JPMorgan, James Dimon 1-27-14

January 27, 2014

JPMorgan, James Dimon

Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch? JPMorgan Chase’s board just unanimously endorsed a 74% boost in Chief Executive, James Dimon’s salary to $20 million for a “heck of a job well done” for $20 billion JP Morgan suffered in legal costs and for suffering its first quarterly loss in nine years. Most of Dimon’s massive compensation package was in the form of bonuses which ignored $6 billion in trading losses which along with its other losses severely sullied its reputation. The $20 million amounts to $1 million for each billion paid to avoid admitting to outright fraud to government investigations into its illegal activities. Most recently, JPMorgan agreed to pay $2.6 billion for failing to disclose a massive Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernie Madoff. Inexplicably, government investigators failed to seek criminal charges and Dimon and his co-conspirators escaped donning on orange jump suits and being fitted with ankle chains for their high rolling activities. As the Good Book says “For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” 

Attack on Sikh Golden Temple 1-25-14

25, January 2014

Attack on Sikh Golden Temple

The release of British government de-classified documents under the ‘UK 30-year Freedom of Information Act’ reveal a disturbing British collusion in the 1984 Indian military attack of the holiest of Sikh shrines – the Golden Temple in Amritsar. First a little background. In common with many other Indian states, Sikhs were anxious to maintain their religious and language heritage and what they considered just demands after their enormous contributions to the freedom movement. In August 1982, a relatively hitherto unknown religious leader, Bhindranwale and the Akali Dal, the political arm of the Sikhs, launched the Dharam Yudh Morcha (battle for righteousness), with its stated aims being the fulfillment of a list of demands which became known as the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. Thousands of people joined the movement in the hopes of acquiring a larger share of irrigation water and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab. After a number of skirmishes with the Punjab police Bhindranwale and his supporters sought refuge in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. In the meantime, the prime-minister, Indira Gandhi, was consolidating her power and was anxious to weaken the power of the Sikhs. Gandhi interpreted the Sikh agitations as a direct threat to the power of the Congress Party’s Central government. The newly released UK documents reveal that Gandhi contacted the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher requesting military advice on launching an attack on the Golden Temple to remove Bhindranwale and his supporters. A Special Air Services, SAS British expert was dispatched to New Delhi under strict secrecy anxious not to inflame the large population of Sikhs living in the UK. What is particularly egregious is the decision to launch the attack to coincide with the martyrdom day of Sikh's 5th Guru, Guru Arjan, when the complex would be full of thousands of innocent pilgrims, trapped in the sweltering heat of summer. A situation which could have been resolved without a shot being fired was allowed to deteriorate to the point where the sacred sanctity of a place of worship was desecrated in the most brutal way with death and destruction. In addition to the death of Bhindranwale and his followers, thousands of innocent pilgrims who had gathered to celebrate a religious festival also lost their lives in the attack. The Akal Takht, the symbolic seat of supreme Sikh temporal authority was reduced to rubble. Gurdwara Darbar Sahib was damaged with over 300 bullets. The Sikh Reference Library with precious hand written manuscripts of the Gurus was burned to the ground. The Temple treasury Toshakhana with priceless historical artifacts of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was also burned. Why were the British so eager to help Gandhi? The hitherto secret documents reveal that the British government was anxious to consummate a highly lucrative helicopter contract with the Indian military and decided to appease the Indian government and were unconcerned with the ethical issues and loss of life which would ensue. The Sikhs in the UK and many other parts of the world have become incensed at the British involvement in one of worst tragedies in post-colonial India. Lord Singh of the UK House of Lords has demanded an independent enquiry into the collusion of the Thatcher government and has called for final closure of the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple. 

NSA Spying 1-21-14

21, January 2014

NSA Spying

President Obama’s speech responding to mounting public concern over domestic spying was disappointing. What was erroneously billed as reforms was essential window dressing, cosmetic changes which do little to allay fears of the massive invasion of privacy. Bowing to pressure from the NSA, President Obama endorsed its actions and punted the custodian issue to a largely dysfunctional Congress. Billions of tax money has been squirreled away by the NSA in creating a huge database of largely redundant data which makes us less safe as a nation. The N.S.A. continues to download every dial, tweet and text message of innocent Americas and maintains a tight grip on the world’s digital pipelines. It paid millions of dollars to RSA, a major encryption firm, to incorporate a deliberately weakened algorithm into some of its products, giving the government a “back door” to capture whatever it wanted. Encryption standards used to protect banking and all other electronic transactions have been pierced which dramatically increases the potential for abuse.  So what’s next? Those with deep pockets will be able to pay hefty fees to the spy agency for confidential information rendering insider trading obsolete. The giant Internet companies who were paid millions of access fees are now crying foul because they are losing billions of dollars in overseas business. As Dan Kaminsky, a security researcher and chief scientist at White Ops, an antifraud company recently stated, “when your products have been intentionally flawed in the support of intelligence missions, don’t expect people to buy them”. 

Ariel Sharon 1-14-14

14, January 2014

Dear Editor,               Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon has been one of the most dominant political figures in Israel’s history, involved in each of Israel’s major wars dating back to its founding in 1948. He is generally regarded as the father figure of the settlement movement and an architect of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that killed a reported 20,000 Palestinians and Lebanese. Sharon’s forces committed their first major crime in 1953 when they destroyed a large number of houses in the Jordanian village of Qibya, killing 69 civilians. In the Sabra and Shatila massacre up to 2,000 Palestinians died on September 16-17, 1982, when the Israeli military allowed a Christian militia to attack the camp. Ariel Sharon was forced to resign as defense minister after a special Israeli investigative panel declared him to be "personally responsible" for the massacre. His role in the war was laid out in great detail from documents released from the Israel State Archives published last year by the New York Times. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International  condemned the massacre and the US State Department said those responsible "should be brought to account and that effective measures should be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. Sadly, the culture of impunity would be a recurring theme - not only in Israeli history but in Sharon's history in particular. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/a-preventable-massacre.html The Israeli film Waltz with Bashir is an amazing documentary about those atrocities, directed by Ari Folman, a former soldier who was present when they occurred, but who had post-traumatic amnesia for what happened. The rest of us have no excuse for forgetting those massacres. 

FBI abuses under Hoover 1-10-14

10, January 2014

FBI abuses under Hoover

The recent release of “The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI,"

showcases the massive abuses the FBI perpetrated on unsuspecting political activists during the Vietnam War. The FBI used the program to infiltrate, monitor and disrupt social and political movements. In a desperate attempt to halt the abuses, several activists raided the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, hoping to find incriminating documents. One of the activists, John Raines who was recently interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, explained that “we knew the FBI was systematically trying to squash dissent. And dissent is the lifeblood of democracy”.  One of the documents revealed a group of FBI agents who were told “to enhance the paranoia in the antiwar movement and to create an atmosphere that there’s an FBI agent behind every mailbox”. Many of the techniques were clearly illegal - burglaries, forged blackmail letters and threats of violence. David Brinkley, a prominent newscaster, commented that no one was spared in the massive FBI surveillance including “diplomats, government employees, sports figures, socially prominent persons, senators and congressmen”. Another prominent newscaster, Walter Cronkite, observed that “the FBI at one time sought to blackmail the late Martin Luther King into committing suicide”. Tragically, countless lives had been destroyed by the FBI. The activists decided to break their long silence out of concern that the NSA is conducting far more sophisticated methods to invade the privacy of ordinary Americans and US allies which has caused so much consternation and moral outrage.

Israel – The Peace Process 1-7-14

7, January 2014

Dear Editor,   Israel – The Peace Process

The Middle East process is doomed to failure. The current Israeli policy of land expropriation and marginalizing the Palestinians both inside and outside the Israeli borders is increasing its isolation. Building hundreds of Israeli settlements and rewarding Jewish settlers from around the world to live and establish “beach heads”, largely from government largesse, is intensifying hostilities and losing international support.  Releasing a few “terrorists” in return for building more settlements is a failed policy. Israel can easily capture more Palestinians on triumphed up charges with complete impunity. In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."

The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.

The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid. What is disturbing is the growing practice of local letter writers to stifle dissent by accusing dissenting opinion writers as being anti-Semites.

NSA Spying 1-3-14

3. January 2014         NSA Spying

New revelations by the German publication, Der Spiegel have provided details of a super secretive unit inside the National Security Agency, called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO (no connection to the Chinese spiritual path). TAO has developed new ways to invade our privacy, courtesy of Microsoft, by gaining access to WINDOWS users who report technical problems (a frequent occurrence). In addition, new computer orders are intercepted in transit and special malware is implanted to monitor all activity of  unsuspecting users all with a wink and nod from Federal Express and United Parcel Service. Two federal judges have harshly admonished the NSA for its dragnet surveillance vastly exceeding its mandate and thus violating the Constitution.  A panel appointed by President Obama issued a strong indictment calling for a major overall of the agency. The Congressional oversight committee has clearly failed in its mission and its chairman, Senator Dianne Feinstein should resign. It is not surprising that her approval ratings have plummeted following her vigorous support for the NSA’s highly questionable activities. We need more whistleblowers like Snowden. Remember how thousands of Iraqis and Americans died based on false claims of WMD’s or the release of the Pentagon Papers which exposed the massive deceit of our government and halted the war in Vietnam? In a landmark editorial, the New York Times has called for “some form of clemency that would allow Snowden to return home.”