Corporate Giant:
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Things you should know the next time you board the plane!
CEO: James McNerney, Jr.
Military contracts 2005: $18.3 billion
Total contributions for the 2006 U.S. election cycle: US$1,020,821
Aside from 747s, Boeing makes "smart" bombs, F-15 fighters, and Apache helicopters. Boeing has paid tens of millions in fines for selling flawed parts and has been plagued by scandals connected to the company’s influence-peddling.
U.$. America’s largest exporter, Boeing is also the Pentagon’s second largest contractor, eclipsed only by Lockheed Martin. Revenue from military goods now outstrips Boeing’s earnings from commercial sales by US$5 billion a year.
The world's largest aerospace company has a role in all three of the Pentagon’s advanced fighter plane programs: the F-22 Raptor (teamed with peace-loving Lockheed Martin), the Joint Strike Fighter/F-35, and the F-18 and it makes both F-15 fighter and Apache helicopters. (I don't have to mention here, that these are exclusively used for peaceful pruposes and to defend people from outside aggressors. But I do it anyway.) Caught knowingly selling flawed parts (1,2) for the Apache that led to thousands of unnecessary landings and at least one fatal crash, Boeing has paid tens of millions of dollars in fines. Also fined for trying to resell military technology from the United States to Singapore, Turkey and Malaysia in 2001. Boeing also oversees many of the Pentagon’s missile defense programs, operates the Space Shuttle (again, together with Lockheed Martin), makes the guidance systems for the Minuteman and 'Peacekeeper missiles' and builds precision munitions such as the Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM), Brimstone and Harpoon missiles, and JDAM "smart" bombs. Boeing’s JDAM (joint direct attack munitions) kit fits over a "dumb" missile and coverts it into a satellite-guided weapon using movable fins and a satellite positioning system to make a “smart” bomb. According to Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, of the 12,000 bombs the U.S. has dropped on Afghanistan, 7,200 (about 60%) were precision-guided. Of these, 4,600 were Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munitions. (She made that comment only a few weeks after the attacks on Afghanistan in 2001) But there’s a downside: the precision JDAMs have repeatedly missed their targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, hitting both civilians and US soldiers. But of course that doesn't stop the Propaganda machine to proudly announce, that 'JDAM smart bombs prove to be accurate and a good buy' (USAtoday). Yea, hardly any civilians were hurt during the fucking war!
The lobbying efforts of Boeing, and the revolving door between the US government and the Chicago-based giant, are legendary. But Boeing’s influence-peddling finally turned sour in December 2003 when Boeing CEO Philip M. Condit was forced to resign in the wake of revelations of that the company negotiated the hiring of top Air Force procurement official Darlene Druyun while Druyun was setting up a lucrative US$27.6 billion leasing deal of Boeing’s 767 air-refueling aircrafts over a period of ten years. The deal, which went through despite controversy, will cost taxpayers up to US$10 billion dollars more than if the Air Force has purchased the aircrafts outright.
But Boeing still has a lot of well-connected people looking out for its interests. John Shalikashvili, retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is on the Boeing board. Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Rudy de Leon heads up Boeing's Washington office. After September 11th Boeing beefed up its political connections by hiring former Senator Bennett Johnson (Democrat) and former Rep. Bill Paxon. Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Boeing's senior vice president for international relations, uses his forty years of experience to generate business for Boeing with foreign governments and corporations. Richard Perle, former Chairman and current member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, is another important Boeing ally within the corridors of power. So it should come as no surprise that Boeing has provided Perle’s venture capital firm, Trireme Partners, with $20 million. Two other Defense Policy Board members also work(ed) as consultants for Boeing: the Air Force’s General Ronald Fogelman and former Navy Admiral David Jeremiah. It's hard to tell politicans, CEOs and military chiefs apart.
Boeing ranks number fifty nine in the Center for Responsive Politics’ list of the 100 biggest political donors since 1989. Over the nineties, Boeing handed out US$7.6 million in Political Action Committee (PAC) and soft money contributions. During the 2006 election year, Boeing gave US$1,020,821 in PAC donations (for the complete list go here) - most of it going to the Republicans - and its contributions added up to more than US$1.5 million during the 2000 elections.
How kind of these corporations to support democracy in the U.$. of A. Without them the politicians wouldn't even know what to do the whole day.
Fortunately corporate and public interests are always the same. God bless Democracy (be it in the U.$. of A. or anywhere else)!!
Inventions proudly presented to you by Boeing:
To see how all these wonderful innovative defence systems work, take a look at the following video:
PS: Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Airbus is any better, being owned by the two largest war contractors in Europe - BAE Systems (20%) and EADS (80%).
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Student protest updates
Now, that the situation calmed down a bit in Germany (students planning boycott campaigns and legal actions nationwide) students are starting to resume their protests in Austria. General elections were recently held and the socialdemocrats (SPÖ) - who promised to reverse the introduction of tuition fees, if elected - narrowly won by just one percent ahead of the conservatives (ÖVP). Just a few days ago these two parties agreed to form a grand coalition together. The SPÖ was only able to do that, if they dropped their plans to scrap the tuition fees - and so they did. Now students are angry (Austrian style, not Greek or French style, of course!) and two hundred of them spontaneously decided to occupy the SPÖ party office (link in German) in Vienna on Monday (09/01/07). The occupation was followed by a police attack on the students (link in German) the following day (10/01/07). Greetings of Solidarity to you guys and girls in Vienna!
For Thursaday a demonstration in Vienna is planned:
The German and Austrian students need to unite to increase pressure. A German student association fighting against tuition fees solidarised with the occupiers (link in German) and protesters in Vienna. Actually students (workers, the unemployed, the retired, the youth) across Europe and the world need to unite, because the political and corporate elites have done so ages ago. With the G8 coming up in June in Germany a turbulent 2007 is waiting for us!
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If you haven't had the opportunity to watch the inspiring documentary by Mark Achbar 'The Corporation', then you can do so online now. You will find the links in the video section. Enjoy!
~GlobalPeace&Solidarity~
