Friday, August 11, 2006

Bush & Olmert “Country Raiders”

This morning an image came to mind as I thought about change. Lasting change comes from the inside whether it is an individual, a corporation or a country. Change imposed from the outside is usually resisted with great effort.

I thought about several of my past employers. The most traumatic times occurred during changes of ownership. What would the new corporate raiders do once they got control?

Modern raiders buy companies to release their inherent values. This is achieved via a myriad of strategies, spinning off underperforming or non-strategic divisions, outsourcing production to low cost areas of the world (India or China), and layoffs.

Slashing, cutting and spinning off, we have returned to the days of Ghengis Khan. Our government is no exception to the trend. It contracts our work to the private sector it previously performed.

Yet, it expresses itself on an even greater level. Today, the U.S. is a "country raider", imposing regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq. Change came from the outside and its hold is yet to take.

Dir. of National Intelligence John Negroponte in his 2006 Afghan assessment mentioned the rising background resistance. What he didn't mention was 40% unemployment and lack of economic progress. Neighboring Iran has less than 10% unemployment and many Afghans cross the border in search of work. Sound familiar, does Mexico/U.S. come to mind?

The whole deal in Lebanon is "country raiding" by America's proxy Israel. Israeli P.M. Olmert raised the sword again this morning saying he would continue the offensive not happy with aspects of the cease fire. The United States had over a month to weigh in on this offensive through the U.N. Instead the Bush team blocked for Olmert at every turn.

Their swords raised, the innocent people fall, and all for what? Given the state of world bleedership, I fear how far will the country raiding will go?

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