-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Today's Lesson from An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control The original development of riot weapons goes back to Paris before the first World War, where the police began chemical crowd control using bombs filled with ethyl bromoacetate, an early form of teargas. The British colonies proved to be the forcing ground for the wide range of chemical and kinetic impact weapons which followed. The irritant CS for example was first used in Cyprus in 1956, and between 1960 and 1965, CN and CS were used on 124 occasions in the colonies. (Ackroyd et al, 1977).The growing demands of counter-insurgency and urban warfare generated a first generation of new riot weapons serviced by a growing police industrial complex. Thus plastic and rubber bullets were products of British colonial experience in Hong Kong where the flying wooden teak baton round became the template for future kinetic weapons. The concept was one of a flying truncheon which could disperse a crowd without using small arms. They were however regarded as too dangerous for use on white people, so in 1969, Porton Down came up with a 'safer' version for use in Northern Ireland in 1970. Just as plastic bullets were considered far too dangerous for use in mainland Britain until 1985 when they proliferated throughout the UK's police forces,so were wooden baton rounds regarded as too dangerous for the residents of Northern Ireland but not Hong Kong. Now plastic bullets have been deployed in virtually every continent from the USA to Argentina, from South Africa to Israel and China. Obviously, the shift in whether or not a riot weapon was appropriate or safe had nothing to do with differences in physiology. Wooden and plastic baton rounds created injuries which did not take account of generation or race. A predominant concern appears to have been what can be portrayed as politically safe in a particular context. The seductive notion of soft and gentle knockout weapons is recent but not new. It has its roots back in the 1970's when so called 'non-lethal' weapons formed the holy grail of riot weapon Research & Development. During that decade, then Congressman James Scheur outlined a new philosophy of crowd control weapons.(see Fig.26). He saw such developments resulting from 'spinoffs from medical, military, aerospace and industrial research' and expressed the view that: 'We are now in the process of developing devices and products capable of controlling violent individuals and entire mobs without injury.'53 The veracity of this assessment is briefly examined below, particularly the assertion that control is achieved without harm. Some idea of the range and variety of riot control weapons under consideration at that time can be gleaned from the 1972 US National Science Foundation's Report on Non-lethal Weapons. (NSF, 1972). Altogether it listed 34 different weapons, including chemical and kinetic weapons; electrified water jets; combined stroboscopic light and pulsed sound weapons; infrasound weapons; dartguns which fire drug-filled flight stabilized syringes; stench parts which give off an obnoxious odour; the taser which fires two small electrical contacts discharging 50,000 volts into the target; and instant banana peel which makes roads so slippery, they are impassable. Many of these weapons were then only partly developed or had problems of public acceptability:others have since achieved operational status. They include: incapacitation weapons such as the electronic riot shields and electro-shock batons (discussed in Sections 6, 7, & 8 below); Bulk chemical irritant distributor systems, (delivered by watercannon such as the UK made Tactica or the many back pack sprays like those made by the Israeli company Ispra (Fig.27 or the German Heckler 8 Koch (Fig. 28); New forms of irritant such as OC (or peppergas); kinetic impact weapons like the German & UK plastic bullet guns (shown in Fig. 32) or the South African hydraulically fired, TFM Slingshot rubber bullet machine; biomedical weapons, such as the compressed air fired drug syringe now commercially available both in the US & China (shown in Fig. 33). The range of weapons currently deployed for crowd control is vast indeed and defies any attempts to be comprehensive. In Britain, since the first use of CS gas, rubber bullets and water cannon at the beginning of the Northern Irish Conflict in 1969, there has been a globalisation of such public order technologies. To our knowledge some 856 companies across 47 countries have been or are currently active in the manufacture and supply of such weapons. This proliferation has been fuelled by private companies wishing to tap lucrative security markets, a process which has led to both vertical and horizontal proliferation of this technology. (See Appendix 1 [not provided with report]) For example, one company, Civil Defence Supply, who provide nearly all UK police forces with sidehandled batons, boast of an international riot training programme, having trained the entire Mexican Police Granaderos with armadillo linked riot shields, CS and baton firing guns like the Arwen and what they call the complete 'Early Resolution System', for its elite forces. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ===== Assassination Politics Riviera Manhunt Underway for Edmund Safra's Killers Bank takeovers are a deadly business. A vast manhunt was under way Friday night across the Riviera for the killers of Edmond Safra, the Syrian-born international financier, murdered in his Monte Carlo penthouse early Friday. Two masked men broke the tight 24-hour security surrounding the 68-year-old founder of the Republic Bank of New York and set fire to his duplex penthouse apartment in the most exclusive part of Monaco. Police said Mr Safra appeared to have died from suffocation after seeking safety in an upstairs bathroom with a female member of the family staff, who also died. Lily, Mr Safra's Brazilian wife, escaped unharmed because she locked herself in a room on the lower floor, escaping the fumes. There were also reports that Mrs Safra's daughter was present but unharmed. A senior figure in Mr Safra's banking empire said he assumed Lily was the heir to his fortune, saying she had recently taken an active part in his business affairs. The high-profile death was also a severe blow to Monaco's image as safe place for the world's wealthy to live. Police in the tiny principality and in neighbouring France were cautious about who was responsible for the killing. But a senior French police officer said: "Monaco prides itself on its security and this kind of crime is not committed by hoodlums. Any attempt against a big-time financier with full-time bodyguards suggests the hand of organised crime." Suspicions of a contract killing prompted speculation that Mr Safra had crossed elements of the Russian mafia. Republic Bank of New York has been helping the US authorities monitor alleged Russian money laundering through foreign banks. Leigh Robertson, general manager of Safra Republic Holdings, which controls the financier's European operations, said: "In August we noticed something unusual in one of the bank accounts and alerted the US authorities." Mr Safra was in the final stages of selling his 28 per cent stake in the Republic Bank of New York to HSBC. The $2.8bn deal had been delayed because it was caught up in the backwash from a scandal involving false Japanese bonds. But it was expected to receive approval by the US Federal Reserve Bank on Monday, according to Mr Robertson. HSBC had agreed in May to pay $10.3bn for Republic New York and Safra Republic Holdings, Mr Safra's banking vehicles in the US and Europe. Last month, after the deal had been thrown into doubt by the discovery of alleged Japanese securities fraud at one of Republic's clients, Mr Safra agreed to accept a $450m reduction in his own payment, and to guarantee a portion of any liabilities that might arise from the affair. Close associates of Mr Safra said he had been in Monte Carlo for the past two weeks and had no plans to move until a board meeting in Paris on December 16. Though the attackers were able to escape, Monaco police hoped that one of the principality's many security cameras would have captured footage for an identification lead. Mr Safra, who was born in Aleppo, held a Lebanese passport and came from a Jewish family with a long history of Levantine trade and finance. His fortune was largely made in Brazil where he set up a trading company in 1953 before moving into banking. He built up the Geneva-based Trade and Development Bank, which he sold to American Express in 1985. He successfully fought off allegations that TDB was a conduit for money laundering and donated the proceeds of a libel suit to charity. The Financial Times, December 4, 1999 Assasination Politics When the Luck Ran Out for a Billionaire There's no escaping the evil eye. WHEN the assassins came for Edmond Safra, the luck he had nourished so assiduously ran out. The small blue gems he carried in his pocket to ward off the evil eye were no use. The lucky number 5 he used on his car licence plates, EJS 555, was no protection. After decades of survival and phenomenal success in the treacherous world of international banking, he had finally made an enemy too many. His family of Sephardic Jewish traders had been on the move for centuries in the Middle East, forever trying to find a safe haven in which to live and work. Safra, 67, one of the world's richest men, thought he had found that haven in Monaco, in his mansion on the Riviera and in his Swiss and American banking headquarters. But his death was as turbulent as that of a James Bond villain, the sort of character with whom his enemies always compared him. Safra's ancestors made their name as traders in the Ottoman empire capitals of Alexandria, Istanbul and Aleppo. His father, Jacob, established banks in Aleppo and Beirut and the young Edmond would rush from school early to accompany his father on his rounds of the local markets and learn about the gold trade. "Safra" in Arabic means yellow. After the Second World War, as anti-Jewish feelings washed round the Middle East, Jacob Safra picked his second and favourite son to go to Europe to set up business on his own. Aged 16, Safra established an office in Milan and over the next five years travelled Europe trading in commodities, particularly gold, through a network of fellow Sephardic Jews. His refugees' instincts for secrecy and the tangible wealth of gold rather than paper never left him throughout his career. Unlike his competitors, Safra's banks built their reputations by hoarding and trading deposits rather than by making loans. Pressed by his father, Safra searched the world for a safe haven for his family. In 1952, he settled on Brazil, eschewing the dissolute atmosphere of Rio in favour of business-like Sao Paolo. This land rich in timber, minerals and metals was the perfect place for Jews fleeing the Middle East and the Safras thrived, all ultimately becoming Brazilian citizens. For Safra, however, it was time again to move on, and the place to be was Switzerland. He sold his Brazilian interests to his brothers, Joseph and Moise, and left. The flood of money into Swiss banks, triggered by wartime insecurity, was gushing by the late Fifties and Sixties. American and Arab money, as well as illicit fortunes from Latin America and Africa, could be concealed and laundered through the Swiss banks. And Geneva, with its risque nightlife, like the Pussy Cat Saloon, was where the playboy rich liked to come. It was an ideal time and place for Safra to begin his ascent to the ranks of the world's richest bankers, rivalling even the Rothschilds. While the Swiss bankers looked down their noses at their new Middle Eastern clients, both Arabs and Jews, Safra connected with them. He set up a branch of his new Trade Development Bank on the Place Vendome in Paris specifically for the wives of his clients to cash cheques on their shopping trips. His maxim, however, which he constantly reminded his employees, was: "To be conservative in banking is to be in banking 1,000 years. The day you are not conservative, you cannot survive." Soon, he extended his reach to America, setting up the Republic National Bank of New York on Fifth Avenue. The same discreet, courtly banking style, however, survived. Safra was tireless in his working habits, rising early, taking telephone calls even in the shower, calling executives from his bed in the middle of the night and causing his wife to say going to bed with him was sometimes "like a board meeting". His business instincts were legendary. Walter Weiner, his close aide and former chairman of Republic, once said: "The only time I can truly understand Edmond is when I sit back and believe in ghosts and witches." Safra's style never wavered. Everyone was given the Arab endearment habibi or the French mon cheri. Every day, he wore a navy three-piece suit and dark, polka dot tie. He kept dozens of the same outfit in his homes in Geneva, Paris, London and New York so that he could travel without luggage. His social life was overseen by his wife Lily, a wealthy Brazilian widow, who hosted parties at their mansion on the Riviera attended by international billionaires and celebrities. In 1983, however, Safra's sale of Trade Development Bank to American Express led to a bitter dispute in which he successfully defended himself against allegations that he was a drug money launderer. During that time, he was accused of everything from murder to orchestrating the Iran-Contra scandal. Towards the end of the Eighties, Safra was hit again when he had to write off hundreds of millions of pounds in loans to Latin America. Suffering from Parkinson's disease and a succession of financial setbacks, including heavy losses in the Russian markets collapse last year, Safra agreed this year to sell his two main assets, Republic New York and Safra Republic, to HSBC bank for �6 billion. An indication of his waning powers was his agreement to reduce his own cut in the sale by �285 million when fresh charges of financial scandal threatened to sink the deal. During his fight with American Express, Safra's close friend, Elie Wiesel, the Nobel prize winner, defended his reputation in court. He said: "After all what remains of a man after death? It is his name, his reputation and his honour." Conspiracies surrounding his death will now range from the Russian mafia to Japanese investors, through drug cartels and Middle Eastern trading companies. All that Wiesel said mattered to Edmond Safra now hangs in the balance. The London Telegraph, December 4, 1999 World Trade Organization US on Defensive in WTO Sound and fury arise spontaneously from a vaccuum. SEATTLE - The United States, already embarrassed by the street violence that disrupted the world trade meeting here, found itself struggling Friday both to defend its own positions on several key issues and to get weary delegates to agree to start a new round of global negotiations. As the day wore on, however, substantial differences remained over a range of issues, notably the reduction of agricultural subsidies. Late Thursday, a spokesman for the 135-nation World Trade Organization said that a breakdown in talks was possible. But some sort of agreement appeared probable Friday, with the meeting's chairman, Charlene Barshefsky, the U.S. trade representative, insisting to sleep-deprived ministers that the talks conclude on schedule. In Washington, an administration official told Reuters that President Bill Clinton, who returned there from Seattle on Thursday, had called leaders of the European Union, New Zealand and Mexico to try to advance the talks and that he might also call Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan to ask Tokyo to drop its call for changes in U.S. anti-dumping laws. It was unclear whether an eventual agreement might come closer to the narrow agenda sought by the United States, which probably would take about three years to negotiate, or the more expansive agenda favored by the European Union and Japan, which could take seven years or more. The host government came under heavy fire over a proposal, raised by Mr. Clinton in an interview with a local newspaper, to eventually impose trade sanctions on countries that violate basic labor standards. Developing-country delegates vigorously opposed that as protectionism in disguise. U.S. negotiators were also under pressure from Japan, South Korea and many other countries to amend the anti-dumping rules that the United States has invoked to penalize countries that export goods at below cost. Predictably, a sharp dispute emerged over agricultural subsidies, always a con troversial issue. Negotiators were hung up over whether the goal should be their reduction, as the Europeans want, or their elimination, the declared U.S. objective, and efforts to find an acceptable circumlocution remained in vain. The United States did appear to have prevailed in its efforts to protect electronic commerce from trade restraints. U.S.-European wrangling was sharper than at most past trade meetings, analysts said, and the U.S. ability to prevail over European interests appeared diminished from past meetings. But overall, said C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics, the proceedings reflected less a decline in U.S. influence than a transformation that was making developing countries a substantial third force in WTO policy-making, along with the United States and Europe. Increasingly, Mr. Bergsten said, the developing nations had proved that they could ''advance their positive agenda'' while also being able to ''block things they view as inimical to their interests.'' Thus, on the proposed trade-labor link, which many developing countries disdained as a maneuver by wealthier countries to force wages up in poorer countries and undermine their competitiveness, African nations took a firm stance Thursday. They said they might not sign an agreement for a new trade round if it included such language. The United States had agreed to a European Union proposal to set up a forum outside the WTO to discuss the labor issue, Reuters reported, but India and other developing countries rejected that approach. It appeared that the best the United States could expect was a vague, noncommittal formulation. A possible agreement to create a group to study issues surrounding genetically modified foods appeared to collapse when the EU pulled back concessions contained in an earlier draft. The idea of such a group, backed strongly by the United States, angered several EU environment ministers, who said it would undercut efforts within the United Nations to curb trade in such products. The draft document infuriated many environmentalists, who fear their countries will be forced to accept genetically modified food products they say are of unproven safety. Overall, the United States found itself clashing with the Europeans to an extent that was not seen in earlier trade rounds. ''Agriculture aside,'' said Ernest Preeg, a senior analyst at the conservative Hudson Institute research organization, ''this is the first time in nine trade rounds that you have not had the U.S. and Europe working together.'' Delegates knew before coming that their task would not be simple. Preliminary work on a ''pre-framework'' for these framework talks had stalled in Geneva. More important, the challenge facing the WTO in rewriting world trade rules has grown more prickly as it has moved from easier changes, such as reducing tariffs on manufactured goods, to finer-grained questions, such as imposing environmental standards, that more obviously affect ordinary people. ''This is the moment of truth,'' said Pierre Pettigrew of Canada. ''The stakes are very high for all the countries on lots of issues, and issues that reach citizens closer'' than in the past. ''Ministers are extremely well aware of that.'' The demonstrations here this week ensured that no delegate could overlook such public passions. The violence that swirled around the meeting has been a major foreign-relations setback for the Clinton administration, some delegates said. The anti-WTO demonstrations spun out of control Tuesday and eventually resulted in hundreds of arrests and a declaration of civil emergency that turned the city center into an armed camp, with shop after shop closed and boarded over. Though a semblance of peace returned to Seattle on Thursday, saboteurs targeted the World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva on Friday, cutting its power for two hours. The rallies in Seattle led to insistent calls by U.S. leaders and many others within the WTO meeting for far greater openness in the trade group's deliberat ions, and some steps were taken toward that end. If nothing else, the demonstrators, in their numbers and diversity, seemed to signal that the increasingly powerful WTO had graduated from being a dry technical group to being the focus of passionate feelings about the ways in which trade liberalization has affected the environment and the lives and livelihoods of people in many poorer countries. Mr. Clinton touched off a fiery reaction from many developing-country delegates when he was quoted Wednesday in a newspaper interview as saying he would consider the idea of imposing sanctions on labor-standards violators. Later, Gene Sperling, the president's economic adviser, edged away from that formulation. Unfavorable reaction to Mr. Clinton's proposal had been sharp and sweeping. In one of the most conspicuous interventions by China, here as an observer ahead of its expected accession to membership, Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said that labor standards should be taken off the table. In addition, Pascal Lamy, the EU trade commissioner, said the Europeans would not bend on the labor question. ''We've been extremely clear that sanctions were not on our agenda,'' he said. International Herald Tribune, December 4, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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