The Banana Wars

Chiquita Brands International, formerly United Brands, formerly United Fruit Company has, to put it charitably, a colorful history. It played rough in South and Latin American countries. It was adept enough in its malfeasance that it could topple political regimes that it regarded as unfriendly thereby adding the term "banana republic" to popular slang meaning a government so weak that could be brought down by the United Fruit Company. It was odd then when Chiquita found religion and took on Ethical Oil in the Keystone XL pipeline battle. Ethical Oil Org promotes Canadian oil which is extracted from wells and tar sands in friendly Canada as opposed to the unethical monarchies, dictatorships, and assorted rogue nations that produce most of the worlds oil. Chiquita appears to have been beguiled and bullied by The No Tar Sands Coalition, a cabal of environmental loonies that includes Greenpeace and a newcomer to green religion, Forest Ethics, Forest Ethics thinks it is smart enough to find "market solutions" to environmental projects it deems unworthy of existence by slandering, bullying, and cajoling third party corporations into politically correct behavior. Since Chiquita uses diesel fuel to power the ships and trucks it uses to transport bananas it was forced to swear publicly that it would not use oil derived from tar sands. A visit to Forest Ethics site will reveal it has already begun to bully Dole, Chiquita's lone competitor. The next public culprit could by almost any corporation that transports its products by any means other than pack mules. Mother Jones warns "There's No Hiding from Tar Sands Oil".

While we wait patiently until Forest Ethics and Greenpeace et al find themselves hauled into court in a RICO suit, Ethical Oil has launched a boycott of Chiquita. Many Canadians have taken this affront personally vowing never to buy another Chiquita banana again. See the FaceBook comments. We can expect more of this silliness once Obama or the person who takes his place approves the Keystone pipeline. There is no country of origin labeling of gasoline or diesel fuel so any company using transportation may have to make some sort of public announcement of its intention to try not to use ethical oil. Maybe a new Congress and a new President can write a law that outlaws "greenmail". Until then ask yourself, if Bob Dole were running for president would he be called a banana Republican?