Saturday, July 22, 2006

 

Priorities?

Third world war - who cares?

The global markets are little fussed by the possible outbreak of another world war. This could explain the hugely different attitudes we are seeing.

As David Hume observed, rather disarmingly: 'Tis not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger." . . . What is happening in Lebanon is a human tragedy but it is not an economic one. Lebanon itself is economically insignificant, with an economy three times smaller than that of Manhattan. Its entire gross domestic product is a rounding error in the US growth figures. The reason investors noticed the conflagration at all is that oil prices rose, reflecting a small risk of a severe disruption to supplies. Financial Times


Moreover, the BBC report today on the conflict:

Britain and America are the only countries not calling for a cease fire in the Middle East. The view of the two countries seems to be that an immediate cessation of hostilities would not lead to an endurable peace.

Update

The Times tells us At the G8 meeting the split was six to two for an immediate ceasefire, with the United States and Britain as the two dissidents. The Guardian reported earlier this month The US and Britain insisted on [16 July] at the G8 summit in St Petersburg that criticism of Israel be removed from a joint communique.
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