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thedrifter
01-02-04, 08:03 AM
Putin, Chirac, Schroeder’s Ineptitude at New Low



by Dennis Elam PhD





There is much to complain about concerning our foreign policy. Our troops should come home from countries that can now protect themselves like South Korea and Germany. But comparing the vision of our leader with that of Russia, France, and Germany reveals the real ineptitude. Most Americans tend to think of those Europeans as ‘world opinion.’ Well, there is a new world order, and they are not in it-here is why.



Russia has managed an incredible economic feat. It is one of the twelve most productive nations on earth that does not produce a single demanded consumer good. Unless of course, the Kalashnikov rifle is on your gift list (or assorted rockets, tanks, mortars and other weapons.) And Mr. Putin is getting some lessons in terrorism right in downtown Moscow courtesy of his continual repression of Chechnya. France is surely the economy of Kings and Queens past. Unable to find profitable ventures at home, French business has turned, gulp, to America. If you have read a Car & Driver (Hachette Filipacchi Media) or stayed at a Motel Six (Accor) you have used a French owned product. The sky high taxes and Gallic passion for cradle to grave security has left few opportunities at home. Meanwhile, Germany’s Daimler Benz jumped at the chance to acquire Chrysler. Oh, not for the cars and trucks but to escape the German labor unions. Ditto for BMW, both firms now make vehicles in THIS country cheaper than in their homeland.



Europe as most American conceive of it-a endless array of table cloth curbside restaurants with beret wearing patrons sipping wine on the West Bank of The Seine, is, well, just that. And therein lies the problem Unemployment runs 8-10% in France and Germany. Jim Rogers in Adventure Capitalist features photos of the newest er rather oldest expanding trade in Russia, prostitution. All three missed the computer revolution with neither a major software or hardware maker in their borders. New job creation in these three countries since 1970 is zilch-compared with about 100% in the USA. With a trade background like this, is it any wonder all three turned to dictators like Saddam for business? And now, saddled with bad debts in the billions from Saddam (did they really think he was going to pay?) they are quite irritated that Mr. Bankrupt has been found.



Meanwhile, note that those former Russian ‘client states’ like Tadkistan and others rushed to offer their territory as bases for the US Iraq invasion. Fifty years of Russian occupation gave them a short learning curve on knowing what foreign domination can be like. Portugal recently noted that France needed the US Navy to transport its troops to Bosnia, and quickly signed on as a US ally in Iraq-it is clear who to rely on in a European conflict. Pick up your running shoes or your hand tools or the mother board from your computer and you will notice it is likely from China, India, Indonesia, or Taiwan. Personal computers sport American names not Curie or Zeiss or Yuri.



To those still finger pointing over those weapons of mass destruction, here is the answer. The economic output of all the Arab states is less than that of Spain. Lacking employment opportunities for its youth, Arab leaders blame the West for their failings. Hence the only export from these countries is angry young men, bent on the destruction of the west. Those looking for the real weapon of mass destruction need look no further than Mohammed Atta. One might note that he neglected to tell his fellow Arabs their real mission, making him a WMD of them also. Capitalism, democracy, and freedom must come to these countries or indeed, the next century will be as blood soaked as the last. We invaded Iraq to rid the world of its Stalinesque figure and give those folks a shot at freedom. Got it now? I readily admit that Bush and Cheney have their eye on those oil wells which is why Iraq and not the Sudan.



A global terror war could last for the next century-it certainly did in most of the last. Just look to the 20 million dead in two world wars plus Korea, Viet Nam, Laos, Rwanda, Bosnia, et al. Yes we are an international pariah and globally despised-if one’s idea of global are the collective losers of the current economic boom. Wars are increasingly being fought in boardrooms and in consumer markets. The G-7 lacks the reality of the largest Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, or the fastest growing trader-China. And so there is a new world order. To which we can only say to Jacques, Gerhard, and Vladimir, better hurry, the train is leaving the station, and you fellas aren’t on it.



Dennis Elam PhD keeps an eye on capital markets teaching in the College of Business at Texas A & M San Antonio and can be reached at de10@riverrats.net.


http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Special%20Reports.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=111&rnd=260.36031159927955

Sempers,

Roger
:marine: