Curacao Mass Tourism leading to deportation of local Population
Curacao is experiencing rapid mass tourism growth, but it will still be some time before it develops the economic, financial and infrastructure capabilities to compete dollar for dollar with Holland, setting the stage for a protracted competition for influence and allegiance across South America.
Half of the local population has already been deported to the Amsterdam, in order to live as economic refugees in Europe. This was all made possible after the PAR political party introduced reform and austerity measures leading to a humanitarian catastrophe.
Privatization has caused depletion of tax payers properties, which have led to no return on investment for the Curacao tax collector. On the other hand, Latin Americans refugees are forced to deliver cheap slave labor in order for the Dutch business to extremely profit from!
Most of these capitalist minded businesses receive unorthodox tax holidays and avoid paying room taxes, leading to famine, economic deportation and screaming poverty.
To cover up this entire operation, Dutch politicians and newspapers handle the narrative for the local population to be corrupt and not willing to work for minimum salaries. At the same time the islands properties (like public beaches) are confiscated by the colonial rulers.
The tropical island of Curacao has been plagued by mass tourism schemes that cause poverty and chaos among the local born citizens. The fascist rulers in The Hague force to local elected politicians to their knees, glorifying the annexation of local real estate.
The key factors to the vampire like destruction of the local lifestyle are several vehicles introduced to enforce the recolonization campaign, which are to be blacklisted by the remaining citizens that we able to survive the ongoing onslaught on the road to nowhere.
Over half of the local born citizens have already been deported to the Netherlands, where they are added to the lifestyles of war refugees from mostly Muslim countries where the same kind of formulas are supplied, while the mainstream media disguises the real facts.
The first and most important tool for this campaign to be successful are the established Nazi headquarters (Dos Mundos) together with the modern flying pirate ships from KLM, American Airlines and the worlds biggest travel agency TUI.
Without these human trafficking cargo ships the Zionist colonization would not be possible. Dos Mundos is they center piece of the privatization process, where foreign entities and other type of invaders can arrange permits and migration documents to succeed.
On the Dutch Caribbean islands, the local people serve as drivers for the enriched tourism industry, or protect and cover the bullets for these invading networks with security after creating poverty delivered by the neo-colonial dictatorial policy design.
Also they can pick up the after party garbage and serve as road cleaners, for the settlers to profit from? For the rest the island has been confiscated and privatized by colonial minded settlers, while they are at it they are destroying the livelihood of the local born people.
The new airport, build with taxpayers money, made available by career traitors, is in hands of foreigners, cashing in all the airport taxes, not even leaving a bone behind for the impoverished society. The same deal with the 700 million new hospital ruled by the Dutch.
Most of the islands former public beaches have been privatized by the confiscation networks that are operating under the false flag of development. The result is that local people are driven out of the environment in order to shape the evil hostile occupation plan.
The modern flying pirate-ships deliver the goods for human trafficking rings to play their part in the glorified tax evasion plans. Commercial tourism was invented by Nazi Germany during WW II, to pamper hotels, shops and restaurants in Paris to disguise the invasion purposes.
The Netherlands no longer has a model which is inspiring to its colonies in the Caribbean and instead is maintaining its dominance by throwing its weight around. The Hague elites are now even bullying supposed allies who dissent from their Neo-liberal worldview.
The Dutch asserted the American model which is now only about maintaining Washington’s position of global dominance, established by institutions like the World Bank, NATO, UN, Cft WTO, DEA and the IMF.
A local disgusted leader clearly voiced his opinion that liberal democracy has changed beyond recognition and has transformed from a vehicle to promote freedom of speech and expression, to demanding the cancellation of anyone with a different perspective.
The Dutch colonial leaders now have no creative ideas to promote positive development, the inside connection argued. They simply have nothing to offer the ABC islands, beyond maintaining their own dominance.
The US-led West has continued its policy of escalating tensions across the globe, and is trying to subjugate the world under its institutional and banking ruled-based order. Like Raiders of the Lost Ark?
It remains unclear who invented these rules, what they are based on, or what exactly they even are to support except creating poverty and privatization of local taxpayers properties.
The only thing that is understood, is that the concept is meant to allow those who hold the colonial power to live without any of these rules at all, and allow them to get away with doing whatever they want?
Keywords glorifying settlement invasion, austerity, reform, autonomy and development.
# 1. Dos Mundos & Cft, settlement scheme building 25k new houses for the invaders to use as tax evading tourist rental business. West Bank style investment plan to confiscate to real estate markets for financial purposes.
Curacao now has 75k residential buildings at disposal. Cycling networks provide the upper middle class Dutch with leverage, under the disguise of we are good and better and the rest is not.
At the same time another very important propaganda tool in the Dutch litter box is the designed dogs and stray-dog campaign.
The Dutch citizens sign up under false masked pretenses, and once settled, they continue their real goal, not the one they said they would perceive when filling in the immigration forms.
# 2. CAP / Swissport, new airport arrival and departure building to facilitate mass tourism is under control of the Swiss company.
While taxpayers had to finance the facility, the so-called semi-government managing company, called Curacao Airport Partners (CAP), receives all the airport (government) taxes and can keep them for so-the called maintenance portfolio.
This set up leads to zero return on investment for the local people’s credibility. The same story with the racist all in travel packages hoax.
Airport tax for colonial fights between the islands has been raised to a point that families are unable to see their bloodlines living on the different Caribbean islands. For some people seen as a pure definition of racism.
# 3. Tax evading Tourism Industry, economy grows threefold the local money supply, indicating, laundering money schemes are at the top of the privatization pyramid.
Biker and dog networks feed the Dutch invasion machine in order to the difference between good and bad? Tourist and travelers pay their fantastic voyage in advance in the country of departure, so no tax income here for Curacao.
All in package deals also prohibit locals from visiting the hotel along their coastline. There goes freedom of passage for the local people, comparable to the West Bank and Gaza Strip that are situated in the Holy Land.
# 4. HNO / Medical Center was build for dying, but rich Dutch retirement elders, which must supply money to Dutch entertainment enterprises to complete the hostile colonial exchange takeover plan.
The over budgeted project is now run by Dutch medical specialists and is unable stand on its own feet, even when social insurances pay triple prices compared to the previous hospital.
In fact waiting for it to go bankrupt and hand the entire local investment over to outside agent sharks on the smokey scene. Costs to be at the new super expensive hospital have nearly quadrupled, caused by the extortion, leading to the bankruptcy of the local insurance body SVB.
# 5. Cruise Ship Piers and foreign owned Hotels form the foundation of the spiritual, cultural and traditional rapist formula. Foreign cheaper slave labor support the tourist sector. Latin American (Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Haitian refugees.
The main reason and back behind the curtain operate the lucrative drugs smuggling rings, dancing on the graves of their worldwide victims, of course not matching the legal pharmacy industry, which makes the largest profits of any type of business in the world.
That is why Curacao is number one among passenger Aida cruises. This cruise company is a German NGO based in Rostock and one of the eleven Carnival Cruising brand. At the same time Curacao has to little money to provide quality education according to a local judge.
When the ship stays in port until late night it makes it easier to smuggle cocaine and laundered money around, mainly intended for younger and more active holidaymaker according to Curacao media sources.
In 2023, Curacao will start with more cases considered s high-impact crime. Never before the number of poverty caused offenses has been so high. Robberies, (car-home) burglaries and relational violence are the result of uncontrolled mass tourism.
# 6. Imperialist Cocaine Industry and DEA, supplying the Dutch invaders with the goods to perform their crimes. Most local entities, including Dutch are smuggling the drugs to flood the overseas markets in Europe and the USA.
Curacao offers perfect tax havens for the drugs- and gambling industries, all the top-4 accountant agencies are represented to cook the books for the networks rings of the traders and bankers.
Canadian banks dominate the money market at the islands, transferring profits through Lebanese networks in Brazil and Lebanon back to Canada, where the Royal British run part of the Five-Eyes Empire.
# 7. Royal KLM, American Airlines and TUI, are the main lifelines to the completely isolated islands with 7 daily flights into HATO airport, along the coast of mutual sanctioned Venezuela.
The modern flying Pirates of the Caribbean ships sail under the disguise of serving the global business networks and leisure passengers, while polluting the air ten times more than driving a V8 engine car per kilometer.
# 8. Biological Warfare, killing local cats with leukemia, while African poisonous snails configure so called pest control that poison the residential environment. Also the Egyptian Red Bug killed many palm trees on the island of Curacao.
# 9. Real Estate Investors and Notary Scam, mostly American money laundering supporting entities, such as Century 21 and Remax, employed and performed by Dutch career seeking opportunists to secure the privatization schemes, creating monopoly over the housing market, creating opportunities for invaders to fly in and settle at free will?
It is estimated that over three billion guilders were held back by the notary offices over the past 20 years. The 10 notary offices pass at least eight transactions for every work day, leading to a yearly tax turnover, based on 4% transaction tax, of fl.200 million in yearly taxes for those office combined.
But the tax collector in Curacao not even received fl.10 million in 2022?
LEFT > BOCA GENTIL VILLAGE – PAPAGAYO BEACH HOTEL – ZANZIBAR BEACH
On this side of the agenda Venezuelan refugees are used as cheap labor slaves to build new homes at a super rate in order to fulfill their part of the puzzle.
After the properties are sold, the notary offices hardly pay the 4% sales tax to the tax collector, new figures show an income of not even fl.10 million all together over 2022.
Meaning total real estate sales were about fl.250 million per year, which is a big lie, as notary offices are so busy that it takes six weeks to make an sales appointment for nearly a dozen of them to proceed. Combined sales are estimated @ 5 billion per year.
With at least 8 deals per day, the are estimated to hand over properties for a couple of million each day, five days per week, for 50 weeks per year adding at least some fl.500 million to their sales department, of which only 1 million in sale taxes are received?
With at least 10 notary offices on the island, the yearly 4% tax income should be at least fl.100 million, meaning not even 10% reaches the local tax collector register?
# 10. The Hague Politicians and armed militias, such as Coast Guard, Atrako Team, RST, Royal Dutch marines, Dutch infantry, marine warships, CITRO, security agencies, KPC, VKC and many more keep Curacao under the invasive occupation annexation shot gun.
# 11. Closing Curacao’s largest Refinery in Caribbean, calling the territory a Green Town development. At the same time the four refineries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands remain open for business, with an oil price at an historic high level.
# 12. Landfill overloaded before 2030. Too much extra garbage to handle, caused by growing households (+50% to 75.000) and mass tourism delivering major (air-and sea) pollution (+40k Dutch and USA visitors per month).
Government must put a cap on settlements, just like what neighboring island of Bonaire did to project the existing humanitarian and natural environment.
# 13. Zakito Diesel Yachting Harbor pollution, destroying coastline reefs and mangroves is a worldwide crime, except in Curacao, there Dutch settlers can do anything they want, from corrupting government departments for illegal permits to killing the local Prime Minister if necessary?
However a LOB-request (asking for protected environment- and construction permit) ended up empty. Silence and negligence are the tools for derailment.
# 14. Morena resort Jan Thiel, building and developing in protected zones (EOP 1997). In order to make this possible, de local public retirement fund APC arranged an illegal change of destiny for the area, without respecting the law, which stipulates the opposite.
Earlier in 2008, Papagayo and Chogogo were also allowed to build some extra vacation villa’s, deep into highly restricted conservation territory, destroying local nature habitat for tax evading money laundering- and development purposes.
Nothing out of the ordinary, because these type of policies have proven to be in line with other crimes committed by Dutch invasive settlement builders, like Boase and many more along the coastline adjacent to Venezuela.
Because of the Western sanctions against Venezuela, the Aviation Authorities in Caracas issued a travel ban for the ABC islands until April 30, 2023, and closed its airspace for the Dutch Caribbean because of looting gold and dollars from the oil rich Latin American nation.
# 15. Previous Fisherman Villages & Confiscated Beaches have to step aside for tourists, snorkelers and scuba divers to enjoy the coastlines and fish in the ocean.
West Point beach, Small Kenepa beach, Caracasbaai, Lagun beach, Daaibooi and numerous other beaches have been infested by tourism adventures.
BEFORE AND AFTER THE PASSING AWAY OF FOUNDER STEVE RASPOORT
# 16. Blue Bay Golf Resort has package deals for visiting tribes, blocking tee times for local golfers prioritizing leisure and fun above the welfare of the local community.
Developed and build under the smoke of the lucrative local refinery, evil entities managed to close the largest oil production site in the Caribbean, leading to more unemployment and screaming poverty.
ABC Flash Point News 2024.
Historical Armenian quarters in the Old City of Jerusalem turned into Luxury Resort
A shady property deal threatens to transform part of the 700 year-old Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City into a luxury resort. It will change the status quo and the entire picture of Jerusalem, says Armenian activist Hagop Djernazian.
While Palestinians have long fought against land theft, Jerusalem’s centuries-old Armenian community is now facing their own land rights’ crisis as a property deal threatens to transform part of their neighborhood into a luxury resort.
In July 2021, the Armenian Patriarchate leased approximately 25% of the Armenian Quarter in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City to an Australian-Israeli investor for 99 years.
The land deal received renewed attention in April when it was discovered that the contracted area, known as Hadiqat Al-Baqar (The Garden of Cows), includes homes of five Armenian families, the Armenian seminary, and a parking lot.
The area leased is a historical land, which the Armenians have owned for 700 years, Armenian activist, Hagop Djernazian, told Mondoweiss. It’s a strategic area located on the highest point in the Old City.
The contract was reportedly signed by Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, Grand Sacristan Archbishop Sevan Gharibian, and then-director of the Patriarchate’s real estate department, Fr. Baret Yeretsian.
Yet following the deal’s publicity, Manougian denied responsibility and pinned the blame on Yeretsian — claiming the agreement occurred without his full knowledge.
Yeretsian was defrocked and has since fled to Los Angeles, while Manougian has confined himself to the convent as residents protest weekly outside demanding the deal be revoked. The Armenian Patriarchate declined to comment for this story.
As an Armenian, the church is our home, Djernazian said. Unfortunately now the relations between the community and the church are no longer the same as in the past because this deal violated the constitution of the church.
Yeretsian wrote that deal was ratified by the Holy Synod, the church’s supervising body, and the General Assembly of the Saint James Brotherhood, a monastic order of Armenian national church, but according to twelve members of the brotherhood, this is incorrect.
Instead, they claim the deal was made without the Holy Synod and General Assembly’s consent, thereby nullifying the agreement. According to the church’s bylaws, all real estate transactions must be made with the Holy Synod and General Assembly’s approval.
Little is known about the contract and the investor involved — Danny Rothman. According to his LinkedIn profile, the businessman who also goes by Rubinstein, chairs Xana Capital Management, a United Arab Emirates-based hotel company.
In April, the firm’s sign appeared at the parking lot on the rented land. Rothman’s contact information isn’t available for any comment?
Lease documents haven’t been publicly unveiled nor listed in Israel’s land registry — raising the community’s suspicions that something more sinister is at play.
What is known is that Rothman plans to develop a high-end hotel on the plot, with One&Only Resorts managing it.
One&Only Resorts’ owner, the UAE-based Kerzner International, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Moshe Safdie, the Israeli architect reportedly designing the hotel.
Yet Armenians aren’t the only ones in uproar over the lease. In May, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) paused their recognition of the Patriarchate over the agreement.
On the political side, the deal undermines the possibility of any political solution to Jerusalem due to its strategic location, Dimitri Diliani, head of the Palestinian National Christian Coalition, told Mondoweiss.
On the cultural side, it affects the demographic and cultural mosaic balance of the city of Jerusalem in favor of one side at the expense of others.
In addition to freezing recognition, Diliani said the PA is also working to depose Manougian of his position. Outrage over the real estate agreement comes as Jerusalem’s Christians are experiencing heightened levels of violence from Jewish settlers.
According to Protecting Holy Land Christians, a campaign established by Christian leaders to raise awareness of threats the religious group faces, 2022 was one of the worst years for Christians in Jerusalem to date.
The organization cited spitting attacks, vandalism, and property theft as mechanisms of erasure.
Jerusalem’s shrinking Armenian community, which is estimated to be under 1,000, just a sliver of what the population was a century ago, fears a similar fate of displacement as well as part of their neighborhood was sold off to an outsider.
That’s why we are against this deal. Because it will change the status quo and the entire picture of Jerusalem and the Armenian Quarter.
Mondoweiss / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
China is Embarking on its Biggest Rainmaking Project ever
Since 2013 China has been creating 55 billion tons of artificial rain a year. The country is now embarking on its biggest rainmaking project ever, and make it rain over area 3 times the size of Spain.
In terms of the plan, announced this month, Chinese authorities intend to force rainfall and snow over 1.6 million sq km (620,000 sq miles).
The government will use new military weather-altering technology developed by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The Asian country plans to build tens of thousands of combustion chambers on Tibetan mountainsides. The chambers will burn a solid fuel, which will result in a spray of silver iodide billowing towards the sky.
More than 500 burners have been deployed on alpine slopes in Tibet, Xinjiang and other areas for experimental use. The data we have collected show very promising results.
Sometimes snow would start falling almost immediately after we ignited the chamber. It was like standing on the stage of a magic show. The practice of weather modification has become more frequent across the country in recent years.
The Tibetan plateau is vital to the water supply for much of China and a large area of Asia. Its glaciers and reservoirs feed the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, and other major rivers that flow through China, India, Nepal, and other countries.
RT.com / Crickey Conservation Society 2018.
China’s Silk Road Trade expands to over $600 billion in 2019
China’s trade with countries participating in its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been expanding and reached 4.24 trillion yuan ($617.5 billion) in the first half of this year.
Customs data showed trade with BRI countries for the period was up 9.7% year-on-year. It has outpaced the growth rate of China’s total trade, which remained stable at 3.9%.
Exports and imports with Russia and Egypt were up by 11%, while trade with Saudi Arabia rose to 34%.
China has inked agreements on BRI cooperation with 18 of the 22 Arab countries. In 2018, trade turnover between China and Arab states reached $244.3 billion, ballooning 28% year-on-year.
Dubbed the 21st century Silk Road project, the BRI was announced by Xi Jinping six years ago. Since then, Beijing has signed 173 agreements with 125 countries, including developed and developing countries, and 29 international organizations.
The multi-trillion-dollar initiative aims to boost connectivity and cooperation between Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. Experts say it will significantly boost global commerce, cutting trading costs by half for the countries involved.
The global shipping hegemony of the Western Anglo-Zionist countries have come to a sudden end, exchanging goods over land instead of by sea, where greedy banking and insurance companies have to cut their large losses.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
Ashkenazim Jews living in F-UK-US states afraid of being investigated & unmasked
According to a report by the Community Security Trust, the number of Jewish incidents in Great Britain rose in the first half of this year.
In the other F-UK-US countries like France and the US(A) the sentimental differences are also on the rise. Nearly half of the 400 million French Jewish population are migrating towards other destinies, like to the “settlements” of the Promised Land itself.
In the USA, new laws provide to punish freedom of speech for citizens who dare to talk about the Zionist society in a way that does not serve the “common” good. A one million dollar penalty and extreme jail time is the answer to modern democracy?
The Community Security Trust, which protects the Jewish community in the UK, has said that the rise of cultural incidents dominated the news in the Labour Party.
Generally, the Labor Party in the United Kingdomhas been supported by a lot of the Jewish community. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a friend of the Jewish people. And before that the PM, Tony Blair, was a good friend of the Jewish community.
It is just since Jeremy Corbyn has stepped forward. He had a very strong reputation of being extremely anti-Israel; his attitude towards Israel was extreme, if I may say so. As a result, this attracted a lot of people who were never Labour Party supporters.
They were communists, they were Marxists; they were the far-left Socialist Party who joined the Labor Party because Jeremy Corbyn was head of it.
And these are the new Labor Party members felt comfortable by noting Jewish things, like for example: the Jews control the media; the Jews control the banks. David Cameron and Theresa May were Jewish leaders in Britain for many years, and so on.
The names of the $500 trillion Rothschild’s as the owners of all central banks in the world is mentioned many times. The Jewish people are the ones who have influence money flows or governments; they are the ones who start the wars.
And this is what its called classic antisemitism, for hundreds and hundreds of years. One of the main reasons today, we believe, is the internet.
The internet, and the emergence and the creativity of this World Wide Web, has done amazing things for many different people: knowledge and information is right at your fingertips, right in front of your eyes.
But it has also got a disadvantage because some of the people in the world are now able to link up and unite with each other much greater than they were beforehand.
So, for example, in USA there has always been a very small, but prominent American Nazi Party; there have been specifically Neo-Nazis across places in Latin America or Europe: in Germany, in France, in Poland, in Hungary, among other places around the world.
But the good thing about this is that the home secretary, who Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed, is somebody known as a good friend of the Jewish community and a good friend of Israel, her name is Priti Patel; she has a lot of sympathy with the situation.
The money that runs the Community Security Trust (CST) came from David Cameron (married to a Rothschild) when he became British prime minister.
Theresa May took over, I think it is 13.5 million pounds per year that the government gives to the Jewish community through the CST, so that each synagogue on a Saturday will have one guard outside.
So that applies to every Jewish institution, schools, and other Jewish buildings, they have one guard outside once a week, sometimes twice a week. To the best of my knowledge, no other ethnic minority in the UK has this type of security.
ABC Flash Point Zionist News 2019.
The Biography of Columbus and the Spanish Invasion of the Americas
It was January of 1493 when Christopher Columbus, five months after leaving Spain in search of a Western route to Asia, finally journeyed back to Spain. (^) He was not returning to Ferdinand and Isabella empty-handed, however.
Sailing across the Atlantic with him and his crew were some of Hispaniola’s natives who they’d captured and forced into slavery.
In the absence of any measurable amount of gold to bring back to Isabella and Ferdinand, these slaves were brought for the purpose of enticing the Queen and King and convincing them of the need to finance an even larger expedition to return with Columbus to the islands.
Meanwhile a total of 39 of Columbus’s companions from the 1492 voyage had been left behind in Haiti, stationed at Fort Navidad to store and keep watch over any gold they came across on the island.
And so, after months of letter-writing, Columbus was finally once again standing face to face with the King Ferdinand and Isabella Queen of Spain, and bearing with him news he was certain would sound delightful to the royal monarchs’ ears (the inaccuracy of it notwithstanding).
The way he told it, he and his men had discovered such a large quantity of gold in the mines of just one island that the King and Queen simply could not believe it without seeing it for themselves! (As it turns out, they shouldn’t have believed it.)
With a promise to bring back his majesties an almost endless supply of gold in addition to more captured slaves to do “whatever we want”, Isabella and Ferdinand entrusted Columbus with seven new ships, carrying a sizable a crew of more than 1,200 Spaniards to accompany him on his journey back to the island.
Meanwhile, as Columbus was making his case before the Queen and King, the 39 men he’d left stationed at Fort Navidad were busy causing an immense amount of trouble on their own.
Venturing out into the unfamiliar island, they quickly degenerated into a state of barbarity, breaking into villagers’ homes, raping native Taino women, and kidnapping small children who they used as their sex slaves.
This obviously didn’t sit too well with the island’s native inhabitants, and soon local villagers attacked Fort Navidad, freeing the women and children who’d been taken captive. Columbus’s men who were responsible for the kidnappings were summarily executed by the Taino so as to prevent their committing further atrocities.
But when Columbus returned to the island from Spain in November of 1493 and discovered his men had been killed, all hell broke loose, and the suffering of the natives of Haiti only intensified from then on out.
In a violent sweep of rage, Spanish soldiers rounded up men, women and children from all over the island at gun-point and forced them into outdoor pens.
Over time these pens, which were guarded around the clock by ferocious canines and vicious soldiers, became so tightly packed and overcrowded that it was impossible for them to freely move around.
By the year 1495 thousands of Hispaniola’s natives were forced to work grueling hours of slave labor in the island’s mines in an unavailing search for gold.
Another 500 people were placed on board a ship set sail for Spain, but due to the bitter and desolate climate conditions onboard the ship, 200 of them died before they made it to Spain, where they would have been consigned to slave labor for the rest of their lives.
Christopher Columbus and the Spaniards who accompanied him were hideously ruthless in the way they dealt with the indigenous people. Absolutely nothing was off-limits when it came to their getting hands on the fabled gold, even if it meant the mutilation of young children.
In 1494 it was decreed that all persons fourteen years of age and older must work in the ‘gold’ mines from sun-up to sun-down. A gold-quota was set and every individual had to meet that quota or else suffer the extreme consequences.
At the end of every three months if an individual had delivered unto Columbus the required amount of gold, he or she was given a copper token to be worn around their neck.
If at the end of this period one was discovered not to be wearing a copper token around their neck, however, both of his or her hands were cut off and they were left to bleed to death.
Being that Columbus and his men always set such unrealistically high quotas, many of the enslaved were forced to take their chances and run rather than face decapitation.
This too ended abysmally, for once they were discovered they were viciously attacked and torn apart by the ferocious canines. Any captive who showed even the slightest hint of rebellion or resistance to Spanish occupancy either was immediately hung, or worse burned alive.
Within just two years, 1495-1497, close to 125,000 people on Haiti had died from either “murder, mutilation, or suicide.
One man bearing witness to many of these most gruesome events was a Catholic Bishop, Father Bartolome de Las Casas, who as a young priest accompanied Columbus on more than a few of his conquests and expeditions.
He soon discovered, however, that hearing about Columbus’s journeys while he sat comfortably giving his blessings was a completely different experience from actually witnessing them up close with his own eyes.
Over time he would come around to becoming the single most vocal critic against the horrific treatment of the so-called ‘Indians’ by the Spanish explorers. Of the missions that he himself had been a part of, he said they served no other purpose than “to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle, and destroy.”
He watched as Spanish soldiers took it upon themselves to literally “ride on the backs of the Indians as if they were in a hurry.” And, rather than having to walk on their own two feet, soldiers forced slaves to carry them from one place to another while they lay comfortably in their hammocks.
Soldiers “thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.” Las Casas even told of one such incident in which two adolescent boys, no older than 10-12 years of age, were needlessly stopped by soldiers and subjected to harassment.
Each of the boys was carrying a parrot on his arm. Upon seeing this, the Spaniards snatched them away from the boys and, keeping the parrots as their own, beheaded the two young boys.
This the soldiers did “for fun”. In his final assessment, Father de Las Casas cited some figures to help demonstrate how, from one island to the next, indigenous populations were nearly if not completely wiped off the face of the earth.
In 1494 it was estimated that nearly 1 million aborigines inhabited the island of Hispaniola.
By the time Las Casas arrived in 1508 the population had been reduced to a mere 60,000 people; and by 1514 – two decades after Columbus’s arrival – the population had shrunk to just 32,000.
By no means did this unprecedented amount of genocide and destruction end with Columbus. As it would turn out, Columbus was simply the catalyst who kicked down the door for others to follow in his footsteps, men who were well-versed in the tactics of divide-and-conquer.
The same playbook used to tear down the great civilizations of Africa was put to equally effective use in both North and South America, as one great civilization after another was brought to the brink of disaster and led to its eventual demise.
After Columbus and the Spanish plowed through the islands of the Caribbean, several conquistadors picked up his mantel and brought the European invasion into the larger American continent.
There was Hernando Cortez who in 1521 brought about the collapse of the Aztec Empire. And fresh off the heels of Cortez’s victory was the successful campaign headed by Francisco Pizzaro to liquidate the civilization of the Incas in 1533.
It was only through means of causing chaos, wreaking havoc, and bringing about total destruction of once-thriving New World Civilizations that Europeans were able to temporarily snatch the pen of world history and proceed to write it as they saw fit.
The Natives of the American landmass, from North to South, East to West, were by no means peoples who were “uncultivated” or “uncivilized” in any way, shape, or form.
Caleb G / ABC Flash Point News 2020.
Israel targeted Central Archives of Gaza City to destroy Palestinian Identity
The head of Gaza Municipality said, Wednesday, that Israel destroyed the Central Archives which contained thousands of historical documents dating more than 150 years.
Targeting the Central Archives poses a great danger to the city, as it contains thousands of historically valuable documents for the community. Yahya Al-Sarraj said that these documents … represent an integral part of our history and culture.
The Central Archives contains plans for ancient buildings of historical value and documents in the handwriting of well-known national figures. These documents, dating back a long time, were burned, turning them into ashes, erasing a large part of our Palestinian memory.
The Israeli Occupation targeted many buildings, including large and monumental cultural centers, as well as public parks belonging to the municipality.
Targeting included the Rashad Al-Shawwa Historical Cultural Center, a very important center that includes a theater and a central library, which was targeted without any justification.
The Israeli Occupation also targeted the Palestinian Legislative Council and the memorial monument in the Memorial Park for the (Al-Jundi Al-Majhool) Unknown Soldier.
Al-Sarraj said the attempt by the Occupation to destroy everything beautiful, to erase Palestinian memory, and to impose a policy of obscuring the people, making Palestinian cities uninhabitable.
As part of the targeting of the Palestinian people and everything related to their values, heritage, culture and identity, Israel targeted memorials in several governorates since the start of its war early last month.
This onslaught includes the Memorial of the Martyrs of the Marmara Ship in Gaza Port, the memorial of late journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the Jenin Refugee Camp and the memorial of late President Yasser Arafat in Tulkarm, in the West Bank.
The main library in the Gaza Strip also did not escape the Israeli war machine, which bombed it during raids that targeted Gaza City since the outbreak of the war on 7 October, 2023.
The library, known as the Public Offices Building, is the largest in the Strip, containing historical documents and books.
According to statements made, Tuesday, by the spokesperson for the Gaza City Municipality, Hosni Muhanna, residents of the city consider it the memory of the country and its present.
Lawyers have today written to David Cameron asking the Britush Foreign Office (FCDO) to apply Magnitsky sanctions against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, and other members of the war cabinet.
It cites evidence of indiscriminate attacks that have caused an unprecedented amount of death, injuries, and damage to civilian infrastructure.
Sanctions against Benjamin Netanyahu are appropriate in his role as leader of the Israeli War Cabinet, which has blockaded the Gaza Strip withholding vital supplies like food, medicine, and fuel, the lawyers highlight.
The Arab Organization for Human Rights has also asked the FCDO to apply sanctions in the form of a travel ban to stop these ministers from traveling to Britain and freeze any assets they have here on the basis that they are involved persons responsible for serious violations of the right to life.
Mohamed Jamil of AOHR said: Netanyahu has turned Gaza from an open-air prison into a mass graveyard where women and children are paying the heaviest price. With over 2 million civilians suffering, it is high time for accountability.
Middle East Monitor / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
Pesticide used on Corn Crops turn Male Frogs into Females
A commonly used pesticide known as atrazine can turn male frogs into females that are successfully able to reproduce, a new study finds.
While previous work has shown atrazine can cause sexual abnormalities in frogs, such as hermaphrodism (having both male and female sex organs), this study is the first to find that atrazine’s effects are long-lasting and can influence reproduction in amphibians.
The results suggest that atrazine, which is a weed killer used primarily on corn crops, could have potentially harmful effects on populations of amphibians, animals that are already experiencing a global decline , said study author Tyrone B. Hayes of the University of California, Berkeley. Atrazine is banned in Europe!.
And since atrazine interferes with the production of the sex hormone estrogen, present in people and frogs, the findings could have implications for humans as well. “If you have problems in amphibians, you can anticipate problems in other animals,” Hayes said.
Sex change ;
Hayes and his colleagues raised 40 male African clawed frogs in water containing atrazine, from when they were larvae all the way up until sexual maturity. The atrazine levels were about what the frogs would experience in environments where the pesticide is used, and below levels that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for drinking water.
They compared this atrazine-exposed group with 40 other male frogs reared in atrazine-free water.
At the end of the experiment, all frogs in the atrazine-free group remained male, while 10 percent of the frogs exposed to atrazine were completely feminized — their genes said they should be male, but they had female anatomy, including ovaries. The feminized frogs were able to mate with males and produce viable eggs.
In both frogs and humans, sex is genetic. In people, females have two X (sex) chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y. For frogs, the sex chromosomes are labeled as Z or W and females have dissimilar chromosomes (ZW), while males have matching ones (ZZ).
Frogs exposed to atrazine also had reduced testosterone levels, decreased fertility, and showed less mating behavior.
Implications of feminized males ;
The results indicate atrazine could contribute to amphibian population declines, along with climate change, habitat loss and invasive species, Hayes said.
Hayes notes that if the feminized males do reproduce as females, they can only produce male offspring, which further skews the population sex ratio.
The pesticide could also cause problems for other species, including our own, Hayes said.
Atrazine mimics a biological compound and increases the production of estrogen. It has been shown to disrupt hormone levels in other animals as well as in human cells. It has also been found to induce breast cancer in rats, Hayes said.
The good news is that humans don’t live in water, and so we aren’t exposed to atrazine constantly.
But problems with wildlife should still raise concern for us, Hayes said. “Anytime you see dramatic declines like we’re seeing in amphibians and fish…we should recognize that we drink and swim and bathe in that same water,” Hayes said.
The results will be published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Live Science.com / AA Magnum Analyst Blog Site News 2017.
Book of Enoch describing “The Downfall of Humanity” banned from the Bible
The book of Enoch is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic text filled with other-worldly creatures like demons, giants, angels, a devastating flood, and a warning to all mankind. So, why does this insightful book not appear in the Bible as we know it?
The Book is mentioned very briefly in the Book of Genesis but the book itself is of monstrous size. Consisting of 5 volumes and 108 chapters, the book details the fall of the Watchers (Prometheus) and Enoch’s visits to heaven.
The older sections of the text (Book of the Watchers) are believed to date from about 300-200 BC, and the latest part of the text (Book of Parables) possibly dates to 100 BC.
Early Aramaic fragments of the text are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the text is found in 11 separate manuscripts found in the Dead Sea area.
Given the cost and labor that it would have taken to produce these manuscripts, finding 11 of which include the Book of Enoch means that the scripture was widely distributed and was quite popular amongst early Christians.
The Book of Enoch was removed from the Hebrew Bible canon and the Christian biblical canons. Enoch was excluded from the formal canon of the Tanakh and the canon of the Septuagint.
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of Hebrew scripture, biblical apocryphal, and deuterocanonical books.
In 382 AD Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome, the leading biblical scholar of his time, to translate an acceptable Latin version of the Greek Bible, from the various translations. This was done and again, the Book of Enoch was not included.
The Book fell out of use by the majority of Jewish and Christian communities and it was all but lost, until its discovery by James Bruce in the late 18th century.
Bruce found the most complete Book of Enoch in Ethiopic manuscripts and it was brought back to Europe and translated into English.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Chruch had included the Book of Enoch in their canon all along as they believe that not only is 1 Enoch an inspired document, but it was written by Enoch himself.
It is believed that the Book of Enoch was rejected by the Jewish tradition because it contained prophecies pertaining to Christ.
It is also believed that it wasn’t included because it was never referred to as Scripture by Jesus or the Apostles. But, what if there was another reason?
It is possible that the book was banned due to its content. The book begins with a warning to humanity which details the divine judgment that we will meet and the sentences that God himself will impose on those who are not worthy of salvation.
At the beginning of the Book of Genesis, bloodthirsty giants roam the earth before the flood but, the Book of Enoch tells us where these giants came from. According to this book, the Watchers were angels who were dispatched to watch over humans.
Some of these Watchers became entrailed with mortal women and reproduced with them. The offspring of these unions are known as Nephilim, bloodthirsty giants who ravish the Earth.
These fallen angels also taught humans how to produce weapons, mirrors, enchantments, and cosmetics, causing the downfall of humanity. It is then explained that this travesty is the justification of God sending a Great Flood to cleanse the Earth of the Nephilim.
Uriel was sent to inform Noah of God’s plans as not to exterminate humanity. Azazel and the rebellious Watchers were cast into the depths of the Earth, to await judgment day.
The book details visions that Enoch had of Azazel pleading clemency and Uriel assisting him on journeys through heavenly realms. Readers are also given detailed accounts of heavenly powers, and horrors that await evil-doers.
Is it possible that the Jewish and Christian churches didn’t want followers to have such detailed information or is there more to it?
Often, books like the Gospel of Mary are removed from the biblical canon because it contradicts the teachings of Church leaders. It is possible that the Book of Enoch was removed for the same reason.
Putting it plainly, the book is an account of extraordinary beings, with advanced technology, visiting Earth. They share their technology with mankind and father hybrid offspring, to the detriment of humanity.
The evidence of which is wiped away with a mass flood. But one human Enoch, is allowed to meet God himself. His account is then lost for centuries. Although there is certainly something odd about the Book of Enoch.
It may not necessarily prove as evidence of ancient alien visitors. After extensive study, it is found that the Book of Enoch, like many other books in the bible, was written by many different authors, over many years.
Many of the authors lived years after the book’s namesake and would never have even met him. The Book of Enoch could have been banned because its contents contradicted the teachings of powerful Church leaders.
Or because it proved the existence of extraterrestrial visitors. No one really knows or can explain, other then simply claiming the text as pure nonsense by the holy church?
UfoHolic.com / ABC Flash Point News 2022.
Curacao Mass Tourism flourishes while Corporate Corruption causes Poverty
Under strict supervision of the Dutch politicians seated in The Hague, the Curacao government is corrupted to the bone, which causes extreme unemployment, poverty and crime among the local population.
Curacao is a tiny Dutch colony outpost in the Caribbean along the coast of Venezuela and is of decisive strategic importance for the Dutch Kingdom. Especially the airport and natural harbor create significant lucrative income for foreign enterprises.
Curacao functions as an international hub for the cocaine trade and corporate corruption , while the related on- and offshore banking industry profits from various money laundering schemes.
We all know that banks create money out of nothing (printing until the ink runs dry), charge interest over non existing collateral and while at it, only needs to cover 10% of clients funds and/or savings according to the central bank, which is a private institution that only serves the evil greedy elite.
The tax evading polluting tourism industry also abuses the corrupted local politicians to launder their dirty money, by granting extended tax holidays. This capitalist formula chokes the local people to death, while evil entities enjoy the deportation of its impoverished citizens.
Human Trafficking rings provide the mentioned industries with cheap labor schemes under supervision of the mauled government. The political parties in control (PAR/MAN) sell the island’s properties to the lowest bidders, to enhance the so-called development.
With an unemployment rate of nearly 40% and an unequal education system the future for the locals doesn’t look that bright. As a direct result crime rates surge to extreme levels, while the police state offers benefits to corrupted institutions to rake in the lucrative benefits from the created situation.
At the same time the Dutch politicians, backed by the evil propaganda entities, extract maximum benefits by keeping the minimum wages frozen for the business society to profit from. Almost 60% of the working local population is forced to live from long time frozen minimum wages.
The Flying Pirate Ships of KLM and TUI make sure the recolonization process will be exploited to the max. At the same time, American Airlines provides the necessary Zionist assistance and fly their DEA agents to the drugs infested island of Curacao in support of the hostile annexation.
Both the American and Dutch crime rings are working to get the local refinery shut down in order to wipe the PdVSA of the Caribbean map. The ABC-Islands are situated in the Venezuelan Economic Zone, but shady agreements make sure the Dutch stay in control for the time being.
In the meanwhile coral reefs and other pristine environments are being destroyed by the capitalist development, while extreme pollution finished off the islands habitats, including the mangroves that form the start of the global food chain.
Crickey Conservation Society 2018.
Netanyahu Threatens Arab Countries with Zero Tolerance
Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu said this week he believes in a policy of “zero” tolerance for rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip and Syria, no matter how sporadic. In the meanwhile the IDF keeps on pounding the Egyptian Gaza Strip and Syria with air strikes?
Is Israel creating a blueprint for an all out war in the Middle East? Thousands of US troops have arrived in the Jewish state to support the regime in an event of all out war against his Arab neighbors.
Netanyahu’s policy is zero spillover, he told cadets at the National Defense College, an academic institution which trains high-ranking defense officials in national security fields.
Spillover is used to refer to sporadic rocket strikes in northern Israel, as a result of years-long fighting between the Syrian government and rebel forces along the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and Palestinian West Bank border territories.
Last week, Netanyahu credited Israel’s policy of targeting Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip in response to the trashed livelihood of the Palestinians living.
The Gaza Strip has been completely surrounded by the Israeli military since 2007. No one get’s in, and no one get’s out. That also counts for food and other basic humanitarian aid.
Since the 2014 Gaza War, Hamas has largely prevented other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip from carrying out attacks the Holy Regime.
This al leading to one of the quietest periods between Israel and the coastal enclave since the 1967 Six Day War, according to Israeli statistics on terror attacks. But the Israeli military blockade continues to go on.
Times of Israel / AA Magnum Analyst Blog Site News 2018.
Facebook Censorship and the Atlantic Council
In October 2018 we witnessed one of the greatest Facebook account and page purges since its formation over a decade ago.
In total, 559 pages and 251 personal accounts were instantly removed from the platform, for having consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior according to Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s Head of Cybersecurity and former White House National Security Council Director of Cybersecurity Policy under Obama.
This is but one of similar yet smaller purges that have been unfolding in front of our eyes over the last year, all in the name of fighting fake news and so called Russian propaganda.
What very few people know though, is that, Facebook announced that is was officially partnering with the Atlantic Council in the form of an election partnership […] to prevent [their] service from being abused during elections.
Indeed, the US midterm elections were only a couple of weeks away, so the Atlantic Council and its Digital Forensic Research Lab are now going at it with full force, closing Facebook accounts left and right that they personally deem could be fake accounts, or accounts spreading misinformation, based on very shady criterias.
One doesn’t need to look far to understand who the Atlantic Council are and what they stand for : it is a think tank essentially funded by NATO, weapons manufacturers, Middle-Eastern oil-state monarchies, billionaires and different branches of the US military.
In short, it has been described as being nothing less than NATO’s unofficial propaganda wing.
The Atlantic Council doesn’t shy away from its political intents across the world, which can be seen solely by looking at who sits on its directors board – the crème de la crème when it comes to US neocons & career war criminals.
Members are Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice, Frank Carlucci, James A. Baker, R. George P. Shultz, James Woolsey, Leon Panetta, Colin Powell, Robert Gates, and many more.
Needless to say, the Atlantic Council has been on the same side as every single war and conflict engendered by USA and NATO imperialism over the last 50 years.
And has itself played a role in abusing democratic elections around the world as well as spreading propaganda and misinformation both in home countries and abroad to achieve its political means.
Hence, it should come as no surprise that when the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab gets down to work weeks before the upcoming midterms, it had little intention of putting a stop to actual disinformation groups and rather silences those that speak a message opposing their own.
Many of the pages and accounts taken down have been political (often leftist), anti-war, independent journalists and media outlets that are known to go against the grain of mainstream media outlets.
Anti-Media (antimedia.com), a reputable source of independent journalism, saw its page with over 2 million followers taken down overnight with no concrete explanation as to why.
Shortly after, Twitter decided to take them down as well, as well as Carey Wedler‘s (editor at Anti-Media) own personal account for literally no reason.
Many of the pages taken down had already been targeted back in 2016 by the McCarthyist webpage PropOrNot.not, endorsed by the Washington Post, in an effort to arbitrarily mark pages that they believe somehow are connected to Russian propaganda efforts.
Already back then it was clear that many of the pages targeted by PropOrNot were leftist, anti-war pages, and almost none of them had anything to do with Russia whatsoever.
The Washington Post finally later on retracted their article endorsing PropOrNot, but this didn’t help the fact that these websites had now already been flagged as propaganda by many.
Other pages taken down are The Free Thought Project, also an anti-war critic of establishment politics with around 3.1 million followers on Facebook.
RT Reporter Rachel Blevins with 70.000 followers on Facebook and investigative journalist Dan Dicks with 350.000 followers also both saw their accounts taken down overnight – both were very critical of mainstream journalism.
These are but some of the many accounts affected, with certain accounts on the fringe far right also targeted.
Facebook has suffered great pressure lately from Congress for its apparent role in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, being blamed for not having taken on enough active measures to fight the spread of fake news.
Under such pressure it is not surprising that Facebook choses to cooperate with a congress-approved think tank – the Atlantic Council -, and basically give them a free hand to censor as much as they want, in order for themselves to avoid any future heat from the US government.
This can be argued as to seriously stain the name of Facebook as an independent social media platform, if it is going to bend down to any unreasonable demands coming from the US government.
In the name of fighting fake news and targeting inauthentic behavior and misleading users, Facebook has essentially indulged in what was in 1934 Germany called the Gleichschaltung of the media – a synchronized out-phasing of dissident voices in the media and a consolidation of political opinions.
The internet has traditionally always been a bastion of free speech, and it is hence not surprising that those in power seek to undermine its ability to openly criticize the powerful.
The truth does not do them favor, hence they would rather not have it expressed too far and wide – something that the internet has otherwise made possible.
Given that censorship is still extremely frowned upon by the general public, doing so (just like when seeking to sell a war) requires the majority of people to approve of it.
The fight against fake news and foreign propaganda efforts has done just that : it has given those in power a pretext to openly censor dissident voices all while being praised in the making for so-called safeguarding western democracies.
More of the same behavior can be expected from both Facebook and Twitter in the future, and we cannot expect major media outlets like The New York Times,The Washington Post, CNN or MSNBC to stand up against it.
After all, many of these censored independent medias are the only actors left who dare hold the mainstream media into account for their role as mere propaganda outlets of the establishment.
Global Research / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
Why the Drinking Culture of Human Civilization owes its existence to Alcohol
To some people, alcohol is a scourge on humanity that can do no good. It’s true that booze is directly and indirectly responsible for many pitfalls in society, from drunk driving to increased risk for cancer.
But what if alcohol was not merely a vice, but one of the triggers that sparked the dawn of human civilization — in essence, the very thing that shifted us from hunter-gatherers to agrarians?
This is a provocative thesis, and one that might upset Puritans. Yet it has some serious adherents, including philosopher Edward Slingerland.
Singerland believes alcohol may have helped shaped human evolution from the very beginning, and continues to have positive benefits for society — beyond providing a socially acceptable form of euphoria.
In his 2021 book, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization, Slingerland lays out the case that alcohol may have even been the impetus for humans developing agriculture and complex societies.
Slingerland, who is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, has mostly written books on Chinese history and culture.
But this idea so intrigued him that he delved in, finding evidence that, as he writes, various forms of alcohol were not merely a by-product of the invention of agriculture, but actually a motivation for it — that the first farmers were driven by a desire for beer, not bread.
Salon spoke to Slingerland about some of the misconceptions about alcohol’s place in human evolution.
There’s seemingly a lot of interest in civilization sort of being formulated from different intoxicants, especially psychedelics.
But I think alcohol can kind of be overlooked in that equation. It was sort of there, at the dawn of history, but we don’t talk about that. It’s not a good thing.
Well, alcohol’s not cool right now. Psychedelics are super cool. Cannabis is pretty cool. So I just think alcohol has kind of been overlooked or even devalued, because it’s kind of the drug your uncle uses, right? And alcohol has a lot of problems.
I think one of the more justified reasons that people are worried about alcohol is that it has some negatives that drugs like cannabis and psychedelics don’t have.
It’s much more physiologically harmful than either one of those drugs and it’s physically addictive in a way that those drugs aren’t.
There are some justifications for it, but I think it’s primarily fashion. Especially among younger generations, alcohol doesn’t have as cool a reputation as these other drugs.
So 13,000 years ago or so, we’re coming together, building these monumental religious sites and feasting. And feasting involved eating meat and other kind of high value items, but also drinking beer.
Sites like Gobekli Tepe, [the world’s oldest surviving permanent human settlement], we don’t have direct chemical evidence, but we have these big vats.
They were drinking some kind of liquid. And we know from other sites in the area, they were making beer at this time. In some cases beer, probably laced with psychedelics.
So in that respect, the desire to get intoxicated actually directly led to civilization. It’s what motivated hunter gatherers to start cultivating crops and settling down.
And you see this pattern around the world, not just in the Fertile Crescent but also Mideast, which is now the modern Turkey area, where agriculture first got started.
But if you look around the world, the first cultivated crops tend to be plants that must have been chosen for their psychoactive properties, not for their nutrition properties.
And so that’s behind this idea that it’s this desire to get cognitively altered that motivated hunter gatherers to settle down and start living in these large-scale societies.
Getting intoxicated is an ancient behavior. And it actually is, is probably one of the motivations for us creating civilization in the first place.
That whole cognitive development of cause and effect there. There’s a sort of pop science belief — I don’t know if it has a lot of credibility — but the idea is that wheat domesticated humans, not the other way around.
So if we want to talk about the role of alcohol in domesticating humans, one of the ways that it helped us make this transition is that it helps relieve anxiety and stress.
If humans were motivated to settle down and start agriculture by the desire to get intoxicated, the act of getting intoxicated also helped them to adapt to this new lifestyle.
Alcohol also helped create group bonds. Another crucial function of alcohol, in my view, is to help humans overcome these cooperation dilemmas we have.
When we’re cooperating with strangers, which we do all the time in large scale societies, one of the main functions of alcohol is to down regulate our prefrontal cortex [PFC], the very important part of our brain.
This is also the part of the brain that you need in perfect working order if you’re going to deceive someone, fake sincerity or try to trick someone.
And that’s a problem, these cooperation dilemmas, like the prisoner’s dilemma, where to succeed, to get the best payoff, you need to trust another person. But in doing that you make yourself vulnerable to being taken advantage of.
We face these type of cooperation dilemmas all the time in everyday life, on large scales and small scales. And one of the ways alcohol helps with these cooperation dilemmas is it makes us both more trusting and more trustworthy.
If you drink some alcohol, you down regulate your prefrontal cortex, you’re less able to lie.
Lying is a really cognitively complex activity and the PFC is the center of self-control, focus, suppression of emotions and expressions and desires, delayed gratification.
You need to have all that in top shape to deceive someone. If I take a couple of shots of tequila, I’m less able to do that. And so you’re more likely to trust me and for good reason.
At the same time, alcohol is boosting the production of these chemicals that make us like other people more and make us feel more bonded to other people. So things like serotonin and endorphins.
Alcohol played a role in decreasing our stress, in the face of shifting to this very dense agricultural lifestyle, but also helped us genuinely create new bonds with strangers and other people in a way that was important for us to cooperate on large scales.
It’s not an accident that anytime you’re getting people together who have potentially differing interests or potentially hostile parties get together, the intoxicants come out.
Most of the time, it’s alcohol. In places where they don’t have alcohol, for whatever reason, it’s some other intoxicant that has very similar effects. And that’s because people have learned that it’s a tool that you can use to lower people’s cognitive defenses.
I compare it to how we shake hands to show we’re not carrying a weapon. In the same way, when you sit down at a negotiating table with somebody and you eat a meal and you drink, you start drinking alcohol.
You’re basically taking out your prefrontal cortex and putting it on the table and saying, I’m cognitively disarmed. You can trust what I’m saying, it’s more likely to be true.
It’s not an accident that cross-culturally around the world, you see intoxicants coming out in these social situations. People know consciously or not that it’s an important tool.
I kind of want to go back even further in human history and evolution, I’ve heard that something like 10 million years ago, it’s theorized that the planet was warming and that was causing a lot of fruit to fall off and ferment.
And that it was actually protective that as human primates, we have the enzymes to metabolize alcohol. A lot of mammals don’t have that. To them, ethanol is just complete poison.
So the fact that we can eat this fruit that was fermenting was a protective factor that enhanced evolution. So it’s certainly the case that we are part of a group of animals that can metabolize [alcohol’s main ingredient], ethanol.
And not just primates, but birds as well. And the thing that they all have in common is they eat fruit. If you’re a fruit eater, you’re gonna need to develop these enzymes, because fruit ripens and starts to ferment, and it’s going to have some amount of ethanol in it.
We’re part of a lineage of primates that adapted to eating fruit that contained ethanol. And there’s some theories that there’s increased pressure on us to do this once we moved out of trees.
And we were living on the floor of these jungles or in scattered grassland and trees. Now we were eating fallen fruit on the ground that’s got a lot more ethanol in it.
One of the things about alcohol, that makes it special is that we’ve got a dedicated machinery in our body to get it out of us as quickly as possible. Part of its usefulness as a drug is that it has a pretty short half-life in our body.
The drunken monkey hypothesis tries to explain why we have a taste for alcohol. Why do we like it? Robert Dudley at University of Berkeley, this is his thesis, that in our evolutionary past, there was an advantage to being able to detect ethanol.
Ethanol is a pretty volatile chemical — it travels long distances, so you can smell alcohol from pretty far away. His theory is that the smell of ethanol was like a dinner gong.
We developed this ability to detect ethanol from long distances, we could follow the smell and find this ripe fruit that was a really big calorie package. And that was adaptive and that’s why we have a taste for alcohol.
One of the main purposes of my book “Drunk” is to explain why we like to drink. Alcohol is a really harmful substance, it can lead to all these social and physical problems.
In Dudley’s case, he thinks that in our evolutionary past, it was good to like alcohol because calories were in short supply. If we can find fermented fruit, we should eat it right away. But this taste becomes maladaptive in our modern environment.
The problem with [this theory] is that there are substances that aren’t carcinogenic and aren’t going to hurt your liver and cause you to fall off a cliff because you’re drunk. But we chose alcohol. So there’s got to be something special, something else going on there.
The Lancet and many other medical journals have come out with these papers stating There’s no safe amount of alcohol to ever be consumed. So where does alcohol fit into our present day?
There’s the infamous Lancet study and other similar studies that argue that the net effect physiologically of alcohol is, at best, zero, neutral and probably negative. And there’s debate about this. But in a way, I don’t really care.
Maybe it is the case that it’s a net physiological negative. I think what’s really stunted our conversations about this is that we’re looking at it purely through this medicalized lens and only in terms of physiological impact. And I think that’s just the wrong way to look at it.
My conclusion in “Drunk” is that I think alcohol still has positive roles to play if it’s used carefully. But that said, I do argue in the book that alcohol is much more dangerous now than it has been for almost all of our evolutionary history.
Alcohol, for almost all of our history, has come with this built-in safety feature, which is that natural fermentation can only get you so far. Alcohol is actually the result of this biological warfare between yeast and bacteria, who are both trying to get these nutrients.
So the yeast kill off the bacteria with ethanol. But eventually they shut themselves down, because they’re not infinitely resistant to ethanol, they’re just more resistant than the bacteria are.
That means that fermentation stops and whatever it is, a beer or fruit wine, doesn’t get any stronger.
Historically, yeast kind of pooped out pretty early in that process. So grain-based beers would only get to about 2% to 3% ABV, alcohol by volume. Fruit wines maybe would get a bit stronger.
We’ve been breeding yeast for thousands of years to make them more tolerant of alcohol, so that we could get stronger and stronger beers and wines. But even with all that effort, we haven’t gotten that much farther.
Some craft beers can get up into the double digits now, wines tend to max out at about 17% ABV [alcohol by volume]. But that’s still not that strong.
Then, we figured out how to do distillation on a large scale. Distillation is a trick for getting around this natural limitation of fermentation. You take the alcohol that’s produced and you refine it, get rid of as much water as possible and you can get to like +90% ABV.
You have vodkas that are that strong. Distilled liquors are still just ethanol, but I think it should really be considered a completely different drug. It’s so much wildly stronger than naturally fermented beverages, that our bodies are not equipped to handle that.
You start doing shots of 90 something proof vodka or tequila, and our physiology is completely overwhelmed. That’s more dangerous.
Traditionally, alcohol was always consumed in communal, social, ritual contexts, with built-in rules about drinking, ways to kind of regulate people’s consumption rates, ways to stop people when they’ve had too much.
That’s another safety feature that’s been disabled. Right now from my apartment in Vancouver, I can call my local liquor store and have them deliver a case of tequila to my house.
And then I can sit here alone in my house in front of the TV and drink as much of it as I want. That is also evolutionary unprecedented.
Private access to alcohol is unprecedented. So you combine the two, now we have private access to alcohol, and we have private access to this super powerful, very dangerous form of alcohol.
Alcohol has become a more dangerous tool. And so we have to be even more careful about using it than we have been historically.
Salon / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
Crickey Amigu di Natura 