coltan - Forum/Discussions - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T13:48:41Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/feed/tag/coltanThe Real Reason Obama Is Sending US Troops To Ugandahttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/the-real-reason-obama-is-sending-us-troops-to-uganda2011-10-22T14:10:34.000Z2011-10-22T14:10:34.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p><strong>From The Ramparts </strong> </p><p> Junious Ricardo Stanton </p><p> <strong>The Real Reason Obama Sent Troops To Uganda</strong><br /></p><p><em>“A DETERMINED push by Western wildcatters and big oil companies from fast-growing Asian economies such as those of China and Malaysia may change the fortunes of several countries in remoter and trickier bits of Africa once largely ignored by foreign investors. One of the most spectacular recent finds has been in Uganda. The reserves of the Albertine rift, which takes in the Ugandan and Congolese shores of Lake Albert (see map), are said to need $10 billion for development. All being well, Uganda will soon become a mid-sized producer, alongside countries such as Mexico. Foreign investment in Uganda may nearly double this year to $3 billion. The country expects to earn $2 billion a year from oil by 2015.”</em> <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/15825780">www.economist.com/node/15825780</a><br /></p><p> </p><p>On Friday October 14th President Obama sent a letter to Congress informing them he was sending a small contingent of US Special Ops Forces to Uganda ostensibly on another “humanitarian mission” to advise Ugandan officials tracking down Joseph Kony the newest bogey man being used to justify US intervention, imperialism and the imposition of AFRICOM on the African continent. Just like the Orwellian doublespeak Obama used when he and the NATO warmongers attacked Libya for “humanitarian reasons” on behalf of the international bankers supposedly to prevent Col. Mormar Kadafi from killing rebels, Obama is now sending troops into Uganda to stop another “notorious bad guy” from murdering, looting and wrecking havoc in Central Africa! This song is getting old and tired: invasion is peace, massive murder of civilians is part of the program and theft of resources is liberation. George Orwell would be so proud.</p><p> </p><p>At some point in time, the US public must stop believing the mass media’s unsubstantiated assertions and start asking pointed questions like: why after twenty-five years is Joseph Kony all of a sudden such an evil force? But beyond that, stop and think a minute and look at history. Where did Saddam Hussein and Osama bin-Laden get the weapons, military support and the knowhow the US claimed they were using to either to kill dissident Iraqis or to mastermind 9-11? Now we are being asked to believe Joseph Kony is this monster who needs Uncle Sam to come in and bring him to justice?! We need to ask ourselves where is Kony getting the weapons, camouflage gear, food and supplies he needed to start his reign of terror that has been going on for twenty-five years? Did the Russians fund and supply him? Is it the Chinese or is it the West (Europeans)? Is it the US? From what the Western media says about him, and we know how reliable they are don’t we, we are supposed to believe Kony is a religious fanatic on a mission to seize power and run the country in accordance with the Ten Commandments. Hmm, except for the fighting, raping and killing he is doing, Kony could fit right in with the Christian Right in the US. He and George W. Bu$h must have a lot in common.</p><p> </p><p>We are expected to believe via US media brainwashing this guy Kony stayed under the radar, getting guns ammunition, food and supplies from who knows where or out of thin air for twenty-five years then all of a sudden the US decides enough is enough, that US troops are a must and Joseph Kony is the target. Where was Uncle Sam when the Coltan Wars in Central Africa were being fought? What, you never heard of the Coltan Wars or the Congo wars? “Cellphones may have revolutionized the way we communicate, but in Central Africa their biggest legacy is war. Nearly 3 million people have died in Congo in a four-year war over coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellphones, laptops and playstations. Eighty percent of the world's coltan reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mountainous jungle area where the coltan is mined is the battleground of what has been grimly dubbed ‘Africa's first World War,’ pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighboring countries and numerous armed factions. The victims are mostly civilians. Starvation and disease have killed hundreds of thousands and the fighting has displaced 2 million people from their homes. Often dismissed as an ethnic war, the conflict is really over natural resources sought by foreign corporations -- diamonds, tin, copper, gold, but mostly coltan” <a href="http://www.seeingisbelieving.ca/cell/kinshasa/">http://www.seeingisbelieving.ca/cell/kinshasa/</a></p><p> </p><p>The US has been openly and clandestinely arming various ethnic groups in Africa for decades, fomenting hostilities and stoking the fires they create in order to justify selling more arms to whomever will buy them. Keep in mind the Africans are buying the weapons on credit (with interest). This means the banksters get their cut along with the weapons manufacturers and the arms middle men and they all get paid from US tax payer dollars!! “Because many of the recipient countries remain some of the world’s poorest, the U.S. government provided around $87 million in foreign military financing loans (subsidized by U.S. taxpayer dollars) to cover the costs, increasing the debt burden that is already suffocating the continent. The DRC alone owes more than $150 million in outstanding DoD loans, with Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan owing another $160 million combined. These loans, accrued while corrupt dictators were serving as U.S. clients, have further contributed to the economic hardships of these nations by saddling them with unproductive military debt. In an article titled Why the U.S. Won’t Help, a Nairobi newspaper recently explained, ‘Right from the days of the Cold War, Western governments have been comfortable with a situation in which African regimes squandered meager resources on the instruments of war, borrowing from the West to finance domestic consumption. The war in the Congo and the countries involved in it are a case in point’... In 1998, the State Department licensed commercial weapons sales by U.S. manufacturers to sub-Saharan Africa worth up to $64 million, on top of the $12 million in government-to-government deliveries that year. Commercial sales to the region included 300 M16s, 236 pistols and revolvers, 3940 rifles, and 10.8 million cartridges of .22-.50 caliber ammunition. A number of the countries engaged in the Congo war were recipients of these stocks, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Namibia. Congress also continues to provide only meager amounts of debt relief and development aid. Of the $370 million requested by the Clinton administration for various debt relief initiatives in FY2000, less than half – $123 million – was approved by Congress. The hypocrisy of asking Africa to develop and democratize while shrinking levels of non-military international aid and increasing weapons and training to the continent does not seem to have registered with policy-makers. To demonstrate real commitment to developing a new partnership with Africa, the U.S. needs to redirect the focus away from strengthening military capacity and toward promoting human development in Africa.” Report: U.S. Arms to Africa and the Congo War - World Policy Institute - Research Project <a href="http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm#usrole">www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm#usrole</a> </p><p> </p><p>On top of that the wars create instability and humanitarian crisis which gives the corporations and the Western government who serve them a pretext to come in and steal whatever it is they covet be it coltan, diamonds or in the case of Uganda, oil. Do you get the picture They are doing to Africa what they are doing in our communities here bringing in guns, and drugs fomenting strife and sitting back watching us kill each other!!! By the way, did Obama or the mainstream media tell you oil was recently discovered in Uganda? “KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda expects to start refining crude oil from its fields in 2014 and the proceeds will help end the economy's dependence on donor aid, its president said. The east African nation discovered commercial oil deposits in 2006 in the Albertine basin along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and reserves of about 2.5 billion barrels have been confirmed... The country's ministry of energy estimates the basin's crude reserves could climb to 6 billion barrels when fully explored. Only 40 percent of the basin has so far been studied. In November last year, the ministry said a phased construction of the refinery would begin in 2012, starting with capacity for limited production to satisfy the domestic market whose demand ranges between 20,000-25,000 barrels per day.” <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE79H04O20111018?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0">http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE79H04O20111018?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0</a> Call me a cynic but it makes sense Obama would send troops into Uganda now that they have discovered oil there; especially as the US moves to secure all the continent’s resources and prevent the Chinese from gaining another toe hold in Africa. This is how they roll. To keep us inthe dark and make us fall for their okey-doke they tell us some cock and bull story about going after a “bad guy” who they armed and supported for twenty-five years. It’s the same ol’ same ol’ only this time its being done by a “black” president.<br /> -30-</p></div>Provisions in Financial Reform Act could lift curse, corruption & conflict from poor countries rich in oil & strategic minerals???https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/provisions-in-financial-reform2010-07-16T14:02:58.000Z2010-07-16T14:02:58.000ZKWASI Akyeamponghttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/KWASIAkyeampong<div><div style="border-bottom:rgb(216,223,234) 1px solid;padding-bottom:5px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);padding-left:6px;padding-right:6px;border-top:rgb(59,89,152) 1px solid;padding-top:4px;" class="note_header"><div style="padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:both;padding-top:2px;" class="byline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height:14px;">Don't judge a book by its cover (or its title)?</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align:left;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;width:460px;padding-right:0px;display:block;margin-left:6px;clear:both;padding-top:10px;" class="note_content text_align_ltr direction_ltr clearfix"><div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;">Don't judge a Bill, a Law, by the banner headline.<br />Snow White knows now of the dangers that could in a
beautiful apple.<br />"...only the Shadow knows"<br />Could also ask the Native
Americans.<br /><br />Got to be in the inquiry. <br /><br />Why do I have read the foreign press
to get the real news?</div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;">How does financial transparency becomes resource transparency?<br /><br />Hey, read,
read the Bill?</div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:medium;">Kwasi Akyeampong</span></div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;"><font color="#000000" size="3">Admi</font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:medium;">n</span></div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;"><br /><br /><a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/1028/en/u.s._passes_landmark_reforms_on_resource_transparency">U.S. passes landmark reforms on resource transparency</a><br /><br /></div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;" title="">Press Release – 15/07/2010<br /><br />Global Witness strongly welcomes a ground-breaking new bill, passed by the U.S. Senate today,
which will help to lift the curse of corruption and conflict from poor countries
that are rich in oil and minerals by promoting greater public oversight and
responsible trading practices. <br /><br />Provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (also known as the Financial Reform
Act) will require oil, gas and mining companies registered with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) to publicly disclose their tax and revenue
payments to governments around the world. This disclosure will deter the
corruption which has brought deep poverty and conflict to many resource-rich
countries. <br /><br />The Act will also
require companies whose products contain cassiterite(tin ore), coltan,
wolframite and gold to disclose to the SEC whether they are sourcing these
minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or adjoining countries.
Companies will have to detail the measures they have taken to avoid sourcing
these minerals from DRC armed groups, which are guilty of massacres and other
atrocities. The bill also requires that all information disclosed be
independently audited. <br /><br />"These
provisions are a huge victory for corporate accountability in the oil, gas and
mining industries, and we commend the leadership of Members of Congress who have
steadfastly championed them," said Corinna Gifillan of Global Witness, a
non-profit group which has campaigned since the 1990s to break the links between
natural resources, corruption and conflict <br /><br />"As well as helping the people of
resource-rich-but-poor countries, these provisions will serve U.S. governmental
and commercial interests around the world by promoting stability and responsible
corporate investment," said Gilfillan. Global Witness is a co-founder of Publish
What You Pay, a global coalition of more than 600 civil society groups that
works for transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries. <br /><br />The House of Representatives
approved these reforms on June 30th and the Senate did so today. President Obama
is expected to sign the Dodd-Frank legislation into law next week. <br /><br />"Now is the time for the United
Kingdom and other major economies to follow the example of the U.S., so that
these crucial reforms can become global standards," said Gilfillan. <br /><br />Global Witness commends Senator
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Senator Richard Lugar(R-IN) for championing the
extractive industry revenue transparency provision, with the strong support of
Senator Richard Durbin, Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), Senator Patrick Leahy
(D-VT), and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). Global Witness also recognizes the
strong leadership of Senator Sam Brownback(R-KS), Senator Richard Durbin,
Senator Russell Feingold, Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), and
Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) for the DRC conflict minerals provision.
Global Witness commends Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd
(D-CT) and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) for their
support of these provisions. <br /><br />For more information, please
contact: <br /><br /><span>In the United
States: Corinna Gilfillan on +1 202 725 8705
cgilfillan@globalwitness.o</span>rg </div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;"><br /><span>In Europe: Diarmid O'Sullivan on +44 7872 620 955 dosullivan@globalwitness.o</span>rg </div>
<div style="padding-bottom:10px;line-height:14px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;clear:none;padding-top:0px;"><br />Please email <a href="mailto:mail@globalwitness.org">mail@globalwitness</a></div>
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