Showing posts with label Hillary Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hillary Clinton. Show all posts

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Hillary to Pakistan: US taxes everything that moves...

Hillary said two things of note to the Pakistani press:

“I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where [the leadership of Al Qaeda] are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to.”

That’s to the point. But do the “really want to?”

and

“We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan.”

She put this statement in the context that taxing everything that moves is a very good thing and that Pakistan ought to start doing the same to address the demands their population growth will place on their infrastructure needs. What if Pakistanis, as many in the US, don’t want to tax everything that moves and doesn’t move? Is Pakistan’s national government the only entity over there capable of producing anything for the public good? That is the philosophy of our own politicians. It is not a good thing that our politicians are exporting their sense of human helplessness that only a national government can overcome.

Here is the story from Pakistan’s “Daily Times”:

LAHORE: The leadership of Al Qaeda is in Pakistan, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to,” she added.
“Maybe that’s the case; maybe they’re not gettable. I don’t know... As far as we know, they are in Pakistan,” Clinton told senior Pakistani newspaper editors in Lahore, AFP reported.

“The percentage of taxes on GDP (in Pakistan) is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan,” she said.
“You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don’t know what you’re going to do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now,” she said.
“If we are going to have a mature partnership where we work together” then “there are issues that not just the United States but others have with your government and with your military security establishment”.

It is true that Pakistan needs to get its security system in order before we “have a mature partnership.” Unfortunately I believe their security system is just about where most of their population wish it to be – applying “rope-a-dope” on the United States.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Iranian election, will of the people, & Hillary

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won another rigged Presidential election in Iran. The Ayatollah has so decreed.

And here is what Secretary of State Hillary had to say about it:

"The United States has refrained from commenting on the election in Iran. We obviously hope that the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people..."

Isn't that like saying "I hope the people of Iran want to obliterate Israel" because that is the outcome of this election. The outcome, rigged or not, is that the proponent of obliterating Israel and developing nuclear weapons to carry out that intent won the election. And Hillary hopes this outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people. We know for certain the outcome represents the genuine will and desire of many Iranians. How many we may never know.

Yes, she could have intended the meaning differently, as in hoping a different outcome had occurred to reflect the true will of the people. But this is not the way the words came out. What a mealy mouthed, wishy washy, pandering thing she said.

And why "refrain...from commenting on the election?" How laid back should we be in this matter? What's the matter Hillary and Barack, cats' got your tongue?

How about calling a spade a spade and proclaim a rigged election against the will of the people and against the best interests of the entire middle east region?

Would that be too much to ask?