Very amusing, Big Jim. 😛 Thanks for the link. 😀
PS: I didn't realize that anybody younger than I am remembers the 1956 Suez War in the Middle East. You must have read about it. Yes, Eisenhower royally screwed you (and the French and the Israelis).
Indeed, I am somewhat of a history buff.
For those not in the know, I shall recount this little nugget for posterity...
In the mid 50's there were some issues over the Suez Canal. We, that is the British, paid for, built and used it, greatly to the benefit of the Egyptian nation, through which it passed. At the time of the building we were the ones who ran the world, you might remember.
During the Second World War America cemented itself as the country closest to us in the world. We were their biggest customers, we were their biggest lenders (we only stopped paying back that debt circa 2006 I think, so big was it) and culturally we were the most similar to them, bar Canada, which was an offshoot of us anyway.
Us and the Americans... tight buds and business partners. And following the war, America took over as the World Superpower, mainly through Roosevelt constantly undermining Churchill in favour of Stalin during "Big Three" talks. Clearly he felt that although he wanted to beat Fascism, it was worth while cooperating with the communists it if meant holing the main competition on the world stage below the waterline.
Well in the mid 50's the Egyptians, in a piece of socialism worthy of playing The Red Flag at full volume to, stole, or in their words "nationalised" the Suez Canal. Not bought it off us, or acquired the rights to it, but stole the bastard.
Naturally somewhat piqued at this behavior by the People's Republic of the Pyramids, we seized the bastard back, opening up a can of military kick-ass in the process.
Essentially, we'd won the battle. We had our property back and out them in their place. Thieving socialist bastards that they were.
And then came the hammer blow.
Since the war, the USA had been our biggest creditor obviously. They owned more stocks and bonds on the Pound Sterling than any other nation in the world. And Eisenhower, bless his cotton socks, threatened to dump the entire load onto the international world market unless we got out of Egypt and let the red Egyptians keep the canal we busted our arses and bank balances over.
So it was our expensive piece of property, or total bankruptcy and a currency that would be worth less than the Zimbabwean Dollar because the market price would have nose-dived with such dramatic over supply being on sale all at once.
Thank you America, you're our best buds.
Really.
Goes to show, you CAN do business with the reds when something important like dealing with your competition is at stake.
😀
