pull our troops out of Germany, and let the Russians finish what they started during and after WWII.

Had to jointly approve. Isn't it Congress who holds the purse-strings? Of course you could be right. Reagan didn't let that little issue stand in his way in the Iran-Contra scandal.

shelling an island, but this is pretty much a standard North Korean shakedown. Why? Because they need aid, specifically food. There is probably a little bit of transition issues with the old man dying and son taking over. Maybe a little spill over from the North sinking a South Korean vessel earlier in the year.

Nevertheless, this shit happens almost every year. And when geopolitical shit happens, investors flee equities to Treasuries, hence the DOW goes down. This too is a pretty standard reaction. And guess what? Tomorrow the sun will rise and so will stocks.

...it's revisionist.

"twenty years ago we had a Commander-in-Chief who was not naive, who knew how to make the right and difficult decisions"

Yes, the right and difficult decision to reinstate Kuwait's dictator. Of course, Iraq could not (and would not) have invaded Kuwait if Bush Sr. hadn't been instrumental in giving Saddam all those lovely WMDs that his dolt son went looking for under his desk.

Of course, what else would you expect from a guy, who as head of the CIA, made sure that Indonesia got plenty of weapons when they were involved in an outright genocide in East Timor. But that's the Bush Crime Family for ya.

Why not let the two countries fight it out.   WTF your country thinks?   Policeman for the world?  GFY.

and some dumb ass in the Dept. of State will probably pay it.

Bye.  Make sure the door does not hit your asses.

Posted By: mattradd

pull our troops out of Germany, and let the Russians finish what they started during and after WWII.

as Commander-in-Chief or a President George W. Bush. Twenty years today, I was spending Thanksgiving on a fun filled adventure in Saudi ordered by then Commander-in-Chief George H.W. Bush to join the defense of Desert Shield which would become Desert Storm. Funny thing was, only a year prior, the Berlin Wall fell and I actually thought naively, who is our enemy now. Fortunately twenty years ago we had a Commander-in-Chief who was not naive, who knew how to make the right and difficult decisions. We had a President who had been in war, knew the military, understood intelligence reports, knew the middle-east and the players.

I really do wonder if President Obama will make the right decision in this crisis. Frankly, I do not feel comfortable as President Obama as Commander-in-Chief.

As far North Korea, what can you say about a country err government that calls itself a Democratic Republic when it's neither a democracy or a republic. The DRK I believe is on it's last stretch as totalitarian government, but before they leave the world's stage, they are going out with a bang. It's how all despot regimes end up on the trash heap of history.

In the meantime, have some investments in gold and commodities. These are the international events that drive up the prices of commodities.

Bush Sr. sent in Marines to Solmalia as he was exiting office. He did this for the sole reason to throw a foreign policy disaster in the making into Clinton's lap.

It was under Reagan that bin Laden got his CIA training and aid, although Carter had initiated it to fool the Soviets into their own Vietnam. The Taliban was actually welcomed in Afghanistan when they took control, because they were at least able to maintain order in the country.

FARQ in Columbia is a direct result of the United States expanding our sphere of influence into Latin America. Kidnapping and selling drugs are petty crimes compared what the US trained death squads did to them.

A lot of Presidents are to blame for what happened in East Timor, but that genocide was initiated by President Ford. Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton all contributed to that genocide. Clinton to his credit, ended it, however since then he's been very happy to work with his NGO to give Indonesia even more aid while committing similar attrocies in Aceh.

A real power vacuum that developed in the last 10 years has been in South America. Dubya was too preoccupied with Iraq to maintain our endless stranglehold on that continent. As a result, what happened? Argentina had it's entire economy collapse, but has since began to turn things around, and is now free of IMF debt. Bolivia became a real genuine democracy. Venezuela is developing incredibly well with a more diversified economy. Brazil is becoming an economic powerhouse, and last I checked is set to out export the United States in many agriculturial goods.

I have no doubt that the same development would have happened in the Middle East, in Africa, and in South Asia had we not interfered in their affairs. In 1953, Iran was a democracy and an ally. Today it is a foe, friendly to terrorists, and a basket case.  

-- Modified on 11/24/2010 5:21:05 AM

ago he proclaimed a"New World Order". If Clinton had followed his foreign policy objectives, we would not have had problems in Somalia, Afghanistan,Iraq, Rwanda, the Sudan, The Farq in Columbia, et al. 9-11 would not have not occurred. Let me explain.

After the fall of communism. Do you remember the Soviet Union? After the Berlin Wall fell, a power vaccuum appeared throught out the world. Regimes that had regularly been supported with money, arms, technical expertise etc. suddenly had to turn to new sources of funding since Moscow no longer desired to be in the Cold War business. Moscow no longer had influence over these countries.

The result was Somalia turned to sea piracy; Afghanistan to the Taliban and Bin Laden; the Sudan to extermination of ethnic tribes and terrorism; THe FARQ in Columbia, to kidnapping and selling of drugs etc. President George H.W. Bush understood the dismissal of the regulatory structures that had kept civility in these former communist satellite countries would result in major societal catastrophes.

President George H.W. Bush worked quickly to establish a New World Order and indeed it was working. Iraq was put in it's place. In Somolia, US Marines succeeded in establishing a coherent society. Then President Clinton messed everything up. He made bad decisions in Somalia, decided Afghanistan wasn't worth the trouble, the Tutsi in Rwanda were left to die etc.

Essentially, President Clinton allowed despot regimes to flourish with the result we had terrorism and the attacks of 9-11. Have you forgotten the attacks on World Trade Center, and the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania? President Clinton had an opportunity to promote democratic ideals in these former coummunist countries and he failed. Now you see why I don't trust Democratic Presidents to do make sound foreign policy decisions. Their decisions inevitably lead to disaster.

As far as East Timor, blame President Carter for that diaspora. It's all on him.

Noreiga from Panama, and now that country is one of the most prosperous in Central America. You can thank the Seventh Light Infantry Division. Chile is one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America and that is a direct result of their conservative fiscal and economic policies. Venezuela, if you really think living under a police state ruled by Hugo Chavez is development, well you can have it. Brazil has followed the model of capitalism and are committed to developing their resources such as offshore drilling. Brazil has benefited greatly by developing economic ties with Japan and China. By the way invest in sugar which Brazil produces a lot of, because China has an insatiable sweet tooth. This is capitalism at work not communism or terrorism. Don't pin Argentina's problem on President George W. Bush. The blame is directly on Clinton when he delayed that countries fiscal problems by 100 billion dollar bailout engineered by your's truly Robert Rubin.

Africa, no President has done more to promote health and prosperity to that continent than George W. Bush. President Clinton was all talk and allowed that continent to sink in disapora and disease. Civil Wars erupted in Liberia, Sierra Leone et al under his leadership. See "Blackhawk Down", to see what happened in Somalia.

Very true, the Mujahideen were financed and supported with military weaponry by United States operatives under Reagan. But in case you forgot, the Soviet Union was our enemy. This fact was apparently forgotten by President Carter because he allowed Soviet forces to enter and pillage Afghanistan. Don't give me this revisionist history of Carter playing a fool to lull Russia into a military ordeaL. Give me a break.



-- Modified on 11/24/2010 9:21:19 PM

There was no acting required. lol

Noreiga was on the pay roll of George H.W. Bush's CIA payroll for a long time. Panama is prosperous now? Tell that to the 3,000 Panamanians who Bush had killed to keep his drug runner silent.

"Chile is one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America and that is a direct result of their conservative fiscal and economic policies."

Policies initiated under Pinochet, that resulted in thousands of Chileans being "dissappeared"? I'm sure that's why they're prosperous now. Chileans are so pleased with this that they're still prosecuting Pinochet's family for crimes against humanity.

"Venezuela, if you really think living under a police state ruled by Hugo Chavez is development, well you can have it."

If you want to call a "police state" a functioning democracy whose President enjoys more popularity than in the United States, then sure.

"Brazil has followed the model of capitalism and are committed to developing their resources such as offshore drilling."

Brazil has recently followed the principle of Brazil for Brazilians. That's why they're succeeding. Not to mention that they've switched to a nearly 100% green energy economy.

"Don't pin Argentina's problem on President George W. Bush."

I didn't. I pinned it on the IMF, and the neo-liberal policies that organization advocates with US backing.

"Africa, no President has done more to promote health and prosperity to that continent than George W. Bush."

Tell that to the people in Sudan.

was intiated by President George W. Bush to combat AIDS in resource limited areas such as Africa. Under his program PEPFAR the number of Africans receiving AIDS Treatment went from 50,000 at the start of the initiative in 2004 to at least 1.2 million in early 2008. In case you don't know Willy, the rate of infectious diseases is indirectly proportional to a nation's population I.Q. The higher rate of infectious disease the lower the IQ scores and conversely the lower the economic development. Clinton didn't do shit. Oh wait a minute he did bomb some pharmaceutical plants in the Sudan. That was Clinton's form of economic development.

Why in the hell did you bring up Pinochet? Both Presidents Clinton and Bush were not even around. Pinochet took over power in Chile circa 1971. You obviously have no idea about economics because Brazil did not embark on green energy economy because of any alturistic reasons. They did it for money. Sugar cane which is what the country produces a lot of decided to initiate a program to use the remaining parts of the plant for a mixure of gas/ethanol fuel. Their big progress has been to develop off-shore drilling, which was started in the past ten-years.