Sic Semper Tyrannis

Palin at Gettysburg

 
"The sun was barely up Tuesday morning when supporters and reporters gathered in front of Sarah Palin’s bus in a hotel parking lot, hoping to catch a glimpse of the former Alaska governor, whose third day of her East Coast tour is expected to include stops at the Civil War battlefield here and possibly later at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia." Poltico

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"Home, boys, home!  Home is just beyond that hill!"  Thus spake a Tennessee officer as his regiment approached the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge in what is generally called "Pickett's Charge." 

Is anyone going to ask her where she is while she is at Gettysburg?  I think a quiz would be appropriate.

Questions:

- Who was the Union commander in the battle?

- Why was the battle important?

- Did the battle end the war?

- Does she have any CW/WBS ancestors?

- Who held the battlefield after it ended?

And then, when they arrive in Philadelphia ask her a hard one, like, what role did Thomas Jefferson play in writing the Constitution? 

I actually think that a president ought to know a little history.  pl

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55919.html#ixzz1NvzdYPtu

 

Birthday

 
To me!  71 tomorrow.  pl

The Return of Hell - Richard Sale

 
   

The world is full of killing.  As I write this, one thousand people die violent deaths every day in wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq, the Mexican drug war, Sudanese nomadic conflicts, the South Yemen insurgency.

    But the reasons for the arrest of former Serbian leader Ratko Mladic last week were different from the killing described above.  The massacres ordered by the Serb leader were not the result of one hostile force being pitted against another in a struggle of endurance and wills. Instead, the campaigns of the Serb were the deliberate actions of a national group that had taken upon itself the extinction of its rival neighbors. Such a group moves with industrialized precision, and acts with no pity, no imagination, no soul, and no regret. One immediately thinks of Hitler’s slaughter of the Jews or his wholesale murder of Soviet soldiers and prisoners.

Israel minister: Strike on Iran could be necessary - AP

 
"An Israeli Cabinet minister said the civilized world must take joint action to avert the Iranian nuclear threat, including a pre-emptive strike if necessary.

Moshe Yaalon — the minister for strategic affairs — made the statement in an interview with Russia's Interfax news agency released Monday ahead of a visit to Moscow."  AP

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Bravo!  I wish the Israelis all the success in the world so long as the United States does nothing to support them. nothing, no re-fueling, no SAR, no ECM, no BDA, nothing.   They want to fight?  Let them fight using the weapons, aircraft and money that we have provided them, but no 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. strike by the US while the Israelis contemplate the wreckage of their air force, pl

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110530/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_israel

IRAN AND THE BOMB - How real is the nuclear threat? by Seymour Hersh

"Despite years of covert operations inside Iran, extensive satellite imagery, and the recruitment of many Iranian intelligence assets, the United States and its allies, including Israel, have been unable to find irrefutable evidence of an ongoing hidden nuclear-weapons program in Iran, according to intelligence and diplomatic officials here and abroad. One American defense consultant told me that as yet there is “no smoking calutron,” although, like many Western government officials, he is convinced that Iran is intent on becoming a nuclear state sometime in the future.  " Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/06/110606fa_fact_hersh

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Hersh quotes me quite a lot in this piece.  I would like to make it clear I that am not the "retired military intelligence official." Nor am I the source in any passage that does not name me as such.  I have not read or had saccess to the NIE of 2007 on Iran, nor have I read or had access to the "Memorandum to holders of the Iran NIE" of 2011.  I have had no access to classified US Government information on this subject.  pl 

Gasoline prices and investors.

 
What role Wall Street investors play in the high cost of oil is a hotly debated topic in "Washington. Despite weak demand, the price of a barrel of crude oil surged more than 25 percent in the past year, reaching a peak of $113 May 2 before falling back to a range of $95 to $100 a barrel.

The Obama administration, the Bush administration before it and Congress have been slow to take steps to rein in speculators. On Tuesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a U.S. regulatory agency, charged a group of financial firms with manipulating the price of oil in 2008. But the commission hasn't enacted a proposal to limit the percentage of oil contracts a financial company can hold, while Congress remains focused primarily on big oil companies, threatening in hearings last week to eliminate their tax breaks because of the $38 billion in first-quarter profits the top six U.S. companies earned."  KC Star

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Jump ball! 

- There is no oil shortage presently driving high prices.

- We are being screwed by traders, hedge fund managers, etc.

-  The Saudis do not love us.  They will probably join in the "screwing" soon, if not already.

Go for it.  pl

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/25/2903397/saudis-often-warned-us-about-oil.html#ixzz1NlU59pvo

 

Egypt and the "Revolution"

 
"Holding out Poland's transformation to democracy as a model for the world, President Barack Obama on Saturday exhorted Western allies and the American public alike to extend their support, energy and vision to those now reaching for democracy in the Middle East and North Africa."  Washpost

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110528/ap_on_re_eu/eu_obama

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"The New York Times reported last week that Egypt’s transitional military council intends to try deposed President Hosni Mubarak for conspiring to kill unarmed protesters. Conviction could mean the death penalty. The new regime also plans to prosecute Mubarak and his two sons, along with a wave of business cronies, on charges of corruption."  David Ignatius

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-whiff-of-revenge-taints-the-arab-spring/2011/05/26/AGqytyCH_story.html?hpid=z5

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Well, David, what did you think was going to happen?  Do you really have so little knowledge of this region and its political culture that you thought that the "revolutionaries," the Islamic zealots and the military junta that Mubarak illegally left in charge would all just "kiss and make up," shrug their shoulders and convene something like our constitutional convention?  Did you think that, or was this piece all tongue in cheek and a rhetorical flourish?  I hope the latter.

Does Obama think that people are "the same everywhere?"  My god, I hope not.  He shouldleave that to the navel auto-inspectors in academia  pl

 

 

"The dilemma of defense cuts" - Washpost Editorial Board

 
"Said Mr. Gates: “The tough choices ahead are really about the kind of role the American people — accustomed to unquestioned military dominance for the last two decades — want their country to play in the world.”"  Washpost Editorial Board

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"There will  be wars and rumors of wars.'  "Only the dead have seen the end of war."  These are favorite quotations in the US Army.  Memorial Day is almost upon us.  I wonder how many Americans really feel the impact of those words.

In this editorial the Washington Post Editorial Board staff reveals itelf as not only the neocon group that they have shown themselves to be for so long, but also, as "boosters" of an imperialist spirit that lurks among the populace waiting to be encouraged.

"Accustomed to unquestioned military dominance..."  That is how the Post sees the American people.  They perceive among the citizens an attitude toward military power that wishes to dominate the world, not an attitude that defends the Republic, no, a power that "dominates" the world.

To that end they are quite willing to cut soldiers pay and benefits, to renege on promises of retirement benefits that lured people into service and medical benefits that keep old soldiers alive betond the time of their usefulness.

Anything and everything can be sacrificed in the Post's view so long as the ability to "dominate" the world is maintained.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-dilemma-of-defense-cuts/2011/05/27/AGdVNxCH_story.html

On Tribalism...

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

COL Lang has absolutely, 100% hit the nail on the head regarding Dr. Krauthammer's views pertaining to US policy in the Middle East, especially regarding Israel.  The best evidence of this is MJ Rosenberg's recounting of Dr. Krauthammer's behavior at Yom Kippur (for the non-Judaica informed: The Day of Atonement, the Holiest Day of the Jewish religious calendar) services from 2001:

"About three years ago, I saw Krauthammer flip out in synagogue on Yom Kippur. The rabbi had offered some timid endorsement of peace — peace essentially on Israel's terms — but peace anyway. Krauthammer went nuts. He actually started bellowing at the rabbi, from his wheel chair in the aisle. People tried to "shush" him. It was, after all, the holiest day of the year. But Krauthammer kept howling until the rabbi apologized. The man is as arrogant as he is thuggish. Who screams at the rabbi at services? For advocating peace?"**

This would be the equivalent of going after the Archbishop at either Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve or Good Friday or Easter Sunday Mass for saying something in his homily that one disagreed with.  Dr. Krauthammer is without doubt a smart man.  He is without doubt an educated man.  He is also, without a doubt, a Jew without Mercy.

* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College.  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College or the US Army.

**MJ Rosenberg's original link to his archive where he recounted the Yom Kippur incident is dead/missing.  He refers to the incident in several later posts and columns, which I've hyperlinked to for you all, and then links to the Washington Monthly's post that quotes his original story, which I've also hyperlinked to for you all.

Post on "The Athenaeum" for Memorial Day

 
My sister, Maureen, has a new Post for Memorial day.  pl

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2011/05/memorial-day-2011.html

Krauthammer, tribal polemicist.

 
"Note how Obama has undermined Israel’s negotiating position. He is demanding that Israel go into peace talks having already forfeited its claim to the territory won in the ’67 war — its only bargaining chip. Remember: That ’67 line runs right through Jerusalem. Thus the starting point of negotiations would be that the Western Wall and even Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter are Palestinian — alien territory for which Israel must now bargain.

The very idea that Judaism’s holiest shrine is alien or that Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter is rightfully or historically or demographically Arab is an absurdity. And the idea that, in order to retain them, Israel has to give up parts of itself is a travesty."  Krauthammer

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The emerging economic and political disaster in Egypt, Salih's idiotic foot dragging at the edge of doom, Assad's feckless inability to control his relatives and fellow oligarchs, Qathafi's firmness in defying the West's half-hearted efforts,  US efforts to mollify the double dealing Pakistanis, Saudi Arabia's withdrawal from our "relatoinship," all these are much more interesting than the fall-out from the "Book of Natanyahu," but who could pass up a target like Charles Krauthammer's latest screed?

His passion as an offended tribesman here overwhelms his normal rationality.    "having ----- forfeited its claim to the territory won in the ’67 war."

Excuse me?  Are lands won in combat still "bargaining chips' in international negotiations or is this just the impassioned rage of an offended tribalist who wants his fellow tribesmen to have all the advantage that can be had?

This reminds me of a distinguished (now retired) woman analyst of the IC and NDU who once told me that she could not be expected to be "rational" about such issues because she was "too tribal.'  She also once told me that "people like you who have experienced too much war cannot be trusted.  It destroyed your objectivity."  Well, if only that were true...

Are the Palestinians innocent of guile and a hunger for revenge?  No, but that does not matter.  I am not neutral about "culture" and civilization.  Western civilization is my civilization no matter how much I may know about other civilizations.  Dr. Krauthammr is an exemplar of that civilization.  I expect better of people like Dr. Krauthammer than a naked display of tribal loyalty.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-obama-did-to-israel/2011/05/26/AGJfYJCH_story.html?hpid=z2

Mubarak was aware of shooting protesters, says former VP - Egypt Today

 
"Testimony provided by former Vice President Omar Suleiman confirmed involvement of ousted President Hosni Mubarak in killing protesters, the state-run daily Al-Akhbar reported on Thursday.

According to Suleiman, Mubarak ordered the armed forces and the intelligence apparatus to monitor the protests, the paper mentioned. He also received reports every hour from former interior minister Habib al-Adly on developments of the situation.

The prosecution questioned Suleiman in April on shooting protesters during the 25 January revolution as well as the wealth of the ousted president and his family."  Egypt Today

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"from former interior minister Habib al-Adly on developments of the situation."  The mubahith (FBI equivalent) and police belonged to the Interior Ministry not the General Intelligence Directorate which was largely concerned with foreign affairs.  Suleiman was an artillery officer brought into MILITARY intelligence as a brigadier because of his cleverness and known piety.  As such he caould deal more effectively with the ever-present Islamist threat within the armed forces.  He handled relations with Libya and Israel?  Yes.  Those were his orders from the constututional head of state, a boss who feared and disliked him as a possible rival to Gamal Mubarak.

Was he a "crony" of Mubarak?  No.  Mubarak was a typical oriental despot who liked to keep his principle subordinates in a perpetual state of insecurty.  There were a number of Egyptian intelligence and security organizations, all kept carefull separate as rivals.  OS was kept in line by HM by requiring him to sit at his desk waiting to answer "the red phone,' a phone on which only HM called to ask deliberately impossible questions, "do you know what X said to Y last week in Khartoum?"  OS was not and is not HM's friend and crony.

A cry will now arise that the rats are deserting a sunken ship.  Well, believe what you will.  pl

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/452217

The Book of Netanyahu - Giraldi

 
"On the First Day Lord Netanyahu met with his faithful counselor Count Avigdor. Avigdor said, "O Lord Netanyahu, you must go even unto the land of the Obamaites to deal with their King. The Obamaites have rendered unto us their gold and precious goods in great abundance but now their King is seeking to treat with our enemies." Then Netanyahu spoke and his heart was full of anger. "Yea verily, we must smite them and also their wives and children and all that they hold dear. For even as we have smitten the children of Canaan we will strike them. They shall ken who is master and who is slave. Prepare for me my chariot of gold and I will journey even unto the land of the Obamaites with my host. Instruct our brethren in the land of the Obamaites to prepare for my coming with stealth. Organize them with weapons ready at hand and instruct them to deceive the Obamaites by declaring fealty and respect for the Kingdom of Obama so the King’s retainers will not fear them. When the King of the Obamaites declares his bad faith they shall be prepared to rise up and join us." And so it was done. Lord Netanyahu ascended into his chariot of gold to confront the King of the Obamaites and smite him sorely. And the children of Israel rejoiced."  Giraldi

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2011/05/25/the-book-of-netanyahu/

The division of the Holy Land - gdledell

 
Charles - I am a dual citizen of Israel having lived there in the 1980's and I have been going back and forth to Israel twice a year for the holidays since 1956 to visit my relatives - all 37 of them live in the settlements. You ask what Bibi should have said - here is my answer. We are living in momentous times and the world is changing rapidly. Some of it good and some not so good but that is the nature of change. Israel and the United States must remain ahead of that change to remain strategically viable. To that end President Obama has rightfully committed himself to help move the Arab world towards democracy and I believe he will lead other nations in a similar direction. Israel also must do her part to help this rapid change become positive. To that end, I propose to you, our Palestinian and Arab brothers an historic opening for Peace. In the negotiations, I will be guided by these principles: All humans deserve dignity and opportunity be they Arab, Jew or other. I thus commit myself and Israel to a peace agreement that is just and allows the Palestinians to enjoy their lives with dignity and honor. I believe Mr. Abbas and Mr. Fayyad are honorable men who are capable of leading their people to peace. I propose that a border be delineated between us that will correspond to the 67 borders with the following modifications:

Bibi, as seen in Ha'aretz.

 
""A wasted opportunity" was the headline of the editorial in the Haaretz newspaper, which said the Israeli prime minister had lost an "outstanding opportunity to present a vision of a just and sustainable peace."

"Netanyahu wasted the generous credit he got from his American hosts in order to cast accusations at the Palestinians and impose endless obstacles in connection with the core issues," it said, accusing him of "leading Israel and the Palestinians into a new round of violence, along with Israel's isolation."

"We are heading straight for the wall," Haaretz correspondent Ari Shavit told army radio.

"He made peace with Congress, but he lost the world,""

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I could not have said it better. Bibi has killed any chance of peace.  In his speech to the Congress, Natanyahu dictated the terms of a peace in which the Palestinians simply surrender to Israel.  There is nothing left to negotiate. pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/2/8/12894/World/Region/Israeli-press-sees-Pyrrhic-victory-in-Netanyahus-C.aspx

Flash! - Israel declines annexation of the United States. (satire)

 
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. 

"Vice President Biden, Speaker Boehner, distinguished senators, members of the House, honored guests, I’m deeply moved by this warm welcome. And I’m deeply honored that you’ve given me the opportunity to address Congress a second time. 

Mr. Vice President, do you remember the time that we were the new kids in town? 

And I do see a lot of old friends here, and I see a lot of new friends of Israel here, as well -- Democrats and Republicans alike. 

Israel has no better friend than America, and America has no better friend than Israel."

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The US Department of "Relations with Israel" has formally rejected British, Canadian and Puerto Rican claims of "closest" alliance with the United states.

In an impassioned speech today to the western (trans-Atlantic) branch of the Knesset, Prime Minister Natanyahu warmly accepted the 36 standing ovations of the US Congress, but stated firmly that in spite of Mormon claims of the early settlement of North "America" by the lost tribes of Israel and recent archaeology that the LDS church cites in support of that "fact," Israel could not in conscience accept the offer to merge the United States with Israel under the Israeli Basic Law.  Such a merger, he said would be traumatic for those "Americans" who could not claim Israeli citizenship under the Israeli "Law of the Return."

Senator Harry Reid of the district of Nevada expressed great sorrow at this rejection, saying at a press moment that he hoped that "President" Obama's disrespect, expressed earlier in the week, for the just claims of Israel to all the land between the Mediterranean and the Euprhates River (based on Biblical land grants) had not affected Natanyahu's decision.

The meaningless claims of the 'Palestinian" "South Syrians" to lands only recently and unjustly occupied (1,500 years) by their ancestors were properly dismissed by the Prime Minister with the comment that israel would deal generously with these squatters once they accepted the absolute supremacy of Israel and the status of their future enclave as a de-militarized reservation defended by Israel and under the security supervision of Israel on its "borders."

This was met with thunderous applause by the delegates, many of whom later expressed their hope that Israel would some day accept the inclusion of the US in the Zionist state.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israeli-prime-minister-binyamin-netanyahus-address-to-congress/2011/05/24/AFWY5bAH_story.html

Well This Explains a Lot: The Less than Stellar Hunter of OBL

Adam L. Silverman*

Penn Bullock and Brandon Thorp of Gawker, based on culling reporting from the NY Times, the Washington Post,  MSNBC, McClatchy, and other sources, have reported that the head of the unit tasked with hunting and finding bin Laden from 2002-2004 went on from that position to a lucrative career helping to profiteer off of US operations in Iraq, as well as trying to bribe the Jordanians and providing illegal campaign contributions from non-Americans.  Moreover, based on his own emails he seems to be too enthused by the unfortunate realities of what is going on in the war zone he and they company he went to work for were profiting off of.  

Its this very lucrative market that is going to make it very hard to actually adjust our policies, strategies, and operations.

I know a number of very, very professional, dedicated, and highly qualified people who have worked for the Agency.  Its a testament to their professionalism that when the politicized shenanigans that have seemed to reoccur there over the past decade that they keep plugging away doing their jobs.

* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College.  The views expressed here are his own and do not represent those of the US Army War College or the US Army.

Daniels out - Who's left in the zoo?

 
"Consider the list of would-be candidates who’ve passed on a campaign in the last four months: Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and now Daniels.

Add Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan and Rick Perry – Republicans with star power who’ve said flatly they won’t run – and it translates into a GOP establishment deeply worried that the flawed options they’re left with won’t be any match for an incumbent president who seemingly won’t face a primary but is likely to shatter campaign fundraising records."  Politico

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Gingrich - The man who might once have made a good president but who is so impressed with himself that he can't shut up or zip up.

Romney/Huntsman - Mormons.  Political correctness in the USA requires that the MSM insist that all those evangelical Christians out there in "fly-over" America will vote for someone who they think is Christian only by the LDS definition of
Christianity.  The LDS religion is not a monotheistic religion.  That matters to a lot of people in the US who vote regularly.  Theology is a matter of faith and inclination.  I would vote for either of these men but that does not mean that either of them can defeat Obama.  Oh, yes and then there is "Romneycare..."

Palin/Bachman - These two have a certain appeal to people who feel aggrieved aginst the elites in the US.  Quite a few of the people who won't vote for Romney/Huntsman would vote for one of these ladies.  They would do that because the devine duo do not make them feel looked down upon and they are pretty.  After all, who knew that the Revolutionary War did not start in New Hampshire?  Isn't one Concord much like another?   SCOTUS decisions?  Founding fathers?  Well, why wouldn't they all be remembered together without mentioning any in particular?  Unfortunately for these two "possibles" there are not enough resentful, ignorant people out there to elect them.

Herman Cain -  This man declines to say what he would do about anything before being inaugureated.  That probably won't work.

Pawlenty - Who?  Oh, him...  ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Ron Paul - A nice man but most people in this country won't "buy" his brand of Libertarianism.  They don't want heroin and cocain legalized.

Some dark horse general? - They sold the most likely one the CIA job.

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Sounds like four more years of Obama.  pl

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55425.html

Is Dennis Ross Israel's lead Negotiator?

 
"From the State Department, “we get good responses,” the Jordanian king said, according to several people who were in the room. And from the Pentagon, too. “But not from the White House, and we know the reason why is because of Dennis Ross” — President Obama’s chief Middle East adviser.

Mr. Ross, King Abdullah concluded, “is giving wrong advice to the White House.”"  Helene Cooper - NY Times

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The real question is whether or not Obama takes Ross's advice seriously.  Abe Foxman likes Dennis Ross?  What a surprise!  Ross was or is a member (chair) of the board of an institute in Jerusalem, "The Jewish People's Policy Institute," that is an arm of the "Jewish Agency" the core establishment of Israeli political life.  This institute exists specifically for the purpose of studying means for advancing the prosperity and well-being of "the Jewish People."  When he took the position Ross remarked something to the effect that "they are my people."  Well, if they are his people what are the rest of us in the US?

Dennis Ross is in the White House and at BHO's elbow because the money men who will float Obama's campaign demand that he and several others be there.  Donilon, McDonough and all that crew understand that kind of thing.

Ross is actually quite honest.  He does not pretend to be impartial in the issues that lie between the Israelis and the Palestinians.  In my opinion he is 100% on the Israeli side in everything that he does.  His lack of impartiality is so blatant that it makes a hypocritical farce of anything the US tries to do to resolve that most persistant of conflicts.

That being said, how is one to comprehend BHO's speech and Bibi's enraged reaction?  Let me know if you figure it out.  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/world/middleeast/21ross.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ross

http://jppi.org.il/#

 

ICMES Lecture Cancelled

The lecture has been cancelled due to unavailability of the speaker.  pl

United States and Pakistan - FB Ali

 
“The relationship, in truth, has never been about trust. It was and is a strategic alliance founded on complementary interests: Pakistan's desire for military assistance and its fear of becoming a pariah state, and the U.S.'s need for regional support in the Afghanistan war. While Pakistan and the U.S. share similar long-term goals — economic partnership, stability in the region — their short-term needs rarely intersect. That is why the question of whose side Pakistan is on is so galling to most Pakistanis and so infuriating to most Americans. "Pakistan is on Pakistan's side," says Tariq Azim, an opposition Senator and Deputy Information Minister under Musharraf”.  ‒  TIME

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 Since the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, there has been a lot of heated rhetoric, bordering on the hysterical, in the media of both countries (some of that has even seeped into comments on this site). TIME is not known for in-depth analysis, but its May 23 cover story (Why we’re stuck with Pakistan) is a detailed and insightful discussion of the issue. Well worth a read (at the link below) for anyone who wishes to understand the background and recent history of the relationship, and the tensions and strains that currently bedevil it .

FB Ali

 http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2071005,00.html#ixzz1N0WD8B9T

Israel to lobby Germany against Palestinian plan - Josef Federman

 
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask Germany's leader to drop her support for a proposal endorsing a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem when he meets with her this week, Israeli officials said Wednesday."  AP

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Yes, when all else fails the Israelis know that they can go to the Germans and the Germans will do what they are told to do.  This is understandable.  Anyone who has contemplated the film footage of people being herded directly from boxcars to gas chambers at Treblinka and Sobibor should understand the psychological vulnerability of the Germans.  German guilt is undeniable and the Germans do not attempt to deny it.

On the other hand, the Palestinians are not the Germans of the 3rd Reich, and the United States liberated many of the camps.  We did not run them and yet we are as obedient as the Germans.

Natanyahu glowers at the mention of the 1967 boundaries and speaks darkly of "reality,' his reality.  Since he takes that position, it must be said that without the 1949/1967 Armistice lines as a basis, the international vision of two states, Israel and Palestine in historical Palestine, is simply a farce.

Israel seized the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by force of arms in 1967.  Soon thereafter the UN Security Council created Resolution 242 which called and  still calls for the withdrawal of Israel's forces from all that land that had been seized from Jordan and Egypt.  The principle involved being that the time has passed when lands taken in war can be annexed merely because the conquerer wants them.  That principle lies at the heart of the UN's very purpose.  Natanyahu's attitude calls into question the issue of whether or not Israel ever intended to do other than retain permanently as much of the West Bank as it could manage.

Natanyahu by word, and body language has made it clear that he holds the United states in contempt as a "cash cow" that can be manipulated easily through deception and trickery.  At his meeting with President Obama he could not refrain from defying Israel's greatest benefactor by open and blatant rejection of the basic premises of Obama's speech the previous day.  How much do we give the Israelis a year?

Natanyahu's next move is to address his henchmen and flunkies in Congress in an effort to rally his "troops" against the president of the United States.  In this effort he will be supported by the editorial page of the Washington Post which today stood firmly on the side of Natanyahu against Obama.

Presumably it is obvious to all that an effort to admit an independent Palestine to the UN will be met by a US veto in the Security Council.  The Washington Post will applaud that as well. pl

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110406/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_7

President Obama’s Speech and the Peace Process –Nothing Will Change - By: Robert K. Lifton

 
More than any other portion of President Obama’s May 19^th speech, the segment devoted to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has attracted great attention, generating heated rhetoric from both sides. Yet, in truth, there was nothing in the speech that should have surprised anyone following the process and nothing that will change the fact that as the President said, the conflict “has grinded on and on” with “nothing but stalemate” and it will continue to founder.

In the run-up to the speech, there was a struggle between those who were pressing the President to put a specific plan, even including a map, before the parties to the conflict and those like State Department Advisor Dennis Ross who advocated a less specific approach.  The President seems to have cut the baby in half, with what appear at first blush to be very specific approaches but which in the end are only general principles that the parties can continue to negotiate about endlessly, as they have done until now.

Michael Brenner on Obama's ME speech

 
Public declarations of statesman can convey belief and intention. Often, one must strain to discern them as they are hedged by qualifications and contingent references. At other times, the overriding purpose is obfuscation. That becomes the goal when a leader temporizes, is indecisive and disinclined to make decisions on matters that entail risks and costs - be they diplomatic or domestic. Such was the nature of Barack Obama's address on the Middle East last Thursday. Trying to discern in his remarks the contours of a coherent foreign policy is futile. For the elucidation of a strategic design was not the purpose. Nor was the purpose to stake out a firm position that would be the pivot for future actions re. Palestine, reform movements in those countries where they are being repressed, or Iran. The aim was political – in two senses.

DSK as hubristic protagonist.

 
"The IMF chief's alleged sex-assault victim lives in a Bronx apartment rented exclusively for adults with HIV or AIDS, The Post has learned.

The hotel maid, a West African immigrant, has occupied the fourth-floor High Bridge pad with her 15-year-old daughter since January -- and before that, lived in another Bronx apartment set aside by Harlem Community AIDS United strictly for adults with the virus and their families"  NY Post

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The NY Post goes on to say that they don't actually know as yet if "Ophelia" is HIV positive.  Now, that would have a splendid "twist" would it not?  This would be something out of Athenian drama.  This would be a plot in which spiritual pride and arrogance of place and position led to a great fall.  That description assumes, of course, that he did the deed(s).  That remains to be proven.  Will there be a chorus at the trial?  I don't quite know what finding his DNA in the suite will prove.  He stayed in the room over night.  His DNA will be all over the suite.  Even if they found his DNA on her person, that will not prove the sex was not consensual.  I presume that even in New York some actual proof must be offered to a jury.

"Le Figaro" has an interesting piece about this.  This French newspaper has discovered the victim and the more they look at her in the light of her reputation and the opinion of Sofitel management, the better she looks.

DSK is well and truly f----d. (Green Beret speak) or "sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you (more of the same).  He was set up?  How? By secret agents feeding him hallucinatory drugs that cause him to think he was king of the world?  pl

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/imf_accuser_in_apt_for_hiv_vics_oZmUkbtouJ14RHw1434HvJ

http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2011/05/17/01002-20110517ARTFIG00717-ophelia-la-victime-sans-visage.php

Victory for the Ross/Natanyahu team.

 
"Mitchell’s sense of frustration stemmed not just from his difficulties lty in getting the governments of Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas to move toward a final status agreement, but also from infighting within the administration. Mitchell, as reported in the Forward was irritated by the increasing role President Obama’s senior adviser Dennis Ross began to play in the peace process. Ross’s portfolio, which originally centered on Iran, was increased to include security ties with Israel."

 
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/137797/#ixzz1MiPN4tW0  The Forward

--------------------------------

Mitchell never had a chance.  Israeli tribalism condemned him from the start on the basis of his alien Lebanese blood.  Obama's political debts decided the rest of the story.

Dennis Ross negotiating with Bibi Natanyahu!  LOL  "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all."  pl

 

Strauss-Kahn et les "Chauds-Lapins"

 
The French have had any number of revolutions.  None of them eliminated the rigid stratification of society.  Some are still born into the elites and others achieve that status by going to the right schools.

I think we should put this man in the custody of the French consul in New York pending resolution of the matter in court, win, lose or draw.  Not Fair?  What is?  The US does not need this additional burden of discord with the French.  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/opinion/18clarke.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

1927 Engineer Corps flood control report

 
This was sent me by an old friend a retired Corps of Engineers colonel.  pl

"This is a must read for anyone following the events of the last three weeks. I've attached General Jadwin's report on flood control for the Mississippi River completed in 1927 and forming the basis for the FCA of 1928.

You will note by reading just a few highlighted passages that the  1927 plan WAS very explicitly a plan "to make room for the river."  The absolute emphasis was on avoiding levees being built higher.  Local setbacks were provided for. Jadwin's presentation is really quite lucid on the idea of making room for flood waters.  If anything General Jadwin's concept anticipates the "make room for the river" idea that is now filling the popular press.  He acknowledged that more floodways might be needed in the future. Where setbacks were practical, he explicitly employed them." 

Download 8897 H.doc.90 Flood control in Mississippi River Dec 8 1927rh

 

 

ICCJ Indictments against Arab Leaders?

 
Qathafi was indicted by the International Court of Criminal Justice (ICCJ).  On the one hand that is certainly a good thing.  Greater amounts of force can be used against him as a fugitive from justice, etc.  On the other hand his willingness to give up what remains of this power is probably lessened.  Where can he go now without being handed over to the ICCJ for resolution of the charges? 

Will the principle be applied widely to other politicians in the Middle East?  That seems likely.  One can easily imagine Assad or the King of Bahrain indicted.

One can only suppose that rulers or former rulers in other parts of the world are concerned with this development.  pl

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/05/after-the-international-criminal-court-prosecutors-requested-arrest-warrants-for-libyan-leader-moamar-kadafi-son-seif-al-isl.html

Flood of 1927

 Mississippi River Flood of 1927- Army Signal Corps Archival Film (1936

 

New post on the Athenaeum by my sister, Maureeen.  pl

Israel 12+ and counting - Arabs 0

 
"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the demonstrators were challenging “the very existence of Israel” and, in nationally broadcast remarks, pledged that the country was “determined to defend our borders and sovereignty.”"  Greenberg for the Washpost

------------------------------

During the first intifada someone asked a US diplomat friend of mine at a dinner party if he didn't think the media were being unfair to the Israelis in the matter of casualties on the two sides.  After a moment his diplomatic mask slipped a bit and he said that since the "score" then was - Israelis 900+ bagged, versus Palestinians - 9, he did not find her question to be meaningful.  Those with a tribal interest in that quarrel may think that those were good numbers, but for the rest of the world, not so much.

Now, in the midst of the "Arab Spring,"  Bibi has pronounced on his willingness to do "whatever it takes."  The boxscore will be impressive.

September or October will probably see widespread recognition of Palestine as a state.  In that context, sanctions and the ICCJ loom on the horizon for the Bibi "solution."  The Israelis will just ignore the world?

Sure they will.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/israeli-troops-fire-at-palestinian-protestors-on-borders-killing-at-least-12/2011/05/15/AF9lnF4G_story.html?hpid=z4

Qathafi will be gone soon.

 
"In rebel-held Misurata, a besieged coastal area in western Libya, people welcomed the news. "I believe it's the first step on the true path to justice and freedom," said Abdsalam Abdullah, a member of the local governing council.

A doctor in Misurata, Aiman Abu Shama, was joyful. "Kadafi has no power," the doctor said. "His end is coming soon.""  pl

----------------------------------

The MQ government is crumbling.  They couldn't even contain the pathetically underarmed and trained rebel militia "besieged" in Misurata.  Drone attacks have MQ hiding in various holes in the ground.  One slip in security and he gets the Bin Laden treatment, this time with bunker busters.  NATO air attacks go forward with US targeting, re-fueling and ECM support.  This relentless pounding is gradually attriting the will of the MQ regime to continue.  At the same time the rebels are being "improved" by European advisers.  In the end the present rebel junta will occupy Tripoli to fill a vacuum left by the disappearance of the present government.

A lot of you do not seem to understand that governments and businesses that face situations that will destroy them keep up a good facade until the very end, and then the wall falls over.  A greater degree of patience than that exhibited by teenagers is necessary to understand this process.

Why did Obama not recognize the junta when he met with their leader this wek?  I really don't know, but I suspect that the "little birds" who have been whispering of the possibility of Islamists in the rebellion had a lot to do with it.  pl

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-hague-kadafi-indictment-20110517,0,449543.story

Amre Moussa - Arab Nationalist

 
"The Arab League's secretary-general may not be popular with Israel or the US, but Egyptians like him so much they literally sing his praises."  BBC

-------------

The US and Israel have reason to distrust Amre Moussa.  IMO he is an Arab Nationalist of the old school.  He never approved of the treaty with Israel or Egypt's close, if somewhat one sided, relationship with the US.  His countrymen largely agree with him in these sentiments. Why would they not like him?  He was an apparatchik of the Mubarak regime who was never loyal to "the boss."  As the Harvey Keitel character says to his long term enemy at the end of the film, "The Duelists,"  "You never really loved the emperor..."

Amre Moussa never loved the US.  His animosity smoldered below the surface at meetings.  IMO he will be elected and will take Egypt on a new journey.  pl

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1766776.stm

HARPER ADVICE TO OBAMA: BACK THE ARAB SPRING

 
When President Obama completes his victory lap over the killing of Osama bin-Laden, he is going to have to face the fact that the entire Arab and Islamic world is profoundly confused by his Administration's self-contradictory responses to the Arab Spring protests.  After several weeks of confusion and mixed signals, the President finally threw his support behind the Egyptian protesters in Tahrir Square, and, following the brutal assaults on those peaceful protesters, called for President Mubarak to step down.  As belated and weak his response to the dramatic events in Egypt, he ultimately got it right, and gave his support to those forces demanding progress and greater freedom and opportunity.  His reactions to the plight of similar protesters in Bahrian and Yemen was a much more clinical case of severe flip-flopism.  Once Saudi troops crossed the causeway into Bahrain, and Saudi officials flooded Washington with claims of Iranian intrigue and fomenting of anti-Sunni revolution, Washington went completely radio silent.  By the time that the Yemen situation reached a break point, President Obama had totally deferred to the wisdom of the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council, making a few muted comments about the need for reform, but truly walking away from the situation.  The case of Libya was complicated by the fact that the country erupted into a fullscale civil war, and the President's Secretary of Defense firmly opposed drawing the United States into yet a third military conflict on Islamic soil.

"...Oil Price Should Be $60 To $70 A Barrel." - Forbes

 
"Rex Tillerson, the boss of ExxonMobil admitted last week that the price of oil–based purely on supply and demand- should be in the $60 to $70 a barrel range. Forbes

----------------------------

Well, here we have the truth from the "horse's mouth."  You don't have to believe ignorant old me.  "$60 to $70 a barrel range."  Lenzner continues by stating that, broadly speaking, the rest of the price is created by the "market forces" that I keep talking about.

I find it difficult to believe that the casino-like process of playing with the possiblity of extracting profits from the maniplulation of futures contributes to the production of petroleum.

This "game" contributes to the bank accounts of the players, but what does it do to the rest of us? 

If the answer is nothing, then the "crap shoot" in New York and other places should be dealt with, probable through international treaties of regulation.  pl

http://blogs.forbes.com/robertlenzner/2011/05/14/exxon-mobil-ceo-says-oil-price-should-be-60-70-a-barrel/

Open Thread - 14 May 2011

 
Open thread pl

#"What the Libyan Resistance Needs" El Warfally

 
"We know it is our fight to win or lose, but there is also much at stake for the international community. If the Libyan revolution stalls or is defeated, a vindictive or resurgent Colonel Qaddafi and his regime will present the world with a greater danger than even Osama bin Laden. The faster the regime comes to an end, the better it will be for Libya and the safer it will be for the world."  El Warfally

------------------------

Bonaparte insisted that "men are nothing, the man is everything."  The current unrest has not had a voice.  In this Libyan, the "Arab Spring" has found a voice.  Let us heed that voice.

Gates carps that weapons expended, fuel, etc. have cost 750 million dollars so far?   The rebels in Libya are fighting for a set of goals that are at least comprehensible from a Western point of view.  What are getting for our 2 billion a WEEK in Afghanistan as well as the money we are pouring into Pakistan?

I will answer my own questions.

In Afghanistan we have bought entre into a proxy war between India and Pakistan. As our contribution to that conflict we are attempting to build a new and different Afghanistan.

In Pakistan we have made a down-payment in a process that if continued to a logical conclusion leads to ever bigger and bigger "investments" in "building" a new Pakistan as well, one that would be unfriendly to Muslim zealots.  There will, of course, be no such Pakistan, but the COINistas and the neocon zealots who still have remarkable influence in the US government fervently believe that this would happen if we just persisted for another decade or so.

I have preached before that consistency is not a virtue in foreign plicy.  A country's interests must set agendas and priorities.  Having said that, I think the time has come to consider whether the behavior of the Arab autocrats and the Pakistani deceivers does not demand a re-examination of American interests in that part of the world.

In that light Al-Warfally's statement seems to summon us to a commitent to modernism and popular government in the Middle East and South Asia.  We should think that through carefully.  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/opinion/13elwarfally.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

#Libya Developments

 
"Gadhafi's rebel opposition, meanwhile, received major political boosts from abroad. Britain promised to provide them with police gear, and the Obama administration invited a rebel delegation to the White House for talks on Friday."  AP

--------------------

Hallelujah! "De day ob jubilo am comin'."  Translation - The day of liberation is coming in Libya. 

Qathafi's forces have either withdranwn from or been driven from Misrata.  Some of the recent improvement in th eperformance of the rebels may reflect the effect of NATO advisers.  NATO air seems improved in its effectiveness.  There is increased political support as well.

Someone should find Qathafi a plausible refuge. A place in which he may persuade himself that he will not be extradited.

We have a different policy in the Gulf?  Ah, well, life is hard.   pl

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_libya

#Oil crude futures prices falling.

 
"Commodities fell broadly Wednesday and early on Thursday"  WSJ

------------------------------

At the risk of being boring, this is yet another demonstration that all this exagerated pricing in oil is market action of one kind or another.  Day traders, fund managers, dogs and cats, etc.

Long term shortages? probably.  Short term? No.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576319000023930160.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

COIN in Mexico?

 
I take it as a given that the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures will end in the not too distant future.  Financial starvation of the US Government in the context of a declining economy and federal deficits, the intractability of these multi=player civil wars, and American inability to engage with cultures markedly different from our own, all these things will bring our overseas engagements to an end or nearly to an end. 

At the same time, the political pressures brought on within the US by immigration (legal or not) and drug smuggling across the US border with Mexico are growing steadily.

Someone here suggested the application of the COIN doctrine in Mexico.  COIN is armed nation building.  Do we want to do that?  pl

#In search of underwriters (money)

 
Having had six million visits in the last six years, I have decided to seek underwriters (sponsors) for my blogging efforts (SST & TA).  This is a one person operation.  It takes up a lot of time.  These are opportunity costs for me. 

Foundations (preferred) or corporations that make grants to my blogs should understand that the money will go in my posket in payment for what I do.  I will pay whatever costs the blogs have.

What the underwriters will get is an acknowledgement on the blogs (if they want that).  They will also assure that I continue doing this for a while.  What they will not get:  editorial control, content control or title.

I hope that pranksters do not bother me with foolishness that wastes my time.  Enquiries should include full conatact data; website, phone numbers, a responsible person to contact, etc. 

I am grateful to all those indviduals who have made donations in the past.  pl

Six Million

 
Today we reached a total of six million lifetime page views for SST.  We started in July, 2005.  Things were slow at first.  This averages about a million a year.  pl

#Amr Moussa’s vision for Egypt - Weymouth

 
"The U.S. is focused on the nuclear issue. (Weymouth - concerning Iran)

The nuclear issue in the Middle East means Israel and then Iran.

If you become president would you keep the [peace] treaty with Israel?

The treaty is a treaty. For us, the treaty has been signed and it is for peace, but it depends also on the other side. . . . If you asked me what kind of relations between the Arab world and Israel I would like to see, I would say that the Arab position — of which Egypt is a party — rests on the Arab initiative of 2002."  Lally Weymouth Interview

--------------------------

"Israel, and then Iran"  could that be clearer? 

"The Arab initiative of 2002."  Ah, yes the Abdullah peace plan of 2002, approved at an Arab League meeting in Beirut.  This "plan" is a largely meaningless statement of the possible intent of the member states to recognize Israel if and when each of these states and any other aggrieved parties settle their difference with Israel.  This would include the Palestinians.  The only thing that this "plan" does for Israel is to state tat there is some possibility of recognition.  The "plan" resulted from Tom Friedman's publication of the "white paper" on recognition that King Abdullah used to keep in a desk drawer to exhibit to "visiting firemen." 

IMO Moussa is the most likely person to win in the coming presidential election in Egypt.  He is an Arab Nationalist of the old school who carefully "toed the line" under Mubarak but never like the deal with Israel or Egypt's close relations with the US.

Look for change in Egypt/Israel relations, change we can believe in.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/amr-moussas-vision-for-egypt/2011/05/09/AF36AxbG_story.html

Pakistani Leader Rebuts Criticism Over bin Laden - WSJ

 
"Pakistan's prime minister sought to assuage spreading anger at home over the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a defiant speech to parliament, rejecting accusations that Pakistanis shielded the al Qaeda leader and suggesting the terror network was created by the U.S."  WSJ

-----------

Comments?  pl

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576313153255249860.html

#Dennis Funck - Artist In Rustic Wood Objects

 

Last month I wrote of Dennis Funck, the man who makes birdhouses and bird brooding houses from old knobby bits of tree trunk in his native Pennsylvania.

Today, my wife and I saw him again at the University of Virginia's Arboretum Garden Show in White Post, Virginia in Clarke County.  The day was bright, the air was warm, the crowd was large, friendly and polite. 

Dennis was rhere with two tables my wife had asked him to make.

 

The tops are made of Indian Cigar Tree and the legs are Cedar and White Pine.  They are for our back yard outdoor kitchen.  The walking stick he had made for himself.  I collect walking sticks.  I admired the White Tail antler worked into the top and he gave it to me.

I particularly liked a bench he brought with him to the show.

 
The top is Osage Orange and the legs are Cedar.  It is a beautiful piece.

 
He makes interesting things like hand carved garden "eagles" and "mushrooms."

He could make you any kind of rustic wooden piece that you might want ofr inside or outside.  TTG asked for his name and phone number.  He will be at shows all over the Mid-Atlantic this summer.  pl

Dennis Funck

Home phone - 717-865-6364

 

 

#The idea of counterinsurgency is deader than Osama Bin Laden - Paul Mulshine

 
"The contrast between the two approaches could not have been more obvious after an elite unit, the Navy SEALs, dispatched Osama bin Laden the other day without losing a man. Meanwhile, our conventional forces remain bogged down in a couple of countries, losing men and blowing through billions while achieving little of strategic importance to the United States."  Mulshine

http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2011/05/post_103.html

 

#Pakistan in the light of day

 
"Pakistan’s army chief warned Thursday that any repeat of the type of U.S. commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden would be viewed as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty and would imperil military and intelligence cooperation between the two countries.

The combative statement came as a senior U.S. defense official said Pakistan would have to take “very concrete and visible steps” to persuade Congress to continue providing $3 billion in annual military and economic assistance."  Washpost

-------------------------

"It's nice to be nice to the nice."  Frank Burns

Let's see...  What does Pakistan do for the US? 

1-They let our Main Supply Route to Afghanistan run north from their ports to the Khyber Pass and to Quetta.  This is a major vulnerability for us.  With the size force we have in Afghanistan, we would have a difficult time supplying that force either through Russia or by air.  Pakistani companies make a lot of money in the haulage on this MSR.

2- Pakistan's military keeps it's existing and future nuclear capability out of the larger world game.  As has been discussed at SST many times, Pakistan either has or will soon have the real world CAPABILITY of ranging Israel's target set.  They have around 100 fully engineered and manufactired deliverable nuclear weapons.  They have aircraft and missiles (Shahiin 2 improved) that would do the job.  The missile launchers are fully mobile.  The US has zero control over this nuclear strike force.   Logically, the willingness of the Pakistan military to keep this "piece" off the chess board is a major boon to the US.  We do not want to see that willingness change to something else. 

Dr. Brenner's "Buddha as Icon" tells us to "Move on up a Little Higher" - Sidney O. Smith III

 
One aspect of the American experience, at least for those who are lucky enough, is to come across a professor who considers his or her career a vocational calling.  Seen from a different angle, one can gain a deeper understanding of a culture by determining what kind of priority its people place on teaching.  After all, what is Hebrew for teacher? 

Dr. Michael Brenner’s essay, “Buddha as Icon”, illustrates this point, particularly after Dr. Brenner decided to make his essay part of the record of Sic Semper Tyannis after originally publishing it at The Huffington Post.  As a result, his essay has reached a new audience.  And if readers give the essay the time it warrants, then, like any worthwhile art or art criticism, it will trigger an inner journey, if you will, in which one thinks about life in our present circumstances.  

So, with that in mind, I would like to share a few thoughts brought on by Dr. Brenner’s essay, including, ultimately, how it relates to the chaos sown by our neoconservative-driven US foreign policy in the Middle East.

The Palestinians At The Cross Road of History Must Take the Right Path - Robert K. Lifton

 
The fast changing events in the Middle East have brought the Palestinians to a cross road of history. One path leads to a serious opportunity to create a successful state for the Palestinian people. The other path leads to destroying any present hope for a viable Palestinian state. The choice lies in their hands.

The first major development comes under the heading of the “Arab Spring,” reflecting the courageous peaceful protests in Egypt that deposed President Mubarak; the revolution in Libya against the regime of Muammar Quaddafi; the challenges to the Syrian government of Bashar al Assad; the effort to force the resignation of Ali Abdulla Saleh in Yemen; the leadership change in Tunisia and protests and demonstrations in Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco.

#Soldiers are not cops.

 
"Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons."  Yahoo News

----------------------------------

They were not armed?  So what?  They might have been and a second's hesitation in shooting them in the dark in the midst of the swirling action could easily have led to disaster for the mission and the team.

Soldiers (SEALS in this case) are not policemen.  Policemen are instruments of the courts of law.  Their duty (even SWAT units) is to arrest the suspect and make him available for interrogation with a possible trial as outcome under the rules of evidence.  Their weapons are to be used only as necessary to protect life, especially their own lives.

Soldiers are instruments of national policy.  Their function is to use violence in furtherance of national policy.  In other words, they kill people and destroy things.  Such a function requires a lifetime of specialized training and experience and a mentality that has nothing to do with police work. 

if you want to start using soldiers for police work, remember that soon after you begin doing that they will no longer be soldiers.  Remember that in the future when you need people who will destroy your enemies,

If it bothers you that the dead in the compound in Abbotabad were unarmed, then next time send the NYPD.  pl

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_binladen_pakistan_photos