Globalization
01/01/09 05:59
From CNN this cold new year’s morning.
It’s Middle East Smackdown MMIX!!
Yawn. Is it really news that a centuries-long battle of mutually exclusive religions continues? Really?
19 miles. It seems Hamas has scored themselves a few higher quality rockets. Wonder how they got those? My guess is some of the billions of dollars we sent to the Persian Gulf this past summer when gasoline prices were topping 4 bucks a gallon has finally filtered it’s way down through the Saudi “royal family” (they’re only dictators if we don’t like them) to find it’s way into the coffers of militant Wahabbist Islam. In truth, it probably doesn’t have to travel far, but we look the other way because the price of oil is set in US dollars, and in the world of modern finance, that pretty much defines the value of our currency, indeed our entire energy-intensive economy.
From there, it’s just a hop across the desert to the arms dealer, a skip over to Egypt, and a jump into the Gaza Strip. Rockets rain down and kill a few innocent Israelis, The Israelis respond with US-supplied planes, missiles and bombs, killing Palestinians at about a 100 to 1 ratio, enraging all the Islamic world. The US expresses false concern. Repeat.
From a certain angle, in a certain light, we appear to be financing both sides of a proxy war pitting our greed against our mythology. The status quo is what we call “stability”.
The first day of 2009 dawned in Gaza with a sixth day of Israeli airstrikes, a bombardment Israel's prime minister vowed would not end until Hamas militants quit firing rockets into the Jewish state.
Yawn. Is it really news that a centuries-long battle of mutually exclusive religions continues? Really?
Meanwhile, five rockets were launched into Israel, including two medium-range rockets that fell near the city of Beer Sheva, nearly 30 km (19 miles) outside Gaza, the IDF reported.
19 miles. It seems Hamas has scored themselves a few higher quality rockets. Wonder how they got those? My guess is some of the billions of dollars we sent to the Persian Gulf this past summer when gasoline prices were topping 4 bucks a gallon has finally filtered it’s way down through the Saudi “royal family” (they’re only dictators if we don’t like them) to find it’s way into the coffers of militant Wahabbist Islam. In truth, it probably doesn’t have to travel far, but we look the other way because the price of oil is set in US dollars, and in the world of modern finance, that pretty much defines the value of our currency, indeed our entire energy-intensive economy.
From there, it’s just a hop across the desert to the arms dealer, a skip over to Egypt, and a jump into the Gaza Strip. Rockets rain down and kill a few innocent Israelis, The Israelis respond with US-supplied planes, missiles and bombs, killing Palestinians at about a 100 to 1 ratio, enraging all the Islamic world. The US expresses false concern. Repeat.
From a certain angle, in a certain light, we appear to be financing both sides of a proxy war pitting our greed against our mythology. The status quo is what we call “stability”.
|