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TransCanada’s $15B Lawsuit Against U.S. on Keystone XL Presents Strong Case
Eric Zuesse
TransCanada, the Canadian company that had been planning to build and own its proposed Keystone XL Pipeline carrying Canada’s tar-sands oil to Texas Gulf Coast refineries for export to Europe and elsewhere, released to the public, on Wednesday January 6th, two legal presentations against the United States, because U.S. President Barack Obama, through his Secretary of State John Kerry, on 6 November 2015, had said no to TransCanada’s proposed oil pipeline.
TransCanada’s basic legal argument contains many allegations, each one of which will be exceedingly difficult for the United States to defend successfully against; and all of which taken together provide TransCanada’s stockholders a reasonably high likelihood of ultimately winning their penalty claim, even perhaps all of the $15 billion that they are seeking against U.S. taxpayers for the American President’s having violated rights of TransCanada stockholders to profit, under the 1994 NAFTA trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada. This case could be a harbinger of many more to come if President Obama’s three mega trade deals become passed by Congress (TTIP, TPP, and TISA), each of which extends the same profitable potentials for corporations to sue the U.S. government.
America’s Subservience to the Saud Family
Eric Zuesse
The Saud royal family are by far the world’s largest buyers of U.S. weapons. The King of Saudi Arabia is by far the world’s richest person, with a net worth well over a trillion dollars; and, when his (Aramco’s) 260 billion barrels of oil reserves were valued at $100 per barrel, his net worth was around $15 trillion. The King has total control over the world’s largest (in terms of dollar-value) company: Aramco. (On January 7th, Britain’s Economist bannered “Saudi Arabia is considering an IPO of Aramco, probably the world’s most valuable company.” Aramco is certainly the world’s largest oil company in terms of sales, and it has twice the reserves of the company that has the world’s second-largest reserves; nobody comes even close to Aramco’s dominance.) Since 1980, the Saudi government has owned 100% of Aramco; the Saudi government is totally under the King’s exclusive control. The King owns all that oil, and his extraction cost is reputed to be the world’s lowest. Forbes and Bloomberg decline to estimate his wealth, because kings don’t want them to; but, clearly, his dwarfs that of anyone such as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. And Gates and Buffett don’t possess the power to keep their wealth from becoming published, but the Saudi King does.
Saudis Terror-Bomb Doctors Without Borders Yemeni Hospital
Stephen Lendman
Saudi aerial forces terror-bombed MSF Yemeni facilities multiple times last year, using US-supplied coordinates - again on Sunday.
Its spokesman confirmed it, the Shiara hospital located in Razeh - killing at least four, injuring 10 others. Victims remain trapped in rubble. Expect the death toll to rise.
MSM strongly condemned the attack, saying “all parties to the conflict” must respect medical facilities, staff and patients. MSF’s Raquel Ayora explained “(a)ll the warring parties, including the Saudi-led coalition, are regularly informed of the GPS coordinates of the medical sites where MSF works and we are in constant dialogue with them to ensure that they understand the severity of the humanitarian consequences of the conflict and the need to respect the provision of medical services.”
Gulf States Support Saudi Regional Terrorism
Stephen Lendman
On Saturday, Gulf Cooperation Council states met in extraordinary Riyadh session, discussing Saudi/Iranian relations.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE support the kingdom’s anti-Iranian agenda. Oman alone urges resolving differences diplomatically, maintaining its longstanding tradition of cooperation with Tehran, saying it poses no threat to other regional states.
Following the session, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said “(w)e are looking at additional measures to be taken if (Tehran) continues with its current policies” - without further elaboration. He irresponsibly blamed Tehran for Saudi regional destabilization efforts, adding moves Riyadh intends making “will be clearer in the near future.”
Obama’s Phony Hyperbole on Gun Violence
Stephen Lendman
New York Times editors gave Obama op-ed space on gun violence instead of denouncing his high crimes and demanding accountability.
They exceed the worst of George Bush - with a year remaining in office to extend his deplorable rap sheet.
Calling “gun violence in our country a crisis…constituting one of the greatest threats to public health and” safety belies his war on humanity since day one in office. He bears full responsibility for US-sponsored global violence, raping one country after another, waging direct and proxy wars, enforcing homeland tyranny, systematically destroying fundamental freedoms, turning America into Guatemala.
Past and Present Islamist, Democratic and Nazi International Brigades
James Petras
Introduction
The Islamic State (IS) has become a magnet for international brigades, drawing over 30,000 fighters from 5 continents and 86 countries to their war in Iraq and Syria.
While the international brigades are part of a global movement, most of the volunteers come from two-dozen countries, mainly in the Middle East, Maghreb, Western Europe, Russia and Central Asia.
Most Islamist internationalists are paid a salary to fight and engage in police functions within IS-occupied regions.
This essay will identify the principle sources of recruitment of Islamist internationalists and the reasons underlying their commitment. We will also contrast and compare IS internationalists to the earlier international brigades fighting for the Spanish Republic against fascists in the 1930’s; fascist internationalists fighting for the Nazis against the USSR in the 1940’s; and the democratic internationalists in the 1970’s who joined the Sandinista revolution against the Somoza dictatorship.
Big Lies About Russia’s Syrian Campaign Persist
Stephen Lendman
Washington’s view on Russia’s Syrian campaign depends on who’s commenting at different times along with what major media scoundrels report or suppress.
Pentagon commanders are awestruck by Moscow’s formidable military power, its sophisticated weapons matching or exceeding their own capability, outdoing the prowess of other NATO countries.
Its navy once derisively called “more rust than ready” is reinventing itself impressively. Its overall military capability dispels the myth about unmatched US superiority. Its Syrian campaign since September 30 has been devastatingly effective by any standard, permitting government ground forces to recapture lost territory, making slow and steady gains.
Iraqi Official Says US Aiding ISIS
by Stephen Lendman
Clear evidence shows Washington uses ISIS and other terrorist groups as imperial foot soldiers in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Its so-called war on terror is a complete hoax, media scoundrels perpetuating the myth.
Iraqi parliamentarian Awatif Naima accused US forces of “expanding their heliborne operations in Huweija, Beiji and Sharqat…with the goal of assisting the ISIL terrorist group.”
Iraqi forces witnessed airdrops of weapons, munitions, food and other supplies. Instead of combating ISIS, Pentagon commanders directly aid its fighters. Last fall, Iraqi forces seized large amounts of ISIS-supplied US weapons, munitions and other military hardware, including anti-armor, anti-tank TOW missiles, as well as shoulder-launched, man-portable, surface-to-air missiles (SAMS) defense systems (Manpads) able to down helicopters and low-flying aircraft.
Turkey’s Rogue Regional Agenda
Stephen Lendman
Turkey threatens regional peace and security, a rogue state run by a fascist despot, Erdogan seeking greater iron-fisted authority than already.
He supports ISIS and other regional terrorist groups, supplying them with weapons and munitions, letting them move freely cross-border to and from Syria and Iraq, waging terror war without mercy on Turkish Kurds.
In late December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blasted his regional agenda, saying:
“Well, the Iraqis invited us to move in and we like Iraq, but we are still trying to tell them what is right and what is wrong.”
“As for Syria, (Assad is wrongfully called a) dictator. (His) days are numbered, and we’ll keep bombing (its territory) without asking for permission from anyone.”
The Sauds’ Impunity
Eric Zuesse
No matter how bad the fundamentalist Sunni-Islamic Saud royal family are, America’s government still supports them and condemns the countries that the Sauds hate: those are the Shia-led nations of Iran and of Syria.
All jihadist terrorism is Sunni, none of it is Shia; but the U.S. government is anti-Shia, not anti-Sunni. There were no Shia involved in the 9/11 attacks, nor in the Mumbai attacks, nor in the Charlie Hebdo or other Paris attacks, nor in the London bombing, nor in any of the others. All of the terrorism that wracks Afghanistan and Pakistan is Sunni. ISIS is Sunni; Al Qaeda is Sunni. As Sunni fundamentalists, they all hate especially Shia as “infidels,” because Shia claim to be Muslims, and Sunni fundamentalists take that very claim to be not only a lie but a personal insult to themselves as ‘real’ Muslims, because they ‘know’ what a ‘real’ Muslim is — they’ve been taught it, and it’s distinctively Sunni.
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