re: "Europe Does Not Need American Protection Anymore"

Joerg Wolf at Atlantic Review ("A Press Digest for Transatlantic Affairs") summarized like nobody's business.

Money quote(s):

"Secretary Gates' words have fallen on deaf ears in Europe, because we don't see a particularly productive use for our militaries. America has global aspirations and has the Pacific to worry about, whereas Europeans are just concerned about their neighborhood and don't feel the need to maintain strong militaries. This trends towards demilitarization is probably dangerous, but it is not a sign of decadence or free-riding. We don't want to be on the "ride" that has taken us into Iraq and Afghanistan."

6/28

JO - Yes, Bruce!

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Yes, Bruce!

Mervin Stoddart

Friday, March 05, 2010


Dear Editor,


Common sense, tradition and common law suggest that every suspect is innocent until proved guilty and that extensive media ranting often erodes the possibility of a fair trial in criminal cases. Hence, the media campaign being waged by a certain Jamaican media house for the handing over of Christopher "Dudus" Coke to United States authorities in response to an extradition warrant is disgraceful. In the Michael Manley era that same medium promoted reactionary, anti-Jamaican, pro-American sentiments to turn back the democratic socialist agenda of the PNP which gave ordinary Jamaicans emancipation from mental slavery but which was undermined en route to winning economic freedom for all Jamaicans, not just the elites above Liguanea.

You can always count on some solid anti-American sentiment from the Reverand Stoddart.

Liguanea, by the way, is the part of Kingston where the new U.S. Embassy was sited. You can expect that most Jamaican readers, particularly visa holders, will get the reference.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Moreover, the US and its kind from Euro-America are unrepentant slave drivers and colonisers whose dealings and treaties with predominantly black countries are one-sided and skewed in favour of those white supremacist nations, always upholding their interests which clearly include global domination and the spreading of homosexuality, which spell misery and death for countries like Jamaica and Haiti."

&

"It is now time for the US to turn over for trial in Jamaica those criminals, beginning with US government operatives, who are responsible for causing the murders and economic depravity in Jamaica."

_____

Rev Dr Mervin Stoddart
INMerv@hotmail.com

S&S - General, on tour, says AFRICOM does not look to dominate

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

General, on tour, says AFRICOM does not look to dominate


By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes


European edition, Sunday, May 17, 2009

John Vandiver / S&S

During a question and answer session with Gen. William “Kip” Ward at Politecnica University in Maputo, Mozambique, student Miguel Prista asked what the U.S. intends to accomplish with U.S. Africa Command. His theory was that the command was formed as part of an attempt toward global domination, but Ward said the purpose of his command centers on helping African countries develop more capacity to provide for their own security.

MAPUTO, Mozambique — In an auditorium of academicians, diplomats and defense attaches, a bearded student took the microphone and went off on a monologue.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"During a question-and-answer session with Gen. William "Kip" Ward, the Portuguese-speaking Maputo resident let loose on his theories about the United States and its intentions with U.S. Africa Command. AFRICOM isn’t about building partnerships, but rather another means for U.S. to achieve global domination, Prista argued.

Prista’s long speech and multipart question elicited a succinct response from Ward, the AFRICOM commander

"That’s a quick one for me," Ward said. "We do not seek to dominate." "

&

"During his visit in Maputo, Ward met with military and political leaders to discuss areas where the U.S. can support efforts of the military to build its security capacity. The general has been having similar discussions in the past week with leaders from other southeast African countries.
But on a continent with a long history of colonialism and having its natural resources plundered by outsiders, the notion that American interests are restricted to helping Africans provide for their own security appears to be a hard sell at times."