09-12-2010, 01:15 PM
Peter Lemkin Wrote:WikiLeaks cables: Shell's grip on Nigerian state revealed
US embassy cables reveal top executive's claims that company 'knows everything' about key decisions in government ministries
Comments (211)
David Smith in Lagos
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 December 2010 21.34 GMT
Article history
Despite billions of dollars in oil revenue, 70% of people in Nigeria live below the poverty line. Photograph: George Osodi/AP
The oil giant Shell claimed it had inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians' every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.
The company's top executive in Nigeria told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew "everything that was being done in those ministries". She boasted that the Nigerian government had "forgotten" about the extent of Shell's infiltration and was unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations.
The cache of secret dispatches from Washington's embassies in Africa also revealed that the Anglo-Dutch oil firm swapped intelligence with the US, in one case providing US diplomats with the names of Nigerian politicians it suspected of supporting militant activity, and requesting information from the US on whether the militants had acquired anti-aircraft missiles
Looks like this Wikileak is really hurting Shell:
Quote:It sounds as if its reporter got a right earful from Shell's spokesman:
"You are seeking our views on a leaked cable to the Guardian newspaper allegedly containing information about the interpretation by a third party individual of a private conversation involving a Shell representative who has since left Nigeria.
We cannot comment on the alleged contents of the cable, including the correctness or incorrectness of any statements it allegedly contains.
The Guardian's assertion that Shell has somehow infiltrated the government of Nigeria is absolutely untrue, false and misleading."
So, Shell's argument seems to be that their representative no longer works in Nigeria and that, consequently, the story is no loner valid?
Defendant: "M'lud, I did kill them back then, but then I moved on to kill someone else, somewhere else, so I can't be guilty can I?"
M'lud: "Fair enough. You are free to go".
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14