Dear rss free blog,
I
am publishing the following rant from a sometime contributor in Russia not
because I agree with it, but to encourage U.S. readers engaged in
global investing to think about the political baggage we bring with
us.He writes:
Americans
have subverted some 50-odd governments since World War II. Quite a
record.
Think
Iran. Wonder why they love you so much? A bit of bad luck and they
will get the chance to roast you (and lots of other innocent
bystanders). Any chance the roots of this distaste go back to 1953?
And decades under the Shah?
Argentina?
Brazil? Uruguay? Paraguay? Was their [sic] a single vicious
right-wing dictatorship anywhere in the world NOT supported by the
Americans? I have forgotten most of them. Chances are though, a few
of them have not [been] forgotten by the locals.
I was in
jail in Mexico in 1968, which kept me out of Tlalteloco. I got
grabbed when they took the University. I saw sufficient massacre so
that I do not need to rely on Orlana – that was for your benefit (the
massacre was covered by the NY Times, which came up with a
body count of 32, if memory serves. There were hundreds of dead – two
of whom I knew personally.) [He is referring to the massacre of
Mexico City students before the Olympic Games there, and quoting the
late Oriana Fallaci whose name he persistently misspells. She was
always an unreliable source; as for the myth that the NY Times
writes what the government tells it to, that is errant nonsense. I am
the wife of a retired Timesman.]
I do not think that my
current political views correlate [to] my childhood experience with
American imperialism. My own father was Czech-Austrian. We were not
particularly fond of the USSR, not after the invasion of Prague.
The Soviet Union is gone. I’m no believer in Rousseau.
Empires are evil because man is. They will reliably find ideological
justifications for the mayhem they [wreak on] anyone standing in
their way.
A
victorious Soviet Empire would have been no less dangerous than a
victorious US Empire. Either would have been destined to collapse.
Mono-polarity tends to be a transition state.
If the absurdly
over-used term “Fascist” has any applicability, certainly
the Bush team came awfully close (at least as proto-Fascist.)
Okay. They failed and were voted out. But I do not see Truth
and Reconciliation Commissions. They have not been purged from public
office. There is no hard evidence that they, or their successors, [will] not return. I do not know where you place the statute of
limitations but 2 years surely is a bit short.
The current
emperor is a kindly gent, but his regime is a continuation of the old
because there has been no fundamental disruption in the function of
the state. Obama is a representative of the same fundamental
machinery. Nice talk, but he [aims] to support and perpetuate the
empire – that is the job he was elected for.
If
the Americans’ behaviour [sic]has improved, it is for the simple
reason that they are faced with vastly reduced circumstances. They
can no longer afford to throw their weight around – they must now
seek coalitions.
When I look at the evil done by the
Americans – and that done by the Soviets – I see little to choose
between. As one of their subjects – as a Hungarian or as a Mexican, I
would have gone with the goulash!
Vivian
explains: I do not agree with this man’s rant from Russia. I am publishing it for
educational purposes.
The notion that we should have a purge of Cheney and Rumsfeld followers proves that growing up in Mexico does not give you any understanding of the way things are done in the USA.
When
the Mexico university students were massacred in 1968, I recall
blaming the US. My late father, with more experience there than
me, replied that Mexican governments do not need lessons in how to
oppress their people from Washington. That probably applies to the nasties all over Latin America who were mobilized by the CIA but hardly created by our spies.
Certainly
the same applies to the Shah and his successors in Iran. After the CIA
toppled Mossadegh in 1953, as my ranter pointed out, there was horrible oppression. But after Khomeini gook power the Iranians purged the ranks of his followers without Washington’s help. And in the wake of the re-election of Aminadinadjab, the Iranians slaughtered and arrested students (and now their mothers!) without advice from the CIA.
A
comeuppance note. Russia’s central bank in Nov. bought $23 bn worth
of bullion to avoid holding dollars, a 13% jump in one month. Again
today, the price of gold is down, to $1143/oz. at this moment, linked to the job
data boost in the dollar.
A
faster recovery may not be what banks, speculators, and bourses want,
but it is what this country needs. Getting people back to work is the
best way to stimulate the economy. However, it may mean higher
interest rates, an end to the near-free-money availability if the Fed
changes its tactics.
My poor besotted Russia-based reporter may see repercussions there: cheaper oil, a weaker ruble, and less love for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
More
for paid subscribers follows:
*Here
is a confession. Your editor sometimes thinks she is insufficiently
daring. It was only this weekend that a sense the US economy is
recovering led me to advise averaging way down on X when preparing the tables.
Retired
CA broker reader PH told me he did this a dollar cheaper three months
ago, but I hesitated because of concerns about buying X at year-end before the distribution period.
PH
also bought more of the spin-off of Y. His
attitude was that the spun off shares were not worth keeping unless
they represented a significant holding/ “In for a penny, in for a
pound” was the argument. Not so fast.
