Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
The Pentagon
- In laying out his thoroughly convincing case against widespread instant adaptation of the MRAP, the Robot Economist says something I thought profound: “One thing that I have noticed about about U.S. operations in Iraq is a tendency to favor material solutions over doctrinal, organizational, and training solutions when a problem crops up on the battlefield. Just compare the $6 billion spent by JIEDDO on counter IED technology versus the years it took to the U.S. Army to role out a new counterinsurgency manual, despite the clear need for one.” Indeed. As he says, that isn’t to say the MRAP might not be effective, but it does nothing to eliminate the source and motivation behind IEDs. That will be the real “solution” to the problem in Iraq.
- Does the new War Caesar (hail!) hate the surge? I would, too, if it did nothing to reduce or stop the attacks.
- DoD bans Youtube, urges soldiers to watch YouTube. LOL! If you’re feeling meta, you can check this YouTube clip on the military’s ban on YouTube.
Around the World
- Bradley Marten, who wrote the excellent Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader (review here), has a depressing article on the way the Kim family not only has accepted extravagant gifts in the past, but how world leaders continue to shower it with gifts today… Including to the current head of state, the deceased Kim Il-sung. Of course, extravagant gifts for the people don’t really ever happen, in part because Kim keeps them all for himself.
- A heartfelt plea from Human Rights Watch, begging China to stop forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees. Good luck. Though a few hundred thousand deaths have created tremendous attention and furor in Darfur, an equal or greater number of people are being actively terrorized by the North Korean government. The silence from the International community is deafening. For more insight into this, I highly recommend the documentary Seoul Train.
- Wow, who’d've thunk that the Serbs would fail to find Ratko Mladic on his expansive estate in Serbia? He’s only been on the “run” for 12 years, living openly.
- Oh look, we’re confusing Colombia and Afghanistan again. Over at Registan.net, I take a look at the terrible problem of opium in Afghanistan, and why it seems like the U.S. is deliberately trying to fail into a decades-long drug war.
- Ben sees a bright future for the Stanosphere (i.e. all the Central Asia blogs, of which I am a part). I do, too: not only for those of us nerds in the West who have developed a real passion for the region, but for those who live there and now have access to the outside world to an extent unimaginable when I was in high school (not that long ago, mind you). I fully support neweurasian.net, and wish them well in their drive to foster connectedness in one of the more unconnected areas of the world.
- What did Paul Bremer get wrong? Everything? Or less?
- Was it the worst EuroVision ever? I dunno—that’s a tall order. But check out that Ukrainian drag queen; along with the bizarre drag bear Azis, I have to wonder: why is Eastern Europe so gay?
Back at Home
- Big congratulations to Georgie James, which just signed to Saddle Creek. It is made up of former Q and not U drummer John Davis and Laura Burhenn (who put out a stunning solo album a few years back). They’re quite infectious, with a glam retro classic rock-type sound. On Saddle Creek, they have good company in Bright Eyes, Cursive, Ladyfinger, and the Faint.
- Jesse Walker is far more charitable than I am towards Fallwell, and sees a surprising side to his legacy.
- “Saucy jocks?” Umm, they were laughing about raping the Secretary of State. Three white men were laughing and joking about raping a black woman for daring to think differently. Notice how Opie and Anthony get merely suspended, while Don Imus, who simply used a racial stereotype got fired. Imus, it should be noted, was not mocking a Republican.
- Jewcy sees latent anti-Semitism behind the Wolfowitz hyperventilation. I rather see petty political revenge: as a neo-con, a former Bushie, Wolfowitz deserves to go down, regardless of his efficacy or record. To repeat the Hitch from yesterday: no matter who Wolfowitz is or they wish him to be, this is shameful, deeply unfair conduct on their part, especially toward Shaha Riza, who apparently committed the unforgivable sin of dating a Bushie.
I would go further. She is someone of Middle Eastern ancestry that dated a Bushie. Like African-American Republicans, she is a traitor who flies in the face of the neo-cons just want to kill Muslims and Arabs format that is so comforting. Notice how those who happen to support the liberation of Iraq in Iraq and the Middle East all seem to be portrayed in a negative light. Mohammed Fadhil can’t be seen as someone who wants his country liberated, which one might say is not our job. No, he is a stooge. A Baathist however such as Riverbend is admired as “authentic.” Well, most Nazi’s were authentic, and those opposed to them were sympathizers of the west and often cooperated with our intelligence services. Somehow we saw them differently than analogous people today.
Shaha has my sympathies, but don’t expect much from Wolfowitz’s detractors.
This needs to be said so much more often than it is. One of the intellectual penalties of the war, is its driven Democrats to merely exteriorize their previously domestic political prejudices to the world abroad. We’re not the better for it either.
I found this video about A Second Hand Conjecture » News Brief, Need Your Needs Edition quite different than ones that I found before. Do you have any more? Thanks