Sic Semper Tyrannis

The Gatekeepers

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

Not to horn in on BG Farrell's movie reviews here at SST, but I recently saw a documentary and wanted to bring it to the attention of the SST community.  About two weeks ago I was asked to go with our former USMC senior service rep here at the US Army War College to see the new Israeli documentary The Gatekeepers by Dror Moreh. The Gatekeepers is an oral history of Israel's internal security and intelligence service - Shin Bet.  Moreh's documentary is built around in depth interviews with the last six Shin Bet directors and spans events from the 1960s through to the last several years, combined with archival footage and computer generated reenactments.  In fact the documentary's production was delayed until the most recent former director, Yuval Diskin, retired and could be interviewed for and part of the project.  Moreh was able to get the project going, which features the first public interviews with any of these men, because one of the former directors, Ami Ayalon was willing to be interviewed after being elected to the Knesset from the Labor Party.  It was Ayalon who helped convince his peers to participate.

Moreh's documentary is divided into seven segments and includes such controversial topics as the 300 bus incident, the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, and breaking up the Israeli Jewish extremist attempts to blow up the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. For me one of the most interesting portions of the film was when Yaakov Peri, who ran Shin Bet from 1988 to 1994, referred to Palestinian's who had engaged in attacks on Israel as melkhamim.  Melkhamim is Hebrew for warriors.  All the other former directors referred to Palestinian attackers as terroreest, which, as you can tell, is the transliteration word imported into Hebrew for terrorist.  The documentary was excellent and I cannot recommend it highly enough to the SST community.  If you're interested in counter-terrorism, intelligence, counterintelligence, and/or the Israeli/Palestinian dispute you need to see it if it is in your area. All six of the former directors interviewed demonstrated significant nuance in regards to their assignments, their adversaries, the problems Israel faces, and the politicians they work for.

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

"The Twilight of Entitlement" Robert Samuelson

"We had a grand vision. We didn’t merely expect things to get better. We expected all social problems to be solved. We expected business cycles, economic insecurity, poverty, and racism to end. We expected almost limitless personal freedom and self-fulfillment. For those who couldn’t live life to its fullest (as a result of old age, disability, or bad luck), we expected a generous social safety net to guarantee decent lives. We blurred the distinction between progress and perfection."  Samuelson

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Yes, the notion that life is a choo-choo ride through Disneyworld is disappearing from America's collective mind.  Good.  It is better to live in the real world like other people.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-samuelson-the-end-of-entitlement/2013/04/28/90356b1a-ae90-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html

"Syria nerve gas claims undermined by eyewitness accounts" Guardian/Observer

"New questions have emerged over the source of the soil and other samples from Syria which, it is claimed, have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, amid apparent inconsistencies between eyewitness accounts describing one of the attacks and textbook descriptions of the weapon. As questions from arms control experts grow over evidence that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on a limited scale on several occasions, one incident in particular has come under scrutiny."  Guardian Observer

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As I expected, the evidence of Syrian government use is ambiguous and doubtful. Opinion on this matter is divided in the US IC.  Michael Oren the Israeli ambassador to the US was very cautious on FNS today when Wallace tried to pressure him into helping bully BHO towards war in Syria.  Oren was a strategic intelligence analyst in IDF General Staff intelligence.  When pressed by Wallace over a statement made in Israel that the Syrian government had used Sarin in the civil war, Oran said, "Look Chris, it's an estimate."  Wallace did not want to hear that, so Oren said it again.

Apparently the likud/neocon/wilsonian/R2P crowd see a US war in Syria as a necessary predicate to bullying the US into a war with Iran.  To obtain that predicate they are trying pin Obama to foolish statemetns he has made about "red lines."  No head of state should ever make statements like that.  They limit options.  

And today, in the WP we have Anne-Marie Slaughter, the doyenne of the R2P ladies, hectoring the president about his responsibilities.  The tone is much the same as that used by America's mommy, Mika B, on her daily New York city kaffee klatch.  "If you are not a good boy, we will hurt you" is the basic message.  Mika implied the other day that she will pursue Baucus even in retirement for his sinful vote at the OK Corral.  How would you like to be a student of the Slaughter woman?

It is rare to discover someone acting rationally in the ME, but if Bashar Assad was sensible he would ask someone, anyone, to come and take all that stockpiled gas away.  It is of no use to him.  It no longer has a deterrent value against Israel and he can't use it against the rebels. The  rebels might capture some of it.  Get rid of it!  pl 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/28/syrian-nerve-gas-claims-eyewitness

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-should-remember-rwanda-as-he-weighs-action-in-syria/2013/04/26/08f77c20-ae8a-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html

 

 

Shortsighted Wars - Sale

"When we decide to use force to intervene, it is usually after we get emotionally roused, have a sense of being terribly affronted or experience a sudden explosion mass inflammability that forces irresistibly into war. In these cases, we intervene not on the basis of cautious, prudent or carefully measured deliberation and we avoid carefully thinking out what we plan to achieve. As an example, we entered an imperialist war against Spain based on our outrage over having an American warship in Cuba bombed, an allegation that later proved not to be true. We invaded the Philippines, and then waged war on their inhabitants who, at the time of our arrival, were looking forward to their freedom from foreign occupiers. Instead, we became one."  Sale

Download Shortsighted Wars

A Note on Foreign Policy - Richard Sale

Download A Note on Foreign Policy

pl

Open Thread - 27 April 2013

What can I say?  Oh, yes.  I am tired, tired, tired of this today.  Have fun.  pl 

Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sequester - Trust?

-Syria .   So now we have the emergence of supposed proof of Assad's government being in violation of the self assigned "red line" of poison gas use against the rebels. Let's see the proof.  Let's see and hear something beyond Andrea Mitchell beating her drum for war.  This is especially important on this day when the arch deceiver (or buffoon) is fawned over at his presidential library.  He still does not admit that his administration chose to believe fabricated information in the matter of Iraq's posession of nuclear weapons and poison gas. Now we have Obama and his Sancho Panza man (Biden) walking the American people toward war in Syria in pursuit of god knows what interest of the US. Don't think for a minute that a "no fly zone" over Syria is anythng but war against the Syrian government.  There would be massive movement of air assets to Turkey, Israel and Jordan.  There would be sufficient air to air combat to destroy the Syrian Air Force.  There would be Search Air Rescue operations in Syria for downed air crew.  And at the end there would be a Saudi satellite jihadi state in Syria.  We should be trusting about this?

- Iraq.  Civil War on sectarian lines has begun again in Iraq.   We were told that we had done a good thing in Iraq.  GW Bush still says we did.  What good did we do?  We replaced one dictator with someone who is rapidly becoming another.  The government of Iraq is at war with the Sunni Arab population.  Is that not clear?

- Afghanistan.  Is it not clear that our effort to transform Afghanustan has failed?  Is it not clear that we should leave as soon as possible and stop throwng good money and people after bad and foolish efforts?

-The Sequester.  In the gun fight in the senate, the Obama Administration used every trick of propaganda and tear jerking to try to get its way.  All those efforts failed, failed miserably.  Now the same techique is being used to try to influence the American people to force the Congress to adopt Obama's budget.  IMO sequester cuts are being structured to cause maximum pain and inconvenenience to the general public.  White House tours are cut.  National monuments are closed.  Air traffic controllers are laid off so as to cause delays in air traffic with travelers waiting hours in aircraft for take offs.  At the same time, major defense contracters report no change in their bottom line.  that will probably change but for now...

Should we be trusting?  pl 

Syria, the Levant, and the Real Domino Effect

*

Adam L. Silverman, PhD**

 

As the Syrian Civil War continues into its third year, there are several potential outcomes that we need to look out for and be concerned with.  These are not just limited to Syria, but to the entire Levant, and even to Iran.  So lets run the board in order:

Syria

There are really two key potential outcomes and one sequel for Syria itself: stalemate driven insurgency, the fall of the Assads leading to a Sunni majority takeover, and the withdrawl of the Alawites to Latakia.

It is, in some respects, both surprising and not surprising that the Assad government has held on for as long as it has.  In many ways the Syrian Civil War is both an Assad and Alawite existential fight. which partially explains just how hard the government has responded and how far it is willing to go to survive.  One of the two most likely outcomes to the dispute is that the government is strong enough to survive, but not strong enough to completely put down the rebellion and that the rebellion is not strong enough to overthrow the government, but just strong enough to survive.  If this happens, then we will see a classic insurgency along the lines of what the Philippines has endured with the Moros on Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago and similar to what Columbia has faced with the FARC.  In this situation Syria essentially gets carved up into two or more statelets - with government control in some areas and rebel control in others. 

The second potential outcome is that the Assad government does fall and the Sunni majority, or some faction of it takes over.  And it is this latter concept of faction that is important.  There is clearly no good cohesion among the rebel groups, both the domestic Syrian and the foreign fighters/jihadis, as well as between them.  While it may ultimately be a good thing for the region if Assad goes, it will not be a simple transition.  The various factions are likely to try to consolidate power, claim and then establish legitimacy, and will come to blows with each other over who will take control.  This possible outcome has the potential to turn into a Syrian version of the Thirty Years War, where different factions try to and/or actually seize power, seek to consolidate, face challenges to their legitimacy, and then the cycle of violent succession starts all over again.  This would, unlike the actual Thirty Years War, not end in the creation of a secular state, as the Syrian Sunni majority is conservative and devout even though it is not Salafist.  So do not expect a secular Sunni majority Syria to emerge.

In both of these two potential outcomes their is a sequel: the fallback of the Alawites, with or without the Assads, to their traditional lands in Latakia.  Latakia is the mountainous strip of Syria below Turkey on the coast of the Mediterranean.  While it is not completely fortifiable, it is certainly good ground - to paraphrase MG Buford - for digging in and trying to make a stand.  Not only would this prolong the dispute, but it would complicate Syria's claims to their portions of the recently discovered Leviathan petroleum and natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean.

Security vs Sharing

 

In the context of the Boston massacre (2) we are back to the discussion of "stove pipes" and "dots."  After 9/11 there was a general frenzy about information sharing between agencies.  This frenzy was largely misguided.  The major problem in the 9/11 intelligence failures was not compartmentation and poor thinking.  The problrm was poor collection of information especially the lack of effective aggressive clandestine HUMINT persistently targeted at penetration of AQ and friends.  Don't tell me that this would be hard to do.  If it can't be done because it is difficult then get rid of the expensive agencies that say they can't do it. 

Basic Rule:  You can't connect dots (data points) that you don't have.

In the eagerness for sharing that existed in the post 9/11 world, compartmentation barriers were torn down and huge networked data bases were built with very wide access given to anyone who conceivably might have  a use for the information.

The result was that Private First Class Bradley Manning sitting in an airconditioned hut in Iraq was able to download millions of documents that had nothing to do with his assigned tasks and then disclose them to whomever he wished.

Just remember that there is an unending trade-off between ease of access to material and the security of that material.  pl

HARPER: THE FBI AND THE MARATHON BOMBERS

Colonel Lang's brief forecast that, as the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing went forward, it would turn out that the Tsarnaev brothers largely acted alone, appears to be on the mark.  The surviving brother, as Col. Lang anticipated, is more than willing to speak candidly with his interrogators, and has already told them that, so far as he knows, his older brother was the sole mastermind of the Marathon bombing attacks.  In fact, Dzokhar has apparently said that he only learned of the full plans for the bombings a week before the Marathon.  There is no reason to question the claims by the surviving brother.  There is, however, some reason to be skeptical that we are hearing the truth from the FBI.  After all, the Bureau has admitted that they received an official query from the Russian security authorities about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's radicalization some time in 2011.  The Russians, according to an official FBI statement, were concerned about a dramatic shift in the young Chechen's worldview since 2010, and were aware of his plans to return to the North Caucasus region of Russia months before his January 2012 travel to Dagestan.  They had the impression that he intended to join up with one of the Jihadist groups that had migrated from Chechnya into Dagestan in recent years, and were now aligned with Al Qaeda affiliates, including a Waziristan-based group called the Islamic Jihad Union.

The FBI claims that they had no basis for tracking Tsarnaev, after doing a preliminary investigation and interview with the suspect.  A number of Members of Congress, including Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, intend to do a thorough review of the FBI's handling of the Russian requests, and this is both appropriate and important.

That investigation aside, the Tsarnaev case raises some important questions about how to provide security and still retain the full force of our Constitutional rights.  If, as it now appears, Col. Lang was correct in assessing that the Boston bombing was the work of a few true believers and not an Al Qaeda master plot, how are we to deal with the possibility of other such attacks, in which the links to global terrorism run through internet blogs soliciting remote attacks, rather than training camps in the mountains of Afghanistan or the tribal regions of Pakistan?  While I do not wish to understate the significance of the Boston Marathon attacks in any way, I was also appalled that the surviving bomber is being charged with using a "weapon of mass destruction" which was composed of material that could be purchased at Home Depot.  I am interested in your thoughts.

 

Baucus to retire

The news that Max Baucus, six term senator from Montana would not run again in 2014 was greeted by the anti-gun folks as evidence that the gods are going to strike down the sinners who voted against Manchin-Toomey.  Chris Jansing was almost giddy with the good news.

Unfortunately for that view, the only likely Democrat who might obtain Baucus' seat in that very red state is Brian Schweitzer, the former governor.  He is firmly against gun-control.

The rest of the field  among the Republicans, Libertarians and Mountain Men are equaly resolute about guns.

Maybe the coastals could run a Canadian who is a dual national.  pl 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/us/politics/baucus-wont-seek-re-election-to-senate.html?_r=0

 

Minority Veto verses Majority Rule--by Hank Foresman

Almost a weeks ago, before the nation was glued to the television sets with all things the Boston manhunt, we watched as the United States Senate, voted not to allow closure on debate effectively killing the Manchin-Toomey amendment.

"Lawmakers Push for Federal Trial of Boston Suspect" NY Times

Having been an expert witness in several Guantanamo Habeas Corpus  cases that stretched on interminably and having served the same function in Article Three criminal cases involving national security I would heartily recommend that Tsarnaev be tried in federal civilian court.

In my experience the Department of Justice and the FBI are more than qualified and quite willing to prosecute such cases.  There is an abundance of evidence in this case and any links to a larger group than the two brothers will soon be uncovered.

Any idea that a Military Commission under the present law would deal with the culprit(s) more severely than a civilian court is misguided.  Having been "burned" by the experience of the mistreatment of prisoners in the immediate post 9/11 world the military can be expected to be very wary of any such idea.  Under pressure from Cheney and Rumsfeld, carefully chosen commanders did things then that were outside the traditions and regulations of the US armed forces.  The armed forces have payed a price for that in reputation and corruption of their institutions and will not repeat the error.  It would be much better to let the civlian courts deal with this matter.

BTW, the claim that the US government has been opposed to Soviet/Russian government actions against the Chechens in Chechniya is nonsense.  At the level of working government there has been a constant cooperation on the basis of anti-terrorism since the emergence of salafi wahhabi elements among the Chechen guerrillas in; Chechniya, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.  FSB (formerly KGB) witnesses who have worked on the Chechen "problem" for decades are routinely called as prosecution witnesses in US federal courts in cases whree their "expertise" is useful.  The Chechens know this.

We should remember that the Chechens and other Northern Caucasian minority "nations" have resisted Russification and Westernization for centuries.  Until recently they were led in this resistance by their own Sufi murids.  these Sufis were in no way either salafi or wahhabi.  pl

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/us/push-for-tsarnaev-to-be-tried-in-federal-court.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

What Makes Them Tick? - TTG

No. I don't pretend to know what makes all rebels, terrorists, bombers, school shooters and beltway snipers do what they do. I do think there is a common thread that ties the actions of these people together.  This morning I found the writings of an MIT political science professor that intrigued me. Roger Peterson's first work focused on Lithuanian resistance to Soviet occupation. That's what caught my eye. The MIT faculty page describes his research as follows:   

"Petersen's earlier work (Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe) concentrated on violent networks. A second strand of research studied motivations and emotions behind ethnic violence and culminated in Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe. Petersen's more recent major research, culminating in a book entitled Western Intervention in the Balkans: The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict, again deals with emotions but with a different focus. Here, the goal is to understand how political entrepreneurs strategically use group emotions within the contours and constraints of conflict. Most recently, Petersen has begun another major set of research working with practitioners returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The primary goal is to identify which social science theories apply to 21st Century insurgency."

Peterson believes that most academic analysis tends to focus on rational theories that are too straightforward and simple to explain why people turn to violence to address real or perceived wrongs. His research led him to suggest that the emotions of fear, hatred, resentment and rage can provide a deeper understanding of why individuals turn to violent resistance and rebellion. (Actually those four emotions describe the state of political discourse in America pretty well.) Of course Peterson's theory is more nuanced and developed than what I just described. I have yet to read and digest what I have found. The first  twenty pages of his first book are available here. A review of his first two works in Lituanus, the Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences is here. An interview with Peterson addressing the Iraqi resistance is available here. Peterson made an interesting point in the conclusion of a Naval War College case study on the Iraqi insurgency. It's the same point that I and Colonel Lang have made many times. 

"Our study also leads to some speculation. Given the uncertainties and high costs of other strategies, we anticipate that the robust decapitation capability embodied in JSOC will be an enduring institutional legacy of this war for the U.S. military. The killing of Osama Bin Laden further enhances its prestige. Its effectiveness, including potential counterproductive  aspects, remains hard to evaluate given its secrecy and unknown interaction with conventional COIN. Its similarity to network-centric warfare enhances its attractiveness for many in the U.S. military. However, it risks putting the tactical problems of targeting ahead of resolution of the local and regional political issues. A potential major risk is that SOCOM will continue to under-invest in "non-kinetic" SOF who specialize in foreign internal defense and unconventional warfare missions because of the prestige and wealth accruing to JSOC flavor of direct action. These might be just the sort of low profile, intelligence intensive, relationship building forces you want to engage with +/-2s, especially during the period of waiting for interests to align."

I want to end this post on a more personal note. It is a story of the only mass murderer that I have personally known. Perhaps Roger Peterson's theory will shed some light on this incident.  

Prior to the Newtown tragedy, the worst mass murder in Connecticut  happened in my hometown in 1977. Lorne Acquin, a Canadian indian, (I can't remember the tribe) killed his foster brother's wife, her seven children and another visiting child with a tire iron. He then set the house on fire. It was a time of great sorrow in Prospect. The funeral mass for Cheryl Beaudoin and her children was held at Saint Anthony's church and was attended by a large part of the town, both Catholic and Congregationalist. The Old Prospect Cemetery Association donated burial plots beneath a towering old maple tree for the family. They are surrounded by the graves of veterans of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars… as well as the graves of my mother and little sister. I was already in Hawaii at the time, but I bet the walking procession of eight caskets to the old cemetery across the road from the church probably looked like something from another century. Everything I heard from those events spoke of compassion. I did not hear a cry for vengeance against "Uncle Lorne." There were more questions about what could have driven him to committing this horrible act and what could we have done to prevent it.   

I knew Lorne Acquin. I knew him more as a dark protector of his younger brother. He was the subject of some of my first schoolyard fights. He was a "troublemaker" but only a few degrees more so than myself. His world and his mind broke. He is now in prison for the rest of his life. There was no death penalty in Connecticut back then. I have no idea what goes through his mind today.

TTG

HARPER: OBAMA'S CALIGULA MOMENT

President Barack Obama made a fool of himself yesterday in response to the Senate vote, shooting down the expanded background checks on gun purchases.  The 54-46 vote, defeating the last limited piece of the President's ambitious gun control agenda, was forecasted by Col. Lang on the pages of this website many months ago.  No matter how many times President Obama and the media pundits claimed that there was 90 percent public support for the gun control measures, following the Newtown massacre, the measures were more than the Senate could handle, and a bipartisan bloc defeated the Manchin-Toomey amendment.

Beyond the factors leading to the Senate vote, President Obama demonstrated a level of disrespect for the U.S. Senate and for the United States Constitution that was as shocking as it was childish.  The President convened a Rose Garden press conference, flanked by the former Congresswoman Gabby Gifford and some of the Newtown parents, to deliver a diatribe against the institution of the U.S. Congress.  The President fulminated that the Senate was violating its own rules, that Senators caved in to pressure from a lying gun lobby, and the ultimate insult:  "It came down to politics."

How shocking for the President to realize that "politics" played a hand in the defeat of his legislation.   The level of disdain for the legislative process on the part of the President, who used his own bullying tactics to ram through Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and a number of other worse than destructive pieces of legislation, was shocking.  The guilt-trip routine that President Obama attempted yesterday is going to ultimately blow up in his own face.  Clearly, the President is so obsessed with his own legacy, that he completely lost it in response to a legislative defeat.  I think that the President's reaction is going to hasten the day when he wakes up to look in the mirror and see a lame duck staring back at him.  Second term Presidents at best have two years to achieve their legislative legacy, before the onrushing next presidential race overtakes Executive power.  Between President Obama's pitiful performance yesterday, and the early surfacing of a draft Hillary movement, I suspect that President Obama may achieve lame duck status in record time.  And that is one world record that this President does not want to achieve.  Harper

Benny Gantz says that Israel may do Iran alone.

"Gantz addressed a laundry list of regional security issues, including Iran, Gazan rockets, Hezbollah, Syria, Sinai and developments in the West Bank. He also apologized over the recent flag controversy at a ceremony ahead of Remembrance Day, and blasted proposed budget cuts to the Defense Ministry. Gantz told Israel Radio that Israel had the capabilities to strike Iranian nuclear targets on its own if no country came to its aid, and that intense, thorough discussions between the military and political leadership on the matter were ongoing. "  Times of Israel

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Benny Gantz has had an interesting career.  He has had a variety of Ground and Air force assignments but seems to be basically a highly educated "grunt."  That's good.  He was the Israeli Defence Attache in Washington.  In that job he would have had a great deal of association with US military and political people.  I see that we gave him the Legion of Merit when he left, so he wasn't a lot of trouble while he was here.  Gantz doesn't appear to be a pilot and is therefore probably immune from the Douhet Syndrome.

A knowledgeable Israeli told me recently that the IDF knows very well that it lacks the strength to make a thorough job of a set of destructive attacks on Iran's nuclear program.  US reluctance to participate in such an effort is a big planning problem for them.

The difficulty for the Israelis lies in the judgment by US intelligence that there is no Iranian weapons program at present.  This judgment has been clearly expressed by the DNI, James Clapper at public hearings.  He probably does not like making such statements since they expose him to the kind of hostility that will undoubtedly be expressed here, but the collective judgment of the analysts cannot be ignored unless we want to re-impose Cheney's Rules.

Something to remember is that Israel's knowledge of such matters is largely based on what the US tells and shows them.  They obviously draw different conclusions from the material.  pl 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-can-strike-iran-nuclear-targets-alone-idf-head-says/

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

 

 

Open Thread on the Marathon Attack.

My current guess is that this was the work of one or two people who had no external contacts.  If they did, the FBI would have been onto their communications.  pl

"How a Single Spy Helped Turn Pakistan Against the United States" NY Times

 

"Munter said he believed that the C.I.A. was being reckless and that his position as ambassador was becoming untenable. His relationship with the C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad, already strained because of their disagreements over the handling of the Davis case, deteriorated even further when Munter demanded that the C.I.A. give him the chance to call off specific missile strikes. During one screaming match between the two men, Munter tried to make sure the station chief knew who was in charge, only to be reminded of who really held the power in Pakistan. “You’re not the ambassador!” Munter shouted. “You’re right, and I don’t want to be the ambassador,” the station chief replied. This turf battle spread to Washington, and a month after Bin Laden was killed, President Obama’s top advisers were arguing in a National Security Council meeting over who really was in charge in Pakistan. At the June 2011 meeting, Munter, who participated via secure video link, began making his case that he should have veto power over specific drone strikes. Panetta cut Munter off, telling him that the C.I.A. had the authority to do what it wanted in Pakistan. It didn’t need to get the ambassador’s approval for anything. “I don’t work for you,” Panetta told Munter, according to several people at the meeting. But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to Munter’s defense. She turned to Panetta and told him that he was wrong to assume he could steamroll the ambassador and launch strikes against his approval. “No, Hillary,” Panetta said, “it’s you who are flat wrong.” There was a stunned silence, and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon tried to regain control of the meeting. In the weeks that followed, Donilon brokered a compromise of sorts: Munter would be allowed to object to specific drone strikes, but the C.I.A. could still press its case to the White House and get approval for strikes even over the ambassador’s objections. Obama’s C.I.A. had, in essence, won yet again."  NY Times

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The basic theme in this piece is the extent to which CIA has been allowed a free hand, a free hand that makes them feel free to defy US ambassadors in their country of assignment and Secretaries of State as well. 

This is not a new thing.  CIA has always evaded the principle of the "Country Team" in which anbassadors are the leaders of all US Government activites in their country of accreditation, but in the past they have generally just ignored the ambassador while continuing to do what they pleased, but now they are more confident.

BTW.  Davis was in the army ten years.  He is a former soldier, not a retired soldier.  pl  

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/magazine/raymond-davis-pakistan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Obama is "betting the ranch."

 

President Obama is betting that he can "have it all."  He has chosen to press hard on issues in which it is likely that he will lose badly and become a lame duck long before this usually occurs in 2nd presidential terms:

- Guns.  It is transparently obvious that the president as the head anti-gun person wants severe restrictions on gun ownership in the United States.  His allies in this matter frequently slip in public speech and mention that what they want now is just a first step.  The widespread deception involved in the propaganda against gun ownership involves the mis-stated results of polling.  Examples:  The supposed 90% of Americans who want more inclusive sales background checks - Yes, they want that but what kind of background checks? The supposed 40% of gun sales that are unchecked, yes, but what sort of sales are those?  The implication in the propaganda is that these are sales conducted by unlicensed commercial sellers operating on the fringes of gun shows.   This is untrue.  Such chicanery has confirmed  gun owner belief that whatever legislation is passed this year, it must be held to rigid minimums.  This view will prevail and Obama will be forced to accept that.  That will weaken him.

- Immigration.  A compromise is possible, but any provision in the bill that creates a veiled amnesty will cause it to fail in the House.  The notion that a mere statement on the part of the DHS that they have a comprehensive plan for border control should serve as a trigger for a quick beginning of "the path to citizenship" will cause the bill to fail.  That would weaken Obama.

- Foreign Policy.  We have the spectacle of John Kerry traveling the world attempting to dictate behavior to one and all.  Israel, Turkey, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, NE Asia, Egypt.  How absurd!  How mistaken this is as to the true nature of international politics.  This process is bound to fail and the failure will weaken Obama.

- Obama's Budget.  Chained CPI is the least of the issues that Obama's base has with this document.  BHO has revealed himself as someone who is quite willing to abandon the ideals of the Democratic Party.  This will weaken him.

"I am the president, clothed in immense power!"  "The fate of mankind rests in our hands!"

Obama's problem is that he lacks Lincoln's power, a power fortuitously given by civil war to "the great emancipator."

No, he is much more like Grant in his second term.  pl

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-domestic-legacy-in-lawmakers-hands-obama-considers-his-options/2013/04/13/9067a1e4-a38b-11e2-9c03-6952ff305f35_story.html

Francis appoints his advisers.

"The group's formation, exactly a month after Francis was elected, shows that the pope "listens attentively" to what the cardinals say, Rosica said. The document the cardinals are studying is the Apostolic Constitution of Pope John Paul II, known as the Pastor Bonus, which was published in 1988. CNN Vatican analyst John Allen, who's also a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote that the news was "a signal that major reform may be on the horizon." "Strikingly, there was only one member of the Roman Curia among the eight cardinals tapped to assist the pope. The rest come from various parts of the world, with at least one representing each continent," he said. The group will be coordinated by Rodriguez, from Tegucigalpa, who speaks several languages and was himself seen as possible contender for the papacy. "  CNN News

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It would seem that Francis is serious.  I don't know anything about the rest of thse men but O'Malley is the real deal, a reformer who refuses to live as though he were a bankster.

Constitutional reform in Rome?  What a great idea that would be.  A small govenment model of  church organization is being discussed.  Perhaps that is the meaning of Francis' use of the title "Bishop of Rome" in speaking of himself.

Well, not so fast, I'll believe some of this when I see large numbers of clerical molesters and tolerators "relaxed to the secular arm" for punishment.  pl 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/13/world/europe/vatican-pope-cardinals/

The End of Egyptianism

 

"... a significant peril to the Egyptian society. The more secluded and diluted the Egyptian Christian presence becomes, the poorer – politically, economically, and culturally – Egyptian society is. The brightest moment is modern Egyptian history was when the country managed to turn a lagging, lethargic agricultural state (from the 15th to the early 19th century) into a tolerant society and a destination for creative and ambitious immigrants from across the Mediterranean. This was the foundation upon which the Egyptian liberal experiment (from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century) was founded, a period when Egypt was truly a regional political and cultural powerhouse. Increasing sectarianism will slowly eat Egyptianism, denying the society the diversity and richness that have made it unique, beautiful, and rich."  Ahram on Line

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I'll just toss this topic out for discussion and then come back to pick on those who comment.  pl  

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/68871/Opinion/Understanding-sectarianism-in-Egypt.aspx

US Government Backs away from DIA estimate on PDRK nukes.

 

"At the hearing Thursday, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., read aloud what he said was an unclassified paragraph from a secret Defense Intelligence Agency report that was supplied to some members of Congress. He said, reading from the report: "DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivering by ballistic missiles, however the reliability will be low.'' The reading seemed to take Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, by surprise, who said he hadn't seen the report and declined to answer questions about it.  Foxnews

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DIA's language was carefully "arranged" to display the level of confidence in this judgment that they possess.  Intelligence work and especially judgments like this are a matter of expertise and probabilities.

The paragraph that a congressman quoted at a hearing yesterday was marked "unclassified" in the document disseminated.  the document as a whole was classified "secret."  In US law each paragraph is classified separately but the document as a whole is classified at the highest level contained within.

Some press person implied yesterday that DIA's judgments cannot be trusted because they were wrong before the Iraq War.  Yes, that is true.  It is also true of CIA, all the armed forces intelligence branches and NSA.  The only people who "got it right" was State INR.  Rumsfeld proved in that episode that the Executive Branch can be so abusive to one or more of the IC agencies that the agencies will simply say whatever is desired.

This picture of Brennan at the hearing yesterday is priceless.  pl  

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/12/north-korea-capable-arming-missile-with-nuclear-warhead-according-to-pentagon/#ixzz2QFrVENj7  

 

More guns of August - Richard Sale

"A reader responded to my first ramble on Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August by saying, with a sense of defiant assertion, that the book is a masterpiece of the first class. But I wholeheartedly agree. It is historical writing of the first order. Please remember that what occasioned my remarks was a reader who said the book rendered a first class account of the crisis of 1914, and that is the one thing the book does not do, masterpiece that it is. In any case, what it lacks is a power of historical analysis."  Sale

Download More Guns of August

Not so fast. Not so fast.

"Asked if their presence in Washington this week had helped contribute to the lopsided vote, Republican Sen. John McCain said: "Yes." It's a sentiment at least three other Republicans echoed in conversations over past several days. "I might not vote the way they wanted me to vote, but giving them the chance to be heard, giving them a chance to tell their story meant a lot to them and it meant a lot to me," Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Tuesday after he met with the families. "I'm not going to vote for a filibuster. I think they deserve an up or down vote." Not all the relatives of those killed at Newtown are supportive. One father appeared earlier this month at a National Rifle Association-sponsored event and spoke out against new gun laws."  NBC News

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This bill will be subject to an open amendment process on the floor of the senate.  This means that a long process of debate and votes on amendments will take place.  Reid announced after the vote today that the Manchin/Toomey agreement will be the first amendment offered.  That amendment will be considered first.  That amendment will deal with the issue of just how "universal" backgroud checks will be.  The amendment will establish that federal background checks will be required for "commerrcial sales" but also limited in that federal checks on non-business gifts or sales will not be required.  IMO, without that provision this bill will fail of passage.   there will also be amendments offered with regard to what the anti-gun people call "assault weapons," and "large capacity magazines."  IMO the "assault weapons" ban is another inclusion that would doom this whole law.  Illegal gun sales to second parties unqualified by law at present would become a federal crime when weapons are transferred across state borders.  pl 

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/11/17709187-newtown-passion-moves-senate-vote-on-guns?lite

Second Bananas and "The Contender" by Alan Farrell

 

For those wicked among us who can remember the current occupant of Blair House (they still live there, right?) as a once-and-future presidential candidate bare-pated (the plugs have taken, mercifully) and plagiarist (joins the phalanx of famous personages taken in flagrante and got a pass from public and media... mostly on account of media have fallen victim to same affliction), his wash-up in the Vice-Presidensity may seem apropos ( a lot like "appropriate," but, like, you know, classy on account of French), a safe venue in where to bury a career, a personality without luster, a shade without shadow, a stand-in without hope of singing that major aria, planting that burning kiss upon the heroine, playing the lead role. Some there have been to mount the stage ultimately--Roosevelt (the real one), Coolidge, Truman--and shine; others--Ford, Snarffington (never heard of him? Just goes to prove my point)--not so much. Anyhow. Seems to be a particular irony to the guy who manifestly and publicly dreamt of being president, ran for the office, failed, then wound up as the alternate, fated only to hope against hope someday (after a calamity) to be calife-à-la-place-du-calife. Most (some? a few? a couple? Got to check in with somebody of at least feigned interest in, pretend knowledge of political stuff for actual fact. Never been tempted, my own self.) of these, far as I can tell, when offered the position on a ticket, refuse... out of vanity, dignity, pique. So here come two wildly disparate visions of the Veep's inner being, the one dramatic, the other funny as hell, either one possible, both more appealing than what we might with hesitation--and some regret--call actuality.

The Guns of August - Richard Sale

"A reader mentioned that The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman as the best account of the miscalculations that led to the war, but I’m afraid that I cannot agree. Tuchman is a superb writer of history. One has only to think of The Proud Tower, her masterpiece, I think. She displays an expert mastery of color, background, setting, and excels in the vivid depiction of personalities. In addition, she is able to pace and drive a carefully framed narrative of events. She brings history to the complicated pitch of life that it once was lived. But the Guns has serious faults. In some ways a genuine masterpiece, the book utterly scants the diplomacy that led to the war. Perhaps the most detailed study is the diplomacy is L. Alberinti’s Origins of the War of 1914 in three volumes which makes excellent use of all kinds of documents. (It’s very expensive to get.)"  Sale

Download Guns of August (1)

Kathleen Parker on Gun Control Foolishness

 

"The biggest obstacle to the Obama administration’s push for tighter gun control may be its own best argument: Newtown. This is because nothing proposed in the gun-control debates would have prevented the mass killing of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and everybody knows it. At best, tighter gun laws will make us feel better."  Kathleen Parker

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Even I am bored with this but this column from a Pulitzer winner is so well done the I felt it should be mentioned.  It looks just possible that a Toomey/Manchin compromise on background checks might have a chance in the senate.  Their bill would propose a watered down strengthening of background checks on all "commercial sales."  This would exclude family transfers, gifts and temporary transfers for range shooting and hunting.  Gun dealers will love this law if it happens because ordinary citizens will be required to find a FFL holder (usually some sort of store) have them run the check through an ATF portal and then pay the dealer a substsantial fee for the service.  It is not clear as yet if the seller will then be required to hold the paperwork on the sale for twenty years.

I think I will apply for a Federal Firearms License.  I can run background checks on line.

And then for something slightly different, we had the spectacle of Judy Woodruff on the Newshour whining and pleading for statements of absolute support for draconian gun ownership restrictions from the Baltimore County police chief who kept trying to carefully qualify his views.  In the same segment she tried hard to discount arguments made by a man named Keane who is the GC of the gun manufacturers and  dealers trade association.  They are the "gun lobby," not the NRA.  The NRA is the gun OWNERS lobby.  The lawyer did a reasonable job and at the end insisted on pointing out that the gun massacre problem is a mental health problem.  Judy whimpered that this discussion was supposed to be about background checks.  I suppose that the voice in her ear told her to do that.

The corporate media machine is so focused on guns that CNN is devoting a whole day of braodcasting today to lobbying for the president's desiderata.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-an-impotent-gun-control-solution/2013/04/09/cb6a6770-a153-11e2-9c03-6952ff305f35_story.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/jan-june13/guns_04-09.html

 

Miscalculations - Richard Sale

"The situation in North Korea should give us great pause.  It should make us pause and think about the role of Miscalculation in the Use of Brute Force in history. It is very clear that most wars are caused by a series of what seem to be trivial miscalculations that bring about horrible results.

The brilliant historian, Max Hastings, sent me an e-mail recently telling me he was working hard on a book about World War I.  Given his capacity for insight, for accuracy and capacity for meticulous research, I believe he will produce another masterpiece."  Richard Sale

Download Miscalculation

Planked Salmon

It was moderately warm yesterday and I tried something new on the grill.  Planking fish is remarkably easy to do.  First you soak the plank overnight in water so that it won't burn.  Then you put oil on the plank and the fish, season it and cook it 30 minutes or so using the indirect method.  That means no fire directly under the plank.  This results in a wonderful dish, moist, flaky flavorable.  The method allows you to cook the fish without having to turn it over.  I recommendt this . Next time I am going to put the smoke box in the grill when I do this.  pl

Reagan and Thatcher; The Dream Team has Passed - Foresman

The death of Baroness Thatcher is the end of an era; an era where resolute personalities made a difference in the world. 

Her partnership with Ronald Reagan allowed the United States, the United Kingdom, and NATO to challenge the Soviet empire; and to cause its collapse. 

Their weapons were the rhetoric of freedom, their weapons were the power of economics, and their weapons were the arsenals of their military.  In their endeavor to bring an end to the Soviet empire they were joined spiritually by Pope John Paul II.  This son of Poland, the Bishop of Rome, answered once and for all the question of Joseph Stalin, “how many divisions does the Pope have?”  None, but the mere threat of returning to Poland to die with his countryman was enough to cause the Bear to blink.

I did not agree with the politics of Reagan and Thatcher, but one must concede they were effective.  Each was effective domestic leader, Thatcher was the more ideologically conservative hardliner in her economic policy—but that was result of the British Parliamentary System; whereas Reagan regularly had to compromise to achieve what he wanted—a result of the American Constitutional system.  Each altered the discussion during their tenure—making it possible for centrists’ democrats like Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama to be elected President; and for Tony Blair to find a Third Way.

I never thought I would write this but our nation is better off for having Ronald Reagan as President[1]; and the world is better off because Reagan and Thatcher stuck to their message and brought an end to the Soviet Empire and discredited once and for all communists’ ideology.

---

[1]  I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Walter Mondale in 1984.  I thought then that Ronald Reagan was just an actor portraying a President, I now realize I was wrong, oh so very wrong.

"Kerry is believed to be keen to dust off..." Guardian

"Kerry is believed to be keen to dust off the 11-year-old Arab (or Saudi) peace plan, under which regional states would normalise relations with Israel in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state. And he is likely to ask Turkey to play an active role in any revived process."  Guardian

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 "The 11 year old...."

I used to travel around the Islamic World + Israel with a group of rich westerners who were mostly American Jews.  There were also rich Arabs from the Levant,  Egypt, the Gulf, etc.  We swanned around in the private plane of one of "the guys" and went to talk to various heads of state and government.  This group did not bother with too many others.  I was there to try to explain what was said and seen.  It was a great "gig."  We did it once a year for a number of years.

Two years in a row we went to see King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.  On both occasions in response to prodding from the group, Abdullah produced some papers from his ormolu encrusted Louis whatsis desk and holding them aloft proclaimed that he had his own peace plan and when the time was right he would proclaim in public the need for all Arab countries to recognize Israel.  Alas, he said, the time was not yet right.  As part of this "dog and pony show" he would explain the conditions under which he would be free to make his demand for recognition of Israel.  There was no variation in the text between the two years in which I heard  it explained by him.

"Pope names top Franciscan in first Vatican appointment " AFP

"Pope Francis on Saturday appointed the leader of the main Franciscan order in his first nomination to the scandal-hit Vatican bureaucracy, the Holy See said in a statement, ahead of an expected overhaul of the administration. Spain's Jose Rodriguez Carballo, 59, will be number two at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which oversees all Catholic religious orders. The Vatican department is headed up by Brazilian cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz and is part of the Roman Curia -- the Catholic Church administration, which analysts say is badly in need of reform. Friar Carballo is minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, a post whose holder is regarded as the successor of founder St Francis of Assisi. "  AFP

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The prospects for a purge in the hierarchy and curia are strengthened by  this appointment.  The bureacratic "trick" of putting your man in as deputy to make sure your will is done is of long use.

This works well since it does not "spook" the cardinal in charge.

The next thing to look for is more of Francis's men placed in the congregations that deal with diocesan clergy and the ordinaries.  pl 

http://www.france24.com/en/20130406-pope-names-top-franciscan-first-vatican-appointment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Braz_de_Aviz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Carballo 

 

Lake Monsters

 

"A lake monster or loch monster is a purported form of fresh-water-dwelling megafauna appearing in mythology, rumor, or local folklore. A well-known example is the Loch Ness Monster. Lake monsters' depictions are often similar to some sea monsters. They are principally the subject of investigations by followers of the study of cryptozoology and folklore."  wikipedia

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I sure hope that Champ, Nessie and the rest are out there somewhere beyond the horizon of our dreams.  pl  

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

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

 

 

Nessy found! At last!

"It was slowly moving up the loch towards Urquhart Castle and it was a dark grey colour. It was quite a fair way from the boat, probably about half a mile away but it’s difficult to tell in water.' After watching the object for five to ten minutes, Mr Edwards said it slowly sank below the surface and never resurfaced. 'I’m convinced I was seeing Nessie as I believe in these creatures. Far too many people have being seeing them for far too long,' he said. 'The first recorded sighting was in 565AD and there have been thousands of eye witness reports since then. 'All these people can’t be telling lies. And the fact the reports stretch over so many years mean there can’t just be one of them. I’m convinced there are several monsters.' Steve Feltham, who has dedicated the past 21 years to hunting for Nessie was unequivocval. 'It is the best photograph I think I have ever seen,' he said. From his base on Dores beach and has studied many Nessie sighting photographs. 'I think the images are fantastic - that’s the animal I have been looking for all this time,' he said yesterday. 'I would say it doesn’t prove what Nessie is, but it does prove what Nessie isn’t, a sturgeon which is a fish that has been put forward as one of the main explanations as to what Nessie could be but this hasn’t got a serrated spine like the sturgeon.  Daily Mail

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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"And now for something different"  The game is afoot!  Can Bigfoot be far behind?  pl

More lying about the NRA

"According to published statements,[1] the NRA's total income for 2011 was $218,983,530, with total expenditures of $231,071,589. In 2010, the organization reported an income of $227.8 million with roughly $115 million in revenue generated from fundraising, sales, advertising and royalties, with the remainder originating from membership dues.[85] Corporate sponsors include a variety of companies such as outdoors supply, sporting goods companies, and firearm manufacturers.[85][86] Since 2005, the organization has received at least $14.8 million from more than 50 firearms-related firms[85] In 2008, Beretta exceeded $2 million in donations to the NRA, and in 2012, Smith & Wesson reached $1 million.[87] According to an April 2012 press release, Sturm, Ruger & Company raised $1.25 million through a program in which it donated $1 to the ILA for each gun it sold from May 2011 to May 2012.[87]"  Wikipedia article on NRA

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If the heavily footneted Wiki is to be believed:Wikipedia article on NRA

NRA in 2010 raised $ 227.8 million

In the five year period since 2005 NRA has received $14.8 million from "firerams related firms." This would amount to something just under $3 million/year.  This data is based on NRA filings with the federal government as a tax exrmpt organization.  If they have lied they should be prosecuted.

The lying corporate media  are pushing the line that NRA is an organization that represents manufacturers of firearms.

If the manufacturers are getting that much influence for contributing this little to NRA, then I am outraged.  NRA should take more money from them and stop pestering me for contributions.

Open North Korea thread

Let's have an indefinite open thread on the developing Korea situation.  pl

The Liberal Polling on Gun Checks is a Lie

WH has done a great job in "shaping" the MSM's efforts on gun control legislation.  The MSM, (Joe and Mika, and their New York City menagerie, Hardhead, Sister Rachel, Wolf,  Zakariya, Piers and the rest of the newly American commenters) have dutifully harped on background checks that would give the federal government absoute control of ALL firearms transfers in the United States.  That would include neighbor to neighbor and family transfers.  They cite polls that would indicate that around 90% of Americans favor some improvement in the present system of gun sale background checks.  So do I.  What these propagandists do not tell their audiences is that the question in the polls they cite has been posed to the public as "Do you favor improved gun sale background checks?" 

Well, hell yes, people say.  Put me down for that! These crazies who kill people at Newtown, Aurora, Blacksburg, etc. should be kept from making gun purchases.  What the MSM are NOT saying are the details of the proposals that the anti-gun crowd really want in the law they are trying to make.  The MSM are carefull avoiding talking about these crimes as mental health problems.  Why are they doing that?   Acela Joe let the cat out of the bag when he told one audience that the laws proposed are "just the first step."  Wolf Blitzer did the same thing while badgering Asa Hutchinson, "If there were fewer guns, wouldn't children be safer" he asked.

To act this way is dishonest.  It is reminiscent of the way that the Bush Administration sold the Iraq War.  To do this is to lie.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/04/03/why-obama-is-losing-on-anti-gun-legislation/

http://gunowners.org/news02112013.htm

 

Obama encourages more unsupportable mortgages.

 

"The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say will help power the economic recovery but that skeptics say could open the door to the risky lending that caused the housing crash in the first place. President Obama’s economic advisers and outside experts say the nation’s much-celebrated housing rebound is leaving too many people behind, including young people looking to buy their first homes and individuals with credit records weakened by the recession."  Washpost

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Wait a minute...  Wasn't one of the big problems in the housing crash debacle the Congress's insistence that banks should be encouraged to make loans to people who could not afford to make the payments?

The banks responded by doing that while supported along the way by Fanny and Freddy and then sold the loans to other paper mills that chopped them up into little bits that could be made into derivative securities.  Those houses then sold these securities to all sorts of clients while simultaneously betting against the clients in the credit swap defaults markets.  A further refinement was that the credit swap default market did not even care if the person taking out the "insurance" owned the security.  That was a mouthful.

Now the Obamanoids are encouraging a re-run of this process?  OK.  I see.  Social and political objectives trump financial common sense.  Latinos and African Americans are a key part of the Democratic Party base.  This is a pay-off for votes,

All this is interesting in the context of constant attacks by Democratic Party adherents in the media and the wonkery against Republican legislators who have the temerity to listen to their constituents on such the issues as gun law.  pl  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-administration-pushes-banks-to-make-home-loans-to-people-with-weaker-credit/2013/04/02/a8b4370c-9aef-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html?hpid=z1

 

 

 

 

Local Government Corruption

"State Senator Malcolm A. Smith arranged payments to get on the ballot of the New York City mayoral race, according to federal prosecutors. Mr. Smith, a Democrat, wanted to run as a Republican, and needed approval from Republican leaders. A criminal complaint detailed transactions that led to the arrests of six officials. "  NY Times

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Naughty.  Many will say that this kind of thing is typical of the fantasy archipelago of places like New York City, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, etc.  It is, and the ridiculous teacher corruption scandal in Atlanta comes to mind.

On the other hand, our popular governor, Bob McDonnell is reported to have allowed a developer who needed state help to pay for much of his daughter's wedding.  This was in the ever hateful to Virginia Washington Post. 

I have a deep and abiding loathing for state and local governmental pursuit of graft, and particularly the pursuit of developer money in zoning and re-development proposals.

The Department of Justice and the FBI have been zealous in pursuing such corruption in the Washington metro area north of the river.

Are we not deserving of their vigilance in the Old Dominion?  pl  

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/04/02/nyregion/mayor-plot.html?_r=0

"Bible Notes" by Richard Sale author of "Traitors"

"Their chronicles were not historical in any real sense. They displayed no love of their nation’s past, its beginnings, its mechanics, its gods, and its cosmologies. This inadequate way of dealing with history abruptly changed when a group of nomads began to write their history 500 years before Herodotus began his. Their tale centered on an event that they, as a people, could not get over, an event that acted to focus their minds on the significance of what had happened to them, fastening on this single tale in which a single omnipotent God had acted to bestow on them their freedom, a God who was always present and active within their affairs."  Richard Sale

Download Bible Notes

Nuclear instability in South Asia (FB Ali)

In the last couple of days there has been an interesting discussion here on another thread  on the subject of nuclear proliferation and the dangers of 'accidental' nuclear war. Mention was made of the situation respecting Pakistan and India, and Neil Richardson invited me to comment.

There is no doubt that the nuclear situation in South Asia is quite unstable and dangerous. Both India and Pakistan have sizable nuclear arsenals, which are being continuously augmented. The two countries have an ongoing history of animosity and have fought four wars in the last six decades. A recent factor greatly increasing the danger is the appearance of jihadi and other terrorists who are believed by India to be under Pakistani control, even the indigenous ones.

In both countries the arcane doctrines of nuclear command and control, developed in the West (especially in the US), are studied and implemented by industrious staff officers, who have been advised by Western experts. Their commanders are suitably briefed though, like nuclear commanders everywhere, they probably view the elaborate theoretical constructs underlying these procedures with a somewhat cynical eye. As David Habakkuk pointed out in the earlier discussion, US military commanders shaped the nuclear decision process for their civilian masters so as to achieve what they believed was the more realistic solution. In Pakistan and India civilian control is largely nominal; the fingers on the nuclear triggers are those of their generals.

"Solar Powered Wombat Assassins" Eco-Citizen Australia

 

"In a hurried announcement this morning The Australian Defence Force released details of their latest clean energy developments in an alarming report stating that a new breed of autonomous solar powered wombat soldier will be deployed for domestic and overseas combat situations. In a joint effort between the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) called the Autonomous Wombat Research Department (AWRD) there are firm plans in place to deploy these genetically modified autonomous crime ‘regulating’ wombats onto the streets of Australia for an initial trial period before ‘rolling out’ the wombats to the rest of the world."

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Walrus, our correspondent in Melbourne, forwarded us this item gleaned from the local press.  He was sitting in a deck chair in the cockpit of his yacht anchored off Bora Bora and waiting for the sunset when he was inspired to use his on board wi-fi to get this to us.

I don't know how the sequester will affect Wombat deployments to America, but we can hope.  We can hope.  pl