Luzhkov with the new mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. “I hope that the new mayor will work in a different way. He is a man of action, a hard-working person who does not suffer from a superiority complex. He is not after improving his personal image and is not interested in political competition. Everyone must work hard. Let him do his job,” he said.
In this way Medvedev made absolutely clear the reasons behind Luzhkov’s notorious dismissal. However, he unequivocally refused to voice his opinion on the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of YUKOS: “Neither the president nor any other government official has the right to express an opinion on this case or any other case before the verdict is issued, be it guilty or not guilty.”
Finally, Medvedev turned to his favorite subject – modernization – which he discussed in his article “Go, Russia!” and which he always touches on in his public speeches. He admitted that although this year’s modernization results were quite good, not enough has been achieved in this area.
However, no fundamental changes can take place in a single year. The president said that “modernization has penetrated the political agenda” and is no longer just a subject of discussions. The creation of reliable feedback channels between the authorities and the public is one of the signs that the process has got underway.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
As in the previous years, he talked with the heads of Russia’s three major TV networks: Channel One, Rossiya and NTV. They reviewed major events of the outgoing year and wished the audience a happy New Year. The theme that ran through the entire conversation was that top government officials must listen to the people’s voice and work on correcting their mistakes.
Medvedev promised to rectify one of such mistakes immediately. Recently, the government submitted a bill to the State Duma on a new procedure for calculating maternity benefits. The proposal provoked an angry response from many women, who staged a picket in front of the Healthcare Ministry, bringing along small children and carrying moving slogans.
The president responded to this protest by instructing his subordinates to draft amendments to the bill that women would deem acceptable. He also emphasized that the document produced by the Healthcare Ministry does not help resolve the demographic problem.Medvedev urged all officials to respond to signals from the public and returned to this subject many times. He recalled the Khimki forest case, when highway construction project executives ignored public protests and he was forced to take a drastic step and put the project on hold. Had they listened to the public, many problems could have been avoided.
The president described the problem with the planned construction of the Okhta Center in St. Petersburg in much the same terms but stressed that in this case the decision to change the new center’s location was made by the municipal authorities. It is true, though, that he had to raise his voice – and “the president’s voice is loud,” as he put it himself – to compel the local authorities to respect the people’s wishes.
Medvedev brushed aside the concern voiced by NTV Director Vladimir Kulistikov that “the public will never stop pestering the officials.” He said that “deep totalitarian trends” are still very strong in Russia and it is too soon to worry about the riot of public opinion. It is necessary to listen carefully to public opinion and always take it into account.
Governors should do the same. Medvedev insisted that they should always be concerned about their ratings and popularity, if only because unpopular governors will not be reappointed. He did not forget to mention the once popular Yury Luzhkov, former mayor of Moscow, and explained the reasons for his dismissal. The president said in no uncertain terms that corruption in Moscow had reached an unprecedented scale while the former mayor was only interested in his personal PR and political intrigues.
Medvedev contrasted Luzhkov with the new mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. “I hope that the new mayor will work in a different way. He is a man of action, a hard-working person who does not suffer from a superiority complex. He is not after improving his personal image and is not interested in political competition. Everyone must work hard. Let him do his job,” he said.
In this way Medvedev made absolutely clear the reasons behind Luzhkov’s notorious dismissal. However, he unequivocally refused to voice his opinion on the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of YUKOS: “Neither the president nor any other government official has the right to express an opinion on this case or any other case before the verdict is issued, be it guilty or not guilty.”
Finally, Medvedev turned to his favorite subject – modernization – which he discussed in his article “Go, Russia!” and which he always touches on in his public speeches. He admitted that although this year’s modernization results were quite good, not enough has been achieved in this area.
However, no fundamental changes can take place in a single year. The president said that “modernization has penetrated the political agenda” and is no longer just a subject of discussions. The creation of reliable feedback channels between the authorities and the public is one of the signs that the process has got underway.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
USA: people going from bad to worse, but capital has record profits
The perversity of American capitalism emerges in the statistics on earnings and employment in the U.S. While the people are not, capitalist corporations are doing well.
Despite the deep economic crisis, they achieve extraordinary profits. Data published in November by the government shows that the profits of large companies in the country have reached record levels in the third quarter of this year.
A gain of more than 1.6 trillion dollars was recorded, which amounts to more than 10% of the U.S. GDP, estimated at 15 trillion dollars. The highest since the government has been keeping records on corporate profits for 60 years.
Profiting from unemploymentTotal corporate profits grew 28% over the same period in 2009. However, companies do not use these record profits to hire more workers. On Friday (3rd), the State Department said the unemployment rate rose in November to 9.8%. It had been 9.6% in the previous three months.
The number of unemployed in the country totaled 15.1 million in November, according to government statistics, which may be underestimated. Some economists estimate 30 million in the army of the unemployed and underemployed in the country.The contrast between profit and employment exposes the perverse, vicious face of capitalism. Three years after the onset of the recession in the U.S., the crisis is no longer a problem for big capitalists, who keep on making even greater profits and can claim recovery. The working class cannot say the same.
The state has poured trillions of dollars into the economy to protect the big capitalists and did little or nothing for the poor. It rescued bankers first, but not only. There was even a takeover of GM, which cost billions of dollars to state coffers and thousands of jobs to labor. This was because what the Obama administration imposed on the company was not keeping its employees, but they were dismissed, the shift workers were wiped from the place and production was moved abroad.
The working class was frustrated by the hopes that they had placed in Barack Obama. No wonder the Democrats have reaped a change on the vote during the congressional elections in November. Unfortunately, the energy aroused by popular revolt was appropriated by the right and diverted from its real purposes.
The crisis has the merit to deconstruct and clarify myths and contradictions. When profits and unemployment are rising, at the same time it is a sign of increased productivity and the degree of exploitation of the working class, which the capitalist imposes through the intensification of the work pace, increase of the journey, reducing wages and benefits, among other means widely used by companies in times of crisis. In this perverse way, the capitalist profits from massive unemployment, which reduces the resistance of salaried workers.
Despite the deep economic crisis, they achieve extraordinary profits. Data published in November by the government shows that the profits of large companies in the country have reached record levels in the third quarter of this year.
A gain of more than 1.6 trillion dollars was recorded, which amounts to more than 10% of the U.S. GDP, estimated at 15 trillion dollars. The highest since the government has been keeping records on corporate profits for 60 years.
Profiting from unemploymentTotal corporate profits grew 28% over the same period in 2009. However, companies do not use these record profits to hire more workers. On Friday (3rd), the State Department said the unemployment rate rose in November to 9.8%. It had been 9.6% in the previous three months.
The number of unemployed in the country totaled 15.1 million in November, according to government statistics, which may be underestimated. Some economists estimate 30 million in the army of the unemployed and underemployed in the country.The contrast between profit and employment exposes the perverse, vicious face of capitalism. Three years after the onset of the recession in the U.S., the crisis is no longer a problem for big capitalists, who keep on making even greater profits and can claim recovery. The working class cannot say the same.
The state has poured trillions of dollars into the economy to protect the big capitalists and did little or nothing for the poor. It rescued bankers first, but not only. There was even a takeover of GM, which cost billions of dollars to state coffers and thousands of jobs to labor. This was because what the Obama administration imposed on the company was not keeping its employees, but they were dismissed, the shift workers were wiped from the place and production was moved abroad.
The working class was frustrated by the hopes that they had placed in Barack Obama. No wonder the Democrats have reaped a change on the vote during the congressional elections in November. Unfortunately, the energy aroused by popular revolt was appropriated by the right and diverted from its real purposes.
The crisis has the merit to deconstruct and clarify myths and contradictions. When profits and unemployment are rising, at the same time it is a sign of increased productivity and the degree of exploitation of the working class, which the capitalist imposes through the intensification of the work pace, increase of the journey, reducing wages and benefits, among other means widely used by companies in times of crisis. In this perverse way, the capitalist profits from massive unemployment, which reduces the resistance of salaried workers.
The poverty and pettiness of America
In the United States of America, people work like slaves on plantations. If you do not happen to be a property owner, all you will have to do is either to survive working in the service industry or playing the game of musical chairs for a cubicle (which will be outsourced to India some time next week anyway).
The best thing which you can hope for in the USA is to receive a professional's degree and milk the system for a piece of middle class pie. Even those who make it in the middle class stay just one disease or job loss away from poverty. Your jobs are not protected. Your company is not loyal to you. They will set you against your own colleagues at work, if they need to, and then they will get rid of you. It goes without saying that you do not have a choice at this point: this is the way this system works.
In many developed countries, a higher education is either free or subsidized. In the United States, getting a university degree will give you a debt of over $100,000. You are destined to step into the working world with a massive burden of debt on your shoulders. Forget about having a journey around the world or finding yourself - you have to start working. Otherwise, you will have to watch your credit rating rolling down the hill.
If you are one of the lucky guys, you can find a job that will be good enough to get you a home loan. Afterwards, you will have to spend a half of your life to pay the interest on the loan - welcome to the world of American debt slavery.
Most of your beef that you consume in the USA, has been exposed to fecal matter in processing. Your poultry is infected with salmonella. Your stock animals and poultry are drugged with hormones and antibiotics. In most countries, governments would try to protect their citizens against all this, but in the United States the government is bribed by industrialists to avoid regulations and inspections.
In a few years, the majority of all the produce for sale in the United States will be from genetically modified crops, thanks to the cozy relationship between Monsanto Corporation and the United States government. Worse still, due to the vast quantities of high-fructose corn syrup Americans consume, fully one-third of children born in the United States today will be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives.
Of course, it's not just the food that's killing you, it's the drugs. If you show any sign of life when you're young, they'll put you on Ritalin. Then, when you get old enough to take a good look around, you'll get depressed, so they'll give you Prozac. If you're a man, this will render you chemically impotent, so you'll need Viagra to get it up. Meanwhile, your steady diet of trans-fat-laden food is guaranteed to give you high cholesterol, so you'll get a prescription for Lipitor. Finally, at the end of the day, you'll lay awake at night worrying about losing your health plan, so you'll need Lunesta to go to sleep.
All this begs the question: Why would anyone put up with this? Ask any American and you'll get the same answer: because America is the freest country on earth. The country, in which the number of prisoners is larger than that in the 1.5-billion-strong China is the freest? This is not funny.
Unfortunately, the American political process is among the most corrupt in the world. In every country on earth, one expects politicians to take bribes from the rich. But this generally happens in secret, behind the closed doors of their elite clubs. In the United States, this sort of political corruption is done in broad daylight, as part of legal, accepted, standard operating procedure. In the United States, they merely call these bribes campaign donations, political action committees and lobbyists.
One can no more expect the politicians to change this system than one can expect a man to take an axe and chop his own legs out from underneath him.
No, the United States of America is not going to change for the better. The only change will be for the worse. As we speak, the economic system that sustained the country during the post-war years is collapsing. The United States maxed out its "credit card" sometime in 2008 and now its lenders, starting with China, are in the process of laying the foundations for a new monetary system to replace the Anglo-American "petro-dollar" system. As soon as there is a viable alternative to the US dollar, the greenback will sink like a stone.
Meanwhile, Asian and European countries were investing in education, infrastructure and raw materials. Even if the United States tried to rebuild a real economy (as opposed to a service/financial economy) do think American workers would ever be able to compete with the workers of China or Europe? Have you ever seen a Japanese or German factory? Have you ever met a Singaporean or Chinese worker?
There are only two possible futures facing the United States, and neither one is pretty. The best case is a slow but orderly decline - essentially a continuation of what's been happening for the last two decades. Wages will drop, unemployment will rise, Medicare and Social Security benefits will be slashed, the currency will decline in value, and the disparity of wealth will spiral out of control until the United States starts to resemble Mexico or the Philippines - tiny islands of wealth surrounded by great poverty (the country is already halfway there).
Equally likely is a sudden collapse, perhaps brought about by a rapid flight from the US dollar by creditor nations like China, Japan, Korea and the OPEC nations. A related possibility would be a default by the United States government on its vast debt. One look at the financial balance sheet of the US government should convince you how likely this is: governmental spending is skyrocketing and tax receipts are plummeting - something has to give.
Whether the collapse is gradual or gut-wrenchingly sudden, the results will be chaos, civil strife and fascism. Let's face it: the United States is like the former Yugoslavia - a collection of mutually antagonistic cultures united in name only. You've got your own version of the Taliban: right-wing Christian fundamentalists who actively loathe the idea of secular Constitutional government. You've got a vast intellectual underclass that has spent the last few decades soaking up Fox News and talk radio propaganda, eager to blame the collapse on Democrats, gays and immigrants. You've got a ruthless ownership class that will use all the means at its disposal to protect its wealth from the starving masses.
On top of all that you've got vast factory farms, sprawling suburbs and a truck-based shipping system, all of it entirely dependent on oil that is about to become completely unaffordable. And you've got guns. Lots of guns. In short: the United States is about to become a very unwholesome place to be.
Right now, the government is building fences and walls along its northern and southern borders. Right now, the government is working on a national ID system (soon to be fitted with biometric features). Right now, the government is building a surveillance state so extensive that they will be able to follow your every move, online, in the street and across borders. If you think this is just to protect you from "terrorists," then you're sadly mistaken.
They don't want their tax base escaping. They don't want their "recruits" escaping. They don't want YOU escaping.
This country started with slaves on plantations - this is how it is going to end. They will not be bringing slaves in, though. They already have them.
The best thing which you can hope for in the USA is to receive a professional's degree and milk the system for a piece of middle class pie. Even those who make it in the middle class stay just one disease or job loss away from poverty. Your jobs are not protected. Your company is not loyal to you. They will set you against your own colleagues at work, if they need to, and then they will get rid of you. It goes without saying that you do not have a choice at this point: this is the way this system works.
In many developed countries, a higher education is either free or subsidized. In the United States, getting a university degree will give you a debt of over $100,000. You are destined to step into the working world with a massive burden of debt on your shoulders. Forget about having a journey around the world or finding yourself - you have to start working. Otherwise, you will have to watch your credit rating rolling down the hill.
If you are one of the lucky guys, you can find a job that will be good enough to get you a home loan. Afterwards, you will have to spend a half of your life to pay the interest on the loan - welcome to the world of American debt slavery.
Most of your beef that you consume in the USA, has been exposed to fecal matter in processing. Your poultry is infected with salmonella. Your stock animals and poultry are drugged with hormones and antibiotics. In most countries, governments would try to protect their citizens against all this, but in the United States the government is bribed by industrialists to avoid regulations and inspections.
In a few years, the majority of all the produce for sale in the United States will be from genetically modified crops, thanks to the cozy relationship between Monsanto Corporation and the United States government. Worse still, due to the vast quantities of high-fructose corn syrup Americans consume, fully one-third of children born in the United States today will be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives.
Of course, it's not just the food that's killing you, it's the drugs. If you show any sign of life when you're young, they'll put you on Ritalin. Then, when you get old enough to take a good look around, you'll get depressed, so they'll give you Prozac. If you're a man, this will render you chemically impotent, so you'll need Viagra to get it up. Meanwhile, your steady diet of trans-fat-laden food is guaranteed to give you high cholesterol, so you'll get a prescription for Lipitor. Finally, at the end of the day, you'll lay awake at night worrying about losing your health plan, so you'll need Lunesta to go to sleep.
All this begs the question: Why would anyone put up with this? Ask any American and you'll get the same answer: because America is the freest country on earth. The country, in which the number of prisoners is larger than that in the 1.5-billion-strong China is the freest? This is not funny.
Unfortunately, the American political process is among the most corrupt in the world. In every country on earth, one expects politicians to take bribes from the rich. But this generally happens in secret, behind the closed doors of their elite clubs. In the United States, this sort of political corruption is done in broad daylight, as part of legal, accepted, standard operating procedure. In the United States, they merely call these bribes campaign donations, political action committees and lobbyists.
One can no more expect the politicians to change this system than one can expect a man to take an axe and chop his own legs out from underneath him.
No, the United States of America is not going to change for the better. The only change will be for the worse. As we speak, the economic system that sustained the country during the post-war years is collapsing. The United States maxed out its "credit card" sometime in 2008 and now its lenders, starting with China, are in the process of laying the foundations for a new monetary system to replace the Anglo-American "petro-dollar" system. As soon as there is a viable alternative to the US dollar, the greenback will sink like a stone.
Meanwhile, Asian and European countries were investing in education, infrastructure and raw materials. Even if the United States tried to rebuild a real economy (as opposed to a service/financial economy) do think American workers would ever be able to compete with the workers of China or Europe? Have you ever seen a Japanese or German factory? Have you ever met a Singaporean or Chinese worker?
There are only two possible futures facing the United States, and neither one is pretty. The best case is a slow but orderly decline - essentially a continuation of what's been happening for the last two decades. Wages will drop, unemployment will rise, Medicare and Social Security benefits will be slashed, the currency will decline in value, and the disparity of wealth will spiral out of control until the United States starts to resemble Mexico or the Philippines - tiny islands of wealth surrounded by great poverty (the country is already halfway there).
Equally likely is a sudden collapse, perhaps brought about by a rapid flight from the US dollar by creditor nations like China, Japan, Korea and the OPEC nations. A related possibility would be a default by the United States government on its vast debt. One look at the financial balance sheet of the US government should convince you how likely this is: governmental spending is skyrocketing and tax receipts are plummeting - something has to give.
Whether the collapse is gradual or gut-wrenchingly sudden, the results will be chaos, civil strife and fascism. Let's face it: the United States is like the former Yugoslavia - a collection of mutually antagonistic cultures united in name only. You've got your own version of the Taliban: right-wing Christian fundamentalists who actively loathe the idea of secular Constitutional government. You've got a vast intellectual underclass that has spent the last few decades soaking up Fox News and talk radio propaganda, eager to blame the collapse on Democrats, gays and immigrants. You've got a ruthless ownership class that will use all the means at its disposal to protect its wealth from the starving masses.
On top of all that you've got vast factory farms, sprawling suburbs and a truck-based shipping system, all of it entirely dependent on oil that is about to become completely unaffordable. And you've got guns. Lots of guns. In short: the United States is about to become a very unwholesome place to be.
Right now, the government is building fences and walls along its northern and southern borders. Right now, the government is working on a national ID system (soon to be fitted with biometric features). Right now, the government is building a surveillance state so extensive that they will be able to follow your every move, online, in the street and across borders. If you think this is just to protect you from "terrorists," then you're sadly mistaken.
They don't want their tax base escaping. They don't want their "recruits" escaping. They don't want YOU escaping.
This country started with slaves on plantations - this is how it is going to end. They will not be bringing slaves in, though. They already have them.
Prime minister of Laos resigns
Laos on Thursday announced a new prime minister after the surprise resignation of Bouasone Bouphavanh months before his term was scheduled to end.
"We have a new prime minister," government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told AFP from Laos. "The former prime minister resigned."
Bouasone, 56, who had spent more than four years in office, was replaced by Thongsing Thammavong, president of the communist-dominated National Assembly, Khenthong said.
Thongsing's promotion was approved unanimously by the 101 assembly members present for the vote after Bouasone's departure, he added.
"We did not expect he would resign because he has performed quite well in his function," said Khenthong, adding that Bouasone told deputies he could no longer perform his duties because of "family problems."
The decision to resign was Bouasone's alone, the spokesman said, but he remains a member of the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party central committee.
Bouasone would have been eligible for another term when the party's Congress is held early in 2011.
"He can run for another post in the future," even at the next Congress, Khenthong said.
Laos, a rural-based society of about six million is one of Asia's poorest nations and is highly reliant on foreign donors.
Bouasone told a conference in Vietnam earlier this year that his country aims for "no less than" eight percent annual economic growth to 2015.
The country's economy has been expanding at an annual average of seven percent in recent years, and the government aims "to lift the country from underdevelopment by 2020," he said.
Non-governmental organisations this year urged the government to consider slowing the pace and scale of large foreign investment projects which, they said, form the basis of the country's growth strategy.
They expressed concern that the projects often rely on foreign labour, add little value in Laos, and potentially have negative effects on the environment and socio-economic development.
"We have a new prime minister," government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told AFP from Laos. "The former prime minister resigned."
Bouasone, 56, who had spent more than four years in office, was replaced by Thongsing Thammavong, president of the communist-dominated National Assembly, Khenthong said.
Thongsing's promotion was approved unanimously by the 101 assembly members present for the vote after Bouasone's departure, he added.
"We did not expect he would resign because he has performed quite well in his function," said Khenthong, adding that Bouasone told deputies he could no longer perform his duties because of "family problems."
The decision to resign was Bouasone's alone, the spokesman said, but he remains a member of the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party central committee.
Bouasone would have been eligible for another term when the party's Congress is held early in 2011.
"He can run for another post in the future," even at the next Congress, Khenthong said.
Laos, a rural-based society of about six million is one of Asia's poorest nations and is highly reliant on foreign donors.
Bouasone told a conference in Vietnam earlier this year that his country aims for "no less than" eight percent annual economic growth to 2015.
The country's economy has been expanding at an annual average of seven percent in recent years, and the government aims "to lift the country from underdevelopment by 2020," he said.
Non-governmental organisations this year urged the government to consider slowing the pace and scale of large foreign investment projects which, they said, form the basis of the country's growth strategy.
They expressed concern that the projects often rely on foreign labour, add little value in Laos, and potentially have negative effects on the environment and socio-economic development.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Horoscope 2013 Gemini
Horoscope : GENERAL
The astral configurations of this year 2013 will enable you to crown your launched efforts last year, in the relational field. This will have effects in many circumstances. Indeed, the impulses of Uranus in aspect to your sector, escorted Mars and Sun will notably facilitate your exchanges and their clearness. New choices become possible and those are turned spontaneously in the direction of evolutions which bring you closer to your objectives. And in spite of the agitation which at certain times will be intense, your personal road is seen facilitated by your entourage and its influence. Mercury comes to flux your practical steps, you will have more space to live with a big L !
WORK
Certain professional concern arrives in the long term, this year. Indeed, here that solution arrives thanks to outside assistances, proposals, etc…. You begin the year with a beautiful note of jupiterian optimism, which brings a promising relational chance to you. You will collect the fruits in November of them, for the hour, this is the moment to launch useful preparations. Your colleagues leave you more freedom of action that these three last years, peace settles and leaves you more freedom to devote itself to individual work.
That with the excess can lead you to too cutting you others and their opinions and supports, which will be able to pass for the ingratitude. It is up to you to keep a minimum of opening and especially of flexibility… You do not be the only one with being in truth !
LOVE
The stability of your emotional ties will be the one of your absolute priorities, this year. Indeed, the aspects of Saturn with Neptune beats full sound and wake up in your fears which will cause defense reactions in a constructive direction in your attitude with the Other. The effects Uranus in aspect to your Sun will support your efforts in the direction of a denser expression in love. Moreover, the changes you set up start to bear their fruits. The general climate is tender at the beginning of year. Your loves tint increased tenderness, you will have more resources to reinforce your agreement, the harmony settles, without you losing the intensity in love which holds you with heart.
Will be able to reason your requirements if you are alone, the meetings claim efforts in this direction, it is necessary to round the angles, not to appear harder than you are it actually. Your spontaneous reactions will be rich in emotions. But for your partner, you do not astonish if he considers them too whole and if you are taxed with susceptibility! If you are single, you will meet events very records, there are projecting meetings in prospect. The love at first sight is not a myth… You will not play shy person well a long time. These new departures made possible will force you to leave your reserve, but especially to look at your fears opposite: You attract to you people who discover your most hidden weaknesses without difficulties.
ADVICE
All that is related to legality, official signatures, and important sales is seen favored during June, March and October 2013. You will have to slice fuzzy situations, to more firmly redirect your life from your initiatives.
The Mercury impulses help you to take account of the external opinions, but you will have for remaining centered as much on your personal requirements and not forgetting what is essential for you. Relativize these influences by keeping your personal course. The Saturn impulses give you accesses of impatience, of diffuse nervousness, often even without knowing why you are thus; with driving back essential needs too much, you feel frustration. Measure your actions in continuity to avoid packing you in bad directions.
VITALITY
You profit from the joint supports from Jupiter and Uranus, this year, which confers to you a basic vitality almost with any test. On the other hand, you will be more vulnerable to the external agitation, particularly on your work place. It will be essential more than ever to preserve your intimacy of useless harmful effects which empty you your energy.
You will be able to reconstitute your reserves in the bubble of your hearth; it will be your artful thrust, this year. The Mercury impulses also facilitate the mental relaxation through arts and of the leisure. The only shelf to be avoided will be too to give you to your work, but also of sparing your digestive system, which tends to becoming more delicate and receptive with all that is spices and existing in all kinds. The contact with the ground will be compensation with the stress of the everyday life.
The astral configurations of this year 2013 will enable you to crown your launched efforts last year, in the relational field. This will have effects in many circumstances. Indeed, the impulses of Uranus in aspect to your sector, escorted Mars and Sun will notably facilitate your exchanges and their clearness. New choices become possible and those are turned spontaneously in the direction of evolutions which bring you closer to your objectives. And in spite of the agitation which at certain times will be intense, your personal road is seen facilitated by your entourage and its influence. Mercury comes to flux your practical steps, you will have more space to live with a big L !
WORK
Certain professional concern arrives in the long term, this year. Indeed, here that solution arrives thanks to outside assistances, proposals, etc…. You begin the year with a beautiful note of jupiterian optimism, which brings a promising relational chance to you. You will collect the fruits in November of them, for the hour, this is the moment to launch useful preparations. Your colleagues leave you more freedom of action that these three last years, peace settles and leaves you more freedom to devote itself to individual work.
That with the excess can lead you to too cutting you others and their opinions and supports, which will be able to pass for the ingratitude. It is up to you to keep a minimum of opening and especially of flexibility… You do not be the only one with being in truth !
LOVE
The stability of your emotional ties will be the one of your absolute priorities, this year. Indeed, the aspects of Saturn with Neptune beats full sound and wake up in your fears which will cause defense reactions in a constructive direction in your attitude with the Other. The effects Uranus in aspect to your Sun will support your efforts in the direction of a denser expression in love. Moreover, the changes you set up start to bear their fruits. The general climate is tender at the beginning of year. Your loves tint increased tenderness, you will have more resources to reinforce your agreement, the harmony settles, without you losing the intensity in love which holds you with heart.
Will be able to reason your requirements if you are alone, the meetings claim efforts in this direction, it is necessary to round the angles, not to appear harder than you are it actually. Your spontaneous reactions will be rich in emotions. But for your partner, you do not astonish if he considers them too whole and if you are taxed with susceptibility! If you are single, you will meet events very records, there are projecting meetings in prospect. The love at first sight is not a myth… You will not play shy person well a long time. These new departures made possible will force you to leave your reserve, but especially to look at your fears opposite: You attract to you people who discover your most hidden weaknesses without difficulties.
ADVICE
All that is related to legality, official signatures, and important sales is seen favored during June, March and October 2013. You will have to slice fuzzy situations, to more firmly redirect your life from your initiatives.
The Mercury impulses help you to take account of the external opinions, but you will have for remaining centered as much on your personal requirements and not forgetting what is essential for you. Relativize these influences by keeping your personal course. The Saturn impulses give you accesses of impatience, of diffuse nervousness, often even without knowing why you are thus; with driving back essential needs too much, you feel frustration. Measure your actions in continuity to avoid packing you in bad directions.
VITALITY
You profit from the joint supports from Jupiter and Uranus, this year, which confers to you a basic vitality almost with any test. On the other hand, you will be more vulnerable to the external agitation, particularly on your work place. It will be essential more than ever to preserve your intimacy of useless harmful effects which empty you your energy.
You will be able to reconstitute your reserves in the bubble of your hearth; it will be your artful thrust, this year. The Mercury impulses also facilitate the mental relaxation through arts and of the leisure. The only shelf to be avoided will be too to give you to your work, but also of sparing your digestive system, which tends to becoming more delicate and receptive with all that is spices and existing in all kinds. The contact with the ground will be compensation with the stress of the everyday life.
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