El Estado de la Unión
Se esperaba con interés el discurso del Presidente sobre el tema, después de sus palabras el 12 de enero en la Universidad de Tucson, Arizona, sobre la matanza que había tenido lugar en aquella ciudad cuatro días antes. Seis personas murieron y 14 fueron heridas, entre ellas, la joven congresista demócrata Gabrielle Giffords, electa por tercera vez al Congreso de Estados Unidos, la cual se oponía a la Ley antiinmigrante de aquel Estado, que fue parte del territorio arrebatado a México en la injusta guerra de 1848.
El Tea Party, la derecha fascista del Partido Republicano, había obtenido un notable éxito entre los electores que se toman la molestia de ejercer el derecho a votar en las elecciones de ese país.
La población de Arizona, como la del resto de Estados Unidos, reaccionó con indignación. Su conducta fue sin duda correcta, y así lo expresé.
Nunca he dudado de los factores éticos que suelen ser características de los pueblos, con independencia de la política de los gobiernos.
Si aquel discurso de Obama fue omiso, en cuanto a la increíble muestra de primitivismo que refleja el uso generalizado y prácticamente irrestricto de mortíferas armas de fuego, el mensaje sobre el Estado de la Unión merece un análisis político y ético, ya que Estados Unidos es una superpotencia de la que, con independencia del Presidente y el Congreso, depende, entre otros importantes factores, el destino de la especie humana.
Ningún país aislado tiene ni puede tener respuesta a los problemas que hoy enfrenta el mundo.
Obama, en primer lugar, está envuelto en un proceso electoral. Tiene que hablar para los demócratas y los republicanos, los que votan y los que no votan, los multimillonarios y los pordioseros, los protestantes y los católicos, los cristianos y los musulmanes, los creyentes y los no creyentes, los negros y los blancos, los que apoyan y los que no apoyan las investigaciones con células madres, los homosexuales y los heterosexuales, cada ciudadano y su opuesto; para terminar clamando que todos son norteamericanos, como si el 95,5%, es decir, el resto de los 6 900 millones de habitantes del planeta, no existieran.
En las primeras páginas de su intervención de una hora, entró en materia afirmando:
"En este momento lo que está en juego no es quién ganará las próximas elecciones [...] Lo que está en juego es si se originan nuevos empleos e industrias [...] si podemos mantener el liderazgo que hizo de Estados Unidos no sólo un punto en el mapa, sino la luz en el mundo.
"Estamos listos para el progreso. [...] la bolsa se ha recuperado con fervor. Las ganancias de las corporaciones son más altas. La economía está volviendo a crecer."
Inmediatamente después de estas palabras nos trata de conmover con un pasaje que pareciera extraído de un conocido filme norteamericano, que la gente de mi generación recuerda: "Lo que el viento se llevó", relacionado con la terrible guerra civil entre el norte industrial y el sur esclavista y agrario en los años del hombre excepcional que fue Abraham Lincoln.
"Ese mundo ha cambiado. Y para muchos, el cambio ha sido doloroso —nos dijo Obama—. Lo he visto en las ventanas tapiadas de fábricas otrora prósperas y las vitrinas vacías de calles principales antes concurridas. Lo he oído en la frustración de estadounidenses que han visto la disminución de sus cheques de pago o la desaparición de sus empleos; hombres y mujeres orgullosos de su trabajo que piensan que les cambiaron las reglas a medio partido."
"Las siderúrgicas que alguna vez necesitaban 1.000 trabajadores ahora pueden hacer el mismo trabajo con 100."
"Mientras tanto, países como China e India se dieron cuenta de que con algunos cambios propios, podían competir en este nuevo mundo. [...] Hace poco, China se convirtió en la sede de la mayor planta privada de investigación solar del mundo y la más rápida computadora del mundo."
Se esperaba con interés el discurso del Presidente sobre el tema, después de sus palabras el 12 de enero en la Universidad de Tucson, Arizona, sobre la matanza que había tenido lugar en aquella ciudad cuatro días antes. Seis personas murieron y 14 fueron heridas, entre ellas, la joven congresista demócrata Gabrielle Giffords, electa por tercera vez al Congreso de Estados Unidos, la cual se oponía a la Ley antiinmigrante de aquel Estado, que fue parte del territorio arrebatado a México en la injusta guerra de 1848.
El Tea Party, la derecha fascista del Partido Republicano, había obtenido un notable éxito entre los electores que se toman la molestia de ejercer el derecho a votar en las elecciones de ese país.
La población de Arizona, como la del resto de Estados Unidos, reaccionó con indignación. Su conducta fue sin duda correcta, y así lo expresé.
Nunca he dudado de los factores éticos que suelen ser características de los pueblos, con independencia de la política de los gobiernos.
Si aquel discurso de Obama fue omiso, en cuanto a la increíble muestra de primitivismo que refleja el uso generalizado y prácticamente irrestricto de mortíferas armas de fuego, el mensaje sobre el Estado de la Unión merece un análisis político y ético, ya que Estados Unidos es una superpotencia de la que, con independencia del Presidente y el Congreso, depende, entre otros importantes factores, el destino de la especie humana.
Ningún país aislado tiene ni puede tener respuesta a los problemas que hoy enfrenta el mundo.
Obama, en primer lugar, está envuelto en un proceso electoral. Tiene que hablar para los demócratas y los republicanos, los que votan y los que no votan, los multimillonarios y los pordioseros, los protestantes y los católicos, los cristianos y los musulmanes, los creyentes y los no creyentes, los negros y los blancos, los que apoyan y los que no apoyan las investigaciones con células madres, los homosexuales y los heterosexuales, cada ciudadano y su opuesto; para terminar clamando que todos son norteamericanos, como si el 95,5%, es decir, el resto de los 6 900 millones de habitantes del planeta, no existieran.
En las primeras páginas de su intervención de una hora, entró en materia afirmando:
"En este momento lo que está en juego no es quién ganará las próximas elecciones [...] Lo que está en juego es si se originan nuevos empleos e industrias [...] si podemos mantener el liderazgo que hizo de Estados Unidos no sólo un punto en el mapa, sino la luz en el mundo.
"Estamos listos para el progreso. [...] la bolsa se ha recuperado con fervor. Las ganancias de las corporaciones son más altas. La economía está volviendo a crecer."
Inmediatamente después de estas palabras nos trata de conmover con un pasaje que pareciera extraído de un conocido filme norteamericano, que la gente de mi generación recuerda: "Lo que el viento se llevó", relacionado con la terrible guerra civil entre el norte industrial y el sur esclavista y agrario en los años del hombre excepcional que fue Abraham Lincoln.
"Ese mundo ha cambiado. Y para muchos, el cambio ha sido doloroso —nos dijo Obama—. Lo he visto en las ventanas tapiadas de fábricas otrora prósperas y las vitrinas vacías de calles principales antes concurridas. Lo he oído en la frustración de estadounidenses que han visto la disminución de sus cheques de pago o la desaparición de sus empleos; hombres y mujeres orgullosos de su trabajo que piensan que les cambiaron las reglas a medio partido."
"Las siderúrgicas que alguna vez necesitaban 1.000 trabajadores ahora pueden hacer el mismo trabajo con 100."
"Mientras tanto, países como China e India se dieron cuenta de que con algunos cambios propios, podían competir en este nuevo mundo. [...] Hace poco, China se convirtió en la sede de la mayor planta privada de investigación solar del mundo y la más rápida computadora del mundo."
"... pero Estados Unidos aún tiene la mayor y más próspera economía del mundo."
"Sabemos lo que se requiere para competir por los empleos y las industrias de nuestros tiempos. Necesitamos innovar más, educar mejor y construir más que el resto del mundo. Debemos hacer de Estados Unidos el mejor lugar del mundo para hacer negocios. [...] Y esta noche me gustaría hablar sobre cómo llegar allí."
Obama no habla nunca de las grandes empresas monopólicas que hoy controlan y saquean los recursos del planeta. No menciona jamás el acuerdo de Bretton Woods, el sistema impuesto a un mundo arruinado por la guerra, en el que Estados Unidos asumió el control de las instituciones financieras y del Fondo Monetario Internacional, donde mantiene férreamente el poder de veto. Jamás dice una palabra de la colosal estafa de Nixon en 1971, cuando suspendió unilateralmente la conversión del dólar en oro, imprimió billetes norteamericanos sin límite alguno y adquirió incontables bienes y riquezas en el mundo, que pagó fundamentalmente con papeles, cuyo valor en 40 años se redujo al 2,5% del que entonces tenía.
Obama gusta de relatar, en cambio, historias líricas sobre pequeños empresarios que supuestamente deslumbran, embelesan y conmueven a los oyentes que no estén advertidos de la realidad. Su oratoria, su estilo y su tono parecen diseñados para escuchar, como niños disciplinados, sus conmovedores cuentos.
"Robert y Gary Allen son hermanos que tienen una pequeña compañía de techado en Michigan. Después del 11 de septiembre, ofrecieron a sus mejores obreros para ayudar a reparar el Pentágono. Pero la recesión los afectó mucho, y su fábrica estaba operando a la mitad de su capacidad. Hoy en día, con ayuda de un préstamo del gobierno, ese espacio se está usando para fabricar tejas fotovoltaicas que se están vendiendo en todo el país. En palabras de Robert, ‘Nos reinventamos’.
"Estamos lanzando un desafío. Estamos diciéndoles a los científicos e ingenieros de Estados Unidos que si constituyen equipos con los mejores cerebros en su campo, si se concentran en los problemas más difíciles de energía limpia, financiaremos los proyectos Apolo de nuestra era."
De inmediato nos deja sin respiración:
"Sabemos lo que se requiere para competir por los empleos y las industrias de nuestros tiempos. Necesitamos innovar más, educar mejor y construir más que el resto del mundo. Debemos hacer de Estados Unidos el mejor lugar del mundo para hacer negocios. [...] Y esta noche me gustaría hablar sobre cómo llegar allí."
Obama no habla nunca de las grandes empresas monopólicas que hoy controlan y saquean los recursos del planeta. No menciona jamás el acuerdo de Bretton Woods, el sistema impuesto a un mundo arruinado por la guerra, en el que Estados Unidos asumió el control de las instituciones financieras y del Fondo Monetario Internacional, donde mantiene férreamente el poder de veto. Jamás dice una palabra de la colosal estafa de Nixon en 1971, cuando suspendió unilateralmente la conversión del dólar en oro, imprimió billetes norteamericanos sin límite alguno y adquirió incontables bienes y riquezas en el mundo, que pagó fundamentalmente con papeles, cuyo valor en 40 años se redujo al 2,5% del que entonces tenía.
Obama gusta de relatar, en cambio, historias líricas sobre pequeños empresarios que supuestamente deslumbran, embelesan y conmueven a los oyentes que no estén advertidos de la realidad. Su oratoria, su estilo y su tono parecen diseñados para escuchar, como niños disciplinados, sus conmovedores cuentos.
"Robert y Gary Allen son hermanos que tienen una pequeña compañía de techado en Michigan. Después del 11 de septiembre, ofrecieron a sus mejores obreros para ayudar a reparar el Pentágono. Pero la recesión los afectó mucho, y su fábrica estaba operando a la mitad de su capacidad. Hoy en día, con ayuda de un préstamo del gobierno, ese espacio se está usando para fabricar tejas fotovoltaicas que se están vendiendo en todo el país. En palabras de Robert, ‘Nos reinventamos’.
"Estamos lanzando un desafío. Estamos diciéndoles a los científicos e ingenieros de Estados Unidos que si constituyen equipos con los mejores cerebros en su campo, si se concentran en los problemas más difíciles de energía limpia, financiaremos los proyectos Apolo de nuestra era."
De inmediato nos deja sin respiración:
"En el California Institute of Technology, están desarrollando una manera de convertir energía solar y agua en combustible para nuestros vehículos."
¡Se salvó el planeta! O, al menos, no morirá por exceso de CO2 o por falta de energía. Me trae a la memoria una historia de hace más de 40 años, cuando un grupo emprendedor de jóvenes científicos me hablaron con gran entusiasmo de esa misma idea a partir de principios teóricos, y en mi ciega fe científica traté de buscarles todo lo que solicitaban, incluida la instalación aislada donde se pasaron años con tal ánimo que hasta les estalló un motor que por poco mata a un grupo de ellos, y a pesar de eso continuaron la tarea.
No niego nada, y menos a un súper instituto de California pero, por favor, señor Presidente, informe al mundo sobre esa posibilidad para que otros muchos científicos trabajen en esa misma dirección. No es cuestión de ganancias, la humanidad estará dispuesta a pagarle todo lo que sus científicos quieran, y estoy casi seguro de que hasta Michael Moore aplaudiría que le concedieran a usted 10 premios Nobel.
De inmediato, y tras otro alentador comentario sobre Oak Ridge National Laboratory, y supercomputadoras para que las instalaciones nucleares produzcan más energía, el Presidente nos asegura: "Con más investigación e incentivos, podemos acabar con nuestra dependencia del petróleo, con biocombustibles, y convertirnos en el primer país en tener un millón de vehículos eléctricos en marcha para el 2015. (Aplausos.)"
Imperturbable, el Presidente prosigue:
"Pónganse a pensar. En los próximos diez años casi la mitad de todos los nuevos empleos requerirán educación superior, no solo estudios secundarios. Sin embargo, hasta un cuarto de nuestros estudiantes ni siquiera están terminando la secundaria. La calidad de nuestra enseñanza de matemáticas y ciencias es inferior a la de muchos otros países. Estados Unidos ha pasado a ser el noveno en términos de la proporción de jóvenes con un grado universitario. Entonces la pregunta es si nosotros, como ciudadanos y como padres, estamos dispuestos a hacer lo necesario para darle a cada niño la oportunidad de tener éxito."
"... lograremos la meta que tracé hace dos años: que para fines de esta década, Estados Unidos tenga la más alta proporción de graduados universitarios en el mundo. (Aplausos.)"
"Otros vienen del extranjero a estudiar en nuestras instituciones superiores y universidades. Pero apenas obtienen su título, los enviamos de regreso a su país para que compitan contra nosotros. No tiene ningún sentido."
Por supuesto que este robo insólito y confeso de cerebros, que a nuestro amigo Obama ni siquiera le interesa disimular, debemos excusárselo en consideración a su pasión por la ciencia y la sana competencia.
"El tercer paso para ganarnos el futuro es reconstruir Estados Unidos. Para atraer nuevas empresas a nuestras costas, necesitamos las vías más rápidas para transportar gente, productos e información, desde trenes de alta velocidad hasta Internet de alta velocidad.
"Nuestra infraestructura solía ser la mejor, pero ya no somos los primeros. Las viviendas de Corea del Sur ahora tienen mejor acceso al Internet que las nuestras. Rusia y países en Europa invierten más en sus carreteras y ferrocarriles que nosotros. China construye trenes más rápidos y aeropuertos más nuevos."
"... en los dos últimos años hemos empezado a reconstruir para el siglo XXI un proyecto que ha generado miles de empleos bien remunerados en el muy afectado sector de la construcción. Y esta noche, les propongo redoblar esos esfuerzos."
"En los próximos 25 años, nuestra meta es darles al 80% de los estadounidenses, acceso a trenes de alta velocidad."
"En los próximos cinco años, haremos posible que las empresas hagan llegar la siguiente generación de tecnología inalámbrica de alta velocidad al 98% de los estadounidenses. [...] Significa que desde una comunidad rural en Iowa o Alabama, los trabajadores y pequeños empresarios podrán vender sus productos en todo el mundo."
"... harán que Estados Unidos sea un lugar mejor para hacer negocios y generar empleo."
"¼ un ejército de cabilderos ha hecho que el código tributario favorezca a ciertas compañías e industrias."
"... nos hemos puesto la meta de aumentar al doble nuestras exportaciones para el 2014, porque cuanto más exportemos, más empleos creamos en el país. [...] Recientemente firmamos acuerdos con India y China que respaldarán más de 250,000 empleos aquí en Estados Unidos."
"... dejé en claro que [...] sólo suscribiría pactos que beneficiaran a los trabajadores estadounidenses y promovieran empleos en Estados Unidos. [...] es lo que pretendo hacer al procurar acuerdos con Panamá y Colombia... "
Algunas de las cosas que narra Obama dan una idea de los dramáticos sufrimientos que en pleno siglo XXI tienen que soportar los más pobres en su propio país. Por ejemplo, nos cuenta:
"No estoy dispuesto a decirle a James Howard, paciente de Texas con cáncer al cerebro, que es posible que no se cubra su tratamiento."
"Vivimos con un legado de gasto en déficit que se inició hace casi una década. Y tras la crisis financiera, algo de eso fue necesario para continuar el flujo de crédito, preservar empleos y poner dinero en el bolsillo de la gente."
"... esta noche estoy proponiendo que a partir de este año congelemos el gasto nacional anual durante los próximos cinco años."
"El secretario de Defensa también ha aceptado recortar decenas de miles de millones de dólares en gastos de los que él y sus generales consideran pueden prescindir."
"Y si realmente nos importa nuestro déficit, simplemente no podemos darnos el lujo de una extensión permanente de recortes tributarios para el 2% más acaudalado de los estadounidenses. Antes de quitarles dinero a nuestras escuelas o becas a los estudiantes, debemos exigir que los millonarios renuncien a su recorte tributario."
"Ya que ustedes merecen saber cuándo sus funcionarios públicos se reúnen con cabilderos, le pediré al Congreso que haga lo que la Casa Blanca ya ha hecho: sacar esa información en Internet."
Pienso que la simple presencia de un ejército de cabilderos laborando y negociando con los congresistas, constituye un hecho bochornoso para cualquier país civilizado.
"... el ejemplo moral de Estados Unidos debe brillar siempre para todos aquellos que anhelan la libertad, y la justicia y dignidad", nos dice el señor Obama, y acto seguido pasa a otro tema.
"Consideren Irak, de donde casi 100,000 de nuestros valientes hombres y mujeres han salido con la frente en alto."
¡Misión cumplida!, recordé.
"Gracias a la aprobación por republicanos y demócratas del Nuevo Tratado START —continúa Obama— se emplazarán mucho menos armas y lanzadores nucleares."
"Debido a un esfuerzo diplomático para insistir en que Irán cumpla con sus obligaciones, el gobierno de Irán ahora enfrenta sanciones más duras, sanciones más estrictas que nunca antes. Y en la Península de Corea, respaldamos a nuestro aliado Corea del Sur e insistimos en que Corea del Norte cumpla con su compromiso de abandonar las armas nucleares."
El Presidente, como se puede observar, no menciona una sola palabra del asesinato selectivo de científicos iraníes realizado por los órganos de inteligencia de Estados Unidos y sus aliados, que él conoce perfectamente bien.
En cambio, nos amplía la información:
"Estas son apenas algunas de las formas en las que estamos forjando un mundo que favorece la paz y prosperidad. Con nuestros aliados en Europa, revitalizamos la OTAN y aumentamos nuestra cooperación en todo, desde antiterrorismo hasta defensa antimisiles."
Por supuesto que nuestro ilustre amigo no dice una palabra sobre la urgente necesidad de impedir que el calentamiento global prosiga su incremento acelerado, ni de las lluvias catastróficas y las nevadas que acaban de golpear al mundo, ni de la crisis alimentaria que en estos momentos amenaza a 80 países del Tercer Mundo, ni por supuesto de las decenas de millones de toneladas de maíz y soya que las grandes empresas de Estados Unidos están consagrando a la producción de biocombustible, mientras la población mundial, que ya alcanza los 6 900 millones de habitantes, ascenderá a 7 000 millones dentro de 18 meses.
"En marzo —continúa Obama— viajaré a Brasil, Chile y El Salvador para forjar nuevas alianzas en todo el continente americano."
En Brasil, desde luego, podrá apreciar los estragos y los muertos y desaparecidos causados por las lluvias sin precedentes que acaban de tener lugar en Río de Janeiro y Sao Paulo. Será sin duda ocasión propicia para autocriticar el hecho de que Estados Unidos se negó a suscribir el acuerdo de Kyoto, e impulsó, ya bajo su propio gobierno, la política suicida de Copenhague.
En Chile, la política ahora se complica. Es de suponer que alguien debe rendir tributo a Salvador Allende, y los miles de chilenos asesinados por la tiranía de Pinochet, que Estados Unidos impuso a Chile.
A ello se añade lo que más adelante explico. Otra situación embarazosa debe producirse en El Salvador, donde las armas suministradas por Estados Unidos y las fuerzas entrenadas y educadas en las escuelas militares de contrainsurgencia de Estados Unidos, torturaron y cometieron horribles crímenes contra los combatientes del FMLN, cuyo partido obtuvo el voto electoral de la mayoría en fecha reciente.
Apenas es posible creer lo que se lee a continuación, cuando el Presidente afirma:
"Alrededor del mundo, estamos apoyando a quienes asumen responsabilidad, ayudando a agricultores a cultivar más alimentos; apoyando a médicos para que cuiden a los enfermos...". Muchas personas conocen lo que Estados Unidos hizo con nuestros médicos en Venezuela y otros países de América Latina, fraguando planes para promover deserciones y ofreciéndoles visas y dinero en Estados Unidos para que abandonaran su dura y abnegada tarea. Nadie ignora tampoco los acuerdos de libre comercio y los enormes subsidios a los productos agrícolas de Estados Unidos para arruinar a los productores de cereales y granos en América Latina. Con esas prácticas arruinaron la producción de maíz y otros cereales en México, haciéndolo dependiente de la agricultura norteamericana.
En naciones tan pobres como Haití, que casi se autoabastecía de arroz, las transnacionales arruinaron la producción a base de excedentes subsidiados e impidieron que el país se abasteciera de ese renglón y ofreciera creciente empleo a miles de trabajadores haitianos. Ahora resulta que, según el discurso de Obama, Estados Unidos es el campeón olímpico de la asistencia médica y de la honradez administrativa en el mundo. Estos temas son extensos y difíciles de recoger en una sola Reflexión.
Queremos recordar que los países industrializados, son los principales saqueadores de los médicos e investigadores científicos de los países del Tercer Mundo. El presupuesto militar de Estados Unidos supera el de todos los demás países juntos; sus exportaciones de armas duplican o triplican a las de los demás estados; sus arsenales nucleares desplegados suman más de 5 000 armas estratégicas; sus bases militares en el exterior superan las 500; sus portaaviones nucleares y flotas navales dominan todos los mares del planeta. ¿Acaso el sueño americano "puede ser modelo para el mundo"? ¿A quién pretende engañar el Presidente de Estados Unidos con ese discurso?
En las páginas finales de su delirante mensaje exclamó:
"Es por ese sueño que me paro ante ustedes esta noche. Es por ese sueño que un muchacho de la clase obrera de Scranton puede sentarse detrás de mí. Es por ese sueño que alguien que comenzó barriendo el piso del bar de su padre en Cincinnati puede ser presidente de la Cámara de Representantes en el más grandioso país del mundo."
"Y ese sueño es el caso de un pequeño empresario llamado Brandon Fisher."
"Brandon comenzó una empresa en Berlin, Pensilvania, que se especializa en un nuevo tipo de tecnología de perforación. Y un día el verano pasado, vio la noticia de que al otro lado del mundo, 33 hombres estaban atrapados en una mina de Chile y nadie sabía cómo salvarlos.
"Pero Brandon pensó que su compañía podía ayudar. Y entonces, formuló un rescate que llegaría a conocerse como el Plan B. Sus empleados trabajaron día y noche para fabricar el equipo necesario de perforación. Y Brandon partió para Chile.
"Junto con otros, comenzó a perforar en el suelo un hoyo de 2,000 pies, trabajando tres o cuatro horas – tres o cuatro días a la vez sin dormir. Treinta y siete días más tarde, el Plan B tuvo éxito, y se rescató a los mineros. (Aplausos.) Pero debido a que no quería toda esa atención, Brandon no estuvo allí cuando los mineros salieron a la superficie. Ya había regresado a casa, a trabajar en su próximo proyecto.
"Y más adelante uno de sus empleados dijo sobre el rescate, ‘Probamos que Center Rock es una empresa pequeña pero hacemos grandes cosas’. (Aplausos.)"
Obama habló la noche del 25 para el 26. Hoy, 27 de enero, la agencia de noticias norteamericana AP comunicó a la prensa mundial lo siguiente:
"El jefe de los rescatistas que recuperaron con vida a los 33 mineros atrapados durante 69 días en el fondo de una mina en Chile corrigió al presidente Barack Obama sobre el rol de un estadounidense en el rescate.
"‘Creer que fueron ellos únicamente los partícipes del éxito creo que es demasiado. No me parece correcto’, dijo al matutino El Mercurio el ingeniero —chileno— Jorge Sougarret, quien dirigió las tareas de rescate de los mineros en octubre."
"Obama señaló que —Brandon Fisher— ‘... vio una noticia que provenía del otro lado del mundo, 33 hombres estaban atrapados en una mina chilena y nadie sabía cómo podrían salvarlos’.
"... Fisher ‘eligió un proyecto de rescate, conocido como Plan B. Sus empleados trabajaron contra el reloj para fabricar el equipo necesario para el rescate. Treinta y siete días después el Plan B tuvo éxito y los mineros fueron rescatados’.
"Sougarret precisó que Fisher no diseñó el plan de rescate, uno de los tres que se usaron para sacar a la superficie a los mineros, sino que su empresa aportó los martillos usados por las perforadoras. Y que le pagaron 100.000 dólares por los martillos.
"‘Lo que ellos hicieron fue poner a disposición nuestra una técnica, como hubo otras más. No fue la exclusiva. Por eso se llamó Plan B. Y el Plan A y C siguieron funcionando. Por lo tanto no es una operación exclusiva lo que ellos hicieron. Sin duda que su equipo completo tuvo participación que permitió finalmente que llegáramos al éxito’, apuntó Sougarret.
"El jefe de los rescatistas, gerente de uno de los cinco grandes yacimientos estatales de cobre, dijo que el equipo técnico integrado por la estatal Codelco y dos grandes mineras privadas resolvió la ejecución del Plan B que culminó con éxito el 13 de octubre con el rescate a través de una sonda introducida por la perforación."
Después de exaltar la proeza de la pequeña empresa Center Rock, independientemente de los méritos personales y la capacidad que pueda tener el joven Brandon Fisher, Obama, en su desmedida apología que lo llevó a no mencionar siquiera el esfuerzo de los rescatistas chilenos que llevaban semanas laborando arduamente para salvar los mineros atrapados, culminó su encendida perorata:
"La idea de Estados Unidos perdura. Nuestro destino sigue siendo lo que decidamos que sea. Y esta noche, más de dos siglos más tarde, es gracias a nuestra gente que nuestro futuro está lleno de esperanza, nuestra travesía continúa y el estado de nuestra nación es sólido.
"Gracias, que Dios los bendiga y que Dios bendiga a Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. (Aplausos.)"
Es difícil que Dios pueda bendecir tanta mentira.
Fidel Castro Ruz
Enero 27 de 2011
7 y 12 p.m.
Traducción: Embajada de Cuba en la República de Bolivia.
Versión original en inglés.
The State of the Union
After his January 12 address at the University of Tucson, Arizona, on the massacre that had took place four days earlier, people awaited with interest for the US president’s speech on the same topic. Six people died and fourteen were injured, including young Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was elected to the United States Congress for the third time and had been opposed to the anti-immigration law in Arizona, a state that was part of the territory snatched from Mexico in the unjust war of 1848.
The Tea Party, the rightwing fascist element of the Republican Party, gained a notable victory of the voters who bothered to come out and vote in the elections.
The people of Arizona, as in the rest of the United States, reacted with indignation. Their behavior was without a doubt the right thing to do, and that is what I said.
I have never doubted the ethics that usually characterize the people, independent of the policy of governments.
If that address by Obama was lacking, in terms of addressing the incredible demonstration of primitivism reflected in the widespread and practically unrestricted use of lethal firearms, his State of the Union address deserves an ethical and political analysis since, independently of the president and the congress, the United States is a superpower upon which the human species, and several other important factors, depend.
No country on its own should look for or can come up with answers to the problems that the world faces today.
In the first place, Obama is engulfed in an electoral process. He has to speak for both the democrats and republicans, those who vote, those who don’t vote, multimillionaires and beggars, Protestants and Catholics, Christians and Muslims, believers and nonbelievers, blacks and whites, those who support stem cell research and those who don’t support it, homosexuals and heterosexuals, every citizen and their counterpart, to end by saying that they are all Americans, as if the remaining 95.5%, or 6.9 billion inhabitants on the rest of the planet did not exist
Obama dives into this subject on the first pages of his address that lasted an hour:
“At stake right now is not who wins the next election…at stake is whether new jobs and industries take root… it’s whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but the light to the world.
“We are poised for progress…the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.”
Immediately following these words, Obama tried to move us with a passage that seems to be taken straight from a US movie that my generation will remember, Gone with the Wind, about the terrible civil war between the industrialized north and the agrarian and slavery-practicing south, during the time of the exceptional leader, Abraham Lincoln.
“That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I’ve seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts on once busy Main Streets. I’ve heard it in the frustrations of Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear -proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game.”
“Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers can now do the same work with 100.”
“Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world…Just recently, China became the home to the world’s largest private solar research facility, and the world’s fastest computer.”
“…America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world..”
“We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business…And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there.”
Obama never talks about the big monopoly businesses that today control and plunder the planet’s resources. He never mentions the Bretton Woods accord, the system imposed on a world in ruins because of war, where the United States takes over control of the financial institutions and the International Monetary Fund, where they fiercely hold on veto power. He never says one word about the colossal con by Nixon in 1971 when he unilaterally suspended the conversion of the dollar in gold, printed US dollars without any sort of limits, and acquired uncountable goods and riches in the world, for which he primarily paid with paper, whose value over 40 years has fallen to 2.5% of what it was worth then.
On the other hand, Obama likes to tell poetic tales about small businesses to supposedly dazzle, captivate and move the audience who are not warned about the reality. His speech, style and tone all seem designed to have the audience listen, like well-behaved children, to his moving stories.
“Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company. After September 11th, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon. But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert’s words, ‘We reinvented ourselves.’”
“We’re issuing a challenge. We’re telling America’s scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we’ll fund the Apollo projects of our time.”
Then, without pause, he took our breath away:
“At the California Institute of Technology, they’re developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars.”
The planet has been saved! Or, at least, it won’t perish due to an excess of CO2 or for lack of energy. It reminds me of something that happened over 40 years ago when a group of young enterprising scientists spoke to me with great enthusiasm about this same idea, based on theoretic principles. My blind faith in science led me to go find everything that they asked for, including an isolated facility where they would work for years with such enthusiasm that even when a motor blew up and almost killed a group of them, they continued their research.
I’m not denying anything, and much less of a great institute of California, but please Mr. President, share this information with the world so that other scientists can work on this same project. It is not a matter of profits, humanity would be prepared to pay anything your scientists want, and I am almost sure that even Michael Moore would applaud were you to then receive 10 Nobel prizes.
After another encouraging comment about Oak Ridge National Laboratory and supercomputers installed so that nuclear plants can produce more energy, the president assured us: “With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuel, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. (Applause.)”
Unruffled the president continued:
“Think about it. Over the next 10 years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren’t even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us -as citizens, and as parents- are willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.”
“…we will reach the goal that I set two years ago: By the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. (Applause.)”
“Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.”
Of course, we are expected to excuse this fostering of brain drain, which our friend Obama has no interest in trying to hide, we must excuse him given his passion for science and healthy competition.
“The third step in winning the future is rebuilding America. To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information -from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet.”
“Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do. Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports.”
“…over the last two years, we’ve begun rebuilding for the 21st century, a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. And tonight, I’m proposing that we redouble those efforts.”
“Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail.”
“Within the next five years, we’ll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans… It’s about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world.”
“…this will make America a better place to do business and create jobs.”
“…a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries.”
“…we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014 -because the more we export, the more jobs we create here at home… [...]Recently, we signed agreements with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States.”
“…I made it clear … that I would only sign deals that keep faith with American workers and promote American jobs…that’s what I intend to do as we pursue agreements with Panama and Colombia …”
Some of the things Obama talked about give an idea of the dramatic suffering endured by the poorest segments in his own country in the midst of the 21st century. For example, he said:
“I’m not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered.”
“We are living with a legacy of deficit spending that began almost a decade ago. And in the wake of the financial crisis, some of that was necessary to keep credit flowing, save jobs, and put money in people’s pockets.”
“….. tonight, I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years.”
“The Secretary of Defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without.”
“And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply can’t afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. (Applause.) Before we take money away from our schools or scholarships away from our students, we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break.”
“Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White House has already done — put that information online.”
I think the mere presence of an army of lobbyists working and negotiating with members of Congress is a shameful fact for any civilized country.
“…. America’s moral example must always shine for all who yearn for freedom and justice and dignity”, Mr. Obama tells us, and immediately passes on to another theme.
“Look to Iraq, where nearly 100,000 of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high.”
Mission accomplished!, I remembered.
“Because Republicans and Democrats approved the New START treaty, far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed.”
“Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian government now faces tougher sanctions, tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean Peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons.”
The President, as I could observe, did not mention a single word about the selective assassination of Iranian scientists by the intelligence agencies of the United States and its allies, about which he knew full well.
Instead, he expanded the information for us:
“This is just a part of how we’re shaping a world that favors peace and prosperity. With our European allies, we revitalized NATO and increased our cooperation on everything from counterterrorism to missile defense.”
Of course our illustrious friend did not say a word about the urgent need to prevent global warming from continuing its rapid increase, or the catastrophic rains and snow that have just struck the world, or the food crisis that now threatens 80 countries of the third world, and of course the tens of millions of tons of corn and soybeans that large U.S. companies are devoting to the production of biofuel, while the world’s population, already at 6.9 billion, will rise to 7 billion within 18 months.
“This March, I will travel to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador to forge new alliances across the Americas.”
In Brazil, of course, he will be able to learn of the devastation and the deaths and disappearances caused by the unprecedented rains that have just taken place in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It will undoubtedly be an occasion for self criticism that the U.S. refused to sign the Kyoto agreement, and promoted under his own government, the suicidal policy of Copenhagen.
In Chile, the politics now get complicated. Presumably, someone must pay tribute to Salvador Allende and to the thousands of Chileans murdered under the dictatorship of Pinochet, imposed on Chile by the United States. This is compounded by what I explain next. Another embarrassing situation is expected to occur in El Salvador, where American supplied weapons and forces trained and educated in U.S. counter-insurgency military schools, tortured and committed horrible crimes against the combatants of the FMLN, whose party won the electoral vote most recently.
It is almost impossible to believe what you read then, when the President says:
“Around the globe, we’re standing with those who take responsibility — helping farmers grow more food, supporting doctors who care for the sick,….”
Many people know what America did with our doctors in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, hatching plans to promote defections and offering them visas and money in the United States to abandon their hard and dedicated work. Everybody knows about the free trade agreements and the massive subsidies on U.S. agricultural products to ruin the cereal and grain producers in Latin America. With these practices they ruined the production of cereals and maize in Mexico, making it dependent on U.S. agriculture.
In countries as poor as Haiti, which supplied nearly all its own rice, the transnational companies ruined the production with its subsidized surpluses and kept the country from supplying this commodity and from offering increasing employment to thousands of Haitian workers.
Now it turns out, according to Obama’s speech, America is the Olympic champion of medical help and administrative honesty in the world. These issues are extensive and difficult to collect in a single reflection.
We recall that the industrialized countries are the main looters of physicians and research scientists of the third world. The U.S. military budget exceeds that of all the other countries combined, its arms exports are double or triple if compared to those of the other states; their deployed nuclear arsenals number over 5,000 strategic weapons, it has more than 500 military bases overseas; its nuclear aircraft carriers and naval fleets dominate the seas of the planet. Is the American dream to be a model for the world? Who is the President of the United States trying to fool with that speech?
In the final pages of his delirious message he said:
“That dream is why I can stand here before you tonight. That dream is why a working-class kid from Scranton can sit behind me. (Laughter and applause.) That dream is why someone who began by sweeping the floors of his father’s Cincinnati bar can preside as Speaker of the House in the greatest nation on Earth.”
“And that dream is the story of a small business owner named Brandon Fisher.
“Brandon started a company in Berlin, Pennsylvania, that specializes in a new kind of drilling technology. And one day last summer, he saw the news that halfway across the world, 33 men were trapped in a Chilean mine, and no one knew how to save them.”
“But Brandon thought his company could help. And so he designed a rescue that would come to be known as Plan B. His employees worked around the clock to manufacture the necessary drilling equipment. And Brandon left for Chile.”
“Along with others, he began drilling a 2,000-foot hole into the ground, working three- or four-hour — three or four days at a time without any sleep. Thirty-seven days later, Plan B succeeded, and the miners were rescued. (Applause.) But because he didn’t want all of the attention, Brandon wasn’t there when the miners emerged. He’d already gone back home, back to work on his next project.”
“And later, one of his employees said of the rescue, “We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things.” (Applause.)”
Obama spoke the night of the 25th for the 26th.. Today January 27, the American news agency AP reported to the world press as follows:
“The head of the rescue workers who recovered 33 miners alive after being trapped for 69 days at the bottom of a mine in Chile corrected President Barack Obama on the role of an American in the rescue.
“‘Believing that they were the only participants in the success, I think is too much. It does not seem right,” Chilean engineer Jorge Sougarret, who led the rescue of the miners in October, told the El Mercurio daily.
“Obama said that Brandon Fisher,” … saw a news story that came from across the world, that 33 men were trapped in a mine in Chile and no one knew how they could be saved. ”
“… Fisher ‘chose a rescue project, known as Plan B. His employees worked against the clock to manufacture the equipment necessary for rescue. Thirty-seven days after Plan B was successful and the miners were rescued. ”
“Sougarret said that Fisher did not design the rescue plan, one of the three that were used to bring the miners to the surface, but his company provided the hammers used for drilling. And he was paid $ 100,000 for the hammers.
“‘What they did was to provide us with this technique, as there were others. It was not exclusive. That’s why it was called Plan B. And Plan A and C continued to operate. Therefore what they did is not a unique operation. No doubt that his complete team took part and made it possible for us to achieve success,” said Sougarret.
“The head of the rescuers, manager of one of the five major state-owned copper deposits, said the technical team composed of the state-owned Codelco and two major private mining companies decided the implementation of Plan B, which was successfully completed on October 13 with the rescue using a tube inserted through the hole.”
Alter extolling the prowess of the small Center Rock business, regardless of the personal merits of young Brandon Fisher, Obama, in his unbridled advocacy which led him to not even mention the efforts of the Chilean rescuers, who labored arduously for weeks to save the trapped miners, ended his inflamed lecture:
“The idea of America endures. Our destiny remains our choice. And tonight, more than two centuries later, it’s because of our people that our future is hopeful, our journey goes forward, and the state of our union is strong.”
“Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.” (Applause.)
It is difficult for God to bless so many lies.
Enero 27 de 2011
7 y 12 p.m.
Traducción: Embajada de Cuba en la República de Bolivia.
Versión original en inglés.
The State of the Union
After his January 12 address at the University of Tucson, Arizona, on the massacre that had took place four days earlier, people awaited with interest for the US president’s speech on the same topic. Six people died and fourteen were injured, including young Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was elected to the United States Congress for the third time and had been opposed to the anti-immigration law in Arizona, a state that was part of the territory snatched from Mexico in the unjust war of 1848.
The Tea Party, the rightwing fascist element of the Republican Party, gained a notable victory of the voters who bothered to come out and vote in the elections.
The people of Arizona, as in the rest of the United States, reacted with indignation. Their behavior was without a doubt the right thing to do, and that is what I said.
I have never doubted the ethics that usually characterize the people, independent of the policy of governments.
If that address by Obama was lacking, in terms of addressing the incredible demonstration of primitivism reflected in the widespread and practically unrestricted use of lethal firearms, his State of the Union address deserves an ethical and political analysis since, independently of the president and the congress, the United States is a superpower upon which the human species, and several other important factors, depend.
No country on its own should look for or can come up with answers to the problems that the world faces today.
In the first place, Obama is engulfed in an electoral process. He has to speak for both the democrats and republicans, those who vote, those who don’t vote, multimillionaires and beggars, Protestants and Catholics, Christians and Muslims, believers and nonbelievers, blacks and whites, those who support stem cell research and those who don’t support it, homosexuals and heterosexuals, every citizen and their counterpart, to end by saying that they are all Americans, as if the remaining 95.5%, or 6.9 billion inhabitants on the rest of the planet did not exist
Obama dives into this subject on the first pages of his address that lasted an hour:
“At stake right now is not who wins the next election…at stake is whether new jobs and industries take root… it’s whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but the light to the world.
“We are poised for progress…the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.”
Immediately following these words, Obama tried to move us with a passage that seems to be taken straight from a US movie that my generation will remember, Gone with the Wind, about the terrible civil war between the industrialized north and the agrarian and slavery-practicing south, during the time of the exceptional leader, Abraham Lincoln.
“That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I’ve seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts on once busy Main Streets. I’ve heard it in the frustrations of Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear -proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game.”
“Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers can now do the same work with 100.”
“Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world…Just recently, China became the home to the world’s largest private solar research facility, and the world’s fastest computer.”
“…America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world..”
“We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business…And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there.”
Obama never talks about the big monopoly businesses that today control and plunder the planet’s resources. He never mentions the Bretton Woods accord, the system imposed on a world in ruins because of war, where the United States takes over control of the financial institutions and the International Monetary Fund, where they fiercely hold on veto power. He never says one word about the colossal con by Nixon in 1971 when he unilaterally suspended the conversion of the dollar in gold, printed US dollars without any sort of limits, and acquired uncountable goods and riches in the world, for which he primarily paid with paper, whose value over 40 years has fallen to 2.5% of what it was worth then.
On the other hand, Obama likes to tell poetic tales about small businesses to supposedly dazzle, captivate and move the audience who are not warned about the reality. His speech, style and tone all seem designed to have the audience listen, like well-behaved children, to his moving stories.
“Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company. After September 11th, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon. But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert’s words, ‘We reinvented ourselves.’”
“We’re issuing a challenge. We’re telling America’s scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we’ll fund the Apollo projects of our time.”
Then, without pause, he took our breath away:
“At the California Institute of Technology, they’re developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars.”
The planet has been saved! Or, at least, it won’t perish due to an excess of CO2 or for lack of energy. It reminds me of something that happened over 40 years ago when a group of young enterprising scientists spoke to me with great enthusiasm about this same idea, based on theoretic principles. My blind faith in science led me to go find everything that they asked for, including an isolated facility where they would work for years with such enthusiasm that even when a motor blew up and almost killed a group of them, they continued their research.
I’m not denying anything, and much less of a great institute of California, but please Mr. President, share this information with the world so that other scientists can work on this same project. It is not a matter of profits, humanity would be prepared to pay anything your scientists want, and I am almost sure that even Michael Moore would applaud were you to then receive 10 Nobel prizes.
After another encouraging comment about Oak Ridge National Laboratory and supercomputers installed so that nuclear plants can produce more energy, the president assured us: “With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuel, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. (Applause.)”
Unruffled the president continued:
“Think about it. Over the next 10 years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren’t even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us -as citizens, and as parents- are willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.”
“…we will reach the goal that I set two years ago: By the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. (Applause.)”
“Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.”
Of course, we are expected to excuse this fostering of brain drain, which our friend Obama has no interest in trying to hide, we must excuse him given his passion for science and healthy competition.
“The third step in winning the future is rebuilding America. To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information -from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet.”
“Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do. Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports.”
“…over the last two years, we’ve begun rebuilding for the 21st century, a project that has meant thousands of good jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. And tonight, I’m proposing that we redouble those efforts.”
“Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail.”
“Within the next five years, we’ll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans… It’s about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world.”
“…this will make America a better place to do business and create jobs.”
“…a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries.”
“…we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014 -because the more we export, the more jobs we create here at home… [...]Recently, we signed agreements with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States.”
“…I made it clear … that I would only sign deals that keep faith with American workers and promote American jobs…that’s what I intend to do as we pursue agreements with Panama and Colombia …”
Some of the things Obama talked about give an idea of the dramatic suffering endured by the poorest segments in his own country in the midst of the 21st century. For example, he said:
“I’m not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered.”
“We are living with a legacy of deficit spending that began almost a decade ago. And in the wake of the financial crisis, some of that was necessary to keep credit flowing, save jobs, and put money in people’s pockets.”
“….. tonight, I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years.”
“The Secretary of Defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without.”
“And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply can’t afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. (Applause.) Before we take money away from our schools or scholarships away from our students, we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break.”
“Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White House has already done — put that information online.”
I think the mere presence of an army of lobbyists working and negotiating with members of Congress is a shameful fact for any civilized country.
“…. America’s moral example must always shine for all who yearn for freedom and justice and dignity”, Mr. Obama tells us, and immediately passes on to another theme.
“Look to Iraq, where nearly 100,000 of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high.”
Mission accomplished!, I remembered.
“Because Republicans and Democrats approved the New START treaty, far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed.”
“Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian government now faces tougher sanctions, tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean Peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons.”
The President, as I could observe, did not mention a single word about the selective assassination of Iranian scientists by the intelligence agencies of the United States and its allies, about which he knew full well.
Instead, he expanded the information for us:
“This is just a part of how we’re shaping a world that favors peace and prosperity. With our European allies, we revitalized NATO and increased our cooperation on everything from counterterrorism to missile defense.”
Of course our illustrious friend did not say a word about the urgent need to prevent global warming from continuing its rapid increase, or the catastrophic rains and snow that have just struck the world, or the food crisis that now threatens 80 countries of the third world, and of course the tens of millions of tons of corn and soybeans that large U.S. companies are devoting to the production of biofuel, while the world’s population, already at 6.9 billion, will rise to 7 billion within 18 months.
“This March, I will travel to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador to forge new alliances across the Americas.”
In Brazil, of course, he will be able to learn of the devastation and the deaths and disappearances caused by the unprecedented rains that have just taken place in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It will undoubtedly be an occasion for self criticism that the U.S. refused to sign the Kyoto agreement, and promoted under his own government, the suicidal policy of Copenhagen.
In Chile, the politics now get complicated. Presumably, someone must pay tribute to Salvador Allende and to the thousands of Chileans murdered under the dictatorship of Pinochet, imposed on Chile by the United States. This is compounded by what I explain next. Another embarrassing situation is expected to occur in El Salvador, where American supplied weapons and forces trained and educated in U.S. counter-insurgency military schools, tortured and committed horrible crimes against the combatants of the FMLN, whose party won the electoral vote most recently.
It is almost impossible to believe what you read then, when the President says:
“Around the globe, we’re standing with those who take responsibility — helping farmers grow more food, supporting doctors who care for the sick,….”
Many people know what America did with our doctors in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, hatching plans to promote defections and offering them visas and money in the United States to abandon their hard and dedicated work. Everybody knows about the free trade agreements and the massive subsidies on U.S. agricultural products to ruin the cereal and grain producers in Latin America. With these practices they ruined the production of cereals and maize in Mexico, making it dependent on U.S. agriculture.
In countries as poor as Haiti, which supplied nearly all its own rice, the transnational companies ruined the production with its subsidized surpluses and kept the country from supplying this commodity and from offering increasing employment to thousands of Haitian workers.
Now it turns out, according to Obama’s speech, America is the Olympic champion of medical help and administrative honesty in the world. These issues are extensive and difficult to collect in a single reflection.
We recall that the industrialized countries are the main looters of physicians and research scientists of the third world. The U.S. military budget exceeds that of all the other countries combined, its arms exports are double or triple if compared to those of the other states; their deployed nuclear arsenals number over 5,000 strategic weapons, it has more than 500 military bases overseas; its nuclear aircraft carriers and naval fleets dominate the seas of the planet. Is the American dream to be a model for the world? Who is the President of the United States trying to fool with that speech?
In the final pages of his delirious message he said:
“That dream is why I can stand here before you tonight. That dream is why a working-class kid from Scranton can sit behind me. (Laughter and applause.) That dream is why someone who began by sweeping the floors of his father’s Cincinnati bar can preside as Speaker of the House in the greatest nation on Earth.”
“And that dream is the story of a small business owner named Brandon Fisher.
“Brandon started a company in Berlin, Pennsylvania, that specializes in a new kind of drilling technology. And one day last summer, he saw the news that halfway across the world, 33 men were trapped in a Chilean mine, and no one knew how to save them.”
“But Brandon thought his company could help. And so he designed a rescue that would come to be known as Plan B. His employees worked around the clock to manufacture the necessary drilling equipment. And Brandon left for Chile.”
“Along with others, he began drilling a 2,000-foot hole into the ground, working three- or four-hour — three or four days at a time without any sleep. Thirty-seven days later, Plan B succeeded, and the miners were rescued. (Applause.) But because he didn’t want all of the attention, Brandon wasn’t there when the miners emerged. He’d already gone back home, back to work on his next project.”
“And later, one of his employees said of the rescue, “We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things.” (Applause.)”
Obama spoke the night of the 25th for the 26th.. Today January 27, the American news agency AP reported to the world press as follows:
“The head of the rescue workers who recovered 33 miners alive after being trapped for 69 days at the bottom of a mine in Chile corrected President Barack Obama on the role of an American in the rescue.
“‘Believing that they were the only participants in the success, I think is too much. It does not seem right,” Chilean engineer Jorge Sougarret, who led the rescue of the miners in October, told the El Mercurio daily.
“Obama said that Brandon Fisher,” … saw a news story that came from across the world, that 33 men were trapped in a mine in Chile and no one knew how they could be saved. ”
“… Fisher ‘chose a rescue project, known as Plan B. His employees worked against the clock to manufacture the equipment necessary for rescue. Thirty-seven days after Plan B was successful and the miners were rescued. ”
“Sougarret said that Fisher did not design the rescue plan, one of the three that were used to bring the miners to the surface, but his company provided the hammers used for drilling. And he was paid $ 100,000 for the hammers.
“‘What they did was to provide us with this technique, as there were others. It was not exclusive. That’s why it was called Plan B. And Plan A and C continued to operate. Therefore what they did is not a unique operation. No doubt that his complete team took part and made it possible for us to achieve success,” said Sougarret.
“The head of the rescuers, manager of one of the five major state-owned copper deposits, said the technical team composed of the state-owned Codelco and two major private mining companies decided the implementation of Plan B, which was successfully completed on October 13 with the rescue using a tube inserted through the hole.”
Alter extolling the prowess of the small Center Rock business, regardless of the personal merits of young Brandon Fisher, Obama, in his unbridled advocacy which led him to not even mention the efforts of the Chilean rescuers, who labored arduously for weeks to save the trapped miners, ended his inflamed lecture:
“The idea of America endures. Our destiny remains our choice. And tonight, more than two centuries later, it’s because of our people that our future is hopeful, our journey goes forward, and the state of our union is strong.”
“Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.” (Applause.)
It is difficult for God to bless so many lies.
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 27, 2011.
7.12 pm
January 27, 2011.
7.12 pm
No hay comentarios. :
Publicar un comentario