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- WAR IN IRAQ -
The 9/11 anniversary has passed, Israel is carrying out it's second siege on Arafat's HQ, and the USA continues a military buildup around Iraq. For the man in the street, there are threats that the oil price will rise, and that the economy is not rock solid.
Malcolm Frazer's mess in Zimbabwe continues to fester. One news source pointed out that the Zimbabwean president has been murdering blacks for decades. So why should we be specially worried when he starts dispossessing a handful of white farmers?
In India 23 in a Hindu temple were killed by terrorists, which sparked a riot in which approximately 1,000 muslims were killed.
Australian government ministers are warning that the housing boom is a bubble, and buyers should beware. They are making patently empty threats that interest rates might rise "soon". (The world is awash with superannuation/pension fund money, which has driven up the value of assets. Where can anybody find safe, high interest rates?). Life assurance corporation AMP has sacked it's CEO. The whole corporate world is a cauldron, and the heat is rising.
Saddam made a desultory offer to allow inspectors back, which offer was scorned by Bush. England's Blair followed the Bush line, France followed with reservations, and Germany (in the middle of elections) promised no German troops for Iraq.
Doves are warning that the body count in Iraq would be high, (justification is that fighting in urban areas is risky). Why should Bush invest the cities? Just siege, with heavily armed intrusions to destabilize organized resistance. Soldiers today are professionals, and lives will not be risked to obtain "paper tiger" objectives.
The Arab world believes that the US purpose is to capture control of Iraqi oil. Since Saudi Arabia has about five or ten times as large oil reserves as Iraq, wouldn't it be easier (and more efficient) to take over Arabia?
We sure live in interesting times.