Special Reports
The mice that roared
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Dec 18, 2009, 00:21

(WMR) -- The South Pacific�s tiny island states may not have any military strength to wield power but they are using their diplomatic status to poke fingers in the eyes of the big powers which they fear are trading away their interests at the Copenhagen climate change summit to enrich the coffers of the international banking elites.

In just a few weeks, two South Pacific countries that are endangered from rising sea levels, Nauru and the Solomon Islands, have enraged the United States and Israel, the two most suspect nations in their eyes.

The first major South Pacific slap at Washington and Jerusalem occurred last month when the Solomon Islands voted in favor of the UN General Assembly resolution upholding the findings of the Goldstone Commission that Israel committed war crimes in its Operation Cast Lead military assault on Gaza.

Israel�s Foreign Ministry immediately began to whine that the decision of the Solomons was influenced by a trip Solomons� Foreign Minister William Haomae paid to Tehran. Israel accused the Solomons of selling its UN vote to Iran for a $200,000 Iranian grant and Leliani Firisua, Israel�s honorary counsel in Honiara, the Solomons capital, took on the role of a mini-AIPAC and accused most Solomon Islanders of being too uneducated to understand the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Solomon Islands was the only Pacific nation to vote for the Goldstone resolution.

Israel countered the move by the Solomon Islands by inviting the Presidents of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands -- two former US Trust Territories whose UN votes are �owned� by Israel -- and Nauru, to pay state visits to Israel.

However, Nauru spit in the eyes of the Obama and Netanyahu governments by recognizing the independence of two breakaway Georgian republics -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The move followed a walkout by Nauru, along with other Pacific island states, at the Copenhagen summit after the Danish Prime Minister�s emails were leaked. The emails revealed a secret plan by Denmark, Britain, and the United States to push through a climate change agreement favorable to the rich countries but ignoring the plight of the developing world and the small island states.

Georgia, which tried to militarily invade and re-occupy South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Israeli and American military and intelligence support, is opposed to any nation recognizing the independence of the two small statelets. However, in addition to Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Bolivia, Cuba, and Ecuador are prepared to do so, inflaming officials in Washington and Jerusalem, as well as Tbilisi.

Nauru�s Foreign Minister Kieren Keke told Abkhazian and South Ossetian officials that Nauru will use its influence within the South Pacific Forum states to urge other South Pacific states to confer diplomatic recognition on the two countries. Given the tense relations between Israel and the Solomon Islands, the Solomons, which ironically takes its name from the Jewish King Solomon, may be next in line to take another diplomatic slap at the Zionist extremist government in Jerusalem. Other Pacific states that may follow Nauru in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Vanuatu. The Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Nauru have used their diplomatic clout before, for example, in recognizing Taiwan to the anger of China.

Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.

Copyright � 2009 WayneMadenReport.com