Group of Eight + Five Gruppe der Acht + Fünf Groupe de Huit + Cinq Gruppo di Otto + Cinque 主要国＋5新興国 Группа Восьми + Пять Grupo de los Ocho + Cinco Grupo dos Oito + Cinco Groep van Agt + Vyf आठ का समूह + पाँच 八国集团同发展中国家

G8 + 5 Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper France President François Hollande Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel Italy Prime Minister Mario Monti Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Russia President Vladimir Putin United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron United States of America President Barack Obama President of the G8+5 for 2012 Brazil President Dilma Rousseff China President Hu Jintao India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Mexico President Felipe Calderón South Africa President Jacob Zuma

The G8+5 group of leaders consists of the heads of government from the G8 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), plus the heads of government of the five leading emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa).

February 2007 Declaration[link]

On February 16, 2007, The Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE International) held a meeting of the G8+5 Climate Change Dialogue at the GLOBE Washington Legislators Forum in Washington, D.C., where a non-binding agreement was reached to cooperate on tackling global warming. The group accepted that the existence of man-made climate change was beyond doubt, and that there should be a global system of emission caps and carbon emissions trading applying to both industrialized nations and developing countries. The group hoped this policy to be in place by 2009, to supersede the Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012.^[1][2]

Foundation[link]

The G8+5 group was formed in 2005 when Tony Blair, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in his role as host of the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, invited the leading emerging countries to join the talks. The hope was that this would form a stronger and more representative group that would inject fresh impetus into the trade talks at Doha, and the need to achieve a deeper cooperation on climate change.

Following the meeting, the countries issued a joint statement looking to build a "new paradigm for international cooperation" in the future.

The G8+5 Climate Change Dialogue was launched on February 24, 2006, by the (GLOBE)^[3] in partnership with the Com+ alliance of communicators for sustainable development.^[4]

Institutionalization[link]

Following the 33rd G8 summit Heiligendamm 2007, German chancellor Angela Merkel announced the establishment of the "Heiligendamm Process" through which the full institutionalization of the permanent dialogue between the G8 countries and the five greatest emerging economies will be implemented. This will include the establishment of a common G8 and G5 platform at the OECD. (see: "Die G8 – Akteure in einer globalen Entwicklungspartnerschaft; http://www.bmz.de/de/service/infothek/fach/spezial/index.html)

Most recently on August 28, 2007, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in a foreign policy statement proposed that Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa should become members of G8: "The G8 can't meet for two days and the G13 for just two hours.... That doesn't seem fitting, given the power of these five emerging countries." Nevertheless, as of 2008, a formal enlargement of the G8 is not a realistic political option, since the G8 member states have diverging positions on this issue. The US and Japan have been against enlargement, the United Kingdom and France actively in favour, and Italy, Germany, Russia and Canada are reserved on the issue.^{[citation needed]}.

See also[link]

Energy portal

• Avoiding dangerous climate change
• G20 Climate Change Dialogue
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Policy Issues: G8"
• Feb 16, 2007, CNS News: Lawmakers prod G8 leaders on climate change

Tarpley attending the 2005 Axis for Peace conference

Webster Griffin Tarpley (born 1946) is an American historian, author, journalist, lecturer, and critic of US foreign and domestic policy. Tarpley maintains that the September 11 attacks were engineered by a rogue network of the military-industrial complex and intelligence agencies as a false flag operation.^[1] His writings and speeches describe a model of terror operations by a rogue network in the military/intelligence sector working with moles in the private sector and in corporate media, and locates such contemporary false flag operations in a historical context stretching back in the English speaking world to at least the Gunpowder Plot in England in 1605.

Education[link]

The "rogue network" which Tarpley suspects of the September 11 attacks

Tarpley was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1946. He received a BA degree summa cum laude in English and Italian from Princeton University in 1966. While a student at Princeton he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and was a Fulbright Scholar at University of Turin in Italy.^[2] Tarpley also obtained a MA degree in humanities from Skidmore College. As well as a Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America in History.

Career[link]

In 1971, Tarpley was on the editorial board of The Campaigner, a National Caucus of Labor Committees' journal, according to its masthead.^[3]

As a European based journalist in the 1980s, Tarpley wrote a study on the assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. The study claimed that the murder was a false flag operation orchestrated by the Propaganda Due, a Masonic Lodge, with the cooperation of senior members of Italian government secret services but blamed on the Red Brigades.^[4]

Tarpley was president of the Schiller Institute of the United States in the 1980s^{[5][clarification needed]} and in 1993.^[6] In 1986 Tarpley attempted to run on Lyndon LaRouche's U.S. Labor Party platform in the New York State Democratic Party primary for the U.S. Senate, but was ruled off the ballot because of a defect in his nominating petitions.^[7] He was a frequent host of "The LaRouche Connection" which its producer LaRouche's Executive Intelligence Review News Service^[8] describes as "a news and information cable television program."^[9]

Tarpley first gained attention for co-authoring, with Anton Chaitkin, ("history editor of Executive Intelligence Review") a 1992 book on George H. W. Bush, George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography, which was published by Executive Intelligence Review, run by Lyndon LaRouche.^[10] He has expounded the "Versailles Thesis" laying the blame for the great wars of the 20th century on intrigues by Britain to retain her dominance.^[11] He gained experience as a political operative during his years with the LaRouche movement but broke away sometime after 1995.

In 2005, Tarpley published 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA. He speaks at length about the themes in the book during an interview in the film Oil, Smoke, Mirrors.

Since March, 2006, Tarpley has had a weekly online talk radio show called World Crisis Radio,^[12] currently hosted on GCNLive.com. Tarpley is a member of the "world anti-imperialist conference" Axis for Peace, of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and of a research Netzwerk of German 9/11 authors founded in September 2006. He is featured in the film, Zero: an investigation into 9/11 (2007–2008).^[13]

Tarpley is a critic of the Dalai Lama; in 2010 he told Russia Today that "pre-1959 Tibet ... was probably the closest thing to hell on earth that you had ... social reform was impossible." In the interview he criticizes US funding of pro-Dalai Lama organizations, which he says amounts to US$2 million per year, saying "this is a bad deal for the American taxpayers."^[14]

He also maintains that "The notion of anthropogenic global warming is a fraud."^[15]

Bibliography[link]

• Chi ha ucciso Aldo Moro? (Who Killed Aldo Moro?), a study commissioned by a member of the Italian government and published in Rome in 1978 The Larouchian, Partito Operaio Europeo http://www.movisol.org/moro.htm, which broke open the affiliation of the Red Brigades with the neofascist lodge P2.
• George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography (1992) (co-authored with Anton Chaitkin, son of the lawyer who indicted Prescott Bush under the Trading with the Enemy Act for collaboration with Nazi Germany.) Reprinted 2004, ISBN 0-930852-92-3.
• Against Oligarchy (1996)
• Surviving the Cataclysm: Your Guide through the Worst Financial Crisis in Human History (1999); updated edition, 2009.
• 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA - Myth of the 21st Century (2005), Foreword by Thierry Meyssan, ISBN 0-930852-31-1, Fourth edition ISBN 0-930852-37-0 (April 2007).
  • Version française: La Terreur Fabriquée, Made in USA : 11 Septembre, le mythe du XXIe siècle (Sept. 2006). ISBN 2-9525571-4-4
  • In Italiano: La Fabbrica del Terrore (Sept. 2007). ISBN 978-88-87307-36-6
  • En Español: 11-S, El Falso Terrorismo Jan. 2008 ISBN 0-930852-98-2.
• Obama - The Postmodern Coup: Making of a Manchurian Candidate (Apr. 2008) ISBN 0-930852-88-5.
  • Deutsche Fassung: Barack Obama: Wie ein US-Präsident gemacht wird (Aug. 2008) ISBN 978-3-938516-74-4.
  • Japanese Edition: Obama: Dangerous Geometry (Nov. 2008) ISBN 4-88086-239-8
  • Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biography (Aug. 2008) ISBN 0-930852-81-8; Japanese edition, March 2009.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tarpley's Website
• Tarpley's Show on the Genesis Network
• Ground Zero Grassy Knoll - Feature article in New York Magazine (March 20, 2006)
• Publisher's web site
• Amazon.com's Webster Griffin Tarpley page

Audio and Video Links:

• Webster Tarpley lecture and interview videos

v t e LaRouche movement History Lyndon LaRouche Views of Lyndon LaRouche LaRouche criminal trials Lyndon LaRouche U.S. Presidential campaigns Organizations Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität Citizens Electoral Council European Workers Party Executive Intelligence Review LaRouche movement National Caucus of Labor Committees Schiller Institute Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement Defunct California Proposition 64 (1986) Fusion Energy Foundation North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada U.S. Labor Party Members Robert Beltran James Bevel Michael Billington Amelia Boynton Robinson Norbert Brainin Anton Chaitkin Jacques Cheminade Billy Davis Sergey Glazyev Janice Hart Hulan Jack Kenneth Kronberg Stanislav Menshikov Theo Mitchell Robert James Moon Kesha Rogers Nataliya Vitrenko William Warfield Frederick Wills Helga Zepp-LaRouche Critics Chip Berlet Daniel Patrick Moynihan John Rees Mike Royko People separated from the movement Nicholas F. Benton Robert Dreyfuss F. William Engdahl Laurent Murawiec Webster Tarpley Related persons Jeremiah Duggan J. Gordon Edwards (entomologist and mountaineer) Daniel Estulin Erik R. Fleming Roy Frankhouser Victor Gunnarsson Zbigniew Jaworowski Gordon M. Johnson Karen Kwiatkowski Eric Lerner Friedwardt Winterberg Book:LaRouche movement Politics portal Wiktionary Wikibooks Wikiquote Wikisource Wikimedia Commons Wikinews Wikiversity

Jerome Robert Corsi (born August 31, 1946) is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist^[1][2] best known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command (with co-author John O'Neill). Both books, the former written in 2008 and the latter in 2004, attacked Democratic presidential candidates and were criticized for including numerous inaccuracies.^[3][4][5]

In other books and columns for conservative websites such as WorldNetDaily and Human Events, Corsi has discussed topics that are considered conspiracy theories in some circles, such as the alleged plans for a North American Government, the theory that President Barack Obama is not an American citizen;^[6] criticism of the United States government for allegedly covering up information about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,^[7] promoting the Abiogenic hypothesis of the origin of oil (arguing that oil is produced from chemical reactions in the Earth, in contrast to the general consensus of the scientific community that oil is produced from organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae), and alleged United States support of Iran in its attempts to develop nuclear weapons.^[8][9][10]

Early life[link]

Jerome Corsi was born in East Cleveland, Ohio^{[citation needed]}, to Louis E. Corsi, a union public relations director, and Alice Corsi, née Hanlon. He married Joy Dugan on May 8, 1970. The marriage ended in divorce. He married Monica Corsi in 1991.^[11]

He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1964. He earned a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1968, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1972.^[12]

Career[link]

In 1972 Corsi researched the political protests around the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Miami Beach, and the involvement of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.^[13] His research was then published by the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence (Brandeis University, 1974).

Corsi went into banking and finance in 1981.^[14] In 1995 Corsi helped launch a mutual fund to invest in formerly Communist Poland after the fall of the Soviet Union, which eventually lost $1.2 million, much of it from a group of about 20 Minnesota investors.^[15][16] Some of the investors blamed the organizers, including Corsi, for their investment in the former Communist country. Two investors sued Corsi and his partners on the basis that the organizers had given their personal guarantee backing up the investment, and won judgments against them.^[15] They did not collect from Corsi because, as one investor claimed, the money "had been moved into his wife's name ... There was nothing to get out of him."^[15] The FBI found no basis for bringing criminal charges.^[15] Until his 2004 book, Corsi was a financial services marketing specialist.^[17]

In January 2005, Corsi told the Boston Herald that he planned to bid for John Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2008 as a Republican or Independent candidate.^{[citation needed]} He later said his wife had "vetoed" this plan. Then Corsi stated "Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party asked me to consider seriously running for president in 2008 and I am doing so."^[18] He then agreed to be nominated at the Constitution Party National Convention,^[19][20] but he dropped out in July 2007.^[21]

Writings and conspiracy theories[link]

Corsi has written about a variety of subjects, including Democratic politicians and conspiracy theories.^[22] According to The Guardian, Corsi — who is Catholic — has been accused by the American press "of being anti-Islamic, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic and homophobic, and of exploiting racial prejudices in an attempt to 'scare white America'."^[23] In 2004, Corsi wrote a critical biography of then Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry called Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. In 2005 he published Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians, which claimed Democratic politicians are corrupted by Iranian money and are helping the Ulemas, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran.^[24] That same year he co-authored Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil (2005) with Craig R. Smith.

In 2006, he co-authored Showdown with Nuclear Iran: Radical Islam's Messianic Mission to Destroy Israel and Cripple the United States with Michael D. Evans. In August 2006 he published Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders with Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist. This book criticized President George W. Bush's border protection policies, accusing him of furthering plans to create a North American Union.^[25] In May 2006, Corsi co-wrote the book Rebuilding America with Kenneth Blackwell, then Ohio secretary of state and a Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio.^[26]

In March 2008 Corsi reported in WorldNetDaily that a "Muslim terrorist group with ties to criminal drug networks and al-Qaida" has given "strong support" to John McCain.^[27]

In 2007 Corsi wrote that he himself is not a Republican and complained that "the Republican Party is controlled by what used to be called the 'Rockefeller Wing'."^[28] In addition, Corsi called for the impeachment of George W. Bush."^[29][30] On August 15th, 2008, Corsi endorsed Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, who had campaigned to reopen the investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks in support of the 9/11 Truth Movement.^[31]

Corsi has also referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. as a "shakedown artist".^[32][33][34]

Factcheck.org called Corsi's The Obama Nation "a mishmash of unsupported conjecture, half-truths, logical fallacies and outright falsehoods."^[35] Obama's campaign has criticized Corsi as a "bigoted fringe author" for these claims, as well as "the bizarre, conspiratorial views that Jerome Corsi has advocated in his broader work."^{[9][10][36][37]} Corsi has also appeared on INN World Report, a news program on Free Speech TV, to advance his claims.

[edit] Unfit for Command

In August 2004, Corsi's Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, with attributed coauthor John O'Neill, was published by Regnery Publishing. The book sold more than 1.2 million copies.

The main theme of Corsi's portion of the book was to criticize Kerry's antiwar activities after returning from Vietnam, and to dispute many of his and other antiwar activists' assertions that U.S. soldiers had committed war crimes and atrocities, burned down villages, and murdered innocent civilians in Vietnam. Kerry gained notoriety, the book argues, by bringing to light such horrific events as the My Lai Massacre, thus damaging the image of the U.S. Military in the Winter Soldier hearings.

The other theme of the book was that Kerry's four month tour in Vietnam had been marked by cowardice under fire and fraudulently obtaining medals. In that regard, the book contained statements by some veterans of the Vietnam War who served with John Kerry on Swift Boats, several of whom executed affidavits in support of their claims; these claims were repudiated by other veterans who served with Kerry and often were disproven by outside sources, including the Navy's official records.^[38]

After controversial comments Corsi had made at the Free Republic website were publicized by the Media Matters for America website, John O'Neill claimed that Corsi was not actually a co-author of the book Unfit for Command, but rather was "simply an editor."^[39][40] Nevertheless, O'Neill described Corsi as the book's "coauthor" in a 2007 letter to the New York Times.^[41] Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler describe Corsi's efforts in writing the book, referring to him as one of its "authors," in their book To Set the Record Straight.^[42]

In 2007 Corsi, along with Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mowbray and Richard Miniter, sued Regnery's parent company, Eagle Publishing, claiming the company "orchestrate[d] and participate[d] in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate."^[43] The suit was dismissed on June 30, 2008.^[44]

[edit] The Obama Nation

Corsi's book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality was released on August 1, 2008, and is critical of Barack Obama and his candidacy for President. In response, the Obama campaign issued a 40 page rebuttal called "Unfit for Publication" on his website FightTheSmears.com, alleging factual errors.^[45] Corsi proclaimed the Obama report a confession that the most serious charges against Obama were true, because (he said) the campaign report cited minor issues, responded to charges different from those that Corsi had made, and implicitly confirmed many of Corsi's allegations.^[46][47]

According to various American news sources, many of the accusations made in the book are unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate.^{[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]}

According to The New York Times, "Significant parts of the book, whose subtitle is 'Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,' have been challenged in the days since its debut on Aug. 1."^[53] The book made its first appearance on The Times' best-sellers list for nonfiction hardcovers at No. 1.^[56] Corsi conducted over 100 interviews promoting the book,^[53] including a scheduled appearance^[57][58] on The Political Cesspool, a white supremacist^[59][60] radio talk show. He previously appeared on the show on July 20,^[61] but he canceled his August 17 appearance because of a change in "travel plans".^[62] In August 2008, Corsi appeared on Alex Jones' radio show and promoted The Obama Nation.^[63]

Paul Waldman criticized The Obama Nation as "filled with falsehoods."^[64] In a debate with Corsi on Larry King Live, Waldman accused him of using baseless innuendo as a tactic to 'smear' Obama.^[65]

On October 7, 2008, Corsi and his media consultant Tim Bueler were detained by immigration authorities in Kenya while doing further research related to the book, allegedly for failure to have a work permit. Corsi had scheduled a press conference to announce new research proving that Obama had raised a million dollars for the election campaign of Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga, and had helped run Odinga's campaign as a strategist, including setting the stage for the campaign of violence and bloodshed that had brought Odinga to power after a disputed election. The meeting was interrupted by Kenyan immigration officials when they detained Corsi.^[66][67] Corsi was eventually deported.^[68][69]

[edit] Black Gold Stranglehold

Corsi has also promoted the concept of abiotic oil production (as opposed to the theory for formation of petroleum from biological matter);^[70] the idea that oil is naturally produced underground through chemical processes under extreme heat and pressure, rather than by the conversion of biological material.^[71] In his book Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil, Corsi questions the "truism that oil is fossil fuel."^[72] As oil wells have drilled ever deeper, and discovered oil at 30,000 feet beneath the surface (5½ miles) it becomes clear, Corsi argues, that no dinosaur remains were buried 30,000 feet under ground.^[73] Corsi argues that oil men have long noticed that oil wells pumped dry sometimes "refill" with oil, suggesting a much deeper source for the oil, rising up under pressure to refill oil wells. Meanwhile, scientists have detected the presence of "fossil fuels" or hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan.^[74] Furthermore, Corsi argues, science has never put forward a satisfactory explanation for how a dinosaur can turn into oil. Oil is not, in fact, formed from dinosaurs, but from fossilized plant remains.^[75]

Corsi suggests that the world buys into scientific views of petroleum formation because it would be "disastrous — both to oil companies and to politicians in office" in terms of pricing to admit that oil is not a scarce commodity.^[76] The abiotic oil theory is in conflict with scientific consensus.^[77]

On the inside flap of the book:

Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent science that has been sold to the American people in order to enslave them — the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource. On the contrary, this book presents authoritative research, currently known mostly in the scientific community, that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests. Rather, it is a natural product of the Earth. The scientific evidence cited by Corsi and Smith suggests that oil is constantly being produced by the Earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the Earth's rotation.^[78]

[edit] Atomic Iran

In 2005 Corsi's Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians was published by WND Books with an introduction by Craig R. Smith. In the book he claims Democratic politicians are corrupted by Iranian money and are helping the mullahs, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran.^[24] Corsi accused an aide for John Kerry of helping the mullahs, who strongly rejected the claim.^[24] To promote the book, Corsi appeared in conservative venues such as on Hannity & Colmes on April 8, 2005, at the Heritage Foundation,^[79] and on WEJEW Radio.^[80]

On the topic in April 2005, Corsi wrote "An atomic Iran is imminent ... mullahs may have bomb by June."^[81] One year after the publication, Corsi wrote in his WorldNetDaily column, "I told you so", and claimed his book was right about failed talks.^[82] The book was taken as highly controversial, generating opposing views.

[edit] Where's the Birth Certificate?

Corsi wrote Where's the Birth Certificate?, a book that questions Obama's American citizenship. Prior to its May 2011 release, the book enjoyed a buzz-building teaser article in the heavily-trafficked Drudge Report website, but Obama released his long-form birth certificate three weeks before the book was published. Shortly after the book's publication, Esquire issued a satirical report that the book had been recalled,^[83] which prompted Corsi to sue Esquire for damages of over $285 million.^[84]

North American Union conspiracy theories[link]

Corsi claims that "President Bush is pursuing a globalist agenda to create a North American Union" a theoretical continental union of Canada, Mexico and the United States, that will supplant the United States.^[85] In 2007 he predicted an amero currency to replace dollar for this union will happen within 10 years.^[86] The "Union" is a theme in two of his books The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada^[28][87] (2007) and Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders (2006) as he explained on The Conservative Caucus's TV show.^[25] On December 15, 2006 Corsi reported for the first time he "had found a major intellectual leader behind the push to integrate North America suggesting that a crisis of 9-11 proportions might be just what was needed to advance the process toward establishing a North American Union and the amero."^[88]

In 2007 he claimed a North American Union driver's license was created^[89] and that the U.S. State Department was in talks to "move toward a transatlantic union."^[90] That same year he claimed, "Virgil Goode, R-Va., has introduced a House of Representatives resolution expressing congressional opposition to construction of a NAFTA Super Highway System or entry into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada."^[91] The validity of those claims was criticized in Newsweek and the author noted: "Corsi offered a warning: President Bush's supposed determination to force North American integration, he told the audience, could cost the GOP the 2008 presidential election. Corsi may have a conspiratorial bent. But he sure knows how to spin stories that shake up an election — and at least one candidate seems happy to help him."^[92]

John Hawkins, a fellow writer for Human Events, responded: "Yesterday, Jerome Corsi was prattling on about the North American Union again after Michael Medved deservedly spanked him for spreading conspiracy theories. While I don't think Corsi is any more worthy of being taken seriously than those who think Jews rule the world or the 'Truthers' who think President Bush is responsible for 9/11, I thought I would respond to him one last time."^[93] John Hawkins listed Corsi as number three on his list of "The Most Annoying People on the Right", and wrote: "Nobody has worked harder to convince people that the completely moronic North American conspiracy theory is real than the right's version of Dylan Avery, kooky Jerome Corsi."^[94] Additionally, conservative Hugh Hewitt said Corsi is "from the fringe."^[95]

In October 2009, his book America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty was published, which alleges "the globalists' plan to put America on the sale block, from financial services firms to public infrastructure such as highways and airports."^[96] To promote the book, he appeared on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News and then discussed the issue on Coast to Coast with George Noory.^[96]

9/11 conspiracy theory[link]

According to Corsi, "A video clip widely circulated on the Internet shows a test that pulverized an F-4 fighter on impact with a hardened target, providing evidence to answer 9/11 skeptics who question why so little identifiable airplane debris remained after the hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon."^[97] Audio]and a Youtube video has been circulated, especially among those questioning Corsi's credibility, of Corsi's January 29, 2008 interview on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' radio show.^{[98][99][100]} In the interview Corsi discusses "the findings of Steven Jones, physicist and hero of the '9/11 Truth' movement who claims to have evidence that the World Trade Center towers collapsed due to explosives inside the building, not just the planes hitting them, during the attacks."^[98] Corsi cites Jones' findings of microscopic forensic evidence which seemingly negates the U.S. government hypothesis that the aircraft's jet fuel fired heat, alone, was sufficiently hot enough to collapse the steel superstructure of the buildings.

Accusation of plagiarism[link]

Conservative author and pundit Debbie Schlussel has accused Corsi of plagiarizing elements from columns that she has published, and subsequently posting them under his byline in his WorldNetDaily column.^[101][102]

Selected works[link]

• Corsi, Jerome Robert (1972). Prior Restraint, Prior Punishment, and Political Dissent; A Moral and Legal Evaluation. Boston, Massachusetts: Thesis (Ph. D.) Harvard University (ProQuest document ID:754860281) (Publication Number: AAT 0231683). OCLC 76982330. 
• Lewis, Ralph G. and Jerome R. Corsi. To Make the World Safe for Picnics: The 1972 Political Conventions in Miami Beach. 1974
• O'Neill, John E. and Jerome R. Corsi. Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Regnery Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-89526-017-4.
• Corsi, Jerome R. (2005). Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians. Nashville, Tennessee: WND Books. ISBN 1-58182-458-0. OCLC 57475793. 
• Corsi, Jerome R. and Smith, Craig R. (2005). Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil. Nashville, Tennessee: WND Books. ISBN 1-58182-489-0. OCLC 61228601. 
• Blackwell, Kenneth and Jerome R. Corsi. Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare. WND Books, 2006. ISBN 1-58182-501-3
• Corsi, Jerome R. The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada. WND Books, 2007, ISBN 0-9790451-4-2.
• Corsi, Jerome R. (2008). The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. Threshold Editions. ISBN 978-1-4165-9806-0. 
• Corsi, Jerome Robert (2009). America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty. Boston, Massachusetts: Threshold Editions. ISBN 1-4391-5477-5. 
• Corsi, Jerome Robert (2011). Where's the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President. WND Books. ISBN 978-1-936488-29-2. 

See also[link]

• Swiftboating
• William Estabrook Chancellor
• Francis Alphonse Capell

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Jerome Corsi on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Appearance On The George Jarkesy Show
• Column archive at WorldNetDaily
• Column archive at Human Events
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Works by or about Jerome Corsi in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Unfit For Publication: An Investigative Report On The Lies In Jerome Corsi's "Obama Nation" – Obama for America official response
  • Unfit for Publication from Obama for America
• Video discussion/debate with Jane Hamsher on Bloggingheads.tv

Manu Chao
Manu Chao performing at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Background information
Birth name	José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao Ortega
Also known as	Oscar Tramor
Born	(1961-06-21) June 21, 1961 (age 51) Paris, France
Genres	Alternative rock, ska, punk, reggae, Latin Alternative, salsa
Occupations	Musician, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Nacional Records (U.S.) Because Music (France) Virgin Records
Associated acts	Mano Negra Radio Bemba Sound System
Website	www.manuchao.net

Manu Chao (born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao on June 21, 1961), is a French singer of Spanish roots (Basque and Galician). He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Galician, Arabic and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his musical career in Paris, busking and playing with groups such as Hot Pants and Los Carayos, which combined a variety of languages and musical styles. With friends and his brother Antoine Chao, he founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe. He became a solo artist after its breakup in 1995, and since then tours regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba.

Early life[link]

Chao was born to Spanish parents. His mother, Felisa Ortega, is from Bilbao, Basque country and his father, writer and journalist Ramón Chao, is from Vilalba, Galicia. They emigrated to Paris to avoid Francisco Franco's dictatorship—Manu's grandfather had been sentenced to death.^[1] Shortly after Manu's birth, the Chao family moved to the outskirts of Paris, and Manu spent most of his childhood in Boulogne-Billancourt and Sèvres. As he grew up he was surrounded by many artists and intellectuals, most of whom were acquaintances of his father.^[2] Chao cites much of his childhood experience as inspiration for some songs.^[3]

Career[link]

Manu Chao performs live

Early years and Mano Negra[link]

Heavily influenced by the UK rock scene, particularly The Clash, The Jam and Dr. Feelgood,^[4] Chao and other musicians formed the Spanish/English rockabilly group Hot Pants in the mid-1980s. The group released a demo entitled "Mala Vida" in 1984, which received plenty of local critical praise but otherwise gained them little attention. By the time the group released their first album in 1986 the Parisian alternative music scene had taken flight, and Manu, his brother Antoine Chao, and friends such as Alain from Les Wampas formed Los Carayos to incorporate this sound with the rockabilly and punk styles of Hot Pants. Los Carayos remained a side project of the artists for eight years, releasing three albums in the first two years followed by a final album in 1994.

In 1987, the Chao brothers and their cousin Santiago Casariego founded the multiracial band Mano Negra. Starting on a smaller label, the group released a reworked version of the Hot Pants single "Mala Vida", which quickly became a hit in France. The group soon moved to Virgin Records, and their first album Patchanka was released the following year. Though the group never gained much fame in the English-speaking market, popularity throughout the rest of the world soon followed, reaching the Top #5 in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. The band achieved some fame in South America with 1992's Cargo Tour, where it played a series of shows in port cities, performing from a stage built into their tour ship's hold.^[5] Mano Negra also performed a tour through much of Colombia in a retired train, the "Ice Express".^[1] Still, rifts began to grow among band members during the port tour and the following year's train tour; many band members, including Manu's brother Antoine, had left the group by the end of 1994. Following that year's release of their final album, Casa Babylon, Manu Chao moved the band to Madrid, but legal problems with former band mates led Chao to disband the group in 1995.^[2]

Mano Negra's sound is mostly characterized by energetic, lively rhythms, symbolized by the title of their first album, Patchanka, derived from the word pachanga (which is a colloquial term for "party"), and a distinct informality which allows the audience to get involved and feel close to their sound. Mixed music genres are present throughout their albums. Manu Chao is friends with Gogol Bordello and that group has covered Mano Negra's song "Mala Vida" on their own and with Chao beginning in 2006.

Solo years with Radio Bemba[link]

Manu Chao in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, June 2007

After arriving in Madrid, Chao and other band mates from Mano Negra formed a new group, Radio Bemba Sound System (named for the communication system used in the Sierra Maestra by the Castro-and-Guevara-led rebels in the Cuban Revolution), featuring groups from diverse backgrounds, such as Mexican Tijuana No!, Brazilian Skank, and Argentinian Todos Tus Muertos.^[2] The goal was to replicate the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures; to that end, Chao and the group spent several years travelling throughout South and Central America, recording new music as they went.^[6] The resulting music differed drastically from Mano Negra; the songs were primarily sung in Spanish with far fewer French tracks and the musical style had shifted from punk and alternative styles to the street vibe Chao was aiming for. The songs were collectively released as Clandestino in 1998, under Manu Chao's own name. Though not an instant success, the album gained a steady following in France with hits such as "Bongo Bong" and "Clandestino", and the album eventually earned the Best World Music Album award in 1999's Victoires de la Musique awards. It sold in excess of 5 million copies.^[1]

Chao's second album with Radio Bemba Sound System, Próxima Estación: Esperanza, was released in 2001. This album, named after one of the Madrid metro station stops (the title translates to "next station: Hope"), features similar sounds to Clandestino but with heavier Caribbean influences than the previous album. The album was an instant hit, leading to a successful tour that resulted in the 2002 live album Radio Bemba Sound System. Two years later, Chao returned to his French roots with the French-only album Sibérie m'était contée, which included a large book featuring lyrics to the album and illustrations by Jacek Woźniak.^[1][2]

Manu Chao's next album La Radiolina (literally "little radio" in Italian, but also "pocket radio") was released on September 17, 2007. This was the first international release since 2001's Próxima Estación: Esperanza. "Rainin in Paradize" was the first single from the album, available for download on his website before the release of the album.^[7] Concert reviews indicate that music from La Radiolina was already being performed live as early as April 2007's Coachella show.^[8]

Other works[link]

In 2003 he approached Amadou & Mariam and later produced their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako ("Sunday in Bamako"). His song "Me llaman Calle", written for the 2005 Spanish film Princesas, earned that film a Goya nomination for Best Original Song. It has been released in 2007's La Radiolina. Vocals from the song are included in the Go Lem System song "Calle Go Lem". Time magazine named "Me Llaman Calle" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #8. Writer Josh Tyrangiel observed,

Chao's warm singing over José Manuel Gamboa and Carlos Herrero's leaping Flamenco counter melody creates a direct emotional line to the core of this mid-tempo ballad. With its easy melody and universal rhythm Me Llaman Calle walks proudly in the shadow of Bob Marley, the last guy who made world music this disarmingly simple.^[9]

His song "La Vida Tómbola" was featured in the documentary film Maradona by Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica.^[4] Manu Chao and Tonino Carotone performed the theme song "La Trampa" for the short-lived improvisational comedy Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.

The songs "Bongo Bong" and "Je ne t'aime plus", which appear back-to-back on Clandestino, were covered by British singers Robbie Williams and Lily Allen, who recorded them as a single track, "Bongo Bong and Je Ne T'aime Plus" and released it as a single from the album Rudebox.^[10][11]

Style and influences[link]

Manu Chao sings in Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, Galician, Arabic and Wolof,^[12] often mixing several languages in the same song. His music has many influences, as punk, rock, French chanson, Iberoamerican salsa, reggae, ska, and Algerian raï. These influences were obtained from immigrants in France, his Iberian connections, and foremost his travels in Mesoamerica as a nomad following the disbanding of Mano Negra.

Many of Chao's lyrics talk about immigration, love, living in ghettos and drugs and often carry a left-wing message. This reflects Chao's own political leanings—he is very close to the Zapatistas and their public spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos.^[1] His band Mano Negra is possibly a reference to an anarchist group. He has many followers among the European left, the Latin American left and the anti-globalisation and anti-free trade movements.^[13] He is also a founding member of ATTAC.^[14] Punk and reggae historian Vivien Goldman commented of his work, "I was writing about Good Charlotte and The Police. They adopted the trappings of punk. They aren’t bad groups, but the punk aspect is more manifested by somebody like Manu Chao. He's one of the punkiest artists out there I can think of. It's an inclusionary spirit that is punk."^[15]

Manu Chao performs in Paris, France

Chao also has a tendency to reuse music or lyrics from previous songs to form new songs. The contemporary hit single in France "Bongo Bong", takes its lyrics from the earlier Mano Negra hit "King of the Bongo", which bears a similar style to that of The Clash. The musical backdrop for "Bongo Bong", in turn, was used in several other Chao songs, including "Je Ne T'Aime Plus" from the same album and "Mr. Bobby" and "Homens" from Próxima Estación: Esperanza. Also, the tune of "La Primavera", a track from that same album, is used in several other songs featured on the LP, while lyrics for a few songs on Sibérie m'était contée are repeated several times with different music, leading the lyrics to be interpreted in various ways depending on the mood of the track. Several musical themes and clips from that album also appear on Amadou & Mariam's Chao-produced Dimanche à Bamako, which were being produced at approximately the same time.

Though Chao is quite well known in Europe and Latin America, he has not had the same success in the English-speaking world. Tours in the United States with Mano Negra were not as successful as elsewhere and Chao seems inclined to focus his efforts in the places where his musical style finds its roots. Though his live performances in the U.S. are infrequent, Chao played a handful of dates there in 2006, including a headlining show at Lollapalooza 2006 in Chicago, IL.^[16] His final appearance on his 2006 U.S. tour was a benefit concert in the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn, New York on August 7. He returned to that venue in the summer of 2007 for two concerts, part of the multicultural "Celebrate Brooklyn" concert series. The crowd was treated to a nearly two-hour performance, including two encores. Manu Chao also appeared at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland to a sellout crowd on June 23, 2007. This was a semi-spontaneous endeavour between Thievery Corporation and Manu Chao facilitated by a new-found friendship developed during Lollapalooza 2006.^[16] He was one of the headlining acts at the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival and the Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park. In January 2012 he was the headline act at the opening night of Sydney Festival, marking his first concert in Australia.

Discography[link]

	"Mr. Bobby" noicon A 23 second sample of "Mr. Bobby", the last single from Próxima Estación: Esperanza. The song uses samples from diverse sources and several instruments layered on top of each other.
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With Mano Negra[link]

• Patchanka (Virgin France, 1988)
• Puta's Fever (Virgin France, 1989)
• King of Bongo (Virgin France, 1991)
• In the Hell of Patchinko (Live in Japan, Virgin France, 1992)
• Casa Babylon (Virgin France, 1994)

Solo[link]

• Clandestino (Virgin, 1998)
• Próxima Estación: Esperanza (Virgin, 2001)
• Radio Bemba Sound System (live, Virgin, 2002)
• Sibérie m'était contée (Virgin, 2004)
• La Radiolina (Because/Nacional, 2007)
• Estación México (Live in Mexico, 2008, limited release)
• Baionarena (Double live CD + DVD), 2009

DVD[link]

• Babylonia en Guagua (2002)
• Mano Negra: Out of time (2005)
• Manu Chao & radiobemba:baionarena" (2009)

References[link]