The American Turkish Council-US Association helps create new world order
PRAVDA
02/16/2005 15:14
Operating tax-free and out of the media or watchdog spotlight is
the most powerful “non-profit” association in the United States,
the American Turkish Council (ATC- americanturkishcouncil.org).
Like the thousands of Associations operating inside the Washington,
DC Beltway, the ATC is chartered to provide “legal and ethical”
venues for American-Turkish government and business interests to meet
face-to-face to improve business, security and cultural relations
between the two countries. The ATC, and other Associations, has a
dues structure and committee structure that includes a government
relations or “educational” committee that lobbies the public and US
government representatives on behalf of its members. But that’s where
the similarity ends.
While the ATC is an Association in name and in charter, the reality is
that it and other affiliated Associations are the US government. Theirs
is the voice that matters and is the one that is heard on television
and radio networks through the mouths of news-readers, senators,
congressmen, presidents and military leaders. It is in and through such
Associations that US political, economic and military policy is made
and the American public subsequently “educated” to support policies
that are not, and could not, be debated in public because of their
illegality, audacity, complexity and, arguably, necessity. Instead,
the creation of policy and action–or even reaction to events-is
hammered out in corporate board rooms, foreign governments, research
institutes, and think tanks. It all comes together in Associations
like the ATC. If you want to know what’s really going on or about to
come down, take a visit via the Net to the world of Associations.
Six Degrees of ATC Leaders/Members
The game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is based on the premise that the
famed actor Kevin Bacon is the center of the entertainment universe
and that any actor or actress can be linked back to him within six
degrees. Replace Kevin Bacon with ATC leaders and/or members, and you
are sure to find that any corporation, military leader, government
official, former politician, and even actor can be linked back to the
ATC within six degrees. The ATC is an extraordinary group of elite and
interconnected group of Republicans, Democrats and corporate/military
heavyweights who are spearheading one of the most ambitious strategic
gambits in US history.
In 2004 the ATC was led by Bush family insider LTG Brent Scowcroft,
USAF (Ret.) who served as Chairman of the Board. George Perlman of
Lockheed Martin was the Executive Vice President and Marise Stewart of
Textron the Vice President. Executives from every major US and Turkish
corporation are members. Among them are Mars (candy), Coca Cola,
Atlantic Records, Shell Oil, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, General Dynamics,
Northrop Grumman, Hyatt and Phillip Morris. Dozens of retired US Flag
officers, ex-ambassadors and representatives sit on the ATC Board
of Directors.
Counted amongst ATC”s hundreds of members are think tanks like the
Eisenhower Institute, CSIS, Brookings, and AEI. Georgetown University,
the University of Washington and the University of Chicago are
also members of note. If the grand brains with their studies,
executive reports, and statistics were not enough to overwhelm
the uninitiated, there are members like the Livingston Group (Bob
Livingston, ex-Congressman), the Cohen Group (William Cohen ex-SECDEF)
and ex-Congressman Stephen Solarz. All three are paid big-bucks by
the Turkish interests to work on their behalf in the halls of the US
Congress and the Pentagon.
America Gives Birth to New EuroAsia
Now, before you yell Conspiracy! you might want to think Necessity
and Stability, particularly in light of the opening to Central Asia,
the Caucasus and the new Europe provided by 9-11. Pull up Net maps
of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Europe. Once you’ve done that,
consider what political, economic and military activities (defined
as US national interests) the United States has underway in those
regions. It is no less than the development of a US-dominated New
EuroAsia that includes the “Stans”, Ukraine, Chechnya, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech, Croatia, and Poland.
Crazy? Hardly, it is a brilliant gamble. There are many compelling
reasons to create a New EuroAsia with the US with a controlling
interest.
First, there’s the little matter of energy resources. The fact is
that the both regions possess an abundance of resources and those
countries there that don”t are key transit points for the movement of
energy. With the US becoming more reliant on a stable world market for
energy it”s imperative to stabilize and exploit available resources.
Second, Americans have all the candy and weapons systems they
need. New markets for American products are critical for American
economic survival.
Third, with WWII having ended a mere 60 years ago, US foreign policy
is still very much in the hands of America”s anti-Soviet/Chinese
Cold Warriors. Hence, Russia-China encirclement remains part and
parcel of US policy. US military outposts close to the Russia and
China”s borders dot the landscape in the New EuroAsia. As Space Daily
reported, US mobile missile defense batteries are likely to appear
at these bases since CONUS based systems are doomed to failure. US
military outposts will also allow quick jump off points for covert
operations into Russia and China, interdiction of black market WMD
and their components, and drug interdiction.
Fourth, to compete against the combined economic forces of
the European Union (EU), it is necessary to have a leveraging
position in the New EuroAsia. For example, the EU”s Inogate Program
(inogate.org/html/maps/mapsoil.htm) is a source of concern for the
US as Europe has been busy for years laying the groundwork for new
energy sources and transit points. The US was late to that game and
is still playing catch-up.
Fifth, isolating and destabilization Iran remains paramount. Such has
been the policy since the 1980″s. As recently reported, US Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles have been launched from bases in Iraq to spy on Iran”s
military infrastructure and nuclear reactor sites. In all likelihood
such activity has been underway at least since the beginning of the
21st Century”s US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Guiding Light
ATC’s is joined in the creation of the New EuroAsia by the American
Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (AACC). AACC’s Honorary Council of
Advisors just happens to have Scowcroft and the following persons of
significance: Henry Kissinger, Zibigniew Brezinski, Lloyd Benston,
John Sununu and James Baker III. Former Council members include Dick
Cheney and Richard Armitage, former Undersecretary of State. Board of
Trustee members include media-overkill subject Richard Perle of AEI,
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Frank Verrastro of CSIS.
The US Kazakhstan Business Association (UKBA) features, among others,
benefactors and members ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Lockheed
Martin, and Halliburton. Richard Armitage was honored last year
by the UKBA and indicated in his remarks that stable economies and
representative government were essential for the future of Central
Asia. No argument there. He opined that “many of the nations in the
region still have a long way to go toward that destination [democracy],
and Kazakhstan can and should, in my view, serve as a guiding light
in that journey.” Yet according to Human Rights Watch, the US State
Department, Armitage”s former employer, indicated in February 2004
that “The [Kazak] Government”s human rights record remained poor,
and it continued to commit numerous abuses.” In its annual report
on the Kazakh government’s rights record, the State Department noted
that the government of Kazakhstan “severely limited citizens” right to
change their government and democratic institutions remained weak.[and
that it] .restricted freedom of assembly and association and limited
democratic expression by imposing restrictions on the registration of
political parties.” It further stated that, “Corruption was evident
at every stage and level of the judicial process.”
Friends in Odd and High Places
“It is a place of total lawlessness, where men with guns rule and human
life carries little value. There are no human rights, one resident told
me. “We don’t know if we’ll be alive tomorrow or even five minutes
from now.” It is inconceivable that a fair election can take place
in this climate of fear, where shooting and forced disappearances
happen on a daily basis. Civilians continue to be the main victims
of this conflict. It is possible that as many as 200,000 people have
been killed in the two wars combined. Many I speak with say they see
the election as little more than window dressing for the West. All
the while, military operations continue. “Not a single night goes
by without someone disappearing. Masked men come into homes and take
people away.” A handful of buildings associated with oil companies
are undergoing renovation. The only building in good shape is the
presidential palace.
There is no running water for residents. People must buy water
daily. They depend on generator power for electricity. I walked
around the market, which was full of shoppers buying fruits and
vegetables. This same market was attacked by missiles at the beginning
of the current war, killing more than 100 people. For the first
time in my life I felt what it is like to be utterly without rights,
at the mercy of men with guns.”
Baghdad Burning (riverbendblog.blogspot.com) writing from Iraq,
you say? Nope, it’s a former American Committee for Peace in
Chechnya Committee (ACPC) staffer writing about her trip to
Chechnya. Chechnya? But not to worry, our men and women of the ACPC,
separated by only six degrees from their cohorts at ATC and AACC
have things under control. ACPC was founded in 1999 and is chaired by
former National Security Advisor Zibigniew Brezinski, former Secretary
of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and former Congressman Stephen
J. Solarz. ACPC, according to its website, is composed of more than
one hundred distinguished Americans representing both major political
parties and nearly every walk of life. And who are those 100 Americans?
Well, to name a few, there”s Geraldine Ferraro, former Democratic
candidate for vice president; Frank Gaffney, CEO of the Center
for Security Policy whose Board members include Doug Feith, Gordon
Sullivan, CEO of the Army Association of the USA and Bob Livingston of
the Livingston Group; Elliot Abrams and Mike Leeden; and, who would
have guessed that Richard Gere and PJ O”Rourke would be members of
the ACPC.
And the story gets routine and boring as it moves on. The Honorary
Chair of the American Georgia Business Council (AGBC) is James Baker
III. Its members include ExxonMobil, Northrop Grumman and Ernst and
Young. President of the AGBC is S. Enders Wimbush, a Senior Fellow
at the Hudson Institute and former SAIC and Booz Allen Hamilton
employee. A trustee of note on the Hudson Institute is Al Haig. The
same connections, whether through individuals or organizations, can
be found for Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan.
Six Degrees of Zibigniew Brezinski
No one argued and schemed more forcibly or convincingly for a New
EuroAsia than Zibigniew Brezinski, Jimmy Carter’s National Security
Advisor, and a candidate for the role of Waldo in Where’s Waldo,
The Movie (tough competition coming from James Baker III).
As Wikipedia puts it of Brezinski, “In the 1990’s he formulated the
strategic case for buttressing the independent statehood of Ukraine,
partially as a means to ending a resurgence of the Russian Empire,
and to drive Russia toward integration with the West, promoting
instead “geopolitical pluralism” in the space of the former Soviet
Union. He developed “a plan for Europe” urging the expansion of NATO,
making the case for the expansion of NATO to the Baltic Republics. He
also served as U.S. Presidential emissary to Azerbaijan in order to
promote the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline. Further, he led the effort
to increase the endowment for the U.S.-sponsored Polish-American
Freedom Foundation from the proposed $112 million to an eventual
total of well over $200 million.”
All that accomplished through the power of Associations. Association
ideas rubber stamped by the US Congress and backed by US military
force. It”s no surprise that it was in the decade of the 1990″s,
long out of the US government and working through private sector
Associations, that Brezinski”s and corporate America’s EuroAsia
creation would be formalized and ultimately be realized. It all
happened far sooner than expected thanks to an opportune breakdown in
US security on September 11, 2001. Nonetheless, the center of gravity
for it all has been the ATC and its affiliates in the Association
world.
The individuals and organizations in the ATC, AGBC, ACPC, UKBA, and
similarly populated groups, are in control of the design and action
plans to secure America”s national interests in the New EuroAsia. It’s
the same story for other regions of the world-Africa, Indonesia,
etc.-and even here on America”s domestic front. Does a Congressman or
woman have a bright idea? Does the President have a special agenda? If
they do, you can be sure it came from an Association.
Perhaps this is part of the American Republic’s maturation process:
more intelligent and visionary governance by Association rather
than through the messy process of millions voting by the ballot box
or e-voting. In such a scheme, the US Congress and the Presidency
would be relegated to a symbolic role, sort of like that played by
the King and Queen of England. The US security establishment would
be called into action based on the voting results of a Congress of
Associations. Then again, when you cast your vote, you are in essence
voting the Association platform. Sound bizarre? Such is today”s world.
When Richard Armitage can say with a straight face that Kazakhstan
should be the guiding light of democracy in Central Asia, it”s time
to swallow the bitter pill of reality and recognize that how America
governs itself, and designs and implements policy, is changing. Whether
the US and the world will be better off remains to be seen.
Teddy Roosevelt once said that “Behind the ostensible government sits
enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging
no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government,
to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt
politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”
That was a smart thing to say in 1906 when business and politics were
still trying to figure each other out. In 2005, he”d be dismissed as
an opponent of America”s national interests as there is no difference
between the two.
John Stanton
John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in political and
security matters. His most recent book is America 2004: A Power But
Not Super. He is working on an article discussing Sibel Edmonds and the
ATC, along with a book on America”s Defense Related Non-Profits. Reach
him at [email protected]
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