[ekim68]

That kind of leaves it wide open, eh? However, I'll start with the Middle East.....Things aren't looking up...

Turkey expels Israeli ambassador over Gaza flotilla row

Turkey has expelled Israel's ambassador and suspended all military agreements over its refusal to apologise for last year's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

(And I read recently that Egypt's new powers are considering relations with Israel and are seeking to shut down tunnels...)

[buffoon]

Originally Posted by ekim68

That kind of leaves it wide open, eh? However, I'll start with the Middle East.....Things aren't looking up...

Turkey expels Israeli ambassador over Gaza flotilla row



(And I read recently that Egypt's new powers are considering relations with Israel and are seeking to shut down tunnels...)

Errrhhhh............yeah????

What were you expecting? That they break off relations and install the local version of two or three Lincoln tunnels?

Egypt's new powers, BTW, are Egypt's old powers currently still. The Military.

[ekim68]

Report: Turkey plans alliance with Egypt

ANKARA, Turkey, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Turkey plans to sign a military and economic alliance with Egypt Monday during the first visit to Cairo by a Turkish prime minister in 15 years, officials said.

The development comes after Turkey said it was suspending military and commercial ties with Israel, but is not intended as "revenge" against Israel for last year's deaths in a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid, Haaretz reported Wednesday.

[poochee]

Good idea for a thread.

[ekim68]

China has 271 billionaires

BEIJING, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- China has 271 billionaires, including Sany Group construction giant's Liang Wengen, the richest with $11 billion, the 2011 Hurun Rich List reported.

China's most affluent group expanded rapidly again this year, spurred by the country's construction boom and growing retail market, the Hurun Research Institute, which prepared the list, said Wednesday, China Daily reported.

The wealthy in China appeared to remain largely unaffected by the turbulence in the global economy as indicated by the number of dollar billionaires jumping to 271 from 189 last year and 130 in 2009.

[poochee]

Originally Posted by ekim68

China has 271 billionaires

The wealthy in China appeared to remain largely unaffected by the turbulence in the global economy as indicated by the number of dollar billionaires jumping to 271 from 189 last year and 130 in 2009.

Like the US?

[Wino]

Originally Posted by ekim68

China has 271 billionaires

Good on them. There is a stark difference between those in China and here (USA). If the ones in China pulled the chicanery that Wall St. and the Banks did here, their heads would literally roll and would be lucky if they got prison terms instead of death.

[poochee]

Originally Posted by Wino

Good on them. There is a stark difference between those in China and here (USA). If the ones in China pulled the chicanery that Wall St. and the Banks did here, their heads would literally roll and would be lucky if they got prison terms instead of death.

[ekim68]

I read today that the US is going to veto Palestine's State request at the UN.....Seems to me the Middle East ain't gonna be settled for some time....(Yep, I know that it hasn't for some time, too...) And then there's this:

Egypt protesters storm Israel Embassy in Cairo, raising tensions

Protesters broke through a security wall and stormed the Israeli Embassy in Cairo late Friday, throwing documents out windows and sharpening the tensions that have been growing between the two countries since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched toward the embassy, battered the wall and pulled down barricades recently set up to protect the high-rise. Police did not intervene until shortly before midnight, hours after young men set fire to the embassy's Israeli flag along the Nile.

[Wino]

Originally Posted by ekim68

I read today that the US is going to veto Palestine's State request at the UN.....Seems to me the Middle East ain't gonna be settled for some time....(Yep, I know that it hasn't for some time, too...) And then there's this:

Egypt protesters storm Israel Embassy in Cairo, raising tensions

Yep!! The Arab Spring is going retro.

[1956brother]

Originally Posted by ekim68

I read today that the US is going to veto Palestine's State request at the UN.....Seems to me the Middle East ain't gonna be settled for some time....(Yep, I know that it hasn't for some time, too...) And then there's this:

Egypt protesters storm Israel Embassy in Cairo, raising tensions

and some wonder why there is no peace in the middle east

[ekim68]

Netanyahu: Embassy attack 'severe injury'

CAIRO, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasted the attack on his country's embassy in Cairo, calling Saturday for a swift response from Egypt.

Netanyahu thanked the Egyptian government for rescuing six security guards, The Daily Telegraph reported. But he also said the invasion of the embassy threatens the longstanding peace between the two countries.

Israel has become a focus of protest since Israeli forces killed five Egyptian security officers in the Sinai three weeks ago. The interim Egyptian government has promised to maintain the treaty signed by President Anwar Sadat in 1979, but demonstrations have called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.

[ekim68]

Analysis: With us or against us? A decade on, Pakistan wavering

(Reuters) - While the ruins of New York's World Trade Center were still smouldering in late September 2001, President George W. Bush put nations around the globe on notice: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

It was an ultimatum that Pakistan's then-president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, felt acutely as Washington readied for war against the Taliban regime next door in Afghanistan. In his memoirs, he recalls being told by the Americans that "if we chose the terrorists, then we should be prepared to be bombed back to the Stone Age."

Musharraf ditched the Taliban and threw Pakistan's lot in with the United States, making it a strategic ally in the "global war on terror," despite quiet misgivings among his top brass in the powerful military establishment.

Over the decade since then, however, Pakistan has been an erratic and reluctant ally. Trust has crumbled on both sides and, with tensions now running high, it is clear that Islamabad increasingly sees Washington as more of a foe than a friend.

[pyritechips]

Musharraf threw his lot in with America to the tune of $1,500, 000, 000/year of "financial aid", much to the chagrin of many Pakistanis, who are Pashtun. It doesn't sit well with Pakistanis to have their government tell them that they have to kill their kinsmen.

[ekim68]

That whole area with Pakistan and Afghanistan have been divided because of the clans, so maybe they should all be their own countries...