Bob Feldman :
A People’s History of Egypt, Part 15, 1952-1953

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

After Nasser’s Free Officers coup, the Revolutionary Command Council consolidates power.

The Egyptian Free Officers after the coup, 1953. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | February 3, 2014

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman's Rag Blog "people's history" series, "The Movement to Democratize Egypt," could not be more timely. Also see Feldman's "Hidden History of Texas" series on The Rag Blog.]
While not encouraging Nasser’s Free Officers military coup of July 23, 1952 — which set up the Revolutionary Command Council [RCC] — prior to the coup the anti-imperialist Democratic Movement for National Liberation [DMNL] secular left Egyptian activists had been supportive of the nationalist Free Officers military group that opposed British imperialism.

The movement to democratize Egypt

As Selma Botman’s Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919-1952 observed:

The Free Officers…from 1950 depended on the DMNL to print their leaflets and address their envelopes, which contained Free Officer enclosures directed to military men outside both organizations. The Free Officers had their own publications which were printed secretly by the DMNL and either distributed by the Free Officers or posted by the mail. Because it was too dangerous for the Free Officers to write, print, and distribute their leaflets, they handed some of that responsibility to their communist allies.
“Nasser himself was the main actor of this scheme…

Yet after the apparently CIA-supported July 23, 1952, military coup by Nasser’s Free Officers overthrew the UK puppet regime and forced Egyptian King Farouk to go into exile on July 26, 1952, “the whole of DMNL’s printing department was arrested by Nasser, then a leader of the Revolutionary Command Council,” according to Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919-1952.
As the same book also recalled, “this was Nasser’s abrupt way of saying that the…relationship between the Free Officers and the communists was over” and “it demonstrated to the” Egyptian “left that the Free Officers’ organization was fearful of the communists.” The DMNL then “announced that the Officers had ceded to the pressure of” U.S. “imperialism and were no longer allies.”
As Lloyd Gardner’s The Road To Tahir Square noted, “policy statements prepared by [Kermit] Roosevelt [of the CIA] for Nasser to deliver were often represented on Egyptian presidential letterhead with scarcely any changes…”

After troops suppressed a strike by Egyptian workers, two labor leaders were hung.

But even after 500 troops of Nasser’s RCC were ordered to suppress a strike by Egyptian workers at the Misr Fine Spinning and Weaving Company in Kafr al-Dawwwar on August 12, 1952 — and the new RCC government subsequently hanged Egyptian labor leader Mustafa Khamees and a worker named Muhammad Abdel Rahman al-Baqri — the DMNL did not formally “break with the Free Officers until January 1953 when political parties were abolished” in Egypt by Nasser’s government, according to Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919-1952.
One reason the DMNL was reluctant to oppose Nasser’s nine-member Revolutionary Command Council until January 1953, was that on September 9, 1952, an agrarian reform law in Egypt had been enacted by Nasser’s Free Officers military regime. As Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919-1952 noted:

The law called for the limitation of ownership of up to 200 feddans of land with the provision that a family with 2 or more children could retain an additional 100 feddans. Every owner was to be indemnified in negotiable government bonds and the government was to be the sole distributor of expropriated land. The plan…succeeded in fragmenting the social, political, and economic power of the large landlords. The DMNL…applauded the program of land redistribution.

Jason Thompson’s A History of Egypt observed, however, that “according to one estimate,” this agrarian reform law “affected only 10 percent of Egypt’s arable land and 200,000 peasants;” and “therefore benefited just a small portion of the landless rural population” in Egypt.
Then, “after the removal of the royal family, the expropriation of the landlords and pashas, the silencing of the political parties, and the show of force against the working-class” in Egypt, “it became clear that the RCC had decided to take hold of exclusive authority in the country,” according to Egypt from Independence to Revolution, 1919-1952.
On January 16, 1953, Nasser’s initially CIA-backed RCC regime dissolved all Egyptian political parties except the Muslim Brotherhood (which the regime later also banned in January 1954, after the Muslim Brotherhood organized anti-Nasser demonstrations and attacked pro-Nasser nationalist students at Cairo University) and created the RCC government’s own official “Liberation Party” political party on January 23, 1953.
Nasser’s RCC regime then arrested and imprisoned all Egyptian communist activists, suppressed anti-imperialist left opposition newspapers like al-Katib (The Scribe) and al-Muarasda (The Opposition) and harassed members of Egypt’s Peace Movement.
[Bob Feldman is an East Coast-based writer-activist and a former member of the Columbia SDS Steering Committee of the late 1960s. Read more articles by Bob Feldman on The Rag Blog.]

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Unprecedented Inequality under Obama

by Stephen Lendman

It's unprecedented in modern memory. Obama declared war on social America. He's gone all out to destroy it altogether. More on this below.

On Tuesday, he'll deliver his annual State of the Union address. Expect empty promises. Expect duplicitous rhetoric. 

Expect beginning-to-end demagogic boilerplate. Expect a litany of lies. Expect pledges without follow-through.

Expect business as usual to continue. Expect deepening poverty, unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, human suffering and deprivation. 

Expect continued force-fed austerity. Expect popular needs more than ever going begging. Expect social inequality increasing. Expect a widening wealth gap.

Obama aids lied. They said he's got a "year of action" in mind. He'll address inequality, they claim. 

The same way he benefitted Wall Street, war profiteers, other corporate favorites and super-rich elites throughout five years in office.

The same way he plans more of the same ahead. The same way he treats ordinary people callously. The same way he's mindless of human suffering.

The same way he force-feeds austerity. The same way he wants Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid handed to Wall Street crooks for exploitation and profit.

The same way he's waging war on humanity. The same way he broke every major promise made. 

Clinton administration speechwriter Jeff Shesol said:

"This presidency is not going to be defined from here forward by big legislative initiatives." He's a lame duck. Republicans control the House. Perhaps the Senate after November 2014 elections.

Obama has three years left in office, said Shesol. "I think people will want to get the sense that he knows how to operate in this environment and that there is a strategy."

It''s same old, same old. It's benefitting corporate giants and super-rich elites. It's doing it at the expense of all others. It's saying one thing. It's doing other.

It's continuing what he began on day one in office. Never perhaps in US history has a president more betrayed his faithful. 

Never have so few benefitted at the expense of so many. Presidential advisor Dan Pfeiffer lied saying his State of the Union address will offer "opportunity, action and optimism."

He'll promise "a set of real, concrete, practical proposals." He'll pledge policies for strengthening economic growth and jobs, Pfeiffer claims.

He's done it throughout his tenure. His economic stimulus plan is  corporate tax cuts. More of them. They're planned. They're coming. 

It's benefitting super-rich elites at the expense of all others. Obama's legacy is written in stone. It's unequivocal. It's not kind.

He'll be remembered as a president who said one thing, did another, and claimed otherwise. Inequality became unprecedented on his watch.

He let it fester. He let it grow. He did nothing to address it. His policies made things worse. He plans more of the same going forward.

On Tuesday night he'll lie claiming otherwise. He's a serial liar. Nothing he say has credibility. Nothing can believed. He's a con man writ large.

Monied interests own him. He serves at their pleasure. He enriched them more than ever. He's got lots of explaining to do. Expect no credible answers.

ObamaSpeak will substitute. His presidency is an unmitigated disaster. Rhetoric can't erase enormous harm done.

His anti-inequality campaign rings hollow. It's duplicitous. It's fake. Straightaway in office, he prioritized cutting vitally needed healthcare benefits. 

He targeted Medicare. He called doing it restoring fiscal discipline. He lied claiming it's going broke. He said the same thing about Social Security.

When properly administered, both programs are sustainable longterm. Modest adjustments only are needed. 

Universal healthcare (Medicare for all) would assure sustainability in perpetuity. Social Security was designed to be self-sustaining.

Its revenues are misused. They subsidize corporate handouts. They benefit Wall Street crooks. They finance warmaking. They enrich wealthy elites more than already.

Obama's war on social America plans eliminating vital benefits altogether. Doing so assures greater inequality.

He lies claiming otherwise. He's in lockstep with Republicans and most Democrats. He mandates austerity when stimulus is needed.

His agenda is anti-progressive. He's a reliable corporate tool. He serves powerful monied interests. He ignores popular ones. He harms America's most disadvantaged.

He's done so throughout his tenure. He's thirdworldizing America. Poverty, unemployment, inequality and deprivation are growth industries.

Growing millions struggle to get by. Help when it's most needed is denied. Social inequality is deplorable. It defines today's America. 

It's institutionalized. It's unprecedented. It's worsening. America’s 1% has more wealth than the bottom 95%. 

Income inequality is greater than in all other developed countries. Over three-fourths of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.

Neoliberal harshness is policy. Bipartisan complicity force-feeds it. It's institutionalized when vital aid is needed. Doing so wages financial war on millions. 

Obama exceeds the worst of George Bush. He's harming people most in need. According to Economics Professor J. Bradford Delong:

"(T)here is nothing on the horizon that would return the US economy (even near) its growth path before the 2008 financial crisis erupted."

Underperformance is the new normal. Ordinary people suffer most. 

"(I)f we combine the costs of idle workers and capital during the downturn and the harm done to the US economy's future growth path, the losses reach 3.5 - 10 years of total output."

"That is a higher share of America's productive capabilities than the Great Depression subtracted - and the US economy is 16 times larger than (in) 1928 (5.5 times larger in per capital terms)."

Nothing in prospect suggests change. Future historians won't treat Obama kindly. They won't "regard the Great Depression as the worst business-cycle disaster of the industrial age," said Delong.

"It is we who are living in" the worst of times. And given America's direction, expect hard times ahead getting harder. Expect catastrophic disaster for growing millions.

Expect America looking like Guatemala. Expect police state harshness targeting resisters.

Obama's phony campaign to change things is duplicitous. Expect more promises Tuesday night. Expect business as usual to follow.

America's race to the bottom continues. Expect nothing substantive done to change things.

In December, Obama called income inequality the "defining challenge of our time." 

"(T)he combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe."

He'll lie Tuesday night pledging change. In December, he said "over the course of the next year and for the rest of my presidency, (he'll) focus all our efforts" on fighting inequality.

Hypocrisy substitutes for policy. He spent five years waging war on fairness. Expect nothing different going forward. 

Expect business as usual to continue. Anti-populism remains official administration policy. It has bipartisan support.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

America's Criminal Afghanistan Legacy

by Stephen Lendman

Over 12 years of war left millions dead. Violence, displacement, deprivation, starvation and diseases killed them. 

Many others suffer horrifically. Media scoundrels ignore high crimes of war, against humanity and genocide. America turned Afghanistan into a wasteland.

No end of conflict looms. It can continue for another decade or longer. It'll do so as long as America is involved.

World Food Program's Health and Nutrition director Carrie Morrison reported more on America's disturbing legacy. Around 55% of Afghan children suffer severe malnutrition, she said.

An entire generation is affected. Their bodies and minds are stunted. America bears full responsibility. 

Wherever US forces show up, mass slaughter, destruction, environmental contamination, disease epidemics, birth defects, and horrific human suffering follow. More on the World Food Program's assessment below.

In its 2013 Annual Report on Afghanistan, Amnesty International (AI) highlighted indiscriminate violence, thousands of civilian deaths, numerous injuries, torture, other ill-treatment, and hundreds of thousands displaced and forgotten Afghans.

Many live in "informal settlements with inadequate shelter, access to water, health care, and education," said AI. Millions of refugees remain internally and externally displaced.

Thousands of women and girls continue to be beaten, raped and murdered. Humanitarian assistance enough to matter is sorely lacking.

Children die from exposure to bitter cold. America's war still claims thousands of lives. Air and ground attacks are responsible. 

Civilians suffer most. They're killed indiscriminately. Horrific incidents go largely unreported. Afghan lives and welfare don't matter.

A previous article discussed US war crimes. Drones murder civilian men, women and children. So do ground forces.

Deaths, injuries, torture and other atrocities reflect daily life. Ordinary Afghans suffer most. US aggression is one of history's greatest crimes.

America's rap sheet includes numerous ones too grave to ignore. Trillions of dollars go for one war after another. Targeted countries are ravaged and destroyed. Homeland needs go begging.

Rule of law principles are ignored. Imperial priorities alone matter.

Imagine murdering children while they sleep. Imagine US soldiers raping women before killing them. Imagine media scoundrels reporting nothing. Imagine daily war crimes going unnoticed.

Imagine no accountability. Imagine human suffering words can't explain. Imagine war without mercy. Imagine it without end.

Imagine starving a generation of Afghan children. According to WFP's Morrison:

"After the age of two years, stunting is largely irreversible, and has an impact on growth and development and cognitive function."

"Over the long term, it can have a very damaging effect on the national recovery."

"Young people are not able to attain what they" could under normal conditions. "Women who marry young and are stunted themselves give birth to a small infant, and the cycle goes on."

Imagine impacting an entire country this way. An entire generation of Afghan children suffering chronic malnutrition. 

They're denied proper food. They don't get enough. Some starve to death. Their ill-nourished bodies are vulnerable to illnesses and diseases.

America doesn't give a damn about Afghan children. Resources go for warmaking. They're for commercial development benefitting US corporations. They're for exploiting Afghan resources.

They for maintaining permanent US super-bases. They're for torture prisons. They're for permanent occupation. 

Mass impoverishment and unemployment go unnoticed. Nutritious food, healthcare, housing, education, proper sanitation, and other vital needs are lacking.

Hegemons have other priorities in mind. Afghan Dr. Alam Mohammad said:

"We have whole families where food insecurity means they are all malnourished." Even more well off families have sick, ill-nourished children.

Mohammad treats dozens of Afghans like Mojabeen. She's a 19-year old mother. She has three children. Her life reflects constant hardship.

She and her family live in one room. When he's able to find work, her husband earn $2 to $3 a day at most. He can't properly feed his family.

"My second child is living with my mother, as we can't provide for him," says Mojabeen. Her children were disadvantaged before birth.

She was severely malnourished. Her fetuses lacked nutrients. In 2013, Afghanistan's population numbered around 31 million. 

Nearly half are aged 15 or younger. One in five children die before their 5th birthday. Most perish from preventable diseases, malnutrition or both.

UNICEF's Daniel Toole calls Afghanistan today "without a doubt the most dangerous place to be born."

It's the world's longest major conflict. Humanitarian aid enough to matter is sorely lacking. Millions of Afghans are on their own.

They're imperial US victims. They suffer horrifically. Only 6% of Afghans have reliable electricity sources. Only 30% have semi-safe drinking water. Nearly 80% of Afghan children lack access.

Only 6% of them are registered at birth. The vast majority are nonpersons. They have no legal identity. They're vulnerable. They're unprotected.

Few Afghans have telephones. Most of them are in Kabul. Millions of internally and externally displaced refugees are largely on their own.

According to WFP, life expectancy is 44.5 years for men. It's 44 for women. After Sierra Leone, Afghanistan has the world's highest maternal mortality rate.

Around 24,000 women die annually. They do so from no access to obstetrical and other health services. Infant mortality is high. Around 165 deaths per thousand births occur before age one.

If hell on earth exists, it's in Afghanistan. In his book titled "Freedom Next Time: Resisting the Empire," John Pilger called the nation more moonscape than functioning country.

It's hard imagining a more long-suffering people. "Throughout all the humanitarian crises in living memory," said Pilger, "no country has been abused and suffered more, and none helped less than Afghanistan."

No one is sure from day to day who'll live or die. Millions are vulnerable to preventable diseases. Epidemic levels of malnutrition persist. 

Vital infrastructure is lacking. Severe poverty is overwhelming. So is environmental contamination. Hunger is a national disease. Unemployment affects millions. 

Thousands starve to death for lack of food. Millions suffer chronic malnutrition. Tens of thousands of children have protruding bones.

They resemble famine victims. They have distended stomachs. According to Morrison:

"You might see a child who appears underweight or short for their age, but it doesn't really tell you much unless you line them up against a well-nourished child."

Chronic malnutrition denies millions of Afghan children from "growing up to lead a" normal life.

Iron deficiency alone disrupts brain development. Around 75% of Afghan children are affected. 

It shows up in "stunting, sickliness, poor school attendance, and lower levels of concentration and memory."

Iodine deficiency is the world's leading cause of mental impairment. Insufficient vitamin A harms immune system functioning.

Micronutrients deprivation causes enormous harm. Millions of Afghans can't afford minimally healthy diets. In some provinces, only one in five have anything close to balanced diets.

Conditions were woefully inadequate before America's war. They're far worse now. 

In October 2001, George Bush said "the United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people, and we are friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith."

"We are a peaceful nation." He promised to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans. Is Afghanistan today what success looks like?

Is America's war on Islam friendship for Muslims worldwide? Is dystopian hell on earth? Is America's presence? Is its dark side?

Its legacy in Afghanistan includes permanent occupation, extreme violence, daily killing and destruction, mass impoverishment and unemployment, rampant preventable diseases, starvation and malnutrition, and overall horrific human suffering.

Obama shares full responsibility with Bush. Hegemons operate this way. America is by far the worst in world history. 

Obama has lots more death and destruction in mind. Lots more conquests are planned. Millions more deaths will follow. So will horrific human suffering. 

Hegemons are unapologetic. They never say they're sorry. They call ravaging and destroying one country after another success. Too  much of it risks humanity's survival.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

Kerry Backs Keystone XL Pipeline

by Stephen Lendman

Kerry mocks legitimacy. He represents the worst of America's dark side. He's going all out to be Washington's worst ever Secretary of State. 

He's Obama's war on humanity front man. He blames Syrian President Assad for US-supported death squad crimes. He wants him ousted. He wants Syrian sovereignty destroyed. 

He wants Washington deciding Syria's future. He wants it colonized for profit. He wants Ukraine exploited the same way. 

He supports ultranationalist extremists. He blames Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for US-supported street thug violence.

He's Israel's man in Washington. His peace deal is fake. It's entirely one-sided. It demands unconditional Palestinian surrender.

He's a billionaire. He supports corporate-enriching trade deals. They legitimize selling unsafe foods, medicines and other products. 

They're designed to make him richer. They're at the expense of enormous public harm. They risk ecocide.

On January 31, the State Department endorsed the Keystone XL Pipeline project. It risks enormous environmental damage. 

It's a controversial 1,661-mile Alberta, Canada to Port Arthur, TX pipeline. At issue is transporting toxic tar sands oil from Western Canada to refineries on America's Gulf coast. 

Doing so entails passing through environmentally sensitive areas in six states. They include waterways and the Ogallala Aquifer. 

It's one of the world's largest. It supplies about 30% of America's irrigation ground water. It's vital for human consumption.

Friends of the Earth said Keystone XL (KXL) "will carry one of the world's dirtiest fuels: tar sands oil." Its route "could devastate ecosystems and pollute water sources, and would jeopardize public health."

It'll double America's dirty tar sands oil supply. Environmental toxicity will increase exponentially. 

Big Oil wants it. So do Republicans and many Democrats. Expect Obama to rubber-stamp approval. 

The State Department's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) falsely claimed no risks to health and safety. More on this below.

TransCanada Corporation will build KXL. It's spill-prone construction record assures trouble. 

It promised its Keystone I pipeline would leak at most once every seven years. In year one, it leaked 12 times. It was once a month on average. It was unprecedented in US pipeline history.

TarSandsBlockade.org asks "Why Oppose KXL?"

For many reasons, it states. NASA scientist James Hansen calls it "a fuse to the largest carbon bomb on the planet."

All pipelines spill. Avoidance is impossible. Large-scale environmental damage is too great a price to pay. 

TransCanada said up to 700,000 gallons of tar sands crude could leak without detection. Safeguards are weak and ineffective.

Pipeline construction abuses eminent domain. TransCanada "intimidated landowners" along planned routes. It did so in previous pipeline construction.

It contractually forced landowners to accede to its demands. It "fraudulently steals land from private citizens through eminent domain."

Water contamination is certain. The Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer (CWA) is threatened. 

In March 2011, water resources & environmental engineer/consultant Lawrence Dunbar said CWA spillage would be environmentally disastrous. Human and natural resources would be impacted.

Release of enough tar sands contaminants would make affected water resources unfit for human consumption. 

CWA "is one of the greatest assets of the East-Central region of Texas. It provides water for agriculture, industry, and human consumption and use."

It's far too valuable to contaminate. KXL assures it. Remediation would be hard to impossible to achieve.

According to Cornell University's Global Labor Institute, KXL will destroy more jobs than it creates. Its September 2011 "Pipe Dreams?" report said job creation claims lack credibility.

At best up to 4,650 temporary ones will be created. In two years or less they'll be gone. "KXL will not be a major source of US jobs, nor will it play any substantial role at all in putting Americans back to work."

Diverting tar sands oil "now supplying Midwest refineries, so it can be sold at higher prices to the Gulf Coast and export markets (means) Midwest (consumers) could be paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel."

Doing so will adversely impact other spending and cost jobs. KXL will have "a chilling effect on green investments and green jobs creation."

Green investments generated "2.7 million jobs in the US and could generate many more."

"Tar Sands oil and energy independence really do not belong in the same sentence."

Cornell, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other independent assessments say KXL assures higher gas prices.

Exporting tar sands oil won't reduce US dependence on foreign supplies. Prioritizing exports is planned. At issue is selling at the highest possible price.

KXL violates tribal sovereignty. The Indigenous Environmental Network's "Mother Earth Accord" supports and urges opposition to tar sands development. At issue is preserving the integrity of US and Canadian First Nations and tribal lands.

TransCanada won't disclose an analysis of chemical dilutents used to facilitate transporting tar sands oil through KXL. At issue are human and environmentally destructive substances.

The Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration told Congress that pipeline regulations weren't crafted with tar sands oil in mind. 

They're woefully inadequate and require strengthening. At a time of business as usual, don't expect it.

On January 31, the State Department released its EIS report. Its  analysis was rigged. Its methodology lacked credibility. 

Results falsely claimed minimal environmental contamination risk. KXL's southern area "Gulf Coast Project" failed to conduct its own environmental assessment. 

Issues related to the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, wild fires, droughts, and others weren't examined.

Friends of the Earth (FOE) responded, saying:

"The State Department’s environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline is a farce. Since the beginning of the assessment, the oil industry has had a direct pipeline into the agency." 

"Perhaps most frustrating, is the apparent collusion between the State Department, oil industry and the Canadian government."

"In what could be perceived as eagerness to please the oil industry and Canadian government, the State Department is issuing this report amidst an ongoing investigation into conflicts of interest, and lying, by its contractor." 

"It is unacceptable that the oil industry and a foreign government are better informed than the American Congress and its citizenry."

"By letting the oil industry influence this process, Secretary Kerry is undermining his long-established reputation as a leader in the fight against climate change." 

"President Obama can end this charade; sufficient scientific data exists to justify denying the Keystone XL pipeline." 

"It is a simple matter of having the political will, and courage, to stand up to the oil industry. This decision is a defining moment in his environmental legacy."

Last September, FOE said:

"(F)rom day one, the State Department's review of the pipeline (was) polluted by conflicts of interest, insider lobbying and the heavy hand of Big Oil."

State Department officials relied on TransCanada-picked contractors for their report. Doing so represents an outrageous conflict of interest.

Relying on Big Oil interests related construction company interests eliminated any chance for responsible analysis.

Obama had plenty of evidence without EIS to reject KXL. "The bottom line," said FOE, "it's not in the national interest. (K)ill "it now."

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said:

"Thousands of people around the country are taking a stand against the import of dirty tar sands oil - from farmers and ranchers in Nebraska who don't want a tar sands pipeline plowed through their property, to families in Texas concerned about their drinking water, to Americans everywhere who want to move towards a clean energy future." 

NWF "is working to stop this dangerous project, and your voice is urgently needed. Take a stand against" KXL!

The Sierra Club urged "no more Big Oil pipeline spills that endanger our water."

KXL "threaten(s) the drinking water of two million Americans." TransCanada has a deplorable environmental record.

In 2011 alone, over a quarter million Americans expressed opposition to KXL. Nebraska rancher Susan Luebbe perhaps spoke for others, saying:

"How can the State Department even think of approving a new tar sands pipeline when the existing one is springing leaks on average once a month."

"Ranchers, farmers and millions of other Americans depend on clean water from the Ogallala Aquifer, which lies directly under the path of" KXL.

Last November, Public Citizen published a report titled "TransCanada's Keystone XL Southern Segment: Construction Problems Raise Questions About the Integrity of the Pipeline."

It highlighted safety issues. Documented problems include "excessive bending or sagging, and pealing patches of field coating applied to cover damage on pipe about to be placed into the ground."

"Anomolies" in pipe "buried for months include "dents, sags, and other problems that could lead to spills or leakage of toxic tar sands crude."

Public Citizen's Texas office director Tom "Smitty" Smith said:

"The government should investigate, and shouldn’t let crude flow until that is done."

"Given the stakes - the potential for a catastrophic spill of hazardous crude along a pipeline that traverses hundreds of streams and rivers and comes within a few miles of some towns and cities - it would be irresponsible to allow the pipeline to start operating."

During construction of Keystone I, TransCanada made 50 special conditions pledges. It violated 47 of them.

In July 2011, its Bison natural gas pipeline exploded within six months of startup. 

Iroquois Pipeline Operations is a TransCanada subsidiary. In the 1990s, four senior executives pleaded guilty to knowingly violating environmental and safety pipeline construction permit provisions.

They promised exceptional safety. They willfully failed to deliver. "TransCanada's history with pipeline problems speaks for itself," said Smith.

"I fear we could be looking at another pipeline whose integrity may be in question."

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) urged "Stopping the Keystone XL." Enormous potential environmental damage is risked, it said.

It'll transport "the dirtiest oil on the planet." It's "difficult, costly and energy-intensive to produce."

Constructing KXL will "kill more jobs than it creates." Oil transported is intended for export, not domestic use.

KXL "was never in America's national interest. Clean energy and fuel efficiency is the path forward for economic and energy security."

Reject "another tar sands pipeline." Expect rubber-stamp Obama approval. He's beholden to Big Oil. He's been this way throughout his political career.

His US Senate voting record was strongly pro-business. He supported strip-mining on public and private land.

He backed secretly drafted Bush administration energy policy. Rhetorically he opposed it.

He supported vastly expanding nuclear power, lax industry regulation, billions of dollars in subsidies, and other benefits demanding rejection.

He voted for biofuels production and other agribusiness interests. He strongly supports GMO foods and ingredients.

He's a corporate stooge. There's never "been a bigger con man in the White House than Barack Obama," said Ralph Nader. He says one thing. He does another. His rhetoric belies his policies.

He's a corporatist "from A to Z." So are Kerry and likeminded administration officials.

On February, the State Department opened a 30 day comment period. Eight US agencies have 90 days to weigh in. They'll offer feedback.

It's pro forma mumbo jumbo. What corporate America wants it gets. Obama's fully on board. Expect rubber-stamp KXL approval.

Last June, he signaled it saying he'll back construction if "it does not significantly exacerbate the climate problem."

Last week, TransCanada began shipping oil through its southern Keystone pipeline leg. It runs from Cushing, OK to Port Arthur, TX.

TC awaits approval to begin building its 1,179 mile northern pipeline. It'll transport tar sands oil from Hardisty, Alberta through Montana to Steele City, NB.

Environmental contamination will follow. Wealth, power and privilege alone matter. 

Obama is no man of the people. He's a corporatist writ large. Change to believe in works one way. Betrayal and failure define him.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

As The 100th Anniversary Of The Start of World War I Approaches...

Militarism in Germany

by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed WW I's 100th anniversary. On July 29, 1914, it began. It was called the war to end all wars.

WW II followed. German involvement was central in both wars. In 1945, Hitler's Wehrmacht was disbanded. 

It ravaged and destroyed much of Europe. It killed millions of people. Most Germans wanted never again. They renounced militarism.

A new Bundeswehr was established. It was constitutionally restricted to defense. Conscripts were called "citizens in uniform."

At the same time, West Germany joined NATO. It did so in May 1955. In October 1990, membership included the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).

NATO is a killing machine. It's a US-led imperial tool. It threatens world peace. 

Germany bears its share of responsibility. Especially after reunification. In November 2010, a new combat medal was established.

At the time, the Frankfurter Rundschau said:

"For a long time we have heard very little about the citizen in uniform, but increasingly about combatants for German interests around the world." 

"And good combat soldiers need not only proper equipment, but also recognition."

Months after German reunification, Bundeswehr policy objectives changed. They went beyond defense.

They include the "promotion and protection of worldwide political, economic, military and ecological stability."

They involve "maintain(ing) free world trade and access to strategic raw materials."

In 1998, Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party/Green Party coalition government approved combat in Yugoslavia. It was lawless aggression.

It was Germany's first involvement since WW II. It wasn't the last.

Germany is an active NATO member. Thousands of Bundeswehr soldiers served with US ones in Afghanistan. They did so for over a decade.

In October 2013, Der Spiegel discussed how "Afghanistan changed the German military."

It arrived over a decade ago. Allegedly as peacekeepers. In October 2013, Germany ceremonially handed over its Kunduz military base to Afghan security forces.

Then German Defense Minister Thomas d Maiziere said: "Here we built and fought, cried and consoled, killed and died." 

Then German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle added: "We are not turning our backs on the people of Afghanistan."

Neither minister acknowledged Germany's role in ravaging and destroying a long-suffering country.

In more than ever turning it into a wasteland. In sustaining conflict without end. In causing mass slaughter, destruction, and horrific human suffering. In destroying an entire generation.

Afghanistan transformed Germany for the worst. Its Bundeswehr is an offensive fighting force. It partners in NATO aggression.

Retired General Harald Kujat/former Bundeswehr chief of staff acknowledged it, saying:

"Afghanistan has been the most important experience for the German armed forces." 

"It was the first time since World War II that the German military was involved in real combat action."

Its experience made it a "real fighting force." Patrick Keller is a German foreign policy/security analyst.

"It's not too far fetched that we will have to be prepared to act" in future Middle East, North African, central and eastern European conflicts, he argued.

"Germany increasingly shoulder(s) more responsibility," he added. Militant Bundestag members want greater German assertiveness.

German parliamentarian Roderich Kiesewetter wants increased German leadership - "to take over responsibility where others are not willing to," he said.

German militarism is small compared to America's. Its budget is a small fraction of Washington's. It's less than what Britain, France, Japan and Saudi Arabia spend.

Its militarism assures it's only a matter of time until it's increased. Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse. It wields enormous political influence.

Hardline German officials stress the close connection between security and economic interests. German militarism reflects it.

So does Chancellor Angela Merkel. She wants Germany's NATO role increased. She wants it more involved in "shap(ing) the global order."

She's a reliable US imperial partner. On January 28, Der Spiegel headlined "Germany Weighs Stronger Military Role," saying:

"Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen want Germany to assume a greater role in world affairs, including military missions abroad."

Both ministers believe an economic powerhouse like Germany can't stay on the sidelines.

Policy changes are happening. Germany plans greater involvement in France's Mali operation.

It's "considering providing military aircraft for transport and medical evacuation in the Central African Republic," said Der Spiegel.

Greater military assertiveness is replacing earlier restraint. Steinmeier wants Germany "ready to engage in foreign and security policy issues earlier, more decisively, and more substantially."

An unnamed Foreign Ministry official said Germany can't stay uninvolved.

Merkel is rhetorically noncommittal. An unnamed Chancellery official claims "no fundamental change regarding foreign missions."

How far she'll go remains to be seen. Germans are "skeptical." They're leery about "engaging in combat missions," said Der Spiegel. 

Most oppose greater involvement. Nearly half of Germans think the Bundeswehr is too engaged abroad.

At the same time, Merkel won't leave French foreign operations "left alone." Or America's.

Defense Minister von der Leyen wants Germany involved in a "joint European defense policy worthy of the name."

She wants Germany involved in "current crises and conflicts…To sit and wait is not an option," she said.

"If we have means, we have capabilities. We have the obligation and, we have the responsibility to engage."

Rhetorically, Merkel is largely ambiguous. Officially she's supportive.

German President Joachim Gauck's just concluded Munich Security Conference comments reflects it.

He called for greater German assertiveness. "Germany can't carry on as before," he said.

"Dramatic" new "open world order threats" require more frequent and decisive German responses, he added.

In other words, he argued for stepped up militarism. He wants Germany involved globally.

"Are we doing what we can to stabilize our neighborhood, both in the East and in Africa," he asked?

"Are we doing what we have to in order to counter the (non-existent) threat of terrorism?"

"And, in cases where we have found convincing reasons to join our allies in taking military action, are we willing to bear our fair share of the risks?"

In cases of military intervention, "Germany should not say no on principle."

Gauck, Foreign Minister Steinmeier, and Defense Minister von der Leyen share likeminded sentiment. 

Germany has a disturbing pre-WW II history of militarism. Millions of Germans died in both wars.

Older Germans remember. They want never again. Younger ones never experienced the horrors of war. Everyone everywhere is vulnerable today.

Einstein explained saying: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

Waging global war is unthinkable. Today's super-weapons can extinguish life worldwide. Imagine mushroom-shaped cloud denouement.

Helen Caldicott said enough nuclear explosions "would create nuclear winter, with the US covered with a cloud so thick that it would block out the sun for years, and that would be the end."

Nobel laureate George Wald (1906 - 1997) said "there's no such thing as safe nuclear power." He called dying from it "so ghastly ignoble as to be, I think, intolerable, altogether unacceptable."

He deplored nuclear weapons. He denounced them. He wanted them eliminated. "Our business is life, not death," he said. 

He called for "closing down all nuclear power plants tomorrow."

He made Richard Nixon's enemies list. 

He called political leaders of his time "insane." He called the Vietnam War one of "the most shameful episodes in the whole of American history."

Imagine what he'd say today. Admiral Hyman Rickover founded America's nuclear navy. In 1982, he told Congress:

"I do not believe that nuclear power is worth it if it creates radiation. Then you might ask me why do I have nuclear powered ships?" 

"That is a necessary evil. I would sink them all. I am not proud of the part I played in it. I did it because it was necessary for the safety of this country." 

That's why I am such a great exponent of stopping this whole nonsense of war. Unfortunately limits - attempts to limit war have always failed." 

"The lesson of history is when a war starts every nation will ultimately use whatever weapons it has available." 

"Every time you produce radiation, you produce something that has a certain half-life, in some cases for billions of years."

"I think the human race is going to wreck itself, and it is important that we get control of this horrible force and try to eliminate it."  

Potential disaster awaits humanity. Deranged leaders risk the unthinkable. 

Imagine waging war risking extinction. We have a choice. End them or they'll end us. There's no in between. 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

***Poet’s Corner- Langston Hughes 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

February is Black History Month

One-Easy Boogle 

… he spied her across the room the minute he came in the door, eyed her up and down, and then down and up, and while he was too much of a gentleman to lick his chops that is almost instinctively what he thought to do when he saw a honey like that attracted him. He also knew if she had seen him in such a foolish pose he would be sleeping alone that night or with some cheap pick-up floozy ready to roll over for a guy with some dough, some good liquor and reefer, and a line of patter to get her out of her panties (not hard when it came to floozy time he knew, knew only too well). There she was not so much beautiful as fetching, and a fetching woman, long and tall, slender legs, well-turned ankles, blondish-brown hair (although as the advertisements said who really knew), long eyelashes (from what he could tell) covering blue eyes, in the long haul was usually preferable. Yes, one look at her, one once-over (really twice over if you count the down and up) told him that she was built for the long haul, told him too that he needed to be cool, cool enough to stay a little aloof while she was up at the stand in front of that band, Sammy Sway's aggregation, and  singing, singing All Of Me like some god-struck angel face. So now that he had stopped looking her up and down he had to start to figure out what he needed to do when intermission time came.

He knew for instance, that she would require scotch, high-shelf scotch, to soothe those tender vocal cords like some magic elixir. He liked to speculate on the brand; here it seemed to require Haig &Haig Royal Bonded to aid his cause. (He was right when he asked the waitress what she was drinking when he sent a drink over to her table at intermission, and plenty of it too, judging by the way she drank the drink in front of her between songs). He thought about whether she would want to be complimented on her clothes.(She did, talking for a little too long about it, about high hems, about he problems of slender figures and clothes, something about feathers, boas or something that he faded on, until he moved the subject on to her music, that blues jazz mix that she had down pat, very pat). Or whether telling her that she had a fine body (nice shoulders, slim waist, etc.), nice legs, nice well-turned ankles, nice hair, nice, fill in the blank, or any combination of nices, would get him any place. (It did, as she gave him even more meaningful looks as they talked, only to be stopped by the call for the next set from Sammy, the hovering combo leader). And of whether he should ask right then whether she wanted a nightcap with him elsewhere later or ask her  at the end of the evening. (End of the evening, a wise choice since she kept giving him meaningful little smiles from the stage over to his now upfront seat to keep the mood up throughout that last performance.)

Preliminaries over as she headed back up to the stage he once again listened to that angel-voice, listened to her phrasing, listened for the pause between the phrasing, and then that slight little snarl of the upper lip as she went into her own blues-drenched version of Rock Me Baby, and looking right at him, right directly at him, when she sang long drawn out phrasing sang, “rock me all night long.”(After that nightcap at Jimmy's, some verbal foreplay, a momentary pause by him, him of all people, just in case he had his signals wrong. they went to her place. He did, and she did too, rock all night long that is if anybody was wondering.)

… and hence this be-bop poem in celebration

Easy Boogie

Down in the bass

That steady beat

Walking walking walking

Like marching feet.

Down in the bass

They easy roll,

Rolling like I like it

In my soul.

Riffs, smears, breaks.

Hey, Lawdy Mama!

Do you hear what I said?

Easy like I rock it

In my bed!