I
was perusing the news and I saw this headline in the New York Times: Military Officer Named Interim Prime Minister
in Burkina Faso.
So I’m wondering, what and where is Burkina
Faso? According to BBC:
Excerpt:
A poor country even by West African
standards, landlocked Burkina Faso has suffered from recurring droughts and, until the 1980s, military coups. A
popular uprising forced long-term leader Blaise Compaore from office in
October 2014…. Burkina Faso has
significant reserves of gold, but cotton
is the economic mainstay for
many Burkinabes.
First
thing that came to mind was cash poor, resource rich and major cotton
producer. Someone’s getting an American Made Sham Election.
OUAGADOUGOU,
Burkina Faso — The military officer who seized power in Burkina Faso after
the ouster of President Blaise Compaoré last month was named on Wednesday as prime minister in a transitional government
intended to steer the country to elections within a year.
The
appointment of Lt. Col. Isaac Zida, 49, a senior officer in the presidential
guard, seemed to run counter to the entreaties
of the United States and of other nations for the military to return to
barracks and FOCUS ON WHAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT IN WASHINGTON HAS CALLED ITS
“PRIMARY MISSION” OF ENSURING NATIONAL SECURITY….
Early
on Monday, facing a deadline from the African Union for the military to
withdraw, a panel of political, military, religious, traditional and other leaders agreed to appoint Michel
Kafando, 72, a former foreign minister and onetime ambassador to the United
Nations, as interim president.
That sounded so
familiar and then I realized what’s happening in Burkina Faso is exactly like
what is happening in Ukraine.
UKRAINE:
From LaRouche Pac:
"Yats is the guy," said Obama's
potty-mouthed Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs,
Victoria Nuland, in a recorded and widely disseminated discussion with the U.S.
Ambassador to Ukraine earlier this year. She was referring to Arseni Yatsenyuk, the former foreign and economics minister who
was confirmed as the interim Prime Minister of Ukraine today….
Yatsenyuk
has immediately vowed
that he will sign the Association Agreement with the EU, and carry out
the slashes in the social safety net and
budget that the IMF and EU have been demanding.
From
Global Research:
Since Yatsenyuk was ‘appointed’ Prime
Minister in February, Ukraine has become increasingly polarised into Eastern
and Western Ukraine, with Lugansk and Donetsk in the East declaring
independence from the corrupt and criminal government in Kiev. Western Ukraine
has all but been absorbed into the European sphere of influence, along with the puppet leaders allowing private
and corporate jackals to exploit the countries resources.
BURKIMA FASO:
A previous foreign minister and United Nations
representative, Michel Kafando,
was appointed interim president until national elections can be held during
2015. Kafando served for thirteen years under the imperialist-backed regime of ousted
President Blaise Compaore….
The
appointment of Kafando may not calm the social unrest inside the country if
there are no genuine reforms implemented to alleviate the mass poverty,
unemployment and lack of food security.
This interim leader was favored by the
military which has been castigated by most Burkinabe who want a return to
what they perceive as democratic civilian rule….
UKRAINE:
From BBC:
Ukraine's security services infiltrated
anti-government protest groups and plotted to provoke conflict between
demonstrators ahead of the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, according to
documents published on the Ukrayinska Pravda website.
BURKIMA FASO:
It was contingents of working class youth
wearing t-shirts and carrying placards evoking the revolutionary legacy of
martyred Marxist leader Thomas Sankara, who ran Burkina Faso between 1983-87,
that led the mass demonstrations against the neo-colonial system supported by
France and the United States.
UKRAINE:
From Washingtons Blog:
Excerpt:
In fact, almost immediately after
Yatsenyuk became the leader of Ukraine, he sacked the existing three Deputy
Defense Ministers, on March 5th, and replaced them with three rabidly
anti-Russian neo-Nazis, who were committed to this bombing-policy.
The
person who was made the Minister of Defense, Mikhail Koval, has announced his
intention to ethnically cleanse from southeastern Ukraine the “subhumans” who
voted for Yanukovych, who will “be resettled in other regions,” meaning either
Russia (if Russia accepts these Ukrainian refugees) or else concentration-camps
inside Ukraine (and then perhaps death).
“There will be a thorough filtration of
people.” Their property will be confiscated, and “Land parcels will be given
out for free to the servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other military
formations, as well as to the employees
of Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine that are defending
territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country in eastern and
southeastern regions of Ukraine.”
BURKINA FASO:
From BBC:
Excerpt:
The authorities in Burkina Faso have
appointed an army officer, Lt Col Isaac Zida, as transitional prime minister. Col Zida had been among officers who took
power when then President Blaise Compaore was forced to resign on 31 October
during mass protests.
He declared himself head of state but on Tuesday
oversaw the swearing-in of former Foreign Minister Michel Kafando as interim
president. The moves followed agreement
on a year-long transition to elections.
The transitional charter imposes tight controls on the powers of Mr.
Kafando, who was the army's choice as
interim leader. The document calls for an interim legislative chamber to
be installed until elections next year.
So
now the basics are in place for an American
Made Sham Election for Burkina Faso.
So let’s take a look and see what is in the future for Burkina
Faso. We won’t have to look far, just look
into the crystal ball and you will see the American
Made Sham Election in America November 4th, 2014. The winners of the sham election in the U.S.
are clear and the “American Made Sham
Election Vultures” are more powerful and protected than ever before.
Of
course one of the most deadly, of the vultures is Monsanto. Monsanto played a huge
part in the Ukraine coup and subsequent
sham election and they are a huge player in Burkina Faso.
In this
Reuters article from May 2013 BEFORE the overthrow of the government in Ukraine,
Monsanto was already laying the GM seeds of rebellion when they decided to
build the largest Monsanto seed plant in Ukraine, a country that outlawed
Monsanto GM seeds and crops.
UKRAINE THEN:
 |
Ukraine corn may
replace US corn in China
|
Excerpt:
Monsanto
plans $140 mln Ukraine non-GM corn seed plant
May 24 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co, the world's
largest seed company, plans to launch a non-GM (genetically modified)
corn seed plant in Ukraine, one of the
world's leading producers of the grain, the company said on Friday.
"Monsanto is planning to build a seed
plant in Ukraine to produce conventional
corn seeds," Vitaliy Fedchuk, corporate affairs specialist at Monsanto
Ukraine, told Reuters in an email.
"The seeds will be for the Ukrainian
market and for export."
Ukraine, which harvested about 3 million
tonnes of maize 10 years ago, threshed 20.9 million tonnes of the commodity in
2012 and might increase the output to 21.8 million tonnes this year, analysts
say.
Initial investment in the project "is
intended to be about $140 million", Fedchuk said.
"We plan to have the plant operational
as of August 2015, provided we finalise the land acquisition by mid-August
2013. We have several preferred locations, one of them is Vinnytsya."
UKRAINIAN
LAWS BAR LOCAL FARMERS FROM GROWING GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS.
ASKED WHETHER MONSANTO EXPECTED CHANGES IN
REGULATIONS, Fedchuk said:
"Indeed,
in Ukraine only conventional seeds are allowed for production and importation,
thus we will be working with conventional seeds only."
BURKINA THEN (From Monsanto):
Excerpt:
Achieving
Healthy and Productive Societies in Africa
Lack of knowledge regarding farming
techniques and plant varieties, limited access to water except during rainy
seasons, and a poor understanding of nutrition often create a cycle of poverty
in the province of Houet in western Burkina Faso, Africa. But a project by
Africare has changed that for many families in 10 villages there.
Africare
obtained a $400,000 grant from the Monsanto Fund for a two-year pilot
food security project
called Houet Agriculture and Nutrition Alternatives for Revenue Producers
(HANARP). The current phase of the project involves raising awareness of the
villages’ food and nutrition issues and improving farmers’ income.
How
much you want to bet that two-year pilot was ending as the people rose up to
demand a new government?
Through the HANARP project, farmers are introduced to new varieties of
seeds and gardening methods. They also are taught animal production
techniques and given access to micro credit to purchase equipment such as water
pumps….
UKRAINE NOW:
From Counter Punch:
Excerpt:
Monsanto
and Ukraine
By
JOYCE NELSON
Finally, a little-known aspect of the
crisis in Ukraine is receiving some international attention. On
July 28, the California-based Oakland Institute released a report revealing
that the WORLD BANK AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF), under terms
of their $17 billion loan to Ukraine, would open that country to
genetically-modified (GM) crops and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in
agriculture.
The report is
entitled “Walking on the West Side: the World Bank and the IMF in the Ukraine
Conflict.”…
In late 2013, the then president of
Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, rejected a European Union association agreement
tied to the $17 billion IMF loan, whose terms are only now being revealed.
Instead, Yanukovych chose a Russian aid
package worth $15 billion plus a discount on Russian natural gas. His decision was a major factor in the
ensuing deadly protests that led to his ouster from office in February 2014 and
the ongoing crisis….
Just a few days before Madrazo’s remarks in
Washington, Monsanto Ukraine had launched its “social development” program
for the country, called “Grain Basket of the Future.” [7] It provides grants to
rural villagers so they can (in Monsanto’s words) “start feeling that they can
improve their situation themselves as opposed to waiting for a handout.”
Actually, the real “handout” is the one going to Big U.S. Agribusiness
through the terms of the IMF/World Bank
loan, which besides opening the country to GM crops, will also further lift
the ban on the sale of Ukraine’s rich agricultural lands to the private sector.
In August 2011, WikiLeaks released U.S.
diplomatic cables showing that the U.S.
State Department has been lobbying worldwide for Monsanto and other
biotechnology corporations like DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow.
The U.S. non-profit Food & Water Watch,
after combing through five years of these cables (2005-2009), released its
report entitled “Biotech Ambassadors: How the U.S. State Department Promotes
the Seed Industry’s Global Agenda” on May 14, 2013.
BURKINA FASO NOW:
Excerpt:
2012
BURKINA
FASO: Preventing conflict between farmers and herders
Excerpt:
….The most recent recorded case occurred in
June in Tapoa in East Region, a largely agro-pastoralist zone where herders
attacked the dwellings of forestry agents after
a herder was arrested for cutting leaves from a tree to feed his animals,
according to Bertin Somda, governor of East Region.
Livestock are an economic mainstay for many
families across Burkina Faso, with 80 percent of rural families keeping at
least one or two animals to fall back on during hard times. "They act much
like a bank account," said Ouedraogo.
Why clashes up
As in much of the Sahel, conflict arises
when farmers have encroached on transhumance paths, leading herders to move
onto agricultural land to enable their animals to feed. Competition over scarce
agricultural land is also mounting as the population
grows by 3.1 percent per year, one of the highest rates in the world.
 |
Burkina
Faso-landscape
|
Land scarcity has also been accentuated by land-grabbing
by agro-businesses following new land laws that encourage private land
ownership; and by the growth of artisanal gold miners who both squeeze herders
off transhumance routes but also poison water points with chemicals. Some
800 artisanal mining sites have opened since 2007.
And
Burkina Faso is not alone. According to Global Research:
Excerpt:
Burkina
Faso Not Alone as Strikes Escalate in West Africa
Class struggle intensifies as imperialist
system continues to decline
Strikes and Unrest Spreading Throughout
West Africa Region
The workers,
farmers and youth of Burkina Faso are by no means alone in their struggle
against neo-colonial rule. In Ghana, Niger and Nigeria, strikes and mass
demonstrations are occurring on a weekly basis.
In
Ghana, tens of thousands of public
sector and education workers went on strike during Oct. demanding higher wages
and better conditions of employment. The government of President John Mahama
took the unions to court and secured an order forcing the workers back on the
job.
Nonetheless, the unions threatened to
resume their work stoppage if the government did not meet demands for pay
raises and the guaranteeing of pensions. The
strike actions also impacted the burgeoning oil producing industry in Ghana
where workers refused to unload barrels of oil until their grievances were
adequately addressed.
Hey, that sounds familiar,
I know I read this at Black Agenda Report:
Excerpt:
The
Obama Administration.... Standing Up For Poor and Working People Since... Never
By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
….An Amazon.com worker filed in federal
court against his bosses, who forced employees to stand in line without pay for
a daily security check before being allowed to leave the job. Workers asked to
be paid for the time. Amazon said no. They asked their bosses to buy another
scanning machine and hire more security staff to speed up the process. Amazon
said no. And again, this is a common practice across a large section of retail
and warehouse employers.
It took a couple years, but a federal judge
ruled in favor of Amazon's workers, and an appeals court also ordered Amazon to
pay them. Amazon's platoon of lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court, which has
agreed to hear the case….
… And who did the Obama administration side
with? The administration that would not help workers secure their rights with
new laws, and would not prosecute employers for wage theft filed not one brief in favor of Amazon.com's right to NOT pay its
workers, but two --- one from the
Justice Department, and another from the Department of Labor, the cabinet
bureaucracy supposedly created to safeguard the rights of working people.
Hey,
America if you don’t like it you get another chance to go to the polls in 2016
for the ultimate Made in America Sham Election.
But,
I’m an optimist at heart and I’m pinning my hopes for the future on the BRICS
(Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). They are forming an unbelievable bloc with
their own bank, gold, oil, military, space program and everything that America
was before our government was overthrown on December 12, 2000.
The
true test of democracy is the peaceful transition after an election by the
people. On December 12, 2000 the Supreme
Court of the United States in concert with the United States Senate staged a
coup. Since then any laws, any elections in the
United States are illegal and invalid.
Any appointments to courts in America are illegitimate.
But,
in the meantime, get ready Burkina Faso you are the latest winner of American
Made Sham Election, brought to you by Monsanto.
By
Patricia Baeten
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