WikiLeaks: "US threatened ‘retaliation’ to bully EU into accepting biotech crops, cable shows"

[Xicano]

RawStory:

Reacting to a French pledge to represent the "common interest" in considering biotech foods, a former US ambassador recommended publishing a "retaliation list" of European locations where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were being grown in hopes that activists would destroy them and "cause some pain" for officials, a leaked diplomatic cable shows.

In a confidential communication dated Dec. 14, 2007 and released by WikiLeaks on Sunday, then-US Ambassador to France Craig Roberts Stapleton recommended creating the list if France and the EU continued to ban biotech seeds.

"Mission Paris recommends that that the reinforce our negotiating position with the EU on agricultural biotechnology by publishing a retaliation list when the extend 'Reasonable Time Period' expires," Stapleton wrote. "Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the Commission."

Stapelton added that the US should create a list "that causes some pain across the EU, since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits."





http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/us-retaliation-list-gm-crops-cablegate/

[EFerrari]

1. I believe this story was on the front page in Spain (El Pais) over the weekend.

Only in that case, the Spanish gov was colluding with us and with Monsanto.

Spain asked US to push against EU ban on GMO corn

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Spain/asked/US/to/push/against/EU/ban/on/GMO/corn/elpepueng/20101221elpeng_3/Ten

[Xicano]

4. Thanks EFerrari for the link.

I'm reading it now.


Peace,
Xicano

[Angry Dragon]

2. Is there anyone in government with morals??

No wonder this administration wants to shut down WikiLeaks
they all are dirty.......

[derby378]

3. Lest we forget, this was during the Bush administration

Putting blame where it belongs...

[Angry Dragon]

7. I did read where it happened in 2007

And I have read enough leaks where they happened in 2009

[Incitatus]

5. Not really, the rest of the corrupt politicians seem to weed them out pretty quickly. nt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Yes.

The next one.
Or the one after that.
Or...

[rucky]

11. Naw, they all got snapped up by the private sector. n/t

[conspirator]

14. The ones with morals end up like JFK n/t

[SpiralHawk]

6. Big Ag (R), Big Chem (R) and Big Mutant (R)

intend to Materially Mutate the Whole Frikken Planet for their narrow greedy profit, and everyone else's suffering.

Ptooey on occult RepubliMutant Machinations.

[gratuitous]

9. Oh golly, you bunch of doom-and-gloomers

What harm could possibly come from screwing around with the food supply? Or concentrating the power to grow crops into the hands of one giant corporation? Embrace the future! Embrace i-i-i-i-it . . .

[Iterate]

10. This one just has it all.

BFEE: (Ambassador) "Stapleton was appointed Ambassador to France in 2005 by President George W. Bush. His wife is a cousin of President George H.W. Bush."

Subversion of democracy: "In December, more than one million Europeans signed a petition demanding the EU halt the approval of new genetically modified crops. The petition was later dismissed by the EU Commission on procedural grounds."

A Praetorian Guard to provide some muscle: "But like other US business interests, Monsanto hasn't been sitting around whining about policy backlash foreign or domestic. The Nation's Jeremy Scahill revealed in September that the world's top producer of genetically modified seeds hired US security contractor Blackwater to "infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm."

Environmental destruction: "Researchers at the University of Arkansas found in August that canola, a modified rapeseed used mainly for oil, had managed to sustain itself in the wilds of North Dakota. Up to 80 percent of the plants they tested had genes that were modified to resist herbicide.

Monsanto's genetically modified corn, currently banned across the EU, was also found growing in Ireland, the Irish Department of Agriculture said."

Subversion of national sovereignty and trust within the EU: "He (Spanish Secretary of State and Deputy Minister Josep Puxeu) asked that the USG maintain pressure on Brussels to keep agricultural biotechnology an option for Member States and requested that the USG work together with Spain in this endeavor."

I can only wish the EU would quit playing nice with the bastards and simply revoke their corporate charter to do business in Europe.

[Nihil]

13. Excellent summary. (n/t)

:thumbsup:

[Odin2005]

12. I support GMOs, but that just just unethical, to put it mildly.