Unholy hell: the EU Commission just approved Bayer’s $62 billion acquisition of Monsanto
From dw.com:
“We have approved Bayer’s plans to take over Monsanto because the parties’ remedies, worth well over €6 billion euros ($7.4 billion), meet our competition concerns in full,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s anti-trust chief.
She said the Leverkusen-based congolmerate had made commitments to dispose of key subsidiaries that overlap with Monsanto.
Vestager said the EU greenlight was subject to rules that ensure that “there will be effective competition and innovation in seeds, pesticides and digital agriculture markets.”
Monsanto accepted an offer from Bayer in September to pay €46 billion to its shareholders and assume €7.3 billion in debt, to create the world’s largest integrated pesticides and seeds company.
In an attempt to appease EU regulators, Bayer announced in October the sale of parts of its agrochemical business to German rival BASF, in a deal worth €5.7 billion.
Earlier this month, BASF also committed to buying Bayer’s vegetable seed business in a last-minute concession to Brussels.”
BASF is the largest manufacturer of chemicals in the world, and at the link above you’ll see what they paid for Monsanto’s seeds business ($7 billion) and the fact that they company has long wanted into the GMO seed business. The corporation will also acquire Bayer’s herbicide business, commercialized under the Liberty, Basta and Finale brands, as well as several parts of its seed businesses in the Americas and Europe.
GM watchers and agroecology groups in Europe are fuming.
‘MEPs slam Commission approval of Bayer-Monsanto deal’, guengl.eu, (European United Left/Nordic Green Left European Parliamentary Group), 21/03/2018
“Today’s Commission approval of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto was received with dismay and condemned by MEPs of the Left who warned of the consequences the decision will have on the integrity of the world’s food supply chain and the environment.
The €54bn deal is the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions in the sector. Dow Chemical recently merged with Dupont and ChemChina acquired Swiss-seed-maker Syngenta.
Kateřina Konečná, member of the European Parliament Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, lamented the recklessness and disregard for the rights of citizens in the Commission’s decision:
“This is a truly sad day for the EU and the citizens of Europe. Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto will create an oligopoly whereby three multinational companies will control two-thirds of the global production of pesticides and other agro-chemicals. The world’s biodiversity should not be in the hands of corporations. This signifies a clear shift in power from small and medium-sized farmers to large multinational corporations.”
“This oligopoly will have full control over our food value chain. It will create dependency in agriculture and stifle innovation in the chemicals sector. The Commission is giving a green light to GMOs and pesticides in our food.”
Once the deal is concluded, Bayer-Monsanto may end up controlling nearly a quarter of the world’s pesticides market and together with Dow-Dupont they may control 76 per cent of the market for corn and 66 per cent of the market for soybeans.”
From etcgroup.org March 20: ‘NEWS RELEASE: Europe bows to Bayer-Monsanto… US may follow; Civil society responds with call for a UN Treaty on Competition. a few highlights. They’re the civil society group that had alerted us to the dangers of ‘gene-splicing’ earlier (at the Café and at C99%).
“Acceptance of the deal in Brussels and Washington will likely finalize the last of three mega-mergers that have been in play in the seed and pesticide industries since 2015. Whereas six global companies controlled about two thirds of the global seed market and more than 70% of global pesticides at the beginning of the merger mania, four companies will now be left: Bayer-Monsanto will dominate, followed by Corteva Agriscience (the spinoff agricultural enterprise resulting from last year’s Dow-DuPont merger), and the earlier agreed merger between Swiss-based Syngenta and ChemChina (the acquisitive Chinese chemical company that is expected to soon merge with the still larger Sinochem). The fourth player in the field will be BASF – the well-heeled German giant that is expected to scoop up all or most of the assets Bayer and Monsanto are asked to divest. After the dust settles, the ‘Big Six’ Gene Giants that ruled global seed and pesticide markets for most of this century will become a ‘Fearsome Four’ and will control the same share of the market.
Big Data Deals: At their core, all the mega-merger moves have been about control of big data in agriculture. Big data is behind the new “digital DNA” technologies, including synthetic biology and gene-editing, that are transforming agriculture research as well as so-called ‘precision farming’ platforms. On March 20th, Monsanto’s venture arm announced it was putting US$25 million into a new crop gene-editing company (Pairwise Plants) and establishing Monsanto’s VP of global biotech as CEO. A few weeks ago, Bayer was said to be offering BASF an exclusive license to its digital technology interests. Most recently, there are rumours that, under pressure from the US Department of Justice, Monsanto may even surrender its major digital asset, Climate Corp. which it bought in 2015 for US$930 million.
“If Brussels and Washington think they can appease farmers by getting Bayer-Monsanto sell their assets to BASF, they are wrong,” says Pat Mooney of ETC Group. “There are no conditions under which these three mega-mergers are good for farmers or for world food security – and shifting assets to BASF accomplishes nothing.”
UN Treaty on Competition: ETC Group has been following corporate concentration in agribusiness since 1977 and sees the current mega-mergers as proof that governments are toothless and must negotiate a UN Treaty on Competition. “Regulators around the world are painfully aware that they don’t have the tools to block the current mega-mergers or subsequent wave,” argues Neth Daño of ETC Group.”
Reuters had reported that besides the US, of course, both China an Russia still hadn’t sign on to the merger. Wondering why, I only found sorta/kinda ‘why Russia’ at Bloomberg.com:
“Bayer and Monsanto must still convince U.S. regulators who are pushing for the companies to divest more assets to resolve antitrust concerns, a person familiar with the probe said last week. Bayer is suing the Russian antitrust watchdog over an order [subscribers only link] for it to share technology with Russian companies.
Any U.S. antitrust hesitation is probably “more about timing than about blocking the deal,” Ulrich Huwald, an analyst with Warburg Research in Hamburg, said of reports that the Department of Justice is taking a closer look at the deal. “A political delay.”
Given that Russia has outlawed GMO seeds and products, I have to wonder whassup with that? Wish that story weren’t behind a paywall. But more from Bloomberg:
“BASF is lined up to buy Bayer’s global broadacre seeds and traits, including its research and development operations. The divestment plan covers oilseed rape, cotton, soybean and wheat as well as Bayer’s research on genetically modified traits. BASF will also purchase Bayer’s glufosinate assets and three research lines for herbicides, designed to replace glyphosate, a weedkiller that some European countries are moving to ban.
BASF will also take over Monsanto’s Nemastrike unit to protect seeds from worms. It will license a copy of Bayer’s digital agriculture operations and research pipeline. This will allow “BASF to replicate Bayer’s position in digital agriculture” in Europe, the EU said, and ensure the race “in this emerging field remains open.”
We are positive that the glyphosate Roundup) ‘replacements’ will be far safer™, yes?/s
Now some had posited that the head of the US State Dept. would either approve or deny the merger, but it seems it’s in fact Jeff Session’s Justice Department. And remember, the Tweeter-in-Chief-elect had met with the CEOs of Bayer and Monsanto (Werner Baumann and Hugh Grant) last year over Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! for amerika. Wooot!
But if confirmed, Pompous Pompeo might whisper some sweet everythings into the ear of the DoJ anti-trust chief. He was an author of the ‘DARK act’ back in 2015 try to make it illegal to any mention of GMO labels on food (and declare ‘sole authority to mandate GMO labeling and sets forth particular standards for any label that contains claims that GMOs were or were not used in the production of the food— hampering any attempts by the Food and Drug Administration to pass legislation on the federal level) . It passed the House, must have died in the Senate.
But back to the head of the anti-trust department, Bloomberger says that Bayer may face hurdles (mmm-hmmmm) because:
“The U.S. review is being led by Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who emerged as an aggressive enforcer after filing a lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s takeover of Time Warner Inc. That case is set to go to trial on Monday.
CEO Meetings
Delrahim has met with Bayer Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann and Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant. If the companies and the antitrust division can’t reach an agreement that resolves the government’s concerns, the Justice Department could file a lawsuit seeking to block the deal.
In its review of the proposed merger, the Justice Department is looking at horizontal antitrust issues, or competition in the same market, as well as vertical competition, or issues along supply chains, one of the people said.
Delrahim has taken a hard line on resolving vertical competition problems. These have typically been worked out through imposing conditions on how companies operate, but Delrahim has said he is concerned those kinds of fixes require antitrust enforcers to become regulators to monitor compliance. He prefers asset sales to resolve those issues.” (and that the decision could take ‘months’.)
(Not that I know what all of that means exactly…) How are you betting? Myself, I’m quite bullish on the merger getting the Official OkeyDokey because … ♫’money make the world go around…world go around…♪♪, and after all, ‘the bidness of amerika…is bidness’ (h/t molly ivins)
(cross-posted from the ghost of a café babylon)
Comments
This is what happens when the
This is what happens when the markets "regulate" themselves.
that's quite a screen name, lol.
ah, yes, the invisible hand of the free market™! thank you, borg: resistance is not futile...or is it 'resistance is fertile'? keep on keepin' on, in any event.
And also: "Herbicide resistance is futile."
Because the resistance genes can be passed into the weeds the herbicides are meant to kill.
plus the 'weeds' adapt, and more and more is required to
kill them, which is why 2-4D w/ agent orange was developed. beneficial soil microbes are murdered as well. kinda like antibiotics are indiscriminate bacterial killers, and kill the 95% or close of the beneficial gut bacteria.
now the gene drives are a whole 'nother ballgame, aren't they? good gawd all-friday, what could go wrong?
remember, too, that all sorts of insects adapted to bT corn, maybe bT cotton? cripes, even county ag agents in the plains were disgusted and had issued warnings. but in any event, you're putting those pesticide factories into your gut upon eating them.
New improved deluxe
version of Xyklon B for your grain crops coming soon. What could go wrong?
agent orange and 2,4d were actually brewed up by dow
chemical and cohorts, but same diff as bayer and BASF, really, as to their cavalier slow destruction of pests kinda equaling zyclon b 'pest killers'. jayzus christ in a canoe: one could say 'never again' and 'the unthinkable' as to nuclear conflagration, but one would always underestimate the power of evil, as well as 'the banality of evil' (hannah arrendt).
thanks for reading, song of the lark; what a gorgeous screen name. we heard our first meadowlark this week. sounded like a young un, a bit of a soprano, smile.
on edit: duh, you'd meant a 'new bayer, basf' killer; sorry to be such a slow-brain. but hell, it's all going so wrong already. mono-crop pandemics will become a new norm, though, one day soon. it has been written.
Insects are also killed
I can't link a source, but in the last week read that populations of many key European songbirds have declined by 47 percent in the last five to ten years, and are continuing to drop. The pesticides kill the insects birds feed their young with, just as they kill worms that other birds feed on. How many robins have you seen these last two years? I know I've seen far fewer spiders in the past two summers as their prey vanish.
More notes on how glyphosate affects our basic physiology (and mitochondria) here: https://tqidiet.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/do-not-microwave-cholesterol/#m...
Of course that's a small price to pay for having a lawn with no crabgrass. /s
a couple sources about declining bird populations are
downthread, but here's a bit about insects on the decline in germany: ‘Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers
Three-quarters of flying insects in nature reserves across Germany have vanished in 25 years, with serious implications for all life on Earth, scientists say’, the guardian oct. 2017
is that the link you'd meant to bring? didn't see anything about glyphosate, but i only scanned, as: no paragraph breaks drive my eye/brain think bonkers.
from the twittersphere among too many relevant tweets:
It's the bankers, yep the fuckin bankers
"THE CRASH HAS LAID BARE MANY UNPLEASANT TRUTHS ABOUT THE UNITED STATES. ONE OF THE MOST ALARMING IS THAT THE FINANCE INDUSTRY HAS EFFECTIVELY CAPTURED OUR GOVERNMENT—A STATE OF AFFAIRS THAT MORE TYPICALLY DESCRIBES EMERGING MARKETS, AND IS AT THE CENTER OF MANY CRISES. IF THE IMF’S STAFF COULD SPEAK FREELY ABOUT THE U.S., IT WOULD TELL US WHAT IT TELLS ALL COUNTRIES IN THIS SITUATION: RECOVERY WILL FAIL UNLESS WE BREAK THE FINANCIAL OLIGARCHY THAT IS BLOCKING ESSENTIAL REFORM." SIMON JOHNSON
jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
yes to 'it's the bankers' (banksters)
but also the philanthrocapitalists like bill gates and other 'green revolutionaries' of his ilk, pierre omidyar, the rockefeller foundation, and on the list goes. for instance, see my link to 'the terrifying implications of gene drives'. gates figures prominently, the lying white savior bastid.
speaking of which, ukrainian oligarchs will be giggling like giddy school gurls at this news. omidyar and monsanto bought heavily into land there. might even get em enough money to be able to join NATO.
on edit: i liked the dostoyevski quote there (your café?):
"What is most offensive is not their lying— one can always forgive lying— lying can be a delightful thing, for it leads to truth. What is offensive is that they lie, and worship their own lying."
Maybe Greenwald and Scahill will report on that.
chortle.
wanted to let you know that linda wood paid you a compliment on the
MAGA jobs trump inks and tra la la...as in hearing you loud and clear.
Not smart enuf for it to be my cafe
been readin Jesse for years, he's one of a kind
and has quite the cafe, more people should visit. -g-
gates is another pure evil one as the list keeps growin
and growin, maybe its this centuries template?
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
do please remember than 'smart' does not = wisdom.
but yeah, evil stalks the planet in the guise of 'philanthropy'. that's why gates and the rockefeller foundation have their own tabs at the guardian. we are urged to genuflect, or at the very least, salute them.
Before the coup in Ukraine
it was not possible for foreign persons or companies to buy land in The Ukraine.
National seed banks were destroyed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraqi scientists were able to send some of their stocks to the Syrian seedbank which has also been under assault. It is known that international biotechnology covets the historic grains and pulses of the Fertile Crescent for purposes of patenting. Syrian scientists sent some seeds to Svalbord (the storage facility in Norway which recently flooded) from which they were immediately requisitioned by a Monsanto funded so-called non profit institute which develops drought resistant crops. More recently, the Syrian scientists sent more of their seeds to a seed bank in Morocco, from where, we might hope, they won't be surrendered to international agribiz.
What I want to know is how much and what kind of influence are agribiz and biotech companies having on our foreign policy?
Mary Bennett
now all of that is news to me, and thank you for it.
and the keepers of svalbord doomsday vault simply complied with monsanto’s ‘requisitioning’ of the syrian seeds? it’s excellent to know that morocco has an heirloom seed vault, and yes, we can all hope and pray that those seeds won’t be raped and plundered!
it's constantly baffled me that monsanto can walk into india, say, and patent local seeds, including some that are sacred plants, and at least according to vendana shiva, 'win court cases' objecting to it. what sort of court, for instance? as far as i've seen, she's never specified.
as to your question, let me think about that, as my mind sees so many different players on different continents involved, especially in africa, india, mexico and south amercian once socialist nations at work. as in: there seem to be so many US-approved, neoliberal compradors willingly handing over food sovereignty to the green capitalists.
and speaking of The Sacred, ain't this sweet?
this part hadn't come through:
Dunno, but would suspect trade courts? Or just corrupt...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
you might be right,
perhaps tribunal within WTO say, that are akin to the TTP investor state sort that called for allowing foreign nationals to do end runs around amerikan courts and laws, and demand cash compensation from us taxpayers for any law they think violates their new TPP privileges and rights as a foreign investor. And then they get compensated for lost future profits', (lori wallach, public citizen).
but i'd kept meaning to look up the 'monsanto exception act', and did so earlier: ‘Obama signs 'Monsanto Protection Act' written by Monsanto-sponsored senator’, 28 Mar, 2013 19:04, RT
“United States President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law that was written in part by the very billion-dollar corporation that will benefit directly from the legislation.
On Tuesday, Pres. Obama inked his name to H.R. 933, a continuing resolution spending bill approved in Congress days earlier. Buried 78 pages within the bill exists a provision that grossly protects biotech corporations such as the Missouri-based Monsanto Company from litigation.
With the president’s signature, agriculture giants that deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds are given the go-ahead to continue to plant and sell man-made crops, even as questions remain largely unanswered about the health risks these types of products pose to consumers.”
but sure, amerikan courts have upheld every monsanto case that's gotten to court. no it'll be 'upholding baysanto' or whatever adorable name they come up with.
ooof. i did find this from vendana shiva,
and the whole article is six miles long, mainly about bT cotton, but one paragraph:
“First, Monsanto undemocratically imposed the false idea of “manufacturing” and “inventing” a seed, undermining robust Indian laws—that do not allow patents on life—and by taking patents on life through international trade law. Since 1999, Monsanto has had the US government do its dirty work, blocking the mandatory review of the Monsanto Law in TRIPS (the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement implemented through the WTO).
here’s an open letter to narenda modi, et.al., from doctor shiva: ‘Violation of India’s IPR laws and Competition Act by MNCs; India is laws are been systematically violated by Monsanto, etc.
but it's more about royalties, if i remember the acronyms correctly, and by now mine eyes are purdy much shot for the day...
Is Simon Johnson Primarily at Zero Hedge.
I've seen people apologizing about using Zero Hedge as a source of late. It seems new. I know Johnson is featured there, but is he a fixture?
It would make sense with that kind of rhetorical and political bomb-throwing. Can't have that shit in a "respectable" conversation, amirite?
BTW, I'm right with Johnson & Hedges. We're in the Bathtub and Grover's buddies are coming to drown us - at this very moment.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
he used to host baselinescenario w/ james kwak,
but he's not there now, and seems to be here at project syndicate for one place.
Sorry about the late response, couldnt find you
in the line until now.
Not sure about the Zerohedge connection, although at ZH one has to
be read through the chafe to find the one/two in ten good/truthful
editorials/articles. -g-
As for Simo and Hedges
I totally agree.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Ah, the joys of a "free market"
I prefer asset sales also, since the Trumpster will make short work of any necessary regulators to keep the "free marketeers" on the up and up.
In this particular instance of genetically monstracized agriculture, we find yet another path to our own destruction. By increasing reliance on herbicide/insecticide infested agriculture, we become susceptible to pandemic crop failures when the inevitable resistant pests arise sweeping our food supply like a swarm of locusts. Humand have yet to appreciate that in terms of life on earth, our presence is less than a pimple on the butt of an elephant. Yet "we" ( = PTB) try to make massive changes in a big hurry. Regardless of the particulars of this massive oligopolic market contraction, the end result, not the intermediate result, will be to make human existence more precarious than even climate change
arrrr, matey. i'm glad that you understood that,
and thank you for deciphering it for me (with humor even). but yes, GM seeds are the seeds of our destruction, and as henry kissinger said: 'he who controls the food controls the world'.
and just wait until some of those gene-drive critters get into the ecosphere! no tellin' what 'unintended consequences' (read: blowback from mama nature) there'll be. the current bug-pocalypse will look like child's play in comparison.
on evening edit: my apologies, gator, for giving your excellent comment short shrift, but i plead exhaustion from RL craziness.
Well we are in population overshoot. But
I must say I'm worried about those man, bear, corn hybrids. They are a little fat around the middle.
Didn't governments used to show a least some concern
about monopolies?
Talk about unholy hell, I was going to write an essay about this, but I'll just hide it in the comments of your essay because it's not about Bernie or the progressive democrats.
Trump is hiring Bolton as NSA. He really did it.
some concern, yes. but when ma bell was 'broken up'
the new bosses were worse than the old bosses. (mountain bell)
yeah, mr wd had read me that bolton news, all of which orange man had denied was afoot. guess we should learn to watch what he denies, as in 'insiders say mcmaster will be fired soon', an tra la la, eh?
after i shut down last night i'd pinged...
'teddy roosevelt, the trust-buster'.
The French bird population is taking a nosedive
thanks to farming monoculture and pesticides.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/catastrophe-as-frances-bir...
You'd think the EU might voice concern.....
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
ain't it a tragedy as in: canaries in a coal mine?
sustainable pulse or GM watch had put this one up, too.
i can barely see by now, so...it might be time for this thread' lullaby. mr. wd had played this one t'other day. it will do just fine. makes my ♥ ache. peace and solidarity to all, and good night.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnj1zshmTE0]
I guess we know
who is getting fired next.
“The U.S. review is being led by Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who emerged as an aggressive enforcer after filing a lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s takeover of Time Warner Inc. That case is set to go to trial on Monday.
Mary Bennett
lol. will he be tillersoned by tweet?
I.G. Farben was the Company . . . .
. . . . that, among other things, brought us the Zyclon B gas used in the Nazi gas chambers during WWII.
After WWII, I.G. Farben was broken up into several companies.
Bayer was among those successor companies.
Perhaps, we should look at this as Bayer just carrying on a company tradition of destructive practices, especially those having to do with pesticides.
...if it's not the evil Russians, it's the evil Germans.
Once a Nazi, always a Nazi, even the corn wears black moustaches now. It's trendy.
Real families: What happens in a (German) family, stays in a (German) family.
That's all I understand from Wendy's essay. For which I am grateful, even if I don't undestand the horizontal and vertical stuff. Bolton just planned the enemies to be and get his ducks in a row. Conveniently so.
https://www.euronews.com/live
now that you mention it,
i do remember reading that. thanks for jolting my memory. might BASF have been another spin-off? but yes to your parallel: pesticides of a different sort.
while i think i understand your sensitivity,
as germans = nazis, from my perspective it's not so. but the fact that nazi nationalists are on the rise again is cause for concern, as so many conditions socially and financially globally are akin to those pre-1939 in germany.
but the corn was designed by earth firsters protesting at bayer corporation, and what i see is the black, gaping maws of the corn cobs. not mustaches at all.
on evening edit: here's save our seeds in berlin on twitter; you might care to read the crispr bio-technology one from dec. 2017.
I think this was in response to my comment - you don't get me -
I am not sensitive, you don't understand how I connect the dots and you don't understand when I try to speak sarcastically or not. I scanned your essay, while still thinking about Bolton and what he will be up to.
Right-wing Germans are self-confidently rising, a strong right wing shift is happening in Germany in the last couple of weeks and days (on top of them being on the politcal stage again for decades now). Unfortunately and disappointingly so.
But a rise in right-wingers in Germany will serve Bolten et al as an argument to create the new enemy to the US, ie Germany by reminding the Americans about Nazi Germany, while conveniently pointing out to the right-wing rise in Germany currently happening.
So far Trump has not showered the Germany with sanctions over steel and aluminum. But the deal is not over. And Trump is after all just a simpleton who wants to win a deal. Bolton will advise Trump to take on Europe. Because right now the EU is uniting because of how Trump behaves. And that's what Bolton will use to distract American voters. He wouldn't hesitate to stage a German-gate theater.
That's why I (sarcastically in my mind) talked about "once a nazi, always a nazi" etc. Believe me I couldn't care less about the Nazi slurs being used for anything by anyone as well as I don't care for using Russia slurs reminding Americans that Russians are dangerous, communists or oligarchs and never being trusted.
I will put in my snark tags in the future. I have stopped it, because folks here play games not putting them in their own comments. So they can say "aetchy baetchy, gotcha' if needed be.
I am glad I can watch and listen to other facts oriented documentaries on German TV. I can't stand Trump apologists, as much as I can't stand Russia
apologists or Clinton and Obama apologists.
I apologize myself now for having even said something o begin with.
https://www.euronews.com/live
sorry that i'd read you incorrectly, then.
no wonder, my fault, expressing myself badly /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
i've seen folks her use /nt before,
sometimes n/t, iirc. what does it signify, mimi?
/nt = no text in the body of the comment
it is meant to indicate that you don't have to open the comment body because there is nothing in there and to save you time.
https://www.euronews.com/live
thank you, i'll try to remember. /nt, lol.
i poked about a bit for i.g. farben and BASF, and yeppers.
this is the most comprehensive and easist to read source, likely where i'd read about farben and zyclon b to begin with.
September 16, 2016 ‘The Ghost of IG Farben: Can Monsanto Reform Bayer?’
by Victor Grossman, counterpunch who writes from berlin:
“IG Farben was also split up. But its three main components, now separate again, and urgently needed in a quickening Cold War, grew until each one became 20 times bigger than IG Farben as a whole was at its height in 1944, the last year of the war. By 1952 the new West German government of Konrad Adenauer had amnestied and released the last of those imprisoned, who were soon back in leading positions in the world of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.” [snip]
“A few years after his release from prison, Fritz ter Meer was reinstated as a managing board member of Bayer. All three sibling firms BASF, Bayer and Hoechst (which later merged with the French company to form Aventis) soon filled their highest positions with former Nazis.”
Right, what's the difference between Monsanto
destroying human and environmental health for profit, knowingly sickening and killing millions, silencing scientists, buying governments, en route to destroying planetary life along with the rest of the worst of them, and the original Nazis? Why did Monsanto specifically get given this gene tech by the US government for commercialization to pollute the food supply in the first place? Why was Monsanto the go-to for the rainbow of deadly Agent Orange and others used in war-crimes? Why were EPA scientists like Cate Jenkins* silenced and fired to protect the rights of such as Monsanto to freely pollute and kill?
What else is this but psychopaths joining forces against humanity and the ecology? I'll bet that Monsanto shareholders retain a controlling interest, as they did when they sold off Pharmacia to J & J to proceed under the name of Pfizer - and what kind of a ?propagandist or ignoramus? or both? - could suggest that Monsanto might be a less pathological influence than identified original Nazis?
Gotta read this following in full at source to believe it - unless you happen to know anything about Monsanto, a company which has invariably behaved like this all over the world and got away with it, under US and other government protection. What follows the quoted portion in this document written by one of my long-favorite whistleblowers makes the pathology plain even in these few presented examples of the destruction that company has wrought, as does their virtual invention of internet trolling (Bivings) which is legendary but unmentioned here. Agent Orange and the others were the least of it. Monsanto occupies the deepest levels of my contemptuous disgust, despite heavy competition.
http://www.sciencecorruption.com/html/Monsanto.html
(Gotta read down to the cases on which she's demanded action and been ignored/reprimanded/penalized/fired.)
https://www.scribd.com/document/45178403/Jenkins-v-Epa-051894-Whistle-Bl...
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059987217
Yeah, this was common behaviour in US government. Non-wealthy American health and life has always been cheap to TPTB and profits valued over them.
But my computer keeps fouling up progressively more, so I'll hope that this, although not the best examples of my point by a long shot gets the idea across, if I can get this one to post.
Can't get pages to turn or videos to run for more than seconds at a time. Couldn't find the server but says good signal now; trying again, hope it goes through and doesn't double...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Tremendous post and links EN
and not a hint of any of it in what's left of serious media.
All this to force people to buy products they don't want
from criminal corporations they don't want to support, at the expense of any remaining family farmers while poisoning the air, water, soil, food supply and gene pool. The end game being that sought-after food monopoly making those holding it king-or-have-no-even-poisoned-food in whatever remains of the properly subservient-or-starve countries of the world at that point - and it looks as though that's pretty much achieved.
The joke's on them; a safe food supply will no longer exist even for the wealthiest, as everything will be contaminated. On the other hand, we'll likely become nuclear sludge before then, so there's that. What a relief!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
lost my comment earlier, but it's one of the key things i
don't grasp. many who tout the green revolution, gates et.al. seem to believe that if they 'escape' to their imagined fenced cloisters NZ or wherever, they can eat, drink clean water, and escape the ravage of 'limited nuclear war', as if there's such a thing.
and they seem to pretend they suffer no cognitive dissonance in that thinking. baffling to the Nth degree to me, ellen. of course, it begs man other questions as to 'true belief', the profiteer usual cons, and so on. the evidence is already IN.
You are so painfully right.
I suspect that they already live in Virtual Reality, believing that they can actually become figures in scenarios taken from their favorite speculative fiction. Not merely cognitive dissonance, but beyond, having entirely lost all concept of the key their minds should be playing in, to be in tune with anything real.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
if cognitive dissonance equals the psychological discomfort
of warring, competing beliefs (and is the definition as understand it), one remedy is converting others to your belief system or religion, and the green revolution IS by way of holy religion to these folks. 'lies told for the greater good is part of it, a well, a in bill gates Paying for studies to be altered, the epa equivalent in the EU to disobey their OWN protocols to declare glyphosate non-carcinogenic, etc. (just tried to find that story on twitter again, but failed).
thank you for the links above as well; i'll try to study them better, but as far as i can tell, the fix has been in since i began writing about this subject a decade ago, and monsanto flacks would get on my diaries to challenge my 'wrong thinking'.
on edit: ‘The Gene Drive Files Disclosed emails reveal military as top funder; Gates Foundation paying $1.6 million to influence UN expert process', etcgroup, dec. 2017
““Emerging Ag,” a private PR firm paid by the Gates Foundation, is working behind the scenes to stack key UN advisory processes with gene drive-friendly scientists, and has recruited ostensibly independent academics and public officials into a private collaboration to counteract proposed regulations and to resist calls by scientists and conservationists for an international moratorium. Some of those recruited entered into the UN discussions without divulging their conflicts of interest or the role that paid political consultants played in shaping their inputs.
Thanks for that link
They just can't kill off planetary life quickly enough, can they?
Bet you've seen this old thing or something of the sort, but I'm going to plunk it down anyway because it perfectly illustrates both the pathology and intent regarding the attacks on civilian populations in 'war', while laughable propaganda regarding 'noble purposes' as 'the world's policeman' and 'protectors of their country and the American people' (whom US industrialists routinely kill, if often incidentally and slowly, for 'cut costs' and increased profits for Those Who Matter, as well as by militarized police) are fed to the public:
https://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2013/03/genetically-engineered-bioweapons-a-n...
Breaking here to wonder how they're to 'treat' (for symptoms?) the perpetrators and Those Who Matter if their genetic material (and the ability of humans and other affected life to breed true ever again) has been altered by viral invasion. Does everyone intended to survive have to live in hazmat suits forever afterward, or are TPTB planning to have 'evolved' into machinery or recorded characteristics in computer programs by then?
To continue:
See, always thinking ahead, at least as far as deniability is concerned: "we've made it possible for anyone to do this, so it needn't be us and we can accuse any survivors of countries we'd like to invade."
Of course, you have to be certifiably insane to release any such thing - any novel organism at all - into the environment... we already knew what devastation and even outright ecological disaster had invariably been created where pre-existing, naturally evolving organisms were introduced into an environment where they hadn't already been present - and these were typically ordinarily innocuous organisms like rabbits, rats, sea urchins, starfish and the like, not novel pathogens (also likely to mutate as they spread) posing a direct threat to global human life, health and specifically human species survival, potentially in this variation of 'kill them all and let god sort them out' regarding the entire human species, in order to indirectly murder a single targeted victim... add in gene drives - and WHY??? all this if they are not actively trying to destroy planetary life by multiple means?
To continue:
They have no problem with the concept of hazarding the global human population to try to sneakily murder one person; I suppose that might be some targeted whistleblower, a journalist, or perhaps somebody dissing the Clintons where simply dropping a nuke on their city might have bad optics and damage infrastructure...
And I suppose that's the sort of thing the Gate's Foundation, DARPA, whoever else's been testing out, using insects such as mosquitoes as vectors. While collecting the genetic material of everybody, going out of their way to get that of pesky Russians - whose ancestors thwarted the US industrialist's proxy-by-Nazi's Russian invasion and decided the defeat of their 1st global fascist take-over attempt, this appearing to be a possible factor (together, of course, with their population actually getting some essential benefits from their own resources, rather than only The Right Billionaires and Corporate Interests) in the degree of paranoid hatred consistently displayed by the Psychopaths That Be.
Thing is, mutant diseases such as these could be present in global populations already for all we know; there are already such an incredible number of industrial causal factors - and increasing nutritional deficiencies as well as toxicity weakening our systems - present for so many diseases, how would an uninformed population be able to tell... guess that's a good part of the point.
One more bit, from the end:
So it's OK if The Right Military unleashes bioengineered pathogens into the world?
I dunno about you, but I don't care whether the terrorists responsible for such releases are US or other military or independents; such things - and the concept of developing and using them - would not exist if the pathological had never been enabled to take power by using the very ruthlessness and lack of humanity that would forbid, in any sane world, their gaining the power to harm over anyone.
The blatant and mindless self-centric stupidity, ignorance and ugliness of the evil described in this excellent outline is mindboggling... none of this is containable, and TPTB, et al, know it - and it's virtually all directed against specifically civilians and - as always - to hell also with other planetary life.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
yes, hideous possibilities have been afoot, but given darpa
funding gene drives, and the potentials for bioterrorism...the creepiest one being 'personal targeting, of course. in the tinfoil hat category, there are not a few foks who believe that aids was developed to eradicate all blacks in africa.
and yes to your final rant and rave, it's all so psycho-pathological. but yes: the exposés of the ass-covering was almost hilarious. but seriously, even of the True Believers like gates could understand 'the cautionary principle', which ha been the bottom line ask from many of the civil society groups: they would stop this shit.
and yet gates is gonna release sterile mosquitoes into burkina faso, anyway...no benefits, just cuz they can...or something. loads of related links there, the one on dicamba and monsanto i'd meant to bring from twitter.