My take on 2003 in a nutshell.
Two thousand four has got to be better.
Saturday, January 03, 2004
Friday, January 02, 2004
Iraqi police
This article in the Guardian describes the state of the Iraqi police force that the US has been training and recently deploying in Tikrit. To the US Commander's chagrin, the police often cover their faces on patrol to avoid identification; and are both poorly equipped and trained, occasionally firing at other Iraqi policemen by mistake.
"The good thing is they can't hit anything," remarked the US officer who's in charge of their training.
"The good thing is they can't hit anything," remarked the US officer who's in charge of their training.
Thursday, January 01, 2004
U.S. Not Worried About Dollar Drop
Whew. What a relief. Weakness is strength and Washington isn't worried. I should've guessed; the end of the major conflict wasn't the end of anything in particular, so why should weakness be weakness?
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
A kettle of fish/A walk in the park
Okay, let's see. A group of Turkomen (whoever they are) and arabs gathered yesterday in oil-rich Kirkuk (which once was a Kurdish city (whatever that is), from which Saddam some years ago drove the Kurds) to protest the Kurds' desire to include the city in an independent entity, not controlled by a central Iraqi government. The Iraqi police in Kirkuk (whoever they are) fired on the group, killing two and injuring several. The US Army wasn't directly involved apparently.
Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the Kurdish representatives to the Iraqi Governing Council (whatever it governs) are plumping for an independent Kurdish entity, including Kirkuk, to be recognized right away and to be spelled out in the governing law that is to be promulgated before the constitution is drawn up and voted on in 2005. The other Iraqi representatives don't want the Kurds to become a separate entity. Neither, of course, do the Turks to the north of Iraq, because that would likely cause the Turkish Kurds (whoever they are) to want to join their southern neighbors by severing themselves from Turkey.
The US is an ally of Turkey, and so the US probably doesn't want an independent Kurdish entity in Iraq, either. (Besides, there's all that oil!) But a decision would seem to be the province of the Iraqi Governing Council under the "democracy" that the US is supposedly promoting in Iraq. So do we take sides on this issue? Do we support the Kurds who are seeking autonomy (they were our allies against Saddam, and may have been responsible for his capture, recall)? Do we keep hands off? Do we use our troops to quell disturbances, thereby becoming embroiled in what amounts to a Middle-East civil war?
Compared to the latter, a land war in Asia is a walk in the park.
Boy oh boy, is 2004 going to be fun to watch!
Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the Kurdish representatives to the Iraqi Governing Council (whatever it governs) are plumping for an independent Kurdish entity, including Kirkuk, to be recognized right away and to be spelled out in the governing law that is to be promulgated before the constitution is drawn up and voted on in 2005. The other Iraqi representatives don't want the Kurds to become a separate entity. Neither, of course, do the Turks to the north of Iraq, because that would likely cause the Turkish Kurds (whoever they are) to want to join their southern neighbors by severing themselves from Turkey.
The US is an ally of Turkey, and so the US probably doesn't want an independent Kurdish entity in Iraq, either. (Besides, there's all that oil!) But a decision would seem to be the province of the Iraqi Governing Council under the "democracy" that the US is supposedly promoting in Iraq. So do we take sides on this issue? Do we support the Kurds who are seeking autonomy (they were our allies against Saddam, and may have been responsible for his capture, recall)? Do we keep hands off? Do we use our troops to quell disturbances, thereby becoming embroiled in what amounts to a Middle-East civil war?
Compared to the latter, a land war in Asia is a walk in the park.
Boy oh boy, is 2004 going to be fun to watch!
Forex news
I had to emerge from my dialup-driven holiday hiatus to inform loyal readers (you'll learn it on this blog first) that the dollar's slide has become free fall. A telling chart of dollar/euro price over time may be found here, and shows that after hanging at alltime lows (in the $1.24 range) for several days, the dollar tested the $1.25 area for the first time on Monday and by this morning (early, early) had already dropped into the $1.26 range. A decline of a penny less than a day of trading!
I predict that the mainstream news, as well as the experts, will now address the reality of a plummeting dollar, which will in turn weaken the dollar further, which will in short order put the skids on the "recovery" because the fed will have to increase interest rates to maintain the buyers' interest in US debt instruments, which are, as we know, the only means by which the US is able to raise the money needed to feed its imbalance between spending and income.
I don't like to be the bearer of bad economic tidings; but my pain of doing so is balanced by joy watching Bush's buddies in the capital/corporate markets finally reveal that Bush's economic recovery has been a debt-fed fraud.
DKos presents an extended message board on the subject here.
I predict that the mainstream news, as well as the experts, will now address the reality of a plummeting dollar, which will in turn weaken the dollar further, which will in short order put the skids on the "recovery" because the fed will have to increase interest rates to maintain the buyers' interest in US debt instruments, which are, as we know, the only means by which the US is able to raise the money needed to feed its imbalance between spending and income.
I don't like to be the bearer of bad economic tidings; but my pain of doing so is balanced by joy watching Bush's buddies in the capital/corporate markets finally reveal that Bush's economic recovery has been a debt-fed fraud.
DKos presents an extended message board on the subject here.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Busting Ben Franklin
The FBI says local cops should be on the lookout for people carrying almanacs. 'Cuz dey got lots uh information, ya know. Like about cities an bridges an stuff. Morons. I swear, the practical intelligence of our Homeland Security folks is inversely proportional to the current terror alert level. Which, by the way is Ernie.
My grandfather liked the World Almanac. He gave me a lot of books, and the last one was a World Almanac. If it had been dangerous, I assure you he would have warned me. He was good at that sort of thing; always reminded me to check my tires.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein
FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs
My grandfather liked the World Almanac. He gave me a lot of books, and the last one was a World Almanac. If it had been dangerous, I assure you he would have warned me. He was good at that sort of thing; always reminded me to check my tires.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein
FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Despair Is Not an Option
A fine short essay by William Sloan Coffin, from The Nation. One of my favorite magazines.
Brutality of US Troops
Don't worry, this NY Times article is about atrocities committed by US troops in Vietnam. I'm sure nothing like this is going on now. War isn't this insane any more, so our young soldiers aren't so afraid, wouldn't be pushed to such stark regions of madness.
Report on Brutal Vietnam Campaign Stirs Memories
Report on Brutal Vietnam Campaign Stirs Memories
Warren Buffet and me
So, I'm not crazy, after all. This article summarizes my previous observations about the sliding dollar and its potential effect on inflation and the welfare of the US economy generally. If Buffet and Soros are snapping up foreign currencies, something's gonna give.
Whoa there, cowboy
SF Chronicle points out it's time for the Bush administration to stop trying to strip defendants of their constitutional rights to due process.
"Even during a national emergency, the executive branch doesn't have the right to a wholesale denial of rights."
Courts draw line on civil liberties
"Even during a national emergency, the executive branch doesn't have the right to a wholesale denial of rights."
Courts draw line on civil liberties
Defenseless Defenders
The Army deliberately decided not to equip Nat'l Guard units with defensive equipment, to save money. Your tax dollars at work, but on a break. [ News ]
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Watching paint dry
I'm spending the holidays in Arizona, and my only connection to the internet is by dialup. The result is that I devote most of my online time watching a blank screen, waiting for the meter on the bottom to creep across before the image of a new page appears.
So, I won't be posting for a week or so, until I can get back to my DSL modem, which is surely no cable hookup, but it beats the hell out of sitting here doing nothing but grinding my teeth.
Meanwhile, I recommend you check out life in the new Baghdad, as told by Riverbend. From what she describes, my travails aren't worthy of complaint, not at all.
So, I won't be posting for a week or so, until I can get back to my DSL modem, which is surely no cable hookup, but it beats the hell out of sitting here doing nothing but grinding my teeth.
Meanwhile, I recommend you check out life in the new Baghdad, as told by Riverbend. From what she describes, my travails aren't worthy of complaint, not at all.
Monday, December 22, 2003
"Dishonest Dubya" Lying Action Figure
I'm getting ready to take off for Christmas. ... And by take off, I don't mean to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. ... See y'all later. Thanks to Pete for this link to the #1 item on my Santa list:
"Dishonest Dubya" Lying Action Figure
"And when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
-- George W. Bush
"Dishonest Dubya" Lying Action Figure
"And when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
-- George W. Bush
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Beat the clock
No less an authority than the Congressional Budget Office, the official surveyor of federal income and expense, predicts disaster for the nation's purse unless drastic steps are taken to decrease spending and increase revenues to the treasury (read higher taxes). The crunch is not far off, given the imminent growth of demand upon the federal fisc in the form of dramatically higher numbers of social security claimants as boomers begin to retire.
"Failing to act would drive the accumulated federal debt to unsustainable levels, said the study, released Friday. 'Taken to the extreme, such a path could result in an economic crisis,' including the possibilities that foreign investors would pull out, the dollar's value plunge, interest rates and prices soar and stock markets collapse.
"'The longer that lawmakers delay acting to counter an unsustainable budgetary situation, the larger the spending cuts or tax increases will eventually have to be,' the 60-page study warned."
I can just see the White House folks, praying they can put off the catastrophe until the election. For my part, I hope the slide into disaster starts soon, so the blame may be laid at Bush's feet, where it surely belongs, and so we have a chance to elect someone who will take steps to alleviate the inevitable pain of Bush's no-tax-much-spend policies.
"Failing to act would drive the accumulated federal debt to unsustainable levels, said the study, released Friday. 'Taken to the extreme, such a path could result in an economic crisis,' including the possibilities that foreign investors would pull out, the dollar's value plunge, interest rates and prices soar and stock markets collapse.
"'The longer that lawmakers delay acting to counter an unsustainable budgetary situation, the larger the spending cuts or tax increases will eventually have to be,' the 60-page study warned."
I can just see the White House folks, praying they can put off the catastrophe until the election. For my part, I hope the slide into disaster starts soon, so the blame may be laid at Bush's feet, where it surely belongs, and so we have a chance to elect someone who will take steps to alleviate the inevitable pain of Bush's no-tax-much-spend policies.
Time to place a call to Yap?
About this war – the one in Iraq, you know – it’s worse than I thought it was going to be. I pictured running gun battles in the streets, with the Iraqis having a frustrating home field advantage. But I also thought it would have a beginning, a horrible process, and an end. I figured at some point, before too long, we’d beat them. Superior troops, weapons and tactics. I didn’t think it would linger on like this, so much like Vietnam.
I saw on CNN a day or two ago that the 200 mark had been hit. 200 American dead since the aircraft carrier speech. And I don’t think we’re much closer to neutralizing the insurgency than on that day – a day that will live in stupidity. Pulling Saddam from his lair won't do it, friends. They still hate us, and they're still willing to do violence.
This war has been an exercise in monumental arrogance. The aftermath of “major operations” has been an orgy of hypocrisy. We can start with the fact that Halliburton – and for that matter the U.S. Government – is just as guilty of dealing with Old Shaggy Bunkerbutt than the countries that have been precluded from rebuilding contracts for fraternizing with the dictator. If every country and company that ever dealt with Hussein were locked out of rebuilding deals, Iraq would get rebuilt by the Masai and the Federated States of Micronesia.
I guess it boils down to the obvious. Leadership is needed to end the insanity. And nobody currently in office is up to the job. … Dis-appoint Bush in ’04!
I saw on CNN a day or two ago that the 200 mark had been hit. 200 American dead since the aircraft carrier speech. And I don’t think we’re much closer to neutralizing the insurgency than on that day – a day that will live in stupidity. Pulling Saddam from his lair won't do it, friends. They still hate us, and they're still willing to do violence.
This war has been an exercise in monumental arrogance. The aftermath of “major operations” has been an orgy of hypocrisy. We can start with the fact that Halliburton – and for that matter the U.S. Government – is just as guilty of dealing with Old Shaggy Bunkerbutt than the countries that have been precluded from rebuilding contracts for fraternizing with the dictator. If every country and company that ever dealt with Hussein were locked out of rebuilding deals, Iraq would get rebuilt by the Masai and the Federated States of Micronesia.
I guess it boils down to the obvious. Leadership is needed to end the insanity. And nobody currently in office is up to the job. … Dis-appoint Bush in ’04!
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Democracy in Iraq, but not in US
The irony overwhelms.
A quote from a Shia cleric:
"We don't want a dictatorship of the majority to dominate," said Mr. Hakim. "But we do want to preserve the rights of the majority, which is the Shia, and the simplest right is to have the head of state come from the majority. Isn't that correct?"
A quote from a Shia cleric:
"We don't want a dictatorship of the majority to dominate," said Mr. Hakim. "But we do want to preserve the rights of the majority, which is the Shia, and the simplest right is to have the head of state come from the majority. Isn't that correct?"
Debt forgiveness
Since whiffs of it began to seep into the news, I've wondered what this "debt forgiveness" campaign by the US, lately through envoy James Baker, was about. Now I understand. (Click on the "press releases" link.)
"Creditors" who financed Hussein's regime, including the US, were unlikely to be repaid by the new Iraq, so in the guise of forgiveness, they may see some money through IMF sanction of new, albeit lesser, debt, saddling the new Iraq with the sums.
This, like so many other matters the US is "handling" for Iraq, such as the opening of Iraqi commerce to foreign ownership, is done without legal sanction from a democratically founded Iraqi entity, and is done in furtherance of US commercial and political aims, leaving Iraq's truly-constituted government with nothing to do but design the national flag and compose the national anthem.
"Creditors" who financed Hussein's regime, including the US, were unlikely to be repaid by the new Iraq, so in the guise of forgiveness, they may see some money through IMF sanction of new, albeit lesser, debt, saddling the new Iraq with the sums.
This, like so many other matters the US is "handling" for Iraq, such as the opening of Iraqi commerce to foreign ownership, is done without legal sanction from a democratically founded Iraqi entity, and is done in furtherance of US commercial and political aims, leaving Iraq's truly-constituted government with nothing to do but design the national flag and compose the national anthem.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Even if taken with a grain of salt, a grain of truth abides
This ezine may not be unbiased, but if just one-third of its reports approximate the truth, I am ashamed for our military, ashamed to be an American.
Freepers, creepers
I will likely use the word "Freeper" or "Freepers" hereafter in this blog. An exhaustive definition may be found here. Once you read it you'll appreciate how handy the word is in my parlance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
