Dying for BP
Dying for BP
“Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi spent the anniversary of his return to Libya from a Scottish jail at home, where he was visited by friends and regime figures to mark the occasion”
according to the “Telegraph” newspaper online. This is the man who was convicted in a court of law for blowing up an aircraft over Lockerbie and killing a total 270 people, mostly American citizens and who was released because he was supposed to be at death’s door.
The US Government, whose citizen’s were slaughtered, howled its objections prior to Megrahi’s release but was completely ignored as if it did not even exist. Completely coincidentally, immediately after Megrahi’s release, BP (British Petroleum) signed an agreement with the Libyan Government to drill for oil in the Libyan Gulf, something that they recently had to postpone because of their well known pollution of the Gulf and the American coastline. The USA is BP’s biggest client and greatest source of income, so they do not want to appear too obvious.
And then the British Prime Minister during his recent visit to the US, more or less claimed that Scotland is not really that much a part of Britain and does more or less what it wants to do and so the whole fiasco is really the fault of Scotland and let’s talk about how important a company BP is and how necessary it is to the financial well being of its employees on both sides of the Atlantic. In other words, BP is more important to PM Cameron than Scotland.
Andrew Marr is a well known British journalist and political commentator. He wrote “The History of Modern Britain” and if you are interested in unbiased history, you would do well to read his book or to watch the BBC documentary that was made from this book.
“We fought the war (WWII) with American guns, we survived on American loans, we’ve eaten American food” he says in his documentary. A loan of four billion pounds from the USA immediately after the war, prevented bankruptcy and disgrace, placing “Britain’s future now firmly in American hands” according to Marr. Interestingly, this loan was paid off finally just recently, on December 2006
For a grim period everything Britain produced was exported in order to pay off its debts and rationing become worse than during the war. Meat was being rationed even 1954. This principle of exports irrespective of domestic suffering is what Romania’s Ceausescu operated on, and for which he became so despised.
The Marshall plan, of which Britain got the largest share, was like “a lifeline to sinking men” according to Minister Bevin. “The Americans had saved us from financial disaster at the last minute”
In 1981 there was a 22% inflation in Thatcher’s Britain and in some areas there was a 60% unemployment – “urban Britain was burning”. And then, just one year later in 1982 North Sea Oil from mainly off the coast of Scotland began to flow, providing £8 billion per year to the National Coffers and the situation was reversed.
In short, good fortune, great engineering and Scotland (not really a part of Britain according to Prime Minister Cameron) saved the day for Britain.But until then, the USA was a staunch friend of Great Britain. However, this old friendship and obligation did not seem to count for much when the interest of BP became involved.
Then there is the recent Chilcot inquiry of January 5th 2010, where Gordon Brown’s chief foreign policy adviser Simon McDonald said that British companies had “done pretty well” in a recent auction of oil rights in Iraq and that Britain had “privileged access” to the Government of Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister. He also told those present that “British companies have benefited from the award of oil contracts in Iraq because of the decision to help to overthrow Saddam Hussein.”
What does this really mean? Could it be that British soldiers are dying for the sake of those oil contracts? In other words, dying for someone’s financial gain? Why are not Austrian soldiers dying for example? Sadly, it appears that British children are dying for base coin and not for the principles of freedom that their predecessors died for during WWII.
The saddest part of all is seeing parents of dead soldiers, parents who have buried their children, brainwashed into believing that the babies they raised to manhood died for some higher cause and not for BP or a similar financial institution. And to thank them, their government allows banks to charge them interest of 22% on loans that they need to make ends meet. That’s the same banks that the same parents saved from annihilation, and the same banks which borrow at 1%. It is insane.
A licence to operate a bank is a National Treasure and should be treated as such. The beneficiaries of such a licence should operate within parameters that do not border and/or actually breach the boundary of usury and 22% is, unquestionably in my mind, shameless and inhuman usury.
A circular went out today to customers of one of the main banks in Britain, one of those saved by the tax payer from bankruptcy, unilaterally informing those who already have approved overdrafts that over and above the very high interest rates this bank charges for overdrafts, it will charge an additional £5 per month for any approved overdraft over £10, just because it feels like it and just because this Government allows it to do it. So, on an overdraft of £10.01, over and above the bank’s standard rate, an additional interest of 50% per month, equivalent to 600% per year, will be charged to people who are considered financially solid enough to have a specific approved overdraft.
There is no shame. There is only greed and the taking advantage of the needy without the slightest inkling of pity or compassion. And people’s children are dying for such institutions as these. How could this be possible? How long can this last?
As our colleague Paraglider says, “I think the stranglehold is so strong and resistance (or even awareness) still so weak that fighting the system is not realistic. Our only option is finding ways to exist at least partly independent of it”.
So in conclusion, if the profit of today can COMPLETELY erase the obligations of yesterday (obligation of Britain to USA), then perhaps we should start thinking of moving to the middle of a forest and raising chickens. How sad it all feels.
Dimitris Mita
De Greek