Régis Debray schrijft in Le Monde Diplomatique dat Frankrijk weer uit de NAVO moet stappen. Dat zouden meer landen moeten doen. De NAVO is nog steeds een instrument van de krankzinnige Amerikaanse oorlogsindustrie. De VS is trouwens een 'failed state', die geen navolging verdient. Om te verhinderen dat dit land nog meer schade aanricht, zou Europa zich af moeten keren van de Amerikaanse 'oorlog tegen het terrorisme', die in feite het terrorisme alleen maar aanwakkert. In Syrië ondersteunen NAVO-landen de rebellen, dus steunen ze al-Qaeda. De Franse en Engelse regering leveren wapens aan de rebellen. Gekker kun je het niet maken. De ellende komt steeds dichter bij Europa.
FranceInter: "Dans le Monde Diplomatique de Mars, Régis Debray adresse une lettre ouverte à Hubert Védrine, chargé par François Hollande d’un rapport sur la France dans l’Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN) aujourd’hui.
Pour Hubert Védrine, il n’est pas nécessaire de sortir de l’OTAN. Au contraire, Régis Debray pense que la France doit quitter cette « organisation inutile et nuisible, [qui] pollue le paysage international dans toutes les dimensions », selon l’ambassadeur de France, Gabriel Robin."
Debray vindt dat Frankrijk deze 'zinloze en schadelijke organisatie, die het internationale landschap in alle opzichten vervuilt' moet verlaten.
De VS en de NAVO maken er een potje van, een zeer brisant potje. In Irak worden nog regelmatig aanslagen gepleegd. Idem ditto in Afghanistan. Amerika is de draad kwijt, en het zou zinloos en dwaas zijn als Europese landen in dat gat zouden willen springen.
AlterNet: "Gulag Nation USA: 2.3 Million Inmates, Forced Labor, Rancid Food -- and It's Making the Corporate Overlords Wealthy
If, as Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” then we are a nation of barbarians. Our vast network of federal and state prisons, with some 2.3 million inmates, rivals the gulags of totalitarian states. Once you disappear behind prison walls you become prey. Rape. Torture. Beatings. Prolonged isolation. Sensory deprivation. Racial profiling. Chain gangs. Forced labor. Rancid food. Children imprisoned as adults. Prisoners forced to take medications to induce lethargy. Inadequate heating and ventilation. Poor health care. Draconian sentences for nonviolent crimes. Endemic violence."
AlterNet: "16 Giant Corporations That Have Basically Stopped Paying Taxes -- While Also Cutting Jobs!
General Electric: The worst tax record over five years, with $81 billion in profits and a $3 billion refund.
Boeing: In addition to receiving a refund despite $21.5 billion in profits, the company ranked high in job cutting, underfunded pensions, andcontractor misconduct.
Exxon Mobil: Made by far the largest profits in the group, but paid less than 1% in U.S. taxes, and yet received oil subsidies along with their tax breaks. Unabashedly reports a 2012 "theoretical tax" of over $27 billion, almost 90% of its total income tax expense. The company was also near the top in contractor misconduct.
Verizon: Second worst tax record, with a refund despite $48 billion in profits.
Kraft Foods: Received a refund from the public despite $13.5 billion in profits. Also a leading job-cutter.
Citigroup: One of the five big banks who are estimated to get a bailout/refund from the American public amounting to three cents from every tax dollar.
Dow Chemical: Received a refund despite almost $10 billion in profits.
IBM: Paid less than 3% in taxes while ranking as one of the leading job cutters, and near the top in contractor misconduct.
Chevron: In addition to a meager 4.3% tax rate and a share of oil subsidies, the company has been the main beneficiary of tax-exempt government bonds.
FedEx: The company paid less than 5% in federal taxes while relying on the publicly-funded Post Office to deliver thirty percent of its ground packages.
Honeywell: Less than 6% in taxes, a leading job cutter, near the top in instances of contractor misconduct, and run by the "Fix the Debt" CEO with the largest pension fund.
An 8% tax rate, a leader in job cuts and underfunded pensions, and in the top 20 of contractor misconduct instances.
Notable for an 8.4% tax rate, job cuts, offshore holdings, and the top U.S. spot on the contractor misconduct dollar list.
Apple: Where to begin? Avoiding federal taxes, avoiding state taxes, hiding overseas earnings, engaging in intellectual property schemes, using the "Double Irish" to transfer profits from Europe to Bermuda, and underpaying its store workers despite conducting most of itsproduct and research development in the United States.
Pfizer: One of the leaders in stockpiling untaxed profits overseas, and right behind Merck in contractor misconduct dollars.
Google: A master at the "Double Irish" revenue shift to Bermuda tax havens, while using tax loopholes to bring a lot of the money back to the U.S. without paying taxes on it. Recognized as one of the world's biggest tax avoiders.
Microsoft: Named as one of the biggest offshore hoarders while using tax strategies to bring much of their untaxed money back to the U.S., where it also avoids state taxes.
All these companies, after using our infrastructure and technology and research facilities and higher education and national defense to build incomparably successful businesses, are now doing everything in their power to avoid paying anything back, while instead using a carefully manipulated set of "legal" business writeoffs and exemptions and loopholes to cut their tax bills to almost nothing. And all the while they rant about the unfairness of the U.S. tax code.
The real madness is that human beings are suffering because of the tax games corporations play."
De morele basis onder de Amerikaanse staat is volledig weggeslagen. Europa moet niet hetzelfde platgetreden pad volgen.