xxx....and counting.

[sesamosinsal]

But if it's a natural gas pipeline and we are looking to control China's oil supply - how exactly does that work?

BTW - I'm not denying what you are saying about our desire to control oil supplies and the region is very important for us because of that, no doubt. But we would also be stupid NOT to be doing so with a power as huge as China vying for the same resources. I can also guarantee you this - if the US wasn't acting to control China's interests a bit (as China seeks to do the same where it can against the US), there would be either othyers doing it, or China would not hesitate to control it for themselves in a manner much different than the US (or so I believe).

I wish people would listen to me though I have the solution to the world's problems, as well to a big looming problem the US itself has in relation to China becoming more powerful than the US economically and militarily. I've posted about this before here and there.

Obama could have gone down as the most visionary leader the world has ever known if he had spent (or had caused to be spent) the 800 +- billion in government subsidies he called the "stimulus" on developing cheap access to space and the creation of a space industry instead.

There are untapped riches in near Earth asteroids, zero-gee factories that could be built, a whole host of things that I won't go into here. It would make the European Diaspora to the New World and the subsequent Industrial Revolution look like a long-forgotten child's game. We could be completely free of energy constraints as well by tapping into sunlight in space and beaming it down as microwaves, for example. Many, many thing we could do.

As it is, China and India will beat us into space commercially, I have little doubt about that. Once they have access to space, everyone else will be sitting down here on our little mudball of a planet asking them for favors.

Things like oil in the middle east will become completely forgotten.

Well, I guess I should have said that the U.S. seeks to influence China's energy security. China is becoming increasingly dependent upon oil and natural gas as it continues to industrialize, which is why China is making new deals with Turkmenistan (natural gas), Iran (natural gas and oil), Brazil (oil), Venezuela (oil), and so on...

I imagine that the NG pipeline running through Afghanistan will be operated by Western business interests. I'm sure Chevron will be right in the middle of it once it's built. In the Middle East, we have military bases in essentially every country except for Iran (not yet!). Western companies are in charge of some of the biggest oil fields in Iraq. etc. etc. etc. U.S. foreign policy is fundamentally based on oil.

And of course, if it weren't the United States, it would be some other country. The U.S. would indeed be foolish to just sit on its rear and let China take over without a fight. Unfortunately, thousands have been killed, and the entire American public has been lied to. But in the United States of Amnesia, that has happened time after time, and Iraq and Afghanistan certainly won't be the last.

[Sorry for hijacking your thread, Alzinho. ]

 

[EvanB]

Wait...You've been "robbed" 16 times in 3 years in Buenos Aires? Get yourself together and learn from your mistakes

 

[Alzinho]

Lee - it's like flogging a dead horse mate.
Though to give EvanB his due - he has apologized by PM

It's time to stop feeding the trolls. It's always a shame when trolls infiltrate an on-line forum, but it always happens eventually. But just imagine how sad you must be to go onto a forum with which you have no connection, just to be an annoyance? We should feel sorry for them really - can't have much of a life.

 

[Josh Lindesay]

I'm sorry to hear about this and I'm pleased to hear that you are ok. 16 times is extremely unlucky and I hope that this is the last.

 

[Alzinho]

Thanks Josh. It's unlikely to be the last though - I'm probably going to be here for the rest of my life, I can't afford a car so always use public transport, I'm never going to get mistaken for a local and the crime rate is on the up!

All one can do is minimize the impact by taking sensible precautions.

It's funny how everyone's experience is different though. eg. I'd been warned so many times about BA taxi drivers before I came here, and there are salutary tales on this thread about their scams, but I've never had anything but good experiences with them! I've always found them friendly, helpful and chatty. I've even had them let me off part of a fare because they didn't have sufficient change. Go figure.

And I'll say it again, I've never felt threatened or in any kind of danger in BA - the crime against foreigners appears to be what can only be described as 'petty'....touch wood!

 

[jp]

Sorry to hear you got robbed, and I'm glad you didn't lose much and weren't badly hurt.

 

[SaraSara]

I can't afford a car so always use public transport, I'm never going to get mistaken for a local and the crime rate is on the up!

Why don't you get a bicycle? My daughter is American and looks American - would never be mistaken for a local. She bikes everywhere and had a wheel stolen only once in fourteen years.

 

[Alzinho]

Why don't you get a bicycle? My daughter is American and looks American - would never be mistaken for a local. She bikes everywhere and had a wheel stolen only once in fourteen years.

I would Sara, but most of the time that I'm traveling around the city I've got my 2 year old son with me.

I'd still like one actually, but would have nowhere to keep it at my apartment.

 

[SaraSara]

Your son would be no problem - I biked everywhere with my daughter in a baby seat when she was little, and she loved it. But going up and down an elevator with a bike is a hassle.