31/08/2016
Emmanuel Macron prend la mer, cap sur 2017 | À la Une | Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - Emmanuel Macron a fait mercredi ses adieux au ministère de l'Economie sans lever l'ambiguïté qu'il entretient depuis des mois sur ses intentions concernant l'élection présidentielle de 2017, à laquelle ses partisans le poussent à se présenter.
Le maire socialiste de Lyon, Gérard Collomb, un des principaux soutiens à ce jour de l'ex-ministre de l'Economie, a estimé qu'il serait candidat s'il rencontre un "écho" au sein de la population française au cours des prochaines semaines.
29/08/2016
Arnold Joseph Toynbee: "la grande aventure de l'humanité" - Extrait retrospective
Je consulte régulièrement ce livre fleuve (600 pages) de l'hisorien Arnold Joseph Toynbee. C'est un livre référence pour compredre le système monde et son évolution, passée, présente et future.
Arnold Joseph Toynbee, unanimement considéré comme un des plus grands historiens du XXe siècle, nous donne ici sa version de l'histoire de l'humanité. Il fait le récit du destin de toutes les grandes civilisations : Sumer, l'Égypte, l'Amérique centrale, l'Inde, la Chine, Rome, la Perse, l'empire arabe, Byzance, les Mongols, la chrétienté occidentale sont passés en revue. Un récit vivant, exhaustif et précis, mené de main de maître par un des derniers grands humanistes, l'un des derniers à pouvoir brasser une telle somme d'informations. Des chapitres d'analyse et de réflexion figurent également, sur le destin des civilisations, leurs relations avec la technologie, avec les autres civilisations. Voir sa bio sur wikipedia. Arnold Joseph Toynbee ne doit pas être confondu avec Arnold Toynbee son oncle (1852-1883), qui était historien de l'économie britannique [lien].
Voici le table des matières du livre avec ses 82 chapîtres [lien]Voici le dernier chapître du livre: "Retrospective", un chapître qui en est le résumé. Suite...
27/08/2016
Colloque international : Le djihadisme transnational, entre l'Orient et l'Occident | Institut Montaigne
L'Institut Montaigne et l'Observatoire des radicalisations de la Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme ont réuni plus de trente chercheurs de haut niveau spécialistes du djihadisme, venus d'Europe, d'Amérique, d'Afrique du nord et subsaharienne, du Moyen-Orient et d'Asie. Ce colloque scientifique international inédit a accueilli pendant trois jours un public diversifié - des politiques, des chefs d'entreprise et des journalistes - permettant ainsi de croiser les approches sur un sujet où les connaissances demeurent trop souvent cloisonnées et compartimentées par pays, par disciplines et par spécialisations... Suite...
25/08/2016
23/08/2016
22/08/2016
21/08/2016
» [Propagande] Omran, 5 ans, “symbole de l’horreur du conflit syrien”
Merci "les Crises" de nous informer autrement!
Au début, je comptais ne pas parler des sujets très importants pour notre avenir (genre JO ou Burkini) mais revenir une nouvelle fois sur le 2 poids 2 mesures, un grand classique… Mais bon, c’est vrai qu’ils abusent les Russes avec leurs bombardements. Ils devraient faire comme nous…
» [Propagande] Omran, 5 ans, “symbole de l’horreur du conflit syrien”
Merci "les Crises" de nous informer autrement!
Au début, je comptais ne pas parler des sujets très importants pour notre avenir (genre JO ou Burkini) mais revenir une nouvelle fois sur le 2 poids 2 mesures, un grand classique… Mais bon, c’est vrai qu’ils abusent les Russes avec leurs bombardements. Ils devraient faire comme nous…
18/08/2016
Chaque mois, Quentin Périnel journaliste au Figaro, recueille le plus bel échec d'une personnalité.
Le Figaro offre une belle tribune de communication aux candidats du parti LP pour les élections de 2017. Chaque mois, Quentin Périnel journaliste au Figaro, recueille le plus bel échec d'une personnalité. L'exercice commence avec Bruno Le Maire qui évoque l'échec du CPE alors qu'il était chef de Cabinet de Dominique de Villepin. Voir ici l'interview "le plus bel échec de BLM".
C'est un exercice louable, mais de pure communication selon moi. Se déjuger à propos d'une posture, des années après les évènements, c'est chercher à se rendre sympathique en vue d'élections. Mais c'est lors du déroulement des évènements qu'il aurait fallu se déjuger, reconnaissant des erreurs sur le fond, la forme et la méthode.
Certes pour un politique, élu aux responsabilités de décider, se déjuger à chaud est difficile. Pour éviter d'avoir à le faire, il faut plus de travail de préparation, plus de consultations, plus d'études préalables, plus d'analyses systèmiques, plus d'anticipation des conséquences... Ensuite apprécier les rapports de forces; entre l'opinion publique et les sondages, les pressions des diverses composantes sociales, syndicales, entreprises, agriculteurs, étudiantes, retraités etc... Savoir si et quand il faut se déjuger! pas facile; mais c'est le boulot du politique. Suite...
C'est un exercice louable, mais de pure communication selon moi. Se déjuger à propos d'une posture, des années après les évènements, c'est chercher à se rendre sympathique en vue d'élections. Mais c'est lors du déroulement des évènements qu'il aurait fallu se déjuger, reconnaissant des erreurs sur le fond, la forme et la méthode.
Certes pour un politique, élu aux responsabilités de décider, se déjuger à chaud est difficile. Pour éviter d'avoir à le faire, il faut plus de travail de préparation, plus de consultations, plus d'études préalables, plus d'analyses systèmiques, plus d'anticipation des conséquences... Ensuite apprécier les rapports de forces; entre l'opinion publique et les sondages, les pressions des diverses composantes sociales, syndicales, entreprises, agriculteurs, étudiantes, retraités etc... Savoir si et quand il faut se déjuger! pas facile; mais c'est le boulot du politique. Suite...
16/08/2016
15/08/2016
La culture arabe et islamique est incompatible avec la culture occidentale
Je lis cet article d'Anne Lauvaert, écrivain belge qui semble avoir une certaine expérence du comportement sexuel des hommes en terres islamiques. Son article fait relation avec les évènements en Allemagne début 2016. Son récit est une autre manière de montrer la différence culturelle profonde qui existe entre les nations qui se sont construites sur la religion islamique et celles qui se sont construites sur le christianisme. C'est une différence qui se révèle, aujourd'hui encore après 13 siècles, inconciliable. Suite....
14/08/2016
Regardez ça ! 'George Orwell, 1984'
Regardez ça ! 'George Orwell, 1984' - http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7aUEbq/:1v2eVwzr$:jjcG3V7-
10/08/2016
Pourquoi je ne suis pas altermondialiste. éloge de l'antimondialisation par André Bellon
Je ne suis pas alter-mondialiste; et pourtant, je suis solidaire des centaines de milliers de manifestants qui s'expriment pour un autre monde dans les rues des mégapoles où survit une humanité de plus en plus paupérisée, soumise, méprisée; je suis un parmi ces centaines de milliers de militants des forums sociaux locaux ou mondiaux comme un parmi ces millions d'hommes qui ont défilé dans les capitales du monde contre la folie guerrière des états-Unis. Ces défilés sont une réponse au discours révérencieux tenu depuis plusieurs décennies par les prêcheurs qui monopolisent l'expression publique, à l'enthousiasme parfois délirant de la classe dirigeante vis-à-vis de la mondialisation. Ils sont une réaction à cet environnement oppressant que nous apportent, depuis des années, les principaux médias; tournons, par exemple, au hasard, les pages de *The Economist*, cet hebdomadaire si politiquement correct : « Comment vous adaptez-vous à l'économie globalisée ? » « Pendant que beaucoup parlent de l'idée de village planétaire, nous le construisons*. Lire la suite...
FT editor Lionel Barber is handed a GONG by France
- Lionel Barber made 'Chevalier' in 'Ordre national de la Legion d'Honneur'
- Gong is the equivalent of a UK knighthood and is France's highest honour
- Memo from the French embassy specifically praises the FT's 'positive' role in the European debate
On n'est informé qu'en lisant la presse ou par ceux qui en font la veille; en voici la preuve. Une affaire qui fait scandale au Royaume Uni. Suite...
Et ici la traduction par les Crises. Hallucinant, et pas vu dans nos médias français.
Oligarchie: Nous avons notre Christophe Barbier à L'Express: ils ont leur Lionel Barber au Financial Times. Qui est Lionel Barber?
08/08/2016
07/08/2016
06/08/2016
Pourquoi la "sortie de crise" n'en finit-elle pas de se faire attendre ?
Pourquoi la "sortie de crise" n'en finit-elle pas de se faire attendre ?
03/08/2016
History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump
History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump
http://medium.com/@theonlytoby/history-tells-us-what-will-happen-next-with-brexit-trump-a3fefd154714
Envoyé depuis Pocket.
pierre ratcliffe
Dabiq le magazine de Daech
Philippe Bilger, publie le 2 août 2016 ce billet "Dabiq est le mein kampf de Daech". Dès sa publication ses nombreux lecteurs ont réagi plutôt d'accord avec lui. Ne sommes nous pas là dans la fachosphère française de nouveau?
En voici l'extrait liminaire:
"Même ceux qui ne voulaient pas voir devront regarder. Même ceux qui s'acharnaient à ne pas comprendre devront ouvrir les yeux et prendre de plein fouet la réalité, la vérité. Plus personne ne pourra se dissimuler "derrière le voile trompeur de l'illusion".
Dabiq, le magazine de propagande de Daech, vient, après les assassinats, celui du père Hamel notamment, les commenter. "Break the cross" : il nous dit tout, nous annonce tout, nous estime si peu qu'il n'éprouve même plus le besoin de feindre (Le Figaro). Il veut briser la Croix, avoir la peau des chrétiens, l'adversaire irréductible, selon lui, de l'islam et la religion à abattre. Suite...
Philippe Bilger, publie le 2 août 2016 ce billet "Dabiq est le mein kampf de Daech". Dès sa publication ses nombreux lecteurs ont réagi plutôt d'accord avec lui. Ne sommes nous pas là dans la fachosphère française de nouveau? "Même ceux qui ne voulaient pas voir devront regarder. Même ceux qui s'acharnaient à ne pas comprendre devront ouvrir les yeux et prendre de plein fouet la réalité, la vérité. Plus personne ne pourra se dissimuler "derrière le voile trompeur de l'illusion".
Dabiq, le magazine de propagande de Daech, vient, après les assassinats, celui du père Hamel notamment, les commenter. "Break the cross" : il nous dit tout, nous annonce tout, nous estime si peu qu'il n'éprouve même plus le besoin de feindre (Le Figaro). Il veut briser la Croix, avoir la peau des chrétiens, l'adversaire irréductible, selon lui, de l'islam et la religion à abattre. Suite...
À propos du livre de Michel Serres "Petite Poucette"
Voici un extrait du livre "Petite Poucette" de Michel Serres (les photos ajoutées sont de moi). La lecture de ce petit livre en forme de conte (comme le petit poucet de Charles Perrault) m'a rappelé le souvenir de mes années d'école en Angleterre pendant la guerre 1939-1945, en France après la guerre, mes années de collège à Calais, de classes préparatoires à Lille et d'école des mines à Saint-Etienne. Durant toute ma vie professionnelle j'ai utilisé les nouvelles technologies de l'information pour travailler, et j'ai vécu leur formidable évolution selon la célèbre loi de Moore. Aujourd'hui, dans ma retraite, je continue. Quelle part doivent avoir les nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication (internet, moteurs de recherche, wikipedia, vidéos, ... sur PC, tablettes, smartphones), dans l'éducation des jeunes pour l'acquisition des connaissances de base: parole, écriture, appliqués aux domaines essentiels que sont le langage et l'écriture, les mathématiques, la physique, la chimie, l'histoire, la géographie, les sciences naturelles, la philosophie... Michel Serres a rappelé des souvenirs et suscité en moi une recherche... C'est ainsi que je suis tombé sur le site de la revue en ligne skhole.fr. Suite...02/08/2016
Brexit weekly briefing: Theresa May's EU tour fails to bring clarity | Politics | The Guardian
Welcome to the Guardian's weekly Brexit briefing, a summary of key developments as Britain moves slowly – perhaps imperceptibly – towards the EU exit. Readers who received our previous daily email will continue to receive this one; those who would like to do so can sign up here.
Producing the Guardian's thoughtful, in-depth journalism is expensive – but supporting us isn't. If you value our coverage of the momentous Brexit vote, please become a Guardian supporter and help make our future more secure. Thank you.
Producing the Guardian's thoughtful, in-depth journalism is expensive – but supporting us isn't. If you value our coverage of the momentous Brexit vote, please become a Guardian supporter and help make our future more secure. Thank you.
The big picture
In her ongoing efforts to define what it was that 52% of the UK electorate voted for last month, the prime minister, Theresa May, continued her progress round assorted European capitals – with little sign that she (or anyone else, to be fair) is any nearer knowing the answer.01/08/2016
Paris strikes astonishing partnership with secret Isis sponsor tied to Hillary Clinton [EXCLUSIVE] | The Canary
thecanary.co
Paris strikes astonishing partnership with secret Isis sponsor tied to Hillary Clinton [EXCLUSIVE] | The Canary
Nafeez Ahmed
The
City of Paris has struck a corporate partnership with French industrial
giant, Lafarge, recently accused of secretly sponsoring the Islamic
State (Isis or Daesh) for profit.
Documents obtained by several journalistic investigations reveal that Lafarge has paid taxes to the terror group to operate its cement plant in Syria, and even bought Isis oil for years.
Yet according to the campaign group, SumOfUs, Lafarge is the corporate partner and sand provider to the City of Paris for this summer’s Paris-Plages urban beach event. The project run by Office of the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, will create artificial beaches along the river Seine in the centre and northeast of Paris.
Lafarge also has close ties to Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Apart from being a regular donor to the Clinton Foundation, Clinton herself was a director of Lafarge in the early 1990s, and did legal work for the firm in the 1980s. During her connection to Lafarge, the firm was implicated in facilitating a CIA-backed covert arms export network to Saddam Hussein.
But the Le Monde story only covered a fraction of the revelations. Previous investigations by Zaman al-Wasl, an independent news outlet run by elements of the Syrian opposition, revealed that Lafarge had even regularly bought oil from Isis.
Al-Wasl’s original investigation, which Le Monde appears to have borrowed from considerably, was published in February, and based on internal documents and emails from the company. Al-Wasl reported that the CEO of Lafarge Cement Syria, Frederic Jolibois, had personally instructed his firm to make payments to Isis.
Paris itself has been repeatedly attacked by terrorists. On 13 November 2015, Isis coordinated a series of terror strikes in Paris and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis, killing 130 people and injuring 368.
Yet Paris’ new corporate partner, according to Le Monde, sponsored the Isis terror group in Syria in the preceding years to keep up company profits.
Most of these emails seem to have been first obtained by Zaman al-Wasl. Lafarge’s Syria operations ended on that date when Isis took over the firm’s facility in Jalabiya.
Documents show that Lafarge’s Paris headquarters were fully aware of the business deal with Isis. The company even sent a representative into Isis territory “to get permission from Isis group to let employees past checkpoints,” reports Le Monde.
A “pass stamped with an Isis group stamp and endorsed by [Isis] finance chief in the Aleppo region” confirms Lafarge’s deal with Daesh to allow the free circulation of its goods.
In February 2015, Isis were driven out of the Jalabiya region by Kurdish forces.
Lafarge has declined to address the allegations, stating only that the firm’s highest priority was to protect the safety of its employees in Syria.
However, instead of ending its Syrian investments when the conflict began as most other international firms had done, which would have been the safest option, the firm struck a lucrative business deal with the jihadist terror group to maximise profits from its local cement operations.
In one email trail, Lafarge general manager Bruno Pescheux received a warning from his Syria senior plant manager about repercussions due to the firm’s “illegal purchasing of petroleum products from ‘non-governmental organizations’ in areas outside the control of the Syrian government […] there are high expectations about a government action or a resolution against individuals and companies who purchase illegal petroleum products.”
Pescheux’s response was revealing. Agreeing that this could be a “worrying” issue “in the future” for Lafarge, he suggested the company prepare justifications for its policy, such as:
Business partnerships of any kind with terror groups like Isis are criminal actions under international law, and subject to stringent US and EU sanctions.
Outraged by the partnership, nearly 40,000 members of SumOfUs, the international corporate watchdog, have signed a petition demanding that Mayor Anne Hidalgo immediately cut Paris’ partnership with Lafarge.
Eoin Dubsky, SumOfUS campaign manager, said:
Far from being courted by Paris with new contracts, Lafarge executives should be prosecuted in France for sponsoring the terrorist group behind the Paris attacks.
From Saddam to Clinton to post-war Iraq
But Lafarge leads quite a charmed existence.
Among its earliest benefactors was former First Lady and current presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.
From 1990 to 1992, Clinton served on Lafarge’s Board of Directors. Under her tenure, Lafarge’s Ohio subsidiary was caught burning hazardous waste to fuel cement plants. Clinton defended the decision at the time.
Then just before her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president in 1992, Lafarge was fined $1.8 million by the Environmental Protection Agency for these pollution violations. Hillary Clinton had left the board of Lafarge in spring, just after her husband won the Democrat nomination. A year later, under Bill’s presidency, the Clinton administration reduced Lafarge’s EPA fine to less than $600,000.
In the late 1980s, according to an archived investigative report in the American Spectator, Hillary Clinton was connected to Lafarge when the firm was involved in facilitating CIA support for Saddam Hussein’s secret weapons programme.
The American Spectator report from November 1996 cited sources confirming that Hillary Clinton did legal work for Lafarge in the late 1980s before she became a director. The report also claimed that Lafarge’s US subsidiary:
In 2013, Lafarge’s Executive Vice President for Operations, Eric Olson, was a ‘featured attendee’ at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting.
The company is a regular donor to the Clinton Foundation – the firm’s up to $100,000 donation was listed in its annual donor list for 2015. Lafarge is also listed again as a donor to the Clinton Foundation for the first quarter of 2016.
Lafarge is a major beneficiary of disaster capitalism in Iraq, dominating a market where Iraq’s infrastructure remains in dire need of hundreds of billions of dollars in investment. The company describes itself as “one of the largest non-oil investors in Iraq.”
The firm is not just an economic juggernaut. Its murky history of intelligence ties, and significant political clout in France and the US – the countries leading the airstrikes against Isis in Syria – raise the question of whether Lafarge believes it can profit from terror without accountability.
Call to action
Sign the SumofUs petition demanding that Paris sever its ties with the firm which funded the very terrorists behind attacks on Paris:
http://bit.ly/Lafarge-ParisPlages
Image via Flickr/Takver
Documents obtained by several journalistic investigations reveal that Lafarge has paid taxes to the terror group to operate its cement plant in Syria, and even bought Isis oil for years.
Yet according to the campaign group, SumOfUs, Lafarge is the corporate partner and sand provider to the City of Paris for this summer’s Paris-Plages urban beach event. The project run by Office of the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, will create artificial beaches along the river Seine in the centre and northeast of Paris.
Lafarge also has close ties to Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Apart from being a regular donor to the Clinton Foundation, Clinton herself was a director of Lafarge in the early 1990s, and did legal work for the firm in the 1980s. During her connection to Lafarge, the firm was implicated in facilitating a CIA-backed covert arms export network to Saddam Hussein.
Blood money
An investigative report by the French daily Le Monde revealed in June that the corporation, the world’s leader in construction materials, had paid taxes to Isis middlemen, as well as other armed groups in Syria, to protect its cement business operations in the country.But the Le Monde story only covered a fraction of the revelations. Previous investigations by Zaman al-Wasl, an independent news outlet run by elements of the Syrian opposition, revealed that Lafarge had even regularly bought oil from Isis.
Al-Wasl’s original investigation, which Le Monde appears to have borrowed from considerably, was published in February, and based on internal documents and emails from the company. Al-Wasl reported that the CEO of Lafarge Cement Syria, Frederic Jolibois, had personally instructed his firm to make payments to Isis.
Under fire
France has repeatedly been targeted by Daesh, and Daesh-inspired terrorists, over the last few years. The latest mass atrocity occurred in Nice, where 84 people were killed on Bastille Day. On Tuesday, a priest in Normandy was brutally murdered by Isis terrorists.Paris itself has been repeatedly attacked by terrorists. On 13 November 2015, Isis coordinated a series of terror strikes in Paris and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis, killing 130 people and injuring 368.
Yet Paris’ new corporate partner, according to Le Monde, sponsored the Isis terror group in Syria in the preceding years to keep up company profits.
Profit over people
Emails discovered by Le Monde reveal that Lafarge – which merged with Swiss cement maker Holcim in 2015 – had made “arrangements […] with the jihadist group to continue production until September 19, 2014.”Most of these emails seem to have been first obtained by Zaman al-Wasl. Lafarge’s Syria operations ended on that date when Isis took over the firm’s facility in Jalabiya.
Documents show that Lafarge’s Paris headquarters were fully aware of the business deal with Isis. The company even sent a representative into Isis territory “to get permission from Isis group to let employees past checkpoints,” reports Le Monde.
A “pass stamped with an Isis group stamp and endorsed by [Isis] finance chief in the Aleppo region” confirms Lafarge’s deal with Daesh to allow the free circulation of its goods.
In February 2015, Isis were driven out of the Jalabiya region by Kurdish forces.
Lafarge has declined to address the allegations, stating only that the firm’s highest priority was to protect the safety of its employees in Syria.
However, instead of ending its Syrian investments when the conflict began as most other international firms had done, which would have been the safest option, the firm struck a lucrative business deal with the jihadist terror group to maximise profits from its local cement operations.
Who is buying Isis oil?
According to Zaman al-Wasl, Lafarge regularly purchased fuel from Isis for its own operations, and even supplied cement for Isis to sell in Syria.In one email trail, Lafarge general manager Bruno Pescheux received a warning from his Syria senior plant manager about repercussions due to the firm’s “illegal purchasing of petroleum products from ‘non-governmental organizations’ in areas outside the control of the Syrian government […] there are high expectations about a government action or a resolution against individuals and companies who purchase illegal petroleum products.”
Pescheux’s response was revealing. Agreeing that this could be a “worrying” issue “in the future” for Lafarge, he suggested the company prepare justifications for its policy, such as:
– at least the HFO [residual fuel oil] we consume is not smuggled abroad and benefits to [sic] Syria construction activityLafarge is not the only major company implicated in buying Isis oil, though it is perhaps the first case where a deliberate policy of purchasing oil from the jihadist group has been confirmed through the firm’s own internal documents.
– it is very minimum quantity compared to what is smuggled to Turkey.
Business partnerships of any kind with terror groups like Isis are criminal actions under international law, and subject to stringent US and EU sanctions.
What is Paris thinking?
Adding insult to injury, the Office of the Mayor of Paris has struck a corporate partnership with the very same sponsor of Isis to provide sand for this summer’s Paris-Plages event.Outraged by the partnership, nearly 40,000 members of SumOfUs, the international corporate watchdog, have signed a petition demanding that Mayor Anne Hidalgo immediately cut Paris’ partnership with Lafarge.
Eoin Dubsky, SumOfUS campaign manager, said:
Terrorists should never be business partners. It is beyond reprehensible for Lafarge to be cutting deals with Isis just for profits’ sake. By enriching the terrorist group’s coffers with payments to continue its operations in Syria, Lafarge is inadvertently supporting Isis worldwide campaign of terror that has left scores killed, displaced and under siege in one of the worst humanitarian nightmares of our time.The Canary contacted the Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo to find out how such an appalling partnership could be struck, but received no response.
This is a scandalous partnership with the City of Paris that should have never happened. By partnering with Lafarge for this summer’s Paris-Plages event, the City of Paris is whitewashing the company’s obscene show of corporate greed that profits off the war and violence created by terrorists. It is high time to make Lafarge accountable for its support of terror, which is why nearly 40,000 SumOfUs members are calling on Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to cut ties with Lafarge once and for all.
Far from being courted by Paris with new contracts, Lafarge executives should be prosecuted in France for sponsoring the terrorist group behind the Paris attacks.
From Saddam to Clinton to post-war Iraq
But Lafarge leads quite a charmed existence.
Among its earliest benefactors was former First Lady and current presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.
From 1990 to 1992, Clinton served on Lafarge’s Board of Directors. Under her tenure, Lafarge’s Ohio subsidiary was caught burning hazardous waste to fuel cement plants. Clinton defended the decision at the time.
Then just before her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president in 1992, Lafarge was fined $1.8 million by the Environmental Protection Agency for these pollution violations. Hillary Clinton had left the board of Lafarge in spring, just after her husband won the Democrat nomination. A year later, under Bill’s presidency, the Clinton administration reduced Lafarge’s EPA fine to less than $600,000.
In the late 1980s, according to an archived investigative report in the American Spectator, Hillary Clinton was connected to Lafarge when the firm was involved in facilitating CIA support for Saddam Hussein’s secret weapons programme.
The American Spectator report from November 1996 cited sources confirming that Hillary Clinton did legal work for Lafarge in the late 1980s before she became a director. The report also claimed that Lafarge’s US subsidiary:
provided key services for the covert arms export network that supplied Saddam Hussein. To prevent exposure of that secret supply line, and collateral damage to Hillary Clinton – who joined Lafarge board in 1990, just as the arms pipeline was being shut down… the Justice Department was told to bury the investigation… But investigators from other US government agencies who worked on the case say they were ‘waved off’ whenever they got too close to exposing the direct involvement of the intelligence community in the arms export scheme.Lafarge remains close to the Clintons to this day.
In 2013, Lafarge’s Executive Vice President for Operations, Eric Olson, was a ‘featured attendee’ at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting.
The company is a regular donor to the Clinton Foundation – the firm’s up to $100,000 donation was listed in its annual donor list for 2015. Lafarge is also listed again as a donor to the Clinton Foundation for the first quarter of 2016.
Lafarge is a major beneficiary of disaster capitalism in Iraq, dominating a market where Iraq’s infrastructure remains in dire need of hundreds of billions of dollars in investment. The company describes itself as “one of the largest non-oil investors in Iraq.”
The firm is not just an economic juggernaut. Its murky history of intelligence ties, and significant political clout in France and the US – the countries leading the airstrikes against Isis in Syria – raise the question of whether Lafarge believes it can profit from terror without accountability.
Call to action
Sign the SumofUs petition demanding that Paris sever its ties with the firm which funded the very terrorists behind attacks on Paris:
http://bit.ly/Lafarge-ParisPlages
Image via Flickr/Takver
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)