The Son of Africa claims a continent’s crown jewels

[jakeXT]

The Son of Africa claims a continent’s crown jewels
20 October 2011

On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there. In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only "engage" for "self-defence", says Obama, satirically. With Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way.

Obama's decision is described in the press as "highly unusual" and "surprising", even "weird". It is none of these things. It is the logic of American foreign policy since 1945. Take Vietnam. The priority was to halt the influence of China, an imperial rival, and "protect" Indonesia, which President Nixon called "the region's richest hoard of natural resources... the greatest prize". Vietnam merely got in the way; and the slaughter of more than three million Vietnamese and the devastation and poisoning of their land was the price of America achieving its goal. Like all America's subsequent invasions, a trail of blood from Latin America to Afghanistan and Iraq, the rationale was usually "self defence" or "humanitarian", words long emptied of their dictionary meaning.

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However, the main reason the US is invading Africa is no different from that which ignited the Vietnam war. It is China. In the world of self-serving, institutionalised paranoia that justifies what General David Petraeus, the former US commander and now CIA director, implies is a state of perpetual war, China is replacing al-Qaeda as the official American "threat". When I interviewed Bryan Whitman, an assistant secretary of defence at the Pentagon last year, I asked him to describe the current danger to America. Struggling visibly, he repeated, "Asymmetric threats ... asymmetric threats". These justify the money-laundering state-sponsored arms conglomerates and the biggest military and war budget in history. With Osama bin Laden airbrushed, China takes the mantle.

Africa is China's success story. Where the Americans bring drones and destabilisation, the Chinese bring roads, bridges and dams. What they want is resources, especially fossil fuels. With Africa's greatest oil reserves, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was one of China's most important sources of fuel. When the civil war broke out and Nato backed the "rebels" with a fabricated story about Gaddafi planning "genocide" in Benghazi, China evacuated its 30,000 workers in Libya. The subsequent UN security council resolution that allowed the west's "humanitarian intervention" was explained succinctly in a proposal to the French government by the "rebel" National Transitional Council, disclosed last month in the newspaper Liberation, in which France was offered 35 per cent of Libya's gross national oil production "in exchange" (the term used) for "total and permanent" French support for the NTC. Running up the Stars and Stripes in "liberated" Tripoli last month, US ambassador Gene Cretz blurted out: "We know that oil is the jewel in the crown of Libyan natural resources!"

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http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-son-of-africa-claims-a-continents-crown-jewels



It's cheaper and with no American lives at risk not even a war...

[bhikkhu]

1. Libya's oil wealth was put on the open market in 2004

...its easy enough to google back and read about it, including how all that settled out by 2006 or so.

The NTC has always said that all existing contracts would be honored, and nothing has changed with the change at the top. France (or, more properly, french-owned oil companies) has its share, as it has for the past few years.

The article is just another in a long string which seems to answer a need for people to impose simple good-vs-evil narratives on complicated events. Which is ok, it saves many people from a lot of thinking, I guess...

[jakeXT]

3. We may have some problems with Russia, China and Brazil the NTC said

"We don't have a problem with western countries like Italians, French and UK companies. But we may have some political issues with Russia, China and Brazil," Abdeljalil Mayouf, information manager at Libyan rebel oil firm AGOCO, told Reuters.

The comment signals the potential for a major setback for Russia, China and Brazil, which opposed tough sanctions on Gaddafi or pressed for more talks, and could mean a loss of billions of dollars worth of oil exploration and construction contracts in the African nation.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4969151


Gaddafi says looking at oil firm nationalization

"Oil maybe should be owned by national companies or the public sector at this point, in order to control the oil prices, the oil production or maybe to stop it," he told the students. "We may refuse to sell it at this very low price."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/01/21/businessproind-us-libya-gaddafi-oil-idUKTRE50K61F20090121

[bhikkhu]

5. Libyan oil was nationalized decades ago

...and was pretty much opened up to exploration and leases in 2004, when sanctions were lifted. All the deals were similar to what other countries lacking oil expertise do - lease out the rights to explore and drill sector by sector, under a contract that dictates what share the government gets, and what share the producer gets.

[walerosco]

2. K & R

Another homerun from John Pilger

[polly7]

4. K & R n/t.

[AverageJoe90]

6. I'm sorry, John, but..........

All China could be doing now is what the Western powers did in the 20th Century. Whatever roads, bridges and dams they have built, if they've even built any........they sure as hell aren't going to be for the people in those countries! Fact is, I sometimes wonder if China may just be the next neo-colonial power; I wouldn't be surprised. Even this country under a Bachmann or a Huckabee wouldn't go THAT far. Unrec.

[jakeXT]

7. China is still hoping it will get back to normal...

What's also fueling the uncertainty about Libya's future is the involvement of foreign powers, which may seek to have a hand in the post-Gaddafi era for their own benefit."

China recognised Libya's National Transitional Council as Libya's "ruling authority" last month, saying the umbrella of rebel groups against Gaddafi's rule had vowed to respect Beijing's economic interests.

Libya's interim council has promised rewards for those who took a leading role in backing the revolt against Gaddafi, raising concern that China could be disadvantaged in the key energy sector.

China did not use its U.N. Security Council veto power in March to block a resolution that authorised the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but it condemned the expanding strikes and repeatedly urged compromise between his government and the rebels.

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL3E7LL0DN20111021?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

[AverageJoe90]

8. What about us, Jake? We liberated them.

They'll still respect our interests too, right? After all, we liberated them while Beijing sat on their collective asses whining all year.

[jakeXT]

9. Maybe it's time to change the playbook

China’s evolving foreign policy
The Libyan dilemma


A rising power starts to knock against the limits of its hallowed “non-interference”

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Rhetorically, the principle of “non-interference” remains sacred. On September 6th China issued a white paper on its “peaceful development” (ie, rise), its first on the topic since 2005, well before financial crisis crushed Western economic confidence and propelled China even more to the fore in international terms. The document said China still upheld the principle and that it respected the right of others to “independently choose their own social system and path of development”. Usually this has meant supporting whoever is in power no matter how thuggish or unpopular. In Libya, though, China wavered.

It could have done as it did in earlier Arab uprisings: wait on the sidelines and recognise the legitimacy of opposition movements only after dictators had fallen. But Libya presented an unusual combination of challenges for China. These included demand at home for prompt action to ensure the safety of more than 35,000 Chinese working in the country; widespread support among (China-friendly) Arab countries for tough action against Muammar Qaddafi; and economic interests in Libya that might be threatened by supporting the wrong side.
..

http://www.economist.com/node/21528664