SI
SI
discoversearch

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.
Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: energyplay who wrote (64845)6/11/2005 4:48:17 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 74559
 
Re: But is Russia going to use their weapons for the Arabs ? China ? France ?

If the US unilaterally attacks Iran, that means that the US leadership doesn't give a damn about China's --and, to a lesser extent, India's-- vital energy interests. You overlook the fact that China just signed a $100 zillion deal with Iran for the supply of oil and gas, India did likewise for an amount of $40 billion.... Of course, an attack on Iran followed by a "regime change" doesn't mean that the US will seek to set up an Iranian regime hostile to China/India that will renege on the energy deals... or does it? After all, that's what happened in Iraq as regards French/EU interests.

Anyway, my point is that any forceful, reckless attempt by the US-UK-Israel axis to rock the Iranian boat will trigger a similar attempt by China to take over Taiwan. And that's where the North Korean wildcard enters the game. That's why the US administration is currently scrambling to neutralize the North Korean threat BEFORE its eventual next move in the Middle East.

Re: And with the large Arab population which you like so much, it would be easier to sneak a number of weapons in Europe....

That would be a bit ironic, wouldn't it ?


It would, indeed. However, it isn't. Remember the Madrid bombings on March 11, 2004? My theory all along has been that Syria ordered the terrorist strike on Spain. Yet the manpower that perpetrated it was all-Spaniard --Basque, to be precise. As I said at the time, 311 (as the Madrid bombings are dubbed) was a hackwork by the ETA terrorist outfit(*). The Basque organization is known to maintain "business contacts" in Lebanon.... Former Spain PM José Maria Aznar is still unrepentant in his opinion that ETA did it, hence his absence from the event's anniversary ceremony on March 11, 2005. Aznar was giving a speech in a Mexican university on that day. And so is his friend Silvio Berlusconi who, on the first Monday following 311, publicly endorsed then-PM Aznar's ETA theory. Berlusconi's endorsement was not a gratuitous utterance nor was it a shameless coverup. With Italian troops --and lives-- at stake in Iraq, Berlusconi was in earnest.

Re: US attacks Arab states, and they hit back at the targets they can reach - which is Old (your 'New') , soon to be glow in the dark Europe...

Well, that is not to surprise me... We all know that life is unfair --whether towards individuals or countries or peoples as a whole. Again, take the Madrid bombings: what was its prime motive? Well, whoever the perpetrator, Spain was allegedly hit because of her participation to the US crusade in Iraq. But was/is Spain ALONE in joining the US in Iraq? What about the UK? Italy? Poland? Denmark? Bulgaria? You name it. And what about the US itself? If those terrorist attacks were really about disrupting the occupation of Iraq, it would have made more sense for the terrorists to blow up five trains in Washington instead of Madrid, would it not?

Yes, of course, it would --it's just that Madrid/Spain was an easier target... Spain was the weakest link. And just like the powerful American bully keeps attacking weaker countries (Vietnam, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq,...), the other side aims at small game also.

Then again, as I pointed out, you shouldn't feel completely insulated from the world's (terrorist) vagaries... As I noted, the ultimate target is the resilience of the US fabric itself. What's been going on since the invasion of Iraq is a "feedback coupling" between the US and Israel --a "positive feedback loop", that is. As you know, positive feedback usually leads to the frying of the circuitboard...(**) The US has kept bragging about "regime change" --LOL. Okay, let's check it out: Afghanistan? The country didn't have any "regime" to speak of prior to 2001, anyway... Today, it's still run by the same self-appointed warlords that vied with each other for the past 20 years --so much for regime change. Iraq? Well, granted, the Iraqi regime did change --for the worse. Actually, the only country so far that has dramatically, if surreptitiously, changed its regime is the US itself! The US has indeed morphed into a Disneyesque police-state where the line between "dissenting opinions" and "plain terrorism" has been blurred --courtesy of Patriot Acts, Zionist Acts, etc.

Gus

(*) Message 19908501
(**) Message 19946580



To: energyplay who wrote (64845)6/11/2005 6:35:35 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER  Respond to of 74559
 
Re: But just how many people in Europe would agree with you, outside of the French Government ?

A captious question, to be sure. You had better ask it to European leaders who aligned their countries with the US --Clue:

Spain: Thousands demonstrate against Iraq occupation
By Vicky Short
2 October 2003


As part of the international mobilisations against the occupation of Iraq by US-led military forces, Spanish people took to the streets once more in large numbers on Sunday, September 27.

The Spanish protests coincided with demonstrations across Europe and internationally in opposition to the illegal US-led military attack on Iraq, and the subsequent occupation of the country.

In Spain, the biggest demonstration was held in Barcelona, where up to 25,000 people marched under banners proclaiming, “Occupation troops out of Iraq and Palestine” and “No to war.” The large number of participants caught the protest organisers, the Aturem la Guerra (Stop the War) coalition, by surprise as heavy rain had been expected to ensure a far smaller turnout.

One of the most popular slogans was: “Bush, Blair, Aznar, to the Hague Tribunal” (i.e., to be tried for war crimes). Spain’s right-wing government, led by Popular Party leader Jose Aznar, has been one of the Bush administration’s staunchest allies, despite opposition to the war by some 90 percent of the Spanish population. Spanish troops have been dispatched to Iraq to join in US and British efforts to suppress popular opposition to the occupation.
[...]

wsws.org

(Please note that Spain's anti-war mass demonstrations occurred well before the Madrid bombings --if only then-PM Aznar had heeded them, eh?)

Spain grants amnesty to 700,000 migrants

Queues in scramble to meet deadline for acquiring official status

Giles Tremlett in Madrid

Monday May 9, 2005
The Guardian


Spain declared an amnesty yesterday for about 700,000 illegal immigrants, bucking a Europe-wide trend of cracking down on economic migrants, while striking at exploitation of those working secretly and fearfully in the black economy.

The Socialist government claimed that a three-month qualification period which ended at the weekend - during which illegal workers and their employers could apply for residency and work permits - had attracted most of the country's illegal workers.

"We can feel very satisfied," said the labour minister, Jesús Caldera. "Almost 700,000 jobs brought out of the black economy - that represents 80% to 90% of all such jobs held by immigrants in Spain."

Officials said that, with workers' families included, more than a million people would no longer have to hide from police or labour inspectors.

Long queues had built up outside government offices as the deadline for the amnesty drew near. Ecuadorians, Romanians, Moroccans and Colombians made up most of the applications.

"If you get the papers, you go from being nobody to being somebody ... you exist," one Ecuadorian, Alvaro Salgado, 30, told Reuters news agency as he queued on Saturday.

Critics said the amnesty had attracted a flood of extra immigrants, including many who had been living illegally in France, Germany and Italy.
[...]

guardian.co.uk



To: energyplay who wrote (64845)6/11/2005 6:44:53 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER  Respond to of 74559
 
Follow-up to my previous post:

Up to 500,000 in anti-war march

Saturday, November 9, 2002 Posted: 2:11 PM EST (1911 GMT)

FLORENCE, Italy -- Almost half-a-million people have taken part in a march through Florence in what was promoted as the first Europe-wide anti-war rally.

Organisers estimated the crowd at 400,000, mostly members of leftist groups.

But a police source, while not giving an official figure, told CNN the organisers' estimate was "quite realistic" and that the number "could be close to 500,000."

The rally passed off peacefully with a carnival atmosphere on Saturday.

Many carried banners reading "Take your war and go to hell," and "No to war."

Stavos Valsamis, a 27-year-old Greek activist from Athens, told Reuters: "The atmosphere here is wonderful. Absolutely perfect. It shows that a new young left is emerging."

"It's totally clear that this is a war for oil, a war for imperialism," said Simon Hardy, 21, a member of the British Socialist group Revolution.

"Iraq can't win, the U.S. wants war."

A ring of steel has been placed around the Italian city, with shops closed and the Renaissance city centre sealed off, but police on duty were in their normal uniforms rather than riot gear.

The demonstration is part of the European Social Forum -- a gathering of anti-globalisation groups which is trying to decide how the movement should progress.

Some 20 trains and hundreds of special buses began arriving in the early hours, bringing demonstrators from across the continent.
[...]

archives.cnn.com