tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69126654659699495082024-03-12T20:58:17.190-07:00Hard Truths...During a hard sell age: The world we live in and America's place in it...DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-9301729430355258122017-02-14T13:57:00.001-08:002017-02-14T13:57:22.126-08:00
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><i><b>Is America reaping a bitter harvest it planted?</b></i></u></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Dan Ehrlich</i></span><u><i><b> </b></i></u></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><i><b> </b></i></u></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">One might say America has
got was it deserves with the election of Donald Trump. The process
was highlighted the nation's flawed ramshackle money based primary
system, the woefully archaic electoral college and most of all an ill
educated and almost moronic working class in a few states that
allowed their dislike for Hillary Clinton to see an ill- suited
morally and emotionally deficient person into the White House.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">In this respect the
Democratic Party shared the blame for pre-ordaining its equally
flawed feminist icon to be its candidate for what it wrongfully
thought would be a slam dunk. The DNC officials were so full of
themselves they never thought resentment of her was so high in a few
blue states that anger would turn them red.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Sadly, in the end the joke
is on those voters. The core of Trump's voters seems to be the same
sort of people who think they can buy a new car with bad credit, no
money down and still get a good deal. It's a fantasy as are the
promises for DT of economic well being in an America made great
again.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">When you see some his
bizarre cabinet and adviser choice a sane person has to ask why he
would choose an education secretary with no teaching or public
education experience, a celebrated brain surgeon as an urban
development director, a racist southern senator as an attorney
general and a low wage fast food chain owner as labor secretary. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Then somehow he chose as
his closest adviser, man who is sort of synthesis of Trump himself, a
combination of a vulgar right wing zealot and devout Marxist. It's
almost as if he's running his administration as a version of
Celebrity Apprentice...the tip off was him Tweeting how much better
he was as the TV reality game than his current successor Arnold
Schwarzenegger.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">America used to lead the
world as a dynamic force for change. But the fact we have neglected
our basic system of government for so long I has become moribund and
led us to a Trump presidency.</span></div>
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DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-9223729344118239192013-10-05T02:56:00.001-07:002013-10-05T02:56:51.477-07:00<b><i><u><span style="font-size: large;">In Bid to End Sanctions</span></u></i></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Iran Will Never Admit to Having Nukes</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></b><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The high
stakes poker game continues as <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
seeks better relations with the West in an effort to eliminate costly economic
sanctions that have crippled the nation, causing its population to become more
and more rebellious.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s only
natural for high-end western nations to welcome a détente with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
especially when another war is an option. The curse that plagues rational
people is naively thinking they can negotiate effectively with irrational
theocrats or ruthless dictators. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US">On the
other hand what can the West do but continue sanctions or buy into the charm
offensive of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
new president Hassan Rouhani, lifting the sanctions, safe with the knowledge
that Armageddon isn’t around the corner. This is something I explained
some-time ago. </span>http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dan-ehrlich/iran-nuclear-weapons_b_1080973.html</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This new
spirit of détente developed last week during US President Barack Obama’s phone
with Rouhani has <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
worried. It’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu contends <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iran</st1:country-region></st1:place> is using conciliatory gestures
as a smoke screen to conceal an unabated march toward a nuclear bomb.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can
bet that’s what he told Obama during a meeting in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>. He wants sanctions kept in place
under the equally naive belief that this will stop <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> from going nuclear. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> should
know if you want a nuclear bomb you can get one. http://news.yahoo.com/israels-netanyahu-press-obama-no-let-iran-pressure-132750665.html<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There’s
more worry with nations such as <st1:country-region w:st="on">North Korea</st1:country-region>
or <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:country-region></st1:place>
having atomic weapons, nations which are directly bordering potential enemies. These
are also nations that can covertly sell their technology to countries such as <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />The
problem with some Islamic nations such as <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> going nuclear is you never
know what the future will bring…what leaders will take over the countries. Will
they be liberal or extreme zealots? Just look at <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The fact
that Shiite Iran may get the bomb is more menacing to the surrounding Sunni
Arab nations such as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Saudi Arabia</st1:country-region>
than <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
As I wrote in past blogs, Iranian threats of destroying <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> were mainly aimed at Arabs,
the people it wants to lead. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To do this
is must unseat <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as their spiritual leader. It also wants to hold sway over all the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Gulf states</st1:state></st1:place>. Becoming a
nuclear power would give it power over the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Saudis
would be much happier as an ally of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>,
under its nuclear umbrella than <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s.
The reality is <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>
poses no threat to the Arabs…they just want trade with them.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, what
would a nuclear <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>
mean? We probably wouldn’t know since <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iran</st1:country-region>,
as with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
will never admit to having the bomb. And also like <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>, just the belief around the
world that it does have atomic weapons is where its power would rest.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The big
worry is what happens if future Iranian leaders fit into the religious zealot
category with yen for the afterlife. Remember Shiites don’t think much of this
life…they’re after paradise. They may get into a showdown with <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> or <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region></st1:place> and opt for greater good
scenario…that being killing a few million is acceptable for the greater good.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You see
regardless of the world power rhetoric, only a mad man would launch a nuclear
attack on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
since atomic weapons don’t recognize borders. The Palestinians would also be
wiped out along with the populous part of Jordan and possibly much of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. And this isn’t even taking
in the real possibility of a world war and worldwide economic chaos. But, it
would be for the greater good.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-62826517552842396382013-09-14T08:53:00.000-07:002013-09-14T08:53:00.852-07:00<div id="blog_title">
<h1 class="title-blog">
<u>Syria</u></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Putin Rescues Obama with Offer </span></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He Couldn't Refuse--What's Next?</span></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="font-size: small;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></h1>
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Russia has a better handle on the Syrian situation than does America. And now
a Russian president has done something no other Russian leader has ever
done...erased a red line and extracted a US president from a no win
situation.<br />
<br />
Even though this might be a bitter pill for Barack Obama, he now owes
Vladimir Putin a favour. Or as the Godfather might say, "There may be a time in
the future when I will ask you for a favour in return."<br />
That may be sooner than later. Putin has said if the US attacks Syria Russia
may rethink its position on supplying its advanced anti missile system to Iran
as well as Syria.<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/russia-toying-us-missile-sale-iran-raises-210520181.html" target="_hplink">http://news.yahoo.com/russia-toying-us-missile-sale-iran-raises-210520181.html</a><br />
<br />
This will weigh on Obama's mind as will the myth of Syria actually handing
over all its alleged 1,000 tons of chemical weapons to Russia. Dream on with
that one. But, it makes good press.<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2013/09/10/making-sense-of-syria/" target="_hplink">http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2013/09/10/making-sense-of-syria/</a><br />
<br />
For now Obama, officially backing off from his unwinnable congressional
approval vote to attack Syria, can echo the words of Richard Nixon....what
America wants is peace with honour. Well, at least his honour has been salvaged,
for now. Peace in Syria is still a long way off...after all, not all its
citizens have yet fled the country.<br />
<br />
Obama, for all his intellect, is a victim of mass news media. He, as we all
do, sees horrific sights in Syria of kids being killed by the score. He, as many
of us, feels we must do something to end the carnage and brutality. <br />
<br />
Back before WW2, horrific events such as the Japanese rape of Nanking, China
and Jewish persecution in Germany were relegated to brief newsreel spots in
cinemas and often small newspaper items. The mass media we have today didn't
exist. So there wasn't the emotional impact and sense of urgency felt by people
such as Obama.<br />
<br />
The Pres knows the only way to stop the war would be to invade the country,
something no American or European nation wants to do. His only stated option is
to "punish" the Assad Regime via missile attacks. This would be a token gesture
and if anything might make matters worse. The mere threat of such an attack has
caused a new flood of refugees into Lebanon.<br />
<br />
But, polls show a large majority of Americans against any involvement there.
Aside from not wanting any more costly, in lives and money, foreign military
adventures, Americans know Syria has never been our friend in the region. It's
been Russia's pal since the late 1950s. <br />
<br />
In the end, either Assad remains in power by crushing all opposition, a
situation that would guarantee permanent refugee status for possibly hundred of
thousands of people. Or, if he loses, the battle of the tribes would begin, with
open season on the Assad's Alawites and anyone else who backed him. The
bloodshed would continue, now said to be upwards of 1,000 dead per week.<br />
<br />
What the western world has been learning from the so called "Arab Spring" is
how incapable nations riddled with tribal and religious loyalties and hatreds
are in creating stable democratic societies. Eventually, out of streets running
red with blood, strong political or religious figures will take control as
dictators, often bringing order by more brutal repression.<br />
<br />
Which makes it all that more important to get the major players in this
tragedy around a conference table in an attempt to create some order for a post
war Syria. But that may be as difficult as finding all of Syria's nerve gas.<br />
<br />
Yet, aside from all this, the big mystery remains the return favour Putin
will ask of Obama within the next three years. And would Obama call his bluff on
Syria</div>
</div>
DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-21349411293595659902013-09-04T15:54:00.000-07:002013-09-04T15:54:40.091-07:00<h1 class="title-blog">
<br /></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u>Cameron Reminds Obama </u></i></span></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">What Makes a Relationship
Special is</span></span></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"> The Democratic Process</span></span></h1>
<h1 class="title-blog">
<span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></h1>
<br />
US-UK "Special Relationship" dead?... Hardly, since British Prime Minister
David Cameron gave President Obama a gift that keeps on giving by letting
Parliament decide if the UK would or wouldn't join America in attacking Syria.
How's that a gift?<br />
<br />
It has allowed the b.s. prone Obama to have a way-out of staging an attack
resoundingly unpopular with the US electorate...but one in which he said was an
almost certainty. Taking a lesson from Cameron, the Pres now will let Congress
decide if his punishment strike is okay. "Thanks for the tip Dave." <br />
<br />
Obama's red line has long been breached and his stern words of warning have
backed him into a corner. He has to attack, even though a limited strike
probably wouldn't affect the war and already seems to have made things worse.
Syrians in their hundreds have been streaming into Lebanon to get away from the
expected US attack.<br />
Yet, many experts are advising against such a move considering the risks
involved of expanding the civil war into a regional conflict. Then there's the
US sensitive relationship with Russia. President Putin is dead set against any
attack on its ally Syria. <br />
<br />
Obama's threat to use force is based on moral grounds...the repugnant idea of
using weapons of mass destruction against civilians. But the reality is his
outrage is aimed at the home audience. It naively overlooks the complications of
such action and ignores other international travesties against humanity...why
only Syria? <br />
<br />
On one hand he castigates the Syrian regime for its crimes against humanity.
Yet, on the other he maintains the US isn't interested in regime change or
changing the course of the war. It apparently is the President's view that
launching a few cruise missiles at Syrian targets will satisfy the moral outrage
of America.<br />
<br />
This is nonsense. If the President is so outraged by gas attacks used by
Syria, said to number more than a dozen, how can he think anything other than
regime change will change anything? <br />
<br />
Yet, the Iraq debacle keeps popping up as the reason to fear action in Syria.
This is also nonsense. Iraq wasn't in the middle of civil war when we began a
war there. NATO forces, mainly American, were responsible for most of the
carnage. You could say they are having a civil war there now because we
left.<br />
Syria resembles the Libyan revolution more than Iraq. And what we did there
was enact a NATO no fly zone over the country which seemed to help the rebels
overthrow the government and create near anarchy today.<br />
<br />
Now, however, with the sight of Israel bringing tank units up on the Golan
Heights and gas masks give to the population, hearing that Russia has sent two
warships into the region and noting the fear among ordinary Syrians about the
impending US attack, Obama may be thanking Cameron for giving him a face saving
way back from his red line. Let's do it democratically....just as the British
did. <br />
<br />
<br />
Then, if Congress backs his stance, whatever happens will be the shared
responsibility of the American people. If they reject him Obama still can launch
a strike, but one that will be solely off his bat.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-43278213388309401912013-08-28T11:15:00.001-07:002013-08-28T11:16:49.636-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><u>President Risks a Pissed-Off Putin</u></span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>US, UK Ready Special Relationship</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Bombardment of Syrian Regime</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barack Obama and David Cameron have acted together in reiterating the
President’s much earlier “Red Line” warning over the use of chemical weapons in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
civil war. They’re not sure they’re being used, but after more than a dozen
alleged attacks and hundreds of deaths, they are waiting and waiting for a
definitive “yes” or “no.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But, according to Foreign Secretary William Hague, he’s has no doubt.
‘We believe this was a chemical attack by Assad.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So, both the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> are
entreating the UN to condemn the action and give the Assad regime one more
chance to disarm. The big problem with that being what to do if the warning is
ignored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Creating a no fly zone as NATO did in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region> would be the obvious step as
an alternative of supplying rebel forces with arms, which all parties seem
hesitant to do, at least on the public stage. But before that the US and UK are favoring cruise missile strikes against Syria's military. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There are three main reasons this hasn’t been done. First <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region> has no
oil, so its value to the world economy in negligible. Second, the voters in <st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region> and the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> aren’t in favour of involvement.
And third, even more important, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>
has been a close buddy of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
since the late 1950s. It has warned NATO to stay out of the conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region>, in
particular is trying to maintain it’s live and let live relationship with post
communist <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
It doesn’t need to antagonize it and Vlad Putin any further with the Edward Snowden affair
still a hot topic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There’s also another possible danger of NATO action. It could bring <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> into the
war, at least in a support capacity. Such an event could easily widen it, as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has claimed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iran</st1:country-region></st1:place>
factor is more bluff than reality. It might attempt to close the Gulf to
shipping, but the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and NATO naval forces could handle that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The first thing is to prove who actually is crossing Obama’s red line.
Most observers’ first thoughts were that the Syrian government was doing it.
Now, some aren’t so sure with evidence rebels may have been using some sort of
chemical weapons against the military as well as civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have to reason: Why would the government forces want to use weapons of
mass destruction on its own capital? What would it gain? It wouldn’t end the
war and only create more international pressure for intervention. And also,
where is Bashir al Assad in all of this? How much power does he still hold?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On the other hand, some of the many rebel factions might use the “for the
greater good” rationale, in sacrificing civilians, knowing the government will
be blamed and forcing NATO into action. This is not a far fetched idea knowing
how merciless some jihadists can be when doing God’s work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">However, this latest horror from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region>
may finally be causing <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to soften it stance, now pushing for UN weapons inspectors to be given greater
access to hot spots. It has long been the Russian position to let the war play
out on its own with the Assad government winning through attrition. Now the
Putin government is coming to the realization that this conflict may be endless,
tearing the country apart in the process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The refugee crises alone is staggering for any government to fathom with
more than three times the number of Palestinians that fled their homes in the
1948 Israel War of Independence. And that figure daily becomes larger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It’s certain unless <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
changes its tune in a big way, NATO will not become actively involved in the
carnage. But, as I wrote in a past blog, since <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region> is the only country hinting
military action, let the French lead the charge. But, don’t count on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-6047457410154577252013-06-27T15:25:00.001-07:002013-06-27T15:25:20.591-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em><u>Forever on the Run</u></em></span></strong><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><strong>Edward Snowden: A Vagabond Patriot Or Another CIA Target</strong></span><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
That Edward Snowden has been charged with espionage by the US Government should come as no big surprise in its never ending war against terror. It's a curious conflict where the Patriot Act can supersede the Constitution, yet still can't seem to provide the security the nation needs.<br />
<br />
Espionage has long been synonymous with spying for a foreign nation or nations. It usually means people gaining and then passing secret government information from one nation to another. But it can also mean gaining secret information and trying to sell it to the highest bidder.<br />
<br />
On the surface Snowden doesn't fit into any category normally associated with espionage...no top secret weapons for sale as in a James Bond film. He simply blew the whistle on a secret US operation, working in concert with the UK government, to monitor the phone calls of people...in essence phone hacking. <br />
<br />
The irony here is, after a massive UK government inquiry into phone hacking by the news media, we now find the government is essentially doing the same thing.<br />
<br />
This poses the question: Will Lord Leveson be recalled for a new hearing and what does actor/activist Hugh Grant have to say about this new development? Was the UK Government hacking Hacked Off?<br />
<br />
More importantly this is another of many examples of America's security failings going back to the 1988 Pan American-Lockerbie bombing. But now we are into an era of cyber terrorism, where a lowly foreign born US Army private can have access to the most secret government documents so he can release them to the public. Appropriately Bradley Manning's conduit to his alleged treason, WikiLeaks, is now apparently assisting a possible new recruit in Snowden.<br />
<br />
First, on the surface Snowden isn't a Manning, who ripped off hundreds of thousands of national and international files and messages for a spurious release to the public via WikiLeaks, without any thought to the damage such actions may cause.<br />
<br />
Snowden's initial whistle blowing strikes at the very definition of espionage. He apparently did what he did for no personal gain and at the loss of the life he had known with the woman he supposedly loved. We may have to wait until the book comes out until we know the truth about that.<br />
<br />
He says he acted as a matter of conscience to inform the public of covert actions their government was carrying out against its citizens. This too is up to speculation. <br />
<br />
But, from the folk hero status he has quickly gained in the US, and the semantic ambiguity surrounding present-day espionage activities, it's far from certain he could be convicted in what might inadvertently become a show trial...if there were a trial at all...There's still Guantanamo.<br />
<br />
America's does not have secret courts or Star Chambers. A trial of Snowden could bring more embarrassment on the US and UK governments as well a reveal more secrets not for the public's eyes.<br />
<br />
On the other hand if he's allowed to remain free it would give him to opportunity to release more sensitive material, if he has any, and possibly enhance his modern day folk hero status: He sacrificed the love of his life for the love of his country.<br />
<br />
But there is the more risky third option that may have Snowden looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. The Obama Administration has shown that a liberal president is just as capable of killing and torturing as right wing presidents. Now that the myth that America doesn't torture or assassinate had been debunked, I wouldn't give odds on his chances in the open. <br />
<br />
Yet, all this aside, we may need a new definition of espionage. In a free and open society, as Obama says he wants America to be, do people such as Snowden have a right and even a duty to inform the public of covert actions against them? As people have already pointed out this goes back to Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers that helped unmask the tragedy of the Vietnam War.<br />
<br />
America, which has long pictured itself on a heroic white horse, is the only NATO member frequently involved in geo-political or ideological wars. No conflict the US has been involved in since WW2 was directly related to the nation's survival or security. Even the Iraq War was shown to be launched on grossly false intelligence.<br />
<br />
Is it treason to blow the whistle on questionable government conduct? In a democracy, aren't the people suppose to be informed about actions taken in their name for or against them?<br />
<br />
Secrecy has long been a trademark of British politics, right down to D Notices telling the media to remain silent on subjects deemed to be of national security. But, America has prided itself on not being like Britain, it's an open society. The press has no obligation to any government. Censorship, if any, is done voluntarily. <br />
<br />
Snowden might be seen in that light. He's a guy that grew up in a cyber world where secret information is no longer kept in crypto-vaults, but on computer servers all over the world. It's a serious long-term problem which America, as well as many nations, have yet to fully appreciate and control...the lone rogue patriot who tells all in the public interest, a way to preserve democracy.<br />
<br />
One might wonder what was going trough his mind to throw away a decent life and future wife for existence as a vagabond and possible CIA target.<br />
<br />
DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-3821879385804167352012-11-20T06:22:00.001-08:002012-11-20T06:25:56.236-08:00<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Hamas, Taliban, Aryan Nations Bound by </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">One Thread: An Obsession with Causes at the Expense of People</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
Extremist zealots of all persuasions from Hamas, to the Taliban and even the white supremacist Aryan Nation in America have one thing in common...a devotion to selfish causes that have nothing to do human betterment or freedom.<br />
<br />
Given the scale of the current Israeli response to rockets fired from Gaza any reasonably intelligent person has to ask: Knowing in advance what Israel's response will be why does the democratically elected Hamas government continue bombarding Israel with bigger and better rockets?<br />
<br />
The same person might also ask: Knowing the carnage that results in Gaza from Hamas attacks on Israel, why don't the Gazans demand and end to such attacks?<br />
<br />
The answer to the first question is rather easy to give. Ideological extremist groups such Hamas, the Taliban or even America's white supremacist cults have no feeling for people other than what use they may be in publicizing their causes. All they care about are their causes. <br />
<br />
Why then would Hamas go so far as to fire a rocket at Jerusalem, one of Islam's holiest cities and filled with Palestinians...But, they're West Bank Palestinians.<br />
<br />
Or why would it brag about bigger and better rockets fired at Tel Aviv when they know what the Israeli response will be; yet they still do them at the expense of their own people. To them the media based publicity, political gains and Israeli deaths are all that matter. The same is true of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Their ideology is all that matters and those who reject it will be punished or killed.<br />
<br />
Leaders and groups that have genuine humanitarian concerns for their people are sensitive to their needs and would act to protect not harms them. To Hamas Gaza is merely a staging area for its jihad. It can be argued that groups such as Hamas would see the entire world destroyed for the sake of their ideology and goals.<br />
<br />
As for the second question, one first must realize that the Gaza Strip is different from the West Bank in both topography and its people. West Bank Arabs are either long time residents or indigenous to the area. <br />
<br />
Most Palestinians in Gaza are war refugees. And the Strip was the only area of Israeli captured Egyptian land that Egypt didn't want returned. This left it under Israeli occupation until Israel couldn't handle it any longer and gave it to the PLO and then Hamas took charge by election. The fact that Hamas won the election against the PLO on a manifesto that included continuing the war of destruction against Israel is a main reason why rockets regularly are launched from Gaza.<br />
<br />
Oddly, the Gaza Strip is the only area that has a genuine historic lock on the place name of Palestine. <br />
<br />
As you probably know, Palestine was the name the Romans placed on Judea after the final bloody Jewish revolt against Rome was crushed in 136 AD. The Romans took such heavy loses, the Emperor Hadrian renamed the region Palestine, meaning Land of the Philistines, to erase the Jewish identity with it, renaming it after the ancient enemies of Israel.<br />
<br />
Yet the long dead Philistine civilization was actually located on the Gaza Strip, yet it wasn't a Semitic culture, having roots in Europe. It's interesting note with all the current Arab pretensions of being indigenous to Palestine, they never have dropped the Roman name for an Arabic one. That's probably because the pre Roman name was Jewish. <br />
<br />
There seems to be two strains of thought about why the Gaza population endures so much violence. First, there are those who are willing to tough it out until they retake Israel and they see Hamas as their deliverers. After all, a terrorist group dedicated to Israel's destruction won a popular election to carry out its mandate.<br />
<br />
Second, there are those people who would like the violence to stop, but are afraid to speak up against Hamas, the only law in town and a law unto itself. The fact remains Hamas is waging a jihad against Israel and it won't end, in the long-term, until Hamas is broken or Israel is destroyed.<br />
<br />
It was rather cynical of the Egyptian prime minister visiting Gaza Friday, expressing his outrage over the violence and support for Hamas. This is because much of the enclave's current situation is due to Egypt not taking up Israel's offer to hand it back, allowing it to remain a free flowing near anarchy. Then again, Egypt has enough poverty of its own to take on still more.<br />
<br />
The problem facing Israel's military in Gaza is similar to that which faces NATO in Afghanistan...But more extreme given the density of population in Gaza. How do you fight a guerrilla army that uses civilians as human shields?<br />
<br />
The obvious answer would be having your army go in and root out the terrorists. But such action will cost the lives of your own troops as well as civilian lives.<br />
<br />
Yet, as we have seen here, in Afghanistan and even in Pakistan, modern technology is moving us closer and closer to wars by remote controlled non-human fighters. This may be joy for the generals, but as we seen it can be hell for civilians in the remote controlled cross fire.<br />
<br />
This will only stop when provocations stop...which means the people of Gaza must demand and end to rocket attacks against Israel.<br />
<br />
But the tit for tat nature of this conflict has remained the same since the 1920s when Arab nationalism spurred on the first deadly attacks against Jewish settlers. This transformed pacifist left-wing Jews, hounded out of racist Europe, into fighters. No more turning the other cheek. Wit, that's a Christian trait, isn't it?<br />
<br />
What makes the Israel-Palestinian conflict so unique is that an enemy sworn to destroy you yet, in the end, depends upon you for its very existence on several levels. Yet, until that level of existence increases by virtue of peace, proper education, jobs and lifestyle, the plight of the Gaza Strip remains grim.<br />
<br />
Right now there is considerable popular British anger at the latest Israeli onslaught. But British and American liberals, in particular, have short memories. Just recall the reaction of the UK in WW2 to missiles being fired at it from Germany. The war being almost over didn't stop the RAF from needlessly destroying Dresden along with thousands of civilians. There's that double standard again.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-79063248216148589732012-10-26T11:14:00.000-07:002012-10-26T11:14:50.018-07:00<span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><strong><em><u>US Election</u></em></strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Too Close to Call? A Lot Depends </span></strong><strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">On How Individual Americans Think of Themselves</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
The US presidential campaign is nearing an end with a record amount of money being spent mainly to get people to come out and vote. <br />
<br />
In a way the American election is similar to the UK's in that no political party had really explained how an economic rebirth will take place when western fortunes are still tied hand and foot to the East, with no end to this in the distant future.<br />
<br />
Upward of $2 billion will have been spent to build up interest among a growing disaffected mass of people who see little difference in candidates. Unheralded the big loser in this campaign is democracy. <br />
<br />
On one hand there's a somewhat weak and beatable US presidential incumbent who hasn't made good on much of what he promised. Yet, the most popular opposition candidate to face him is an unemployed yet super rich gaff prone former governor who has no magic formula to lift the country to its former self, especially since some companies he owns have done their bit by sending American jobs overseas.<br />
<br />
There's no real choice to excite the electorate...with the exception of Mormon voters who see one of their own, Mitt Romney, with a real chance to lead the nation.<br />
<br />
In the end, the people have to decide which side they are on, who will benefit them the most. I suppose it comes down to whom the parties really represent. As Romney has said over and over: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago." This can be answered with another question: How will Romney make things better than they were four years ago? This comes back to a present day reality: No politician has the answer. Or at least they won't talk about the hard reality of declining economic power.<br />
<br />
Since the post Civil War period the Republican Party has represented big business, industry and most importantly Wall Street. This hasn't changed, the party's packaging has.<br />
<br />
After the Watergate scandal destroyed GOP credibility a re-branding campaign under Ronald Regan took place ...on one hand he stressed the religious and family values that had been the bedrock of American culture. This came after the wild and morally ambiguous 60's and 70s. And while a large section of the country could readily understand these concepts, less well understood was Reagan economic policy.<br />
<br />
In a few years his pension for deregulation and love of supply-side economics began the rapid destruction of the US industrial and economic base (a similar scenario on a smaller scale was happening in Britain under Margaret Thatcher). Yet, every president since Reagan, Democrats and Republicans, have never meddled or changed this policy. And that's why nothing Romney or Obama say or promise will encroach on the US position in the global market.<br />
<br />
On the other side of the coin, the Democrats have long been champions of the people. They tend to put the ordinary citizens first...except, as I said, when it comes to meddling with the global market. Most progressive laws enacted since 1900 have been created by Democrat politicians for the benefit of the people. <br />
<br />
So, stripping away all the family value packaging, dislike of gays and abortion, if you are a lover of Wall Street and big business, Romney is your man. If you aren't, than Obama will be for you. <br />
<br />
Even though Romney is ahead in some polls, I feel Obama will squeeze by on his base of minorities and ordinary people who have no faith in wealthy politician with minimal experience. Also, Romney's appeal to the extreme right is a turn-off to many more rational voters. As much as I see Obama as a disappointment, I still feel he would be the lesser of two evils. And, many voters will see it the same way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-69742815518329405882012-08-16T02:39:00.000-07:002012-08-16T02:39:11.284-07:00<strong><u><em><span style="font-size: large;">Off the Fence</span></em></u></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">US, UK Pledge Support for Syrian Rebels</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Amidst Increased Sectarian Warfare</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
So, the fence sitting is over. The special relationship twins (UK and USA) are making their move in backing Syrian rebels with dollars, pounds and weapons. Yes, weapons...It's naive to think that weapons won't be bought or bartered for with western aid.<br />
<br />
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague makes an intelligent case for such action: To insure a successor to the Assad regime is democratic and civilized.<br />
This is the standard political cure-all for western sponsored military involvements, a nice soundbite friendly rationale that may eventually come back to haunt the West.<br />
<br />
A main reason Bashar al-Assad will hang on to power as long as possible is knowing what will be in store for his minority Alawite clan when he and his military lose power.<br />
<br />
In this, Syria is similar to other Arab dictatorships such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Libya under Gaddafi, where minorities held power by integrating their own clansmen into the government and military.<br />
<br />
His Alawites will fight on to preserve the regime because they are fighting for their lives, and in this respect can be compared to the regime's main scapegoat Israel for whom there is no second place in any war with its Arab neighbours.<br />
<br />
But, Assad doesn't have to look any further than Lebanon to see the possible shape of his country without him. Lebanon was once a wealthy Christian Arab dominated nation that the Assad family had long coveted as part of a greater historical Syria.<br />
<br />
The regime then supported masses of Palestinian refugees fleeing to Lebanon after the 1970 Black September defeat in Jordan. This wave of immigration set in motion forces that resulted in a long civil war and the effective cantonization of Lebanon between rival Muslim and Christian clans.<br />
<br />
A similar fate awaits Syria if and when Assad falls. The resulting chaos will be replaced by tribal conflict and more bloodshed. The civilized democratic voices in Syria that Hague wants to embolden, will more than likely be drowned out by the Islamist shouts and gunfire.<br />
<br />
But this is nothing new to the West. From the Russian revolution to Afghanistan and the current Arab uprisings, attempts at installing democratic regimes have initially failed. It's up to the populations of such nations to eventually go democratic if they so choose.<br />
<br />
The Islamist parties winning power in some of the Arab Spring nations will have to produce better lives for their people or they may find they're subjects of further pro democracy revolts.<br />
<br />
In the past the Assad family has maintained power by first preserving the secular nature of largely Sunni Syria and second, by gradually limiting civil liberties in the name of national security, using the presence of Israel as its version of the Cold War.<br />
<br />
It's this heavy-handed and often violent approach to civil rights that was the flashpoint for civil war here. Using Israel and America as scapegoats was no longer valid among the country's diverse population. They realized the real problem was the Assad Regime.<br />
<br />
And it is this diversity, which is so highly prized in the West, that may become Syria's worst nightmare since the only unifying force has been the Assad Regime. Without unity there may be endless hostilities. But now the US and UK will later be able to say: "We did all we could."DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-47929775767905113822012-08-16T02:24:00.000-07:002012-08-16T02:24:04.975-07:00<strong><em><u><span style="font-size: large;">Off the Fence</span></u></em></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">US, UK Pledge Support for Syrian Rebels </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Amidst Increased Fighting, Conflicting Claims</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich </strong><br />
<br />
<br />
So, the fence sitting is over. The special relationship twins (UK and USA) are making their move in backing Syrian rebels with dollars, pounds and weapons. Yes, weapons...It's naive to think that guns won't be bought or bartered for with western aid.<br />
<br />
<br />
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague makes an intelligent case for such action: To insure a successor to the Assad regime is democratic and civilized.<br />
<br />
This is the standard political cure-all for western sponsored military involvements, a nice soundbite friendly rationale that may eventually come back to haunt the West.<br />
<br />
A main reason Bashar al-Assad will hang on to power as long as possible is knowing what will be in store for his minority Alawite clan when he and his military lose power.<br />
<br />
In this, Syria is similar to other Arab dictatorships such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Libya under Gaddafi, where minorities held power by integrating their own clansmen into the government and military.<br />
<br />
His Alawites will fight on to preserve the regime because they are fighting for their lives, and in this respect can be compared to the regime's main scapegoat Israel for whom there is no second place in any war with its Arab neighbours.<br />
<br />
But, Assad doesn't have to look any further than Lebanon to see the possible shape of his country without him. Lebanon was once a wealthy Christian Arab dominated nation that the Assad family had long coveted as part of a greater historical Syria.<br />
<br />
The regime then supported masses of Palestinian refugees fleeing to Lebanon after the 1970 Black September defeat in Jordan. This wave of immigration set in motion forces that resulted in a long civil war and the effective cantonization of Lebanon between rival Muslim and Christian clans.<br />
<br />
A similar fate awaits Syria if and when Assad falls. The resulting chaos will be replaced by tribal conflict and more bloodshed. The civilized democratic voices in Syria that Hague wants to embolden, will more than likely be drowned out by the Islamist shouts and gunfire.<br />
<br />
But this is nothing new to the West. From the Russian revolution to Afghanistan and the current Arab uprisings, attempts at installing democratic regimes have initially failed. It's up to the populations of such nations to eventually go democratic if they so choose.<br />
<br />
The Islamist parties winning power in some of the Arab Spring nations will have to produce better lives for their people or they may find they're subjects of further pro democracy revolts.<br />
<br />
In the past the Assad family has maintained power by first preserving the secular nature of largely Sunni Syria and second, by gradually limiting civil liberties in the name of national security, using the presence of Israel as its version of the Cold War.<br />
<br />
It's this heavy-handed and often violent approach to civil rights that was the flashpoint for civil war here. Using Israel and America as scapegoats was no longer valid among the country's diverse population. They realized the real problem was the Assad Regime.<br />
And it is this diversity, which is so highly prized in the West, that may become Syria's worst nightmare since the only unifying force has been the Assad Regime. Without unity there may be endless hostilities. But now the US and UK will later be able to say: "We did all we could."DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-72931115666799998062012-03-14T03:11:00.000-07:002012-03-14T03:11:08.406-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><u><em>Israel, USA</em></u></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Options Limited with Iran Over</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Alleged Nuke Weapons Program</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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An attack by Israel against Iran is not a certainty, by a long shot, which such an action would be. Yet, doing nothing might have serious regional effects, too.<br />
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Saudi Arabia is just as worried about a nuclear-armed Iran as Israel, with some high-ranking Saudi officials saying it will seek nuclear weapons if Iran has them. One of the Wiki Leaks revelations was a desire by Saudis for Israel to bomb Iran: The enemy of my enemy is my friend scenario.<br />
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It was one thing with Israel having such weapons and another a nation such as Iran. The Saudis know Israel, joined to the hip with the US, would not nuke its Arab neighbours. Israel is not a fanatical dictatorship, has no imperial outlook, is not trying to impress its faith on Arabs and such an attack would be disastrous for everyone.<br />
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But, Iran is another story. Most things in the Middle East are connected or controlled by tribal and religious affiliations. And most Arabs are Sunni Muslims, while Iran is a Shiite nation. Iraq is the only Arab nation with a majority Shiite population. The hatred between both of these groups, the endless suicide bombings, are examples of the hatred that exists between Shiite and Sunnis in nations such as Syria and Lebanon.<br />
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The big goal of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs has been to replace Saudi Arabia as the centre of Islam...pushing Shiitism to the front of the Muslim world.<br />
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To this end little Israel is the big roadblock in his way. There is literally no reason for the hatred Iran has for Israel. Under the Shah's regime relations were warm and Iran once had a thriving Jewish community.<br />
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However, when Iran went fundamentalist in the late 1970s, the country quickly adopted an anti Israel stance. Today that stance, bolstered by the Palestinian issue, helps secure Iran to the Arab world's traditional anti Israel posture.<br />
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Iran also knows it can never rise to a preeminent position in the region as long as Israel and the USA hover over the same territory.<br />
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For its part, Saudi Arabia may feel very vulnerable to religious and economic blackmail if Iran gets the bomb. Where Iran my be hesitant to Attack Israel, fearing it would also take out Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Saudi Arabia is a vast desert nation; one they feel could be hit without destroying nearby countries. <br />
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Yet all this is only speculation, the stuff that fuels a nuclear arms race. Remember the main purpose of America's MAD (mutual assured destruction) nuclear policy, was to convince enemies not to use nuclear weapons because no one would win such a war.<br />
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Iran claims an attack upon it would engulf the entire Middle East. Given what's currently happening in the region, this is a wild overstatement. Some Arab nations, such as Saudi Arabia, would be pleased. Others undergoing internal turmoil, will be preoccupied with their own problems to jump to the defense of non Arabic Shiite Iran.<br />
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These may be plus factors for Israel in launching an attack. On the negative side is the counter attack by Iran and its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza. Does Israel want another war that would probably drag NATO in, based on a possibility, not a certainty, of Iran developing nuclear weapons? It may be the only realistic option.<br />
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Even if the broad range of economic sanctions crippling Iran work, how can anyone prove to a suspicious Arab world, that Iran doesn't have some bombs hidden away?<br />
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Remember, Iran's main goal is increasing its stature within the Islamic world. Unless Israel or the US destroys its nuclear installations, this is now assured. Iran doesn't even have to develop a bomb. Just the belief among nations that it has one will be enough to create fear and tension...and also a possible nuclear arms race in the region.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-39028150206154272372012-02-29T00:16:00.000-08:002012-02-29T00:16:27.133-08:00<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dedicated to the Journalism Students at the University of West London</span></i></b> <div style="border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: black 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: black 0.5pt solid; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 1pt; padding-right: 1pt; padding-top: 1pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 16.5pt 0in 7.5pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hacks Gone, Fleet Street Buttons Up For Business</span></strong></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><strong>By DAN EHRLICH<br />
Publication: </strong><a href="http://www.allbusiness.com/editor-publisher/4670018-1.html"><span style="color: black;"><strong>Editor & Publisher</strong></span></a><span style="color: black;"><strong> <br />
Date: </strong></span><a href="http://www.allbusiness.com/editor-publisher/19980418/4682082-1.html"><span style="color: black;"><strong>Saturday, April 18 1998</strong></span></a><span style="color: black;"><strong> </strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><em><strong> </strong></em></span>Talk about irony, 24-years-ago when I first set my Los Angeles eyes on Fleet Street, its most amazing aspect, other than being home to a phenomenally dynamic and competitive press system, was the amount of time its members spent getting pissed at lunch.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, with the national journals long since gone, the only paper left in the immediate area being the "Jewish Chronicle," boozing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has become of such a low priority, this once sacred lunchtime practice can now get you sacked.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Street of Shame, formerly the western world's greatest watering hole, where news was spread and dreams made into news over liquid petite' dejeuner has been transformed into an avenue of trendy coffee bars and sandwich shops designed for the enforced tastes its new 9 to 5<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"no drinking while on duty" City worker army. Just another example of American cultural imperialism?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm sure it won't be the last one. That's because Americans seem to be taking over the street.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I somehow find it hard to fathom people like the then "Daily Mirror's" Paul Callan or the "Sun's" Roy Greenslade nipping down to the Cafe Rouge or Coffee Republic for the standard two to three hour hack libation. "I believe its your round old man. Yes, quite...the same? Oh, garcon, cinq cappuccino, si'l vous plais. And can we have another round of those yummy croissants. Merci."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From a quick outward glance, today's Fleet Street looks just as dull and gloomy as its did when I first saw it. Of course bleak rainy winter days will do that to most places in London. Upon closer examination, however, evidence of the post media rot is everywhere, lowlighted by that universal symbol of America's international<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reach, a Macdonalds hamburger bar. It's true, Big Mac on the Street of Shame, an unbeatable combo available for an unlimited time. Too bad it came too late for the press crowd.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sandwiched between the law courts and and the City, as the retreating Roman legions of hacks vacated the street, other more respectable people moved in...you know those whose only paper is the FT. But worse was yet to come---"Wall Street Journal" readers. That's right, Americans. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They took over and rebuilt the "Daily Telegraph" building into a sparkling and shining art deco edifice that Superman could mistake for the "Daily Planet," but whose real name is Goldman-Sachs. And, now this mega investment bank is set to, at long last rescue "The Black Lubijanka." Looking more gray than its former glistening black appearance, the old Express Newspapers building will get the complete American treatment, the finishing touches being no booze during working hours. Again, too bad it came too late for the press crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across the way, the old Bouverie Street headquarters of News International has been beautifully redeveloped by the Freshman legal firm into a British version of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"L.A. Law." How appropriate that the former home of so much business to the legal community in the form of libel suits should wind up an office building for lawyers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But these developments are still few and far between. The trendy snack bars can't conceal the widespread graveyard atmosphere, exhibited only a short distance down Whitefriars Street. Deserted and boarded up, the former home of the Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe House, looks more like the haunted house ride at Disneyland. But come to think of it, it didn't look much different when it was in use. The corner of Tudor and Whitefriars always seemed to have a dirty and seedy atmosphere. Maybe for me that was its romantic charm.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dark brown Harris Tweed sports coat, matching hat, a cheap pair of dark green trousers, black boots, a traditional, but cheap Oxford Street, gents umbrella and a brief case full of showbiz and travel stories....in the mid 1970s this was my idea of a Fleet Street reporter. I didn't know I looked more like a bookie's runner. Yet, amazingly it opened doors for me to most of the national newspapers and several magazines. Or maybe it wasn't so amazing given the fast moving betting shop predilection of journos then.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, its important to point out, to those not in the know, when I hit the scene, Fleet Street was already in decline. And, as is the case with Hollywood, it was more a state of mind and name-tag for an industry than the actual home to all the national publications. For example, the "Guardian" was about a mile away on Farringdon Street and the "Times"</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and "Sunday Times" were about to move to their new home over on Gray's Inn Road, now the location of ITN.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But generally speaking, the area bordered by Blackfriars on the south, Holborn Circus on the north, Fetter Lane on the West and Ludgate Circus on the East was considered the heart and soul of British journalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's also an area in which I wore out several pairs of high street shoes as a literary Fuller Brush man.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a time when London had two daily newspapers, each selling more than the surviving one does today. The "Daily Mirror" was in the midst of a losing battle to hold onto its top selling position against an onslaught from the Murdoch transformed "Sun," then seen as an extreme right wing, often racist rag. Curiously it attracted loads of Black and Asian readers...the power of the Page Three Girl exposed I suppose.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for the "quality" press, the "Times" was running third behind the "Guardian" and its Canadian owner Lord Thompson was dying to unload it on some sucker.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more than anything it was a time when an outsider like me, not even working through an agent, could gain entrance to as many national publications as humanly possible in a single day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without appointments I could manage see any number of editors and personally pitch stories, some already written others about to be written. Try doing that now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was an American journalist in London writing the kind of crap the British always maintained Americans couldn't write...pedantic tabloid human interest stories...highlighted, for example, by two simultaneous yet completely different Richard Gere pieces, one pop version in the "Sunday Mirror" and a full page straight splash over in Paris at the "International Herald Tribune." Or there was my interview with ballet star Rudolph Nureyev....one version running in the "Sunday Times" and another in the "Sunday People" showbiz diary.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What can I say other than I was hooked on it all. I used to think Los Angeles was the centre of the universe and that I probaby would find my ultimate destination to be the editor some little suburban weekly newspaper. And, to tell you the truth I wouldn't mind doing that today. But then, I couldn't adequately take in the size of the British national press . It was mind boggling, mainly because its was so huge, yet so centralized and, as far as the tabloids went, so accessible and personable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>key element was gaining entrance to the publications. And that was largely a matter of making the commissionaires, who I initially thought were part of some sort of paramilitary police force,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>believe I belonged there, which itself was mainly knowing where I wanted to go and simply going for it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very few guards would try to stop me. And if they did, my accent and some vintage bullshit would see me through every time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, I recall once being challenged in the Express Building. My response: "Oh! I wonder if you could help me. I was seeing Mr. Smith in features. I stepped out to look for a loo and got lost. I can't remember if I was on the first or second floor. The floors are different here than in America." The helpful commissionaire would not only let me pass, he would tell me where I wanted to go.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the real beauty of the system was after I came and departed a couple of times, they thought I worked there and never gave me a second glance. In fact, my presence became so normal at the old Mirror Group Holborn Circus Building,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to chit chat to the guards.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I soon learned most papers had more than one entrance, some which were easier to navigate than others. For example, with the Mirror Group papers, the trades entrance on New Fetter Lane was always awash with people and guards who could care less. Across the street, it wasn't much different for the "Sunday People" entrance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the the "Daily Mail" and "Evening News" the Northcliffe House often unguarded staff entrance on Tudor Street was preferable to the main entrance whose commissionaires seemed as serious the the newspapers being produced there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over at the Black Lubijanka not only were there two separate entrances on Fleet Street, but in an unlikely fit of desperation I could slip in unchallenged through the wide-open news print bay. News International was also a cinch as was gaining entrance to the old "Evening Standard" building on St. Andrews Place.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could have never contemplated doing at the "Los Angeles Times" what I had been doing in London. Even then, the editorial offices of American newspapers were inaccessible to the increasingly troublesome and violent public.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, today, I can say with a degree of certainty, what I did then couldn't be done now. The de centralisation and sterilization of the newspaper industry coupled with "information technology" makes multiple ad hoc business meetings impossible and, in fact,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unnecessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, trying to swan into the new ivory tower encased publications is about as difficult as a rag and bone man getting into Number 10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even more depressing is the effect the death of Fleet Street has had on the national press. The creativity and cross fertilisation brought on by a close knit journalistic community, its members mingling with each other and with the adjoining legal establishment, was unique. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it's lost, with the fax replacing personal contact, E-Mail replacing the fax and televised internet conversations about to replace the lot. Britain, once again, appears to be going American, with the quality of stories declining, giving more and more power to sub editors. And what's the hot industry debate today? Are women better editors than men?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The favourite hang-out for gossip and debate between the journalistic and legal professions was the "El Vino" wine bar, a place that was hit hard when the hacks left. According to manager Daniel Thorold, "The legal people really mourned the loss of the journalists. The combination of reporters and lawyers created<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the lively, conversational and amusing situation you get when good minds are at work." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pointed out that old habits die hard. "We still get some of the older crowd dropping by here for dinner. But its not like it used to be." It sure isn't. For one one thing, women are now common in this spa where once they were barred.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How was it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was busy, dynamic, competitive, exciting, frustrating and a system that was grossly over manned and inefficient. For one thing, I could never understand why papers with such big staffs needed so many freelance writers and casual shift workers. It wouldn't have happened it America, something the media bosses would learn a few years down the line.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I just didn't get off a boat and start writing for the national press. Considering I was a traditional American "who, what, where, why, when and how" broadsheet reporter, writing for the tabs was something that had to be learned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my school was Fleet Street News Agency, a legendary hack-paparazzi hang-out mainly for those on the way up or those on the way down, its honour graduate being the BBC's Anne Robinson.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, it too, recently closed. There I learned the one great tabloid rule: No matter how big a story, it only has one hook, based on one thing, human interest...something to be milked dry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most weeks I would make from two to four visits to the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I normally had standard route that would allow me to hit as many publications as needed....the Chancery Lane tube to Holborn Circus, Fetter Lane to Fleet Street, Bouverie Street to Whitefriars, Blackfriars to Kings Reach Tower (home of IPC womens magazines) and returning to my tiny Finsbury Park flat via the Blackfriars tube station. Or I could reverse this route if I first had business with say, the "Daily Mail."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retracing that route today, seeing the lifeless and weatherworn shells that used to be home to the national press, I can't say its sad. It's like something out of "The Twighlight Zone," as if no publications ever existed there, with all traces of past identification removed. Only the Telegraph's old building, with its listed clock, is there there to readilly inform a tourist of what this area once meant to the nation. Of course, Reuters corporate Hq. is still on the street, but all news services are keeping company with ITN over on Gray's Inn Road.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking back, my first recollection was of gray rain soaked days, wet shoes and cold feet, punctuated by endless traffic jams on Whitefriars and Bouverie Streets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As usual the cause was an infinite numbers of newsprint trucks blocking roads originally laid for horse drawn beer wagons.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once on my own, it didn't take long to realise which news rooms were more receptive to a loud and aggressive American with cold, wet feet. And of equal importance was which publications had large and anonymous gents rooms I could use.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On aggregate, the Mirror Group won hands down. Big secluded loos, you know the type you could camp-out in for a whole day if needed, and lots of friendly people...not neccesarily in the loos however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm sure this had a lot to do with the socialist bent of the papers, meaning the staffs were unprententious, less up-tight and less hostile to foreigners than some of the other sheets. Or, it could have been they were just trying to appear that way because that's the way they were supposed to appear.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My personal favourite was the "Sunday People." The staff members, besides being the most relaxed and earthy on Fleet Street, were basically Sunday people, having two or three days during the week when they could take time to bullshit with me. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I owe a debt of gratitude to people such as David Farrar and the late Bill Doran, Tony Purnell, Mervyn Pamment, Frank Jeffries and Graham Ball, just for letting me hang-out. And over at the "Sunday Mirror" deputy editor Chris Ward, womens editor Eve Pollard and a sub editor named David Montgomery bore witness to my frequent presence in their midst. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, it was just across the the street from the "Sunday People."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And the reason they and other editors wanted to do that was because they were hungry journalists in a tightly competitive arena. They were gamblers working for me, betting on me. They were waging every so often I would come in with a good story that no one else would have. And, thankfully I didn't disappoint them. Hell, I'm still here. Fleet Street is gone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><br />
</div></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: AR-SA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-39928985256770070742012-02-08T11:34:00.000-08:002012-02-08T11:34:02.204-08:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em><u>A Calculated Action?</u></em></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Israel Attacking Iran Nuke Plants</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Would Draw West into Conflict</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: black;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></strong><br />
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Forget the Arab Spring, we now seem to be in a serious winter of discontent with Israel warning of possible Iranian attacks on Jewish facilities worldwide. This comes as speculation continues to mount that Israel will go it alone in attacking Iran's nuclear plants. However, such speculation has been surfacing for five years.<br />
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Meanwhile, Egypt is locked in chaotic violence with its military; Libya is still without a united government and a virtual blood drenched civil war is going on in Syria.<br />
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But if this isn't too much to handle, Israel says if and when the Assad Alawite regime falls, it will offer sanctuary on the Golan Heights to the sect's Syrian refugees. These are people who have been surrogates of Iran, which has long backed the Assad family, also the sworn enemies of Israel. Ironically, this may be the only way Assad will regain the Golan.<br />
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For quite some time Israel, Iran and the West have been playing a poker game whose stakes have been growing daily. <br />
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Now, however, we seem to be approaching the "call hand" or end game. As I have said before, I don't think a nuclear-armed Iran will attack Israel. Aside from also destroying three countries surrounding Israel, it would certainly receive all destroying retaliation.<br />
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But Israel usually operates from a worst-case scenario; this being that the crazies in Tehran will rationalise collateral annihilation as being the price for the greater good. After all, Iran, a Shiite nation, has little love for Sunni Islam, which form the majority populations in all Arab states except Iraq and Bahrain.<br />
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World War 2 interrupted the growth of Arab nationalism that sprang forth when the Ottoman Empire fell after WW1. The Muslim nations in the region had been fighting for the preeminence of their tribes.<br />
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The nationalism struggle was again interrupted by the creation of Israel in 1948. Instead of fighting each other they had Israel as a new Crusader surrogate to fight.<br />
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Iran sees itself in the forefront of the new Crusader war. The fact it's not an Arab country makes little difference since being a Shiite nation is a far greater hurdle to jump.<br />
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By destroying or neutralising Israel it will see itself as the new kingpin in the region, one that will be able to give Shiism greater prominence. <br />
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Yet the last thing America wants, or more precisely President Obama wants in a run-up to an election is another Muslim war. On the other hand his potential Republican challenger Mitt Romney is far more hawkish on Iran, something Israel could use to its advantage. Supporting Israel after its bombs Iran would certainly become a hot election issue.<br />
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Several opinion polls on the subject show sharp divide in American support for Israeli action against Iran...with a narrow majority in favour.<br />
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But an even bigger question is what a small country such as Israel could do to potentially scores of hardened underground nuclear sites all over a large nation such as Iran?<br />
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The answer, according to experts, is not very much. But, enough to anger the Iranians, who will figure the attack was with US complicity and launch counter attacks against western interests as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz. <br />
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This would drag the west into another conflict with its ultimate regime change goal; the only way peace and security will be re established in the region... something upon which Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu would be depending. <br />
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The view of some that such an attack would set the Mid East on fire is a stretch. Most Arab states fear Shiite Iran and its nuclear ambitions more than they hate Israel. The last thing the nationalist Arabs want us another Empire. Little noticed is the growing Turkish involvement in Arab affairs. The Arabs still respect their former Ottoman rulers, but at a distance.<br />
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Yet, this is where the big bluff comes into this poker hand. It's based on the belief that Iran doesn't yet have nuclear weapons. But what if it does? Unprovoked Iran, as with Israel, probably wouldn't admit to having atomic weapons even if it had them.<br />
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But, how would the religious fanatics in Tehran react to a major attack by Israel and/or the US? That's the big gamble that could lead to Armageddon. And it's a big reason why an Israeli solo attack on Iran isn't a done deal. The longer Israel waits the less likely theyDANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-48496324571326852312012-02-04T05:53:00.000-08:002012-02-04T05:53:21.650-08:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><u><em>Should We Stay or Should We Go?</em></u></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Afghanistan: A Case for Remaining </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Where We Never Should Have Gone</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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News reports claiming the Taliban will attempt to retake control of Afghanistan once NATO troops leave in two years restates the questions: Why did we get involved there in the first place and why are we leaving given this threat?<br />
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From an American, and even a Euro perspective, Afghanistan could be another example of the pick and choose hypocrisy the West plays at when dealing with armed conflicts. It comes down to what's their worth to NATO? Afghanistan is no longer worth it. Of course, if the Iraqi oil fields were there?<br />
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NATO endured a bloodbath in Bosnia for years before taking any action, yet jumped right into Kuwait once Iraq invaded. We have declined to get involved in Syria, yet NATO immediately became involved in Libya and Iraq the Sequel.<br />
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But for Afghanistan, Korea makes a good comparison. As I previously wrote, the Korean War was the first major UN action, lead by the USA. It ended in a stalemate, with around 36,000 American killed and an uneasy truce that has kept the country divided with a large American troop presence still there 62 years later. <br />
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On the plus side it enabled South Korea to become an industrial powerhouse. On the negative side is has forged North Korea into a nuclear powerhouse, one that threatens the West.<br />
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Today the US has 28,500 troops stationed in Korea still under the UN flag. So, if we maintained a garrison in Korea for 62 years, why wouldn't we do the same in Afghanistan? For one thing, the Korean War ended in a cease-fire and truce. Afghanistan is a totally different situation coming at a radically different era for NATO and the US. <br />
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The fact is Afghanistan doesn't mean as much to the West than industrial and friendly South Korea. And, we want to remain in striking distance of nuclear-armed Stone Age North Korea.<br />
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Yes, but wouldn't maintaining a strong presence in Afghanistan help NATO keep in touch with another nuclear wild card Pakistan, a near failed state that is becoming more and more unstable and less friendly to America? Yes, but popular opinion is against this and politics often trumps what may seem obvious.<br />
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President Obama, with reelection and a never-ending recession on his mind, has put in play operation wind-down until 2014 when the only NATO troops remaining in Afghanistan will be those so-called military advisers. As with Vietnam, they will be there to train Afghan troops on how to keep the Taliban out and America's proxy Afghan President Karzai in... hopefully with more success than we had in Vietnam.<br />
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As I said the past, the only concrete reason why we, and other NATO nations, are there is to keep the extreme male chauvinist Muslim Taliban from power and Afghan women out of burkas. The idea of a synonymous linkage between the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group has never been proven. <br />
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Yes, I'm sure they cooperated. While they're different people they had different goals. Bin Laden was a Saudi. He didn't care about Afghanistan. He just hid there and in Pakistan. His main goal, other than converting the world to Islam, was to overthrow the Saudi royal family and kick the US out of his country. The Taliban want to overthrow the Karzai Government and kick the US out of their country. It seems they may be accomplishing part of that goal.<br />
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But using Korea as an example, given the lives lost and money spent there, wouldn't it seem sensible to maintain a NATO combat unit in Afghanistan as a way of protecting NATO interests? There's little doubt the Taliban will be back. Yet there is considerable doubt Karzai and Company will be able to handle them... He will need NATO... for a long time. <br />
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Next year the US will declare its wartime control of South Korea at an end and begin transferring power to South Korea, while possibly cutting back its troop strength there.<br />
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South Korea isn't happy at this prospect and wants a clarification of US intentions. Yet, such an action, in light of the planned Afghan pullout, would be one of the few genuine actions taken by the US... even though the motivation is reducing the national debt.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-79486707311908578232012-01-25T09:24:00.000-08:002012-01-25T09:28:43.404-08:00<span style="font-size: large;"><u><em><strong>As Automation Replaces Manual Labor</strong></em></u></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">China May be a Model for Dystopian World</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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China is providing two ultimate ironies, the first debunking America's victory over communism and second, the possibility that China's current domestic economic and social model may be a blueprint for a future western world with mass unemployment.<br />
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For 45 years America and Western Europe fought a Cold War against communism in which George Bush Sr. declared victory in 1990. The Bush's seem to have a compulsion for premature declarations. China, the biggest communist nation of all, wasn't figured into the victory equation, or was it's growing economic power.<br />
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Indeed, China emerged from the Cold War stronger than it had been during its height. And today it has reached a socio-economic compromise allowing it to get rich from western capitalism while maintaining its communist political structure. This may be a master plan for a possible western world to come.<br />
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What PM David Cameron and President Obama won't tell their populations is that things probably aren't going to get too much better economically (there's a good chance they will eventually get worse) at least until western nations can make goods as cheaply as eastern nations. But even that may be short-term to what could happen way down the road.<br />
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History teaches that decadent nations don't make comebacks. The real world isn't Hollywood. For example, the main strength of the Arab world was its stagnant permanence. Arguably the biggest social change there in 1,000 years has been the formation of Al Jazeera Television, something that ironically may be disrupting this stagnation. <br />
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So, while the West has flourished, its own greed, avarice and gluttony is destroying it. Yet, if we disappeared tomorrow the Arabs would probably survive as they have for thousands of years... if their societies don't give-in to change.<br />
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But what about the distant future? Providing America and Britain are still here and united, what will life be like, first as low wage nations and beyond.<br />
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Capitalism has no master or political ideology. It goes where money is to be made and profits are maximised. The only hard and fast use for people is as consumers. As we see, labor forces can be minimized and moved elsewhere in the world to increase production and profits.<br />
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You don't have to look further than your local supermarket to see the next step...automation. Thousands of cashier jobs are being lost to automated shopping...shopping that is now being offered online, too.<br />
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And these are service sector jobs that were supposed to be immune to global market competition. Yet this is only a visible aspect of the automation boom that may eventually be a greater challenge to the West than cheap Chinese products.<br />
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America emerged from WW2 the richest nation with the largest middle class ever recorded. Yet the only reason most Americans had enjoyed such an affluent lifestyle was because they had good jobs... jobs needed to make and service things...jobs so they could afford to buy dinner out at least once a week, a new car every two years and a new home every few years. <br />
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But more than this, people have to earn wages to pay taxes that keep a country running. If there are no wages there will be no taxes, just a population existing on welfare, as many people already in the US and UK serve as evidence.<br />
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For the US and UK to get back some lost ground means re developing domestic industry and commerce. More than likely this will come from Asians building factories here to keep their goods affordable to local populations. <br />
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But, if machines and computers can eventually do most of manual labor more efficiently and cheaply, what will the future be like for the former middle class and the new non working class? What will they do? For capitalism to thrive, they must have money to spend...otherwise they will be surplus to the requirements of the global market and the corporations will have to scale back production.<br />
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A lot will depend on the evolution to an automated society and who will control societies and how they are organized. If America and the UK sink into a morass, individual states and former kingdoms, i.e. Scotland, may push for more self-determination, doing deals with other countries for the exclusive benefit of the states in question.<br />
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Yet another cure for cheap Chinese imports will be to rebuild national industries as wage free, union free and totally automated. After massive initial investments, this "I Robot" society will produce all people need and then some. Still, no matter which country controls industry, the big question will still be: What will our people do for work?<br />
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As for the distant future, a few lucky people will retrain for still available service sector and industrial jobs. The medical sector will be a main employer. But the bulk of the unemployed may find a home in the military. Many people will go back to the land as subsistence farmers.<br />
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One of the reasons Rome gained such a large empire was the fact that slavery meant it had no labor problems. But it did have plenty of unemployed young men...they furnished its army and navy with an unlimited number of recruits to conquer and subdue most of the known world at the time.<br />
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In America's case, the military will be more defensive in nature, protecting it from foreign invasion on one hand and domestic insurrection on the other...as is the case with so many so called banana republics, US cities will become breweries of dissent and militancy and the military will be needed to maintain order.<br />
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Yet, for those not suitable for the military, the voluntary sector will offer a chance to do something meaningful. You see, while political leaders trumpet the need for new industries to create jobs, there simply won't be the economic viability for such investment in the face of high labor costs vs. dollar-a-day Asian economies. <br />
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And any new homegrown industries developed in an open world market would soon leave for cheaper production elsewhere or be automated, using at most a skeleton workforce.<br />
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America's only long-term prospect would be the creation of a UK style social welfare state and enriching the country via taxation from cash rich corporations and trade while maintaining former workers on state benefits. <br />
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And this is where the Chinese model enters the picture. China maintains free enterprise zones such as Hong Kong and Shanghai where capitalism thrives to service the world. These areas house the nation's economic power, Yet, most of the country remains a communist social welfare state, where the needs of the masses are met by the wealth it makes off the non-communist world. While I'm a firm believer in benevolent capitalism, I can't help deducing something such as this may be a serious option for a future world short of labour.<br />
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Of course the simplest thing would be to ban automation, from General Motors to Tesco. But in a free capitalist nation that's about as likely as enacting blanket trade barriers against cheap Asian goods in a global economy that all parties and political leaders support..<br />
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On the upside, one of the benefits for millions of people would be a lot of free time for budget holidays. <br />
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Okay, you can wake up now, it was only a nightmare.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-19277445742376740502012-01-03T09:59:00.000-08:002012-01-03T09:59:20.474-08:00<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em><u>Now that the US has Left Iraq:</u></em></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">We Have to Ask: What has America Gained</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"> From almost Endless Conflict Since 1950</span></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;">?</span></span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></strong><br />
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Goodbye 2011. Once again America has closed a military adventure, one which eight years ago President GW Bush proudly declared to be a "mission accomplished." But it was a campaign whose purpose was vague and success in doubt since there were no weapons of mass destruction and socio-political breakdown is a distinct possibility in such a polarized tribal nation.<br />
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The democracy we have installed in Iraq, predictably, is gradually disintegrating, with the Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, issuing an arrest warrant for the Sunni deputy PM and threatening other Sunni leaders as he tries to consolidate his power as possibly Iraq's next dictator. He hasn't been wasting any time, has he? And as with the country's previous dictator, the West was his benefactor and enabler.<br />
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Meanwhile, in the oil rich north, the Kurdish majority there has been creating its own autonomous region and has even concluded deals with western oil companies... positive steps for the repressed Kurds. Al-Maliki is content to allow this, at least for now. The Kurds are more useful out of the way in a happy and trouble free zone, keeping the oil flowing and helping the PM maintain his power.<br />
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As these events unfold and a New Year is here, we can look back and ask ourselves what have major American military adventures accomplished since 1950?<br />
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The Korean War was the first major UN action, lead by the USA. It ended in a stalemate, with around 36,000 American killed and an uneasy truce that has kept the country divided with a large American troop presence still there 62 years later. On the plus side it enabled South Korea to become an industrial powerhouse. On the negative side is has forged North Korea into a nuclear powerhouse, one that threatens the West.<br />
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Vietnam was America's second geo-political war fought mainly to preserve US hegemony in Southeast Asia, but sold to the public as part of the Cold War against the spread of communism. Again stalemate and growing popular discontent forced America out and the North Vietnamese in after nearly 60,000 US troops died there. Today, a united communist Vietnam has mended fences with the US to the point of now depending on America to protect it from former best buddy China. <br />
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The 1990 Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, was a US-led, UN sanctioned NATO action in response to the Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Again it was sold on the idea of freeing Kuwait from an invading tyrant, but it really was about safeguarding the Gulf and Saudi oil region.<br />
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This eventually lead to the just-concluded Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, if you can call it that, still in progress, both fought as part of the War on Terrorism... a war that may never end since there may always be terrorists somewhere. To date, more than 6,500 US troops have been killed in these. And, in Afghanistan, there's no end in sight.<br />
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Since its creation, the USA has been involved in 13 major conflicts and dozens of minor ones resulting in 1.35 million military deaths. Yet most have one thing in common, they didn't occur because of perceived threats to national security or survival. They were economic or political in nature, but sold to the public, as most wars are, on the grounds of national security and patriotism. In fact, there's probably only one country today that fights wars of national survival, Israel.<br />
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In the end what has America gained from its human sacrifice? We trumpeted our victory in the Cold War, yet now are in debt and at the economic mercy of the biggest communist nation of all.<br />
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While communist Vietnam is now our friend, atomic armed North Korea, with little to lose, remains a gateway to Armageddon. <br />
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America has a national debt of more than $15 trillion due largely to unnecessary wars we have fought partly on the false jingoistic view that our way should be everyone's way. So, in the end the main beneficiary of American conflict has been the Military-Industrial Complex. You won't find this mentioned in the Constitution, but it exists as much as Congress.<br />
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Proof of it existence has again been revealed in a new $50billion arms deal with our favorite extreme autocratic oil-producing nation, Saudi Arabia. It's designed to counter a perceived regional threat from Iran and will generate 50,000 jobs back in the USA. <br />
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And you can bet board members of the complex are milling over plans for America's next possible military adventure, what's in it for them and how they will sell it to a public frustrated by our lagging economy and costly foreign involvements. Yet as long as terrorism exists, there will always be a cause to rationalize conflict.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-35590760577904935972011-11-20T14:40:00.000-08:002011-12-04T16:16:29.175-08:00<strong><em><u><span style="font-size: large;">As Deaths and Ultimatums Multiply</span></u></em></strong> <br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Is Syria on Verge of Civil War? </span></strong><br />
<span style="color: red;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">And </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Will the West Intervene?</span></strong></span><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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Ultimatums from the Arab League, Turkey, the EU and US have yet to stop the bloodshed in Syria which is nearing 4,000 dead and heading for a civil war. This isn't what the Arab Spring was supposed to bring. But it does illustrate a need for continued Big Power involvement in this powder keg region. And events may mean just that as pressure builds for outside intervention.<br />
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For quite some time western leaders have maintained an end to the Israel-Palestine issue is the key to Middle East peace. However, the so-called Arab Spring has destroyed that idea. Indeed, the only connection Israel may have had with the upheavals sweeping the Arab world is through TV and the Internet, where the multitudes could see the affluent lifestyle along Tel Aviv's beaches.<br />
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For people, such as the Syrians, kept under theocratic dictatorships since 1918, and repressive Ottoman rule since the 15th Century, the idea of a better, freer life is what has fueled the uprisings. Yet, there will always be tension and danger with the prospect of chaos in a feudal world interacting with wealthy and free western nations...nations dependent on that world's black gold.<br />
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Several surveys of living standards reveal Arab nations woefully behind all developed nations and even below most Latin American nations. The United Nation's Human Development Survey shows Norway Number 1, the USA 4, Israel 17, the UK is back at 27 and the closest Arab country, the UAE at 32. Syria is way down at 118. Libya, which is also in utter chaos, was rated 64, Tunisia is 94, Jordan 95 and Turkey, a non Arabic Muslim nation that wants to join the European Union is 83. Way down the list is Egypt at 113 and Yemen at 154.<br />
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The Arab world is similar to the USA in one key geopolitical area. It needs an enemy or scapegoat for its shortcomings and the excesses of its potentates. For decades America had Communism as an all-purpose enemy. With that gone, and the fact we are an economic hostage to the world's biggest nation, one that's Communist, we had to find another adversary...terrorism... a never-ending war of terror. Yet America's economic and employment problems are causing our masses to rethink foreign wars and foreign aid.<br />
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But, for the Arabs that enemy has been Israel...the simple fact is, if Israel never existed it would have to be invented to keep the Arab masses in line. They and the West would most probably face the same problems. The West would still be fighting to control Middle East oil until it runs out and the Arabs would be blaming each other and the West for their problems.<br />
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Given the NATO action in Libya and Iraq, it seems the only way the bring stability to the Arab World is to force the issue with an overpowering dose of neo colonialism, i.e., Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.<br />
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NATO became involved in Libya on the grounds that Gadaffi was killing civilians. With this reasoning Syria, whose leader is killing thousands of his own people, is ripe for western intervention. And the West has to stop being timid and do what it has to do to maintain respect for its preeminence and support for civilized government.<br />
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The alternative is to accept an unknown outcome of various uprisings, with a worse case scenario being Islamic extremist governments. Indeed the only stable country in the region is Israel, and even it has to contend with the prospect of more violence from the Palestinians, who find it easier to take on the Israelis than their own corrupt leadership.<br />
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Yet, the Israel-Palestine issue has been relegated to a sideshow. Israel could recognize a Palestinian state tomorrow and it would have no effect on the so-called Arab Spring. The uprisings would continue and governments would remain or fall. <br />
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Little by little the Arab masses, while still hating Israel out of conditioning, are realizing an end to their repressive governments and not an end to Israel will help them obtain better lives.<br />
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But it seems realistic to conclude that for some time to come this region will be unsettled, chaotic and begging for some benevolent yet strong leadership. The main problem with the Arab world has been a nationalism based on a mass of uneducated people held in check by authoritarian, often repressive regimes, using religion as a tool of state control. <br />
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And part of this control has been maintaining feudal tribal fiefdoms where outsiders are often rejected on religious grounds and in the case of Israel, massive propaganda orchestrated by the state aimed at scapegoating that country for all the world's problems. Sound familiar?<br />
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The key to neo imperialism is to benevolently bring these people into the modern world through order, civility, living standards and proper contemporary education. This doesn't have to be nation building. <br />
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It's more like time travel. The nations of the Arab world are close enough in proximity to the West to have graduated away from ancient tribal lifestyles. But, for the most part they haven't and this modern day medievalism is the main difference that separates them from being modern progressive societies.<br />
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Some UN officials hoped back in 1948 that the creation of Israel would establish a climate of cooperation where the technically proficient Israelis could teach the Arabs how to make the desert bloom. For the most part this hasn't happened.<br />
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Since the West's prime interest in the Middle East isn't date and fig exporting, the only way to secure oil exports for the long term is by the West doing it until proper democratic governments can take root.<br />
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So far Tunisia, Morocco Libya, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen are in varying states of revolution or civil war. There have also been rumblings from Jordan and Lebanon.<br />
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This instability and upheaval could eventually impact oil production and the real possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran will only make things worse.<br />
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The Arabs, long the witnesses and victims of big power conflict know how to play one side against the other. They did it during the Cold War and sensing the West is in decline are warming a bit towards Iran, who some may feel will be a new power broker in the region. <br />
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In the long run this will prove a mistaken assumption. The forces of international capitalism will not be held in check by Iran. We acted quickly during Operation Desert storm when Iraq occupied Kuwait and the West will act again, if need be. <br />
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Part of the neo imperial doctrine would be to make the Middle East a nuclear free zone. This would eventually include Israel. Besides, once peace and tranquility encompasses the region, there will be no need for atomic weapons.<br />
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The key for the West would not to be perceived as an occupation power, but one of helping hands...the way Somalia was supposed to be...but ended so disastrously.<br />
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A fact of life is people is desperation will accept whatever help is given. This holds true even in a normally rejectionist Arab world. Libya is an example, as was Kuwait. A major test will be what happens after the US leaves Iraq. With one of the world's largest oil reserves, the West won't be happy to see Iran making a move of any sort of influence.<br />
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The importance of bringing stability to this region goes beyond Arab countries...Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan form a continuous belt of non Arabic Muslim nations linked to Europe yet influenced by what happens in Arab nations. <br />
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If the West allows chaos to continue and radical regimes to form, it could eventually face an expanded terror war and a growing disenchantment with the West.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-4773282858810413352011-11-10T16:40:00.000-08:002011-11-10T16:40:47.125-08:00<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><u>The Iranian Bomb?</u></span></em></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">If No Military Action is Taken</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">It Might be Best to Simply Ignore It</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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Currently being knocked off the Euro front pages by the Greek economic fiasco is a possible game changer of enormous proportions. Will Israel attack Iran's nuclear plants with more than just computer software?<br />
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Up until now it's been a poker game that Iran has been playing very well, refusing to be bluffed down in the face of Israeli threats and American intimidation. <br />
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But now, as the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report claiming Iran has long been trying to develop atomic weapons, the case for a preemptive strike, such as Israel once carried out against Iraq, will be stronger.<br />
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Yet for argument's sake let's say Israel doesn't attack Iran.... which it probably wouldn't do without American backing up front. <br />
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Iran then will most certainly develop a nuclear weapon. In fact, it could be argued the military and economic threats against it offer Iran justification to have such weapons.<br />
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Here's what I think will happen. Iran, like Israel, will deny having the bomb. Why make it official? Better to keep the world guessing. Just the thought of an Iranian bomb will create in the Middle East what the US had for more than 40 years with Russia... Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), a sort of fantasy nuclear standoff between powers who may or may not have nuclear weapons.<br />
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Yet, this is very dangerous game to play, and one that a nation such as Iran, run by devout theocrats, feels it can afford. Wealthy democracies will think long and hard before taking military action that may mean counter attacks against them. But dictatorships with less to lose who feel they can raise the status of their homeland may not have such reservations.<br />
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The big goal of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been to replace Saudi Arabia as the Middle East's main player, which will be quite a task since Iran is a non Arabic Shiite Muslim nation, while most of the Arab world is Sunni Muslim. But, having the bomb maybe a big persuader.<br />
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However, there could be a spanner in the Iranian gears, and its called Turkey, a powerful country far more developed and with a stronger economy than anyone in the region except Israel.<br />
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Until recently Turkey has been looking westward towards the European Union. But, now it has rediscovered its Islamic glory and past Ottoman Empire. Even though the Turks have remained cordial to Iran, the Iranian imperial ambitions will not be welcomed in Ankara. <br />
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I repeat, Iran will not admit to having nuclear weapons. But, the threat will still be there as will the nuclear standoff. And barring fanatical action, that's with what we may have to live. And its also a reason Turkey has allowed US missile batteries on it soil. <br />
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Possibly the best way to deal with Iran's denials will be to simply ignore it by accepting their claims. I mean there's no point in playing the bluff game if no one believes you. This might force Iran to own up to their bomb. But, using it would be another thing, one that could be a gateway to Armageddon. Such stakes may be too high for the major powers to play. <br />
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The main lesson the world learned from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident was that even a relatively small radioactive discharge could cause a disaster over a wide area. And this lesson has been taken in by the Arab world, which fears Iran's atomic ambition.<br />
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It knows if Iran, or anyone else for that matter, attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, bordering states such as Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and especially the Palestinians could be destroyed as well. Shock waves and atomic radiation know no borders.<br />
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You might say, the Arab-Israeli conflict could be settled in one blow, with the suffering survivors envying the dead.<br />
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We can only hope Iran realises this, too. And we can also hope if and when they get the bomb, their maniacal leadership doesn't adopt the standard terrorist logic of accepting collateral damage for their idea of the greater good.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-68739476670349779992011-11-01T17:46:00.000-07:002011-11-01T18:00:49.550-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em><u>And Next in the Middle East: A Free Kurdistan?</u></em></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Kurds may Eventually Benefit from Turkey's Support for a Palestinian state</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: black;">by Dan Ehrlich</span></strong><br />
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Turkey’s new support for a Palestinian state is a hypocritical irony that may come back to haunt it in the distant future. <br />
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On one hand it’s responsible for the seedlings that grew into modern-day Israel and on the other it’s doing all it can to repress the national aspirations of its own large Kurdish minority, while rooting for the creation of a Palestinian state.<br />
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Largely forgotten amidst all the international hype surrounding the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the ongoing persecution of one of the world’s largest stateless minorities. Upwards of 30 million Kurds live largely segregated in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria where they have undergone periods of persecution…some brought on by their uprisings of national liberation.<br />
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Even though the Kurds have Persian origins, their biggest community is in Turkey where an ongoing 36-year insurgency has claimed the lives of 40,000 Kurds.<br />
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Turkey’s answer is something Israel doesn’t attempt with its Arab population…forced assimilation through military conscription, with the result of Kurds in the Turkish Army being forced to fight their brother Kurds in the uprising. <br />
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Yet, it seems logical if and when a Palestinian state becomes a reality, the birth of an independent Kurdistan will be next on the Middle East agenda. The irony here is Turkey was the governing power that sold land in Palestine to Zionist Jews before WW1.<br />
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Unlike the Palestinians, who are Arabs mainly from surrounding Arab lands, the Kurds are a distinct non Semitic ethnic group. They existed as mountain dwelling nomads for hundreds of years in a cross border region called Kurdistan. One of the greatest Muslim warrior leaders Sultan Saladin was a Kurd. <br />
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After the Ottoman Empire was dissolved, Britain agreed to the possibility of a Kurdish nation being declared. However, this idea was rejected in 1923 by Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk, who put down the first modern day Kurdish uprisings. Since then the Kurds have remained one of the world’s largest stateless ethnic groups.<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/feb99/kurdprofile.htm">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/feb99/kurdprofile.htm</a><br />
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The Kurds have one main thing against them…No oil. If they could control the flow of oil the odds of their gaining statehood would shorten. But wait! Don’t the Kurds now control the oil rich region of Iraq? And doesn’t Turkey seek closer ties with the West? Euro-pressure may build on Turkey if and when things start popping.<br />
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As I said, if there ever is a Palestinian state, look for the Kurds to impress the world with their need for a national homeland, through increased military action coupled with political lobbying. <br />
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Yet, Turkey will dig in its heals and become even more repressive. One only has to recall the WW1 Armenian genocide by Turkey of up to 1.5 million people to know the Turks don’t play by the western rule book. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide</a> The big question may be: Will Turkey cave in to Western pressure in favor of the Kurds...or will it revert back to its ruthless Ottoman past.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-40618421743013852062011-10-17T22:51:00.000-07:002011-10-19T02:05:37.014-07:00<span style="font-size: large;"><strong><u><em>US, Israel</em></u></strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Business Booming in One, Flat in Other</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Yet Both Share Similar Economic Issue</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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<em><u><span style="font-size: large;">Cain's Shallow Views Won't Stop American Decline</span></u></em><br />
You’ve got to admire Herman Cain, whether you do or don’t agree with his often simplistic views. To challenge the GOP establishment and rise higher and higher in the polls is no small feat.<br />
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That’s mainly because of his outspoken and brash language centered on domestic policies that resonate with millions of voters.<br />
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But Cain seems to be making the same mistake that many self made millionaires from humble beginning make…the “if I can make it, anyone can” belief. This was British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s mantra.<br />
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She, along with her political soul mate President Ronald Reagan, had little sympathy for the unemployed or low wage workers. They viewed them either welfare spongers or simply weren’t trying hard enough to get ahead.<br />
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The fact America has the greatest rich-poor gap among western industrial nations is something many captains of industry on America’s listing industrial ship don’t want to address.<br />
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Yet here President Obama’s message isn’t that much different from the pizza man…He recently challenged the nation’s African Americans to stop complaining and start moving.<br />
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However, for Cain to brand the Wall Street protests as the acts of losers (Again the “if I can make it anyone can” mantra), is both naïve and callous given our economic situation.<br />
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In the end his 9-9-9 taxation plan, which experts brand as a windfall for the rich and disastrous for the poor, gives Herman Cain away as just another Wall Street loving fat cat with a Reaganesque view of the less well healed. To use the age-old adage: A former slave can make a worse taskmaster.<br />
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A good way to view the American dilemma is through a microcosm…a small nation with a similar problem. That nation is Israel, with a population of 7.5 million, 6 million of which are Jews and 1.5 million Arabs.<br />
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Now, given the historic academic excellence and business acumen of Jews one might think Israel would truly have become a land of milk and honey. And, on the plus side it has the second highest living standard of any Middle East nation. And its economy is so strong it has a credit rating now a shade ahead of America’s.<br />
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But, on the negative side, as with the USA, it has a rich-poor gap almost as great, with many citizens forced to live sub standard existences. Before the current anti Wall Street protests, a half million people protested all over Israel for decent living standards there. <br />
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But how could this be? By Cain’s logic, such people are losers. Yet, many demonstrating Israelis were military vets, college grads and most were employed …many of whom have now found themselves being shortchanged on life in their own idealic country during a time of plenty.<br />
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If this is happening to Israel in a relatively short time span, it may be easier to understand why American protests will continue to grow now and in the future.<br />
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We rose to new heights of affluence and plenty as the post WW2 superpower with an untouched industrial base that grew and grew rather than being blown to hell by the war. We were the main producer nation. <br />
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But, while our industry grew our population in 1950 was less than half what it is today…When Israel was formed in 1948 there were less than a million people in the new state, more than seven times fewer than today. However, unlike America, Israel has a very small landmass, which means that land will become expensive when the demand of a growing population increases.<br />
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America doesn’t have a land problem…yet. Its main similarity with Israel is in the concentration of wealth. Israel doesn’t have the unemployment problems of the West. People are working. But the cost of living has outstripped wages, meaning many Israelis can’t afford a decent life, while a few fats cats own most of the nation’s prosperity.<br />
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In America, many things are dirt cheap, and the country is large enough to afford varying living standards that means if you go looking for it, you should be able to find some affordable place to live.<br />
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But, you have to have some level of income to do this. And, as our unemployment rate climbs, fewer and fewer people will be able to afford a living standard that isn’t reinforced by welfare assistance. A main reason for this isn’t just the rapid death of our industrial base, but also the rapid growth of our population. <br />
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Where China put the brakes on its population growth with a one-child policy, America is still a two-kid country with 312 million people.. If current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005.<br />
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And 82 percent of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants, according to new projections developed by the Pew Research Center.<br />
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Who will employ all these people? What will their living standard be? If we have 9 to 17 percent unemployment rate now with our current population, what will 2050 be like? And, what will housing cost be when land and housing in key areas becomes scarce? <br />
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One thing is certain, there will be other Herman Cains around, extolling the view, “If I can make it, you can, too.”<br />
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Business Booming in One, Flat in Other</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Yet, Both Share Same Economic Problem</span></strong><br />
<strong><em>by Dan Ehrlich</em></strong>DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-30705858930411594772011-10-10T21:55:00.000-07:002011-10-15T09:02:38.529-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em><u>Regression...What's That?</u></em></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Turkey Pastrami? Better Get Used to It</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">In the America Politicians Won't Mention</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong></span><br />
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The other day at my local market I asked for a half pound of lean pastrami. But, I could see the attendant grabbing a piece of turkey pastrami and was ready to slice it when I said “Wait a second, I want real beef pastrami" which was the only pastrami you could buy for more years than I can recall.” And for a few cents more in cost, that’s what I eventually bought.<br />
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What my experience seeking beef pastrami and the current anti Wall Street protesters have in common is both having to deal with the decline of America which I call our Regression. It’s something as a nation we have never experienced. That may because nations in decline experience it only once. <br />
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America is not going into a recession or even a depression. Those are things we had when the horn of plenty was still overflowing and this nation had a bright future. With that gone we have in fact entered a regression. It can be argued we are gradually going back to our roots as a nation, but this time on the cheap.<br />
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America, with the biggest rich-poor gap in the developed world, has a colossal challenge of keeping the population well fed. And, no matter how our economy does, our workforce probably won’t realize the high wages of better days. For example new figures show a living standard drop twice as much today as it was during the last recession, which allegedly began in 2008 and ended last year…but don’t hold me to that.<br />
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The current anti Wall Street protests are nothing compared to the anarchy that could result if hunger in America reaches a tipping point…something that won’t happen as long as we can make cheap food for the masses. Cheap food that will be promoted as a healthier alternative. Currently turkey burgers are being promoted on televison as a healthier and cheaper alternative to beef. <br />
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This and the economic downturn has forced US cattle ranchers to sell beef on the hoof in foreign countries, such as China and Japan. where beef prices are very high.<br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">Cheapening of America Underway for Years</span></em></strong><br />
But, the cheapening of America has been going on for years at the same time we have been sold on the super size idea and that artificial foods are often better than real food. <br />
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Just look at many of the prepared meats and meals in any supermarket and see the crap that’s now being passed off as a healthier alternative to genuine meat we used to get. The all American pork hot dog is history at many markets, replaced by chicken and turkey dogs…Of course, if you have money to spend you can buy the more expensive all beef dogs.<br />
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A basic drink such as orange juice is mainly made from concentrate, meaning we don’t know how much water is actually added. Of course, if you’re not so well off you can buy gallons of orange drink, not juice, but at the same price real juice used to cost.<br />
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At major supermarket chains in the US cheap plain wrap food is becoming more prevalent. As time marches on, more and more of our basic commodities will be adulterated to feed us on the cheap. And you can bet, somewhere in time when the last drop of oil is pumped from the earth, someone will patent air or water as our new power source.<br />
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As our rich poor gap increases, the dietary gap will follow suit, with the masses dining on Soylent Green while the elite eat fillet steak and Hebrew National all beef hot dogs.<br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">World Divided into Producer and Consumer Zones</span></em></strong><br />
The world is now divided into two zones composed of producer nations and consumer nations. The problem for we as consumers is our countries have to create jobs so we can buy goods that fuel the furnaces of the Asian producers. Yes, we are all in bed together and it looks like our political leaders are resigned for a long lie-in.<br />
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President Obama and all US presidents since Ronald Reagan have one main thing in common, they’re supply-side monetarists. They cringe at talk of restrictive trade barriers and extol the one-world market, the very thing that has pinned us to the Chinese economy and our own slow impoverishment.<br />
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We started with nothing in America except the land and a growing population. We developed a wealthy society that emerged pre-eminent at the end of WW2 as the only major industrial power not largely destroyed. In fact we became so rich, our own industry couldn’t provide us with the amount of quality goods we wanted such as multiple TVs in the house and multiple cars in the garage.<br />
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So, to feed our materialistic hunger and enrich the capitalists, we dropped trade barriers and welcomed in foreign goods. Then we began exporting work abroad, first to Japan and now to China and India.<br />
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Well, gradually, our happy days are ending. Other nations have also become wealthy or in China’s case, an industrial giant, largely through our patronage and we’re fighting them for trade and natural resources.<br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">The Sad Fact is We Can't Compete with Slave Wage Nations</span></em></strong><br />
The sad fact of life is, we can’t compete against slave wage cultures and yet maintain our economy and obscene consumption rate. We have two choices both resulting in a new austerity for us. We can raise trade barriers and rebuild our industrial base, which will mean higher costs for consumers or we can lower our wage structure so we can compete with dollar-a-day wage nations.<br />
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No matter, Americans will have to learn to live on less as our backward slide continues. We may even get to know our families again as we all huddle around our home theater systems and vie to use the family car.<br />
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Oh yes, you can bet on the forbidden S-word to become spoken more openly in America. As people downsize and downgrade, socialist programs will be needed to care for the newly dispossessed who will be battling with Mexican workers for jobs at fast food joints.<br />
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This is where nations such as the UK have a big advantage. Any regression there won’t be nearly as severe and will be cushioned by the much maligned, but long established welfare state. On the other hand, Europe's social democracies, in the same bed with the USA, will have to figure out how to pay for these programs.<br />
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Eventually when a slimmed down America hits bottom, it will have to decide how it climbs up again, by redeveloping its industries, with taxes on foreign good, as in the post WW2 years or depending on Chinese firms, who in any case may have taken over the country by then, for our resurrection.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-75361122758565271142011-09-29T16:50:00.000-07:002011-10-05T09:23:08.900-07:00<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em><u>Back to Square One 1948</u></em></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Abbas Won't Recognize Israel as a Jewish State</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">But Wants the World the Recognize Palestine</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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West <span style="color: black;">Bank</span> Palestinian leader Mahmood Abbas told a group of Arab Americans that he will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, proving that nothing has really changed in some Arab minds regarding Israel,<br />
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This bigoted religious philosophy, that Islam can be the only preeminent faith in the region, from 64 years-ago, was the main Arab sore point that prompted the first Middle East war. <br />
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Abbas, after his UN speech asking for his state of Palestine (Land of the Philistines) to be proclaimed he hinted he will not re start peace talks with Israel as long as settlement building continues. And it’s easy to see his point given the rather small area of his proposed state…or more accurately his half-state. Hamas in Gaza wants nothing from of his UN begging.<br />
<br />
Yet, listening to his speech and you can see why this conflict just goes on and on…From start to now, the Palestinians’ problem is the fault of Israel…Abbas made no mention of Arab wars, terrorism and rocket attacks or the fact that his own Arab brothers have from 1948 designated Palestinian refugees as official pawns, hanging them out to dry on an Israeli clothesline.<br />
<br />
Yet by western logic the negotiating stance of Abbas is mind-boggling. He leads a hard pressed people cut off by war from their own kind, receiving little aid from the Arab world, and yet dictates to the victors in these wars (Israel) that his people should have their own state, without first recognizing Israel, the established nation that occupies land they call their own. <br />
<br />
So, what Abbas is hoping for is to have the UN proclaim his state without him recognizing Israel, thereby really changing nothing for his people on the West Bank, and maintaining the status quo that has been going on since 1967.<br />
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The West Bank has been in contention since after the 1948 war, when it formed a ceasefire line between Jordan and Israel. There never have been internationally recognized borders for Israel and the West Bank. This is why Abbas has asked the UN to declare his state there.<br />
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When Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 that enclave was not part of the deal. Through Arab League pressure Jordan finally gave up all claim to the West Bank in 1988. The League, since 1948, had wanted to keep the West Bank Arabs as dispossessed people, pawns in their war of attrition with Israel.<br />
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But, since there never have been internationally recognized borders and Israel controls that area, it feels it has the right to settle on its historic homeland. Why haven’t there been recognized borders? Because most Arab states don’t accept Israel exists and refuse to show it on their maps.<br />
<br />
However, settlement building on occupied territory is also a political ploy aimed at forcing the Palestinians back to the conference table. And it might work if much of the world wasn’t involved in this conflict. But, since it is, Abbas can dig his heals in and refuse to negotiate.<br />
<br />
In the end the zealous settlers become the losers. When Israel vacated the Sinai and Gaza Strip it evacuated settlers and demolished the settlements.<br />
<br />
Abbas’ trip to the UN may also signal that he realizes he’s not going to get anymore out of the Israelis and wants to have his state proclaimed without his recognizing Israel. This is where the UN could show some initiative by linking Palestinian statehood with mutual peace and recognition.<br />
<br />
Yet, how can the UN declare a state when that state is geographically and ideologically divided with Abbas speaking for only half of it? The other half is in Gaza run by Hamas, which wants an endless war against Israel.<br />
<br />
This brings up the two totally different aspects to this conflict: the humanitarian in providing a home for a dispossessed people and the political in that any such state will be used as a tool weaken and nibble away at Israel. The latter will depend much on how Israel deals with any new state and its people.<br />
<br />
Right now Israel’s economy is booming. It has a higher credit rating than America even though there is a great gap between rich and poor Israelis. Yet, any Palestinian state will have to depend on the kindness of strangers. It will have to deal with Israel and Israelis and hopefully some of the wealth and know-how will rub off on the Arabs. <br />
<br />
Perhaps then peace will finally come to that area. Remember, affluent democracies seldom war with each other. On the other hand, Palestine may become Israel’s Mexico, something that could be more destructive to a Jewish state than war.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-43800912111212571142011-09-29T15:30:00.000-07:002011-09-29T15:30:50.076-07:00<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u><em>Four Powers Call for Talk Resumption</em></u></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Abbas: Not While More Israel <br />
West Bank Homes are Being Built</span></b><br />
<b>by Dan Ehrlich<br />
<br />
<br />
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West Bank Palestinian leader Mahmood Abbas has hinted he will not re start peace talks with Israel as long as settlement building continues. And it’s easy to see his point given the rather small area of his proposed state...Or, in fact, half a state.<br />
<br />
Yet, listening to his speech and you can see why this conflict just goes on and on…From start to now, the Palestinians’ problem is the fault of Israel…Abbas made no mention of terrorism and rocket attacks or the fact that his own Arab brothers have from 1948 onwards designated Palestinian refugees as official pawns, hanging them out to dry on an Israeli clothesline.</b><br />
<br />
<b>But more than this, just prior to his speech he told a group of Arab Americans he had no intention on recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. So, in fact, he's taken the conflict back to 1948 and once again shown the true feelings of the PLO.</b><br />
<br />
The West Bank has been in contention since after the 1948 war, when it formed a ceasefire line between Jordan and Israel. There never have been internationally recognized borders for Israel and the West Bank. This is why Abbas has asked the UN to declare his state there<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But, since there never have been internationally recognized borders and Israel controls that area, it feels it has the right to settle on its historic homeland. Why haven’t there been recognized borders? Because most Arab states don’t accept Israel exists and refuse to show it on their maps.<br />
<br />
However, settlement building on occupied territory is also a political ploy aimed at forcing the Palestinians back to the conference table. And it might work if much of the world wasn’t involved in this conflict. But, since it is, Abbas can dig his heals in and refuse to negotiate.<br />
<br />
In the end the zealous settlers become the losers. When Israel vacated the Sinai and Gaza Strip it evacuated settlers and demolished the settlements.<br />
<br />
Abbas’ trip to the UN may also signal that he realizes he’s not going to get anymore out of the Israelis and wants to have his state proclaimed without his recognizing Israel. This is where the UN could show some initiative by linking Palestinian statehood with mutual peace and recognition.<br />
<br />
Yet, how can the UN declare a state when that state is geographically and ideologically divided with Abbas speaking for only half of it? The other half is in Gaza run by Hamas, which wants an endless war against Israel and would also love to get rid of Abbas, as well.<br />
<br />
This brings up the two totally different aspects to this conflict: the humanitarian in providing a home for a dispossessed people and the political in that any such state will be used as a tool weaken and nibble away at Israel. The latter will depend much on how Israel deals with any new state and its people.<br />
<br />
Right now Israel's economy is booming. It has a higher credit rating than America even though there is a great gap between rich and poor Israelis. Yet, any Palestinian state will depend on the kindness of strangers. It will have to deal with Israel and Israelis and hopefully some of the wealth and know-how will rub off on the Arabs. <br />
<br />
Perhaps then peace will finally come to that area. Remember, affluent democracies seldom war with each other. On the other hand, Palestine may become Israel’s Mexico...something that could be a deadly blow to a Jewish state.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-83154242375987640712011-09-23T01:06:00.000-07:002011-09-25T01:14:27.476-07:00<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Denied Nationality by Arabs, Israelis</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Palestinians Deserve Their Own State</span></strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em>But Statehood Should be Tied to Mutual Recognition, Peace</em></span></strong><br />
The Palestinian Arab people deserve a state of their own for two reasons: Their Arab brothers don’t want them and the Israelis, with 1.5 million Arabs of their own, don’t want them either. So, as with the Jews of Europe, being an unwanted people, they qualify for a homeland. Yet any such state should be tied to mutual acceptance and a peace treaty.<br />
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The major problem for the West in dealing with this endless growing headache has been in understanding the Middle East mindset. When the UN voted for the creation of Israel in 1947, it was with largely a western mindset…if the new state could survive a military campaign against it, that would be the end of hostilities. And, as with post war Europe, loose ends such as refugees could be solved through negotiations.<br />
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The West never imagined an endless period of hostility and wars aimed at ridding the region of a thorn in its side…one that only seem to fester with time. And that was because the Arab nations refused to treat the wound, in this case, an ever-increasing number of refugees, from these wars. They knew there would come time when this infection would burst open, as it now is doing.<br />
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We in the West see things in terms of quick success or failure…politicians see issues as terms in office. But, the Arabs have long viewed life in a timeless void where, if you wait long enough, the world will revert back to the way it was.<br />
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So, it has been with their endless conflict with Israel. The Arab League knew in 1948, after their first losing war with Israel, that keeping Arab refugees stateless would be beneficial to their new war against the Infidel, a war of attrition.<br />
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Now, that practice has borne fruit…a UN resolution resurrecting the ancient Roman territory of Palestine into the State of Palestine. Yet, as was the case with Israel in 1948, a resolution is one thing, holding on to your claim is another. This makes any Palestinian entity problematic since it’s really composed to two basic entities, the West Bank, at peace with Israel and the Gaza Strip, at war with Israel. The new state of Palestine is divided, before it’s even off and running, both geographically and politically.<br />
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It’s one thing to having a nation born into a state of war, fighting for its survival, and another fighting before being born as a nation so you can carry on the fight legitimately after a painful birth. Hamas, which controls Gaza, hates Israel religiously and has vowed to destroy it. Its hostile and deadly acts are the sole reason for Israel’s blockade. Hamas would also like to rest control of the West Bank from the PLO. But, the two factions have called a truce for now. This is the state of the state that’s being born. <br />
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Israel, for its part in this saga, has made the mistake of thinking it could out wait the Arabs war of attrition by heaping hardships on the Palestinians. Things such as settlement building, withholding funds and border crossing delays are part of a failed policy by the conservative government to nobble the Palestinians into negotiations. <br />
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Yet all this right up to the any UN resolution ignores the one basic fact that has remained since 1947…one that was made clear by recent events in Egypt…. The Arabs, including the Palestinians, don’t want a Jewish state in the region. Why, for example, hasn’t a peace offering been made with the Palestinian state resolution? It seems this would be a natural part of any statehood bid. Israel’s 1948 declaration of independence called on all its neighbors to work together for peace…So why not the Palestinians?<br />
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Most probably it’s because Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas is a tool of the Arab League, an organization, which with a few exceptions, has worked toward weakening and eventually destroying Israel. The League has one other concern…Palestinian refugees…It doesn’t want its member states to be forced through international pressure to accept them as citizens. <br />
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What’s mystifying in an ever-smaller world is how no major international political or body of justice has condemned League Resolution 1457, which denies Palestinians citizenship in Arab nations.<br />
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Just as mystifying is the ethnic loyalty the Palestinians continue to hold for people who have kept them penned up in camps for as long as 63 years on a promise that the Infidel would be driven into the sea. Making peace isn’t that hard, especially when you become sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. But, it takes two.<br />
<br />
However, one positive advantage of a Palestinian state for Israel will be it’s ability and even its inability curb attacks. If it does, great, if not, Israel will have a green light to respond against an established nation that maintains a state of war against it. <br />
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More realistically, a Palestinian state’s main priority will quickly shift from war to economics and making the life of its citizens better. To do this it will need Israeli assistance…assistance that will be offered only in peace.DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6912665465969949508.post-84280751907026020142011-09-16T19:17:00.000-07:002011-09-16T19:38:55.472-07:00<strong><em><u><span style="font-size: large;">With Most of Their Facilities Abroad</span></u></em></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Two Industry Leaders Blame Washington</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">For America's Economic Decline</span></strong><br />
<strong>by Dan Ehrlich</strong><br />
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Recently I watched Starbuck’s honcho Howard Schultz and Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman proclaim on network TV that Washington was broken, the people had no faith in it, our politicians were liars and for America’s economy to become strong again will take massive investment in US industry and education<br />
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And while I agree with their views, I couldn’t help thinking of some hypocrisy in their words. The majority of Caterpillar plants and Starbucks coffee houses are now in foreign countries. And most of the Starbucks’ recent cutbacks have been in America. Schultz didn’t mention this.<br />
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The official “recession is over” claim has been a feel good attempt designed to divert our attention from high unemployment, the declining middle class and the fact that the bulk of American industry is anything but patriotic.<br />
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The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas last year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. Robert Scott, the institute's senior international economist says the additional 1.4 million jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9 percent.<br />
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“There's a huge difference between what is good for American companies versus what is good for the American economy," Scott says. The fact is: American jobs have been moving overseas for more than two decades. But now, the products being made are high tech goods as well as clothes and toys. <br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">D.C. Uncertainty Deters US Business Investment</span></em></strong><br />
It is Schultz’s view the fault of our economic decline lies squarely with our politicians, claiming US industry is fearful of investing its huge profits back into America because of the anxiety and the uncertainty that exists with regard to the political system. <br />
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He pointed out only 9 million Americans currently work in our industrial sector. “Can you believe that? I mean, that's a stunning statistic.” His words came when Ford, also with has more factories abroad than in America, was announcing still another plant under construction in India where 5,000 Indians will be employed.<br />
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Profits at major American corporations are up, the stock market is soaring and our leaders repeatedly tell us the great recession of 2008 is history. When in fact it will still be with us through 2011 and probably 2012. That’s because the nation is carrying record high unemployment of 9.8 percent, or 17 percent in real terms.<br />
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On top of this, much of what US firms are making abroad is staying abroad…being bought by foreigners while the US domestic market still is in a subdued recession mode.<br />
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“It’s the economy stupid,” that Clinton era rallying cry is what today’s politicians keep skirting around, diverting us with a few key side issues, such as gays in the military, abortion, gay marriage and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the reality of globalization… that vague locale where the political Right and Left meet.<br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">When Right and Left Meet</span></em></strong><br />
The Left sees the global market as the death of the nation state, which it loathes, and the birth of a global society of growing equality, where the lion will lie down with the lamb. The Right sees it as the normal progression of free market capitalism with new markets for American industry, the end result being world economic zones controlled largely by super banks.<br />
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So far the Right is far ahead of the Left. Much of the world has been divided into economic and political zones, including NAFTA, the EU, SEATO and the African Union. And globalization has allowed, or forced, American firms to open up profitable operations abroad, while leaving their home country in the dust.<br />
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The main success the Left can claim is a growing middle class, if you can call it that, in overpopulated developing nations. By 2015, for the first time, the number of consumers in Asia's middle class will equal those in Europe and North America combined. Which is understandable since the American Middle Class has been in decline for several years and the Asian version is growing by virtue of the West's appetite for its cheap goods and services.<br />
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"All of the growth over the next 10 years is happening in Asia," says Homi Kharas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and formerly the World Bank's chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.<br />
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And, who serves these new consumers? US firms do, such as that most all-American icon Coca Cola. Of Coke's 93,000 global employees, less than 13 percent were in the U.S. in 2009, down from 19 percent five years ago. <br />
<span style="color: red;"><strong><em>More than Half New Caterpillar Hires Overseas</em></strong></span><br />
More than half of the 15,000 people that Caterpillar has hired this year were outside the U.S. The tractor maker from Moline, Ill. has opened two plants in China.<br />
<br />
So, while Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are busy backing America with their millions, other major players are backing the very people that are helping to impoverish America. There may come a time when we won’t be able to afford the stuff China makes. But that won’t matter so much if China develops its domestic market…which will be a neat trick given the repressive nature of the Communist nation.<br />
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Yet, we know little of this back home. We are more likely to know the finalists on Dancing with the Stars or America’s Got Talent, the latter show pointing out an irony of the times as to who really has the talent these days.<br />
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Since WW2 we have been involved in four major military conflicts plus the Cold War, which enriched the Military Industrial Complex but did nothing for our population.<br />
<br />
This plus more light entertaining such as Olympic Games, sports, social networking, the cult of celebrity and entertainment help blind us to real issues such as the economy, poverty, pollution, global warming, overpopulation, dwindling energy and other essential resources that are becoming more serious with each passing year.<br />
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Oberhelman says that an open and honest dialogue with our leaders is missing. “I don't believe that this situation about our budget is anything new. And it is beyond me that we can't have an open, honest dialogue with our people.”<br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">American Education System isn't Good Enough Today</span></em></strong><br />
Underpinning much of this is the growing lack of quality education among America’s young. As Oberhelman explains, “What we find is a lot of the applicants need retraining, they need basic education, maybe they didn't get through high school, there are all kinds of problems. <br />
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“So we spend a lot of time training and retraining. It's heartbreaking because our education system has failed all of us. And again you go to China, even Mexico, Brazil the education systems are valued - ours are not in this country at K-12 level. It's amazing how that change has transpired in my lifetime.”<br />
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When asked why unemployment was remaining so high for so long, Schultz again blamed the isolationist atmosphere inside the D.C. Beltway.<br />
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“When I examined the cost of what the election cycle was in 2008, which was more than $4 billion, and it's estimated in 2012 $5.5 billion is going to be spent on congressional re-election and the presidential election. <br />
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“Just think about that - $5.5 billion when we have 9 percent unemployment in America. And people don't know where their next meal is coming from. The system is completely broken.”<br />
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And speaking of the election, Oberhelman said, “Any politician that says no tax revenue or zero spending cuts does not deserve reelection.”DANhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11767365764991043317noreply@blogger.com0