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The Acts of the Democracies

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Introduction

We are constantly told that democracy and freedom are the hallmarks of a civilised country. If so, these concepts should lead to the following ideals:

The West (a loose term describing the richer countries of North America and Europe but also including powers in Asia and the southern Hemisphere) prides itself on its freedoms and democracy. These principles should be applied to all its citizens. They should also be applied to other peoples of the world.

This series of factual accounts in easy-to-understand language attempts to answer the question:

How have the democratic countries and nations treated peoples, countries and institutions around the world since the end of World War II ?

Included in these pages are:

Not included are:

The outrages and human rights violations performed by USSR, Eastern Europe and China were highly publicised in the Western media during the Cold War (1945 - 1989).

Acts committed in World War II (a declared war between states) are also excluded.

The information in these pages begins from the end of World War II because a line had to be drawn to keep the work from becoming too great. Some items have a pre-WW2 summary where relevent.

If we live in a "free democracy" we are all responsible for at least knowing what our governments do in our name. As a free people we should know how the companies we buy from behave in the poorer countries. As consumers we should be aware how the goods that we use are produced and what the real price is.

If we still agree with these actions, it is from knowledge rather than ignorance.

These pages feature many injustices done by The West to countless peoples around the world. However, please note that an explanation of an injustice is not a justification for acts of terror done in the name of that injustice.

Criticism of a political policy of a country (or its agents) does not imply hatred or criticism of the people of that country. This is not a racist web site even if it appears as a link in such web sites.

The KryssTal web site disapproves of all terrorist actions against innocent civilians for whatever cause, preferring the route of peaceful, non-violent and consumer-led demonstrations against injustice.


User Notes

These pages are for an international WORLD Wide Web audience:

Do not simply believe everything on this web site.
Always check facts for yourself.
Treat these reports as pointers and use the information to find out more.

Read the section on the Western Media to find out why your television and newspapers may not be giving you the complete story about world events.

The main information is stored in a searchable database. There are also more general essays about the media, elections, trade, current issues and a special section on the USA and its role in world events. There are also maps and photograph galleries but please note that some of the photographs may be disturbing to view.


Dedication

These pages are dedicated to ALL victims of state violence and of terrorism regardless of their skin colour, race, religion, gender, age, abilities, political affiliation, sexual orientation, economic system or nationality.


Democracy Search

A search engine for the Acts of the Democracies database. Search the information by any combination of the following (selected from drop down lists):

All years (from 1945), a single year, or a range of years. Search by victim country (eg Iraq, Vietnam, Palestine, Nicaragua, Algeria, Kenya, etc), region (eg Middle East, Central America, etc), aggressor / perpetrator country (eg USA, UK, France, Israel) or topic (eg Invasion, Support For Dictatorship, Chemical, Occupation, Internal Interference, Bombing, Racial Persecution, Economic Coercion, etc).

The generated pages will be in year order and many feature tables and links to maps and photographs.

Time Saving Links

The following are links to popular selected searches from the Acts of the Democracies database. Use these to view the most popular searches without having to go through the search page.

This time-saving link will display reports for the previous year, 2007:
US-backed invasion of Somalia, Iran under threat, Palestine under siege, Iraq under USA-UK occupation, occupied Afghanistan, USA and human rights, Kurds in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria bombed, Burma and the West, Pakistan and the West...

Other selected years of interest....

Selected victim countries of interest....

Selected aggressor countries of interest (The USA has its own special section!)....

Selected topics of interest....


General Essays

Why is the USA so frequently the victim of resentment around the world? Is it envy, as the USA establishment says, or is it to do with the USA's role and actions in the wider world? Several tables examine USA foreign policy around the world (eg USA Backed Coups, Interventions, UN Vetos, Nuclear and Chemical, etc). The tables link to further details.

Why the Western media does not always report everything that is going on in the world. How owners and advertisers control what is reported and how. The use of language to obscure the facts and mold opinion. There is also a section on how the UK media looks at the world through American eyes.

How world trade really works and an explanation of tariffs, subsidies, debt and aid. There are numerous tables with links to further details.

Democracy is more than having elections every few years. It involves votes, inclusion, information, finance and freedom.


Images

Links to all the photograph and map galleries. Some photos are shocking and not normally shown in the Western media but many of the images depict things done in the name of people living in democratic countries.


Current Issues

With Iran currently being demonsied and threatened, this table shows what the USA-UK have done to Iran and what Iran has done to the USA-UK since World War II.

In 2003, the USA, along with its chief advocate the UK, invaded Iraq to put a new regime in place. Why? This series of essays covers all the various reasons that were given, showing how they were all misleading and / or hypocritical. The real reasons for the invasion are examined. There is also a page of quotes about this invasion and the subsequent occupation.

This essay describes the conflict known in the West as the "War on Terror". It is a conflict between certain Western countries (mainly USA, UK and France) and the peoples of the Arab nations (as well as other related and nearby countries). The "War" did not begin on 11 September 2001 but around 1916 when the UK and France secretly planned to divide the Arab lands among themselves during World War I.


Quotes

"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion ... but rather by its superiority in applying organised violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do." Samuel Huntington, writer.

"Without any sense of history, we do not understand injustice."
Robert Fisk, UK investigative journalist.

"In the struggle of Good against Evil, it's always people who get killed."
Eduardo Galeano from La Jornada.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
Mohandas K Gandhi, Indian leader.

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
Arthur James Balfour, UK Foreign Secretary writing in 1917 to the Zionist Federation. The UK was at that time ruling Palestine under a League of Nations mandate. This statement is more commonly known as the Balfour Declaration.

"There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighbouring countries; not one village, not one tribe should be left"
Joseph Weitz talking in 1940 Palestine before the creation of the State of Israel.

"no one should be subjected to arbitrary exile; everyone has the right to return to [their] country"
The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.

"In the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. In the 1990s it triumphed over democracy."
David Korten, The Post-Corporate World.

"The free market is 'socialism' for the rich: the public pays the costs and the rich get the benefit - markets for the poor and plenty of state protection for the rich."
Noam Chomsky, USA writer.

"If democracy is ever to be threatened, it will not be by revolutionary groups burning government offices and occupying the broadcasting and newspaper offices of the world. It will come from disenchantment, cynicism and despair caused by the realisation that the New World Order means we are all to be managed and not represented."
Tony Benn, UK politician.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence, clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary."
H L Mencken, 1920.

"The Soviet Union will not deliberately start general war or even limited war in Europe. Soviet foreign policy has been cautious and realistic [and has] continued to make contacts in all fields with the West and to maintain a limited but increasing political dialogue with NATO powers."
UK Foreign Office secret document from 1968, declassified in 1999.

"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour - with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil... to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded."
General Douglas MacArthur, USA (1957).

"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas... I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes... It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gases; gases can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected."
Winston Churchill, UK Secretary of State at the War Office, when approached by the UK Royal Air Force for permission to use poison gas "against recalcitrant Arabs as an experiment" in Iraq, 1919.

"Lasting peace and freedom can be achieved only with legality, justice, respect for diversity, defence of human rights and measured and fair responses."
Baltesar Garzón, Spanish judge.


External Links

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Human Rights Watch
Check how human rights are violated around the world from this New York based site.

Amnesty International
Amnesty International watch and react to human rights abuses around the world. There are hundreds of reports arranged by continent, region and country. Individuals can help in specific cases.

Multinational Monitor
How business interests affect people around the world. Looks at the effects on populations of mining and oil exploration, biological technology, pollution, child labour, and slave labour.

Freedom
Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War: An interesting collection of information covering the 20th Century.

One World
Detailed news from around the world with full and clear analysis. Articles look at commercial activities that affect people and the environment.

F.A.I.R.
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. This site examines bias in the mainstream media of the USA and the reasons behind it.

New Internationalist
UK magazine looking at world affairs with background information. Excellent articles from the world's investigative writers.

AlterNet
A alternative media resource from the USA.

Reuters
News feeds from around the world.

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