Harish Palaniappan's

p.s. All through this post below, I refer to the people in the American government as Americans. as it is the usual way for critics of American government. So, 'Americans' used below doesn't refer to American people, but the American president, his staff.. ,also importantly chief of American army, navy airforce, and the American defence secretaries.

We all know of the way Americans consider themselves and the rest of the world.. yes, they consider everyone else the "rest of the world". as if the world was a big platter with Americans as the main dish.

Yesterday(or today if I am right) kosovo got freedom .. it became a Nation. While I was reading something on that.. I landed up on some crazy things only Americans can do calling it interestingly "for world peace". What you see below is America's largest military camp(since the vietnam) outside of America.. in kosovo.

Well Americans are not just stupid enough to build military bases outside of their country.. but also build very large bases outside their country.. and of course.. that's for world peace.

Camp BondSteel

The camp is called bondsteel. and there are about 7000 soldiers or more in the camp .. yea for world peace.. To any dumb fellow, it would be obvious that having 7000 troops at a place itself calls for war, not peace.. anyway, we are talking about Americans here.. not just dumb fellows.

Dick Cheney who served as defence secretary during the senior Bush administration granted a company 'Brown and Root Services' a big military contract in 1992 .. and later on became the CEO of the company for 5 years in a goodwill exchange offer from that company. no not joking. It all happens in America. Now, the part we are interested in is, Dick Cheney comes back as US Vice President in junior Bush administration and grants a lot (read loot) of defence projects including development of camp BondSteel.

The company 'Brown and Root Services' did a good job.. and that's why the landscape is so lovely in the above picture. For electronic engineers like me, can compare it to seeing a well laid out printed circuit board. It doesn't look real.. it looks extraordinarily perfectly developed site. What we are interested in knowing here is the money the company made. They made a whopping amount in developing this project, because in kosovo, in the area where the site is located they only had to pay $1 - $3 per hour of labour to the locals and that is considered very good compensation as the local economy which is 80% unemployed was almost entirely dependent just on agriculture-oriented jobs until bondsteel.

To read more on this crazy money and power stuff you can read the below links.
1. Camp Bond-steel in Kosovo - Hanna's blog
2. Remarks to United States Troops at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo - George W. Bush - Transcript

Notice to Indians:
In the second link, there's a part of transcript of American president Bush's remarks to troops in Camp BondSteel where he says something like the Americans are indeed controlling world peace "from kosovo to kashmir" ... whoopy.. yea, kashmir he says.. both kosovo and kashmir are not in America and looks like Americans have hell a lot of free time to tackle things outside their country (as they have completed managing their country enough).. and so Mr.Bush addresses the troops saying their involvement and sacrifice is required for world peace from kosovo to kashmir.

This person Bush, he is definitely very funny when he speaks, because he, I think, is one American President who often stupidly assumes he has done a lot to the world(oh, may be in line of hitler) and thinks he is not just responsible for America but the world itself. Good grief.. God save America(save the world too).

End Note:
Anyways, all this is something that happened in 2002, I just read that blog now..
Although, it was an interesting pass-time read... and imagine how interesting Americans should be now in 2008, if until 2002 itself was such interesting.