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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: philv who wrote (20695)	4/19/2004 2:05:10 PM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 80954

Phil > Was there not a kind of close actual relationship with Israel...? Very much so. In fact, the presence of the State of Israel reinforced Afrikaner existentialism. Further, the Afrikaners maintained that SA, as a homeland for them, was sanctioned by a covenant with God which came about after one of the early battles with the Zulus in Natal. Today, one doesn't know what the position of Afrikaners is or whether they even exist any more? There is no doubt that the remaining bastion of Afrikaans, certainly as a language, is amongst the mixed-race people (Coloureds) who were not even regarded as Afrikaners during Afrikaner rule. Further, the old Nationalist ministers now all acclaim the ANC as their new "home", so one doesn't know what to make out of that. The closeness between SA and Israel even worked in the opposite direction where SA Jews were in the forefront of the Zionist movement just like US Jews are, today. This, of course, arises from a similar colonial history between the US, SA and Israel which therefore gives rise to a similar mind-set. In fact, during the later phases of Nationalist rule, SA/Israel co-operation was maintained at the highest level. It culminated in the joint development of an atomic bomb. In the early stages of Nationalist rule in SA, the Nats were identified with an anti-British, pro-German/Nazi position and therefore one not sympathetic to Jewish/Israeli interests. At the moment, relations between SA and Israel seem to have cooled down significantly because the SA government maintains a strong relationship with Islamic countries. In fact, it has been said that Saudi money financed the ANC election campaigns, but one can't be sure. Actually, it is very hard to know what the true position is between SA and the rest of the world because it seems SA is friendly with everyone, including places like Cuba, Libya, Syria, Palestinians etc who are not friendly with Western countries. I do know that SA has a very close relationship to the US despite the criticism that the SA government has of present US policies. And, indeed, SA was also friendly with Saddam and his government.