🚀 go-pugleaf

Yesterday, I went to the home of a darker-skinned Libyan murdered by
the Libyan NATO allies because of the color of his skin.  I will write
a full report of this shocking meeting.

Revelations of secret bombing in Yemen bring President Obama closer to
Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Nixon and their secret bombings of
Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War than is appropriate for any
Nobel Peace Laureate.  How many wars is this President going to
start?  As many as the American people will allow.

Der Spiegel reports that the Pentagon released the remaining papers of
the Pentagon Papers while admitting that lies were told about the
war.  We know that.  But here it is from them.  The four volumes of
the Gravel Papers can be accessed through Der Spiegel by clicking on
the link below.  How many more lies will the U.S. government tell the
American people and the international community?  As many as the
American people will allow.

Are NATO's allies child soldiers?  Isn't that against the law?  So
what else is new with this war?  How long will war crimes and crimes
against humanity be committed by NATO?  As long as the American people
allow these crimes to be committed.

Please see these:

1.
Libyan rebel group sells first oil to U.S.
By Jamie Crawford, CNN National Security Producer
June 9, 2011 -- Updated 1012 GMT (1812 HKT)
A charred car sits near an oil terminal in the section of eastern
Libya now held by the Transitional National Council.
A charred car sits near an oil terminal in the section of eastern
Libya now held by the Transitional National Council.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

    Tesoro, a U.S. refiner, entered into a deal May 25 with the
Transitional National Council
    Deal is for 1.2 million barrels of Libyan crude oil, the State
Department says
    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in UAE for Libya
Contact Group meeting

RELATED TOPICS

    Libya
    Oil Production and Refining

Washington (CNN) -- The rebel government in control of the eastern
part of Libya has made its first sale of oil from territory it
controls, the State Department confirmed Wednesday.

Tesoro, a U.S. oil refiner, entered into a deal May 25 with the
Transitional National Council based in Benghazi, Libya for 1.2 million
barrels of Libyan crude oil, the State Department said in a written
statement. The shipment was scheduled to arrive aboard the MT Equator,
a Liberian-flagged tanker, at the Single Point Mooring in Hawaii on
Wednesday. The dollar value of the deal is not known.

U.S. support for additional oil sales with the TNC will continue as a
means to support additional revenue streams for the Libyan people, the
statement said.

The sale was made possible following an April announcement by the
Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department that
established a new licensing policy with Libya. That action was taken
to ease barriers to certain oil related transactions with the TNC, in
place because of wider U.S. sanctions on Libya.

The announcement came the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
arrived in the United Arab Emirates for a meeting with the Libya
Contact Group, a coalition of various countries and international
organizations that seek to build support for the TNC while preparing
for Libya's future after the presumed end of Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
This is the third meeting of the group.

France, Italy and Qatar are among the small number of countries who
have officially recognized the TNC as the legitimate government of
Libya. While the United States has yet to take that step, President
Barack Obama "has invited them to open an office in Washington," a
senior administration official told reporters traveling with Clinton.

"We are still considering it but there's no final decision as of right
now," the official said of U.S. efforts to offer formal recognition to
the TNC.

Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs, traveled to Benghazi last month for two days.
2.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13688683

8 June 2011 Last updated at 18:57 GMT
Hedge funds 'grabbing land' in Africa
A worker on small-scale farm in Zimbabwe (archive shot) Foreign firms
are snapping up farming land in Africa, a new report says
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

    Food prices 'threaten millions'
    EU's biofuel targets 'unethical'
    Food prices down from record high

Hedge funds are behind "land grabs" in Africa to boost their profits
in the food and biofuel sectors, a US think-tank says.

In a report, the Oakland Institute said hedge funds and other foreign
firms had acquired large swathes of African land, often without proper
contracts.

It said the acquisitions had displaced millions of small farmers.

Foreign firms farm the land to consolidate their hold over global food
markets, the report said.

They also use land to "make room" for export commodities such as
biofuels and cut flowers.

"This is creating insecurity in the global food system that could be a
much bigger threat than terrorism," the report said.

The Oakland Institute said it released its findings after studying
land deals in Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Mali and
Mozambique.

'Risky manoeuvre'

It said hedge funds and other speculators had, in 2009 alone, bought
or leased nearly 60m hectares of land in Africa - an area the size of
France.
Continue reading the main story
In the field
Umaru Fofana BBC African Service, Sierra Leone

When I visited Lungi-Lol in rural Sierra Leone I saw men hoeing
thousands of hectares of farmland owned by Addax, a Swiss-based bio-
energy company.

They are growing sugarcane to produce biofuels.

Campaigners say this contributes to food insecurity, but many people
here welcome Addax's presence.

Francis Koroma, who works on the farm, says: "We thank God for Addax.
I am gainfully employed and I receive about $70 (£46) a month. Before,
I spent a whole year without getting $50."

Villagers are unaware of the controversy surrounding biofuels.

Abdulai Conteh , a local traditional leader, said: "Some people are
doing business here but I have no idea what they are doing with our
land. I see them growing sugarcane. That's all I know."

    What is wrong with renting out African land?

"The same financial firms that drove us into a global recession by
inflating the real estate bubble through risky financial manoeuvres
are now doing the same with the world's food supply," the report said.

It added that some firms obtained land after deals with gullible
traditional leaders or corrupt government officials.

"The research exposed investors who said it is easy to make a deal -
that they could usually get what they wanted in exchange for giving a
poor tribal chief a bottle of Johnnie Walker [whisky]," said Anuradha
Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute.

"When these investors promise progress and jobs to local chiefs it
sounds great, but they don't deliver."

The report said the contracts also gave investors a range of
incentives, from unlimited water rights to tax waivers.

"No-one should believe that these investors are there to feed starving
Africans.

"These deals only lead to dollars in the pockets of corrupt leaders
and foreign investors," said Obang Metho of Solidarity Movement for
New Ethiopia, a US-based campaign group.

However, not all companies named in the report accept that their
motives are as suggested and they dismiss claims that their presence
in Africa is harmful.

One company, EmVest Asset Management, strongly denied that it was
involved in exploitative or illegal practices.

"There are no shady deals. We acquire all land in terms of legal
tender," EmVest's Africa director Anthony Poorter told the BBC.

He said that in Mozambique the company's employees earned salaries 40%
higher than the minimum wage.

The company was also involved in development projects such as the
supply of clean water to rural communities.

"They are extremely happy with us," Mr Poorter said.

3.
Children work with weapons to aid Libya's rebels
By Sara Sidner, CNN
June 9, 2011 -- Updated 0249 GMT (1049 HKT)
Click to play
Libyan kids help refurbish weapons
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

    Nasser spends most of his time now in the yard of a weapons
workshop
    Libyan rebels say they can use all the help they can get
    With schools closed by the fighting, young people have little to
do

Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- The eyes of 15-year-old Nasser are fixed on a
small metal part that belongs to a massive metal gun. He scrubs every
tiny little crevice with a toothbrush until the bristles bend in
awkward directions from the strain.

This is how he now spends his time six days a week for 10 hours a day
in the open yard of a makeshift weapons workshop.

Nasser is one of Misrata's children. A boy who for more than 100 days
suffered the frightening sounds of rockets falling from the sky and
tanks blasting their way through the city as government forces battled
to control the uprising against it from Misrata's citizens.

"It was really scary," he said. "People really suffered especially
during the first days of the war. There was not really anything, we
lacked everything."

GPS: Five reasons stalemate is devastating

Four months later school is still out but the fighting has been pushed
to three fronts outside the city. There is little for children to do.
Nasser has found something along with a few other boys and he
dismisses those who say children shouldn't be working on machines of
war.
NATO making progress in Libya?
New lies from Gadhafi's regime
RELATED TOPICS

    Libya
    Moammar Gadhafi
    Libyan Politics
    NATO
    Barack Obama

"I'd tell them to get back to work and try to understand the situation
we are living these days," the 15-year-old said and quietly went back
to putting together the gun he had just finished cleaning.

The adult men working in the same area have nothing but good things to
say about the effort the youth are making even the youngest among
them.

"When I saw our young people my feeling is great," Ali Mohamed said.
"Our children, they will be the future of our country and they should
know how they defend our city."

Gadhafi loyalists launch fresh assault on Misrata

The reality is rebel fighters are short on gun power and need whatever
help they can get in order to obtain more weapons. They say defending
the city means using all kinds of makeshift weaponry on Misrata's
three battlefronts. The heaviest and most powerful guns are usually
attached to pick-up trucks.

The guns are often taken off tanks and re-purposed elsewhere. The
tanks that are captured are usually burned or otherwise rendered
useless but there are a few that have survived intact, and yet with
all the shortages of weaponry not one is being used on Misrata's front
lines.

NATO: Time to plan for post-Gadhafi Libya

"We cannot use the tanks because we received orders from NATO not use
them so they put restrictions on how we can use them," rebel fighter
Mohamed Wabash tells CNN.

There is frustration setting in as opposition fighters have also been
told to hold their positions but in this spontaneous uprising, war has
not been meticulously planned. Strategies are being hatched in real
time as the fighting rages on.

Rebels make their first oil sale

But rebels on Misrata's western front made an unexpected move forward
after they say Gadhafi forces tried to once again advance toward the
city. Rebels fought back with all their make-shift weapons and managed
to push Gadhafi forces three kilometers west inching them that much
farther toward the rebels goal, the capital of Tripoli.

4.  http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,767493,00.html
Full release of the Mike Gravel Pentagon Papers admitting wartime lies

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