GEN. JONES DEFENDS MILITARY EMPIRE

Several days ago I listened quite attentively to a recorded speech on our statewide public radio by Gen. James Jones. Gen. Jones served as Commander, United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe as well as Obama's first National Security Adviser. He was invited to the University of Maine-Orono by former U.S. Sen. William Cohen (R-ME). Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Bill Clinton.

The board of directors of General Dynamics (which builds Navy Aegis destroyers here in Bath) has elected James L. Jones to be a director of the corporation, effective August 3, 2011.

Jones was instrumental in promoting the development of the new military command - Africa Command (AfriCom). The mission of AfriCom is to establish U.S. interventionary (lily pad) bases throughout the continent as the Pentagon moves to take control of the massive resource base of Africa.

Here are a few highlights from the speech by Gen. Jones:

• We need a new paradigm of engagement.
• NATO is in the middle of a strategic transformation. Can't afford to be passive and reactive. Demands proactive engagement. Will include coalition approach.
• Syria represents a real opportunity. We should be working very hard to have national and international responses to ensure Syria has what the people want - economic opportunity [read corporate control of the government and economy].
• Any Syria intervention could not be unilateral - would have to be generated through NATO. Unilateralism is not the best way to go.
  
• NATO could have a major role to play in any settlement between Israel and Palestine.
• The world does not want to see a dominant China and a lesser dominant U.S.
• The value of forward military presence - if you lose it you never get it back. We have a phenomenal advantage being forward deployed.
• AfriCom - don't call it a combatant command, call it something else.
  

You can listen to his entire speech here

Other related things of interest about Africa policy include:

• European and U.S.-based hedge funds are buying up African lands in the name of "securing Africa's food supply".
  
• U.S. AID (Agency for Int'l Development) which has long been linked to the CIA has a program to introduce corporations from India into Africa in order to play India off against China on the continent