Author Topic: The Check is not in the mail  (Read 284 times)

Offline Gunslinger

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The Check is not in the mail
« on: April 25, 2006, 09:35:04 PM »
Interesting post over at Captains Quaters http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/006840.php



The Check Is Not In The Mail
The Hamas-led government of the Palestinian Authority has claimed that it does not need American and European cooperation to survive, requesting and receiving pledges for stop-gap financing from Arab nations as well as Russia to avoid complying with the conditions necessary to do business with the US and the EU. Having refused to recognize Israel's right to exist and to honor previous commitments made by the PA, Hamas has instead gone the route of full defiance, relying on their brethren in the Middle East to sustain them. However, the terrorists have  underestimated   the extent of a Western crackdown on finances during wartime:
 
Quote

Banks fearful of U.S. retribution are preventing millions of dollars in foreign aid from reaching the Palestinians, the Palestinian finance minister acknowledged Tuesday.
Since a Cabinet run by the militant Islamic Hamas was sworn into office last month, financial pressure by
Israel and Western countries has left the government broke. It was unable to pay 165,000 workers on April 1 and paychecks are due again in less than a week.

Hamas turned to Arab and Muslim countries for help. But the money raised remains stuck in an account in Egypt, said Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek of Hamas. Arab banks that do business in the Palestinian territories fear that by transferring the money they will run afoul of U.S. anti-terrorism laws, he said.


Hamas apparently forgot about the squeeze on terrorist banking since 9/11, and their fellow Arabs do not seem terribly interested in defying the US to help them out. After all of the pledges Hamas received in the last two weeks, they now find that the real trick will be in collections. One wonders if the Arab kleptocrats understood this obstacle all along and felt free to pledge all they could in order to please their subjects, knowing that the money would go nowhere as long as Hamas remained intransigent.

That puts the Palestinians in a real bind, and Hamas in the crosshairs in a big way. They came to power on promises to end corruption, spread the wealth of Western aid to everyone, and to push the Israelis into the sea. Hamas expected to get assistance in all of these efforts from their cousins across Southwest Asia, and now they discover that the other nations care more for their lucrative financial interests with Europe and America than they do for green-kerchiefed lunatics in Ramadi.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Hamas.

The new government will rapidly face a breaking point. If they cannot pay the workers in the government, the people will soon grow completely disenchanted with Hamas' rule. If they capitulate and agree to negotiations with Israel, the fanatics will kill them. If they vacillate, Fatah will take control by force. In almost all of these scenarios, Hamas suffers crippling political defeats. The Palestinians will have to face the literal as well as figurative bankruptcy of their political choices.




What's that saying???? "live by the sword die by the sword"  hmphf

Offline lasersailor184

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The Check is not in the mail
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2006, 12:08:55 AM »
I'm honestly for firing squad's to make their come back.  




Every single member of hamas will be lined-up down the chain of succession and shot with pig stained bullets until you find someone willing to rat out the terrorists.
Punishr - N.D.M. Back in the air.
8.) Lasersailor 73 "Will lead the impending revolution from his keyboard"

Offline rpm

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The Check is not in the mail
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2006, 06:01:12 AM »
I thought sanctions don't work?
My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.
Stay thirsty my friends.

Offline Captain Virgil Hilts

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The Check is not in the mail
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2006, 06:37:30 AM »
Iran will make up the difference. If they dont spend it all on Soviet military technology, homicide bomber supplies and family payments, and uranium enrichment. Iran supports Hezbollah and Hamas fully, and will do so to the best of their ability for the foreseeable future.
"I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or the air, and I plan on doing both, BEFORE the war is over."

SaVaGe


Offline Gunslinger

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The Check is not in the mail
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2006, 06:53:23 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Captain Virgil Hilts
Iran will make up the difference. If they dont spend it all on Soviet military technology, homicide bomber supplies and family payments, and uranium enrichment. Iran supports Hezbollah and Hamas fully, and will do so to the best of their ability for the foreseeable future.


The problem with that, as the article states, is that collecting money is only half the problem.  If the money is wired through western friendly banks then it might not get delivered.  Banks in egypt don't want to lose there holdings/dealings with western countries for violating terrorist funding agreements so the money doesn't get delivered.