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Heroin is "Good for Your Health": Occupation Forces support Afghan Narcotics Trade (May 10, 2007)
"The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions."

U.S., allies seen as losing drug war (May 7, 2007)
"The United States and its Latin American allies are losing a major battle in the war on drugs, according to indicators that show cocaine prices dipped for most of 2006 and U.S. users were getting more bang for their buck."

101-year-old Zambian man nabbed over cannabis cultivation, trafficking (May 3, 2007)
"DEC spokesperson Rosten Chulu confirmed the arrest of Timothy Chilekwa, a peasant farmer of Namembo village in Southern province who was born in 1906. Chulu said the old man was nabbed for alleged unlawful cultivation of cannabis weighing 1.2 tons. He was also found trafficking two sacks of cannabis weighing 6. 95 kg, Chulu said. The spokesperson said the 101-year-old would appear in court soon."

Was Timothy Leary Right? (May 3, 2007)
"Are psychedelics good for you? It's such a hippie relic of a question that it's almost embarrassing to ask. But a quiet psychedelic renaissance is beginning at the highest levels of American science, including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard, which is conducting what is thought to be its first research into therapeutic uses of psychedelics (in this case, Ecstasy) since the university fired Timothy Leary in 1963. But should we be prying open the doors of perception again? Wasn't the whole thing a disaster the first time? The answer to both questions is yes."

The Farce of the War on Drugs (May 1, 2007)
"My brother Howard Wooldridge served as a decorated police officer and detective in Lansing, Michigan for 18 years. During that time, he collared killers, drunk drivers, child molesters, rapists, wife beaters and drug dealers. What he learned launched him on a crusade to stop the federal government’s useless 35 year 'War on Drugs.'"

Coca Growers Shake the Andes Once Again (April 27, 2007)
"During the last few days, coca growers, especially in Peru and Colombia, have been in the news again, as their actions have given the media something to talk about."

LSD as Therapy? Write about It, Get Barred from US (April 27, 2007)
"BC psychotherapist denied entry after border guard googled his work."

No Jail for Willie Nelson on Drug Charge (April 25, 2007)
While the editor of DrugWar.com applauds this decision by the judge, I can't help but wonder how hard the judge would have thrown the book at me for the exact same offense.

The War on Salvia Divinorum Heats Up (April 14, 2007)
"Middlebury, Vermont, this week declared a public health emergency to prevent a local business from selling it. It's already illegal in five states -- Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Delaware -- and a number of towns and cities across the country, and now politicians in at least seven other states have filed bills to make it illegal there. For the DEA, it is a 'drug of concern.'"

Book Offer: Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug War Statistics (April 14, 2007)
"Normally when we publish a book review in our Drug War Chronicle newsletter, it gets readers but is not among the top stories visited on the site. Recently we saw a big exception to that rule when more than 2,700 of you read our review of the new book Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy."

Plant growers served search warrant (April 11, 2007)
"Three WSU students were surprised when a plant they were growing in their closet was mistaken for marijuana."

California in bid to impose 7.25% sales tax on cannabis (April 10, 2007)
"For decades, smoking marijuana has been an illicit affair, a key anti-establishment ritual for America's counter-culture underground. But the legalisation of the drug for medicinal purposes in California has presented its advocates with a dilemma: to remain firmly on the wrong side of the law or accept a demand to pay taxes on its sale."

The Other War: Democratic Candidates are Deafeningly Silent on the Drug War (April 9, 2007)
"There is a major disconnect in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House. While all the top candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed War on Drugs, a war that has morphed into a war on people of color."

Ex-officer likens drug war to Prohibition (April 8, 2007)
"Retired police officer Peter Christ on Tuesday compared the contemporary war on drugs to National Prohibition of the 1920s."

Minnesota drug laws: Are they too harsh? (April 8, 2007)
Momentum gathers for review of sentencing rules

Drug Czar Blasted for Lack of Leadership (April 8, 2007)
"During the course of research for this series, it became apparent that many prominent players in the war on drugs don't have many compliments for the current drug czar, John Walters."

Is the Drug War Nearing an End? (April 8, 2007)
"Little by little by little there is some hope that the "war" on drugs is becoming a political issue - the first step in undoing a set of policies that make little sense no matter how you look at them."

Law Enforcement Group Visits Maine To Advocate For Legalization Of Drugs (April 8, 2007)
"LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, says it has 5,000 members, made up mostly of retired and active law enforcement professionals. The group tours the country speaking to various civic groups about what they call a $60 billion failed war on drugs."

Afghans pin hopes on a new economy (April 8, 2007)
"As a competitive economy awakens in one of the world's poorest countries, the residents of Kabul are jockeying to get ahead in a city flush with cash from US soldiers, foreign aid workers, new investors, parliamentarians, and drug traffickers."

Salvadoran Murders in Guatemala (April 8, 2007)
"If the trip to Guatemala was a fiasco, Colombia was no better, Bush's arrival in Bogotá couldn't have happened at a worse time as every moment ticked off another scandal, some of them leading in the direction ofo President Uribe's office, and nothing that Bush or Uribe president could say concealed the fact that the Colombia phase of the U.S. anti-drug war was more dead than alive, which was even more certain when it came to extraditing Colombian suspected felons to the U.S."

Analysis: U.S. anti-drug war in Afghanistan (April 8, 2007)
"In a bluntly worded letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the lawmakers said inter-agency rivalry and U.S. policy failures in Afghanistan risked allowing it to slide back into chaos."

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories (April 7, 2007)
"A Georgia fire captain gets caught peddling coke, a pair of New Haven narcs lose their jobs, a former Mississippi police chief cops a plea, and a former Ohio cop goes back to prison. Let's get to it...."

Methamphetamine: Feds Make First Cold Medicine Bust Under Combat Meth Act (April 7, 2007)
"An Ontario, New York, man last Friday won the dubious distinction of being the first person arrested under the 2005 Combat Meth Epidemic Act. According to a DEA press release, William Fousse was arrested for purchasing cold tablets containing more than nine grams of pseudoephedrine within a one month period."

Harm Reduction: New Mexico Governor Signs Overdose Death Reduction Measure (April 7, 2007)
"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) Wednesday signed innovative legislation that would protect friends or family members who seek medical attention for drug overdose victims. The law is the first of its kind in the country."

Pot-Growing Takes Root in the Suburbs (April 1, 2007)
"In Coldwater Creek, a middle-class housing development outside Atlanta, the neighbors mind their own business and respect each other's privacy - ideal conditions, it turns out, for growing marijuana in the suburbs."

Bob Barr Flip-Flops on Pot (March 28, 2007)
"Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project."

What the heck is Sibel Edmonds' Case about? And why should I care? (March 28, 2007)
"Essentially, there is only one investigation – a very big one, an all-inclusive one... But I can tell you there are a lot of people involved, a lot of ranking officials, and a lot of illegal activities that include multi-billion-dollar drug-smuggling operations, black-market nuclear sales to terrorists and unsavory regimes, you name it... You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people."

Mexican Envoy Highly Critical of U.S. Role in Anti-Drug Effort (March 23, 2007)
"The United States has contributed 'zilch' to Mexico's efforts to combat the nations' joint problem with criminal narcotics gangs, Mexico's new ambassador to Washington said yesterday."

Colorado Has Song in Its Heart, and Not Drugs on Its Mind (March 14, 2007- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The Colorado General Assembly wants to be quite clear on this point: When the singer-songwriter John Denver praised the joys of Colorado and sang about 'friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high,' in 1972, he was not referring to illicit drugs. Definitely not. Don’t even think it. The high in question, lawmakers say, is really about nature and the great outdoors — the tingly feeling you get after a nice hike, perhaps."

U.S. faults friends, foes in drug war (March 5, 2007)
"The United States said top anti-terror allies Afghanistan, Pakistan and Colombia had fallen short in the war on drugs despite enhanced counter-narcotics efforts and it criticized perennial foes Iran, North Korea and Venezuela for not cooperating."

Cuba’s War on Drugs (March 5, 2007)
"A review of the main results of the Cuban efforts against illegal drug trafficking as well as prevention during 2006, shows a marked reduction in the presence of drugs on the island, with 1.7 tons of narcotics seized, the lowest figure of the past 11 years and almost four times less than the amount detected in 2003."

Drug War Corrupting Cops In Hawaii and Elsewhere (March 5, 2007)
"Claiming to be the 'world’s leading drug policy newsletter,' the Drug War Chronicle publishes a regular online feature called, 'This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories.' The typical Hawaii newspaper reader probably comes across these cops-gone-bad stories pretty rarely. But, when hundreds of reports compiled over the past year from around the nation are read at one sitting, they add up to a hidden cost of America’s ill-fated drug war -- widespread corruption inside local police departments, prisons and jails."

Drug war rips apart Mexico (March 5, 2007)
"More than 250 people were executed last year in Acapulco as the sweltering Pacific resort became the latest battleground between rival cartels battling for supremacy of the multibillion-dollar drug trade."

In Guatemala, officers' killings echo dirty war (March 5, 2007)
"The two sets of brazen killings set off a vicious diplomatic conflict between Guatemala and El Salvador — heightened by news reports suggesting that the congressmen were indeed drug dealers — and ignited a political scandal here. It shed light on how corrupt the National Police has become, and raised questions about links between drug dealers and high-level police officials, as well as whether the government can contain drug trafficking without international help."

Collision Course: Bolivia's "Coca, Si; Cocaine, No" Policy Runs Afoul of the International Drug Control Board and, Probably, the United States (March 1, 2007)
"A confrontation is brewing over Bolivian President Evo Morales' effort to rationalize coca production in his country and expand markets for coca-based products....Now, the Morales government is also pushing for expanded legal markets for coca products and, in a joint venture with the Venezuelan government, is preparing to begin coca product exports to that country."

Ga. Reconsiders No - Knock Warrant Rules (March 1, 2007)
"A group of lawmakers wants to make it harder for police to use ''no-knock'' warrants in the wake of a shootout that left an elderly woman dead after plainclothes officers stormed her home unannounced in a search for drugs."

Here we go again (Feb. 22, 2007)
"We're happy we could help with that, Mr. Vice President, but Colombian cocaine is still readily available in U.S. cities, so we have a difficult time thinking we got a good deal for our $4 billion. In fact, we don't believe Americans are getting their money's worth for any of the cash the government has thrown into the bottomless pit of the drug war. Court dockets are packed and prisons are overcrowded, yet illicit drugs are still readily available to anyone who wants them."

Latin America: Mexico Moves to Decriminalize Drug Possession -- So It Can Concentrate on Drug Traffickers (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Legislators from Mexican President Felipe's Calderon's National Action Party (PAN -- Partido de Accion Nacional) have introduced a bill in the Mexican Senate that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for 'addicts.'"

DPS officials were told of lax lab security (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Texas Department of Public Safety officials were aware of security breaches in the handling of their drug evidence as recently as 2006 and as far back as at least 2003 — problems such as failure to log evidence out of storage, containers of marijuana left open and the lack of a monitoring system for a high-security drug vault — according to the agency's internal audits."

'Safest city' now has drug war (Feb. 22, 2007)
"From the shopping malls and the fashionable clothes of its residents, this could be any affluent U.S. suburb. Residents pride themselves on their prosperity. But in recent weeks, drug-related violence has shattered the tranquillity."

Mexican president gives soldiers pay hike as drug war intensifies (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Soldiers waging a nationwide offensive against drug traffickers will get a pay hike of nearly 50 percent this year in a bid to insulate them from corruption, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced Monday."

New Federal Study Shows Methamphetamine Use Decreased Between 2002 and 2005 (Jan. 31, 2007)
"A new analysis of data from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that past-year use of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant, declined between 2002 and 2005 among persons age 12 or older....The study also shows that the number of persons who used methamphetamine for the first time in the 12 months before the survey remained stable between 2002 and 2004 but decreased between 2004 and 2005."

Tell Governor Spitzer to Support Rockefeller Drug Law Reform (Jan. 31, 2007)
"The Rockefeller Drug Laws require extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Most of the people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal records. Today 14,139 people are locked up for drug offenses in NY State prisons, comprising nearly 38% of the prison population. This costs New Yorkers over half a billion dollars a year. Send a message to Governor Spitzer now, urging him to support real reform."

Mexico eyes Colombian experience in drug battle (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Mexico's top prosecutor on Thursday looked to Colombia's experience in counter-narcotics and conflict for lessons to help his government battle drug cartels whose violence has engulfed parts of the country."

Rio gang kills seven as drug war spreads (Jan. 27, 2007)
"The mutilated bodies of seven youths, some with their heads and legs chopped off, have been found in an abandoned car in a notorious Rio de Janeiro slum. They appeared to be the latest victims of a long-running drug war that has made Rio, which depends heavily on tourism, one of the most violent cities in the world."

Drug Policy Reform Group to Partner with State of New Mexico in Federally-Funded Meth Prevention Education Program (Jan. 27, 2007)
"In a first for drug reform organizations, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) New Mexico office has been designated to create a statewide methamphetamine education and prevention program directed at high school students, thanks to a $500,000 grant obtained by US Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as part of a Justice Department appropriations bill. The grant is the result of years of close collaboration between DPA and New Mexico state and local officials dating back to the administration of former Gov. Gary Johnson (R), a prominent voice for drug law reform."

Spot in brain may control smoking urge (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Damage to a silver dollar-sized spot deep in the brain seems to wipe out the urge to smoke, a surprising discovery that may shed important new light on addiction. The research was inspired by a stroke survivor who claimed he simply forgot his two-pack-a-day addiction - no cravings, no nicotine patches, not even a conscious desire to quit."

Case highlights medical-pot dilemma (Jan. 23, 2007)
"'If they didn't arrest me with 1,500, it's not likely they're going to come back and arrest me for 50,' said Sarich, whose advocacy group, CannaCare, says it has provided marijuana plants for 1,200 patients all over the state. Some of his new plants, delivered by patients in Longview, Federal Way and Vancouver, Wash., are descendants of the plants he lost."

Alleged cartel members extradited to Texas (Jan. 23, 2007)
"A suspected Mexican drug lord whose cartel allegedly smuggled more than 4 tons of cocaine a month over the U.S. border will stand trial in Texas. Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, the alleged kingpin of the Gulf Cartel, and three other alleged drug lords appeared in a Houston court Monday. Mexican authorities delivered Cardenas-Guillen and 14 other alleged Mexican drug dealers and criminals to Houston late Friday and early Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration said."

Burdened U.S. military cuts role in drug war (Jan. 22, 2007)
"Stretched thin from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has sharply reduced its role in the war on drugs, leaving significant gaps in the nation's narcotics interdiction efforts."

S.F. area is No. 1 for regular drug use, study says (Jan. 21, 2007)
"The San Francisco metropolitan area has a higher percentage of people who are regular drug users than any other major metropolitan area in the USA, a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found."

Executive Order 13420 -- Dismantling the DEA (Jan. 21, 2007)
"This is the order I will sign after delivering my inaugural address," says Steve Kubby, who is again running for office this time seeking the nomination from the Libertarian Party as their Presidential candidate.

Cocaine found on 99.9% of UK banknotes (Jan. 21, 2007)
"Pretty well every banknote in the UK shows traces of cocaine, forensic scientists have claimed. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, 99.9 per cent of the two billion notes currently in circulation have come into contact with Bolivian marching powder."

A Legacy of Torture: From Cointelpro to the Patriot Act (Jan. 21, 2007)
"In today's world, the US government's use of torture and complicity in its clients' use of it is part of the headlines on a regular basis. Yet very few US citizens believe that methods like waterboarding, beating, and electrical shocks could be -- and have been -- used on US citizens." But the fact that torture is used profusely in US jails and prisons is unsurprising to those who've been inside the US "justice" system.

Reefer Madness (Jan. 21, 2007)
"I was never an activist until I got busted [noted Tommy Chong]. But it ’s not so much my efforts as the substance itself. Pot lives and dies on its own reputation....Years ago, people would do booze jokes. Then they start dying of cirrhosis of the liver and all these alcohol-related car accidents. Alcohol started out as a fun thing and ended up as this evil thing that kills people. Pot is the opposite...."

In the Costly War on Drugs, Who's To Say What Is Right? (Jan. 21, 2007)
"It seems like you lack a certain enthusiasm for the war on drugs, I said. I do lack enthusiasm for the war on drugs, he said. I asked about legalization. He shrugged. 'Monday, Wednesday and Friday I think they should be legalized. Tuesdays and Thursdays I think they should be illegal. I don't like drugs. I strongly disapprove of them. The costs are great. But it's expensive to incarcerate somebody. The costs are enormous either way. I don't know what's right.'"

Democracy and Plan Colombia (Jan. 21, 2007)
Just what effects are the massive spraying in anti-cocaine and poppy efforts that are one of the main tenents of Plan Colombia, not to mention all the arms and training given to the Colombian military and governments to combat Colombian peasents...errr, I mean, dastardly narco-terrorists? No major advancement of democracy it appears.

Drug mafia, CIA blamed for sacking of Afghan governor (Jan. 21, 2007)
"As The Washington Post has plainly summarized, 'corruption and alliances formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal chieftains, some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade, [have] undercut the [counter-narcotics] effort.'"

PAST NEWS ARCHIVE

'Fasten Seat Belts': Post election 2000

CLICK HERE FOR THE COPvCIA STORE:
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Post-Election Certainties:
- Paralyzed Government/Full Speed Globalization
- Recession
- War in Colombia

"FASTEN SEAT BELTS"

by
Michael C. Ruppert

(c) Copyright 2000, "From The Wilderness" Dec 14, 2000 issue. Reprinted with
permission for the "Narcoresearch" List Serve. All Rights Reserved. May not
be reprinted, reproduced or otherwise distributed before Jan 15, 2001
without owner's express authorization. - mruppert@copvcia.com.

[The Dec issue of FTW, for subscribers only, contains a chilling breakdown of the true history and danger behind U.S. plans for biowarfare in Colombia. Read the real story behind Fusarium oxysporum by Dan Russell only in the December issue of "From The Wilderness"]

December 14, 2000 - What happened during Campaign 2000 is nowhere near as important as what will happen after it. "If voting could change the system it would be illegal." So said an anonymous political cynic and I could not agree more. FTW has purposely avoided frenetic bulletins about recounts and lawsuits, demonstrations and allegations of voter fraud because we do not, and did not, endorse either candidate and we never trusted either side. Neither could we see any particular benefit to having either George Bush or Al Gore as President. To quote our good friend Catherine Austin Fitts, "Passing all understanding is the special insanity that is so obvious now that somehow permits people to transfer all the evil of their faction onto the other side. People are scared to death and they are making choices that have nothing to do with reality." As Republicans, in their zeal to avenge Clinton corruption, forget about Iran-Contra, The Savings and Loan scandal, death squads and their own HUD scandal, Democrats systematically forget about Kosovo Iraqi sanctions that have killed thousands of children, Plan Colombia, Democratic Party drug money, campaign finances, welfare reform, NAFTA and the fact that almost 800,000 non-violent drug offenders have been added to the prison population under Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Somewhere down the road an unbiased forensic logician will look at the way the election scenario played and conclude that decisions were made by both sides that could have had no other objective but to prolong the crisis and corrode the authenticity and cachet of the government of the United States. It is the best living proof I have yet seen that a globalized New World Economic Order, the bane of both left and right, is emerging from shadows into light. It will not be long before we can see its shape more clearly as powerful economic "necessities" drive events at an accelerated pace. In the
end, a President who is widely viewed as being incompetent, uninspired and lackluster, further hobbled by divisiveness so precise that it could only be contrived, is exactly what the situation calls for. We need not fear a dictator yet. But the current situation is the best Petrie dish for breeding one that this country has seen since 1929. The next four years will determine how quickly that comes - and perhaps only the next two.

Our biggest hero on election night was Pacifica Radio's legendary Amy Goodman who, from WBAI in New York, kept a really frustrated Bill Clinton (thinking he had called in for a "Get Out The Vote" rally), on the air for 30 minutes. Goodman called him to task on many of the issues that mainstream Democrats seem so amnesiac about. In doing so she gave essential voice to the growing numbers of Americans who are breaking free from hypnosis. As Pacifica Radio struggles through the second year of a purge to drive out any remaining independent thinkers we salute Goodman for her courage and perseverance. Current efforts to remove her from American airwaves, if successful, would serve as a chilling omen of coming fascism. Let us see how long she survives.

The Government
"Splintered," ""Fragmented," "Lacking in Clarity" - these were some of the terms that rolled in on December 12th as the Supreme Court decision was read over MS-NBC. Such adjectives accurately describe what the entire government will look like after January 20th. The Senate is split 50-50. Counting four Independent members the Republicans will have a mere five vote margin in the House. A President who lost the popular vote will have to appoint a cabinet. What does it mean for Americans? Under the Constitution the branch of government responsible for enforcing the laws, especially those laws that protect citizens and consumers is the executive branch - the President. These powers pass down through the President's cabinet secretaries to the various agencies, from the FBI to the SEC to the DEA to the FAA, etc. Cabinet posts have enormous power and for the next four years they will become virtually autonomous fiefdoms, unaccountable and unstoppable, more indebted to partisan and corporate interests than to a central government or the public interest.

It is critical to understand the role of major multi-national corporations in the running of the various agencies of the U.S. government. Corporations like Lockheed-Martin and Dyncorp, with strong CIA ties, have the contracts for data processing and financial management of accounts at HUD (mortgages), the Department of Justice (asset forfeiture fund) and the Pentagon. Just recently the GAO (see story this issue) announced that nearly $2.4 trillion has disappeared from HUD and the Department of Defense alone. This money is not lost. It has been stolen. Under a new Administration no agency will have the political will to investigate since a large portion of the stolen money goes back into partisan campaign coffers. How can Congress hold oversight hearings when both parties are implicated and neither party holds a mandate? The situation is tailor-made for both parties to engage in a looting spree unparalleled in human history. This is certain for no other reason than because both will be convinced that the other side is doing exactly the same thing.

For President "W" to get his nominees approved there will be a great deal of back room barter. More than one or two cabinet posts will go to the democrats as concessions and to keep up appearances that the government still holds legitimacy. The Republicans will, of a certainty, retain close control of State, Treasury and Justice. Less certain however, is the Department of Defense which may go to a Democrat like retired Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. The rationale for this is that a massive war in Colombia is an absolute economic necessity for Wall Street corporations backing both sides. Do not expect Bush cronies like Richard Armitage and Ted Shackley to be placed in nomination for key posts because a 50-50 Senate would not confirm them. Also do not expect President "W" to be a bully with Cheney's Senate tie-breaking vote too soon. The real tie-breaker in the Senate will be the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. 

This lack of governmental authority will allow major corporations and campaign donors to deal directly with cabinet Secretaries for their "feeding" purposes. It will also permit multi-national corporations pushing for WTO, globalization, and in close alliance with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to operate virtually unfettered as they parade their international efficiencies against the arthritic remains of a once powerful central government. Expect Social Security to be raided before the 2004 elections in response to a massive recession.

Recession
It is important to understand that a recession is not a depression and that major corporations do not always suffer when recession or inflation comes. People suffer. A few day upsurge in the Dow Jones industrials or the beleaguered NASDAQ does not mean that everything is fine. As reported by the conservative Salomon Smith Barney an estimated $4.2 trillion dollars were wiped off of the value of stocks on the various US exchanges from March through mid-November. According to The New Federalist whose political philosophy I disagree with but which has excellent factual economic reports, this amount is, "equivalent to Japan's entire annual Gross Domestic Product. Poof!" This money has gone poof but only after it has gone into the pockets of corporations and brokerage houses where it remains - at least at the levels it was invested at. And, as FTW has been telling you for years now, trillions of new dollars are needed to keep the structure from collapsing. I happen to agree that a recession, that may well become a very deep one, is already here and that it will put many people out of work. 

In August, two noted Russian economists Oleg Grigoriyev and Mikhail Khazin, writing in Russia's Exspert Magazine (and reported by Eric Baronov in The Washington Insider) predicted a global economic collapse beginning in November, 2000. They have bee right thus far. Using hard numbers they established a precise correlation between the current U.S. economy and that of the late 1920s and then unabashedly observed that the way the US economy avoided a crash in 1998 after the Asian markets tanked was by resorting to the artificial mechanism of blowing up Kosovo. In this way Grigoriyev and Khazin agree with what FTW has been saying for some time - that the imminent war in Colombia is essential to prevent a total meltdown. They also agree with FTW that a lack of South American support for Plan Colombia augurs an increasingly profitable role for the Euro in the soon to be war torn continent. 

The Russian economists also predicted two things which we find very interesting in light of current events. First, they predicted that WTO would eventually fail as the world regressed into feudal protectionist economies and they also predicted that the "financial oligarchy" would do everything possible to maintain control over the political parties until after the election. This would be to prevent disclosure of how weak the economy actually is and how large fourth quarter losses are really going to be. Isn't it interesting to note that the results of the election have been delayed until well after the normal reporting period for quarterly earnings? 

Colombia
For 200 years nothing has so intoxicated the American people, or distracted us from our troubles as a war. It may well be that not since Pearl Harbor was allowed to happen in 1941 has the American oligarchy and Wall Street so needed one. In August, Bill Clinton, who created Plan Colombia traveled to Cartagena with a host of American business executives to celebrate Plan Colombia, a $1.3 billion military aid package supposed to help the Latin American nation fight the drug cartels. For a year now we have tracked the build-up and laid out the economic and political forces driving us into another Vietnam war that FTW believes must eventually involve American troops. Much of the implementation of Plan Colombia and the opening stages of the war are mandated by bi-lateral agreements approved by Congress last Fall. Not surprisingly, everything gets started in January. Included here is the mandatory use of biowarfare (see story this issue) against "coca" cultivation on lands controlled by leftist FARC and ELN guerillas. The intent: drive coca production onto lands controlled by the right wing paramilitaries and the government so that the proceeds can be invested in Wall Street.

As massacres increase and as the government, right-wing Paramilitaries like the AUC and the FARC and ELN guerillas all posture like Sumo wrestlers seeking the greatest advantage before January, the certainty of a bloody conflict increases daily. Here are just a few recent quotes from news stories that you may have missed while awaiting the outcome of the Presidential election. Washington still officially maintains that the creation of two more "anti-drug battalions in January and the launching of attacks in the southern half of the country has nothing whatsoever to do with the civil war. May God have mercy on us all.

- "White House Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey on Monday predicted heavy fighting in an approaching U.S. backed anti-drug offensive and warned that there would be repercussions for Colombia's neighbors... Last week, Colombia's largest leftist insurgency declared a freeze on peace talks..." - The Salt Lake Tribune, November 21, 2000

-  " The FARC's expansion, together with significant increases by both the armed forces and rightist paramilitary squads, comes as further evidence that Colombia's bloody conflict is heading for a major upsurge as the military finalizes plans for a U.S.-backed assault on drug traffickers and the rebels who protect them." The Miami Herald, December 11, 2000.

-  "...Evidence shows FARC guerillas supplied cocaine to the [Mexican] cartel in exchange for cash and possibly weapons. This development is another illustration of FARC's deep involvement in narcotics trafficking. Since late 1999 the FARC has sought to establish a monopoly position over the commercialization of the cocaine base across much of Southern Colombia." - U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, November 29, 2000.

-  "WASHINGTON - As U.S. assistance to war-fatigued Colombia escalates, the Clinton administration portrays American military involvement there as nothing more than basic anti-drug fighting aid. Haunted by the shadows of Vietnam and El Salvador, administration officials vow to avoid managing another war by proxy in a foreign land. The truth, however, isn't that clear cut... Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said he detests Vietnam analogies, 'because nine out of 10 times they are all wet.... But I have to tell you," he said, 'this reminds me very much of Vietnam... Whatever happens, there are going to be a lot of mother's sons who are going to die who may or may not be Americans." - The St. Petersburg Times, December 3, 2000.

Michael C. Ruppert

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