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Politics : foreign affairs, unchaperoned -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (160)	8/27/2004 3:22:44 PM
From: Chas.	Respond to of 261

Paquet was a real trip for sure, the best of all the Winspear stories though was the rumor started by Eric Charters about the RCMP salting the Kimberlite in Yellowknife with those big Snap Lake diamonds...that was good for almost a year....Walt was a truer than life character. the best thing about all of these political threads is that they serve as a cathartic outlet for some of our inner feelings and by and large we all just use them for ranting. there is some really deep division presently(most SI forums and all USA) between left and right, mostly brought on by the Bush administrations handeling of Iraq and global terrorism......and ones opinions on the threat of global terrorism and what to do about it..... for me it has just about come to the point of religious debate, an exercise in futility, you either believe or you don't...... I tend to think in terms of the free and civilized world being accosted by the Islamic radicals of the middle east and elsewhere and where and how do we stop it..... I think of USA as having "drawn a line in the sand" in Iraq. regards

To: marcos who wrote (160)	8/27/2004 6:45:57 PM
From: WillP	Respond to of 261

That would make three winspearians... Ahem. ;-)

To: marcos who wrote (160)	8/28/2004 2:04:51 PM
From: teevee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 261

I don't know what it takes to make a quality foreign affairs thread how about some controversy and a conspiracy theory or two? I borrowed this from another thread. cnn.com The real reason why Bush invaded Iraq? In early 2000, Saddam was selling oil for Euros, as opposed to U$, in protest to the US-led sanctions on his country. Iran and Venezuela were contemplating following his lead. This move would shift the demand for both currencies, and would force many other nations buying oil from them to replace their reserves (ie. sell U$ in favour of Euros). This would then flood the U$ market, and I'm sure you understand what happens when supply is increased dramatically. Their currency would be devalued by up to 50%, inflation would run rampant, there'd be a run on banks, the US current account would become unmanageable, the US budget deficit would become unserviceable, property values would plummet, and so on. Not a good scenario, except for lesser-developed nations, who would wake up to find their debt (also in US$) has been devalued enormously, and is now somewhat manageable. This is why the US invaded. No WMD's, no dictator crap (or else they'd be in the Sudan and North Korea right now)... It was a move to control the assets they depend on, and maintain the global hegemony of their dollar. Many argue that this switch is inevitable, since the US dollar has become an exhausted reserve currency. The USD is debt-heavy and overpriced according to many economists, and the economy that supports it has largely plateau'ed. The Euro, on the other hand, has appreciated in value by upwards of 25%, and is backed by economies that are still growing substantially, and already combine to almost $10 trillion in GDP. These points just scratch the surface of the countless reasons why a switch, albeit it gradual, would be globally beneficial. Iran has already switched most of its reserves to Euros. This coupled with their budding Nuclear program may prove to make it the next target for Bush's "War on Terror", provided he gets reelected. And based on the article above, he'll go it alone again if the UN makes another approval like that.