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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (46161)	9/22/2002 1:24:33 PM
From: spiral3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

What is the economic basis for the Arab/Israeli wars? petrodollar$ BTW, all wars are not economic; they have often been religious or ideological. this is a meaningless distinction.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (46161)	9/22/2002 4:14:46 PM
From: Rascal	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 281500

<font color=red>But what do I know?</font> BTW, all wars are not economic; they have often been religious or ideological. What is the economic basis for the Arab/Israeli wars? the Arabs have screwed their own economies bigtime in pursuit of an ideological conflict, simply because they find Jewish sovereignty on any piece of what they consider "Arabia" an unendurable humiliation. Territory = Economic. Palestinians had some thing they viewed as a Whole, 100%. Israel comes in and took a %. Palestinians share is diminished. Palestines wants 100% of what they had with Israel having nada. As far as religious or idealogy it's like the cola wars. Coke or Pepsi? Brand management. Market share. How many consumers are buying your product? Look at the essence of the quintessence of any religion. They all have the same basic values at their heart. It's just brand management. You can even say this in looking at the essence of how governments are supposed to work. The platforms are all upstanding. It fails in the execution. The foilbles of those in charge. And if there is enough to go around for everybody even stupid leaders can make it work. But when things get tight, too many are hungry and it gets ugly. It's the (War) Economy Stupid. I know know why we have to have this war/invasion/preemption. It has nothing to do with WMD or Iraq. It has to do with the fall of the Soviet Union and the Technology of the 90's. I was walking down the street on 42nd Street near Grand Central around 6:00 in "89. I think. Gorbachev had been in for a visit to the UN (I think) and had to go home because of an earthquake. As he motorcade want down 42nd Street all the people and the hard heads started waving and cheering him!. Wow, something was going on. Communisim was over and all would be well! The Peace Dividend. Problem is, we, and our way of life had been leaning on that wall for 40 years. I wondered what our wall would be. If their system could fail so spectacularly, maybe we were vulnerable too. But the 90's gave us technology and productivity and the baby boomers in their 30's and 40's, that arrogant age when people think everything is possible and this time we've got it figured out correctly. Beeep. Sorry Hans, wrong answer. The books were cooked, the float was floating, the derivitives were humming, the hedge funds were rocking. The World Bank said "Do it our way (it works) or you are out of the game. Proove your figures every day and post them on OUR General Ledger. We are the only game in the world. Glass-Steagall was repealed and the usual suspects (analysts,underwriters,bankers,brokers, lawyers and insurance men) were let loose to do their rock and roll. Did you hear that huge sucking sound? It was them and they sucked it out of the system and your pockets. Remember for every debit there is a credit. Somebody is alweays on the other side of the trade. SO this is why I now understand what is happeneing. And I thank Lindy Bill for focusing me. SITUATIONAL ANLYSIS: We need the Bush Doctrine and the invasion of Iraq because it is the only card left for us to play. We hit our wall. Gold is acting funny compared to the Dollar, JPMorgans stock gets supported, the indexes are meaningless tracking devices, measuring a game that has been over for a while. Taxes are cut, rates are lowered, that's it game over. Strategy recommendation: Increase share of market. Control most profitable products. Choose areas with best chance of success. Start as soon as possible. Play to our strengths (military) Seizing Iraq and the Oil with all the implications associated with managing the Middle East is the right choice. Their communication strategy stunk. IF they were smarter and less arrogant and planned a little better so we all could go along and hold on to our jingoism it would have been easier, especially for me. But I got it now. They looked at the balance sheet and it has Enronitis. As White advised in his e-mail :close another deal quickly --- hide the losses. It's not about left or right, Democrat or Republican, it's just naked survival. THe Republicans and the right are more apt to understand this. But I get it now. Taking over Iraq and oil is the low hanging fruit. May it be enough to hold us for a while. BWDIK Rascal@haveImademyselfvulnerable.com PS I haven't had anything to drink