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.And now they were center stage.Bennett turned up the sound to find the voice of a young British reportertranslating Ilyushkin's speech.""We have all witnessed yet another act of American barbarism will it everend? bellowed Ilyushkin."In the 1980s, the Americans shot down an unarmedIranian airliner over the Persian Gulf In the 1990s, they bombed an aspirinfactory in Sudan.And the Chinese Embassy in Kosovo.Then came Afghanistan andIraq.And now, because Putin and Vadim said nothing, did nothing because wehave allowed the arrogance of the Americans to go unchecked it has come tothis."Innocent Russians are dead.Women and children are dead.The Americans refuseeven to apologize.The American president won't even pick up the phone and sayhe is sorry, or offer compensation to our grieving families.Will we donothing?""NO!" the crowd roared." "Will we bow before American masters and cower like whipped dogs?"NO!" the crowd roared again."Will we allow Russian weakness to invite more aggression, or let the Jews whorun America and Israel and the world banking system suck the lifeblood out ofour economy and leave Russian workers without jobs, without homes, withoutfood?""Page 52ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlNyet, nyet, nyet, nyet," came the fervent chants.Bennett didn't need to wait for that translation."One million wealthy, while 150 million are in chains.This is what Putin andVadim have brought you.Weakness.Shame.Poverty.Corruption.I know you aresick of it.You are frightened.You are angry.They call me an extremist.Thatis OK If that is what we need to prevent the Americans and the Jews fromstealing our country, then let us be extreme.We have tried it their way,"Ilyuskhin continued, his arms raised to the sky."Now I ask you: give me achance.That is alll ask.Can I do worse than they have? Can you honestlybelieve that I would do worse than Yeltsin, Putin, and Vadim? I love thiscountry, as you do.I love Russia more than anything on earth.And when I amdone, she will be great again.I promise you that.When I am done, MotherRussia will live again.She will be respected, and she will be feared."The crowd erupted, surging toward the platform where Ilyuskhin paced like aman possessed.Sky News now had wide shots of Red Square and the adjoiningstreets.A banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen said the LDPR estimatedthe crowd at four hundred thousand.The Moscow police put it closer to aquarter of a million.But the discrepancies didn't matter.Television andradio crews were beaming the speech to homes all across Russia and the formerSoviet republics and to viewers around the world, all of whom now knew afirestorm was building in Moscow.11THURSDAY, JULY 31 - 2:04 P.M.- THE AL-HASSANI PALACE, IRAQPresident Mustafa Al-Hassani turned off the television.Mordechai tried desperately to control his emotions.He had just seen thehorrifying coverage from Saudi Arabia.How could Ibrahim Sa'id be dead?It wasn't possible.They had just had dinner together near Tel Aviv at thehome of theU.S.ambassador to Israel a few nights before.They'd sat on the veranda atsunset, overlooking the glistening Mediterranean, smoking cigars, andstrategizing ways of bringing the Saudis to the table.They'd stared out atmile after mile of offshore drilling platforms and marveled at the success ofMedexco and toasted a future that just seventy-two hours ago had seemed sopregnant with possibilities.How few brave ones there were left, thought Mordechai.How few were willingto do'more than merely hope for peace.Without Said, there would never have been ajoint venture between PPG and Medexco; nor, of course, would there ever havebeen an Oil-for-Peace agreement with Israel.Could either survive his death?Page 53ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Do you think it is all connected?" asked Al-Hassani.The question jarred Mordechai back into the moment.'In his shock and grief, the question had not yet crossed Mordechais mind.Could the Aeroflot hijacking and the assassination of the Palestinian primeminister be connected? There was no evidence, beyond the timing.Not yet,anyway.But did he really believe in mere coincidence? He did not.If the events were connected, then someone was trying to blow up the peaceprocess [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]