Plan Mexico: Plan Colombia Heads for Mexico By Stephen Lendman | |
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index | |
Global Research, May 27, 2008 | |
It's called "Plan Mexico," or more formally the "Merida Initiative," and here's the scheme. It's to do for Mexicans what Plan Colombia has done to that nation since 1999, and, in fact, much earlier. Since then, billions have gone for the following: -- to establish a US military foothold in the country; -- mostly to fund US weapons, chemical and other corporate profiteers; it's a long-standing practice; in fact, a 1997 Pentagon document affirms that America's military will "protect US interests and investments;" in Colombia, it's to control its valuable resources; most importantly oil and natural gas but also coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, silver, emeralds, copper and more; it's also to crush worker resistance, eliminate unions, target human rights and peasant opposition groups, and make the country a "free market" paradise inhospitable to people; -- it funds a brutish military as well; already, over 10,000 of its soldiers have been trained at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) - aka the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia; its graduates are infamous as human rights abusers, drugs traffickers, and death squad practitioners; they were well schooled in their "arts" by the nation most skilled in them; -- it lets Colombia arm and support paramilitary death squads; they're known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC); for more than a decade, they've terrorized Colombians and are responsible for most killings and massacres in support of powerful western and local business interests; -- it funds drug eradication efforts, but only in FARC-EP and ELN areas; government-controlled ones are exempt; trafficking is big business; laundering drugs money reaps huge profits for major US and regional banks; the CIA has also been linked to the trade for decades, especially since the 1980s; after Afghanistan's invasion and occupation, opium harvests set records - mostly from areas controlled by US-allied "warlords;" the Taliban's drug eradication program was one reason it was targeted; Colombia's drug eradication is horrific; it causes ecological devastation; crop and forest destruction; lives and livelihoods lost; large areas chemically contaminated; bottom line of the program - record amounts of Colombian cocaine reach US and world markets; trafficking is more profitable than ever; so is big business thanks to paramilitary terror; -- it's to topple the FARC-EP and ELN resistance groups; Latin American expert James Petras calls the former the "longest standing (since 1964), largest peasant-based guerrilla (resistance) movement in the world;" it's also to weaken Hugo Chavez, other regional populist leaders and groups, and destabilize their countries; and -- it supports the "Uribe doctrine;" it's in lockstep with Washington; its policies are hard right, corporate-friendly and militarized for enforcement. Plan Colombia turned the country into a dependable, profitable narco-state. Business is better than ever. Violence is out of control and human rights abuses are appalling. It gets worse. Two-thirds of Columbians are impoverished. Over 2.5 million peasant and urban slum dwellers have been displaced. Thousands of trade unionists have been murdered (more than anywhere else in the world), and many more thousands of peasants, rural teachers, and peasant and indigenous leaders have as well. Paramilitary land seizures are commonplace. Colombian latifundistas profit hugely. Wealth concentration is extreme and growing. Corruption infests the government. Many thousands in desperation are leaving. Colombia's "democracy" is a sham. So is Mexico's. Plan Mexico will make it worse. That's the whole idea, and it's part of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership - aka the North American Union. It's planned behind closed doors - to militarize and annex the continent. Corporate giants are in charge, mostly US ones. The idea is for an unregulated open field for profit. The Bush administration, Canada and Mexico support it. Things are moving toward implementation. Three nations will become one. National sovereignty eliminated. Worker rights as well. Opposition is building, but moves are planned to quash it. That's the militarization part. Business intends to win this one. People are to be exploited, not helped. That's why it's kept secret. The idea is to agree on plans, inform legislatures minimally about them, get SPP passed, then implement it with as few of its disturbing details known in hopes once they are they'll be too late to reverse. SPP is ugly, ominous and hugely people destructive. Hundreds of millions in three countries will be affected. Others in the region as well. Plan Mexico is a contribution to the scheme. Below is what we know about it. Plan Mexico - Exploitation Writ Large The plan was first announced in October 2007 as a "regional security cooperation initiative." It's to provide $1.4 billion in aid (over three years) for Mexico and Central America on the pretext of fighting drugs trafficking and organized crime linked to it. FY 2008 calls for $550 million for starters with about 10% of it for Central America. In fact, Plan Mexico is part of SPP's grand scheme to militarize the continent, let corporate predators exploit it, and keep people from three countries none the wiser. Most aid will go to Mexico's military and police forces with its major portion earmarked back to US defense contractors for equipment, training and maintenance. It's how these schemes always work. This one includes a menu of security allocations, administrative functions, and special needs like software, forensics equipment, database compilations, plus plenty more for friendly pockets to keep our Mexican cohorts on board. After failing on May 15, House passage will likely follow the Senate's approval on May 22 - below the radar. It's one of many appropriations tucked into the latest Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental funding request, and its purpose is just as outlandish. It will militarize Mexico without deploying US troops. It will also open the country for plunder, privatize everything including state-owned oil company PEMEX, give Washington a greater foothold there, and get around the touchy military issue by allowing in Blackwater paramilitaries instead to work with Mexican security forces. Only privatizing PEMEX is in doubt thanks to immense citizen opposition. Thousands of "brigadistas" were in the streets, protesting outside the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, as lawmakers considered ending PEMEX state-control. They paralyzed debate and brought it to a halt - temporarily putting off a final resolution of this very contentious issue. Big Oil wants it. Most Mexicans don't. The battle continues. Mexico's military may get involved. The US State Department describes them as follows:
Mexico's military fares little better with promises Plan Mexico will worsen it. President Calderon now deploys troops around the country. People fear them when they come. They're purportedly against drugs traffickers, but that's mostly cover. Their real purpose may be sinister - a possible dress rehearsal for martial law when SPP is implemented. Mexican soldiers are hard line. Their reputation is unsavory. People justifiably fear them. They commit flagrant human rights abuses and get away with them. The major media even report them. The New York Times, CNN, BBC, USA Today and others cite evidence of rape, torture, killings, other human rights abuses, corruption, extortion, and ties to drugs traffickers. Little is done to stop it. Government and military spokespersons often aren't available for comment. They're part of the problem, not the solution. Plan Mexico promises more of the same and then some. Billions from Washington back it. Social protests in the country already are criminalized. Hundreds are filling prisons. Many languish there for years. Labor and social activists are most vulnerable. Injustice and grinding poverty motivate them. Plan Mexico ups the ante. Things are about to get worse. Militarizing society is toxic. Police state enforcement follows. Accountability disappears. The rule of law no longer applies. Plan Mexico assures it. So does SPP for the continent. In classic doublespeak, the White House claims it will "advance the productivity and competitiveness of our nations and help to protect our health, safety and environment." Its real purpose is to annex a continent, destroy its democratic remnants, lock in hard line enforcement, and secure it for capital. SPP Backdrop of Plan Mexico A detailed SPP explanation can be found on the 2007 article link. It's titled The Militarization and Annexation of North America - http://www.globalresearch.ca Plan Mexico is part of SPP. It will militarize and annex the continent. It was formerly launched at a March 23, 2005 meeting in Waco, Texas attended by George Bush, Mexico's President Vincente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. They forged a tripartite partnership for greater US, Canadian and Mexican economic, political, social and security integration. Secretive working groups were formed to accomplish it - to devise non-negotiable agreements to be binding on all three nations. Details are hidden. No public input is permitted. Pro forma legislative voting is approaching. It will try to avoid a NAFTA-type battle. Legislatures aren't being fully informed. The worst of SPP is secret. It's not a treaty, and the idea is to pass it below the radar and avoid a protracted public debate. What's known so far is disturbing, and considerable opposition has arisen but thus far too inadequate to matter. SPP, Plan Mexico, and a final continent-wide plan amount to a corporate coup d'etat against three sovereign states and hundreds of millions of people. It's to erase national borders, merge three nations into one under US control, and remove all barriers to trade and capital flows. It's also to militarize the continent, create a fortress-North America security zone, and have in place police state laws for enforcement. Billions will fund it. All for corporate gain. Nothing for public welfare. SPP takes NAFTA and the "war on terrorism" to the next level en route to extending it further for more corporate plunder. It's based on outlandish notions - that doing business, protecting national security, and securing "public welfare" require tough new measures in a very threatening world. SPP bolsters US control. It enhances corporate power, quashes civil liberties, erases public welfare, and creates an open field for plunder free from regulatory restraints. It's being plotted behind closed doors. A series of summits and secret meetings continue with the latest one in New Orleans from April 22 to 24. Three presidents attended and were met by vocal street protests. They convened a "People's Summit" and also held workshops to: -- inform people how destructive SPP is; -- strengthen networking and organizational ties against it; -- maintain online information about their activities; -- promote their efforts and build added support; and -- affirm their determination to continue resisting a hugely repressive corporate-sponsored agenda. Opponents call it Nafta on steroids. Business-friendly opposition also exists. Prominent is a "Coalition to Block the North American Union." The Conservative Caucus backs it. It has a "NAU War Room." It's the "headquarters of THE national campaign to expose and halt America's absorption into a 'North American Union (NAU)' with Canada and Mexico." It opposes building "a massive, continental 'NAFTA Superhighway.' " It has congressional allies, and on January 2007 Rep. Virgil Goode and six co-sponsors introduced House Concurrent Resolution 40. It expresses "the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in (building a NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada." The April summit reaffirmed SPP's intentions - to create a borderless North America, dissolve national sovereignty, put corporate giants in control, and assure big US ones get most of it. Militarism is part of it. It's the reason for fortress-North America under US command. The US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) was established in October 2002 to do it. It has air, land and sea responsibility for the continent regardless of Posse Comitatus limitations that no longer apply or sovereign borders easily erased. Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also have a large role. So does the FBI, CIA, all US spy agencies, militarized state and local police, National Guard forces, and paramilitary mercenaries like Blackwater USA. They're headed anywhere on the continent with license to operate as freely here as in Iraq and New Orleans post-Katrina. They'll be able to turn hemispheric streets into versions of Baghdad and make them unfit to live on if things come to that. SPP maintains a web site. It's "key accomplishments" since August 2007 are updated on it as of April 22, 2008. Its details can be accessed from the following link: http://www.spp.gov/pdf/key It lists principles agreed to; bilateral deals struck; negotiations concluded; study assessments released; agreements on the "Free Flow of Information;" law enforcement activities; efforts related to intellectual property, border and long-haul trucking enforcement; import licensing procedures; food and product safety issues; energy (with special focus on oil); water as well; infrastructure development; emergency management; and much more. It's all laid out in deceptively understated tones to hide its continental aim - enhanced corporate exploitation with as little public knowledge as possible. Militarization will assure it, and consider one development up North. On February 14, 2008, the US and Canada agreed to allow American troops inside Canada. Canadians were told nothing or that the agreement was reached in 2002. Neither was it discussed in Congress or the Canadian House of Commons. It's for "bilateral integration" of military command structures in areas of immigration, law enforcement, intelligence, or whatever else the Pentagon or Washington wishes. Overall, it's part of the "war on terror" and militarizing the continent to make it "safer" for business and be prepared for any civilian opposition. Congress may soon pass SPP, but with no knowledge of its worst provisions kept secret. It's to assure enough congressional support makes it law. Nonetheless, federal, state and local opposition is building. It ranges from private activism to vocal lawmakers. In 2008, a dozen or more states passed resolutions against SPP. Around 20 others did it in 2007. Congress began debating it last year with opposition raised on various grounds - open borders, unchecked immigration, a NAFTA Superhighway System, and the idea of giving unregulated Mexican trucks free access to US roads and cities. There's also talk of replacing three national currencies with an "Amero." Unfortunately, little is heard about trashing the Constitution or giving corporate bosses free reign. There's even less talk about a militarized continent against dissent. SPP is a "new world order." Companies are plotting to get it. People better hope they don't. Disruptive opposition might derail them. It's building but needs more resonance to matter. Time is short and slipping away. These schemers mean business. They want our future. We can't afford to lose it.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening any time. | |
May 28, 2008
May 09, 2008
Time to move to Kelowna, BC?? Consider it will never be broke ..
The Best Place to Build Zero Carbon Data Centers in North America
[It is good to see a growing recognition by industry of the importance of zero carbon data centers. I think it is imperative that academia also move in this direction. As I have mentioned cyber-infrastructure is increasingly one of the biggest power consumers on many campuses and, as a result, a large contributor by universities to Green House Gas emissions. Funding agencies can play a critical role by developing Private-Public-Partnerships (PPP) much like the NSF has done with IBM and Google to assist universities to move their campus cyber-infrastructure to zero carbon data centers. Thanks to Doug Alder also maintains an excellent blog on this subject--BSA]
The Virtual Data Center - http://www.rackforce.com/blog/?p=59
Is Your Data Center Green Enough - http://www.rackforce.com/blog/?p=49
GigaCenter: Where We are Going - http://www.rackforce.com/blog/?p=48
The Best Place to Build a Data Center in North America http://www.cio.com/article/183256/The_Best_Place_to_Build_a_Data_Center_in_North_America
It's Kelowna, British Columbia, says IBM, which is working with Rackforce to open a huge data center in this small city far from earthquake and flood zones, close to cheap power sources and just a short flight from Vancouver.
But what most tourist brochures don't mention is that the Okanagan also is becoming known in IT spheres for something else: data processing and storage.
Thanks to its seismic stability, cheap and accessible power and a talented workforce, the Okanagan recently has seen a proliferation of data services vendors and has attracted interest from at least one major international corporation to build one of the biggest data centers in the world.
When it opens later this year, this $100 million data center—appropriately dubbed the Gigacentre—will total 85,000 square feet and will have the capacity to store nearly 35,000 terabytes of data. Put differently, the Gigacentre will generate more than 700 watts per square foot, while most data centers currently generate a maximum of 300 watts per square foot.
The Gigacentre is a joint venture between IBM and Rackforce, a local hosting service provider. It will be IBM's first data center in British Columbia and is powered by hydroelectric energy from the Columbia River
Brian Fry, vice president and cofounder of Rackforce, says the center, expected to open by this summer, will cement the Okanagan's position as the new data capital of the West—a position that could be particularly intriguing for U.S. companies who are looking to keep mission-critical infrom Bill St. Arnaud @ Green IT/Broadband and Cyber-Infrastructure
May 06, 2008
Whole lot of shakin' going on beneath our feet in BC
Stephen Hume, Special to the Sun
Published: Monday, May 05, 2008Most of us wouldn't have known without a seismograph, but another light earthquake rumbled through British Columbia's basement last week.
Ignorance is bliss. "Light" is a relative term. That "pipsqueak" seismic event 375 kilometres west of Vancouver released roughly the same amount of energy as the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
John Cassidy, who does have a seismograph -- actually, he has scads of them -- did notice. From the Pacific Geosciences Centre near Sidney on Vancouver Island, he keeps track of what's shaking beneath our feet for the Geological Survey of Canada. He's a world expert on earthquake hazards.
"What people forget is how active this region is," Cassidy said when I called to ask about the free public lecture he's giving Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Theatre Foyer of UBC Robson Square. "During the past month there have been 95 earthquakes in the region."
So, nothing unusual, yet "pipsqueak" is also a relative term when talking about earthquakes. It all depends where you are standing, Cassidy said.
Huge earthquakes become geologists' exotic cocktail chat if they are deep and distant. Even small events become unpleasant world newspaper headlines if they are shallow and near a city.
Consider the Nisqually earthquake that shook Seattle and gave Vancouver a scare on Feb. 28, 2001, and the Northridge 'quake in Los Angeles in 1994. Both were virtually the same in magnitude, around 6.8, Cassidy said. But while Nisqually caused damage estimated at about $2 billion, Northridge killed 57 and injured 9,000, and the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California estimates damage eventually reached $40 billion.
Why this difference? Nisqually was 52 kilometres deep in the earth. Northridge was only about 18 kilometres down. Without the extra 34 kilometres of buffering rock, shaking in California was far more violent, and a dense urban population exposed more to the consequences.
This should fascinate Lower Mainland residents, who live in one of the least stable places on the planet, a shuddering, juddering zone where huge plates of rock jostle each other like ice floes. Fault lines, shallow and deep, spread everywhere, ubiquitous as cracks in the glaze on an old coffee mug.
Little tremors, smaller than the one nobody noticed last week, occur daily. Yet every decade, there's a whopper like Nisqually, the 7.3 Comox earthquake of 1946 or the 6.9 event that sent frightened Vancouver residents rushing into the streets in 1918.
And over centuries come the great earthquakes, the mega-thrust monsters 10,000 times more powerful than last week's, which equalled only one atomic bomb.
This is National Emergency Preparedness Week, a good time to contemplate that four of the five most powerful earthquakes in Canadian history occurred in B.C. And that of the next five, two were here and a third was just north of the B.C.- N.W.T. boundary.
So that's seven "Big Ones" out of the last 10. Perhaps this subject warrants further education. The Geological Association of Canada's Cordilleran Section is happy to accommodate.
Cassidy, both famous as a seismologist and popular for his infectious enthusiasm and entertaining talks, will discuss the history of earthquakes here, what the risks really are and the astonishing research he and his colleagues are pursuing.
For example, their discovery that Vancouver Island abruptly reverses direction every 62 weeks. Usually it moves toward the mainland at a rate of about one centimetre a year. But satellite tracking shows the Island regularly heads for Japan, nudges the big Pacific plate, then heads for the mainland again. The vast stress along this subduction fault is what generates the hundreds of daily tremors we don't perceive.
"If that [subduction] fault were ready to fail," Cassidy said, "it's likely one of these taps would be the trigger."
Then we might experience another great earthquake like the one at 9 p.m., Jan. 26, 1700. Ground on the Island's outer coast dropped as much as the height of a two-storey house, shaking was so severe that people couldn't stand up and the following tsunami blasted Japan, more than 7,000 kilometres away, which is why we can date it so precisely.
Cassidy can tell you all about it Thursday.
shume@islandnet.com
April 30, 2008
More British Columbia, N. Pacific earthquake information!!
More Earthquakes Out West
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 48.685°N, 128.888°W Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION Distances * 244 km (151 miles) SSW (205°) from Port Hardy, BC, Canada ...
Eastern US Weather - http://www.easternuswx.com/bb
POTENTIONAL AREAS IN QUAKE RISK ACTION / THE WEST SIDE... USA AND ...
By nightangel7246(nightangel7246)
CHILLIWAC BC LOCATION: THIS AREA NOW IS IN ANOTHER QUAKE RISK DUE TO MORE INTENSE UNDER GROUND ACTIVITY IN PROGRESS. ( UPPER 3.5 MAGNITUDE LEVEL ). WASHINGTON STATE.... THE SHORE LINE REGION AREAS OF: FORKS, PORT ANGELES AND NEAH BAY. ...
THE EARTHQUAKE TRACKER - http://journals.aol.com
UPSC (PT) 2008 CURRENT EVENTS
By kendriyevidyalayprimaryteacher
Some forty people are injured when the floor of a Mennonite church collapses during a Christian rock concert in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Two people are killed and more than a dozen injured after a semitrailer crashes into a Chicago ...
UPSC Question Papers - http://upscquestionpapers
Google Web Alert for: British Columbia earthquake
Earthquake Preparedness - Provincial Emergency ProgramInformation about earthquake preparedness in British Columbia. ... A guide for BC families and individuals to be prepared for an earthquake. ...
EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS
Everyone talks about "The Big One" and when will it happen (?) – "no one knows for sure". Here are some useful ways to prepare in case an earthquake does occur and impact our immediate area.
- Prepare Now for an Earthquake in British Columbia
A guide for BC families and individuals to be prepared for an earthquake. The link is http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/prepare_now/prepare.html - Be Ready for an Earthquake
Tips on earthquake safety and preparedness. http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/earthquake.pdf - Earthquake Survival Guide
A handy, perhaps life-saving reminder of what to do to prepare for an earthquake. For carrying in your wallet, purse, glove compartment.... wherever! (pdf format) http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/Quake_survival_guide.pdf - Emergency Contact Card
Record particulars of just who needs to be called by family members following a major emergency, when telephone communication should be limited. (pdf format) http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/Emergency_Contact_Card.pdf
THE NORTHERN LOCATION OF: YUKON AREA NORTH AND SOUTH LOCATION. ( 4.0 QUAKE MAGNITUDE LEVEL )
THE ISLANDS LOCATIONS OF: QUEEN CHAROLETTE AT THE SOUTH POINT SEA LOCATION AREA. ( 5.0 QUAKE MAGNITUDE LEVEL )
VANCOUVER ISLAND TO THE AREAS AT NORTH WEST LOCATION OFF SHORE AND TO THE SOUTH EAST AREA OFF SHORE. ( UPPER 4.5 QUAKE MAGNITUDE LEVEL ) WE ALSO HAVE MORE QUAKE RISK NOW THE WHOLE WEST SIDE OF THIS ISLAND REGION. ( PLATE SHIFTING ACTION IN PROGRESS )
CILLLIWACK B.C. LOCATION: THIS AREA NOW IS IN ANOTHER QUAKE RISK DUE TO MORE INTENSE UNDER GROUND ACTIVITY IN PROGRESS. ( UPPER 3.5 MAGNITUDE LEVEL )
WASHINGTON STATE....
THE SHORE LINE REGION AREAS OF: FORKS, PORT ANGELES AND NEAH BAY. ALSO THE STRAIT SAN JUAN DE FUCA AREA AND THE SAN JUAN ISLANDS LOCATION ( UPPER 3.5 QUAKE MAGNTIUDE LEVEL FOR THESE MENTIONED LOCATIONS ).
THE WEST SIDE LOCATION AREAS OF: PAST AND FREQUENT AREAS, WHERE MORE QUAKE MAKING ACTION HAS TAKEN PLACE, TO THE WHOLE EAST SIDE OF THE PUDGET SOUND LOCATION.
PLACES LIKE: DARINGTON, MOUNT BAKER, MOUNT VERNON, ARLINGTON, GRANITE FALLS, SEATTLE, BREMERTON, TACOMA URBAN AREA, LONGVIEW AND MOUNT ST. HELEN... ALL ARE IN QUAKE RISK ACTION.
MOUNT ST. HELEN VOLCANO IS STILL IN INTENSIVE PRESSURE ACTION OCCURRING THE AREA UNDER GROUND. THIS EXTREME LEVEL IS VERY SERIOUS. I STILL FEEL WE ARE GETTING CLOSER TO THAT ERUPTION FROM THIS VOLCANO. CAUTION TO ALL SURROUNDING AREAS.
CAUTION: AGAIN TO ALL PAST FREQUENT QUAKE TARGET LOCATION AREAS. WE HAVE YET MORE INCREASE INTENSITY LEVELS AND MORE PASSING ACTION OF UNDER GROUND MOVEMENT HEADING SOUTH FROM THE UPPER PUDGET SOUND AREA.
THE EAST SIDE... ENTAIT, SPOKANE AREA ( NORTH AND SOUTH ) CHELAN BUTTE AREA, NORTH OF YAKIMA, NORTH OF WALLA WALLA, MOSES LAKE, KENNEWICK AND SUNNYSIDE AREA. ( 3.5 QUAKE MAGNITUDE LEVEL )
THERE IS STRONG ACTION COMING FROM QUAKE PATH 2 AND 3 ROUTES IN MOTION. MORE SIGNS OF WEATHER ACTION INCREASING THE INTENSITY LEVELS SOON AS WELL.
THERE IS ALSO MORE EXTREME PRESSURE COMING FROM THE MOUNT ST. HELEN VOLCANO AREA NOW. THIS ACTION INCREASES THE LEVEL OF QUAKE RISK TO THE SOUTH EAST SIDE FROM THIS VOLCANO AREA.
OREGON STATE....
THE SHORE LINE... AGAIN SHOWING ANOTHER FORCING ACTION OF PLATE SHIFTING IN MOTION. THIS EFFECTS THE WHOLE COASTAL AREA AND SHORE LINE OF OREGON.
IT'S QUAKE PATH 1 ROUTE IN MORE INTENSE FORCE OF ACTION.AND THE WEATHER RAIN ACTION ONLY INCREASES THIS EFFECT OF EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITY.
AT THE COASTAL AREA FROM BANDON ( POORLY CONSTRAINED ) TO NEWPORT AT THE COASTAL AREA IS STILL IN A 5.5 PLUS QUAKE MAGNITUDE LEVEL.
AS FOR THE SHORE LINE IT'S A 3.5 QUAKE MAGNITUDE LEVEL. YACHATS AND WALDPORT AREA OFF SHORE IS STILL IN A QUAKE RISK ACTION DURING THIS TIME PERIOD.
THE WEST SIDE... AREAS OF: PORTLAND, PARKDALE, BEAVERTON, FOREST GROVE, CANBY, WOODBURN, ALBANY, LEBANON, PHOLOMOTH, COLBURG, SPRINGFIELD ( SE ) LOWELL, DRAIN, CAVE JUNCTION, UMPQUA, MEDFORD, GRANTS PASS AND ASHLAND.
THERE IS A STRONG FORCING ACTION COMING IN FROM QUAKE PATH 1 ROUTE. THIS MOTION OF UNDER GROUND MOVEMENT HAS ALREADY EFFECTED THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SHORE SIDE LOCATION.
THIS QUAKE PATH ROUTE CAN AND WILL AGAIN MAKE ANOTHER QUAKE TO THE OREGON COASTAL AREA SOON. ALSO DURING THIS EFFORT OF ATTEMPT. WE HAVE THE WEST SIDE HERE TO CONSIDER REGARDING THE EFFECTS THIS ROUTE HAS SET IN IT'S MOTION.
THE EAST SIDE... AREAS OF: FEILDS, THE 3 SISTERS AREA, KLAMATH FALLS, PRINEVILLE AREA, MAUPIN AREA, HUNTINGTON, BAKER CITY, AND THE DALLES. JORDON VALLEY AND BURNS AS WELL.
THERE IS A STRONG PASSING ACTION OF UNDER GROUND MOVEMENT AND INTENSITY INCREASE COMING FROM QUAKE PATH 2 ROUTE IN MOTION NOW. AND WEATHER ACTION OCCURRING NOW WILL INCREASE THE RISK OF QUAKE MAKING ACTION TO THESE LOCATIONS.
ALREADY OCCURRING NOW... TO THE NORTH EASTERN AREAS OF CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN EFFECTED BY THIS QUAKE PATH 2 ROUTE'S ACTION.
BEING RENO NEVADA... IS IN A INTENSE ACTION OF QUAKE OCCURRENCES. THIS EFFECT COULD VERY WELL BE EFFECTING PARTS OF SOUTH EASTERN OREGON. AND COULD VERY WELL BE EFFECTED MY MORE PULSE ACTION OCCURRING UNDER GROUND. SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND. IT'S REAL. THAT'S ALSO QUAKE PATH 2 ROUTE'S TRAVEL PATH.
April 27, 2008
Earthquake risk on North Olympic Peninsula detailed by scientists - expect MARTIAL LAW
Earthquake risk on North Olympic Peninsula detailed by scientists
| ||
Peninsula Daily News news sources
PORT ANGELES — Government scientists are discussing two earthquake faults which could cause serious damage on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The U.S. Geological Survey released new seismic hazard maps this week that focused on quake faults across the nation, including the Lake Creek-Boundary Creek fault that runs from central to eastern Clallam County — from roughly 15 miles west of the Elwha River to just past Siebert Creek.
It is capable of producing a magnitude-6.79 earthquake and has been active over the past several thousand years.
It was studied in detail by scientists in 2006 and is included for the first time in the new seismic hazard maps.
A quake on this fault would be similar to the February 2001 Nisqually earthquake, which struck northeast of Olympia.
It had a magnitude-6.8 that caused more that $100 million in property damage and shifted the dome over the Legislative Building.
Subduction quake
Scientists also revised their estimates about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where the Juan de Fuca and North America tectonic plates collide in an area off the coast between Vancouver Island and Northern California.
The northern part of the fault runs off the Olympic Peninsula coast.
New studies indicate the subduction zone is more likely to experience one great 9.0 quake that will completely rupture the fault, rather than the other possibility of a series of smaller, but still major, quakes in the 8.0 range.
Either way, subduction quakes could cause catastrophic tsunamis that would sweep over Neah Bay, LaPush and other coastal locations.
But earthquake experts say it takes about 500 years to build the pressure necessary for a 9.0 quake in the subduction zone.
Geological records suggest the last such quake was in 1700, meaning that the next big one could be 192 years away.
"Don't hold us to that," said Craig Weaver, the Pacific Northwest earthquake coordinator for the USGS. "But that is the math."
Using new models produced by the Japanese, Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Mapping Project in Golden, Colo., said a major subduction zone earthquake also could produce more ground motion than originally thought.
"This is very complicated, but the risks are slightly higher than before," he said.
Richter readings
On the Richter scale, every increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude. Thus a reading of 7.5 reflects an earthquake 10 times stronger than one of 6.5.
An earthquake of 3 on the Richter scale can cause slight damage in a local area, 4 can cause moderate damage, 5 considerable damage, and 6 can be severe.
A 7 reading is a "major" quake, capable of widespread heavy damage, and 8 and above is a "great" quake, capable of tremendous damage.
The new seismic hazard maps also focus on the South Whidbey Island fault, which extends south of Whidbey Island.
Scientists say it is longer than previously thought, cutting through Seattle's heavily populated northern suburbs to Woodinville and perhaps as far as North Bend.
He said there have been at least four quakes along this fault in the past 16,000 years.
"It cuts right through one of the most populated areas along Puget Sound," Weaver said.
Border fault
Another fault factored into the new maps is about 25 miles from Bellingham, not far from the Canadian border.
Known as the Boulder Creek fault, it is thought to be capable of producing a magnitude-6.8 earthquake and has been active over the past several thousand years.
The main danger is to Abbotsford, British Columbia, a city of about 175,000, said Craig Weaver, the Pacific Northwest earthquake coordinator for the USGS.
"It wouldn't have a lot of impact in Bellingham, but would have a lot of consequence for our friends in B.C.," Weaver said.
Quake hazards
The new National Seismic Hazard Maps — a series of maps and data sets that project the ground shaking that might happen at points throughout the country — shows much of the United States is on shaky ground, with 46 states facing serious seismic threats.
The new maps also provide further evidence of the high earthquake hazard in Washington state, among the highest in the nation.
Western Washington and Oregon are laced with 100 or so known faults, and no one is sure how many more crisscross the region.
More than 1,000 earthquakes occur in the state every year, including a magnitude-3.4 quake in Snohomish on Monday.
USGS last published nationwide hazard maps in 2002 and 1996.
The new maps are being released at the same time as a national revision of the model building codes used by state and local government so that buildings, bridges, highways and utilities can resist earthquake damage.
Insurance companies use the data to set rates in some places.
Engineers use the maps to forecast landslides and the stability of hillsides.
Federal environmental regulators use the maps to ensure waste-treatment facilities will hold up.
Emergency planners use the information to decide how to allocate money for education and preparedness.
Good news
The new maps also contain some good news for Washington residents.
Scientists now estimate that potential ground motion in the Western United States is 30 percent lower than they previously thought for the kind of quakes caused by long-period seismic waves that would affect taller, multistory buildings.
Scientists developed these new estimates by using new ground-motion predicting models created after looking at shaking records from 173 global shallow crustal earthquakes.
As part of a statewide earthquake drill Tuesday, Gov. Chris Gregoire urged Washingtonians to
prepare to be self-sufficient for at least three days following a disaster.
The USGS has prepared a pamphlet called "The Seven Steps to Earthquake Preparedness." Go to www.earthquakecountry.info and click on "Seven Steps" on the left.
The new seismic hazard maps can be seen at earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/.
 | |
| List plotted points | Larger image |
Canada | |
| In Canada... |
4. 40 people injured when floor collapses at Canadian church  | ||
| Filed at 10:47 p.m. ET ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia (AP) -- The floor of a church filled with...hole in the floor about 22 feet wide, said Casey Vinet of the Abbotsford police. Daase said minutes before the collapse, the band urged... THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Apr 26, 2008 www.nytimes.com/ | ||
April 14, 2008
earthquake update - and more is sure to come!!
Magnitude 4.2 - VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
2008 April 14 07:50:52 UTC
Earthquake Details
| Magnitude | 4.2 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 49.316°N, 128.663°W |
| Depth | 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program |
| Region | VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION |
| Distances |
|
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 11.9 km (7.4 miles); depth fixed by location program |
| Parameters | NST= 81, Nph= 81, Dmin=388.9 km, Rmss=1.37 sec, Gp=180°, M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=7 |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | us2008qva2 |
February 14, 2008
Sibelgate: How the Guistra/Clinton funding PONZI scheme works
H Y P O C R A S Y
and
D E C E I T
can you understand ..
give your money to IAVA.org
human rights first
independent Candidates who uphold the rule of law
Stay away from arms proliferators?
See solari.org!!
Last June, Frank Giustra made an astonishing public announcement: he was donating $100 million and half of his future mining earnings to a radical global initiative to battle poverty. The event ushered in a new era of giving in B.C., one that thrives on publicity and competition. In other words, it’s all about business. Only this time it’s all about who gives, not gets, the most.
"
Frank Giustra is a changed man. The mining magnate has emerged from a reclusive life in his chateau-like West Vancouver waterfront home with a new sense of purpose, pledging to devote his life and a considerable chunk of his fortune to an initiative that aims to eradicate poverty in the developing world. Basing the global initiative here in B.C., he has partnered with former U.S. president Bill Clinton to trumpet the endeavour as a way of spurring the world’s natural resource companies to financially back the plan, called the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI).
It all began two years ago over a bottle of wine with his wife, the persuasive human-rights activist Alison Lawton, who suggested that the mining financier use his influence to improve living conditions in developing countries. Today Giustra is tackling the biggest challenge of his 50-year lifetime: saving lives and feeding the hungry in the world’s poorest countries. No small task, even for one of B.C.’s most successful businessmen. As part of a jet-setting team, he and power-pal Clinton have become an unstoppable force for good works.
- The top five countries that give a percentage of their gross national income to overseas aid are Norway, followed by Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark. Canada is 14th on the list. (Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
- In the U.S., those with incomes of more than $200,000 or assets in excess of $1 million represent 3.1 per cent of total households, but they are responsible for approximately 66 per cent of all household charity in the country. Their top motivations include: meeting critical needs (86.3 per cent), giving back to society (82.6 per cent), and social reciprocity – the feeling that those who have more should help those with less (81.5 per cent). Ways of donating include: 41.2 per cent have a provision in their will, 19.5 per cent established a foundation and 15.9 per cent use donor-advised funds. (Source: Bank of America Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy [2006])
- Canadians contributed $7.9 billion to charity in 2005, compared to $3.6 billion in 1995. (Source: Statistics Canada)
- Fifty-one per cent of British Columbians make donations regularly and 43 per cent give occasionally (once or twice a year). British Columbians who are most likely to make a financial donation are those with household incomes of $75,000 or more. (Source: Ipsos Reid [2005])
This deal is huge news for B.C. and for philanthropy as a whole. It elevates Giustra to a new elite level of givers, paves the way for more sustainable mining practices and – perhaps most significantly – creates a whole new model for giving: be loud and proud, thus pressuring your worthy competitors in business to do the same, or be noticeably absent.
Vancouver is the perfect base for this project, considering its mining muscle and, of course, the fact that Giustra lives here. The commodities boom has created a great deal of wealth right here on home soil and has given rise to a new burst in philanthropy tipping the hundreds of millions. “Vancouver happens to be one of the global capitals for mining and mining finance. The roots of this project are in Canada, but this is a global effort,” stresses Giustra, who close sources say is worth several hundred millions, but is not a billionaire.
But more on the man later. His impressive plan is to bind the global extraction sector’s wealth and give it away to countries in need. Giustra has personally donated US$100 million plus half of his future earnings from the mining industry, and his contribution is being matched by Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim, who recently toppled Bill Gates from top spot on the list of the world’s richest people. Around 20 mining companies – most of them Canadian – have signed up as supporters so far. A dollar figure hasn’t been attached to the commitments, but Giustra says it could raise hundreds of millions, if not billions, over the coming years. Clinton will even be sending out one of his strategists to Vancouver to oversee the project.
Giustra, an immaculately dressed man with closely shaved, greying hair, speaks passionately about the initiative, calling it the most “fulfilling” thing he’s ever done.
“This is the most important thing in my life so far,” he reflects. “It gives me a sense of purpose. I believe it will be a lifelong project where I can put my talents and influence to their best use. I feel like I have been presented an honour.”
Giustra has been an active philanthropist for the past 15 years, starting out with a private foundation to support the health and well-being of children.
His wife has been a tremendous influence over the years. The documentary producer, whose most recent work is Uganda Rising, has a particular desire to end the humanitarian crisis of war-torn northern Uganda. Giustra credits Lawton for “planting the seed” of his latest initiative in his mind over that fateful bottle of wine at their West Vancouver home.
When asked what else motivates him to devote such time and money to philanthropy, Giustra, an avid book collector, cites philosopher Andrew Carnegie, author of The Gospel of Wealth, as a source of inspiration.
“[Carnegie] spoke about the duties of a wealthy man,” he explains, “and what he said was: once he has cared for his own needs and the needs of his family, everything else is surplus capital. It is the duty of that person to deploy that surplus capital for the betterment of society. What I would encourage others to do is to think about this.”
Duty? Certainly that’s part of it. But it may also be the razor-sharp businessman in Giustra that saw an opportunity to apply the same rules and strategies to philanthropy that led to his spectacular financial success in business.
Canadians are eagerly handing over more money to charities and non-profit organizations than ever before. According to Statistics Canada, contributions by Canadians have skyrocketed by 120 per cent in the past 10 years, from $3.6 billion in 1995 to $7.9 billion in 2005.
Why the change of heart? A spring 2007 study by Toronto-based philanthropic consultants Ketchum Canada Inc. credits significant changes in Canada’s tax policy, beginning with the May 2006 federal budget’s removal of capital gains tax on gifts of publicly traded securities or ecologically sensitive lands. This policy was extended in 2007 to include donations of public shares to private foundations. Today many substantial donations to non-profit organizations involve a transfer of shares.
Here in B.C., an Ipsos Reid survey conducted in 2005 in co-operation with the Association of Fundraising Professionals found that nine out of 10 British Columbians are engaged in charitable giving to some degree.
An interesting trend is also surfacing, mirroring a similar pattern in the U.S. According to the Ketchum study, 25 per cent of Canadian donors are contributing 85 per cent of total donations. In the U.S., as much as two-thirds of total giving now comes from the wealthiest three per cent of American households.
Education is also a factor, with 62 per cent of those with higher education making regular charitable donations, compared to 39 per cent of B.C. residents with no more than a high school education.
It’s also the baby boomers who give the most. While 66 per cent of those aged 55 or older donate regularly, the number drops to 34 per cent for those in the 18-to-34 age group.
Giustra says today’s entrepreneurs don’t just write cheques and hope the money’s being spent appropriately. They want to see where their money is going and take a hands-on approach to ensure their investment is getting results.
“Around the world today, you’ve got a growing trend of philanthropists who are looking at [giving] in a very business-like manner,” he explains. “They want to tackle issues that will give them measurable results. When you can measure the results, you get things done. Philanthropists are now looking at specific issues in the same way.”
Barney Ellis-Perry, chair of Volunteer Canada and director of professional affairs at UBC Alumni Affairs, has also noticed that today’s givers are demanding a lot more accountability. They’re also more willing to go public with their causes, in the hopes of spurring others to do the same.
These people tend to be baby boomers who are just coming into money, either through an inheritance or through a business deal, and want to give it away, Ellis-Perry explains. Unlike their parents, however, they want to know exactly where the money’s going.
Of course, you don’t have to be rich to make a difference, Giustra stresses, adding that whatever you choose to do, the matter must be meaningful to you. “You have to have a passion for the cause,” he says.
What’s his passion? “My motivation lies in the fact that, as President Clinton often says himself, he has led an improbable life, coming from very humble beginnings to president of the U.S. and is now in a position to help so many in need all over the world,” Giustra replies. “I too feel I have led an improbable life. As a child, I would never have imagined I would have such an exciting and fulfilling life. I am privileged. And with privilege comes responsibility. I am now in a position to carry out that responsibility and feel honoured to do so.”
Giustra won’t elaborate on his childhood, although it’s been reported that he was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and lived in Italy and Argentina as a child. He doesn’t speak about his personal life or how and when he met Lawton, but their matched interest in improving lives in Africa was what led them to later cross paths with Clinton.
Giustra and Lawton held an exclusive fundraiser at their home in 2004 to raise money for tsunami cleanup efforts, and they asked the former president if he would provide a videotaped message as a thank-you to the guests. The event generated a reported $1.7 million and a bond was formed. Today Giustra say he and Clinton are “good friends,” often travelling around the world together in Giustra’s private jet.
“I became a financial supporter and got to see first-hand how he got things done around the world,” Giustra says, further commenting on his admiration of Clinton’s work. “He finds creative solutions to complex problems.”
Giustra is treating his latest initiative as he would any business deal. He’s after maximum results. A proven success rate has elevated the mining financier to an elite league of global financial leaders. Giustra left Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in the early ’80s to join an upstart firm called Yorkton Securities, where he helped raise $3 billion in equity for the resource sector. He left Yorkton at the end of 1996 and entered the entertainment sector, founding Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. in 1997. In 2001 he began buying gold mines as chair of Vancouver-based Endeavour Financial Corp. He bought a $20-million shell company called Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. and built it into a $2.4-billion operation, which later merged with Goldcorp Inc. Today he is the chair of Endeavour Financial, a merchant-banking firm that finances mining companies.
Just one week after Giustra revealed his plan, the cogs began to turn. Here in Vancouver, Lukas Lundin, chair of the Lundin Group of Companies – which together are a major global player in the mining and oil sectors, with market caps totalling $17.2 billion – stepped up to the plate. He announced that he too would be pledging up to US$100 million to the Clinton-Giustra initiative over a period of 10 years in pre-approved stages. The money will come from his non-profit organization, Lundin for Africa (LFA), which he set up nearly two years ago with the goal of improving the lives of Africans in need.
You don’t have to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffett to dabble in philanthropy. A donation as small as $10 can make a difference in a region such as Africa.
If you’d rather foster free-market enterprise than make a cash donation, try Kiva, an organization that enables you to become a micro lender to overseas businesses. Visit kiva.org, pick the project you want to finance and in six months or a year you get your money back. You don’t get a tax receipt because it’s a loan, not a donation, but you gain the satisfaction of knowing exactly how your money will be spent.
Another service, born right here in B.C., is GiveMeaning, whose website (givemeaning.com) lists fundraising projects in the works on a local level as well as overseas.
Sometimes, deciding how to give is the biggest hurdle. John Kageorge, a communications manager for global engineering firm AMEC PLC, says he and his wife have been wanting to do more but aren’t sure how to go about it. They want to see their money make the most significant impact on a life or lives. But how?
“Everybody wants a good deal when they take money out of their wallet. However, we’re especially demanding when the money is designated for a good deed,” he says. “In the span of 10 months, we were gripped by the devastation caused from the Boxing Day tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. These global-scale disasters desperately required help. They also surprised us by showing that we could give much more money than we had in the past. We committed to being more aggressive about our giving and began squirrelling away more for charity each month. However, to this day, we have not selected a charity or charities. We’d like to know how others choose.”
Experts say: first, find a cause that’s important to you. Whether it’s children, women, education, health or international development, find an issue that’s close to the heart.
Kevin Campbell, charity guru and VP of Haywood Securities Inc., has some advice for those searching for an appropriate foundation. Most importantly, look for financial transparency and make sure the organization has a presence on the ground. Campbell is particularly interested in improving the lives of people in Africa, so he wanted to find an organization with adequate resources there. He did some digging and discovered Plan Canada.
“Plan has been unbelievable,” he says. Others worth checking out are Care Canada and Water Can, which delivers water to schools. “You really have to do your research to know what you’re getting into,” Campbell cautions. “I was involved in it step by step. I try to dedicate as much time as I can.”
When it comes to making your donation, a number of vehicles are available. Here are some options:
- Stock donations. If you want to maximize your tax benefit, rather than selling stock and donating the money to charity, it may be beneficial to donate the stock itself to charity. You have to pay capital gains tax when you sell a stock that’s appreciated. But if you donate the stock directly to the charity, you avoid the tax.
- Donor-advised funds. These are investment accounts that let you deposit assets for an up-front tax deduction and then make donations to charities of your choice. However they are controversial because they require a minimum donation and have annual fees, so speak to your financial adviser before heading down this path.
- Private foundations. Setting up a private foundation is complicated and costly; unless you have millions to donate, you may wish to avoid this route. The bonus to setting up a foundation is that they have more flexibility and can continue for future generations.
- Provisions in your will and/or your life insurance. Speak to your bank,financial planner, estate planner or lawyer to discuss these options further.
At that time, to raise funds and gather awareness about the beauty and people of Africa, Lundin organized a motorbike expedition from Cairo to Cape Town with his brother Ian and famed rider P.G. Lundmark, raising $1.5 million.
On a recent sunny afternoon, Lundin and Paul Conibear, president and CEO of newly founded Suramina Resources Inc. and director of LFA, sat for an interview in Lundin’s impressive downtown glass office with bird’s-eye views of the West End. They were keen to discuss LFA ’s projects – 11 currently in the works across five countries – while disclosing details of their generous donation to the Clinton-Giustra initiative. Conibear speaks with enthusiasm about the foundation’s ongoing projects, which include expanding orphanages, building a training centre and creating a refuge for street kids.
When asked about his donation to the Clinton-Giustra project, Lukas Lundin – a youthful 49-year-old who has spent considerable time seeing the sights of Africa from the seat of a motorbike – jokes that he decided to contribute because Giustra asked him to. Oh yes, and he’s also a firm believer in the cause.
“It’s important to find a project that makes sense. If not, the whole exercise is a waste of time,” he says, in his matter-of-fact style. “We’ve been doing a lot of business [in Africa] over the years. Africa’s a good place to be. We are in the resource business and we are trying to improve people’s standard of living.”
When discussing mining magnates and philanthropy, it’s impossible to overlook Ian Telfer, chair of Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., who is keeping his earnings invested in Canada by giving back to the university that served him so well. In May this year, Telfer announced he would be giving $25 million to the University of Ottawa, the largest single donation ever given to a business school in Canada. In return, his legacy will be remembered in the name of the business school (Telfer School of Management).
In the past five years, along with the Canadian economy and commodity prices, Telfer has had enormous success. Last year the mining tycoon led the biggest deal of his career by completing a merger with Glamis Gold Ltd. to create the world’s third-largest gold producer. Now 61, Telfer felt it was his duty to give back to the university that he says changed his life for the better.
Telfer, whose announcement came one month before Giustra’s initiative was revealed, said he was going public in order to “raise the bar” for other philanthropists to give donations of a “major transformational nature.”
“A lot of people are very generous but are sometimes shy about publicizing [their gifts], and I would encourage them to make it public because it makes other people think about it,” Telfer urged.
Clearly the boom in B.C.’s extraction sector is resulting in an explosion in the ranks of the wealthy, elevating philanthropy to a whole new level. Vancouverites working in mining, and mining finance in particular, are finding themselves with more money than they can spend, and the benefits of tax breaks – plus the good feeling of being able to give back to society – are motivating them to give their money away.
Kevin Campbell is another case in point. The VP of investment banking at Haywood Securities Inc. says the business has rewarded him and, rather than splash out on sports cars and a swanky downtown pad, the civic-minded 32-year-old devotes his time and energy to bettering entire communities in Africa.
When asked why, Campbell simply replies: “I can, and I should. What that boils down to is: I have the resources and the obligation. It’s something I feel that should be done. I’d rather put my money into those places than drive a Mercedes.”
In 2005 Campbell approached Plan Canada, a development organization with locations in 45 countries. He provides financing to Plan to develop projects on the ground in Mali, including the creation of two health clinics in the villages of N’Gouraba and Samakele, which provide such things as pregnancy care, child immunization, rehydration therapy, malaria treatment and contraception.
Campbell is also planning to support the villagers’ cotton industry. “We worked out a plan to increase their agricultural yields. We are going to subsidize the fertilizer and introduce new irrigation techniques. We are zeroing in on one community. Our ambition is to double the crop yields,” he explains.
Last September Campbell travelled to Mali to see first-hand how his gifts are making a difference. When he visited the communities where the two new health centres were built, he was greeted with fanfare by families, local leaders and Plan staff and volunteers. “I had asked to go incognito, but when we showed up the whole community was out to greet us,” he says.
Campbell could represent the next generation of B.C. resource-industry givers and another integral element of this new movement, whose roots are here in Vancouver. Giustra, Clinton, Lundin and an ever-growing clan of financial supporters are creating an influential team that’s already made its mark on the world of business and is poised for a repeat performance.
Other B.C. philanthropists
Here are just a few of B.C.’s elite donors who have graced the headlines recently.
Stewart Blusson: In May this year, the diamond mogul gave $12 million to SFU to support its faculty of health sciences. In exchange, SFU will name its new health sciences building Blusson Hall. In 1998 Blusson also donated $50 million to UBC. In 2002 he granted a block of shares in his company, Archon Minerals Ltd., worth $30 million, to the new private Quest University Canada in Squamish.
Gordon and Leslie Diamond: In June 2006 the couple gave $20 million to Vancouver General Hospital. In return, a new building at Oak and 12th will be named the Gordon & Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre. The Diamonds are big supporters of local health care, having donated to the YWCA, the Aurora Centre, BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre and the new BC Cancer Research Centre. Gordon, born and raised in Vancouver, was awarded the Order of B.C. in June for his business and philanthropic efforts.
Michael Audain: The chairman of Polygon Homes Ltd. is a supporter of the local art scene and recently donated $2 million to the Vancouver Art Gallery, of which he is a former president. He is also chair of the Vancouver Art Gallery Foundation and has set up a family trust, the Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts in British Columbia, to support local artists. He was awarded the Order of B.C. in June for his success in local business and support of visual arts and culture.
Milton Wong: Order of Canada and Order of B.C. recipient, chair of HSBC Investments Canada Ltd. and chancellor of SFU since 1999, Wong is known for his extensive community involvement and philanthropy. He is the founding chair of the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival and served as deputy chair of the BC Cancer Foundation Millennium Campaign. He has been awarded numerous awards for his efforts in fundraising for various non-profit organizations.
Martha Lou Henley: Henley is arguably the city’s greatest benefactor of the arts, having donated to dozens of Vancouver associations. She donated $1 million to the Vancouver Opera in 2004, another $1 million to the Vancouver Symphony in 2005 and the same amount again to the Opera in 2006, to be received over five years. She has received numerous awards for her dedication to supporting the arts.
Jack Poole: The chair of Vancouver’s Olympics Organizing Committee recently gave Vancouver General Hospital $3 million to establish a surgical robotics program.
Jimmy Pattison: The Vancouver-based entrepreneur gave $20 million to Vancouver General Hospital and in return got his name on a building. He is a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of B.C.
January 30, 2008
Gutierrez pushing FTAs with S, Korea, Columbia, Panama
Gutierrez Promotes FTAs to Poultry Industry in Atlanta
In three years on the blogosphere, I have never received a complaint before as long as I provided a link.
So all materail regarding Secretary Guterriuz' announcement can be read by my readers at the link above.
If you decide to use this material yourseslves, please contact the publishers before you using it.
[And the only other complaint I recieved was from someone running a survival blog who I strongly suspect was running a cointel survival blogsite - you know, something to make on totally paranoid. Someone once filed a complaint against me to google making allegations anonymosly and google investigated and found them groundless. In that case, I was pretty sure that they had ties to the RNC. Not saying anything- just making an observation.]
# 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda
Sources:
Trade Matters, American Friends Service Committee, May 3, 2006
Title: “Is the US Free Trade Model Losing Steam?”
Author: Jessica Walker Beaumont
http://www.afsc.org/trade-matters/trade-agreements/LosingSteam.htm
International Herald Tribune, December 28, 2006
Title: “Economic Policy Changes With New Latin American Leaders”
Author: Mark Weisbrot
http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=773&Itemid=45
International Affairs Forum, March 31, 2007
Title: “Is Hugo Chavez a Threat to Stability? No.”
Author: Mark Weisbrot
http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1102&Itemid=45
Student Evaluator: Toni Catelani
Faculty Evaluator: Phil Beard, Ph.D.
The US Free Trade model is meeting increasingly successful resistance as people’s movements around the world build powerful alternatives to neoliberal exploitation.
This is particularly evident in Latin America, where massive opposition to US economic domination has demanded that populist leaders and parties take control of national governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.
Latin American presidents are delivering on promises to fix the mistake of twenty-five years of neoliberal reforms that resulted in the region’s worst economic collapse in more than one hundred years. In the two decades preceding World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies, 1960-1980, the region’s income per person grew by 82 percent. By comparison it grew just 9 percent 1980–2000, and only 4 percent 2000–2005.
Strong ties between Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, along with cooperative relationships with major economies including Argentina and Brazil, are creating the real potential for autonomous alternatives to US-dictated economic policy in the Western Hemisphere.
In the past year alone several leaders have announced plans to cut ties with the World Bank and IMF. After a sweeping reelection in December 2006, Chavez announced April 30, 2007 that, having paid off debts to the World Bank and the IMF, Venezuela would cut ties with both institutions.1 Chavez has been able to put his nation on a path of solid growth by fulfilling his 1998 campaign promise to renationalize Venezuela’s oil industry (PDVSA). Though fierce US opposition to his move to end foreign privatization led to a failed US-backed military coup in 2002, nationalized oil is now the source of nearly half the Venezuela government’s revenues and 80 percent of the country’s export earnings. Venezuela’s economy has grown 38 percent in the last three years.
Chavez plans to set up a new lending institution run by Latin American nations and has pledged to support it with Venezuela’s booming oil revenues.1 Venezuela’s $50 billion in foreign exchange reserves is providing financial support to countries in the region without the exploitive policy conditions attached to WTO and World Bank lending. Leaders are thus able to deliver on promises to their people, contributing not only to stability but to the strengthening of Democracy in the region.
In April 2006, Evo Morales announced his rejection of the IMF and any future FTA with the US. He instead launched the Bolivian Peoples Trade Agreement (PTA), a socialist alternative to the neoliberal free trade model. The PTA emphasizes support of indigenous culture, reciprocity, solidarity, and national sovereignty. Above all the PTA emphasizes improved living conditions for the whole population as a result of international trade and investment. Bolivia’s 2005 passage of a Hydrocarbons Law raised the royalties paid by foreign gas companies to the government of Bolivia. While infuriating US corporations, the resulting tens of millions of dollars in revenue have enabled Bolivia to pay off its IMF debt and begin to build social programs and national reserves.
In December 2006, Rafael Correa, who recently won the presidential election in Ecuador on an anti-privatization, anti-US military base platform, announced plans to restructure Ecuador’s foreign debt in order to increase spending on crucial social programs. Ecuador has since paid its debt to the IMF and announced plans to sever ties to the institution. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has also announced negotiations toward an IMF exit.
Argentina was one of the IMF’s most publicized “successes” turned-crushing-failure at the end of the last century. From 1991 to 1998 the country adopted a host of IMF-recommended reforms including large-scale privatizations. The economy grew substantially during this period but went into a terrible downward slide beginning in mid-1998. At the end of 2001 the whole experiment fell apart, with the country defaulting on more than $100 billion of debt. The currency collapsed soon thereafter, and the majority of people fell below the poverty line in a country that had previously been one of the richest in Latin America.2
When Argentina’s President Nestor Kirchner finally refused the IMF’s debilitating repayment mandates, Argentina’s economy began to rebound—and it hasn’t stopped growing. In a remarkable expansion, which was never supposed to have happened according to IMF predictions, Argentina’s economy has grown by 47 percent in the past few years, making it the fastest growing economy in the Western Hemisphere, and pulling more than nine million people (in a country of 36 million) out of poverty.2 Argentina decided to make its break with the IMF in January 2006 by paying off its remaining $9.9 billion debt.
As of December 2005, Brazil is also free to make its own decisions, free from IMF interference, after paying off its debt two years ahead of schedule. “We repaid the money to show the world that this country has a government and it is the owner of its own nose,” Lula said at the time, adding, “Brazil has been able to decide that it does not want another IMF deal.”3
While it is an expanding reality that many strong and growing people’s movements have not been so fortunate as to have representative governments—the people of India (see story #8), Mexico (see story #18), and Niger (see story #3) are but a few examples—more and more elected leaders in Latin America are providing models of true democratic leadership that is of, for, and by the people.
Citations
1. Jorge Rueda, “Venezuela Pulling Out of IMF, World Bank,” Associated Press, May 1 2007.
2. Mark Weisbrot, “IMF’s Fall From Power,” Washington Post.com, April 13, 2007.
3. Xinhua, “Early Debt Payment Enables Brazil to Make Own Budget Decisions,” Peoples Daily Online, December 16, 2005.
Written a year ago, the American Friends Service Committee article “Is the US Free Trade Model Losing Steam?” accurately predicted a growing resistance among Latin American and African leaders to the current “one-size-fits-all” US trade policy model.
Proponents of the current US free trade model seem willing to do whatever it takes to keep the free trade train moving down the track. However their time is literally running out, in part due to the looming July 1 expiration of “fast track” authority that gives the Bush administration the power to negotiate free trade agreements on behalf of Congress.
Although Bolivia, Ecuador and Southern Africa stand firm against US Free Trade Agreements (FTA), there remains a “coalition of the willing” lining up to get their trade agreements. Pending trade pacts for Congressional consideration include those with Colombia, Peru, Panama and Korea. Greasing the wheels to pass these FTAs is a new “breakthrough trade deal” with the Bush administration announced by Democratic leadership on May 10, 2007.
It is said that the deal would improve new free trade agreements by requiring that they include labor and environmental standards, and by insuring better access to essential medicines. Sounds good right? Well, the deal was negotiated in secret with only a handful of Congressional members, the legal text is still not released, and high-powered big business groups are supporters. The official outline of the deal reveals all that is excluded, ignoring a cry for substantial rethinking of US trade policy.
Meanwhile Bolivia continues to advance its People’s Trade Agreement. In April, 2007 Bolivia (along with Venezuela and Nicaragua) decided to withdraw from the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) housed at the World Bank. This came out of the social movement started in 2001 against the US multinational Bechtel that sued Bolivia under the ICSID for $25 million after it was thrown out during the Cochabamba Water War. Dropping out of the ICSID sends a clear message that protecting private investment at the expense of the rights of the people will not be tolerated.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, elected into power on an anti-FTA and anti-US military base agenda, is considering doing the same. In April Correa expelled the World Bank’s representative in Quito, accusing him of withdrawing funds in protest over the government’s oil sector reforms.
Costa Rica offers a new beacon of hope as they have yet to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Huge resistance to CAFTA grew as people learned it would require the dismantling of Costa Rica’s public telecommunications sector that is funding education. On April 12, 2007 the Supreme Electoral Court approved a measure calling for a binding referendum on CAFTA, likely to take place in August or September. The CAFTA referendum will be Costa Rica’s first public referendum since it gained independence from Spain in 1821 (Inside US Trade, May 4, 2007).
