A couple of examples of the dominance of corporate mentality that permeates the current Admin. First there's the oil pipeline in Georgia.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld pledged full U.S. support Friday for this former Soviet republic and said Russia is obliged to withdraw its troops as promised.
...
Rumsfeld mentioned a 1999 agreement, known as the Istanbul accords, which required Russia to remove some troops from Georgia but gave no final time table. Georgia had expected them out by 2001.
``The United States agrees that Russia should fulfill its commitment under the Istanbul accords to withdraw Russian forces from Georgia,'' Rumsfeld said.
Asked whether he believed the presence of Russian troops was an obstacle to Georgia's stability, Rumsfeld did not answer directly. ``As I recall, Russia agreed to the Istanbul accords, which suggest to me that there was unanimity. And that would suggest to me that it was a pretty good idea,'' he said.
from
guardian.co.uk
Nothing like a little saber rattling, when your military is already overtaxed.
And then there's the problem of how American corporations can reap profits from Iraq, if it already has a mountain of unpaid debt.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday turned to a family friend who helped bail him out of the 2000 Florida recount battle, former Secretary of State James Baker, to seek an international consensus on restructuring Iraq's estimated $120 billion in debt.
From
famulus.msnbc.com
As is typical of the obfuscation practiced by this Admin, expect some high minded rhetoric ...
''The future of the Iraqi people should not be mortgaged to the enormous burden of debt incurred to enrich Saddam Hussein's regime,'' Bush said.
But dig a little deeper. Anyone who accepts pronouncements from this Admin at face value is ... well, you know.
JMO
lurqer |
