In the bizarre world of the UN inSecurity Council, the Monday, Dec. 5, passage of further “sanctions” against Africa’s fastest growing economy, targeting Eritrea in the Horn of Africa with its projected 5 years’ double-digit growth rate, should come as no surprise.
By a vote of 13 to 0, with China and Russia abstaining, the UNSC passed a second round of sanctions against Eritrea, the first being almost exactly two years ago.
Of note was the USA’s Susan Rice, PhD, once Bill Clinton’s black sergeant-at-arms in Africa and today the as the US ambassador to the UN doing everything she could to successfully prevent Eritrean President Issias Aferworki from appearing in front of the inSecurity Council (even the BBC was forced to note such).
A promise is a promise and Susan Rice had “promised” (one of those she meant to keep) that new sanctions against Eritrea would be passed and they were. Even the Brazilians, Indians and South Africans raised their hands at Susan Rice’s demand. Such slavish kowtowing in support of Pax Americana has long lost its novelty, putting a lie once again to any claim to principles in the leadership of the developing world.
The “sanctions” passed against Eritrea on Dec. 5 are all bark and no bite, less even then the first batch.
The first version of this latest round of sanctions, (that even the Europeans vetoed) would have crippled Eritrea’s emerging mining industry, one of the main drivers of its new found economic engine and blocked Eritreans abroad from paying their 2% income tax, which has long been the basis for Eritrea’s very survival.
Why is the Obama White House so hell bent on destroying Africa’s fastest growing economy?
According to the Obama White House, Eritrea supports terrorism in the Horn of Africa, i.e., in providing arms to the Al Shabab Somali resistance. Of course the Obama-mafia didn’t invent these charges, that was done back in the Bush administration in 2007.
Now, thanks to WikiLeaks, we know that the senior US diplomat in the Horn of Africa, US Ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Yamamoto, told his bosses in Washington, D.C., in 2007 that the Eritrean involvement in Somalia was “insignificant,” as in very small or trivial.
Before WikiLeaks, we had the UN General Assembly’s Special Committee on Somalia Report in 2009, under South Africa’s Ambassador Dumusani Khumalo, which exonerated Eritrea and placed the blame for the influx of arms into Somalia squarely on Ethiopia and the UN funded Ugandan and Burundian “peacekeepers” occupying Somalia’s former capital of Mogadishu.
The first round of UN inSecurity Council sanctions against Eritrea, which were passed in a closed door Christmas Eve vote in 2009, included an arms embargo, which hurt. Ethiopia invaded Eritrea in 2000 and still has Africa’s largest and best equipped army with some 500,000 troops on Eritrea’s borders and even occupying Eritrean territory. Enforcing an arms embargo on Eritrea under existing conditions is a violation of Eritrea’s right to self-defense and a violation of the UN Charter itself.
The Dec. 5 UN inSecurity Council “sanctions” were really just recommendations, calling on the parent countries of the mining companies, today just Canada, to harass Eritrea at any and every opportunity. It also calls for countries where Eritrean citizens in the diaspora pay their 2% income tax to the Eritrean government to do their utmost to harass said Eritreans in the process.
All bark and no bite, so why the fuss and insistence by Doctor Rice on some semblance of punishment being unanimously passed by the UN inSecurity Council?
The last time sanctions against Eritrea were passed the day before Christmas in 2009, it turned out they were targeting the nascent Eritrean mining industry and successfully derailed the bank-based funding of $170 million of a small, once nearly bankrupt Canadian mining company, Nevsun Resources, which had been arranged for its Bisha mine. Nevsun had the foresight to arrange alternative securities market financing beforehand just in case, and today Eritrea’s first gold mine is pumping out $2 million a day in gold and getting ready to produce twice that amount in copper and zinc.
Eritrea’s second gold mine is scheduled to start construction in 2012 and is in the midst of trying to arrange the $80 million it needs to get up and pouring gold (Eritrea has already exercised its right to purchase 30% of the company, $32 million making Eritrea’s total investment and royalty stake 40%).
A second successful gold mine could easily kick-start the mining industry into high gear in Eritrea and see the proposed $750 million potash mine succeed in Eritrea’s Danakil Depression. With a planned output of up to 10,000 tons a day of potash and a life span estimated at 150 years, Eritrea stands to share in tens of billions of dollars in mining profits. This is a far cry from the likes of Anglo-American’s world’s largest gold mine in Tanzania, which pays the standard 5% royalty.
Forty percent for Eritrea for their gold versus 5% for Tanzania? It isn’t to hard to see why the USA wants so badly to see Eritrea’s upstart mining industry fail.
Unfortunately for the Obama White House, all its promises to help bring about “regime change” in Eritrea came to naught and all Doctor Rice could claim was a little face, for “sanctions” were ultimately passed, though their effect on the next Eritrean gold mine’s financing have yet to play out.
In the meantime, the Al Shabab resistance in southern Somalia continues to buy black market arms stamped made in the USA, sold to make up for embezzled salaries by the Ugandan and Burundian “peacekeepers” who oversee 30 square miles of shot and shell blasted Mogadishu, where once half a million Somali’s flourished, now left to slowly starve in UN refugee camps.
The War on the Somali People continues, with Kenya now providing “peacekeepers” in a bid for UN funding, trying to deflect domestic anger from its failed invasion of Somalia and promises to capture the Al Shabab controlled port city of Kismayo.
Here in the Horn of Hunger, the saying goes “up is down, black is white and wrong is right” where the UN inSecurity Council practices a bizarre, and dangerous form of “just-US,” displaying for all those who care enough to see just how UN-just the world really is.
Thomas C. Mountain is the only independent Western journalist in the Horn of Africa, living and reporting from Eritrea since 2006. He will be speaking in London on the afternoon of Dec. 17, 2011, at the Friendshouse. He can be reached at thomascmountain at yahoo dot com.
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Dear Mr. Mountain,
For 8 full months I submitted articles to Mathaba in support of the Libyan Jamahiriya and The Leader (Muammar Gaddafi). I am a so-called “African-American” by birth.
It was horrifying, draining, depressing, to watch Libya be destroyed, bit by bit, every single day. I submitted some 250 articles over those 8 months.
I, and perhaps most of the “information warriors,” as Mathaba had labeled writer-supporters of the Libyan people and the Jamahiriya, were certain that the million-Libyan marches in Tripoli, Sirte and elsewhere would force NATO, and its backers, to leave Libya. It was a naieve thought.
The experience caused me to draw some conclusions about “public opinion,” and the role of the media in serving the interests of the hidden powers:
1. Public opinion does not matter. The hidden powers have ZERO concern about public opinion.
2. Articles that the pro-imperialist “news” organs write are NOT written for the purpose of “shaping” public opinion. They don’t CARE about public opinion. So, why did they publish their “spin” about Libya, throughout those 9 months? Well, it was not to “shape” public opinion, which they don’t care about. It was for three reasons: A.) To instantly record THEIR version of history, i.e., to create a record; B.) To send a message to EVERYBODY about their power; C.) As a RITUAL.
Regarding item C: I honestly cannot prove it. All I can tell you is that I FELT it. I watched it for 8 solid months, day in and day out. And it occurred to me that what they were doing was performing a RITUAL, no different than rubbing manteca de coroho on a Santeria Elegba (Elegua); or spitting whisky inside an Ogun pot; or sacrificing a rooster, and pouring the blood on a mungondo, while sing a song for the Orisha. I am using the Yoruba religion to make this analogy, but one can use any religion or practice.
It was just a ritual. They write their article [perform their ritual], and then commence to KILL the Libyan people. This is what is happening right now in reference to Syria, Iran, and any other place where they wish to impose themselves and destroy, destroy, destroy.
Anyone who seriously believes that the powers are concerned about public opinion are deluding themselves–in my humble opinion. I’m telling you that I was shocked at how, despite the fact that MILLIONS of Libyans were shown, at YouTube, pouring into the streets of Tripoli, THE POWERS TOTALLY IGNORED THIS! This taught me that they do not care ONE IOTA about public opinion. FUCK public opinion!!
Pardon me, please. I am still trying to recover from the shock of Libya. I wish I could supply the Green Resistance with 9000 tanks, or SOMETHING.
The last few days seem to be brighter, if one is to believe at least ONE of the “Green” blogs [something that's now become very difficult to do, as it seems quite clear that those blogs have been compromised].
T-West is very confident, and has never lost hope. He told me yesterday, in 5 separate emails, that the Resistance will win, ultimately.
But what troubles me is that we now live in a different age. There was always “yellow journalism,” right. But isn’t this different now?
Since all of the media is owned by just 5 companies, they can HIDE anything they want to hide. So, suppose the Green Resistance takes Tripoli and Bengazi back strongly. All the powers have to do is IGNORE that this occurred, and send tons of bombs to bomb the situation back to the way they wish it to be; they seem to have a limitless amount of Al-Qaeda assholes to send to Libya.
It seems to me that as long as they control the media, then they can simply IGNORE anything that goes against their wishes, and then bomb the situation back to the way they wish it to be.
Am I too pessimistic? Am I correct? What? What is your opinion about this.
These powers are WHOLLY IMMORAL. They do not have a conscience AT ALL. There seems to be no one among them who willl come out and say, “Okay, enough is enough! This is too much bloodshed! Leave the Libyans alone!”
How can I maintain any optimism? I watched what they did in Libya. If the LDF took back control of Brega, the media just ignored this until those fucking traitors could take Brega back (well, with the help of NATO, that is!). Same with Ras Lanuf, or any other place.
This is new, isn’t it Mr. Mountain? How can The Resistance fight against that. They can send drones in whenever they wish, and nobody can stop them. Well, nobody’s WILLING to stop them, that is. The only two countries that could are Russia and China, but they won’t do anything, probably because they want to avoid war so that they can continue developing their economies. Putin said as much to the Duma, early in the Libyan conflict. The other reason was that they were playing chess, and were hoping that the U.S. would make an ass of itself. But they did this at the expense of Libyan lives. I think that should have boldly intervened MILITARILY. The U.S. talks shit. But had Russia and China intervened, the U.S. would have STAYED OUT, period.
The U.S., depending on the situation [just my opinion] is a paper tiger. The PROBLEM though, is that it’s a paper tiger led by INSANE HUMAN BEINGS.
Anyway, Mr. Mountain, where is the hope for Libya? I realize that the current upcoming cross is infinitely worse than the situation in Libya, that crises being World War Three. But, my heart goes out to Libya SO much.
If you can spare a moment, please give me our thoughts on my thoughts.
By the way, I saw the interview that Morris did of you, in which you talked about how fucked up black Americans are: YOU’RE RIGHT!!! We are a DEFEATED people, but we don’t even know it!! There does not exist, within us, the desire for FREEDOM. We have NO feeling to be TRULY free.
It doesn’t bother us that we were snatched from our homeland, and have been CREATED as a NEW PEOPLE, called NEGROES; coloreds; blacks; Afro-Americans; African-Americans. And there are STILL, believe it or not, a sizeable number of us who are waiting for a WHITE JESUS to “come back” and “save” us.
We have embraced a HOMOCIDAL MANIAC, Barack oBOMBa, and the black, so-called “leadership” has made any criticism of him a sin. And the church leaders are the very worse.
We appear on TV commercials, standing in front of RIDICULOUSLY large mansions, appearing infinitely prosperous, and all that’s just PROPAGANDA. The real situation is that our women are become lesbians in the DROVES, because the men are all in PRISON!!
And the fucking “black,” so-called “leaders” ain’t got SHIT to say about it, except for intellecutals like Angela Davis, who has lead the anti-prison/industrial complex movement.
If I were suicidal [I AIN'T!] I’d have blown my head off a LONG time ago! To live in this, I feel like I’m walkiing around in a dream, and nobody knows I’m there!
Muammar Gaddafi made the biggest “mistake” in his life: He was [or is, depending on who you're talking to] a BELIEVER in an UN-BELIEVING world.
I wish I could find a place to live where it’s sane. My people are murdering each other in the streets, daily, and not a word about this is being said in the media. They keep showing TV commercials that advertise fancy automobiles, houses and shit.
And they show black families sitting around the dinner table, all smiles, EATING FROZEN FOODS. What the FUCK!!? That shit’s INSANE! They have made us CONSUMERS and blended us into some kind of homogenous “American” identity.
Black folks never used to eat FROZEN FOOD!
We have no memory of who we were–NONE. We’re told that our history began IN SLAVERY.
Well, let me stop. As my mother would say, “There you go: ranting and raving.” Sorry.
Thanks for your observations! They were REFRESHING! Of course, some ill-informed black folks would call you a “racist” for saying that we are a fucked up people.
But here’s the truth: WE ARE A FUCKED UP PEOPLE!!
Peace and Love to you, my brother! Keep up the good, revolutionary work!!
Peace,
Ron (aka, Dennis South)