Korean Job Discussion Forums

[arjuna]

This delightful news item made me smile. - Arjuna


By Phil Stewart

http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUKADD25267520071022?sp=true

NAPLES (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa said Washington must let him open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

Correa has refused to renew Washington's lease on the Manta air base, set to expire in 2009. U.S. officials say it is vital for counter-narcotics surveillance operations on Pacific drug-running routes.

"We'll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami -- an Ecuadorean base," Correa said in an interview during a trip to Italy.

"If there's no problem having foreign soldiers on a country's soil, surely they'll let us have an Ecuadorean base in the United States."

The U.S. embassy to Ecuador says on its Web site that anti-narcotics flights from Manta gathered information behind more than 60 percent of illegal drug seizures on the high seas of the Eastern Pacific last year.

It offers a fact-sheet on the base at: http://ecuador.usembassy.gov/topics_of_interest/manta-fol.html

Correa, a popular leftist economist, had promised to cut off his arm before extending the lease that ends in 2009 and has called U.S. President George W. Bush a "dimwit".

But Correa, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, told Reuters he believed relations with the United States were "excellent" despite the base closing.

He rejected the idea that the episode reflected on U.S. ties at all.

"This is the only North American military base in South America," he said.

"So, then the other South American countries don't have good relations with the United States because they don't have military bases? That doesn't make any sense."

[Bibbitybop]

If they can pay for the land in Miami, have at it.

[merkurix]

The Ecuadoran president does have a good point. But the U.S. might be against the idea as having a foreign military presence on its soil "might cause a national security concern." Whereas having U.S. military bases in foreign countries is "necessary still for our national security."

It's interesting how this double standard works.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I don't object in principle to having a foreign military base on US soil. I do object to Ecuador having one unless they can pay for it themselves. I would highly object if they started to build one then asked us to pay for it for them, and considering Ecuador's economy, I suspect that is exactly what would happen.

I would also have concerns about them running their Miami base, once constructed, in the same inefficient way they have run their own economy since independence.

On the up side, if it would bring some of those hot Ecuadorean babes to town...

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Kuros]

[mindmetoo]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[mindmetoo]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[mindmetoo]

[Pluto]

I seem to remember in late 2002, President Roh made some campaign promises to not kowtow to the US line and even get rid of SOFA and even the USFK. After being elected, he changed his mind rather quickly.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[CentralCali]

There is at least one foreign military unit stationed in the US.