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.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (107229)	8/26/2014 11:06:19 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 219584

What did the anti-WMD fantasists think would happen when Saddam, Uday and co were consigned to history? Maybe they really thought a Switzerland of the middle east would spring up by magic. Having read "The Arabian Nights" decades ago as a boy, I am not surprised how things have gone. The shifting sands and shifting alliances are standard fare as I recall. In Afghanistan they have Dostum who looks remarkably like Saddam did as a power taker in chief. In Iraq they will no doubt have another Saddam or near enough for government work murder his way to power, under the guise of Jihad, or tribal claims, or simple megalomania. I can't get excited about ISIS. I'm more concerned about the NATO Cold War maniacs drooling like Pavlov's dogs wanting to ram NATO via Ukraine right up into Moscow. Putin sensibly warns them of the end-game which will include megatons of energy from hydrogen and uranium being dispensed over Euroserfstan and possibly USA interests if push really comes to shove and a re-run of the 1812 Overture, WWI and Operation Barbarossa are is started by the "free" world. Having just finished celebrating the calamitously catastrophic carnage of World War I, one would think the politicians today would be more circumspect about a re-enactment, with megaton atomic bombs providing the cannon fire at the end of the music instead of garden variety artillery. But people seem to be marching onwards, blithely, unthinkingly and swallowing whole the propaganda from the MAD militarists and political self-dealers. Hopefully this one will be the war to end all wars. With 40,000 atomic bombs contributing to population reduction in various countries, it could well be a spectacularly successful depletion of the will to war for a generation or even three. ISIS? Who cares? 15,000 Arabic hillbillies roaming Iraq and murdering for fun are not going to make much difference to the world. One of those 40,000 bombs can do more in a second than all the 15,000 during their whole lives. A re-enactment of the Charge of the Light Brigade would be a good start. Mqurice

To: TobagoJack who wrote (107229)	8/27/2014 4:24:10 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 219584

Nato plans east European bases to counter Russian threat Nato chief announces move in response to Ukraine crisis and says alliance is dealing with a new Russian military approach theguardian.com Nato is to deploy its forces at new bases in eastern Europe for the first time, in response to the Ukraine crisis and in an attempt to deter Vladimir Putin from causing trouble in the former Soviet Baltic republics, according to its secretary general. Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the organisations's summit in Cardiff next week would overcome divisions within the alliance and agree to new deployments on Russia's borders – a move certain to trigger a strong reaction from Moscow. He also outlined moves to boost Ukraine's security, "modernise" its armed forces and help the country counter the threat from Russia. Rasmussen said: "We will adopt what we call a readiness action plan with the aim to be able to act swiftly in this completely new security environment in Europe. We have something already called the Nato response force, whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if needed. Now it's our intention to develop what I would call a spearhead within that response force at very, very high readiness. "In order to be able to provide such rapid reinforcements you also need some reception facilities in host nations. So it will involve the pre-positioning of supplies, of equipment, preparation of infrastructure, bases, headquarters. The bottom line is you will in the future see a more visible Nato presence in the east." .......................................................................................................... Rasmussen said: "We have reports from multiple sources showing quite a lively Russian involvement in destabilising eastern Ukraine. "We have seen artillery firing across the border and also inside Ukraine. We have seen a Russian military buildup along the border. Quite clearly, Russia is involved in destabilising eastern Ukraine … You see a sophisticated combination of traditional conventional warfare mixed up with information and primarily disinformation operations. It will take more than Nato to counter such hybrid warfare effectively." If western leaders have been surprised and also impressed by the sudden display of Russian military prowess, Ukraine, by contrast, is in a pitiful condition militarily, according to Nato officials. "If we are two steps behind the Russians, the Ukrainians are 16 steps behind," said a Nato source recently in Kiev. "Their generals just want to blow everything up. But it's not a shooting war, it's an information war." .........please read on (Haim Remark - more waste of money as a result of Putin troubles - his reasoning - Russian economy is in bad shape because of my totalitarian mismanagement, cronyism and outright theft, then lets destroy the economies of Europe ) Putin is key to avoiding a new cold war theguardian.com But we can be sure that it will be, as Churchill defined Russia, “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. Churchill, though, went on to offer a clue to solving the riddle: “Perhaps there is a key – that key is Russian national interest.” There are four essential issues that have to be addressed, and probably not all of them can be resolved in one meeting. First and foremost, a devolved government for eastern Ukraine. Next, a full endorsement of all international agreements on air travel relating to Ukraine, Crimea and Russia. Then, linked to this, an agreement on all the issues surrounding the gas pipelines passing through Ukraine. Finally, though it may be too early for this, resolution of the international status of Crimea, perhaps along the lines of an indefinite international lease of Crimea to Russia along the lines of the US-Cuba agreement over Guantánamo. (Haim Remark - there is relative negative economic interest for Russia in Crimea, except the military aspect of Sevastopol and the NG deposits which may come with Crimea. Unfortunate idiotic last century nationalistic pride and stupidity rein within Russia as there is nothing else to be proud of)