Political leanings

[geezer]

Torurot,

Kharzi is a Pashtun, as are many people in government. So how can we be at war with the whole tribe? I think your misunderstanding Afghan tribes. Who is your brother tribesman today may very well be your enemy tomorrow. Yes when an Invader comes through (be it Alexander, the British or the UN) they all come together but to pretend they all get along is not correct. What about all those sucide bombers in market places in Pashtun towns, they care about each other so much they strap explosives to themselves and blown up as many civilians as possible.

As for your question what has Afghanistan done to me. Personally nothing. But as I was trying to explain yesterday, we are at war with the Taliban who are not one and the same as Afghanistan.

We are at war with the Taliban as they continue to hide Al Queda, the guys who love to bring down buildings, and even today behead a Brit returning from a concert premoting diversity and tolerance. (such nice guys)

For Iraq, I'm not going to try and justify that war as I don't believe it needed to be fought. Having said that Saddam had already invaded his neighbours twice and I have trouble believing he wouldn't do it again should the sanctions have been lifted, with unkown consequences.

As for you solution to withdraw. Who knows, it may work but I have trouble beliving it as Afghans have been fighting each other since day zero. Once were gone they'll probably go back to it. Also in my own life I've never know a problem to disappear by sitting round and doing nothing.

In Iraq it would just lead to another power vacume which would no doubt be filled by someone (most probably Iran, who the Arab Sunni's are scared shitless off) And again back to square one.

I hope I've answered your questions, and I should tell you I'm not an American.

[alan1chef]

Pacman...finally something we agree on. Clinton did nothing to stop the Fed because he wanted to balance the budget and put that on his legacy, especially after he screwed up, literally, his personal life. Some here think it is not that simple, however it really is...money is traded as is any commodity, and as such is subject to supply and demand fluctuations. Had Bill put the brakes on, as I said before, we would not be in as bad of a mess as we are in now. There would have been a correction, certainly, as there always is...however, it would have not been as severe.

What? Send me to Australia? Liberals there are considered moderates here...the left there is really left. Out to lunch I think... If you think I am a borderline right wing wacko now...in Australia I would be considered even further to the right. When I was there for an extended time back in 2004 and 2005, I made sure I kept my mouth shut.

Of course....the topless beaches and the babes in Australia are hot.

[smuttleydfs]

(Torurot @ Jun. 03 2009,05:28) >>NK is just saber rattling once again

So why are you worried.  The USA Sabre rattles all the time, should I be worried.... seriously???

>>Besides I don't see any other countries diplomacy doing any better or even any other country willing to stick their necks out in a diplomatic fashion>>

Ever tried just LEAVING THEM ALONE??   USA "diplomacy" is NOT working.

I ask bioth you and Geezer again.  What have Iraq, and Aghanistan EVER done to you. Neither COUNTRY ever attacked you, and now you attacked them, surely they have the right to fight back.  I repeat, the USA DOES NOT understand tribes.   Recently in Afghanistan america killed over 100 civilians. That America denied they had killed anyone, then oh we killed some "terrorists", then forced to admit after some UN people came up with indesputable FACTS,   They lie, and lie again, keeping on being caught out just like the Isrealis do.  

Americans just DON'T "get it".  It's all Gung Ho. "Raghead", we are the tough "good" guys "do as I say" bullshit!  I was sent a BBC link to some maps showing that there were *FORTY* million plus Pashtuns (sp).  I can dig it out if your interested.  Americans, amongst others DO NOT understand tribal mentality.  You piss off the tribe and everyone in it fights back. The End!

T as much as the level headed people in the ole USA would like to just ignore the crazies in the world as the country considered the world's super power it is very difficult hence 9/11.......speaking of 9/11 it is a proven fact that Afghanistan was harboring Al Queda and Bin Laden who it is a know fact instigated 9/11. The US had every right to retaliate in Afghanistan........Iraq on the other hand if you read my previous posts not only in this thread but many others I was opposed to from the start and still feel it was one of the biggest blunders the US
has ever made

And you know what I have spent in at least 2 dozen diffrent countries in this world and I wouldn't want to call any other country my home.

Like it or not no other country in the world has shown any better ways of Japanese Empire.

Love ya T but neutrality can only go so far.

[PigDogg]

(smuttleydfs @ Jun. 01 2009,19:17) You'all realize I'm just posting in this thread to show off my fantastic new avatar!!!!    

Gordy Howe would be proud Smuttley!

Perhaps you'll be sipping champaign form the Stanley Cup.

[Lefty]

(PigDogg @ Jun. 03 2009,20:27)

(smuttleydfs @ Jun. 01 2009,19:17) You'all realize I'm just posting in this thread to show off my fantastic new avatar!!!!

Gordy Howe would be proud Smuttley!

Perhaps you'll be sipping champaign form the Stanley Cup.

Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio, all the famed Production Line.

[Torurot]

Here's part of the maps I talked of yesterday. As regards tribes, of course they have their own inter/tra tribal rivalries, but they have one thing in common. They mostly hate the USA FOR WHAT IT DOES!. Make that distinction carefully! Karzai is a US puppet, like so many before him.... totally useless to all but the puppet master. I don't accept that the USA has such a thing as "manifest destiny". You simply don't have the right to invade who the fck you like whenever. If you do then you have to accept that the USA and it's worldwide diaspora are valid targets. Hypocrisy seems to be entirely missing from US dictionaries.

BTW I'm approx half way through "Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Interesting reading. Talk about sowing the seeds of blow back.

Pakistan conflict map
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8046577.stm

The Pashtun's and the Puppet Regimes
The Latest AfPak War
http://counterpunch.org/cristofori05222009.html
By CARLO CRISTOFORI Weekend Edition May 22-24, 2009

The Main Result of the "War on Terror"
The Destabilization of Pakistan
http://counterpunch.org/leupp05292009.html
By GARY LEUPP Weekend Edition May 29-31, 2009

The U.S. Says It's Not a Story
Who Killed 120 [Afghan] Civilians?
http://counterpunch.org/patrick05112009.html*
By PATRICK COCKBURN May 11, 2009

The numbers in the following article are staggering.

US Forces 'black' budget = 2nd biggest military on Earth
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05..._black_budget/
Secret space programme bigger than NASA
By Lewis Page €¢ 2009/05/08

[Torurot]

Some more "read it and weep" for Al. How do these banks get so much power and continue to wrot us all? Why does the "Capitalist" govt let them?? Bastards!!


Bernanke's Pickle
Bond Market Blowout
http://counterpunch.org/whitney06042009.html
By MIKE WHITNEY June 4, 2009

[pacman]

Articles posted on the Net like this one by Mike Whitney are becoming more common & increasingly strident with the warning that the US has now entered dangerous territory.

Here's a few highlights:

Bernanke is in a bit of a pickle. He needs to sell boatloads of US debt, but if he raises interest rates he'll kill the recovery and send the stock market reeling. What to do? Eventually the Fed chief will arrive at the conclusion that there's only two ways out of a credit bust of this magnitude; either raise rates and crush the economy or print more money and face a funding crisis. Either way, there's a world of hurt ahead.

The US economy is facing other headwinds, too; like a banking system that is hobbled by hundreds of billions in non-performing loans and toxic assets, and a wholesale credit system that's still in a deep coma.

Bernanke's no fool; he knows his strategy won't work. He's just following orders from the banking establishment.

The institutional bias of the Fed is obvious in every decision they make. Consider the fact that the Fed has provided over $12.8 trillion in loans and other commitments to shore up wobbly financial institutions while the two-year fiscal stimulus for 320 million Americans is $787 billion. It's goose liver and Cabernet for the bank mandarins and breadcrumbs for the working stiff..........
         The taxpayer is literally paying for the rope to hang himself. And Wall Street is only too happy to oblige.

Bernanke has shown that he'll do whatever he can to avoid simple price discovery on the illiquid, hard-to-value assets which are at the heart of the crisis. He's underwritten the entire financial system and shifted 100per cent of the liability for losses onto the taxpayer.  He's also managed to keep the banks in private hands, although the cost has been substantial. The so-called "free market" exists only in theory now. The truth is that without the Fed's support, the financial system would collapse in an instant. The transition to state capitalism has taken place without public hearings or input. The line that distiguishes the banks from the government has disappeared.

Investors want better returns for lending their money to Uncle Sam. That means that funding the multi-trillion dollar deficits will get harder and harder. Bernanke can purchase more long-bonds and keep interest rates low, but investors will see that he's monetizing the debt and head for the exits. Or he can raise rates to attract foreign capital and risk putting the struggling economy into a death spiral. Either way, the consequences will be dire.

The end moves ever closer, it is the same as having a ring side seat to a spectacular train crash that is happening in slow motion right in front of us. Something to tell the grandkids.

[Torurot]

Thanks for doing that Pacman

I still fail to understand how these bankers manage to rip off the entire "capitalist" society we operate in. Why do "we" let them get away with it?? Perhaps Al has an answer?? "We" must be really really STUPID!

Here's another from Whitney (no not that one)

The Perils of Securitization
The Biggest Rip Off Ever?
http://counterpunch.org/whitney06052009.html
By MIKE WHITNEY Weekend Edition June 5 -7, 2009

What Are We to Make of His Speech?
Obama in Cairo
http://counterpunch.org/roberts06052009.html
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS Weekend Edition June 5 -7, 2009

and keeping to our recent theme of "why do 'they' hate us"

New Rhetoric for the Coloner-Settler Project
How Much Really Separates Obama and Netanyahu?
http://counterpunch.org/loewenstein06052009.html
By JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN Weekend Edition June 5 -7, 2009

[smuttleydfs]

(Lefty @ Jun. 04 2009,00:16)

(PigDogg @ Jun. 03 2009,20:27)

(smuttleydfs @ Jun. 01 2009,19:17) You'all realize I'm just posting in this thread to show off my fantastic new avatar!!!!    

Gordy Howe would be proud Smuttley!

Perhaps you'll be sipping champaign form the Stanley Cup.    

Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio, all the famed Production Line.  

Gotta win tonight and stave off the VS/NBC love affair with Cindy Crosby with the modern day production line of Hossa, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk




 

[Torurot]

More good sense from Mr Roberts!

What Geithner, Bernanke and All the Smart Bankers Forget
Long-Term Economic Memory Loss
http://counterpunch.org/roberts06082009.html
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS June 8, 2009

[Torurot]

Drinking the Kool-Aid of Corporate America
The Dairy Oligarchy
http://counterpunch.org/goodman06082009.html
By JIM GOODMAN June 8, 2009

Also read the Editorial in the WSJ by "Connor English" NZFF re US Dairy farm subsidies.

and another fun fact filled post from Mike Whitney

Hanging By a Thread
Is Hyper-Inflation Around the Corner?
http://counterpunch.org/whitney06092009.html
By MIKE WHITNEY June 9, 2009

[alan1chef]

Chicken Little keeps whining that the sky is falling however do not doubt the resiliency of the American economy to recover from adversity.

http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/main.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={3DA91FE9-FEBF-4CE9-B892-2502D01522D9}&playerid=1000&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://wsj.vo.llnwd.net/o28/players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="flashPlayer" width="512" height="363" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/...ShockwaveFlash">

[Torurot]

More USA duplicity. Then we hear the whine "why do 'they'' hate us".

New Rhetoric, Same Translation
Obama's Doublespeak on Iran
http://counterpunch.org/zadeh06102009.html
By ISMAEL HOSSEIN-ZADEH June 10, 2009


I just finished "Economic Hitman"
This is text book verse from that book.

Obama's Budgetary Machiavellianism Backfires
The IMF's Accountability Moment
http://counterpunch.org/weissman06102009.html
By ROBERT WEISSMAN June 10, 2009

and talking about "chicken little"

Who Spent All That Money For What?
Fear Rules
http://counterpunch.org/roberts06102009.html
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS June 10, 2009


Walk the walk Al

[alan1chef]

Love those doom and gloomers...opportunists looking to line their pockets with money by preaching doom and gloom. They are the liberal version of Rush. Criticism of the US is the hot topic today, so everybody wants to write a book. The more the public buys their books...the more crap they write. "In northeastern Florida not far from Tallahassee, I have seen what might be one of these camps." "Might be"...yes and there might be aliens on earth too. What an idiot!!! You actually buy into that crap from Roberts? Trying to prove that there are detention centers being built by Halliburton and that is the only evidence he provides? I say prove it.

Of course, when nothing they predict comes to fruition, you hear nothing from them. Probably because they are on vacation in the Caymans.  Six months after their books sold for $25 on Amazon, you can find them for a dollar at your local dollar store. I see them on the shelves and just laugh. Talk about duplicity! Am I wrong? Prove it.