A Second Hand Conjecture

Cross-posted at The Conjecturer

Defense & The War

• Mountain Runner makes the case for why mercenaries aren’t all bad, and that the real sunk costs of their use should be handled. It’s similar to David Dryer’s case for their usefulness, which is framed as a counter to P.W. Singer’s point that their use obscures political costs. I don’t think Dryer addresses this point as completely as he thinks: if a draft is necessary to fight a big, long war, then we should institute a draft and see how much of the population continues to support fighting the war. If we need a bigger military to fight our wars, let us build a bigger military to fight them, and see how popular it is. Singer’s point is that not using mercenaries enables to public to more completely assess the cost of the war—and that by making it all military, you avoid not just the wretched war profiteering, but the thinking of “let someone else do our fighting.”
• Related is this look at how we are using shady hiring practices (to the point where one PMC brags about not abetting human trafficking) to hire Latin American paramilitaries to do a significant chunk of the private fighting. We can’t even ask our own contractors to bear the cost of our wars.
• But don’t expect anything useful from Congress, despite new revelations that PMC employees apparently really do fire their weapons far more often than they’ve led us to believe. What, were they magic bullets that never hit anyone?
• Oh Christ.
• RJ Hillhouse emerges to inform us how Blackwater has everyone by the balls—as do some other unaccountable megacorporations that do intel work.
• Apparently when he’s not crying over Britney (yes, the on just lost her kids for being such a drugged out mess), Chris Crocker is busy making incoherent statements about how Bush wants gays to “fight his redneck wars” to eliminate them from the population. What a waste of precious, precious oxygen.

Around the World

• Afghansitanica has a post about a hip new band, Lion of Panjshir, which is named after who you think. I also take a look at the curious economics of the wanted posters going up around Afghanistan… and an interview with noted Iran apologist/Afghanistan scholar Barnett Rubin.
• Many months ago, I registered deep skepticism of the utility of a tour of Central Asia by OHCHR Louise Arbour, which drew the ire of Robert Templer, the Director of Asia Programs at the International Crisis Group (it’s quite a lively thread, and proof I am an equal opportunity bickerer and don’t zero in on Michael or conservatives in general). Anyway, ICG President (or whatever) Gareth Evans sat down with for a Seven Questions with ForeignPolicy.com, and cautioned that Sri Lanka is teetering on the verge of a massive humanitarian disaster. And lo and behold: Louise Archer is being denied access to Tamil Tiger territory on her upcoming tour of Sri Lanka… I mean it will make the human rights tour go much more smoothly, won’t it?
• Australia turns its back on Darfur? Indeed, he has decided not just to refuse troops to stabilization efforts, but to refuse new refugees. He isn’t Bush, and they’re not Iraqis… so what’s his problem? Oh right—the black people.
• Did The Kite Runner put its child stars at risk because of a very upsetting rape scene? I hope not, but I’m glad Paramount Vantage isn’t taking any chances… though it’s beyond retarded they can’t come to the U.S. Our immigration and refugee laws are beyond stupid, and I’m sick of hearing about non-citizen friends of mine getting harassed by the ICE or railroaded by the bureaucracy.
• Germany is playing with the idea of biomass power generation, which seems far more efficient than biodiesel and other “green” forms of combustion. Hey, works for me.
• Watching Jon Stewart interview Evo Morales was totally surreal. I was made uncomfortable by the cheering over “nationalizing the oil industry” (i.e. stealing from the oil companies), and “agrarian reform” (i.e. stealing from landowners for redistribution). But the interview was a welcome change from when he groveled before Pervez Musharraf last year.

Back at Home

• Remember that time Bush solemnly swore he didn’t torture people? Yeah, April Fools, or something. This is why I cannot trust him to tell the truth—he doesn’t want to, and when he’s caught he’ll just look for ways to keep on torturing people (I hesitate to say “innocent” people, because a few non-innocents have been tortured among the thousands we’ve abducted and tortured since 9/11/01, but even non-innocents like KSM don’t deserve such treatment).
• It’s always nice to know that, in addition to their penchant for paramilitary raids on “suspected pirates,” the RIAA can convict people of music piracy on flimsy evidence that would barely be enough to convict a child pornographer, if that. The industry can’t prove a woman was at her computer, or even had a specific program they named in their suit installed on her computer at the time, yet the jury found in their favor… I guess on their pinky swear that she was assisting in music theft.
• But since when was this country about legit justice? That certainly seems to have been a dream that’s vanished from public consciousness.

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