National Intelligence Estimate: Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003

head for the hills guys. Putin won't back down.

he probably won't even give up his dictatorship. Its either going to be Nuclear War or oil crisis. Take your pick. And if you have family is Israel, I don't need to tell you what to do.

kaitainen wrote:

rundaddy, i just saw this NY times article and thought of what you've said on here before about bush's funding of african anti-poverty programs. wonder what you think of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/world/africa/07millennium.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

i was particularly struck by this item in the second paragraph:

"The agency, a rare Bush administration proposal to be enacted with bipartisan support, has spent only $155 million of the $4.8 billion it has approved for ambitious projects in 15 countries in Africa, Central America and other regions."

I received MCC orientation briefs twice in the past 2 years: the first in Dec 05 while I was preparing to leave for 6 months in Africa, and the second last year as part of a graduate course I was taking. Both briefers were senior managers with MCC and gave very impressive presentations.

I think the MCC is a very good idea. It's a radical change from how financial aid has been given to poor, developing nations. In Africa alone, billions of dollars have been given to African nations over the past 3-4 decades (by the U.S. and European nations primarily) and the continent is still mired in poverty, conflict, disease and general misery. Many nations have gone backwads despite being huge aid recipients. Much of the aid ends up lining the pockets of corrupt politicians and leaders and not helping people. But, more importantly, there is a growing belief by many that aid should only be given unconditionally to save life in the most dire circumstances. MCC is a product of a major rethink on aid...it ties aid to a host of 'good governance' performance metrics, and, equally important, it is dispersed against requirements the host nations identify and projects they plan and manage. It really does very little long term good just to make a nation an international aid addict...they need to take ownership of their own future with the help of international aid as a temporary bridge.

Why have the disbursements been so poor? Mostly politics. Congress is not fully funding MCC accounts for a variety of political issues related to each of the countries. And, the Bush Administration doesn't have the political capital to press on it while trying to fund the wars. I think the program has great potential and should still be pursued. I hope the next Administration keeps it going.

I can't go into more detail than that here due to time. I encourage folks interested to visit the MCC web site and read about the program for themselves. It's quite well thought through, in my opinion. How a nation applies for the MCC, becomes a threshhold country before fully qualifying, etc... Some countries, like Ghana, really got onboard and have done well on improving governance. Other countries have shown little interest because they simply don't want to make the painful reforms necessary to qualify.

Lastly, big Africa donor stars like Bono, Brangelina, Bob Geldoff, etc... have visited MCC headquarters here in DC and view the program positively (so I'm told).

It should also be noted that MCC is just one of several Administration programs that benefit Africa.

I'm sorry Rundaddy,

but I think not spending money on Foreign aid is a good thing. We could give them all the money in the world, they'd still hate us. So why bother? So we give them impetus to procreate like jackrabbits while Russia ships them AK-47's? And China says "we won't involve ourselves in your domestic spats" aka kill all the darkies you want...yeah. Yeah...ok. It sounds great in a speech but thats it.

Plus, just as an individual with a good sense of self-preservation and the preservation of my country, we should probably be funneling that money into Missile Defense, even if it lines the pockets of Defense companies. At this point, I don't know how else we are gonna beat Putin. He's a bastard. Can you think of a way?

I'm all ears.

wahrheit wrote:

got to agree with peeps on this one....

Sorry, but I stopped reading your post after that (not that you care. And the day that *I* type those above words of yours, please God strike me dead)

I love peeps wrote:

excuse me while my head explodes.

Please God, make it come true for real!

(it would be a great day for LetsRun and a great day for mankind)

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

wahrheit wrote:

got to agree with peeps on this one....

Sorry, but I stopped reading your post after that (not that you care. And the day that *I* type those above words of yours, please God strike me dead)

pity, go back and read the entire post because while i don't completely share peeps doom and gloom scenarios they do say even the sun shines on a dogs ass occasionally.

in this case we are already in an energy war, iraq. the decision of saddam to begin selling his oil in euros in 2000, the interest that iran has taken to begin its own oil bourse, in multiple currencies, not just the dollar has a great deal, if not completely, to do with the saber rattling the current administration has been doing. take a look back about a month or so ago and look for an article about how iran has delayed their oil bourse and watch how the Bush war pushing slows down and the NIE comes out. It isnt without coincidence.

The majority of Americans would not support an oil/energy war if the truth be revelaed to them, thus the claims of WMD's before the current iraq war, and the reason for claiming the same with iran.

people do not want to hear it but it is a page taken straight from the nazi playbook on how to instill fear in the public to obtain their "consent" without direct retaliation.