Saturday, November 15, 2008

Freedom to Fund & Arm Democratic Foes?


President George W. Bush's administration faces another test as it winds down. Russia announced its intention to buy Israeli made military drone planes. The Russian military was impressed with the performance of such drones in their conflict with Georgia. Haaretz reported:


In the clash, the Israeli-made drones, the Hermes model manufactured by Elbit, were used by the Georgian army. The Israel Aerospace Industries-manufactured Heron model is also vying for the tender. The Israeli drones are made entirely of locally manufactured parts, and therefore do not require U.S. authorization prior to being sold to foreign countries.

While it may not require American authorization, there could be consequences to such a decision. America supplies over $2.5 billion in annual military aid to Israel. But penalties won't come from Tzipi Livni hugging George W. Bush.

President Bush sided with Chevron-Total's freedom to provide capital, i.e. millions of dollars, to the oppressive military junta of Burma. Treasury looked ready to approve a Russian firm's acquisition of a Carlyle Group steel maker. The worldwide financial implosion killed the deal.

George W. recently gave a rousing speech on free markets and free trade. He failed to notice the Wall Street omelet frying on his head. It had a dash of Fannie & Freedie, AIG deal 1 & 2, commercial paper purchase program, TARP, direct capital injections into banks, extending TARP to nonbanks, and approving a potpourri of big names as banks to loot the Treasury, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and American Express.

The point is George W. Bush sides on the behalf of corporations. He chooses businesses over people living in democratic and undemocratic countries. What will his successor do? How might Obama's right hand man, Rahm Emmanuel influence such a decision? Rahm claims service in the Israeli military. He rarely clarifies it for its true nature. Emanuel served as a civilian volunteer, working on military vehicles during the first U.S. Gulf War.

So many veneers, so many conflicts of interest, and so little progress toward peace on behalf of the little people. Will Russia, the enemy of democratic Georgia, soon fly Israeli drone military planes? Stay tuned...