Fear and Loathing: The Bush Chronicles

As some of you may know I run an online forum here in Buenos Aires. Recently someone asked the question “what are ‘we’ going to do regarding all this bullshit with Iraq and airplanes full of nuclear warheads accidently being transported from one end of the US to the other. Well I don’t know about you but the first thing I am going to do is move somewhere far away where the fallout cannot reach me, someplace down south, like maybe Argentina.

I don’t know you guys; the entire thing is based on one deception after another. I think the story really started in 1971 when Richard Nixon announced that the US dollar would no longer be redeemable for gold In 1973 the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies (OPEC) quadrupled the price of oil but continued to accept only dollars in payment. In effect the US dollar converted from the “Gold Standard” to the “Black Gold Standard”.

To make a long story short this led to what is known as “dollar hegemony”. The only viable threat to this concept would be the development of diversity in investment. So fast forward to 1999 when 11 members of the European Union (EU) adopted the Euro as a common currency. Greece joined the Euro a year later and on January 1, 20002 those twelve countries withdrew their old currencies from circulation, thus completing the most significant currency reform in history.

Now what happens is that along the way OPEC begins to take an interest in this concept of a new currency. Iran was the first country to show serious disloyalty to the dollar beginning in 1999 with the creation of the euro. This got them the honor of being named one of the first and most hated members of George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil”. This set off a wave of anti-American demonstrations in Iraq the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the days of the Khomeini era. This in turn set back the social, political and religious liberalization in that country meaning that in effect, our fine new King, BOY GEORGE, actually created much of the destabilization of Iran.

Now just for kicks why don’t we toss Iraq into the mix? In October of 2000 Iraq convinced the United Nations to allow Iraqi oil to be sold for euros instead of dollars. That led to Iraq converting its entire $10 billion dollar “oil for food” reserve fund from dollars into euros.

It is no small wonder that George II, the boy who would be king, then found an excuse to kick off “Operation Iraqi Freedom” or whatever the hell this latest fiasco is or was called. And don’t forget that with Iraq firmly under an economic stranglehold, Kuwait already pacified, and Iran being threatened more every day that the US is now turning its head towards Syria. Did you know that Syria is planning to sell all its oil for euros since most of its imports are already purchased that way?

So, does it surprise me that we are now shuffling around enough nuclear bombs to make a marshmallow and hot dog fiesta out of the Middle East? NAHHHHHH

What do WE do you ask? Run, hide or stay and fight. Who knows? I see little help from the political process if Hillary and Obama (ebony and ivory) are the best alternative we can come up with to George of the Jungle. I think that maybe I will stay right where I am where military dictatorships and collapse of the economy are the only things I have to worry about.

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Che Guevara: Hero or Sh*thead?

I have found the whole Che Guevara as a hero and freedom fighter phenomenon to be somewhat disconcerting. I can understand superficially why one might come to think of him worthy of being idolized. However, it only takes about five minutes of reading about his life to see that the man and the myth are quite distinct from one another. Here are a few points to consider:

• Che's biographers consistently report that he sent thousands to the firing squad in Cuba without benefit of trial or any due process after Fidel Castro's takeover. Che Guevara himself was said to have acknowledged ordering "several thousand" executions.
  
  
• During the Cuban missile crisis Che G. advocated nuclear war believing that a better world could be created from the ashes. He believed this in spite of the estimated costs of human lives in the millions.



• Characteristic of dictators and opponents of civil liberties Che G. believed that the end always justified the means and his written words, speeches and historic record reflect his ruthlessness.

1. "Blind hate against the enemy creates a forceful impulse that cracks the boundaries of natural human limitations, transforming the soldier into an effective, selective and cold killing machine. A people without hate cannot triumph against the adversary."



2. "Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"

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Women’s Emerging Dominance in Argentina

I was reading an article in the Miami Herald entitled In Argentina, Women lead a sex revolution . The article did talk about the sexual revolution here in Argentina but raised some other interesting points regarding women in Argentina in recent years.

For instance the article noted that it was the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo that carried the torch regarding the the disappearance of their children during the military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983. Then after the last economic crisis in 2001 it was the women and not the men that took to the streets to protest. In the recent presidential election both the winner and runner-up were women.

I find it very encouraging to see that women are so active in making positive change in this country and I wonder when the USA will join the ranks of countries that recognize that women are every bit as capable as men at running a country. Read more!