There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.
There is no greater guilt than discontentment.
And there is no greater disaster than greed.
Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

President Bush signed a bill this past Monday that will allow federal, state and local governments to divest themselves of investments that do business with the smarmy bastards running the country of Sudan. As recently as 2004 Secretary of State Colin Powell signaled Washington’s intention to relax sanctions and allow U.S. companies to take advantage of Sudan’s oil wealth. Of course the signing of ‘the bill’ doesn’t stop any of these municipalities and government entities from keeping their investments either. Only public pressure and lots of negative publicity will further the cause of shunning corporations that do business with murderers.

The other thing it doesn’t do is make any of the Big Oil Companies stop assisting in the pumping of that black gold out of the ground in Sudan. With oil being what it is, does anyone think for a minute that the piece of paper The Shrub signed actually does anything to change the horrific situation in Darfur? Please, these companies will always find a way around laws and rules, take that to the bank my dear reader. How many companies lined Saddam’s pockets during the infamous embargo of the last two decades?

And what about our BFF China? They don’t give a tinkers damn about human rights abuses, hell those chumps lead the charge. Two of the biggest business partners with the pigs in Sudan are PetroChina and Tafneft (a Russian enterprise). British Petroleum (BP) and Shell are also stock holders in the Chinese enterprise.

Those two countries I just named also hold veto power in the UN. Now, isn’t that special? It’s not only special, its important.

The same goes for Burma and every corporatocracy that is gleaning profits from their dealings with the murderous military junta there. Chevron is one of the largest foreign investors in Burma and is the only remaining major U.S. corporation with a significant presence there. Human Rights Watch has identified 27 companies based in 13 countries as having investment interests in Burma’s oil and gas fields. Thirteen of those companies are wholly or partially owned by foreign governments, and these state-controlled companies are invested in 20 of the 30 projects currently underway.

Below is a short list of conglomerates that happily do business in Burma and other countries which think human rights are a joke and mass murder or genocide is the quickest way to power:

Five companies wholly owned by China-nevermind the names..does it matter?

Three companies owned by the Russian Federation

Daewoo International-Country: South Korea

Danford Equities Corp. (sometimes referred to as Danford Equity Corp.)-Country: Australia

Essar Oil-Country: India

Focus Energy Ltd.-Country: Switzerland

Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL)-Country: India

Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company-Country: Singapore,with ties to Panama, the Netherlands, and France

Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS)-Country: South Korea

Nippon Oil Exploration Ltd.-Country: Japan

ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL)-Country: India

Total E&P-Country: French-owned

UnoCal Myanmar Offshore Co.-Country: Registered in the Bahamas, with offices in Burma; US-owned.(emphasis mine of course)

Let us not forget Chiquita the Cincinnati-based fruit company that has funded, armed and supported death squads in Colombia. Or Shell Oil and their connection in Nigeria.

I know that is a lot of information to digest my dear reader. But theres more, oh so much more. Too much to put into this post. But if you are interested here is another list of companies that do business in Sudan under nefarious circumstances. The biggest names on that list? BP, Exxon, Shell, Rolls Royce and Siemens just to name a few. They say they don’t do business there, but when you cut through all the bullshit, they still do, they just take a circuitous route to do it. Here is an article from 2006 that lists companies publicly traded on the various Stock Exchanges that also have blood on their hands with regard to doing business in Sudan.

Divesting one’s company of business ties with murderers used to be just a moral debate. At least now, the issue is a financial one if various funds and portfolios choose to divest themselves of companies that have no conscience when it comes to who they do business with. The stockholders in these corporations would do well to heed the cries of human rights groups too..unless of course its all about the Benjamin’s for them as well.

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