G4S already stands accused of human rights violations from Israel to South Africa to the United Kingdom
The firm G4S operates the Highlands Youth Academy in Avon Park, Florida,
where young men and boys from 16 to 19 years old are incarcerated. A
riot at the prison two years ago prompted the investigation.
"The buildings are in disrepair and not secured, the juvenile
delinquents are improperly supervised and receive no meaningful tools to
not re-offend, the staff is woefully undertrained and ill equipped to
handle the juveniles in their charge, and the safety of the public is at
risk," the presentment states.
"Yet, G4S has a 9 percent profit margin and expects to make $800,000 in
profit this year from the operation of the Highlands Youth Academy."
G4S runs 28 other juvenile detention centers in Florida alone. According to The Ledger,
G4S has a $40 million contract to run the Highlands Youth Academy for
five years. The presentment emphasizes: "While the citizens are
essentially being ripped off—the juveniles are being even more poorly
served."
Read More
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Odde To Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi
In 1967 Colonel Gaddafi inherited one of the poorest nations in
Africa; however, by the time he was assassinated, Gaddafi had turned
Libya into Africa’s wealthiest nation. Libya had the highest GDP per
capita and life expectancy on the continent. Less people lived below the
poverty line than in the Netherlands.
After NATO’s intervention in 2011, Libya is now a failed state and its economy is in shambles. As the government’s control slips through their fingers and into to the militia fighters’ hands, oil production has all but stopped.
On one side, in the West of the country, Islamist-allied militias took over control of the capital Tripoli and other cities and set up their own government, chasing away a parliament that was elected over the summer.
On the other side, in the East of the Country, the “legitimate” government dominated by anti-Islamist politicians, exiled 1,200 kilometers away in Tobruk, no longer governs anything.
America is clearly fed up with the two inept governments in Libya and is now backing a third force: long-time CIA asset, General Khalifa Hifter, who aims to set himself up as Libya’s new dictator. Hifter, who broke with Gaddafi in the 1980s and lived for years in Langley, Virginia, close to the CIA’s headquarters, where he was trained by the CIA, has taken part in numerous American regime change efforts, including the aborted attempt to overthrow Gaddafi in 1996.
In 1991 the New York Times reported that Hifter may have been one of “600 Libyan soldiers trained by American intelligence officials in sabotage and other guerrilla skills…to fit in neatly into the Reagan Administration’s eagerness to topple Colonel Qaddafi”.
Hifter’s forces are currently vying with the Al Qaeda group Ansar al-Sharia for control of Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi. Ansar al-Sharia was armed by America during the NATO campaign against Colonel Gaddafi. In yet another example of the U.S. backing terrorists backfiring, Ansar al-Sharia has recently been blamed by America for the brutal assassination of U.S. Ambassador Stevens.
For over 40 years, Gaddafi promoted economic democracy and used the nationalized oil wealth to sustain progressive social welfare programs for all Libyans. Under Gaddafi’s rule, Libyans enjoyed not only free health-care and free education, but also free electricity and interest-free loans. Now thanks to NATO’s intervention the health-care sector is on the verge of collapse as thousands of Filipino health workers flee the country, institutions of higher education across the East of the country are shut down, and black outs are a common occurrence in once thriving Tripoli.
When the colonel seized power in 1969, few women went to university. Today, more than half of Libya’s university students are women. One of the first laws Gaddafi passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law.
A decade of failed military expeditions in the Middle East has left the American people in trillions of dollars of debt. However, one group has benefited immensely from the costly and deadly wars: America’s Military-Industrial-Complex.
Building new military bases means billions of dollars for America’s military elite. As Will Blum has pointed out, following the bombing of Iraq, the United States built new bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Given that Libya sits atop the strategic intersection of the African, Middle Eastern and European worlds, Western control of the nation, has always been a remarkably effective way to project power into these three regions and beyond.
NATO’s military intervention may have been a resounding success for America’s military elite and oil companies but for the ordinary Libyan, the military campaign may indeed go down in history as one of the greatest failures of the 21st century.
Read More by Garikai Chengu research scholar at Harvard University
After NATO’s intervention in 2011, Libya is now a failed state and its economy is in shambles. As the government’s control slips through their fingers and into to the militia fighters’ hands, oil production has all but stopped.
On one side, in the West of the country, Islamist-allied militias took over control of the capital Tripoli and other cities and set up their own government, chasing away a parliament that was elected over the summer.
On the other side, in the East of the Country, the “legitimate” government dominated by anti-Islamist politicians, exiled 1,200 kilometers away in Tobruk, no longer governs anything.
America is clearly fed up with the two inept governments in Libya and is now backing a third force: long-time CIA asset, General Khalifa Hifter, who aims to set himself up as Libya’s new dictator. Hifter, who broke with Gaddafi in the 1980s and lived for years in Langley, Virginia, close to the CIA’s headquarters, where he was trained by the CIA, has taken part in numerous American regime change efforts, including the aborted attempt to overthrow Gaddafi in 1996.
In 1991 the New York Times reported that Hifter may have been one of “600 Libyan soldiers trained by American intelligence officials in sabotage and other guerrilla skills…to fit in neatly into the Reagan Administration’s eagerness to topple Colonel Qaddafi”.
Hifter’s forces are currently vying with the Al Qaeda group Ansar al-Sharia for control of Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi. Ansar al-Sharia was armed by America during the NATO campaign against Colonel Gaddafi. In yet another example of the U.S. backing terrorists backfiring, Ansar al-Sharia has recently been blamed by America for the brutal assassination of U.S. Ambassador Stevens.
Hifter is currently receiving logistical and
air support from the U.S. because his faction envision a mostly secular
Libya open to Western financiers, speculators, and capital.
Perhaps, Gaddafi’s greatest crime, in the eyes of NATO, was his
desire to put the interests of local labour above foreign capital and
his quest for a strong and truly United States of Africa. In fact, in
August 2011, President Obama confiscated $30 billion from Libya’s
Central Bank, which Gaddafi had earmarked for the establishment of the
African IMF and African Central Bank.For over 40 years, Gaddafi promoted economic democracy and used the nationalized oil wealth to sustain progressive social welfare programs for all Libyans. Under Gaddafi’s rule, Libyans enjoyed not only free health-care and free education, but also free electricity and interest-free loans. Now thanks to NATO’s intervention the health-care sector is on the verge of collapse as thousands of Filipino health workers flee the country, institutions of higher education across the East of the country are shut down, and black outs are a common occurrence in once thriving Tripoli.
When the colonel seized power in 1969, few women went to university. Today, more than half of Libya’s university students are women. One of the first laws Gaddafi passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law.
A decade of failed military expeditions in the Middle East has left the American people in trillions of dollars of debt. However, one group has benefited immensely from the costly and deadly wars: America’s Military-Industrial-Complex.
Building new military bases means billions of dollars for America’s military elite. As Will Blum has pointed out, following the bombing of Iraq, the United States built new bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Given that Libya sits atop the strategic intersection of the African, Middle Eastern and European worlds, Western control of the nation, has always been a remarkably effective way to project power into these three regions and beyond.
NATO’s military intervention may have been a resounding success for America’s military elite and oil companies but for the ordinary Libyan, the military campaign may indeed go down in history as one of the greatest failures of the 21st century.
Read More by Garikai Chengu research scholar at Harvard University
Monday, July 6, 2015
Dr Patrick Ngugi Njoroge - An Independent Mind
INDEPENDENT MIND
“Totally
devoid of ego and instinctively averse to self-advertisement” is how a
senior Treasury official and long-serving central banker described him.
His
style brings to public service a rare quality of humility and an
aversion to the trappings of power and opulence.
During
vetting Dr Njoroge demonstrated an independent mind, taking a different
position to what MPs were pushing and also going against the government
position on some issues.
He was, for example,
forthright that he considers Kenya’s external borrowing excessive,
saying the country must be careful in considering more debt and where
the money was going.
This contradicted the National Treasury position, which is that the country’s borrowing is healthy and within the limits.
He
also dismissed proposals by MPs to form a government bank to provide
cheaper loans and bring interest rates down or simply introduce
legislation to control bank lending rates.
“I think it
would be a big mistake to even think that we can control interest rates
through legislation. It will not work. That is why we moved from price
control. Commercial banks just need to get confident to move ahead with
market-based solutions that are sensitive for their businesses like
control on inflation. This is something we have done in other countries
by assuring the banks that the economy is under control, we will come up
with a plan that is acceptable to all,” said Dr Njoroge.The man in charge of Kenya’s money has turned down the offer to live in an expansive home in Nairobi’s Muthaiga and ride in a motorcade.
Dr Patrick Ngugi Njoroge, will instead be housed in communal accommodation in Nairobi’s Loresho estate with his fellow members of Opus Dei (Latin for "work of God"), an institution of the Catholic church.
The
institution teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that
ordinary life is a path to sanctity. Most of its members are lay people,
with secular priests under a bishop.
When
he was being vetted by MPs before his appointment by President Uhuru
Kenyatta, Dr Njoroge was asked why he does not own property in Kenya and
is still single at 54 yet his monthly salary at the International
Monetary Fund was Sh3 million a month.
A MATTER OF CHOICE
“Yes
I don’t have a single asset here in Kenya and this is where I am at
this point and it doesn’t mean that this how it will be forever. I
subscribe to being very deliberate about that. This is my economic model
and may be years after retirement, I would want to invest in other
things. That should not mean I have any financial inabilities. It comes
with the profession,” the country’s ninth Central Bank governor said.
Xi Jinping’s signature governing style
Chinese president Xi Jinping’s signature governing style has been to
consolidate power and then wield it aggressively and independently.
He’s destroyed political opposition within his own party by locking up
Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, once rumored to be against his ascension,
for the rest of their lives. Xi’s much-touted anti-corruption drive
has been a vehicle to practically wipe out their supporters, and his
opposition, from the Communist Party altogether.
He created a new National Security Commission, which he heads, then
passed a wide-ranging national security law that has been called
“neo-totalitarian” for the authority it gives the government over
everything from culture to space to the internet.
Under Xi, the party banned everything from adultery to puns, while
silencing and sometimes locking up popular commentators. He’s said to
make far-reaching policy decisions practically on his own.
But… the stock markets. Despite government attempts to prop them up in
the form of urging investors to stay in the markets, loosening
monetary controls, stock buying by state-owned banks and oil
companies, and various other measures, they are just not falling in
line.
The Shanghai Composite Index was down over 5% in early trading in
China on Friday, and below the benchmark 3700 level. If China’s
markets close down today, it will be the third day in a row, worsening
an already painful bear market that is sure to take a toll on an
already-slowing Chinese economy.
Read More
consolidate power and then wield it aggressively and independently.
He’s destroyed political opposition within his own party by locking up
Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, once rumored to be against his ascension,
for the rest of their lives. Xi’s much-touted anti-corruption drive
has been a vehicle to practically wipe out their supporters, and his
opposition, from the Communist Party altogether.
He created a new National Security Commission, which he heads, then
passed a wide-ranging national security law that has been called
“neo-totalitarian” for the authority it gives the government over
everything from culture to space to the internet.
Under Xi, the party banned everything from adultery to puns, while
silencing and sometimes locking up popular commentators. He’s said to
make far-reaching policy decisions practically on his own.
But… the stock markets. Despite government attempts to prop them up in
the form of urging investors to stay in the markets, loosening
monetary controls, stock buying by state-owned banks and oil
companies, and various other measures, they are just not falling in
line.
The Shanghai Composite Index was down over 5% in early trading in
China on Friday, and below the benchmark 3700 level. If China’s
markets close down today, it will be the third day in a row, worsening
an already painful bear market that is sure to take a toll on an
already-slowing Chinese economy.
Read More
Can BRICS Counter the West
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa launch a $100bn development bank
The New Development Bank, announced at the sixth BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, will fund infrastructure projects in the founding members' countries, as well as in developing nations.
With its headquarters in Shanghai, China, and someone from India expected to be its first president, the bank will start out with $50bn in capital, with each BRICS country contributing an equal amount.
Total capital is expected to eventually double to $100bn.
A so-called Contingent Reserve Arrangement will also be created, in which each country will put in a designated amount in case of a currency crisis.
The contingency fund will amount to $100bn, with China contributing $41bn, followed by Brazil, Russia, and India putting in $18bn each, and South Africa chipping in $5b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcBF0jQpSU&feature=youtu.be
The New Development Bank, announced at the sixth BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, will fund infrastructure projects in the founding members' countries, as well as in developing nations.
With its headquarters in Shanghai, China, and someone from India expected to be its first president, the bank will start out with $50bn in capital, with each BRICS country contributing an equal amount.
Total capital is expected to eventually double to $100bn.
A so-called Contingent Reserve Arrangement will also be created, in which each country will put in a designated amount in case of a currency crisis.
The contingency fund will amount to $100bn, with China contributing $41bn, followed by Brazil, Russia, and India putting in $18bn each, and South Africa chipping in $5b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcBF0jQpSU&feature=youtu.be
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