Now this really scares me

Forget crime waves in Granada -  this really scares me:

"Managua, Jul 5 (Prensa Latina) Nicaraguan Police and Army denied their responsibility for a cargo of weapons made in Israel, seized in Spain's Port Algeciras, with the Central American nation as final destination."

As buzzing internet conversations have already deduced - if Israel is sending weapons then obviously they won't be for Danny and the Sandinistas.

Israel is too close to America and as others have noted, aren't averse to doing a little dirty work on behalf of Uncle Sam.

Could this really be a case of enemies arming anti-Sandinista forces?

On World War 4 Report they wonder:

"Could they have been bound for some kind of neo-contra force? Talk about nostalgia for the '80s..."

Guerrilla News Network is clearer still and fills in a little background:

"During the 1980s, Israel was a crucial conduit for the supply of arms to Central American contra forces, as well as to apartheid South Africa and Iran. With a Sandinista government installed in Nicaragua, and the ever present irritant that is Hugo Chavez, could this discovery be a sign of a new counter-revolutionary war?"

It worries me and it's boosted my conspiracy paranoia.  If that is what it is doing to me, then can you imagine what is going on in Ortega's head?

In the comments section, from the above page you can also read:

"The shipment may have been meant to be discovered as a psyop against Commandante Daniel, to help push him to become repressive against his political opponents. If you read Spanish, you should look at the popular El Nuevo Diario (END)newspaper out of Managua: You should see the tremendously ugly hateful spleen launched there against Ortega on a practically daily basis, from the commentors on the different news articles. The hatred expressed is hardly equaled even in the free USA in alternative media commentaries and blogs about W. Daniel has got to be getting a bit wrankled by it all and arms headed for Nicaragua from Israel, making the world news, would add to it."

Isn't that how it works now?  Back your enemy into a corner.  Scare him and when he comes out fighting, point the finger and tell the world he's a madman who needs to be brought to heel.

One thing that has been bothering me for a while.  Living in Nicaragua I am putting up with the almost daily electricity cuts.  As I understand it, Ortega inherited the problem from his predecessor.  Ever since his election we have repeatedly read of his attempts to solve the problem.

Even if this man was as useless as his detractors claim him to be, surely we would have seen some improvement?

So why is it only getting worse?

GNN publishes what I was just starting to think:

"This may put into a new light the power crisis which is hitting Nicaraguans.

“The crisis, worsened since mid-2006, stems from the poor condition of thermal plants, mostly in private hands, and obvious problems of distribution, in charge of Spanish multinational Union Fenosa.” Sabotage is a distinct possibility."

Do I think we are on the verge of Contra War 2.  No I don't.  I think the world has changed and the last thing Bush needs is another war.  But...

You import guns.  Even if the guns are for criminals rather than anti-government forces then it causes turbulence.  You interrupt the electricity flow.  In the Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, they talk of destabilising the country by sending in the CIA jackals.

Then when crime is up, power and water cuts are frequent and the embattled leader is paranoid and defensive - you just let the media and the electorate do the rest.

Sidenote: One of my favourite books of all time is A Very British Coup, it tells of a hard left Socialist becoming British Prime Minister and his attempts to stay in power as the CIA conspire to undermine him.  What is the first thing they do?  They get at the power workers Union which strikes and out go the lights.

And that is exactly what I think of every time it's my lights that go.

Comments

[minxlj]

It's amazing how parts of the world can come to a complete standstill when the power goes out for even a few hours. When it happens here, we can't work, we can't travel by train - it turns into chaos. How bizarre that in such a power-hungry world we rarely have any backup! I live in hope that soon I'll be able to have a house with solar thermals and a wind turbine to be at least semi self-sufficient, but that doesn't help me when I'm travelling.