Chevron: rule of law for thee but not for me

You know, the phrase "rule of law" is not quite such an irrtant as "the ownership society," and it's not so expressly associated with conservatives, but, it's enough of both that I'm getting tired of it.

Especially when, like "ownership society," its use is hypocritical, class-based, or otherwise two-tiered.

Take Chevron in Ecuador. The original environmental verdict against it by an court-ap0ointed review expert has been upheld, albeit with the amount of judgment knocked down to $9.1B.

And the Chevron response?

In a statement, Chevron called the decision "illegitimate and unenforceable" and said it would appeal. It has long contended it could never get a fair trial in Ecuador and has removed all assets from this politically volatile Andean country, whose leftist president, Rafael Correa, had voiced support for the plaintiffs.

Chevron, which earned $19.1 billion last year, said it did not believe the judgment "enforceable in any court that observes the rule of law."

If you read the rest of the story, you'll read about Chevron using a convicted drug trafficker to try to suborn judicial misconduct from the first trial judge in the case, as one among many aspects of corporate sleaze.

Talking about "rule of law" is the rankest hypocrisy.

Especially since at least one American law school expert thinks the amount of fine was knocked down so much as a signal Ecuador wants to negotiate.

And, let's hope American Big Oil experts like Fadel Gheit are wrong and that Ecuador CAN collect — whether by negotiation or by hardball.

Ecuador can always pull a Venezuela and nationalize Chevron's assets.

Bolivia President Morales — DEA is spying on us

Accusing Drug Enforcement Administration operatives of spying on Bolivians for political espionage, President Evo Morales has suspended their anti-cocaine operations in his country indefinitely.

Washington laughed it off as ridiculous. Oh?

Let’s ask Jacobo Arbenz, Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega and many other Latin American leaders just how “ridiculous” such an idea might be.

Or, better yet, let’s just ask Ecuador right now; where President Rafael Correa accuses the CIA of infiltrating his country’s army earlier this year.

ChevronTexaco charged with environmental fraud in Ecuador

ChevronTexaco, predictably, claims its being framed. Rather, it seems another Latin American government is finding more assertiveness against Yanqui business imperialism.

Beyond that, a lawyer for Ecuador says the government isn’t involved in any civil tort litigation against Chevron, only the fraud charges against two Chevron lawyers for allegedly trying to perpetrate an environmental cover-up.

The civil case stems from pre-merger Texaco's drilling activity in the Ecuadorean portion of the Amazon.

Sure Columbia found a computer

Columbia’s national police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, claims his government has found a laptop computer belonging to left-wing rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a computer that allegedly has documents showing FARC is interested in buying uranium.

This line of international affairs BS is so straight out of Washington, specifically sounding like neocons in the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans drew it up, it’s no wonder Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have both moved troops to their borders with Columbia and, temporarily at least, suspended diplomatic relations.

As I said, this sounds like an OSP, or similar neocons’ group, baby.

BushCo probably has a few dozen laptops still on hold in the Whatagon’s Office of Special Plans. Besides the Iran and FARC ones, there's the Libya one, which didn’t have to be used, maybe the Somali one, the Syrian one, the Hezbullah one, etc.

That said, this idea could spread. Picture new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, or new PM Vladimir Putin, announcing he has just found a Chechen laptop. Or that China has found a Tibetan, or Mongolian, or Uyghur laptop.