Monthly Archives: February 2012

VIEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE.

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PAUL KINGSNORTH is a longstanding environmental activist who recently published an article ; “Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist” ; http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6599 , in which he is critical of  current environmental activism as it has become centred around a beaurocratic    “SUSTAINABILITY INDUSTRY” which has a fixation on numbers of parts per million (ppm) rather than the ACTUAL biodiversity it is apparently trying to preserve. Paul Kingsnorth, Liarre Keith and David Abrams make a very interesting debate about the future of “environmentalism” and what part social justice, OCCUPY have had in progressing or inhibiting the battle for biodiversity.

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PEAK OIL REALITY, FILMED DEBATE BETWEEN John Hofmeister (Shell) and Ted Patzek (University of Texas and ASPO-USA). The debate highlights that declining output from most oil-exporting nations over the past decade, in the face of rising global demand, is likely to create a lasting drop-off in global availability of oil-spelling serious consequences for all oil-importing nations, including the United States. This underscores the report below (AUSTRALIA SLEEPWALKING INTO PEAK OIL) the 2015 maximum supply availability, then it’s all downhill. Some amazing statistics incorporating the growth of China and India !

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GARZON GUILTY VERDICT IS SPAIN’S SHAME

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http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/hub.1326407570.html

Supporters sign a poster of Baltasar Garzón in Madrid.

2 OF 3 VERDICTS AGAINST BALTHASAR GARZON HAVE NOW BEEN DELIVERED. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT IN ALL 3 CASES THE SPANISH SUPREME COURT PROSECUTOR HAS ASKED THAT  ALL CHARGES.BE DROPPED.

THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE LAND, FROM WHICH THERE IS NO APPEAL LAST WEEK FOUND GARZON GUILTY OF ILLEGALLY WIRETAPPING CLIENT/LAWYER CONVERSATIONS AND SUSPENDED HIM FOR 11 YEARS. THIS WEEK THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE LAND “SHELVED” THE NEW YORK bribery allegations on the basis that a staute of limitations applied, but did not quosh the charges.

A VERDICT IS STILL AWAITING ON THE CHARGE OF HAVING IGNORED THE AMNESTY LAWS OF THE 70’s AND ORDERING THAT CIVIL WAR VICTIMS BE ALLOWED TO BE EXHUMED FROM MASS GRAVES AND REBURIED.

THE MOST IDIOTIC RESPONSE HAS COME FROM DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría of the Partido Popular (PP), who demands that institutions be “respected” whilst failing to realise that institutions MUST EARN RESPECT through the quality of their decision making, and that where institutions are seen to be corrupt then questioning is warranted and indeed necessary by ALL. http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/02/10/inenglish/1328902787_716051.html

NO MATTER THAT GARZON was investigating up to 70 corrupt (PP) officials feeding at the E.U. “money trough” in the “good old days” since AZNAR, the money flowed like wine and to date no-one has been brought to justice for the mispent billions in Spain but BALTHASAR GARZON, the man who was leading the investigation.

NO MATTER THAT WIRE TAPS HAVE BEEN AUTHORISED in other judicial investigations on more than 1 occasion, and it is hardly supprising that GARZON’S PERSECUTION BY THE STACKED AND PERSONNALY BIASED JUDICIARY halts that particular investigation. excerpts from the tapes below IN JOSE YOLDI’S ARTICLE demonstrate the validity of Garzons cause.

The most balanced opinions I have heard are those from Amnesty International lawyer Hugo Relva

“The court stands to become the laughing stock of the judiciary”

“A coincidence according to plan.”                                                                           Jose Yoldi. 

The conviction against investigating judge Baltasar Garzón had been forecast as the most likely result in all the private bets at the Supreme Court, High Court and General Council of the Judiciary. The investigation into allegedly illegal wiretaps ordered by the judge got started in February 2010, the third of three cases brought against Garzón in the Supreme Court.

A year before that, the far-right group Manos Limpias had sued Garzón over his inquiry into Franco-era crimes that the then-High Court judge felt constituted crimes against humanity. This part of Spanish history has never been judicially investigated on the basis of an 1977 amnesty law. Soon afterwards, a third case that had already been dismissed, involving sponsorship by Santander bank of lectures Garzón gave at NYU, was reopened.

The Franco-crimes case against him, pursued passionately by Judge Luciano Varela, was necessary to temporarily suspend Garzón from his duties, and the New York case extended the suspicion that he improperly accepted money from a source he later cleared of tax fraud allegations. But the important case against Garzón was the wiretap order.

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BALTASAR GARZON, DEMOCRACY NOW INTERVIEW.

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 BALTASAR GARZON IS INTERVIEWED BY AMY GOODMAN AND JUAN GONZALEZ in May 2011 before the November election swept Manuel Rajoy’s right-wing party to power in Spain. Since the election result was known on November 20th, (the anniversary of the death of dictator Francisco Franco), the “snails pace” Justice Department has proceeded with obscene haste to GET GARZON.

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This interview gives the background for Garzon’s ability to apply Universal Jurisdiction to bring to justice dictators like Augusto Pinochet, and dispense justice on behalf of victims. It also reveals (via Wikileaks) the pressure put on the Spanish Govenrment by the U.S.A. to drop the case. But as can be seen, his actions have strong public support.

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3 separate trials are now taking place consequatively forcing Garzon to defend himself consistently for up to 5 weeks in Spain’s highest court.

It is relevant to consider that Garzon was investigating the Gurtel corruption case involving up to 70 of Manuel Rajoy’s “Partido Popular” (PP). The Gürtel casefile consists of tens of thousands of pages describing possible financial irregularities and acts of personal favouritism within the Partido Popular. It´s regarded as the biggest political scandal since the corruption case against former Marbella mayor Julián Muñoz, who allegedly pocketed millions of euros from illegal real estate transactions.
The Gürtel investigation was opened by judge Baltasar Garzon, now himself an object of investigation before the supreme court for ordering investigations of crimes during the Franco-era and possible prevarication. Due to Garzon’s suspension, the Gurtel investigation has stopped.

Judge Baltasar Garzón is known for ordering the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and seeking to indict members of the Bush administration for their role in torturing prisoners. Now, Garzón himself is facing a trial in Madrid, after right-wing groups objected to his investigation of atrocities committed by supporters of the dictator Francisco Franco. While prosecutors reportedly disagreed with the charges that Garzón had exceeded his authority, Spanish law allows civilians to lodge criminal charges. If convicted, Garzón could lose his right to sit as a judge in Spain.

Garzón has used the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to investigate war crimes and torture across national lines, famously indicting Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda in 2003 and attempting to indict members of the Bush administration for authorizing torture at Guantánamo Bay and overseas.