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2006-03-31 Home Front: WoT

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Posted by gromgoru 2006-03-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11132 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 There are a few things to think about before going into Chicken Little mode.

The oil producing nations have serious excess hard cash. They have to do something with it. They invest in the US because we'll be around for the long run. They're not going to expose themselves by heavily investing in EUrabia.

This is a two-edged sword. If the UAE proved to be what the hand-wringers fear, all of these investments are instantly forfeit with the stroke of a pen. Yes, they are. Same goes for all the others. Think about it. This is mainly paranoia without corroborating substance. Look to what our military says before believing this crap.

Nothing is perfect. We are an open society and we allow foreign investment. If we limited foreign activities here in the US in precisely the same way that they limit US activities in their countries, it would make more sense, but we have been, and still are, the one place on the planet where we make every effort to be open and free. I'd prefer the equal treatment approach, but that's just common sense. This isolationist approach is crap.

If the price tag for our openness actually does endanger us, not these mindless "Run away! Run away!" freak-out articles, it will change with a vengeance. We're very slow to rile, but even slower to disengage once we get our collective dander up. We will do our best in the mean time. We have been doing the right things, more or less, for the last 5 years. What we will do after Bush is something worth worrying about.

The gravest danger we face is internal, not external.

Posted by Grotle Gliting3445 2006-03-31 01:29|| 2006-03-31 01:29|| Front Page Top

#2 GG3345 .com
Welcome back.

"Freedom" is just another word for no one left to kill. I'm getting my guitar...

Posted by Listen to Dogs 2006-03-31 01:46|| 2006-03-31 01:46|| Front Page Top

#3 LOL. .com? LOL, thanks. Another clueless detective.

You're an oldie, but not a goodie. I've heard your sad song before, under other names. Many others here probably recognize you, too. Your offering is a repetitive ballad of phoney expertise. Hit Fred's donation button, then button up.

Posted by Grotle Gliting3445 2006-03-31 01:57|| 2006-03-31 01:57|| Front Page Top

#4 You are right Grotle Gliting3445. We said we were serious about moving them forward so we had better follow through this time. Nothing changes overnight and we still have control over our soverign assets. It is debt, reserve, and trust. And if an Arab trusts you, you have made a decision to include them into something they will be less likely wanting to destroy. They MUST change but that is a slow process. Our notes depend on this and they have to have something to start off with for balance. It is NOT selling America. It is granting a well meaning group with a suit and a tie overseas a steak in OUR survival as well as a good chance to balance what they already spend on US out. Trust ME. Do not turn this oppertunity down. You will regeret it if you do. I know of what I speak.

If anyone has questions, I am open for discussion but this is necessary. Very neccessary. Not bad guys, just people moving forward and deserving of some trust. Remember Japan.

Do not fight this deal. Please do not.

The least you can learn with your neighbors is that they all do not want to destroy you and some mean well. (And have proved it)

Posted by newc">newc 2006-03-31 03:34|| 2006-03-31 03:34|| Front Page Top

#5 Besides, you do not want to see what can be done if they screw US. So relax for awhile. Hell, if we get screwed once, there will be nothing at all left in the middle east but rubble by quake or rake.

Posted by newc">newc 2006-03-31 03:47|| 2006-03-31 03:47|| Front Page Top

#6 How come nobody got upset when the Saudis bought the State Department and CIA?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-03-31 08:05|| 2006-03-31 08:05|| Front Page Top

#7 Our system has given the rich in the ME vast amounts of $ for the oil in the ground. They have to do something with it, so they invest in the NY stock exchange. Okay so far. But, when they start investing in our universities, bells and whistles. Why don't they build their own universities ? Islam uncompatable with education ?
We have yet to win our universities back from the declining commies who run them, so we can't afford this latest $ influx. The results of the leftists in our universities is to separate us. The additional money will further separate us. I say we keep foreign money out of our institutions. The idea that we get down on our knees to stay on top does not bode well in my world. I'm not going to sell out my country for anything, not even a free trip to heaven.

Posted by wxjames 2006-03-31 08:44|| 2006-03-31 08:44|| Front Page Top

#8 Nimble: At a minimum the House of Sa'ud bought out the pension system at State.

Posted by eLarson 2006-03-31 08:52|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2006-03-31 08:52|| Front Page Top

#9 Speaking not of the UAE, but of their Saudi neighbors, Ibn Warraq, the esteemed author of Leaving Islam and Why I Am Not A Muslim pointed out at the Hague conference, "In August, 2002, the Rand Corporation published a report that described Saudi Arabia as ' the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent."

The report went on explain that "Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies. The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader'. And yet little seems to have changed in the West's behavior towards a regime that has financed terrorism, funnelled millions into madrassas that preach more anti-Western hatred, has corrupted institutions of higher education like Harvard and Georgetown University, has bought the favours of Western politicians and seeks to destroy Western civilisation at every turn. We know the reason: oil. But until we address the question of Saudi Arabia and its influence on life in the West we shall have no progress, no rest."

Saudi Arabia still remains our most significant blind spot. Until we delimit the spread of Salafist and Wahabbist Islam the global war on terror will continue to be the political and economic quagmire it is. However useful the war in Iraq has been in terms of exposing the uselessness of exporting democracy to Arab Islamic countries, it is still sad to think that the money we have spent in Iraq could have propelled American technology towards permanently weaning us off of the oil teat.

We desperately need to free ourselves of dependence upon foreign oil. Let them eat sand.

Posted by Zenster 2006-03-31 12:08|| 2006-03-31 12:08|| Front Page Top

#10 How can the Salafists be better targeted? Prior to the extreme polarization in the occupied West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces found an easy way to get intelligence. They would pick up large numbers of civilians and seek to use them as informants. Naturally, most refused but enough co-operated to facilitate attacks on terror arms dumps, terror commanders and staging areas. So many Arabs would be picked up that the terrorists couldn't identify the informants. On a few occasions, the terrorists murdered innocent suspects, which discredited them. This sounds like kidnapping, but even in the US investigative detention was upheld by SCOTUS in Terry v Ohio. If it works...

Posted by Listen to Dogs 2006-03-31 12:54|| 2006-03-31 12:54|| Front Page Top

#11 How can the Salafists be better targeted?

By choking off a majority of their funding. Ergo, the pointed mention of Saudi Arabia.

Posted by Zenster 2006-03-31 16:54|| 2006-03-31 16:54|| Front Page Top

16:55 Foxtrot Uniform
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22:57 Asymmetrical Triangulation
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22:35 Prophet al-Arff a Wudo
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22:19 WTF!