AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE

Richard Engle, NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent who has covered the Middle East for the past twenty years, has just put out a book titled:

AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE,

This is a must read book for anyone wishing to understand the complex issues of the Muslim world that seriously affect the rest of the global community. 

Engle begins with a history of the Middle East and the factors that have led to the religious fanaticism that has co-opted the Muslim faith.  

He accounts a fascinating story of his own immersion into the Arab culture; and reveals his understanding of the political, social and religious beliefs driving the violence of today’s complex and diverse Middle Eastern Muslim societies.

Usually when I am reading at night my mind will start to blank out and I know it is bed time.  I started Engle’s book and had to force myself to lay it down and go to bed at midnight.  

Again; a must read to be intelligently informed on a part of the world that is holding hostage, with a threat of violence, all free thinking people. 

the Ol’Buzzard 

THE HUMAN RACE SUX, BUT HAVE A GOOD DAY

Today is a cat day.  It is raining and the temperature is fifty degrees with a slight wind. 

I love this type of day.    It’s a day to stay home and read, nap, eat, nap, drink wine, get laid and nap – and spend a short time on the computer this morning to get the need to write out of my system.

 

I have made a conscious effort not to mire into the political, economic and foreign policies of the country and the world on this blog; because what comes around goes around – and we will see the same insanity again and again and again.

So I try to blog about the non-crisis of the moment.   But today I have to comment.

  

October 9, 2015 and we have another shooting at a college campus, this week in Arizona.   Oh well; what’s Donald Trump doing?

The Republican led Congress is totally dysfunctional: they have inherited the wind; but we all suffer from a dysfunctional government.

We are quagmire in the Middle East and it is of our own making:  

  

In 2003 Bush invaded Iraq and removed Saddam, and that has turned into ethnic chaos resulting in Isil.

 We supported the overthrow of Kaddafi resulting in that country being destabilized and becoming a home for Al Qaeda.

Now we are demanding the overthrow of the government of Syria and removal of President Bashar al Assad – what could possibly go wrong there?  Obviously we can’t learn from past mistakes.

Adding to the Syrian conflict Russia has now militarily committed to the al Assad government and is flying missions in defiance of U.S. war planes.

  

Vladimir Putin is an ego-maniac that seems anxious for a confrontation with the U.S.   He is capable of escalating the Syrian conflict to a nuclear threat believing the U.S. will back down and Russia will be respected as the premier military power in the world. 

The problem is that we have our own ego-maniacs led by John McCain who would like to escalate a confrontation with Russia.  Yesterday McCain proposed implementing a no fly zone over Syria and confronting Russian war planes.  

I constantly make reference to George Orwell’s 1984 because the parallels to today are so striking.

 

The country is in a perpetual state of war: we fight them there because we don’t want to fight them here.

“War is Peace.”

The Patriot Act will keep us safe.

“Freedom is Slavery.”

The Tea Party has taken over the Republican Congress and vies for the Presidency.

“Ignorance is Strength.”

The parallels are endless.  If you haven’t read 1984 in a while…   Perhaps you shouldn’t – it might ruin your day.

The fucking country is a mess, the god damn world is a mess, the human race is a mess; but I don’t care.  It will be the same way when I am gone.    The human race cannot live in peace.  As individuals we are likable-enough; but in our herd, our pack or our troop we are destructive, vindictive and cruel. 

Am I depressed?   No way.   I plan to drink some wine, have a decadent lunch, and if I am lucky have sex this afternoon with my beautiful wife.

  

So the world can go to hell in a handbag – just as it always has.   We are the root of our own destruction and someday we will inherit the wind. 

But in the meantime have a good day

the Ol’Buzzard

DAMNED IF YOU DO AND DAMNED IF YOU DON’T

The President spoke about the United States’ obligation to respond to the threat posed by ISIL.   The fact is – there is no good option.   The Middle East is a quagmire of religious strife.   Regardless of what the US does; how many military die; how much it cost; there is no good, lasting solution.  The Sunni and Shia Muslims have been at blood war for over a thousand years, and nothing the US can do will change that.

Colon Powell told the Bush administration that ‘if we break it we will own it.’   And, we broke it.

Saddam Hussein maintained a balance of power throughout the Middle East and when the US invaded Iraq and removed Saddam it unleashed the sand storm of ethnic violence.

  

Even though we were the initial cause of the problem with our Nation Building, defeating ISIL should not be our responsibility.   The neighboring Shiite countries endangered by ISIL have the primary responsibility to band together and confront their mutual enemy.  But it is not likely they will act when they can wait on the United States to step in and expend its wealth and manpower to confront their enemy? 

The US has no loyal allies in the Middle East.   No Muslim country will align itself with what, in the Middle East, is viewed as a Christian nation and the Great Satan.  They will gladly accept foreign aid and military aid, but they can never be counted on as a staunch ally.

Saudi Arabia is a perfect example.    They overtly align themselves with the US.   Saudis work with the US to stabilize oil prices; they depend on the US to protect oil shipments in the Persian Gulf; they hold major investments in US companies; they have the fourth largest group of international students studying in the United States; many of their military officers are trained in the United States; and they have made huge purchase of high tech US military equipment.

 

 In return Saudi Arabia has opposed the State of Israel; they have joined in oil embargoes against the US; they opposed the invasion of Iraq; 15 of the 19 hijackers that attacked the Twin Towers were Saudis; and, according to the US State Department wealthy Saudi donors constitute the most significant source of funding for Sunni terrorist groups – including ISIL.

 

We must ask ourselves: Does ISIL pose a threat to the United States?  And the answer, of course, is ambiguous: ISLIL does not pose an immediate threat to the United States, but may in the future; however, it poses a present and immediate threat to the surrounding Shia nations in the Middle East – yet they choose not to act militarily.

So what do we do?   We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

the Ol’Buzzard

WARS AND THE PEOPLE THAT LOVE THEM.

I have stated before that the normal condition for the United States is war and that the intervals between are used to produce new and better weapons and to grow a new crop of cannon fodder.

  

Let’s look at a list of the major wars the United States has fought: this is by no means a complete list as there are perhaps a hundred skirmishes with nations large and small all over the world that don’t amount to a war; supplying war technology and training to numerous third world nations; and memberships in coalitions that don’t count as wars.    

1.     American Revolution                       1774-1783

2.     Barbary Coast War                          1785-1795

3.     Franco – American War                   1798-1800

4.     War of 1812                                    1812-1815

5.     Mexican American War                    1846-1848

6.     Civil War                                         1861-1865

7.     Spanish American War                     1898

8.     Philippine – American War               1899-1902

9.     World War One                               1917-1918

10.  World War Two                              1941-1945

11.   Korean War                                    1950-1953

12.  Vietnam War                                   1960-1975

13.   Grenada                                                    1983

14.   Invasion of Panama                         1989

15.    Persian Gulf War                            1990-1991

16.    Invasion of Afghanistan                   2001

17.    Invasion of Iraq                              2003-2011

Did I miss some?  I don’t doubt it. 

In the early days, before the World Wars, we honed our war skills with Indian campaigns.   No wonder the Native Americans still hold a grudge against the government and white men in particular.

1.     King Philips War                              1675-1676

Wampanoga, Narragansett and Nipumuck against New England colonist.

2.   Numerous scrimmages with Indians throughout the colonies.

3.   Cherokee War                                      1761

4.   Indians that sided with the British during the Revolutionary war (an enemy of my enemy is my friend):                             1784-1783

 Iroquois, Cherokee, Shawnee, Seminole, Ojibwa, Creek, Chickamauga, Meskwaki, Miami, Mingo, Kickapoo, Lenape, Mascoutah, Potawatomi, Sauk, Wyandot, Choctaw.

5.  Tecumseh War                               1811

Assisting the British in the War of 1812:  

Shawnee, Red Stick, Ojibwa, Chickamauga, Meskwaki, Iroquois, Miami, Mingo, Odawa, Kickapoo, Lenape, Mascoutah, Potawatomi, Sauk, Wyandot.

6.   Creek War                                    1813

7.   First Seminole War                        1817-1818

8.   Black Hawk War                           1832

Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi

9.   Second Seminole War                   1835-1842

10.   Pitt River Expedition                      1850

Tolowa, Nomlaki, Chimariko, Wintun.

11.  Apache War                                 1849-1886

Apache, Ute, Yavapai

12.  Puget Sound War                          1855-1856

Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Payullup, Klickitat, Haida, Tlingit

13.  Rogue River Wars                         1855-1856

Rogue River People

14.  Third Seminole War                       1855-1858

Yakima War                                         1855-1858

15. Navajo War                                     1856-1858

16.  Paiute War                                      1860

Paiute, Bannock, Shoshone

17.  Dakota War                                    1862

Dakota Sioux

18.  Colorado War                                 1863-1865

Cheyenne, Arapaho

19.  Snake War                                       1864-1868

Paiute, Bannock, Shoshone

20.  Powder River Expedition                  1865

Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho

21.  Red Cloud War                               1866-1868

Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho

22.  Comanche War                               1867-1875

Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa

23.  Red River War                                1874-1875

Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa

24.  Black Hills War (Little Big Horn.)     1876-1877

Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho

25.  Nez Perce War                                1877

26.  Bannock War                                  1878

Bannock, Shoshone

27.  Cheyenne War                                1878-1879

28.  Sheepeater Indian War                     1879

Shoshone

29.  White River War                              1879

Ute

30.  Ghost Dance War                             1890-1891

Sioux

By 1900 there is no one left to war in this country so we turn our sights to other countries.  

In this day and age we have bases and troops and Naval ships scattered all over the world.  If we are not in a perpetual state of war we are in perpetual readiness – just waiting for the next one. 

the Ol’Buzzard

                                 

A MORAL DELIMMA

Few things in life are black and white; good or bad; right or wrong.  

We live in a world of grey hues.  

The Syrian government has brutally killed civilians using so called weapon of mass destruction – indiscriminate gassing of a population.

When we see the pictures of the suffering and dying our moral instinct is to want to intervene: retribution – revenge against the perpetrators of this atrocity.  

But let’s put this in a microcosm we can relate to: 

You are taking a walk with your family in early Harlan, Kentucky.  Across the street you see a young Hatfield man shaking and slapping his McCoy wife.   The Hatfields are a clan and if you interfere you and your family will be the target of Hatfield aggression for a long as you live in Harlan.   The McCoys will be outraged at the Hatfields for the violence against their kin, but you are an outsider and they have no commitment to you.      

Other people are watching and not getting involved: what do you do?

Syria is the same thing in a macro scale.  The middle-east is divided into the Hatfields and McCoys: Sunni and Shiite.  

To further complicate things the Russians are bringing guided missile destroyers and anti-submarine attack destroyers into the Gulf.   What could possibly go wrong there?  

Before we get too morally pious we must remember that the United States is the only country to ever use weapons of mass destruction on a civilian population on a major scale.

I’m just asking.

the Ol’Buzzard