Coup in Honduras!

[Karl Heidenreich]

Well, the commies and their cousins the social democrats never learn: the so called President of Honduras, Zelaya, had it comming and got it.

Zelaya, a friend of dictator Chávez of Venezuela and Castro from Cuba as with war criminal Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, was trying to perpetuate his own "socialist future" in Honduras with a fraudulent referendum. Last week the Congress and the Court ruled the referendum as illegal. The Church also condemn the referendum because it was not going to be performed by the Election Tribunal but with material brought from Venezuela (¡¡???) When Zelaya asked the army to help him with the referedum the commander denied the request because it was illegal. Zelaya fired the commander and the Court reinstated him the day after. The Election Tribunal ruled the referendum as illegal, also. On Tuesday June 30th, the Congress planned to vote to fire Zelaya but things got fast and furious this morning:

The Honduras Army arrested the traitor and put him in a plane and send it, regretably, to my country Costa Rica where they left him over the airport tarmac in his pajamas.

I hope this is the begining of the end of the left wing dictators as Chávez, Morales, Correa, Castro and Ortega. Latin America deserves better. Let´s see if the Obama administration is up to the task of doing some good for it´s neighbors as the hero, Ronald Reagan, did in the 80ies. Let´s make a prayer to Reagan´s spirit to enlight Obama and help finish this vermin.

So be it!

[Karl Heidenreich]

Sadly it seems that the Obama Administration is NOT up for the challenge... or any challenge. The iranian criminals are getting their way and it seems that today or tomorrow Hugo Chávez will have his own too. We are back to the "dark" ages of another smiling and cute Jimmy Carter.

Oh, God, how we miss Ronald Reagan...

[RF]

I still think it is too early to pass judgement on the Obama administration. He is for example starting to change his position on some of the Guantanamo prisoners.

[Karl Heidenreich]

US troops withdrawing of Iraq and people are celebrating as in July 4th
North Korea is running wild and no one is doing SOMETHING about it
Iran´s islamic extremists still seize power, people are dying in the streets, an no one is doing SOMETHINGS about it
Israel is going it own misterious way again
And Obama is backing up the worst Latin demagogue since Peron with this Honduras business. Even the Costa Rican people are putting serious resistance to Oscar Arias´position and laughing to the images of Manuel Zelaya standing in the middle of the tarmac of our airport.

This just starts to feel like the Jimmy Carter´s years when everybody knew for a fact that they can carry out any terrorist act or harsh action and come out of it with a UN letter "condemning" it.

And, for the time being, it didn´t seems that the new goverment in Honduras is as scared of the US, the UN, Chávez and the diplomatic "noise" as Iran, as North Korea or whoever have a little of will.

[Bgile]

Obama is supposed to be God and wave his little wand and fix everything?

Newsflash! We have plenty of problems right up here in our own country without everyone expecting us to invade every bad place in the world and fix it.

[Karl Heidenreich]

As far as I recall Reagan´s direct military interventions account just for two, seconday ones: Lebannon and Grenada in an 8 year span. And he still put the commies on the run and made the URSS bankrupt. No body is talking of invasions but of clear western thinking, strong political position and a serious will instead of having as a military agenda the outright gays right to be part of the US armed forces, which is plain stupid.

Best regards,

Karl

PD: "western thinking, strong political position and a serious will" were virtues that neither Bush had anyway. Which tells that it is NOT a party issue, Republican or Democratic, both do have it´s real and sad share of idiots. It´s a matter of integrity and strategic thinking, which clearly werent atributes for FDR, Harry Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bush Father, Clinton, Bush the Clown and now this Obama guy. Nixon have the capacity but he was a crook. And Reagan was the ONLY one that understood his role and that of his country in the future of the free world. And he acted accodingly with courage.

[Bgile]

Reagan drove the Soviet Union into bankruptcy by running up our national debt during a time when we weren't involved with wars overseas. He had that luxury.

And then we have Grenada and Panama and the big ones: Iraq and Afghanistan. This huge national debt will be a burden on future generations and China is winning the war that counts; the economic one. Wars aren't always won with guns.

How many wars has China fought in the last 50 years? They have most of the world's heavy metals (necessary for many high tech things) and they are buying up other resources and getting cozy with the countries in Africa which have them. The Chinese have a Communist government but by and large the people are happy because the economic situation is good and so are their future prospects.

[RF]

Bgile, look at the news this morning. China is far from stable and has plenty of internal problems.

I agree China is a country of the future but I don't think it is set to replace the USA as the world's leading superpower. Winning the economic war? I'm not convinced. As an economist I would say China is a very high risk area, especially for investors looking to place their retirement funds.

[Bgile]

Bgile, look at the news this morning. China is far from stable and has plenty of internal problems.

I agree China is a country of the future but I don't think it is set to replace the USA as the world's leading superpower. Winning the economic war? I'm not convinced. As an economist I would say China is a very high risk area, especially for investors looking to place their retirement funds.

I would not invest there either because I don't think they are above appropriating foreign owned property. However, their balance of payments is so far to the good and they hold so much of US debt I don't think they have much need of foreign investment. At least, they can do without it.

Anything can happen of course, but I think their prospects are much better than those of the USA over the long term due to their better position in certain natural resources and their ability to stay out of expensive military entanglements.

[RF]

Not so much foreign investment as technology transfer. China has huge, undeveloped reserves of labour and substantial natural resources - what it lacks is the know how and the transport infrastructure.

With regards to conflicts there remains the issue of Taiwan, indeed the main reason for persisting in trying to ''unite'' Taiwan back into China is that it has a more developed capitalist economy which China could expoit.

[Karl Heidenreich]

Ehemm.. gentlemen, back to main topic it seems to me that:

1. The UN and the American States Organization are worthless as suspected: not even the withdrawal of all the EU amabassadors scared a bit the coup people in Honduras. Things have gone unalthered since then.

2. The Obama threat is just like those done by him to Korea, Iran or whoever else: empty as those of a piper tiger. Honduras still going it´s way with no alterations. Maybe Obama is affected by Michael Jackson´s death.

3. The "negotiations" that my country´s presidente, Oscar Arias, has conducted had gone to the toilet as expected. No negotiation can go well without military threat or at least presence. The falacy of Internation Law has made evident. I wonder what would happened if oil is a main product of Hinduras?

So far:

De Facto: 1
International Law: 0

Good!

[Bgile]

I don't understand Karl. I thought from your first post you thought the coup was wonderful. Now you seem to be upset because people aren't doing anything about it.

[RF]

Following on from Bgile's last post I would pose one futher question. Does Honduras really matter politically?

[Karl Heidenreich]

No, I´m not at least worried about the coup, it was a great thing to do against the leftist forces in Latin America. I´m just pointing out the worthlessness of the international law and the obvious weakness of the Obama administration.

[Bgile]

No, I´m not at least worried about the coup, it was a great thing to do against the leftist forces in Latin America. I´m just pointing out the worthlessness of the international law and the obvious weakness of the Obama administration.

Are you implying that some international law was broken and that some action should be taken? By whom? For example, has the USA been appointed as some international policeman? If so, is the UN or some other organization paying us to do this? I don't think that is the case.

Not always, but usually military coups result in an indefinite dictatorship once they are in power. I take it you think the dictatorship that is now in place is a good thing and to be preferred to a leftist democracy.