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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (213233)	1/16/2007 11:29:36 AM
From: michael97123	Respond to of 281500

Saudis helping to drive oil down toward $50 today is a slap in the face to amidajad and chavez. Saudis also talking about sending troops into anbar province to help stabliize western iraq. I smell a geopolitical game going on here where shiaa iraq will evolve perhaps with a quid pro quo that they wont become an iran puppet, kurdistan continues to be independent and western iraq falls into the camp of SA and Jordan. Everything contingent on stabilizing badgad in some fashion or dividing it a la jerusalem into shia and sunni components. No idea if any of this will work and if it does if it will be positive long term. Personally i think a kurd/sunni arab alliance in one state would keep turks at bay and share kurd oil wealth with arabs. I dont know if there are blood feuds between kurds and arabs that continue post saddam. Just blathering this morning.

To: jlallen who wrote (213233)	1/16/2007 11:53:38 AM
From: Rainy_Day_Woman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Cuba will remain relatively stable after the death of Fidel Castro, a military intelligence official told a Senate panel, the Miami Herald reported Friday. Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, the U.S. Army director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said Raul Castro -- who took over when Fidel Castro fell ill in July -- has "widespread respect and support among Cuban military leaders who will be crucial in a permanent government succession." Raul Castro said publicly last month that the communist regime would continue unabated under his leadership. The new Cuban leader said he would be willing to work toward cooling hostilities between his nation and Washington. In December, a delegation of 10 U.S. lawmakers visited Cuba and met with some senior officials, though reportedly not with Raul Castro. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, believes Chávez is moving to seize Fidel's mantle as Latin America's leading revolutionary. Citing recent announcements of plans to revoke the license of an opposition TV station and nationalize telecommunications and power companies, Negroponte noted that after his landslide Dec. 3 reelection victory, Chávez has promised to deepen his ``revolution.'' ''Chávez is among the most stridently anti-American leaders anywhere in the world, and will continue to try to undercut U.S. influence in Venezuela, in the rest of Latin America, and elsewhere internationally,'' he said. Negroponte also bundled Bolivia with Venezuela as countries where elected presidents ``are taking advantage of their popularity to undercut the opposition and eliminate checks on their authority.'' In Bolivia, leftist President Evo Morales wants to rewrite the country's constitution and is widely seen as being on a collision course with regional governments that oppose him.