With reference to the post below, I have told Xri Noronha to publish NSG on the net. The author of the original article is mega ignorant about Goa. Because I questioned him on GN he now wants to send someone with a bayonet to get me. God now how much blood is in his hands. BC
Gerald, ? I don't know if you really what you're talking about. ? 1. Goa's gold was held at Banco Nacional Ultramarino as surety against loans. Would the gold have survived if it was left as is, when Goa was overrun by the Indian Army? Have you not observed that the gold, when returned, was reported to be in their original packaging untouched? After nearly 45 years? Don't you think the gold would have still remained untouched in Portugal for the next 100 years even if it was unclaimed, and returned to the rightful owners and/or descendants on production of proof? Do you think the gold would have been found at all if it was taken away for dishonourable purposes??Do you know the conditions under which the Goan gold was taken away to Portugal for safe-keeping?? ? So wasn't it lucky for Goans that Portugal did take away the gold for safe-keeping rather than let the Bharati troops?loot it, like they did with the powerful radio transmitter, the equipment at Dabolim,the?furniture from Idalcao and other houses, and shops that were looted in Panjim? And now have been squatting at Dabolim and most of the places that were previously used by the Portuguese Army and Navy since then??Shouldn't have?these places been returned to Goa's people as a result of "liberation"? ? 2. Portugal, in WWII, sold precious wolfram and other minerals to the Germans (as they did to the British), and the Germans paid for it using gold. This was a commercial transaction, although Portugal may not have questioned the source of the gold -- who does, in a commercial transaction? When you go to buy your car, does the seller question you as to how you obtained the money? When you buy a house does the developer or seller of the house carry out an investigation into your background as to possible sources of your wealth? If you decide to accept gold instead of cash or bonds at a time when paper meant nothing, wouldn't you say it was a smart transaction? What do you think the fate of Portugal would have been if Salazar had refused to sell Hitler the required minerals??Does the author of the book go into details as to how many Jews the Portuguese saved from Nazi Germany? Anything about Aristides de Sousa Mendes? ? One of the books I had mentioned in a recent submission, was "About Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light 1939-45" by Neill Lochery. See http://www.neill-lochery.co.uk/lisbon.html?. ? "Lisbon was the end of the escape line for Allied POW?s, and the city where over one million refuges, both affluent and less fortunate, flooded into the city. Among the refugees were prominent Jews such as the writer Arthur Koestler; the artists Marc Chagall and Max Ernst, and the art collector, Peggy Guggenheim. ..." ? ? Dr. Neill Lochery is a specialist in politics and modern history of Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East. He received his PhD from Durham University and currently holds the Catherine Lewis Readership in Israeli Politics at University College London. ? Gabriel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
