Senator - USA crossing the Financial Rubicon

["Stephen GOULD" <sggould@oic.org>]

<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>20:53 Tue 07 Sep 2004						REF</color>: 611BACEN2     

										Y/R: Aus-USA-FTA     

TO:	Senator Peter COOK		 		cc	Australian Senators    

	Chair - Senate Inquiry Aus-USA-Free Trade Agreement    

	AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT    


Dear Senator COOK     


I e-mail as according to the Senate Web page "all Senate committees are     
authorised to meet after any dissolution of the House of Representatives".    

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/index.htm    


This e-mail provides additional evidence from US Sources over US     

Government policies and why the "US in now crossing the Financial     

Rubicon for International Trade"     


RESPONSE FROM TRADE MINISTER MISSED THE POINTS    


On 11 Aug 2004 the Minister of Trade responded to my letter to the Prime     
Minister on 04 July 2004.  My letter outlined how the US may be deceiving     
Australia by non-disclosure on Chapter 16: Electronic Commerce    


In his response the Minister of Trade totally missed the points made in the     

letter.    


The Minister stated "The US, given its economic importance, is often a     

standards setter rather than a standards taker."      


The issues in my letter were:    


1	The US may have legislated for a US E-commerce Standard    

2	The US had not disclosed that fact in the Treaty    

3	The costs had not been factored into the financial calculations    

4	Australian Business and Consumers would pay in perpetuity    


My letter to the Minister of Trade included an extract from the    

US book "Rogue Nation" by Clyde PRESTOWITZ 2003.    


This extract warns about the 2002 Bush Administration "Trade Promotion     
Authority Act".  The benefits of US International Tree Trade Agreements     

(P58 - Do as I say, not as I do") are very dubious for US Trading partners.    


This book includes references to 98 other books listing concern with     

US Policies.    


SPEECH TO US COMMONWEALTH CLUB 31 AUG 2004    


Early this evening I received a copy of a speech by Mike RUPPERT    

that he gave on 31 Aug 2004 to the Commonwealth Club in San     

Francisco.    


I have attached the speech as part of this e-mail because it it deals    

with other examples of US Government deception.  This includes the    

Iran-Contra Affair, BCCI and the 9/11 issue.    


NEXT STEPS    


Senator COOK there is still time to amended the FTA as there is a     

60 days cooling off period (Chapter 23.4).  That date is 12 Oct 2004.    


Given that the election is on 09 Oct 2004, does the Constitution     

enable the "Senate Standing Committee into the FTA" to write to the     

US requesting:    


1	the reasons why the US had not disclosed that it had legislated for    

	a Non-ISO E-commerce Standard for Financial Trade Transactions    

	in Chapter 16: Electronic Commerce ?    


2	As that key issue had not been disclosed, was the the Treaty     

	still valid ?    


3	would the US be prepared to disclose its calculations for    

	E-commerce transactions ?    


Further information on E-commerce transaction cycles for    

Import/Export goods can be provided if required    


Yours sincerely    


Stephen GOULD    

Chair - Management Committee    

XML  & E-COMMERCE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP    

OPEN INTERCHANGE CONSORTIUM    


E:	sggould@oic.org    

T:	{61}(2) 9953-7412    

W:	http://www.oic.org/z/XZIG/    



From:           	<color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>"James B. Warburton" <<lordben@tpg.com.au></color>    

To:             	<color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>"Late Night Live" <<lnl@your.abc.net.au></color>    

<bold>Subject:        	<color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>Ruppert on Cheney, 9/11, Peak Oil, Currency Wars</bold></color>    

Date sent:      	<color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>Tue, 7 Sep 2004 20:34:27 +1000</color>    


Well, you can't say you haven't heard of Mike Ruppert before. He's just    

published his long-promised "Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the    

American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil". And here is the text of his    

address to the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, California, Tuesday, August 
     


31, 2004. I reckon it's time to interview him ...    


"What we are witnessing now is a collision: a collision of a financial    

system -- relying on fractional reserve banking, debt-financed growth, and a    

fiat currency system -- with a system of planetary and energy resources that    

are finite, limited, and running out. Infinite growth is battling with    

finite energy. One is not possible without the other, and I have absolutely    

no doubt as to which side will win."    


...    


This speech is long, but a must read for anyone interested in the future of    

the United States, peak oil, 9/11, the 2004 election, and related topics.    

There are very few journalists digging up credible new information about    

9/11, but this speech -- a teaser for Ruppert's upcoming book -- is full of    

critical information that should be on the front page of every newspaper on    

the planet.  It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this    

information.    

<color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>http://www.rense.com/general57/ruppert.htm</color>    


Address of Michael C. Ruppert at the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco,    

California, Tuesday, August 31, 2004    


Thank you for that gracious introduction.    


Let me begin by thanking Pat Lamken for inviting me to be here today and for    

her efforts to arrange ­ what is certainly for me ­ a historic landmark in    

my 26 years of work to bring to light information ­ vitally important, life    

and death, information ­ which has been virtually ignored by the mainstream    

media.  This information has also remained completely unaddressed or even    

publicly acknowledged by those elites in both America and the world that    

determine and shape public policy and direct the course of human events.    


I say this with the full and complete awareness that I am tonight standing    

partially in the midst of those elites and that those elites are listening.    


I have long been aware of the stature and prestige of the Commonwealth Club,    

for its ability to attract some of the world’s most influential speakers;    

also for its reputation for bi-partisanship; and perhaps most importantly    

for its willingness to present conflicting or opposing viewpoints.    


My appearance here tonight no doubt marks a departure for the Club even from    

that inspiring record.    


With today’s remarks I intend to establish a whole new definition of    

“conflicting viewpoint.”    


I applaud the Club’s record, and am mindful that, had it not been for the    

dangerous and epochal historical events taking place around us, I would    

never have been afforded such an opportunity as this.  Because clearly, my    

writing and public speaking have demonstrated that where we are today is    

exactly where I said we would be if something fundamental was not changed    

about how we both view the world, and how we interact with it.    


Before preparing this speech, of course, I did some research to see who had    

spoken here before.    


I was happy to see that I follow on the heels of such notables as former CIA    

Director James Woolsey, and two members of the Kean commission on 9/11:    

Slade Gorton and Richard ben-Veniste.  These are not people whom I would    

call “kindred spirits.”  I also saw the name of Homeland Security Secretary    

Thomas Ridge and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.  These are also    

leaders of whom I have been sharply critical in the past and will be sharply    

critical of in the future.    


I also saw names like John Kerry, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Joseph    

Lieberman, and Madeleine Albright.    


My record as a journalist and lecturer shows that I have not embraced, and    

have indeed been fiercely critical of, most of these opinion makers.  While    

I am more inclined to find kinship with Dennis Kucinich, I also state    

categorically that no political leader who does not address the real causes    

of the problems facing us will ever be considered by me as a true kindred    

soul ­ or as a political champion for the future.    


Such praise and endorsement I offer only to the likes of my good friend, the    

honorable Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, and to former Assistant Secretary of    

Housing Catherine Austin Fitts.  I heartily recommend them to the club as    

potential speakers for future events.    


I also saw the names of spiritual leaders and independent or international    

voices like Al Franken, Jane Goodall, Arianna Huffington, rabbi Michael    

Lerner, Norman Mailer, Ted Turner, Hans Blix, and King Abudullah II.    


In looking at this long list of prestigious speakers, I was very aware that    

the life’s work of Michael Ruppert did not place me in any category that fit    

with these people.  For the most part, I have long considered them to be    

part of a serious problem rather than pathfinders to its solution.    


That realization brought to mind what was perhaps the single most memorable    

line from the 1992 vice-presidential debates in which Ross Perot's running    

mate, retired navy admiral James Stockdale ­ a medal of honor winner and    

former Vietnam prisoner of war pow ­ asked, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?”   
 



I am not prone to over-analyzing such opportunities.  I have always said    

that, if given the chance, I would walk into the lion’s den or the devil’s    

bedroom to make my case, and that is what I intend to do today.  This is as    

close as I have come thus far to either.  For here, I can see tonight parts    

of the elite whose consciousness and attitudes must be changed if humanity    

is to even partially meet the challenges that are “in our faces.”    


For any of you who might be either lions or devils, I hope that you have had    

a good meal recently, and also that you have checked your pitchforks at the    

door.  I also implore that your ears be open and your minds accessible.    


For those of you who realize that a global crisis is casting its shadow    

across the entire planet, and who wish better to understand its dynamics, I    

am here to offer some of my experience and learning as a “mapmaker” who has   
 


no allegiance to partisan politics or any desire except to tell you the    

truth, no matter how disquieting it may be, or how divergent it may be from    

whatever cherished beliefs you may hold; from whatever cosmological    

principles you may believe in; or from whatever economic or other personal    

interests you may have.    


A spiritual teacher once told me that my problem was not that I thought    

highly of myself; not that I thought lowly of myself; but that I thought    

constantly of myself.  In that vein, let us all tonight try to think of    

issues larger than ourselves, our personal interests, our wants, or our    

fears.    


Viewed from almost any perspective -- be it geopolitics, economics, climate,    

spreading warfare that threatens to unleash a global orgy of bloodletting,    

rising energy prices, documented energy shortages, fresh water shortages,    

biological warfare, the repression of civil liberties at home and abroad, or    

any of a dozen other issues -- planet Earth and all of its inhabitants are    

in great danger.  This is not a time to think of national security.  It is a    

time to think of planetary security ­ indeed, of planetary survival.    


And I must recognize also that I would never have been afforded this    

incredible opportunity to speak to you today, had it not been for the    

consistent support and generosity; the research and activism; the courage    

and disenfranchisement, and above all the loyalty, of all those people who    

have helped my newsletter, “from the wilderness”, grow in just six years    

from 68 to more than 15,000 monthly readers worldwide.  Today our web site,    

at:    


<color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>http://www.fromthewilderness.com</color>    


... averages more than 12,000 visitors a day.    


These include members of Congress, business and economic leaders,    
professors    

at more than 30 universities, respected journalists, and political leaders    

in many countries.    


If anything had an impact on my thinking as I prepared these remarks, it was    

my awareness that these loyal supporters are the people on whose behalf I    

presume to speak.  It is their voice and their commitment which has given    

rise to my voice.  I could not, and would not, be here were it not for them.    


But I also, if I may be that bold, presume to speak for all mankind,    

regardless of religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual preference,    

bank account or any other artificial distinction.    


This is no time to be shy.    


This is not a time when men and women of good conscience can afford to be    

politically correct or be guided by anything except a willingness to discard    

every “cherished” belief or opinion which stands in the way of an accurate    

and fearless appraisal of the world around us.    


As I have said so many times in the last three years, while delivering more    

than 40 lectures on the truth and lies of 9/11 and peak oil, in eight    

countries: the events in the five years following the attacks of September    

11th will determine the course of human history for the next 500 years or    

more.    


I can only assume that the record of my lectures and writings, wherein I    

have come to be known as a man who backs up everything he says and    
presents    

it to his audiences for verification, had something to do with how the board    

of governors reached its decision to extend this invitation.    


For many years now, not a single fact, citation or piece of evidence,    

presented in my lectures, or in my best-selling video, “the truth and lies    

of 9/11” has been proved inaccurate.    


I am known as a man who does not expect people to take his word on faith but    

who asks and even expects people to challenge his research, evaluate it, and    

reach their own conclusions.    


Operating under the assumption that the past credibility of my research has    

produced a record which got me in the door at the Commonwealth Club, I am    

today, in the interest of time and for maximum impact, going to dispense    

with my customary slide presentation.  I fully expect that anyone who    

challenges or disagrees with my assertions will go out and do some checking    

for him or her self.    


Almost everything I present to you today will be fully documented -­ by    

means of approximately 1,000 endnotes -­ in my soon to be released book,    

“Crossing the Rubicon: the Decline of the American Empire at the End of the    

Age of Oil.”  The book, published by New Society Publishers, should be    

available for sale from the FTW web site within 2-3 weeks, and it will go on    

sale nationally, through all major outlets, by mid-October.    


September 11th    


Both here in the United States and around the World, I am not alone in    

believing that the attacks of September 11th were facilitated, orchestrated    

and executed by the United States government.  However, there is a great    

deal of misunderstanding and conclusion jumping about these assessments that 
     


is not supported by the evidence.    


I was trained as a police officer and detective, and for many years now I    

have been an effective investigative journalist because I have adhered to    

strict evidentiary and investigative standards.    


The 9/11 attacks were the result of deliberate planning and orchestrated    

efforts by identifiable leaders within the U.S. Government, and the energy    

and financial sectors, to see a Pearl Harbor-like attack which would provide    

the American empire with a pretext for war, invasion and the sequential    

confiscation of oil and natural gas reserves, or the key transportation    

routes through which they pass.  9-11 was premeditated murder, and in my    

book, and here tonight, I will name some of the suspects who committed the    

crime. In my book I will show you overwhelming evidence of their guilt which    

I would be proud and confident to place either before a district attorney or    

a jury.    


Historically, the assertion that the United States government would    

orchestrate an attack upon American interests has ample precedent.  Former    

national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski described the need for such an    

event in several places in his 1997 book “The Grand Chessboard.”  It was I    

who first brought this book to world attention in late 2001.  The Project    

for a New American Century made reference to the need for such an attack in    

its 2000 report “Rebuilding America’s Defenses.”  Declassified top secret    

documents disclosed by author James Bamford in his book, “Body of Secrets”    

tell us that in 1962 the joint chiefs had approved a plan called “Operation    

Northwoods” which was a covert operation that would shoot down American    

aircraft and stage attacks on American military facilities with the intent    

of blaming those attacks on Fidel Castro and prompting the subsequent US    

invasion and occupation of Cuba.    


The declassified Northwoods documents can be seen and downloaded from the   
 


<color><param>7F00,0000,0000</param>>From The Wilderness web site.  But once viewed, they cannot be ignored.    


</color>Therefore it cannot be said that such a thing has never been conceived of or    

carried out by American political leaders. From the sinking of the    

battleship Maine, to the Gulf of Tonkin, and indeed, even to Pearl Harbor    

itself, history today provides us with abundant documentation of US    

government complicity in varying degrees in similar attacks.  The book “Day    

of Deceit” and other records from the National Archives have shown us that    

the Roosevelt administration had broken the Japanese codes well before    

December 7th, 1941, and that a conscious decision was made to allow the    

attack on Pearl Harbor to take place.  This was intended to provide the    

necessary impetus for us entry into the second world war at a time when    

Great Britain was buckling under the military blitzkrieg, aerial bombing and    

u-boat warfare of the Third Reich.    


'Crossing the Rubicon' is a detective story that gets to the innermost core    

of the 9/11 attacks.  It places 9/11 at the center of a desperate new    

America, created by specific, named individuals in preparation for peak oil:    

an economic crisis like nothing the world has ever seen.    


Simply defined, peak oil is that moment in time when global oil and natural    

gas ­ production begins an irreversible and permanent decline which will not    

yield or give way regardless of how much money and effort is spent trying to    

change it.  With demand for this commodity still accelerating rapidly in    

both the US and the industrialized and developing world, the arrival of peak    

oil literally describes a point of 'overshoot' in which economic and    

ecological stasis ­ let alone growth ­ becomes unsustainable.    




I have insisted for many years now that any fundamental change in the    

current human paradigm, a change that will really make a difference, is    

impossible until we, collectively and as a species, change the way money    

works. In “Crossing the Rubicon”, I will explain just how and why the world’    

s current economic system is hastening, and worsening, a calamity of    

unimagined proportions.    


This all began for me some 27 years ago when, as a young policeman, I    

discovered that the CIA was deeply involved in the drug trade.  The purpose    

of that involvement led me to discover, and prove -- using US Senate hearing    

records and documents from the CIA itself -- that an essential ingredient,    

perhaps the essential ingredient, in US economic supremacy was the    

maintenance of a flow of as much as $600 billion a year in drug profits    

through US financial markets and institutions.    


What we are witnessing now is a collision: a collision of a financial    

system -- relying on fractional reserve banking, debt-financed growth, and a    

fiat currency system -- with a system of planetary and energy resources that    

are finite, limited, and running out.  Infinite growth is battling with    

finite energy.  One is not possible without the other, and I have absolutely    

no doubt as to which side will win.    


'Currency Wars'    


In November 2002, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote an article titled 'The    

Unbearable Costs of Empire'.  None of these problems will be cured so long    

as war remains our dominant political theme.  But serious though they are,    

they pale in comparison with the larger problem of the international trade    

and financial order under conditions of permanent war.  It is a    

straightforward fact that if global oil production starts to decline but US    

consumption does not, everyone else will be required to cut purchases and    

uses of oil.  But how can oil prices be held stable for Americans yet be    

made to rise for everyone else?  Only by a policy of continuing depreciation    

in everyone else's currency.    


Such a policy of dollar hegemony amid worldwide financial instability, of    

crushing debt burdens and deflation throughout the developing world, is    

perverse.  It will make our trading partners' exports cheap, render their    

imports dear and keep their real wages low.  It will price American goods    

out of world markets, and lead to unsustainable dependence on foreign    

capital.  It will be a policy, in short, of beggar-all-of-our-neighbors    

while we live alone, in increasing idleness and inside the 'dollar bubble'.    


This is the policy that Bush and Cheney are actually imposing on the rest of    

the world.  But they cannot make it last.  It will make lives miserable    

elsewhere, generating ever more resistance, terrorism and military    

engagement.  Meanwhile, we will not experience even gradual exposure to the    

changing energy balance; we will therefore never make the investments    

required to adjust, even eventually, to a world of scarce and expensive oil.    

In the end, therefore, that world will arrive much more abruptly than it    

otherwise would, shaking the fragile edifice of our oil economy to its    

foundations.    


And we will someday face a double explosion: of anger against our arrogance    

and of actual shortage and collapsing living standards, when the confidence    

of investors in the dollar finally gives way.    


Compared with this future, a new commitment to collective security -- to a    

new world financial structure, to a rational energy and transportation    

policy, and to spending to meet our actual domestic needs -- would be a    

bargain.    


At the end of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked    

what type of government the framers had given our new country.  He famously    

replied, "... a republic, if you can keep it."    


In 49 BC, Julius Caesar, fresh from a battlefield victory in central Italy    

ordered his legions to cross a small creek called the Rubicon.  Under the    

laws of the Roman republic, the army was not allowed to enter the capital    

city.  As Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the Roman republic died, and    

the Roman empire was born.    


Our task, if we and much of human civilization are to survive, is not to    

keep our republic, but to take it back.    


Thank you.    


Text of Michael Ruppert's August 31, 2004 speech at the Commonwealth Club,   
 


by re-post Wednesday, September 1, 2004 at 9:34 AM.  The text of the    

speech -- lightly edited for clarity -- may be found below, and is    

downloadable in .pdf format at:    

<color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>http://www.fromthewilderness.com/PDF/Commonwealth.pdf    </color>


If you don't have a PDF file reader, you can download a free reader for    

Macintosh or Windows operating systems from adobe.com.    


A    

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