Latest: Riek Machar will not return without his deputy Lt. Gatwerch to Juba, South Sudan

simon GoSS

Rebel Leader Riek Machar has postponed his return to Juba for the third time this week , The rebel advance team spokesman informed journalists and dignitaries at the Airport that the rebel chief will not come to Juba today. William Ezekier said no new date has been set for Rieks Return, the inside sources say he won’t return to Juba without Simon Gatwerch chief Lieutenant who is facing a travel ban. 

Machar Kiir

The ironies of Socialism versus Neo-Liberalism; why I believe in a Keynesian approach instead of the Socialism or the Neo-Liberalism

Socialism churchill

Well, it is about that time, I make mockery of two statues of civilization and ideas that rules the world while not hoping the blindly followers of either comes to attack my person, my thoughts or my widely allegation on the parts. Both of the political views and framework have made a difference and is the reason why we have societies like we have today.

The main parts of socialism is that there is policies and regulations that fit for social and bigger government who cares for the citizens, like subsidized health-care, schools, university, transport and local government. Through taxes and higher fees on produce as the socialism need funding for the ability to make the government organizations and government programs. The Government need more taxes to able to serve the public with what they expect through the socialistic view, while the taxes are set-up in a way that the ones with more income is generating more revenue is supposed to pay more tax; than the ones that are paid less.

So with the big-government and grander government policies comes the address of the public will and citizens loses power, but that for the price of cheaper health-care, schooling and other government institutions. That stops the higher prices and free-market pricing of health care that lets major parts of the society might even be able to pay for the needed operations. So the reasoning and hateful measurement against big-government is wrong in some parts as the people are stronger when we work together and divide the expenditure on the whole society; instead of billing the whole ordeals on the single individual.

free market

Neo-Liberalism is not as straight forward as this is supposed to be measurement to weaken the state, make it liberal and little. Give more power to person instead of the government and give more choices to the citizens of the given country. The issue is that Neo-Liberalism has come with certain ideas and prospects. For instance the New Public Management (NPM) is a Neo-Liberalistic idea. NPM have given the societies and the government who added these policies more watchmen and ombudsmen then before. They have given the power away from the departments and created institutions under the departments with specialist and experts that sets the standard and gives advice to the department. While the departments still need manpower, so need also the lower-expert-institutions. So you have two fronts with specialist working the same field and advising each other. So before NPM most of the experts and brains where at the Department and Local Government that worked with a given subject or the project that needed a specialist; thanks to NPM they have become self-serving and not cut down the amount of bureaucracies have become fluent. As much as the wish for the NPM as parts of the Neo-Liberalism idea, it hasn’t created less government, but more and longer away from the decision making.

The Neo-Liberalism of free-market and starch corporate control have not given added freedom to the consumer. As the markets are controlled by less and less owners and stakeholders; the corporate power have become stronger, but more centralized in conglomerates that issues the policies and secure the profits. The riches of the corporations and the borderlines agreements are built for the corporations not for the welfare for the citizens. The original businesses we’re built for single projects or for fixed procurement that the state and citizens needed like building roads and bridges. Not gaining profits that sky-rocket and then moves away the tax-money into tax-havens. That is the Neo-liberalism ways of economies. In a way the movement of money should happen without government interference or taxation.

The Neo-Liberalism brought also an idea that was worse than the NPM. That was the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) under the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). SAP was made in the 1980s to liberate the subsidized agriculture, health-care and other public institutions as government got great loans through the funding of IMF and WB. So they released the governments and free-market ideas that killed the Co-Op’s in the countries that was already lots of them. They had commissions and centralized crop sales through Co-Ops that served the farmers, either they produces cocoa, coffee or tea. This was a standard of fixing training, production and prices to influx together a stronger unity. The ironies of this is that the IMF and WB gave this order through SAP to Low-Developed Countries while the countries that funded this had Co-Ops in agriculture themselves and still have to this day. So with the SAP they made the inside trading before the export more intricate and gave “supposed” more power to the farmer. Instead they became more reluctant and needed more to be careful to whom they offered their crops to. As the traders from capital who went up-country could fix prices and lie about the values to earn more on the trade to export. So the farmer would not get a given price on the world-market because there we’re less voices giving the farmer a hand in the trade of their cash-crops and their goods that they we’re not consuming themselves. So the SAP agreement stalled the government institutions and weakens them together with the trading experience on the ground. The structures we’re given big loans for building up trade-networks and export facilities while dismantling the structures that secured and fueled the industry and agriculture. As the Agriculture and Industry should not get subsidized, but get funding through free-market ideal and that killed the initial funding as the cheaper production came from abroad instead of making it locally. Therefore it is more normal to Chinese, Egypt and Brazilian products than own local products in the supermarkets of Uganda, for instance. Even meat, juice and toilet-paper are imported than produced in the country. That is because of the SAP and the Neo-Liberalism ideas.

zero-hour-contracts

Another important factor of the Neo-Liberalism idea is the abolishing ideas of Workers Unions and trying to ban them. As the Free-Market should fix the pay for the worker and the business it should fix it. That is why there been less strikes and less new Unions in our day. The reason why Unions in our time is important and the socialist idea of them is that the riches of the corporations; does not seem to trickle down to the citizens; it only left back to the stakeholders and owner, not to society or the workers that works for the rich corporations. Settling this is not easy. During the Reagan and Thatcher era tried to kill of the unions for their meddling and dissolve them so to actually centralize power. Instead this killing of mining-unions and other unions in the United Kingdom have weaken the industry and the ability of workers to fix pay while the corporations come with contracts that are good for business, but not good for steady income for proper work. The recent years of cover-ups in Sports Direct that is owned by Newcastle United Mike Ashley that offers their workforce lots of “Zero-Hour Contract”. Zero Hours Contracts work in the way that the employer has more people under their wings without paying extra for them. The Contract gives not benefits or sick-leave. As the Employee is paid by the hours and amount of time they work for the employer and nothing else. So all the benefits is added to the business and none for the worker, who has to fight and bend-over to add hours as the pool of willing workers are there. Even if the Zero-Contracts are bad, the non-Union and not-allowed to unionize work-force cannot go together and fight for their benefits and rights. As the Employer can continue to use and get new workers without having to stand-by them. Sports Direct is just an example of it, there are more business who uses this model and creates massive profits as they don’t have to offer needed benefits or health-care programs to the employees. As Wall-Mart have had low-hourly pay and no health-care benefit while letting their employees sign-up to government funded programs for health-care so that the Wall-Mart employees get little paid and at the same time uses food-stamps and Medicaid instead of Wall-Mart having health-Care benefits. So the business saves the money for salaries and also save the benefits of their employees; this is something you can thank the beautiful neo-liberal ideas.

The difference with the neo-liberalistic ideal of work is that the employee would give sufficient pay and have a contract that benefits the company and the workers. As they would have social responsibility for their workers as they have health benefits through the standard with standard payments of salaries together with state fueled community health care. The Neo-Liberal is that personal pay of the health-care instead of tax-payers money. So the health-care will be opened to the once who can have insurance or ability to pay for it. Instead of funded through the tax-payers pockets as solidarity between all citizens as in the socialist idea. That cannot be seen as a problem for a liberal person, to bring solidarity and also a structured health-care that everybody pays their fees into and when needed pay a small personal fee to get access, instead of footing the whole bill on their own.

Text ZHC SportDirect

Let me finish this up with the ideals that are ironic on the matter.

  • Smaller Government under NPM has actually made more Ombudsmen and Expert Organizations. Meaning that the Government didn’t become smaller, just longer away from the Department to the Experts and the Ombudsmen that the Government want to control
  • The SAP in Neo-Liberalistic method didn’t bring wealth to the countries it was applied to. The Farmers, the government institutions got weaken, while the loans got higher and less development as the Free-Market got the resources, but without control of the Co-Ops or other ways of maintaining support of citizens. The economies became more fragile as a result of the Neo-Liberal SAP then under the Co-Ops with the control of selling cash-crops and so on.
  • The Free-Market idea of Neo-Liberalism while destroying Labor-Unions to secure more government control of the market. While deteriorating the labors ability and therefore opening for the “Zero-Hour” Contracts that gives all the advantages to the corporations and none to the employee who only get security for the hourly work and nothing else for the employee. That would not happen with stronger unions and government who could enforce the rules for corporations.

All of these is ideals against each other I myself is not a clear socialist, even if I am raised on socialist country in a social-economic balance system. I myself is a clear Keyenist in the way that I believe in free-market and free-society to an extent. That extent is that the governments automatically bails out the necessary institutions and have a hand into the banks and other needed businesses of a society. That the workers are secured and fixed through strong barriers so that the market is made sure that the governments, and also facilitate the marker for the corporations. So that the market will have input from the government as the eruptions is inevitable and needs a structure to control it.

keynes

This three main components are basic:

  • Aggregate demand is influenced by many economic decisions—public and private.
  • Prices, and especially wages, respond slowly to changes in supply and demand, resulting in periodic shortages and surpluses, especially of labor.
  • Changes in aggregate demand, whether anticipated or unanticipated, have their greatest short-run effect on real output and employment, not on prices. Keynesians believe that, because prices are somewhat rigid, fluctuations in any component of spending—consumption, investment, or government expenditures—cause output to change. If government spending increases, for example, and all other spending components remain constant, then output will increase.

So with that in mind you understand why I am in between of the socialist and the free-market neo-liberalism as the Keynesian ideas that are more subtle and securing society as the mixed of government control and free-market gives sustainable societies. Not only full freedom without security for other than the corporations which is the main mantra of the Neo-Liberalism as the individual freedom usually get used by the legal person the corporations and not coined will by the persons themselves as the belief is under the ideology of liberal ideas. Instead of having total control of the state in the Communism, and strong big-government with socialism; but the Keynesian sees it in middle of that and have a free-market with control of the wages and workers by the government. That gives a steady economy and also a greater stability in the values of inflation and stronger value of the person instead of being a commodity as resources in the free-market thinking of the neo-liberalism that have deteriorated the markets and only winner is the corporations; not the fellow human beings. Peace.

Press Statement: “Torture and illegal detention on the rise in Burundi” – Zeid (18.04.2016)

burundi-protests

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 18, 2016 –  The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warned Monday of “a sharp increase in the use of torture and ill-treatment in Burundi” and voiced concerns about worrying reports of the existence of illegal detention facilities, both in Bujumbura and in the countryside.

“Since the beginning of the year, my team has recorded at least 345 new cases of torture and ill-treatment. These shocking figures are a clear indicator of the widespread and growing use of torture and ill-treatment by government security forces,” said Zeid. In all, some 595 people have been ill-treated or tortured since April 2015, a figure which is likely to be an under-estimate.

“Torture and ill-treatment mainly take place at the time of arrest, upon arrival or during detention, especially in facilities run by the Service national de renseignements (SNR), the police and, to a lesser extent, the army. Perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment have so far enjoyed total impunity,” the High Commissioner said.

“Many detainees visited by our team in the past few weeks had fresh wounds on their bodies. Some were unable to walk without assistance after being beaten with belts, iron rods or sharp objects, or burned. I am profoundly disturbed by these terrible accounts and I urge the Burundian Government, in the strongest terms possible, to put an immediate end to these unacceptable and illegal practices,” said Zeid.

Most of the tortured and ill-treated detainees say they were denied medical treatment. Some said intelligence services hid them in the toilets for days so their torture wounds could heal before they were returned to cells holding other prisoners.

During a visit by a UN human rights team to SNR facilities in Bujumbura last week, 30 of the 67 people held there displayed physical signs of torture. Many irregularities were identified during the visit, including the fact that 25 of the detainees had been kept in custody beyond the prescribed maximum time limit. In addition, while all detainees had been arrested for what were reportedly minor offences, the accusations entered against many of them in the SNR registry were for much more serious criminal offences, including undermining State security, illegal possession of arms and espionage.

Several cases of ill-treatment and torture have also been reported at police stations, especially in those located in the two Bujumbura neighbourhoods of Citiboke and Musaga, and at the Mutakura military camp.

The High Commissioner noted that the use of torture and ill-treatment was also widespread in the countryside, noting a case of two men who said they were arrested by SNR agents in Nkamba province at the end of March. They said they were seriously beaten and repeatedly dropped in Lake Tanganyika with their hands tied on several occasions in order to force them to confess to crimes.

“I recognize the efforts made by the Government in releasing at least 45 demonstrators following the Secretary-General’s visit. However, in addition to the reports of torture and ill-treatment in official detention facilities, I am deeply concerned about information emerging about the existence of secret detention facilities across the country,” the High Commissioner said. A man who was arrested at the end of March by unidentified armed individuals stated that he was taken blindfolded to an unfinished building in an unknown location, where nine other people were also being held. The victim reported witnessing the execution of two fellow detainees before he managed to escape. Reports have also been received of another illegal detention facility, allegedly set up by the police with the support of the Imbonerakure militia, in the city of Ngozi, in the northern part of the country.

The High Commissioner said he had also received “persistent reports of arrest, detention, torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearances and assassination of certain members of the police and military by other government forces.” Members and officers of the former Burundian Armed Forces – known as ex-FAB and which was predominantly Tutsi – appear to have been particularly targeted, including some retired soldiers.

Many soldiers interviewed by the UN Human Rights Office while in detention said that the torture or ill-treatment they endured was aimed at forcing them to confess their support for rebel groups or to provide names of other people suspected of supporting them.

Some soldiers detained at the SNR facilities claimed to have witnessed the killing of a number of their colleagues. On 10 April 2016, the body of an ex-FAB soldier, who had been arrested the previous day by the police, was found in Gesenyi, near Citiboke. At least five soldiers have also been reported missing following their arrest by police or military forces over the last few weeks.

Zeid also deplored the increase in attacks by unidentified armed men, reportedly linked to rebel groups. At least 30 attacks in Bujumbura and in several provinces took place in March, killing one civilian and four soldiers. Around five civilians were also reportedly killed during a rebel attack near the Tanzanian border on 11 April.

The High Commissioner also condemned the targeting of members of the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, including the assassination of a local official and member of the CNDD-FDD who was shot at his home by unidentified armed men on 13 April in the town of Kajaga, in Bujumbura Mairie province.

Readout of the Secretary-General’s telephone calls with H.E. Mr. Salva KIIR, President of South Sudan and H.E. Mr. Riek MACHAR, First Vice-President Designate of the Republic of South Sudan

Machar Kiir

NEW YORK, United States of America, April 18, 2016The Secretary-General spoke today with President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan.  He commended President Kiir for his decision to welcome Riek Machar back to Juba and swear him in as the First Vice President of South Sudan on Monday, 18 April.  He called for the expeditious implementation of the security arrangements envisaged in the peace agreement and the withdrawal additional SPLA troops from Juba.

The Secretary-General also spoke to the First Vice President Designate of the Republic of South Sudan, Riek Machar. He welcomed his decision to return to Juba and urged him to work with President Kiir to prevent any further violence.

The Secretary-General underscored the need to quickly form the Transitional Government of National Unity, as a crucial next step in the peace process.  He reaffirmed the readiness of the United Nations to assist in all efforts to bring peace to South Sudan. He urged both leaders to continue working together with the Chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, former president Mogae, and the African Union High Representative for South Sudan, former president Konare, towards the implementation of the peace agreement.

Why are the leaders of our time so hooked-on Power? And some theories for why they don’t leave the Executive Power to somebody else..

Mugabe Military

We are living in a day and age where leader’s doesn’t leave from their office. You have likes of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasongo who is making himself ready for another election in his country this year and he has been in power since 1979. You have the likes of President Paul Biya of Cameroon who has been the President since 1982 and was in government since 1970s. In Zimbabwe the President of the day President Robert Gabriel Mugabe has been the Commander in Chief.  And the list goes on.

Kagame Nkurunziza 2011

We have the third term phenomenon of President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda both of them have changed the laws or used Courts to allow them to stay in power. So the leadership roles are sufficient to stay. You have the likes of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who has been in charge since 1986 and stayed ever since, changed laws again and again to linger in power and is rumored to fix the age limit to stay passed his 7th Term.

Mittrand Rwanda President

So with this in mind, I will discuss it today. It is not a new phenomenon or a new change of guards. There are always leaders who linger and overstay their time in power. As President Juvénal Habyarimana of Rwanda took power with a coup d’état in 1973 and was in power until his plane got shot down in 1994. Just like the overthrow of first President Patrice Lumumba of Democratic Republic of Congo in 1965, who by foreign powers supposed to install Mobutu Seko Seko Kuku Ngebendu Wa Za Banga who was born Joseph-Desire Mobutu who was the President of DRC from 1965 until 1997. So there are leaders of the past who has not left office and is now long gone.

The issue with this is the way we build society around people instead of institutions and government structures. The Structures of government is kept weak and is not strong with procedure and predicated work for the civil service. That is why the leaders can linger and the way they keep it is fueling resources away from the government structures and institutions, keeping the progress weak and keeping the circle around them tight knit. Instead of having inner-circles with wits, knowledge and people who wants to succeed in their field; the leaders around the president is instead hungry men and woman who works for more and better civil service for the citizens.

US Dollar Campaign

That is because the leaders who circle all of government around themselves are not interested in great policies or deliver the promised pledges to the communities since then they have to give away power. When a leader tries to strengthen the power all around themselves then the necessary leadership is not about the government, but about the person who rules. The ruler set the standard ,not the laws of the state or the laws of the Parliament. As the Executive can fix the Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, can rig the Constitution and make draconian laws that issues more help for the Executive; instead of the Constitution and the Parliament representing the citizens and for the citizens it becomes for the Executive.

That is why the Executive or the Ruler, the President doesn’t want to leave power since the whole state is built around the one person. The One Person who has in his image or her image built the government around themselves. And when they have it all for themselves they don’t have to fight for anything else then themselves. That is what matters, if he schools is depleting, health care is non-functioning, roads have bigger potholes then the ones on the moon, the government loans are worse than the subprime-mortgage and so on. That doesn’t matter because the situations doesn’t hit the Executive, because the government funds goes directly to him instead of the ministries, departments and sections of government than really-really need it!

Zim 2008

The Power that starts with personal movement of fights and liberation, the ones that are personalized towards the one man who saved them all and then doesn’t leave is that the EGO and used to be center of attention. To have the voice of being right, so they can’t do things wrong in their own mind as they risk to lose their wealth and strength if they are out of office.

Barre Somalia

Some of these leaders have lived on the strength of the loyalty to foreign powers as they need their alliance in a region to secure peace in the neighbor country or during the cold war as the Americans did whatever they could to control the world and not lose nations to the Soviet communism. Therefore they fall of Said Barre of Somalia and the struggles of the Ethiopian Dirg of the 1970s. As the Cold War complex policies dissolved and built governments with influence of American and Russian strengths of the time. Take the example of President Mengistu Hailemariam who kept the Power from 1974 – 1991 with the Soviet influx and the Communist agenda that made the result of Somalia invasion with support of the Americans in 1977. So he himself had taken power in 1969 in Somalia the army fueled government of Said Barre as his power-play internally to keep the power together with the back and forth from the leadership at the time led to his fall, as he also had long-term squabble with Ogaden and Ethiopian neighbor after the tried invasion there. This the fall after 20 years might be because he circulated all power amongst himself and not in the powers of structures and department to delegate the powers.

That is the problem with the leaders who get fueled with power. They circulate all power and decisions are under the Executive. So with this in mind instead of building institutions and government structures, they build the armies and police force to enforce the Power of the Executive, not only to enforce national security, but to secure the Power of the Executive. Therefore the first to get payment are the armies and police officers before the teachers and other civil servants.

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The Rulers and the Executives keeps the ignorant yes-men around them to secure that they don’t get to opportunist or wanting to get the Executive position. Therefore they elite around the Ruler get lots of perks, tax-exemptions, cars, housing and servants while the rest of the country can’t afford that. Unless it is foreign investors in businesses owned by the Party Elite or the Government elite that belongs to the inner-circle of the Executive; as the license and openings happens on the watch of the Executive and the Power not the legal justice system or the society binding corporate bondage towards the procedures of setting up business in the country. So the way the Executive get drunk on power is set on the fact that they having everything at nearly no cost.

The Presidents who are drunk on Power have centralized all powers around them and not the government structures and the decrees and the policies are made to keep them in power; not to build a grand state who offers their citizens what they need. Therefore the laws becomes for the MPs and the Elite that fuel the money and Power towards the President, then the President delivering to the People.

The remains of Mobutu's Palce
The remains of Mobutu’s Palce

So with the Inner-circle finding ways to support the President instead of serving the citizens as a government is supposed to do. Why are the Executive and rules high-on-power you asked?

That is because all of the Power, all of the resources and all of the goodwill of the nation is determined by the Executive. As the Power is resumed and determined by the Executive there is hard to leave that, as the knowledge of the system given to coming new leader can take away what the Executive already have built around itself. Therefore the security of having the power instead of giving it the next; that is why the lingering Executives and Presidents are like alcoholics!

equatorial-guinea20100317-9-728

Let me explain why the similarities are there. An Alcoholic has the hunger and need for another drink and beer. They do whatever they can to get another drink and beer, at all means and steal if they have to get that fizz. So the Alcoholic is so used to the alcohol that the feel of it weaken and needs much of it to feel it. The Alcoholic just need another brew and another brew. And never stops taking in the alcohol. In the beginning the alcoholic never think that they would end being so, and the same with power-hungry individual. It just became a habit. The alcoholic needs the alcohol, just as the Executive is drunk on power and needs some more drinks. The Executive gotten so used to and the habit of getting their will and generating the funds out of the governmental funds; so if they don’t get more the donor-funds or the Bretton-Woods Loans to their nations then they feel something is missing. They need the spotlight to be the king of the nation and the supreme ruler.

So the drunkenness and needed attention, the needed judgement and decision rate from the Executive that lingers in powers while they build the government system around themselves and weakens the people around them. So they are more needed and so that ambition gets squirrelled around them. There can only be one vision, one leader and one nation under God. That is the usual factor and the events that unfold as the dissidents and opposition get harsh treatment without any cost spared. Something that happens because they crossed the territory of the Executive and the rules of set-up by the President and the predicated actions are seen as violations of laws and constitution; that apparently been rigged in favor of current leader. Therefore another bottle of beer for the President as the sufficient drunkenness of power is staggering. Suddenly change would be hard and taken with haste. Because the drunken leaders will with force and madness go all-inn if they all of sudden loose it, they will be become bush-warriors or stealing elections to continue their Presidency. As we have seen through 2015 and 2016 that is how far these leaders goes to get the shot of power and not stop drinking from the fountain of government power. Peace.  

Zack Mwekassa: “The things I have gone through are heavy on my mind” (Youtube-Clip)

“Two weeks ago, car-jackers tried to kill Zack Mwekassa in South Africa. The gun clicked when the trigger was pulled but nothing happened. When the criminal went to fix his gun, he accidentally ejected the clip instead. Mwekassa ran for his life.  It is just the latest incident in a storied life, one which has packed more than its fair share of trials into his thirty years. He fled his native Congo when rebel groups kidnapped and beat him for refusing to join them. He subsequently survived a venomous snake bite, a stabbing and a volcanic eruption before making his way to South Africa, where he now lives. Some memories haunt him, particularly things he saw as a young man at the height of the Congo Civil War. Sometimes, he says, the memories feel too hard to bear. But so far he has borne up, powered through and succeeded. He has been heavyweight champion of Africa, won an intercontinental boxing title and had a crack at the GLORY world light-heavyweight championship. On Saturday April 16, he will fight in the headline fight of the GLORY SUPERFIGHT SERIES 29 card in Copenhagen, Denmark. The fight airs live and exclusively worldwide on UFC Fight Pass, at 1pm ET and on demand thereafter.The SUPERFIGHT SERIES card is followed by GLORY 29 COPENHAGEN, headlined by welterweight champion Nieky Holzken against challenger Yoann Kongolo. It airs live on ESPN 3 in the US and re-airs at 7pm on ESPN 2″ (GloryWorldSeries, 2016).

A look into how the American and British Companies defied the embargo and UN sanctions against the South African Apartheid Government in the 1970s and 1980s

sa-anti-apartheid-poster

This here will be about how American and British interest we’re in the draconian Apartheid regime in South Africa in 1970s and 1980s. I been looking into how businesses at the time went through hoops and not caring about the United Nations Sanctions and resolution 418 of 4th November 1977 states this:

Determines, having regard to the policies and acts of the South African Government, that the acquisition by South Africa of arms and related material constitutes, a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security; Decides that all States shall cease forthwith  any provisions to South Africa of arms and related materiel of all types, including the sale of transfer of weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, para military police equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, and shall cease as well the provision of all types of equipment and supplies and grants of licensing arrangements for the manufacture of the aforementioned” (UN, 1977).

So with that in mind, we can see how businesses of United States and Britain started and worked as subsidiaries in South Africa during the Apartheid, where the instances of FORD Motors and Leyland Vehicles we’re produced and used by the Police under the worst atrocities of a regime who used their laws, security agencies to harass the majority; while keeping the minority rulers and their economic incentive intact by any means. So that big business and other ones defied the Sanctions and even collaborated with necessary arms, cars and other procurement for the totalitarian state; shows how far the Corporation goes for profit and serve even governments who has no quarrel with prosecuting innocent citizens. Therefore the history of these corporations and their dealings should come to light and be questioned. As business today does the same under regimes that are totalitarian and militaristic with the favor of elite and harassing the opposition. That is why we can see at the tactics of the 1970s and 1980s and see how they might be used today.

So with that introduction take a look at my findings and hope you find it interesting.

1959_new-age-aid

How to start the discussion:

“Johannesburg Star (South African daily), Nov. 26, 1977, at 15. See also 1978 Hearings, supra note 13, at 846 (statement of John Gaetsewe, General Secretary of the banned South African Congress of Trade Unions) (“The ending of foreign investment in South Africa … is a means of undermining the power of the apartheid regime. Foreign investment is a pillar of the whole system which maintains the virtual slavery of the Black workers in South Africa.”); Christian Sci. Monitor, Feb. 21, 1984, at 25 (statement by Winnie Mandela, wife of imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela)” (Hopkins, 1985).

Some money earned by the SADF at the time:

“According to official SADF accounts, the money that would have been recouped from the sale of ivory would flow back into funding the Unita rebels. However, Breytenbach knew that in the year 1986/1987 alone, the SADF’s assistance to Unita through military intelligence totalled R400 million (ZAR2005=R2,5 billion) and this excluded the supply of almost all Unita’s hardware and fuel. It is therefore unlikely that this was the reason behind the SADF’s interest in ivory smuggling. It is more likely that the potential for self-enrichment that this presented to SADF officers was enormous. General Chris Thirion, Former Deputy Chief of Staff Intelligence, agrees and suspects that Savimbi was in fact over-funded at the time” (Van Vuren, 2006).

Africa 1963-64

How much RSA used on Military Equipment during Apartheid in the 1980s:

“According to evidence presented to the UN Security Council arms embargo committee in 1984, out of its annual total arms procurement budget of some R1.62 billion over R900 million was to be spent on arms purchases from overseas” (…)”This R900 million is spent on the procurement of arms directly by the regime from overseas and via the private sector. No official figures are published about how much is actually spent on direct imports of armaments. However, it can be estimated from figures contained in an in-depth survey by the Johannesburg Sunday Times in July 1982 that imports from overseas were 15 per cent of defence spending which then stood at R3,320 million per annum” (AAM, 1985).

How that happen:

“Those breaches of the arms embargo which have been exposed have also revealed the myth of South Africa’s self-sufficiency. Equipment smuggled into South Africa include weapons such as machine guns, rifles and pistols as well as spares and components for them. In a trial at the Old Bailey, London, in October 1982, the Court was informed that South African efforts to produce components for pre-war machine guns had not been successful. This points to the serious deficiencies in the quality and reliability of even minor items manufactured in South Africa” (AAM, 1985).

Export of R.J. Electronics International:

“Britain’s refusal to strictly implement the UN arms embargo and its continuing military collaboration in various fields are not totally surprising since much of this arises out of its traditional relationship with South Africa” (…)”They failed to re-appear in Court on 22 October 1984 and the following weekend gave a press conference. At it, Colonel Botha disclosed that they had operated as undercover agents for five years and “had saved the country at least R5 million on purchases of vital equipment”. Metelerkamp claimed he was only a consultant to Kentron and was the Managing Director of R J Electronics International. However, it emerged that he had been employed by Kentron up to a month prior to his arrest, and R J Electronics International was “a company used to purchase illicit arms” (AAM, 1985).

Other Examples:

“One cargo of FN rifles was initially exported by air to Red Baron Ltd at an address in Zurich before being forwarded to South Africa. This company, however, was not Swiss, but registered in England. Its directors were Mr Trinkler and two others who had also been directors of Kuehne and Nagel in Britain” (…)”The most controversial case was that of the British Aerospace naval reconaissance aircraft, the Coastguarder. In Hay 1984 it was disclosed that British Aerospace had been approached by the South African Government and that initial discussions had taken place concerning the purchase of eight aircraft. These were to replace the Shackleton aircraft which were having to be phased out. The South African authorities had sought to evade the arms embargo by forming a Coastguard service as a civilian authority through which the order for the aircraft would be placed. Repeated efforts to secure from the Government an undertaking that the Coastguarder would not be granted licence for export to South Africa met with the response that “it would not be proper for me to offer a definitive view now on the hypothetical question on the issue of a licence for the export of an aircraft such as the Coastguarder to South Africa” (AAM, 1985).

Shell Corporation working with the Regime:

The South Africans agreed and supplied a cash advance that allowed the traders to purchase a tanker, shipping company and the required insurance. The tanker docked in Kuwait and filled its tanks with oil owned by Shell. The oil was registered for delivery in France. However, en route to Europe from the Gulf the tanker stopped in Durban and off-loaded almost all of its oil crude oil—almost 180,000 tonnes—with the South Africans paying the difference between the purchase price and the fees it had advanced for the purchase of the tanker. The Salem was then filled up with water in order to create the impression that it was still laden with oil. Off the coast of West Africa (Senegal), at one of the deepest points of the Atlantic, the ship was scuttled and the crew, who were prepared for the evacuation, were conveniently ‘rescued’. They had hoped to make an extra $24 million off the insurance claim for the lost oil. Following investigations by the insurance company the main perpetrators were prosecuted. The biggest loser next to Shell was South Africa, asit agreed to pay the Dutch multinational US$30 million (ZAR2005=R436 million) in an out-of-court settlement. Shell was left to carry a remaining loss of US$20 million. The use of corrupt middlemen had cost South Africa almost half a billion rand. There was no prosecution in South Africa of the officials at the SFF who had authorised South Africa’s procurement of a full tanker of oil from three novice (criminal) entrepreneurs” (Van Vuren, 2006).

Leyland-SA

British Subsidiaries in South Africa:

“Many of these subsidiaries are British. They include Leyland (Landrovers and Trucks); ICI (through its 40 per cent holding in AECI) (Ammunition and Explosives); Trafalgar House (through Cementation Engineering) (artillery shells); ICL (Computers); GEC including Marconis (Military Communications Equipment); Lontho (aircraft franchises); Plessey (Military Communications Equipment); BP and Shell (oil and other petroleum products for the military and police)” (…)”An impression of the full extent of the role of British subsidiaries in South Africa in undermining the arms embargo can be obtained from studying Appendix C. This is a list of British companies with subsidiaries in South Africa which are also known to be engaged in the manufacture of military and related equipment” (AAM, 1985).

British Mercenaries:

“British mercenaries, some recruited. originally for the forces of the illegal Smith regime, are serving in a number of South African Defence Force units, including the infamous “32 Battallion” operating out of Namibia into Angola. A British mercenary was killed in the South African commando raid on the residence of South African refugees in Maputo, Mozambique, in January 1981” (AAM, 1985).

“British Government policy so far has been to grant permission for Officers to serve in the South African Defence Forces.” (…)”This was explained by Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Heseltine, in a letter to the Rt Hon Denis Healey:

“An Officer is required to resign his commission before joining the forces of a country that does not owe allegiance to the Crown, and if he did not do so then the commission would be removed. As you will appreciate, this is the only power that we can exercise over an officer who has already retired from the Services. Guidance is given to officers about these procedures before they retire, but no specific recommendations are made about which countries’ Armed Forces an officer should join; nor do I believe that it would be right to do so.” (AAM, 1985).

GM ZA Apartheid

American Businesses under Apartheid:

Approximately 350 of the most prominent companies in the United States, including more than half of the Fortune 500’s top one hundred firms, operate subsidiaries in South Africa [18]. Another 6000 do business there through sales agents and distributers [19]. The United States holds fifty-seven percent of all foreign holdings on the Johannesburg stock exchange, including gold mines, mining houses, platinum mines, and diamonds [20]. The State Department estimated that U.S. direct investment amounted to $2.3 billion in 1983, down from the $2.8 billion calculated by the South African Institute of Race Relations for 1982 [21]. Other estimates put overall American investment, including loans and gold stocks, at $14 billion [22]” (…)”rcent [25]. U.S. exports to South Africa, however, grew from approximately R1.2 billion in 1979 to R2.7 billion in 1981 [26]. As a result, the United States emerged as the Republic’s largest trading partner [27]. Apart from its quantitative impact, U.S. business investment has a qualitative impact disproportionate to its financial value” (…)”John Purcell of Goodyear concurred, asserting that economic pressures will not encourage nonviolent social change in South Africa; rather, this will be brought about by “economic growth, expanded contact with the outside, and time” ((Hopkins, 1985)

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Ford sold cars to the Apartheid regime:

“Ford Directed and Controlled its South African Policies from the United States, Exported Equipment from the United States, and Acted to Circumvent the United States Sanctions Regime: (New York Southern Cout Case, P: 65, 2014)

“Thus, despite the tightening of U.S. trade sanctions in February 1978, Ford U.S. still announced a “large infusion[] of capital into its South African subsidiary. Ford injected $8 million for upkeep and retooling” (New York Southern Court Case, P: 67, 2014).

“Ford support was significant: “[B]etween 1973 and 1977 [Ford] sold 128 cars and 683 trucks directly to the South African Ministry of Defense and 646 cars and 1,473 trucks to the South African police. Ford sold at least 1,582 F series U.S.-origin trucks to the police” (…)”Despite the prohibitions, Ford continued to supply vehicles to the South African security forces with the purpose of facilitating apartheid crimes. Ford denied that its continued sales to the South African security forces ran counter to the U.S. prohibitions, on the basis that the vehicles did not contain parts or technical data of U.S. origin” (…)”Notably, into the 1980s, Ford sold vehicles that did not need to be “converted” by the apartheid government for military or police use but were already specialized before leaving the plant in South Africa” (…)”Ford built a limited number of XR6 model Cortinas known as “interceptors” that were sold almost exclusively to the police. The XR6 was special because it had three Weber model double carburetors, as opposed to all other Cortinas that had only one double carburetor” (…)”Ford knew that the normal market for these vehicles was the security forces. The vehicles were deliberately pre-equipped with armor and military fixtures and designed for easy modification by the security forces to add additional defensive and offensive features” (…)”By making profits which they knew could only come from their encouragement of the security forces’ illicit operations through the sale of vehicles, parts, designs, and services, Ford acquired a stake in the criminal enterprise that was the apartheid regime” (New York Southern Case, P: 71-77, 2014).

hans-haacke-a-breed-apart-1978-6

Leyland under Apartheid:

“The British government now virtually owns British Leyland and therefore controls the company’s operations in South Africa. Yet it has done little in practice to press for the rights of black workers to organize through trade unions, or for the recognition of the unions for collective bargaining purposes” (…)”The South African “branch” is Leyland’s biggest operation in the world outside of the U.K. At present it is the 8th largest car manufacturer (holding approximately 5% of the market) and the 7th largest commercial vehicle manufacturer (holding approximately 5,5% of the market) in South Africa. Despite the depressed condition of the South African Market it sold 1959 vehicles in January-February of 1977 alone” (…)”B.L.S.A. has massive contracts with the South African state. It is one of the chief suppliers of the South African Defense Force, providing not only trucks and landrovers (which form the backbone of anti-guerrilla operations) but also armored personnel carriers. Of course, the figures for these contracts are never made public” (…)”For example, in June 1976 it was announced that B.L.S.A. had won a £1.9millon order for 250 trucks from the Cape Provincial Authority” (…)”As Leyland itself have argued , It “must conform, it not entirely” to South African government and established wishes” (Coventry Anti-Apartheid, 1977).

This here is not easy to finish up as the implications of this deals and arrangement used to support a government that oppressed and detained the majority. This Apartheid government did it all openly and with a clear message that the white minority should rule, while the rest should serve them.

In that context these businesses earned good amount of cash and profits for their stakeholders and their shareholders. While their products and procured services by the state we’re used to oppress majority of people in South Africa. We can surely see the amount of money and how this have affected the society and given way for the government of the time to continue with the process of detaining and harassing the majority of South Africans. This could not have happen if there wasn’t a helping hand from businesses and their subsidiaries. This here is just a brief look into it.

Certainly this should be studied even more and become clear evidence of how heartbreaking it is to know how certain businesses and people owning them will profit on suffering of fellow human beings. That is why I myself shed a light on it, to show the extent of disobedience of the UN Resolution and also what these corporations does in regimes that harassing and oppressing fellow citizens for their background, creed, tribe etc. It’s just ghastly and makes my tummy vomit. But that is just me, hope you got some indication of how they did their business and served the Apartheid government. Peace.

Reference:

Anti-Apartheid Movement – ‘How Britian Arms Apartheid – A memorandum for presentation to her Majesty’s Government’ (1985)

Coventry Anti-Apartheid Movement – ‘Leyland in Britain and in South Africa’ (1977)

Hopkins, Sheila M. – ‘AN ANALYSIS OF U.S.-SOUTH AFRICAN RELATIONS IN THE 1980s: HAS ENGAGEMENT BEEN CONSTRUCTIVE?’ (1985) – Journal of Comparative Business and Capital Market Law 7 (1985) 89-115, North Holland

United States, New York Southern Court: Case 1:02-md-01499-SAS Document 280-1 Filed 08/08/14

Van Vuren, Hennie – ‘Apartheid grand corruption – Assessing the scale of crimes of profit from 1976 to 1994’ (2006)

Press Statement – Burundi : Repression of a genocidal character, the UN’s response must be strong (15.04.2016)

burundi-protests

PARIS, France, April 15, 2016 Back from a fact-finding mission in Burundi, conducted in March 2016, FIDH and ITEKA condemn serious human rights violations in Burundi, mainly perpetrated by defence and security forces, against a background of ethnic and genocidal ideology. The ongoing crimes could already be qualified as crimes against humanity and there are now signs that the crisis could lead to acts of genocide. This crisis demands a strong response from the UN, notably through the deployment of a UN police and an international commission of inquiry to prevent mass atrocities.

Since April 2015, 700 people have allegedly been killed, 4,300 have been arbitrarily detained, and several hundred people (800 according to some sources) have been forcily disappeared.  Hundreds of other people have been tortured and dozens of women have been sexually assaulted. As a result of the conflict in Burundi, more than 250,000 Burundians have already fled the country. While the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is set to submit options for the deployment of UN elements by 15 April, FIDH and ITEKA, call upon the international community, including the UN Security Council, to deploy an international police task force of at least 500 police officers with the objective of protecting civilians, stopping ongoing lethal violence, and preventing further armed clashes. FIDH and Iteka believe that if these trends continue, the  African Union or the United Nations  must send a peacekeeping force  to end the violence and the repression of an increasingly genocidal nature.
During its mission, and in a forthcoming report, the FIDH delegation has documented and established the continuation of targeted and extra-judicial killings; of daily arbitrary arrests and detention; of the intensification of enforced disappearances and illegal detention facilities as well as torture. FIDH also witnessed the high level of surveillance and control on Burundian society by security forces, including by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and by the ruling party’s youth militias, the Imbunerakure.

“The situation is particularly worrying with the NIS – the main actor of the repression – that has infiltrated every layer of society and systematically tortures detainees. Parallel chains of command have been established within the security forces to orchestrate the repression. Part of the Imbunerakure1 militia is trained, armed, and deployed throughout the country and acts as the defacto security forces. Tensions within the army are extremely vivid. The international community must do everything in its power to protect civilians and prevent the situation from getting out of control,” said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President. “The nature of the crimes witnessed by the FIDH delegation could very well fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Prosecutor, Ms Fatou Bensouda, should immediately open a preliminary examination of the situation in Burundi, which is state party to the ICC” he added.

policiers-burundi

The evidence gathered by FIDH and ITEKA establishes that the Tustis are particularly targeted by the violence and due to  their ethnicity. They are more targeted during arrests, are subject to ethnic insults from security forces and systematically tortured during detention. The public and private messages of members of the ruling party CNDD-FDD or regime supporters are referring to Tutsis more and more openly as “enemies, “terrorists” and “genocidal insurrection”.2 Since the assassination on 22 March 2016, of Lieutenant-colonel Darius Ikurakure3, pillar of Burundi’s repressive system, targeted killings of soldiers belonging to the former Burundian Armed Forces – FAB (mainly composed of Tutsis) – have also increased.

According to information gathered by FIDH and ITEKA, more than 10 former Burundian army soldiers have been killed by unidentified men since the beginning of March. These elements are part of a larger context marked by an increasingly ethnic discourse by Burundian authorities and their supporters. The day before the funeral of the Lieutenant-Colonel Darius Ikurakure, messages were circulated on social media, including the following: “Dear HUTUS, wake up! Tomorrow we will bury another hero of the anti-Tutsi struggle, his excellency Lieutenant General Darius Ikurakure. Hutu officers and civilians will attend to thank him for his work. Come in number, and be careful and remember that he hero must not die alone, za mujeri sindumja muzincunge bibaye ngombwa mukore. Delende is Mike [watch those emaciated dogs, I am not a slave, if you must: work]. A word to the wise is enough! KORA [work]” circulated on social media. The term to “work” ,was used in Rwanda by the Hutu genocidal government to call upon the elimination of Tutsis. It was also used on 1 November 2015, by Burundian Senate President, Révérien Ndikuriyo, in front of his supporters and several Imbunerakure: “if you hear the signal with an order that it must end, emotions and tears will have no place !” and added “you must spray, you must exterminate those people (…) Wait for the day when we will say “work.”, you will see the difference!”. The conversation was not supposed to be recorded.

Burundian security forces involved in the repression are themselves made up of men who know how to execute orders and can “get things done,”  according to a source close to the security services. “They are over 95% Hutus” adds the source. About ten units, among which the NIS, the Riot Squad (BAE), the Special Battalion for Institution Protection (BSPI), the Institution Protection Agency (API), the Combat Engineering Battalion (BGC), the Mobile Group for Rapid Intervention (GMIR) and Special Research Police(PSR), are led by those loyal to the regime directly linked through parallel command chains, to the presidency, including the civilian cabinet. Those persons, responsible for the repression, could be incriminated for the crimes perpetrated directly by them or under their authority and should be subjected to criminal prosecution and individual sanctions by international institutions and influential diplomatic bodies.

Burundi-Museveni-Nkurunziza
“FIDH and ITEKA are very concerned about the ethnic nature of the repression in recent months, the authoritarian rhetoric and the use of preventive violence by authorities and their supporters. This reminds of the anti-Hutu genocidal massacres of the last  40 years. The authorities consider that they are the only representatives of the people and refer any kind of political, ethnic and social pluralism to a “them” against “us”, deadly for the country. We solemnly call upon Burundian authorities to uphold the Arusha Agreement by ending the repression, freeing the thousands of political detainees, and take part in an honest dialogue with the opposition and the independent civil society,” urged Anschaire Nikoyagiza, ITEKA President.

In response to the abuses of the regime, many men are joining the ranks of rebel armed groups (Red Tabara and FOREBU). These groups have carried out targeted attacks and killings against representatives of CNDD-FDD, members of law enforcement and Imbonerakure in Bujumbura and in the provinces, which have resulted in civilian casualties.. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians may amount to war crimes and   perpetrators must face justice.

Moreover, the documentation of these violations has become extremely dangerous. Human rights defenders, opponents and independent journalists still in Burundi are living mostly underground. They are followed and receive death threats. Almost every civil society leader, journalists and opposition member have   been forced to flee the country and those who remain, leaders or activists, continue to be subjected to threats or even attacks by men suspected of acting on the behalf of the regime, especially the Imbonerakure.

The disappearance of Marie-Claudette Kwizera, ITEKA treasurer, since her arrest by NIS elements on 10 December 2015 illustrates a worrying phenomenon that would concern hundreds of cases. Some sources report at least 800 people have been foricbly disappeared. The documentation of these disappearances is more and more difficult because of the increase of illegal detention facilities. The Burundian authorities and the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (CNIDH), seized by FIDH on the case of Marie-Claudette Kwizera and other cases of enforced disappearances, were unable to provide explanations or information on the fate of these people who are neither refugees nor officially detained.

“Given the risk of a new civil war and the perpetration of mass crimes, our organisations urge the international community to deploy an international police force in the country (of at least 500 officers) to ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate the holding of an inclusive political dialogue as soon as possible. Furthermore, we call on the Security Council to mandate an independent international commission to investigate the crimes perpetrated since April 2015, ” said Dismas Kitenge, FIDH Vice President.

On 1 April 2016, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2279 urging all parties to the crisis to agree on a timetable for negotiations. It also calls on the UN Secretary-General, to present by 15 April  to the Security Council “options” for the deployment of an international police force. In view of the security and human rights situation prevailing in the country, FIDH and ITEKA urge the UN to ensure that this task force has the mandate and the means to play a stabilizing, deterrent and monitoring role and to intervene in the event of the commission serious human rights violations.

Don Musevei will chrush the ones that kills; Again showing no mercy to the ones playing in his playground!

UPDF Rwenzori

“I have no time to discuss the killing of innocent civilians or rape and defilement. Issues of security are not negotiable and I pity leaders who want me to meet them over killings. I have told them to tell their people to stop the killings or else we shall crush them”President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Daily Monitor, 14.04.2016).

Yet again there are certain quotes from the leadership of Uganda that are flabbergasting. This is disgusting and outrageous. While the Don Museveni the one behind the NRM Racketeering he has said worse during the year of 2016. That was talking about the certainty about the Army involvement in Rwenzori and Rwenzori Sub-Region. They continue to prosecute the people there. With this is the continuation of the Post-Election Violence where UPDF have gone in with full-force. Now it has been reported that Rwenzururu Kingdom Royal Guards are no disarmed and the Army is planning to be there for 1, 5 month more under their Operation Dissolution. As they continue to arrest locals and some of them might be killers from the clashes. There was regional killings in Bundibugyo and house-burning, so there certainly are violators, but also video footage are proving that State Agencies and Security Forces as Uganda Defense People’s Force (UPFD) and Uganda Police Force. So the killings and crush them down is believable, as the footage of killings of Rwenzururu Royal Guards both at the Palace and the Villages have clearly been targeted.

Museveni Rwenzori 07.04.2016

The last attack on Rwenzururu Kingdom came after Omusinga bwa Rwenzururu Charles Wesley Mumbere that asked for while negotiations with NRM man Captain Mike Mukula. So there are certainly UPDF plans behind this, as their deployment have become stronger after the attack on the Palace. It seems like it and the violence is endless and has lasted since the end of February. The government forces and Police have claimed about this “Kirumamutima” and “Yiira Republic” something that President Museveni has used again and again! And the reason why that is strange is that the reasoning; because it seems like a fiction and tale to clean the hands of the governmental forces. These Government Forces are spreading fear and even left many people living in IDP Camps and also villages left behind. So the stress and agony that has happens after in the area and the certainty of voting for FDC and not NRM.  Therefore the NRM Generals and NRM President, as I call the Don Museveni is using gangster tactics and killing Royal Guards demoting the kingdom and striving for being respected in the Rwenzori while also using the ethnical and tribes against each other to gain more power. Even it cost lives, because the Museveni want total control at any price. That is why he comes with treats again. So now he wants to crush them. Peace.

An outsiders look into the American Primaries and elections of 2016; I will be wildly wrong and sarcastic while condoning certain values and areas of malfunctions in the electoral process; also assessing the remaining candidates that are in the race

American Primary

After following the Presidential Primaries for months, then I speak about the American Elections as the closure of is getting there, even if they have closed only about July 2016. So there Primary Elections in the American States that been going for so long, has still some time before the “Main” election, where the Two Parties go Campaigning as Presidential Candidate for either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. As the other parties in the country is nearly not existing, even if the country is big and has splendid amount of political active people, it is just the money goes two the big-shots and they eat all of it.

The American Political System is a blended edition of representatives and polls depending on where you from, as much as the Parties themselves decides who gets to the for front, but if you get PAC (Political Action Committee) that works for you and make campaigns on your behalf and also securing for you campaign. While you as a Candidate are not allowed to control them; though there are certainty that Campaign Managers and other volunteers who are connected with a Candidate gives in and does as the Candidate wishes.

The Other issues are how much money, ads and campaigning that needed for the Candidate to be picked. There isn’t a short run or cheap run for a seat. That is why Senate Members and House Representatives do calls to donors and companies to get hard cash to campaign and run the parties. But that is just the monies side, This Primaries started in February and will be done in July, the first Presidential Debate with the Democratic Party and Republic Party Candidate will discuss their views and policies on the 26th September. The Polls are set to be on the 8th November 2016. So there is a long road ahead and with July – November where the Presidential Campaign will heat up between the parties.

US Dollar Campaign

Example of Money involved in American Politics:

There was in 1920s something called the Ohio Gang was group around President Harding. They we’re also corrupt, like when the Interior Secretary Fall used his connection and got the Navy to give away the land for Harry Ford Sinclair’s Company; while Secretary. Fall was also getting kickbacks to get a bigger and better farm with the money for the license delivered to Sinclair. This kind of deal also changed the law-making and the control of Petroleum Companies in American Politics, as Sinclair and other Petroleum Company owners had vast wealth created quickly (this is very simplified so you should read a book about, because the same kind of scandals happens today; just different names and different numbers).

So it is not only the money but also the long-time on the road as candidates and as the expenses of having campaigns while their professional politicians who are nearly more spokesmen for corporations and their laws then the ethical and law-bearers of a Nation, who will make policy and reforms to fix the issues; instead some of the men are mere spokespersons of Coca-Cola and Monsanto. That is certainly not what Benjamin Franklin or Tomas Jefferson thought the American Government representatives would end up being; when they fought against the Tea-Monopoly and British taxation of the American Continent at that time. There been signals of the same as the British Censored the papers and the media of the time, therefore the Pamphleteers put up pamphlets that countered the controlled media of the time. Because the media of the time was not speaking what was important for the people. The Same as the Cable and Media Corporations are doing now, as they only do what is needed for the sponsors, owners and ratings instead of actual journalism. And that is an dire account and assessment together with the state of the corrupted politicians.

corporate-media-550

So into the end of the Primaries we are in the middle of a Corporate influenced political game in a corporate landscape of media that need a revamp together with the status quo of the primary politics as the advisories and locals doesn’t even got time or understanding why the value of the vote is different from which party, which state and which delegate regulation you have. And that is making of the delegate rally that the candidates that are left working to get, so they can have monopoly and get the nomination automatically at the Convention of the Party in July.

I will not look at the numbers and the ability of the ones that are left. This is just my rare thoughts on a Campaign I look from afar and doesn’t really follow as the circus of American Idol, Survivor, Hell’s Kitchen and every other Reality TV Program is fitting the Presidential Primaries in this year’s primaries.

The debates and aftermaths, the comments and the tone have been childish and not off proper politicians. The deflections and flip-flopping from many candidates have been nearly daily or monthly looking like they changing statements after they are in disenfranchised Louisiana or they are in Wisconsin, even in now in New York. There are only two candidates who says the same in my opinion from the get-go, it is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, both of them have gone back and forth, while playing more balls than Federer on the Tennis court. The once who have been steady are Kasich and Sanders. Cruz been close to the two latest, but he seems so sneaky.

Let me take the worst first then, more and more acceptable candidates. That is how I look at this, so if you’re offended, sorry for you, but this is my view not yours.

Trump Quote

The Worst Candidate – Donald Trump (Republican)

There are scarecrows, there monsters under the bed and there Monster INC from DreamWorks. Still, there are no boggy-monsters as big as “the Donald”. Donald Trump the New Yorker who is rich and successful, though I have myself looked through parts of fallen businesses and they are kind of shady. The other ones are the savior of bailing out from the state. Donald Trump is a product in itself and label, therefore his last name is licensed on houses and other merchandize as it gives the products an edge, supposed to be at-least.

Nobody took him serious on the day he said he started to run for Presidential Nomination while talking negative about anybody who is not making America great. He has stolen the “Making America Great Again” from Ronald Reagan. He has also copied the Pat Buchannan ways of speaking “America First”. As Donald Trump have before spoken well of both the men at interviews and also even now. Though Buchannan is not a topic now, he stills speaks well of Reagan; as any conservative American does. The Holy Conservatism comes from the man who sold Pepsi and Colgate in commercials before becoming President. And now Trump swallows his ideas and pack in xenophobia, fear-mongering and “good deals”. I have heard speaking about good deals, without ever saying what the idea of a good deal is. The words of his mouth are empty words with the same ending and deflecting to another issue. While putting in some American Dreams with fear of immigrants, the irony is that his wife is one, but she is the right type of immigrant I guess. So I cannot speak about Policy as the Wall of Trump and Deporting Immigrants seems far-fetched and ridiculous as Gucci Mane Ice-Cream tattoo. So he is the worst politician or trying to be one in this race, and a disgrace at the same time.

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Deputy Worst Candidate – Hillary Clinton (Democrat)

I know you are shocked and wonder what happen to Kasich and Cruz. They are up next, but she is topping them still. For a simple reason, she doesn’t stand for anything and her views are therefore despicable and deceiving. The so-called progressive candidate who is liberal when needed. Her tune is after what her donors, her advisors or her husband says is wise. Her name rings bells because Bill Clinton was President for two terms. And she also run against Barrack Obama and has been a Minister under Obama first term as President. So if you don’t know her, then you have not followed or had interest about American Politics. She is the woman who supported the Super Predators and the inner-city violence while targeting the minorities there for the benefit of a bill that Bill Clinton needed.   

I don’t know here true stance on anything as she flip-flops and are like boat on the waves, depending if she is up-or-down depending on what is right for her right now. If she is pro-gun, I don’t know, since when she was against Obama she was against, now she sounds pro-gun because of Sanders. There is viability of changing rhetoric and change of position. If she is pro-life or not, if she was for the Iraq-war or against; if she was for bombing Tripoli or not; even if she knew about Lewinsky or not; it are not easy now. That is why she comes after Trump. She is intelligent and hard-headed, but she seems more to be about pocketing and having money as the speeches for Goldman Sachs and other Corporate entities proves her grade and value of campaign funding then grass-root work. She should have one of the election machines and create momentum; still; she is losing to somebody who is actually a credible guy and acting as a fellow human being, and not just to cater to establishment and the donor who funds her campaign.

cruz mccarthy

The Sheep in Wolf’s cloth – Ted Cruz (Republican)

Ted Cruz the Senator from Texas. The one that I knew very little of before the campaign; his political history from somebody who is not American is not well-known. He is a clever man and decisive one too. The similarity to another American Politician that comes to mind is McCarthy and his McCarhyism. The speeches and rhetoric; he also use the conservative Christian values while subduing other characteristics of state. Therefore he has capability to bring the South and Mid-West to him, and other parts of the country too.

The man has had an expensive campaign and is lagging behind Trump at the Moment. But the Establishment prefers him over Trump. Though then they choose between an Open Racist in Trump and a Sheep in Wolfs cloths Cruz. The idea of monitoring the Muslims and the other quotes that Cruz has come with does not prove his ability to see other people out of the circle of conservative republicans. So even if the campaign for Presidential Nomination he tries to establish himself as an alternative to the other ones in the party. He is wise and vibrant, but his ways and cunning demeanor makes him scary for a guy like me. The reason why I see him as lesser of a fear then Hillary, you know where you have him and what he really want through certain policies. Something you can’t see with Trump, but can also see in some ways in Hillary; because Hillary will cater to her donors of Wall Street.

Ohio_Gov__Kasich_speaks_out_about_Presid_2843890000_17057394_ver1.0_640_480

Socio-Economic Wise-guy, but to Conservative – John Kasich (Republican)

I know that this is surprising too, but his mellow demeanor and honest approach that is more sincere then Cruz, Trump and Clinton. Not that I am Conservative Republican, but this man has a least of sense and manners. He is a Ohio Senator who has behind the reason why Ohio state have gone from having $8bn deficit to $2bn surplus. So he surely knows how to balance a budget and create economic stability.

He has a long history of good economic policies and that is something the United States needs, even if the Democratic Obama Administration have also made progress and secured more jobs after the Recession. Certain issues that is not feasible for people like me to be voting for him; that being strict and supporting harsher Death-Penalty and also making federal appeals against the cases about Death-Penalty, henceforth making it harder if a person is wrongly judged. He voted against the Kyoto Protocol on CO2 emissions so that  the U.S. Industry and Government in his mind was saying  that they don’t need to think about global emissions. What is positive is that he wants higher taxes for the wealthy and worker for making a stronger Medicaid, is opposed to ObamaCare, but have kind of built similar system in Ohio under the Medicaid flag. Therefore certain economic and social structures are good, but his conservative views and votes make him hard to like for a guy like me.

Bernie BS Slogan

The Liberal Leftist that is a so-called Socialist – Bernie Sanders (Democrat)

He is different than other candidates as he is pro-labor unions and is not directly supported by PACs and Corporations. Differentiate on the stance he has in total as he is set in surface of Liberal Leftist. He is the only clear candidate who speaks about Climate Change and global warming, I am sure he was the Guy spoke about Ozone hole in the 1980s. He is against the idea of marginalization of voters as they should not stop the minorities from voting in elections.

His positive voting for history in my opinion: that he has voted against five favorable free-trade agreements with Latin American States, which would favor the American view instead of the value of labor rights in these countries. He has talked about stopping the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), he also wanted to end NAFTA, CAFTA PNTR to secure better labor rights and better regulations of the industry. Bernie has voted mostly against the reduced taxes for the riches in the Congress. On Tax Related Motions and Bills he has Voted NO 11 times. Some for the commoner other that is stop lesser taxation of the wealthy. Sanders have voted for ObamaCare and similar issues as the faith in government support for health care and not a private issue. Therefore he has also tried to stopping the Privatizing Social Security.

Party Election

A Scenario if the candidates had their own Parties and what name they could have had:

So he is diverse candidate and shows the length and basic different between the candidates. They are not only from different parties, but the wings of the parties are so big, that these Presidential Candidates could have 4 different parties. You could have had a Far-Right Xenophobic Party under Donald Trump called the American Patriotic Party United (APPU) with the Slogans “America First” and “Make America Great Again”. The headquarter would be in the Trump Tower in New York to occupy some of the office space in the building. Then you have Hillary Clinton who could have run for the “Progressive” Party and Wall-Street Backed Party called Liberal-Democratic American Party (LADP). She is the Establishment so she wouldn’t need to go anywhere else, but if she would be running for something like LADP. The LAPD would be in Little Rock, Arkansas. Then there is the Conservative Christian Ted Cruz who would be under banner of TrusTED and the party of Christian Federal Republican Party (CFRP) and they’re headquarter would be in Austin, Texas. Then there is the Ohio Candidate John Kasich would run for the alternative Christian Conservative Party he is the establishment of Republican, so he would not need to run for another party, but that Party would be Christian’s People’s Party (CPP) and would have their Headquarter in Toledo, Ohio. The last Candidate but not least Bernie Sanders who is a social-economic policies and strong big-government that counters the Republicans and establishment Democratic Party right now; therefore the Party he will run for as a Presidential Candidate are the American Labor Party (ALP) under the “Feel the Bern”. The Headquarter will be in Montpelier in Vermont.

Presidential Candidates USA

Back to Reality:

I know this became long, but the Election in the United States is long in that view it is fitting. But I will in my last remarks say how I hope and guess that it might go, but that is an outsider’s view of somebody who lives 1,000 miles away. This with the levels of fear, the levels of childishness, the levels of debates with unnecessary rhetoric and the certainty of a vocal ending before the Convention of the two parties.

What we on the outside is looking at is a failure of discussing policies and seemingly that the so-called greatest democracy who’s army has invaded the most countries since 1850 in world history. What they are doing is making democracy looking so foolish with their candidates that actually discussing their penis sizes and the beauty of their wives. This from a Nation that usually tells the world how to conduct their affairs and how important democratic values are, and if they are not democratic enough they have actually invaded them. So that the deficit of democratic values and stated through the progression of the primaries as the corporations, media and rules that disfranchise so many voters and citizens alike.

Felon Issue

There are so many states that are forcing former felons’ from voting. This with strict laws that are making it worse for them and disfranchising them, also together with the regulations against ghost voters makes the registering the voters even harder in certain states. And this has to happen in short time span before the next election. This is also happening in states that are struggling economically and has disfranchised population that have been lagging behind and under the poverty line, either by the government structure. Historical factors like Up-East is the educated and industrial parts, and parts of mid-West where the Industry and Automobile industry have declined since 1980s. There are states like Mississippi, Louisiana and Michigan that a have high rates of unemployment. That in the end let them pick the men who is most fundamental or most anti-establishment, like Michigan picked Sanders and parts of the Southern States that are weak economic states picked Trump. It is hopeful that people pick Sanders as a straw of hope, but it is worrying that people who struggling economically pick the xenophobic Trump that is more nerve-racking.

We can see the how I have stated things and made some assumptions and I am righteous in doing so. I don’t expect people to also agree with me. As this is my view. Call this sentences my disclaimer if you like. Like if you copy this FBI will come to your house and ask for copyright infringement as this article and this scripture are only mine, and not owned by Warner Brothers, Billy the Kid, but me.

This is my political view and understanding as an outsider. I could vomit on Michael Moore’s hat, but in return I wouldn’t know crap about American Government and the American society if he didn’t exist. Though the minor brief instances of Bill Clinton Sex Scandal and Bush Wars both father and son.  Also big gratitude to Bun B of UGK for his documentaries while following the Primaries. You Bun B have made political rallies interesting and continue your good work with both music and the rest!

We have followed the American Government and their actions. And I also question their foreign affairs and their reactions to fellow nations as they are still applying the moral judgement, while they still in my eyes have a flawed corporate system and self-censored media that are speaking the corporations and the political view of the corporations. They are not addressing directly the citizen’s values and needed access as the ratings and profit is more important than democratic values and free expression. The liberty is there as long as Morgan Stanley, Wall Mart and Verizon is earning cash. And that is not a sign that the American Democracy should show to the world as their guns and their funds are fueling war in the effort for American interest and the American Democratic values. Peace.