Apr
19
Associated Press today reported that government officials had said that diplomacy was working, that diplomatic discussions with Iran appeared to be paying off.
Perhaps it points out a fault of US foreign policy. Recent US foreign policy has been “shoot first, ask later”, which shows in their handling of the Afghanistan situation as well as the debacle happening in Iraq, especially Baghdad now.
The recent abduction of British marines by iran was a recent class in diplomacy by the British, to obtain the safe return of their servicemen, and then fudge the whole thing up with bureaucratic gobbledygook, so no one’s any the wiser who’s right, and who’s wrong. But everyone’s safe and no shots have been fired. Speculation has been that if it happened to US servicemen, we would have seen the start of the invasion of Iran. An possibly another debacle of huge amounts of money and lives spent to quell violence in Iran.
To solve the Iraqi situation, US must seek to get surrounding Middle East governments to the discussion table. Countries like Syria, Lebanon, as these governments will have influence and can help to stop the violence. Or prolong it, by supporting the insurgents.
And if that doens’t work, perhaps the help of another superpower with significantly more influence and goodwill in the middle east may be able to do what the US has long sought to do but failed to achieve - peace in the middle east.
Apr
17
NZD and AUS dollars up, and new zealand is looking good
Filed Under Currency, Financial | Leave a Comment
http://www.honeymoone.com/new-zealand/ - check out this photo tour of South Island, New Zealand.
Since the minor fiasco where a drop in the stock market sparked panic selling of the australian and new zealand dollars to repay yen loans, these currencies have rebounded and are now looking good. And with interest rates in New Zealand high, in excess of 7 %, it’s a good place to park funds for now.
