Bayan to P-Noy: Reject appointment of new US envoy to PH Goldberg

From InterAksyon (Aug 1): Bayan to P-Noy: Reject appointment of new US envoy to PH Goldberg

The leftist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Thursday said President Benigno Aquino III should reject the appointment of new United States ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg, noting that the latter was expelled from Bolivia in 2008 on charges of conspiring to foment unrest against its democratically elected President Evo Morales.

In a statement, Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said, “The Aquino government should raise questions and reject the appointment of Goldberg. Failure to do so would show anew Aquino’s approval of US meddling in domestic affairs. It will again show Aquino's puppetry to US dictates.”

“Goldberg’s appointment to the post in Manila may signal intensified US intervention in Philippine affairs as the US moves (to send more) troops and ships in Asia under its strategic pivot,” Reyes said.

To accusations that he encouraged unrest in Bolivia, Goldberg said his expulsion from Bolivia was the culmination of a long-term campaign to use the US as a distraction over internal strife in the country and certain administrative policies of the Morales administration.

According to the US embassy here in Manila, Goldberg is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and is currently Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research at the Department of State, a position he has held since 2010. He began his career as a Liaison Officer for the City of New York for the United Nations. He received a B.A. from Boston University.

“Goldberg’s track record in the intelligence community along with allegations of intervention will be crucial now that the US is trying to expand its presence in Asia and in the Philippines in particular. He is Washington’s point man here and he will exert all efforts to ensure that the US will gain greater access to their former bases as well as various other facilities throughout the country,” Reyes said.

“His appointment again confirms that the US embassy in Manila, just like anywhere in the world, is one big spy outpost. His appointment aims to maximize that function amid the US drive to expand militarily in Asia,” he added.

Goldberg’s career history shows that he served as Ambassador to Bolivia (2006 to 2008), Chief of Mission in Pristina, Kosovo (2005 to 2006), Charge d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy in Santiago, Chile (2001 to 2004).

In 2001, he served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs. From 1996 to 2000, he served as Special Assistant and then Executive Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State. He served as the Department's Bosnia Desk Officer from 1994 to 1996. Previous overseas assignments include: Consular and Political Officer at the US embassy in Bogota, Colombia and Political-Economic Officer in Pretoria, South Africa.

Goldberg’s appointment comes at a time when the Philippines is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea.

The appointment of Goldberg, who replaces Harry K. Thomas Jr., boosts the Aquino administration’s plan to militarize the region.

After China’s incursion into Scarborough Shoal off Masinloc, Zambales and its “close guarding” of the Ayungin Reef in Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin opened the possibility of giving the US and Japan greater access to former US military facilities in Subic and Clark.

Recently, Gazmin announced the plan to transfer the Navy and Air Force to Subic for better territorial defense.

WikiLeaks entry

According to Reyes, leaked cables from WikiLeaks revealed that the US embassy in Bolivia, under Goldberg, was “in touch with the opposition groups that led violent actions against the Morales government.”

The Bayan official said the US acted against the Bolivian president because he sought “to assert its independence from the US, nationalize certain industries, (and) redistribute land and petroleum royalties from the country’s economic elite toward the country’s indigenous majority.”

Bolivia’s Morales, in declaring Goldberg persona non grata in the afternoon of September 10, 2008, called the ambassador “an expert in fomenting separatist conflicts.” He cited Goldberg’s participation in the separatist war of the Balkans between 1994 and 1996 when he headed the office of the Department of State for Bosnia.

“Later in 2004 and 2006, (Goldberg) returned as Chief of Mission in Pristina, Kosovo, and there he consolidated the separation or independence of that region, leaving thousands of dead,” Morales said.

Part of the transcript posted by WikiLeaks quoted Morales as saying: "There is a foreign authority here that heads the division of Bolivia and conspires against democracy…And without fear of anyone, without fear of the empire, today, in front of you all, in front of the Bolivian people, I declare Mr. Goldberg, Ambassador of the United States, persona non grata.

“We do not want separatist, divisionist people, nor that they conspire against unity. We do not want people who make attempts against democracy. This decision that we make is homage to the historic fight of our peoples, since 500 years, since 200 years, just like since 20 years. A permanent fight against an economic model imposed from outside and afar."

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/67694/bayan-to-p-noy-reject-appointment-of-new-us-envoy-to-ph-goldberg