Diplomatic cables reveal aggressive GM lobbying by US officials

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Guardian

American diplomats lobbied aggressively overseas to promote genetically modified (GM) food crops such as soy beans, an analysis of official cable traffic revealed on Tuesday.

The review of more than 900 diplomatic cables by the campaign group Food and Water Watch showed a carefully crafted campaign to break down resistance to GM products in Europe and other countries, and so help promote the bottom line of big American agricultural businesses.

The cables, which first surfaced with the Wikileaks disclosures two years ago, described a series of separate public relations strategies, unrolled at dozens of press junkets and biotech conferences, aimed at convincing scientists, media, industry, farmers, elected officials and others of the safety and benefits of GM products.

The report offers a further glimpse of the power of the agricultural and biotech industries in America, after the supreme court came down on the side of Monsanto in its effort to enforce its patented GM soybeans.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/15/diplomatic-cables-gm-lobbying-us

[lovuian]

1. this has been a US GOVERNMENT agenda...GMO

GMO was created by the US and supported by the US ....the evidence is there

but why has our tax dollars gone to support a pesticide company ?
Destruction of a countries food supply ....is a way to control a country

the world rejection of GMO will be the big test ...on maintaining their freedom from the New World Order

[fasttense]

2. The US is nothing but a corporate tool

And Monsanto is NOT the only corporation the US directly supports and funds.

Our country is owned lock, stock and barrel by corporate capitalists and Wall Street banksters. We are no longer a country of, by and for the people. Nor do laws rule us anymore. We are ruled by the whim of elite corporate capitalists and banksters. Whatever they feel is the best for their profits is what this country does. Nothing matters to the federal government except what Wall Street banksters need or what a support a corporate billionaire desires. Their whims, their desires, their feelings is what moves this country. We, the workers and mass of citizens, are merely consumers, and hired help, servants to their every desire.

[bemildred]

3. Corporations own the government, the own the country, what do you expect? nt

[Judi Lynn]

4. This isn't the image people associated since childhood with diplomacy,

for honking chrissakes.

Nothing concerning our government even vaguely resembles what we were taught to believe.

What an ugly awakening.

What an ugly job it actually is being a "diplomat." No friend to the people of any country.

[GeoWilliam750]

5. Why might this be a surprise?

Take a close look at TPP, the pacific rim trade trade agreement that will be binding on all of its participants.

Except you can't. It is all secret. US senators cannot get access

[Octafish]

6. Government of the Corporations. By the Corporations. And for the Corporations.

Monsanto rules.

[KoKo]

7. And we should thank WikiLeaks and Food & Water Watch for this information!

Is this another reason why Obama Administration is so determined to go after and severely punish Whistleblowers? And, why they want Assange? How would we have know about this if it hadn't been for the release of those diplomatic cables. And, why are USDiplomats involved in working for Corporations abroad? Shouldn't what Diplomats do be open to the public? We pay their salaries! Or...do we? Now it's Monsanto that pays their salaries, I guess.

The review of more than 900 diplomatic cables by the campaign group Food and Water Watch showed a carefully crafted campaign to break down resistance to GM products in Europe and other countries, and so help promote the bottom line of big American agricultural businesses.

The cables, which first surfaced with the Wikileaks disclosures two years ago, described a series of separate public relations strategies, unrolled at dozens of press junkets and biotech conferences, aimed at convincing scientists, media, industry, farmers, elected officials and others of the safety and benefits of GM products.

The report offers a further glimpse of the power of the agricultural and biotech industries in America, after the supreme court came down on the side of Monsanto in its effort to enforce its patented GM soybeans.

[forestpath]

8. Is Obama's entire administration nothing but corporate sleazebags?

[City Lights]

9. Corporations rule the world.

[Peace Patriot]

10. U.S./Bush Junta's retaliation plan against countries, on behalf of Monsanto

The end of the article reveals both the date of the cables (Bush Junta, '07) and that they were planning to get ugly against countries that resisted Monsanto GMOs.

--------

"In a 2007 cable, released during the earlier Wikileaks disclosures, Craig Stapleton, a friend and former business partner of George Bush, advised Washington to draw up a target list in Europe in response to a move by France to ban a variety of GM Monsanto corn.

"Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits," Stapleton wrote at the time.

"The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices," he wrote." --from the OP

---------

On first reading, I was not sure what "Country team Paris" is, but now suspect that it means the U.S. diplomatic team in France. The article does not explain. I had to go to Wiki to find out that Stapleton was the U.S. (Bush Junta) ambassador to France in 2007 (thru July 2009) and was not just a Bush Jr. business crony. My first read on this section of the article was that it was a Bush Jr. business crony advising the Bushwhack State Department and maybe the U.S. diplomats in Paris to create a retaliation list.

So it was the U.S. AMBASSADOR advising a retaliation campaign against European countries that didn't bend over for Monsanto.

The article also doesn't make clear the range of dates of the cables. I had to go to the Food and Water Watch report's executive summary (well worth reading, by the way) to find out that the cables covered the 2005 to 2009 period. This places the blame squarely on the Bush Junta for yet another horrible U.S. policy.

This is very important information that is fuddled in the article. Annoying! But at least the Guardian reported on it.

And, clearly we owe Bradley Manning and Julian Assange Public Service Medals for bringing this information to us.

But for these heroes, we would not have this information--and one has been smeared as a "traitor," and imprisoned and tortured, and the other has been smeared as a "sex fiend" (the latter by a quite elaborate CIA-style dirty op).

Beware, beware of these kinds of smears against people who challenge the Empire!