Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Price of Peace

"Report: Mideast conflict costs region

Gee, that's kind of a NO-BRAINER, huh?

GENEVA - Violence in the Middle East has cost the region about $12 trillion in missed economic growth and development over the last two decades, a Swiss government-sponsored report said yesterday.

Israelis, Palestinians, and people in every country in the region have lost out as a result of conflict, says the report, which argues that it is in the interest of the whole world to step up peace efforts.

But NONE more than the PALESTINIANS!!!!

The election of President Obama in the United States "provides a window of opportunity" in 2009 to press for peace, the report said.

Look, quit turning the guy into a savior, 'kay? Not when he is controlled by Israel.

The research team realized that the costs of war go beyond destruction, damage, and death caused by the conflict, said lead author Sundeep Waslekar, president of the Strategic Foresight Group, a Mumbai, India-based think tank.

A think tank?

So the team of more than 50 specialists from the Middle East and elsewhere also tried to calculate the benefits that may derive from peace, noting that during relatively peaceful periods in the 1990s both Israel and the Palestinian territories had good economic growth rates....

That was a long time ago now!

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