Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Cartoon for December 4, 2008: Liberal Projection
Hoping against hope, liberal Democrats hope the most conservative Democratic primary candidate will use his conservative staffers to promote progressive policies.
Monday, December 1, 2008
THIS WEEK'S SYNDICATED COLUMN: The Rest and the Rightest
Obama's Center-Right Cabinet Foreshadows Center-Right Presidency
A bunch of Clinton- and Carter-era hacks. George W. Bush's leftover defense secretary. Of the dozens of Obama's top appointments announced to date, there's only one liberal: David Bonior, who ran John Edwards' primary campaign, as secretary of labor. Maybe.
Remember the Democratic primaries? Among the top three presidential contenders, Edwards was the liberal. Hillary Clinton, she of repeated votes for war against Afghanistan and Iraq (and Iran!), was to Edwards' right. Obama, who also voted for war but didn't commit to Clinton's bigger healthcare plan, was even more conservative than she. "Mr. Obama," David Sanger writes in The New York Times, "is planning to govern from the center-right of his party."
If nothing else, I had guessed, the U. of Chicago egghead would appoint a team of the Best and Brightest. We're getting the Rest and the Rightest.
Asked by a reporter how his center-right coalition of Republicans, pro-war Democrats and other assorted has-beens squares with a campaign marketing hope, change, and Soviet-inspired propaganda posters, Obama pledged to "combine experience with fresh thinking."
"Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost," Obama said. "It comes from me. That's my job, to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure then that my team is implementing [that vision]." Pretty words.
Obama's argument--that his center-conservative cabinet will carry out radical change if he orders them to do so--is denied by recent history. The U.S. government, as micromanager Jimmy Carter learned, is too big for the president to manage on his own. And, as George W. Bush learned after 2000, the people you hire are more likely to change you than you are to change them.
As governor, Jacob Weisberg wrote in his book "The Bush Tragedy," Bush was fondly remembered by Texas Democrats as a moderate Republican who crossed the aisle to get things done. But campaign manager Karl Rove "used his influence to steer Bush away from being the president he originally wanted to be--the kind of center-right consensus-builder he was as governor of Texas--and into a too-close alliance" with the right wing of the GOP.
Even more fateful was Bush's choice of Dick Cheney to head his vice presidential search committee. Cheney chose himself (!), then hijacked the would-be "compassionate conservative"'s presidency by packing it with "neoconservative ideologues, who combined hawkish American triumphalism with an obsession with Israel," as Juan Cole put it in a memorable 2005 essay for Salon. By February 2001 Cheney had already ensured that the Bush Administration would focus on international affairs to the exclusion of everything else. He also made sure that his aggressive, Manichean worldview would prevail in cabinet discussions. "Cheney had 15 military and political advisors on foreign affairs, at a time when the president's own National Security Council was being downsized," marveled Cole.
The moderate guy who ran against "nation building" in 2000 never stood a chance against his own staff.
It's possible that Obama has stronger force of will than Bush. But, so far in the 219-year history of electoral politics, there is no example of a president successfully enacting radical changes without likeminded lieutenants to carry them out. Will Obama be the first to change his cabinet's spots? Probably not.
"The last Democratic administration we had was the Clinton Administration," Obama said in his attempt to calm his liberal base, which is starting to get hip to the reality that Obama is about to betray them. "So it would be surprising if I selected a treasury secretary who had had no connection with the last Democratic administration, because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever." Or maybe not. What about Paul Krugman, the Princeton economist and Times columnist who won the Nobel Prize this year? He's progressive. As a bonus, he's been right about everything for years.
"We want ideas from everybody," Obama continued. But not from liberals. And not from the socialists John McCain had everyone stirred up about. Speaking of McCain, the right-wing Arizona senator is tickled pink: "I certainly applaud many of the appointments that President-Elect Obama has announced," McCain said last week. "Senator Obama has nominated some people to his economic team that we can work with, that are well-respected."
What Obama and McCain consider respectable might not pass muster with polite company. Obama's economic advisor Lawrence Summers thinks women aren't good at math or science, which bodes poorly for the quality of his own thinking. Marie Curie, call your office.
Former Bush intelligence official John Brennan was, until last week, Obama's pick to head the CIA. ABC News reported: "Brennan had been a top aide to former CIA Director George Tenet during what critics of the Bush administration refer to as that agency's descent into darkness post 9/11, and he had spoken in favor of various controversial counterterrorism strategies, including enhanced interrogation techniques and rendition--sending terror suspects to allies where torture is legal." After Congressional liberals threatened to block his nomination, Obama crossed Bush's torturer off the list.
Lefties who swooned on Election Night had might as well get used to the truth: Obama isn't one of you. Never was. Never will be.
COPYRIGHT 2008 TED RALL
A bunch of Clinton- and Carter-era hacks. George W. Bush's leftover defense secretary. Of the dozens of Obama's top appointments announced to date, there's only one liberal: David Bonior, who ran John Edwards' primary campaign, as secretary of labor. Maybe.
Remember the Democratic primaries? Among the top three presidential contenders, Edwards was the liberal. Hillary Clinton, she of repeated votes for war against Afghanistan and Iraq (and Iran!), was to Edwards' right. Obama, who also voted for war but didn't commit to Clinton's bigger healthcare plan, was even more conservative than she. "Mr. Obama," David Sanger writes in The New York Times, "is planning to govern from the center-right of his party."
If nothing else, I had guessed, the U. of Chicago egghead would appoint a team of the Best and Brightest. We're getting the Rest and the Rightest.
Asked by a reporter how his center-right coalition of Republicans, pro-war Democrats and other assorted has-beens squares with a campaign marketing hope, change, and Soviet-inspired propaganda posters, Obama pledged to "combine experience with fresh thinking."
"Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost," Obama said. "It comes from me. That's my job, to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure then that my team is implementing [that vision]." Pretty words.
Obama's argument--that his center-conservative cabinet will carry out radical change if he orders them to do so--is denied by recent history. The U.S. government, as micromanager Jimmy Carter learned, is too big for the president to manage on his own. And, as George W. Bush learned after 2000, the people you hire are more likely to change you than you are to change them.
As governor, Jacob Weisberg wrote in his book "The Bush Tragedy," Bush was fondly remembered by Texas Democrats as a moderate Republican who crossed the aisle to get things done. But campaign manager Karl Rove "used his influence to steer Bush away from being the president he originally wanted to be--the kind of center-right consensus-builder he was as governor of Texas--and into a too-close alliance" with the right wing of the GOP.
Even more fateful was Bush's choice of Dick Cheney to head his vice presidential search committee. Cheney chose himself (!), then hijacked the would-be "compassionate conservative"'s presidency by packing it with "neoconservative ideologues, who combined hawkish American triumphalism with an obsession with Israel," as Juan Cole put it in a memorable 2005 essay for Salon. By February 2001 Cheney had already ensured that the Bush Administration would focus on international affairs to the exclusion of everything else. He also made sure that his aggressive, Manichean worldview would prevail in cabinet discussions. "Cheney had 15 military and political advisors on foreign affairs, at a time when the president's own National Security Council was being downsized," marveled Cole.
The moderate guy who ran against "nation building" in 2000 never stood a chance against his own staff.
It's possible that Obama has stronger force of will than Bush. But, so far in the 219-year history of electoral politics, there is no example of a president successfully enacting radical changes without likeminded lieutenants to carry them out. Will Obama be the first to change his cabinet's spots? Probably not.
"The last Democratic administration we had was the Clinton Administration," Obama said in his attempt to calm his liberal base, which is starting to get hip to the reality that Obama is about to betray them. "So it would be surprising if I selected a treasury secretary who had had no connection with the last Democratic administration, because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever." Or maybe not. What about Paul Krugman, the Princeton economist and Times columnist who won the Nobel Prize this year? He's progressive. As a bonus, he's been right about everything for years.
"We want ideas from everybody," Obama continued. But not from liberals. And not from the socialists John McCain had everyone stirred up about. Speaking of McCain, the right-wing Arizona senator is tickled pink: "I certainly applaud many of the appointments that President-Elect Obama has announced," McCain said last week. "Senator Obama has nominated some people to his economic team that we can work with, that are well-respected."
What Obama and McCain consider respectable might not pass muster with polite company. Obama's economic advisor Lawrence Summers thinks women aren't good at math or science, which bodes poorly for the quality of his own thinking. Marie Curie, call your office.
Former Bush intelligence official John Brennan was, until last week, Obama's pick to head the CIA. ABC News reported: "Brennan had been a top aide to former CIA Director George Tenet during what critics of the Bush administration refer to as that agency's descent into darkness post 9/11, and he had spoken in favor of various controversial counterterrorism strategies, including enhanced interrogation techniques and rendition--sending terror suspects to allies where torture is legal." After Congressional liberals threatened to block his nomination, Obama crossed Bush's torturer off the list.
Lefties who swooned on Election Night had might as well get used to the truth: Obama isn't one of you. Never was. Never will be.
COPYRIGHT 2008 TED RALL
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Change Comes From Us
posted by Susan Stark
It will not be a happy holiday for the friends and relatives of Jdimytai Damour, who was trampled to death by shoppers at a Long Island Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
Unfortunately, this is what our culture has come to. People being sacrificed for the latest gadget while others in Haiti and Afghanistan wonder where their next meal will come from.
People bought the slogan of "Change" from Barack Obama, but the word "Change" was also the slogan of a one Bill Clinton back in 1992, and we didn't get much change from him.
Ultimately, change comes from us, and us alone.
In this post, I'm going to list numerous ways we can change our our lives for the better, starting with our immediate surroundings. I did something similar on this blog soon after Earth Day, and it looks like I need to do it again. But this time, I'm going to add more information.
Let's start by changing what and how we buy things:
1) Buy things that are USED, rather than new, as much as possible. For instance, the computer that I'm typing these words on is used. So is my TV, my fan, my lamp, my furniture, and many other objects in my room. Most of my clothing is used. To be fair, however, it is not always possible to buy used in all cases, but it's worth a try.
2) When you have an item (or items) that you longer want or have use for, but can still be used by someone else, don't throw it away. Sell it or give it to someone.
3) There is a website you can go to buy and sell used items. It's called
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites
At this site, there is also a "Free" column.
4) There's another website that's extremely useful in reducing waste:
http://www.freecycle.org/
At this site, you obtain or get rid of items for free.
5) If you have electronic appliances that are no longer working, you can recycle them:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/index.htm
You can also do a google search on recycling e-waste in your local area.
6) If buying something used doesn't appeal to you, try to make sure that your consumption is Fair Trade. That is, that your obtained goods are environmentally friendly, with unionized or cooperative labor. I'm a hypocrite when it comes to this, because Fair Trade items are generally more expensive then items made in exploitive conditions. Which is why I go the used-item-route as much as possible. But for those of you who can afford it, there are these websites:
http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages/
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/
7) In regards to Christmas shopping, everything that I mentioned above applies. Buy used gifts and/or Fair Trade gifts, and wrap them in recyclable paper (the comix section of newspapers makes great gift-wrapping). Buy a plastic Christmas tree (or even better, a used plastic Christmas tree) that you can use year after year. Same with Xmas decorations. And for godsake, don't trample anyone to death. You don't need that latest iPod, or whatever gadget Jdimytai Damour had to lose his life over.
8) A brilliant way to cut down on waste and and have fun at the same time is to go to a Really Really Free Market. If there is no such activity in your area, you can start one yourself. This is where you and others bring items that you don't want anymore to a common space, and then take items out of that collection that one might want or need. It's basically a big party dedicated to the concept of mutual gift-giving. Buying, selling, or bartering are forbidden at these events. It's all gift-giving and gift-taking.
9) For the really adventurous, there is Dumpster Diving. Dumpster diving is rescuing what ends up in the garbage. You would be amazed how much other people throw things away. I have personally found many useful items, everything from stereos to bookshelves to bathtowels, in peoples' trash.
Now we come to the section of Change Comes From Us dedicated to Reducing Energy Consumption And Saving Money On Your Energy Bill:
1) Make it a rule in your household that the last person leaving a room must turn off the lights before leaving.
2) Install night-lights in the hallways of your home so you don't have to turn on the overhead lights. Night-lights use less energy.
3) Unplug all electrical appliances when they are not being directly used. Appliances use energy even when they aren't on. The difference will show up on your electric bill, and you'll be reducing your "carbon footprint", that is, your oil, gas, and coal consumption.
4) Find out if there are any public transportation facilities (train or bus) where you live, and use them as much as possible. Even if you live out in the country, there is sometimes a county bus system you can use.
5) Start using a bicycle, scooter, or walking to anyplace nearby. You'll keep in shape and save on gas.
6) If you have a gas-guzzling automobile, go online to see if you can't get your car modified to use less gas per mile.
7) It is now wintertime, when we use a great deal of energy to heat our homes. Instead of jacking that thermostat up to kingdom come, dress in layers of clothing instead. I regularly dress in two layers of clothing during winter, minimum. I use more if it's really cold. However, if you have an infant in your household, be careful when taking this advice.
8) When summertime comes around, use a fan instead of an air conditioner. Fans use a fraction of the energy that air conditioners use. Take cool showers instead of hot ones. And if you're really hot, run your hair under cool water, then wring it out so that it's merely damp. This should keep you cool for a couple of hours.
One last thing: While it seems a lot of effort to reduce energy consumption, you will, I repeat, will save money.
Now we come to the last section of Change Comes From Us. Presented here are miscellaneous things we can do to change things from the bottom up:
1) Do you by any chance have a lawn? If you do, turn it into a vegetable garden instead. It's a better use of soil than simply growing grass.
2) Health care. Universal health care is pretty much a pipe dream here in the United States. No politician will touch it for fear of incurring the wrath of the health-industrial-complex (HMOs, drug companies, etc.). But you can get together with like-minded individuals and start or join what is called a Health Care Collective. That is, seeing what you can do to start a free clinic in your community, or finding health care professionals willing to provide free, reduced, or sliding-scale health care, or starting a community health insurance program. Here are some examples of this:
http://www.ithacahealth.org/
http://www.rockdovecollective.org/
http://www.cghc.org/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=health+collective&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq
3) Free schooling. You can get together with like-minded individuals in your community and set up a Free School, which Wikipedia defines thusly: A free school, sometimes intentionally spelled free skool, is a decentralized network in which skills, information, and knowledge are shared without hierarchy or the institutional environment of formal schooling. The open structure of a free school is intended to encourage self-reliance, critical consciousness, and personal development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school
4) See if you can set up a time-barter system in your community:
http://www.timebanks.org/
I don't want this post to be too long, so I'll stop here. Cut and paste this post and pass it on. It's better than getting trampled to death.
Susan Stark
It will not be a happy holiday for the friends and relatives of Jdimytai Damour, who was trampled to death by shoppers at a Long Island Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
Unfortunately, this is what our culture has come to. People being sacrificed for the latest gadget while others in Haiti and Afghanistan wonder where their next meal will come from.
People bought the slogan of "Change" from Barack Obama, but the word "Change" was also the slogan of a one Bill Clinton back in 1992, and we didn't get much change from him.
Ultimately, change comes from us, and us alone.
In this post, I'm going to list numerous ways we can change our our lives for the better, starting with our immediate surroundings. I did something similar on this blog soon after Earth Day, and it looks like I need to do it again. But this time, I'm going to add more information.
Let's start by changing what and how we buy things:
1) Buy things that are USED, rather than new, as much as possible. For instance, the computer that I'm typing these words on is used. So is my TV, my fan, my lamp, my furniture, and many other objects in my room. Most of my clothing is used. To be fair, however, it is not always possible to buy used in all cases, but it's worth a try.
2) When you have an item (or items) that you longer want or have use for, but can still be used by someone else, don't throw it away. Sell it or give it to someone.
3) There is a website you can go to buy and sell used items. It's called
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites
At this site, there is also a "Free" column.
4) There's another website that's extremely useful in reducing waste:
http://www.freecycle.org/
At this site, you obtain or get rid of items for free.
5) If you have electronic appliances that are no longer working, you can recycle them:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/index.htm
You can also do a google search on recycling e-waste in your local area.
6) If buying something used doesn't appeal to you, try to make sure that your consumption is Fair Trade. That is, that your obtained goods are environmentally friendly, with unionized or cooperative labor. I'm a hypocrite when it comes to this, because Fair Trade items are generally more expensive then items made in exploitive conditions. Which is why I go the used-item-route as much as possible. But for those of you who can afford it, there are these websites:
http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages/
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/
7) In regards to Christmas shopping, everything that I mentioned above applies. Buy used gifts and/or Fair Trade gifts, and wrap them in recyclable paper (the comix section of newspapers makes great gift-wrapping). Buy a plastic Christmas tree (or even better, a used plastic Christmas tree) that you can use year after year. Same with Xmas decorations. And for godsake, don't trample anyone to death. You don't need that latest iPod, or whatever gadget Jdimytai Damour had to lose his life over.
8) A brilliant way to cut down on waste and and have fun at the same time is to go to a Really Really Free Market. If there is no such activity in your area, you can start one yourself. This is where you and others bring items that you don't want anymore to a common space, and then take items out of that collection that one might want or need. It's basically a big party dedicated to the concept of mutual gift-giving. Buying, selling, or bartering are forbidden at these events. It's all gift-giving and gift-taking.
9) For the really adventurous, there is Dumpster Diving. Dumpster diving is rescuing what ends up in the garbage. You would be amazed how much other people throw things away. I have personally found many useful items, everything from stereos to bookshelves to bathtowels, in peoples' trash.
Now we come to the section of Change Comes From Us dedicated to Reducing Energy Consumption And Saving Money On Your Energy Bill:
1) Make it a rule in your household that the last person leaving a room must turn off the lights before leaving.
2) Install night-lights in the hallways of your home so you don't have to turn on the overhead lights. Night-lights use less energy.
3) Unplug all electrical appliances when they are not being directly used. Appliances use energy even when they aren't on. The difference will show up on your electric bill, and you'll be reducing your "carbon footprint", that is, your oil, gas, and coal consumption.
4) Find out if there are any public transportation facilities (train or bus) where you live, and use them as much as possible. Even if you live out in the country, there is sometimes a county bus system you can use.
5) Start using a bicycle, scooter, or walking to anyplace nearby. You'll keep in shape and save on gas.
6) If you have a gas-guzzling automobile, go online to see if you can't get your car modified to use less gas per mile.
7) It is now wintertime, when we use a great deal of energy to heat our homes. Instead of jacking that thermostat up to kingdom come, dress in layers of clothing instead. I regularly dress in two layers of clothing during winter, minimum. I use more if it's really cold. However, if you have an infant in your household, be careful when taking this advice.
8) When summertime comes around, use a fan instead of an air conditioner. Fans use a fraction of the energy that air conditioners use. Take cool showers instead of hot ones. And if you're really hot, run your hair under cool water, then wring it out so that it's merely damp. This should keep you cool for a couple of hours.
One last thing: While it seems a lot of effort to reduce energy consumption, you will, I repeat, will save money.
Now we come to the last section of Change Comes From Us. Presented here are miscellaneous things we can do to change things from the bottom up:
1) Do you by any chance have a lawn? If you do, turn it into a vegetable garden instead. It's a better use of soil than simply growing grass.
2) Health care. Universal health care is pretty much a pipe dream here in the United States. No politician will touch it for fear of incurring the wrath of the health-industrial-complex (HMOs, drug companies, etc.). But you can get together with like-minded individuals and start or join what is called a Health Care Collective. That is, seeing what you can do to start a free clinic in your community, or finding health care professionals willing to provide free, reduced, or sliding-scale health care, or starting a community health insurance program. Here are some examples of this:
http://www.ithacahealth.org/
http://www.rockdovecollective.org/
http://www.cghc.org/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=health+collective&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq
3) Free schooling. You can get together with like-minded individuals in your community and set up a Free School, which Wikipedia defines thusly: A free school, sometimes intentionally spelled free skool, is a decentralized network in which skills, information, and knowledge are shared without hierarchy or the institutional environment of formal schooling. The open structure of a free school is intended to encourage self-reliance, critical consciousness, and personal development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school
4) See if you can set up a time-barter system in your community:
http://www.timebanks.org/
I don't want this post to be too long, so I'll stop here. Cut and paste this post and pass it on. It's better than getting trampled to death.
Susan Stark
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Cartoon for November 27, 2008
Hillary Clinton, architect of the Iraq War, is Obama's secretary of state. Obama says "America doesn't torture. It was only a matter of time before Obama let us down, but this is unprecedented. And not even one liberal in the cabinet. And Larry Summers! And...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
THIS WEEK'S SYNDICATED COLUMN: What's with the Somali Pirates?
Strange Inaction in the Indian Ocean
I'm the loudmouth pundit. I'm supposed to have the answers, or at least pretend to. This week, however, I'm baffled. Confused, even. So I'm turning the tables to ask you, dear reader: Why aren't we bombing the crap out of Somalia's pirates?
I don't get it. You can't build a house in Waziristan or throw a wedding in Afghanistan without drawing a blizzard of Hellfire missiles. We bomb aspirin factories, hospitals and schools. We employ bad-ass Special Forces types and psycho mercenaries who set up freelance torture operations and supervise mass executions. We Americans have our faults, but wimpy pacifism isn't one of them. So what's with these pirates?
In June 2007, a French warship witnessed the Danica White, a Danish merchant vessel carrying a crew of just five men, being hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The French, reported the Navy Times, "could not cross into Somali territorial waters to offer help." Which is confusing, what with Somalia being a failed state without a viable central government and all. Who was going to stop them—the Somali coast guard?
Somalia's territorial waters? Sacrosanct! Invade Iraq, invade Afghanistan, try to overthrow the president of Venezuela, send CIA agents into the Iranian desert to case their nuke plants, blast cars on highways in Yemen, no problem. But for God's sake, leave Somalia alone! National sovereignty matters!
An American dock landing ship was also on the scene of the Danica White shipjacking. "The USS Carter Hall fired flares and several shots across the bow as well as several disabling shots at the three skiffs in tow," said a navy spokesman. Across the bow? Why didn't they blow them to smithereens? "But the hijacked Danica White made it into Somali waters and the Carter Hall had to back off and watch," reported Navy Times. "We're observing them at this point," said the navy spokesman afterward. "It's ongoing."
There's a lot of observing going on off Somalia. At this writing, at least 14 ships and 250 crewmembers are being held "a few miles off a 230-mile stretch of Somali coastline between Xarardheere and the town of Eyl," reports The New York Times. These include the Sirius Star, a thousand-feet-long Saudi oil tanker, and a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying enough Soviet tanks, anti-aircraft guns and other weaponry to get you a start as a respectable warlord. An international flotilla, including American navy ships, are watching the situation—and doing jack.
We know why George W. Bush never tried to catch Osama bin Laden; he must have been worried he'd be captured alive and talk about his relationship with the CIA. But what do the Somali pirates have on Bush, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia? What explains their reluctance to rain hot death on these privateers? Do the pirates plant hot Somali babes to seduce heads of state?
While we're asking questions, why don't ships that ply the pirate-infested waters south of the Gulf of Aden take security precautions? "For insurance and safety reasons, most crews on commercial ships do not carry weapons," says the Times. Weird. You'd think the Ukrainians might have at least been able to break into their own cargo to shoot back.
So far the most delicious coverage of this uncharacteristic display of military restraint has been a Times article bearing the headline "U.S. Urges Merchant Ships to Try Steps to Foil Pirates." The U.S. Navy, it said, was encouraging ships that travel near Somalia to employ "measures that did not involve the use of force" to avoid getting taken over. "The techniques," said the paper, "include complicated rudder movements and speed adjustments that make it hard for pirate speedboats to pull alongside, as well as simple steps like pulling up ladders that some ships leave dangling for an entire voyage."
Complicated rudder movements. Ladders that hang off the side of the ship. Duh.
It's like seeing someone walking around with money falling out of their pockets. Maybe they want the pirates to come aboard. I'm no pirate, but even I would be tempted to take over a ship with a skeleton crew, unarmed "for insurance and safety reasons," dangling its ladders. Such teases!
I understand why the Somalis do it. Piracy is big business in Somalia. In fact, it's the only good business. Kenya's foreign minister says Somali pirates have collected $150 million in ransoms so far this year. "All you need is three guys and a little boat, and the next day you’re millionaires," Abdullahi Omar Qawden, an ex-captain in Somalia's navy told the Times. What I don't understand is why we, and so many other countries, put up with it.
In the old days, seizing a ship marked by a national flag was an insult and act of war. In 1803 pirates of the Barbary States, city-states along the north coast of Africa in the Mediterranean that were nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, captured the U.S.S. Philadelphia and held its crew hostage. President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress for and received authorization to dispatch sailors and marines to the port of Tripoli, where the ship was being held. To deny its use to the Tripolitans U.S. forces burned it and captured the city. It was America's first foreign military operation.
We're killing Afghan brides. We're paying off Somali pirates. What has happened to us?
COPYRIGHT 2008 TED RALL
I'm the loudmouth pundit. I'm supposed to have the answers, or at least pretend to. This week, however, I'm baffled. Confused, even. So I'm turning the tables to ask you, dear reader: Why aren't we bombing the crap out of Somalia's pirates?
I don't get it. You can't build a house in Waziristan or throw a wedding in Afghanistan without drawing a blizzard of Hellfire missiles. We bomb aspirin factories, hospitals and schools. We employ bad-ass Special Forces types and psycho mercenaries who set up freelance torture operations and supervise mass executions. We Americans have our faults, but wimpy pacifism isn't one of them. So what's with these pirates?
In June 2007, a French warship witnessed the Danica White, a Danish merchant vessel carrying a crew of just five men, being hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The French, reported the Navy Times, "could not cross into Somali territorial waters to offer help." Which is confusing, what with Somalia being a failed state without a viable central government and all. Who was going to stop them—the Somali coast guard?
Somalia's territorial waters? Sacrosanct! Invade Iraq, invade Afghanistan, try to overthrow the president of Venezuela, send CIA agents into the Iranian desert to case their nuke plants, blast cars on highways in Yemen, no problem. But for God's sake, leave Somalia alone! National sovereignty matters!
An American dock landing ship was also on the scene of the Danica White shipjacking. "The USS Carter Hall fired flares and several shots across the bow as well as several disabling shots at the three skiffs in tow," said a navy spokesman. Across the bow? Why didn't they blow them to smithereens? "But the hijacked Danica White made it into Somali waters and the Carter Hall had to back off and watch," reported Navy Times. "We're observing them at this point," said the navy spokesman afterward. "It's ongoing."
There's a lot of observing going on off Somalia. At this writing, at least 14 ships and 250 crewmembers are being held "a few miles off a 230-mile stretch of Somali coastline between Xarardheere and the town of Eyl," reports The New York Times. These include the Sirius Star, a thousand-feet-long Saudi oil tanker, and a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying enough Soviet tanks, anti-aircraft guns and other weaponry to get you a start as a respectable warlord. An international flotilla, including American navy ships, are watching the situation—and doing jack.
We know why George W. Bush never tried to catch Osama bin Laden; he must have been worried he'd be captured alive and talk about his relationship with the CIA. But what do the Somali pirates have on Bush, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia? What explains their reluctance to rain hot death on these privateers? Do the pirates plant hot Somali babes to seduce heads of state?
While we're asking questions, why don't ships that ply the pirate-infested waters south of the Gulf of Aden take security precautions? "For insurance and safety reasons, most crews on commercial ships do not carry weapons," says the Times. Weird. You'd think the Ukrainians might have at least been able to break into their own cargo to shoot back.
So far the most delicious coverage of this uncharacteristic display of military restraint has been a Times article bearing the headline "U.S. Urges Merchant Ships to Try Steps to Foil Pirates." The U.S. Navy, it said, was encouraging ships that travel near Somalia to employ "measures that did not involve the use of force" to avoid getting taken over. "The techniques," said the paper, "include complicated rudder movements and speed adjustments that make it hard for pirate speedboats to pull alongside, as well as simple steps like pulling up ladders that some ships leave dangling for an entire voyage."
Complicated rudder movements. Ladders that hang off the side of the ship. Duh.
It's like seeing someone walking around with money falling out of their pockets. Maybe they want the pirates to come aboard. I'm no pirate, but even I would be tempted to take over a ship with a skeleton crew, unarmed "for insurance and safety reasons," dangling its ladders. Such teases!
I understand why the Somalis do it. Piracy is big business in Somalia. In fact, it's the only good business. Kenya's foreign minister says Somali pirates have collected $150 million in ransoms so far this year. "All you need is three guys and a little boat, and the next day you’re millionaires," Abdullahi Omar Qawden, an ex-captain in Somalia's navy told the Times. What I don't understand is why we, and so many other countries, put up with it.
In the old days, seizing a ship marked by a national flag was an insult and act of war. In 1803 pirates of the Barbary States, city-states along the north coast of Africa in the Mediterranean that were nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, captured the U.S.S. Philadelphia and held its crew hostage. President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress for and received authorization to dispatch sailors and marines to the port of Tripoli, where the ship was being held. To deny its use to the Tripolitans U.S. forces burned it and captured the city. It was America's first foreign military operation.
We're killing Afghan brides. We're paying off Somali pirates. What has happened to us?
COPYRIGHT 2008 TED RALL
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