Water privatization by the richest rich is happening now ("hydraulic empire") incl. the Bush family

[Fire Walk With Me]

Last edited Thu Aug 15, 2013, 10:33 AM - Edit history (1)

Citigroup are a large player in this; note their presence twice among the following articles and the leaked memos linked at the end of this OP. I posted most of this back in March but am now adding the Citigroup links and Nestle video, which I and others have previously posted. Note that the Bush family have since the mid 2000s owned the world's largest aquifer:


Nestle are the 27th largest corporation in the world and the largest "foodstuff" interest. Here is video, beginning at about 1:58, of Nestle's then (2005) CEO clearly stating that water is not a human right, that it should be owned and sold.

8 Ways Privatization Has Brought Pain and Misery to American Life via xchrom
http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/8-ways-privatization-has-brought-pain-and-misery-american-life

"A Citigroup economist gushed, 'Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals.'"



Profiting from Your Thirst as Global Elite Rush to Control Water Worldwide
http://climatesoscanada.org/blog/2013/02/15/profiting-from-your-thirst-as-global-elite-rush-to-control-water-worldwide/

MENTIONS CITIGROUP ACTION IN 2007:

Citigroup is aggressively raising funds for its war chest to participate in the coming tidal wave of infrastructure privatization: in 2007 it established a new unit called Citi Infrastructure Investors through its Citi Alternative Investments unit. According to Reuters, Citigroup “assembled some of the biggest names in the infrastructure business at the same time it is building a $3 billion fund, including $500 million of its own capital. The fund, according to a person familiar with the situation, will have only a handful of outside investors and will be focused on assets in developed markets” (May 16, 2007). Citigroup initially sought only U.S.$3 billion for its first infrastructure fund but was seeking U.S.$5 billion in April 2008 (Bloomberg, April 7, 2008).

Citigroup partnered with HSBC Bank, Prudential, and other minor partners to acquire U.K.’s water utility Kelda (Yorkshire Water) in November 2007. This week, Citigroup signed a 99-year lease with the City of Chicago for Chicago’s Midway Airport (it partnered with John Hancock Life Insurance Company and a Canadian private airport operator). Insiders said that Citigroup is among those bidding for the state-owned company Letiste Praha which operates the Prague Airport in the Czech Republic (Bloomberg, February 7, 2008).

The elite multinational and Wall Street banks and investment banks have been preparing and waiting for this golden moment for years. Over the past few years, they have amassed war chests of infrastructure funds to privatize water, municipal services, and utilities all over the world. It will be extremely difficult to reverse this privatization trend in water. (Emphasis mine)

snip

The lands purchased by the Bush family sit over not only South America’s largest aquifer — but the world’s as well — Acuifero Guaraní, which runs beneath Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. This aquifer is larger than Texas and California combined.

(So check that again...the Bush family own the world's largest aquifer. Think they're harmless when not in government?)


Bill C-45 removes 99% of Canada's lakes and rivers from the protected list
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/12/27/ns-protected-waterways-bill.html?cmp=rss

Greeks Stand Up to Protect Their Water From Privatization:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022168806

Nestle Group -"Access to Water Is Not Your Right"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022179129


Enron, an enormous supporter and contributor to George W. Bush, were early adopters of the hydraulic empire (via KamaAina) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurix

Azurix Corp. is a water services company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owned and operated facilities in North America (mainly Canada), Europe, and South America. In 2007, Azurix was awarded a $165 million claim against the government of Argentina by an international arbitrator, the company is currently involved in a dispute over Argentina's refusal to pay the claim.

Azurix was formed when Enron Corporation purchased Wessex Water in 1998. In June 1999 it was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange, with Enron retaining 34% ownership. The company was formed with an IPO of $800 million and an opening stock price of $22.00, which fell to $2.00 within two years. The business was a disaster for Enron, and in April 2001 Enron announced it would break up Azurix and sell its assets. Enron eventually sold Azurix North America and Azurix Industrial Operations to American Water Works for $141.5 million.

(Enron also met with Arnold Schwarzenegger before they intentionally caused the rolling power blackouts in California which inconvenienced Californians to the point of demanding a run-off election to replace the Governor...and Arnold “won”. Note that the same energy embargo tactic was used on Jimmy Carter by OPEC, who are Bush family friends. The same Bush who was head of the CIA and now is buying up water.)


Food Security in the Age of “Water Grabbing”
http://foodtank.org/news/2013/02/food-security-in-the-age-of-water-grabbing#.UTQaRuGLZsM.twitter


Note Citigroup's involvement. Read their thoughts and words in their own frank language in the three leaked "Plutonomy" memos.

Read the three leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memos, “Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”, “Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”, and "The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts" :
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/

And this article only touches upon the water grab. Privatization of vital resources is ongoing world-wide. Saudis (Bush friends) seek to divest. Note that in the third memo, globalization is mentioned as a prime driver of Plutonomy.



Edit Aug. 15:

Texas town runs out of water after using it for fracking

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/08/fracking-texas-drought-climate-change

"The day that we ran out of water I turned on my faucet and nothing was there and at that moment I knew the whole of Barnhart was down the tubes," she said, blinking back tears. "I went: 'Dear God, help us.' That was the first thought that came to mind."

snip

So what is a town like Barnhart to do? Fracking is a powerful drain on water supplies. In adjacent Crockett County, fracking accounts for up to 25 percent of water use, according to the groundwater conservation district. But Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, argues fracking is not the only reason Texas is going dry—and nor is the drought. The latest shocks to the water system come after decades of overuse by ranchers, cotton farmers, and fast-growing, thirsty cities.

"We have large urban centers sucking water out of West Texas to put on their lands. We have a huge agricultural community, and now we have fracking which is also using water," she said. And then there is climate change.

West Texas has a long history of recurring drought, but under climate change, the Southwest has been experiencing record-breaking heat waves, further drying out the soil and speeding the evaporation of water in lakes and reservoirs. Underground aquifers failed to regenerate. "What happens is that climate change comes on top and in many cases it can be the final straw that breaks the camel's back, but the camel is already overloaded," said Hayhoe.

(More at the link.)



The ‘Wild West’ of groundwater: Billion-dollar Nestlé extracting B.C.’s drinking water for free
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023464038

[Berlum]

1. "All your water are belong to us." - Corporate Overlords, Inc. (R)

"Our Policy: No money, no drink. Smirk. Sneer." - Corporate Overlords, Inc. (R)

[roguevalley]

85. you die in four days without water. Someone is going to die over this and it won't be the

people. We have 330 million people and a billion guns. Do the math.

[OnyxCollie]

2. K&R. nt

[rurallib]

3. This may be one of the most important posts I have read here

and I have been here quite a while.
Controlling water is taking control to another level.

[IADEMO2004]

15. Amen. This issue has given me the cold sweats for years.

Red Oak Iowa sells water to a rural water association from the same aquifer as my well is using. I fear the day when I'm told it's not mine to use.

[rurallib]

17. The ALEC agenda eventually leads to this

but can our average voter understand this?

[savebigbird]

76. I highly doubt it.

Many voters can't even understand privatization of education.

[matthews]

74. Me too. I live in Omaha 6 blocks from the Missouri. Sometimes last year it was so low

stretches of it had to be closed to barge traffic. I watch our water table too. The University of Nebraska has excellent resources for studying the changes in our water levels or where serious drought areas are, etc.

http://snr.unl.edu/data/water/groundwatermaps.asp

**


Will The Next War Be Fought Over Water?

January 03, 2010 2:36 PM

Only 2.5 percent of the planet's water supply is fresh, Solomon writes, much of which is locked away in glaciers. World water use in the past century grew twice as fast as world population.

"We've now reached the limit where that trajectory can no longer continue," Solomon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly. "Suddenly we're going to have to find a way to use the existing water resources in a far, far more productive manner than we ever did before, because there's simply not enough."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122195532

[IrishAyes]

77. That's already happening in some places like AZ

Some states want to put meters on privately owned artesian wells. And look what the AZ energy company is doing, wanting to charge for privately owned solar setups.

[magical thyme]

96. you and me both

When I first moved to Maine, the director of the local Ag Center told us straight out that "water will be the oil of the 21st century."

I hate, hate, hate Nestle company. After they bought Poland Spring water (boycott Poland Spring, please) they sued poor, rural village after poor, rural village here in Maine trying to claim a "right" to drill for more water from our aquifers wherever. Their claim is that we don't own the water in our aquifers, therefore they have a right to it.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

35. I AGREE!!!

They make profits out our health and now our water. A privatized country.

[think]

4. K&R

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. The last sentence of your 1st paragraph is misleading.

It says;

Note that the Bush family have since the mid 2000s owned the world's largest aquifer:

Well, no they don't. Not even close, as further on down you quote an article that states that the Bush family owns land that SITS OVER the aquifer meaning they own a small piece of property on top of a much larger entity.

Now I am by no means a fan of the Bush family, but to suggest they "own the worlds largest aquifer" is hyperbole and flat out incorrect.

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. How does this differ from controlling it in its entirety?

Let's just waltz in and set up a well. Better yet, let's set up a bottling company. Oops, that's Bush land. We'll have to slant drill to access it. No, that's what got Saddam into trouble with Kuwait. Hmm...

“My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.” ~The dragon, to Grendel.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. Where do you get THAT from?

IF I claim ownership to a small square of your yard, do I control the entire yard?

How in the hell do you figure it is honest to say the Bush family OWNS THE WOLRDS LARGEST AQUIFER when it is patently NOT FUCKING TRUE?

And I see you doubled down on this with an edit.

[JDPriestly]

36. Did you watch the Nestle video?

Whether the Bush family owns the world's largest aquifer I do not know.

But I do know that the Nestle video proposes privatizing the water of the world -- forcing people to buy their water from a corporation. That is basically enslavement because to get the money for the water people can be forced to work.

There can't be any question about it.

Some are planning really is to privatize all the water and sell it to everyone.

That is really true.

I want government of, by and for the people to own ALL the water in the US. I think that private parties who want to sell the water should buy it from the rest of us, and the rest of us through our government should own it. Each person alive should have the right to drink water that costs only what is required to transport it to you. Otherwise, water should be free. No one should be able to own privately the most fundamental basic -- life itself. And that is what water is -- life itself.

[A HERETIC I AM]

38. I've seen the video before. It's not news.

My argument is with the statement made in the OP. You read it and presumably my two posts above. It is WRONG to say what he said. It's a flat out lie.

As far as the argument you are putting forth, I tend to agree with most of it in principle, but the fact is, unless you live in an area that gets regular rainfall and are willing to collect your own rainwater, then you are going to need to pay for SOME sort of water infrastructure. If you have tap water then you already do. Even if you have your own wells you have paid for the wells to be dug, the pumps, the pipes, etc. Water isn't truly free to hardly anyone in this world that wants clean, safe water delivered to their home under pressure.

Is it right that a handful of companies are able to monopolize large aquifirs?

No, it isn't.

Should clean, safe water be available to all humans on the planet?

Yes. Absolutely.

Is it reasonable to expect the above to be done for no cost?

No, it isn't

And finally,

Does the Bush family OWN the worlds largest aquifir?

NO...they fucking don't.

[JDPriestly]

63. Should clean, safe water be avilable to all humans on the planet?

It's the job of governments to make sure it is.

The water in the State of California belongs, by law, to the State of California.

California Water Code

102. All water within the State is the property of the people of
the State, but the right to the use of water may be acquired by
appropriation in the manner provided by law.


104. It is hereby declared that the people of the State have a
paramount interest in the use of all the water of the State and that
the State shall determine what water of the State, surface and
underground, can be converted to public use or controlled for public
protection.



105. It is hereby declared that the protection of the public
interest in the development of the water resources of the State is of
vital concern to the people of the State and that the State shall
determine in what way the water of the State, both surface and
underground, should be developed for the greatest public benefit.




106. It is hereby declared to be the established policy of this
State that the use of water for domestic purposes is the highest use
of water and that the next highest use is for irrigation.



106.3. (a) It is hereby declared to be the established policy of
the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean,
affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption,
cooking, and sanitary purposes.
(b) All relevant state agencies, including the department, the
state board, and the State Department of Public Health, shall
consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing
policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies,
regulations, and criteria are pertinent to the uses of water
described in this section.
(c) This section does not expand any obligation of the state to
provide water or to require the expenditure of additional resources
to develop water infrastructure beyond the obligations that may exist
pursuant to subdivision (b).
(d) This section shall not apply to water supplies for new
development.
(e) The implementation of this section shall not infringe on the
rights or responsibilities of any public water system.


http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=wat&group=00001-01000&file=100-112

We have an entire statutory code solely concerned with water.

[Fire Walk With Me]

66. Great. By your logic, I can march onto your front lawn and set up a business anytime I please.

Because the Bush family may have fenced off and guarded THEIR PROPERTY and won't allow anyone on it, thereby controlling what lies beneath. The aquifer may be tapped off the property but I'll bet they won't like it and would work to "fix" the problem.

"Lie". Technicality much? Because the very rich don't care about such things unless they can benefit from them. They live by different laws as much as they can.

[A HERETIC I AM]

70. And by YOUR logic the owner of a 1000 acre farm in Nebraska...

"Owns" the entirety of the Ogallala Aquifer.

You said the Bush family "Owns" the worlds largest aquifer.

It is a patently untrue statement which you REFUSE to back away from.

Have a pleasant evening.

[sabrina 1]

80. Why do you think the Bushes have an interest in owning even a tiny part of an aquifier?

Do you think it is to benefit human beings? And if they believe it is worth investing in, even a smidgeon of anything to do with water, should we smile and feel everything is okay with the world because the murderous, criminal Bush family Empire is looking out for the interests of the people of the planet?

I frankly don't care whether they own just a tiny interest in water or the 'biggest aquifier in the world'. Just seeing that name associated once again with the privatization of water sends shivers through MY spine.

I remember when we learned of their interest in water not so long ago, before they got rehabilitated by Democrats sadly. The reaction was appropriate at that time.

I'm seeing a lot of defense of the Bushes lately, and their policies, in one form or another and I am stunned to be honest.

I would allow any member of the criminal family to own a single well. But then if I had anything to do with it, Junior would be in jail for life and no more threat to the world and its people.

[A HERETIC I AM]

91. Dammit, I'm not defending them, for fucks sake.

I am just calling out a error in the OP, that's all.

They are and have been for almost a century, a toxic influence on this country and the world.

But an untruth is an untruth, regardless of the reputation of those to whom it is spoken.

Why is it so many DU'ers insist that if a fellow member does not agree 100 % with a POV then he or she is automatically shoved entirely to the other side?

Is no value given to accuracy?

So long as it supports a preferred point of view, I have long suspected not.

[Fire Walk With Me]

95. You called it a "lie". That means I'd know it's not true and am presenting it as if it were.

Which is decidedly not the case. Not very interested in conversing as a result.

[mattclearing]

90. You could say the same thing about food. n/t

[blm]

40. Rev Moon bought the million-plus acreage above the Guarani Aquifer and gave some

to Bush family who put up a military base nearby.

[Fire Walk With Me]

68. Oh Lord, the Moonies and the Bushies, rubbing shoulders? Worse than even my fevered imagination

could come up with

[blm]

78. Rubbing shoulders? Fer chrissakes, Rev Moon and Poppy Bush have been aligned since the 60s.

Why do you think Moon shaped the RW media machine throughout the 80s and 90s? He did it for GHWBush and between Moon and Murdoch, the Korean cult leader and the Australian extortionist, they dominated the GOP talking points.

[Fire Walk With Me]

94. I had no idea and am stunned (and it takes a lot to do that to me).

I'm aware of Moon's amazing influence (note nothing bad said about him in the US mainstream media when he died, etc.)

This is something I'm going to have to mull over and research. Things are making a LOT more sense now. Thank you.

[CrispyQ]

6. It's time to guillotine the corporate behemoths & jail some C-level officers & Board members.

We rein these beasts in or they will destroy everything good & beautiful in their unending quest for profit. Corporations are a tool for the 1% to behave however they want without consequence.

[raouldukelives]

20. Yeah, be nice. Sadly most will remain ignorant or even worse, invest and exacerbate the problems.

[marmar]

7. k/r

[a2liberal]

8. There are places now where

collecting your own rainwater (for gardening, etc.) in a rain barrel is illegal. What's more, some people on DU defend it not understanding the true motives

[ConcernedCanuk]

13. Where are these places you cannot collect rainwater?

.
.
.

I know Bechtel tried that in one country and got booted out.

But a quick google found this

http://offgridsurvival.com/rainwaterillegal/

Are we sick or what?

For us to allow our, or any government to deprive us of water(without which no life form can exist)

so millionaires can move on to be billionaires is just plain sick.

The robber barons still rule.

(sigh)

CC

[dana_b]

44. Utah and Oregon, to start

Oregon:
http://www.naturalnews.com/037040_rainwater_collection_criminalization_video.html

Utah:

depressing stuff

[Moostache]

82. "likely to stay off the state radar screen"...

What a very unfortunate choice of words to close that segment...I'm not really willing to give the government the benefot of the doubt any longer.

The profit motive run amok is evil incarnate. I don't couch any kind of deity or supreme being, but the one thing I will say they got right in the (full of) Hol(es)y Bible is the love of money as the root of all evil. I truly hope that anyone who believes cashing in on the lives of thirsty humans to fatten their portfolio and their profits dies an excruciating and violent death, preferably one that entails deserts, empty canteens and long, long hopeless walks - to contemplate their own demise...before the scavengers pluck the eyes out of their still living but doomed and soon-to-be corpses.

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. We've been talking about this for over 10 years. So far, only the very few have taken any notice.

We like to claim that humans are smart, I've yet to see any evidence to support that notion. We're pretty clever for slow, weak, bald monkeys and we are pretty good with tools, but so very few of us are really what could be described as smart. Nothing exists or matters until it effects us personally.
& R

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. Yes, Americans are most likely to act when their Personal Convenience is afflicted.

Personal, that is.

The other driver for Americans to act is to help others in need. Hopefully we won't have to get to that point with water for it to engage.

[Egalitarian Thug]

14. I hope you're right, I really do.

I must constantly remind myself that I live in one of the hardest hit and most resistant to solutions areas of the country, but I see very little of the American motivation to help those in need here. Here in Vegas, we love winners to keep them here until they become losers, and then we put them on a bus to LA.

[Dustlawyer]

12. K&R! We are the Proles! Orwell didn't know how close to the mark his book hit!

We are somewhere in b/w "1984" and "Mad Max! Limited resources and government/corporate control. Since I am talking movies becoming reality, there was a James Bond movie out a few years ago where the villain was buying up all of the water to use in some nefarious plot, now we know who that is in reality.
I love how he talks about the job creation Nestlé does and later he wistfully admires the Japanese for their automated factories with almost no workers. These guys just really suck!

[Zorra]

16. Attempted water privatization should be a federal felony and a global war crime. nt

[sabrina 1]

81. Absolutely, perfectly stated. It IS a major crime as saw in S. America when farmers were prevented

at gunpoint from accessing water they need to LIVE ON. And airc, there were mercenaries there to keep them away from the water connected to this country. I'll have to look for that story again.

[alfredo]

19. A German water speculator now owns our water. Just

Recently they announced they are going to raise our rates without PSC approval. They are challenging our state's ability to regulate private utilities.

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. Wow..what state is this? I'd love to search this out. n/t

[alfredo]

30. Lexington, Ky Kentucky American's parent company is RWE in Germany.

[OldEurope]

46. I would not call RWE a water speculator.

RWE is one of the four strongest German public utilities companies. They are searching for investments because they have to turn down the nuclear facilities in Germany. But water supply is no new business area to them and I don't think they are just speculating.

And no, I don't work for RWE, though my employer also is a supplier.

[alfredo]

50. The acquisition happened during a time when there was a lot

Of speculators getting into the water business. Their hardball tactics were not much different from Nestlé, Bectel, and Coca Cola. There was a lot of intimidation of those opposed to their buy up of our water. They sunk $3 million onto a media campaign against us. They also funded 8 RWE friendly council candidates. They bought our local government.

[OldEurope]

52. Did not know that.

Did they rise the prices since?

[alfredo]

56. My bill has nearly tripled. We no longer have local workers, it is all outsourced.

We don't even have local tech service or billing. Their campaign featured "local" workers who would profit from them buying the water company. They also implied our big bad government was too corrupt and too stupid to run our own affairs.


They sold us on the idea of increased water security for times of drought. What they did was build a pipeline from the same pool. That was the most expensive of two options. The other was to tap into an existing pipeline from the Ohio river. That would have been much cheaper and more secure.

The water company wins from making us pay for the pipeline and water plant, and the new infrastructure makes the company more valuable on paper.

It used to be the taxes used to be on the water bill. Now it is not, so the city has to go through the expense of billing us separately for the taxes. That makes the water bill appear smaller, and local government look bad for "increasing" our taxes.

[OldEurope]

57. This is really terrible!

Thank you for this information! One more reason to be thankfull that Germans managed to keep Big Business out of their water supply, at least for some time.
In France the situation is a bit different. There are one or two big suppliers but those are currently owned by the state.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. Read this article: T. Boone Pickens

Source Reading:

There Will Be Water

T. Boone Pickens wants your water

Our Drinkable Water Supply Is Vanishing

Blue Gold: T. Boone Pickens Hoarding Water Rights

T. Boone Pickens Taps Water & Wind For Land Grab

Duncan: Boone Pickens' plans to sell water aren't good for West Texas

Mesa Water (Pickens Water Company)

CP News Wire: Bush's Paraguay Land Grab

Herr Bush's Paraguayan Liquid Gold

US offers Paraguay financial support for water projects (2008)

Paraguay in a spin about Bush's alleged 100,000 acre hideaway

Pres. Bush buys 100,000acre ranch in Paraguay

Bush Reported To Have Purchased 99,000 Acres In Paraguay









http://www.newsfocus.org/water_grab.htm

[Fire Walk With Me]

23. Damn. Thank you :(

[Ichingcarpenter]

26. Plenty of links

to see the big picture. you r welcome

[Fire Walk With Me]

24. Damn, thank you :(

[alfredo]

32. Rev Moon was Bush's neighbor in Paraguay. He also wanted to monopolize the water.

[Ichingcarpenter]

37. Paraguay has one the last right wing govt

in south america, thus a refuge for scoundrels.

[midnight]

22. Filling a need, that they helped create, no doubt....

[Catherina]

27. They started overseas before that. One of the reasons we hate Evo Morales so much

is that our DLC got some US-raised and backed neoliberal in office (Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada) to install a neoliberal free-market economy. He ran on the catchy slogan of "yes we can" years before it became popular here and nothing much else.

Water privatization was what got him ousted when this asshole had the gall to tell poor Bolivians that 1/4 of their income was now going to go to Bechtel and their resources now belonged to multinationals. They had the gall to try privatize the rain water too. Riots ensued after he ordered the police to massacre peaceful protesters and he fled to the US after looting the Bolivian treasury. Bolivia keeps asking the US to honor the extradition treaty and return him to face trial for the massacre. We just thumb our nose at them and ratchet up the rhetoric against Evo Morales who had the nerve to kill off all those neoliberal reforms and improve the lot of his people instead of filling the coffers of corporate vultures.

The Bolivian poor threw them out. Surely there's a lesson to be learned there somewhere.

America's refusal to extradite Bolivia's ex-president to face genocide charges

Obama justice officials have all but granted asylum to Sánchez de Lozada – a puppet who payrolled key Democratic advisers

Glenn Greenwald
theguardian.com, Sunday 9 September 2012 19.22 BST


Thousands of Bolivian Indians rallying in La Paz to demand the resignation of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, 16 October 2003. The sign reads, 'Goni, Zorro, murderers of the people', in reference to the president and his defense minister. Photograph: Reuters/Carlos Barria

In October 2003, the intensely pro-US president of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, sent his security forces to suppress growing popular protests against the government's energy and globalization policies. Using high-powered rifles and machine guns, his military forces killed 67 men, women and children, and injured 400 more, almost all of whom were poor and from the nation's indigenous Aymara communities. Dozens of protesters had been killed by government forces in the prior months when troops were sent to suppress them.

The resulting outrage over what became known as "the Gas Wars" drove Sanchez de Lozada from office and then into exile in the United States, where he was welcomed by his close allies in the Bush administration. He has lived under a shield of asylum in the US ever since.

The Bolivians, however, have never stopped attempting to bring their former leader to justice for what they insist are his genocide and crimes against humanity: namely, ordering the killing of indigenous peaceful protesters in cold blood (as Time Magazine put it: "according to witnesses, the military fired indiscriminately and without warning in El Alto neighborhoods&quot . In 2007, Bolivian prosecutors formally charged him with genocide for the October 2003 incident, charges which were approved by the nation's supreme court.

Bolivia then demanded his extradition from the US for him to stand trial. That demand, ironically, was made pursuant to an extradition treaty signed by Sánchez de Lozada himself with the US. Civil lawsuits have also been filed against him in the US on behalf of the surviving victims.

The view that Sánchez de Lozada must be extradited from the US to stand trial is a political consensus in Bolivia, shared by the government and the main opposition party alike. But on Friday night, the Bolivian government revealed that it had just been notified by the Obama administration that the US government has refused Bolivia's extradition request:

"'Yesterday (Thursday), a document arrived from the United States, rejecting the extradition of people who have done a lot of damage to Bolivia,' leftist [President Evo] Morales, an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America, said in a speech.

"Calling the United States a 'paradise of impunity' and a 'refuge for criminals,' Morales said Washington turned down the extradition request on the grounds that a civilian leader cannot be tried for crimes committed by the military …

"Sanchez de Lozada's extradition was also demanded by opposition leaders in Bolivia and they criticized the US decision.

"Rogelio Mayta, a lawyer representing victims of the 2003 violence, said 'the US protection' of Sanchez de Lozada was not surprising.

"'It's yet another display of the US government's double moral standard,' he said."

...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/america-refusal-extradite-bolivia

Greenwald again lol! What a small world.

[L0oniX]

33. The DLC ...our enemy? O yea I can see that. Watch out. Elections coming up. The DLC will be at it.

This is why I will never vote for Clinton. I won't vote for any DLC candidate ...never. A repuke POTUS will be the fault of who ever foists a DLC primary candidate. I've / we've been thrown under the bus for the last time.

[Catherina]

45. Have you watched "Our Brand is Crisis"?

The beginning scenes of the documentary are the water riot, then it follows the DLC operative company Greenberg Carville Shrum packaging that little neoliberal thief for the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. It's hilarious to even hear their candidate speak his Gringo-Spanish. The Bolivian people will never allow that to happen again, they made sure not to fall for any slick marketing that throws them under the bus again. It's a fascinating documentary.

[dgauss]

79. Thanks for the video.

It's amazing to me these con men allowed cameras anywhere near them.

[Catherina]

92. it hurts how so clueless they are about real people that they were proud to make that documentary

Can you believe those asses? I can't get over their arrogant cluelessness. Or their arrogance of how HONORED little people should feel for paying a bunch of corporate assholes to charge them for free water.

Thanks for watching it.

[Frustratedlady]

28. Well, the next thing is air, but the Koch bros. are working on that...

Re: Detroit, and others.

[Rex]

29. Yes the greedy shitheads that have fucked up the planet

now will find a way to sale air to people and if you don't have the money, then you can just suffocate. I personally think the greedheads are WRONG, but who cares they want to kill and pillage everything not tied down.

Nothing but barbarians with cash.

[L0oniX]

31. I knew this would happen back in the eayly 70's. People thought I was nuts.

It is inevitable that the most needed resources will be potable water. You can live without food for about a month if you have water but with no water you only have about a week. This is already a life or death situation for many in the world. Here we are using what's left of the Ogallala aquifer to produce corn for feed and fuel. The Crystal River spring water resource has already been contracted out and I sure many other sources in the US have been acquired. They are stealing our publicly owned resource ...water. We better fight them ....oh fuck it ...keep watching your Dancing with the Farts shows.

These sociopaths (people like Paul Ryan) aren't playing ...they intend to kill us or do us great harm ...it is a direct threat to our lives. People like Paul Ryan want the poor to die and so do these sociopath corporations if you don't have money for them. This is the value of human life here in the God Bless America world ...no money ...no job ...you are nothing! It's been "over there" and it's now coming here. Is it time to revolt yet?

I am lucky I can afford to even be online and here typing text on DU.

[Omnith]

42. I think it is time, just say the word and I'm with you.

[They_Live]

43. Yes. If you are truly awake and informed,

you will realize that we are at war with the plutocracy.

[Bryn]

51. I watched Dr. Zhivago movie on TMC last Saturday

I'd seen it several times before, but that day I started to wonder if it'd happen here in USA. I wouldn't be surprised. That movie.. people for people took stuff from wealthy people to give back to the people, messy & bloody, yes. Reminds me of JFK's quote: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” ~ John F. Kennedy

[L0oniX]

58. I expect this to eventually happen. Our own military will kill us. n/t

[valerief]

34. When will people with guns stop protecting these assholes? nt

[blm]

39. Actually, Rev Moon bought the lands above Guarani and gave some of it to Bush Family.

.

[ananda]

41. Our dystopia is spreading.

Ouch

[mwooldri]

47. Privatised water... We were told it would be regulated...

ofwat.gov.uk - England and Wales water regulatory authority.

I'm sure when wide-scale water privatization happens in America that the regulatory authority can be "bought off". So far, in respect to England and Wales - you can get sued, your benefits cut back, etc but the water company cannot cut off your water. The City of Greensboro does disconnect on the basis of non-payment.

[PD Turk]

48. I've tried really hard

I've tried really hard to find a place of "zen" if you will, every time I hear the rich and powerful talking like this. I have really tried to tell myself, over and over, that there are better ways to handle things than resorting to violence. But, when I just heard that bastard say that something as essential to life as water is not a human right? I'm done, to hell with all of these plutocrats. If they fuck up and push it too far and find themselves in the hands of an angry mob, well, I guess I just won't give a shit, to hell with them and good for the mob.

[OldEurope]

49. This is one of the reasons why

Europeans do not want that transatlantic commercial agreement with the USA.
The EU just decided that municipal councils can decide on the legal form of the water supply. They are not forced to let private companies in if they are having a municipal supply company. But once the agreement is established American companies could sue the European states for not allowing competition in water supply. Such court proceedures are secretly held and the outcome is always that freedom of commerce is superior to the will of the people; so the state has to pay the foreign company for loss of profit.

[Dawson Leery]

59. +1

[Lifelong Protester]

53. Ok, so of all the 'bad stuff' out there

this kind of thing keeps me up at night.

[Junkdrawer]

54. Expect ALEC to extend "You can't collect rainwater" legislation to all 50 states...

&feature=player_embedded

[hatrack]

61. Sorry, but the Harrington claim is bullshit, no matter how many times it's repeated

"Collecting rainwater" - my, my, it's Aunt Fanny in her flowered gardening hat, dragged to the ground by jack-booted thug SWAT teams for putting rain barrels on her downspouts.

Uh, no.

Harrington was taken to court for maintaining three illegal dams on his property. The dams in question would have diverted 13 million gallons from Big Butte Creek, which is a tributary of the Rogue River in southwest Oregon.

In case you hadn't been paying attention to the last hundred-odd years of American history, particularly as it pertains to water law in western states, you can't divert streams without a permit from local and (in many cases) state governments.

Let me repeat that - diversion of surface water without a permit is against state law.

That is what Harrington was doing - maintaining illegal dams, and he's been at it for about ten years. Please check link below for details on the story and his past history of violations. BTW, Oregon law also allows collection of rainwater flowing across an impervious surface, such as a parking lot or (yes) a roof.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/07/jackson_county_man_sentenced_f.html

[Junkdrawer]

62. Didn't watch the video, did you?

Ready, Fire, Aim

[hatrack]

65. Sorry, meant to respond to dana b's post above - she's the one w. "Natural News" linked

. . . though it includes the same video clip.

I'll be certain to put watching this video clip right at the top of my to-do list.

[liberal_at_heart]

71. they would have to put me in jail. There is no way they could keep me from collecting rain water.

[Harmony Blue]

55. Privatization of water is worse in Florida

and a major concern for all Floridians I have spoken with.

[GiaGiovanni]

60. Kick

Kick

[felix_numinous]

64. We had our chance to go after Bush --

and this is what we get by not prosecuting these robber barons. Wow. I wish it wasn't too late.

[liberal_at_heart]

67. I've often said that history always repeats itself. That everytime the rich hoard all the wealth,

poor always rise up and take it back. I've also said that I don't know when that will happen. Well if I had to guess it will be this. When corporations start buying up all the water and people can not get as much water as they need, bad things will start to happen. When it gets to a point where people can no longer get the food and water they need they panic. They begin to turn on those keeping those basic supplies from them. They also turn on each other. Basic human nature is not always pretty. Sometimes it is down right ugly. Neighbor will turn on neighbor. People will turn on corporations. They will begin to take what has been kept from them.

[Demoiselle]

69. My father said this 25 years ago.

He knew Big Agriculture and Big Chemicals up close, and he was very worried.

[WillyT]

72. HUGE K & R !!!

[agent46]

73. Fracking plays into this

Last edited Mon Aug 5, 2013, 11:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Extracting natural gas involves poisoning the water table. No one seems to be able to put the brakes on this trend. It's all ok with the fascist corporatocracy though because it will create demand for privatized water.

I don't need to elaborate. We're all intelligent people here.

[nashville_brook]

75. +1

[Spitfire of ATJ]

83. I'm really surprised some Republican hasn't induced mass hysteria....

The fluoride scare didn't work. I can picture mass casualties to scare people into rejecting "government water" and then pushing water from their connections.

Bottled water is a scam already.

As W.C. Fields said about water, "Never touch the stuff, fish fuck in it."

[AppleBottom]

84. Yikes! Thanks for posting that video, that dude is seriously messed up in the head.

Sick fucks like him should not have money nor influence.

[blkmusclmachine]

86. .

.

[Volaris]

87. Yes, it's going to be a problem, and yes the perp-a-traitors of this crime should be imprisoned, BUT

http://assets.amuniversal.com/5e93ed405e0d012ee3bf00163e41dd5b

[octoberlib]

88. Excellent OP. Thanks, Fire Walk With Me!

Last edited Tue Aug 6, 2013, 03:29 AM - Edit history (1)

Blue Gold: World Water Wars

[tofuandbeer]

89. They dont' give a fuœk: they make billions on fossil fuel...it wreaks havoc on the earth.

They deny this.
But at the same time, they're looking into making money on the damage they've done.
Sick, sick, sick.
These are the people that need to be put in prisons!

[octoberlib]

93. Just saw this article concerning Aqua North Carolina

Aqua North Carolina is asking state regulators for a 19.15 percent rate increase to raise bills for its water and sewer customers by $240 a year.It’s the third rate case in the past five years for the state’s biggest private water utility, which already charges twice as much as Raleigh, Durham, Cary and many municipalities. The company has about 88,000 customer accounts in 52 North Carolina counties and provides service to about a quarter of a million people in the state, including more than 400 subdivisions in Wake County.

Aqua is a publicly traded company admired on Wall Street for its strategy of aggressive rate requests to recover investments in pipes and to reward shareholders.

The company says its rates are higher than municipal services because its customers are spread out in rural areas, requiring more pipes and equipment per customer to deliver water and remove wastewater. Aqua’s biggest system has about 10,000 customers, but some have only several dozen and at least one has fewer than a dozen customers.

Aqua also said in its filing that it needs higher rates to compensate for the fact that customers are becoming conservation-minded, buying energy-efficient appliances and using less water.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/05/3084363/aqua-nc-seeks-192-percent-rate.html#storylink=cpy



Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/05/3084363/aqua-nc-seeks-192-percent-rate.html#storylink=cpy

[snagglepuss]

97. Bkmed for closer read. Thanks for the excellent post.

K & R