A.LOEWENSTEIN ONLINE NEWSLETTER

• Hello, my name is Blackwater and I’d like to protect your wealth
• Chinese man online; I’m a slave please help me
• Most asylum seekers in Australia are real, say the facts
• Who lives permanently at Gitmo?
• What’s the best to bring reform in Saudi; Washington sells weapons of death
• Chomsky offers a handy definition on MSM language

Hello, my name is Blackwater and I’d like to protect your wealth 16 Sep 2010 The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill continues his seemingly never-ending investigation of Blackwater: Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Blackwater’s work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater’s owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation. Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this article. One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the “intel arm” of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.

Chinese man online; I’m a slave please help me 15 Sep 2010 How the internet is slowly but significantly changing the face of China, bringing to the public the massive social issues caused by Beijing’s oppressive policies: The photo was taken on September 3 in Beijing. In the photo, Professor Yang Zhizhu from China Youth University for Political Sciences is holding a placard to sell himself as a slave in order to pay the penalty for violating the one child policy: “My name is Yang Zhizhu and I was originally an assistant professor at the China Youth University for Political Sciences. My wife got pregnant by accident and did not have the heart to get an abortion. On December 21, 2009 she gave birth to our second daughter. In April this year, I was laid off by the university. My monthly salary should be 960 yuan, but I now only get 368 yuan. Two months later, they deducted another 960 yuan. Moreover, the Haidian district family planning committee have asked me to pay 240,000 yuan “Social Upbringing Fee”. I don’t have money and I can only pay the bill by getting myself sold. Since I won’t be able to take care of my children after being sold, I want to mark my price higher to 640,000 yuan. Whoever decides to buy me, I will become their slave and serve them until I die. I reject donations as I don’t want to become a parasite for the sake of my child.”

Most asylum seekers in Australia are real, say the facts 15 Sep 2010 This story in today’s Sydney Daily Telegraph says one thing; most refugees who come to Australia are legitimate and deserve sanctuary: The Federal Government has been forced to reveal figures showing of 6310 asylum seekers to arrive in Australia in the past two years only 75 have been rejected and returned to their country of origin.

Who lives permanently at Gitmo? 15 Sep 2010 American crimes at Guantanamo Bay continue day in day out and yet the corporate press largely ignores it. Independent journalist Andy Worthington is a notable exception. So which prisoners are left at the prison camp? Worthington has collated an invaluable list, explaining how they got there and very often it was through the paying of bounties. The list is exhausting. This abomination, held for years without trial, is a real instigator of anti-Western hatred and we shouldn’t be surprised why.

What’s the best to bring reform in Saudi; Washington sells weapons of death 15 Sep 2010 The $60 billion arms deal between the US and fundamentalist Saudi Arabia is the largest single foreign arms deal in history. Democracy promotion at work.

Chomsky offers a handy definition on MSM language 15 Sep 2010 Noam Chomsky: The term “stability” has a technical meaning in discourse on international affairs: domination by the US.