Animal Farm is a dystopian novel by George Orwell. Published in England on 17 August 1945, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II. Orwell, a democratic socialist^[1] and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences with the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as his novel "contre Stalin".^[2]

The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, but A Fairy Story was dropped by the US publishers for its 1946 publication. Of all the translations during Orwell's lifetime, only Telugu kept the original title. Other variations in the title include: A Satire and A Contemporary Satire.^[2] Orwell suggested for the French translation the title Union des républiques socialistes animales or URSA, which means "bear" in Latin.^[2]

Time Magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005),^[3] at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels. It won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996 and is also included in the Great Books of the Western World.

 Overview

The short novel is dystopian allegory in which animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries^[4] and overthrow and oust the human owner of a farm (Manor Farm), renaming it Animal Farm and setting it up as a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal; however, class and status disparities soon emerge between the different animal species (the pigs being the "greater species"). The novel describes how a society's ideologies can be manipulated and twisted by those in positions of social and political power, including how Utopian society is made impossible by the corrupting nature of the very power necessary to create it.

The novel addresses not only the corruption of revolution by its leaders but also highlights how wickedness in human nature (indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia) destroys any possibility of Utopia. While this novel deigns poor leadership as the flaw in revolution (and not the revolution of itself), it also shows how ignorance and indifference to problems within a revolution let the horrors happen.

Characters and their possible real-life counterparts

The events and characters in Animal Farm satirise Stalinism ("Animalism"), authoritarian government and human stupidity generally; Snowball is seen as Leon Trotsky and the head pig, Napoleon, is Stalin.

 Pigs

Old Major, a prize Middle White boar,^[5] is the inspiration that fuels the Rebellion in the book. According to one interpretation, he could be based upon both Karl Marx (in that he describes the ideal society the animals could create if the humans are overthrown) and Vladimir Lenin (in that his skull is put on revered public display, as was Lenin's embalmed corpse). However, according to Christopher Hitchens: "the Leon Trotsky elements are combined into one [i.e., Snowball], or, it might even be [...] to say, there is no Lenin at all."^[6]

He introduces the animals to the song "Beasts of England", which becomes their anthem, and puts the idea of rebellion in the animals' heads.

Napoleon, a Berkshire boar ("a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way."),^[5] is the main tyrant and villain of Animal Farm and is based upon Joseph Stalin. He begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he took from mother dogs Jessie and Bluebell, which he raises to be vicious dogs as his secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things, he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges such as eating at a table and to justify his dictatorial rule. By the end of the book, Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similarly to the humans against whom they originally revolted. Napoleon's name adds to the novella's themes of totalitarian dictators rising from vacuum of power and absolute power corrupting absolutely. The character's namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte, forcibly took control from a weak government in 1799, installed himself as First Consul and eventually crowned himself Emperor.

The French Revolution served as inspiration for many of Karl Marx's ideas. In the first French version of Animal Farm, Napoleon is called César, the French spelling of Caesar.^[2], although another translation has him as Napoléon.^[7]

Snowball is Napoleon's rival. He is an allusion to Leon Trotsky. He wins over most animals, but is driven out of the farm by Napoleon. Snowball genuinely works for the good of the farm and devises plans to help the animals achieve their vision of an egalitarian Utopia, but Napoleon and his dogs chase him from the farm, and Napoleon spreads rumours to make him seem evil and corrupt and that he had secretly sabotaged the animals' efforts to improve the farm. In his biography of Orwell, Bernard Crick suggests that Snowball was as much inspired by the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) leader Andrés Nin as by Trotsky. Nin was a similarly adept orator and also fell victim to the Communist purges of the Left during the Spanish Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

Squealer, a small fat porker, serves as Napoleon's right hand pig and minister of propaganda. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Soviet paper Pravda, Squealer manipulates the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his own terrible acts. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. Squealer limits debate by complicating it and he confuses and disorients, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of the return of Mr Jones, the former owner of the farm, to justify the pigs' privileges. Squealer uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better. Most of the animals have only dim memories of life before the revolution; therefore, they are convinced.

Minimus is a poetic pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned. He represents admirers of Stalin both inside and outside the USSR such as Maxim Gorky. As Minimus composed the replacement of "Beasts of England", he may equate to the three main composers of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union which replaced The Internationale – Gabriel El-Registan, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov and Sergey Mikhalkov.^{[citation needed]}

The Piglets are hinted to be the children of Napoleon (albeit not truly noted in the novel) and are the first generation of animals actually subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.

The Rebel Pigs are four pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed. This is based on the Great Purge during Stalin's regime. The closest parallels to the Rebel Pigs may be Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev.^{[citation needed]}

Pinkeye is a minor pig who is mentioned only once; he is the pig that tastes Napoleon's food to make sure it's not poisoned, in response to rumours about an assassination attempt on Napoleon.

] Humans

Mr. Jones represents Nicholas II of Russia, the deposed Czar, who had been facing severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1917 Revolution. The character is also a nod towards Louis XVI. There are several implications that he represents an autocratic but ineffective capitalist, incapable of running the farm and looking after the animals properly. Jones is a very heavy drinker and the animals revolt against him after he drinks so much that he does not feed or take care of them, and his attempt to recapture the farm is foiled in the Battle of the Cowshed (the Russian Civil War).

Mr. Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighbouring farm. He represents Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in general.^[8] He buys wood from the animals for forged money and later attacks them, destroying the windmill but being finally beaten in the resulting Battle of the Windmill (World War II), which could be interpreted as either the battle of Moscow or Stalingrad. There are also stories of him mistreating his own animals, such as throwing dogs into a furnace, which may also represent the Nazi Party's treatment of political dissidents.

Mr. Pilkington is the easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighbouring farm overgrown with weeds, as described in the book. He represents the western powers, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. The card game at the very end of the novel is a metaphor for the Tehran Conference, where the parties flatter each other, all the while cheating at the game. This last scene is ironic because all the Pigs are civil and kind to the humans, defying all for which they had fought. This happened at the Tehran Conference: the Soviet Union formed an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom, capitalist countries that the Soviet Union had fought in the early years of the revolution.^[8] At the end of the game, both Napoleon and Pilkington draw the Ace of Spades and then begin fighting loudly, symbolising the beginning of tension between the U.S. and Soviet superpowers.

Mr. Whymper is a man hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in human society. He is loosely based on Western intellectuals such as George Bernard Shaw and, especially, Lincoln Steffens, who visited the USSR in 1919.

 Equines

There are four main equine (horse and donkey) characters: Clover, Boxer, Benjamin, and Mollie.

Boxer is one of the main characters. He is the pathetic symbol of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, respectful and physically the strongest animal on the farm, but naïve and slow. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders leads to his death and their profit. In particular, his heroic physical work represents the Stakhanovite movement. His maxim of "I will work harder" is reminiscent of Jurgis Rudkus from the Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle. His second maxim, "Napoleon is always right" is an example of the propaganda used by Squealer to control the animals. It was not adopted until later in the book. Boxer's work ethic is often praised by the pigs, and he is set as a prime example to the other animals. When Boxer is injured, and can no longer work, Napoleon sends him off to the knacker's yard and deceives the other animals, saying that Boxer died peacefully in the hospital. When the animals cannot work, Napoleon tosses them aside, for they mean nothing to him and Napoleon was not just done with Boxer because he could not work. He was also afraid of Boxer. Boxer had the strength and leadership to overthrow Napoleon. Napoleon never saw that Boxer would never do this because he was loyal to Napoleon.

Clover, Boxer's companion, is also a draft horse. She helps and cares for Boxer when he splits his hoof. She blames herself for forgetting the original Seven Commandments when Squealer had actually revised them. Clover is compassionate, as is shown when she protects the baby ducklings during Major's speech. She is also upset when animals are executed by the dogs, and is held in great respect by the three younger horses who ultimately replace Boxer. Beyond being the matriarch it is hard to find a political role for her in the novel.

Mollie is a self-centred and vain white mare who likes wearing ribbons in her mane, eating sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered and groomed by humans. She represents upper-class people, the bourgeoisie and nobility who fled to the West after the Russian Revolution and effectively dominated the Russian diaspora. Accordingly, she quickly leaves for another farm and is only once mentioned again.

Benjamin is a wise old donkey who shows little emotion and is one of the longest-lived animals; he is still alive at the end of the book and probably lives even longer than Napoleon. The animals often ask him about his lack of expression but he always answers with: 'Donkeys live a long time. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey.' Benjamin can also read as well as any pig, but rarely displays his ability. He is a dedicated friend to Boxer and is very upset when Boxer is taken away. Benjamin has known about the pigs' wrongdoing the entire time, but he says nothing to the other animals. He represents the cynics in society. Another possibility is that Benjamin is an allegory for intellectuals who have the wisdom to stay clear of the purges, but take no action themselves, such as pacifists, whose 'line' Orwell firmly disliked. Yet another possibility is that Benjamin is Orwell himself.

 Other animals

Muriel is a wise old goat who is friends with all of the animals on the farm. She, like Benjamin and Snowball, is one of the few animals on the farm who can read (with some difficulty, she has to spell the words out first) and helps Clover discover that the Seven Commandments have been continually changed. She possibly represents the same category as Benjamin, though she dies near the end of the book from old age.

The Puppies, were raised by Napoleon to be his security force, and may be reference to the fact that Stalin's rise to power was helped by his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin in 1922, in which role he used his powers of appointment, promotion and demotion to quietly pack the party with his own supporters. The puppies represent Stalin's secret police.

Moses the Raven is an old bird that occasionally visits the farm with tales of a place in the sky called Sugarcandy Mountain, where he says animals go when they die, but only if they work hard. He spends time turning the animals' minds to Sugarcandy Mountain and he does no work. He represents religious leaders, specifically the Russian Orthodox Church, and Sugarcandy Mountain is Heaven. Religion is banned in the new régime, and his religious persona is exacerbated by the fact that he is named after a biblical character. He feels unequal in comparison to the other animals, so he leaves after the rebellion, for all animals were supposed to be equal. However, much later in the book he returns to the farm and continues to proclaim the existence of Sugarcandy Mountain. The other animals are confused by the pigs' attitude towards Moses; they denounce his claims as nonsense, but allow him to remain on the farm. The pigs do this to offer the hope of a happy afterlife to the other animals, probably to keep their minds on Sugarcandy Mountain and not on possible uprisings. This is an allegory to Stalin's pact with the Russian Orthodox Church. In the end, Moses is one of few animals to remember the rebellion, along with Clover, Benjamin, and the pigs.

The Sheep represent the mass proletariat, manipulated to support Napoleon in spite of his treachery. They show limited understanding of the situations but support him anyway, and regularly chant "Four legs good, Two legs bad". At the end of the novel, one of the Seven Commandments is changed after the pigs learn to walk on two legs, so they shout "Four legs good, two legs better". They can be relied on by the pigs to shout down any dissent from others.

The Rats may represent some of the nomadic people in the far north of the USSR.

The Hens may represent the Kulaks as they destroy their eggs rather than hand them over to Napoleon, just as during collectivisation some Kulaks destroyed machinery or killed their livestock.

Alcohol

One of the Seven Commandments is that no animal should drink alcohol. The pigs, the rulers, not only disobeyed this rule but struck it out and then started buying and brewing alcohol for themselves. Alcohol perhaps is a metaphor for money, or rather the love of it.

 Origin

George Orwell wrote the manuscript in 1943 and 1944 following his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, which he described in his 1938 Homage to Catalonia.

In the preface of a 1947 Ukrainian edition of Animal Farm he explained how escaping the communist purges in Spain taught him

how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries.

This motivated Orwell to expose and strongly condemn what he saw as the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals.^[9]

In that preface Orwell also described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm:^[9]

...I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.

Orwell encountered great difficulty getting the manuscript published. Four publishers refused; one had initially accepted the work but declined after consulting with the Ministry of Information.^[10][11] Eventually Martin Secker and Warburg published the first edition in 1945.

Significance

The Horn and Hoof Flag (interpretation above) described in the book appears to be based on the hammer and sickle.

In the Eastern Bloc both Animal Farm and later, also Nineteen Eighty-Four were on the list of forbidden books up until die Wende in 1989, and were only available via clandestine Samizdat networks.^[12]

The 1947 Ukrainian edition was an early propaganda use of the book.^{[clarification needed]} It was printed to be distributed among the Soviet citizens of Ukraine who were some of the many millions of displaced persons throughout Europe at the end of the Second World War. The American occupation forces considered the edition to be propaganda printed on illegal presses, and handed 1,500 confiscated copies of Animal Farm over to the Soviet authorities.^{[clarification needed]} The politics in the book also affected the UK, with Orwell reporting that Ernest Bevin was "terrified"^[13] that it may cause embarrassment if published before the 1945 general election.

In recent years,^[when?] the book has been used to compare new movements that overthrow heads of a corrupt and undemocratic government or organisation, only eventually to become corrupt and oppressive themselves as they succumb to the trappings of power and begin using violent and dictatorial methods to keep it. Such analogies have been used for many former African colonies such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose succeeding African-born rulers were accused of being as corrupt as, or worse than, the European colonists they supplanted.

The book also clearly ponders whether a focus of power in one person is healthy for a society. The book leaves the ending slightly ambiguous in this regard.^{[clarification needed]}

The Freedom of the Press

Secker and Warburg published the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945 without any introduction. However, the publisher had provided space for a preface in the author's proof composited from the manuscript. For reasons unknown, no preface was supplied and all the page numbers needed to be redone at the last minute.^[14][15]

Years later, in 1972, Ian Angus found the original typescript titled "The Freedom of the Press", and Bernard Crick published it, together with his own introduction in The Times Literary Supplement on 15 September 1972^[14] as "How the essay came to be written".^[15] Orwell's essay criticised British self-censorship by the press, specifically the suppression of unflattering descriptions of Stalin and the Soviet government.^[15]

The same essay also appeared in the Italian 1976 Animal Farm edition, with another introduction by Crick, claiming to be the first edition with the preface.^[14] Other publishers were still declining to publish it.

During World War II it became apparent to Orwell that anti-Russian literature was not something which most major publishing houses would touch — including his regular publisher Gollancz. One publisher he sought during the war, who had initially accepted Animal Farm, subsequently rejected his book after an official at the British Ministry of Information warned him off^[16] — although the civil servant who it is assumed^{[by whom?]} gave the order was later found to be a Soviet spy.^[17] The publisher then wrote to Orwell, saying:^[16] "If the fable were addressed generally to dictators and dictatorships at large then publication would be all right, but the fable does follow, as I see now, so completely the progress of the Russian Soviets and their two dictators [Lenin and Stalin], that it can apply only to Russia, to the exclusion of the other dictatorships.

"Another thing: it would be less offensive if the predominant caste in the fable were not pigs. I think the choice of pigs as the ruling caste will no doubt give offence to many people, and particularly to anyone who is a bit touchy, as undoubtedly the Russians are."

Orwell originally wrote a preface which complains about self-imposed British self-censorship and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, their World War II ally. "The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. ... Things are kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervenes but because of a general tacit agreement that 'it wouldn't do' to mention that particular fact." Somewhat ironically, the preface itself was censored and is not published with most editions of the book.^[18][19]

The same "voluntary" system still exists with the DA-Notice.^{[clarification needed]}

 Cultural references

References to the novella are frequent in other works of popular culture, particularly in popular music and television series.

Adaptations

Animal Farm has been adapted to film twice. The 1954 Animal Farm film was an animated feature and the 1999 Animal Farm film was a TV live action version (which differs from the book factually).^{[clarification needed]}

 See also

• Snowball's Chance, a send-up of Animal Farm by John Reed, Roof Books 2002
• Bunt, published in 1924, is a book with a theme similar to Animal Farm by Władysław Reymont.
• History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)
• History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)

Notes

Citations

External links

• Project Gutenberg Australia hosts a free eBook of Animal Farm; note that copyright may apply in countries other than Australia - Zip file, Text file, HTML file
• Excerpts from Orwell's letters to his agent concerning Animal Farm
• Animal Farm By George Orwell - Free eBook in PDF format.
• Entire text as scanned pages online
• Animal Farm Book Notes from Literapedia
• Learning Activities
• Literary Journal review
• Orwell's original preface to the book
• Animal Farm study guide, symbols, quotes, teaching guide

Animal Farm

I decided to read Animal Farm after we watched the movie in class. I slept through some of it in class but what I did see I liked so I knew I needed to read the book so that I would know everything that happened. It is a very creative way to present communism and using animals instead of people is more inte

Napoleon symbolizes the dictator Joseph Stalin in this world. Snowball He is a pig that fights with Napoleon over the power on the farm. He is a very energetic, eloquent speaking, brilliant leader who organizes the defense of the farm. Napoleons jealousness of him makes him try to kill Snowball. Snowball flees the area and every misfortune in Animal Farm after that is blamed on him. He represents Leon Trotsky in this story. Squealor He is a short, fat, twinkle eyed pig who is a brilliant talker. He justifies the horrible actions of Napoleon and most of the animals buy into it. He has a sly, persuasive air to him. This is why he is head of Napoleon’s propaganda plan. Boxer He is a large, very powerful horse who is not too bright. He buys into animalism and works the hardest on the farm. He saves the farm on multiple occasions and declared a national hero. After he gets too sick to work Napoleon secretly sells him to a glue factory. Boxer symbolizes the hard working Russian class that Stalin abused for his own benefit. Mollie She is a mare who abandons Animal Farm for sugar and ribbons at the human inn. She represents the nobles of Russia that abandoned the people after the Russian Revolution. The Dogs These animals are the military force and secret police of this totalitarian government. They were trained at birth to be completely loyal to Napoleon. They are Animalism only true physical force and without them the pigs would be powerless. T

Some topics in this essay:
Snowball Napoleon, Farm Plot, Leon Trotsky, Animal Farm, Characters Pigs, Gullible People, Joseph Stalin, Napoleon Animalism, , Karl Marx, animal farm, whatever goes legs, set serve, whatever goes, animals supposed, goes legs, government set, totalitarian government, animals buy, government set serve, windmill built, secret police,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z78RsKIo1Nc

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis" whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under Richard Nixon, continue to this day.

Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."

Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations: the Joint Special Operations Command. "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," he explained. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it."

"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on," Hersh stated. "Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."

Hersh told MinnPost.com blogger Eric Black in an email exchange after the event that the subject was "not something I wanted to dwell about in public." He is looking into it for a book, but he believes it may be a year or two before he has enough evidence "for even the most skeptical."

Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.

As Hersh noted in Minnesota, the New York Times on Monday described the Joint Special Operations Command as overseeing the secret commando units in Afghanistan whose missions were temporarily ordered halted last month because of growing concerns over excessive civilian deaths.

However, it appears that Hersh is now on the trail of some fresh revelation about these squads and their connection to Vice-President Cheney that goes well beyond anything that has previously been reported.


Eric Black's blog posting, which includes an hour-long audio recording of the full University of Minnesota colloquy, is available here.

Henry Kissinger meets Vladimir Putin on March 20. Photo: AP

President Obama’s National Security Advisor, General Jim Jones (USMC ret.) made a very curious comment at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy in Germany. He said:

Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here.”

Jones’ comment appeared to be an unsuccessful attempt at dry humor – only a few in the audience actually laughed – in acknowledging Dr Henry Kissinger’s enormous influence in U.S. foreign policy which had been acknowledged a day earlier with a prestigious award. Many, however, immediately viewed Jones’ comment as an  unguarded admission of who really is in charge of U.S. policy. Jones comment raises two serious questions. How much influence does Kissinger exert over the Obama administration and the policy making process? Furthermore, what influence does Kissinger have in influencing U.S. policy on UFOs and extraterrestrial life?

continued: http://www.examiner.com/x-2383-Honolulu-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m3d23-Kissinger-influence-on-Obama-administration--UFO-policy

MONDAY 23 MARCH 2009

Iran Sets Terms for US Ties

Sunday 22 March 2009

by: Fredrik Dahl  |  Visit article original @ Reuters

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed a crowd of thousands on the day after US President Barack Obama sent a taped message to the Iranian people and its leadership offering a "new beginning" to strained US-Iranian relations. (Photo: Getty Images)

    Tehran - Iran has responded to U.S. President Barack Obama's offer of better relations by demanding policy changes from Washington, but the Islamic state is not closing the door to a possible thaw in ties with its old foe.

    Iran wants the United States to show concrete change in its behavior toward it, for example by handing back frozen assets, but Tehran is not pursuing "eternal hostility," said Professor Mohammad Marandi at Tehran University.

Also see below:     
Iran's Response to US Sign of Theocracy's Mind-Set    •

    "I think they (the Iranian leadership) are quite willing to have better relations if the Americans are serious," said Marandi, who heads North American studies at the university.

    A day after Obama held out the prospect of a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement, Iran's top authority spoke at length on Saturday about its grievances against the United States and said he saw no real policy shift yet by the new administration.

    But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, also added in his speech at Iran's most prominent religious shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad: "You change, our behavior will change."

    Marandi said Khamenei did not dismiss Obama's overture but was "effectively saying that this is simply not enough, that the United States must take concrete steps toward decreasing tension with Iran."

    Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are now embroiled in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran denies the charge.

    Saeed Laylaz, editor of business daily Sarmayeh and an outspoken political commentator, said Khamenei in his speech had sent a "counter-offer" to the United States following Obama's video message on Friday to mark the Iranian New Year. "I think he opened the doors to the United States," Laylaz said.

    Frozen Assets

    After taking office in January, Obama talked of extending a hand of peace to Tehran if it "unclenches its fist," in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush, who branded Iran part of an "axis of evil" and spearheaded a drive to isolate it.

    In his warmest offer yet of a fresh start in relations, Obama said in Friday's video message: "The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations."

    But Khamenei made clear more than a change in U.S. rhetoric was needed, saying the United States was "hated in the world" and should stop interfering in other countries.

    He also spoke of "oppressive sanctions" imposed on the Islamic Republic, Iranian assets frozen in the United States and Washington's backing of Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.

    "Khamenei suggested a very clear way for Obama's administration, how they can start real action about Iran," Laylaz said.

    Iranian officials have repeatedly shrugged off the impact of U.S. and U.N. sanctions on the country but analysts say tumbling crude prices may make the world's fourth-largest oil producer more vulnerable to such pressure over its nuclear activity.

    Marandi said the United States could make a significant move by giving back Iranian assets blocked after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

    Analysts have said Iran is setting tough conditions for dialogue to buy time. Adding to uncertainty, it holds a presidential election in June that could strengthen moderate voices backing detente over more hardline opponents.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has demanded Washington apologize for decades of "crimes" against Iran. Tehran also says it cannot let down its guard as long as U.S. troops are on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    But Professor Hamidreza Jalaiepour, who teaches political sociology in Tehran, said Khamenei had delivered a pragmatic message rather than one based on ideology on Saturday.

    If the United States eased sanctions imposed on Iran or released frozen funds, Iran was likely to respond, for example in helping to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, he said.

    (Editing by Janet Lawrence)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Iran's Response to US Sign of Theocracy's Mind-Set

Saturday 21 March 2009

by: Brian Murphy  |  Visit article original @ The Associated Press

    Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The Iranian leader's rebuff on Saturday to President Barack Obama's offer for dialogue was swift and sweeping: Words from Washington ring hollow without deep policy changes.

    But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's response was more than just a dismissive slap at the outreach. It was a broad lesson in the mind-set of Iran's all-powerful theocracy and how it will dictate the pace and tone of any new steps by Obama to chip away at their nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze.

    "It's the first stage of the bargaining in classic Iranian style: Be tough and play up your toughness," said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of regional politics at United Arab Emirates University. "The Iranian leaders are not about concessions at this stage. It's still all about ideology from the Iranian side."

    For Khamenei and his inner circle, that means appearing to stay true to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the political narrative of rejecting the United States. Any quick gestures by the ruling clerics to mend ties with Washington could be perceived by hard-liners as a betrayal of the revolution.

    Iran's non-elected leaders also are carefully weighing how any openings - even small ones - could affect the June 12 presidential race between their apparent choice, hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and reformists led by a former prime minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

    "This is why this will be a very slow, very complicated process between Iran and the United States," said Abdulla. "Even the theocracy can be pragmatic. When they feel it's in the national interest to reach out to America, they will find a way."

    There are no signs of a spring thaw.

    Khamenei set the bar impossibly high - demanding an overhaul of U.S. foreign policy, including giving up "unconditional support" for Israel and halting claims that Iran is seeking nuclear arms. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.

    "Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials?" Khamenei said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The crowd chanted "Death to America."

    Despite Obama's offer, the State Department still lists Iran as a sponsor of terrorism for its backing of militant groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah. In Iraq, U.S. officials accuse Iran of aiding Shiite militias whose targets have included American soldiers.

    "He (Obama) insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day. If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed."

    Still, Khamenei left the door open to better ties with America, saying "should you change, our behavior will change, too."

    Khamenei's response carried a particular bite following Obama's important shift in U.S. tactics in his video released Friday, offering to speak directly to Iran's theocrats rather than encouraging only pro-democracy reformists inside the country.

    The move appears to recognize two key realities for U.S. policy makers: Iran's establishment is firmly entrenched and it holds all the cards in all important decisions.

    "There's a thinking that they will do what the U.S. did with Libya: engagement and incentives in return for moderated policies," said Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Iran, however, is a vastly more complicated place that has influence in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the region."

    The Obama administration hasn't outlined details of its next steps, but White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Friday that "many more" initiatives are expected.

    Last week, U.S. officials raised the possibility of regular diplomatic contacts between U.S. and Iranian diplomats around the world. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Iranian envoys will have an opportunity for informal talks on the sidelines of a U.N.-led conference on Afghanistan at The Hague, Netherlands.

    In Iran, any contacts or messages will undoubtedly be viewed through the prism of the country's presidential elections.

    Some experts believe that Ahmadinejad could benefit from Obama's overtures by claiming that his tough stance toward the West brought Washington to the table. Reformers, meanwhile, could struggle with an identity crisis.

    "These are people who considered the U.S. an honest broker and committed to regime change," said Ilan Berman, an Iranian affairs specialist at the American Foreign Policy Council. "Now the reformers are going to feel left out in the cold."

    Saeed Leylaz, a prominent Tehran-based political analyst, saw Khamenei's tough language as just an opening flurry in what could be a gradual easing of tensions - similar to the decades of slow rapprochement with Britain despite a history of troubles dating back to disputes over oil fields more than a century ago.

    "The U.S. is the sole country in the world capable of destabilizing Iran. Khamenei is concerned about this," he said. "If Iran's concerns are eased, it will be willing to have relations with the U.S. in the same way it has relations with the U.K."

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NEW MONEY, NEW MONEY, NEW MONEY

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE AMERO?

1. THE SUPERHIGHWAY FACTS

   This country would be replaced by a common currency called the "Amero" and .... "The Case for the Amero: The Economics and Politics of a North American Monetary ...
   www.greatdreams.com/political/superhighway_facts.htm

1. INVASION OF AMERICA

   Analysts: Dollar collapse would result in 'amero' · U.S. dollar facing imminent collapse? London stock trader urges move to 'amero' ...
   www.greatdreams.com/political/invasion_of_america.htm

Amero dies

By News Digital on March 21, 2009

New World Order pox currency acmetal is ACME.

The entire recession-bound world is about to come down with a bad case of “acme”.

In an article from Agence France-Presse comes word that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has the backing of the architect of the euro currency, Nobel-prize winner Professor Robert Mundell.

“Nazarbayev, speaking at an economic forum in the glitzy new capital he has built on the Kazakh steppe, defended his proposal for the “acmetal” world currency saying it might “look kind of funny” but was not,” (The Australian, March 11, 2009). 

Nazarbayev may have been more forthright had he said it might “look kind of fishy”. 

The “acmetal”, combines the Greek world “acme”, meaning peak or best, and “capital”.

Call it acmetal in Kazakh.  Call it amero in the headed-for-economic-meltdown United States of America.

That the acmetal now has the backing of a Canadian-born Nobel-prize winner does not make it any more palatable.

When it comes to laying the intellectual groundwork for a single currency, Mundell is king, although he refers to himself as just “one of several godfathers”.

These godfathers include anti-Americans UN Poster Boy Maurice Strong and big time speculator George Soros.

There’s a fishy smell wafting over the pond and it can be traced right back to acmetal.

In the U.S., experts were predicting three years ago that the collapse of the dollar was imminent.

“People in the U.S. are going to be hit hard,” says Bob Chapman publisher of The International Forecaster newsletter.  “In the severe recession we are entering now, Bush will argue that we have to form a North American Union to compete with the Euro.” (Debut of the `amero’, Canada Free Press, Dec. 14, 2006).

Mundell, who backs the acmetal, said on Oct. 14, 1999, “The emerging multi-polar world…presents a better opportunity to create a world central bank with a stable international currency than at any previous time in history.”

Asked in 2003 whether Milton Friedman’s suggestion that the euro areas could break up within 15 years was plausible, he responded: “An asteroid could hit our planet and demolish any area, or a world war could break out.  No currency area is war proof.  Even the US monetary union broke up in 1861.” The UK is, he says, already losing out by not adopting the euro.  He told the Treasury:

“It has lost foreign direct investment to the euro areas as a consequence of its fluctuating exchange rate.  It has also lost political influence over other EU members in matters of economic policy.” (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk, June 13, 2003).

Born in Canada in 1932, Prof. Mundell received his BA from the University of British Columbia in 1953.  He studied at the London School of economics and received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956.  From 1966 to 1971, he was economics professor at the University of Chicago and editor of the Journal of Political Economy.

“A world central bank controlling all national monetary policies and currencies–until such time as a single global currency may be established–is essential to the one-worlder’s East-West merger scheme.

“As we have seen in the preceding chapter, the insiders’ penultimate goal is to create regional blocs in which the nation-states will become so economically and politically interdependent and integrated that the nations are subsumed into regional super-governments (the EU, WHFTA, APEC, etc.) with regional central banks and regional currencies.  Once this is done, it is small work to merge the regional entities into a single global government.” - (The UN World Money System)

“I must say that I agree with President Nazarbayev on his statement and many of the things he said in his plan, the project he made for the world currency, and I believe I’m right on track with what he’s saying,” Prof. Mundell said, adding the ideas held “great promise”.

“Mr. Nazarbayev and Prof. Mundell urged the Group of 20 leading developed and developing economies to form a working group on the proposal at their summit on the global economic crisis in London on April 2.

“We should deliver our thoughts and the thoughts of this conference to the leaders of those countries,” Mr. Nazarbayev said, referring to the G8 and G20 nations. (The Australian)

The euro, for which Prof. Mundell says his enthusiasm has not waned, followed a route of stealth and surprise in that it had already been issued as replacement currency before the masses could coalesce to fight it.

Even though the media spotlight is on the plans being discussed for Obama to be granted an audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace on April 1st., the president will be in London for talks on global efforts to tackle the recession, central also to Gordon Brown’s plans for responding to the recession. 

While Americans are kept busy with Obama policies that are dramatically changing their country, will the `amero’ be unveiled under the name `acmetal’ at the summit on global economic crisis in London next month?

By Judi McLeod

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China Takes Aim at Dollar, Urges New Global Currency

China calls for the creation of a new currency to eventually replace the dollar as the world's standard, reflecting a growing unhappiness with the U.S. role in the world economy.

The Wall Street Journal

FOXNews.com

Monday, March 23, 2009

BEIJING -- China called for the creation of a new currency to eventually replace the dollar as the world's standard, proposing a sweeping overhaul of global finance that reflects developing nations' growing unhappiness with the U.S. role in the world economy.

The unusual proposal, made by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan in an essay released Monday in Beijing, is part of China's increasingly assertive approach to shaping the global response to the financial crisis.

Zhou's proposal comes amid preparations for a summit of the world's industrial and developing nations, the Group of 20, in London next week. At past such meetings, developed nations have criticized China's economic and currency policies.

This time, China is on the offensive, backed by other emerging economies such as Russia in making clear they want a global economic order less dominated by the U.S. and other wealthy nations.

However, the technical and political hurdles to implementing China's recommendation are enormous, so even if backed by other nations, the proposal is unlikely to change the dollar's role in the short term. Central banks around the world hold more U.S. dollars and dollar securities than they do assets denominated in any other individual foreign currency. Such reserves can be used to stabilize the value of the central banks' domestic currencies.

Monday's proposal follows a similar one Russia made this month during preparations for the G20 meeting. Like China, Russia recommended that the International Monetary Fund might issue the currency, and emphasized the need to update "the obsolescent unipolar world economic order."

Chinese officials are frustrated at their financial dependence on the U.S., with Premier Wen Jiabao this month publicly expressing "worries" over China's significant holdings of U.S. government bonds. The size of those holdings means the value of the national rainy-day fund is mainly driven by factors China has little control over, such as fluctuations in the value of the dollar and changes in U.S. economic policies. While Chinese banks have weathered the global downturn and continue to lend, the collapse in demand for the nation's exports has shuttered factories and left millions jobless.

Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal

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THE G-20 MEETING

France's PM Pushes Financial Reform Ahead of G-20 Meeting

By Julia Ritchey
Washington
24 March 2009

French PM Francois Fillon speaks at the French National Assembly in Paris, 17 Mar 2009

French Prime Minister François Fillon is in Washington to garner support for tougher international financial regulations ahead of the April 2 Group of 20 economic summit in London. While the Obama administration wants Europe to increase its fiscal stimulus to solve the global economic crisis, the French prime minister says financial reforms must first be addressed.

French Prime Minister François Fillon says it is the duty of the G-20 group of the world's largest developed and emerging economies next month to achieve concrete results in resolving the global economic crisis. He says the best way to do this is by agreeing to stricter oversight of international financial institutions.

In a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on Monday, Mr. Fillon listed four key issues that France wants to top the agenda at the economic summit.

Mr. Fillon said the four pillars for lasting recovery are reforming financial regulations, supporting economic growth, rescuing banks and providing aid to the countries suffering most from the economic crisis.

In addition, he said hedge funds must be subject to real oversight. Ratings agencies, which Mr. Fillon said helped fuel the crisis, must adopt rules for dealing with conflicts of interest and offshore banking centers, which often allow clients to evade paying taxes in their home countries, need to be vigorously regulated.

Mr. Fillon also struck back at critics in the media and within the Obama administration who say Europe needs to spend more on government economic stimulus.

The French prime minister said the crisis was created by an excess of public debt and that it will not be solved by creating even more. He says European Union member states already have implemented large stimulus packages that account for more than three percent of Europe's gross domestic product.

Mr. Fillon expressed confidence in U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's newest initiative to help stabilize the banking system by providing guarantees and low-interest loans to investors willing to purchase toxic assets from banks.

Mr. Fillon said he prefers the idea of a public-private partnership to buy up the bad assets, and that this will prompt European countries to consider similar measures.

While in Washington, Mr. Fillon also met with Vice President Joe Biden and Lawrence Summers, the head of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council.  

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