http://www.sott.net/articles/show/204559-Connecting-the-Dots-Cosmic-Climate-Change-Financial-Terrorism
The dust had barely settled by the time Chile's military, in keeping with the trend set by US and UN enforcers in Haiti, took control of the affected cities, imposed curfews and guarded businesses under the pretext of protecting them against "looting:"
There were the usual promises of swift action to arrest "looters" and criminal gangs taking deadly advantage of the absence of authority, but pray tell, what is the difference between a completely traumatized people suddenly bereft of the basic necessities of life breaking into grocery stores and other businesses in order to feed themselves and their families and base evildoers intent on profiting from anarchy and who makes the call?
Chile's popular outgoing president, Michelle Bachelet, was criticised for not implementing stricter controls and for initially denying international aid. World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick said "the Bank Group would draw on its considerable expertise in catastrophe management and reconstruction to support Chile in the aftermath of this earthquake." She was obviously aware that such "aid" comes at a high price. Michelle Bachelet's father, who was a supporter of Allende's, was tortured to death at the hands of Pinochet's army because he refused to go into exile following the 1973 coup. Bachelet and her mother were also imprisoned, interrogated and tortured, before being exiled to Australia. Bachelet was not allowed by the country's constitution to run for a second consecutive term, despite having 75% of the population's approval.
Pinera
© Associated Press
Pinera: Chile's new Pinochet?
In January Chile voted billionaire Sebastian Pinera into office in a close contest. Pinera is the first right-wing leader of Chile since Pinochet's dictatorship ended in 1990. Some of his coalition members were actually member's of Pinochet's cabinet (his brother was actually Pinochet's Minister of Labor). He bragged that he "would create one million new jobs and crack down on delinquency and drug trafficking" and that "he would seek to privatize a part of Codelco, Chile's state-owned copper company and the world's largest copper producer".
Those familiar with Chile's recent history will know that America's Chicago School of Economics, led by the schizoidal "free-market" ideology of Milton Friedman, and working hand in glove with the CIA, overthrew Chile's democratic government and installed Pinochet's totalitarian regime. Naomi Klein's groundbreaking book, The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism, has this to say about the privatization of Codelco:
The only thing that protected Chile from complete economic collapse in the early eighties was that Pinochet had never privatized Codelco, the state copper mine company nationalized by Allende. That one company generated 85 percent of Chile's export revenues, which meant that when the financial bubble burst, the state still had a steady source of funds. [pg. 104-105]
The one thing even Pinochet dared not attempt is now the "dream" of Pinera and the nightmare of the Chilean population, as it will bring an economy still marked by huge gap in inequalities between the parasitic elite and the normal population to ruins. Remember the World Bank's 'generous offer'? Klein's book reveals how the World Bank and the IMF, in times of crisis, capitalise upon the uncertainty brought on by traumatic events, whether natural or induced. Pinera is an "American man", according to British journalist, Mark Williams:
Pinera's father was a CIA informer in the 1960s, and his brother, Jose, is a high-flyer in the American Cato Institute - an organisation which claims to be non-partisan but, in fact, is an economic think-tank that is almost completely in the pocket of the Republican party, with policies of 'self-determination' and 'minimal governance' - code for 'no social welfare available' and 'don't tax the rich.'
© Daniel Garcia/AFP/Getty Images
Concepcion, Chile's second largest city: Is this a war zone or a disaster zone? Do Disaster Capitalists make that distinction?
Before he landed that job, Jose had been one of Pinochet's right-hand men. One of his 1980s reforms is a Chilean national pension scheme, closely aligned with US interests, which is so useless, employees paying into it would be better off tucking cash under the mattress - quite literally. Administration fees (payable to US interests) outstrip the rate interest accrues, so your cash actually evaporates once in the scheme.
Sebasian Pinera built his wealth by owning the biggest credit card company in Chile - an enterprise which would have had no future without the backing of US banking. However, CIA documents reveal that he did, in fact, have close ties with Pinochet and, in particular, with a peculiar banking scandal during the horrific Pinochet years.
It was Pinera who placed Talca Bank in administration, having (with his brother) created 80 fake companies to be its creditors. The badly-organised robbery failed and, so concerned were the Americans, that they instructed the CIA to swoop in and 'rescue' Pinera from Chile and keep him out of the way of investigation until the scandal blew over. The journalist who discovered the inconvenient CIA documents which tell the story has since had his life threatened for publishing them.
The installation of Pinera as a puppet president in Chile is better than sending in the cruise missiles. But Chileans should now check their wallets as Pinera's policies begin to siphon their taxes away into the rich's personal fortunes...
The US government can now rest assured that Chile will be under its thumb with Pinera getting comfortable in the Palacio de La Moneda. What we've seen happening in the aftermath of Haiti's murdering earthquake, where parasitic "free-market" loving US corporations stepped in to rebuild the island's economy in their own image, we see happening in Chile also. It's a recurring theme: Chile's Pablo Neruda, lamenting his country's betrayal in the late 60's, never lost hope and wrote in his poem, The Victorious People:
My heart's in this struggle.
My people will overcome.
These sorrows will be wrung like handkerchiefs
until all the tears shed on the desert's galleries,
on graves, on the steps of human martyrdom,
are squeezed dry.
But the victorious time's nearby.
Until we reach that time - because with knowledge, humanity and unity we will - the world will continue to feel the aftershocks of disaster capitalism in every corner...
