http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/14972_ATC.html
The American Turkish Council-US Association helps create new world
order
02/16/2005 15:14
Operating tax-free and out of the media or watchdog spotlight is
the most powerful "non-profit" association in the United States, the American
Turkish Council (ATC- americanturkishcouncil.org).
Like the thousands of Associations operating inside the Washington,
DC Beltway, the ATC is chartered to provide "legal and ethical" venues for
American-Turkish government and business interests to meet face-to-face to
improve business, security and cultural relations between the two countries.
The ATC, and other Associations, has a dues structure and committee structure
that includes a government relations or "educational" committee that lobbies
the public and US government representatives on behalf of its members. But
that"s where the similarity ends.
While the ATC is an Association in name and in charter, the reality
is that it and other affiliated Associations are the US government. Theirs is
the voice that matters and is the one that is heard on television and radio
networks through the mouths of news-readers, senators, congressmen, presidents
and military leaders. It is in and through such Associations that US political,
economic and military policy is made and the American public subsequently
"educated" to support policies that are not, and could not, be debated in
public because of their illegality, audacity, complexity and, arguably,
necessity. Instead, the creation of policy and action--or even reaction to
events-is hammered out in corporate board rooms, foreign governments, research
institutes, and think tanks. It all comes together in Associations like the
ATC. If you want to know what"s really going on or about to come down, take a
visit via the Net to the world of Associations.
Six Degrees of ATC Leaders/Members
The game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is based on the premise that
the famed actor Kevin Bacon is the center of the entertainment universe and
that any actor or actress can be linked back to him within six degrees. Replace
Kevin Bacon with ATC leaders and/or members, and you are sure to find that any
corporation, military leader, government official, former politician, and even
actor can be linked back to the ATC within six degrees. The ATC is an
extraordinary group of elite and interconnected group of Republicans, Democrats
and corporate/military heavyweights who are spearheading one of the most
ambitious strategic gambits in US history.
In 2004 the ATC was led by Bush family insider LTG Brent Scowcroft,
USAF (Ret.) who served as Chairman of the Board. George Perlman of Lockheed
Martin was the Executive Vice President and Marise Stewart of Textron the Vice
President. Executives from every major US and Turkish corporation are members.
Among them are Mars (candy), Coca Cola, Atlantic Records, Shell Oil,
ExxonMobil, Pfizer, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Hyatt and Phillip
Morris. Dozens of retired US Flag officers, ex-ambassadors and representatives
sit on the ATC Board of Directors.
Counted amongst ATC"s hundreds of members are think tanks like the
Eisenhower Institute, CSIS, Brookings, and AEI. Georgetown University, the
University of Washington and the University of Chicago are also members of
note. If the grand brains with their studies, executive reports, and statistics
were not enough to overwhelm the uninitiated, there are members like the
Livingston Group (Bob Livingston, ex-Congressman), the Cohen Group (William
Cohen ex-SECDEF) and ex-Congressman Stephen Solarz. All three are paid
big-bucks by the Turkish interests to work on their behalf in the halls of the
US Congress and the Pentagon.
America Gives Birth to New EuroAsia
Now, before you yell Conspiracy! you might want to think Necessity
and Stability, particularly in light of the opening to Central Asia, the
Caucasus and the new Europe provided by 9-11. Pull up Net maps of Central Asia,
the Caucasus, and Europe. Once you"ve done that, consider what political,
economic and military activities (defined as US national interests) the United
States has underway in those regions. It is no less than the development of a
US-dominated New EuroAsia that includes the "Stans", Ukraine, Chechnya,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech, Croatia, and Poland.
Crazy? Hardly, it is a brilliant gamble. There are many compelling reasons to
create a New EuroAsia with the US with a controlling interest.
First, there's the little matter of energy resources. The fact is
that the both regions possess an abundance of resources and those countries
there that don"t are key transit points for the movement of energy. With the US
becoming more reliant on a stable world market for energy it"s imperative to
stabilize and exploit available resources.
Second, Americans have all the candy and weapons systems they need.
New markets for American products are critical for American economic survival.
Third, with WWII having ended a mere 60 years ago, US foreign
policy is still very much in the hands of America"s anti-Soviet/Chinese Cold
Warriors. Hence, Russia-China encirclement remains part and parcel of US
policy. US military outposts close to the Russia and China"s borders dot the
landscape in the New EuroAsia. As Space Daily reported, US mobile missile
defense batteries are likely to appear at these bases since CONUS based systems
are doomed to failure. US military outposts will also allow quick jump off
points for covert operations into Russia and China, interdiction of black
market WMD and their components, and drug interdiction.
Fourth, to compete against the combined economic forces of the
European Union (EU), it is necessary to have a leveraging position in the New
EuroAsia. For example, the EU"s Inogate Program
(inogate.org/html/maps/mapsoil.htm) is a source of concern for the US as Europe
has been busy for years laying the groundwork for new energy sources and
transit points. The US was late to that game and is still playing catch-up.
Fifth, isolating and destabilization Iran remains paramount. Such
has been the policy since the 1980"s. As recently reported, US Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles have been launched from bases in Iraq to spy on Iran"s military
infrastructure and nuclear reactor sites. In all likelihood such activity has
been underway at least since the beginning of the 21st Century"s US invasion of
Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Guiding Light
ATC's is joined in the creation of the New EuroAsia by the American
Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (AACC). AACC"s Honorary Council of Advisors just
happens to have Scowcroft and the following persons of significance: Henry
Kissinger, Zibigniew Brezinski, Lloyd Benston, John Sununu and James Baker III.
Former Council members include Dick Cheney and Richard Armitage, former
Undersecretary of State. Board of Trustee members include media-overkill
subject Richard Perle of AEI, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Frank
Verrastro of CSIS.
The US Kazakhstan Business Association (UKBA) features, among
others, benefactors and members ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Lockheed Martin,
and Halliburton. Richard Armitage was honored last year by the UKBA and
indicated in his remarks that stable economies and representative government
were essential for the future of Central Asia. No argument there. He opined
that "many of the nations in the region still have a long way to go toward that
destination [democracy], and Kazakhstan can and should, in my view, serve as a
guiding light in that journey." Yet according to Human Rights Watch, the US
State Department, Armitage"s former employer, indicated in February 2004 that
"The [Kazak] Government"s human rights record remained poor, and it continued
to commit numerous abuses." In its annual report on the Kazakh government's
rights record, the State Department noted that the government of Kazakhstan
"severely limited citizens" right to change their government and democratic
institutions remained weak.[and that it] .restricted freedom of assembly and
association and limited democratic expression by imposing restrictions on the
registration of political parties." It further stated that, "Corruption was
evident at every stage and level of the judicial process."
Friends in Odd and High Places
"It is a place of total lawlessness, where men with guns rule and
human life carries little value. There are no human rights, one resident told
me. "We don't know if we'll be alive tomorrow or even five minutes from now."
It is inconceivable that a fair election can take place in this climate of
fear, where shooting and forced disappearances happen on a daily basis.
Civilians continue to be the main victims of this conflict. It is possible that
as many as 200,000 people have been killed in the two wars combined. Many I
speak with say they see the election as little more than window dressing for
the West. All the while, military operations continue. "Not a single night goes
by without someone disappearing. Masked men come into homes and take people
away." A handful of buildings associated with oil companies are undergoing
renovation. The only building in good shape is the presidential palace.
There is no running water for residents. People must buy water
daily. They depend on generator power for electricity. I walked around the
market, which was full of shoppers buying fruits and vegetables. This same
market was attacked by missiles at the beginning of the current war, killing
more than 100 people. For the first time in my life I felt what it is like to
be utterly without rights, at the mercy of men with guns."
Baghdad Burning (riverbendblog.blogspot.com) writing from Iraq, you
say? Nope, it"s a former American Committee for Peace in Chechnya Committee
(ACPC) staffer writing about her trip to Chechnya. Chechnya? But not to worry,
our men and women of the ACPC, separated by only six degrees from their cohorts
at ATC and AACC have things under control. ACPC was founded in 1999 and is
chaired by former National Security Advisor Zibigniew Brezinski, former
Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and former Congressman Stephen J.
Solarz. ACPC, according to its website, is composed of more than one hundred
distinguished Americans representing both major political parties and nearly
every walk of life. And who are those 100 Americans?
Well, to name a few, there"s Geraldine Ferraro, former Democratic
candidate for vice president; Frank Gaffney, CEO of the Center for Security
Policy whose Board members include Doug Feith, Gordon Sullivan, CEO of the Army
Association of the USA and Bob Livingston of the Livingston Group; Elliot
Abrams and Mike Leeden; and, who would have guessed that Richard Gere and PJ
O"Rourke would be members of the ACPC.
And the story gets routine and boring as it moves on. The Honorary
Chair of the American Georgia Business Council (AGBC) is James Baker III. Its
members include ExxonMobil, Northrop Grumman and Ernst and Young. President of
the AGBC is S. Enders Wimbush, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and
former SAIC and Booz Allen Hamilton employee. A trustee of note on the Hudson
Institute is Al Haig. The same connections, whether through individuals or
organizations, can be found for Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Turkmenistan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Six Degrees of Zibigniew Brezinski
No one argued and schemed more forcibly or convincingly for a New
EuroAsia than Zibigniew Brezinski, Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor,
and a candidate for the role of Waldo in Where's Waldo, The Movie (tough
competition coming from James Baker III).
As Wikipedia puts it of Brezinski, "In the 1990's he formulated the
strategic case for buttressing the independent statehood of Ukraine, partially
as a means to ending a resurgence of the Russian Empire, and to drive Russia
toward integration with the West, promoting instead "geopolitical pluralism" in
the space of the former Soviet Union. He developed "a plan for Europe" urging
the expansion of NATO, making the case for the expansion of NATO to the Baltic
Republics. He also served as U.S. Presidential emissary to Azerbaijan in order
to promote the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline. Further, he led the effort to
increase the endowment for the U.S.-sponsored Polish-American Freedom
Foundation from the proposed $112 million to an eventual total of well over
$200 million."
All that accomplished through the power of Associations.
Association ideas rubber stamped by the US Congress and backed by US military
force. It"s no surprise that it was in the decade of the 1990"s, long out of
the US government and working through private sector Associations, that
Brezinski"s and corporate America's EuroAsia creation would be formalized and
ultimately be realized. It all happened far sooner than expected thanks to an
opportune breakdown in US security on September 11, 2001. Nonetheless, the
center of gravity for it all has been the ATC and its affiliates in the
Association world.
The individuals and organizations in the ATC, AGBC, ACPC, UKBA, and
similarly populated groups, are in control of the design and action plans to
secure America"s national interests in the New EuroAsia. It's the same story
for other regions of the world-Africa, Indonesia, etc.-and even here on
America"s domestic front. Does a Congressman or woman have a bright idea? Does
the President have a special agenda? If they do, you can be sure it came from
an Association.
Perhaps this is part of the American Republic's maturation process:
more intelligent and visionary governance by Association rather than through
the messy process of millions voting by the ballot box or e-voting. In such a
scheme, the US Congress and the Presidency would be relegated to a symbolic
role, sort of like that played by the King and Queen of England. The US
security establishment would be called into action based on the voting results
of a Congress of Associations. Then again, when you cast your vote, you are in
essence voting the Association platform. Sound bizarre? Such is today"s world.
When Richard Armitage can say with a straight face that Kazakhstan should be
the guiding light of democracy in Central Asia, it"s time to swallow the bitter
pill of reality and recognize that how America governs itself, and designs and
implements policy, is changing. Whether the US and the world will be better off
remains to be seen.
Teddy Roosevelt once said that "Behind the ostensible government
sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no
responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul
the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first
task of the statesmanship of the day."
That was a smart thing to say in 1906 when business and politics
were still trying to figure each other out. In 2005, he"d be dismissed as an
opponent of America"s national interests as there is no difference between the
two.
John Stanton
John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in political
and security matters. His most recent book is America 2004: A Power But Not
Super. He is working on an article discussing Sibel Edmonds and the ATC, along
with a book on America"s Defense Related Non-Profits. Reach him at [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
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