"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
Edmund Burke
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7 March 2003. Thought for the Week: "If
Israel and Jews were not involved, there would be nothing
extraordinary about my thesis. In the history of foreign policy,
it has frequently been maintained that various leading figures
were motivated by ties to business, an ideology, or a foreign
country. In his Farewell Address, George Washington expressed
the view that the greatest danger to American foreign relations
would be the "passionate attachment" of influential Americans
to a foreign power, which would orient US foreign policy for
the benefit of that power to the detriment of the United States.
It is just such a situation that currently exists. We can
only look with trepidation to the near future, for in the
ominous words of Robert Fisk, 'There is a firestorm coming.'"
From "The war on Iraq: Conceived in Israel" by Stephen J. Sniegoski, 10/2/2003 |
DIGGING DEEPER INTO WAR MOTIVESby Jeremy Lee |
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2000At the Melbourne World Economic Forum in September 2000, On Target (20/10/00) carried a press report on the remarks of Mr. David Tang, Shanghai Tung chairman, who was unusually frank about the implications of free trade. He told those assembled:" ... I wouldn't concentrate on the rest of the world's companies selling to Asia. I would watch out, if I were you, about the WTO,"he said .... "I've never understood why you want to engage us – we've got fantastically low labour [costs]" he told the forum. "China's going to completely devastate your whole labour force. They have labour costs 15 times, 30 times lower than America ... All the stuff you're going to make, we're going to completely destroy in terms of costs" he said. "We can make things so much more cheaply than you. I would watch out for your markets being infiltrated by us ..." That was some 30 months ago. The water under the bridge is running at torrential speed. |
JOBS: AMERICA'S NUMBER 1 EXPORTRep. Bernie Sanders, just returned from a Congressional visit to China with 12 other members of the House, was chillingly frank about what they saw: "US corporations are not only exporting America's manufacturing base to China but also our way of life and the very future of this industrial nation," he said. "In Vermont and throughout the United States there has been a massive loss of manufacturing jobs. In the last two years alone our nation has lost 2 million factory jobs – 10 per cent of our manufacturing base.... At 16.5 million, we now have the lowest number of factory workers in 40 years .... "While manufacturing is declining in our country, the picture that I saw in China is very different. In the cities that we visited - Shenzhen, Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai - there has been an explosion in technology and manufacturing. .... "In Shenzhen, near the Hong Kong border, a small agricultural community has been transformed in 20 years to a major export center with a population of millions. "In Shanghai we observed an incredible phenomenon. Over the last 10 years an entirely new city of millions has been created in the Pudong region, which is becoming the Manhattan of China. This new area contains a modern airport, a major financial center, numerous skyscraper office buildings, housing and factories. It has also a magnetic levitation train that travels 250 miles an hour, which the government intends to expand to other regions of the country. "In 2002 the United States acquired a record-breaking $100 billion trade deficit with China. We exported approximately $22 billion in goods and services to them, while we imported over $120 billion. We should be mindful that our trade imbalance with China is not only related to low end manufacturing, like sneakers and toys. Increasingly, China is manufacturing and shipping to the United States more sophisticated products in electronics and electrical machinery. As China rapidly expands its numbers of engineers and technological base, there is no reason to believe that that trend will not continue, endangering more and more high paying US jobs. "We should not let the chief executive officers of corporate America continue to lower the standard of living of millions of American workers by shifting our manufacturing capabilities to China. We should not perpetuate the race to the bottom. While it is no secret that most of the giant multinational corporations in our country no longer see themselves as having allegiance to the United States, and will provide support to any country that allows them to make large profits, Congress must do better. We must have the courage to stand up to the hundreds of millions in corporate campaign contributions that flood the Capitol, and uphold our constitutional responsibilities to protect the American people ....." |
US TRADE DEFICIT COMING HOME TO ROOSTAs we have revealed in recent editions of On Target, the US has been living off massive trade deficits for many years. Its debt structure is frightening and the destruction of its industrial base even more so. It is diverting more and more of its remaining industrial capacity to armaments and military capacity. It has only been able to sustain this state of affairs because the $US is the sole global reserve currency. Hitherto, the world has only traded in "Yankee dollars". The US, in consequence, has flooded the globe with its dollars, which could finally only be traded in America. An E-mail report originating from Richard Douthwaite's organization FEASTA in Ireland on February 15 reported: "... The dollar is the world's reserve currency. This gives a huge subsidy to the US economy because if a country wants to hold lots of dollars in reserve they must supply the US with goods and services in return for those dollars. In return the US creates a bit more credit. The more dollars there are circulating outside the US, the more goods and services the US has imported virtually for free. This is how the US manages to run a huge trade deficit year after year without apparently any major economic consequences. No other country can run such a large trade deficit with impunity. It is in effect getting a massive interest-free loan from the rest of the world. "One of Europe's primary objectives, if not the primary objective, of setting up the Euro was to try to get some of this free lunch for Europe. If the Euro became a major reserve currency, or better still replaced the dollar as the major reserve currency, then Europe too could get something for nothing. This would be a disaster for the US. Not only would they lose their subsidy, which has been increasing in size and importance to American economic wellbeing as the years have gone by, but countries switching to Euro reserves from dollar reserves would start spending their dollars in the US. In other words, the US would have to start paying its debts to other countries. As countries converted their dollar assets into Euro assets the US property and stock market bubbles would, without doubt burst. The Federal Reserve would no longer be able to print more money to reflate the bubble as it is currently openly considering doing. "There is, however, one major obstacle to this happening. Oil! Oil is of course by far the most important commodity traded internationally, and if you want to buy oil on the international markets you usually have to have dollars. Until recently all OPEC countries agreed to sell their oil for dollars only. This meant that oil-importing countries like Japan needed to hold dollar reserves to buy oil. There is not a lot of point to stockpiling Euros if every time you need to buy oil you have to change them into dollars. But in November 2000 Iraq switched to the Euro with potentially perilous consequences. Only one country has the right to print dollars: the US! If OPEC were to decide to accept Euros only for its oil, then American economic dominance would be over. Not only would Europe not need dollars any more, but Japan, which imports over 80% of its oil from the Middle East would have to convert most of its dollar assets to Euro assets (Japan is of course the major subsidizer of the US). The US on the other hand, being the world's largest oil importer, would have to acquire Euro reserves, i.e. it would have to run a trade surplus. The conversion from trade deficit to trade surplus would have to be done at a time when the property and stock market prices were collapsing and its own oil supplies were contracting. It would be a very painful conversion, potentially disastrous..... "One article, written at the time the
decision was made, claimed it made no financial sense and
would cost Iraq millions. According to this 'expert' the decision
to convert was made by people who "are not experts, they are
not central bankers, they are not even oil men'. At the time
the article was written the Euro was worth 82 US cents. It
is now worth about $1.05. So on economic grounds alone, the
Iraqi decision has been a huge success (the $10 billion Iraqi
fund at the UN .... has apparently also been converted). There
may however be military consequences to it. The economic threat
to the US may be influencing it in its belligerent stance
towards Iraq. For those wanting to expand their investigation
of this topic, three websites were given: For the Electronz site for all past issues the archive link is: www.electronz.idz.net COMMENT: And we thought all this time that dear old George was simply saving the world from evil, at the eager request of Prime Minister Howard and Tony Blair! How wrong can you be? Western leaders - and this includes Howard and Costello - are obviously dithering between hitching their wagons to the US Dollar, or the Euro. Obviously, such a question will encompass one's attitude to the looming Iraqi war. Looking a little further down the track, however, one must ask who such nations as China, Japan and the OPEC countries should worry about either the Dollar or the Euro. Suppose they started their own currency block, as Dr Mahathir from Malaysia has advocated.. They could safely cut the West completely out of global economics, handing out a pittance when they wanted something, but otherwise allowing the West to stew in its own juice. And what would Australia do then, poor thing? We're in for a stormy ride over the next short period. |
MUSLIM GROWTH WORRIES VISITING HISTORIANI see visiting Jewish American-born historian
Dr. Bill Rubinstein is warning, "Muslim growth poses a threat"
to the Jewish community, Australian Jewish News, 21/02/03.
His concern is As one of those involved in opposing
Australia's 1990s war crimes trials and remembering the following
points about the legislation: I have been pondering on what could possibly happen in the future. Or am I being too fanciful? Suppose the Muslim community does grow to the numbers predicted and Muslims do hold the greater sway in Canberra the historian is so concerned about – might we see the day when present leaders of Israel are brought before Australia's courts and charged with war crimes? For that to happen a further amendment to the present legislation would be required. It would have to include the Middle East theatre of war. But with the greater sway of the Muslim community in the future, that scenario is not out of the realms of possibility. Remember, the War Crimes legislation was amended by the War Crimes Amendment Bill so as to enable the prosecution of those charged – in Australian courts under Australian law. Another question: Where do our Australian servicemen and women stand now that 'following orders' is no longer a defence? |
THE 'CHOSEN RACE' MYTHby Betty Luks The 'Judaeo-Christian' wrote: God's Plan for the Earth: "I don't know what your views are on Israel, but they are God's people. God promised to bless those who bless His people (Israel) and punish those who curse them... If you harbour ill will towards Israel be warned, God will not bless you. This might explain some of the difficulties you have experienced lately (health, financial, etc.)... I believe the times are changing and soon everyone on this planet will have to decide on whose side they are, and I'm not talking about President Bush and his war on terror, but whether you are with God or against Him. Of course, GWB is simply a tool in the Almighty's hand, like so many world leaders have been throughout history, but the plan is set by God and the battle belongs to the Lord, as well as the inevitable victory." Gullible dupes of Political Zionism C.H. Douglas wrote in The Fig Tree December 1937: "Labels mean little. There is enough of the genuine spirit of Christianity in the world today in the followers of every creed, to form the basis of a genuine democracy, and a genuine democracy can only rest on that spirit. But to that democracy, and to sound judgement, there is no more disruptive influence than a spurious "Divine Law". There are passages in the Old Testament of high poetic merit, either in the original or in the beautiful language prevalent in English literature... But as a guide to life a book stands by its results. Si monumentum requires, circumspice. Latin: If you seek (his) monument, look round you (inscription for the architect Christopher Wren's tomb in St. Paul's). The 'Second Law' The moral commandments against murder, stealing, adultery, coveting, bad neighbourliness and the like, are violated, corrupted. They are made of no effect (said the Man from Galilee) by a mass of 'statutes' enjoining the massacre of other peoples, the murder of apostates, individually or in communities; the call for "utter destruction" that leaves "nothing alive", etc. By the end of Deuteronomy, one realises, the moral commandments have been nullified, for the purpose of setting up in the guise of religion, the grandiose political idea of a people especially sent into the world to destroy and 'possess' other peoples – and to rule the earth. "This concept of destruction as an article of faith is unique, and where it occurs in political thought (for instance in the Communist philosophy) may also derive originally from the teaching of Deuteronomy for there is no other discoverable source," Douglas Reed observed. I would hope, as civilised human beings, we would treat one another as we would like to be treated – that is how it should be. But an organised political programme for the triumph of the 'chosen few' and the ruination of all others is just 'not on'. |
PENALTY WITH A NEW TWISTHow's this for a novelty way of trying to shore up the vote numbers at an election. Nearly 5000 South Australians will be stopped from renewing their driver's licence and registering their vehicles unless they pay an outstanding fine they incurred for not voting at the last State election. Of the 34,600 who did not vote, most have provided satisfactory explanations or paid the expiation fee, but the remaining 4971 have failed to answer the reminder notices sent out by the Electoral Commission. The reason given is that the State Government wants to recoup "hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines", but methinks the politicians would be more concerned about the 34,609 electors who did not vote at all. |
THE PARTIES' USUAL 'DIRTY TRICKS' CAMPAIGNby Betty Luks A once in a life-time opportunity The final round of public meetings will
be held in the metropolitan areas at the following addresses
on the dates and times indicated. Make every effort to attend
at least one meeting, more if you can make it. They are public meetings, be there, have your say! Don't let them talk you down. Have your say. Don't get caught up in useless argument. Insist on CIR being included in the lists to be presented to the Steering Committee. Some of the arguments they use against
CIR: SOME SUGGESTED REJOINDERS: |
BASIC FUNDThe League's Basic Fund needs a huge surge of donations to take it on towards the target – will you make every effort to set aside a generous donation for the work we are engaged in? The League needs your help, it needs your support. Will you make a commitment today? To those who have not yet made a contribution to the annual appeal, will you please determine to do so during this coming week? |
IRELAND DECLARES WAR ON SADDAM(Time for a chuckle): Saddam Hussein was sitting in his office wondering whom to invade next when his telephone rang. "Hello! Mr. Hussein," said a voice with a thick brogue. "This is Paddy down in the Harp pub in County Sligo, Ireland. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you." "Well, Paddy," Saddam replied, "this is indeed important news! How big is your army?" "Right now," said Paddy, after a moment's calculation, "there is meself, me cousin Sean, me next door neighbour Seamus, and the entire dart team from the pub. That makes eight!" Saddam paused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have one million men in my army waiting to move on my command." "Begorrah!" said Paddy, "I'll have to ring you back!" Sure enough, the next day, Paddy called again. "Mr. Hussein, the war is still on! We have managed to acquire some equipment!" "And what equipment would that be, Paddy?" Saddam asked. "Well, we have two combines, a bulldozer, and Murphy's old farm tractor." Saddam sighed, "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 6,000 tanks and 4,000 armoured personnel carriers. I've increased my army to 1.5 million since we last spoke." "Saints preserve us!" said Paddy, "I'll have to get back to you." Sure enough, Paddy rang again the next day. "Mr. Hussein, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne! We've modified Harrigan's ultra-light with a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Shamrock pub have joined us as well!" Saddam was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat, "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 1,000 bombers and 2,000 fighter planes . My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites, and since we last spoke, I've increased my army to TWO MILLION!" "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" exclaimed Paddy, "I'll have to ring you back." Sure enough Paddy called again the next day. "Top o' the mornin' Mr. Hussein! I am sorry to tell you that we have had to call off the war." "I'm intrigued," said Saddam, "why the sudden change of heart?" "Well," said Paddy, "we've all had a long chat over a few pints, and there's no way we can feed two million prisoners." |
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