WHEN THE ELITE OF THE ELITE MEET, IT’S Oft TIMES BAD NEWS FOR THE REST OF US!

(Aljareeza, PR Newswire, Military.com, Reuters, Huff Post, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Syria and North Korea are in the news, and for many of us the situation with the two countries seems like a runaway train. Will North Korea shoot a nuclear device towards the United States, will they drop some sort of dirty bomb on South Korea. Will Syria implode, will the apparent pivotal country in the region hold together, or will the entire area sink into one big civil war?

 

A second day of meetings in London where talks center on both Syria and North Korea are being held by the G8. I’ve never really understood why four, five, eight, ten or fifty nations can sit down and figure out a solution for neighboring countries.

 

I guess it kind of reminded me of when I was in school, and there was a disagreement between two students and a teacher raised a boney hand and said, “wait, stop this bickering right now, there is a better way to solve this problem.” The interjection calmed tempers, and possibly averted a fight…..at that time, but it didn’t really solve the problem. It just festered like a boil on your butt, and surfaced again at a later date…..and then, usually there was more than words exchanged.

 

The United States and the seven other nations seem to be like that school teacher of my long ago school years, stepping in to avert a conflict, but never really solving the problem. I have been blogging lately way to much about defense budgets, sequestrations, and bickering amongst Middle Eastern countries. To be perfectly frank and honest, I’m tired of it.

 

Exactly who died and made some upstart elite group of nations the boss of me, and the whole wide world! That idea pisses me off, I’ve read some about G8’s and probably like most of you I wonder exactly where they got their traction from…..so of course I looked this particular elite group of 8 up.

 

Surprise, surprise, the group of eight, (G8) stands for the governments of the eight wealthiest countries, could it be any different. Actually the group has nine members, the European Union, but they can’t host or chair meetings. The eight are:

Canada,

France,

Germany,

Italy,

Japan,

Russia,

United Kingdom,

United States,

European Union,

 

This forum originated with a 1975 summit hosted by France that brought together representatives from six governments, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Accordingly they were called the Six, or the G6.

 

Today the group of eight comprises 51% of global nominal GDP, and 42% of global GDP (PPP). The financial power that these nations hold equates into massive power over other nations, especially those developing nations.

 

The G8 does not have an office, or a secretary, treasurer, or really a president, the hosting country for the annual meeting acts as the president, and meetings rotate each year, so I suppose the president of the G8 has a one year cycle in office.

 

SYRIA, NORTH KOREA AND THE G8

It’s not much of a stretch to figure that any trouble spot in the world would come under the G8’s magnifying glass, after all there are treaties, peace keeping agreements and of course that all encompassing national interest statement. Personally I couldn’t imagine all the back room crap that goes on between these elitists when it comes to the infighting of national interest! But I’d sure love to be a fly on the wall whenever these talks go behind closed doors, can you smell a best seller?

 

History in the Middle East is starting to sound like a spy novel, where the author doesn’t have to delete words for better ones that will fit more into his genre, like rebels instead of soldiers, or a country’s opposition instead of enemies. And then of course there’s always the big one, offered information on condition of anonymity. Gee I think leaking information used to be called spy work.

 

Here’s what the G8 boils down to…..foreign aid, these poor countries come crawling and begging to the elite G8, asking for all sorts of aid, from food, to cloths, to guns and bombs. These guys, who come crawling for help aren’t interested in regional peace, regional stability, and differently not interested in equality…..they are there for their own causes.

 

And the G8 nations, well, they do a little glad handing, drink some of the hosting country’s best booze, maybe take a little side-trip, and then buzz back to their respective countries. Please somebody tell me how France, and Russia can be all on the same page, or Russia and Germany, or the United States and Russia…..I’ll tell you…..they can’t, there hasn’t been enough history to patch the wounds of the 1940’s.

 

AND NOW THE PENTAGON

I talked about this…..just recently, but it bears repeating, the Pentagon, (defense department) is arranging the 2013 budget proposal…..does the dance ever stop, and they want to drop cash for ground vehicles and lay $187.8 billion dollars to buy planes and ships.

 

As yet the terrorists don’t own a single airplane and they do not, and I repeat; do not have a standing navel force. These puppies are pretty much land-locked and don’t know diddle-squat from a mizzen mast to a poop deck whenever you talk about a boat that sales on a body of water much less a sea faring craft.

 

Let me run a few names by you, just for your reading pleasure, it makes great porcelain throne reading, $1.91 billion for 21 V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft built by Boeing, and Bell helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc. Northrop-Grumman, $1.25 billion for a Global Hawk spy-plane. Lockheed-Martin and something called a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and $1.3 billion.

 

I guess air-flight is the next version of terrorist warfare, I’m damn glad that our military is preparing for the fight, God knows we need to be prepared…..right? Preparedness at any cost, that’s what I always say. Amid this troubling time, with all the G8 crap, and the Pentagon bickering over their piece of the taxpayers pie I can only wish you a due, and;

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!