Excerpt:
Xstrata "is a major global diversified mining group", based in Switzerland. The company has a "position in seven major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc, with additional exposures to platinum group metals, gold, cobalt, lead and silver, recycling facilities and a suite of global technology products, many of which are industry leaders." [1]
The group is active in 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Germany, New Caledonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, the USA and the UK.[1]
"Xstrata completed the acquisition of Falconbridge on 2 November 2006."
Argentina is a country in the southeast part of South America, to the south of Brazil, with a capital city of Buenos Aires. Military rule was in effect 1976-1983 when tens of thousands of people were killed and many went missing in the "dirty war". Amnesties that protected former military people have been repealed and the pardons that were given in the 1980s and 1990s to military leaders are now being questioned. In 2007, former Roman Catholic police chaplain Christian Von Wernich was convicted for his involvement in murder and torture in the "dirty war". [1] [2]
The BBC says of the country's media:
- Australia's media scene is creatively, technologically and economically advanced. There is a tradition of public broadcasting, but privately-owned TV and radio enjoy the lion's share of listening and viewing. Ownership of print and broadcast media is highly-concentrated. For example, four major media groups own 80% of Australia's newspaper titles.
- The John Howard government changed the regulations governing media ownership. The rules, introduced in 2007, allow for greater cross-ownership of press and TV outlets as well as higher levels of foreign ownership.[2]
U.S. military/communications/intelligence bases in Australia
The U.S. has the Richmond Royal Australian Air Force Base and the Woomera Air Station, Woomera in Australia. [3]Some types of bases exist to facilitate nuclear war. The American Friends Service Committee says that these bases "provide a launching point for nuclear attack. In many ways, the U.S. first-strike nuclear doctrine is made possible by the forward deployment of nuclear weapons in Belgium, Britain, Greece, Germany, Holland, and Turkey. US communication bases in Britain, Japan, Australia, and other nations are essential for communicating orders to initiate nuclear war and for targeting nuclear and other high-tech weapons." [4]
Joseph Gerson of the American Friends Service Committee mentions some purposes of U.S. military bases: [5]
- "To encircle enemies. This was the case with the Soviet Union and China during Cold War and it continues to this day. U.S. bases in Korea, Japan, Guam, Australia and in Central Asia are all designed to contain China. We also see encirclement with the "missile defense" bases to be built in the Czech Republic and Poland."
- "To facilitate command, control, communications and intelligence for "conventional" and nuclear war and for spying. U.S. bases in Britain, Italy, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan, Qatar, and Australia serve these functions. Elsewhere, U.S. bases in Australia are being augmented. The "Visiting Forces" and access agreements with the Philippines and Singapore, are being expanded, and Tsunami relief operations in 2005 opened the way for U.S. forces to return to Thailand and for greater cooperation with the Indonesian military."
Unequal distribution of land
A handful of wealthy families in Brazil control much of the land. The organization Movement of Landless Rural Workers works to redress this problem by demanding land redistribution. It uses protests and land occupation to try to get a more even distribution.[2]Destruction of Amazon rainforest
Brazil has much of the Amazon rainforest and its exploitation has become a major worry. In the 1970s during military rule, a drive to move settlers to the Amazon resulted in considerable damage. Government-sponsored migration programs have stopped but deforestation by loggers and cattle ranchers continues and remains controversial.In 2005, the government reported that one fifth of the Amazon forests had been cleared by deforestation. Although its making efforts to control illegal logging, environmental reports suggest the efforts are making little difference.[2]
U.S. military presence in the region
In April 2010, the United States military announced plans to further expand its influence throughout Latin America using agreements with various governments including Brazil and Peru. This follows after a cooperation deal made with Colombia the previous year. The New American writes, "U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim signed an "umbrella" accord that will "lead to a deepening of U.S.-Brazil defense cooperation at all levels," according to Gates. The agreement includes provisions for "military exchanges," logistic support, training, cooperation on defense-related products and services, and more. It is the first such agreement since the late 1970s."[3]In 2009, Brazil was criticizing a plan by the United States to use seven military bases in neighboring Colombia. The plan has met with fierce opposition in South America in general, "despite efforts on Wednesday by a top-level U.S. envoy to reassure the region. U.S. President Barack Obama's national security adviser, retired general Jim Jones, told reporters in Brasilia that fears the bases might signify U.S. military designs beyond fighting drug trafficking in Colombia were unfounded."
"The foreign affairs adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Marco Aurelio Garcia, said 'foreign bases in the region look like relics of the Cold War.'"[4]
In November 2009, Brazil expressed its unhappiness at the presence of US naval ships off of its shores by Rio de Janeiro where massive new oilfields have been discovered. These fields can soon make Brazil into a large oil producer eligible for membership in OPEC. The Independent writes, "The fact that the US gets half its oil from Latin America was one of the reasons the US Fourth Fleet was re-established in the region's waters in 2008. The fleet's vessels can include Polaris nuclear-armed submarines – a deployment seen by some experts as a violation of the 1967 Tlatelolco Treaty, which bans nuclear weapons from the continent. Indications of US willingness to envisage the stationing of nuclear weapons in Colombia are seen as an additional threat to the spirit of nuclear disarmament."
U.S. on/off torture watch list
On January 17, 2008, Canada put the U.S. and Israel on a torture watch list - a list of countries where prisoners can be tortured. Reuters reported that this was likely to embarass the Conservative minority government of Canada. [3]Two days later, on January 19, Reuters reported that Canada, responding to pressure from allies, said that it would remove the U.S. and Israel from this same list, the U.S. and Israel expressing unhappiness at being put on the list. Amnesty International Canada (AIC) said that is has a lot of evidence that torture is going on in U.S. and Israeli prisons and AIC was disappointed in the removal. [4]
Canadian military bases overseas
Canada has the military base Camp Mirage at the Minhad Air Force Base in the country of United Arab Emirates. The base is a staging area for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and for a Canadian warship when one is assigned to a U.S. battle group. U.S. soldiers are also stationed at the base.http://www.theblaze.com/stories/u-s-adds-israel-to-promoter-producer-or-protector-of-terrorists-list/
Excerpt:
U.S. Adds Israel to ‘Promoter, Producer, or Protector’ of Terrorists List
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:35pm by 
Buck Sexton
Buck Sexton The Obama administration has added Israel to a list of 36 ‘specially designated’ countries that have ‘shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members.’
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Pentagon-CIA_Archipelago
Excerpts:
1) The Pentagon-CIA Archipelago
From SourceWatch
Alluding to The Gulag Archipelago (Архипелаг ГУЛаг) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a book widely publicized in the US, The Pentagon-CIA Archipelago is a term coined by Noam Chomsky and Edward S Herman to refer to correlation between reported Human rights abuse on an administrative basis and the provision of support in terms of troops, military training; including techniques of torture, and money ("aid") to states by the United States. Their study was based on information from between 1950 and 1975.2) Footnote on suppression of the book
According to Chomsky and Herman, the first edition of their book was suppressed by Warner Modular, which wholly owned the company which bought the book. The company was closed down for no apparent reason a little while after the parent company said that the book could not be published for reasons of "balance".
Fascism and Big Business
From SourceWatch
Fascism and Big Business is the title of a book written by anarchist historian Daniel Guerin in 1938. Reviewhttp://www.amazon.com/Fascism-Big-Business-Daniel-Guerin/dp/0873488784
Excerpt:
A comprehensive study of fascism as it evolved in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
Daniel Guerin's classic work, first published in French in 1936, shows how fascism, far from being an aberration of mass psychology, arose from the specific conditions of a social system in crisis. At first covertly, then increasingly openly, layers of big business financed and promoted the fascist movements in Italy and Germany.
Guerin contrasts the fascists' initially radical anticapitalist demagogy with their moves to shore up the capitalist profit system once they form the government.
"The profound causes that drove the Italian and German industrialists to bring fascism to power may produce the same effects elsewhere," Guerin concludes. (from the back cover)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gu%C3%A9rin
Excerpt:
citations. (May 2010)
Daniel Guérin (19 May 1904, Paris – 14 April 1988, Suresnes) was a French libertarian and author, best known for his work Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, as well as his collection No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism in which he collected writings on the idea and movement it inspired, from the first writings of Max Stirner in the mid-19th century through the first half of the 20th century. He is also known for his opposition to Nazism, fascism, Stalinism and colonialism, in addition to his support for the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) during the Spanish Civil War, and his revolutionary defence of free love and homosexuality (he was bisexual).
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