[NYTr] UN Rapporteur Ziegler's Sins Include Condemning US Cuba Blockade Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:54:47 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [See many prior articles by George Monbiot, MADRE, IPS, the Cuban and European press, on Jean Ziegler, biofuels and world hunger in NY Transfer's archives here: http://tinyurl.com/yqyp9r Fidel Castro's stance against inappropriate use of biofuels is well- documented in his apeeches and recent "Reflections" commentaries. Ziegler has also condemned Israeli policies against the Palestinians and the US war on Iraq. - NY Transfer] Granma International - Nov 12, 2007 http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/noviembre/lun12/zeiler.html UN Special Rapporteur describes U.S. blockade of Cuba as bunilateral arroganceb BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD Granma International staff writer CUBA is in the vanguard of the struggle for the right to food, upholding this right in the face of a total blockade,b emphasized UN Special Rapporteur Jean Ziegler, as he concluded a 10-day visit to the island. "No other country works under these conditions in order to affirm its independence and sovereignty,b emphasized the official, who was invited by the Cuban government for a tour of the nation. bThe blockade is a display of unilateral arrogance on the part of the United States,b said the respected Swiss intellectual, to whom the U.S. government once refused entry when he expressed his intention to investigate, from within that country, the blockade on Cuba. Ziegler, 73 years of age, has devoted his life to exposing injustice. bI lived in the Congo and saw children die of hunger, as I have seen nine year olds in Bangladesh weaving silk carpets by hand with such tiny threads that they are blind by the age of 14, while I have seen those rugs auctioned off in London,b he explained in an interview published on the Solidarity website. Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1934, the son of a judge, he was a law professor in Geneva and at the Sorbonne in Paris, and a deputy to the Swiss Helvetic Confederation for eight years. He had the privilege of contributing to Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoirbs Modern Times. He is the author of a number of books, among them Swiss Whitewash, about the scandalous money laundering of narco-dollars carried out by banks in that country. His investigation Nazi Gold reveals how bankers in his country were responsible for prolonging World War II by laundering the gold Hitler had stolen from occupied countries. In 1998, Ziegler supported the claims made by Nazi survivors against Swiss banks before the United States Senate Banking Commission in Washington, provoking the fury of bankers who tried to bankrupt him with charges in court. Ziegler has audaciously continued his mission in the defense of the humble and against those he has called bthe new masters of the world.b In the aforementioned interview, he explained, bIn April of 2002, just eight months after September 11, the Carlyle group met in a top-class hotel in Geneva. The Carlyle group specializes in heavy armaments and controls two thirds of Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. People like James Baker, Frank Carlucci and others from the conservative U.S. establishment have received substantial commissions from Carlyle. Among the great patrons of the group is George Bush Senior, who arrived at the meeting with princes from the Saudi royal family and the big Swiss bankers.b bSuddenly there was a stir as a guest appeared at the last minute and, naturally, presented his credentials. The security guards called the police and issued an alarm as his documents identified him as Bin Laden, Yeslam. He is Osamabs half brother, who has his capital in Carlyle, as does Osama himself.b bThese executive boards, like Enron in its day, enjoy more power and personal fortune that any king has or has ever had. This power is held over a new international order that starves to death 100,000 people a day.b According to Ziegler, we are living through a rupture in time, in history, bWhat globalizing capital is putting into question now are all the conquests of the Enlightenment. All of the values of our civilization are disowned by armed neoliberalism.b * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================