Ecuador's Correa: Obama's exceptionalism talk reminiscent of Nazi rhetoric

[Umair Nawaz]

US exceptionalism rhetoric poses extreme danger and is reminiscent of Nazi ideals and talk “before and during World War II,” Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said in exclusive interview with RT Spanish.

Referring to US President Barack Obama’s statement that “America is exceptional” because it stands up not only for its own “narrow self interest, but for the interests of all," Correa said: “Does not this remind you of the Nazis’ rhetoric before and during World War II? They considered themselves the chosen race, the superior race, etc. Such words and ideas pose extreme danger,” President Correa said on RT Spanish’ Entrevista program.

As for cases of espionage in Latin America and the subsequent criticism from regional leaders, Obama said the US will try to respect the sovereignty of those countries “in cases where it will be possible.”

At the recent UN General Assembly, Brazil launched a blistering attack on US espionage, saying it “is a breach of international law.”

President Correa said the US will keep violating other countries’ sovereignty, but this will eventually change.

“What Plato wrote in his [Socratic] dialogues more than 2,000 years ago is true. Justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger. They are strong, that’s why they will continue lying, violating other states’ sovereignty, and breaching international law. But one day this unjust world will have to change,” Correa said.

When asked about whether the UN headquarters should be moved out of the US, Correa replied “definitely yes.” But, he pointed out that there are other things that carry more importance. For example, the headquarters of the American Convention on Human Rights is located in Washington, yet “the US did not ratify the Pact of San Jose, that is, the American Convention on Human Rights…but the headquarters of the organization is in the US and they finance their activities,” Correa said. “This is outrageous and an example of a relationship the US established with developing countries in the form of subordination.”

'US will not be able to hide the truth about Chevron’s oil disaster’
While responding to questions about Chevron-Texaco’s oil damages in Ecuador, Correa said that the US would not be able to hide the truth - despite having money, power, and hundreds of lawyers by its side. “Chevron has caused irreparable damage to the Ecuadorian jungle,” the president said. “Texaco did nothing to clear the area…At the time, there were cleaner technologies available, but they wanted to save a few bucks, and they destroyed the environment and did not even bother to pay for the damages.”

Correa pointed out that the scale of the disaster in Ecuador is 85 times higher than the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and 18 times higher than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. “But they decided that if it happened in the Amazon region of Ecuador, then there is nothing to worry about.”

The case against Chevron-Texaco has been ongoing for two decades, and stems from the oil company’s operations in the Amazon, which date back to the period between 1972 and 1990.

In February 2011, a judgment by a provincial court in Ecuador produced a multi-billion dollar award against Chevron. However, as the company currently has no holdings in Ecuador, the plaintiffs have instead attempted to force payment in Canada, Brazil, and Argentina.

The $19 billion verdict was the result of a 1993 lawsuit filed in New York federal court by a group of American attorneys – including Steven Donziger - on behalf of 88 residents of the Amazon rainforest. In the intervening period, Texaco was acquired by Chevron in 2001, and plaintiffs re-filed their case in Ecuador in 2003.

For its part, Chevron insists that it was absolved of responsibility for the environmental damages by a 1995 cleanup agreement. The oil company places responsibility for the damages on Petroecuador, Ecuador’s national oil company.

At the end of September, Ecuador’s foreign ministry announced that the US had seemingly denied visas to a delegation that was set to travel to the UN General Assembly in New York to present their case regarding an ongoing dispute against Chevron-Texaco.

According to the ministry’s official announcement, visas for the five Ecuadorian nationals were returned by the US Embassy in Quito “without any explanation.”

The group was to present testimony during a special event at the UN regarding the ecological impact caused by Chevron-Texaco’s oil operations in the Amazon rainforest region of Ecuador, which contaminated two million hectares, according to the country’s government.


Ecuador's Correa: Obama's exceptionalism talk reminiscent of Nazi rhetoric before WWII — RT News

 

[Umair Nawaz]

interesting....

 

[HongWu]

America is the Fourth Reich. More evil than the Nazi regime.

 

[GDan]

America is the Fourth Reich. More evil than the Nazi regime.

Are you kidding? America is actually the Sixth Reich. We're so evil that we skipped Reichs four and five.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

For the people who dont know abt Chevron oil disaster...........Here is something latest abt it.

Chevron fights dirty $18 bln Ecuador pollution case

On Tuesday, Chevron begins a racketeering trial, accusing New York attorney Steven Donzinger of using fraudulent means to win an $18 billion pollution verdict against the oil company in Ecuador. But its opponents say the firm is faking its case.

Tuesday’s trial continues a long-running dispute between Chevron and Ecuador regarding contamination that occurred in Ecuador between 1964 and 1992, when Texaco was operating an oil field in the northeastern part of the country. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001, but it argues that its share of the pollution was cleaned up before the property was moved into the hands of the state’s own PetroEcuador.

In 2011, the people of Lago Agrio were awarded $18 billion in damages for pollution that affected the village, but they have been unable to collect due to the fact that Chevron no longer operates in Ecuador. If Chevron succeeds in escaping the ruling via US courts, then its case would be bolstered anywhere else Donzinger and the villagers attempt to enforce it.

Chevron claims that Donzinger not only bribed Judge Nicolas Zambrano to issue a favorable verdict, but also that the attorney actually wrote the judgment itself. Additionally, Chevron will attempt to show that consultants hired by Donzinger drafted a report that was used to determine the extent of the damages in the suit.

Chevron’s case rests on the credibility and evidence of former Ecuadorian judge Alberto Guerra, who said in a sworn deposition that he routinely wrote opinions for Zambrano. Guerra claimed that Donzinger promised to pay Zambrano $500,000 should he allow him and another lawyer to write the judgment.

"We believe that any jurisdiction that observes the rule of law will find that the judgment is illegal and unenforceable because it's a product of fraud," Morgan Crinklaw, a spokesman for Chevron, told Reuters.

According to Donzinger and the Ecuadorians he represents, however, Guerra’s credibility must be questioned because his testimony was bought. Guerra was relocated by Chevron in January, and the company paid him $38,000 to testify. It continues to provide his family $10,000 a month for living expenses, and an additional $2,000 a month for housing.

"We are completely and utterly denying the allegations by Chevron," Donzinger’s spokesman Chris Gowen said.

"Steven Donziger did not ghostwrite a judgment. Steven Donziger did not bribe a judge."

Additionally, antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Shinder is also expected to testify on Chevron’s behalf. Shinder removed himself from the case when he, according to a deposition given in June, discovered the extent to which Donzinger was involved in a report being drafted by court-appointed expert Richard Cabrera on the pollution damage occurring in Ecuador’s jungles.

“If you have an independent expert who is being proffered to justify a significant, you know, damage finding against a major corporation, if his independence is compromised in a way - in a way that was, you know, not disclosed, not transparent - I think that’s per se improper," Shinder said. "That was my own subjective view of it. It was not a close call.”

To Gowen, however, the fact that the Cabrera report was rejected by both the trial and appeals court in Ecuador underlines that it is irrelevant to today’s proceedings.

“We’re dumbfounded as to what is the relevance of the Cabrera report in a court in the United States of America,” Forbes reported him as saying.

Chevron fights dirty $18 bln Ecuador pollution case ? RT USA

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Anyways Ecuador President has really Nailed America.

Anyways Ecuador President has really Nailed America.