Arab world meltdown

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Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:43pm PT
I just was getting a little concerned at the heightened rhetoric! I'll lift a glass with Crowley, too.

I guess if we were in Africa and still primitive, instead of glasses we'd be lifting spears with the other guy's balls hangining on them.
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:43pm PT
Change is no good eh? That is the hallmark of conservative thinking, in a nut shell.

DMT

I think you understood my point but wish to distort for your own means.

Change is not always bad, not by a long stretch. But IN THIS CASE, it's like a box chocolates, with half of the box being rotten. Again, IMO.

And everyone is ASSUMING that democracy will take over. Where is that guarantee?
Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Jan 31, 2011 - 10:48pm PT
What everyone on both sides is saying about Mubarek is that yes he's an a-hole, but some are saying, but he's OUR a-hole. Hmmmm.
lostinshanghai

Social climber
someplace
Jan 31, 2011 - 11:15pm PT
"Man shall know commonwealth again.
From bitter searching of the heart, we rise
to play a greater part," Leonard Cohen
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Jan 31, 2011 - 11:31pm PT
And yes, our interests should always come first, we are Americans first.

So here's a question for you Jeff. Assume you're right about this. Assume
that as an American citizen, you should always put American interests
first. Now, push just a little bit against the walls of the tiny box you
live in, and think about what that implies. If it's right for an American
to put American interests first, is not right for a Brazilian to put
Brazilian interests first? Or an Egyptian to put Egyptian interests first?
Or a Cambodian or Chinese or Iranian or...

Which leaves us playing stupid schoolboy games. My team is better than your
team because its my team. If you'd been born in Teheran, you'd be screaming
for "Death to America."

Patriotism and religion are the two biggest obstacles to the path of peace
and human advancement.

But worse even than the patriots and religious zealots are those whose joy
is to profit from the carnage.
Jeremy Handren

climber
NV
Feb 1, 2011 - 12:41am PT
broken brain said"The "present administration" is totally unfriendly towards drilling for more oil both onshore and offshore, and is in the kindest words I can find, totally fukking everything up. In Casper, Wyoming, it is claimed that it is the Oil Capital of the USA. It's had an impact on our state."

Absolutely right brokenbrain, Obama is singlehandedly responsible for the sharp decline in US oil production thats been going on since domestic oil peaked in 1970. He's been sabotaging american oil production since he was 10. I hear he's not even an American.....and he's Muslim....and....blah blah blah,

couchmaster

climber
pdx
Feb 1, 2011 - 12:59am PT
Brokedown,

you should also know that Crowley is a Jew, just very angry about it for some reason.

The evil one

I do not believe the he is a jew part to be true. Jewish people have led America and often the world in deep, philosophical and complex thinking. Crowleys continued foul mouth 2 swear word replies to most posts he responds too belies any scene of intelligence. Most idiot single and double digit IQ rednecks from the deep south display more intelligence.

Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Feb 1, 2011 - 01:05am PT
Wow! Maybe you ought to come out to Wyoming and say that in a bar in Casper sometime?
I'm sure you would be the "hit" of the party.
Ricardo Cabeza

climber
All Over.
Feb 1, 2011 - 01:14am PT
Thunderdome!!!!
TGT

Social climber
So Cal
Feb 1, 2011 - 11:30am PT
The represive regimes provided the powder for the blast, but Ben Bernanke and ethanol subsidies applied the match to the fuse.

Commodities are priced in dollars, and the Federal Reserve has been overproducing dollars for more than two years. Consequently, emerging markets throughout the world -- and the food sector in particular -- are suffering from rising inflation.

The CRB food index is up an incredible 36 percent over the past year, including 8 percent year-to-date. Raw materials are up 23 percent in the past year. Inflation breakouts have occurred in China, among various Asian Tigers, and in India, Brazil, and other Latin American countries. Even Britain and Germany are registering higher inflation readings.

In dollar terms, the price of wheat has soared 114 percent over the past year. Corn has surged 88 percent. These are incredible numbers.

And let’s not forget that the world’s poor are the hardest hit by food-price inflation. They literally can’t afford to buy bread. It brings to mind the French Revolution in the 18th century. When you see this kind of mass protest in the streets, spreading from country to country, you see a pattern that cannot be explained by local conditions alone.

The dollar is the world’s reserve currency. And the rise of dollar food prices is a global phenomenon. It is a monetary phenomenon, as much as anything.

And that’s why one can argue that the worldwide revolt against soaring food prices is an unintended consequence of U.S. Fed policy. That policy is aimed at reigniting inflation here at home. But unwanted dollars circulating worldwide are hitting foreign inflation rates first. We may well catch this inflation virus before long.

To be fair, not all of the food inflation can be blamed on the Fed. A good part of this problem can also be placed at the doorstep of bipartisan U.S. policies to subsidize ethanol.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2001, only 7 percent of U.S. corn went to ethanol. By 2010, the ethanol share was 39 percent. So instead of growing wheat, our farmers are growing corn in order to cash in on ethanol subsidies. Egyptians who can’t afford to buy bread and have taken to the streets in protest might be very interested to know this.

Not even Al Gore still believes that ethanol provides any environmental benefits.

As the world watches events in Egypt play out, be mindful that if the U.S. fixed its mistaken monetary and energy policies, the forces of freedom and democratization would have an easier time of it in the rest of the world.

From Kudlow today.

Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Feb 1, 2011 - 12:30pm PT
Fatty-

Maybe he can't take this much excitement?
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Feb 1, 2011 - 12:37pm PT
Mubarak is 82, and in poor health. He has tried to groom a son as his successor, but with little success. The US has strong ties to the Egyptian government and military. It must have a long-standing succession plan or plans, and be quietly working on next steps. The appointment of a new vice-president, after decades without one, and the dismissal and replacement of much of the government, may be part of that. Whether that will have the support of the military, and people, is another thing.

My guess is that the Egyptian government and military, with tacit US backing, will do their best to stall. Let unrest die down a bit, with at least some reforms made. Then for Mubarak to step down, a new interim government to come in, and for there to be somewhat freer elections than is usual in Egypt, but not such as to allow religious parties to have power. Constitutional reform may help with that. Something like Turkey, perhaps.
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Feb 1, 2011 - 01:02pm PT
The scenario described is probably the best-case one for the US. Turkey has a functional democracy, a thriving economy, reasonable civil liberties (unless you're a Kurd), and a military which has something of a constitutional over-ride in case of extremist behaviour. Quite parallel to Israel, actually, although more moderate in foreign policy and treatment of minorities.
dirtbag

climber
Feb 1, 2011 - 03:07pm PT
"We pay him $1.3 billion a year but.. That money buys us security. Remember, we haven't had a single mummy attack.."

-Stephen Colbert

Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Feb 1, 2011 - 03:19pm PT
As for Israel, those who insist on living by the sword...
philo

Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
Feb 1, 2011 - 03:39pm PT
ahad aham

Trad climber
Feb 1, 2011 - 05:12pm PT
i thought he said he will die on egptian soil?

mubarak is irrelevent,
zionist power configuration, irrelevant
usa, irrevelent

egyptian people aren't backing down

Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Feb 1, 2011 - 05:17pm PT
If there weren't much more important things to contribute to, I'd suggest we raise some money to send FatTrad to Palestine. Sure, he can go to Israel and hang with the loudmouth radicals. But he'll also have to go to Sinai, Cairo, Amman, Baghdad, and Istanbul. He's never been to the Levant, and I bet would love to be there during a time of turmoil - rhetorical violence and apocalypse are after all his shtick. Let's see him live up to his loud mouth.

The fundraising won't extend to a bodyguard. But I bet if he opens his yap outside Israel, he'll at least get waterboarded.
dirtbag

climber
Feb 1, 2011 - 05:21pm PT
I'll chip in $20.
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Feb 1, 2011 - 05:39pm PT
Pharaoh's daughter may be in for a disappointing surprise.
Messages 261 - 280 of total 544 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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