When Malaysian naval commandos boarded a ship captured by Somali pirates and rescued 23 hostages in the Gulf of Aden they had a secret weapon. South Korean naval special forces employed the same device, when they “stormed a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea on Friday, rescuing all 21 crew members and killing eight assailants in a rare and bold raid on Somali pirates.” The wonder weapon of the Koreans, though less potent than that used by the Malaysians was that they were neither European nor American.
What you can do depends on what papers you carry. In 2008 the Times Online reported that “the Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights. Warships patrolling pirate-infested waters, such as those off Somalia, have been warned that there is also a risk that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain.” Their chances of doing the same in Korea are probably vanishingly small.
The are real advantages to having the “right” nationality. The Independent darkly warned that “Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to establish a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia.” The crime isn’t being mercenary. They are a dime a dozen the world over. The crime is being American. But the Independent shouldn’t worry. Once Mr. Prince has trained the locals no further offense is possible.
Cecil Rhodes, who once admonished people to “remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life” would have been surprised to learn there are all kinds of advantages to being non-Western in the modern world. For one thing you are far less likely to be accused of racism, colonialism or human rights violations. This is probably why Prince is training locals, so the field of action is devolved to where blame may not attach.
Steven Kinzer, writing in the Guardian makes the case for differential standards. He says it is wrong to think that just because non-whites kill other non-whites it can ever be the same as whites, or Westerners at least, doing the same thing. There should be different standards of what constitutes a human rights violation depending on the color of your passport.
Want to depose the government of a poor country with resources? Want to bash Muslims? Want to build support for American military interventions around the world? Want to undermine governments that are raising their people up from poverty because they don’t conform to the tastes of upper west side intellectuals? Use human rights as your excuse! …
This is why the appointment of James Hoge, who took office in October, is so potentially important. The human rights movement lost its way by considering human rights in a vacuum, as if there are absolutes everywhere and white people in New York are best-equipped to decide what they are.
Hoge, however, comes to his new job after nearly two decades as editor of Foreign Affairs magazine. He sees the world from a broad perspective, while the movement of which he is now a leader sees it narrowly. Human rights need to be considered in a political context. The question should not be whether a particular leader or regime violates western-conceived standards of human rights. Instead, it should be whether a leader or regime, in totality, is making life better or worse for ordinary people.
That in effect, means different strokes for different folks; it implies that members of the US Armed Forces, for example, are held to a different political standard than the Malaysians or even the Koreans. If a member of the US military handles a Koran with less than the necessary reverence, he is manifestly guilty of an abomination. On the other hand, if an Egyptian interrogator asks an terrorist suspect certain questions in a rough way, why that is par for the course. What else would one expect of an Egyptian?
Oops. Did I say that? But I’m not sure that Kinzer didn’t, though surely he couldn’t have because that would be racist and broad minded people are never that. But whatever one thinks of his logic, its political sagacity is unassailable. If you want to win an counter-insurgency then indigenize it. Hide the white man and you are in the Left’s blind spot. Get the natives to kill the natives and nobody will notice. Don’t believe it? Try asking yourself this: which conflict, apart from the World Wars, has been the most destructive in 20th and 21st century history? Was it the America’s ‘criminal invasion of Iraq’? Afghanistan? Israel’s wars against the Arab? The Iraq-Iran War? Korea 1950 maybe? Then Vietnam surely. It is none of these. It’s the Second Congo War and it is all about minerals. What? Never heard of it?
The largest war in modern African history, it directly involved eight African nations, as well as about 25 armed groups. By 2008 the war and its aftermath had killed 5.4 million people, mostly from disease and starvation, making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II. Millions more were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in neighboring countries.
Despite a formal end to the war in July 2003 and an agreement by the former belligerents to create a government
of national unity, 1,000 people died daily in 2004 from easily preventable cases of malnutrition and disease. The war and the conflicts afterwards are, among other things, driven by the trade of conflict minerals. …Even though the war may have officially ended years ago, people in the Congo are still dying at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month; 2,700,000 people have died since 2004.
When was the last time anybody demonstrated against the Second Congo War? You mean there was a First one? In 1952 Ralph Ellison wrote a novel called the Invisible Man, which argued that black people were socially invisible. The news is they’re still invisible, especially to the ideologues who claim to think of nothing but their welfare. Asians used to be in the same case. When was the last time the anti-war movement demonstrated against the Khmer Rouge? When the first reports of the genocide in Cambodia filtered out, Noam Chomsky explained it as the natural consequence of “the US war”.
“The ferocious U.S. attack on Indochina left the countries [of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia] devastated, facing almost insuperable problems. The agricultural systems of these peasant societies were seriously damaged or destroyed… With the economies in ruins, the foreign aid that kept much of the population alive terminated, and the artificial colonial implantations no longer functioning, it was a condition of survival to turn (or return) the populations to productive work. The victors in Cambodia undertook drastic and often brutal measures to accomplish this task, simply forcing the urban population into the countryside where they were compelled to live the lives of poor peasants, now organized in a decentralized system of communes. At heavy cost, these measures appear to have overcome the dire and destructive consequences of the U.S. war by 1978.
The Asians couldn’t be guilty of genocide. Why? Because a certain kind of person didn’t think they were smart enough. Today it might be different because after decades of Asian achievement even the Left has grudgingly acknowledged they might actually be capable of being responsible for their own actions. Of the many explanations given for the rise of China and the North Asian countries, one may have been omitted: the freedom they enjoy from the artificialities of modern politically correct culture. They don’t have to listen to Chomsky or read the Guardian. They can light up a smoke, go to the moon, build nuclear reactors, construct a highway in months instead of years — even rescue hostages from pirates, without getting a single letter from some hokey European tribunal. To be born Chinese, Korean or Japanese today may be to win first prize in the lottery of life. They can deploy all the resources of a modern, technological world without being hindered by any of the fundamentally racist and obscurantist mumbo-jumbo of the Chomskys and the Eric Hobsbawms of the world. But the situation for Americans is tragically different. They have to listen to lectures and teaching moments from people who couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag. How Western civilization fell under such a spell may be a question without an answer. It is as if some dream came and carried its lofty towers away.
Then fell on Merlin a great melancholy;
He walked with dreams and darkness, and he found
A doom that ever poised itself to fall,
An ever-moaning battle in the mist,
World-war of dying flesh against the life,
Death in all life and lying in all love,
The meanest having power upon the highest,
And the high purpose broken by the worm.So leaving Arthur’s court he gained the beach;
There found a little boat, and stept into it;
And Vivien followed, but he marked her not.
She took the helm and he the sail; the boat
Drave with a sudden wind across the deeps,
And touching Breton sands, they disembarked.
And then she followed Merlin all the way,
Even to the wild woods of Broceliande.
For Merlin once had told her of a charm,
The which if any wrought on anyone
With woven paces and with waving arms,
The man so wrought on ever seemed to lie
Closed in the four walls of a hollow tower,
From which was no escape for evermore;
And none could find that man for evermore,
Nor could he see but him who wrought the charm
Coming and going, and he lay as dead
And lost to life and use and name and fame.
And Vivien ever sought to work the charm
Upon the great Enchanter of the Time,
As fancying that her glory would be great
According to his greatness whom she quenched.
Whither they went and when they shall return, none can say.
“No Way In” print edition at Amazon
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Congratulations: pertinent, to the point, the right sense of acid outrage. I have posted on this point (here and especially here) but I went for calm analysis rather than searing wit. Well done that man.
The winners in life’s lottery often find they have to fight to hold onto their winnings.
By the fire, late at night a father told his son
How lucky to be born in such a place
Our clan is far ahead of others and that we had won
The right to call ourselves the human race
We have the tools that others lack and skills they do not share
We are the best and will for all of time
Be leaders and inventors and the best when troubles flare
For us celestial spheres will always chime
We are the winners, you and I, in this life’s lottery
For even though our lives are very hard
The men of future times will know us by our pottery
Collecting every precious little shard
Sleep well my son and do not fret for father will be here
To keep you safe and warm throughout the night
To waken with the sun for enemies are closely near
I fear tomorrow we will have to fight
It is not a new book but it is as revelant as ever since apparently the West never learns.
http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Mind-Game-Chin-ning-Chu/dp/0892563524
In it the authour has a passage about how the Asian’s play the guilt trip of racial discrimination against Ganjin businessmen while being some of the most virulent self admitted racists you can find.
They don’t play win-win, they play I win because you lost.
It is not unusual for one Chinese relative to royally shaft another in a business deal and the next day be having dinner together, after all it was just business.
Well said. I have heard it said, and I agree, that “sunk with all hands” should be a routine part of reports about naval actions against pirates. Especially pirate motherships. No ships, no pirates.
Yes, I know most of the pirate motherships are fishing boats and without the ability to catch fish Somalians would starve. There is a simple solution to that; “if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”
uh, we trid to use authoctones contractors in Sahel, they ran away at the first difficulty, or collaborated with them
No more deliberate planning. For months I have posted about the need for a problem solving methodology, but alas it seems that time is not on our side my friends.
Now is the time of the gut. The gut instinct that leaders fall upon to make the call when there is no time, when the experiences of a life coalesce into a moment, where time seems to elongate –it is a moment of perfect truth.
We do not possess the top leadership to make that call. The first tier is a moderately intelligent ideologue that was handed power on a silver plate –no depth, no need to pull oneself by the bootstraps, no mettle: he will dither and not believe as the masonry falls around him. The second tier is a puffed-up self-important plagiarist incapable of reading a map: he will panic.
Will Boehner be up to the task, that is the question.
I think Glenn Reynolds argued that the biggest destabilizing factor in the world today is the dysfunctional political class in the West. They think funny. For example, the biggest problem in the world today, according to Noam Chomsky, is that the Republican Party refuses to take global warming seriously. “You could almost interpret it a kind of a death knell for the species.”
This is a message from a self-referential, heremetically sealed universe. It’s an insane universe that thinks it is perfectly rational.
The dysfunction makes it very difficult for the West to focus analysis and resources on anything of importance. The current political elite doesn’t solve anything. Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, the spend the live-long day typing “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Over and over. They don’t really modify reality; they just interpret it or sweep inconvenient parts under the carpet.
What is worse, we are all, to one degree or the other, products of the same system which created the current elite. To a large extent we are going to have to rediscover a whole lot of things from first principles.
Whether Boehner can contribute to fixing the problem depends on two independent variables. How much of a deviant he is from the norm and what kind of resonance he can find in the outer margins of the system. The main driver of change in next few years will be reality itself as it shakes apart the little dream world of Chomsky and his ilk. But early adopters of change — the guys who see what is wrong and are willing to accept that they’re going to have to pick up the pies — are going to prove crucial.
I believe that nobody can cause the changes necessary to fix the system. About the best we can hope for is the development of a kind of awareness among the political class that the changes their ability to see what is happening and therefore create in them a kind of ability to manage developments to a degree.
A lot of the stuff coming down the pipe, I think, is out of our hands. It’s inertia driven by the system that we haven’t got the energy to completely deflect. What is in our hands is the ability to purposefully react to events from an understanding of their nature. That is, to introduce some change in trajectory that with any luck, will eventually effect a course change.
When I began working in Africa, a colleague who was in his seventies and, who had left Scotland as a fresh graduate, advised me:
“Do not make the mistake of thinking “they” are just Europeans with black skin.
They have a completely different culture and set of values and , don’t have the same high regard for human life.”
I heard that repeated less eloquently by several people, and I came to include the Afrikaans as having different values too. The only characters I ever met who were harder than an old boer were MPLA party members.
Was that view Racist?
Technically yes, but the cultures were marked by skin colour and Afrikaans as a first language, and only one skin colour was murdering its’ fellows to steal car radios and mobile phones.
Come to that, only one tribe of “them” was showing up at “peace” rallies with spears, shields and clubs and leaving a hundred dead on the streets afterwards.
In Johannesburg, the local black guys I worked with warned me to stay away from certain districts, because the Nigerian illegals had made them so dangerous (South Africa had a homicide rate comparable to Iraq and Afghanistan).
I guess I’ve hurt enough feelings, so I’ll stop typing and get back to my paid work
Wretchard,
The Kinzer article you linked too in the Grauniad is interesting.
I wonder whether the likes of Thomas Paine and Frederick Bastiat, would laugh or cry at the “rights” which he lists?
He has no mention of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”
still, what have dead white men ever done for him? (I mean apart from Guttenberg, Marx, Engels, lenin…)
The Left has a problem with “responsibility” — as in “the ability to respond.” They don’t like giving rather ordinary people the freedom of action (within defined parameters) to accomplish assigned tasks. First, because they don’t like ordinary people having power (they want it for themselves) and second, the exercise of power at different levels helps the Free Enterprise system work efficiently. The better the Free Enterprise system works, the less reason to replace it.
When the left asks Who is responsible? they mean “Who is to blame.” A few decades ago it meant Who can we trust to do the Job properly?
So by attacking the “system of responsibility” they undermine the system while acquiring power for themselves.
Wretchard said “The Independent darkly warned that “Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to establish a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia.” The crime isn’t being mercenary. They are a dime a dozen the world over. The crime is being American. But the Independent shouldn’t worry. Once Mr. Prince has trained the locals no further offense is possible.”
I agree that “no further offense” may be possible. But that won’t stop the hyphenated compound adjective “Blackwater-trained” from becoming shorthand for “evil incarnate” in certain circles.
In RV circles … Blackwater = ‘soils’ dump…
In political circles… Blackwater = SS, NKVD…
We need to sub out our anti-piracy patrols.
The media can’t stomach the execution of bloody criminals.
W: The are real advantages to having the “right” nationality. The Independent darkly warned that “Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to establish a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia.”
That gentleman and his firm (thinly disguised with fictional names) are at the center of a remarkable science-fiction book by Greg Bear called Mariposa.
“In bestseller Bear’s intriguing near-future thriller, a powerful financier stands ready to seize control of America as the nation teeters on the brink of economic collapse. The Texas-based Talos Corp., helmed by CEO Axel Price, specializes in security technology software and the training of mercenaries. Standing between Price and the downfall of America are a few hardy FBI agents, notably Rebecca Rose, one of the stars of the previous book in the series, Quantico.”
The scene where this guy’s mercs take out Somali pirates relies on non-lethal weapons, certain sounds and flickering lights that disorient the foes.
In the previous book of the series, Quantico, (they are set about ten years from now), I was introduced to the concept of the Rod from God, which is used to take out a truck laden with fireworks laced with anthrax in Mecca during the Hajj.
These are required reading for Belmonters. No doubt some have already had the pleasure.
In Vietnam I believe that the South Koreans patrolled Binh Dinh Province with their transistor radios turned on. The VC heard them and ran away.
Back before our invasion of Iraq a group of Leftists appearing on Fox News argued that it was immoral. One college student summed it up very nicely:
“It is immoral for us to attack people whose skin is darker than ours.”
You have to hand it to the kid; he figured out the formula. Melanin is all that is important.
As one writer put it, 50 years after the end of the Nazi Master Race, genetics rule supreme.
People say that we shouldn’t be searching Norwegian grandmothers before they board airliners. Fact is, if Norwegians had taken down the WTC we would have nuked that country down to the bedrock. They are Too White.
Teraisita: Rods from God were introduced in the book “David’s Sling” back in the 80’s.
RWE: One college student summed it up very nicely: “It is immoral for us to attack people whose skin is darker than ours.”
That’s all gonna be moot point in 500 years.
The tiny genetic variations in homo sapiens sapiens that we call “race” will be completely diluted by the dynamic of air travel. Everyone on the planet will be little brown-skinned dark-haired beauties like Wretchard and myself.
RWE: Not having read that earlier work, this was my first introduction to them.
Is anyone struck by the unintended irony contained in this: “The human rights movement lost its way by considering human rights in a vacuum, as if there are absolutes everywhere and white people in New York are best-equipped to decide what they are.” On the domestic front isn’t this precisely how various social programs dear to the intellectual left are framed? More broadly, given the close association promoted by the intellectual left of ethnicity, culture and race isn’t the author of the Guardian piece accusing the upper West-side liberal of racism while promoting an explicitly racist standard as established by the political and cultural left?
Down the rabbit hole we go…
Teresita @ 17 said “Everyone on the planet will be little brown-skinned dark-haired beauties like Wretchard and myself.”
As a black American now living in the capital of Scandinavia, I sure hope your vision of the future 500 years hence does NOT come to pass. The people here may be the most attractive and industrious and civic that I’ve ever seen or lived amongst. I don’t like their politics so much but as a population or “race”, they are terrific just as they are. The world would lose something very special indeed were that to change.
One is obliged to marvel at the paucity of introspection displayed by those that Wretchard castigates. It is almost as if they believe ‘I have a thought, therefore it must be correct and righteous’. A deeply disturbing amalgam of arrogance and guilt that is devoid of reason.
Guilt reaction surfaces in every aspect of their conscience. Guilt because we emit CO2, because we consume flora and fauna, because we defecate and urinate, because we are prosperous and successful, because we are technically more advanced, and because our predecessors enslaved others.
Arrogance in believing that we know enough to solve the problems of mankind, that if the world would just follow our dictates, everything would be fine. Arrogance that all evil will disappear once everyone has a suitable shelter, adequate sustenance, and proper health care. Their will be no crime, no reason for harming others, and no more war.
Our solution will really work this time, they tell us, because it will be us in charge and we have all the answers. ‘Oh, oh, pick me, teacher. I have the answer.’
Couple that with failure to introspect, to self-criticize, to exercise discernment and another catastrophe awaits.
For those who are believers, know that God controls the history of mankind, and that it will unfold according to a predetermined plan. Apart from performing our duty as best we can, our surest hope is to learn more of the word and execute 2 Chronicles 7:14.
In five hundred years we shall all be the same color……dead.
I challenge #19. starling to turn this into English understandable to mere non-economist mortals:
Smedley Speaks:
“Could the Fed go broke?
The answer to this question was ‘Yes,’ but is now ‘No,’” said Raymond Stone, managing director at Stone & McCarthy in Princeton, New Jersey. “An accounting methodology change at the central bank will allow the Fed to incur losses, even substantial losses, without eroding its capital.”
The change essentially allows the Fed to denote losses by the various regional reserve banks that make up the Fed system as a liability to the Treasury rather than a hit to its capital. It would then simply direct future profits from Fed operations toward that liability.
This enhances transparency by providing clearer, more frequent, snapshots of the central bank’s finances, analysts say. The bonus: the number can now turn negative without affecting the central bank’s underlying financial condition.
“Any future losses the Fed may incur will now show up as a negative liability as opposed to a reduction in Fed capital, thereby making a negative capital situation technically impossible,” said Brian Smedley, a rates strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and a former New York Fed staffer.
“The timing of the change is not coincidental, as politicians and market participants alike have expressed concerns since the announcement (of a second round of asset buys) about the possibility of Fed ‘insolvency’ in a scenario where interest rates rise significantly,” Smedley and his colleague Priya Misra wrote in a research note.
—
23. tolonaro
“Minnesota Nice”
Thanks, Starling #19. As a descendent of Scandinavians (Sogn Fiord) and Sweden, I appreciate the comments. Right on the politics and the people. Check out Minnesota and the Dakotas. Even Wisconsin.
In Tom Sawyer, Twain made the point like this: Riverboat blew up. Aunt Polly was asking Tom what happened? Anybody hurt? Toms answer “No Mam’, Killed a ni**er.”
I read that when I was 10. I more or less grew up in rural Alabama. I remember being shocked by that, not the word which was commonplace (still is, really) but by the attitude, which is not commonplace anymore.
(Comment applies to the original not bowlderized version.)
“I believe that nobody can cause the changes necessary to fix the system. About the best we can hope for is the development of a kind of awareness among the political class that the changes their ability to see what is happening and therefore create in them a kind of ability to manage developments to a degree.”
Increasingly clear that Wretchard is correct that the system can’t be fixed, and as Epi implies, we are facing a Tower of Babel moment. Which means that the political class, unless something/someone new emerges, will not be up to the task.
They all practice a materialistic theology (e.g. emphasis on skin color or sex) that places themselves at the top of the pyramid. Inevitably, natural law will assert itself: the autonomous effort of the “lower self” will be confronted by divine reality and must undergo the negative effects of comparison with it.
When that happens, lightning will strike and the tower will tumble down. No soft landing in our future, I’m afraid. The best we can do is put as many of ourselves as possible in the position to rebuild properly, in convergence with our primordial mission of cultivating the world as it was meant to be: in a state of equilibrium between Spirit and Nature.
“Once Mr. Prince has trained the locals no further offense is possible.”
Well the effectiveness of the training will depend on who’s being trained and how. If he’s training local Somalis to go after pirates, I doubt it will be particularly effective. However, if he is training the pirates in the costs and downside risks of the piracy game, that may well work.
“The question should not be whether a particular leader or regime violates western-conceived standards of human rights. Instead, it should be whether a leader or regime, in totality, is making life better or worse for ordinary people.”
This is similar to the sentiments expressed by Kofi Annon, who triumphally secured an agreement with Saddam Hussein on WMD inspections when all others had failed, saying, “One has to consider cultural attitudes in such negotiations.”
Of course Kofi got rolled; the agreement lasted about a month before Saddam violated it. And Kofi said he did not feel offended; I guess that is another cultural attitude you have to consider in evaluating success.
The flip side of Political Correctness is punishment based on the culture of the offender. WASPs get sent to prison for converting messy natural wetlands into a cleaner wetlands. Blacks with 17 prior felony convictions get back out on the street right away, and if they get shot by a white guy during a burglary end up with the white guy’s house in payment.
Kinzer writes: The question should not be whether a particular leader or regime violates western-conceived standards of human rights. Instead, it should be whether a leader or regime, in totality, is making life better or worse for ordinary people.
Well then, if “making life better” is the standard, the only real answer to the problems of Africa is a return to colonialism. Of course, that can’t happen because the real standard is “making life better as long as no white people are involved in a position of authority.”
Sadly for Africans and for Africa, the next wave of colonialism will have it’s own color, Chinese yellow, and the new Bwanas aren’t going to sit awake at night wondering if they’re being too harsh on the locals or cutting down too many trees.
Steven Kinzer’s head was originally turned down in central America by articulate, if deadly, Marxists who did a good job of pursuading him that all evil comes from the right and from American foreign policy. He is of that generation for which there is no Marxist holocaust that can’t be explained away. His claims a kind of medieval vanity – the right to lay claim to first causes or Primium Mobile – America as Prime Mover; all other actions stem from America’ lousy or blunderin actions in foreign policy. As such only America can be guilty. We first kicked the stone of international rancor therefore we’re guilty. Somehting like that, I imagine goes through the modern liberal, Kinzer, Obama foreign policy head….no?
Beautifully written w, and yet I persist in trying to find a more positive rationale, even if it feels a stretch.
Take Chomsky (please). What a mook, what a fool, when it comes to politics, what a brilliant idiot. And yet, he’s the progenitor of some intellectual trends in linguistics that I strongly endorse. Does that mean he’s all correct even there? Not in the least. He has his piece of the elephant, same as do we each and all. His has, perhaps, driven him mad. Let us attempt not to suffer the same.
Maybe it’s a good thing that the US limits itself regarding the Somali pirates. Why? Because we are not the world’s policeman. Because we want others to step up now and again. If we hold back given the poor excuse of “human rights”, well, nobody but a few hysterics and loons *really* believe that, I hope, but it is *convenient* to allow that a little running room. Britain I dunno, they seem to have lost their balance in many ways, whether they will tough it out I cannot say. Take France (s’il vous plaît!) Or, how about China, let them police the sea lanes they use the most heavily. Let them go to Somalia and do some nation building, heh heh (joke is China still needs to nation-build two-thirds of their own country).
Things are not always what they seem, I take that to include things that look pretty nasty on the surface. Just as germs and worms have their productive places in the ecosystem, maybe so does this nasty piece of business Noam Chomsky and has political ilk.
7. Wretchard
“The main driver of change in next few years will be reality itself as it shakes apart the little dream world of Chomsky and his ilk.”
For the last few years I’ve pondered about what strange times we live in. From my reading the troubles of our times seem to parrallel the confusion and tumult of pre-Reformation Europe, per-Revolution France or pre-World War 1 Europe.
A vision of reality, a way of thinking that so many have so much invested, nay not invested it’s who they are…is dying. Unfortunately, the vision that is dying is possessed by our leadership class and their only response is to push all-in. Much like in Mel Gibson’s movie Apocalypto our cultural and political leaders can’t conceive much less respond to the changes about to engulf them.
None are so blind as those who will not see.
Personally, I don’t find cultural suicide appealing.
Given the range of disagreements between the Left and the Right these days, I think it’s revealing that everyone agrees that the Nazis were bad guys. Why is that? Is it merely because the Nazis lost, and no one likes a loser? I don’t think so. Many losers from history still garner sympathy. Even ones that committed genocide.
The Old Eugenicists came up with a premise: that genetics make the man, and a man’s worth can be judged by the accomplishments of his race (whose genetics he shares). The Old Eugenicists then looked out at the world and saw the European powers controlling all oceans and most of the land, and judged that European peoples were therefore the most genetically superior of all races. This thinking eventually lead to the belief that the Aryan people could decide matters of life and death over all races, and to the Holocaust.
Now the funny part is there are two pieces of thought in the previous paragraph: the initial premise of genetic destiny, and the conclusion that followed of Aryan superiority. The Right and the Left agree that Nazis suck because both the Left and the Right have rejected one of these ideas (and then human psychology steps in an makes us want to make someone we disagree with into the bad guy). But the Left and the Right have rejected different things.
The Right of course has rejected the premise of genetic destiny. Or maybe we never fully bought into it in the first place. We believed then, and believe now, that all men are created equal by their Creator, and are equal before the law.
The Left has not rejected the Old Eugenicists’ beliefs in racial inheritance; they just look at the Holocaust and come to the opposite conclusion as the Nazis. The Aryans are the least of all races, uniquely capable of evil, and uniquely unfit to judge other races in any manner. It’s the perfect inversion of the Nazi world view, but without rejecting the founding premise.
Peterike #28:
My thoughts as well, and not just for Africa.
The other day I was viewing a WWII USAAF film about A-36’s flying from North Africa to attack Sicily. They said “All over the world the little people are waiting for the day when this war is over.”
And today all over the world the little people are waiting not for democracy but rather for the adults from beyond the sea to come back and straighten things out. They don’t really want their version of democracy; they want ours.
What superb journalism! Is there anyone else writing today — barring the too-long-silent Mark Steyn — who can run up a score like this in a single piece, a day after the event?
11. starling
“But that won’t stop the hyphenated compound adjective “Blackwater-trained” from becoming shorthand for “evil incarnate” in certain circles.”
I do believe you’re correct. So correct as to shatter all other theories developed on this blog today with the exception of Wretchards observations. (geez Habu what a brown nose). The US and any “Private Military Companies (PMCs)”organization will eventually get the blame. And there are many PMC’s around. Personally I think “Olive Group” of which I have some knowlege always sounded benign. Add in a few Sicilians and your “cover” is assured.
But isn’t it funny that with the amount of overhead reconnaissance supplimented by HUMINT that the left never believed the Spetsnaz convoys leaving Iraq for Syria were loaded with WMD’s? Heck , we knew Saddam had them and used them.
Yep, the USA will always get the blame…..some dupnik will spill the beans.
“In 2008 the Times Online reported that “the Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights.”
How about this:
In 1942 the Times reported that the Royal Navy has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain Nazi or Japanese sailors and soldiers because doing so may breach their human rights.
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but tyrants and murderers forfeit their human rights because they are the destroyers of human rights.
“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” George Orwell
This was part and parcel of the Gramscian long march through the institutions and the Cold War. Much of the original intent of what later morphed into Political Correctness was a concerted effort to portray any use of force by western powers, especially the US, as being evil, vile and corrupt. In essence, by destroying the willingness and ability to project force the USSR could ultimately prevail militarily without the US being willing to fire a shot. They weren’t anti-war, they really just wanted the other side to win. After the fall of the Soviet Union the purpose for this behavior essentially dissolved but habits are habits. Oftentimes we engage in behavior when the original purpose for doing so no longer applies. The narrative continues.
And the racism card was a rather successful tactic in this effort, as most of the proxy conflicts of the Cold War occurred in Third World countries. And gradually it changed from being a tool of analysis to its current form of cutting off analysis. According to its current formulation it seems to work like this: in any conflict, economic, criminal, or otherwise, can any case be made (however tenuous) that the conflict or its outcome was motivated in whole or part because of racism? If so, you presume that it was, and the analysis ends. And don’t forget that only white people and some Asians are capable of being racists. It then becomes illegitimate to delve into the factual aspects of the dispute. Its sort of like the Mumia Abu-Jamal fellow. Never mind about the fact that the evidence against him was overwhelming, the analysis is supposed to end when the racism card is played.
“The main driver of the next few years” ….heck it won’t come to the Habuian dream of nuk’em but it will come down to the worlds almost total economic collaspe.
The next few years are going to make the “Great Depression” look like a picnic.
The muni bond market is about to sink which will mean schools hospitals,sewage plants etc will all collaspe for lack of the ability to raise money…who would serious invest in a 30 year muni? Our dollars are just paper now and everyone is searching for a way to dump them. Canadian dollars are very popular.
QEIII and IV are in the works and the BRIC are decoupling from the dollar as the worlds reserve currency. Economics, not wars will dictate the next four-five years…then come the wars..it has ALWAYS worked that way.
Some years ago, I was talking to a Presbyterian missionary about the situation in Africa. Catastrophically uncharacteristic for a Presby, he and his wife insisted the US send troops. If you’re a Presby, you’ll know what a major divergence from CW this is.
To do what, I asked.
Well, you know, um… The ultimate thing the US paratroopers were to do is stand around. “Nobody messes with US paratroopers”, they said stoutly. Nobody until it’s clear the troopers aren’t going to do anything, that is.
If the west, which is to say the US and anybody else with a western army wants to “do something” in the Congo, we have a problem. What’s happening is happening because a bunch of miserable bastards want to do this stuff. Killing a number of them and making the rest too scared to continue is the only way. Which is to say, we’d have a bunch of white guys killing a bunch of black guys.
Think that would fly?
“Steven Kinzer, writing in the Guardian makes the case for differential standards. He says it is wrong to think that just because non-whites kill other non-whites it can ever be the same as whites, or Westerners at least, doing the same thing. There should be different standards of what constitutes a human rights violation…”
All of the ancient forms of despotism and modern forms of totalitarianism are based on unequal rights (different standards) – greater standards (rights) for the elite class (the Pigs of Animal Farm) and lower standards (rights) for the serfs – where “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Forgive me again for stating the obvious, but equal rights to life, liberty and the fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness is justice – unequal rights is tyranny. These sacred equal rights are the universal rights of man based on the universal nature of man.
“The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights… The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government… Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority [along with the majority] possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” Thomas Jefferson
“The human rights movement lost its way by considering human rights in a vacuum, as if there are absolutes everywhere… Human rights need to be considered in a political context.” Steven Kinzer
“Communism has never concealed the fact that it rejects all absolute concepts of morality. It scoffs at any consideration of “good” and “evil” as indisputable categories. Communism considers morality to be relative, to be a class matter. Depending upon circumstances and the political situation, any act, including murder, even the killing of thousands, could be good or could be bad.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn
http://www.alor.org/Library/LegacyofTerror.htm
Our equal human rights to life, liberty and fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness are universal human rights – they are the absolute equal human rights of all individuals everywhere – and are to be considered in a moral context – equal human rights considered in the context of God-given natural law.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” Thomas Jefferson
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
33. Brock:
“Given the range of disagreements between the Left and the Right these days, I think it’s revealing that everyone agrees that the Nazis were bad guys. Why is that?”
Because the Left doesn’t want the spotlight to shine on all the atrocities committed by the Left. After WW2, the left successfully embedded the meme that Fascism is a right-wing phenomenon (it’s actually another form of leftist statism). Since then, they’ve kept busy warning the electorate about the dangers of moving “too far the right,” implying they may become fascists. This is also another means of keeping the people closer to the left, where they can be better manipulated.
Thus, by keeping the Nazi boogeyman alive (“hey, look over there!”), they avert close inspection of the horrors they themselves have perpetuated (“Don’t look over here!”).
Rex Murphy writing in today’s National Post about China – “China’s tastes and preferences and policies are not likely to be as pliable and soft as ours, not nourished by the same hypertrophied guilt over the idea of progress…. Societies that are striving, which are aiming for for measurable progress don’t mentally camp out on fitful preoccupations or self-absorbed “moral” quests.”
He also remarks that in these striving societies “There won’t be much time for worrying over seals’ penises in that world, or over the factitious debate whether or not there was a medieval warm period.”
We in the West are no longer free to strive for measurable progress. “Progressives” have destroyed our progress by apologizing us into impotence and irrelevance. And so the world order changes. Ironically, those leftists who wished for a non-American world order may not like it when it arrives.
I came across an article in the Huffington Post recently about the ongoing systematic rape of women in the Congo . The article did not really describe what was going on there which involves a campaign by armed gangs/militias to control the population through killing, torture and rape. The article encouraged a response by “women everywhere” to “just say NO” to rape. Huh?
So I wrote in a nicely worded reply suggesting that what the women in these villages really needed was some sort of armed protection against the gangs since the government and UN were not doing it.. Deleted. I tried rewriting it in several different ways. Deleted. Deleted. Any time I suggested anything more active than ‘hopes and prayers for these brave women’ the post went down the hole.
The sheer evil of what I was wittnessing really hit me then. Here were these ‘liberal progressives’ sitting in their dens sipping coffee ‘saying NO’ to rape while the goons wound their way down the jungle trails to pillage and torture, and censoring my appaling suggestion that maybe these women could defend themselves if they had a few AK’s of their own.
41. Storm-Rider
I enjoyed your “lex” …my favorite “lex” is lex talionis, literally the law of retaliation. Tehran ,Nov 1979, and other terrorist attacks on embassies worldwide. The Marine barracks, etc. Syrian aid to terrorists. NK seizing the USS Pueblo in international waters or the forcing down a C-130 flying in international airspace by the Chinese….prior to the atomic age all would be acts of war. Now we are weak minded and the weak mule.
The Emperor Augustus is said to have uttered Acta est fabula just before he died. It translates to “It’s all over”….
Well I’d much prefer our adversaries utter those words than to watch obama bow to another tyrant only to place this country in a position to capitulate to blackmail.
Korea will have an ICBM and thus nuclear blackmail capability within four or Five years, provided they don’t simply launch one at Hawaii or LA.
Tempus fugit.
“The ferocious U.S. attack on Indochina left the countries [of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia] devastated, facing almost insuperable problems. The agricultural systems of these peasant societies were seriously damaged or destroyed… At heavy cost, these measures appear to have overcome the dire and destructive consequences of the U.S. war by 1978.” Noam Chomsky
Oh,thank God for the Communist Revolution! Humanity has been saved by a “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” (Code for Dictatorship of the Marxist Ruling Class) – saved by the Marxist Priests of Power – whose only requirement is the atoning blood of millions – those poor stupid bastards who sin against the new religion by failure to fall into place – those who fail to become cogs in the Marxist state mechanism – those little idiots who stubbornly cling to the notion that they are individuals made in the image of God.
“Modern research has located thousands of mass graves from the Khmer Rouge era all over Cambodia, containing an estimated 1.39 million bodies. Various studies have estimated the death toll at between 740,000 and 3,000,000, most commonly between 1.4 million and 2.2 million, with perhaps half of those deaths being due to executions, and the rest from starvation and disease.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_Genocide
And, BTW, who was it that started and sustained the “ferocious… attack on Indochina” which “left the countries [of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia] devastated, facing almost insuperable problems?”
“Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887… The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union’s French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by Bảo Đại’s Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh, led by Ho Chí Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia…. It was called the “dirty war” by the French communists and leftist intellectuals… The Indochinese conflict broke out in Haiphong after a conflict of interest in import duty at Haiphong port between the Viet Minh government and the French. On November 23, 1946 the French fleet began a naval bombardment of the city that killed over 6,000 Vietnamese civilians in an afternoon.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Indochina_War
I have quoted this many times but it appears that neither it nor T. Roosevelts admonition for the Strenuous Life has much affect on the faint hearted. However it is always worth another try.
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224
Ephesians 6:10-12 (New International Version, ©2010)
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
spindok 45: “The sheer evil of what I was wittnessing really hit me then. Here were these ‘liberal progressives’ sitting in their dens sipping coffee ‘saying NO’ to rape while the goons wound their way down the jungle trails to pillage and torture, and censoring my appaling suggestion that maybe these women could defend themselves if they had a few AK’s of their own.”
I suspect “Though this be madness, there is method in it”. Didn’t you get the message? Didn’t you read the Soviet Constitution? The Soviet Constitution gave its subjects a “right to life” but not a right to self-defense – no second amendment in the Soviet Constitution. Well, I guess you know the rest of the story.
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/33350184
Without a right to self-defense there is no “right to life.” No, there is only a God-given unalienable right to life and self-defense.
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Second Amendment, Bill of Rights
http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights
…”But that won’t stop the hyphenated compound adjective “Blackwater-trained” from becoming shorthand for “evil incarnate” in certain circles.”
No doubt. Any association at all. Phone call, literary reference, is the same as ownership according to the master race theory of the Left. Take Saddam. We liaised with him in the 80’s and according to the racists of the Left, we owned him. Same with Osama. You can’t take vacation in a foreign state with out becoming responsible for all subsequent outcomes.
#35 Bill Befort – ditto that. I can’t do it and almost always end up stealing something from Fernandez just to get up something decent.
People who live in tough neighborhoods tend to become tough themselves. It’s a matter of sheer survival. Likewise, when an otherwise peaceful country has militarily aggressive or terrorist neighbors, it tends to take far tougher actions than do countries what are far away from the danger.
South Korea has been the victim of dozens of attacks by the communist North Koreans for over 60 years. The list of border incidents precipitated by the North is staggering.
It’s therefore easy for Americans or Europeans to say that the Koreans or Israelis are “overreacting.” Other than 9/11, our homeland has never really been attacked. Western Europe hasn’t seen serious military action since World War II. While these are very good things, they do seem to breed a softness in dealing with threats.
Habu: Korea will have an ICBM and thus nuclear blackmail capability within four or Five years, provided they don’t simply launch one at Hawaii or LA.
That’s like saying an inexperienced boy with a single-shot Derringer has blackmail capability against a platoon of war-hardened Marines armed with M134 miniguns. Sure, he might get ONE lucky shot…
Wonderful article. Thanks for putting recent (20-21 Century) wars in perspective. Thanks for putting cultural/ethical relativism in perspective. Thanks for Speaking Truth to Power Elites Left.
MC @ 5.
Your authoctones military units didn’t run at Dien Bien Phu. And they didn’t run at Flanders or at Arras or at the Dardenelles.
From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirailleurs_s%C3%A9n%C3%A9galais
“In October 1914 five battalions of Tirailleurs Sénégalais were sent to the Yser river, for the “Battle of Flandres”. On the 24th of October one battalion was completely wiped out in Arras (France). All 1200 tirailleurs died.[8] The remaining four battalions were transported to Lo-Reninge near Furnes (Veurne, Belgium). One remained at Lo-Reninge (Belgium), one went to Merkem (Belgium) and two battalions (3rd BTS Tirailleurs Sénégalais du Maroc and 1st BTS Tirailleurs Sénégalais d’Algérie) went to Dixmude (Diksmuide, Belgium) to reinforce the French fusiliers marins. They arrived in Dixmude at two in the afternoon on October the 25th and by the 10th of November 1914, all battalions were destroyed. Only Fourteen Tirailleurs from this battle have a known grave in Potyse (Belgium). All others have disappeared in the muddy planes of Flandres. Actual number of casualties at the battle of Flandres for the Tirailleurs Sénégalais are unknown. Estimates range from 3200 to 4800.[9].
In 1915 seven battalions of Tirailleurs Sénégalais were amongst the 79,000 French troops sent to the Dardanelles. Total French casualties in this campaign reached 27,000 but the Senegalese and regular Colonial Infantry were noted for the high morale that they maintained in spite of losses that reached two out of three in some units[10]. The Senegalese tirailleurs particularly distinguished themselves in the attack during the initial French landings on the southern shore of the Dardanelles. ”
Signor Machiavelli wrote extensively about the perils of using mercenaries as opposed to native forces. Maybe it was the “contractors” part that was problematic rather then the “authoctones” part?
Peace, all, I know wiki is an impeachable source, but it sure is convenient.
…I continue with no prejudice to state the case for bold action that those who prefer a totally cerebral approach do so because a chocolate eclair composes their backbone.
During the Civil Was Gen. Grant recognised that it would have to be a war of conquest because the enemy could simply fight a defensive war forever, cutting our resolve and flesh bit by bit.
As the ages roll by, the eternal problem forever fronting each man and each race forever shifts its outward shape, and yet at the bottom it is always the same. There are dangers of peace and dangers of war; dangers of excess in militarism and of excess by the avoidance of duty that implies militarism; dangers of slow dry-rot, and dangers which become acute only in great crises. When these crises come, the nation will triumph or sink accordingly as it produces or fails to produce (obama) statesmen like Lincoln and soldiers like Grant, and accordingly as it does or does not back them in their efforts. We do not need men of unsteady brilliancy or erratic power……unbalanced men. The men we need are the men of strong, earnest, solid character….the men who possess the honest virtues, and who to these virtues add rugged courage, rugged honesty, and high resolve. Grant, with his self-poise, his self-command, his self-mastery; Grant loved peace and did not fear war, who would not draw the sword if he could honorably keep it sheathed, but who, when once he had drawn it, would not return it to the sheath until the weary years had brought the blood-won victory.
We have no Grant’s today , simply perfumed princes schooled in the art of diplomacy first and war second, when in fact war is the only reason we have soldiers. Other Departments handle the diplomacy and handing out of bread and rebuilding AFTER the victory is unconditionally complete….
We cannot remain a great nation unless we return to what Grant knew.
53. Teresita
You’re dismissed.
53. Teresita
One of the main difficulties you have in making your points are that you forget that ALL analogies are false in logic, yet you continuously attempt them. How silly.
I am not a pessimist but a realist. I have followed this blog for a number of years since the USS Clueless debated the merits of the Three Conjectures in 2003.
Habu makes the salient point. The need to go ugly, and the need to do that early, not later. Early was 9/12, Early was 2002, and 03, and 04 and now. Early is before the next shoe of many is to drop. Yes the toll will be heavy, but it can be targeted, it is capable of being limited in the now. After, it will be 1 x 10^9 –too terrible to contemplate, and truly horrible not too.
‘Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
The farced title running ‘fore the king,
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this world,
No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony,
Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave,
Who with a body fill’d and vacant mind
Gets him to rest, cramm’d with distressful bread;
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,
But, like a lackey, from the rise to set
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night
Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn,
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
And follows so the ever-running year,
With profitable labour, to his grave:
And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep,
Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king.
I know most of you know this.
It is always Early before it is too late and that is fine line that we are rapidly approaching –never really knowing the time by observation but knowing the line crossing by feel: we will realize once it is too late.
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.
As Wretchard has put it: “the terrible ifs accumulate,” They will have accumulated by then and our choices will be fight or death.
This is a vile task laid at the feet of those who will fight.
The poor bastards that did not purpose their deaths or the deaths of others when the purposed their services. Perhaps it is the alcohol; I’ve had a bit of wine this evening. Perhaps it is ten years of fight, of ten years of plans, executions, operations, UTCs and Site R and deployments and uncertainty. I am thin, stretched so thin -waiting on the Watch –waiting to unleash Hell, without hesitation.
My apologies if I ramble, my soul is troubled with this contemplation of death and destruction. But, I guess this is as it should be –who would want a person who relishes such insanity working the very details.
Nice job with the flensing pen, Wretch.
After the two world wars, the most destructive war in the 20th and 21st centuries was the Chinese Civil that started at the end of World War II. The Second Congo War, in terms of lives lost, does not approach the horror and destructiveness of the Chinese Civil War. And, no, it is not correct to view the Chinese Civil War as merely an extension of World War II.
We are 500 years roughly from the discovery of the new world.
Just as that age was marked by a large technological revolution including the invention of the printing press-so also this one is marked by a large technological revolution that includes the invention of the internet. That age was marked by the shift from the Ptolemaic cosmology to the Copernican cosmology. This age too is marked by large paradigm shifts in the scientific world view of the cosmos. 500 years ago Islam came to its greatest expansion into Europe at the gates of Vienna. We are in a similar moslem expansion today that is still a few decades from cresting.(imho the crest will happen at the same time that the west becomes energy independent–and likely will coincide with a reformation.) 500 years ago Europe was wrapped in catholic indulgences which forced people to pay for the sins of their ancestors. A similar effect–but different ideology– is at work today where whites are required to pay for the sins of the ancestors.
In short we are at the very end of one great age and at the very beginning of another great age. At this point we are all about setting initial conditions so as to shape the trajectory of the coming age.
It may well take 500 years to develop the science to break out of the solar system but maybe it will be sooner. Accelerating the speed of computers imho has the effect of also collapsing distances and time. So the steadily accelerating speed of computers is virtually collapsing the distances to the stars. Now I have said more than I understand. For example, you can say that observing that there is water on the moon and mars makes it more likely that people will go to the moon and mars because water makes it more feasible to do so–but its a stretch to say that discovering water on the moon or mars collapses the distance and time to the moon and mars–except in the sense that it sharpens the planning for such ventures. Similarly for the stars. There has been in recent years an explosion in the number of extraterrestrial planets discovered. That number is expected to increase exponentially in the next decade or so. Does observing the stars actually collapse the distance and time that it will take to reach them. hmm ok the answer here is no. rather observing them reflects accelerating capability and planning.
In planning or speculating on the future imho its best to follow the water.
imho the cost desalination and transport in the next ten years will cause the worlds deserts to be turned green for agriculture and double the size of the habitable planet. this work will in turn create the capital and technology to make the next great leap into space following the water–in the second half of the 21st century.
Habu: “Korea will have an ICBM and thus nuclear blackmail capability within four or Five years, provided they don’t simply launch one at Hawaii or LA.”
Terisita: “That’s like saying an inexperienced boy with a single-shot Derringer has blackmail capability against a platoon of war-hardened Marines armed with M134 miniguns. Sure, he might get ONE lucky shot…”
Habu is right about North Korea (and Iran – and al Qaeda) – and of course Teresita disagrees. When it comes to nuclear bombs it only takes one luck shot – the one positioned for EMP. Beware the man – or woman – who councils against self-defense.
“Two national-security experts have issued a report through the Heritage Foundation that warns Obama administration officials to start working now to prevent – and mitigate the damage from – an electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States because of the potential for “unimaginable devastation.” Not even a global humanitarian effort would be enough to keep hundreds of millions of Americans from death by starvation, exposure, or lack of medicine. Nor would the catastrophe stop at U.S. borders. Most of Canada would be devastated, too, as its infrastructure is integrated with the U.S. power grid. Much of the world’s intellectual brain power (half of it is in the United States) would be lost as well. Earth would most likely recede into the ‘new’ Dark Ages…”
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=233077
“Our nation and the Department of Homeland Security are rightly concerned about the threat from nuclear terrorism. Extraordinary efforts are under way to detect and prevent a terrorist operation from smuggling a nuclear weapon into a U.S. city or seaport. New technologies, such as muon tomography, are being developed to scan the interior of containers and other objects for nuclear weapon materials. Yet there is another nuclear threat to the U.S. homeland that could be posed by terrorists that is much less well-known – to our collective peril. This other nuclear threat is just as plausible and equally credible when compared to the threat of a weapon smuggled into the United States. Compared to a smuggled nuclear weapon detonated in New York, D.C. or Los Angeles, this other nuclear threat is potentially far more catastrophic: instead of a single city, it could threaten the entire nation’s survival… A high-altitude EMP results from the detonation of a nuclear warhead at altitudes above 25 miles over the Earth’s surface, and covers the area within line-of-sight from the bomb. The immediate effects of EMP are disruption of, and damage to, electronic systems that are indispensable to the operation of critical national infrastructures – the electric power grid, wired and cell telephone systems, fuel handling, land and air transportation, government operations, banking and finance, food storage and distribution, and water treatment and supply – that sustain our economy, military power and civilian population.”
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/Printable.aspx?ArtId=32224
“EMP is electromagnetic radiation from an explosion (especially a nuclear explosion). The worst of the pulse lasts for only a second but any unprotected electrical equipment – and anything connected to electrical cables, which act as giant lightning rods or antennas – are affected by it. If a nation with a nuclear bomb and the ability to explode it high above an American city were to do so, it would have a massive effect in all directions. Almost immediately all communications systems in the country would be disrupted completely. No radio. No television. No internet. Indeed no electricity at all. Most of the country literally would be in the dark with no possibility of recovering any electrical facilities. We would not be able to run our cars because the gasoline pumps would not work. Water distribution systems would not work. While there would be few immediate deaths connected with such an explosion, the long-term consequences would be profound. The national power grid would be rendered completely impotent. It would take many months or even years to have it up and running but with no power tools available, accomplishing this likely would be impossible. There would be no telecommunications. Railroads would be unable to run. Even if the few steam locomotives left were employed, there would be no signal systems and no ability to switch tracks. Our entire financial system would be disrupted because computers would shut down. I could go on but you get the picture. Recovery would depend upon the restoration of electric power, the possibility of which would depend upon whether a part of the country was unaffected and that would depend upon where the bomb explodes.”
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/Printable.aspx?ArtId=31514
But, with reference to my post above, I agree entirely with Wretchard. I think the fact that the Chinese Civil War was so horrific supports Wretchard’s point–especially in the sense that even Wretchard himself did not remember it as one of history’s most destructive wars.
And it was a conventional war. The largest battle of all time, in terms of the number of troops engaged, took place in the Chinese Civil War.
Habu: One of the main difficulties you have in making your points are that you forget that ALL analogies are false in logic, yet you continuously attempt them. How silly.
Ad lapidem statements such as the one you make above are fallacious because they fail to address the merits of the claim in dispute.
I repair Air Force stuff too. It’s nuke-hardened. The country that hit us with EMP would cease to exist.
You are right. I had forgotten the Chinese civil war. I had also forgotten the Tai-Pings, odd since my wife bought the Spence book describing it. It is probably worth recalling that the Chinese did what the Left always accuses the Right of attempting: establishing a Christian government on earth. Hong Xiuquan, who started the Tai-ping Rebellion learned in a vision that he was Jesus Christ’s younger brother.
The Tai-ping Heavenly Kingdom had its capital in Nanjing.
And so ended the closest historical equivalent to the real Prester John, destroyed, ironically enough, with the help of the French and the British. Hong came onto history’s stage too soon. The Tai-ping Rebellion came in an era when the Chinese were regarded as little more than dispensable protoplasm, with considerably more value than one of Kermit Gosnell’s fetuses, but certainly less than a prisoner on California’s Death Row.
What was the line in Shanghai Express? “You are now in China, where time and human life have no value … What future is there in bein’ a Chinaman? You’re born, eat your way through a handful of rice, and you die. What a country! Let’s have a drink!”
Phase III of the Chinese Civil War ended in 1953. Only after the southern boys were destroyed by penal attacks against the UN Forces in Korea could the CPC ‘rest easy.’
Mao did not use northern boys in the front lines.
Starling @ 19 said:
“As a black American now living in the capital of Scandinavia…”
Hold on a moment! I thought you were working as an academic in the United Arab Emirates.
I know it’s none of my business but curiosity killed the cat.
Did your contract run out? Were there tenure issues? Did your university get hosed by the world recession and lay everyone off? What lead you to Scandinavia?
In a previous life, I did post-doc work in Goettingen, Germany. The sky is almost always overcast there and one seldom sees the sun (there are excellent reasons why Northern Europeans have white skin). I found the environment there so depressing that it was driving me nuts. I shudder to think what Scandinavia is like in winter (particularly near the Arctic Circle). How are you staying sane?
#22 Doug
I’m not #19 Starling, but having seen it before I think the loose English translation is:
1) If anyone was dumb enough to believe any economic statistics coming out of the Federal government up to now; future belief after this is indicative of having crossed the line of Darwinian no return.
a) The Federal Reserve absorbed most of the bad loans and economic losses that corrupt and stupid Too Big To Fail financial entities accumulated.
b) They used the supposed “profits” from the bad loans and worthless financial instruments to buy up T-Bills and run up $14 Trillion in additional national debt in 2 years. Note that there WERE no profits.
c) Right now, the Federal Reserve is the second largest holder of T-Bills, right behind China and Right above Japan.
d) They are counting the un-repayable debt they have purchased with non-existent profits off worthless loans as assets constituting fractional reserves to back the issuance of yet more inflated Federal Reserve Notes, which will be used to buy more of the un-repayable debt to keep the Ponzi scheme going while the government finishes destroying the private economy.
e) They have reached the point where even by their own less than transparent accounting system, they cannot cover up the losses; so for appearance sake they are changing the rules so that all the losses belong to the US Treasury and not the Federal Reserve [which technically is not part of the US government]. All losses now belong to the government [read taxpayers] which will cover them by issuing more T-Bills, which will be bought by the Federal Reserve and used to create more money to buy the next round of T-Bills that have to be issued to cover the additional losses that now belong to the taxpayer. At least until things break down totally. Clear as mud. Note that nowhere in this is there anything that will get the economy going again, or cause more jobs to be created. But a lot of TBTF banks will be making money off of the interest and fees, and a lot of that money will be going to politicians’ coffers.
I believe that a military term is appropriate. FUBAR, Bravo Easy.
#17 Teresita
You are making the assumption that after the next few years, that air travel will still be commonplace, and peaceful mass movements of populations will be feasible. That assumption may not hold if any of the many outcomes we have been discussing come to pass.
#53 Teresita
That’s like saying an inexperienced boy with a single-shot Derringer has blackmail capability against a platoon of war-hardened Marines armed with M134 miniguns. Sure, he might get ONE lucky shot…
If you are referring to the possibility of deterrence based on our superiority in strategic weapons; I have to note that the effectiveness of the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction is totally dependent on a sufficient overlap in cultural and logical systems. We have to mean the same things when we talk or signal on the subject, we have to have the same or similar view of the cost of failure. To be honest, not only we, but most of the world is pretty sure that a Southern colloquialism applies to both Kim Jong-il and his heir apparent grandson. “The boy just ain’t right.”. Add to that the fact that their nation has been starving to death for generations, and no, we don’t think alike. It is typical Leftist projection for our government to believe we do and depend on it. Another aspect of deterrence is the necessity to believe that if certain lines are crossed, that retaliation is guaranteed. Hell, in this country, WE can have no faith that the loss of an American city to a nuclear attack would provoke the TWANLOC who rule us to do anything but bow and apologize for having a city under their warhead. Is it rational to assume that our less than stable [in our terms] enemy believes there will be certain and unacceptable retaliation for an attack on us? Especially since we have had decades of repeated successful provocations from the North Koreans which has resulted in them being paid Danegeld every time?
Finally, there is the matter that their one “derringer shot” stands a very good chance of killing millions of Americans. The cost-benefit ratio for depending that deterrence will work, even in the absence of the critical preconditions necessary to make it work, strike me as unacceptably biased against us.
The same dynamic in re deterrence applies to dealing with the Ummah.
Subotai Bahadur
Charles @ 62 said
“In short we are at the very end of one great age and at the very beginning of another great age. At this point we are all about setting initial conditions so as to shape the trajectory of the coming age.”
I agree with this analysis with the caveat that the next age might not be so “great”.
I believe that our civilization over the last 150 years has gone through the equivalent of a shock wave. I could warble on about the analogy of the shock tube and how it could be applied to describing the world’s economy, etc. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader, refer to:
http://www.potto.org/gasDynamics/node117.php
I disagree with the sentence in the above link “The shock tube is a study tool with very little practical purposes”. Actually the shock tube is essential for understanding nonequilibrium thermodynamics. We use it all the time in developing reentry vehicle thermal protection systems.
Anyway I digress, getting back to Charles’ post, there is just a whole lot of “stuff” on the very near horizon. Anyone who works with computers knows about the “singularity” so I won’t waste time on that. There is that other singularity based upon genetic research. Pretty soon they’ll be able to reprogram lifeforms to do just about anything. Our own genetic programming will eventually be fully understood. Our intelligence comes from our genetic programming. Crack the genetic program and you get the explanation for human sentience, free of charge.
This is scary stuff: We’re opening Pandora’s boxes left and right. So far, we have been “lucky” with the thermonuclear Pandora’s box but will we be lucky with the next one?
Where was Li’l Kim during the invasion of Iraq, 2003?
Oh that’s right, he was hiding in his bunker, thinking we were going to take him out with smart bombs too.
Yes, MAD works, even with the Norks.
RE: # 70 above
Teresita
Looking back over the above, I wrote clumsily and may be giving offense where none was intended. The sentence: It is typical Leftist projection to believe we do and depend on it. should have been phrased:
“It is typical Leftist projection for the government to believe we do and depend on it.” The intent was to refer to the TWANLOC who decide policy, and not to you personally, as Leftist.
Subotai Bahadur
R @ 61: if we count the Chinese civil war, how about the Soviet periods under Stalin?
Excellent, Subotai, and thanks!
An extra-credit assignment would be to compare your outline to recent history in Japan, and give an estimate of how many orders of magnitude worse is our house of cards.
I’m also curious about what effect the fact that Japanese citizens are notable net savers whereas we are notorious net debtors will have on the outcome.
I suppose we can enjoy the cold comfort of knowing that the Feds merely stole our stashes of mortgage-fueled funny money, whereas Japanese savers worked and saved for a lifetime prior to the government confiscation and transfer of real wealth from workers to the TBTF cronie crooks and fraudsters.
Wretchard #7 – before I send this post and selected comments off to friends, is there an edit needed in the sentence below? pieces for pies?
I looked for an update, but didn’t see it.
Teresita.
The problem is that the country thinking about one nuke on us has to believe we’d shoot back.
Looking at Obama, and trying to make the case for themselves that they dearly wish to be true (which is to say fool themselves)would the would-be shooter think he’d be safe?
This is the country in which a substantial number of folks think using nukes to end a world war was a war crime.
Then there is the shooter who thinks he can hide the origin. Suppose it is launched from a tramp freighter off Long Island. Best we can do is nuke isotope ratios. Some months later, using nuke CSI, we decide that, say, Russia is the villain, which wouldn’t make sense. Probably something of theirs that got away.
That’s pretty cold blood in which to decide to destroy a couple of million civilians in a city which may or may not have had anything to do with it.
Or so the would-be shooter might think.
77:
In the event it happens (and we all hope it does not), depending on who the President is, we could expect some general housecleaning in the aftermath. “Gosh, we don’t really know whether it was Ahmedinejad or Li’l Kim or Assad did this thing, we had to nuke all three sites. It was the only way to be sure.”
Set a great precedent for the centuries to follow. Guaranteed to be the last time such a thing was necessary.
And if the President opts to bow and grovel instead, even his own party will get the rope. You saw how bloodthirsty Americans were on 9-12.
62. Charles
500 years, yikes. I better stock up on more beenie weenies and Oil of Olay.
You know, when I hear this crazy talk about throwing nukes around the Muslim world just because 19 of them got in a sucker punch, it reminds me of Michael Savage. Who by the way, is the biggest closet case I’ve ever seen. Makes Senator Wide Stance look like Mike Ditka.
65. Teresita
Your ad lapidem defense is incorrect. Failing to address the merits of the claim in dispute is not the relevent key to your rebuttal.
I used an ICBM and you used a Derringer. Apples and oranges.
In an analogy, two objects or events, A and B, are supposed to be similar. Then, it is argued that since A has property P, B must also have property P. An analogy is false when A and B are materially different such that B doesn’t possess property P. 2) An imperfect analogy may succeed in predicting property P in B, but in B the property is possessed differently or only partially. So, analogies fail either by seeing an analogy where none exists or by overestimating the value or significance of the analogy.,(your mistake, but one of the most common made) However, determining whether an analogy is good, false, or imperfect is as much an art as a science.
Furthermore, even a good analogy is not a proof and at most provides probabilistic or inductive evidence. And in logic there must be a valid or “true” proof established.
But thanks for playing.
Former Spy With Agenda Operates Own Private C.I.A.
WASHINGTON — A venture by Duane R. Clarridge shows how the outsourcing of military and intelligence operations has spawned legally murky clandestine operations that can be at cross-purposes with America’s foreign policy.
—
Over the past two years, he has fielded operatives in the mountains of Pakistan and the desert badlands of Afghanistan. Since the United States military cut off his funding in May, he has relied on like-minded private donors to pay his agents to continue gathering information about militant fighters, Taliban leaders and the secrets of Kabul’s ruling class.
80. Teresita
Girl, this is not your best day.
“because 19 of them got in a sucker punch”
I’m not going into the whole Islamic philosophy thing, or the literally thousands of terrorist attacks Islam has carried out worldwide, or their statements about obliterating Israel. That would be too easy.
Let’s just say you’re a wee bit off you game today.
Teresita. You’re probably right about what would happen. The question is, however, what the would-be shooter thinks would happen. If he thinks he can get away with it, then tries, we’re nuked. What happens after that doesn’t un-nuke us.
Wretchard,
Good stuff on the Tai-Ping Revolution. After World War II, perhaps, in terms of lives lost, history’s most destructive war.
Well, check that. I am told by historians who know the subject that the most destructive war was the Mongol conquest of China. One historian put the number of Chinese who died–mostly to famine and disease, but as a direct consequence of prolonged warfare–at a staggering 180 million.
#59 Gylar. My family and I appreciate your service. Do not waste the fruit of the vine on such thoughts, stand firm but rest easy. If you are still in the environs NW of the beltway, perhaps we could compare old Belmont club notes and the effects of Wretch’s musings upon our attitudes of service over a local glass.
To paraphrase our wise and benevolent benefactor and the not so Peter Tosh:
indigenize it and I will advertise it.
Yes I meant “pieces” not pies.
Teresita: “when I hear this crazy talk about throwing nukes around the Muslim world just because 19 of them got in a sucker punch, it reminds me of Michael Savage. Who by the way, is the biggest closet case I’ve ever seen. Makes Senator Wide Stance look like Mike Ditka.”
Michael Savage is the rational one. Teresita suffers from either blind paranoia or is sympathetic to the enemy – let’s hope it is the former. Even if Teresita is blindly irrational the end result of a national led by those suffering from blind paranoia is the same as that of too many key players within a nation siding with the enemy – defeat – and in our case defeat of human liberty. Using highly-targeted nuclear weapons in self defense may become necessary when all else fails. No doubt the Byzantines could have used a few before the final fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=5110
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/05/the-nakba-may-29-1453.html
The entire 7th century Christian civilization of the Middle East and North Africa could have used a few nukes before they met the sharp edge of the Muslim sword. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, Teresita is blind to the reality of 21st century Muslim asymmetrical warfare – since only 19 Muslim soldiers flew into the buildings on 9/11 – forgetting that millions of Muslims are sympathetic to mass-murdering totalitarian Islam – millions of Muslims sympathetic to totalitarian Sharia Law – and many millions more who knowingly remain silent – patiently waiting for final Muslim victory over the infidel.
The situation today parallels that of Nazi Germany in the 1940’s. We were not at war with every ordinary German, but those ordinary Germans by and large supported the evil of Nazi Law, Nazi military force, and the Nazi S.S. and Gestapo. Most ordinary Germans during World War II were peace-loving, but they did not sufficiently stand up for peace under human liberty – they were all too willing to live in peace under tyranny; and the same can be truthfully said regarding millions of ordinary Muslims today. Will 21st century Muslims side with their totalitarian clerics, terrorists and Sharia Law, or will they choose to defend the sacred rights of man: life, liberty and creative pursuit of happiness? Will ordinary Muslims choose totalitarian religious government or will they choose a republican form of government which rules by consent of the governed? Ordinary Germans made the wrong choice in the last century, what about the ordinary Muslims of today? It doesn’t look good.
September 11, 2001 was the main opening act between two alliances: the American-led Alliance of Liberty vs. the Islamo-Fascist Alliance of tyranny. This war is far from over; and it has the potential for much greater evil and destruction than World War II. It is time to beat our plowshares into swords and our pruning hooks into spears; and to loose the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword – just war in defense of sacred human life and human liberty. You can read more in: “World War IV, The Long Struggle Against Islamo-Fascism” by Norman Podhoretz
http://fora.tv/2007/11/30/Norman_Podhoretz
http://fora.tv/2007/11/30/Uncommon_Knowledge_Norman_Podhoretz
SB@70: c) Right now, the Federal Reserve is the second largest holder of T-Bills, right behind China and Right above Japan.
The Federal Reserve holds $5.4 trillion of US debt (as of Sept 2010).
About a decade ago, the total government holdings were “only” $2.5 trillion.
The No. 2 spot of 1.5 trillion is held by “Others:”
With the most recent numbers from Sept 2010, this extremely diverse group includes individuals, government-sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts, estates, savings bonds, corporate and non-corporate businesses for a total of $1.458 trillion.
Although the level of debt held in U.S. savings bonds has remained relatively constant since 2000, the broad category of “Other” investors has nearly quadrupled since reaching a four-year low in September 2007.
China and Japan are essentially tied at No. 3 ($0.90 trillion) and No. 4 ($0.88 trillion), respectively.
It’s not so much a quibble about ranking as it is about relative numbers. Not far behind China and Japan are Pension Funds ($0.71 trillion) and Mutual funds ($0.64 trillion.)
But I agree with the conclusion in subsection e).
#55 erc rodson,
well my post related the way our mines sites in Niger weren’t well securised, because of local reasons, government putchiste that didn’t want our nationals as contractors, etc, also because some enterprises neglected the AKMI nuisance, uncertainty of the locals ment to protect our nationals working there, explained here in French:
http://secretdefense.blogs.liberation.fr/defense/2010/09/niger-la-s%C3%A9curit%C3%A9-des-mines-duranium-en-question.html
Since these events, we managed to have some troops and a intellligence service there, idem planes for reconnaissance…
yes the Tirailleurs Sénégalais were magnifiques, as also our Meharistes, our Atlas fithters (Algerian/Maroccan), les Goumiers Marocains, les Spahis…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Goumier (were at Monte Casino)
http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/fr/M%C3%A9hariste (Meharistes)
but they were enframed by our military, thus faithful to us, which isn’t the case anymore if we enrol people from the same places
wretchard @ 7,
The Western political class is only dysfunctional if you believe its proper function is the betterment of its people.
Its own idea of its function is to amass more power to rule its people more and more completely, and in that sense it is very, very functional.
Earlier, someone mentioned government in the same sentence with problem-solving, which caught my attention because I never viewed government as a problem solving agent per se.
According to wiki (not intentionally trying to make the academics faint) government has six functions:
*****************************************************************
1. Foreign Relations – Diplomacy and Defense
2. Develop business strength – Incubate small business, special research and development, such as space research, job training, unemployment insurance and more.
3. Protect and regulate the sustainable use of natural resources.
4. Enforce and regulate fair and responsible business practices. Included in this is monitoring monetary policy, giving consumer protection and regulating banking practices.
5. Determine and enforce civil laws of property and conduct. This includes the freedoms of the press, religion and rights of property.
6. Provide public goods and services for the well-being of the community as a whole, such as infrastructure, vaccination programs, disaster relief, fireworks shows, public parks, basic healthcare, subsidized housing, public education and public utilities.
(These are things that the government provides better than private business for the community at large through pooling money and resources. There are more positive externalities for society when government provides public goods and services.)
****************************************************************
None of which relate – directly – to ‘problem solving’ so much as they relate to grooming the (international and domestic) playing fields to achieve predefined objectives of peace, prosperity … and possibly freedom, thrown in as a wild card, subject to circumstances, feasibility, and prevailing winds.
The old divide of central planning vs market direction was a stark either-or approach that led to two world wars. The modern divide, more of an amalgam, is something along the lines of market forces vs corporate rent-seeking from centralized government, or what we are calling crony capitalism. Both relational models are flawed. The challenge is building a new model.
I understand that 99% of this site will say that the challenge is getting back to No Government – or Little Government – or Less Government. That purity of argument may in fact prevail, but the fact of implementing a ‘rollback’ remains daunting, especially in the modern context of middle class prosperity, the lineage of which can arguably be said to be mixed. One is left with the search for Better Government.
Which may or may not be feasible. I really don’t know. What I do know is that government does seem to … well … be in the public cross-hairs. As in, shape up or ship out.
First true thing you have said is: “It’s nuke-hardened.” Plus Army, plus Navy which implies Marines. The science has been around since the 80′s to successfully do so. But as Habu reminded me, we are not supposed to say so, Dummy.
The real question is this: Would the pResident or one like him have the cojones to respond? I think we all know the answer to that one as he IS the weakest horse.
Some of us have pointed out that like The Operative in “Serenity” those who do the necessary work to protect the soft citizens will not be welcome in the society their deeds allow to exist. You know, the rough men that allow you to sleep in your bed this night. You are rightfully frightened and do not know why. That is sad somehow.
@ Eggplant
In short, marriage brought me to Sweden. I still teach in Qatar–just one term per year.
Shoot me an email at starling at qatar dot cmu dot edu and I’d be happy to fill you in on all the rest.
87. wretchard Yes I meant “pieces” not pies.
Dang! I love pies and was so looking forward to it.
9/11 and the economic collapse of 2008 were instances where reality intruded. All the illusions and stories were destroyed in an unexpected event, unexpected only by those who bought into the illusions and stories.
In both instances in a very short time, scarily short, the illusions were rebuilt.
Very strange, and very dangerous.
Derek
Starling @ 94,
Looks like you’re living an interesting life (hopefully “interesting” in the positive sense and not in the Chinese sense). I met my bride while I was in Germany. Fortunately she was South African and not German. There is much to be said for an international marriage.
derek @ 96 said:
“9/11 and the economic collapse of 2008 were instances where reality intruded. All the illusions and stories were destroyed in an unexpected event, unexpected only by those who bought into the illusions and stories.”
Idiots still have their eyes closed and are clapping their hands while repeating “I do believe in fairies, I do, I do”. Obama’s election was a symptom of this.
Eggplant #97:
Yes and then when their delusional schemes don’t work then they hold a Day of Rage and throw a temper tantrum over it. I hear the Day of Rage approach favored by first the Palistinans and then by the Left in Europe is coming here over budget cuts.
I need to go into business selling T-shirts that say:
“Forget Stupid Rachel Corriane! You Better Remember The Friggin’ Bulldozer!”