WikiLeaks Reveal Shell’s Grip on Nigerian State

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Alicia

THE GUARDIAN UK – The oil giant Shell claimed it had inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians’ every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The company’s top executive in Nigeria told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew “everything that was being done in those ministries”. She boasted that the Nigerian government had “forgotten” about the extent of Shell’s infiltration and was unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations.

The cache of secret dispatches from Washington’s embassies in Africa also revealed that the Anglo-Dutch oil firm swapped intelligence with the US, in one case providing US diplomats with the names of Nigerian politicians it suspected of supporting militant activity, and requesting information from the US on whether the militants had acquired anti-aircraft missiles.

Other cables released tonight reveal:

• US diplomats’ fear that Kenya could erupt in violence worse than that experienced after the 2008 election unless rampant government corruption is tackled.

• America asked Uganda to let it know if its army intended to commit war crimes based on US intelligence – but did not try to prevent war crimes taking place.

• Washington’s ambassador to the troubled African state of Eritrea described its president, Isaias Afwerki, as a cruel “unhinged dictator” whose regime was “one bullet away from implosion”.

Click to continue reading this article Shell’s grip on the Nigerian state, at guardian.co.uk.

article by David Smith

photograph by flickr user Abulic Monkey

Prison Economics Help Drive Arizona Immigration Law

Posted on October 30, 2010 by abby

NPR– For all the attention given to Arizona’s immigration law, one part of the story is not well-known. The state approved a law last April to answer concerns about illegal immigrants. The new law fueled a national debate, and this morning we’ll tell you who drafted that law.

Read full transcript HERE.

Photo by flickr user Casey Serin

US Contractors Hired Taliban Warlords, Iranian Spies

Posted on October 11, 2010 by abby

RAW STORY– Contractors working for the Pentagon “funneled US taxpayer dollars to Afghan warlords and strongmen linked to murder, kidnapping, and bribery, as well as to Taliban and anti-coalition activities,” says a congressional report released Thursday.

A year-long investigation into private contractors in Afghanistan, carried out by the Senate Armed Services Committee, found, among other things, a contractor that had two alleged Iranian spies on its payroll, and another contractor who hired two rival Taliban-linked warlords, only to see one kill the other in an ambush.

The report (PDF, 32MB), which looked at 125 defense contracts over three years, provides further evidence that the coalition war effort in Afghanistan may be becoming a lucrative source of financing for the very groups the coalition is fighting.

Claims that security contractors have been paying bribes to the Taliban have been around for the better part of the year. And this summer the New York Times reported on evidence of “all-out collusion” between some security contractors and Afghan insurgents.

Read full article HERE.

Local News Stations Training Psychological Ops Soldiers

Posted on October 4, 2010 by abby

RAW STORY– Two CBS affiliates have been helping train US Army psychological operations soldiers, says an investigative report at Yahoo! News.

According to documents obtained by John Cook through a freedom of information request, WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, and WTOC in Savannah, Georgia, have both hosted psyops soldiers as part of the Army’s Training With Industry program.

The soldiers “used WRAL and WTOC to learn broadcasting and communications expertise that they could apply in their mission, as the Army describes it, of ‘influenc[ing] the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign audiences,'” the report states. The arrangement reaches back at least to 2001.

It is yet more evidence of an increasingly cooperative relationship between the US military and news media, that has led some media critics to question whether news organizations are becoming tools of military policy.

Cook reports that Raleigh’s WRAL says it hasn’t hosted a psyops soldier since 2007, but WTOC in Savannah currently has a psyops trainee in the newsroom.

Rick Gall, news director at WRAL, told Yahoo! News that the psyops interns’ work consisted primarily of “shadowing” employees to see how news is gathered and delivered.

“My sense was, this was an educational opportunity to see how the broadcasting industry operates,” he said. “They’d spend time in the various departments of the station, including the newsroom. I wasn’t concerned about having someone learn what we do, and there was no influence on newsgathering.”

But that will likely not satisfy media critics who have been raising the alarm about the increasingly close relationship between the military and the media. Among other things, critics point to the relatively recent practice of “embedding” reporters within military units as a sign that the military wants to shape the nature of news coverage.

Continue reading about Local News Stations Training Psychological Ops Soldiers.

Photo by flickr user @labnol

Beer Distributors Oppose Proposition 19

Posted on September 24, 2010 by abby

REDDING NEWS– The folks who deliver beer and other beverages to liquor stores have joined the fight against legalizing marijuana in California.

On Sept. 7, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors gave $10,000 to a committee opposing Proposition 19, the measure that would change state law to legalize pot and allow it to be taxed and regulated.

The California Police Chiefs Association has given the most to the Proposition 19 opposition with a contribution of $30,000, according to Cal-Access, a website operated by the secretary of state’s office.

Rhonda Stevenson, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors political action committee’s coordinator, was out of the office on Wednesday.

Nobody else from the group was available to comment.

“Unless the beer distributors in California have suddenly developed a philosophical opposition to the use of intoxicating substances, the motivation behind this contribution is clear,” Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in statement. “Plain and simple, the alcohol industry is trying to kill the competition. Their mission is to drive people to drink.”

North state beer and beverage distributors reached for comment on Wednesday were not aware of the $10,000 contribution made by their trade group. Nor did they have an opinion on Proposition 19 or how its passage would affect the liquor industry.

“We pay a small yearly membership, so we are a member; but we don’t really have a say or input on anything like that,” Mt. Shasta Bottling & Distributing General Manger Emerson Bryan said.

David Jensen, president of Redding Distributing Co., said his business had not been solicited for funds by the California Beer & Beverage Distributors to help fight Proposition 19.

“That might have come out of their PAC (political action committee),” Jensen said of the $10,000 contribution.

Area liquor stores reached Wednesday also said they had not heard about the beverage group’s effort to defeat Proposition 19.

By David Benda

Photo by flickr user sashafatcat

Page 18 of 29<<<...16 171819 20...>>>