What's up at Counterpunch?

Counterpunch is having it's annual fund-raiser at the moment. One of their generous benefactors will match your contribution dollar for dollar for the duration.

Here's my question. If the "generous benefactor" moneybags can pay half the freight, he/she/they can probably underwrite the whole shebang.

So why don't they?

Counterpunch has been on my must read list for a long time. Recently, though, I'm finding that a lot of the folks I used to read there have migrated.

Avnery went to heaven. If he's still writing up there, I hope to read him eventually, God willing.

A few have moved to other sites. CJ Hopkins, for example, can now be found on Unz. I'd never even heard of Unz till I followed some of those Counterpunch writers there. I was, and remain, a little leery of the folks writing there who seem to think the white race is threatened, but free speech is free speech, I guess.

I also guess that Mr. Unz has deep enough pockets that he doesn't need generous benefactors, or fifteen dollars from me.

Meanwhile, there's still a guy whose travelogues appear at Counterpunch on a regular basis. He's a distant relative of Adlai Stevenson, whose clan came to America on the Mayflower, and one of his forebears actually held the back-up axe as George Washington was chopping down that cherry tree.

And get this; according to the Internet, this distant relative of Adlai then goes to work for Marc Rich! For like twenty years or something?!

Could this be the mysterious "generous benefactor?"

RIP Marc Rich

Marc Rich went to his reward the other day.

Not sure what that would look like. Seems he pretty much had the "reward" while he was here.

Not a whole lot ever went too far wrong for Marc. His intellectual spawn continue his work at Glencore. The unofficial voices that talk off the record to the think tank here at Falling Downs claim he was knee-deep or better into the goings on at Glencore till the day he died.

The biggest tax fraud case in US history was resolved (sort of) by Clinton's pardon. Nevertheless Marc steered clear of US airspace, let alone US soil, for the rest of his life.

The obits claim he "invented" commodity trading. That's not quite true. He may have helped it evolve.

There were many who followed who built it into something Rich wouldn't even understand. It's one thing for sharpies in Zug to trade a barrel of oil 27 times between the well-head and the consumer.

Today's Rumpelstiltskins have their computers trade blue chips 2700 times a second.

We've come a long way...

Be that as it may, I think overall Marc Rich did more good than he did harm.

And that's probably the best legacy any man can leave behind.

World Statesman of the Year has no problem sucking up to corrupt president of the Congo

On the face of it this doesn't make a lot of sense. There's big Steve swanning around Kinshasha in the company of some of the most corrupt robber-politicos the world has ever seen, according to all the do-gooder NGO's who make it their business to follow this sort of thing.

Could this be the same Stephen Harper who doesn't want to address the UN because it houses too many corrupt and anti-democratic delegations with darkish skin?

Could this be the same Canadian Prime Minister who closed Canada's embassy in Tehran because, oh my gawd, that filthy regime of towellers OPPRESS THEIR PEOPLE?

By virtually any standard you want to invent, the oppressed citizens of the Islamic Republic have it way better than the oppressed citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But there's the World Statesman of the Year, spending a couple of days hanging out in Kinshasha to address the Francophonie.

But wait a minute. I have a theory.

Think Chabad Lubavitch.

Isn't Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird's "personal Rabbi" a Lubavitcher?

And isn't that World Statesman of the Year award presented by Rabbi Arthur Schneier? Why indeed it is, and he too is a Lubavitcher, and not only does he present the award, he invented it!

Now try to focus here, because this is where things get interesting. A certain Lubavitcher named Dan Gertler has been at the center of DRC corruption controversies for years. He's really tight with DRC President Joseph Kabila, as he was with former President Laurent Kabila till he was assassinated.

Having democratically elected offices pass from father to son is just how things work in some of those places.

Gertler has magical powers to get lucrative mining concessions from the DRC government, even after others have bought and paid for them! And guess what? He is the biggest benefactor of the Chabad Lubavitch House in Kinshasha!

What's extra funny is that a whole string of Canadian mining companies have been screwed over by Gertler's antics in the DRC!

Now before you think I'm shilling for the Canadian mining industry, let me assure you such is not the case.

But you'd almost think Prime Minister Harper should be.

A few questions about the Glencore-Xstrada deal

That's not Marc Rich hiding behind the curtain, is it?

There can be few public companies that have as extensive a track record in the art of the shady deal as Glencore.

Bribery and corruption were a way of life. Every boycott or sanction or embargo was seen as a business opportunity.

Pay off a dictator to get lucrative mining concessions? How much?

Sell Iranian oil to Israel? No problem!

Mind you, most of the dirty business happened before they went public. The added scrutiny of being a public company seems to be slowing them down somewhat. Since their IPO in early 2011 their share price has lost about a quarter of its value. Not only that, but their corporate debt is at serious risk of a ratings downgrade.

So it's obvious why they want Xstrata. Forget about efficiencies of scale and corporate synergies. It's about getting their hands on billions of dollars in annual operating profit.

The media are starting to talk about this as a "hostile" takeover, and I'm not sure such a conclusion is warranted. Both companies are run by Marc Rich proteges. Xstrata is too big and too public a company to be run according to the "we'll do whatever we can get away with" ethos that has prevailed at Glencore.

The global climate for mining conglomerates is what's getting hostile, not this takeover. Governments in many parts of the world are not nearly as easy to bribe and bully into acquiescence as they were even twenty years ago. That's a trend that will gain momentum going forward. It's a trend that will make new operations far more expensive to bring on stream.

That makes established operations that much more valuable, and I don't think that value comes close to being reflected in the share swap on offer. Glencore is already the largest Xstrata shareholder. Once they have control they'll be able to do what they want with that cash flow.

That's bound to be good news for Glencore insiders, but not necessarily for the other shareholders.