An American resident of Lombok Island in Indonesia became annoyed when a mosque’s loudspeaker woke him up. His reaction? He disconnected the speaker cable. This turned out to be a mistake — he has been arrested for blasphemy, and is being held under armed guard for his own protection, pending trial and sentencing. He may face up to five years in prison — if he survives that long.In other news, Venezuela’s state media have been airing an increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks, blaming the country’s Jews for economic problems. Prominent Jews have protested to President Hugo Chavez, and the Dear Leader has granted them an audience. Stay tuned.
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3 comments:
"Indonesian authorities have arrested an American man for blasphemy after he pulled the plug on a loudspeaker at a mosque because it woke him up, police say."
Never mind the Muslim element here. Suppose this man just disconnected a loudspeaker broadcasting local music. How boorish is that, exactly ? One more instance of the obnoxious American abroad.
OK, it might be disturbing, but it's not your country, that's the way the locals behave, you're just a foreigner there, nobody asked you to come problably, so you just put up with it and shut up.
On top of this, he was stupid enough, living in the largest Muslim country in the world, not to realise that his act was downright dangerous.
I'm not saying serves him right, but it's close, I think. I mean : he's 64, for God's sake ! At 18, it might have been a demonstration of bravado, but at 64, you're supposed to have grown a bit wiser...
cont'd
So, we in Latin America are well aware of this "habit " of the u.s. So we look on with a jaundiced eye, everytime there is an "incident." in all these countries.
So, dont make yourselves out to be the "good guys.
You, all of the West, have done some pretty bad things, Talk about Castro! Talk about the little skirmishes in Latin America, you have done WAAAY worse.
You, Westeners, need to do your homework, and read your own history.
And after all, a geologist, was it from the u.s. said recently, that Venezuela, has the riches oil deposit, far beyond what arabia has.
And we, Latinos, certainly know, that the u.s. is desperate for oil, and looking around, who, the u.s. can grab it from. CHEAPLY! Cheaply, that is, in terms of money, but not in lives of the kid soldiers, or from the economy, that is so down, that the infrastruce of the u.s. is breaking down, and the State governments, and local officials, are selling roads and bridges, etc. to other countries, and the public schools services and other services are being cut back.
But that's another story.
Methinks the gentleman / lady (name Allat) protests too much.
I don't know what happened with his / her 3 other posts I received through my mail alert, but they contain this :
"Read John Perkin's book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman."
I happen to have read it, and my conclusion is : it's a load of tosh. I can usually smell a crook and a liar from a mile away, and IMHO, this Perkin guy perfectly fits the description.
His book is full of unsubstantiated claims. He pretends to have been an economist hired by some secret American agency in order to ruin foreign countrie's economies. However, his writings are surprisingly short on economic facts and analysis.
His narrative is that the US deliberately sabotaged the economy of a number of "poor" countries, in order to force them to accept American loans and unfair deals with American businesses afterwards. He himself is supposed to have been an active agent for the plot.
If he was telling the truth, it would have been easy for him to present economic evidence supporting his accusations. Even public data, of which there is plenty, supposing he would not have wanted to compromise his former, alleged bosses.
There's very little such data.
Furthermore, the author does not speak as an economist. He does not think as an economist. Rather like a left-wing activist, which he probably is.
This book is most likely a fraud and a heap of lies.
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