Korsfarare

To what degree is the current crisis a humanitarianism conflict?

Reasoning against Iraq 'catastrophe'

Först, en dansk/japansk syn på hotet mot Irak

Human rights are not a main concern. That's only the official public-relations stance taken by the U.S. administration. The main concern is strategic. That is, access to the world's finite energy resources -- in concrete terms, oil. And it is not only a matter of consumption in the U,S. -- which is at a perverse level per capita -- but also a matter of securing control of the world's finite fossil fuels to prevent them from being controlled by Russia, China, India or the Third World in the future.

(U.S. ally) Saudia Arabia has the world's largest known oil deposit, whereas Iraq is No. 2. This means that if (the U.S.) does move in and control the oil, all the world will be dependent on Washington for access to oil. We'll all become dependent on Mr. Bush, or successors to Mr. Bush. This is not a world in which I want to live. [ . . . ]

It's the beginning of the end of American empire. In historical terms, there are three basic factors leading to the decline of empires. Take the Roman Empire, or that of Britain. A country overextends itself. It becomes intoxicated with its might. Then, it becomes a militarist power that by sheer physical force gets whatever it wants. That will exhaust its material resources. [ . . . ]

Then there is the factor of legitimacy; empires go down when they are no longer considered legitimate in the eyes of others. I speak with everybody I meet around the world: politicians, taxi drivers, diplomats, business people. . . . I have not come across a single person in the last six months who thinks that George W. Bush's policies are good, just or legitimate. I have very conservative friends who have always loved America who today say, "He is crazy and dangerous, and of course it's oil he's going for."

If the U.S. continues having wars -- yesterday with the Balkans, then with Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, then with North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia -- then it'll be the end of the United States as an empire. I can't tell you when. Some would say 10 years, some would say 20 years. But we're not talking 50 years or 100 years. This is not going to be the century of the United States. [ . . . ]

France and Germany are drifting toward a more European global perspective than an alliance or loyalty to the Bush regime. Germany's Schroeder, particularly, is signalling that he will accept no participation by his country in a war. And then there is Tony Blair. In his understanding of the world, you get somewhere with bombing. It's a sad rerun of British imperialism or colonial thinking. I don't know where it comes from -- in his case, he may think he's out fighting evil or something, but intellectually, he's a disaster.

He's a disaster also for the idea of an E.U. common foreign and security policy. Officially, all the E.U. countries are supposed to speak with one voice. With somebody like Tony Blair, that becomes impossible. [ . . . ]

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Blair och Bush mot Araberna

Clausewitz — Lawrence o araberna — Norman Mailer

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Lawrence of Arabia

I SAMBAND MED FöRSTA VÄRLDSKRIGET då England skulle bekriga Turkiet som var Tysklands allierade behövde engelsmännen hjälp.
'De behövde speciellt militär assistans för att kunna köra ut turkarna från från de arabiska områdena ( Egypten, Arabien, Palestina, Syrien )
I detta syfte engagerade engelsmännen en del arabiska ledare utmed Röda Havets arabiska kust /det är här mr Lawrence - en franskfödd brittisk medborgare, som studerat och vandrat i Orienten (Libanon)/ kom in i bilden
Lawrence lyckades övertala dem. Argumentet som avgjorde var att de (araberna) skulle bli fria (inte bara från ottomanskt välde) - de skulle bli helt självständiga! Detta gällde f.ö. även Palestina. Men sen i krigets slutskede så gavs löften till judarna (Balfourdeklarationen) som medförde att löftena till araberna blev mindre värda. Man hittade också olja i öknen och det brittiska imperiet ville säkra oljan. Blair och britter: är de att lita på?

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Milou 2016