Friday, May 02, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 5:49 PM
Two Reasons For Multilateralism
Why being alone doesn’t pay
A couple of good articles from the IHT on why it’s stupid and dangerous for the US to be alone.
1) Military power does not equate with intelligence power. France, in particular, has huge expertise and historical experience in dealing with Islamic terrorists. Cutting ties with the French for the sake of punishing the "surrender monkeys" is stupid and self-hurting for the US. Remember, btw, that Osama is still out there plotting….and the CIA and FBI did not exactly do a great job so far.
2) Being alone is expensive, very expensive. The bill for the war on Iraq will be small fries compared to what happens if foreign investors will suddenly decide they don’t want to sponsor the US trade deficit anymore. In the words of David Bowers, chief global investment strategist of Merrill Lynch (not exactly an anti-American demonstrator): “America is more dependent on the rest of the world for capital than at any time in the past 50 years. What the rest of the world is being asked to fund is very different from what they were being asked to fund three years ago. Three years ago they were being asked to fund a private-sector miracle. Now they're being asked to fund Bush's tax cuts and the war on Iraq."
Maybe some investors will decide that, in this case, the US proposition does not sound so good anymore.
posted by Mooraq at 5:33 PM
Opinions On The Road Map
The usual suspects don’t’ like it
As I was writing, I suspect that both the Israeli right and the Palestinian extremists are not happy with the road map. They both prefer to keep on killing each other out of mutual hatred, religious belief and pure simple spite.
Both sides have made their opinion eminently clear in the last two days. With the Palestinian terrorists launching another suicide attack and Israeli retaliating by killing 12 people (including a dangerous 2 years old baby). The best proof, if any was needed, that this may be a genuine chance for peace is given by these appalling acts.
People of good faith on both sides must have the courage to stand up against this continuous and pointless massacre. They have to seize the opportunity offered by the road map and don’t let themselves held hostage by terrorists of both sides.
Thursday, May 01, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 5:46 PM
Trouble With The Law
Berlusconi and the tribunals: not a love story
Two days ago a former Italian Defense Secretary and personal friend of Prime Minister Berlusconi (as well as his former lawyer) has been convicted for bribery by a tribunal in Milan. Previti, that’s the name of the fellow (or felon, if you prefer), will be jailed for 11 years if the sentence will stand the appeal.
The Prime Minister, as a consequence, has launched a full frontal attack - on his own newspaper (in Italian) - against the Italian judiciary system. He says left-leaning judges are out to get him for political motives it.
Considering the things of which Mr. Previti is accused for – corrupting judges for fixing trials –and the proofs seen so far, including lots of money moving in and out of his accounts in Switzerland, I am amazed that Berlusconi has not tried to distance himself from the man. In my humble opinion Previti knows too much for Berlusconi to leave him to his own. After all, many of the Prime Minister shady deals (for some of which he is currently under trial) in the 80s were orchestrated by Previti himself.
It’s a shame that the Italian opposition is currently into such a state of disarray that the Prime Minister is able to drift along with his ineffectual Government without problems. Italian public opinion is having its doubts on the Prime Minister but the left, currently thorn between reformed and unreformed communists, looks too much of a mess. Unfortunately Italy’s economy needs a robust dose of reforms and privatizations if it wants to get out of the mire it is currently in. None of them seems forthcoming.
UPDATE: the Economist has just posted an article on the subject.
posted by Mooraq at 2:22 PM
Spreading The Gospel
Democracy, freedom….and tax cuts
The Bush Administration is moving forward in its effort of reshaping the Middle East. As if pushing millions of Arabs towards democracy and freedom was not enough, now the US foreign policy has been enriched with another desirable aim to achieve: tax cuts.
In its zealous pursuit of a tax-free world, future financial aid to Israel will be linked not to progress on the peace front, but more on the tax-cutting credential of Sharon’s government. Given the perilous state of Israel’s public finances, I wonder if those guys at the White House have learned anything from the failed “Reganomics” experiment.
Needless to say, the Israelis are not too happy about the idea.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 5:47 PM
A Road To Peace?
Finally a step forward
With the confirmation of Abu Mazen as Palestinian Prime Minister the moment has finally come for the Roadmap to Peace to be unveiled. Although its content has not been made public, we know its general outlines. It will hopefully generate pressure on both sides to do their part and show if they are really committed to peaceful cohabitation alongside each other.
Of course, a plan is only as good as its implementation. There is a lot of pushing and shoving that remains to be done but, at least, there is a potential light at the end of the road. Enemies of the peace exists in both camps, the Israeli settlers, the Hamas extremists, the Israeli far right, the Palestinian old and corrupted Arafat entourage. But after years of useless bloodshed there is also a tired majority that seems now ready for a breakthrough. Israelis have understood that they will never live in peace until the Palestinian issue is resolved; Palestinians have understood that Israel is there to stay and no amount of terrorism will make it disappear.
With Saddam gone, Syria cautious and the rest of the Arab world quietly considering its own future, it can be a propitious moment for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to end. Let’s hope that both parts (and the US) will put their best efforts in: the prize of peace is tantalizingly close.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 2:49 PM
Global Destinations
Help for fellow travelers
My weekend in Wales was greatly aided by information found on the web. Often I find small, personal websites much more useful than big and comprehensive travel guides. The efficiency of Google makes the collection of small personal sites on the web as efficient to gather information from as the traditional names.
Based on this thought, I have decided to create my little travel guides/tips for places I have been too. In keeping with the spirit of this blog there will be a fairly international mix, although with a logical skew towards Old Europe.
Watch this space in the weeks to come for more news on the subject.
posted by Mooraq at 2:37 PM
Globally Committed
Foreign Policy new Development Commitment Index
I don’t believe in Indices too much. I know enough of statistics to understand that you can basically turn indices and numbers pretty much the way you want them to appear. Nevertheless, if the underlying methodology is sound and transparent, they can be very useful tools.
FP has just released an index belonging to the latter category. It’s called the Commitment to Development Index and ranks the 21 richest countries in the world on you can guess what.
Not surprisingly the US comes second…to last, right before Japan. Its appalling performance has a lot to do with low scores on Environment (Kyoto was NOT, as some thinks, a global conspiracy against America) and peacekeeping effort.
I cannot escape the thought that if the US put 10% of the efforts it uses in making wars, in peaceful development activities, it would achieve a lot of its objectives of democracy and peace around the world sooner and more efficiently.
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