Yesterday, former President and Nobel Peace Laureate, Jimmy Carter, had delivered the keynote address to the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Chicago…

Former President Carter tells Nobel gathering to oppose unnecessary wars, preemptive strikes

…“For the last 60 years, our country has been almost constantly at war. Now we are contemplating going to war again, perhaps in Iran,” said Carter, one of 21 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and organizations participating in a three-day international conference in Chicago. “I’m not against all wars… but any war should begin only as a last resort and after every possible means of resolution has been exhausted.”

Carter, who won the prize in 2002, said that as a laureate, it is not legitimate to only criticize what others are doing , he must also take a frank look at his own country, not with condemnation but constructively… {snip}

…But in some cases, he said, the U.S. has engaged in wars that were “completely unnecessary.”

Carter also said the U.S. needs to take a closer look at its policy of economic sanctions, including those against countries such as North Korea.

“Embargoes don’t injure the leader but those serving under the oppressive regime,” said Carter. “We need to find a way to feed the starving children in North Korea and at the same time, not exalt the leaders of North Korea.”

Apparently, Oily Bomber mailed in his welcome address(just like he needs to mail his Nobel prize back to Oslo), from the same article…

…In a videotaped welcome address, President Obama, also a Nobel Peace laureate, welcomed the group to his home town and urged young people to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from the laureates.

“Never forget that no matter where you are from, no matter how humble your circumstances, you have the power to speak out for human justice,” he said. “All it takes is one voice.”

Hmmm… Would that ‘Voice’ be this sorry speech, Oily Bomber, had delivered yesterday too, only from the US Jewish Holocaust Museum in DC instead…? As Emptywheel so poignantly pointed out…

Defying the Rules of Gravity, Obama Directs Sanctions Solely against Israel’s Enemies

In conjunction with his speech at the Holocaust Museum yesterday and announcement of the Atrocities Prevention Board, President Obama also rolled out sanctions against those who use IT to repress human rights. The Treasury Department named the sanctions GRAHVITY (I think they get it from “GRAve Human rights abuses Via Information TechnologY” or some such Orwellian acronym).

There’s a problem with that. We are all subject to gravity.

But only Israel’s enemies–Iran and Syria–are subject to GRAHVITY. {snip}

…Also lacking from Obama’s speech was any application of the rules of GRAHVITY to the United States itself. When Wiesel invoked the innocent children who were victims of the Holocaust, did he also ask about the children killed in America’s drone strikes? Did Obama promise not to spy on Americans who participate in Occupy Wall Street, Muslims who practice their faith, or journalists and whistleblowers seeking to hold the government accountable?

We used to believe in human rights that–like gravity–applied equally to all people. But Obama is rolling out something new, GRAHVITY, targeted solely at those who threaten Saudi hegemony, Israel’s dominance of the Middle East, and with both of those, America’s empire. It is a sick perversion of universal rights wielded selectively as a weapon, not a protection.

Now, b at Moon of Alabama, delved further into that completely hypocritical and farcical, ‘Atrocities Prevention Board‘, that Obummer recently unveiled…

Comming Mass Atrocities Will Be In Name Of Their Prevention

Samantha Power to chair Obama’s Atrocities Prevention Board

Obama will speak about genocide prevention and the U.S. efforts to make sure mass atrocities never happen again.

The Obama White House efforts to address genocide is headed by Samantha Power, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights.

Which country, after Libya with 50,000 killed, will be the next to be devastated by the U.S. in the new scheme of wars to “prevent mass atrocities”?

The White House Fact Sheet points to Syria and several other non-allied countries.

Neither any of the recent U.S. mass atrocities committed in Iraq and is committing in Afghanistan and elsewhere, nor any mass atrocities committed by allies, like those by Sri Lanka against the Tamil in 2009, are mentioned. For future mass atrocities by allies and the U.S., a different designation will be found. Many of them will get done to “prevent mass atrocities”.

Now, despite having a few minor quibbles with this synopsis provided in a recent Al Jazeera Op-Ed, it is still a worth-while read…

Solving Syria: A path to peace?

Neither violence, sanctions, nor the habitual UN course of action will bring about a viable solution in Syria.

…To do this, let the parties inside and outside of Syria talk. Let them state their goals, and explain the Syria they would like to see.

First, an image of the goals of some outside parties:

Israel: Wants Syria divided in smaller parts, detached from Iran, status quo for Golan Heights, and a new map for the Middle East;
USA: Wants what Israel wants, and control over oil and gas pipelines;
UK: Wants what USA wants;
France: Co-responsible with the UK for post-Ottoman colonisation in the area, wants confirmed France-Syria friendship;
Russia: Wants a naval base in the Mediterranean, and an “ally” in the region;
China: Wants what Russia wants;
The EU: Wants both what Israel-USA wants and what France wants;
Iran: Wants Shia power;
Iraq: Majority Shia, wants what Iran wants;
Lebanon: Wants to know what it wants;
Saudi Arabia: Wants Sunni power;
Egypt: Wants to emerge as the conflict manager;
Qatar: Wants the same as Saudi Arabia and Egypt;
Gulf States: Want what USA-UK wants;
The Arab League: Wants no repetition of Libya, tries human rights;
Turkey: Wants to assert itself relative to the (Israel-USA) successors to the (France-UK-Italy) successors to the Ottoman Empire, and a buffer zone in Syria;
The UN: Wants to emerge as the conflict manager.

Over this looms a dark cloud: Syria is in the zone between Israel-USA-NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, both of which are expanding.

Then, an image of the goals of some inside parties:

Alawi (15 per cent): want to remain in power, “for the best of all”;
Shia in general: want the same;
Sunni: want majority rule, their rule, democracy;
Jews, Christians, minorities: want security, fearing Sunni rule;
Kurds: want high level autonomy, some community with other Kurds.

What Solution?

Seriously, as I’ve noted before, we really are screwing the Petrodollar pooch…! From the Asia Times…

Thinking the unthinkable

…With all conventional options being systematically made impossible, Iran is as a result seriously examining the improbable.

Energy swaps

For several years, Iran has been routinely conducting “oil swaps” whereby oil supplied by Turkmenistan to Iran’s northern refineries was exchanged for oil supplied by Iran from terminals in the Persian Gulf at an agreed price differential. Other swaps such as natural gas and electricity have also been agreed sporadically by Iran with other neighboring countries.

The author of the Caspian oil swap – a senior official who formerly headed Iran’s Caspian oil and gas production – has been widely interviewed by the media in Tehran in respect of an interesting proposal. This is for an “energy dividend” of vouchers that are redeemable in payment for gasoline, diesel, and even natural gas or electricity.

The attraction of this concept is that it changes incentives in a very interesting way. If energy prices are increased to global market levels, then rather than continuing profligate use of energy – which the recent modest energy price increases have failed to deter – consumers can be expected to drastically reduce demand.
The reason is that if they do so, then they will possess vouchers, which tend to hold their value and are generally acceptable in exchange within Iran. Moreover, if the Iranian oil and gas complex were to accept the vouchers in payment for natural gas, electricity, crude oil and oil products they export, then these vouchers could even come to be acceptable in exchange internationally.

In other words, such vouchers would essentially become energy currency, both domestically and regionally…

Basically, the Iranians, SCO and/or the BRICs will shatter our almighty US Petrodollar hegemony, and, our House of Cards will come tumbling down, and it will be our own damned fault…!

*gah*