avelloso.com

Quinta-feira, Janeiro 17, 2002

No Tears for Argentina
Anthony P. Mueller, sobre a união de burocratas keynesianos internos e externos que arruinou a Argentina:
"Argentina’s history to live beyond its means and to default on its foreign obligations--a tradition that goes back to the early nineteenth century--became the institutionalized ideology of the country under Juan Domingo Perón, who first ruled the country from 1946 to 1955. In its modernized version, this ideology has guided the transformation of Argentina into a system of "techno-bureaucratic clientilism," which is primarily oriented at providing privileges to those who are employed in or linked to the public sector. At the top of the bureaucratic hierarchy is a technocratic elite whose function is to take care of the funding of its clientele, primarily by obtaining foreign loans.
"In its relations with the bureaucrats of the International Monetary Fund, Argentina’s power elite used to feel like brothers in mind. In various respects, the ideology of 'el peronismo' shares a number of similarities with the IMF’s view of how economic policy should be handled. Both are in agreement when assuming, first, that an economy should be run by them, i.e., a bureaucratic elite; second, that an economy must be stabilized, controlled, and managed by government intervention; and third, that it is primarily the demand side which matters. Both are in agreement by assuming that the attainment of macroeconomic figures as given by some specific statistical aggregates would imply sound economic policy."
postado por Alvaro Velloso 1:41 PM

Traditional values go only so far
Longe de terem sido atacados por serem símbolos da liberdade e do respeito pelos direitos individuais no mundo, os EUA foram atacados porque, para grande parte do resto do mundo, representam a opressão e o apoio a regimes tirânicos, lembra Charley Reese.
"That’s why it’s erroneous to suppose that we were attacked on Sept. 11 because we are a “symbol of freedom.” We once were, back in the days of the republic, but since the Spanish- American War in 1898, we have acted the same as imperialists in Europe. We are, in the eyes of many people overseas today, not a symbol of freedom at all, but a symbol of oppression.
(...)
"I need not point out that in the Middle East, we are not helping anyone realize his or her unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We actively assist the Israeli government in suppressing the rights of the Palestinian people. And who are our allies? Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. Not a democracy among them.
"It took only a brief fight to wrest the Philippines from Spanish rule, but a long and bloody war to suppress the Filipinos who wanted independence and had no desire to exchange one foreign ruler for another. Were we upholding the ideas of freedom? Of course not.
"The American Establishment and the corporate media work hard to make sure Americans remain both ignorant and uninterested in foreign policy. Our job is to just gather in the nearest square and cheer whenever the president announces that, for the most righteous of reasons, we have decided to bomb and/or invade some small sovereign nation."
postado por Alvaro Velloso 1:35 PM

Fighting for oil
É óbvio que o acesso ao petróleo não foi a causa motivadora da guerra ao Afeganistão, mas também é óbvio que essa foi uma causa importante da expansão da guerra (indo da busca por bin Laden e da destruição da al-Qaida para a derrubada do regime talibã) e para a preocupação americana com a formação de um regime mais dócil no país. Acho que Eric Margolis exagera um pouco o papel do petróleo e exagera ainda mais a "ameaça" russa à presença americana, mas suas observações são extremamente pertinentes (grifos meus):
"One thing is clear: the United States is inexorably getting drawn deeper and deeper into South and Central Asia. Empires expand through war or trade. The American Empire - which this column has long called the American Raj - has in recent weeks made a decisive move to the east. Just as the U.S. used the 1991 Gulf War to force its Arab clients to permit stationing of permanent U.S. garrisons in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, so the U.S. is now using the so-called war on terrorism and the hunt for Osama bin Laden to expand its military influence into South/Central Asia.
"The reason is both simple and complex: oil. Washington is determined to dominate the world's richest new source of oil, Central Asia's Caspian Basin, over which sit the former Soviet states of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Well before Sept. 11, the U.S. already had special forces operating in Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan. Last spring, Osama bin Laden advised the unworldly Taliban regime to turn down a low bid from the U.S. oil firm Unocal to build a pipeline to export Central Asian oil - awarding it instead to a rival Argentine firm. The U.S. cut off discreet financial aid to Taliban and began updating contingency plans to invade Afghanistan and install a compliant regime. Events of Sept. 11 facilitated this decision.
"The U.S. is now establishing permanent military bases near Kandahar, where units of its elite 101st Airborne Div. will replace Marines as a semi-permanent garrison. Three other permanent U.S. bases are being prepared. Three more are operational in Pakistan. All these new bases will be linked to and supplied by much larger U.S. military bases in Arabia and the Gulf. Washington will use the same formula as in its Mideast oil Raj: keep friendly dictatorial regimes in power and crush their internal opponents in exchange for military bases, large arms purchases and cheap oil.
"The Bush administration, egged on by the big oil lobby, is determined to dominate the Caspian Basin gold rush. However, U.S. military forces are already stretched extremely thin; involvement in Central Asia will strain them severely and require a higher defence budget. The U.S. already spends over $30 billion annually to base troops in Arabia and the Gulf - from which the U.S. gets only 7% of its oil.
"Russia is already manoeuvering against the U.S. in Central Asia and Afghanistan. China is watching the arrival of U.S. troops on its highly sensitive western borders and the new U.S./Indian strategic alliance with mounting concern. These are dangerous waters, in a part of the world the U.S. little knows.
"The U.S. charge into remote Central Asia, led by a president who calls Pakistanis 'Pakis,' looks increasingly like a case of imperial overreach - a bridge too far even for the world's sole superpower."
postado por Alvaro Velloso 1:31 PM

Papa acaba com disputa e Campos terá dois bispos
Uma boa notícia vinda de Campos, que mostra a disposição do Papa João Paulo II de unificar a Igreja e que encerra de uma vez por todas as intermináveis e insuportáveis discussões sobre a validade dos ritos tradicionais praticados pela diocese de Campos:
"Acabou o cisma na Igreja Católica em Campos que se arrastava há quase três décadas e teve seu auge no fim dos anos 80, quando o Papa João Paulo II excomungou o então bispo da cidade, o ultratradicionalista dom Antônio de Castro Mayer, e o arcebispo francês dom Marcel Lefevbre — ambos já mortos. Na sexta-feira, o Papa João Paulo II enviará a Campos o cardeal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, prefeito da Sagrada Congregação Para o Clero, e será oficialmente criada a União Sacerdotal São João Maria Vianney, que terá como bispo dom Licínio Rangel. Na prática, Campos terá dois bispos, dom Roberto Guimarães, diocesano, e dom Licínio Rangel, da União Sacerdotal.
"Para anunciar a chegada do enviado do Papa, dom Roberto se reuniu ontem com o padre Fernando Rifan, porta-voz dos tradicionalistas. Os dois fizeram um comunicado conjunto na sede do bispado, anunciando que o Papa acabara de assinar a carta de acolhimento dos padres tradicionalistas de Campos e dos fiéis por eles assistidos:
"— Estão perfeitamente inseridos no seio da Santa Igreja Católica Apostólica Romana— disse dom Roberto.
"A oficialização desse acolhimento será feita [sexta-feira, dia 18,] em cerimônia na catedral de Campos, com a presença também do núncio apostólico dom Alfio Rapisarda e de vários bispos do país. A cerimônia constará da leitura de documento assinado pelo Papa. Uma outra cerimônia será realizada na Igreja do Imaculado Coração de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima, dos tradicionalistas, também com a presença do enviado do Papa.
"Perguntado se ele e o bispo tradicionalista dom Licínio já poderiam ser convidados para o mesma altar, dom Roberto disse que isso acontecerá na catedral durante a cerimônia de criação da União Sacerdotal. No entanto, foi prudente:
"— Simbolicamente, é pertinente, porém, na prática não vemos necessidade, pois são dois estilos de missa diferentes — disse dom Roberto.
"Integrantes da União Sacerdotal continuarão com os ritos anteriores às alterações feitas pelo Concílio do Vaticano II, ou seja, celebrando a missa em latim."
Ao longo do Norte Fluminense, são mais de 50 igrejas e 100 capelas sob controle dos tradicionalistas, que continuam a construir novas igrejas e a expandir-se.
postado por Alvaro Velloso 1:19 PM