Notes from all over
A reader writes to say a monument to Bruce Lee has been erected in the Balkans to commemorate his contribution to World Peace.
The kung fu movie star Bruce Lee would have turned 65 in November, and a two-ring media circus descended on Mostar, Bosnia, for his birthday. It was then, in this mortar- and bullet-pocked city once famous for its Ottoman bridge, that the world’s first public monument to Lee was unveiled. Building civil society never seemed so weird: Here was a life-sized bronze statue of a topless American immigrant paid for by the German government and christened by a Chinese diplomat, erected at the behest of a dysfunctional community of Croats, Serbs, and Muslims.
But there are always unintended consequences.
Just hours after the monument was unveiled, a group of rowdy teenagers defaced the statue and stole the nunchucks, leaving the site littered with wine bottles. According to Sky News, one citizen responded with the cry, “Once again we’ve shown what Balkan savageness is!”
The London Times Online has a provocative post called Why America's generals are out for revenge: The US top brass are ducking their responsibilities - and beleaguered Donald Rumsfeld is just doing his job. Whatever merits the article may have, the Rumsfeld vs the Generals debate has become political, a stage where noise really starts to exceed signal.
The Defence Secretary has trod on toes in this process. He has insisted on interviewing every appointment to four and three-star rank — something that was more of a pro forma process under his predecessors. He appointed a retired Special Forces general, Peter Schoomaker, as US Army Chief of Staff, thus passing over stacks of serving officers. And with his greater emphasis on high-tech “jointery”, he has forced both the Army and the Marines to depend more on Air Force and Navy supporting fire.
The real criticism of Mr Rumsfeld is not that he “kicked to much butt”, but that he kicked too little. At George Bush’s behest, he sent the US armed forces into a war that they weren’t yet fully ready to fight: they are much more prepared now, but the insurgency genie is out of the bottle. He was part of the Republican consensus that was contemptuous of Clinton-era peacekeeping operations, believing that real soldiers don’t do social workerish stuff. Like so many reformers, his problem is that his changes discomfit existing interest groups before the benefits become fully visible.
A reader sends a video link to a Scott Ritter interview on Iranian uranium enrichment capability. Technically speaking Ritter is probably right in saying that Iran can't produce enough fissile material to make an A-bomb in the near future. For a collateral assessment see In From the Cold's: Numbers. But for those who regard Iran as the Serpent's Egg there is no percentage waiting for it to progress any further. If the regime is inherently hostile in nature, then from that point of view a showdown as early as possible would be best. Historically, the dangers on both sides of the Serpent's Egg argument can be illustrated by Germany. Germany probably started the First World War in the belief it was being strangled by France, England and Russia and 1914 was the year of "now or never". But on the other hand, Munich is a counterexample of how it is genuinely possible to miss the "now or never" boat to preserve world peace. Serpent's Egg arguments are dangerous ones indeed. The problem with history is that things are only clear in retrospect, but as a guide to the future, it is useful as driving down the freeway by looking only at the rear-view mirror.
Daniel Pipes has a piece on how the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) applied for Goverment Emergency Telecommunications Service at a time when they had a history of communicating with dubious individuals. Apparently the Emergency Service let's the caller get through during a time of disturbance when phone lines may be jammed. Their application was denied.
Oxblog thinks President Bush made a crucial mistake in not managing war expectations, citing the example of Winston Churchill who promised nothing more than "blood, toil, sweat and tears". You could make the case that President Bush already talked about a generational effort, a war like the Cold War, etc, but that the message fell through the cracks when confronted with his declaration that major combat operations were over in Iraq. But many images, like that of the Vietnamese police General executing an NVA infiltrator, become the message themselves. Take the Six-Day War. Until I read Michael Orren's book I had the idea it was a swift, relatively bloodless Israeli victory. Not until I read up on it did I realize that in per capita comparison terms with the US, Israel lost the equivalent of 80,000 men during the Six-Day War. That was an example of image obscuring reality. But going back to managing expectations, if an American President went to the public and said, "boys, we've got to get ready to lose 80,000 lives over the coming week in a war we're about to declare" he'd be ridden out of Washington on a rail, I think. It wouldn't do him much good to say "but Winston Churchill said ...". Those words would echo as he got bounced down the political steps.
Marc Cooper, who is somewhat left of center, says:
Comedian Lewis Black likes to joke that the difference between the two parties is that the Republicans are the party of bad ideas while the Democrats are the party of no ideas.
Writer and professor Alan Wolfe takes up at least the first half of that axiom in a somewhat more serious vein in the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education. Calling George W. Bush perhaps the "most anti-llectuial president of modern times," Wolfe points to two new books by conservative renegades to underline "just how bad the ideas associated with the Bush administration" have been. Wolfe's talking about the latest offerings from Francis Fukuyama and Bruce Bartlett.
Now I'm not so sure Francis Fukuyama represents Republicans, or for that matter, who does. But Lewis Black's observation is an interesting example of policy by negation: a situation in which an entire party defines itself by rejecting the other; a kind of anti-matter to matter relationship. The problem with that, as exemplified by the defense debate, is that one party becomes masterful at obstruction without itself providing a roadmap of where to go. To modify a recent media sound-bite: "I'm the derider here". At the end of the day one party leaves you with a roadmap and the other leaves you with wanting to tear it up. But it doesn't actually get you anywhere.
177 Comments:
The thing about the Rumsfeld debate, is that it is all about yesterday, not tomorrow.
As to Bruce Lee being defaced...
So sad, the Green Hornet wasn't around?
To watch and wait or take action?
What is to be gained by waiting?
Manana, siempre manana es muy mal.
Bang the drum of War some more.
The serpent egg indeed. Interesting that the Munich debacle keeps recurring in conversation about Iran.
I read somewhere that Mein Kampf is a very popular book in the middle east.
God may not have a sense of humor, but he clearly has a sense of irony.
"The problem with history is that things are only clear in retrospect, but as a guide to the future, it is useful as driving down the freeway by looking only at the rear-view mirror."
Wretchard's previous emphases on adaptation would resonate pleasingly to Bruce Lee, himself the artist who coined the "the style of no style," with an emphasis on pure action and reaction, beholden to no form, tradition or model. Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do pursued an ideal wherein only the rules of the present game mattered, and any option was on the table, whether it was hair-pulling, eye gouging etc.
From the wikipedia entry on Jeet Kune Do:
Jeet Kune Do Principles
The following are principles that Lee incorporated into Jeet Kune Do. He felt these were universal combat truths that were self evident and would lead to combat success if followed. The "4 Combat Ranges" in particular are what he felt were instrumental in becoming a "total" martial artist. This is also the principle most related to mixed martial arts. The "5 Ways of Attack" are attacking categories that help Jeet Kune Do practitioners organize their fighting repertoire.
I. Be like water
JKD students reject traditional systems of training, fighting styles and the Confucian pedagogy used in traditional kung fu schools. JKD is claimed to be a dynamic concept that is forever changing. "Absorb what is useful; Disregard that which is useless" is an often quoted Bruce Lee maxim.
JKD students are encouraged to study every form of combat possible.
II. Economy of motion
JKD students are told to waste no time or movement. When it comes to combat JKD practitioners believe the simplest things work best.
----
Funny how Wretchard's convergences will pounce on you out of the layman's intellectual nowhere...
Ahhh, but then we are back to the famous
"what to do?"
& now the even more infamous
"Then What?"
will be asked.
Watch & wait, as an answer,
will not be accepted, me thinks.
That's why the Mullahs have the ball and the Mo', I'm afraid.
Mosques are pretty on the skyline?
carpets?
anarcho-socialite
pervert-fastidious
I senses a riter breakin out.
\:-)
dan, 2:27 PM
Habibian carpets
Sweet Turkish tea
Tulips
goat jerky, dates, heroin, pistachio nuts.
Hash, poppies, slavery, ali baba and forty thieves, you ain't in Kansas any more, that's for sure, Dorthy.
dan, 2:53 PM
doughfaced = doe-faced? I least that's how I envision it.
Back to the Mongols and Baghdad, tough players, hey? Equal opportunity pacifiers, totally PC.
be like water,
a fog that cannot be touched
a liquid that flows without form
a solid, hard as a rock
be like water
dan, 3:09 PM
"I need some maternal blaming."
No! No! Noooooooo! Trepanning again!
I will play well with others, unless they are generals and such.
1258 - That was a very good year. The Khan lied and 'Abbasids died.
Sting like a Butterfly,
Float like a Bee....
Most Publicized Olympic Team, back in '72.
Karridine:
Don't know if you saw this.
Also, blogger will be down at 4pm pacific.
---
"Saturday, April 15, 2006
At 11:30 this morning, we experienced a system failure in one of our databases and some people were unable to create new entires on their blog during that time. As of now that database is back online and those users are again able to create new entries on their blog.
We are investigating what failed and will take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Posted by Steve at 13:25 PST
"
bobalharb 2:55 PM,
Accidents made for excellent bobbers for fishing, however.
"an entire party defines itself by rejecting the other; a kind of anti-matter to matter relationship."
You have just succiently described not merely the U.S. Democratic Party but the policy toward the U.S. of whole nations. Examples include Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, and obstensively, Russia and the People's Republic of China.
Wretchard,
"Let me repeat what history teaches. History teaches." - Stein
I hope she did not actually believe that entirely.
buddy larsen, 3:20 PM
Where did you get the French order of battle?
doug, 3:33 PM
Owwww! And I do mean that in the nicest possible way.
a note from Baghdad
" ... Last week our little and peaceful family was struck by the tragic loss of one of its members in a savage criminal act of assassination. The member we lost was my sister's husband who lived with their two little children in our house.
He was a brilliant young doctor with a whole future awaiting him, the couple were the top graduates in their branch of specialty. They had to travel abroad to get their degrees and the war started while they were there but months after Saddam fallen they decided to come back to help rebuild the country and serve their people.
We welcomed them with all love and care, we would sit and talk everyday about our hopes and dreams for a better future for the new generation and for their two little children. We realized that time is needed before they could have a secure and prosperous life and we were satisfied with the little we could make because we believed in the future.
He was not affiliated with any political party or movement and spent all his time working at the hospital or studying at home and he was dreaming of building a medical center for his specialty to serve the poor who cannot afford going to expensive private clinics.
We didn't know or anticipate that cruel times were waiting for a chance to assassinate the dream and kill the future.
It was the day he was celebrating the opening of a foundation that was going to offer essential services to the poor but the criminals were waiting for him to end his life with their evil bullets and to stab our family deep in the heart.
Grief and pain is killing me everyday as I hold my dear nephews, my sister is shocked beyond words while my parents are dead worried about the rest of us.
We are trying hard to close the wound, summon our patience and protect those still alive while we look forward to the future that we hope can bring peace for us. ... "
Iraq the Model Has the violence hit home
His thread title "Kill us, but you won't enslave us."
jeez, after reading rat's post from ItM, I feel like a gringo jackass for all the Arab mocking. Tar the good with the bad, the first casualty is truth.
yeah, buddy, it provide a human link to what "unsecure" really means.
Desert Rat and Buddy,
Buddy, I knew your mockery was (is) directed at the worst aspects of that culture, and the culture of death that now afflicts it. And that needs and deserves mocking.
Rat,
I appreciate your bringing that Iraq the Model posting, heart-breaking as it is, to my attention.
Jamie Irons
buddy larsen, 4:54 PM
I know where you're coming from, but...
"Within hours of his death Hammad was a fully accessorised “martyr”, complete with farewell video, posters and heroic slogans. Sitting on the few cushions remaining in the small hilltop house his mother Samya, 42, complied with photographers who clamoured for her to pose with a poster, but the house was unadorned with militant propaganda.
“He was a hero and I am proud of Samir but I have suffered from his loss,” she said of her eldest son."
http://clarityandresolve.com/
Mr. Hammad was the mass murderer in last week's Tel Aviv bombing. Among the critically injured was a 16 year-old American, who lost a kidney and his spleen, among other tissue, it seems.
Unless we have to go big time nuclear, I trust we will do our best to segregate the wheat from the chaff.
I gotta say, life sucks some days.
Jamie, Allen--yep--mockery is a weapon, and we need to use it. But, well, wheat from chaff--makes it difficult.
Life would be so easy if we could read minds and hearts along appearance. Could conceivably complicate some other things, though. Calling a Sci-Fi writer--or a poet.
right, bobalharb--whenever I hear bastards mock Americans, I never take the sonsabitches seriously, so I never get annoyed with the low-life rotten scumbag louts.
Santiago, Chole, 1981.
After leaving Rio on a MAC flight my buddy and I arrived in Santiago.
A drive in the Air Force van brought us to the Hotel with the flight crew.
After checking in, we headed out in the night, to see just what was up. After leaving Rio, we thought the party would never stop.
On every street corner were two uniformed Soldiers each wearing brown leather LBE were well armed, one with a French MAS-38, the other with an UZI.
On every other corner the pair of soldiers had a german shepard dog.
Santiago was kind of a scary place for a young GI that hadn't shaved in 10 days, but we made it back to the Hotel, without incident, except for the evil eye from Chilian Security.
It was very secure, though, that's for sure. No random acts of violence with General Pinochet and his type in charge.
And Chile was able to make the transition to democracy.
The man who says he sat in judgment on murdered hostage Kenneth Bigley:
Louia Sakka, a Syrian associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the organisation's leader in Iraq, maintains that he presided over a mock trial of Mr Bigley shortly before the 62-year-old was beheaded.
He was arrested after a later explosion ripped through the bomb factory he had constructed inside an apartment overlooking the Mediterranean at the resort of Antalya, where he was planning to attack an Israeli cruise liner.
Prosecutors in Istanbul say he was a member of a group that beheaded a Turkish truck driver in Iraq, while Jordanian authorities suspect he was involved in a plot to bomb hotels and tourist sites around Amman on New Year's Eve 1999.
Sakka admits that he was intending to attack the cruise liner but denies any role in the Istanbul attacks.
Louia Sakka
But those folk ain't Spanish, or if they are, they were in the minority.
There are always two choices
War or Retreat
The Spanish chose to retreat, for a while
The Mohammedan Wars are not yet over, Spain will be back, 'fore it's all over.
The US will get it's choice as well, before these Mohammedan Wars are over, War or Retreat?
Another mud-fest or two like the last couple of elections, and I'm gonna go with your aunt on that.
yessir--our last old-timey president, that Ike.
Lest we lose sight of the nature of the foe in our earnest attempt at decency:
"Relations between the west and the hardline Iranian regime are set to worsen after a Tehran-based group claimed yesterday it was trying to recruit Iranians and other Muslims in Britain to carry out suicide bombings against Israel.
The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, which claims to be independent but has the backing of the regime, said it is targeting potential recruits in Britain because of the relative ease with which UK passport-holders can enter Israel. ...
Mohammad Samadi, a spokesman for the group, told the Guardian that striking at Israel was the priority of his recruitment drive. "The first target is
Israel. For us, that is the battlefield," he said. "All the Jews are targets, whether military or civilian. It's our land and they are in the wrong place. It's their duty to pay attention to safety of their own families and move them away from the battlefield," he said."
Mr. Blair addressed this threat in the Parliament, today. I recall he gave the number of potential mass murderers as 40,000. He also appeared to claim that the US and Britian were equally well targets.
For one of the most objective and informative studies on what faces us all, see, (It takes awhile to load, but is of deceptively short duration.)
http://www.zipperfish.net/buytoons.php
Y.A.A.F.M. - Muslims
It was free for me.
The al-Qaida fighter shaped by demagogues and plastic surgeons:
Of all the fearsome and unfathomable figures who have waged jihad for al-Qaida, Louia Sakka has emerged as one of the most perplexing.
While he denies any role in the Istanbul bombings, Sakka makes no attempt to conceal the blood on his hands. Appearing in court in Istanbul last month he refused to stand before the judge. "Why should I?" he shouted. "I have fought the jihad. I have killed Americans!"
Sakka, 33, who has a Turkish grandfather and speaks Turkish, is thought to have helped train would-be terrorists at a camp for Turkish mujahideen on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He says he met Osama bin Laden, and it appears likely that he would have come into contact with the man who would mastermind the Istanbul attacks, Habib Akdas, a Turkish veteran of the Afghan jihad.
His main role in the Istanbul attacks, according to prosecutors, was to provide $160,000 to allow Akdas and others to rent safe houses and a workshop, buy the material and components needed to build four massive bombs, and then buy the small trucks that would carry them to their targets.
Others recruited the bombers. Mesut Cabuk, 29, a Kurd from the eastern city of Bingol who had spent time in Pakistan and Afghanistan, targeted the Beth Israel synagogue in the north of the city.
Sakka initially admitted financing the Istanbul attacks, but has since withdrawn his confession. His lawyer says he made that admission after Turkish police threatened to hand him over to US authorities. "He knew that if the Americans got him he could end up in a Jordanian prison where he could be cut into little pieces," Mr Karahan said.
Al-Qaida Fighter
Lest we forget the quality of America's homegrown chaff (scumbags, punks, troglodytes ?), go to Michelle Malkin's site.
http://www.michellemalkin.com/
"I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU"
Bruce Lee was the second most famous man in the world, after Muhammad Ali.
(As measured by posters hung up in every little hostel, bar, tea shop, dance house and service station on earth, averaging all continents.)
bobalharb, say you wanted to post a link to the Michelle Malkin site from Allen above. I can't just type the code or it will reproduce a link, so I'll go thru it like this: Say you want to say "Go to this link, please."
what you do is type:
< then a then leave a space then h then r then e then f then = then " then http://www.michellemalkin.com then " then > then put your word or phrase that you want to be blue then < then / then a then >
and that's it!
buddy larsen, 7:38 PM
Thanks for the info on linking. I'll try it later.
Buddy sez:
what you do is type:
< then a then leave a space then h then r then e then f then = then " then http://www.michellemalkin.com then " then > then put your word or phrase that you want to be blue then < then / then a then >
and that's it!
7:38 PM
You do not!
--------------
You find a link that works, you Cut'n'Paste it out into your word processor w/ Display Codes
It will look like this:
Louia Sakka
If you select the Link above and View Source, it should look something like:
(a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1757202,00.html" rel="nofollow")Louia Sakka(/a)
Except the ( and ) should be < and >.
And then you just cut your Quotes into the Part that Displays in the Link (Louia Sakka) you have copied;
And you cut and paste the Link itself, which you Copy out of your Browser Location: like "http://www.etc.com/...."
Then Cut'n'Paste the whole mess out of your word processor into the Blogger post pane.
Then use the Preview button to make sure you didn't delete an extra character or something.
Sounds complicated? It's the way to go.
Now he's got TWO ways to f up!
Buddy,
My best advice to him, if he EVER gets it right, just save that one on the Desktop forever!
That's what I try to do. And it's still hard.
yeh--me and the 8 track sort of peaked together.
We got one of those new DVD-tapers that can tape TV shows ... I haven't been able to control my TV since. The channel changes every 15 seconds, nothing I can do about it.
I see a lot more shows these days that I never knew existed, but I used to like watching the whole ball game, instead of 15 seconds here and there every ten minutes or so.
Bobalharb,
type,
[a href="http://address here"]what you want to lable[/a] then change all the brackets to the corresponding greater than and less than signs.
That does seem like it would break up the flow a little bit but what the hey it's progress. and you can always catch the score out of the paper the next day.
Dan,
Those aren't Muslim girls:
Those are gals practicing for the inevitable hordes of RoPieceniks
(you got your head-piece, and it used to be connected to...) once it has become the law of the land to welcome unlimited numbers of these folks 'cause:
"They'll do the religious practices Americans aren't willing to do."
<a href="http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/">The Belmont Club</a>
Paste the URL into the href="" block. Type the text you want to show as clickable before the closing </a>. Use the preview to see it and click the link to make sure it works before clicking publish (unlike all the other bad spellers here). If you want to be bold use the View Source menu item in your web browser to see it in all its glory.
<i>This is italic<\i>
<b>This is BOLD<\b>
bobalharb,
copy Utopia's link example into notepad and save it to your desktop, (make a copy in case in gets messed up?)
Then you can open that file whenever you want, and just paste the URL that you copy from your address bar in between the quotes where
"http://fallback.blogspot.com" is now
and then type "LINK" or whatever name you want where
"The Belmont Club"
is, and you're done.
Then you copy the result and paste it at the top or bottom of your comment.
If you try all the advice above, and it still doesn't work, fear not:
We'll give you an "A" for effort
The Great Conservative Crackup:
To prove your conservative bona fides these days, you have to begin by denouncing conservatism. To the delight of many liberals, a flurry of conservative writers and think-tankers at places like the Cato Institute and the Nixon Center are doing just that, condemning George W. Bush for being, among other things, a "redistribution Republican" (George F. Will), a "socialist" (Andrew Sullivan), and an "impostor" (Bruce Bartlett). Now add Jeffrey Hart to the list of aggrieved accusers.
A Burkean conservative, Jeffrey Hart has weighed in primarily on cultural issues, lamenting what he sees as the corruption of American arts and letters. But like NR founder William F. Buckley Jr. ("insurrectionists in Iraq can't be defeated by any means that we would consent to use"), he is also a critic of the Iraq war.
Hart indulges in wistful notions of what might have been, but Bush is not the betrayer of Reagan and the conservative movement. He is its purest expression.
To its credit, National Review's older generation is recognizing what happens when utopia is in power. Buckley, gracious and inquisitive, has mellowed over the years and has little in common with the toadies serving Bush.
Conservative Crackup
bobal,
Utopia's Italic example has the slash ( / ) going the
wrong way ( \ )
nobody's perfect
Wonder what this guy knew about the American market for these babies? Is there an Iran connection, somewhere?
antiaircraft, shoulder-fired missiles
"Chinese man admits plot to import missiles to US"
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?-CRIME-MISSILES.xml&rpc=22
buddy larsen
This report will not be well accepted by Mr. Slash/Dementia or Mr. Cedarford.
What can those Mexicans huddling and queuing at the border be thinking? Don’t they realize the perfection of the Mexican and EU models? What opiate drives the proletariat to servitude? Sorry, I may have stepped on someone else’s lines there.
"Alternative investments pay off for the very rich"
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3dcb3438-cfd4-11da-80fb-0000779e2340.html
The anti-aircraft missile deal is getting more interesting by minute.
Look at the last sentence in the story, "North Korean-made counterfeit $100 bills." That would be the "axis of evil" Norrh Korea. An act of war?
Chinese military linked to missile smuggling
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 20, 2006
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060419-110441-8567r.htm
I posted a Free Republic a link that wretchard referred to a couple days ago in oman who had a link to poster that displayed visually the relationship between peak oil and political events.
A huge drop (60%)in the number of attacks on Iraqi infrastructure in the last three months was just reported.
From 2001 re: US technologies sold to China, reporting by CNN
" ... WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Chinese fighter jets sent to intercept recent U.S. reconnaissance flights near China have been carrying air-to-air missiles sold to China by Israel, much to the annoyance of some U.S. defense officials.
The Chinese F-8 fighters captured on videotapes released by the Pentagon are carrying Israeli made Python III air-to-air missiles capable of blasting a plane out of the sky with the squeeze of a finger, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
"Generally speaking, we are not in favor of such capable weapons systems being proliferated to a variety of nations around the world," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley told reporters Tuesday. ... '
"... said "there has not been any violation here," perhaps in part because the sale of the missiles was made in the late 1970s, he said.
The official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named, said "We don't particularly like going up against hardware made by Israel."
"Here we are bending over backward to give Israel a qualitative edge and they are selling hardware to our adversaries," the somewhat exasperated defense official said.
Referring to the April 1 incident involving a collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane, the Defense Department official said that the decades-old Israeli missiles "would have worked just fine" had the second Chinese fighter been given the order to shoot down the U.S. plane with its crew of 24. ... "
There are friends, there are allies and there are those that need to be watched constantly, to be sure they do not harm US interests in pursuit of their own.
From of CNN.
Then from the early '90's we have Patriot missle technologies that may have been sold to China, from Israel
The Israeli deny any such sale took place, but then Sec of Der Cheney seems to have disagreed.
" ... Defense Secretary Dick Cheney pressed Defense Minister Moshe Arens of Israel today to explain United States intelligence reports that Israel had illegally shared American-made Patriot missile technology with China, senior Pentagon officials said. In a 30-minute meeting at the Pentagon, Mr. Cheney presented Mr. Arens with intelligence indicating that Jerusalem had shared the technology in violation of United States-Israeli agreements that ban such sales. ... "
A short rundown of the NY Times coverage can be seen here, a synopsis of NY Times coverage of the '90's accusations.
And as recently as last year
" ... Friday, April 15, 2005
US bars Israel from aircraft project over China drones row
JERUSALEM: The United States has barred Israel’s defence industry from any involvement in a project to develop a combat aircraft amid a row over the upgrading of Chinese drones, the Maariv daily said Thursday.
The Americans have also recently frozen the transfer of sophisticated technological equipment to Israel, according to the paper which quoted high-level sources travelling with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on his visit to the United States this week. ... "
This from the daily Times the voice of a new Pakistan.
The interesting thing, then as now, rob, is you do not always get the War you want, or plan for.
Seems the other side keeps messing up the plan.
desert rat,
Do you take seriously the political analysis of the NYT and CNN? Just asking. Don't believe everything you read in the funny papers.
desert rat,
Thanks for the heads-up about the sorry state of Chinese air defense. Imagine defending their so-called air space with antiquated forty year-old Israeli weaponry. Good to know. Things are looking up.
Oh, and the timing of the transfer is interesting as well. You have heard of Détente?
For something more contemporary and probably much more meaningful, see “Russia will deliver air defense systems to Iran - top general” - http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060419/46622413.html
We will all hope that this Russian technology is not nearly as effective as that we’ve come across elsewhere. Quagmire.
Looking again, if I may, to what happens to the neighborhood when Palestinian and other “moderate” practitioners of the RoP are invited in:
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 Little Green Footballs
“Florida College Invites Rushdie, Muslim Students Seethe”
Believe it or not, there has also been talk of, and you really will not believe this, VIOLENCE…Shocking, just shocking.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com
/mld/duluthsuperior/news/nation
/14381245.htm
If you want, allen, we could discuss the last Chinese weapons sale, of UAV technologies, that Israel was in the process of finalizing when US outrage scuttled the deal.
It was within the last year.
Hopefully, you are right, Russian technology will continue to lag US, remaining ineffective.
That is why Israeli sales to China, Iran's main trading partner are so important to stop, from a US perspective.
We would not want US troops facing Israeli technologies, again.
Would we?
Then again, allen, if Iran is a terrorist State, which Mr Bush agrees it is.
And the Russians are assisting the Iranians, which is evident.
Are not the Russians aiding and abetting terrorists?
Does not the Bush Doctrine of '02 declare that those that aid terrorists are to be treated as terrorists?
Pay any price, bear any burden.
A little more info on the state of mind of the Iranian people would sure be helpful. It's been a black hole since Cyrus the Great.
I have read that Alexander knew he had 'em before his first great victory at the river Issus, because even though they had the numbers 2 or 3 to 1 (back when that was *the* metric), they still drew up on the far side of the river, with their best soldiers having chosen the area with the best natural defense. Of course that was some years ago.
Point being that though the Persians were fighting an invader, on their own siol, the individual soldier was still not motivated--most likely due to the complete power and control of the State.
Oriental Fatalism vs Western Dynamism. Maybe that element is still extant. Would help account for the saber-rattling.
Mr al Jaafari has announced that he will permit the UIA to have another vote for it's PM candidate.
The last vote, I believe was 32 to 31 for Mr al-Jaafari.
Unless Mr al-Sadr's bloc switches, the vote should remain the same. As Mr al-Sadr's bloc was of 32 representitives, as I recall.
Mr Talabani said the Parliment would except the UIA's choice.
Perhaps he knows it will be a different face, perhaps he only has hope it will be.
If the UIA reaffirms Mr al-Jaafari as it's choice....
buddy,
I'd say it still exists, but as to the sabres, everyone's is rattling, not just the Iranian swords.
US & Israeli statements of unacceptability and all options open are not muted mutterings.
US troops, garrisoned across two borders, are not quiet as church mice.
Iran's Armada of 500 ships, practicing shipping raids in the past few weeks, as well as multiple missle tests and uranium enrichment announcements add to the clanging of scabbards.
There have been opportunities lost, in regards Iran, that cannot be retrieved.
But as to the best course forward.
Bang the drum & watch your backyard
the editorial "your" not your's personally, buddy.
Bush is criticized for being anti-intellectual? Even if the point is conceded, given that intellectuals have argubaly been responsible for some of the most destructive ideas in history (Marxism being the best example), why is that necessarily a bad thing?
desert rat, 9:51 AM
UAV
The reason the sale didn't go through is simpler and less sinister. Every sale of US funded or sponsored technology by Israel to anyone, anywhere, must pass through a host of US government bureaucracies for approval. This sale was disapproved, end of story. (I happen to think that Israel’s mere contemplation of such a transfer was incredibly impolitic and stupid) I would also note that within the US itself, transfers of “sensitive” technology to other countries must pass muster, the failure of which was one of the much publicized complaints against Mr. Clinton’s administration.
Israel could, I suppose, easily surreptitiously sell vital technology, but that would be extremely foolish, since the country is almost entirely dependent on America's strategic largesse. By all means, if you have some official report, wherein, the government of the United States levels charges of either the sale or attempted sale or transfer of contraband by Israel, I would very much like to have it referenced.
The fact that the NYT or any number of MSM entities engage in guilt by association or unattributed character assassination does not surprise me. Also, I do not take at face value every accusation made by members of Congress, such as Ms. McKinney, with reference to what may or may not be happening with Israel. I am surprised that you would so easily buy into it, though.
If Israel were such a fair weather partner, I wonder why it continues to receive enormous amounts of strategic "goods" for pre-positioning.
desert rat,
Russia - terrorist state
Broadly speaking, how could it be otherwise, from strictly an American point of view?
Obviously, the Russians hold the Iranians in high regard and do not share the US policy formulation. Mr. Putin's soul may not be quite as pure as Mr. Bush announced or, otherwise, Mr. Bush's clairvoyance was not up to snuff that day.
"Feelings, nothing more than feelings"
desert rat,
“We would not want US troops facing Israeli technologies, again.
Would we?”
I purposefully let this statement pass. Those who choose to believe what you believe will; those who don’t won’t. It has ever been thus. I will not revisit the issues of Passover weekend.
To the degree that your positions on any topic have merit, in my opinion, I will support them fully. To the degree that I think them wanting, I will vigorously disagree. There will be some small subset of issues where I will think time too precious to engage in the circumnavigation of non-constructive logic.
May we now move on to considered discussion?
Reports from all sides have to be looked at and weighed, allen.
Israel is many things, to US.
I supported landing the 4th ID in Haifa, after Turkey turned US down, and driving to Baghdad from there.
Obviously that was not done, but if it had, the battlefield would be vastly different today.
Strategicly and tacticly.
The US bases no troops in Israel, predeployed equipment, there, is not needed by US, I'd surmise, as much as by Israel.
We fight a common foe and I'm not opposed to the alliance, I just take the Israelis realisticly, at what I percieve to be face value, their priorities are different than US.
Which is natural.
Israel is not US, nor we them.
allen,
You agreed the Chinese were equipped with Israel designed air to air missles. Those same missles threaten our aircraft, which was forced down in China.
You belittled their effectivenss, but not the loss of US spy technologies on board the plane to the Chinese.
The pagen in me don't give a hoot about Passover, I didn't even know it was that time, still don't care.
The Israeli air to air missle designs were effective enough, in 2001, for US to lose the plane, if not the crew.
So your desire to not discuss it further, is understandable.
It goes back to the discussion, with eggplant I think, about "obsolete"
Those missle designs, though from the '70's, are still formidable.
Perhaps not against a F-22 pr F-35, but there were none of those in the skies over the China Sea, that day.
There is a pattern of reports, often denied, of Israeli Defense Industries, which in socialist Israel means the Israeli Government pushing the envelope in the high tech arms proliferation business.
While criminal wrong doing is always denied, penalties are sometimes paid by Israel.
Removal from the F-35 design work was, as I recall, a sanction of some sort.
" Powell seemed startled "
Bet he was.
desert rat,
The unarmed, prop-driven EP-3E forced down by the Chinese was damaged in a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter.
A number of stories can be found referencing this incident. Some take your point of view. If you have only read the stories covered by Free Republic, Ummah Forum, Giwersworld, and Abovetopsecret (although, this site doesn’t tell us how it came to such an elevated status – who are the moles?) try that of http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22501; titled modestly enough, “Pentagon lying about Israeli missile sales to China.” – Jon Dougherty, 10 April 2001.
I am not enamored of joint US-Israeli ventures, government or private sector, leading to the transfer of some of the technologies you name. That is another issue entirely from the one you suggest.
It had been damaged, true, but it was forced down by the threat of those missles.
I suggested it would be bad for US troops to face more Israeli designs obtained through transfers to the Chinese and the further proliferation that would follow.
The guilty flee, even when no one pursues
Somnabulist, just a couple of things.
First, may I suggest decaf?
next, why should we believe "unnamed Iranian sources"? Such attribution has become a red flag here in the states. it's a favorite of WAPO and does nothing for their credibility.
40,000? Can you imagine of these "unnamed Iranian sources" said "Oh we are completely vulnerable to an American attack. We are essentially incapable of responding effectively"?
Please it's a war of words we're in now. This quote is the Iranian version of the now famous "mother of all battles" speech we've come to admire and respect.
next, how do you KNOW that martial law is the plan? Whence this special insight?
40,000 suicide bombers hanging over your head don't sound so great, either, somnabulist.
skipsailing,
"First, may I suggest decaf?"
Black helicopters, piloted by the nefarious Elders of Zion.
desert rat,
It's the Martian technology that keeps me up at night...probably sold to them from American designs stolen by Richard Perle (Sandy Berger?!!)
I have to leave now for more treppaning.
I have heard that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is very popular in the ME. Sometimes the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
I know the story of Alexander, buddy.
I know of the Mongols
The Ottomans were Turks, for the most part.
When last did the Persians march to Europe? Beyond Greece?
It seems to me, the Persians are always attacked, from East and West. They play the victim well, I bet they're tired of the role.
They believe there is a form of parody, 'tween the sides. They know we won't wheel out the Big Guns.
But they are unafraid to fire theirs, in selfdefense.
We have legitimized preemptive selfdefense, just recently.
Good for the Goose...
somnambulist,
Elders of Zion = Zionists
There are about 5 million of them in Israel, as you would no doubt agree. You have made a distinction without a difference.
This could be my lucky day. Somnabulist, will you repudiate anyone or any organization responsible for sending a bomb-laden or otherwise armed assailant into Israel to kill civilians. In short, will you unequivically call, using just one word, such an act "terrorism?"
Get back to you later.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Another thing, emotion is understandable since the nation is after all at war.
The long Bamford quote points to this war as having been started by a neocon conspiracy. So, that would mean that the proximate cause, that is 911 (the thing we can have no more of), was part of that neocon conspiracy?
This is rather world-shaking, especially in view of the author using quotes from the people named to have been in the meeting.
So, there's a record of this meeting, with minutes, then? If not how could Bamford be using "quotes"?
Personally, rather than read someone else's imputed "quotes", I'd prefer an author just be honest, and say that he "imagines" that some meeting like this might've happened, and he "bets" that it went something like so-and-so.
yeah, maybe that's it. As age creeps up on me I'm not feeling that urge to be "freakin OUTRAGED" as much as I used to.
still Somnambulist, where's the beef here? Why should we conclude that this all about a power grab by Bush & Co? Is it because you said so and your "freakin outraged" or what?
Oh and you might consider laying off that red bull stuff too.
The coolest trick I ever heard of Bruce Lee being able to perform was to break a one inch board, hanging from a string.
Imagine the acceleration / kinetic energy / focus you need to break the board when the only thing holding it is its own, tiny inertia.
That and kicking a tree until the tree moves.
Who would win in a fight between Ali and Bruce Lee, if there were no rules?
Ali'd kill him. You know that. HOW CAN YOU ASK such a question????????
Buddy,
It used to be a good question, after a few hours of, you know, relaxing.
Besides, Ali didn't do so well against that Japanese guy who kept kicking him in the legs.
Even as Cassius Clay, Ali had a 90 or 100 pound advantage, so I guess I'll have to surrender to the convention wisdom.
Actually, I'd rather talk about anything than this Jewish conspiracy bullshit.
Tony, me too, wot a loada crap, arguing Kitty Kelly literature.
"Pass the friggin' cocaine" screamed George Bush to his harried mother Barbara, that day at Camp David at precisely 2:02 PM on Tuesday October 3, 2002."
I was only funnin' with the CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!!
Tony,
"Bruce Lee being able to perform was to break a one inch board, hanging from a string."
He's overrated!! It would not be that hard to hang from a string and break a 1 inch board. As long as the string will support your weight>
About that James Bamford, buddy, you over state the case.
9-11 was not the fault of the neo-cons mentioned, Mr Bamford nowhere makes that case.
There may or may not have been a preconcieved Policy, that was available to implement, both prior to and concurrent with the attacks of 9-11.
But there certainly were Policy Options in dealing with the ME.
The need to remove Saddam was beyond the scope of the original Auth. for Use of Force, 14Sep01 ie: GWoT.
or another Authorization would not have been required.
Saddam and Iraq were not Central to the War on Terror, though Iraq may have become the Centerpiece of that War, after the fact.
Merely by our presence and energizing effect it had on the Iraqi Sunni whose Insurgency, was morphed into the War on Terror.
Where the ideas of the "Liberation and Democratization" Policy were developed and by whom are pertinent to further Policy discussions and decisions.
D-R,
The P-3 had to land because of the damage. Flying to a non-PRC field was not a realistic option, whether or not the fighters had missiles.
Tony 2:12 PM,
Would that be the 2000 or 2004 convention wisdom?
Whenever it was, I liked it when:
"He Played On Our Fears"
Sure got the insomniac guy here upset.
I don't sleep when I'm that frightened and agitated either.
But then I don't watch Freakin Charismatic Zionist, Jooo Luvin Christians every nite, either.
Remember the "Cairo Conference" last November, I believe, where Iraqis decided that resistence to foreign occupation was legitimate.
US being the foreigners in question.
Perhaps aQ could fit that definition, as well.
Iranians?
helodrvr
That had not been my understanding of the incident. Though I claim no particular knowledge of it.
"Where the ideas of the "Liberation and Democratization" Policy were developed and by whom are pertinent to further Policy discussions and decisions. "
---
Was just thinking of the deadly combination of that ambitious project "backed up" by a sensitive, compassionate, catch and release use of force in the liberation process.
Neither warmaking nor democratization get a fair chance with THOSE ROE's.
Wow, the world can look different when you don't have all the facts. Let's take a closer look.
From Somnambulist: The blueprint from the new Bush policy had actually been drawn up five years earlier by three of his top national security advisors. Soon to be appointed to senior administration positions, they were Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser. ...the plan was originally intended not for Bush but for another world leader, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yes, here is paper from the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm. It was written in 1996.
Here is A Letter to President Clinton on Iraq, published by the Project for a New American Century, a neo-conservative think-tank.
Here is Rebuilding America's Defenses, which Karen Kwiatkowski describes like this:
I had seen it before just because it’s a document something we would see because it’s about views of a post-Cold War world and what we should do. This is the kind of thing that people in the Pentagon think about.
Didn’t think much of it until I saw the President’s national security strategy, his very first one that George Bush put out. Of course we do read that and it’s on the Web site, White House Web site. And when I read it not just me but lots of people saw almost word-for-word lifting of phrases and ideas and concepts from the Project for New American Century’s previous document ”Rebuilding America’s Defenses.”
So, on its face, the quote you present is inaccurate. Bush's foreign policy was lifted from Rebuilding America's Defenses, a paper published by Project for a New American Century. William Kristol is chairman of the Project, and Robert Kagan, Devon Gaffney Cross, Bruce P. Jackson and John R.
Bolton serve as directors. Gary Schmitt is executive director of the Project. The paper was written by Thomas Donnelly, who's, er, not a Zionist.
So, good ole' fashioned Americans fashioned Bush's foreign policy. Now, it may be true that some are Jewish, and may even be true that some ideas were borrowed from Israeli publications, but they were filtered through red-blooded Americans, and the arguments make sense on their face. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean the world is coming to an end.
Also, sure, plans were already in place to remove Saddam Hussein. I'll let you tell us what those plans were, how they were to be implemented, etc. There's a pretty significant detail here that's missing from your post.
"40,000 suicide bombers hanging over your head don't sound so great, either, somnabulist. "
---
I like Savage's idea for when they gather together and march down the street:
A little gift from the Predator up above.
---
I STILL think we should have visited a little vengance from above on the folks running around the streets of Mosul while we were occupied in Falluja.
And in case you were wondering, yes, it's this John R. Bolton.
are selling our democracy down the river to make a buck
Oh brother! I don't suppose you have any actual facts-on-the-ground to support that statement. What somebody said or allegedly said is not a fact.
What social or political institutions have been created or "taken over" to achieve this end? What overt actions have these institutions taken to achieve this end?
If you can't answer any of these questions then put your balls on a table and hit them with a hammer. You deserve it.
Why, if we did stuff like that, why, folks would think there was a WAR on or somethin'
Remember I wanted to bomb the demonstrators in Warizistan, but NO.
The Mohammedans wouldn't have liked it, both those in the KSA and on the General President's Staff.
And in case you weren't curious enough, the Letter to President Clinton on Iraq, which urged the President to take decisive action to remove Saddam, was signed by these august Zionists:
Elliott Abrams
Richard L. Armitage
William J. Bennett
Jeffrey Bergner
John Bolton
Paula Dobriansky
Francis Fukuyama
Robert Kagan
Zalmay Khalilzad
William Kristol
Richard Perle
Peter W. Rodman
Donald Rumsfeld
William Schneider, Jr.
Vin Weber
Paul Wolfowitz
R. James Woolsey
Robert B. Zoellick
I nominate the Insomniac for a Pulitzer.
Anybody know for sure if he's a citizen?
Ya gotta be a Patriotic US Citizen to get those things.
Can I still be Zionist if I ain't Jooish?
I've been wanting the Israelis to line up the D9s on the Gaza border and not stop until there was a new sea wall.
3:07 PM,
That's ridiculous!
They NEVER would have gotten as well organized as they are now if we had bombed them then.
Wouldn't have been fair, or prudent.
You don't want to create CHAOS do you?
So, Somnambulist, your entire theory is rotten. Its central tenet, that Bush's foreign policy was originally written for Netanyahu, is false.
The centerpiece of our foreign policy is this:
At present the United States faces no global rival. America’s grand strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible.
Wasting American geo-political capital on another Levant Charade was not something that fit into the plan.
3:13
Too bad OUR Caterpillar guy killed himself.
He was a one man Army.
Remember that one?
(the armored caterpillar/disgruntled contractor guy)
chaos
damned sure do.
fear & loathing
We've got their loathing
Time's come they feel some fear
Past Time.
Instead we have national pastimes.
"I will not revisit the issues of Passover weekend."
---
It was those Post Passover Maragaritas that were deadly!
Gaza coastline--isn't that like, sand and sea? A Mediterranean seacoast? Why aren't there some tourist attractions? Hotels, restaurants, casinos, real-estate development, an economy?
Iwent to an old cobwebbed folder--the one with gnawed and scorched edges, covered with dried slobber and tearstains--called "araby" and found this well-linked URL from M. Simon. Interesting, save for when there's drying paint to watch.
I like to watch the Eggplant ripen.
Avuncular Al’s Lesson in Civics 101 or, “Why there are no main battle tanks on my street”
The only time I have tanks on my street is on-base. I find the tanks and the youngsters who operate them right up my alley.
Now, I have never had a tank on my residential street, so far. Today, I have noticed utility vehicles, lawn care vehicles, and even an ice cream truck but, no tanks. Now, here’s the civics lesson: My subdivision trustees do not send people across the creek to the military base to commit murder. If they ever do, I will not be surprised to see tanks on my street. Moreover, people in my neighborhood do not take pot-shots at people working on base. Neither do they kidnap, torture, and murder folks from the facility. Consequently, and do pay close attention, we have no tanks on our streets. Simple, hey?
Now, if you have had tanks roaming around your neighborhood, I just bet that someone has been very naughty. Not UN naughty, but that kind of naughty understood by civilized men since the time of Moses. You remember him, and that conference at Sinai, don’t you? So, I just think that if people in your part of town are having problems with Zionist tanks, you would be well advised to consider an attitude adjustment.
Good luck and do keep your human shield always at the ready. Israelis have this ridiculous reluctance about blowing into pieces innocent bystanders but, then, you know that, don’t you?
"It is possible also to measure the system's capacity for change by giving it small endurable shocks (or just measuring its response to noise)."
---
Maybe that was the idea for that Margarita Experiment?
I think he stepped out for a quick cup of amphetamines, with hiz ole pal Comrade Cedarford.
Allen,
What about when it is a neo-conservative think-tank?
Meanwhile Simon is rationalizing it all as reasonable self-medication.
Yes, the reason they call 'em "tanks" is because they save your people from being moidered, for which your people say, "Hey, tanks, man, tanks a millyun!"
Tanks, but no tanks.
I think you should tank the Insomniac.
I guess the Pulitzers an example of giving tanks for services rendered.
Wenyi Wang charged with disorderly conduct, intimidating foreign official... Still in custody... MORE///
---
Guess she won't be getting a job with Google/Yahoo/Microsoft.
The Bad Man opened his remarks with "How I love being on this campus! I will speak today on the evils of fascism, and what it can do to warp the mind."
Later, the student newspaper synopsized the remark as "How I love...fascism...it can...warp the mind."
exhelodrvr, 2:36 PM
You, my dear sir, are a saint, a veritable demi-god among men. Bless you! Bless you! Bless you!
exhelodrvr,
Forget the previous. This is your post I had in mind.
"D-R,
The P-3 had to land because of the damage. Flying to a non-PRC field was not a realistic option, whether or not the fighters had missiles.
2:40 PM "
Now, wallow in the previous heartfelt tribute. Bless you!
peterboston, 3:00 PM
"If you can't answer any of these questions then put your balls on a table and hit them with a hammer. You deserve it.
3:00 PM"
Sure, easy for you to say. Zinc deficiency is no laughing matter.
Nope, Dan, it has never dawned on him. Can't--non compos mentis.
I didn't counter, nor did I parry. I destroyed your thesis. Have you read Rebuilding America's Defenses, or Bush's National Defense Strategy, or anything besides that book you quoted from?
And you still haven't gotten back to me on our original plan for removing Saddam, the one Rummy and Wolfowitz were working on pre-911. As I said, there's something in it that pile-drives your thesis on Land Control.
Aristide wrote:
"The centerpiece of our foreign policy is this:
At present the United States faces no global rival. America’s grand strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible."
So, you admit it, the centrepiece of the Bush administrations foreign policy is to dominate the whole world. Do you not think it would be in other nations interest to resist such domination? In addition do you not think that this is immoral, injust?
Aristides will be back injust a minut.
...or a tank, if it's a minenut.
Good Lord, Ash...talk about just "phoning it in".
Tell me what you think the words "immoral" and "injust" mean.
And I've never made any secret about my thoughts on this subject (and by the way, this was not exactly an admission of mine: it came from Bush's National Defense Strategy). American power should be used to enforce a system of stabilizing ethics in the world.
Stabilizing ethics. Stabilizing ethics. Stabilizing ethics.
Say it with me...stabilizing ethics. You can distinguish enforcing stabilizing ethics from domination, yes?
But before you answer that, give me your definition of "injust" and "immoral".
Allen 4:17 PM,
You sayin my hammer was deficient in Zinc is why it shattered?
It was no joke, almost got hit in the eye.
Allen 4:11 PM,
But he left out the patriotic option which was to land in the drink and let it sink.
The chicoms woulda picked em up and treated them nice, no?
...since were talkin Titanium Balls and all.
Read this carefully, Ash:
Yet, whatever the limits and problems associated with American primacy, Lieber argues that there is no real alternative if we want a stable and prosperous world. And the heart of his book is an examination of how this fact of international life remains so for Europe, for the Middle East, and for Asia.
In the case of Europe, after examining both the sources of tension and cooperation in current transatlantic relations, Lieber argues that Europe has no choice but to depend on American leadership and power. Europe's lack of unanimity over foreign policies, and its own lack of hard power, leave it with little choice but to rely on the United States when it comes to maintaining the world's security blanket. As for the Middle East, after making the case for going to war with Saddam's Iraq--a case that ultimately hinges on the risks of not acting--Lieber notes that it still remains the case that "only the U.S." can deter regional thugs, contain weapons proliferation to any degree, keep the Arab-Israeli peace process afloat, and keep the oil supplies flowing to us and our allies. And in Asia, it is the United States that "plays a unique stabilizing role . . . that no other country or organization can play." Absent America's presence, the region's key actors would face a dramatically different set of security concerns, in which more overt, "great power" competition would likely become the norm.
Lieber is not oblivious to the fact that the rest of the world is hardly happy with this state of affairs, even while at times reluctantly admitting its necessity. As he quotes one European parliamentarian, "There are a lot of people who don't like the American policeman, but they are happy there is one." Nor, Lieber admits, is this situation made any easier by the sometimes ham-handed way in which Washington works with its friends and allies.
Yet, whatever the discontent generated by American primacy, the most remarkable feature of the present international order is how little real reaction there has been to that dominance. Lieber's key evidence here is that there has been no sustained effort by the world's other great powers to check the exercise of American power by forming new coalitions.
You'd think if American primacy was so "injust" and immoral, other countries would be making a big stink about it. You know why they're not?
They're busy getting rich.
____“Somnabulist, will you repudiate anyone or any organization responsible for sending a bomb-laden or otherwise armed assailant into Israel to kill civilians. In short, will you unequivocally call, using just one word, such an act "terrorism?’"
You probably don’t know this but I have made finding the mythical “moderate” Muslim a……..yes, that’s it…a crusade. All I ever ask is the answer to a simple question, easily answerable by any decent human being. All I want is the use of a single word: “terrorist.” In failing to answer my question you have answered the question. And as I told your friend “talker-to-animals” (I think, but memory fails) last week, I don’t blame you.
Because I’m feeling especially generous, my wellspring of kindness not entirely dry, I’m going to help you out; Baruch Goldstein was a cold-blooded murderer. Listen carefully as I say the magic word, he was a TERRORIST. For his unconscionable conduct he will stand in judgment. You know what, no one kill me or my family for saying that. Hey, I’ll say it again, if you like. This is America and I’m a Jew. We don’t savagely kill for matters of individual conscience. If Islam survives to see the 21st Century, you guys might find that so relaxing.
doug,
When I grow up, I want to be able to say, "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me." - Churchill. I apparently have my work cut out for me, so, no time like the present.
As the girl said sheepishly, "about the other night..."
Now, now that I'm some decades past the apogee of my gorgeous Apollonian bodily perfection, we be gonna all hafta go nude. Now i know why I hate terrorists.
we already "dominate the whole world."
Why yes, as a matter of fact we do. And if ya look close, the market for great power wars has been looking a little bearish lately. Wonder why?
IMF reports "no recessions anywhere" and world growth running at an unprecedented 4.5%, and "high quality", meaning efficient, sustainable, and non-inflationary.
"Oh," one could say, "...that's just money."
But, oh ho, say the realists, it's actually about hope, aspiration, the future, a better life for the children, and freedom from perpetual toil to attain merely survival returns, in the human need for the necessities of life.
re: military-industrial complex.
Let me quote you a Jew, Bill Kristol:
Well, insofar as the thesis seems to be that the powerful military industrial complex drove us to war I think it’s just crackpot. I mean the war in Iraq may or may not have been a good idea I think it was necessary and right. And there have been may have been many different forces, ideological and others driving us to war but the idea that this is powerful military industrial complex in the U.S. that’s driving decisions is ridiculous.
It’s I think in Eisenhower’s day military spending was what eight-nine percent, 10 percent perhaps of gross domestic product. It was three percent when Bush took over and now it’s about four percent. It’s I mean look at the defense companies they’ve all merged and are much smaller compared to their, you know, civilian counterparts than they used to be.
So the idea that there’s this, you know that this was done for this money as didn’t someone say in the trailer, ”follow the money,” that really is ridiculous. And the idea that a president of the United States and Senators and Congressmen would vote would go to war for the sake of what enriching some friends of theirs who are contractors that’s really both childish and kind of obscene I think.
And you might be right about Americans not wanting to pay for the Pax Americana. But know this. If we withdraw our hand, we will have opened Pandora's Box.
And yes, to have a stabilizing ethic in an evolutionary game of agent interaction, certain behaviors must carry with them great cost. That means bombs, and if it's really bad, Marines.
5:06 PM:
They told me it WAS a sheep!
Wish there'd a been a security cam.
I'll die of curiosity, if the liver holds out.
Aristide,
Most here, and I would imagine yourself included would agree that America acts in its own interest on the world stage. Not only does it act in its own interest but it should, it is right and it is natural. When interests conflict, as they often do, why do you think the American interest should assume primacy? Are Americans 'chosen ones'? Is this your view of justice? Morality? Are you Machevalian or is this ordained by God?
Somnambulist, 10:54 PM
"Lets not discuss Shamir any further. That might get a little too disturbing."
You would be mistaken. It would, however, be a waste of time.
I'm still waiting for that one majic word: "terrorist"
Somnamb, I'm afraid you suffer from factoid disease. look at it this way--if all these minor dire warnings were anything but eddys in the giant capitalist river, the hard-eyed central bankers of the world wouldn't be over-subscribing to every single one of our treasury offerings. Gates and all others with large currency exposures constantly hedge against minotr movementsa in currency--the international currency markets are a continual grading system on a nation's proficiency in handling their economies. The markets weigh, the markets adjust, continually. There is not a single economist, or reasonably well-informed lay person, in the world who would dispute that regardless of the particular saw-tooth perturbation of any one metric notwithstanding, the globe is in a secular economic uptrend, led by the trading relationships of the great economies, and that the temperature gauge--interest rates--are nicely healthy. And the jobless rate here in the US is as low as it will ever go--anyone who wants work can find it. Iran's big shot at the Dollar won't do much--the mass effect ain't there. The Shanghai Remembi Basket-Adjustment to the Yuan has raised it 3-4% vs USD in the last year, and that's not a bad thing at all. Why would it bother you for Euro to amount to a few percent of reserves, isn't hedging a method for smoothing the future and maintaining liquidity without distortion?
What is it with you lefties, throwing out odd factoids and implying that they mean we're all doomed? This is a religious vision, not an economic one.
I guess what confuses me, somnamb, is that you guys preach the transnational progressive agenda, but at the same time complain bitterly that the rest of the world is catching up to the USA in wealth.
I mean, so what? Isn't that what we want? Equality?
Or is it just equality at a high level of wealth that offends you hair-shirt folks..?
Here's a tip--the global economy is growing in the mid 4% range, according to the IMF. A few years of that pace and all your debt numbers grow to historically large nominal numbers. Don't look at those numbers in the static way, they will not give you a true picture of reality. Use "percentages"--always. And always look at "returns" on equity. ROE reflects the results of productivity gains--productivity being the key to wealth--the amount of work/product output per unit input (usually "time").
I hate to burst your bubble, but--look it up--the world is in an economic boomtime, and the USA gets a lot of the credit.
Low taxation is a key--governments create a drag on productivity (the proof is in the federal tax receipts curve)--as well as the related growth of business profits.
IOW the return on the net capital employed (RONCE) privately is powering the liquidity and risk returns that are lifting the lot of mankind in general across the board, globally--esp in the free world.
Sure the rate of lift is higher here and lower there and/or vice-versa thru time, because it's nature doing it, not some gov't program.
The left should be tickled pink that the little guy is getting the lift that your Marxism can only offer via theft from Peter to pay Paul.
The concentration of wealth at the top is precisely what the redistributive tax laws are built to address.
Anything more draconian than a near-vertical progressive tax schedule--ie confiscation--will merely kill the whole system, and put us under dictatorship.
That's why dan called you a nazi--because that's where your thinking ends up--historically.
So, in the end, if you like poor people, that doesn't mean you should create more of them. That's rather perverse, you know.
And if you hate rich people, well, consider them a necessary evil, a system has to have some "reward" in it or people won't play, except under the lash.
All that said, I wish Teddy would quit preaching the death tax for you and me, while keeping his own dough out of range of it, in a Fiji Island trust fund.
buddy larsen,
Econ. 101
But...but...but...
Do mean to say that a rising tide lifts all boats? And just WHO owns those boats?
I'm going to go talk to my Prof. and you'll be sorry, then.
Thanks. Really. Good work.
Allen, the Last Marxist's last words will be "Well, why ain't I rich, then?"
He won't want to hear the true answer, "Because you're a dumbass, that's why!"
Neil Boortz recently debated the fair tax with Yale Law professor Michael Graetz. Graetz made some comment about how under Neil Boortz's tax scheme, the "rich would keep getting richer, and the poor would get poorer."
Boortz stood up and responded, "You know, the rich keep getting richer because they continue doing the things that got them rich. Ditto for the poor."
buddy larsen,
"Dumass"
And I know you make this observation with all the compassion and sensitivity it merits. Hearts and minds.
I repudiate all forms of violence. Violence is not a necessary part of my life equation.
Whenever I see or hear this sentiment, I feel I must say something about it. Something true, something that, if you are going to hold such a position, you should at least try to understand.
I don't fault moral innocents from disbelieving in the goodness and necessity of some forms of violence. After all, it may come to pass that violence itself becomes obsolete (though I seriously doubt it). However here's what you should know:
1. Such innocence is a luxury good.
Demand for a luxury good only exists after a certain level of income. If income declines, demand for this good will drop and eventually fade away. Well, replace "income" with the word "safety", and you have the same dynamic with your disbelief in violence. Only after a certain amount of violence has been done to make one safe will the demand and purchase of such moral preening take place. Were safety to go down, demand for this particular luxury good would disappear, as violence was once again understood to be, unfortunately, sometimes very, very necessary.
2. Your posture is entirely derivative, and therefore entirely dependent.
Only because certain people understand the necessity of violence can you sit in a protected zone and denounce it. Therefore, your apperceptive background--your view of the world--is entirely dependent on others behaving in ways you have nothing but contempt for. Well, so be it: people like you are the unfortunate ungrateful byproducts of our mastery of violence, but it probably can't be any other way.
But still, you might want to think about it.
That's precisely why transparency is so important. Without it, the deck gets stacked. With it, upward mobility is there for the takers.
Transparency--a major USA capital-attractor, because the opposite is a first-feature of an authoritarian system.
And no, I'm not Greek. I'm American.
A dysfunctional, alcoholic, failed PhD. has to have an excuse – voila – Marxism. Sounds eerily contemporary, doesn’t it.
My post above was to Aristides' Boortz post. To Ari's following post, there is a word to describe the user of the dynamic described. That word is "parasite" of course, and doesn't preclude gratitude for the allowance to be such. To include the gratuitous lack of gratitude, the appellation is properly "parasitic ingrate".
I don't mean to be rude. But the truth is the truth.
And of course, there's nothing to prevent a parasitic ingrate from having a rueful sort of acceptance of his degraded state-of-being. Ergo, should he choose to deny that state-of-being, he becomes, ipso facto, an arrogant parasitic ingrate.
Myopic emotive arrogant parasitic ingrate. Yup, 'bout sums it up.
buddy larsen,
"arrogant parasitic ingrate"
Wow, after all these years, Marxism still lends itself to so many useful interpretations. Forever young.
The next natural step in the taxonomy would be trope-based: If an arrogant parasitic ingrate seeks to convert others (ie spread the pathology), he will have no choice but to make bad into good, and good into bad--thereby qualifying himself for the classic definition of that very useful word evil.
buddy larsen & aristides
You have noticed that he would rather strangle on his own bile than use the perfectly honest and descriptive word "terrorist." But I would never ask a man to do what he does not believe.
Oh, well, the search goes on, or should I say crusade. Where in the world is that mythic Modi Muslem. (To the tune of Carmen San Diego)
buddy larsen,
"evil"
When approximately three, my daughter came to me tell me of a conversation with a friend. The friend had told her the devil was ugly.
I assured her that the devil was a beautiful creature.
Nice circle--brings us right back to Marxism, the "beautiful creature".
okay, somnanb, please describe, if you will, the mechanics of gates "betting against the Dollar". When you're finished, I'll reward you with some humiliating data.
...and BTW, have you ever engaged in the romance of subsistance farming? As, the barrier between you and disaster, I mean, not as a hippie semester.
When you say "leave the women and children out of it"--whom are you addressing?
What if whomever it is, doesn't abide by your request, and murders your family one day down at the mall? Say you shake your god-like elevation for a mo, and get the killer in your sights. If you shoot, are you as guilty as he?
ok, somnamb. later.
But, PS, I've farmed for a living--20 years of it, and still do in a minor way, and of late, in my more prosperous 50s, I play the mkts, and have short term "bets against the dollar" riding all the time. Any commodity investment is a "bet against the Dollar". I was hoping to make the point to you the impossible airiness of your Gates statement.
Also, "Economics is the science of greed" again is not exactly technically useful. It's a religious conviction, faith-based.
There's a wider cognitive gulf here than I had at first imagined. But, at least you're not rude.
Okay, we can discuss your economic theories another time.
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