Tag Archives: war

What Annoys Jeff this Week?

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1. Capitulation. I’m appalled that a corporation with the size and resources of Sony Pictures folded like a rag doll when faced with what basically scales up to nation-state level cyber bullying. Personally, I would have put The Interview on every screen possible, made it available for free online, and publicized the hell out of it at every step – a full page ad in the Sunday New York Times unequivocally stating that Sony will not be intimidated or extorted. I’m even more alarmed at the silence coming out of our political leaders in Washington. At first blush this was a cyber attack directed against a private company, but what it really was is an attack on intellectual property every bit as real as an attack on a US flagged ship on the high seas or a missile targeted at one of our cities. Hacking carried out at the behest of a foreign power should be treated as seriously and responded to with as much fury as a conventional attack on American soil. If cyber is going to be the new frontier, we’d damn well better start defending it instead of showing cowardice in the face of the enemy.

2. Story Time. I’m sure all your family traditions and legends of Christmases past are very important to you. The memories undoubtedly fill you with happiness and joy. As someone who’s only a step or two removed from being a complete stranger, however, your stories don’t do much for me besides make me wonder why the hell I’m sitting here listing to you tell me about mid-century Christmas in the American heartland. It’s not so much that I don’t care about Christmas as it is I don’t care about *your* version of Christmas in 1964. It’s a distinction that some people seem to have a much more difficult time making than they really should.

3. Cuba. The Cold War’s over. We won. The very best thing we can do for the hungry and oppressed people of Cuba in the 21st century is welcome their island country into the warm embrace of the Monroe Doctrine, normalize relations, open two or three Atlantis-style resorts, a few casinos, and turn the place into a tourist destination. Some day in the not too distant future the Brothers Castro are going to be dead and I’d rather our interests have a leg up then find themselves looking in from the outside.

Sherman says…

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ShermanIf you want to get a read on my opinion about enhanced interrogation versus torture, I can only refer you to the Epistle of St. William to the Atlantians, in which he states in part:

“War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out… I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect and early success… When peace does come, you may call on me for anything. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter.”

– Major General William T. Sherman in his letter to the Mayor and City Council of Atlanta, dated September 11, 1864

Sherman knew a little something about getting the job done without getting too squeamish along the path to victory.

Tinfoil hat society…

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Let’s take a minute and look at the headlines tonight: Ebola is loose in the United States for the first time in recorded history, they’re protesting for democratic reforms in China, Europe’s economy appears to be at stall speed, and it wouldn’t take much more than a stiff wind to push ours in the same direction, the Secret Service is letting armed felons within arms reach of a sitting president. In general, civilization seems to be beset and besotted at every turn.

300px-Tin_foil_hat_2I’ve never been a dues-paying member of the Tinfoil Hat Society, but I do think the world we live in bears a closer look. Two things immediately jump to mind: 1) It doesn’t matter if it’s the local station, the cable networks or the internet, bad news makes people want to look and generates revenue from advertising sales; 2) Most of the asshattery I see in the world more or less confirms my preconceived notions about people as a group; and 3) Just by virtue of the law of large numbers, even paranoid people have to be right occasionally.

I could probably get a thousand new views a day if I gave this site over to ranting and raving about global conspiracies. The fact is, after having spent my adult life in public service I have my doubts about any organization being able to pull together a grand scheme to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids. More importantly, I throughly doubt their ability to do it in anything approaching secrecy. I mean I’m not allowed to build a 10 slide PowerPoint briefing without soliciting input from at least 14 other people, so you can understand how I might doubt the ability of an unknown global organization to rig the economy, unleashing a pandemic, and engineer a catastrophic war between East and West in complete secrecy.

I tend to think the long laundry list of things that go wrong are attributable to not much more than our collective bad decision making catching up with us. It feels like a simpler and more rational explanation than a transcontinental conspiracy bent on controlling everything everywhere. I’m pretty sure I’m right about that.

Then again, my assumption of being right won’t keep me from picking up a box of latex gloves, a few bottles of alcohol, and some surgical masks. Just in case.

The obligatory post…

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As a blogger I’ve found that some posts are obligatory. In November we talk about being thankful. In December, about the gathering together of family and friends. In July, of patriotism and love of county. Arbor day, however, is optional for most of us. Today, almost as far as the eye can see, is a celebration of Veterans Day. While I’m not taking anything away from those tributes to the men and women who served, after seven years of blogging, I’m just not sure I have anything new to say on the topic. That’s certainly not intended as a slam against any veteran, but a simple admission that I’m just not that creative – which is why I’ve obviously decided to take this in a different direction today.

Starting today, I’m going to try to avoid the obligatory posts or at least make them something other than the usual. How successful I’ll be at that kind of outside-the-box posting remains to be seen, but there’s nothing wrong with a challenge now and then to keep things interesting.

In keeping with that theme, I want to take you back to a world before Veterans Day; to the spark that ignited the world and led us to where we are today. I had a passing conversation last week with someone who bemoaned the fact that World War I is fast becoming another forgotten war, but Veterans Day traces it’s historic roots back to those bloody trenches, so it feels like an apt topic for today.

Don’t worry, this is just a suggestion, not a history lesson. I know World War I feels like a far away time and place now that it’s almost 100 years removed. Still for those who care to look, it’s jam packed with lessons about how great powers blunder their way into total war. The Guns of August isn’t all inclusive, but he’s a hell of a primer about what led Europe to war in 1914. It’s also surprisingly accessible for all you non-history majors. If you’re at all curious about what led us to Veterans Day, it’s about a good a place to start as I can recommend. Go ahead and pick up a copy from your favorite bookseller and see what I mean.

What Annoys Jeff this Week?

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1. Priorities. I don’t know that I’ll ever get use to something that was a earth-shatteringly critical issue yesterday being completely irrelevant today. Look, I completely understand that focus changes and priorities shift, but maybe it would be ok to give a guy some advanced notice before he spends eight hours working on something that will never actually see the light of day. Hard to believe anyone ever accuses us of being inefficient.

2. The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Since December we’ve been listening to Dear Leader: Part III lead a veritable chorus of batshit crazy tirades about attacking both the US and South Korea. Sure, everyone on the planet, including the Dear Leader’s biggest boosters in China think he’s taking his unique brand of nuts way out past the edge of reasonable saber rattling, but no one seems to know quite how to deal with him at this point. I’m a simple man, really. When someone is standing on my front porch with a lit match and a gallon of gasoline talking a lot of smack about burning down my house, I don’t just stand there waiting for him to add one plus one. It’s one of those occasional times in life that calls for swift and decisive action, rather than another six months of handwringing and hoping we can just “hug it out.” It’s all a lot of talk right up to the point where it isn’t. For once I’d like my country not to be on the receiving end of a sucker punch to spur us out of complacency.

3. Evolution. As an apex predator, humans have evolved over millions of years right along to the various flora and fauna that inhabit the earth. Over that vast amount of time, you’d think our species would have evolved some kind of general ability to deal with pollen and other allergens in the air – beyond getting a clogged nose, watery eyes, and scratchy throat. I think it’s high time we expect more out of evolution… and for that matter we should expect a hell of a lot more from science in general – because the allergy medications it’s come up with pretty much suck.

I don’t need your Civil War… (we’ve got our own anyway)

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Today’s 150th anniversary commemoration of the beginning of the Civil War got me thinking – which is generally a dangerous proposition at the best of times. The war is long gone, faded into blurry photographs and dusty history books, but the issues it was fought over are as alive today as they were when the first shells burst over Ft. Sumter. Maybe we’re not arguing over who to count as three-fifths of a person or the legal status of people, but we’re certainly still trying o figure out the role of the federal government and where national power ends and state or local power begins. We’re fighting our battles today with words and budget appropriations, but it’s easy enough to squint your eyes and imagine how such a fight could devolve into canister shot and gunpowder.

It would be too easy to think the United States grew up in the last 150 years. The Union, such as it is, still stands after all – But are we really any closer to being able to have a civilized discussion about the hard issues that face us than were our predecessors? Take a long look at Fox News or MSNBC and then answer that question.

Global War…

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Anyone who thinks we are not in the midst of a truly global war against terrorism should take a long look at this minute-by-minute map of events going on around the world. Terrorism doesn’t just mean Islamo-Facist extremists shooting up the streets of Baghdad; It’s home grown pipe-bombers, the covert movement of radioactive material, and kidnappings in the name of one political sect or another. The world has been and remains a dangerous place, my friends. The web only shows us those items that are common knowledge… Want to guess what’s going on that no one has discovered yet?

Schism…

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I always assumed that the next great rift in this country would split along socio-economic lines, but the more I take a long, careful look at the current situation, I believe I see another, potentially more disturbing fracture looming. Given the recent (though somewhat farcical) procedural votes that have taken place in the Congress, I can see a scenario that would have Congress cutting off funds for the war and a president who would in all likelihood ignore that particular legislative prerogative and carry on the war effort. With the executive and the Congress both in the hands of ideological extremists, it does set an interesting stage for what could be not just a Constitutional crisis, but a systemic meltdown in which the system of checks and balances would cease to function. I’ve studied enough history to know that schism between the executive and the legislative is often the furnace where civil wars are forged. While I don’t think our military is busy choosing sides just yet, late at night that is one of the thoughts keeps me awake just a little bit longer.

While I’m on this particular topic, I have to say that it is incumbent upon the Congress of the United States to fully fund the men and women in harms way. Cutting funding for the troops is not only short sighted policy, but also a political mistake. Imagine being a candidate and facing a row of cameras when the first question is going to be “Why didn’t you support our troops?” For good or ill, that’s how the question will be framed. Maybe with more style, but every time, that is going to be the substance of the question.

World War III…

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Author’s Note: With a few minor revisions, the following is excerpted directly from an ongoing email discussion considering the current and future implications of the ongoing war on terror. Although some of the ideas are derivative, the sentiment is entirely my own.

Although I do like the rhetorical punch of a “War of Civilizations,” I tend to agree with the current White House likening the current fight to a “War for Civilization.” The Middle East is the cradle of civilization and gave rise to humanities first great peoples. The vast majority of those living in the region still embrace that legacy, but events are not driven by the masses, but rather by fanatical fringe elements who value human lives only to the extent they can be used to deliver a vest of explosives or a truck full of artillery shells.

I like the analogy of our times being reminiscent of the mid-1930s, as England and France sought to placate Hitler by ceding more lands and condemning more and more of the continent to Nazi tyranny. Like our parents and grandparents, we are being called to once again be the arsenal of democracy, to stand in the gap, and muster the power of the new world to preserve the freedoms of the old. Personally, I have no moral compunction with the concept of preemptive war, of stopping terrorists and rogue nations from doing harm before they have a chance to carry out their plans. We don’t expect our policemen on patrol to wait until a crime is committed to act, and in fact, they are punished when they could have prevented a crime, but did nothing.

Sadly, I agree that it is only a matter of time before a terrorist, or one of the countries who supports them, figures out how to smuggle a nuclear device into the heart of an American city and bring catastrophic destruction and war to American soil. While I concede that it is almost inevitable, that does not remove our obligation to do everything within our power to prevent that from happening. We must dramatically tighten security along our borders and at our sea ports and airfields, but our vigilance must not stop at our boarders. We must develop better system of sharing intelligence with our key allies in the global war on terrorism and develop strategic plans that allow American and allied forces to respond rapidly to areas of increased or known threat. Finally, we must seek out and destroy the financial backers of terror in all its forms; false-front charities, illegal drugs, and legitimate businesses throughout the Middle East that funnel money to organizations that would do us harm.

Global public opinion may rage against their vision of an “Imperial America,” but it is a small price to pay, in the end, to preserve American lives and to defeat the barbarians at the gate. I shudder to think at the response America would have to a nuclear detonation on our shores. I know for certain that the destruction that would rain down on our enemies would be of such a proportion to make the world long for the days of “civilized” war that led to the fire-bombing of Dresden and Tokyo.