EGYPT

EGYPT

The Middle East Times, Cairo, Sept. 10: Veteran Russian admiral Eduard Bautin was outspoken last week. He noted that there were more U.S. and NATO warships operating in the Black Sea than ever before but he assured reporters in Moscow it was no problem — they could all be sunk by the Russian Black Sea fleet and its land-based support aircraft within 20 minutes.

The Georgian conflict is certainly generating a totally unexpected Middle East dimension. Russia is now furious at Israel for recklessly sending so much military aid to Mikheil Saakashvili, the pro-American, dictatorial and exceptionally erratic Georgian president.

Double standard

For all the criticisms that U.S. leaders have thrown over recent years at the current and past leaders of Iran, the Iranians have yet to upset the status quo by sending their army to crush quasi-independent neighbors, as Saakashvili did to the Russian-supported secessionist region of South Ossetia on Aug. 7.

The Russians are now so furious at Israel that they have signaled they would be prepared to sell Iskander solid-fuel, quasi-ballistic missiles to Syria, a move that could tilt the delicate balance of power between Israel and Syria significantly in Syria’s favor.

The idea of a non-nuclear, but still very serious war between the United States and Russia being sparked over the crisis in Georgia is still totally inconceivable to policymakers in Washington.

BRITAIN

The Observer, London, Sept. 7: The fear of recession has loomed for months, but economic facts that emerged last week alone give real cause for alarm. The London stock market fell by 7 percent; August car sales were the lowest for 40 years; year-on-year house prices have fallen by 12.7 percent; mortgage approvals were down by two-thirds. Optimistic forecasts suggest the economy is stagnating; it might already be shrinking.

The government is widely blamed for the malaise, but this crisis was made in the private sector. Reckless lending by bankers, motivated by exorbitant personal bonuses, inflated a house price bubble. That has now burst, leaving Britain facing possibly its worst recession in 60 years.

No alternative strategy

If the government does attempt to buoy up the market, the Conservatives will complain that good money is being thrown after bad and that the state is colonizing the private sector. But David Cameron has failed to spell out an alternative strategy. Astonishingly, British free-market hawks seem more zealous even than the current, ultraconservative U.S. administration, which has readily authorized massive bailouts in similar circumstances.

Laissez-faire might seem attractive as a position of ideological purity, but the theory of letting the market punish profligacy ignores the real danger of economic meltdown.