The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet ahs spoken to Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder.
It is in Norwegian but I’ll transalate the worst part.
OK: It there isn’t an oilpipe from Iraq via Afghanistan to
India that the US controls in ten years I’'m an idiot. I know this will happen. That’s why this administration is so jingoistic. (not sure that last sentence was a good transalation).
I’ll call you an idiot right now:
None of the countries border to each other.
The pipeline must either go thru Russia and a lot of unstable former Sovjet Republics or thru Iran to get to Afghanistan. And then either via Pakistan or China to India. A great plan.
Why would you build a pipeline when you can use tankers to transport the oil?
Why a pipeline to India. If you really wanted to build a pipeline it could be built in Turkey.
I guess he has heard of the proposed line from Aserbadjan and mixed it with Afghanistan and Iraq in his own world.
I know there is a small chance that the newspaper han mistransalated him but I don’t think they have.
Nay! They are not defunct. They are releasing a new album at the end of this month/beginning of next month.
And yeah, I don’t really think Eddie is the best person to ask about things like that. He may get around the world a lot, but that does not make him a worldly, well-informed person.
On the contrary, I think there is a very large chance that there was a translation problem, or that Vedder simply misspoke. He’s not in politics, and I’m sure no one was prepping him on world affairs before the interview or helping him go over his notes.
Or maybe the rock stars of the world know something we don’t…<cue Twilight Zone theme>
They interviewed him because they are releasing a new album.
The interview was about the album(and the Roskilde accident) and the lyrics which were more political and that’s why he talked about the US foreign policy.
I don’t think it was a mistransalation. We don’t have many of those and it was an answer to a direct question.
I don’t see how he could’ve misspoke. It was he that started talking politics.
He’s not in politics but he has views and it seems that he belives that Bush only fights for the oilindustry.
Maybe it would be easier to belive if another scandinavian confirmed what I said.
Actually, there already are plans for an Afghanistan to India pipeline (BBC News, 13 May, 2002). It really isn’t a stretch to imagine that there will be a second pipeline originating in Iraq that ties in to this thing within five years.
Doing some basic research might have been a good idea before you go attacking people for political statements.
GAHHH, I had a long, brilliant post that I had typed with numerous points and subpoints all backed up by solid cites. Grade A GD material. I lost it with one wrong click. It even explained why my first response didn’t connect Afghanistan and Iraq very well. I am not going to try to reproduce it, but this was the main point in a nutshell:
I’m not saying it will happen, it’s just when I read something like this
I begin to wonder. A lot can happen in ten years. Ten years ago Unocal was negotiating with the freakin’ Taliban. It’s quite possible that if Iraq and Iran can tolerate each other enough to do business after the coming war, then they will tie Iraq into the Iran-India pipeline. It is also quite possible that a US company will build the thing. How much will the US control it? That, I don’t know (I think not much), but to dismiss the idea out of hand is just intellectually lazy.
No need for “stealth”, lieu, and I don’t appreciate the two separate cheap shots.
Next Tuesday!
I wouldn’t necessarily call them defunct either. I mean, they -did- just recently release 70+ albums. They’ve just dropped out of mainstream popularity.
And while I love the band, and think Ed is on sometimes on his political statements, there are times when I don’t really know what he’s going on about.
Eddie is Very active in the pro-choice movement in the US and has been an outspoken critic of President Shrub. he’s not as well-informed about world events as Bono is, but then what rock star is?
I have one thing to say to Eddie: LOSE THE MOHAWK. NOW.
If you think about it it is several reasons why it is a better idea to buid a pipeline from a landlocked county than from a country with access to the ocean. He also says that it is US controlled so that means that the US occupies/have bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. And if you build a pipeline from Iraq to India thru Iran and Pakistan, why would it go thru Afghanistan?
WSLer: Eddie has lost the mohawk. Clean shaven head in the new video.
Meanwhile, Eddie Vedder is attacking George W. Bush. One’s a great musician, the other is a numbskull president. I don’t see why we need facts in this equation.
They’ve just dropped out of mainstream popularity.