Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (408117)	5/21/2003 12:52:27 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

don't be foolish...the dollar slide will further destroy the world economy..... the only one that doesn't see it is the great intellect of W.....HA... CC

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (408117)	5/21/2003 12:52:59 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 769670

Hollow Men and False Victories By John Cory TO correspondent in Saudi Arabia t r u t h o u t \| Report/Perspective Wednesday 21 March 2003 I live and work a very short distance from where the Saudi police raided a suspected terrorist apartment the week before the bombings of western residences here in Riyadh, and not far from the actual compounds. Driving by the Al-Hamra compound last night, I couldn't help but stare as it loomed up in the darkness, a ghostly shell of sadness and tattered stone. Amid the debris and chunks of concrete were the usual bits and pieces of people's lives - a fractured chair, scraps of paper, charred photographs, and burned clothing. That is the thing about ruins, you can see the history of life and death in the piles of rubble. Writing in the Arab News, Talal Al-Khereiji described the attack: ``On that day I lost a number of good friends and neighbors, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, with whom I had shared moments of joy and sorrowS I saw the burned bodies of two small children still hugging each otherS Muhammad, a young Saudi who was loved by everyone in the compound, lost his life. On that day the ceiling collapsed on an American Muslim who had decided to return to Saudi Arabia because he loved the country and its people. On that day Saleh, whose wife had just had twins, died and will never see his children grow up. Nor will they know the love of a father.'' The Al-Hamra compound was a microcosm of the world. It housed Americans, Brits, Swiss citizens, and Saudis. Each nationality suffered violent losses just as the deaths of 9/11 encompassed citizens from many countries. The growing pile of rubble stretches around the world, from New York to Kabul to Baghdad to Morocco to Riyadh to Israel. Broken stones and shattered lives are the measure of the successful failure of pre-emptive wars and terrorist agendas that form competing ideologies of violence. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Decades ago it was Carlos the Jackal, Abu Nidal, the Red Brigade, and on and on. Today the face of evil is the faceless Al Qaeda. The promises to bring in, dead or alive, Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein are as empty ``as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass'' to quote T. S. Eliot. Why? Because Al Qaeda is as much an ideology as an organization. The face of Al Qaeda is not one face but many faces. It is the face that the Saudi government paid to keep its violence at a safe distance. It is the face of brutal regimes bought and paid for by the US. It is the face of populations betrayed by conniving leaders intent on lining the pockets of their corporate supporters. While hollow men strut aboard aircraft carriers and smack their lips with regal smirks announcing false victories, the war of lies takes it toll in human life. The dead and dying are resurrected as martyrs to justify more violence, and their epitaphs are nothing more than empty slogans and unfulfilled pious promises. Both sides are wrong. Both sides peer into the mirror of self-righteousness, and see only the vain glorious reflection of their own craven image, not the ugly truth of their tyranny and terror. To quote T.S. Eliot again: Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men. The true weapons of mass destruction are greed, hypocrisy, and moral arrogance; wars built upon lies and false victories of hollow men who seek conquest and dominance over tolerance and peace. CC

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (408117)	5/21/2003 1:07:22 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Re: "The financier says that allowing the greenback to slide will hurt Europe's growth." >>> I think the more important point is that it will do little to increase the competitiveness of American manufactures, or decrease our massive trade deficits. >>> Most of our current accounts deficit is with Asia: primarily China and Japan. During the first three months of this year the US ran a trade deficit with China of $24.67 B., with Japan of $16.37 B., and deficits between $2 B. and $4 B. each with Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia. >>> The total deficit with all Euro-using countries was only $16.41 B. >>> Problem is, China's yuan, HK's dollar, and Malaysia's ringgit are all pegged to the US dollar... while Singapore's dollar, Thailand's baht, Indonesia's rupiah, and Taiwan's dollar are also all loosely pegged to the US dollar. >>> Declines in the US dollar vs. the Euro only increase Asia's competitiveness with the Euro zone... while doing nothing to help the US's competitiveness with Asia - the real source of our trade deficits.