Corrupt Regimes

Imperial Hubris Series

Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer, 2004, Excerpts

The U.S. has allied itself with regimes whose barbarism has long earned the Muslim world’s hatred. The Persian Gulf regimes – especially Saudi Arabia – are among the earth’s most corrupt, dictatorial, and oppressive. They rule peoples eager to be free of their yoke and who think their torturers survive because of U.S. protection. Washington and the West have supported the Muslim tyrannies Islamists seek to destroy. We have nothing in common with the regimes; the tie is based overwhelmingly on the West’s obsession with cheap oil.

Washington’s half-century record of safeguarding tyrannies entirely discredits for Muslims any claim we make of intending to build democracies. The creditability issues that result from America’s proven taste for any Muslim tyrant who maintains internal order and stability, peace with Israel, and low oil prices destroys what little democracy-building potential we may possess.

Few Muslims would oppose the destruction of these apostate governments that are among the planet’s most brutal, repressive, corrupt, and hypocritical, family ruled regimes that have the profits from oil sale to fund their own debauchery and rent the loyalty of their bankers, businessman, and academics.

Zimbabwe and China

Zimbabwe Series

Zimbabwe opposition MDC 'will expel Chinese investors'

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43973908

02 May 2018

A Zimbabwean opposition leader has vowed to expel Chinese investors if he wins elections due in July. "They are busy asset-stripping the resources of the country," Nelson Chamisa said at a May Day rally in the capital, Harare. China is Zimbabwe's fourth largest trading partner and its largest source of investment.

Africa-China exports fall by 40% after China slowdown

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35303981

13 Jan 2016

African exports to China fell by almost 40% in 2015, China's customs office says. China is Africa's biggest single trading partner and its demand for African commodities has fueled the continent's recent economic growth. The decline in exports reflects the recent slowdown in China's economy. This has, in turn, put African economies under pressure and in part accounts for the falling value of many African currencies.

China's Xi Jinping in Zimbabwe for talks with Mugabe

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34972778

01 Dec 2015

China's President Xi Jinping has arrived in Zimbabwe, making him the most prominent global leader in many years to visit the country. The two nations had a "deep and firm" friendship, Mr Xi said in an article in Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has strongly pursued a "Look East" policy since the West isolated him over his controversial land reform program. China is major investor in Zimbabwe, helping to keep its economy afloat.

Kenya breaks 'Chinese-run cybercrime network'

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30327412

04 Dec 2014

Kenyan police say they have cracked a cybercrime center run by 77 Chinese nationals from upmarket homes in the capital, Nairobi. Police believe they were involved in hacking and money laundering. The foreign ministry summoned a Chinese diplomat to discuss the arrests. A Chinese official said the embassy was co-operating with investigations. The BBC's Paul Nabiswa in Nairobi says the raids come at a time when many Chinese companies are investing heavily in Kenya, especially in the construction industry. The Kenyan government has signed many bilateral agreements with China and Chinese nationals have roles in government programs, including in higher education institutions, he says.

Zimbabwe economy: Investments plunging, says bank governor

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28936300

26 Aug 2014

Foreign investment in Zimbabwe more than halved in the first six months of the year, the country's central bank chief John Mangudya has said. The government policy to hand economic control to black Zimbabweans had been misunderstood by investors, he said. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has signed nine investment deals in China during President Robert Mugabe's visit. They included investment in sectors such as energy, roads, railways, telecommunications, agriculture and tourism - but no figures were given. Zimbabwe does not have its own currency and uses eight others as legal tender, with the US dollar and South African rand most commonly used.

China to build new East Africa railway line

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27368877

12 May 2014

Formal agreements for plans to build a new railway line in East Africa with Chinese help have been signed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It is to run from Mombasa to Nairobi and will extend eventually to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. "This project demonstrates that there is equal co-operation and mutual benefit between China and the East African countries, and the railway is a very important part of transport infrastructure development," said Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. A subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co has been named as the main contractor. China's Eximbank is to provide 90% of the cost of the first phase put at $3.8bn (£2.3bn) of the line, with Kenya putting up the remaining 10%.

Japan and China criticize each other's Africa policies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25680684

10 Jan 2014

China and Japan are criticizing each other's policies in Africa as each country pledges more money for the continent. Japan has suggested China is buying off African leaders with lavish gifts. Meanwhile China accuses Japan of courting African support for a place on the United National Security Council. Japan's leader Shinzo Abe is touring three nations in Africa, the first trip there by a Japanese prime minister for eight years. Mr. Abe is expected to pledge more than $14bn in aid and trade deals during his trip to Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Mozambique. China has hailed Africa a "golden ground" for foreign investment and has pledged to double its aid to the continent to $20bn a year.

Zambia seizes control of Chinese-owned mine amid safety fears

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21520478

20 Feb 2013

The Zambian government has taken over the running of a Chinese-owned coalmine after revoking its license because of safety lapses. As well as the safety issues, Mr Mukanga also stated that the company had failed to pay royalties or properly declare how much coal was produced. The mine in question has been controversial. A Zambian miner was charged with the murder of a Chinese supervisor at the Collum mine last year. In 2010, Chinese managers were accused of firing on protesting miners. China has invested more than $2bn in the Zambian mining industry. According to Beijing, China has created 50,000 jobs in Zambia, with trade between the two countries reaching $3.5bn in 2011.

Africa and China: Workers face clash of cultures

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20693119

24 Dec 2012

China's new leadership has made it clear that it is still committed to developing its interests in Africa. China's embrace of Africa in recent years has boosted trade volumes and foreign investment, and provided new infrastructure. Business links between China and Africa may be cordial and efficient, but it does not mean that friendship and mutual liking necessarily follow in their wake. There have been anti-Chinese sentiments in Zambia over the treatment of African workers in Chinese-run mines and rising hostility to Chinese immigrants in other African states.

China pledges $20bn in credit for Africa at summit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18897451

19 Jul 2012

China has pledged $20bn (£12.8bn) in credit for Africa over the next three years, in a push for closer ties and increased trade. President Hu Jintao made the announcement at a summit in Beijing with leaders from 50 African nations. He said the loans would support infrastructure, agriculture and the development of small businesses. Africa is an important source of raw materials to feed China's economic boom and a market for cheap Chinese products, and has benefited from huge infrastructure projects in return.

Zimbabwe trade fair boycotted by India and Russia

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17869201

27 Apr 2012

India and Russia have boycotted a major international trade fair in Zimbabwe in protest against the country's policy of taking control of foreign companies. Chinese firms, however, have come to the trade fair in Bulawayo in droves. China is the single biggest investor at the trade expo, with Chinese companies taking up 90% of the stands.

South Sudan's Salva Kiir says Sudan has declared war

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/africa/

24 Apr 2012

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir says Sudan has "declared war" on his country, following weeks of fighting along their common border. Kiir was speaking in China as he met Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing, which is a major buyer of oil from both countries, but has long been an ally of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. China's foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Tuesday that oil was "the economic lifeline for both countries". He added: "To maintain the stability and sustainability of the oil cooperation is consistent with the fundamental interests of both countries. It is also consistent with the interests of Chinese enterprises and their partners.”

Khaki Capitalism by Schumpeter, The Economist

03 Dec 2011

Zimbabwe’s army has recently formed joint ventures with Chinese partners in farming and mining.

China Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Zimbabwe visit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12427423

11 Feb 2011

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has arrived in Zimbabwe at the start of a five-nation tour of Africa. He described the country as a "good brother" to China, ahead of an expected meeting with President Robert Mugabe. The China Development Bank has plans to spend $10bn in Zimbabwe's mining, agriculture and infrastructure sectors, according to comments made several weeks ago by Zimbabwe's investment promotion minister. China's ties with Zimbabwe, which go back to pre-independence times, have helped protect Mr. Mugabe's government at the United Nations. The Chinese use of its veto in 2008 was "a landmark diplomatic decision where it basically saved Zimbabwe from punitive sanctions instigated by an irate and sulky former colonial power", the Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Mr. Mumbengegwi as saying. "So, now this visit will give an opportunity for Zimbabweans to finally thank China for this act," he said.

China 'agrees huge Zimbabwe loan'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8126555.stm

30 June 2009

China has agreed to give Zimbabwe a loan of $950m (£573m) to help it revive its battered economy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said. "We will encourage and facilitate more Chinese companies to seek development in Zimbabwe," Chinese official Zhou Yongkang told state news agency Xinhua.

The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell, 2010, Excerpts

[Fictional speech to Communist Party gathering regarding Africa]

“Let us travel,” said Wan Ba, “to an entirely different continent, to Africa. In recent years, in order to secure sufficient supplies of raw materials, not lest oil, to meet our needs, we have built up increasingly strong relationships with many African states. We have been generous with loans and gifts, but we do not interfere in the internal politics of these countries. We are neutral; we do business with everybody. As a result, it makes no difference to us if the land we are dealing with is Zimbabwe or Malawi, Sudan or Angola. Just as we reject any kind of foreign interference in our internal affairs and our legal system, we acknowledge that these countries are independent and that we cannot make any demands with regard to the way in which they are run.”

“Now we can see that large areas of land, often very fertile, are lying in waste. Unlike ours, the Dark Continent is sparsely populated. And we have now realized that it offers us at least part of a solution to the circumstances that threaten our own stability. In the deserted plains, in the fertile valleys through which the great African rivers flow, we shall farm the land my moving there millions of our peasants, who, with no doubt at all, will begin to farm land lying fallow. We shall not be getting rid of people; we shall simply be filling a vacuum and everybody will benefit from what comes to pass. There are lands in Africa, especially in the south and southeast, where enormous areas could be populated by the poor people from our own country. We would be making Africa fruitful and at the same time eliminating a threat that faces us.”

Mugabe and China President Hu Jintao

The Dragon’s Gift by Deborah Brautigam, 2009, Excerpt

At the end of December 1982, Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang headed to Africa. He visited eleven countries in a trip that lasted over four weeks. Zhao was greeted like a visiting rock star. Cheering throngs lined the streets of his motorcade In Zimbabwe, five thousand people waiting at the airport to greet the Chinese leader stampeded onto the runway when security officials opened the gate an hour before Zhao was due to arrive. Five women were trampled to death, sixty-four people were injured and scores fainted in the crush.  

Art of the Deal

Art of the Deal by Donald Trump, 1987, Excerpts

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the rich, it’s that they have a very low threshold for even the mildest discomfort.

Conrad believed very strongly that inherited wealth destroys moral character and motivation. I happen to agree that it often does.

I’ve never had any great moral problems with gambling because most of the objections seem hypocritical to me. The New York Stock Exchange happens to be the biggest casino in the world. The only thing that makes it different from the average casino is that the players dress in blue pinstripe suits and carry leather briefcases. If you allow people to gamble in the stock market, where more money is made and lost than in all the casinos of the world put together, I see nothing terribly different about permitting people to bet on blackjack or craps or roulette.

Social Groups and Money

The Day Christ Died

Christ Series

Birth of a Religion

When supernatural events and human drama,

coincide in timing and enormity,

and are witnessed by many. 

Memoirs of Pontius Pilate by James Mills

Pontius Pilate: "The darkening of the sky and the coincidental occurrence of the earthquake proved to be as fortuitous for the subsequent growth of Christianity as the star and the coincidences surrounding the fellow's birth. It was the events that he and his followers could not arrange that have made the stories about him so appealing to common people."

The Wonderful Teacher by Elijah Brown

Hundreds of thousands of people were in Jerusalem, who had come from everywhere to attend the Passover. It is doubtful if any other death was ever witnessed by so many people. The sky was darkened, and the sun hid his face from the awful scene. A great earthquake shook the city; the dead came out of their graves, and went into the city, appearing unto many, and the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. No eye had been allowed to look behind the veil, except that of the high priest, and then only once a year, on the great Day of Atonement.

The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis

Jesus spread wide his arms and opened his mouth to cry, Brothers! but the soldiers seized him and hoisted him up onto the cross. Then they called the gypsies with the nails, but as the hammers were lifted and the first blow was heard, the sun hid its face; as the second was heard, the sky darkened and the stars appeared. The crowd was overcome with fright. The horses on which the Romans were mounted became ferocious. Rearing, they began to gallop furiously and trample the Jewry. Then earth, sky and air suddenly grew mute, as at the beginning of an earthquake. The world seemed to have fainted. Deathly pale, it was now just barely visible in the bluish darkness.

King Jesus by Robert Graves

About noon, when the soldiers had begun to prepare their dinner, a hot wind blew from the east and the sky darkened. It was not the wholesome darkness that heralds rain with the distant growl of thunder and flicker of lightning, but a smoky darkness such as terrifies those who live in the neighborhood of active volcanoes; and as the cloud spread across the sky as far as the western horizon, blotting out the sun, the earth began to heave sickeningly and a distant rumble and crash was heard as an enormous piece of masonry fell from the Temple into the valley below. A scream of terror went up and many fell on their knees and gazed upwards, believing that the Day of Wrath had come at last.

The Day Christ Died  by Jim Bishop

One of the soldiers walked around to a position in front of the cross and looked up into the agonized face of Jesus and said: “If you are the king of the Jews, then save yourself." He looked into the sky, and others looked. There were no clouds. But the heavens had deepened from a pale azure to a deeper hue. The sky continued to darken. It was not a sudden thing; the color of the sky continued to deepen to a robin's-egg blue and then on to a darker blue.

The people forgot for a moment the three men on the crosses, and many in the crowd pointed to the sky. Some said that a storm was coming. The crowd began to break up, and many hurried toward the gates, the women flinging shawls over their heads and running with their children to get to shelter before the storm broke. There was no sound of thunder. There were no lightning flashes. There were no clouds. The sky darkened until the sun could be stared at with the human eye. The blue deepened until the darkness of dusk descended over all. The darkness lasted for the rest of the day.

From Jesus' lungs came the final cry: "It is finished!" The body sagged on the cross. The earth trembled and a small crack fissured the earth from the west toward the east and split the big rock of execution and went across the road and through the gate of Jerusalem and across the town and through the temple, and it split the big inner veil of the temple from the top to the bottom and went on east and rocked the big wall and split the tombs in the cemetery outside the walls and shook the Cedron and went on the Dead Sea, leaving fissures in the earth, the rocks and across the mountains.

Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace

The country filled rapidly with all kinds of temporary shelters for the pilgrims of Passover. Every part of the world was represented among them – cities upon both shores of the Mediterranean far off as the Pillars of the West, river-towns in distant India, provinces in northernmost Europe. These representatives had all the same object - celebration of the notable feast. All to behold one Nazarene die.

The guard took the Nazarene’s clothes from him; so that he stood before the millions naked. The stripes of the scouring he had received in the early morning were still bloody upon his back; yet he was laid pitilessly down, and stretched upon the cross, the arms upon the transverse beam. The spikes were sharp and with a few blows, and they were driven through the tender palms; next they drew his knees up until the soles of the feet rested flat upon the cross; then they placed one foot upon the other, and one spike fixed both of them fast. The workmen put their hands to the cross, and carried it, burden and all, to the place of planting. At a word, they dropped the cross into the hole; and the body of the Nazarene also dropped heavily, and hung by the bleeding hands.

Suddenly a dimness began to fill the sky and cover the earth – at first no more than a scarce perceptible fading of the day; a twilight out of time; an evening gliding in upon the splendors of noon. But it deepened, and directly drew attention; whereat the noise of the shouting and laughter fell off, and men, doubting their senses, gazed at each other curiously: then they looked to the sun again; then at the sky and the near landscape, sinking in shadow; at the hill upon which the tragedy was enacting; and from all these they gazed at each other again, and turned pale, and held their peace.

The dimness went on deepening into obscurity, and that into positive darkness, but without deterring the bolder spirits upon the knoll. The third hour came, and still the people surged round the hill. They were quieter than in the preceding hour; yet at intervals they could be heard off in the darkness shouting to each other, multitude calling unto multitude. A tremor shook the tortured body; there was a scream of fiercest anguish, and the mission and the earthly life were over at once. The multitude was informed of the circumstance. No one repeated it aloud; there was a murmur, which spread from the knoll in every direction; a murmur that was little more than a whispering, “He is dead.”

While they stood there staring at each other, the ground commenced to shake; each man took hold of his neighbor to support himself; in a twinkling the darkness disappeared, and the sun came out; and everybody, as with the same glance, beheld the crosses upon the hill all reeling drunken-like in the earthquake. They started to run; they ran with all their might; on horseback, and camels, and in chariots they ran, as well as on foot; but then, as if it were mad at them for what they had done, and had taken up the cause of the unoffending and friendless dead, the earthquake pursued them, and tossed them about, and flung them down, and terrified them yet more by the horrible noise of great rocks grinding and rending beneath them. They beat their breasts and shrieked with fear.

Exorcise the Devil

The Malleus Maleficarum Series

The Malleus Maleficarum by Kramer and Sprenger, 1489, Excerpts

There are still some means by which these devils may be driven away, five ways by which girls or men can be delivered: first, by Sacramental Confession; second, by the Sacred Sign of the Cross, or by the recital of the Angelic Salutation; third, by the use of exorcisms; fourth, by moving to another place; and fifth, by means of excommunication prudently employed by holy men.

In the exorcism of one who is bewitched; he should first have made a good confession, and if possible he is to hold a lighted candle, and receive the Holy Communion; and instead of putting on a chrisom, he is to remain bound naked to a Holy Candle of the length of Christ's body or of the Cross. And then may be said the following:

“I exorcise thee, Peter, or thee, Barbara, being weak but reborn in Holy Baptism, by the living God, by the true God, by God Who redeemed thee with His Precious Blood, that thou mayest be exorcised, that all the illusions and wickedness of the devil's deceits may depart and flee from thee together with every unclean spirit, adjured by Him Who will come to judge both the quick and the dead, and who will purge the earth with fire. Amen.”

And let the exorcist continually sprinkle him with Holy Water. And note that this method is recommended, not because it must be rigidly observed, or that other exorcisms are not of greater efficacy, but that there should be some regular system of exorcism and adjuration. And this sort of exorcism may be continued at least three times a week, that so through many intercessions the grace of health may be obtained.

When the exorcist is not ordained to the Order of Exorcist, then he may proceed with prayers

But if anyone asks what is the difference between the aspersion of Holy Water and exorcism, since both are ordained against the plagues of the devil, the answer is supplied by S. Thomas, who says: The devil attacks us from without and from within. Therefore Holy Water is ordained against his attacks from without; but exorcism against those from within.

But in exorcising a bewitched person both methods are to be used, because he is tormented both within and without.

Exorcists are back – and people are getting hurt

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/06/exorcists-catholic-evangelical-church-child-abuse-new-inquisition?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

March 2018

The Vatican has just set up a new exorcism training course, following an alleged increase in demonic possession. According to the Sicilian priest and exorcist Benigno Palilla, speaking on Vatican Radio, there are half a million cases reported in Italy yearly, and demand for assistance has tripled. To claim that such a large number of Italians have been inadvertently contaminated by Satan, like some paranormal STD, is a significant aspersion on a nation of 60 million people. Palilla lays the blame on people who visit fortune-tellers and tarot-readers. These practices “open the door to the devil and to possession”.

Exorcist Convention: Priests Learn How to Fight the Devil

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/exorcist-convention-priests-learn-fight-devil/story?id=12146069

14 Nov 2010

More than 100 Catholic bishops and priests gathered in Baltimore this weekend for a two-day conference on exorcism, organized by a bishop who said he wants U.S. dioceses to be prepared.

Chief exorcist says Devil is in Vatican

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7416458/Chief-exorcist-says-Devil-is-in-Vatican.html

11 Mar 2010

"The Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the consequences," said Father Amorth, 85, who has been the Holy See's chief exorcist for 25 years. The recent revelations of "violence and paedophilia" committed by Catholic priests against children in their care was also the work of the Devil, said Father Amorth, who is the president of the Association of Exorcists, has previously claimed that both Hitler and Stalin were possessed by the Devil. He also condemned the Harry Potter books, saying they were dangerous because they dabbled in the occult and failed to draw a clear distinction between "the Satanic art" of black magic and benevolent white magic.

President of Honor of the Association of Exorcists.