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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Lebanon to prepare for a possible NATO action against Syria. Too busy conspiring against the peace he should be defending, he forgot to inquire about Israel’s daily violations of Lebanese sovereignty. In an open letter published by the Lebanese press, Arab thinker Hassan Hamade lambastes Mr. Ban and his representative Mr. Rød-Larsen, recalling that far from standing up for principles, both are thugs wallowing in corruption.

International affairs
Editorial: Weeks separating us from the American escape from Iraq
The Arab region is currently going through a state of turmoil and tensions, mainly linked to the American withdrawal from Iraq. After a long war which caused many victims and losses, the American empire will exit Iraq defeated, in a step which was perceived by the American planners as being inevitable after Iraq was transformed into a swamp for failure and depletion. The concept of strategic vacuum (...)

Most French people are primarily concerned about the economy and don’t see international issues as something that affects them directly. They deplore the submissiveness of their leaders to the United States, but have learned to live with it. However, as argued by Thierry Meyssan, it is precisely the choices made at the foreign policy level that determine the currently poor health of the French economy.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has been searching for a new geopolitical balance. All the various models have failed, starting with the unipolar world order of the New American Century. What emerges is not the result of an ideology, but a tectonic shift in the global balance of power, observes geopolitician Imad Fawzi Shueib. The double Russian and Chinese veto related to the Syrian crisis marks the dawn of this new world configuration, which is still groping to find its own operating rules in a complete break with past models.

By Ghaleb Kandil
The reality of the East stronger than the colonialists
The Iraq invasion and occupation war was among the most costly wars for the American empire, as its economic and financial losses were estimated at trillions of dollars, and resulted in the death, wounding and displacement of millions of Iraqis and the fall of thousands of American and British soldiers among other multinational troops mobilized by George W Bush’s administration on the land of this Arab country. Senior (...)

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez wants to spend some of the country’s foreign reserves, and if bank officials disagree, the question could be submitted to a national referendum, said Chávez on Saturday. The question has flitted in and out of public debate recently, but the government’s ambitious social spending is forcing them to look for a short-term financial salve.
Opposition to Chávez and his “Bolívarian revolution,”-named for Latin American independence leader Simón Bolívar-has recently (...)

Alvaro Uribe
Colombia and Venezuela are once again on good terms thanks to a communiqué released by the Colombian government yesterday that clarified recent statements made by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during his ten-day Asian tour.
The communiqué, sent from New York by Colombian Presidential spokesperson Ricardo Galán, read, "the President of Colombia asked the Japanese and Chinese governments for all of the support possible in the fight against terrorism," adding that, "in no (...)

Your Majesties,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,
citizens of America,
and citizens of the world:
I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations—that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.
And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable (...)

Conditioning Aid to Egyptian Military
Nearly ten months since the start of the Egyptian revolution, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has yet to take basic steps towards establishing a human rights-respecting, democratic, civilian government. On the contrary, in many areas Egypt is witnessing a continuation or return of Mubarak-era tactics of repression, as well as increasingly obvious efforts by SCAF to extend and even increase its own power in the government well beyond the (...)

Tabaré Vasquez
Early last week Latin America inaugurated its most recent in a long line of left-wing Presidents. Uruguay’s new leader Tabaré Vasquez heads a coalition of socialists, labour leaders, and former guerrillas, and has sparked considerable speculation among Latin America watchers up North.
At the turn of the 21st century, it appeared as though South American politics were steering hard port-side, with the elections of Ricardo Lagos (Chile), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), (...)

Felix Rodriguez
In an interview on Miami’s Spanish-language channel 22, the former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez said that the U.S. government has plans to “bring about a change in Venezuela.” When pressed as to what type of plans these might be, Rodriguez responded that the Bush administration “could do it with a military strike, with a plane.”
The former CIA agent’s comments were made last week, on Thursday, during the talk show of a well-known supporter of the anti-Castro movement, Maria (...)
The opposition is out of touch with reality on oil issues
It is no longer a matter of barrels, now it’s the rigsby
Alia2

After denying -for two years- the oil production figures certified by Petróleos de Venezuela and the Ministry of Energy and Mining, some sectors opposed to the National Government have changed their script: It’s no longer a matter of how many barrels are extracted from the subsoil, but of how many perforation units are operating. Nevertheless, no one from that side of the street can explain how Petróleos de Venezuela has surpassed its goals of fiscal contribution.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez announced the indefinite termination of a bilateral military exchange between the US and Venezuela on Sunday, during his weekly television program “Hello Mr. President.” Chavez justified his decision with the explanation that the five US military instructors stationed in Venezuela took advantage of their posts to make critical comments against the Bolivarian government.
"Some of the [US officers] were waging a campaign in the Venezuelan military - making (...)

Myth 1
The “US” has a huge trade deficit with “China” amounting to $162 billion in 2004. Reality: There are two basic problems with this statement: 1) almost half of the “trade deficit” is accounted for by US multinational corporations (MNC) in China exporting to their “home market”. 2) What is called “China” and the “US” is a fiction as the commercial transaction takes place within a world network or “empire”, in which the growth of ‘exports’ and trade ‘surpluses’ accrues to the US MNC and the trade (...)

We’re all aware that the intensity and scale of the very different events that have succeeded one another since January - from the Ivorian crisis to the Arab Spring, the Japanese disasters to the fighting in Libya, not to mention the debt crisis - make this an exceptional year.
The time has come to fully evaluate these events and what they mean for France, for the European Union and for the G20.
I am happy to do so in your presence, Ambassadors - you who have so effectively implemented and (...)

Tito Pulsinelli agrees with the opinion of many analysts that the rise in oil prices is just showing the first of many signs that are yet to come in the following months. The author believes that the next struggle between oil producing and oil consuming nations will take place in the oil financial field. New actions will take place in order to escape from both the New York-London hydrocarbons Stock “bipoly” and the use of the dollar as the only currency for oil and gas transactions.
The (...)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is the second most important leader in Latin America , according to survey results released today by the Iberian-American Barometer of Governability. The survey, which annually monitors how Iberian-Americans view Latin American governments, poses the following question: "Who do you consider is the most important leader in Latin America?" In 17 of the 18 countries where the survey was conducted, it found that Cuban President Fidel Castro, followed by Chávez (...)

The chilling reality of what Falluja has become is only now seeping out, as the American military continues to block almost all access to the city, whether to reporters, its former residents, or aid groups like the Red Crescent Society. The date of access keeps being postponed, partly because of ongoing fighting - only this week more air strikes were called in and fighting "in pockets" remains fierce (despite American pronouncements of success weeks ago) - and partly because of the (...)

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez responded to recent statements by high-level US officials, reaffirming Venezuela’s desire for dialogue with the US despite serious political differences. “A high-level functionary of the US government has said that they would like to have constructive relations with Venezuela...Welcome!” said the President during a Tuesday evening television address.
Earlier that day Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roger Noriega told a meeting of the (...)

An emerging crisis between the Venezuelan and Colombian governments has continued to sour, as both sides traded accusations over the capture of Colombian guerilla representative Rodrgio Granda in Venezuelan territory. Attempts at damage control by both Venezuelan and Colombian foreign ministries has failed to cushion the sharp rhetoric of Venezuela’s President Chávez and President Uribe of Colombia.
Granda is a spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest of (...)

New York
23 September 2008
Statement Summary:
(Original Spanish)
CHRISTINA FERNÁNDEZ DE KIRCHNER, President of Argentina, as the first woman elected President to her country, spoke first on Argentina’s policy of unrestricted respect for human rights. She urged that the Treaty on the Forced Disappearance of Persons be ratified by all nations that had signed it. Only three nations had joined Argentina thus far — Albania, Mexico and Honduras -– and it was indispensable that all firmly (...)
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The opposition is out of touch with reality on oil issues