Domestic U.S. Commentary

The Myth of Strategic Supremacy

http://www.agenceglobal.com/Article.asp?Id=997

Too late for empire

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HG28Aa01.html

How Legalizing Drugs Will End the Violence

http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/39565/

Ideology the Driving Force

 

The driving force of the conflict between Western countries and Arabs may be ideology, but it’s our own. It may be religion, the tree of Abraham is usually drenched in blood. The Religious Right in Islam are the only people with the sand to fight both us and their own governments. I doubt the rise of the Islamic Religious Right could have occurred without incessant Western interference. They had to fight there way to power, peace and prosperity would have choked the Religious Right in Islam. We have engendered enormous ill will and yet failed to accomplish our goals.

The West has forcefully intervened in the Mideast during and after WW1. We back corrupt, repressive, and illegitimate governments. We, the U.S., have had troops and vessels in their territories in large numbers since 1979. Arabs see Israel as a European lodgment and want their land back. Lets not reverse cause and effect. They attacked us after we put our troops in their country. The more we apply force the worse off we seem to be. Maybe we should consider or goals, and reconsider our methods.

Staying the course only makes sense if the course will take you where you want to go; sometimes one must stop and ask for directions. We need a new government, one run that is rational and above board.

Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq

 

I am not convinced Israel is following sound policy in Lebanon. I am certain this current limited action will bring no peace, but will set the stage for future conflict. This action by Israel may be necessary or, thought to be necessary be the leadership of Israel: yet innocent people are being killed. I see no distinction between the murder of innocents by regular versus irregular forces.

One thing that crosses cultural boundaries, world views, time & place is crushing defeat. But we didn’t defeat Arabs or Iraqis when we occupied Iraq. They didn’t attack us or fight us, so they didn’t lose a war. The more accurate WW2 comparison is not Germany or Japan, but Italy. We could have seen hysterically jubilant Iraqi’s hugging our soldiers, throwing flowers not bombs, but that would have only occurred as American troops voluntarily and in victory had departed: quickly. That would have been liberation. What our government calls Liberation is more an attempt at benevolent occupation.

The Arabs haven’t been defeated, just humiliated. And Israel, both helped and hindered by the U.S., has not been able to turn remarkable battlefield victories into security. Israel has been gambling hugely these last 39 years that half measures would do; that the Arabs would come around. Arabs would would defy human nature if they did. America in a reckless gamble, and in defiance of our own civil war history, thought an invading army, that is furthermore ethnically and religiously different, would be welcomed if its intentions were noble. Our leaders should really read some history and psychology.

The victory in the Six Day War, meant that Israel could have kept its pre-war boundaries in peace. The victory would have sealed the deal. Annexation of all or some of the West Bank will require further victories. Israel will have to crush Syria, and be willing to return that territory, plus part of Lebanon to a successor government, and expel undesirables then there can be peace with Israel in control of the West Bank.

In Iraq we never had the power to remake that society. We had the power to do one of two things. We could have replaced Saddam’s repressive regime with another oppressive regime more favorable, or we could have partitioned the country. A broader Mideast settlement requires, the destruction of the Syrian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese and Saudi regimes in cooperation with Israel, and Jordan, and the creation of an Arab state run by the Hashemites and large enough to accommodate territorial concessions and permanently relocate refugees. Non interference by Turkey, Egypt and Iran would be worth consideration.

If we can remember that “they” are human beings like us, then we have a chance to conclude agreements. To see “them” as other, different, evil, is a waste of time, and deleterious to rational goals.

The Consent of the Governed

The beginning of the Preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence follows.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The consent of the governed is indeed the foundation of our government. We have consented to a corrupt, incompetent, uncaring government. A government of the special interests, by the special interests, and for the special interests. We have consented to phony baloney elections, where the entire outcome is meaningless. We have consented to call the false choice of two corrupt party machines democracy. And we have consented while the elites and special interests plunder our public treasury and steal the pensions and health insurance of the wage earner. Then they wrap it all in the sanctimonious and beguiling language of the covetous sneak thieves that they are.

We have consented to all of this. But we don’t have to. We Americans should withdraw our consent from our government. They are supposed to work for us. They are bringing us all to ruin, already some people live in fear and squalor in America. We should fix our domestic institutions so that they work the peoples will. We should protect what is ours, give unto the least of us, and be a good neighbor. We need a new government.

I propose that Americans withdraw their consent of this government. Let me be the first of many. And lets develop a mechanism to do so across the nation in an orderly and democratic way.

The Power of Credibility

Antiochus IV Epiphanes, ruled the Seleucid Empire from 174 to 164 B.C.. The Seleucid empire at times ruled over a vast portion of the Mideast, its seat of power was Syria. During his rule, Antiochus launched a war against Ptolemaic Egypt. The war went well for Antiochus who looked likely to conquer Egypt. The Ptolemaic army was routed and their capitol in Alexandria was besieged. The Ptolemaic forces were spent. So, they lost right? Nope, and thats where the story becomes legendary.

The Roman government decided that its interests would be harmed by a Seleucid conquest of Egypt. The Roman’s sent a plenipotentiary, Popilius Laena to speak with Antiochus. Now old Popilius was proconsular, which means he was a top government official with complete authority to speak in the name of the Senate and Roman People. One guy, with a small retinue accomplished as much as a victorious army.

Popilius Laena sails to where he will find Antiochus, commanding an army of 70,000 men, besieging Alexandria. Upon his arrival in the midst of Antiochus’ army, Popilius gets right to the point, the Seleucid army must quit Egypt immediately and entirely. Antiochus begins to speak, and it’s clear that he views Popilius words as simply a starting point for negotiation. Popilius cuts him off, and he walks around Antiochus drawing a circle in the sand as he does. Popilius then informs Antiochus that either Antiochus will answer in the affirmative before leaving the circle, or there will be war.

Well, you may have guessed, Antiochus capitulated. Rome needn’t send an army because Rome had credibility. Popilius didn’t scream and yell, or bluster. He didn’t whine, cajole third parties, or make dire threats. He just spoke plainly, but those words carried a terrible force. Sometimes people flippantly compare America to Rome; remember Popilius Laena when they do, and really weigh it in your mind.

Things are slipping away from American power. We have no credibility, and no idea of the consequences of our actions. And the soft, overfed, incompetent, elitist leadership of our country makes no one tremble. We can’t regain the power we had in 1965 or even 1992, but there are corrective actions that we take. But we’ll need a new government to do it.

Arab Israeli Wars

 

This latest spasm in the Mideast will pass. Violence will continue and there will never really be peace until a fundamental and overlooked problem is addressed. Where will the Arab people who once lived in Israel, live now?

In 1914, 92% of the people of Israel/Palestine were Arabs. These Arabs, whether late comers or centuries old timers have been forced off their land, and herded into ghettoized enclaves, where they are deprived of basic human dignity and place. They have no work, they have no land, they have no hope. What do you all expect them to do? What would anyone do if they were forced off the families land, imprisoned and humiliated? Might you hate them? American’s can look to our own history and recall how much occupying armies are hated, and we all had the same religion and language.

The nationalities of Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia are all generally agreed upon fictions. The West drew these borders without regard to the Arabs, or geography. After 83 years there is some coalescence around these stunted countries, but none of them function well. This is a problem for Israel and the displaced Arabs both. Were there a large and unified Arab nation, Israel would have a negotiating partner, and the displaced Arabs would have a country. The current fragmented situation leaves no authority amongst the Arab people and nowhere to go, and allows Iran, an economic basket case, to meddle at will. There can be no resolution under the current model.

In Israel we see a country that has taken military and intelligence effectiveness to probably, a practical limit on human endeavor. Israel has won some extraordinary victories, yet still has no peace. This should give one pause. America would do well to observe that adopting similar polices will likely have similar outcomes. We should note that throughout history nations with good a military and bad politics have usually succumbed. U.S, support has augmented the Israeli economy and military, and prevented outside intervention, can they rely on that forever? Israel is playing a very dangerous game, and the U.S. Is facilitating distorted outcomes.

The people and leaders of Israel, find military victories more ambiguous and elusive, and less viscerally satisfying. While they still have power enough, they should consider whether real security lies in the gun as practiced or in accommodation such as the U.S. And Canada. Canada and the U.S. Are at peace because of good enough policy, and mutual recognition of the others humanity and interests. Canada and the U.S. have the longest undefended border in the world, we do not have the best defended border in three world.

So, people of Israel, you have the whip hand. You may want to recall that it was Europeans, not Arabs who committed the holocaust. You must decide what to do with these people over whom you rule, you must either accommodate them, or slaughter and relocate them. What is it to be Cyrus the Great or Sargon II? It is long past time (1967) when this decision had to be made. The longer the current cruel paradigm continues the more pernicious the effect on the culture of Israel. Warfare is full of unsavory consequences even in victory, let alone defeat.

Tick tock, what will you do?

Unconstitutional Government

 

The electoral system gave us President Bush in 2000, not the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court halted a recount without standard, for a dismally incompetent or tainted Florida election. The Supreme Court once again showed its uselessness, as I have described before. The court once again, ham handedly settled no policy or electoral questions, and left us with no thoughtful wisdom. Does anyone know what was scheduled to occur the day after the courts weighty yet thoughtless decision was made. I’ll tell you! The Florida legislature was going to meet to certify a slate of electors to vote for GWB. To rephrase, the Florida legislature was going to choose Florida’s electors without reference to the popular will. And that was constitutional. An ethical Congress would have found Florida’s slate not in good order and excluded them from the Electoral College.

We do not and never have elected president’s with the popular vote. The popular votes relationship to the selection of the president is imagined. It is like saying that because it usually rains after I wash my car, that the act of car washing causes the rain. Typically a given states electoral votes go for the candidate who represents the legislative majority party. Most countrymen get caught up in which of the two major party candidates is the lesser of two evils, and never notice that there is dramatic inadequacy in our presentation of two special interest vetted candidates and that the game is fixed even when the popular vote is in line with the Electoral College.

America needs a different way of qualifying and electing Presidential candidates, and reigning in the monarchical presidency that crushes the constitution. The Executive branch is wildly exceeding its mandate no matter what crook the party’s install. The President is the chief administrator of government functions. He or she is supposed to report to Congress not ignore them, or lie to them. Now the Congress is full of corrupt windbags, but that doesn’t charge the constitution. The notion of the Unitary Executive, Executive Privilege, Bush II’s take on signing statements and other arrogations of power to the executive are unconstitutional. The Congress is surely impossible to work with, but again, that doesn’t change the constitution.

Probably it is time, and long past, to review the evidence of our history and experience, to bear in mind our national goals and reform our system. We need a new government.

Iran Again

The Orwellian crisis with Iran continues. We say to third party’s that Iran must end their nuclear weapons program. Iran says they have no nuclear weapons program. We don’t listen, we don’t communicate directly with the Iranian government, and repeat our demand to the third party’s. It reminds me of the scene in the movie Robocop, when during a test the robot cop tells a man holding a weapon to put it down. The man does so, but the robot still act like the man has the gun and after a short ten count shoots the man dead. Is anybody listening in D.C.?

The government of Iran may be lying, but now we have to negotiate access for verification under terms that are definite, and objective. If the U.S. government reserves the right to suspect Iran no matter the evidence, then we are all just wasting our time. We Americans have to get beyond the Manichean idea that we are always a priori good, and that other nations are always a priori evil and crazy if our interests clash. We should jettison Wilsonian nonsense and national paranoia, and pursue our interests and those of our allies in coordination.

The governing mechanism of Iran is spelled out in their constitution and practices. The President of Iran is simply not the top figure, the Supreme Guide is: and with him, the Guardian council. The governing figures of Iran are gangsters, and war is bad for their business of ripping off the average Iranian. The government is so unpopular with its younger citizens, their political control would be at risk in an aggressive war: or in peaceful prosperity. But isolated and sanctioned, with external forces to blame for their failures, the government gains power while they country suffers.

As a first positive step toward our goals in Iran we could send a direct representative to Iran, followed later by an Ambassador. Diplomatic relations require no value judgments; we have had and do have relations with much worse. If we desire that Iran should do a thing, we must be in contact with their leadership directly and we must speak with one clear voice. Currently we work through third parties and I suspect the message the Iranian government hears is not the one we think we are sending.

We could set aside preconceived notions and use empirical evidence. Can they actually threaten us, small and weak as they are? We bested Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the U.S.S.R., what purpose is served by hysteria over Iran? We could take responsibility for our actions and policies, as all nations should do. We could recognize that the CIA coup in 1952, which replaced a democratic government with a no talent, no lineage tyrant, was a mistake. We could stipulate that we recognize any states right to peacefully pursue its own interests even if we don’t like it: that is recognize rational limits to power, time and cost. We could forgo a desire to humiliate Iran, and their interests without cause. We could hear the Iranian claim to have no nuclear weapons program, and differentiate that enriching Uranium to 4% is civilian grade and only over 90% is weapons grade. And that our irrational fear will lead to bad decisions.

We could identify our actual national interests which are oil flow to us and our allies; it requires stable governance and peace. We could recognize that history preceded and supersedes the hostage taking of 1979. We could take responsibility for our action of supporting Saddam in his war of aggression against Iran and propose useful engagement. Finally we could let the Iranian government understand that we will defend our interests and that use of nuclear weapons could result in the extermination of the Iranian nation, and the relentless pursuit of the responsible figures. Then we could look to the real sources of terrorism and nuclear proliferation in the people and nation of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

There are special interests in America driving a conflict with Iran, not because of nukes but because of Euro pricing of oil: and unstated political aims. Iran has no blue water navy, no ICBM force, no strategic bomber force, and therefore presents no credible threat to America. There is no evidence Iran has a nuclear weapons program, or mean to develop one, or proliferate nuclear knowhow. Unlike Pakistan the great proliferatior, and harborer of Taliban terrorists.

The President of Iran has said some off the wall stuff, but the spin put on it is sometimes cynically self serving. His bizarre comments regarding the Nazi industrialized mass murder during WW2is an example. Is he a run of the mill neo-Nazi holocaust denier, or unable to believe human being could do such evil? There is a difference. There are even outright fabrications in western press alleging the introduction of religious color coded uniforms, among other things. This is black propaganda.

Our government’s hysterical rhetoric over a program whose very existence is unproven is frankly unsettling. This is the same administration that was tragically wrong in all particulars about Iraq, and the same administration that has learned no lessons from Iraq. The current hysteria over Iran furthermore, works against our interests. We can’t conquer Iran, only alienate and destroy it,. The only stick we have is air power, nuclear weapons, and remote technology’s. It’s not worth using, at this juncture. We have tried hostility and manipulation for many long years; it may be past time to acknowledge error.

The amateurs, hacks, and corporate officials in the administration are the problem. I discussed Iran and America with a friend once, and found his view representative, he thought that their taking of hostages was villainous and unforgivable, but that our overthrow of their democratically elected government was just one of those things, and the Iranians should get over it. I marveled at the human minds capacity to reject evidence and hold belief. Americans seem unable to take responsibility for their political actions, though we praise the notion of it. We have no memory of our transgressions and learn nothing from our own history. America and Britain screwed Iran; no doubt about it. Interestingly it was bad for America too in the long run. But it was great for some special interests, and that’s what the American government does best, service special interests and screw the wage earner. That’s why we need a new government.

Immigration in America.

The so-called immigration debate is not substantive; once again ill informed politicians posture for their base. Immigrants, and natives all make decisions based on the rules & incentives that are in operation. We all do this in our daily life, why expect that others do not?

Businesses knowingly hire illegal immigrants because it is cheap. It is less expensive to hire illegal immigrants, and pay fines for doing so than to hire American workers. The minimal penalties associated in the past with this practice are a cost of doing business but cheaper than paying adequate wages and benefits. Punitive measures may be useful here, as overfed and complacent managers surely don’t want to have the fines come out of their personal pocket and they surely don’t want to go to prison. Right now, the managerial class suffers no punishments for their crimes.

Immigrants risk death, robbery and rape, to come to America. It seems to me that we can therefore reasonably conclude that further rhetoric about various punitive measures serves no useful purpose at this time. It simply serves politicians who wish to posture. The Left gets to talk about the heroic struggle of the idealized immigrant, and the Right gets to talk of the scary differentness of the immigrant. Meanwhile nothing changes and the basic principles are not discussed.

Do we want or need immigrants in America and how should we structure our policies to achieve our ends? I suggest immigrants should be allowed in as needed economically, on humanitarian grounds, and as we can absorb them. Any immigrants should have the prospect of American citizenship, based upon their actions in America, and a complete transfer of loyalty to America. I found it disturbing that the immigrant marchers in my town carried foreign flags, if they want to be Americans they should carry American flags. Divided loyalty is not OK.

No guest workers. The repeated failure of guest worker programs is a plain fact. Without the prospect of citizenship, there will be social unrest and corrupt means to bypass guest worker programs. Any immigrant should be allowed in if they have a job to go to. Should they not, immigrants can reside in border camps, until they have a job offer, or a specified period of time to be determined empirically. Corporations can recruit abroad if they wish, with the understanding they will pay the same wages and benefits to foreign workers as they would pay Americans.

To reduce the competitive labor cost advantage of immigrants, we need laws and policies that accomplish several things. First we have to raise wages and benefits to a minimum level wherein an American can do any given job and support themselves in doing so. Secondly, mandate that all employees regardless of other facts be paid at least that minimum livable wage and benefit package. Punitive measures should be directed at the managerial elite, who should both know better and have real choices. The measures should include jail time and personal fines. Corporate fines and Director criminal liability should apply when there is a pervasive corporate plan of illegality.

We may not be able to control the social problems that drive immigrants to flee their homeland, but we can have sensible policies at home. We can expect people to act on the rules & incentives that exist in fact. Once we allow immigrants practical rational means to enter, work, and obtain citizenship, we can then enforce punishments on others who still break the law. The law and policies as they exist now are absurd, capricious, and unenforceable. Generally speaking laws that are absurd, capricious, and unenforceable fail to accomplish their stated goal and have second order effects that include additional criminality, and corruption.

It would do us well to remember that each wave of immigration, has been accompanied by hysterical rhetoric, that we were going to be submerged under strange ethnicities and ways, that their would be a crime wave. Any American with other than Anglo-Saxon descent should think on that. We who have had the blessing of being born American, can both acknowledge that the wide open frontier is long gone, and yet allow new immigrants the chance that our own forefathers received. To do otherwise is to act out of ignorance, fear, and ingratitude.

The the corrupt Corporate/government system of ours however, follow their own rules & incentives. They have no sense or integrity and no true accountability. A choice of bozo A versus bozo B is not a real choice. That is why we need a new government.