KCRW Left Right & Center (8.15) pre-show news

to understand georgia, india opposed wto, the soft "dance" with pakistan's aqueda/the "russian redux"-now western control of afganistan, iraq occupation-oil psa/privitization, etc ..watch pbs's EXTREME OIL if it makes the rounds again. I was going to comment 2 wks ago regarding "india protecting small farms" in rejecting the wto. Pay careful attention extreme oil's segment on how norway prepares for the eventual depletion of their "cash cow" north sea fields by insisting on government baseline support for essential farmed food staples so that they will still have viable domestic sources when the oil money runs out. with the recent rice shortage in indonesia, egypt nicuargua and costco making the news, india's fight against a texas company trying to patent basmatti rice varities, etc, the lessons are learned - there are certain "food, water, shelter (& energy)" interests that shouldn't be given up so that a country becomes fully dependent on outsiders for complete supply. (if you watch independent lens/pov you may also have seen the series on aftica's cotton industry that answers the question why you so often see african children sporting "disneyland", "oracle team", "jackson hole", "metalica world tour" etc t-shirts.)

so, get your 2 answers! - understand india's position, and understand the btc pipeline and why the caspian oil region (turkmenistan/afganistan/pakistan pipeline) governs policies. Read kinser's overthrow.., brezenski's grand chessboard (written before the 2nd iraq invasion), yergin's the prize, perkin's confession of an economic hitman (foretelling bremmer's attempted privitization and wolofowitz's world bank assignment), works by new yourker's hersch, suskind etc. and you will come to understand how economic exploitation trumps the touted "democracy", "freedom", "women's rights" etc selling points. when mossedeh wanted 50c instead of 16c for every dollar oil taken, he was overthrown. when chavez and morales want more for their people they are vilified. we have israel (gorenberg's accidental empire) the supposed beacon of democracy denying democratic election results, so long as they can be used as the proxy war making arm of the west (and when you disallow the same religious fanaticism of zionism as proclaimed "islamo fascist 25 virgins in heaven", then you realize the most equitable division of the land is 50/50 much like the rejected arab league offers).

all the while the west has lost it's way. if israel can bomb lebanon for 30 days why can't russia to georgia? if russia didn't belong in afganistan and saddam in kuwait why does the u.s. belong in iraq and afganistan and somolia? if u.s. equipped the mujahdeen to free their country why can't others supply the same to iraq? If ethnic cleansing is not allowed in kosovo then why is it supported in palestine (pappe)? if the us doesn't want a "state within a state" in lebanon, why arm the sunnis in iraq and support a completely independent kurdish north (separate army, flag, oil deals etc.)? If the us tortures why can't others. if the us holds 500 for 6 years why was the 30 iranian hostages for 1 year so despicable (and consider the latest cia agent news-julia childs)? The bottom line is as karen huges found out, you can't pretty up the pig with lipstick. the disjointed and morally bankrupt principles governing foreign policies is a mis-mash of directions. they have disdain for a-la-cart us foreign policies and double standards because they offer no predictability or basis for understanding. a theme that does reoccur often though is: exploitation and control over another's coveted resources.