Oil giant Unocal rejects US demands to leave Burma

[Nambe]

ABC Radio Australia News

Oil giant Unocal says it has no plans to leave Burma, despite demands by US state investment officials to do so.

The officials - from California and New York State - say it is not in the interests of Unocal shareholders' for the firm to build a gas pipeline for Burma's controversial Yadana project.

In July, a California judge ordered Unocal to stand trial for alleged complicity in human rights abuses by the military junta, including forced labor, rape and torture.

Unocal has acknowledged that troops have forced villagers to work for the military in the vicinity of the pipeline, but denies the use of forced labor in the construction. ---

[PBinOregon]

1. Who Really Rules?

Any bets that the * administration tries to pressure Unocal? Something tells me that they won't.

[kixot]

2. Is whistle-ass tied in any way to Unocal??

I wonder where following the money here would lead.

[starroute]

3. You might start here

"In November 2001, the Washington Post examined the history of the Unocal pipeline in a story headlined 'How Afghanistan Went Unlisted as Terrorist Sponsor.' That story also mentioned Kissinger's role: 'Unocal appealed to the Taliban and received assurances that it would support a $4.5 billion project rivaling the trans-Alaska pipeline. The deal promised to be a boon for the Taliban, which could realize $100 million a year in transit fees.' But Unocal also needed U.S. backing. To secure critical financing from agencies such as the World Bank, it needed the State Department to formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's government. 'Unocal hired former State Department insiders: former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger, former special U.S. ambassador John J. Maresca and Robert Oakley, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan.' Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born former Reagan State Department adviser on Afghanistan, entered the picture as a consultant for a Boston group hired by Unocal. Khalilzad and Oakley had dual roles during this period because the State Department also sought their advice. Khalilzad is now one of President Bush's top advisers on Afghanistan.' Which makes me wonder whether Kissinger should be asking questions -- or answering them."

http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/kissingerunocal.htm

[AnnabelLee]

4. Halliburton's had its filthy hands in Burma, too

"Shortly before the election, Dick Cheney admitted on the Larry King Live! show that Halliburton had done contract work in Burma. Cheney defended the project by saying that Halliburton had not broken the U.S. law imposing sanctions on Burma, which forbids new investments in the country. "You have to operate in some very difficult places and oftentimes in countries that are governed in a manner that's not consistent with our principles here in the United States," Cheney told Larry King. "But the world's not made up only of democracies."

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Oil_watch/Cheney_Halliburton.html