USA Lobbyists >- Hunton & Williams (Lawyers) > Corporate & Right-Wing Causes

Hunton & Williams (Lawyers) Employs more than 800 lawyers - HQ Richmond, Virginia  -  "one of the most well-connected legal and lobbying firms in DC" - wiki: here. Acxiom Corporation - technology - here - (*hacked). American Electric Power - electric utility - here - tax breaks; no tax; $28.85 million on lobbying  & other.  Americans for Affordable Climate Policy (the climate change-denying) - here. Bank of America - largest bank & brokerage firm - here.  >>  [Fix the Debt - here] Berkshire Hathaway -  Warren Buffett's company - subsidiaries - here. Duke Energy - one of largest electric power coy. - here.  >>  [Fix the Debt - here] Energy Corporation - here. Gas Processors Association (the friendly “fracking” people!) - here. General Dynamics - 5th largest defence contractor - here. Koch Industries - subsid. manuf/ trade /investment - here.  Spent $50m on lobbying WA 2006-2011. MasterCard - tried to block WikiLeaks payments - here  (*Hacked). National Association of Manufacturers - NAM - here. Southern Company - elect. utility holding co. - here. Wells Fargo- 4th largest bank - prison investment - here. [+ many more] >> OpenSecrets and SourceWatch   Source - Tom Burghardt (2011) - here.

ARTICLE - Selling NATO's Killing Machine - by Stephen Lendman

Selling Nato's Killing Machine September 2nd, 2014 by Stephen Lendman On August 17, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post featured op-eds selling NATO at a time when its existence more than ever threatens humanity's survival. More on them below. Claiming NATO is a "political and military alliance for peace and security" is farcical on its face. Its mission is polar opposite. US-led NATO is an imperial tool. It's a global killing machine. It prioritizes war. It deplores peace. Humanity's survival hangs in the balance. NATO includes 28 member nations, 22 Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) ones, seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries, and four Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) states. They comprise nearly one-third of world nations. NATO plans exponential expansion. It wants new members and partners. It wants them on all continents. It wants them virtually everywhere. It wants a global military established. It wants unchallenged control. It wants all outliers eliminated. It wants pro-Western vassal states replacing them. Its strategy prioritizes war on humanity. It's ravaging and destroying one country after another. Its 1999 78-day rape of Yugoslavia was one of history's great crimes. So is its involvement in Washington's post-9/11 wars. Naked aggression against countries posing no threat to America, other Western nations and its neighbors defines them. Millions were ruthlessly slaughtered to advance Washington's imperium. NATO's confrontation with Russia alone risks global conflict. Humanity's survival depends on stopping this monster before it's too late. Belligerence and destabilizing events in Eurasia perhaps leaves precious little time left to do it. US-led NATO bears full responsibility for today's dangerous world. Not according to NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and its supreme allied commander, General Philip Breedlove. Their Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined "A NATO for a Dangerous World." They ludicrously claimed NATO "kept the Cold War from getting hot," and made "an unprecedented period of peace" following WW II possible. False! War with Nazi Germany devastated Soviet Russia. It needed years to rebuild its shattered country. It wanted peace, not more war. Claiming a post-WW II period of peace runs counter to actual events. The Vietnam War began. Wars raged in Indochina, Greece, Paraguay, between India and Pakistan, Palestine, the Korean peninsula, and elsewhere. What Americans call the Korean War began in 1950. Various others raged at the same time. Peace was elusive then. Today it looks almost entirely out of reach. Washington bears full responsibility for many of the world's hot spots. Claiming peace is "challenged by Russia's aggression against Ukraine" turns truth on its head. Rasmussen and Breedlove lied saying "(f)or the first time since the end of World War II, a European country has grabbed part of another's land by force." Claiming Russia invaded Ukraine is polar opposite truth. Suggesting it took Crimea by force ignores near popular unanimity to rejoin Russia. Calling non-threatening Russian military exercises near Ukraine border disruptive ignores all-out Kremlin efforts to resolve Ukrainian crisis conditions peacefully. Saying Russian humanitarian aid is cynical leaves unexplained why America and other Western countries haven't provided their own. Suggesting Russian involvement in downing MH17 ignores clear evidence of Kiev's responsibility. Rasmussen and Breedlove falsely accuse Russia of "resorting to a hybrid war, with snap exercises, secret commandos and smuggled missiles." They do so despite no evidence whatever supporting them. At the same time, they claim NATO's mission is to "defend the territory, populations and shared values of all its members (against) any threat." The only ones they face are invented as pretexts for America's rage to ravage one country after another. To deploy NATO forces close to Russian and Chinese borders. To surround them. To target their heartlands with nuclear-armed missiles. To make the world safe for war profiteers, corporate America and its Western counterparts. To replace independent governments with pro-Western stooge ones. To achieve unchallenged control worldwide. To risk global conflict to achieve it. At the same time, America bears full responsibility for threatening humanity's survival. Rogue NATO states and Israel share it. [... continued ...] FULL @ SOURCE http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2014/09/02/selling-nato-s-killing-machine

An article worth checking out.

In Brief

Got the worst pain -- ever.  Out of nowhere.  Think it's my stomach, but it's quite high up under my rib cage.  Hope I'm not having a heart attack.  If there's no further posts, I'm dead.  LOL Novorossiya are steaming-rolling head, judging by the reports.  But we'll see. Can't sit still.  Sort of squirming in my seat, huffing & puffing to take the edge off whatever's wrong. Hoping couple of pain killers kick in and take the edge off this soon. Poland/Tusk is lobbying for the NATO-Ukraine incursion.  Guessing Tusk is either (a) ultra conservative or (b) from the US/NGO 'sausage factory'. Same old anti Russian articles around the traps.  Get ridiculously worked up about it, like I'm taking it personally or something.  Too bad I don't have a chilled, sarcastic take on it like some of the Twitter dudes do -- they're so funny.  Anyway, it's not like the Russians care.  Rogozin, Putin and Lavrov have all been going about their business -- and working the Russian crowds.  Lavrov seems to have a few fans.  Take it he's a popular figure.  Getting worked up about the bad press Russia gets is rather embarrassing:  nobody's worried and tomorrow's another news day.  That's just how it works -- there's a 'villain' who gets a daily beat-up and Russia is that 'villain'. Anyway, there's no holding back the tidal wave of nasty, underhand poison-pen persuasion pieces from assorted lobbyists. Someone pointed out that the propaganda's dished out in a stop-start fashion and it's true.  Every so often there's a crescendo of official 'condemning' statements, combined with an avalanche of press vilification ... followed by a lull. Not sure how it works.  I've only started to watch politics.  Never had an interest before.  Might have already mentioned, Italy's Federica Mogherini's been appointed the UN High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Policy of the Economic Union, which I'm quite pleased about.  Better than Bildt and Tusk.  And better looking. Unfortunately, Tusk's got himself the President of the European Council job, but in a toss up between creepy Carl Bildt or Tusk being appointed, Tusk suddenly shines. LOL Tusk/Poland and the Baltic states sound like they've joined forces to bitch about the Mogherini appointment.  It was reported that they weren't pleased with her appointment because she's too 'close' and too 'soft' on Russia, or something like that.  Everyone's whispering about the lack of experience, as well.  But it's probably not a real job, so who cares.  She's kinda hot in a milfy way, so what's the problem?  And it's not like Ashton's some Wonder Woman:  those nuclear talks are ongoing. The EU alliances and back-room lobbying probably matter far more than the actual positions.  But that's just a guess. Speaking of Ashton, she met with the Iranian foreign minister (I think it was) for another round of EU nuclear talks. Russia's up for another round of sanctions from the US puppets and Australia's Prime Minister also joined in bleating about sanctions to be taken against Russia. What is utterly appalling is that NO SANCTIONS are to be taken against the US puppet government in Ukraine and that all these representatives of 'truth', 'justice', 'peace', 'democracy' - and other fanciful crap we're supposed to believe - meekly adopt US policy and support the shelling of civilians by the Ukraine government.  Not a word of condemnation.  So what does that tell you? New Zealand has its own suppression order and spy scandal, under the John Key government.  Also, his Justice Minister resigned over some very unsavoury allegations.  But that's not all, folks ... NZ's law prohibits spying on citizens of NZ, but that hasn't stopped the government spying -- AND they've executed illegal warrants (re Kim Dotcom raid) AND they've refused to answer questions about funding from their US equivalent, so there's obviously some murky stuff going on in NZ government and intelligence -- and it has USA and NSA fingerprints all over it.  Hollywood's a player in this as well ... but I'm not entirely clear on the ins and outs of the Dotcom scandal, because I've been flitting from one thing to another that happens to take my interest. Facebook are censoring the Novorossiya supporters' posts by the look of things.  I've hooked them up with a Ukraine article that appears to indicate that the Ukraine government is having social media stuff censored.  Translation kind of garbled, but I think that's the gist of it -- and if that's the case, it's outrageous.  But I don't know who to complain to. "Facebook removed our post about the abominable declarations of neonazi Battalion Azov leader, Andriy Biletsky,..." >> Porkkky has done a deal w/ -- blocking social media for Ukraine government - http://www.president.gov.ua/news/31108.html  Anyway, that's some of the stuff that caught my attention.  Disappointed that I don't cover more ground.  No idea what's happening in France, apart from new cabinet having been formed after the economy minister bitched about not-so-socialist policy. The Labor government in Australia has sprung to mind, but they're not socialists, although they're supposed to be the 'left'.  Not sure what they are.  Sound like they're just another bunch of conservatives -- or they're happy to make the sift wherever necessary (if it means gaining power).   Worse, they appear to be US-Israel dominated.  Check out the WikiLeaks cable regarding Julia Gillard's determined climb to the top ... over Rudd's 'dead' body, so to speak.    ---------------------------------------------  PS Geez, it's annoying pressing 'publish' and finding typos. What's with the 'drafting blindness', I wonder?  As in, why are typos easier to see once you've published?  A rather boring post, as well.   Sounds like it's been written by a robot.  Don't see that improving any time soon.  Boring writing comes naturally.    :) If I've repeated any info, my apologies.  I've not been focused on the blog, so I'm just rambling.

Free Julian Assange

Free Julian Assange

UKRAINE & EASTERN EUROPE - SEE ECUADOR

Ecuador: WikiLeaks cables show US how used 'democracy promotion' to push corporate interests Monday, September 1, 2014 By Linda Pearson Graffiti opposing the US military base in Manta, which has been closed by the Rafael Correa government. WikiLeaks cables revealed the US Embassy was deeply concerned about the threat posed to the US base by Correa. Ecuador's pro-US neoliberal president Lucio Gutierrez was ousted in 2005. Since then, relations between Ecuador and the United States have deteriorated, with the Andean nation’s increasing rejection of US hegemony. The government of Rafael Correa, first elected in 2006, has broken from the neoliberal doctrines Washington has imposed on Latin America. It has embraced regional integration, moving closer to its neighbours and further away from the US. Diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks show how hard the US fought to control Ecuador's future post-Gutierrez. They show a key element of US efforts to control Ecuador’s political and economic direction in the post-Gutierrez years was the US Embassy’s “democracy promotion” activity. So-called “democracy promotion” came to prominence as a method for maintaining US hegemony in the 1980s. Professor William I Robinson says a shift occurred when Washington policy-makers realised the traditional method of supporting authoritarian client states tended to produce just the sort of movements for radical change the US wanted to avoid. An example was the rise to power of the left-wing Sandinistas in Nicaragua in the 1980s. As the Quito cables illustrate, the goal of this strategy is not the promotion of genuine democracy, in the sense of popular participation in the running of society. Rather, it is the creation and maintenance of what Robinson calls “polyarchy” in his 1996 book Promoting Polyarchy. This means “a system in which a small group actually rules and mass participation in decision-making is confined to leadership choice in elections carefully managed by competing elites”. The overarching aim of “democracy promotion” is preserving the global capitalist order. Under this order, countries in the global South play a subordinate role to those in the North and governments serve the needs of transnational business before their people. By targeting civil society groups in developing countries, such as political parties, trade unions and NGOs, “democracy promotion” programs are intended to foster a network of like-minded elites and promote consensus around key economic and political issues. This consensus translates into government policies that toe the US economic and political line, while radical ideas are filtered out. [... continued ...] FULL @ SOURCE - here.

This is a fantastic article and a great example of how US interests/transnational business interests creep in with an agenda to quietly 'colonise' other nations.

The fallen soviet satellites are developing nations and the US has been stirring the pot in that region for a couple of decades.

Academics, university graduates, leaders, political figures and so on, all come out of the same 'sausage factory' of US/US NGO/Corporate shaping and influence, which, as the article says, is designed to build consensus (which serves US interests).

The US has been playing with Eastern Europe for decades and has been cultivating Ukraine intensively for a couple of decades.

Novorossiya

Still largely following what's going on in Ukraine. Amazed by the courage of the Novorossiya guys who stand their ground and fight the government's army, the oligarch-hired militias and the fascist volunteers.  I don't have that kind of courage, so I'm in awe of how brave and chilled out the Novorossiya guys are, facing a barrage of bullets and shells aimed at destroying them -- as well as some really disgusting and dishonourable elements in the government camp.  Find myself identifying with the independence fighters in a big way.  Really upset the other day, when I saw notification that a couple of guys had been killed. The horrific photos of shelled civilians and photos of the destruction of towns are also very sobering. Even though I've followed this pretty closely this last month or so, it's only when I see particularly graphic photos that I realize I've not fully absorbed or integrated the reality of what's going on.   I'm reminded that the understanding I have is remote:  it's an intellectual level of awareness of what's going on, combined with a strong level of identification and emotional investment in the Novorossiya side winning.  But however much I feel a sense of solidarity, I'm not there:  it's not me exposed to being shelled; it's not me ducking bullets; it's not me picking up body parts and flesh of people who have been ripped apart; it's not me piling mangled, bleeding bodies of the dead into the back of a van -- and it's not me facing death or facing life in towns that have been completely devastated structurally and socially. Civilians go about their business in suburbs and towns while being shelled by that country's government and nobody cares. It is a disgrace that the puppet government of Ukraine has been  allowed to get away with what they're doing and that the west actually supports the murderous government they've invested in fleecing financially and strategically. No way known do I see a unified Ukraine coming out of this.   Imagine it would be impossible for those people to contemplate anything less than independence after the destruction and murder that's taken place.  And having see a video of the 'ultra-nationalist' marauding gangs of thugs in action destroying a Russian service station, knowing that these types are prevalent and even involved at government level, I'd say there's no way those people could ever forge a peaceful integration of the South-East region with the destroyers and the haters.

UKRAIN - NATO - ANDERS FOGH-RASMUSSEN - LEHMANN ARTICLE

24.08.2014 Author: Christof Lehmann NATO’s Summit in Wales: Why Anders Fogh-Rasmussen? Column: Politics Region: USA in the World NATO will hold its 2014 summit in Wales under Secretary-General Anders Fogh-Rasmussen in September. The summit will be held against the backdrop of a widening Middle East war and the war in Ukraine. A profile of Anders Fogh-Rasmussen suggests that he was chosen with NATO’s eastward expansion and the ”containment” of Russia in mind, even at the risk of a European or global war.  Anders Fogh-Rasmussen spoke to journalists in Denmark on August 15 and stressed that the Alliance would focus on its readiness to deal with the full range of threats and with NATO’s readiness. He said ”we will adopt a Readiness Action Plan to make ourselves faster and more agile”. He added that NATO leaders planned to strengthen NATO’s partners and their institutions. Fogh-Rasmussen underlined that the success of NATO would depend on all Allies investing adequately in security and defense, especially given by the new security climate created by Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine. ”Security is like insurance: to have the best insurance you have to pay premium. We are now facing a new security situation, and the premium has gone up”, he said. Fogh-Rasmussen, a Dane, praised Denmark for its always present readiness to contribute and added operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Libya as examples for ”NATO’s collective defense”. The statement is breathtaking, considering that NATO’s 25th summit in Chicago, in 2012, concluded that NATO operations in Libya in 2011 were ”a teachable moment and model for future interventions”. This interpretation of NATO’s role in Libya stands in stark contrast, to how it was perceived by the then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia, and many other UN member states. During a joint press conference with the then Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Putin stressed that NATO had overstepped its authorization via UN Security Council Resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya. The atmosphere between Putin and Lars Løkke Rasmussen was visibly tense. Adding to the tensions was probably, that Putin has a KGB background and must have known that Lars Løkke Rasmussen raised millions for the ”mujahedeen” and other US/NATO creations in Afghanistan during the 1980s. Another one who would probably say ”not so fast” to NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s statement about NATO premium insurance policy is the Russian Ambassador to NATO, Vitaly Grutchko. After the collapse of Russia – EU negotiations over the Third EU Energy Package, at a meeting in Brussels in 2013, Grutchko said ”Someone here in Brussels made the most profound point by saying that if you are holding a hammer, you should not think that every emerging problem is a nail. We think that the world has ample opportunity to engage in energy cooperation and to ensure energy security without making use of military-political organizations as instruments”. Analysts had by that time warned for a year that the failure of NATO’s strategy in Syria had made a NATO provoked war in Ukraine as predictable as a clockwork. The appointment of a NATO Secretary-General helps forecast NATO long-term planning. One example? In 1987 NATO appointed the former German Defense Minister Manfred Wörner. The appointment of Wörner was followed by the German reunification in 1990. On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. Wörner, Germany, and inner-German, German – Czechoslovakian and especially German-Russian relations were crucial elements to these developments. Wörner died from intestinal cancer at the age of 59 in 1994. Wörner was known to be skeptic with regards to NATO’s eastward expansion. Denmark and Fogh-Rasmussen should come to play crucial roles in tying the former Soviet Republics in the Baltic, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to the European Union and to NATO. Anders Fogh-Rasmussen served as Danish PM between November 27, 2001 and April 5, 2009. Centuries of close ties between the Baltic States and Denmark were crucial. In the post 9/11 climate and the Global War on Terror, Fogh-Rasmussen had come to prove that he was willing to engage Danish troops in an illegal war in Iraq. Moreover, the Danish courts rejected Danish plaintiffs who wanted Fogh-Rasmussen charged on these grounds, saying that they had no standing in court. Because it’s so great to be on the winning team. Danish loyalty towards NATO was relatively easy to forecast, also for historical reasons. Danes are all to aware of the fact that Denmark got ”a free ride” when Germany was defeated in WWII. Historical archives show that the then Danish Foreign Minister Peter Munch had a secret meeting with the German Reichführer ( Leader of the Realm) Heinrich Himmler in Rostock. The meeting took place in the weeks before the ”German invasion”. Munch’s son was known to be pedophile and the young man could risk jail or worse if he fell into the hands of a German prosecutor. Records which could have proven that Munch was blackmailed have in part be burned, others remain classified to this day. Danish forces mounted only symbolic resistance when German troops initiated operation “Weserübung” and occupied Denmark and Norway to “secure their neutrality”. The Danish flag was flown during the 2014 D-Day celebrations; Not for the State but because the effort of Danish sailors during the war. The Danish historian Niels Wium Olesen noted that those Danes who knew about it probably perceived it as”a pleasant misunderstanding”, because its ”so great to be on the winning team”. The appointment of Fogh-Rasmussen was a clear signal for NATO’s eastwards expansion, in breach with the terms agreed upon before the German reunification. That is, no NATO troops in any of the former Soviet republics or Warsaw Treaty member states. The summit in Wales: Rockefeller money vs. continental European consensus – War or Peace? The 2014 NATO summit in Wales will be held against the backdrop of an unprecedented risk for open war between NATO and Russia or the CSTO. Fogh-Rasmussen stressed that the insurance premium has gone up. He omits that core NATO members, especially the USA, UK, with almost absolute loyalty from Denmark, manufactured the wars in Libya and Syria since 2007; the war in Iraq since 2000 or before, and the war in Ukraine since 2012. Denmark and Anders Fogh-Rasmussen were the perfect choice ”because it’s so great to be on the winning team”. Fogh-Rasmussen’s term as NATO Secretary-General and the current conflict in Ukraine combined, raise principle questions: Who benefits from almost pathologically obsessive, Rockefeller-money-supported policy-makers like Zbigniev Brzezinski. In his latest book “Strategic Vision”, the Obama administration adviser argues that the Russia of Putin must be contained and isolated, that Turkey shall play a crucial role for NATO in the Middle East. Psychologically trained observers would assure that Brzezinski is obsessed with dividing Russia into independent republics and then to tie Moscow to a continental Europe under US/UK hegemony.  [So it's a US/UK empire ... Europe a province?] Who benefits from throwing a spanner into Russian – continental European relations and the provocation of a third, great European war over an subversively-created lack of convergence in EU – Russian energy-security requirements? Will a growing continental European consensus against bellicose policy, driven by Washington and London, reach sufficient momentum to prevent a worst case scenario? Fogh-Rasmussen’s preamble to the NATO summit in Wales spells war rather than peace. It will be one of the most crucial summits the Alliance has held since it was established in 1949. Dr. Christof Lehmann an independent political consultant on conflict and conflict resolution and the founder and editor in chief of nsnbc, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. source: Journal-Neo.Org

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI - US geostrategist - wikipedia link.

*A wealth of information in this article by Dr Christof Lehmann.