Iran, BP and the CIA
By LAWRENCE S. WITTNER
The offshore oil drilling catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico brought to us by BP has overshadowed its central role over the past century in fostering some other disastrous events.
BP originated in 1908 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company—a British corporation whose name was changed to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company two decades later. With exclusive rights to extract, refine, export, and sell Iran's rich oil resources, the company reaped enormous profits. Meanwhile, it shared only a tiny fraction of the proceeds with the Iranian government. Similarly, although the company's British personnel lived in great luxury, its Iranian laborers endured lives of squalor and privation.
In 1947, as Iranian resentment grew at the giant oil company's practices, the Iranian parliament called upon the Shah, Iran's feudal potentate, to renegotiate the agreement with Anglo-Iranian. Four years later, Mohammed Mossadeq, riding a tide of nationalism, became the nation's prime minister. As an enthusiastic advocate of taking control of Iran's oil resources and using the profits from them to develop his deeply impoverished nation, Mossadeq signed legislation, passed unanimously by the country's parliament, to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
The British government was horrified. Eager to assist the embattled corporation, it imposed an economic embargo on Iran and required its technicians to leave the country, thus effectively blocking the Iranian government from exporting its oil. When this failed to bring the Iranians to heel, the British government sought to arrange for the overthrow of Mossadeq—first through its own efforts and, later (when Britain's diplomatic mission was expelled from Iran for its subversive activities), through the efforts of the U.S. government. But President Truman refused to commit the CIA to this venture.
To the delight of Anglo-Iranian, it received a much friendlier reception from the new Eisenhower administration. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had worked much of his life as a lawyer for multinational corporations, and viewed the Iranian challenge to corporate holdings as a very dangerous example to the world. Consequently, the CIA was placed in charge of an operation, including fomenting riots and other destabilizing activities, to overthrow Mossadeq and advance oil company interests in Iran.
Organized by CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt in the summer of 1953, the coup was quite successful. Mossadeq was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life, the power of the pro-Western shah was dramatically enhanced, and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was once again granted access to Iran's vast oil resources. To be sure, thanks to the key role played in the coup by the U.S. government, the British oil company—renamed British Petroleum—henceforth had to share the lucrative oil extraction business in Iran with U.S. corporations. Even so, in the following decades, with the Iranian public kept in line by the Shah's dictatorship and by his dreaded secret police, the SAVAK, it was a very profitable arrangement—although not for most Iranians.
But, of course, actions can have unforeseen consequences. In Iran, public anger grew at the Shah's increasingly autocratic rule, culminating in the 1979 revolution and the establishment of a regime led by Islamic fanatics. Not surprisingly, the new rulers—and much of the population—blamed the United States for the coup against Mossadeq and its coziness with the Shah. This, in turn, led to the ensuing hostage crisis and to the onset of a very hostile relationship between the Iranian and U.S. governments.
And there was worse to come. Terrified by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism on their southern border, Soviet leaders became obsessed with fundamentalist revolt in Afghanistan and began pouring troops into that strife-torn land. This was the signal for the U.S. government to back an anti-Soviet, fundamentalist jihad in Afghanistan, thus facilitating the growth of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who eventually turned their weapons on the United States.
Furthermore, as part of its anti-Iran strategy, the U.S. government grew increasingly chummy with Iran's arch foe, Iraq. As Saddam Hussein seemed a particularly useful ally, Washington provided him with military intelligence and the helicopters that he used to spray poison gas on Iranian troops during the Iran-Iraq War. Might not such a friendship, cemented with a handshake by Donald Rumsfeld, have emboldened Saddam Hussein to act more freely in the region in subsequent years? It certainly didn't improve U.S. relations with Iran, which today is headed by a deplorable government that—consumed by fear and loathing of the United States—might be developing nuclear weapons.
At this point, we might well wonder if it was such a good idea to overthrow a democratic, secular nationalist like Mossadeq to preserve the profits of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now renamed BP). Indeed, given the sordid record of BP and other giant oil companies, we might wonder why we tolerate them at all.
Dr. Lawrence S. Wittner is Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany. His latest book is Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement (Stanford University Press).
This essay is distributed by the Oregon Peace Institute.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The new age of Elitism
Everywhere you look, from board of directors to CEOs, to vice presidents and presidents, to investment banking and predatory lending and Wall Street, there is an attitude permeating the air and it sticks like rotten eggs! That attitude which so clearly manifests itself in arrogant and cavalier actions from CEOs and Presidents, to the rich and super rich, looking down in disdain upon the useless eaters and peasants of the world that are inferior to their so-called royal dynasty blood lines that they believe are intended to rule the world.
And where does this imperial attitude come from.........Lucifer himself who defied God and desired to be worshipped rather than Jehova who created him, the most beautiful and intelligent angel. And the Living God threw him out of Heaven and he now prowls in the depraved souls of men looking to devour and destroy.
This physical manifestation of Satans elitism is destroying the world inexorably. Many people are losing their life savings, their jobs, their homes and the elite continue like mad to grab and siphon as much wealth as they can fueling their desire to rule over the masses and keep them dependent upon them.
BPs CEO can not even recall any details of the well that his company was leasing and maintaining even though he was and is the Chief Executive Officer. He was too busy going off on vacations and to greedy to care about the billions of lost revenue, not only for the share holders, but for all those effected by the oil spill. All the people along the gulf coast now have to completely rethink their future......perhaps they will turn to Christ and repent of their sins and realize that their is NO future down here but only with Christ Jesus.
Obama headed off to relax and enjoy a day of golf with a private jet and private chef because he is the President of the United States. Meanwhile there are thousands of people who can not relax because they have lost their jobs in the gulf and thousands of businesses that more than likely will have to declare bankruptcy because of lost revenue, not to mention the local communities and towns and cities along the gulf coast that, already in financial distress, will begin to buckle under the more than millions of lost tax revenue needed for their breaking budgets.
The attitude of rich elitism is disgraceful and it smells like sulfur burning from the pits of Hell. Hitlers attitude was more the same. Captialism is a lost cause because the elite are so powerful that they engineered the crisis of complex financial securities that plunged the market and economy into chaos so that they could bring their order out of chaos and usher in their imperial elitism.
Bernie Madoff made off with billions and billions of dollars, the largest ponzie scheme in history. But where did all the money go........obviously he did not spend it all............it was pocketed by the super rich for their conquest to rule over the masses.
AIG, which we know as adventures in greed, did the same. Hidden ELite behind the scenes grabbing as much wealth as they can, robbing people blind and leaving them destitute while they go on their secret rendezvous and live like kings.
The biggest privilege that these elite have is PRIVACY, unlike the rest of us useless eaters and paupers and peasants who are watched like hawks waiting to be pounced upon.
This world disgusts me and I look so forward to when I leave because my citizenship is in heaven and I am just passing through. Its funny that I get asked a lot by people where I am from. I think it rather strange that they ask this, particularly when they look at me as though I were an alien. I thought about some fancy clever and witty responses such as Mars or that I am a 3000 year old archeological find that they just dug up. But the next time someone looks at me strangely and asks where I am from, I am going to tell them I am from Gods kingdom and I am just passing through and I can not wait to go home!
And where does this imperial attitude come from.........Lucifer himself who defied God and desired to be worshipped rather than Jehova who created him, the most beautiful and intelligent angel. And the Living God threw him out of Heaven and he now prowls in the depraved souls of men looking to devour and destroy.
This physical manifestation of Satans elitism is destroying the world inexorably. Many people are losing their life savings, their jobs, their homes and the elite continue like mad to grab and siphon as much wealth as they can fueling their desire to rule over the masses and keep them dependent upon them.
BPs CEO can not even recall any details of the well that his company was leasing and maintaining even though he was and is the Chief Executive Officer. He was too busy going off on vacations and to greedy to care about the billions of lost revenue, not only for the share holders, but for all those effected by the oil spill. All the people along the gulf coast now have to completely rethink their future......perhaps they will turn to Christ and repent of their sins and realize that their is NO future down here but only with Christ Jesus.
Obama headed off to relax and enjoy a day of golf with a private jet and private chef because he is the President of the United States. Meanwhile there are thousands of people who can not relax because they have lost their jobs in the gulf and thousands of businesses that more than likely will have to declare bankruptcy because of lost revenue, not to mention the local communities and towns and cities along the gulf coast that, already in financial distress, will begin to buckle under the more than millions of lost tax revenue needed for their breaking budgets.
The attitude of rich elitism is disgraceful and it smells like sulfur burning from the pits of Hell. Hitlers attitude was more the same. Captialism is a lost cause because the elite are so powerful that they engineered the crisis of complex financial securities that plunged the market and economy into chaos so that they could bring their order out of chaos and usher in their imperial elitism.
Bernie Madoff made off with billions and billions of dollars, the largest ponzie scheme in history. But where did all the money go........obviously he did not spend it all............it was pocketed by the super rich for their conquest to rule over the masses.
AIG, which we know as adventures in greed, did the same. Hidden ELite behind the scenes grabbing as much wealth as they can, robbing people blind and leaving them destitute while they go on their secret rendezvous and live like kings.
The biggest privilege that these elite have is PRIVACY, unlike the rest of us useless eaters and paupers and peasants who are watched like hawks waiting to be pounced upon.
This world disgusts me and I look so forward to when I leave because my citizenship is in heaven and I am just passing through. Its funny that I get asked a lot by people where I am from. I think it rather strange that they ask this, particularly when they look at me as though I were an alien. I thought about some fancy clever and witty responses such as Mars or that I am a 3000 year old archeological find that they just dug up. But the next time someone looks at me strangely and asks where I am from, I am going to tell them I am from Gods kingdom and I am just passing through and I can not wait to go home!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Is the Bilderberg Group behind the economic collapse
For years, whispers of the secretive organization of world leaders known as the Bilderberg Group were considered fodder for conspiracy theories, but in the wake of massive economic upheaval, Europe's mainstream has joined the clamoring to find out what kind of financial wizardry has been going on behind the Bilderberg curtain.
Daniel Estulin, author of the hot-selling book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," has even been invited to present an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament in Brussels June 1 on the subject of the secretive cabal.
"In Spain, Bilderberg is the 'it' topic," Estulin told WND. "The attention this is getting in the European mainstream press is equivalent to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal publishing extensively on it."
The attention, Estulin said, has come as his predictions on the cost of oil and other economic factors – based on investigative reporting into the Bilderbergers – have proved more accurate than other economic models in Europe's financial meltdown.
"Economists cannot explain it without acknowledging the shadow masters working to manipulate economies," Estulin said. "There is a general awakening taking place in people and the national press. This is no longer the domain of conspiracy theorists. Especially in Europe, we're seeing enough cracks to have hope that this dam will break and more and more people will demand to know what the Bilderberg Group has been doing."
Here's your opportunity to get the full report: "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group" by Daniel Estulin
The Bilderberg Group is an annual, invitation-only conference usually with more than 100 of the globe's most influential leaders, such as heads of state and business tycoons. It always is closed to the public and press, a privacy frequently ensured by armed agents.
WND reported attendance at last year's event included U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; Larry Summers, the director of the U.S. National Economic Council; Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
Look at the financial players involved, look at the Bilderberg Group's history, then look at the world economy, Estulin says – you don't have to be a conspiracy nut to recognize elite, powerful forces at work.
"Bilderberg is not some group of demonic world leaders sitting around a table staring into a crystal ball," Estulin laughed. "In the U.S., a lot of people mistakenly believe there are secret societies, a very small group controlling the dynamics of the entire world, instead of understanding Bilderberg as a processes-, ideas- and themes-shaping organization.
"Bilderberg is not a bogeyman," Estulin told WND, "but it is a powerful organization. It's a medium for bringing together financial institutions – the largest, predatory institutions in the world – which acts in ways that are now the worst enemy of society."
How is it an enemy? Estulin believes the current destruction of the economy, and particularly the assault on capitalist economics, is something that has been done on purpose, a meltdown orchestrated from behind the scenes to keep the masses dependent on the elite.
"To these powerful people, national resources are theirs, not everyone's," Estulin told WND. "All these people want an empire. They don't want the people of the world to develop, to prosper, to grow the population. They want us to work for them, where our children and our children's children work for an elite group, the oligarchy.
"If people participate in the ideas shaping the world, if a nation is allowed to grow its own food, develop its own natural resources, be truly self-governing, it would end the Bilderbergers' oligarchy," Estulin said.
He cites David Rockefeller's own admission. Rockefeller, a Bilderberg member, wrote: "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
Exposing the Bilderbergers to the world
Estulin has now been invited to speak to the European Parliament, considered one of the most powerful legislative bodies in the world, by Mario Borghezio, Italy's most senior member.
Estulin compared his address there to an invitation to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, a rare honor for anyone outside the ranks of the government.
Estulin believes the subject of the Bilderbergers never before has seen the light of day in front of such a highly respected audience.
His work will be part of a presentation titled "Bilderberg Group – Towards Creation of One World Company Ltd.," which will include the work of Borghezio and British members Nigel Farage and Gerard Batten.
Estulin's book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," is based on years of his work as a Madrid-based journalist and investigative reporter.
He connected the dots between the Bilderberg Group, world events, politicians and corporate tycoons over a period of 15 years.
Estulin reveals how the web of people and organizations has become a "shadow government whose top priority is to erase the sovereignty of all nation-states and supplant them with global corporate control of their economies under the surveillance of 'an electronic global police state.'"
He reveals that not all members of the group are "bad," explaining that membership is structured like concentric circles, with varying responsibilities and relationships. But it includes almost every famous player in politics and finance, such as George W. Bush, George Soros, George McGovern and Jimmy Carter.
Estulin writes: "This parallel world remains unseen in the daily struggles of most of humanity, but, believe me, it is there: a cesspool of duplicity and lies and double-speak and innuendo and blackmail and bribery. It is a surreal world of double and triple agents, of changing loyalties, of professional psychotic assassins, brainwashed black ops agents, soldiers of fortune and mercenaries, whose primary sources of income are the dirtiest and most despicable government-run subversive missions - the kind that can never be exposed."
The conference this year is scheduled June 3-6 in Sitges, Spain.
Former British cabinet minister Lord Denis Healey, one of the founders of the group, explained the purpose of the group to Jon Ronson of the Guardian.
"Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless," he said. "So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."
In 2009 Estulin reported his sources told him the main topic of the last year's agenda was the world economy. He said his sources inside the group told him the movers and shakers would be discussing two options – "either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty ... or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency."
Estulin reports the following items will be on the Bilderberg Group's 2010 agenda:
Will the Euro survive?
Development in Europe: Europe's exit strategy ... on hold?
Do we have institutions to deal with the world economy?
Greece: Lessons and forward-looking strategies
NATO and Afghanistan: The practical agenda for the alliance
Iran and Russia: Economic and financial threats to the alliance
The consequences of war against terrorism
The influence of domestic issues on American foreign policy
The outlook for Japan's economy
The future of the U.S. dollar: Alternative scenarios
Daniel Estulin, author of the hot-selling book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," has even been invited to present an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament in Brussels June 1 on the subject of the secretive cabal.
"In Spain, Bilderberg is the 'it' topic," Estulin told WND. "The attention this is getting in the European mainstream press is equivalent to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal publishing extensively on it."
The attention, Estulin said, has come as his predictions on the cost of oil and other economic factors – based on investigative reporting into the Bilderbergers – have proved more accurate than other economic models in Europe's financial meltdown.
"Economists cannot explain it without acknowledging the shadow masters working to manipulate economies," Estulin said. "There is a general awakening taking place in people and the national press. This is no longer the domain of conspiracy theorists. Especially in Europe, we're seeing enough cracks to have hope that this dam will break and more and more people will demand to know what the Bilderberg Group has been doing."
Here's your opportunity to get the full report: "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group" by Daniel Estulin
The Bilderberg Group is an annual, invitation-only conference usually with more than 100 of the globe's most influential leaders, such as heads of state and business tycoons. It always is closed to the public and press, a privacy frequently ensured by armed agents.
WND reported attendance at last year's event included U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; Larry Summers, the director of the U.S. National Economic Council; Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
Look at the financial players involved, look at the Bilderberg Group's history, then look at the world economy, Estulin says – you don't have to be a conspiracy nut to recognize elite, powerful forces at work.
"Bilderberg is not some group of demonic world leaders sitting around a table staring into a crystal ball," Estulin laughed. "In the U.S., a lot of people mistakenly believe there are secret societies, a very small group controlling the dynamics of the entire world, instead of understanding Bilderberg as a processes-, ideas- and themes-shaping organization.
"Bilderberg is not a bogeyman," Estulin told WND, "but it is a powerful organization. It's a medium for bringing together financial institutions – the largest, predatory institutions in the world – which acts in ways that are now the worst enemy of society."
How is it an enemy? Estulin believes the current destruction of the economy, and particularly the assault on capitalist economics, is something that has been done on purpose, a meltdown orchestrated from behind the scenes to keep the masses dependent on the elite.
"To these powerful people, national resources are theirs, not everyone's," Estulin told WND. "All these people want an empire. They don't want the people of the world to develop, to prosper, to grow the population. They want us to work for them, where our children and our children's children work for an elite group, the oligarchy.
"If people participate in the ideas shaping the world, if a nation is allowed to grow its own food, develop its own natural resources, be truly self-governing, it would end the Bilderbergers' oligarchy," Estulin said.
He cites David Rockefeller's own admission. Rockefeller, a Bilderberg member, wrote: "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
Exposing the Bilderbergers to the world
Estulin has now been invited to speak to the European Parliament, considered one of the most powerful legislative bodies in the world, by Mario Borghezio, Italy's most senior member.
Estulin compared his address there to an invitation to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, a rare honor for anyone outside the ranks of the government.
Estulin believes the subject of the Bilderbergers never before has seen the light of day in front of such a highly respected audience.
His work will be part of a presentation titled "Bilderberg Group – Towards Creation of One World Company Ltd.," which will include the work of Borghezio and British members Nigel Farage and Gerard Batten.
Estulin's book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," is based on years of his work as a Madrid-based journalist and investigative reporter.
He connected the dots between the Bilderberg Group, world events, politicians and corporate tycoons over a period of 15 years.
Estulin reveals how the web of people and organizations has become a "shadow government whose top priority is to erase the sovereignty of all nation-states and supplant them with global corporate control of their economies under the surveillance of 'an electronic global police state.'"
He reveals that not all members of the group are "bad," explaining that membership is structured like concentric circles, with varying responsibilities and relationships. But it includes almost every famous player in politics and finance, such as George W. Bush, George Soros, George McGovern and Jimmy Carter.
Estulin writes: "This parallel world remains unseen in the daily struggles of most of humanity, but, believe me, it is there: a cesspool of duplicity and lies and double-speak and innuendo and blackmail and bribery. It is a surreal world of double and triple agents, of changing loyalties, of professional psychotic assassins, brainwashed black ops agents, soldiers of fortune and mercenaries, whose primary sources of income are the dirtiest and most despicable government-run subversive missions - the kind that can never be exposed."
The conference this year is scheduled June 3-6 in Sitges, Spain.
Former British cabinet minister Lord Denis Healey, one of the founders of the group, explained the purpose of the group to Jon Ronson of the Guardian.
"Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless," he said. "So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."
In 2009 Estulin reported his sources told him the main topic of the last year's agenda was the world economy. He said his sources inside the group told him the movers and shakers would be discussing two options – "either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty ... or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency."
Estulin reports the following items will be on the Bilderberg Group's 2010 agenda:
Will the Euro survive?
Development in Europe: Europe's exit strategy ... on hold?
Do we have institutions to deal with the world economy?
Greece: Lessons and forward-looking strategies
NATO and Afghanistan: The practical agenda for the alliance
Iran and Russia: Economic and financial threats to the alliance
The consequences of war against terrorism
The influence of domestic issues on American foreign policy
The outlook for Japan's economy
The future of the U.S. dollar: Alternative scenarios
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)