May 06, 2008
Who Lost Iran?
Charles Krauthammer has been taking the Bush administration to task over Iran. His recent National Review piece began, "It is time to admit the truth: The Bush administration's attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program has failed. Utterly."
Simply put, he's angry Bush hasn't overturned the Iranian regime with strong enough sanctions, nor hit Iran with air strikes. Because we've failed so disastrously on these counts, Krauthammer says, the only thing to do is adopt a "Holocaust Declaration" promising massive retaliation against Iran in response to any nuclear attack on Israel.
I admire his determination to secure the United States and Israel, but I can't help but think his position utterly absurd. Why? Because Krauthammer has backed the Bush administration's position from the start--the very same 'utterly failed' approach that has resulted in Iran continuing to enrich uranium, unimpeded.
Continue reading "Who Lost Iran?"
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 06:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 11, 2008
Our New Book Is Coming Out!
For the past year I've been working for another Brown Journal of World Affairs editor, Peter Scoblic (also of The New Republic) on a book: (U.S. vs. Them: How A Half-Century of Conservatism Has Undermined American Security) I really encourage you to buy it, not just for my sake, but because it's a worthwhile read.
I really am convinced it's not just a good book--but indeed a great book, and I've read it about 100,000 times so I should hate it by now. If you want to know how conservative ideology translated into the Bush foreign policy, this is the best source on the subject.
Publisher's Weekly:
"This is an important book, well researched and well reasoned in its assessment of conservatism and mandatory reading for anyone concerned with America's security and future. (May)"
“J. Peter Scoblic’s rollicking indictment of how conservatives have undermined America’s security since the dawn of the nuclear era is intellectual history at its best. Scoblic shows us that a ship of fools is afloat, still navigating us all toward catastrophe. It is a shocking and even sordid tale told with calm logic and clear prose. Every informed citizen should pick up this book—but the next president should not occupy the Oval Office without first reading U.S. Vs. Them.”
—Kai Bird, coauthor with Martin J. Sherwin of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
“In this highly original study, part history, part current analysis, J. Peter Scoblic reveals the deep fear disguised as uncompromising idealism that has propelled the American conservative movement to promote its disastrous foreign policies. Us Vs. Them is a clear, succinct guidebook to the troubled first decade of the twenty-first century.”
—Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb and author of Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Atomic Arms Race
“J. Peter Scoblic is one of the freshest voices on U.S. foreign policy, and he’s addressing a subject of existential importance. His distinctive take on the origins of George Bush’s arms control policies—and why they’ve produced catastrophic results—belongs on the reading list of anyone trying to understand why a zero-sum approach to the world won’t work in the twenty-first century.”
—Robert Wright, author of Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
and so on...
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 05:33 PM | TrackBack (0)
September 27, 2007
Workaholics Anonymous
From a CNN article on workaholism:
According to Workaholics Anonymous (WA), working more than 40 hours per week can be an indication of workaholism.
...
Mudrack says two major indications of workaholic behavior are spending time thinking of ways to do one's job better and getting involved in others' business.
"We always talk about continuous improvement, but no one is really required to spend time thinking about that," he says.
...sooo consciously trying to do a better job is a sign of addiction?
Do you work nights? Do you work when nobody else is watching?
I suppose I can't claim to be disinterested, since I'm typing in my second cubicle at 8:10pm.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 03:09 AM | TrackBack (0)
August 08, 2007
How to stop the Arctic from going Communist
Ok, post-communist. Scott Borgerson of the Coast Guard Academy writes in the IHT that it's time to internationalize the Arctic, just as we did the Moon and the South Pole.
Fact is, sometimes a treaty is the only way to prevent the Russians from taking something over.
BONUS: It looks like the Moon Treaty is woefully under-signed and under-ratified.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 07:32 PM | TrackBack (0)
June 15, 2007
"Square Root or Death" in Poland
Poland and Germany are locked in a vicious squabble over proposed vote allotment in the new EU constitution. Poland's rallying cry?
Under the system advocated by Merkel, EU countries would have votes according to the overall size of their populations, a system that favors larger countries like Germany. Under the Polish proposal, voting power would be based on the square root of each country's population. That means that Poland, with 38 million people, would have six votes in the EU council of ministers, the body where EU governments make decisions, compared with nine votes for Germany, which has twice as many citizens as Poland. The formula has prompted some Poles to embrace the rallying cry "Square Root or Death."
It's not exactly Patrick Henry, but it is endearing...
UPDATE: Check here for why the square root proposal makes sense.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 05:22 PM | TrackBack (0)
June 09, 2007
Albania to Bush: Please Occupy Us!
All of Albania is gussied up for President Bush's arrival this week. Highlights from the festivities:
Albanians' support for the war in Iraq is nearly unanimous and any perceived failings of U.S. foreign policy are studiously ignored. A two-day effort to find anyone of prominence who might offer some criticism of the United States turned up just one name and that person was out of the country. Every schoolchild in Albania can tell you that President Woodrow Wilson saved Albania from being split up among its neighbors after World War I, and nearly every adult repeats the story when asked why Albanians are so infatuated with the United States - to the point of "fetishism," in the words of one local journalist.
Secretary of State James Baker was mobbed like a rock star when he visited the country in 1991. There was even a move to hold a referendum declaring the country as America's 51st state around that time. Thousands of young Albanians, meanwhile, have been named Bill or Hillary thanks to the Clinton administration's role in rescuing ethnic Albanians from the Kosovo war. After Sunday's visit, some people expect to see a rash of babies named George.
...
But all eyes are on Bush. Albanians are pouring into the capital from across the region. Hotel rooms are as scarce as anti-American feelings.
"The excitement among Albanians over this visit is immeasurable, beyond words," Albania's youthful new foreign minister, Lulzim Basha, said in an interview in his office, decorated with an elegant portrait of Faik Konica, the first Albanian ambassador to the United States.
...
So eager is the country to accommodate Bush that Parliament unanimously approved a bill last month that allows "American forces to engage in any kind of operation, including the use of force, in order to provide security for the president." One newspaper, reporting on the effusive mood, ran a headline that read, "Please Occupy Us!"
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 12:28 AM | TrackBack (0)
May 24, 2007
Ian Fleming and the Litvinenko Affair
Yesterday, Britain charged this man (see picture) with using a radioactive isotope to poison KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.
A closer look at the accused's neckware reveals that he is sporting the dreaded Full Winsor knot. The knot was first immortalized in the novel From Russia With Love, when James Bond identified it on a SPECTRE assassin posing as a British agent:
"He was wearing ... the dark blue and maroon zig-zagged tie of the Royal Artillery. It was tied with a Windsor knot. Bond mistrusted anyone who tied his tie with a Windsor knot. It showed too much vanity. It was often the mark of a cad. Bond decided to forget his prejudice."
Bond would later kick himself for failing to heed this telltale warning. In the film, our assassin makes another suspicious gaffe while ordering dinner.
Bond: “Red wine with fish. Well, that should have told me something.”
Good thing today's British investigators didn't make the same mistake.
UPDATE: A cad indeed.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 12:10 AM | TrackBack (0)
May 21, 2007
Overthrowing Maliki is a Bad Idea
The administration is contemplating a leadership change in Iraq, hoping that dumping al-Maliki will appease a restful Congress.
I'm going to venture, based solely on the experiences of propping up the Shah in Iran and knocking off successive lame (and often bizzarre) leaders of South Vietnam, that this is a bad idea. I'll bet you that anyone palatable enough for the administration will be seen as isolated and illegitimate by both Shiites and Sunnis. Knocking off al-Maliki will allow a couple Republican congressmen to put a happy face on the occupation for about two minutes, but I think they know that a leadership change is unlikely to produce any real improvements by 2008. In fact, engineering a coup would completely undermine the perceived independence of the Iraqi government and likely make things a great deal worse.
Still, for giggles' sake, I'd like to see them try putting Ahmed Chalabi in charge. Then we could really start checking off all the "if only we had tried..."-s.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 04:34 PM | TrackBack (0)
March 20, 2007
Bush bans talk of Polar Bears and Global Warming
Loose lips sink ships.
Bush Administration Restricting Scientific Discussion on Polar Bears and Global Warming
Gag Order Issued to Government Officials
WASHINGTON (March 8, 2007) – The Bush Administration has issued an order that would halt free and open discussion by scientists and other government officials on the role global warming is playing in threatening the polar bear.
In a memo obtained by groups working on the listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration is requiring that all government travel requests “potentially involving climate change, sea ice, and/or polar bears” be accompanied by a memorandum “including a statement of assurance that these individuals understand the Administration's position on these issues.” The two examples of such memos provided with the order both include assurances that the employees would “not be speaking or responding to these issues.”
The order comes just months after the Bush Administration formally proposed protecting polar bears under the U.S. Endangered Species Act because of the effects of global warming of the bear’s sea-ice habitat. Yesterday, the Department of Interior held the last of three public hearings on its proposal in Barrow, AK.
“We need leadership, not censorship on global warming,” said Andrew Wetzler, director of NRDC’s Endangered Species Project. “We rely on our government scientists and officials to be honest brokers with the public and on important issues. This directive restricts their ability to do their jobs.”
The proposal to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act was issued in response to a petition and law suit filed by NRDC, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Greenpeace.
Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on the sea ice for all of their essential needs, including hunting their prey of ice seals. The rapid warming of the Arctic and melting of the sea ice poses an overwhelming threat to polar bears, which could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of their habitat to global warming.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/070308.asp
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 01:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
February 28, 2007
Segolene Royal A Bit Authoritarian
"Royal, during a recent trip to China, seemed to compliment her hosts by saying, 'Sometimes the justice is swifter than in France.' The period between arrest and execution in China can sometimes be only weeks, and Royal was criticized by human rights advocates and her political foes as having been naïve."
"[Sarkozy] parted company with Royal, who has said that Iran must be denied access to a civilian nuclear program even though it enjoys that right as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty."
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 11:45 PM | TrackBack (0)
February 12, 2007
Segolene Royal, fascist. Say it ain't so!
Nicolas Sarkozy has oft been tarred as a law-and-order "rightist"; well, he's starting to sound like a moderate version of Royal.
"In a two-hour speech to about 10,000 supporters north of Paris, she pledged to raise pensions, increase the minimum wage to €1,500, or about $2,000, a month and guaranteed a job or further training to every youth within six months of graduating. She also said randomly selected citizens' juries would watch over government policy and that juvenile delinquents could be placed in educational camps run by the military." (link)
Can anybody argue that this is good policy? Her proposed minimum wage is twice my salary and it will make jobs for "delinquent" youths even less available, meaning a deepening color divide to the point where employment will basically become a matter of caste. (Calculated out at $15.50 an hour, incl. govt mandated 10 weeks vacation and 35 hour workweek).
Even members of Royal's Socialist Party are compaining that "randomly selected citizens' juries" "watching over" government policy hark back to the French Revolution. At best, they'll serve to veto painful reforms of the kind that France most needs.
A socialist proposing to put delinquent children in military camps doesn't exactly sound open-minded. Royal isn't worried that young Guillaume Apollinaire has been distracted from his work, chasing women and spending his argent de poche. She's worried about threats to law and order, meaning riots in France's mostly North African slums. Royal is talking about putting black people in military reeducation camps. Wow. Say it ain't so.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 01:08 AM | TrackBack (0)
February 10, 2007
On Faust... President Faust
My non-analysis at Slate.
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 01:55 PM | TrackBack (0)
September 20, 2006
Cigarette Traffickers on a Train
“This smuggling happened during Soviet times too, but it was not quite so easy,” the old Pole told me as we stood in the train car hallway—our arms crossed—watching a crew of twelve operators remove every single wood panel, radiator cover, and light fixture in the cabin.
They were stashing cartons of cigarettes: in the ceiling, between the cracks in the doors, in the luggage areas, behind the moulding, the curtain rods, the heater grilles.
Every train from Kiev to Warsaw—a city now located solidly within the EU—stops for two hours at the border checkpoint to clear customs and change wheels, because Stalin preferred a different gauge so that invading armies would be unable to cross the border. Commerce, though, seems to have gotten the best of Old Joe. Half the people on each trip are smugglers.
My train ground to a halt at 2 in the morning. Sickly flourescent lights flicked on, and I awoke to the sound of Slavs arguing in the hall. My cabinmate, a Polish geezer sleeping in his plaid farm shirt on the bunk across from me gave me a silent, knowing wink. He gestured for me to stick my head out our door.
Continue reading "Cigarette Traffickers on a Train"
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 07:43 PM
September 08, 2006
A Fistful of Dollars in Kiev
A few hours after my second encounter with police corruption, I found a plastic bag full of $5,000 in U.S. currency (and some Euro) sitting on the ground in Kiev's Independence Square.
I was walking through the square--a large, communistic affair that's been refurbished with jubilant monuments to democracy and capitalism, including a giant digital clock, a mall, a huge painted column with a winged angel or something on it, and an investment bank--when a Polish man tapped me on the shoulder and asked "is this yours?"
I glanced downwards. He had a ziploc containing a folded wad about an inch thick made of $100 bills, along with some 500 Euro notes. My mind did a quick estimate. Holy s***. There's absolutely no way that that bag was not involved in some sort of criminal activity. I'm not much a lover of theft, even from criminals, and my impulse was to think that I didn't much want it or the probable curb stomps from the tracksuit crowd. Nevertheless, I became sort of an accomplice by default.
Continue reading "A Fistful of Dollars in Kiev"
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 11:23 PM
September 07, 2006
Close Encounters With Ukranian Police Corruption
The first time I was shaken down for bribes by the Ukranian police, I had just come from a barbecue in a Soviet-style apartment block. It was after midnight and I had decided to go out for some air with my friends, Jason and Midas. Two Ukranain cops were lounging on their police car in the middle of the street.
"You! Papers!" The cop had the lazy air of a country bully leaning on a fencepost, perhaps biting into an apple. Identification papers are required at all times.
I've heard about Russian police bribery. They find an excuse to shake you down, threaten to take you to jail, and say, "maybe we can figure this out some alternate way," then escort you to an ATM. It's pretty coercive and reasonably scary.
The Ukranian police, however, acted like they had once seen Russian bribery on TV and wanted to try it out for themselves. They knew generally what to do, but they just couldn't figure out the mechanics.
Continue reading "Close Encounters With Ukranian Police Corruption"
Posted by Barron YoungSmith at 10:22 AM
