Re: [Marxism] GRANMA: A United Vietnam Advances Despite Global Crisis

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

LOUIS PROYECT writes:
One day I would like to open up a message from Walter dealing with
his home state of California or his home country the U.S. Instead we
are like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day with the radio going off each
morning at 7am announcing that yesterday has arrived once again. 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WALTER LIPPMANN responds: 

Hey, Hey, USA, Way To Go, USA! Patriotismo's gotta stay!

Marxists must be bound by what happens in their local city or state?
Marxists are internationalists, if I remember this thing rightly.

Patriotic concern for coverage of the United States, or is it for
the need to limit foreign entanglements and involvements was one
of the admonitions of Pres. George Washington, but should we today
limit concerns to the immediate local area where we currently reside?
Are ALL politics to be strictly local?

Capitalism and its ideologists are internationalists to the core.
They spread money, investments and ideas wherever they go, but in
some cases, they also provide opportunities which might not grow
without that investment. 

Standing tall against foreign investment in Cuba, China, and Vietnam,
the critic says nothing about foreign investment right here in God's
own center of the universe, the United States of America. Perhaps a
holy exemption has been issued for our own local domestic industry
of movie productions? Dubai has decided to make a massive investment
right here in Hollywood. It doesn't bother me, but for once I think
it doesn't bother Louis, either. Well, it's nice finding those times
when we actually don't disagree on something.

Revolutionary governments can and do sometimes accept direct foreign
investments when it serve their needs and interests. One can assess
the pluses and minus of such things, but to reject foreign direct
investment across the board would be a big mistake, like going
driving without making turn signals along the highway. Cuba today
has foreign investments from dozens of countries, and would happily
accept investment from the United States if it could get it, even
at the cost of criticism from left-wingers in the United States who
want to protect the Cubans from these negative Yankee influences.

There's little interest here in the hurricane which has recently hit
Cuba so hard. But attacks on the countries which trade, support
and are providing aid to Cuba, that seems to be rhetorical hurricane
which never seems to stop. Well, it's a free and open form and each
participant has their own priorities to follow.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

The US offers    $100,000
China provides   $300,000
East Timor       $500,000


=====================================================================

MIAMI-DADE DEMOCRATS
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Help Cuba recover from Gustav: Obama says suspend embargo

http://miami-dade-dems.blogspot.com/2008/09/ 
help-cuba-recover-from-gustav-obama.html
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Many videos of hurricane damage and reporting:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90917 
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Cuban-American Commission for Family Rights letter:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90909
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Cuba welcomes Russian hurricane aid
REUTERS 6:29 a.m. September 4, 2008
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20080904-0629 
-cuba-russia-gustav.html
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President of East Timor Expresses Solidarity with Cuban People
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90887   
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GRANMA: Cuba and Mexico Consolidate Cooperation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90892    
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GRANMA: Hanna Brings Tragedy to Haiti
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90902 

"President Alvaro Uribe also asked about GustavÂs 
damage and expressed ColombiaÂs readiness to help Cuba."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/90908
===================================================================

Venezuela and South Africa to sign energy deal: official
AFP
September 1, 2008
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gx2jV_qKEJeVwDIYPAitGHWmoOZQ 

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa will sign an energy agreement with
oil-rich Venezuela on Tuesday that could provide alternative energy
sources to Africa's powerhouse economy, the government said.

"Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and
developing commercial relations in this sector could provide
alternative sources of energy to South Africa," Foreign Affairs
spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement Monday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will arrive in South Africa later in
the day on his first state visit to South Africa and is expected to
discuss political, trade and economic relations with President Thabo
Mbeki.

Also on the agenda is the strengthening of South-South relations -
between the two continents - and the second Africa-South American
Community of Nations Summit to be hosted by Venezuela in November.

A crisis in South Africa's coal-driven electricity supply brought the
country's key mining industry to a halt earlier this year with
massive blackouts blamed for poor first quarter growth.

Venezuela, a member of oil cartel OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries), has one of the world's largest oil reserves.

The two countries will also discuss mining, armament, agriculture and
public works as well as strengthening of South-South relations
through cooperation in the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 + China
fora, the statement added.

Chavez is scheduled to leave on Wednesday.

=============================================================

Chavez wants PetroSA to invest in Venezuela

Reuters

September 2, 2008

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN249110.html?rpc=401&; 

PRETORIA - President Hugo Chavez encouraged South Africa's
state-owned PetroSA on Tuesday to explore oil resources in Venezuela.

"PetroSA should immediately go to Venezuela to start working with us
to exploit the resources of the Orinoco belt," Chavez said through a
translator during a state visit to South Africa.

PetroSA has held high-level discussions with its Venezuelan
counterpart, PDVSA, on projects including oil exploration and the
production of heavy crude oil in the Orinoco belt of Venezuela.

Chavez was speaking after the South African and Venezuelan
governments signed agreements on cooperation on the oil and gas
sectors and oil exploration in Venezula. No details were immediately
available.

PetroSA operates one of the world's largest gas-to-liquids (GTL)
refineries at Mossel Bay on the southern coast of South Africa, and
is actively pursuing oil exploration in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and
Egypt.

Everton September, vice president of PetroSA's new ventures unit,
said last month that oil from Venezuela could be earmarked for
PetroSA's new $7 billion Coega refinery project, which would produce
250,000 barrels per day.

The refinery, expected to come on stream by 2015, would position
PetroSA to export oil throughout southern Africa.

Venezuela is South Africa's third largest trading partner within the
Andean Community, with total trade between the two countries valued
at 896 million rand in 2007.

===========================================================

S. Africa, Venezuela sign major energy deal
The Associated Press
September 2, 2008

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-02-energy-deal_N.htm 

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - South Africa and Venezuela sealed a
major oil deal Tuesday during a visit by Venezuela's President Hugo
Chavez, who touted it as an example of southern nations cooperating
in a new strategic alliance.

The two countries' state oil companies reached agreements on oil and
gas.

"It will be a wonderful day, the day when the first Venezuelan tanker
will stop by to leave oil for South Africa," Chavez said.

No details of the deals were immediately available, but they were
likely to include plans for Venezuela to supply crude at preferential
rates to South Africa's PetrosSA state oil company.

Venezuela is also eager to explore South Africa's pioneering
gas-to-liquid technology, and PetroSA is looking to invest in oil
exploration and production in Venezuela.

At a news conference after the signing of agreements, Chavez said
Venezuela was interested in using South Africa's oil storage capacity
of some 45 million barrels and helping expand its refining capacity.

With the world in crisis, Chavez said it was imperative that southern
nations unite behind a "new strategic agenda, to conduct a true
strategic change in international relations."

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki said several agreements signed
Tuesday contribute to "the further empowerment of the countries of
the south."

It was Chavez's first visit to South Africa.

================================================================
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-abudhabi4-2008sep04,1,3434307.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Abu Dhabi channels more cash to Hollywood
The oil-rich emirate is launching a production company with Hollywood
partners, with more than $1 billion in financing.
By Claudia Eller and Josh Friedman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

September 4, 2008


Furthering the links between the United Arab Emirates and Hollywood,
a venture controlled by the government of Abu Dhabi is launching a
production company with a $1-billion-plus fund to make movies and
digital content in partnership with three as-yet-unnamed Los Angeles
producers and other international filmmakers.

Abu Dhabi Media Co., through a newly formed subsidiary called
Imagenation Abu Dhabi, plans to make eight films a year over the next
five years, primarily for the English-speaking market. Imagenation
will announce the first of its production deals next week at the
Toronto Film Festival. The U.S. companies plan to open offices in Abu
Dhabi.

Imagenation will now also assume oversight of Abu Dhabi Media's
year-old entertainment partnership with Warner Bros., which has had
little to show for itself since it was announced with fanfare last
September.

The parties said at the time that they would each contribute to a
$1-billion fund to produce films and video games.

But the arrangement has so far resulted in just one film, "Shorts," a
fantasy story about a group of misfit kids who find a box with
mysterious powers. The film, written and directed by Robert
Rodriguez, will be released by Warner Bros. next August.

The formation of Imagenation is part of Abu Dhabi Media's strategy to
become a major player on the global entertainment stage. Founded in
2007 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi with offices in Cairo, Dubai and
Washington, the company employs 1,800 people in TV, radio and
publishing, including a recently launched Mideast-based newspaper
called the National.

In recent years, Abu Dhabi and smaller neighbor Dubai, flush with
cash from the oil boom, have made deals with such studios as
DreamWorks Animation, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and
Marvel Entertainment to build theaters, theme parks and other
facilities.

Imagenation and Abu Dhabi Media CEO Edward Borgerding said the new
fund and the impending deal with the trio of U.S. production
companies were "an extension of creating content for a global
market."

Borgerding, who was an executive in Walt Disney Co.'s international
division from 1979 to 2000, said the partners planned to make a
diverse slate of commercial movies with budgets of $10 million to $50
million. He said Imagenation would be involved creatively from
development through production. "We'll have an oar in the water, as
it were."

Hollywood has been scrambling for new sources of capital as hedge
funds and private equity firms have slowed their once-aggressive
investments amid disappointing returns and a deepening credit crunch.

Meanwhile, India and the Middle East have become increasingly active
media investors as they seek to diversify their own industries.
Indian media conglomerate Reliance Big Entertainment is poised to
make a $500-million equity investment in a production company to be
formed by DreamWorks SKG co-founder Steven Spielberg.

In early summer, Reliance also announced a string of development
deals with production companies controlled by top Hollywood stars and
filmmakers, including Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey, George
Clooney, Nicolas Cage and Chris Columbus.

Media watchers question whether the funds pouring into Hollywood will
worsen the glut of titles vying for box-office dollars.

"The world needs new sources of energy and cures for diseases, but
another set of eight films? Who cares?" said media analyst Harold
Vogel.

Borgerding predicts that the glut will begin to correct itself over
the next six months as other sources of money dry up, curtailing the
oversupply of movies.

Some also question whether the cultural differences between more
conservative, state-run Mideast companies and independent-minded
Hollywood filmmakers could make for uneasy alliances.

But Borgerding downplayed potential cultural issues. "With the kind
of films our partners make, it won't be a problem," he said.

He dismissed speculation that cultural issues contributed to the slow
start of the venture with Warner Bros.

"The company wasn't organized to engage in this very sophisticated
process of producing feature films and video games," said Borgerding,
who was hired a month after the Warner deal was made.

claudia.eller@latimes

josh.friedman@latimes


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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