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Cooperation or Catastrophe?
>America is a very powerful country.
>Because of america's pre occupation with the islamic
>world, today, Russia's islamic friends have found significant
>influence in america's policy making circles.
>They are using this influence to make america punish
>Russia and Europe, so that russia and europe go into a bloc
>against America, that would destroy all three great powers.
Forgive me but it looks to me like a lot of politics: If lion A joins lion B they can beat lion C. But we must be wary of D, E & F for they are up to no good. Of course the root of all evil is lion C.
The question being: What's in it for the Little Animals?
Here's a real solution though: Abandon the Law of the Jungle...
'Annan appealed to the gathering's participants to "raise their voices" in support of the rule of law, something the U.S. invasion ignored. "The choice is not between multilateralism and unilateralism," he added. "It's between cooperation and catastrophe."'
U.S. Invasion of Iraq was Guided by 'Law of the Jungle,' U.N Chief Says
By Joe Davidson, BET.com Political Columnist
Posted October 10, 2003 (UNITED NATIONS) -- Kofi Annan was of determined mind and sharp tongue.
In a meeting with BET.com and other African Americans earlier this week, the secretary-general of the United Nations gave President Bush a good verbal spanking for making the world a more dangerous place.
Dapper and soft-spoken as always, the Ghanaian-born UN chief avoided mentioning the United States or President Bush by name when issuing his most pointed comments. But his diplomatic approach did not hide a calculated escalation of his criticism of the Bush administration's war against Iraq, nor the certainty of his target.
"The house of man will never be secure while billions live in the basement, or while a few in the penthouse act as they please," he said in his remarks over lunch.
That's exactly what the United States did from its sole super-power penthouse when it defied the nations of the world by invading Iraq.
President Bush said the invasion was necessary to enforce U.N. resolutions against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Yet, because the U.N. did not authorize military action against Iraq, the U.S.-led invasion was illegitimate by international standards.
"If individual nations discount the legitimacy provided by the U.N., and feel that they can and must use force unilaterally and pre-emptively," Annan continued, "the world will become even more dangerous."
The pre-emptive invasion sets a precedent that other nations can use to attack others without provocation. Imagine the death, destruction and chaos if the two Koreas, Pakistan and India, Ethiopia and Eritrea decided to launch a war against the other with no more reason than the UnitedStates had to wage war on Iraq.
The UnitedStates had not been hit by Iraq. There was no imminent threat of that. And every day it becomes increasingly clear that the weapons of mass destruction Bush administration officials insisted Saddam Hussein had -- and was ready to use --simply don't exist.
"This is a real challenge to international law," Annan said of the Bush invasion. "And if it were to be adopted, it would really be a law, a *law of the jungle*."
Annan wasn't through. If other countries did adopt the U.S. policy of pre-emption, "we would soon be faced with the proliferation of unilateral and lawless use of force, which would make the world much more dangerous," he added.
Though Americans generally are thought to have little interest in foreign affairs, Annan's remarks found a receptive audience of Black Americans ready to support the U.N.'s work. Those attending the gathering at the U.N. were not big-name Black leaders, but are part of an important, if not widely know, element of a broad Black leadership. The participants included university professors, a fraternity president and the president of a national organization of social workers.
They were organized by Edward "Buzz" and Alice Palmer, the Chicago husband-and-wife team that directs The People Program. The non-profit program organizes meetings among civic and religious leaders, journalists, academics, business people and international public officials. The program's aim, according to its literature, is to "chart a course of action for fair minded international human rights measures, particularly with respect to race and xenophobia."
Buzz Palmer said he began organizing meetings like Tuesday's session after convincing U.N. officials that it "needed to do serious outreach to the African American community."
Malcolm X advocated making U.S. racism a human rights issue at the U.N. African Americans, including Ralph Bunche, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Paul Robeson, the singer, actor and international activist, were forceful proponents of the U.N.'s formation.
"Ralph Bunche and other African Americans played vital roles in drafting the charter and creating the multilateral framework," Annan reminded us.
It's that multilateral framework that the U.S. action shattered -- leaving Washington isolated from other nations and the U.N. -- on shaky grounds. While individual nations have an inherent right to self-defense against an attack, broader threats require collective action, Annan said. International law, he explained, "has rested on this premise for the past 58 years. Now we are being told by certain governments that this system is not adequate."
Annan appealed to the gathering's participants to "raise their voices" in support of the rule of law, something the U.S. invasion ignored. "The choice is not between multilateralism and unilateralism," he added. "It's between cooperation and catastrophe."
***
"The lion's share of the earth's resources go to the military, not life"
This lion really is all for war.
"They want the world peaceful enough to transact trade, but also disrupted enough to be able to sell weapons."
Oh, but he's also hungry.
Well, we really got to tame the beast...
IT’S ABOUT TIME WE STOPPED THIS NONSENSE
Most ordinary people – I mean, I’ve worked in more than 60 countries – they’re all nice, ordinary people, want a place to live, to have kids and bring ‘em up. They want enough money to put food on the table, go to school They’re just ordinary people. It’s only a few people who have these ambitions and they really have distorted life on the planet, I think. They have blown up ambitions and it’s happened in every age – you had the Roman Empire, Napoleon who met his end at Waterloo – this has been going on for centuries. This is not new. But the latest kids on the block have bad weapons that could totally destroy the planet. They didn’t have those before. But it’s about time we stopped this nonsense. This is not a way to live on the earth.
If you stop militarism in every country, just stop it, you would have enough resources for life. And you would be able to buy time. You would end up under the consumption level for destroying the planet. You would be able to buy time to have better technology. But it really is going to take a global movement.
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HOMEPAGE
more sacrifices...
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