25 Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry

Researching and snagging an adequate, wallet-friendly health care plan is tough these days, despite its high-profile presence in political debates. A large part of the controversy over expensive health costs stems from criticism of high-priced medications marketed by powerful pharmaceutical companies. From Medicare fraud to CEOs worth billions of dollars, big drug companies are accused of putting profits above patients, spinning false PR campaigns and more. We've uncovered 25 of the most shocking facts about the pharmaceutical industry in this list.

1. The price of drugs is increasing faster than anything else a patient pays for: Marcia Angell writes in her book The Truth About Drug Companies that "drugs are the fastest-growing part of the health care bill which itself is rising at an alarming rate." Dr. Angell argues that patients are spending more on drugs simply because they are being prescribed more drugs than ever before and that "those drugs are more likely to be expensive new ones instead of older, cheaper ones, and that the prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up, sometimes several times a year."
2. Your health care provider may have an ulterior motive behind your prescription: In 2007, the St. Petersburg Times reported that drug reps often give gifts to convince medical professionals to prescribe the medications that they represent. Dr. James P. Orlowski tries to teach his students that interaction with drug reps is not in the best interests of patients. Even though many doctors may believe solicitation from drug reps is unethical or at the very least impractical, gifts like free meals, pens, posters, books, and free samples are offered to physicians in an effort to influence their prescription practices.
3. Pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than research: According to ScienceDaily, a "new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development." Despite pharmaceutical companies' claims that Americans pay such high prices for prescription medications because they're really paying for research and development costs, the industry spent $33.5 billion on promotion costs in 2004. The study also "supports the position that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry is marketing-driven and challenges the perception of a research-driven, life-saving, pharmaceutical industry" that values the lives of its patients, rather than their spending habits.
4. Brand name meds often have a 1,000% mark-up price: Many Americans are aware that brand name prescriptions cost more than generic meds, and that part of the reason for the higher prices is because they've been hiked up by the pharmaceutical companies themselves and aren't necessarily a direct result of expensive new ingredients. This study, however, reveals that some meds can have a mark-up of 1,000%. For example, according to the study, consumers pay approximately $215 for 100 tablets of the allergy medicine Claritin, while the cost of the generic active ingredient in Claritin only costs 71 cents.
5. Popular meds are referred to as "blockbuster" drugs: The new presence of blockbuster drugs is a testament to how the pharmaceutical company's marketing tactics and price hikes are getting out of control. According to TheAtlantic.com, "the industry usually considers a drug to be a blockbuster if it reaches a billion dollars a year in sales." The drug Prilosec, for example, was marketed as a miracle pill that allowed people to "eat the burritos and curries that their gastrointestinal systems had placed off-limits." Prilosec is the first drug to make the industry $5 billion in one year, and the next year, in 2000, Prilosec reached $6 billion. Consumers called it "purple Jesus," making it easy for the drug company to capitalize on patients addict-like behavior.
6. Vioxx advertising reaches new heights: To give consumers more perspective on how prescription drug advertising has reached new heights, the AARP Bulletin reports that pharmaceutical giant "Merck spent more advertising Vioxx, according to NIHCM, than the $125 million spent promoting Pepsi or the $146 million spent on Budweiser beer ads. It even came close to the $169 million spent promoting GM's Saturn, the nation's most advertised car." While "drug prices are rising at more than twice the rate of inflation," industry analysts and insiders debate over whether or not rising prices is the fault of the pharmaceutical company or the consumers.
7. Drug reps often have no medical or science education: Is it safe for physicians to assume that the professionals they meet with to discuss new medications and prescription recommendations for their patients actually have backgrounds in medicine or science? According to ABC News, it's not. A former drug rep for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lily, Shahram Ahari testified before Congress, saying that "pharmaceutical companies hire former cheerleaders and ex-models to wine and dine doctors, exaggerate the drug's benefits and underplay their side-effects." He also explained that he was taught "how to exceed spending limits for important clients...[by] using friendships and personal gifts" and to "exploit sexual tension."
8. Pharmaceutical companies are helping, hurting the AIDS epidemics: Pharmaceutical companies have been feeling the pressure from the UN as well as governments and activists from underdeveloped countries to supply tests and medicine for AIDS patients at reduced prices. According to the Center for International Development at Harvard University, the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. agreed to slash prices on its two AIDS drugs in Brazil" in 2001, but supposedly "in part to stop that country from importing a generic version." Unpatented AIDS drugs are circulating in countries like South Africa, which makes pharmaceutical companies nervous because "patents are the basis for high drug prices," and the presence of generic drugs "weakens the drug companies' efforts to maintain a worldwide environment that respects intellectual property." The debate surrounding intellectual property and the private sector vs. patient rights and affordable health care is magnified on a much larger, more global scale in this situation.
9. Doctors can choose to reveal or keep private their prescription records: Drug reps often research doctors' prescription records before meeting with them and attempting to convince them to recommend certain drugs. By understanding a physician's history with a given drug, the drug rep is more likely to influence caregivers and sell more medicines. The New York Times reports, however, that not all doctors are falling prey to these background checks. In 2006, the American Medical Association decided to give doctors a choice to keep their "records off limits to drug sales representatives" and make prescription recommendations based on unbiased judgment.
10. Good PR trumps patient care: When Merck & Co. found out that one of their products, Vioxx, can increase the risk of heart attacks in its patients, it allegedly "played down" the evidence. Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Eric Topol accused Merck of "scientific misconduct," and two days later, Dr. Topol was kicked off the board of governors at the Cleveland Clinic.
11. Toxins found in drugs exported from China: A top story in the spring of 2007 centered around Zheng Xiaoyu, a Chinese drug czar who was sentenced to death "after admitting that he took bribes while running the country's Food & Drug Administration between 1998 and 2005," when he served as commissioner. According to The New York Times, "every year, thousands of people [in China] are sickened or killed because of rampant counterfeiting and tainted food and drugs."
12. Abbott Laboratories charged Medi-Cal nearly $10 for saline solution : This list has already mentioned some of the extreme mark-ups for prescription medications, but Abbott Laboratories' fraudulent behavior towards California's state Medicaid program actually ended up in court. The state attorney general "sued 39 drug companies...accusing them of bilking the state of hundreds of millions of dollars by overcharging for medicines," reports The New York Times. An example of the outrageous mark-ups include the $9.73 price tag for saline solution, which cost other health care providers 95 cents.
13. Guilty of Medicare fraud: Pharmaceutical companies are also being tried in federal courts as an answer to their exploitation of Medicare. AstraZeneca Inc. had to pay $280 million in civil penalties and $63 million in criminal penalties to the federal government after the company "paid kickbacks to health care providers and coached them to cheat Medicare to promote a prostate cancer drug."
14. Some generic brands are becoming more popular: Those wanting to really "stick it" to the big man and who hope to see pharmaceutical companies stumble as the result of more competition and fewer consumers will enjoy this 2007 report from The New York Times, which finds that "annual inflation in drug costs is at the lowest rate in the three decades since the Labor Department began using its current method of tracking prescription prices." Patients are starting to use generic medications and buy prescriptions from discount stores like Wal-Mart to alleviate the financial burden of brand name drugs.
15. Combined wealth of top 5 pharmaceutical companies outweighs GNP of sub-Saharan Africa.: Corporate Watch shows the public just how much wealth big pharmaceutical companies have, even on a global scale. Their report references The Guardian, which found that "the combined worth of the world’s top five drug companies is twice the combined GNP of all sub-Saharan Africa and their influence on the rules of world trade is many times stronger because they can bring their wealth to bear directly on the levers of western power."
16. Dr. Robert Jarvik isn't a licensed doctor: Many Americans watched as Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart, gently coaxed them to take the Pfizer-marketed drug Lipitor in order to lower their cholesterol. The ads were eventually pulled, however, when "it turn[ed] out Jarvik isn’t a licensed heart doctor." U.S. Representative John Dingell remarked, "It seems that Pfizer’s No. 1 priority is to sell lots of Lipitor, by whatever means necessary, including misleading the American people."
17. Ernesto Bertarelli makes Forbes' billionaires list: Just as Americans are questioning the record profits and salaries of booming oil companies when they're forced to accept rising prices at the pump, people may wonder about Ernesto Bertarelli's billionaire status. Bertarelli is the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Serono, and Forbes reports that his net worth in 2002 reached $8.4 billion. That was enough to place him as the 31st richest person in the world.
18. Pfizer is fifth-best wealth creator: Corporate Watch reports that Fortune named pharmaceutical giant Pfizer as the "fifth-best wealth-creator" in America, and Corporate Watch considers it the "largest and richest pharmaceutical enterprise in the world."
19. Americans pay more for prescription meds than anyone else in the world: The Media Matters website analyzes a 60 Minutes interview between correspondent Bob Simon and then Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona. During the segment, Carmona maintains that Americans pay more for brand name prescriptions than anyone else in the world because of the hefty price associated with "the research and development of drugs." See point number 3 on this list, which points out that drug companies pay more on advertising and marketing than they do on research and development.
20. Pharmaceutical advertisements actually work: The public wag their fingers at pharmaceutical companies' advertising budgets only if they admit that sometimes, those commercials actually work. The Miami Herald points out that while "more than four in ten [Americans] have an unfavorable view" of pharmaceutical companies, "prescription-drug advertising has driven a third of Americans to talk to a medical professional about specific drugs, and many of these people got a prescription from their health care provider as a result."
21. Americans spent $200 billion on prescription drugs in 2002: Marcia Angell reveals in her book The Truth About the Drug Companies that Americans spent $200 billion on prescription drugs in 2002. That's the amount medical experts estimated it will cost to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the amount China is pouring into an energy renewal program.
22. Academics help pharmaceutical companies conduct research: A new trend in the R&D sector of the pharmaceutical industry features research-based partnerships between academic centers and drug companies. Marcia Angell explains the collaboration by writing that these companies "now ring the major academic research institutions and often carry out the initial phases of drug development, hoping for lucrative deals with big drug companies that can market the new drugs. Usually both academic researchers and their institutions own equity in the biotechnology companies they are involved with," and everyone can "cash in on the public investment in research." As academic centers play a more significant role in the success of the drug companies, they are more likely to take on the "entrepreneur" spirit and make profits from patents, royalties and stocks, which can mark up the prices for everyday consumers.
23. "New" Drugs aren't really new: When a new drug hits the market, is it really new? Euractiv.com reports on a recent study which found "that two-thirds of the prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 1989 and 2000 were identical to existing drugs or modified versions of them. Only about one-third of the drugs approved by the FDA during the time period were based on new "molecular entities" that treat diseases in novel ways." Many of these newer drugs cost more because the drug companies have to extend their patents, which can "enable a brand company to delay generic competitors and maintain a high price for an aging product."
24. Some drug companies are taking advantage of underdeveloped countries to perform clinical trials: Wired.com reports that India is becoming a more attractive place for drug companies to run clinical trials and test out new drugs. The article explains, "more and more drug companies are conducting clinical trials in developing countries where government oversight is more lax and research can be done for a fraction of the cost." Controversy is starting to build over the trend, however, as one expert explains. Sean Philpott, managing editor of The American Journal of Bioethics, reveals to Wired.com that such practices may be unfair, as "individuals who participate in Indian clinical trials usually won't be educated. Offering $100 [as payment for their participation] may be undue enticement; they may not even realize that they are being coerced."
25. Pharmaceutical Companies donated millions to Hurricane Katrina relief programs: Americans are used to bashing pharmaceutical companies, just as they criticize health insurance companies, rising gas prices and monopolies. It may come as a shock, then, to discover the philanthropic efforts undertaken by big drug companies. Medical News Today writes that companies like Abbott, Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer and others have donated millions of dollars in cash and supplies to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Detaining Africans latest step in making Israel an ethnocracy

Detaining Africans latest step in making Israel an ethnocracy

Sophie Crowe

March 2, 2012 Levinsky Park sits just across from Tel Aviv’s central bus station, a rundown, bustling neighborhood in the city’s south known for its large migrant worker community and municipal neglect. For years Levinsky Park itself has been a hub for homeless asylum seekers. On any given day there can be up to 250 persons living in the park, according to Nick Schlagman, program manager at the African Refugee Development Center. The African asylum-seekers, hoping for a solution to their limbo status, have fled impossible situations at home — mostly Eritrea and Sudan. They were greeted upon arrival in Israel with a hostile government that offers them no support or protection and wants them out. Indefinite detention The climate in Israel for refugees has grown increasingly harsh. The border with Egypt is heavily patrolled by soldiers who pounce on new arrivals, shuttling them to a detention center, where they are registered, held for a number of weeks, then left to fend for themselves. Most receive a month-long visa, which must be renewed on a rolling basis, Schlagman explained. The trend was cemented in January, when the 1954 Prevention of Infiltration law was amended. The amendment allows the state to detain refugees without trial for three years, or indefinitely if they are from an "enemy" country such as Sudan. This puts Israel at first place among western states for the longest jail time for asylum seekers, according to Amnesty International ("Israel: new detention law violates rights of asylum seekers," 10 January 2012). To help realize this provision, a refugee detention center is being planned that will hold 10,000 persons. Those that offer support to refugees, the law says, may face up to 15 years in prison. The Infiltration Law was originally intended to block the efforts of Palestinians uprooted during the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing leading to Israel’s foundation in 1948, who might try to return and lay claim to their homes. It allowed the state to imprison "infiltrators" — anyone, namely Palestinians, who crossed Israel’s boundaries without official permission. The law was imagined as part of the Zionist project of keeping Israel Jewish by excluding Palestinians. Today it has the same purpose, this time targeting people fleeing an oppressive dictatorship in Eritrea, and Sudan, where large scale human rights abuses have occurred in the province of Darfur and in fighting between the north and south. The Israeli government has described its anti-refugee policies as "deterrence." If the state’s 50,000 refugees relay to their families and friends the awful treatment meted out to them in Israel others like them will go elsewhere, the logic goes. Israel cannot deport the refugees due to its signing of the 1951 Refugee Convention, according to which states must provide refuge to those fleeing danger in their home country. Israel manages to circumvent this obligation by refusing to acknowledge people as refugees, instead labeling them "migrant workers." The conditional release visa that refugees receive does not allow them to work. "We went to the high court to fight this," explained Yohanes Bayu, director of ARDC, "which decided the state could not fine businesses that employed asylum seekers." Denying right to work In reality it is still extremely difficult for refugees to find work. While the government cannot overturn the court’s decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai are saying on television that employers of refugees will be punished, Bayu said. In January, it was reported that contractors employed by the Tel Aviv municipality fired 800 asylum seekers working as street cleaners, under orders from municipal authorities ("Tel Aviv orders subcontractors to stop employing asylum seekers," Haaretz, 23 January 2012). Blankets confiscated Conditions in Levinsky Park this year, with a particularly cold winter, were tough. One man sleeping there told The Electronic Intifada that municipal authorities had been making rounds of the park each morning, clearing away blankets donated by locals to help the homeless men through the cold nights. One 40-year-old Eritrean, Yohanes Barko, did not survive the experience. Barko had lived in a tent in the park during the summer’s "tent protests" but was made homeless again when his tent was torn down by municipal authorities last October. In mid-January he was found in the park, having died from the cold ("Tel Aviv refugee froze to death. 'Go back to Africa, it’s warmer,’" +972 Magazine, 22 January 2012). "It was this man’s death that galvanized the community to take immediate action," Schlagman noted. Tel Aviv locals, shocked by the state’s total apathy, began bringing bags of clothes and blankets to the park. Some came every night with warm meals. In late January, Sons of Darfur, a group of Darfuri refugees, set up a small shelter for the refugees in an old bar, meters away from the park’s boundaries. The space can fit about 150 individuals. The organizers cannot afford to maintain the shelter, which costs 12,000 shekels ($3,200) a month to rent, but worry what might befall their lodgers should they close down. The group, along with the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom, managed recently to find temporary housing for all of Levinsky Park’s refugees. This is the first time since 2006 that the park is empty at night, Schlagman said. Preserving apartheid Once again, demography is being wielded by the establishment with great bluster and urgency. If Israel offers sanctuary to downtrodden Africans, soon its Jewish majority will be jeopardized, the argument goes. Israel’s demographic fear has already fueled much racially-biased legislation, most recently the high court’s upholding of a law denying citizenship to West Bank and Gaza spouses of Israeli citizens and nationals of Arab "enemy" states. While the security line is often employed to buttress policies denounced as racist and discriminatory, Israeli leaders are not attempting to disguise the amendment to the Infiltration Law as anything but another means of ensuring ethnic homogeneity — or, in other words, Jewish supremacy. In December, Netanyahu spoke of a forthcoming trip to Africa and planned discussions with African leaders about how to stem the continuing stream of their citizens into Israel. "These are very important steps to ensure the future of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state," he said. "If we do not act to stop this illegal flood, we will simply be inundated" ("Netanyahu to go to Africa to return infiltrators," Israel National News, 11 December 2011).

France spends over 17 billion annually to maintain overseas territories

France spends over 17 billion annually to maintain its vampires

27.02.2012 11:26

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Shortly before the presidential elections in France the situation in one of its overseas territories, the island of Reunion, has deteriorated. Interestingly, the standard of living on the island is greatly inferior to the French. The same pattern is observed in other overseas territories - Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana.

The current events in Reunion look very much like the pogroms that now and then occur in the immigrant neighborhoods of Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities. The reason for the unrest is normally the actions of law enforcement against young Arabs, blacks, people from Indian or Gypsy origin. The same was true for the distant overseas territories.

On February 23 the court of the administrative center of Saint-Denis, Reunion, sentenced several young people. In response, a group of young people took to the streets and clashed with the police. They set cars and garbage containers on fire. In one case, a Molotov cocktail landed on a policeman's head. In response, law enforcement officers were forced to use tear gas and water cannons. French military units were sent to the island.

While the suburbs of Paris are the disadvantaged centers (albeit large) in a relatively stable French Sea, Reunion, located in the western Indian Ocean, is a zone of prevailing depression. The same situation is observed in the American possessions of France - Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana.

The bulk of the population of these territories is descendants of African slaves exported there. Nearly a quarter of the population of Reunion came from India. The distance between these islands and the mother country is thousands miles. Nevertheless, their inhabitants are full-fledged citizens of the Fifth Republic, electing deputies to the National Assembly and senators to the Senate. They can easily enter France and do not need visas. They have self-governments, but the senior officials on the islands are prefects appointed from Paris.

The level of GDP per capita before the crisis in Reunion was $6,800 dollars, and in France - over $42,000. According to the statistics of the European Commission, Reunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana are among the poorest regions in the EU along with Bulgaria, Romania and eastern regions of Poland and the Baltic countries. The income level of residents of the overseas departments is nearly twice as low as the EU average.

What is the main source of income in these areas? Reunion grows sugar cane and exports sugar, rum, vanilla, bananas and pineapple.

Approximately the same situation is in Guadeloupe and Martinique. French Guiana has a larger area with mineral deposits. All these areas are located near the equator and are beautiful resort areas. Yet, sugar, bananas, and the beaches will not get them far. Major industries are not even in sight.

Despite the crisis, France transfers into its overseas regions many billions of euros in the form of grants (as of 2010 - 17.2 billion). Approximately 40 percent of the residents living on distant islands are given allowances, compared with 10 percent unemployment in France. Every year, thousands of them move for permanent residence to the metropolis, where they often join the ranks of the unemployed residents of Parisian and other suburbs.

The French ownership of the distant islands is the legacy of the colonial period. Reunion has been controlled by Paris for nearly 300 years. All these islands have movements for independence. But today the residents of the overseas regions do not dream of it. Two years ago French Guiana and Martinique held referendums on independence, and the vast majority preferred to remain under the authority of the former colonizers.

The inhabitants of the overseas regions are relatively well settled. But why France, even in times of crisis, does not cease to allocate many billions of euros to finance the distant poor areas? Sergei Fedorov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Europe RAS shared his thoughts in an interview with "Pravda.Ru".

"Possession of overseas territories and islands scattered around the world and across continents is an essential attribute of a great power, the embodiment of imperial power for France. If we look at the numerous islands in the surrounding marine areas (200-mile zones), we will see that the number of possessions of France is second only to the United States.

France takes full advantage of the geographical location of its overseas territories. The islands host powerful naval bases to monitor the entire world ocean. Guiana is home to space center "Kuru." France has no intentions to renounce its influence and bases and, therefore, is willing to pay all expenses.

The overseas residents are quite satisfied with the current state of affairs. While there are nationalism and independence movements, the majority of people do not want to be separated from the mother country. They are full French citizens, many attached to French culture. The advantages of staying in the metropolis for them are much greater than the disadvantages.

Of course, the overseas territories have their economic issues. The standard of living there is lower than in the metropolis, but it happens in every country. Popular unrest happens once in a while. In general, the French state is coping with its overseas territories quite well and keeps the situation there under control. The French are trying to solve the existing issues."

Vadim Trukhachev

Conspiracy against Syria

03.03.2012 05:48

Syria and "Conspiracy Theories"

Official: It is a Conspiracy

by Felicity Arbuthnot

"We have met the enemy and he is us." (Walt Kelly, 1913-1973.)

It was political analyst Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, in November 2006, who wrote in detail(i) of US plans for the Middle East:

"The term 'New Middle East', was introduced to the world in June 2006, in Tel Aviv, by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was credited by the Western media for coining the term) in replacement of the older and more imposing term, the "Greater Middle East" he wrote.

Sanity dictated that this would be a U.S. fantasy rampage too far and vast - until realization hit that the author of the map of this New World, planned in the new world's "New World Order," was Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters, who, in one of the most terrifying articles ever published, wrote in 1997:

"There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines ...The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing."(ii) (My emphasis.)

At the time, Peters was assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, where he was responsible "for future warfare." His plans for Iraq worked out just fine - unless you are an Iraqi.

A month after Nazemroaya's article was published, William Roebuck, Director for the Office of the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, was composing an end of year strategy for Syria(iii) from his study in the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, where he had been based between 2004-2007, rising to Deputy Chief of Mission.

The subject title was "Influencing the SARG (Syrian Arab Regime Government) in the end of 2006."

"The SARG ends 2006 in a much stronger position domestically and internationally (than in) 2005." Talking of President Assad's "growing self-confidence," he felt that this might lead to "mistakes and ill-judged ... decisions ... providing us with new opportunities." Whilst "additional bilateral or multilateral pressure can impact on Syria," clearly he had even more ambitious plans:

"This cable summarizes our assessment of ... vulnerabilities, and suggests that there may be actions, statements and signals, that the USG (US Government) can send that will improve the liklihood of such opportunities arising."

The proposals would need to be, "fleshed out and converted in to real actions and we need to be ready to move quickly to take advantage of such opportunities." (no, not le Carre, Forsyth, or Fleming, "diplomat" in Damascus.)

"As the end of 2006 approaches," wrote Roebuck, "Bashar appears ... stronger than he has done in two years. The country is economically stable ...regional issues seem to be going Syria's way."

However, "vulnerabilities and looming issues may provide opportunities to up the pressure on Bashar ... some of these vulnerabilities (including the complexities with Lebanon) can be exploited to put pressure on the regime. Actions that cause Bashar to lose balance, and increase his insecurity, are in our interest."

The President's " mistakes are hard to predict and benefits may vary, if we are prepared to move quickly and take advantage of opportunities ..."

A "vulnerability," wrote Roebuck, was Bashir al Assad's protection of, "Syria's dignity and international reputation." Pride and "protection," clearly a shocking concept.

In the light of the proposed tribunal into the assassination of Lebanon's former'Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri (14th February 2005) who was killed with his friend, former Minister of the Economy, Bassel Fleihan, and twenty colleagues and bodyguards, with a huge bomb, detonated under his motorcade, this "vulnerability" could be exploited.

Unproven allegations have pointed the finger at Israel, Syria, Hezbollah and a myriad others, as behind another Middle East tragedy, but Roebuck regarded it as an: "opportunity to exploit this raw nerve, without waiting for the formation of the Tribunal."

Another idea outlined under a further "vulnerability" heading, was the growing alliance between Syria and Iran. "Possible action" was to "play on Sunni fears of Iranian influence." Although these were "often exaggerated," they were there to be exploited:

"Both the local Egyptian and Saudi missions here ... are giving increasing attention to the matter and we should co-ordinate more closely with their governments on ways to better publicize and focus regional attention to the issue." Concerned Sunni religious leaders should also be worked on. Iraq-style divide and rule model, writ large.

The "divide" strategy, of course, should also focus on the first family and legislating circle, with " targeted sanctions (which) must exploit fissures and render the inner circle weaker, rather the drive its members closer together."

The public should also be subject to "continual reminders of corruption ... we should look for ways to remind ..." Another aspect to be exploited was "The Khaddam factor."

Abdul Halim Khaddam, was Vice President,1984-2005, and acting President in 2000, during the months beween Bashir al Assad's accession and his father's death. Thought to have Presidential ambitions himself, there was a bitter split between Khaddam and al Assad after Hariri's death. Allegations of treasonous betrayal by Khaddam have validity.

The ruling party, writes Roebuck, "...follow every news item involving Khaddam, with tremendous emotional interest. We should continue to encourage the Saudis and others to allow Khaddam access to their media ... providing him with venues for airing the SARG's dirty laundry."

As a result, anticipated was "an over reaction by the regime that will add to its isolation and alienation from its Arab neighbours."

On January 14, 2006, Khaddam had formed a government in exile, and had predicted the end of the al-Assad government by the year's end. He is currently regarded as an opposition leader, and has claimed, on Israel's Channel 2 TV.(iv) receiving moneys to help overthrow the Syrian government, from the U.S. and E.U.

The ever creative Mr Roebuck's further plans included: "Encouraging rumours and signals of external plotting." To this end, "Regional allies like Egypt and Saudi Arabia should be encouraged to meet with figures like Kaddam and Rifat (sic) al Assad, with appropriate leaking of the meetings afterwards. This ... increases the possibility of a self-defeating over-reaction."

Rifaat al Assad, Bashir's uncle, was in charge of the Defence Brigade, and killed up to thirty thousand people in, and flattened much of, the city of Hama, in February 1982. So much for endlessly trumpeted concerns for "human rights violations." Rifaat al Assad lives in exile and safety in London. Khaddam lives in Paris.(v)

Here is a serious cause for concern for the overthrow-bent: "Bashar keeps unveiling a steady stream of initiatives on reform and it is certainly possible he believes this is his legacy to Syria .... These steps have brought back Syrian expats to invest ... (and) increasing openness."

Solution? "Finding ways to publicly call in to question Bashar's reform efforts." Indeed, moving heaven and earth to undercut them, is made clear.

Further: "Syria has enjoyed a considerable up-tick in foreign direct investment," thus: foreign investment is to be "discouraged."

In May of 2006, complains Roebuck, Syrian Military Intelligence protested "what they believed were U.S. efforts to provide military training and equipment to Syria's Kurds." The Iraq model, yet again.

The answer was to: "Highlight Kurdish complaints." This, however: "would need to be handled carefully, since giving the wrong kind of prominence to Kurdish issues in Syria, could be a liability for our efforts ... given Syrian ... civil society's skepticism of Kurdish objectives."

In "Conclusion", this shaming, shoddy document states: "The bottom line is that Bashar is entering the New Year in a stronger position than he has been, in several years", meaning "vulnerabilities" must be sought out. "If we are ready to capitalize, they will offer us opportunities to disrupt his decision-making, keep him off balance - and make him pay a premium for his mistakes."

The cable is copied to: The White House, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Treasury, U.S. Mission at the UN, U.S. National Security Council, CENTCOM, all Arab League and EU countries.

The only other U.S. Embassy copied in, is that in Tel Aviv. When William Roebuck worked at the Embassy in Tel Aviv (2000-2003) embracing the invasion of Iraq year, he "narrowly missed assassination." Perhaps someone there, too, thought he was hard to warm to.

In 2009, he was Deputy Political Consul In Baghdad, "leading efforts to support the critical 2009 Iraqi elections." The "free and fair, democratic" ones, where people were threatened with the deaths of their children even, if they did not vote the "right" way.

The result was Nuri al Maliki's premiership, complete with his murderous militias. The man under whose Ministry of the Interior, U.S. soldiers discovered tortured, starving prisoners.

The Damascus cable comes courtesy Wikileaks. Lt. Colonel Peters called, on Fox News, for founder, Julian Assange, to be assassinated. The forty second clip(vi) is worth the listen.

The Colonel also writes fiction and thrillers under the name Owen Patterson. Perhaps he is living the dream.

i. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3882

ii. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3011.htm

iii. http://wikileaks.cabledrum.net/cable/2006/12/06DAMASCUS5399.html

iv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COqBQYcrd9Q

v. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29501

vi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS5h59iZg3o

JEWS IN EUROPE, TODAY

European Jews get itchy feet

22.02.2012 10:43

In recent years, the media are writing increasingly more about the deteriorating situation of the Jewish communities in Western Europe. Current concerns about the increasing anti-Semitism in various forms have led to an increase of relocation intents among European Jews.

However, many politicians and public figures continue to express their determination to defend the economic, cultural and religious interests of the diaspora. Another question is whether it will be possible to preserve the influence of former Jewish communities in modern Europe. 

The largest Jewish community in Western Europe resides in France (483,000 people). Paris alone has dozens of synagogues, kosher restaurants and a number of cultural organizations of the adherents of Judaism. However, it has not always been the case. Only 30-40 years ago one could hardly find a single restaurant with Jewish cuisine in France. Today Paris is home to approximately 350,000 Jews, Marseille - 70,000, Lyon - 25,000, Strasbourg - 16,000, Toulouse - 23,000, and Nice - 20,000.

The community organization is a well-developed structure that began to form in the era of Napoleon Bonaparte. The interests of the Jews are represented by Consistory - religious institutions, as well as a number of public organizations and foundations. The largest of them is the United Jewish Community Foundation.

In France over the past half century the community suffered a series of shocks associated with bursts of anti-Semitism, caused both by the events in the Middle East and internal factors. Many analysts link the growth of hostility towards Jews in the 1940-50s with the name of Charles de Gaulle who carried out the anti-Israeli policy.

The beginning of the 21st century was marked by a new surge of hostility towards Jews, which, in turn, was associated with the beginning of the first Palestinian Intifada in 2000. President Jacques Chirac has provided full support to Arab countries, and relations with Israel have deteriorated sharply.

The coming to power of Nicolas Sarkozy marked a change for the better for the French Jews. The current President does not hide his Jewish roots. Even as Interior Minister, Sarkozy firmly suppressed all manifestations of anti-Semitism.

However, the problem today is quite acute in France, and the police are not able to solve it. Two years ago the ranking of the countries with the highest expression of anti-Semitism was topped by Iran and France.

Over 500,000 Jews resided in Germany before the Second World War. Now approximately 200,000 of them live in the country. At some point, the state allocated significant funds for the repatriation of the Jews associated with the full recognition of German guilt for the crimes committed by the Nazis. German citizenship and social welfare payments were guaranteed by the government. Now it is somewhat more complicated than before to obtain a Jewish visa, and the funding for various programs of assistance to returnees was reduced.

The economic situation of the community has certainly worsened. Even more concerning for the followers of the Jewish tradition is the loss of historical and cultural heritage of the Jews in Germany. Many of them moved here from Russia and former Soviet republics soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Prior to 1989, there were about 30,000 Jews in Germany. Later another 200 thousand immigrants from the CIS countries moved here.

"Jewish families would often find themselves in the cities with no Jewish community. Therefore, there is a real danger that in 15-20 years the majority of Russian-speaking Jews who do not have strong ties to their national culture, and even more so the State of Israel, will be fully assimilated. Israeli government has no right to come to terms with the prospect of losing tens of thousands of fellow Jewish people," Alef David Schechter wrote with dismay in a magazine.

If in the 1990s an average of 25,000 people would come here every year, in the beginning of the 21st century the number of immigrants has declined. For example, in 2000 over 17 thousand people came to Germany, in 2001 - 16,000, in 2002 - 15,000, and in 2003 - under 13 thousand.

It should be noted that the "Russian" Jews do not always find common language with the local Jewish community. Religious traditions have been lost for 70 years of residence in the USSR. The traditionalists perceive immigrants from the Soviet Union more as Russians rather than Jews.

One of the largest Jewish communities is concentrated in the UK where 250,000 Jews reside. In England the adherents of Judaism are especially careful about the history and traditions of their people. This was described in a note of Simon Dovzhik - an Israeli immigrant who later moved to London.

Most of the Jews of the United Kingdom are the descendants of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who came to the island at the beginning of the 20th century. British Jews, unlike the Israelis, are well aware of their own family trees and recall their ancestors with pride, surprisingly correctly pronouncing discordant for the English-speaking people names of the villages where their grandparents were born.

Just as in Germany and France, there is strong community infrastructure. In addition, thanks to the European Parliament the Jewish community officially defends its political and economic interests before the government.

Large Jewish communities are found in Spain - 40,000 people, Belgium - over 30,000, Italy - 28,000, and Netherlands - 30,000. Luxembourg is home to one of the smaller communities - approximately 600 people. Nevertheless, the Jews there retained their right to defend their interests through the Consistory - the official organization recognized by the Constitution.

Thanks to the European Jewish Congress Jews from 42 countries were able to cooperate with the UN, EU and OSCE at the highest level. More recently, at the initiative of Ukrainian businessmen Vadim Rabinovich and Igor Kolomoisky, a new organization has been created - the European Jewish Parliament.

This event caused significant controversy. To begin with, the creation of this body caused a great irritation on the part of nationalists and anti-Semites of all stripes who are dissatisfied with any attempt to gain influence in the political life of the Jews of Europe. However, the reaction of many in the diaspora to the creation of the parliament also proved controversial.

Despite some attempts to strengthen the position of the Jewish Diaspora in Europe, the current situation of Jews in countries such as France, Belgium and Holland remains shaky. Fear and insecurity are caused by the growth of anti-Semitism and Islamic fundamentalism.

For example, in France, a young Parisian Jew Ilan Halimi was kidnapped and brutally murdered in February of 2006. Then the French police admitted that the criminals had relationship with the Muslim environment. Increasingly, there are anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium and Holland where Jews have preferred not to appear on the streets wearing national attire.

Today, Jews in Western Europe are not so afraid of the right of anti-Semitism that does not manifest into the open terrorism. Another thing is the radical Islamists. The latter are incited by the threats of Islamists against European and American Jews from the Middle East. They are threatened by the retribution for the deaths of Palestinians in the Arab-Israeli wars.

The position of European Jews is largely precarious and their desire to relocate is understandable.

Yuri Sosinsky-Semikhat

Hate All Non-Jews, Skvere Rabbis Say

March 4, 2012

Failed Messiah – November 28, 2011

A recently published book written by a Skvere hasidic rabbi and endorsed by the Skvere Rebbe himself tells Skvere hasidim and other Jews to hate all gentiles. Gentiles are wholly evil, the book says. They spiritually pollute the world, and even looking at their faces is harmful.

The book is called Yalkut Shaiylos u’Teshuvos. As the title indicates, it is a collection of questions and answers on halakhic topics. The questions were asked by young Skvere yeshiva students in New Square, New York. The answers are rabbinic.

The section translated below is titled, “Goyyim” and it explains the Skvere hasidic view of non-Jews, citing among other sources, the Skvere Rebbe himself.

The anti-gentile hatred is based on rabbinic sources. Those sources are heavily influenced by kabbalah and by hasidic thought.

A similar attitude toward non-Jews can be found in the Tanya, the so-called bible of Chabad hasidic thought written by the first rebbe of Chabad, Schneur Zalman of Liadi, and reprinted thousands of times by Chabad worldwide.

The translation was made by the noted filmmaker Menachem Daum, who sent it to me along with the scans of the book posted below and requested that I post it.

All remarks in square brackets [  ] are Daum’s. All remarks in these brackets {  } are mine. All text within normal parenthesis (  ) are the book’s author’s.

Question:  Is it appropriate to not love, or to hate, a gentile?

Answer:  A Jew is intrinsically good.  A Jew is a part of God above.  Even if at times he strays it is not because he has become evil.  It is only that there is evil within him that he has to cleanse.

However, to separate with a million degrees of separation, a gentile is an impure thing.  The entire essence of the gentile is evil and impure.  Even if he occasionally does good deeds he does not thereby become good.  As the Holy Light of Life {i.e., the author of the book Ohr HaHayyim] says regarding gentiles, even such a one who is very careful in his actions does not obtain any degree of holiness thereby.

As is also well known, even educated gentiles who guarded themselves because of their clear understanding of what is right, nonetheless failed when they were tested, because a gentile has no power for goodness within him.

On the contrary, the evil thoughts of gentiles contaminate the world’s atmosphere and create ordeals for Jewish children. As the Remnant for Pinchos {i.e., the author of the book Sheairit L’Pinchas} says, the thoughts of gentiles, even when they are dead, still linger in and contaminate the atmosphere.

He says that to be protected from this there is only one solution; to completely despise the thoughts of gentiles and to realize that all their thoughts are only evil. (Hate doesn’t mean wanting to do something to a gentile, but it means not being able to tolerate him, not being able to stand him, because of his great impurity, especially when one realizes how harmful this {impurity} is {to Jews and to the world}.) Understandably, loving a gentile is the exact opposite of this.

The Holy Light of Life {i.e., the author of the book Ohr HaHayyim} says that for a person to be totally protected from evil he must hate the thing that has caused him to sin. This is why God commanded to uproot the trees of Midian. Since the Midianites caused the Jews to sin with the Peor idol, so therefore Jews must hate everything connected to Midian. Consequently, gentiles, whose thoughts bring upon us ordeals, may be hated.

So also the Holy Light of Life {i.e., the author of the book Ohr HaHayyim} writes, in the portion of Vayigash {in his book entitled Oh HaHayyim}, that the nature of the righteous ones is to hate gentiles.

Speaking of gentiles it is worth mentioning two points. First, with respect to conversing with a gentile: a gentile is impure, as we have mentioned, and he defiles one who speaks to him and this brings evil upon a person. (Except when one is forced to do so because then, as is explained by the Enlightener of the Eyes {i.e., the author of the book Me’or Eynayim}, we thereby extract the little bit of good which has fallen into the gentile, since everything in the world is a mixture of evil and good.)

Especially if one converses with friendship, because the texts tell us that when two people speak with affection then a portion of each one’s soul becomes connected to the other and no one wants to become connected to a gentile, God forbid.  (Understandably, when one must converse one must do so like a human being.  However, in his heart one should not love him.  And it is worth knowing that “it is a well-known law that Esau [the gentile] hates Jacob [the Jew].” The gentile hates you.  It is only because of his ulterior motives that he is talking in a friendly manner, because it is in his best interests to do so at this moment, because of his job or for tens of others reasons. Even the righteous gentiles among the nations are often so because they hate inhumanity and murder but not because they love Jews.)

The second point is; one is not to concentrate on the face of a gentile. As the Willows of the Valley {the author of the book Arvei Nahal} writes on the Talmudic passage, “it is forbidden to look upon the face of an evildoer”, because the other side [the devil] {the sitra achra} cloaks himself in the guise of an evildoer and it is a danger to look at him. This passage refers to a Jew who has, God forbid, become an evildoer. Certainly, beyond any doubt, a gentile whose whole nature is essentially evil, looking at his appearance is defiling.

In the Abbreviated Set Table {Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh} it states that if one sees beautiful creatures, even a gentile, one makes a blessing. The Abbreviated Set Table {Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh}adds this is only if one caught a casual glimpse, however concentrating on a gentile is forbidden.

Once, in middle of the night, The Perfumed Bed {the author of the book Arugot Haboshem} sent a messenger to his son, the Jacob Speaks {i.e., the author of the book Vayagid Yaakov}, requesting he should immediately come over. He quickly came running and the Perfumed Bed {the author of the book Arugot Haboshem} looked upon him and told him he can now leave. He only called upon him since a gentile doctor was there earlier and he didn’t want that the last thing he sees before he sleeps to be a gentile, so he called him only to take a look at him.

Our Honorable Holy Teacher, Our Master, Our Guide, Our Rebbe [of Skver], may he live a long and good life, repeated in the name of the Maharal that gentiles are referred to as “wicked waters” while Jews are akin to fire. Naturally, when fire and water mix the water extinguishes the fire. However, when there is an iron barrier between them, for example, water in a pot, then on the contrary, the fire cooks and evaporates the water.  Similarly, if one has connections to a gentile the gentile can, God forbid, extinguish the fire in the soul. However, if one is separated in all matters then the Jewish soul will triumph.