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 : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas M. who wrote (25150)	7/8/2003 1:45:37 PM
From: jlallen	Respond to of 25898

There is no national interest at stake in Liberia....that's the difference.....

To: Thomas M. who wrote (25150)	7/9/2003 4:22:04 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Re: In Liberia, we were asked by the region to intervene. Indeed, and you were also asked by the Transatlantic Old Guard to keep your hands off Africa... Somehow, I'm favorably surprised by Prez Bush's trip to subsaharan Africa --a first for a Republican Prez. I was disappointed, back in January 2003, when I heard that Bush scrapped his African trip because of the impending Iraq war... And yet, Powell did pull it off! I dare say that Bush's current African tour is a landmark event because it's a "breach of contract" of sorts: Europe --especially France and Belgium-- expected to turn the Iraqi crisis into a geopolitical trade-off. As the US intervention in Iraq seemed imminent, the French didn't hesitate to "pacify" the Ivory Coast... and it's also likely that they meddled in Bangui (République Centrafricaine). Now, together with the Belgians, they're reasserting their influence in Congo (troops have been dispatched in the border area with Rwanda). The Transatlantic Old Guard still clings to a tacit agreement between the US and Europe that calls for carving up the world along neo-colonial lines: the US throws its weight around in the Mideast, while Europe got a free hand in Africa... Such a geopolitical deal could easily carry the day, particularly when balanced against the overstretching of US military in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, the Philippines, and possibly Israel/Palestine... Hence it's highly commendable for President Bush to consider sending troops in Liberia at this time. It follows a policy, first articulated by Warren Christopher, Clinton's first Secr of State, who bluntly quipped that France and her European allies had no longer an exclusive franchise in Africa. I'll follow the US African policy closely... of course, several observers have dismissed it as purely driven by greed, that is, oil, but I say that oil is but an excuse --oil's merely the bait in the US's bait-and-switch strategy in Africa.... Gus