NATO Expansion Causing Conflicts

8/12/2008

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Both NATO and the mad scientists working with the Bush empire have been extraordinary in pushing Russia right to the wall. We now have begun to park missiles in Eastern Europe aimed right at Moscow. Emboldened by this belligerence coupled with NATO attempts at occupying and controlling huge hunks of the Middle East, the dictator of Georgia suddenly launched a sneak attack on a break away republic allied with Russia. This, in turn, is igniting all sorts of fuses, some of which are extremely short. Europe is scared of Russia's control of energy and is most anxious to secure the rest of the Caucasus mountain region.

First, here is my own news service exactly one year ago today:

China just sat and watched with bemused fascination the G7 nations struggle to keep their banking system afloat. The Chinese now know who has control of the earth's economy. They will now request the IMF and the WTO now restructure themselve to reflect the new reality. But this won't happen. Meanwhile, the US accuses the Persian kitty of being mean and the US worries about Pakistan's nukes and Russia and China do joint military war games while the Chinese cow plans to jump over the moon. And map it, too.
*snip*
First, the race to Santa's workshop. Putin wasted no time after turning down Bush's bribes. He ran off to conquer the roof of the world. The US wants to dispute this but we can't except along Alaska's frontiers. But the ocean is deep there! Unlike where the ridge is which connects Russia to Canada. As global warming removes Greenland's ice, the battle over that smaller continent will heat up too. Then there is the Antarctic. Another treasure trove. That isn't being fought over..yet. But it will be. Then there is another landmass we should all wonder about: the moon.

Last month, I decided it was time for the 5 year cycle of re-reading that tremendous masterpiece, Tolstoy's 'War and Peace.' In addition, I got a book about the life of Napoleon. There are many lessons embedded in both the great novel and the topical study of Napoleon's life. Unlike Hitler or Stalin, Napoleon was a military genius and a great general. Up until he assembled his unwieldy and contentious empire, he was also a rather astute political leader who took over from the fractious revolutionaries who were too busy killing each other to get behind anything except the guillotine.

Napoleon is a classic example of military overreach and political hubris. He applied the same solution to every possible political problem: overrun the opposing nation with his troops. Over time, as dissatisfaction with the high taxes and deteriorating economic situation in the Napoleonic empire, whenever Napoleon rushed forwards, armies opposing him would retreat. Then, as he had to withdraw due to uprisings, lack of financial support, etc. they would follow him on his heels. After the great defeat at the hands of the Russians who had lots of room to retreat, Napoleon's last years were spent running around trying to protect the heart of his empire, futilely and hopelessly. The more he ran around, the more enemies he collected.

The US is collecting enemies. Like with the Napoleonic empire, we are wrecking the heart of our empire as we struggle to hang onto an increasing number of 'allies' who are busy reaming us out, financially and in the vital realm of trade. This month, for the first time in a number of years, the US ran a somewhat less trade deficit with these many allies. This was due to the dollar losing value due to the empire being in severe over-reach. But this isn't saving us. Our allies have united in forcing the dollar back up in value so they can resume reaming us out in international trade. Our empire is doomed. We cannot fund our massive Napoleonic war machine while running giant trade deficits with the other associates in this empire we built.

So on to today's news: wars flaring higher due to US economic and military weakness coupled with Russia and China growing militarily and economically more powerful. Europe is responding to this by the simple method of hyper-over expanding the US treaty organization, NATO and their own little reconstruct of the Napoleonic/Holy Roman Empire which is now called 'The European Union'. Which is a loser and less effective clone of the Holy Roman Empire's heart, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The places where fighting keeps erupting in Europe are exactly those same places the several European imperial powers battled with each other and the Ottoman Turks.

Not only is this whole sector of the earth riven with ideological, political, cultural, linguistic, religious divisions and histories of homicidal hatreds running back in time to the invention of the chariot, the taming of the horse. Periodically, this region is swept into an empire and peace reigns. Whether Alexander the Great or ancient Rome, Byzantia or the Mongol hordes, this region, being mountainous, is never entirely under anyone's control. In the news this week are stories of the Russian Cossacks roaring into Ossetia to save it from the grasp of the alien tribes controlling Georgia, for example. Isn't that funny news? Sounds like something out of the reign of Empress Catherine the Great, a German lady who wrestled her way onto the St. Petersburg throne.

As my article from a year ago makes clear, there are many future lines of conflict forming over the topic of who controls the world's natural resources: air, water, food and energy. What we call 'commodities'. This year, we also saw an explosion of inflation in the commodities markets. One that the European and American powers bent everyone's fingers backwards to suppress since this directly impacts inflation perceptions in the general populace. It is obvious to most thinking people that the true forces at work here in today's wild news is all about oil. NATO just recently shattered Iraq into a million pieces and is now finishing off the dismemberment of Iraq. The hope is, NATO can occupy Iraq using the US forces to bear the costs of all this while Europe reaps the benefits of controlling oil going to Europe since very little of this goes to the main funder and contributor to the occupation, the US. Like a very dim-witted ox, the US cheerfully pulls this cart filled with blood, hate and debts, thinking, 'Wow, isn't it wonderful my owners and allies are letting me do this at only 4% interest per annum!'

Geologists support Canada's Arctic claim

There will be no flag-waving or patriotic chest-thumping, but Canadian scientists are quietly set to make one of this country's most important assertions of Arctic sovereignty in decades at a geology conference in Norway on Friday.

A year after Russian scientists planted their nation's flag on the North Pole seabed -- a controversial demonstration of their country's interest in securing control over a vast undersea mountain chain stretching across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Ellesmere Island and Greenland -- the Canadian researchers have teamed with Danish scientists to offer proof that the Lomonosov Ridge is, in fact, a natural extension of the North American continent.

Their landmark findings, the initial result of years of sea floor mapping and millions of dollars in research investments by the Canadian and Danish governments, are to be presented at the 2008 International Geological Congress in Oslo.

The completion of the study represents a key step in Canada's effort to win rights over thousands of square kilometres of the polar seabed, a potential treasure trove of oil and gas being made more and more accessible as melting ice unlocks our High Arctic frontier.

Along with Russia, both Canada and Denmark are preparing submissions under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to secure jurisdiction over large swaths of the Arctic Ocean sea floor. But to secure those rights, each country has to submit scientific evidence proving the claimed undersea territories are linked geologically to its mainland or its Arctic islands.

Make no mistake: we are pulling this trillion dollar war machine and are paying our allies money for the privilege. And every day, we pay them tribute for this lucky chance. And the military/industrialists who are engineering this get vast profits while sticking the US public with paying the interest on the loans from our allies.

Only our allies are no able or willing to buy our debts entirely! Our greatest rivals, RUSSIA and China, are buying our war bonds. Our rulers yap at them both. But both know they control us to an astonishing degree. The US has to depend on hysteria in the media to egg US public into face offs with Russia and China. But both grow weary of this charade. Now, things are getting violent. Russia is very angry that the US continues to demand the dismemberment of both China and Sudan, for example. But won't protect the people of Ossetia from a sneak attack by Georgia!

As we see from the article about the Arctic, the gold rush for controlling all world commodities is on. China and Russia are madly buying up global commodity sources. Brazil is joining this as well as Japan. All nations with sovereign wealth funds are buying and controlling global commodity assets. The US has no sovereign wealth funds. Private organizations are buying commodities. But they are often international and owned by sovereign wealth fund nations, not by US citizens. The US has one thing left in our bag: our military. It is out for hire since Bush Sr. lent them to the Saudis and Kuwaitis in Gulf War I. But our performance in Iraq and Afghanistan has been poor, to say the least. So here we are: NATO itches to get involved right on the borders of Russia, working to support and protect vicious dictators and pirates, all in the name of gaining power over commodity resources. Only a very belligerent European Union doesn't want to burn their delicate little fingers, acting like Napoleon or Hitler in a rush to Moscow. They want the US to pay in both blood and money to do this for them.

A Path to Peace in the Caucasus By Mikhail Gorbachev

The past week's events in South Ossetia are bound to shock and pain anyone. Already, thousands of people have died, tens of thousands have been turned into refugees, and towns and villages lie in ruins. Nothing can justify this loss of life and destruction. It is a warning to all.

The roots of this tragedy lie in the decision of Georgia's separatist leaders in 1991 to abolish South Ossetian autonomy. This turned out to be a time bomb for Georgia's territorial integrity. Each time successive Georgian leaders tried to impose their will by force -- both in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia, where the issues of autonomy are similar -- it only made the situation worse. New wounds aggravated old injuries.

Nevertheless, it was still possible to find a political solution. For some time, relative calm was maintained in South Ossetia. The peacekeeping force composed of Russians, Georgians and Ossetians fulfilled its mission, and ordinary Ossetians and Georgians, who live close to each other, found at least some common ground.

Yelsin was a pirate, a drunk traitor who squandered his political capital and capsized Russia. He allowed Europe and America to run into the treasure house of Russia and loot it. In turn, Russians poured out who were criminals of various sorts. Now they are safely ensconced in New York City, Las Vegas, Paris and London. And having a great time of it.

Gorbachev correctly points out that Georgia, not Russia, began all this with a sneak attack on civilian populations. This sounds very much like Israel's tactics vis a vis Lebanon. NATO sat back and twiddled their thumbs while Israel brutalized Beirut. They all blocked any mention of Israel's grossly out-sized attacks based on very flimsy accusations that civilian forces in Lebanon 'kidnapped' two Israeli soldiers. The provocation in today's example is even less than Israel's excuse for invading a province and annihilating a people.

Gorbachev:

What happened on the night of Aug. 7 is beyond comprehension. The Georgian military attacked the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali with multiple rocket launchers designed to devastate large areas. Russia had to respond. To accuse it of aggression against "small, defenseless Georgia" is not just hypocritical but shows a lack of humanity.
*snip*
In other words, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was expecting unconditional support from the West, and the West had given him reason to think he would have it. Now that the Georgian military assault has been routed, both the Georgian government and its supporters should rethink their position.

Hostilities must cease as soon as possible, and urgent steps must be taken to help the victims -- the humanitarian catastrophe, regretfully, received very little coverage in Western media this weekend -- and to rebuild the devastated towns and villages. It is equally important to start thinking about ways to solve the underlying problem, which is among the most painful and challenging issues in the Caucasus -- a region that should be approached with the greatest care.

If an Israeli Jew stubs his toes while kicking a Palestinian child, the toe stubbing makes the news, the child is deleted. So it is here: the President of Georgia and his military commander are Israeli allies or Israeli. So they can run tanks over babies with abandon and not a peep of this will ever, ever appear in the mainstream media in occupied territories like the US. No sob stories from victims. No sense of outrage will appear. The US has a tight focus on Tibet and Darfur which are blamed on Russia and China. But when the victims are being brutalized by buddies of AIPAC, suddenly the camera goes fuzzy and then black.

Both Russia and China censor the news. But the media blackout here is worse because it is abnormal. The US supposedly has a free media. But the owners of this media obviously have a message now and it is pounded into our heads: we must protect Israeli interests no matter what. And Israel is always the victim. And Israel is always good and must defend itself even if it means butchering babies. And we shouldn't look at that. The US non-Jewish imperialists have a deal with the media owners: they support US war crimes and the US government will overlook Jewish war crimes.

So here we sit, listening to the bellow of abuse concerning Russian war crimes while NATO, the US and Israel merrily commit one war crime after another including the ones we accuse the Serbs of doing during the destruction of Yugoslavia. It is sad, how NATO continues to put people on trial for war crimes. One wonders if this farce will finally come to a grim end? Which takes me back to Napoleon: he was sentenced to exile on a distant island run by England, the victor. Before any international laws, the rule always was, the loser is accused of war crimes and then imprisoned or hung. We have not moved one inch towards international law in this regard.

Russia Blames the Victim By SVANTE E. CORNELL

RUSSIA is portraying its war in Georgia as a legitimate response to Georgia’s incursion last week into its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Many in the West, while condemning the disproportionate nature of Russia’s response, are also critical of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for his attempts to bring South Ossetia back under Georgian rule, and of the United States for supposedly encouraging Mr. Saakashvili’s risk-taking by pushing NATO membership for Georgia.

But the truth is that for the past several months, Russia, not Georgia, has been stoking tensions in South Ossetia and another of Georgia’s breakaway areas, Abkhazia. After NATO held a summit in Bucharest, Romania, in April — at which Georgia and Ukraine received positive signs of potential membership — then-President Vladimir Putin of Russia signed a decree effectively treating Abkhazia and South Ossetia as parts of the Russian Federation. This was a direct violation of Georgia’s territorial integrity.

How Tight Should the Bear Hug?

The Russian position is clear. Moscow sees itself as being the victim of massive Western propaganda -- a media manipulation that has portrayed Georgia as the victims rather than the aggressors.

"The very scale of this cynicism is astonishing -- the attempt to turn white into black, black into white and to adeptly portray victims of aggression as aggressors," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday. And then he got cynical himself. "They of course had to hang Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shiite villages," Putin said. "But the current Georgian rulers, who in one hour simply wiped 10 Ossetian villages from the face of the earth … are players that have to be protected."
*snip*
The war in the Caucasus has not done much to change the situation there, Petrovskaya wrote. "Georgia hasn't distanced itself from NATO as Russia might have hoped, and it also has not become closer to NATO as Saakashvili seems to have counted on when he gave the order to march toward Tskinvali." In short, the commentator writes, "Russia is without a doubt vastly superior militarily and can bring the rebel territories back under its control. But strategically, it will not win."

Europe is desperately frantic to expand NATO to all of Russia's doorsteps. They hope the US will pay for this gigantic conglomeration of states that hate each other's guts with a fury. As Europe drops all border controls, the flood of people from the East to the West has riled many in the West and there is growing fury over this. But the rulers of Europe must expand to Russia's borders so they can 'lock in' the US as the confrontational power with Russia. Europe can't win any war with Russia. Period.

History tells us that when Russia moves westwards, Europe can't resist this. Europe hopes to fix this by keeping the US locked in a Cold War stance with Russia.

'In the Caucasus, It's About Oil'

But what should happen next? It is a question that has many in Europe scratching their heads. The current flare-up in violence began on Thursday night when Georgian troops advanced into South Ossetia, ostensibly to damp down violence in the region. But President Mikhail Saakashvili has made no secret of his desire to bring the province, which seeks independence, back into the Georgian fold. And Russia has been clear that it would defend South Ossetia -- and the neighboring renegade province of Abkhazia -- were it attacked.

Now that the two have called each others' bluffs, there are many in Europe who would like to see broader European Union efforts to establish peace in the region. German commentators take a look at the conflict on Monday.

Time to look at a map:

I went to Der Spiegel to see what the Germans are seeing as the peer down the throat of the Beast of the Apocalypse. In the German Blitzkrieg of WWII, Western Europe barely got scratched. Poor Holland got the worst of it. England saw more bombs falling on cities than France which saw virtually none. But in the East! The destruction was ferocious in both directions. Any city caught in the grinder between the giants of Germany and Russia were pounded to smithereens. The destruction in some cities was near total annihilation of all structures and most humans.

The only Western European cities to face similar punishing destruction were in Germany. I lived in Germany back when there were still many such ruins from WWII still being removed and replaced. The last survivors of this horror are now dying of old age. Will the young ones remember this? Europe is dancing on the edge of the cliff because they underestimate the Russians and the anger the Russians feel concerning the many betrayals of the period when they gave up on global domination and tried to make friendly with the West.

The business daily Handelsblatt

"Europe needs Georgia and Ukraine if it wants to remain independent of Russia's ever more monopolistic oil and gas deliveries. While the West blocks Iran and Armenia is pledged to Russia, there are no pipeline routes for the rich resources of the Caspian Sea other than via Georgia -- or via Russia. Oil once again plays an important role in this war."

HAHAHA. This German newspaper understands why Hitler pushed hard towards this region in WWII only to be stalled out at Stalingrad, the bloodiest urban battle in history. Literally fought room by room, building by building. During which, Stalin's great general [and relative of my husband] Zhukov encircled the entire German military and forced it to surrender.

If we look at the map above, we see a curious thing: why, Georgia basically lies between Russia and Iran! NATO is very anxious to prevent Russian/Iranian alliance from forming. Starting in 1600, Russia, England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Persia and the Ottoman Empire all fought hard over this whole region....and NOT for oil! They fought over it for the same reasons previous empires fought over it. It is the back door to the Steppes and the Steppes is where all the great conquering hordes came pouring out of for the last 6,000 years! Europe is terrified that now they are well over the top of the Hubbert Oil Peak and now declining, they need more oil. So they will do anything to NOT PAY for it.

Just like they won't pay for the US to fight wars so they can have oil they control for themselves. Why the US wants this is baffling. What do we get?

HAHAHA. They will happily lend us money to spend our own money doing this. We pay Europe 6% per annum, die for them, they get the oil and we get more debts and funerals. But our military/industrial complex will roar to life and owners of this system will get very rich. And in turn, they control Congress and the Presidency. And we get to eat death and destruction of our industrial base, our economic systems and our banks. But we get more cheap loans! Which we could give ourselves if we were slightly smart. But to do this, we have to first have TARIFFS AND BARRIERS TO TRADE!!!!! Gads.

06/08/2008: Hijacking Galicia

Sonja Margolina continues the debate, started by Richard Wagner, about Ukraine's place in the EU

Which is why the "truth" about Galicia is no argument against Ukraine joining the EU. The sociological construct of the homo sovieticus and the infamous Orthodox-Byzantine influence – as if the Greeks and the Bulgarians were any different – even the unpleasant nationalism - are problematic as objections. A more pressing argument is that the Ukrainian elite seems to want sidestep having to carry out institutional modernisation on its own back by joining Nato and playing the "European perspective" card. But even this is not enough to eliminate them from the running. Plenty of other countries became fully-fledged EU members without fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. In the reality of the expansion process, high standards are watered down by political expediency. European values are eroded with every wobbly candidate who grows in power once under the protective umbrella of Nato and the EU and develops a culture that is a throwback to communist times. Strengthening them, could therefore promote the two-speed Europe which Jürgen Habermas is so keen to promote. Ralf Dahrendorf calls it the "coalition of the willing". But the "willing" are thin on the ground in old Europe.

The EU - by now this sounds banal - is a stage for globalisation. For all its obsession with control, it has shown itself to be incapable of putting a stop to the incessant creep of the non-European world. The more inaccessible the fortress, the less protected it becomes. Because the influence of foreign global players like China and Russia looks poised to become more powerful than the weight of individual EU states with their veto rights. To a certain extent Russia is on the brink of "entering" the EU without becoming a member. An "entry" of this kind would relativise the shortcomings of EU hopefuls. If Russian energy policies have a Russian-Othordox stamp on them, why should we take offence at the Ukrainian homo sovieticus? The EU's problem is its own crisis, not one state which wants to solve its problems through accession. We will get over Ukraine kidnapping Galicia, but the prospect of old Europe being kidnapped makes us shake in our shoes.

The Holy Roman Empire didn't worry about how 'European' any of its subjects were. They didn't care about having large Jewish enclaves. Or gypsies. Or anyone. They wanted an empire and were fine with all the rest. The great composers of this amazing and very unstable empire would happily go to Hungary or Dalmatia or to gypsy camps to listen to the music and learn the dances of the Poles or the Maygars. The arts of this Viennese empire created the greatest, most beautiful cultural scene ever! Much of the tremendous works of genius enrich us to this very day, from 1700-1930, this wonderful flower blossomed!

In Russia, it is the same: thanks to the LACK of cultural unity, there was diversity! And in this came tremendous creativity. When a great empire brings together many people, this is the good side effect. This is what made America strong. Even when savage, vicious repression and second-citizen non-human status of the offspring of African slaves was raging, much of the best of US culture came out of the repressed masses of the African-American community. The cultural riches from this community was tremendous.

And still ongoing! Byzantine Russia is no worse than Imperial Germany or the English Kings and Queens attempts at destroying the Irish tribes. Not to mention the horrors of international global domination! We all fear someone from the outside. But we are all outsiders in the end. The question is, do any of these conflicts need to end in total annihilation?

Europe has gone to that edge more than once. So has Japan. Will the US follow in these footsteps? Let's look at the past for a minute:

By CRAIG R. WHITNEY
Published: April 10, 1997 Russian Talks of a Possible NATO Pact

All but conceding defeat in its long battle against NATO's expansion, Russia agreed conditionally today to put its relations with the alliance on a new footing at a meeting in May with President Clinton and other allied leaders.

After talks with President Jacques Chirac of France about a charter that has been under discussion since December, Foreign Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov of Russia said today, ''We agreed that if the NATO-Russia agreement can be prepared in the coming weeks and if the preparations are satisfactory to all nations concerned, then the signing by heads of state or government of the 16 member states and Russia can take place in Paris on May 27.''

''We believe plans for enlarging NATO are a very serious mistake,'' Mr. Primakov said. ''But at the same time, we are realists, and we will do our best to get the Russian factor taken into account whatever the course of events.'' President Boris N. Yeltsin, he said, would come to Paris ''with great pleasure'' on May 27, assuming the final obstacles to a NATO-Russia charter are resolved by then.

Even Yeltsin didn't want NATO in Russia's face. But he got plastered, and drunkenly allowed this to proceed. Note that Germany, France and the US pushed hard for this nearly immediately after promising Gorbachev we would not do this?

Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are expected to be among the first former Communist countries invited to join. Mr. Clinton and other NATO leaders plan to extend the invitations at an alliance summit meeting planned in Madrid in early July.

Any Russian hopes that differences of opinion between President Clinton and key European allies would cause the alliance to shelve its expansion plans were disappointed by the enthusiastic backing Mr. Chirac and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany gave the plans in talks they had with Mr. Yeltsin earlier this year.

When he met Mr. Clinton in Helsinki, Finland, last month, Mr. Yeltsin was prepared to say only that the United States and Russia had agreed to disagree about expansion and to keep working on the charter. By agreeing to the May 27 signing date, Western diplomats said, Mr. Yeltsin has created the expectation that any remaining wrinkles could be ironed out by then.

French officials close to Mr. Chirac and Western diplomats said they had no reason to believe that Mr. Primakov had been promised any new concessions. Mr. Chirac flew to Bonn later today for scheduled talks with Mr. Kohl.

NATO's Secretary General, Javier Solana, now visiting Washington and Ottawa, will go to Moscow next week for more talks on the charter, which Russia originally wanted to be a pact requiring ratification by all signers.

What is emerging instead is a formal agreement falling short of a treaty. It would establish a permanent liaison between Russian military officers and the alliance's commanders in Mons, Belgium, and a consultative council in Brussels.

Russia took what it could get. Note how it wanted to be part of the US/NATO empire. But this was not to be. Finally, in disgust, the Russian secret police decided it was time to deal with a weak Yeltsin.

Dec 31, 1999: Yeltsin chooses Putin as his successor

Putin was Yeltsin's fifth Prime Minister in 17 months. But Putin did far better than survive; within four months a declining Yeltsin asked Putin to take over as acting President. Putin tells us he initially declined but that Yeltsin raised it again, saying, "Don't say no." His rise to Russia's highest office ended up being even more rapid: on December 31, 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and, according to the constitution, Putin became (acting) President of the Russian Federation.

The first Decree that Putin signed December 31, 1999, was the one "On guarantees for former president of the Russian Federation and members of his family".This ensured that "corruption charges against the outgoing President and his relatives" would not be pursued, although this claim is not strictly verifiable.

Putin is a patriot. This is obviously clear at this point. He is also brutal but then, he had to rescue Russia from being totally dismembered by Europe and the US. Europe knows, 'Big nations like the Holy Roman Empire or the US are strong, small ones are weak.' Which is why they are frantically growing their new empire as fast as possible.

This is why the rulers of this new empire were spitting angry at the Irish who voted down the EU 'Treaty' which would eliminate significant sovereign powers of Ireland! I bet the rulers in Brussels told Georgia, once the treaty was locked in place, they would help Georgia take over more parts of Russian influence and then this corridor for oil and other resources would be secured and they could park US troops and missiles in this area and point them at Iran! As well as Russia. But now, Russia might wreck this pretty plan. And Europe is still a very loose confederation! Not at all ready for yet another major war with Russia.

JUST IN:

Le Pen sells party HQ to Chinese

France's anti-immigrant party, the National Front, is selling its headquarters to a Chinese university, according to the party leader.
Jean-Marie Le Pen has confirmed that the party base has been purchased by a Shanghai university.
Mr Le Pen, 79, has campaigned to become president several times under the slogan "Keep France for the French".

But his party faces growing financial difficulties. It has already sold its bullet-proof car on eBay.

HAHAHA. The sovereign wealth nations are taking over. Vive la France. Or should this be 'Vive la Chinoiserie'?

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Comments

[Ralph]

There are no markets anymore just interventions.

[G.]

It now looks like our gang of neo-liberal/conservative goons screwed over
Gorbachev much like they screwed over
Jimmy Carter. They were desperate to
resurrect the Frankenstein of the Russian
Grizzly as part of their empire of fear.
Their lives are puny and useless unless they
have plots to hatch, paranoia to whip up and
empires to build

All for what ? No one gets out of here
alive and no-one nation can ever control
the world. Our power mad goons need to get
a life.

[Darius]

Hi, your email looks to be down:

The recipient [email protected] had permanent fatal errors.

While talking to 137.118.16.2:

554 5.7.1 : Recipient address rejected: "DOBLOCK due to generic rDNS and multiple submissions (1)"

[Darius]

I came across this interesting news piece

US government has decided to immediately suspend sales of SIX strategic materials, within which platinum is one of them

https://www.dnsc.dla.mil/News.asp?Month=August&Year=2008

Are they getting ready for possible large military conflict?

[G.]

Darius:

I get the following alarm when I try to connect to the above
website address:

"The certification for this website was signed by an unknown
authority. You may be connecting to a web site pretending
to be www.dnsc.dla.mil.... which could put your information
at risk"

I've never seen this alarm before...

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Do NOT connect to that web page posted by Darius!!!!

[Carli]

It was Donald Rumsfeld who said, “Man and the turtle are very much alike. Neither makes any progress without sticking his neck out.”

Unfortunately for Saakashvili, he is Bush's new turtle. And he was just given the Saddam jig and cast to the wolves, as all these buffoons eventually are once their number comes up.

You can take your history refresher course on Turtle diplomacy here: http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/glaspie.html

It is the complete conversation between Saddam and US Ambassador Glaspie prior to the commencement of Gulf War I.

Please take note of the comment by Glapie, "We have many Americans who would like to see the price go above $25 because they come from oil-producing states."

Also of Saddam's, "We do not want too high prices for oil."

These so-called Americans are NOT Americans. They are pirates, thieves and opportunistic parasites. They have no nationality. And they use any country, any flag, to ply their misery creating greed.

Fortunately, there are patriots like Putin who do not put up with their BS. Hopefully, Hu can sell Putin the ideology of "One World, One People", so that he migrates his deep seated patriotism to all men, not just Russians.

[JT]

Out here in Europe there´s a bit different story on why this happened in Georgia.
On Russian pressure, European members of Nato did not want Georgia to join Nato. (Nato cannot have border disputes with Russia).
US wanted Georgia to join.

Abhasia and S-Ossetia are very useful for Russia in that regard (keeping Georgia out of Nato). They propably don´t even want to make them part of Russia even if they now have the chance.
I doubt Russia wants to invade Georgia either. It takes much more than 20.000 troops.

Saakashvili made a huge miscalculation in thinking Georgia could break the decade long deadlock and join Nato. And they attacked (propably encouraged by Israel and US promises of help).
Feelings are quite mixed on this here. On the other hand there´s understanding for Russia. But Russian tanks going to small neighbouring countries has a pretty bad echo too in Eastern Europe (Georgian propaganda takes advantage of this). Those tanks have a habit of staying for 50 years.

There is so much propaganda on both sides of the war. But I think this time the Russians are a bit closer to truth.

Medvedev and Putin may be many things, but they are not fools. They think a few moves ahead. You know the national pastime is chess in Russia ;).
And they just showed they can play quick chess too. And that the other side may have fallen victim to Kotov syndrome.

[Darius]

Why not Elaine? Its a Defense National Stockpile Center website. Not sure why but they require connection using the SSL (secure socket layer) certificate so the connection is encrypted just like when you buy anything online. Looking at the certificate they use its issued to DOD and looks valid. Even if its not valid it only means that the connection while still being encrypted is not validated. Or the authenticity of the certificate owner is not validated.

The error G is getting means that his browser does not have the matching public certificate . Thats all, I'm using Firefox and have no problems or errors with their certificate :)

Anyway you can go to the home page at:
https://www.dnsc.dla.mil/

and then look at the news Releases.

I find it very interesting that the sales of Platinum among other metals is suspended.

Quote:
"Ft. Belvoir, VA – The Defense National Stockpile Center announces plans to suspend competitive commercial offerings of six commodities and reduce the sale amounts of seven additional commodities. The actions are being taken as a result of an on-going study to address congressional concerns about Department of Defense needs for strategic and critical materials.

Sales of the following commodities are hereby suspended until further notice: Columbium Metal Ingot, Tantalum Carbide Powder, Platinum, Iridium, Tin and Zinc. Sales offerings under the following solicitations are immediately suspended:

• Columbium Metal Ingot - (BOA) DLA-TANTALUM-001
• Tantalum Carbide Powder – (BOA) DLA-TANTALUM-001
• Platinum – (BOA) DLA-PGM-002
• Iridium – (BOA) DLA-IRIDIUM-003
• Tin – (BOA) DLA-TIN-011
• Zinc –(BOA) DLA-ZINC-004
"

[Darius]

Also looked to buy a platinum American Eagle on the US Mint website (usmint.gov) and the platinum coins have been taken off the page. Silver and gold are still there. I hear reports of shortages of physical metals, palladium, platinum and gold at many suppliers. This is very strange considering the strong down movement of the prices http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html

Any ideas and thoughts you might have on all of this?

Thanks
Darius

[Carli]

JT, following your rationale, the question that needs to be asked is, who fell victim to Kotov's syndrome, Saakashvili or the US/Israel? The answer, will give you a clearer picture of the play.

In my view, Saakashvili is way out of his depth. Further, he is not good copy, watching the edited video on him and you see a frightened street hood. Saddam had much more intelligence than this guy and they ate him for breakfast.

[GK]

Saakashvili graduated from Columbia University Law School. Nice one!

http://www.georgiaemb.org/
DisplayDoc.asp?id=311&from=home

"It was a pleasure to listen to President Saakashvili describe his kinship for the Jewish people," noted Tisch and Hoenlein. "He shares the dedication of the American Jewish community promoting democratic values, the rule of law, and zero tolerance for terrorism."

In his remarks, President Saakashvili described Jews in the United States as "the best of Americans," noting their love of country and concern for events abroad.

A graduate of Columbia University Law School, the 36-year-old leader promised that he and his Western-educated ministers would act as "the guarantor of the rule of law." He described efforts to remove violence from Georgian society, crack down on corruption, and reform and streamline the bureaucracy so that Georgia will provide a welcoming environment for foreign investment. He urged the Jewish leaders to help his nation in this ambitious undertaking by nurturing closer business ties between Georgia and the West and Israel.

[Carli]

GK, thanks for the info. Intelligence is not necessarily reflected by the school you graduate from.

Case in point, G.W. Bush. Also, We are almost certain Saakashvili's father didn't donate a library to Columbia, so the assumption that he is intelligent.

Which begs the question, so what's his excuse???

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Sorry, Darius. Glad you explained what happened when one clicks on the site you posted here. I am rather paranoid because of the potential of cyber attacks here. I pay a bit of money for security which is why I don't use the 'free' sites.

Thanks, everyone, for the insights from Europe. Yes, Russia is scary. But Europe forgets who is also scary: EUROPE. Anyone with half a brain, reading all of Europe's history, can see clearly who is the party that invades whom over and over again!

It is NOT RUSSIA. It is EUROPE. Between Germany and France, in particular! Russia's paranoia is not crazy nor stupid. It is firmly based on a correct historical appraisal of their dangers from European SNEAK ATTACKS. For always, always, always, European rulers think, 'If only I can suddenly rush into Russia, I will win.'

See?

[R]

Here is a link to Tolstoy's War and Peace
War and Peace

[Christian W]

From the Guardian:
http://tinyurl.com/5t8vdg

snip

While Russia walks tall, Saakashvili will struggle to survive as one of the world's youngest presidents. The Europeans are already divided and vulnerable to charges of indecision and impotence. Nato splits over Georgia and Ukraine will widen. American policies in the region have been severely set back. Western energy policy is looking flaky.

"This was a proxy war, not about South Ossetia, but about Moscow drawing a red line for the west," said Alexander Rahr, Russia expert at Germany's Council on Foreign Relations and a biographer of Putin. "They marched into Georgia to challenge the west. And the west was powerless. We're dealing with a new Russia."

snip

"The Americans suffered a rare defeat in April at a Nato summit when George Bush argued strongly for starting Georgia towards alliance membership and was defeated by Angela Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France.

"This is the first time ever that an American president's request was rejected because France and Germany stuck together," said a senior source at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

In a tough statement yesterday, John McCain said the Nato rebuff to Georgia "might have been viewed as a green light by Russia for its attacks on Georgia. I urge the Nato allies to revisit the decision."

But the French and the Germans feel vindicated in rejecting Georgia and are unlikely to bend.

"A country that has such problems and is led by a hot-headed militant does not belong in Nato," said Rahr in Berlin. "It could take the whole alliance hostage and start the third world war."

EU foreign ministers meet tomorrow in Brussels on Georgia, but are riven over how to respond.

"The spectrum of views in the EU is very wide. It ranges from cold warriors to appeasers," said one of the European officials. "It will be hard to get a consensus."

Four EU leaders from the Baltic states and Poland went to Tbilisi today to show solidarity with Georgia and denounce the Russian "imperialism" they have all been victims of in the past.

The Italian government, by contrast, said it was "close to Putin's position. This war has pushed Georgia further away from Europe."

[Randy]

What I think we might be missing here is that this is a calculated move by the neoclones, if reported correctly Condie was on the ground 3 days before Saakashvili cracked a bottle of moet on one of his new tanks to launch the affair. Israel and the US knew that he would go in boots and all, that's what they wanted. This was just a test of the RedBear to see how it would react to real military provocation and to observe the performance of the RedBear's troops and weapons and in particular to look for and assess any new military toys that the RedBear might put into play BEFORE Israel and the US launch the real show in Iran. Hang on to your chairs kiddies 'cause you ain't seen nothing yet, we are in for one hell of a show, coming soon to a middle eastern theater near you.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

They didn't expect Russia to respond strongly. Idiots.

The sneak attack on Russian soldiers was just like Pearl Harbor. Remember, Hawaii was NOT a state when we used it for a naval base in 1940. It was a 'province'.

[JSmith]

"Europe is responding to this by the simple method of hyper-over expanding the US treaty organization, NATO and their own little reconstruct of the Napoleonic/Holy Roman Empire which is now called 'The European Union'."

You will have course have noticed that the nations in 'The European Union' all asked to join. Rather unlike the nations of the old USSR who weren't offered a choice, eh what?

Damned ungrateful of all those former-USSR nations who Russia saved from capitalism to go running off to join the capitalists at the very first opportunity!

[Christian W]

http://tinyurl.com/69dkfn

BBC shows Saakashvili chewing on his tie...

[moncler jacket store]

So cute! I already like you on FB and also get your posts on Google Reader. :)