.

.
Library of Professor Richard A. Macksey in Baltimore

POSTS BY SUBJECT

Labels

Friday, July 6, 2012

King Juan Carlos in apology over elephant hunting safari


'I made a mistake': Spanish King Juan Carlos in unprecedented apology over elephant hunting safari...  as calls grow for him to be axed from WWF presidency

  • Spain is being sucked back into eurozone's financial crisis
  • One in four out of work, and 50% of youngsters jobless
  • Anger at ongoing corruption probe into King's son-in-law
By Lee Moran
PUBLISHED: 15:27, 18 April 2012 | UPDATED: 16:08, 18 April 2012
Spain's king Juan Carlos today apologised for going elephant-hunting in Africa while everyday people in his country endure a severe economic crisis.
In an unprecedented act of royal contrition, the monarch said: 'I am very sorry. I made a mistake. It won't happen again.'
Looking sheepish and using crutches to walk, he spoke as he left the Madrid hospital where underwent surgery after breaking his hip in a fall during the trip to Botswana.
 
Contrite: King Juan Carlos of Spain apologised for going elephant hunting after he was discharged from hospital following hip replacement surgery
Contrite: King Juan Carlos of Spain apologised for going elephant hunting after he was discharged from hospital following hip replacement surgery
 
Under fire: Spanish King Juan Carlos (right), pictured during a previous elephant hunting trip in Africa, has come in for criticism
It came as calls grew for him to be stripped of his honorary presidency of the Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund.
Juan Carlos del Olmo, the secretary general of WWF Espana, said the king's position as patron had become untenable.
He said: 'It's a problem of the image it sends nationally and internationally rather than the issue of elephant conservation in Botswana.'
The 74-year-old monarch had come under scathing criticism this week after he went on the expensive safari as both Spain and its citizens struggled amid an economic crisis that has worsened by the day.
The trip came to light when the king fell and had to be rushed back to Spain on Friday.
A royal palace official denied news accounts that the monarch left the country without telling the government saying that he told the prime minister where he was going.
Anger: Juan Carlos (left, on a previous trip) has been slammed for his upper-class pursuit as his country goes through the economic doldrums
And Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said yesterday that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy always knows where the head of state is.
The palace official added the king made the trip as a guest of unnamed hosts - so no taxpayer money was spent.
Farewell: Spain's King Juan Carlos pictured leaving from the Madrid hospital
Newspaper reports today suggested he was the guest of Mohamed Eyad Kayali, a Syrian-born Saudi business man and right-hand man of Saudi's defence minister Prince Salman.

Kayali is said to be a key figure in securing a Spanish consortium the €6.7billion contract to build a high-speed rail link between Mecca and Medina.
Many Spaniards were dumbfounded that the king could make such an opulent journey while everyday people brave a 23 per cent unemployment rate, a shrinking economy and fears the country will be the next after Greece, Ireland and Portugal to need a bailout.
For many, the trip made the king's recent comments about how he could not sleep at night thinking about the country's unemployed ring hollow.
News of the safari caused an uproar so loud it eclipsed Spain's economic crisis for a few days. Members of most political parties had urged the king to say he was sorry.
The palace official confirmed the apology was unprecedented in the history of Spain's monarchy. The royal family has been in the news a lot lately - and not for the best reasons.
The king's son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin is a suspect in a corruption case, accused of using his position to embezzle several million euros in public contracts through a not-for-profit foundation.
Then, over Easter, the king's 13-year-old grandson shot himself in the foot with a shotgun, even though by law in Spain you must be 14 to handle a gun.
Unlucky: The Spanish King was on trip hunting elephants in Botswana when he fell after returning to his bedroom in a lodge
Unlucky: The Spanish King was on trip hunting elephants in Botswana when he fell after returning to his bedroom in a lodge
Until now, Juan Carlos had always been a highly respected figure in Spain and almost never came in for criticism from either politicians or the media.
The king rarely speaks out on current affairs in Spain.
But with the royal family looking so bad because of the Urdangarin case, in his traditional Christmas address last year, the king made a point of saying 'everyone is equal in the eyes of the law'.
He said he was worried because of what he called growing mistrust of 'some of our institutions'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131587/Spanish-King-Juan-Carlos-apologizes-Botswana-elephant-hunting-safari.html

PLUNDERING AFRICA: WALTER KANSTEINER & FRIENDS


PLUNDERING AFRICA: WALTER KANSTEINER & FRIENDS
By Georgianne Nienaberwith Keith Harmon Snow
Extracted from: [2007] Deconstructing Newsweek and the Gorilla Killings in Congo By Georgianne Nienaber with Keith Harmon Snow
 August 1, 2007
An understanding of the decade of warfare and depopulation in Central Africa can be gained by examining the positions of power, corporate directorships and new corporations and alliances that have quietly emerged from the killing fields in the past several years.
While the mass media, policy institutes like the International Crises Group (ICG), human rights agencies like Human Rights Watch, and “humanitarian” organizations like the International Rescue Committee appear to offer some coverage of events in Central Africa, they barely scratch the surface. More often, they offer only limited critiques of events, interests or developments, without ever challenging any significant deeper interests, or holding them to account.
One of the key agents behind the machinery of change in Central Africa is Walter Kansteiner III.
In the 1980’s Kansteiner was director of Economic Studies at the far-right Institute on Religion and Democracy. The IRD called itself “centrist” but was deeply hostile to social movements around the world, particularly in Africa, and it attacked mainstream Christian religious institutions.
In his 1990 book Kansteiner systematically attacked Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC), characterizing the ANC as a group of violent revolutionaries engaged in an “unjustified” and “Marxist” struggle against the government, without a mandate from the South African people.
Kansteiner was a member of the George H.W. Bush State Department’s policy planning staff from May 1989 to June 1991, Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, 1991-1993, and the Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs from April 1992-1993.
Kansteiner also served in the U.S. government as director of African Affairs on Clinton’s National Security Council staff. He was President Clinton’s personal representative to the G8 Africa Process.
Kansteiner was Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under George W. Bush from June 2001 until November 2003, advising on U.S. foreign policy in Africa.
Walter Kansteiner and Maurice Tempelsman—and Corporate Council on Africa members from Halliburton, Boeing, Cargill, Exxon-Mobil, Freeport McMoran and Oracle Corporation—were the architects of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), America’s NAFTA for Africa.
The AGOA destroys local markets, erects discriminatory trade barriers, undermines local economies to enrich elites and impoverish the masses—a.k.a. in the language of doublespeak, the AGOA promotes free trade.
As a founding principal of The Scowcroft Group, Kansteiner’s ties to the intelligence and defense sector run still deeper. Brent Scowcroft is a former National Security Adviser to George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) and Gerald Ford (1975-1977), and National Security Council member under Henry Kissinger.
Kansteiner is also a Fellow at the Forum for International Policy, a think-tank whose Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Lawrence S. Eagleburger, a director of numerous corporations—including Halliburton—and the former Deputy Secretary of State (1989-1992) and then Secretary of State (1992-1993) under George H.W. Bush. Other FIP notables are deep intelligence insiders, including John Deutch and Brent Scowcroft, and Archers Daniels Midland director Dwayne Andreas.
The International Crises Group executive John Prendergast’s role in manipulating world consciousness around war and genocide must be situated not in the “humanitarian” front that the ICG gives him, but in his role as National Security Council during the Clinton Administration, with Walter Kansteiner III. The ICG is silent about the proliferation of dubious and illegal mining by firms like Moto Gold Mines, and their “crises group” research papers never identify any of the significant players behind the scenes in Congo (or Darfur).
Walter Kansteiner III is also a Senior Associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which today counts among its members Alexander Haig, Brent Scowcroft, John Deutch, DonaldRumsfeld,, Henry Kissinger, and many other deep intelligence and defense insiders.
Many of the same players noted above are involved behind the scenes in Somalia, Chad, Ethiopia and Sudan—the “Save Darfur” interests and lobby behind “genocide” in Darfur—and profit from warfare and “humanitarian relief” while millions and millions of Africa’s people suffer and die.
At this writing there are 1.2 million Acholi people suffering miserably in death camps in Northern Uganda subject to terrorism as policy orchestrated by Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. One hundred fifty additional U.S. Special Operations forces were deployed in Uganda in March 2007, and Museveni has now instituted compulsory military training in support of the DOD’s AFRICOM and the US/UPDF military campaigns in Sudan (Darfur), Chad, Congo, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia. Petroleum operations in western and northern Uganda are expanding: Bechtel subsidiary Nexant is one of the companies building the pipeline across Uganda to the US military port in Mombasa, Kenya. The genocide against the Acholi people in northern Uganda is in media whiteout.
The international logging sector in Congo is another scandal never illuminated with similar zeal by the Washington Post and Newsweek—who target Congolese charcoal as the problem. The Portuguese Trindade brothers—Jose Albano Maia Trindade and João Manuel Maia Trindade—are the owner-operators of four companies: SODIFOR, SOFORMA, FARABOLA and Compagnie Forestière et de Transformation. Their concessions total 5,959,817 hectares in four Congo provinces.
Logging operations of other Western companies—the American Blattner family, George Somja of Belgium, George Forrest, the German Danzer Corporation (2,421,871 hectares), and others—comprise an additional 26 million hectares, and the World Wildlife Fund rubber stamps their operations. The profits and the expropriation of Congolese land for the international logging sector swamp the $30 million a year charcoal industry run by and for Congolese people. While there has been much fanfare in the international media about “canceling” logging and “reexamining” mining contracts—rewriting the mining and logging codes—little substantive change has been made. The question of land belonging to the Congolese and their access to it must be seen in the light of the logging industry in DRC.
At one Blattner operation (SAFBOIS, Isangi, DRC), the WWF field station is located within the deep forest compound of the company. The BBC publishes WWF press releases verbatim, and WWF has actively undermined indigenous people’s resistance in the face of the logging onslaught in Congo. Like the massive rainforest rip-off underway, the Washington PostNew York TimesNewsweek and BBChave reported none of this.
Instead, Newsweek blames poor Congolese "charcoal gatherers."
Mainstream media has it wrong—again.

James Casbolt-The true inside facts about the 7/7 London bombings


The true inside facts about the 7/7 London bombings

By James Casbolt, former MI6 agent – February 18, 2007
The British and US government are stirring an atmosphere of animosity and hatred between white and Asian people in the UK, US and around the world. Whites verses Asians invents the excuse for the invasion of the Middle East. They are also looking for a minority to blame for the terrorism in the UK and US that the governments themselves are responsible for.
This is known as ‘false flag’ terrorism. ‘Al Qaeda’ is an MI- 6, CIA organisation utilising Middle Eastern assets. These are big claims but this is backed up with evidence from my MI 6 contacts. My friend below was briefed in detail regarding what really happened on 7/7 and how the British Government were responsible.
James Casbolt- “ So you are saying the bombs were planted into the bus several days before the 7/7 London bombings”
X10- “ Yes, the British government switched the safety checking team. When they went into the bus depot a few days before hand a trade union spokesman who was asked about this said he couldn’t understand who the security was. He didn’t recognise anybody. These were people who come into check the buses. They normally check the buses for things like suspension, braking systems and the security cameras. Instead of staying what is usually an hour or so these people were there for the entire day. When workers approached them and started making small talk they wrere basically ignored . So they had the feeling that these people were not regular security.
James Casbolt- “So they were probably MI 5?”
X10- “They were MI 5. They were there primarily to make sure the video camera went off at a certain time. Which is of course what happened. Isn’t it is amazing that on that day, this was similar to what happened with the cameras prior to the death of Princess Diana. All the security cameras that counted on 7/7, not the ones that didn’t count, the ones that really counted weren’t working. The security camera on that bus wasn’t working on that particular day.
James Casbolt- “So where did they plant the bombs on the bus?”
X10- “Inside the seats and under the floor. I know that the eye witness accounts of what happened were all at variance with one another. The BBC relied exclusively on a testimony given by a Scottish guy. The Scottish guy contradicted himself so many times and yet no one in the media asked him about these contradictory statements. He said in one report that he got off the front of the bus and in another report he said he left through the rear door. One report said he was the first out and another report he said was the last off the bus. So there appears to be a lot of confusion in terms of the report”
James Casbolt- “So the four Asian lads were they MI 5 assets?”
X10- “They were stooges”
James Casbolt- “Do you think they consciously knew they were working for MI5?”
X10- “No they weren’t working consciously for MI 5. They would just be a shadow team lured into London to be part of a covert programme of simulated attacks. They were paid to be in a certain place at a certain time to take part in a simulated attack. A company was running a simulated terror attack at the time. Those boys were part of that. They were told “Your backpacks represent explosive devices but of course they aren’t explosives”
James Casbolt- “So they were told ‘this is just a dummy run”
X10- “It was a dummy run. They were part of the dummy run. They stopped their car just outside of Luton and they were briefed by somebody. When they left Luton of course, they didn’t leave Luton at the time described because there was a cock up with train times. So whether they managed to get to London or not is an unknown because the video camera evidence has been shown to be faulty. There is a problem with the timing on some of the video footage.
James Casbolt- “So they bought return tickets?”
X10 – “Yea, they bought return tickets. Of course you wouldn’t but return tickets if you knew you were on a one way journey to hell. Some of the other reports that were briefly mentioned in the quality, alternative media and not the tabloid media. Then they were completely ignored by the controlled tabloid media, was one eye witness who was talking about the fact that as she was coming off the train were the bomb exploded. The police officer said “Mind the hole!” and he pointed to a huge blast which showed the metal structure of the under carriage facing upwards as if the bomb had blown upwards. This was the security services taking the extra insurance that in case any of the bombs that their agents had left on the train and those were ex MI 5, ex SAS people, that they would have had a back up, a contingency to make sure those explosions did take place. A number of reports reported more bombs than there were alleged terrorists.
James Casbolt- “Why is it ex MI 5 doing it? Why is it not active MI5 agents?
X10- “In a way there is no such thing as ex MI 5. Once your MI 5 you’re always MI 5 (I would have to disagree with that statement as I managed to get away from my involvement with MI 6- James Casbolt). A lot of MI 5 people get jobs with other organisation that are similar in structure when they leave the security services. These organisations are usually part of the private sector. There have been a number of these organisations over the years. A very, very famous intelligence unit that used to work under Peter Mandelson involved in the oil business, and they announced a disclosure about three years ago. Norton Taylor who works for the intelligence part of the Guardian. He pointed out then that such organisations often announce their demise and its nothing of the sort. Its just disinformation or they just change into another company with exactly the same brief. There a lot of these little private organisations that soak up people who have left these intelligence services and they have them working on a private basis but more often than not they are contracted and they get work contracted out to them from the government”
James Casbolt- “So the four Asian lads, they were probably having their strings pulled by MI 5 officers”
X10- Oh yea, absolutely without a doubt. They were runners, a dummy team. I’ve spoken to a few people about the way in which dummy teams are run. They interest lads like that, what MI5 do is they say something like “We want you to be part of a film, part of a dummy run working with the government and also working with BBC producers on developing scenarios in which terrorist attacks in the UK could take place. You get to London and then you do this, meet us at a certain place and we give you a thousand quid”. That’s easy money and its easy money for what? Travelling to London, sitting on a train with a backpack for about half an hour or so and you collect your loot”
James Casbolt- “Do you think Mohammad Sidique Khan would have been a conscious MI 5 agent?”
X10- “He may have been paid by MI 5 to go through that on the TV. The same way as, there is another guy who is a known MI 5 agent. He used to be the sidekick of Abdul H the Muslim preacher. He was no 2. He was a ‘Mr fixer’ and had links to all sorts of exotic quasi terrorist organisations, which are of course almost all run by British intelligence. I wish I could remember his name”
James Casbolt- “You said one of the ex SAS men who was responsible for the bombings was called Mcgreagor and he was disguised as a homeless person.”
X10- “That’s what they do to blend in, well not blend in but to make them look conspicuous. If you’ve got a homeless person clutching an old Tesco’s bag or something you don’t tend to look at him and say the guy looks like security threat”
James casbolt- “Can you explain what he did”
X10- “He was on the train and left a package with explosives in. The man who told me this, I developed a close relationship in the past and trusted him”
James Casbolt- “And this man was an MI 6 officer?”
X10- “Ex MI 6. He longer worked for them. Even in the days when I knew him he had already left the service. As far as the bus operations were concerned that was not his main topic. He was talking mostly about the people in the tube bombings. When all of the eye witness statements came up later on talking about the possibility that the bombs may have been placed under the buses, what the government did was put in a fail safe to make sure that even if some thing went wrong on the day with those people who were involved in the bombings themselves, they would at least have a secondary system to ensure the bombs exploded at exactly the time they wanted”
James Casbolt- “So would they have been set on timers?”
X10- “They were set on timers”
James Casbolt- “So they wouldn’t have needed to remotely detonated?”
X10- “No. This whole remote system is quite strange because on the day itself Ian Blair took down all of the mobile phone communications. Everything was switched off. You couldn’t make a mobile phone call. He knew in any event that there were no remote detonators and he was just covering his arse in case any curious journalists asked him a pertinent question later on. There were no remote detonations on the day at all. They were all personally delivered to the destinations”
James Casbolt- “What happened on the tube then?”
X10- “The agents were there at the exactly the right time they were supposed to be. If it was the actual case that those guys actually did get the train from Luton. I don’t believe they got the train from Luton because apparently that train never turned up. But if they had got to London before hand which s probably the case, they would have had plenty of time to receive the briefing in London. They would have got on train. They would have then been followed by these ex MI 5, SAS officers so that they were actually in the same cart as the so-called juvenile bombers. It would have taken place as scheduled”
James Casbolt- “So the guys on the train who were ex MI 5, ex SAS, they left the explosives on the train and then got off. What were their names again?”
X10- “The ex MI 5 man was codenamed ’J-boy’ and Mcgreagor was the ex SAS guy”
James Casbolt- “And then you say they escaped in a Vauxhall cabriolet?”
X10- “Yes and they were driven away from the scene”
James Casbolt- “So your MI 6 contact confirmed it was a Vauxhall cabriolet?”
X10- “Yes”
James Casbolt- “So J-boy and Mcreagor left explosives in bags under the seats but there were secondary explosives under the train carriage (See photos. Ed.) in case they didn’t go off”
X10- “Yes”
James Casbolt- “Do you know were the safe house was were Mcgreagor and J-boy went afterwards”
X10- “The safe house was in South London. This is a very unfortunate event that is going to be churning around in people’s minds for a long time to come. We need a proper public enquiry”
To the government factions who were involved in this act of mass killing I say this. How dare you blow up and murder my British people! All those who are accountable will be held fully accountable when the time comes! That time is coming soon. In my vision I see Asian and white brothers and sisters coming together in love and harmony in this country. We will confront the government peacefully for their terrorist crimes.
James Casbolt
http://jamescasbolt.com/bombings.htm