by Henk Ruyssenaars - Former Africa correspondent

FPF - Sunday, July 3d - 2005 - Geldof's rip off with his global 'Live Shame' show was to cheat all of us for the benefit of Bush and Blair, which he nota bene describes as 'his friends'. Even explaining in a Time Magazine* interview: "that he [Bush] has actually done more than any American President for Africa. But it’s empirically so."

This is one of the incredibly shameless lies which the Live 8 concert now has sold globally, spread with music by Geldof and his friends in the faith. Since Geldof's friends run most of the major media, it was not difficult to help whip up support for the worst war criminals at present wrecking the globe.

And in advance - with a lot of murderous restrictions and killing obligations - the G 8 'money ministers' (finance) offered a debt relief package for the world's poorest countries. Relief of a debt of trillions that we never should have lend them in the first place, knowing they would never be able to pay back the loans.

The multinational's International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and similar criminal organizations keep wrecking the world, without Geldof's friends ever protesting. Bob Geldof never said a word either about Israel 'Holocausting' the Palestinians for decades.

The profits for the multinationals are too big and the unseen (many times) 50.000 people which daily die of hunger is a price 'they' never bother about. In all African countries they ruled, the multinationals have only allowed corrupt imbeciles with or without fancy uniforms on the bloody dictator thrones, criminals who of course emptied their IMF and World Bank loan coffers, turning the country's own economy into shambles. That is what we have done to Africa.

Than the Africans and all other victims are blamed for their inaptitude, for not having natural abilities to 'run' their own country. The mainstream media keep the picture alive for their owners, and the perpetrators of these crimes are cheered at a global concert?

SHELL; KILLING AND DRILLING

And while all the eyes are raised to Bush and Blair in 'Geldof Heaven', the US in the past years has enormously expanded it's military presence in Africa. Under the cover of the US neocon made 'War of Terror' the US military - assisting the global banks and their multinationals - has abandoned a lot of military bases in Europe and Asia, and relocated them to 'protect' nearly all oil and natural gas resources in Africa. With the cover of the UN the Chinese have been forced to leave the oil rich Darfur region in Sudan, for years their oil base, which they now have stopped building in Africa.

So called 'Royal' Dutch SHELL already for decades has been 'killing and drilling' for profit - in Africa their main victim is especially oil rich Nigeria - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/aekkc.

The US 'Robber Barons' have focused on Uganda, Djibouti, Senegal and Sao Tomé y Principe, where heavily armed but flexible, small scale 'jumping off points' exist or are built for the 'oil protecting' US 'Rapid Deployment Forces'. The small archipelago is strategically placed in the oil rich Gulf of Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's major oil producing area.

Here, the "US military could monitor the movement of oil tankers and protect oil platforms," the american industrial information service and former 'news agency' AP quoted high ranking military officers. The US and collaborating Navies at present surround and control Africa 'again to 'protect' it: this time it's the 'pirates' which have to be kept away from the oil tanker lanes around the African continent.

What George Monbiot writes about Geldof's show in the Guardian*, is similar to my experiences, after spending ten years working as a correspondent in Africa, and like many I understand the game the 'Geldofs of this world' and their media are playing: 'They believe that praising the world's most powerful men is more persuasive than criticizing them.

The problem is that in doing so they turn the political campaign developed by the global justice movement into a philanthropic one. They urge the G8 leaders to do more to help the poor. But they say nothing about ceasing to do harm.'

And the harm which those G8 people and their multinationals have done to the world, and in this case Africa, is gigantic. At present the nefarious neocon and bad genius Paul Wolfowitz is the new head of the US Empire's economical killers at the World Bank with it's deadly 'help'. He's the boss of the 'Jackals and hit men', which are perfectly described in "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins* in his book which has now been published.

Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community is one of the people who after decades has decided that "he can't take it anymore how the U.S. uses globalization to cheat poor countries out of trillions". In his book Perkins describes how he as a highly paid professional, helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay, and then take over their economies.

Perkins: "When the economic 'hit men' fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn't work they perform assassinations, or try to. [The next thing to be expected by the US, in Venezuela - HR]

In the case of Iraq, they weren't able to get through to Saddam Hussein. His bodyguards were too good. He had doubles. They couldn't get through to him.

So the third line of defense, if the economic hit men and the jackals fail, the next line of defense is our young men and women, who are sent in to die and kill, which is what we've obviously done in Iraq." Perkins said.

Geldof's tsunami of music

And those same activities, right now worsening the situation for the population of Africa - the reason of all poverty and misery - was drowned in a Geldof made tsunami of good music, making many of us forget what the dirty racket really is about. Mediawise trying to 'cover up' and make us forget about who the real criminals are, which make help more needed than ever: namely Geldof's friends Bush, Blair and their ilk, permanently committing crimes against humanity. Geldof orchestrated a global multinational 'Lullaby'.

Universally - looking at Geldof & friends - one should ask the same as Monbiot did in the Guardian: 'How much damage do Bush and Blair have to do before the rock stars will acknowledge it? Geldof and Bono's campaign for philanthropy portrays the enemies of the poor as their saviors. The good these two remarkable men have done is in danger of being outweighed by the harm.''

Monbiot rightly called Geldof & Friends the 'Bards of the powerful', and came to the insightful conclusion that - instead of questioning the origin of the African poverty Geldof and his show gave legitimacy to the criminal leaders and their multinationals which are responsible.

They are the problem, and not part of the solution.

That's the Living Shame...

Henk Ruyssenaars

Declared 'Persona non Grata' in Apartheid's South Africa 1976

 http://tinyurl.com/66dmo


FOOTNOTES/LINKS:

Perkins story on the CIA 'jackals' and how the multinationals are cheating the world out of trillions - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/4p5yo

Geldof interview Time Magazine - Url.: [ http://tinyurl.com/c4xj9]

George Monbiot's excellent article in the Guardian - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/dmwnz

FPF on Wolfowitz and Bloody Mary for breakfast - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/8x3be

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