Diane's Blog - International Politics

The New Oil

nospam@example.com (Diane C.) — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 19:36:40 -0700

Those of us who follow fashion have heard the phrase "the new black"...tan or grey or russet replaces black as the must-have color in your wardrobe. Well what's the new oil? The must-have in your stock portfolio or a reason for starting a war...maybe a coup d'Etat.

It's Water.

Cuidad del Este is a Deadwood style city on the Paraguay, Brazil and Argentine border. It is the third largest free-tax commerce zone in the world and has radar free airspace. Naturally that attracts dealers of contraband and their happy customers...terrorists/and or freedom fighters. Right under this South American space is the Guarani Aquifer and it may be the largest reservoir of fresh potable water in the world.

From Asia Times Online written by Pepe Escobar

Part 1: Hezbollah south of the border

The head of the US Southcom (Southern Command), the vociferous General Brantz Craddock, is absolutely convinced the Triple Border is the abode of "the "transnational terrorist, the narco-terrorist, the Islamic radical fundraiser and recruiter, the illicit trafficker, the money launderer, the kidnapper and the gang member". The emphasis is on "terrorist" and "Islamic". Southcom - US$800 million annual budget, more than the State, Treasury, Commerce and Agriculture departments combined - is the eyes and ears of the Pentagon over Latin America.

Part 2: Lost paraguayos: The Yankees are coming

The supreme Pentagon obsession remains the Triple Border and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay - the Wild West of the "war on terror". Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have been very critical toward Washington's regional geostrategic designs. So for the Bush administration a weak and corrupt Paraguayan government is the perfect Trojan horse.

So don't be relieved when the energy crisis is solved with nuclear powered solar hydrogen cell power or something like that. Water won't be so easy to replace. So do you want to be ahead of the fashion curve? Conserve water...dump that plastic water bottle.

Long Hot Summer

nospam@example.com (Diane C.) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:02:58 -0700

The Middle East is exploding...Again
I guess it's gonna be a long hot summer.

Metaphorically speaking at Ocean Beach.

This is the problem from HELL...Those of us thinking people just want to hide in our hobbit holes until it all goes away. But the world ain't run by thinking people....

From Obsidian Wings: War Without End

"Physics tells us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. They hate us, we hate them, they hate us back. And so, here we are, victims of mathematics!"

Ambassador Londo Mollari, Babylon 5

From Mahablog: Where's George?

Here and there on the Blogosphere there is speculation that the U.S. is somehow orchestrating this crisis with Israel as a prelude to invading Iran. While I’m not going to dismiss this out of hand, I think it’s more likely that the Middle East, including Israel, has finally figured out what a weenie Bush really is. And since we’ve squandered so much of our military strength in Iraq, everyone knows the U.S. doesn’t have the muscle to intervene.

From Talking Points Memo: Where's the US?

Israel actually faces what the Bush administration has pretended America faces, hostile neighbors using terrorist and irredentist factions as proxies in their conflict with Israel. But retaliation has consequences.

Last one in the hobbit hole is a rotten egg!!!

And from our sister blog Isn'titobvious.org: Is it Showdown Time?

It's the shootout at the OK coral between the modern world and the medieval world. Reality becomes science fiction and science fiction becomes reality.

Summertime and the Living is...

nospam@example.com (Diane C.) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 20:33:49 -0700

It's summertime at Ocean Beach. Time for sweaters, freezing walks on the beach, and the FOG. Today was a very very good beach day...warm, partially sunny, no wind and empty. No girl watching for a certain unnamed household person, but we can't have everything.

Now to business: Summer Internet Reading

Killer Workouts Do Gyms Breed Terrorists?...where Brendan O'Neill argues that the 9-11, 3-11, and 7-7 terrorists spent more time in the gym as opposed to the mosque. So why is intelligence scoping out the mosques and not 24 Hour Fitness and Gold's.

And today's big Brouhaha: Feds to City: Drop Dead! ... where New York City finds that its share of federal anti-terror funds is being slashed almost in half by bureaucrats who said NYC has no national icons to protect. Why isn't that the Statue of Liberty on our stamps? Where is that? Oh New Jersey.. ok.

Now those of us who like to save $$$ might say that it's good to start saving some money. but you know that money is not being saved...its going to Sacramento!

Wonder why?

Sir Dance With Who Brung Ya

nospam@example.com (Diane C.) — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:10:02 -0800

The British media loves a scandal and they are all over the Blair's peerages for party donations scandal.
The article "So You Want to be a Lord" from Slate gives all the juicy details and tells us that the usually jaded Brits are shocked over this. Shocked over bribes? Hmmm. I think they must be bored.

Peerages for cash has a fine history in Britain. Remember the baronets in Jane Austen novels. Bought and paid for...didn't get those titles by the traditional method of war and pillage.

King James I created a new class of the peerage, the Baronet and began selling them as a means to raise cash to finance his social engineering scheme to make Ireland Protestant. And it worked out just fine, as grandiose ideas always do.

Has Anyone Thought About This?

nospam@example.com (Diane C.) — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 12:36:18 -0800

The story that refuses to go away in the papers and on the web is the firestorm over the Mohammad cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten. As the rhetoric concerning free speech and religious respect gets shriller, angrier and more Danish flags and embassies get incinerated, I would like to ask these simple questions.

Why do countries, states and municipalities insist on putting laws on the books that they have no intention of enforcing? Why do politicians introduce laws to appease interest groups knowing that law enforcement and the court system can't fairly enforce them.

Danish law states that public insult or defamation of a recognized religion in Denmark is punishable by fines or four months in jail. After the cartoons were published in September, Danish Muslim groups asked their government to enforce the blasphemy law. In January, the court threw out the case stating that free speech is more important than local religious sensibilities.
And mayhem began. And all over the web, bloggers began to point out the many public insults to Christianity and Judaism in America and the Middle East and say "hey what about us? we've been insulted too!" However the story is about Danish law and what happens when the law (misguided or stupid) is not applied fairly to a minority group.

What I want to know is why does Denmark, a very secular country, have religious hate speech laws at all? What is even stranger is that this law was passed in the 1930s, and not left over from the 1600s. And why is Denmark so shocked that their very pious and religious Muslim minority can't just ignore this law like all the secular blonde Danes.

These are just questions I have. How can a government official decide what is blasphemous and what is not? And how can government officials do that fairly when said government only supports one religion through Danish taxpayer support. What is more important "a right or a law" and who decides?

I'll leave the last words to the Danish Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). He was quite famous or infamous for his fight with the official Danish Lutheran Church. He called church officials "cannibals".."parasites" .."drones" .. He wrote that Christendom is Satan's Invention". An attack on recognized religion? Did he break the law?

Chile's New President

nospam@example.com (Diane C.) — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 18:46:08 -0800

Congratulations to Chile's new president Michelle Bachelet.

"On a personal note...Gerard and I were in Santiago for Christmas and its nice to see a political campaign run by the grown-ups"