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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-25-06 03:28 PM
Original message
Cooking Up A New Cold War
Edited on Thu May-25-06 03:50 PM by bigtree
Bush is aching for a new Cold War. It suits his short term agenda to isolate Russia and China and forestall the coming shift in energy resources as Russia and China bargain for a share of the world's oil that the U.S. assumes is theirs for the taking, as in Venezuela where Chavez wants to replace the U.S. oil business there with China.

Putin is rumored to be seeking the same subtle shift in oil partnerships which would ideally advantage Russia over the U.S.. The Bush regime sees these prospects as threats to the U.S. 'national security', defensible through the same military force they use to control Iraq and Afghanistan.

They'd like nothing more than for Russia to be a pariah in the world community, especially now that Russia's vote will be a determining factor in Bush's scheme to get a force resolution against Iran out of the U.N.

The Pentagon is set to ask Congress for a $1.6b 'anti-missile' base in Eastern Europe to defend against, what they claim, is a threat to the region from Iran's ballistic missiles.

Under consideration are sites in countries like Poland and the Czech Republic. The prospect of nations like Poland and the Czech Republic aligning with the U.S against Russia's economic ally is a retreat from the cooperation that marked the security agreements made between Russia and NATO after Sept.11.

Cheney visited Kazakhstan a few weeks back to coerce them into bypassing Russia with their oil pipeline and supply the West directly through Turkey. He did this right after trashing the Putin government at a conference in Lithuania, right in the midst of U.S. efforts to punish one of Russia's major oil partners, Iran, for 'unanswered questions' about its nuclear program.

It's not clear what Cheney got from Kazakhstan, but today it was reported that the former Soviet republic has begun to supply China through its pipeline which links the two countries. China, the world's number two oil consumer next to the U.S., is poised to recieve 20 million metric tons of oil a year.

Russia's president Putin answered the Bush regime's jingoistic catcalls at a EU conference today with an open dig at Bush's imperious reign. "We see how the United States defends its interests, we see what methods and means they use for this," Putin said.

The Bush regime would be more than satisfied to isolate Russia, and China as well, with a manufactured pall of suspicion and fear, to cause oil-producing nations to be reluctant to do business with them out of fear of U.S. retaliation.

The 'Chinese military buildup' reports from the Pentagon which have surfaced in the past week are old, and staged to discredit China, isolating them and their vote in advance of the Security Council action against Iran that the Bush regime has been pushing for and expects as early as June.

The weapons systems the Pentagon and US analysts are citing are no secret and have been under development for years. There is no surprising new threat.

The Financial Times reported today that, "it was unclear what aspects of Beijing’s development of its nuclear missile forces had surprised US analysts. The report merely cited information about the introduction of new weapons such as the solid-fuelled, road-mobile DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has been under development for decades.

The level and intensity of our government's manipulation is astounding, and should give pause to those who continue to let the Bush regime set the agenda at the U.N.

This is nothing but a Pentagon production which FOX News has been broadcasting for two days like there's some new threat. All of this plays right into the PNAC world domination scheme which can be used to justify their planned missile defense boondoggles they want to spread around Eastern Europe.

And, it meshes with their fear campaign which gives Bush his only relevance as our chimp commander and allows him to continue to brandish the spectre of national security as he subverts our constitution and our laws.

Be very afraid . . . of the Bush regime and their destablizing propaganda. Do they want a new cold war? They're angling for one. These brainless, unschooled meglomaniacs see a short term plus in their agenda to isolate Iran and those who would dare to trade with them.

Negroponte has cited the economic relationships of China and Russia as undermining U.S. security. The Bush regime's main gripe is about the oil deals that China and Russia are engaged in with Iran.

Everything that follows is a means to undermine those relationships. China is on their agenda for today, next week Venezuela, Russia, Pakistan (who opposes military force against Iran), and whoever else dares to stand in the way of their manufactured 'crisis' with Iran.

The 'buildup' reports are a Pentagon production, furthered by FOX News, that appeared in the past few days, out of the blue, with no visible substance outside of "questions' about, and "estimates" of China's military intentions. There's a floating 'report' of some Chinese General who was said to want to 'discuss' first strike nukes? We'd have to be idiots to buy that load from this bunch again.

China gives their figure for their military budget, but the U.S. SAYS the figure is PROBABLY three times higher. WHAT CREDIBILITY DOES THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S WORD CARRY THESE DAYS? ZERO!

Why put this out now? Iran. That's the overriding obsession of the Bush regime these days. Every effort of their foreign policy, including decisions on whether to exit Iraq or stay, is determined by how it will help further their aggression against Iran.

Of course, the struggle surrounding Iran is about oil; our dependent needs, and about the other countries who benefit from Iran's oil.

The most revealing argument that the Bush administration has made against Iran is their reference to Iran's oil and the influence Iran gains by trading with regional actors like Russia, Pakistan and China. Negroponte said in a Feb.2 Senate Intelligence committee hearing that a combination of rising demand for energy and instability in oil-producing regions is increasing the geopolitical leverage of key producing states.

"Record oil revenues and diversification of its trading partners are further strengthening the Tehran government." Negroponte warned.

Oil was also on Negroponte's mind as he blasted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his increasing relationship with Iran. Chavez "is seeking closer economic, military and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea," he said. Negroponte worried aloud in his statement that Chavez is looking to dump the U.S. as an oil trading partner in favor of customers like Russia and China. Although the U.S. presently gets about 60% of Venezuela's oil exports, Venezuela reportedly plans to double their exports to China by the end of the year.

Venezuela is next.

The VOA had Venezuela's President Chavez on yesterday, calling the Bush regime an "imperialist, war-mongering government." He said it is "eroding the possibility of peace and life" on Earth.

Most of the noise about Chavez is political posturing, and a great deal is from outside the country, from those who themselves want to lord over Venezuelans and their resources, like Bush. The irony in the verbal assaults on Chavez which intend to overthrow him, is that Bush is the threat that most nations of the world fear, not the Venezuelan president in his rhetorical defenses against American Empire.

If our nation continues to exploit other countries of the world for our mindless consumption without regard to their needs and concerns, then we deserve to fall flat on our faces. What most in America expect is that these countries should be so grateful for American dollars that they should kow-tow to our every wish and desire. But these countries have needs that are not served by our government's arrogant insistence that they hand over their resources according to OUR terms and conditions.

It's not like the nations of the world don't have anything to point to which demonstrates the threat Bush poses to sovereign nations, all in the name of his own regime's definition of democracy. What a farce.

What an incredible display of American imperialism. Thing is, our president is the biggest threat to world peace and stability now. His fascist assaults on our own historic democracy, and his colonialist assaults on Iraq and Afghanistan makes our country's complaining about what others are doing in their own homeland laughable.

And, other countries are laughing at us . . .
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-25-06 04:35 PM
Response to Original message
1. a kick
:hi:
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 09:59 AM
Response to Reply #1
20. final version and link
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teryang Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-25-06 04:41 PM
Response to Original message
2. Well said BT!
:kick:
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-25-06 05:26 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. thanks teryang
I pulled 24 hrs. of posts together to put the train of thought on the right track.

thanks for reading :hi:
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-25-06 06:37 PM
Response to Original message
4. Kazakhstan pipeline begins delivering oil to China
5/26/2006 AFP

{snip}

He Jun, a Beijing-based senior energy analyst at Anbound Consulting, said the project was immensely important to China because it was the nation’s first source of piped oil from another country. “It means a lot for Chinas oil safety,” He said. “Twenty million tonnes is one-sixth to one-seventh of all of China’s imports.” The pipeline is being seen as having added importance because it is the first part of a far bigger project to link Chinese consumers with the oil fields of the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan authorities said last year the extension should be complete by 2011. The total length of the pipeline would then be around 3,000km. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev officially launched the new pipeline in his nations’ capital of Astana in December last year. “This is an event of the utmost importance for economic and commercial relations between China and Kazakhstan,” he said at the time.

The pipeline was jointly developed by the China National Petroleum Corporation and the Kazakh state energy company, Kazmunaigaz. CNPC officials were not immediately available to comment on Thursday.

David Ernsberger, the Asian editorial director for commodities information service Platts, said the pipeline was very significant for China for a number of strategic reasons. “China is trying very hard to wean itself off Middle Eastern crude oil supplies, that’s a big priority for China right now,” Ernsberger said. “Although Iran and Saudi Arabia are important suppliers, that is more out of necessity for China than desire.”

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Business_News&subsection=market+news&month=May2006&file=Business_News20060526277.xml
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 01:17 AM
Response to Original message
5. Russian leader rejects blackmail accusations
Friday May 26, 2006
The Guardian

The Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday returned to his feud with the US over energy supplies when he declared that Washington is in no position to deliver lectures after the invasion of Iraq.

Weeks after vice-president Dick Cheney accused Moscow of using intimidation and blackmail in its energy policy, Mr Putin said he would continue to fight for Russia's interests.

"We see how the United States defends its interests, we see what methods and means they use for this," he said, in a thinly veiled reference to the Iraq war.

"When we fight for our interests, we also look for the most acceptable methods to accomplish our national tasks, and I find it strange that this seems inexplicable to someone."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1783359,00.html
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jerry611 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 01:22 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. As my college professor always told me
Russians will always act like Russians...

Cold War may be over. But they will always have that same Russian attitude.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 01:32 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. As will Americans?
American attitudes seem to have skipped the generations of bloody war and hard peace and looped back around to mindless jingoism. Childish really.
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jerry611 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 01:47 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. The cold war mentality is still here
The problem with Russia though is that they don't seem to like democracy very well. They like powerful leaders. That's their entire history. And what I mean by that is that they don't value democracy the way the western bloc does. It's a completely different culture altogether.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 01:51 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. thanks for the insight jerry
Edited on Fri May-26-06 01:52 AM by bigtree
I've always felt that the U.S. had the capability to lead, by our example. Unfortunately, the Russians are following the rudiments of a U.S. tyrant. Read Putin's words in that context.
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jerry611 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:12 AM
Response to Reply #9
11. I never said Putin was a good guy
I'm just trying to tell you the mentality in Russia and why's Putin is so popular despite what he does. Russians don't view government the way Americans do. They arn't anywhere near as critical of it.

To give you a better idea, Bush wouldn't last long as president in Russia. He'd be considered a whimp. However, Bush's popularity in Russia was higher than in any other country in the world for a number of years. Now over the past couple years that popularity has fallen. But the reason he had that popularity was because of his very tough talk against terrorism. And Putin rode that wave too...especially after the Beslan crisis.

That's why I really don't think you will ever see a pro-democratic, diplomatic, peace-loving leader in Russia. It's just not the kind of leader they believe in.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:25 AM
Response to Reply #11
13. again, great insight
I think our foreign policy toward Russia understands that. They are restrained only as far as we tolerate. hard to restrain their ambitions when we're rolling over borders at will.
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BrotherBuzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 01:59 AM
Response to Reply #6
10. Did you professor also tell you...
that Russians with IQ's above 120 are raised on chess? The mentality that goes with that game is most highly prized in that culture and is the highest form of competition in Russia. Its the way Russians prove they're not going senile and soft-minded.

Bush's mentality (if you can even call it that) is based on American pleasure seeking and he chooses to play checkers. KING ME
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jerry611 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:18 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. Well one thing the Soviets had a great fear of...
...is children in America playing video games. They thought that it would lead to increased hand-eye coordination and computer skills. They thought that it would give Americans a distinct advantage on the battlefield.

Kids play these first-person shooter games for hours straight every day. When they grow up, join the army, their brain already has many skills that takes many years to acquire and perfect. Not just with aiming and coordination, but reflexes.
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BrotherBuzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:41 AM
Response to Reply #12
14. Russia doesn't have video games?
Edited on Fri May-26-06 02:52 AM by BrotherBuzz
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jerry611 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 03:19 AM
Response to Reply #14
18. Not in the 80's
And video games caught on in America very fast. So we had a head-start.
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lumpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:53 AM
Response to Reply #6
16. Russians don't surrender.
That's the Russian attitude.
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charlie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 03:03 AM
Response to Reply #5
17. "...no position to deliver lectures"
"...after the invasion of Iraq."

Well, that sounds kinda familiar. Right before the election, Putin told Democrats they had no standing to criticize Bush over Iraq. It was an astonishing thing to say, he really did a solid for chimp boy. Now he's got Cheney growling at him, the credulous dumbass.

Hell, what do I know. This all may be shadow play, with Cheney helping Putin consolidate his position as Russia's strongman.
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charlie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:44 AM
Response to Original message
15. The second thing I felt
when the Berlin Wall fell, after a giddy disbelief, was a cold twinge -- what's to keep Republicans from turning their rage inward toward us, now that the Cold War is over? They must be getting goosebumps from the prospect of the return of their old friend, 15 years of battling homegrown traitors is thin gruel.

A fine piece, bigtree. As usual. Thanks.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 09:29 AM
Response to Reply #15
19. thanks for reading charlie
Cold War would give them a whole new host of justifications for their militarism. Back and forth they would go with their defenses and their reprisals. Back to the proxy wars as we arm Eastern Europe against Bush's contrived concern about Iran and whoever is on their side. With us or against us.

We shouldn't be surprised that these cretins in the WH have no appreciation of the implications of their tacit approval for preemptively invading sovereign nations in the name of 'security', in Iran's case, because the country doesn't answer our 'questions' to our satisfaction.

A new fear inspired arms race is just the thing for 'down on his luck' fascists to latch onto.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-26-06 02:01 PM
Response to Original message
21. 34 nations participate in military drills near Iran
Friday, May 26, 2006 - IranMania.com



LONDON, May 26 (IranMania) - Dozens of countries on Friday kicked off a large military exercise in Turkey to practice intercepting weapons before they reach a country like Iran, Turkey's neighbor, FOX news reported.

US, Turkish, French and Portuguese naval ships were participating in mock drills in the Mediterranean in the largest exercise so far of the Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI, a program started in 2003 by US President George W. Bush.

Though officials have repeatedly said the exercise, which also involves scenarios of searching vehicles carrying suspected weapons materials to an airport and a land customs gate, is not aimed at any specific country, all eyes are on Iran, which is not likely to see the hosting of the nonproliferation exercise as a friendly move by its Muslim neighbor.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=43243&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
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