Monsanto now owns Xe (Blackwater)

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A report by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation (Blackwater’s Black Ops, 9/15/2010) revealed that the largest mercenary army in the world, Blackwater (now called Xe Services) clandestine intelligence services was sold to the multinational Monsanto. Blackwater was renamed in 2009 after becoming famous in the world with numerous reports of abuses in Iraq, including massacres of civilians. It remains the largest private contractor of the U.S. Department of State “security services,” that practices state terrorism by giving the government the opportunity to deny it.

Many military and former CIA officers work for Blackwater or related companies created to divert attention from their bad reputation and make more profit selling their nefarious services-ranging from information and intelligence to infiltration, political lobbying and paramilitary training – for other governments, banks and multinational corporations. According to Scahill, business with multinationals, like Monsanto, Chevron, and financial giants such as Barclays and Deutsche Bank, are channeled through two companies owned by Erik Prince, owner of Blackwater: Total Intelligence Solutions and Terrorism Research Center. These officers and directors share Blackwater.

One of them, Cofer Black, known for his brutality as one of the directors of the CIA, was the one who made contact with Monsanto in 2008 as director of Total Intelligence, entering into the contract with the company to spy on and infiltrate organizations of animal rights activists, anti-GM and other dirty activities of the biotech giant.

I think that qualifies as a "holy fcuking god" story.

How long until they start producing genetically modified super-mercenaries?

You're quite sure this really just a synopsis for the latest arcs in Superman or Batman?

Nothing bad can possibly come of this.

Or a Supervillain or Newt question?

Maybe, but no one knows. (original report was wrong)

They've been sold, but to private equity.

LilCodger wrote:

Maybe, but no one knows. (original report was wrong)

They've been sold, but to private equity.

Fantastic. Let's combine firearms with the worst aspect of capitalism.

Monsanto is the most evil company in the world. No hyperbole, no overstatement. It simply is.

And now they have an armed wing.

Remember that sequel to Wing Commander, where the future was an endless state of war between corporations? Strike Commander, maybe? I remember being really disturbed by the fictional background to that game, and maybe it's coming true.

And my parents told me all that role-playing was no good. Now who's prepared for real life!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/aNVas.jpg)

Gravey wrote:

And my parents told me all that role-playing was no good. Now who's prepared for real life!

It [em]is[/em] 2012 now, after all. >_>

Hypatian wrote:
Gravey wrote:

And my parents told me all that role-playing was no good. Now who's prepared for real life!

It [em]is[/em] 2012 now, after all. >_>

Curse you both for stealing what I came here to post.

Kannon wrote:
Hypatian wrote:
Gravey wrote:

And my parents told me all that role-playing was no good. Now who's prepared for real life!

It [em]is[/em] 2012 now, after all. >_>

Curse you both for stealing what I came here to post.

You can help me screw this hard drive to my skull.

Malor wrote:

Monsanto is the most evil company in the world. No hyperbole, no overstatement. It simply is.

Generally, I think that when you make statements this extreme, you're exaggerating your case a bit.

This is, however, one of those rare times when I fully concur. No matter how awful I think Monsanto is, there's always something worse to learn about them.

Farscry wrote:
Malor wrote:

Monsanto is the most evil company in the world. No hyperbole, no overstatement. It simply is.

Generally, I think that when you make statements this extreme, you're exaggerating your case a bit.

This is, however, one of those rare times when I fully concur. No matter how awful I think Monsanto is, there's always something worse to learn about them.

Yeah. So now if a poor country gets sued for accidentally using patented Monsanto seeds they have a military with which to threaten them.

This is mind blowingly scary on so many levels. Monsanto is already notorious for terrorizing and farmers across the country through all sorts of horrible tactics and now they have armed mercenaries at their whim.

Actually, this is sounding more and more like "The Windup Girl". Calorie Wars indeed.

I always think Robocop when I hear about security firms that also provide other services. Soylent Green. Nothing good comes to mind.

I think this was an inevitable step for Monsanto (and will probably be the likely next step for Exxon Mobil and Halliburton) largely because budget constraints on the federal government level and the winding down of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will likely mean that the US public will have no or little appetite for wars of corporate expansion. I won't say that such involvements are a thing of the past, but the American tolerance for crap like the overthrow of democratic governments like Mossadeq, Arbenz, and Allende is much, much thinner than it has been in recent history.

edit:

And though I may disagree with him on several issues, this, more than anything else, I believe explains the appeal of Ron Paul. He seems to be the only candidate in the race willing to acknowledge that wars of corporate expansion dressed up in security theater are not in the American interest.

Paleocon wrote:

I think this was an inevitable step for Monsanto (and will probably be the likely next step for Exxon Mobil and Halliburton) largely because budget constraints on the federal government level and the winding down of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will likely mean that the US public will have no or little appetite for wars of corporate expansion. I won't say that such involvements are a thing of the past, but the American tolerance for crap like the overthrow of democratic governments like Mossadeq, Arbenz, and Allende is much, much thinner than it has been in recent history.

edit:

And though I may disagree with him on several issues, this, more than anything else, I believe explains the appeal of Ron Paul. He seems to be the only candidate in the race willing to acknowledge that wars of corporate expansion dressed up in security theater are not in the American interest.

What's interesting about this scenario is that it's truly a case where the American public has unlimited and unchecked power. Even more so than in presidential elections. We control our own purchasing power. If there was ever a public consensus, a boycott of Monsanto and Monsanto made products would be absolutely devastating. The boycott could financially cripple them, both in purchases made but also because shareholders would run like rats from a sinking ship. Their stock price and value would plummet.

There's not a lot we can control anymore but where and what we spend our dollars on is certainly in the forefront.

Bear wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I think this was an inevitable step for Monsanto (and will probably be the likely next step for Exxon Mobil and Halliburton) largely because budget constraints on the federal government level and the winding down of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will likely mean that the US public will have no or little appetite for wars of corporate expansion. I won't say that such involvements are a thing of the past, but the American tolerance for crap like the overthrow of democratic governments like Mossadeq, Arbenz, and Allende is much, much thinner than it has been in recent history.

edit:

And though I may disagree with him on several issues, this, more than anything else, I believe explains the appeal of Ron Paul. He seems to be the only candidate in the race willing to acknowledge that wars of corporate expansion dressed up in security theater are not in the American interest.

What's interesting about this scenario is that it's truly a case where the American public has unlimited and unchecked power. Even more so than in presidential elections. We control our own purchasing power. If there was ever a public consensus, a boycott of Monsanto and Monsanto made products would be absolutely devastating. The boycott could financially cripple them, both in purchases made but also because shareholders would run like rats from a sinking ship. Their stock price and value would plummet.

There's not a lot we can control anymore but where and what we spend our dollars on is certainly in the forefront.

Unlikely. Corporate boycotts generally don't do much other than alter corporate PR in the short term.

Nevermind that finding every product that uses Monsanto might be almost impossible. And they have an army now.

Seriously. Starkist couldn't even get folks to buy their dolphin safe tuna because it was 8 cents more per can. You honestly think that folks are going to stop buying... just about EVERYTHING food related because Monsanto kills some faceless Africans?

Corporations must fear customers at least enough to campaign to keep their political contributions non-disclosed. Per Dahlia Lithwick. Target's support of marriage inequality bit them in the ass. Likely, Monsanto isn't front-facing enough to care, but other members of the master race do.

DSGamer wrote:

Nevermind that finding every product that uses Monsanto might be almost impossible. And they have an army now.

Yeah, in some places it might be impossible not to buy their products. It isn't like you could simply do without food.

LilCodger wrote:

Maybe, but no one knows. (original report was wrong)

They've been sold, but to private equity.

This (and previously). Why are people discussing this like it actually happened? It's all based on a botched translation by an international blogger. Monsanto is terrible and did do business with Blackwater in 2008 & 2009 (which has been know for a long time), but there is no evidence that Monsanto bought Xe. It's just another rumor making rounds in blogs that are too lazy to write actual content.

NathanialG wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Nevermind that finding every product that uses Monsanto might be almost impossible. And they have an army now.

Yeah, in some places it might be impossible not to buy their products. It isn't like you could simply do without food.

Worse than that, in some areas they have a supply-side monopoly. So, boycott or not, they'd still be making a pretty awesome amount of money.

I'm not overly inclined to decry something as evil or wholly without merit, I like to think I have a higher WIS score than that, but Monsanto is the end result of most of the "unregulated free market is king". We don't get fair competition, we get a few behemoths using every dirty trick they have at their disposal to force out competition. And now the have a military, oh, I'm sorry, "security arm".

Bets on how far into Shadowrun we get? I could do with some magical ability this December.

Kannon wrote:
NathanialG wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Nevermind that finding every product that uses Monsanto might be almost impossible. And they have an army now.

Yeah, in some places it might be impossible not to buy their products. It isn't like you could simply do without food.

Worse than that, in some areas they have a supply-side monopoly. So, boycott or not, they'd still be making a pretty awesome amount of money.

I'm not overly inclined to decry something as evil or wholly without merit, I like to think I have a higher WIS score than that, but Monsanto is the end result of most of the "unregulated free market is king". We don't get fair competition, we get a few behemoths using every dirty trick they have at their disposal to force out competition. And now the have a military, oh, I'm sorry, "security arm".

Bets on how far into Shadowrun we get? I could do with some magical ability this December.

Precisely this.

Until we, as citizens, utilize the mechanism of government to regulate the behavior of corporations, we will continue to see escalation after escalation of horrific corporate behaviors. The market demands it.

Paleocon wrote:

Precisely this.

Until we, as citizens, utilize the mechanism of government to regulate the behavior of corporations, we will continue to see escalation after escalation of horrific corporate behaviors. The market demands it.

But but but..regulation is bad amirite?

I actually heard Obama make the point earlier this week. He said, and I paraphrase "Does anyone think that this economic disaster that we're try to recover from was the result of too much regulation"?

Pro-capitalists don't like regulation because it throttles their "do whatever in the name of profit" mentality.

fuzzyb wrote:
LilCodger wrote:

Maybe, but no one knows. (original report was wrong)

They've been sold, but to private equity.

This (and previously). Why are people discussing this like it actually happened? It's all based on a botched translation by an international blogger. Monsanto is terrible and did do business with Blackwater in 2008 & 2009 (which has been know for a long time), but there is no evidence that Monsanto bought Xe. It's just another rumor making rounds in blogs that are too lazy to write actual content.

Duly noted. Considering my personal brushes with them, I'm not gonna pass up the opportunity to kick them a little, but it is nice to know they don't have a security arm. Not that big a change, considering they'll still likely hire them, but my incredulity does extend to whatever company did actually buy them. Then again, the idea of private "security companies" with the firepower Blackwater/Xi/Umbrella Corp actually has boggles the mind.

Private citizens having pistols is bad, compared to the potential for clusterf*ck that private military contractors provide?

Kannon wrote:

I'm not overly inclined to decry something as evil or wholly without merit, I like to think I have a higher WIS score than that, but Monsanto is the end result of most of the "unregulated free market is king".

You've got to be kidding. Monsanto is the poster child for crony capitalism. They are masters of using regulation and favoritism to crush competition, and their entire corporate strategy is based around politically and legally leveraging patents to force competitors out of business and prevent farmers from re-using seeds.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Kt32e.png)

The mechanisms of government do not work to control corporations, but rather to enhance their power and abuses. It's an outcome of the problem of concentrated benefits and diffuse costs.

Aetius wrote:
Kannon wrote:

I'm not overly inclined to decry something as evil or wholly without merit, I like to think I have a higher WIS score than that, but Monsanto is the end result of most of the "unregulated free market is king".

You've got to be kidding. Monsanto is the poster child for crony capitalism. They are masters of using regulation and favoritism to crush competition, and their entire corporate strategy is based around politically and legally leveraging patents to force competitors out of business and prevent farmers from re-using seeds.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Kt32e.png)

The mechanisms of government do not work to control corporations, but rather to enhance their power and abuses. It's an outcome of the problem of concentrated benefits and diffuse costs.

I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree here. Crony capitalism is sh*t, this on which we can agree... but I would posit deregulation is just as bad.

Now, just to make sure I didn't miss anything, you're seriously suggesting that we'd be better off with less regulations, and our only recourse being courts? Where the one with the most money to buy the better lawyer wins? And this would check corporate power better than the (admittedly dubiously effective) regulations we have now?

The answer to corruption is to not tear the system down, but to burn out the corrupt parts.