QUOTE(graham4anything @ Dec 27 2008, 11:20 PM)

and nobody has changed anything, because the people behind the scenes like Gates are telling people not to change anything.
A lot has changed.
1. There are 250,000 pair of combat boots standing on the world's largest proven reservoir of CHEAP OIL.
2. Oil is no longer being priced in Euros. The dollar is the global currency hegemon; the FED can print as much as it wants.
3. The US now has enduring bases in a strategically important part of the globe. Each of the 14 bases is a "city" of 10,000 persons, conscripted or contracted, troops or "technicians".