Is perpetual war inevitable?
Posted inPolitics: National

Is perpetual war inevitable?

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In an otherwise interesting essay entitled, "The Price of Perpetual War," we find this perplexing paragraph:

The United States did not choose this era of perpetual war. It is the price of living in a world where, for the first time, terrorist groups and malevolent individuals can reach the United States and wreak havoc from virtually any corner of the world. That threat was literally brought home by al Qaeda on 9/11 and reinforced all too recently by the terror attacks in Paris, Brussels, and San Bernardino.

Does anyone believe this is so? Alas, millions of Americans. But to make a quick list…

…We chose to give a blank check to Saudi Arabia to run one of the world's most repressive regimes while spreading extremist war-on-the-infidels Islam throughout the Middle East and beyond. One doesn't have to subscribe to conspiracy theories to acknowledge that Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens. And what has our kowtowing to the kingdom given us? The House of Saud's oil, to fuel our "non-negotiable" (and already heavily subsidized) car-based sprawl lifestyle. Most oil needs to stay in the ground if we are to avoid destroying the planet even more — and between "making different arrangements" and domestic oil, we don't need OPEC anymore. …

…We chose an even closer connection to Israel, Riyadh's quiet ally, whether this was in America's national interest or not. And with the oppressive and increasingly extremist regime of Benjamin Netanyahu is it increasingly not. Indeed, increasing Jewish settlements on Palestinian land and injustices against the Palestinian people committed by Israel blow back on the United States, which has long ago lost its credibility as an honest broker in the Middle East. It has inflamed Islamic and Arabic anger against us. And for what? To please the powerful donors of AIPAC and older Jewish voters in the swing state of Florida?…

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Posted inPolitics: National

Obama’s world of troubles

One of the most questionable propositions of our political journalism is that President Obama is to blame for trouble in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, the rise of Russian aggressiveness and poor relations with Israel.

The trouble is, I have yet to find anyone questioning it.

One can blame Mr. Obama for many missteps and blunders. Chuck Hagel was a poor choice for Secretary of Defense. The inner circle of the White House probably does micromanage too often, and does so from a blinkered perspective.

Blame the ignorance of Americans and the self-interest of defense contractors for the conceit that we have control of a messy world. We do not.

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Posted inPolitics: National

Why America slept, 2008 edition

Even a cursory knowledge of 20th century history tells us that little countries spark world wars. Thus, we had Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in World War I and Czechoslovakia in World War II. But that’s not quite right. Trouble in a little country must be combined with foreign policy blunders by great powers. Thus, if Britain had made its intentions more clearly known to the Kaiser in 1914; if Britain and France had marched on Hitler the moment he remilitarized the Rhineland (German generals issued orders to retreat if the Allies acted; some hoped it would give them cause to topple the Fuhrer).

Let’s not take the analogies too far with the fast-moving events involving Georgia and Russia. But it was chilling in the U.N. Sunday when the Russian ambassador responded to U.S. complaints that Moscow was seeking "regime change" in pro-Western Georgia. "Regime change," he said, "is purely an American invention."

The consequences of eight years of disastrous Bush policies are growing. There’s no nice, non-partisan way to put it. This is the bunch that has been in charge — commandingly so. As the Soviet, er, Russian ambassador made clear, the American departure from our nation’s historic policies into the preemptive war and "regime change" beloved of neo-cons is the nightmarish gift that keeps on giving. Pots are calling kettles black.

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Posted inUncategorized

Speculators and oil prices: an idea running on empty

Some Democrats and even Republicans would have us believe that speculators are to blame for higher gasoline prices. A bill has been introduced to close the so-called Enron loophole that allowed some energy trading on unregulated "dark" markets. That and other "dark market" loopholes should be closed. But the affect on gas prices will be minimal.

Americans have often railed against speculators — the Revolution and Civil War come to mind — and sometimes with good reason. Unfortunately, you can’t have capitalism without speculation. The key is sound regulation. But the idea that speculation is the major cause of higher oil prices is evidence of the magical thinking going on in much of America. It’s deep denial about the real reasons for more expensive oil.

Thus, a war against speculators will be useless at best and could do real harm, both by gumming up the efficient mechanisms of the market — of which speculators are an important part — and distracting us from the real tasks at hand.

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Posted inPolitics: National

‘Support the troops.’ What does that mean?

One of the most fascinating changes in my lifetime has been the militarization of America. It’s not just the rise of the national security state with the Cold War, extended vastly by the so-called war on terror. It’s not just the Military-Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower warned against, where profits drive policy, often to disastrous ends. It’s not even the necessary burdens of being a superpower, or, if we’re not careful, an imperial power.

It’s the whole "support the troops" religion that has grown up. In fact, Americans were historically suspicious of a large standing army. Support the troops? Newly commissioned, young U.S. Grant was heckled and ridiculed when he came home from West Point. It made him forever shy away from gaudy uniforms. World War II was fought by citizen-soldiers who wanted to get the job done and come home. Architects of the post-war world sought collective security with diplomacy and strength. Americans had been oppressed by a king with hired troops. They knew from ancient history that permanently militarized republics eventually became centralized tyrannies.

Do we even think about these things as we "support the troops"?

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Posted inPolitics: National

Five years that changed America, whether we know it or not

After five years of war in Iraq, we know a few things. None of them gives us much comfort for the future.

We know that, contrary to President Bush after 9/11 (used as a false pretense for waging war in Iraq), that everything did not change. That was certainly true on the home front. For the first time in American history, taxes were cut as the nation went to war. Most Americans were asked to make no sacrifices at all — indeed, we were told to "consume" more (imagine that admonition from FDR). Americans continued the unthinking choices that helped lead to the mess in the Middle East, chiefly driving ever longer distances in automobiles. Televised and electronic distractions continued and even increased. Many Americans still believe Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attack. The media unthinkingly report on "al Queda" in Iraq, although it is a separate group of insurgents that emerged as a result of the invasion. Most Americans, it seems, have "moved on."

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Posted inPolitics: National

Blond coed hooker admiral stands up against war with Iran

If only Admiral William Fallon had been involved with a $5,500 call girl named Kristen, or maybe had murdered a blond coed…

I don’t say this to libel this honorable man, but only to make the point about what it might take to get the attention of the addled, coddled, willfully ignorant American people about the really important things that are happening in the world. These thing will affect them far more than the hookers or coeds, or the "local news" that dominates their corporate-owned newspapers.

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Posted inPolitics: National

An America that tortures, and other nightmares

We have more than a recession. The bottom has fallen out.

We debate whether the United States should torture prisoners. We debate it and the “in favor” argument wins. Not once, but again and again, for years now.

At the birth of the Republic, Gen. Washington forbade the mistreatment of British and Hessian prisoners of war. He hoped we would indeed inaugurate “novus ordo seclorum,” a new order of the ages. Because the Founders knew they were establishing a republic of men and not angels, they set this new order on a firm foundation of the law, particularly a Constitution based on separation of powers and, especially, checks and balances against the excesses of the executive. It wasn’t just that the Founders had rebelled against a king; they took their cues from ancient Rome, and knew how an emperor could use constant war as an instrument to destroy peoples’ liberties.

Constant war and torture.

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Posted inPolitics: National

Lies, damned lies, and withdrawal from Iraq

It’s easy to beat up John McCain for wanting to stay the bloody course in Iraq, indeed that America might have troops there for next 100 years. McCain’s strategy won’t be merely more of the same. It will be a push way down the slippery slope. But there’s much wishful thinking and dissembling on the part of the Democrats, too.

If Iraq really were another Vietnam, withdrawal would be without serious geopolitical consequences. Yet we shouldn’t forget the moral consequences of our withdrawal, with millions of South Vietnamese facing a brutal takeover and thousands who worked for us facing far worse. Hmong tribesmen who supported the CIA’s secret war in Laos are still on the run, abandoned by the superpower that so cavalierly used them. We should have gotten out. We shouldn’t forget that the cost was high.

But Iraq is not Vietnam, a fact that should be remembered every time a Democrat drives home from an anti-war rally in his SUV.

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Posted inPhoenix Politics: National

Who is this ‘maverick’ I keep hearing about?

Every time I hear the media say Sen. John McCain "of Arizona" it makes me crazy. McCain has done as little for Arizona as possible and it shows. The state is Mississippi in the Southwest, an Appalachia with golf courses, the epicenter of a brewing socio-environmental calamity. It is a place frighteningly behind in the competitive world of the 21st century, however much it provides a haven for a certain kind of rich person and, until recently, for real-estate players. Arizona was never anything but a national political platform for McCain.

If McCain had been governor, his apathy would be an especially tempting target. Even so, as a senator he has done as little as possible in education, research, transportation, health care, the environment…the list goes on and on. Most days one wondered if Arizona even had senators representing it, rather than trying to be national political figures.

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