Latin America launches new bloc excluding U.S., Canada
Posted: 2010/02/24
Latin American and Caribbean countries on Tuesday agreed to launch a new regional group excluding the United States and Canada.

CANCUN, Mexico, Feb. 24 (Xinhua)The new bloc, seen as an alternative to the U.S.-weighted Organization of American States (OAS), is intended to weaken U.S. influence in the region.

It also reflected the common wishes of the Latin American and Caribbean nations of seeking a louder voice and greater role on the global stage.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who proposed the new group, said that the provisional name for the body would be the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

"We have decided to create an organization CELC that includes all the organizations of Latin America and the Caribbean," Calderon said at the closing ceremony of the Group of Rio summit in Cancun.

He said the group decided to base the organization on shared values, including sovereignty and the non-use of force, international cooperation, ever closer integration of Latin America and the Caribbean and permanent political dialogue.

The new organization will help promote the process of regional integration, defend democracy and human rights, and foster cooperation among Latin American and Caribbean countries, the Mexican president said.

The next meeting of the organization will be in Venezuela next year.

The normal functions of the Group of Rio and the Latin American and Caribbean Congress will continue until the new organization's institutions are completely formed, Calderon
said. READ FULL STORY

Africa's Land and Family Farms - Up for Grabs?
by Joan Baxter
Global Research, February 18, 2010
GRAIN - 2010-01-02

Over the years many Big Ideas have been imposed on Africa from outside. The latest is that the region should sell or lease millions of hectares of land to foreign investors, who will bring resources and up-to-date technology. None of the blueprints has worked, and African farmers have become increasingly impoverished. It is time for Africans to turn to their own histories, knowledge and resources.

In the early 1990s, when I was living in northern Ghana, an elderly woman farmer decided that I needed some education. In a rather long lecture, she detailed the devastating effects that the Green Revolution - the first one, which outside experts and donors launched in Africa in the 1960s and 70s - had had on farmers' crops, soils, trees and lives. She said that the imported seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and tractors, the instructions to plant row after row of imported hybrid maize and cut down precious trees that protected the soils and nourished the people - even the invaluable shea nut trees - had ruined the diverse, productive farming systems that had always sustained her people. When she finished, she cocked an eye at me and asked, with a cagey grin, "Why do you bring your mistakes here?" By "you" I think she meant the people - foreigners and Africans in their employ - who tramp all over the continent implementing big development ideas. These great schemes are generally concocted even higher up the decision-making chain in distant world financial capitals, often by free-market economists, bankers and billionaire philanthropists who wouldn't know a shea nut from a peanut.

At the time, I had no answer to her question. But now, two decades later, I think I do. It's taken years of patient teaching by African farmers from Zambia to Uganda, from Kenya to Cameroon and Mali. And, most recently, it was all summed up clearly for me by members of COPAGEN, a coalition of African farmer associations, scientists, civil society groups and activists who work to protect Africa's genetic heritage, farmers' rights, and their sovereignty over their land, seeds and food. These knowledgeable people have shown me that the answer is quite straightforward: many of those imported mistakes, disguised as solutions for Africa, are very, very profitable, at least for those who design and make them. READ FULL STORY

The Drive to Eliminate Social Security in America
by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, February 23, 2010

In Washington each new day brings a fresh call to “reform entitlement programs” — Social Security, Medicare, etc., (in Congress, the word “reform” now means to eliminate, or drastically reduce). Tackling Social Security has been on the to-do list of the corporate elite for years, and they’re not waiting any longer. After years of promoting this cause, conservative think tanks have now garnered solid support from the political

establishment as a whole, which includes the Republican and Democratic parties.

The newest liberal recruit to the destruction of Social Security is Thomas Friedman, the influential columnist for The New York Times, who wrote recently:
“The president needs to persuade the country to invest in the future and pay for the past... We have to pay for more new schools and infrastructure than ever, while accepting more entitlement cuts than ever [Social Security, Medicare, etc.] when public trust in government is lower than ever.” (February 20, 2010).
The nonchalance which Friedman calls for cutting Social Security is indicative of the climate inWashington, where the last remnants of liberalism have been suffocated under the heavy demands of profit-hungry corporations, especially financial institutions and big banks. For political hacks like Friedman — and there are thousands of them — the ONLY solution to curing the U.S. deficit is cutting social services in general, while specifically targeting Social Security and Medicare.

But President Obama revealed these assertions to be lies, when he recently announced, “fixing Social Security would be simple.” The Associated Press explains:
“The system is funded with a tax on earnings, up to $109,000 a year. Obama says lifting that cap to tax a larger share of income would be one way to extend the system of monthly payments for retirees. It also would be unpopular with some.” (February 19, 2010).
This idea is indeed very unpopular with the very rich, who enjoy the privilege of paying no Social Security tax after the $109,000 threshold. Obama let an unpopular truth out of the bag when he brought up this fact; but conveniently for him, many mainstream news outlets decided not to amplify the President’s voice. READ FULL STORY

South Africa 20 years after Mandela’s release
15 February 2010
wsws.org

Twenty years ago, Nelson Mandela walked free from Victor Verster prison. His release on 2 February 1990 heralded the end of the apartheid system, which maintained rigid racial segregation and disenfranchised the black and coloured majority in South Africa. The elections that followed in 1994 brought Mandela to

power as president of a country that was hailed as the “Rainbow Nation”.
Two decades later, South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, despite the ending of apartheid. The limited political gains that were made have not translated into greater social and economic equality. Rather, the gap between rich and poor has widened, and more South Africans now live in poverty than in 1990.

Some 70 percent of the population live below the official poverty line, according to the latest figures. Unemployment stands at about 40 percent of the workforce according to any realistic estimate. At the same time, the richest members of society have increased their annual earnings by as much as 50 percent.

Social inequality has grown between ethnic groups, as well as within them. The majority of black South Africans are still living in poverty, but a tiny minority of those at the top of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) have become billionaires and joined the wealthy elite that ran South Africa under the apartheid regime.

Cyril Ramaphosa played a prominent role in the anniversary celebrations. He headed the committee that welcomed Mandela as he left prison 20 years ago as a leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. Today he is one of the richest people in South Africa. Not surprisingly, he used the occasion to praise the current government that has given him and people like him such enormous opportunities for self-enrichment. READ FULL STORY

US states slash Medicaid
By Tom Eley
20 February 2010
wsws.org

US states are imposing major cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low income Americans jointly funded with the federal government. The cuts are being enacted in response to huge budget deficits in states throughout the country and a sharp increase in enrollment fuelled by the unemployment crisis.

Cuts in Medicaid services are a critical component of the attempts by the US corporate and financial elite, led by the Obama administration, to slash government health care costs and reduce care. On Thursday, Obama established a bipartisan panel whose central purpose will be to find ways to decrease spending on government health care and pension programs, including Medicaid (See, “Obama appoints panel to slash social programs”)

Some versions of the Democrats’ health care overhaul proposals include an expansion of Medicaid eligibility, but without full support for state governments. This will translate into further cuts to services and ensure that larger numbers of Americans have access only to the most limited and inadequate health care coverage, while the wealthy continue to enjoy the best care money can buy.
Enrollment in Medicaid increased by 3.3 million between June 2008 and June 2009 to nearly 47 million cases, according to a study released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Caseloads increased in every US state. In thirteen states, enrollment shot up by more than 10 percent.

According to a new study by Families USA, for every 1 percentage point rise in the US unemployment rate, 1 million people become eligible for Medicaid and related programs.
With Medicaid already consuming about a fifth of most state budgets—the same as the average outlay for education—both Democratic and Republican governors and lawmakers throughout the country are insisting on deep cuts in the services provided to Medicaid recipients.
Medicaid typically provides insurance to those who fall below the official poverty level, but only within certain categories: children, pregnant women, parents of young children, the disabled, and the elderly who require nursing home care. The program’s reach varies among the states, but the majority of Americans living in poverty—three out of five according to one estimate—are not covered by Medicaid. READ FULL STORY

China Could Build Up Nuclear Capability to Counter U.S. Missile Shield

Global Research, February 25, 2010
RIA Novosti - 2010-02-24

MOSCOW -- China could strengthen its nuclear capability in response to U.S. global missile defense plans, a Russian military expert said on Wednesday.

"At present, China has a very limited nuclear potential, but my recent contacts with Chinese military representatives indicate that if the United States deploys a global missile defense system, in particular in the Far East, China will build up its offensive capability," said Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky, former department deputy head in the Russian Defense Ministry.

He did not elaborate on how a potential missile shield could be countered with nuclear weapons or why it would threaten China.

So far Washington has been mostly preoccupied with a missile shield in Central Europe and says it is needed to counter potential Iranian strikes.

In a move to ease Moscow's concerns, Obama last year scrapped plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic.

Earlier this month, however, Romania and Bulgaria said they were in talks with Obama's administration to deploy elements of the U.S. missile shield on their territories from 2015.
READ FULL STORY