-Caveat Lector- http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/stories/2003/02/28/120.html Global Eye -- Swing Blades
By Chris Floyd It's a well-known fact -- oft detailed in these pages -- that the boys in the Bush Regime swing both ways. We speak, of course, of their proclivity -- their apparently uncontrollable craving -- for stuffing their trousers with loot from both sides of whatever war or military crisis is going at the moment. That's why it came as no surprise to read last week that just before he joined the Regime's crusade against evildoers everywhere (especially rogue states that pursue the development of terrorist-ready weapons of mass destruction), Pentagon warlord Donald Rumsfeld was trousering the proceeds from a $200 million deal to send the latest nuclear technology -- including plenty of terrorist-ready "dirty bomb" material -- to the rogue state of North Korea, Neue Zurcher Zeitung reports. In 1998, Rumsfeld was citizen chairman of the Congressional Ballistic Missile Threat Commission, charged with reducing nuclear proliferation. Rumsfeld and the Republican- heavy commission came down hard on the deal Bill Clinton had brokered with North Korea to avert a war in 1994: Pyongyang would give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for normalized relations with the United States, plus the construction of two non- weaponized nuclear plants to generate electricity. The plants were to be built by an international consortium of government-backed business interests called KEDO. Rum deal, said Rummy: Those nasty Northies would surely turn the peaceful nukes to nefarious ends. What's more, even the most innocuous nuclear plant generates mounds of radioactive waste that could be made into "dirty bombs" -- hand-carried weapons capable of killing thousands of people. The agreement was big bad juju that threatened the whole world, Rumsfeld declared. Of course, that didn't prevent him from trying to profit from it. Even while chairing commission meetings on the "dire threat" posed by the Korean program, Rumsfeld was junketing to Zurich for board meetings of the Swiss-based energy technology giant, ABB, where he was a top director. And what was ABB doing at the time? Why, negotiating that $200 million deal with North Korea to provide equipment and services for the KEDO nuclear reactors, of course! Yes, nuclear proliferation is ugly stuff -- but you might as well squeeze a few dollars from it, right? A smart guy always plays the angles -- and, as the hero-worshiping American media never stop telling us, Rumsfeld is one smart guy. In fact, he's so smart that he's now playing dumb. A Pentagon spokesman says Rumsfeld "can't recall" discussing the Korean deal at ABB board meetings. And his erstwhile ABB corporate colleagues say that it's possible the subject never came up. Of course it didn't; going into the nuclear business with a Communist tyranny that very nearly launched a nuclear war against the West just four years before, in a deal that involved high-level negotiations with the governments of the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union -- that's certainly the kind of thing that would be handled by a couple of junior executives in a branch office somewhere. Nothing for the bigwigs -- especially hard-wired government players like Rumsfeld -- to trouble their pretty heads about. A perfectly reasonable explanation. And so Rumsfeld joins the roster of Bush Regime multimillionaires who once trumpeted their "business savvy" as selling points for their right to national leadership but now claim to have been "hands-off" figureheads who had no idea what their companies were up to. Bush, in his sinkhole of insider trading and stockholder scamming at Harken; Cheney, making fat deals with Saddam Hussein (yes, after the Gulf War) and muddying up the corporate books at Halliburton; Army Secretary Thomas White, gaming the power grid and stealing millions for Enron in the manufactured California "energy crisis" -- all of them went from mighty moguls to mere "front men" the instant their corruption was brought to light. None of it was their fault; nothing ever is. Whatever happened to Bush's much-trumpeted "era of responsibility?" These guys are not only chiselers, hustlers, hypocrites and war profiteers -- they're a bunch of gutless wonders as well. So you'll pardon us if we are just the tiniest bit cynical about the "moral arguments for war" and other such buckets of warm spit this gang is now forcing down the world's throat. Postscript To Our Readers Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage? Then please write to us. All we ask is that you include your full name, the name of the city from which you are writing and a contact telephone number in case we need to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you. Email the Opinion Page Editor And what became of that 1994 pact with North Korea? UN inspectors entered the country to make sure the weapons program was put on ice. Pyongyang signed a number of lucrative deals with various politically- connected Western firms, like ABB, to build the promised energy plants, while waiting for the normalization of relations with the United States to begin -- a move which most observers thought would set North Korea on a course toward China-style "moderation" of its monolithic regime. But normalization never came. Clinton, pressured by rightwing forces (such as Rumsfeld's commission) who opposed any truck whatsoever with godless commies, did his usual folding number, with much windy suspiration of forced breath -- and no action. The KEDO companies pocketed Pyongyang's cash but dithered about the actual construction. Pyongyang -- while not exactly a font of smiling cooperation itself -- concluded that the pact was being deep-sixed. This suspicion was confirmed when Bush took office, calling Korean leader Kim Jong Il a "pygmy" and declaring the county part of the "axis of evil." Pyongyang then accelerated its weapons program, kicked out the UN inspectors, and is now threatening to unleash a nuclear war if Bush, a la Iraq, makes a "pre-emptive strike." A dicey situation, sure -- but at least Don Rumsfeld made some money out of it. Rumsfeld was on ABB Board During Nuclear Deal with North Korea Swissinfo.org, Feb. 21, 2003 http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=41&sid=1648385 For North Korea, U.S. is Violator of Accords Washington Post, Oct. 20, 2002 (fee required) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57034-2002Oct20.html The Cold Test: Pakistan and North Korea New Yorker, Jan. 27, 2003 http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030127fa_fact KEDO Triggered Korea Crisis, Says Moscow The Straits Times (fee required) http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/home/0,1869,,00.html $200 Million in Orders Awarded Under Multi-Government Framework Agreement ABB company website, Jan. 20, 2000 http://www.abb.com/global/abbzh/abbzh251.nsf! OpenDatabase&db=/global/abbzh/abbzh250.nsf&v=553E&e=us&c= 316DCEEDCA12D32E4125686C00433604 ABB Opens Office in Democratic People's Republic of Korea ABB company website, June 28, 2001 http://www.abb.com/global/abbzh/abbzh251.nsf! OpenDatabase&db=/global/ABBZH/ABBZH250.NSF&v=553E&e=us&c= 0DE210116977874BC1256B91004475F1 ABB Wins $32 Million Power Order in Saudi Arabia ABB company website, March 1, 2002 http://www.abb.com/global/abbzh/abbzh251.nsf! OpenDatabase&db=/global/ABBZH/ABBZH250.NSF&v=553E&e=us&c= 0DE210116977874BC1256B91004475F1 Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutra <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
