The Return of Reality
For wars that are supposed to be ending a lot of things are starting in Iran and Iraq. As the US plans its exit from Afghanistan and Iraq, another power plans its future there. “Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has transferred lethal new munitions to its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent months, according to senior U.S. officials, in a bid to accelerate the U.S. withdrawals from these countries.” Some US officials are using the Iranian buildup to argue for a slower withdrawal.
“I think we are likely to see these Iranian-backed groups continue to maintain high attack levels” as the exit date nears, Maj. Gen. James Buchanan, the U.S. military’s top spokesman in Iraq, said in an interview. “But they are not going to deter us from doing everything we can to help the Iraqi security forces.”
Iran is now pressuring Afghanistan to re-think the post-withdrawal presence of American bases there, while “Iraq has in recent years been a proxy battlefield for the U.S. and Iran. U.S. officials in Iraq said the Qods Force is training and arming three primary militias that have in recent months attacked U.S. and Iraqi forces.” Iran has denied shipping weapons, but British forces intercepted a shipment of 122 mm rockets in Afghanistan, bigger than anything hitherto seen. And in a related development, following news that Pakistan had ordered the US drone base at Shamsi closed, the Pakistan Observer reports that drone attacks are now being launched from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton advised Colonel Khadaffy to think about surrendering instead of threatening “swarm attacks” on the capitals of Europe. Khadaffy made the threat in a mass a rally to supporters. She spoke as the African Union rejected the ICC arrest warrant on Khadaffy, saying they would not execute it.
In an address relayed to some 100,000 supporters in Tripoli’s Green Square on Friday, Gaddafi urged NATO to halt its bombing campaign or risk seeing Libyan fighters descend on Europe “like a swarm of locusts or bees.”
The ICC was not the only organization serving a process on persons not in custody. Iran announced it planned to arrest and try 26 US intelligence operatives in absentia. “Iranian officials claim to have the handles and descriptions of the Americans they say are involved in the alleged operation.”
Hillary Clinton chided Syria from Lithuania for failing to heed her advice to reform and warned Damascus that it would face increasingly organized opposition if it did not. Earlier there were reports that the US had a roadmap in which Assad could stay in place if “reforms” were implemented. Now the LA Times reports that the US has opened channels to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, one of Assad’s primary opponents. The Heritage Foundation says the Arab Spring has turned into a “long hot summer” in Syria and Lebanon. With arrest warrants issued against the Hezbollah for the assassination of Rafik Hariri, not only unrest in Syria but civil unrest in Lebanon is a distinct possibility.
The universal sheriff now appears to be the United States, which has picked up dead and wounded terrorists from a drone strike in Somalia, the 6th country in which drone operations are currently underway. “U.S. military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a U.S. drone strike targeted a group of insurgents, Somalia’s defense minister said Friday.” It is unclear where the wounded militants will be taken. The Somali government is apparently out of the loop nor cares to be included. The drones may have flown from bases in the Seychelles, though this could not be confirmed.
Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi called on the U.S. to carry out more airstrikes against the al-Qaida-linked militants, though he admitted that Somali officials appear not to have been informed about the June 23 operation near the southern coastal town of Kismayo beforehand.
“But we are not complaining about that. Absolutely not. We welcome it,” Faqi said. “We understand the U.S.’s need to quickly act on its intelligence on the ground. We urge the U.S. to continue its strikes against al-Shabab because if it keeps those strikes up, it will be easier for us to defeat al-Shabab.”
Meanwhile, in another country where drone operations are taking place, the AP reports that 50 Yemeni soldiers are missing in action after a clash with Islamic militants. “Dozens of Yemeni troops went missing after a battle with al-Qaida-linked militants at a sports stadium in the country’s increasingly lawless south, a military official said Saturday, describing a new setback for a weakened regime already facing an array of opponents.”
Events suggest that the administration attempts to spin away the existence of the War on Terror by banning the term or reducing it to law enforcement have finally failed. There is no more talk about trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed in Manhattan. No Grand Bargain with Syria or Iran appears to be forthcoming. To Afghanistan, Pakistan appears to have been added as a battlefield in Southwest Asia. The vaunted Middle East peace process has been replaced by the Arab Long Hot Summer. Reality is breaking out all over. This takes place against a background of declining military budgets. The AP reports that even US veteran’s cemeteries in the Philippines are overgrown with weeds from lack of funding. “Clark Veterans Cemetery was consigned to oblivion in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo’s gigantic eruption forced the U.S. to abandon the sprawling air base surrounding it. Retired U.S. soldiers, Marines and sailors volunteer to keep watch, relying on donations to try to maintain the grounds, but they lament that they’re helplessly short on funds to fix things, and that Washington is unwilling to help.”
President Obama had been counting on a peace dividend. In announcing “a reduction of 33,000 troops in Afghanistan by September 2012, [the President] said it was ‘time to focus on nation-building at home’”. CBS News said it reflected the reality that “we just don’t have the money anymore”. But given the actual expansion of the War on Terror under the Obama administration — an expansion in which there was never the closure of victory, only the continuation of mission creep — the commitments have expanded rather than diminished. The potential costs are not falling, they are inexorably rising. By finishing nothing the President has continued everything. Now in the Summer of 2011 the administration it is facing the cumulative effects of its mistakes. It has turned the page not on the epilog, but on the prolog.
And now for lawfare where the defendants are not going to be terrorist suspects but the administration itself. Karl Marx famously wrote, “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” He was was wrong. In the Obama administration’s case, the first appearance of lawfare was as farce, the second was as tragedy.
“No Way In” print and Kindle edition at Amazon
Snark ON: “I know what to do, our US military forces need to be union members!”
Snark OFF:
Wretchard: ” the first appearance of lawfare was as farce, the second was as tragedy.”
No, Wretchard, we have progressed way beyond that. Now it’s all tragedy and farce, all the time, and that combined together with bankruptcy. We are spending ourselves into Debt Oblivion. These interminable
warshumanitarian kinetic actions and nation-building projects and law-enforcement responses are bleeding us dry.… have finally failed
have always already failed, we all knew that from day one, were pre-failed.
I guess it would be out of the question and out of bounds to suggest that funds being used to pay for DoD implementation of the post-DADT regime instead be used to maintain the graves of American military heroes in the Philippines?
That is sooo early 20th century …
Iran sure is leading with their chin, just asking for a lethal right cross. If only we had a leader.
Perhaps we should thank the Islamists for demolishing the Leftist’s idea that we could ever make peace with the
so-called religion of Peace. I’m a thinkin the situation will get so bad that next time we have a war with Islam, it will not be a War on Terror but a War 0n Islam, where we will come to destroy, cripple and exterminate for all time, not nation build. In only another 18 months we almost sure to have a new President, who we can only hope is this time up to the job. Here’s to hoping.
Western political culture has created a convention of lies which cannot be contravened. You can call this political correctness, or a system of taboos. But whatever you call it in essence its Freud’s idea of denial. Facts that are too unpleasant to be faced are simply rejected, however insistently they return.
The list of lies grows and grows. There must be equality of outcomes. All cultures are equally worthy. All sexual practices are of identical worth. Monkeys have human rights. War is always wrong. We should have no enemies. We are not running out of money, it is just that we can’t find the stash.
From there it is a short step to a policy based on denial. Statesmen say the opposite of the truth. Pakistan is our friend. We can reach out to Iran. Obamacare will cut costs. The President is a genius. We are safer if we give Russia the keys to missile defense. North Korean hunger is our fault. Global warming is the greatest threat to mankind of all time. Etc, etc etc.
At one level nobody really believes these lies. Mark Halperin’s recent outburst and the Morning Joe observation that even if Democratic analysts were invited at a ratio of 10 to 1, no one could be found to defend the President indicates that not even the choir is converted. At least, not in their heart of hearts.
They just pretend to be converted. And everybody goes along. Ultimately political correctness results in everyone speaking in code. They say the ‘right things’ but they mean another. We live in a consciously deceitful dialog where everything is uttered for show, just as if we were wiretapped. Thus the word “dick” is dissected endlessly, examined for every shade of pejorative meaning, lest it contain some monstrous shade of lese majeste. But everyone knows the real reason why this word is on the rack isn’t because it was used falsely, but because it was used altogether too accurately. Still no one says so openly.
But in the split level world of denial the truth is no defense. In fact, it is the greatest crime. Yet how long can a world in denial be maintained? How long can Prince Prospero and his gilded guests ignore the dark outer world? Only for as long as reality can be kept at bay. Sooner or later the ugly truth appears, like Mephistopheles at a dinner party. And then it cannot be denied.
What wailings will be heard on that day, it is hard to guess. But they will be loud and shrill. And denial will be in the forefront again. “Bush did it! Yes, Reagan did it!” Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. What can you do? Just note the nearest exit.
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION.
The Arab Spring
Has turned to Summer
And NATO sighs
God what a bummer
The mullahs grin
And send in rockets
While Karzai’s hands
Rifle our pockets
Oiled Paki smiles
Conceal the knife
And Hillary smiles
And says that’s life
OT, 49% of Democrats believe an authoritarian government is A-OK, or are confused about the issue.
From Rasmussen Reports, July 1st http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/june_2011/americans_still_agree_with_ideals_set_forth_in_the_declaration_of_independence
“The Declaration of Independence, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, asserts that “governments derive their only just powers from the consent of the governed.” A new Rasmussen Reports national survey finds that 66% of American Adults agree with that statement, up 10 points from three years ago. Sixteen percent (16%) disagree. Another 18% are undecided.
Seventy-three percent (73%) of both Republicans and those not affiliated with either major political party agree that the government gets its powers from the consent of the governed. Just 51% of Democrats agree.”
Nowadays we see the abdication of personal individuality and the rejection of freedom – not so much the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the freedom to do what one ought. Political correctness relieves people of the burden of freedom and conditions them to speak and do according to “the best judgement of the State”.
Yes, many of them only half believe in what they say or do. For those who can’t tolerate freedom, political correctness must be a comfort. Reality will come when political correctness as a means of comfort becomes patently absurd to its present congregation. The big danger is that people who find comfort in rejecting freedom, also tend to find comfort in some form of totalitarianism and may leave the shelter of political correctness for one of it’s more extreme relatives..
Wretchard #7 Yet how long can a world in denial be maintained?
Soeren Kern thinks that denial may be in process of breaking down in the Netherlands:
“The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands.
A new integration bill (covering letter and 15-page action plan), which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: ‘The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.’
The letter continues: ‘A more obligatory integration is justified because the government also demands that from its own citizens. It is necessary because otherwise the society gradually grows apart and eventually no one feels at home anymore in the Netherlands. The integration will not be tailored to different groups.’
The new integration policy will place more demands on immigrants. For example, immigrants will be required to learn the Dutch language, and the government will take a tougher approach to immigrants to ignore Dutch values or disobey Dutch law.
The government will also stop offering special subsidies for Muslim immigrants because, according to Donner, ‘it is not the government’s job to integrate immigrants.’ The government will introduce new legislation that outlaws forced marriages and will also impose tougher measures against Muslim immigrants who lower their chances of employment by the way they dress. More specifically, the government will impose a ban on face-covering Islamic burqas as of January 1, 2013.
If necessary, the government will introduce extra measures to allow the removal of residence permits from immigrants who fail their integration course.”
What is interesting is that Donner, who presented the bill, “has undergone a late-in-life conversion on the issue of Muslim immigration. In September 2006, while serving as justice minister, Donner provoked an outcry after saying that he welcomed the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in the Netherlands if the majority wants it. He also said Holland should give Muslims more freedoms to behave according to their traditions. . . . Fast forward to 2011 and Donner now says his government ‘will distance itself from the relativism contained in the model of a multicultural society.’ Although society changes, he says, it must not be ‘interchangeable with any other form of society.’”
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2219/netherlands-abandons-multiculturalism
It appears that Obama was going to cause his promised Change by using the fabled “Systems Approach.” Rather than ad hoc responses, a whole range of synergistic initiatives would cause a new world to appear. Extending the hand of friendship to Iran and indicating US displeasure with Israel would stop the cycle of violence in the Middle East. New green technologies would both reduce the influence of the Middle East and stop Global Warming, with the additional side effect of causing vast new revenues to flood into the government as a result of electric rates spiraling upward and the price of gasoline going to $10 a gallon.
All of this would bring forth a new power structure comprised of Democratic Party Operatives, lobbyists, NGOs, favored private firms, and unions that would sweep away the last vestiges of the old Republic. With the power of the Death Star, … uh, … (sorry, there is certain movie playing in the next room) I mean, such initiatives as Cap and Trade, Obama and his unelected czars would rule directly, and by decree.
But the problem with the Systems Approach is that if the system is either designed wrong or if any one element fails to work, the whole thing does not work.
And the first problem is that the system is designed wrong, although that does not really matter because not one of those system elements has worked. Not one. Just fix that and he’s got everything set for success.
The pretending to get along (go along to get along) cuts both ways. If anything Islam is even more afflicted then the west.
AS America withdraws the Moslimes will attack in order to feed their myth that the defeated us and forced a withdrawal. This has been predicted.
Look at the Israli campaign in Lebanon half a decade ago. Hezz-bo-allah claimed victory because they were not exterminated to the last terrorist. Nevermind that they survived because nobody thought it was worth the cost(moral, political or financial) of exterminating them. The fact is that to the 7th century AD mind they won. Notice they haven’t started anything since then. That might be the best that we can hope for from murderous savages with access to automatic weapons.
After 2012, the Next POTUS should beef up the drone campaign. They will shoot down drones eventually. That is when we switch to manned bombers escorted by F-22″s.
Grind their face into the fact that America is a Warrior nation and we let them live because it suits us.
PA Cat,
The important question has not yet been confronted – What will the Dutch government actually do when the Muslims refuse to conform to the new requirements? Stabbing Van Gogh was already forbidden, but it still was done. Do the Dutch have the stones(figuratively and literally) to drive out defiant Muslims? If the answer is no, the future will get even darker, very quickly. If the answer is yes, they will deservedly lead the New New Europe. I favor the Ferdinand and Isabella approach.
Wretchard’s @ 7: Brings up an interesting parallel. The US political culture is becoming more like that of Islamic nations, that is it is becoming the culture of the lie. I wonder though how long the culture of the lie can be sustained in the West given the informational infrastructure that now exists? Also, certain lies are already being questioned, Things heard:”If health care is free why do you have to ration life saving drugs for my mother?” “You said if I paid into social security, medicare, medicade, and my income tax I’d be safe in my old age. So I signed up for Medicare part B and now doctors won’t see me unless it is near terminal.” “If I’m going to die regardless and the world is over populated as you say I’ll go ahead and die, I’ll even do better than that, I’ll take some of you useless parasites with me!”
Western political culture has created a convention of lies which cannot be contravened. You can call this political correctness, or a system of taboos. But whatever you call it in essence its Freud’s idea of denial. Facts that are too unpleasant to be faced are simply rejected, however insistently they return.
The list of lies grows and grows. There must be equality of outcomes. All cultures are equally worthy. All sexual practices are of identical worth. Monkeys have human rights. War is always wrong. We should have no enemies. We are not running out of money, it is just that we can’t find the stash.
Agreed. To this list of lies can be added the notion that any war (or humanitarian kinetic action) America fights can be paid for with tax cuts.
@14 Rurik…
Ferdinand (who was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church) and Isabella (who may also have been, but my hagiographic training is slender), also famously kicked out all the Jews in 1492. Do you favor that element as well?
We have found the most intelligent man in Africa Europe or America.
What is notable is the serial nature of the frauds and the disregard for even the most elementary level of window dressing now. It is like the administration and the Iranians and the Yurps are all tired and going through the motions. Backstage someone is yelling “Oh hell throw out old number 6, the “support of global legal institutions,” again or wait a moment we have a refurbished number 4, the “We will really turn a a profit because this will increase demand among the Aid recipients,” in the trunk, just use that.”
Remember in Huck Finn when the Duke and the Dauphin suckered townsfolk into paying for “The Royal Nonesuch?” After two performances the marks were ready to retaliate. We are less savvy than the Mississippi rubes of 160 years ago. For those who prefer more modern literature remember Ian Fleming’s rule in Goldfinger. “We have a saying in Chicago Mr. Bond. Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times it is enemy action.”
Hillary Clinton chided Syria…for failing to heed her advice
Now that’s showin’ ‘em!! (And on the fourth of July, no less!!)
(Forsooth, methinks that Bashar is about to feel The Wrath of Hillary. And not a moment too soon!…. What’s that you say? After summer vacation?….)
Now here’s an interesting tidbit: Seems that Obama has seen finally seen the light and that the government is finally, finally trying to reign in the spending!
…Oh, hold on:
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/serious-security-threat-china-sells-us-navy-fake-microchips_06292011
File under: Lenin, rope….
Rurik #14,
If the Dutch crack down there will be a lot of Moslems who follow the path of least resistance and cross the boarder to a neighboring country.
Of course, soon all of the countries in Europe will realize they can’t have softer laws than the Dutch, so they will start stiffening their laws. It will be a cascade as each country makes their laws stricter and stricter. I’ve long felt this is what is bound to happen in Europe, particularly in light of its porous internal boarders.
You’ll end up with a Moslem population sloshing about in an increasingly hostile environment. I wouldn’t be surprised to see, in 10 or 20 years, a large population of swarthy looking fellows wearing giant wooden crosses, eating ham sandwiches and swearing their name is John and not Mohamed.
This is Europe after all, it’s not like they’ve never ran a pogrom or two when they felt threatened.
A tale of two Harvard graduates:
On one hand, Richard Fernandez.
On the other hand, Barack Hussein Obama.
@16
Great. Lead the way. YOU pay more tax, on your own, above and beyond your top marginal rate. Provide a voucher. Then I’ll see it your way. Otherwise, it is just carping from the sidelines about having somebody else pay for your special interests. And since I am white, straight, employed, married, a “breeder”, and a veteran, not wealthy, and can get out of my own way in life, I am reasonably sure I don’t qualify as one of your “special interests”. So pay for them yourself. Or go over to DU or Koz where you can find many like minded useless whining parasites who call spending other people’s money “compassion”. You would think that people who purport to be so much smarter than the rest of us would have developed more than one idea since 1848.
The Obama administration creates the case of the compassionate conservative being mugged by reality. A true leftist would now pine for a totalitarian ruler (communists of course) while the church going nice guys who just want to show empathy and compassion for all while they muster on with their moderately successful life. I think the moderate has been mugged hardest of all and in 2012 we may get the chance to count their numbers. I believe a lot of this political correct BS has been an excess riding on the tide of success. Now that the going is getting tougher for all, the future is more uncertain than ever, we will see a ground swell of pragmatism up against a wall of extreme left behavior. The left will make the point, increasingly shrill, that 75% of Americans are racists. They will make their point through violence and destruction. In places like LA, the police will protect them. They will join forces with any and every group that will oppose 75% of Americans, shopping the international community for input (and funding). The Left will make their case for transnationalism and GE will enthusiastically agree.
23 Vanguard.
Re: 16
“Agreed. To this list of lies can be added …”
Gotta read the whole thing…
tom
OT – “Serious Security Threat: China Sells Fake Microchips to U.S. Navy”
The federal governments hatred for all things American have brought them to buy fake chips with built in Trojan Horses from China. Maybe the geniuses should just out source our missile systems to those smart little Chinese guys. Better yet, why don’t we have Hillary outsource are security needs to China, Russia, and Iran. Makes perfect sense if you accept the initial premise.
Communists suck the life out of the economy by over taxing.
Capitalists blow life into the economy by keeping taxes low enough to sustain growth. Growth increase tax receipts.
Communists divide and concur amongst themselves that it is good to be king.
If you are a loser you get a choice of being screwed by the barrel of a gun or screwed at a cash register. I’ll take the later… it is voluntary.
re “The universal sheriff now appears to be the United States, which has picked up dead and wounded terrorists from a drone strike in Somalia, the 6th country in which drone operations are currently underway.’
Has anyone thought about what happens to US when our adversaries acquire drones and their weaponry? I would think the number of people that would like to pay us back in our own coin is growing by the week.
Or are drones too complex and expensive for that to ever happen?
“She spoke as the African Union rejected the ICC arrest warrant on Khadaffy, saying they would not execute it.”
Arranging for an “arrest warrant” on a tyrant; how delusional can our elite be?
12) RWE,
“And the first problem is that the system is designed wrong, although that does not really matter because not one of those system elements has worked. Not one. Just fix that and he’s got everything set for success.”
It’s like that Jack-in-the-Box commercial where the accountant says “But we’re losing money on every sandwich we sell!” and Jack responds, “We’ll make it up with volume.”
The President just needs a little more time.
O/T but it’s the 4th of July
Fourth of July. Fireworks, cookouts, baseball, holding hands with your best girl. That’s what it’s about now, but it wasn’t always what it was about.
THE GLORIOUS FOURTH OF JULY
In a seafaring town not a few years ago
It happened one hot summer day
A document fair to the townsfolk was read
That put all the bells into play
They rang out the news that the freedom they sought
Was theirs by God’s writ and His grace
And from that day to this the good people held fast
To the freedoms those men put in place
The Fathers, the Founders, they sweated and swore
Until they had got the words down
And created the world’s finest country by far
And it happened in my Philly town
Exhelo #31:
I was thinking of a commercial I recall where they say “If we had some film we could take some pictures of our trip to the beach except that we don’t have a camera and we are not at the beach.”
Feebleminded #29:
Any drone we have deployed to date could be shot down very easily by the assets available to the Confederate Air Force, the Yankee Air Museum, the Valiant Air Command, the Movieland of the Air Museum, the Museum of Flight, the Olympic Flight Museum, the Experimental Aircraft Association, the Fantasy of Flight Museum, and any number of private individuals who own and fly fighter type aircraft, including many jet fighters. Any one of these could take out a drone, and futhermore would have ball doing so. And that does not count the USAF, US Navy, USMC, US Army, US Coast Guard, the various ANG units, and the Civil Air Patrol. Sleep tight America! The whole country is one damn big Air Force!
According to Wikipedia, Iran has approximately 75,000,000, with a nomial GDP of $350B, but a PPP GDP of $818B. 45% of the government’s budget depends on oil and gas revenues. The USA’s population is approximately 310,000,000, and its GDP is $14.8 Trillion (no distinction between nominal/PPP GDP). We also have large force presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a dedicated alliance with the Gulf States, Israel, and Jordan. How is it that Iran, whose cities can be flattened by level 5 earthquakes and is allegedly beset by Baluch insurgencies, serious difficulties with its more sophisticated electorate, and the concentrated attention of Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA and probably France and UK – how can this country wage this sort of strategic struggle? Is it purely through blackmail of the type: “If you take X action, say goodbye to your CIA chief in Beirut and Amman?” or “Do that, and we will close Hormuz” or… what?
What casus belli could Iran possibly threaten that would not be vastly outweighed, strategically, by the sufficient political cover those very threats, if executed, would lend our offense against them? In other words, how can this crappy little country, led ostensibly by theologians, in a part of the world with very little contact with or cultural instinct for how the West operates and therefore how to manipulate the West – how can it do all this? Why do we tolerate these armed factions in Iraq, not least of al Moqtada al-Sadr, who is apparenlty an idiot?
I don’t get it. There is something missing from the hawk narrative. What does it mean, for example, when, on the eve of announcing a UN Security Council compromise to authorize Western support of Libyan rebels [sic], Hillary Clinton states that ‘there have been problems’ with authorizing more direct intervention – or maybe just more direct language – and those problems are widely expected to come from Russia and China, neither of which are remotely affected by, for example, the interruption of Libyan oil deliveries?
I think there is something clearly strange about this Iran/North Korea/Pakistan narrative. Even Bill Clinton himself on CNN with Wolf Blitzer this weekend, when Wolf asked him about what he would advise Syria’s Assad to do at this moment, seemed to catch himself when he began to list Syria’s threatening relationships… he almost seemed to decide to redact the first country or countries he was about to mention, and then sort of smild and said “you know, Iran….” His smile seemed to say, “well I guess The Memo said we’re allowed to talk about Iran as enemy, so ‘you know, Iran…’”
Dan @34…
Churchill prohibited any scheme to assassinate Hitler on the grounds that his replacement would surely end up being a savvy general. ( Rommel? ) That’d be the LAST thing the Allies wanted to face.
Such is the calculus for Moqtada al-Sadr. No way could his replacement be as dumb and inept. He’s the Col Klink of factional leadership.
France has an Iranian connection. ( Remember the Ayatollah ?) Europe is vulnerable to deniable, state sponsored attacks against their economies. ( Car-B-Ques )
So what we have is a Dark War — a war fought by commerce and economics… by spies and counter-spies.
(The only power on Earth that can truly project power against Iran is America. All others must go atomic or go dark.)
I think there is something clearly strange about this Iran/North Korea/Pakistan narrative.
Someone remarked to me over the weekend that “the policy in Libya does not seem rational”. I answered, “because it probably is not.” “How do you know?” was the retort. “Because rational actions are obvious,” I answered.
The characteristic of rationality is that it rarely requires a privileged viewpoint. The truth can be demonstrated to anyone. It does not require revelation from on high. Therefore rational action is usually self-evident upon close inspection. Rationality has the character leading to independent but identical solutions to whomever it is presented. Whenever rationality is predicated on special knowledge it is suspect, especially in public policy. Any time a politician says to the voters, ‘what I am doing makes sense except you are too dumb to realize it’ he is almost certainly hiding something. Factors which threaten the security of nations are of such magnitude that they ought to at least be discernible and therefore invokable as an open source cause for alarm.
So the argument that “the Libya operation makes sense but only the President knows why” is problematic. I can accept that special knowledge can provide an unseen justification in the short run, but over the long run that is unlikely to be true.
What is more the longer the Libya operation continues the less rational it appears to be. The contrary would be true if the President were acting on confidential knowledge because his actions would seem ever more, rather than ever less justified.
It is far more plausible to assume that Libya is being fought for other considerations. Maybe Bill is in on it; maybe not. But it’s a hell of a way to run a railroad.
@25 tomw, if I misread the tone of #16, I sincerely apologize for the rant to all of the esteemed participants here, alexis especially. I just read it again and it still sounds for all the world like “you right wingers want war AND tax cuts”, which is a grossly inaccurate narrative I am quite frankly tired of hearing, especially in light of the additional overseas operations and massive special interest spending this administration continues to foist on the best country on Earth.
I’ve been following Japanese Politics over at AMPOTAN
http://ampontan.wordpress.com/
What it interesting is that the voters are seeing reality but the politicians and bureaucrats are having problems with it. Their Premier Kan, is completely off the reservation as regards the customs and traditions of when a Japanese premier should resign. He is deep into denial of the fact that he is not liked or wanted by the majority of anyone, his own party included, but since there is no hard written law that requires him to resign, more and more it looks like they are stuck with him until the elections of 2013.
This reminds of some things Joseph Campell said about the power of rituals and myths. When they get weak and ignored things fall apart. Obama and his ilks refusal to pay tribute to that piece of paper called the US Constitution is wrecking havoc around the world. Excuse the condensed paragraph on a subject that needs books.
We should encourage Iraq to launch a massive aerial and ground offensive into Iran like Saddam did in 1980. Stoke up a war there and get it going for a decade or so. Give the Iraqis weapons and aircraft in exchange for their oil. Iran will be so busy trying to win the war that they won’t have time to meddle elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the Iraqi army is a shell of its former self. Their air force is probably nonexistent.
When I first saw “The Terminator” or “War of the Worlds” for that matter, I thought they were speculative fiction, like much of the best science fiction, destined to come true.
I just didn’t think it would happen so soon, and I didn’t think America would be governed by an Administration who would use such weapons so cynically.
It’s everything sci-fi warned us about. Death at a remove, remorseless, push-button.
Worst of all, the first wielders of Terminator share with the same soul-less-ness as predicted in the movie. As we always knew they would.
Those who have been at the Belmont Club over the years knows that I have been very consistent over the years that (1) I support the war effort against those who attacked us on September 11, including those who shelter al-Qaeda and those who celebrate the attacks, and (2) I think that somebody other than our grandchildren ought to pay for it.
I think the Kossacks would regard me as a flaming neoconservative.
If you don’t want to pay higher taxes, fair enough. Just where is the money supposed to come from? I wouldn’t even mind confiscating Saudi oil fields as reparation for the September 11 attacks and the war effort since then. The problem remains – who is paying for this war?
Leftists are trying to use the present debt crisis as a pretext to stop fighting our enemies; I oppose them. They know that if America runs out of money, that means we won’t be able to fight wars – to them, the debt crisis is an opportunity to cripple America as a superpower. If America defaults on its debt, I think the Obama administration would love it – it could defund the military and border enforcement at will (while keeping entitlement spending high), and then blame the entire mess on the Republicans.
Wars need to be paid for, if not by the losers then the winners, if not by the living then by the not yet born. There is a reason why taxes are not set at zero percent in order to force the government to borrow its entire budget on the credit markets. The reason why we have taxes at all is because the United States at least pays lip service to the idea of paying its bills.
If the United States refuses to pay for the wars it fights, we need to find some other source of revenue.
To add a footnote, not only the cost of conducting the Open War, but the bags of cash needed to bribe the war’s Islamic (et al) financiers. Drawing a sharp line between the two is difficult, but to deny that there are foreign agents who would like nothing better than to bleed this country dry is delusional. The fronts of this war are not simply physical – Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Libya – but institutional as well – economic and political (as per blert’s ‘Dark War’ which one might say is more expensive than the physical ‘campaigns.’)
Alexis, The War on Islam need not be expensive. Nation building is expensive in terms of money, material and lost lives, particularly when one is trying to do the nearly impossible task of nation building in the ummah.
Now, if cost effectiveness is what you want, end the nation building and take Iran’s and Saudi Arabia’s oil. Iran first. The the War on Islam will then be very profitable and we will win it very quickly. And don’t give me the argument that we don’t that kind of imperialistic thing. Islam attacked us. Not the other way around. They are the ones who should pay, and pay dearly. Not us. The deaths of all the Americans due to Islam’s insane proclivities deserve as much.
Alexis- I understand and agree with your position on using taxes and not borrowing money from putative friends to finance a war. To do so is not a responsible, fair or moral way to fund a war. People made sacrifices during World War II and did things like recycle materials. They and had to live under austere conditions that included rationing of all sorts of material like metals and food stuffs in deference to the war effort. I believe that we should enter in to war, if not because there is no other reasonable choice, certainly not lightly. We are putting a very large commitment into our overseas contingency operations and all our government can say is go out and shop.
That said, I believe that if war is a just cause then it is just to win it and I personally abhor these gray conflicts where we show up and cause great suffering for both sides with no clear goals. There needs to be a compelling cause and that needs to be answerable to the people or there representatives in congress.
Now nations have a right and a purpose to defend their people, and in the case of this great shadow war, defend Western principles of free seas and free trade amongst the governable people of the world, and to put a stop to those who would threaten our people, our way of life, and our international infrastructure of trade and civility.
I should think that would be a priority of all nations. So with that said; why am I paying taxes to fund people around the world, octogenarians coming to the US in their sunset years and we put them on Social Security? The program that I have been paying into for forty years and they, more or less, promise me that I won’t see a dime of it.
SO the crux of the issue isn’t if we are paying too much taxes I think, it is whether or not we are using those tax dollars effectively to create a better world for our progeny and the answer seems to be.. it is being spent to screw all Americans.
When we will be paying up to 40% of our annual budget on interest it becomes desperately obvious that something has gone wrong over the past several decades and I posit that it is spending. If we are spending too much then we don’t need to focus on higher and higher taxes. That will throttle the throats of business, big and small.
If I were a banker and somebody who has no plan for creating wealth were to tell me that they needed to borrow money to pay for their rent, electricity and food I would conclude that they are a credit risk, worse yet, they are not credit worthy period. We have to pay for the pensions for a great deal of people who work for the government and voted for politicians who would collude with them to spend a vast majority of future taxes to make them effectively rich and comfortable. Party A agreed with Party B to take the money from Party C. That is the agency problem that Wretchard talks about.
So the question remains, can we tax ourselves back to prosperity and I think that most people who generate wealth would all agree; it is impossible to tax yourself into prosperity.
So the bottom line is, if we must go to war, we must pay for it. Can we get rid of the Department of Education though?
So, the vast newly-discovered mineral wealth in Afghanistan will eventually be exploited by any number of state actors, none of whom will be the U.S., despite our huge expenditure of blood and treasure.
This type of American “exceptionalism” I can do without.
People throw around the phrase “higher taxes” but what exactly does that phrase mean? Is the meaning higher tax rates or higher tax revenue?
Higher tax rates slow economic growth and result in less tax revenue but greater political control over the economy. Lower tax rates result in higher economic growth and higher tax revenue but less political control over economic matters. So when someone talks of “higher taxes” are they wishing for greater revenue or greater control?