Art Attack

Here is a priceless lede: "One of Russia's most famous statues of Vladimir Lenin has been bombed, leaving the Bolshevik revolutionary with a gaping hole in his rear."

Well, he always was an asshole... and a Communist.

Remember when, just a few weeks ago, America was marching toward Communism, according to Glenn Beck? Well, the lachrymose pundit changed his mind. "I looked up the definition of fascism yesterday," declared Beck during what might be considered his greatest performance yet.

So now Barack Obama is a fascist? David Neiwert on C&L has "studied fascism in the flesh," and believes Glenn Beck might be projecting a bit: "So when we look at the reality of fascism, both historically and in the present, the only serious likelihood of any coming strain of fascism is proceeding, as we might expect, from the populist corners of the right, especially as it indulges and encourages eliminationist rhetoric directed at various "liberal" and minority targets (Latino immigrants in particular)."

Neiwert definitely knows his stuff, but personally, I'm becoming exhausted chasing down precise definitions of all these "isms" that the wingnuts dish out. What is fascism? I'll tell you -- it's a political epithet. Or, better yet, I'll let George Orwell tell you:

It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.

So what's next, Mr. Beck? Maybe next week we'll be headed towards Pastafarianism? I know I'm not alone when I say, "take your moral lessons and war room wankery and blow it out your rear."

Misplaced October Surprise?

Remember back in August, right before the Democratic National Convention, when there was that little five day South Ossetian War fought between Georgia on one side, and Russia, and the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other? Remember when McCain spoke of his conversation with Georgian president Saakashvili? "And I told him that I know I speak for every American when I say to him, 'Today we are all Georgians.'"

I thought McCain sounded totally cocky. I'm not a Georgian. I never have been and I never will be. I'm an American. Between McCain's saber rattling and pretending to be president, what was really going on?

Last week the New York Times reported on the observations of international monitors working under the mandate of OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) in South Ossetia when the conflict started:

Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.

Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.

As the conflict was developing, I noticed how the media framed the entire thing in terms of the U.S. presidential election and portrayed McCain as the tough guy who would put Russia in its place even if that meant using Georgia as an unwilling proxy in a long, bloody guerrilla war... as if the world needs another war.

But McCain's posturing during election season was no accident. Tom Hayden on TPMCafe asks if the Georgian war was a neocon conspiracy and early October Surprise:

The new evidence increases the likelihood that the August 7-8 clash between Georgia and Russia was an "October Surprise" that would highlight John McCain's greater foreign policy experience at the height of the presidential election.

The Georgia fighting occurred immediately before the Democratic convention in Denver. McCain, the leading public advocate for Georgia, immediately declared "we are all Georgians now" and promised "to blast Russia." Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, at first called for greater diplomacy, but quickly fell in line with a bipartisan consensus of national security advisers and the mainstream media. Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, openly applauded the White House for its rapid response, including support for NATO's inclusion of Georgia and the Ukraine and a one billion dollar emergency appropriation.

The relationship between McCain and his top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, definitely adds credibility to Hayden's claims.

Although Russia has withdrawn all troops, and the U.S. State Department has admitted that the Georgian attack was a mistake, we shouldn't forget about this incident. Indeed I think we need to learn more about it. Hillary Clinton has introduced S.3567 "to establish a Commission on the conflict between Russia and Georgia, and for other purposes."

I hope that president-elect Obama will favor diplomacy in these situations, and I hope that he will rethink the U.S. relationship with Georgia, because I'm afraid this misplaced October surprise will come back to haunt us.

From Russia With Love

If I understand it correctly, this letter should be scandalous. I have copied and pasted the text of the October 20, 2008 letter here, but you can read the letter and header for yourself on the UN Member States Portal.

STATEMENT

20 October 2008

ON FUNDRAISING LETTER FROM

JOHN MCCAIN ELECTION CAMPAIGN

We have received a letter from Senator John McCain requesting financial contribution to his Presidential campaign.

In this connection we would like to reiterate that Russian officials, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations or the Russian Government do not finance political activity in foreign countries.

Ok, so what's up with this? I knew McCain was desperate, but this is insane. How did it happen? Did they ask Sarah Palin to help out and send letters to "red states"? Oh, no. McCain's campaign is saying it was a computer glitch. Is there any way they can blame this on David Kernell, the email hacker?

Also, the solicitation was illegal according to the Washington Post:

It is illegal for an American political candidate to accept campaign contributions from a foreign government. "It was just a mistake. We don't solicit folks who can't give," said McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers. Asked whether there were any other ambassadors that they planned to solicit, Rogers laughed and said, "I hope not. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow."

But nobody ever gets prosecuted for these transgressions. What I really want to know is how does this help promote McCain's Red Scare? He's certainly getting plenty of voters worked up over socialism as demonstrated by a diner yelling at Obama, "Socialist, socialist, socialist — get out of here!"

I scratch my head, and I want to ask them, "do ya'all understand what socialism is? Do ya'all understand this bailout bill that Bush signed?"

If the next president creates a modern-day WPA, I think ya'all start liking a little socialism.

Pirates of Somalia

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -- H.L. Mencken

Nobody reminded me about International Talk Like a Pirate Day earlier this month. We can laugh at the hats, the flags, and the sea shanties, but now let me be the party-pooper and scare you about stories of real pirates:

The Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter loaded with tanks, artillery, grenade launchers and ammunition said in an interview on Tuesday that they had no idea the ship was carrying arms when they seized it on the high seas.

“We just saw a big ship,” the pirates’ spokesman, Sugule Ali, said in a telephone interview. “So we stopped it.”

The pirates quickly learned, though, that their booty was an estimated $30 million worth of heavy weaponry, heading for Kenya or Sudan, depending on whom you ask.

Even with the heavy weaponry, the story never really caught my interest. The pirates are clearly after a ransom and not the weapons.

But then I read another story about a pirated Iranian ship with very different cargo. This cargo was described as "chemicals, dangerous chemicals."

Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.

Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”

The vessel’s declared cargo consists of “minerals” and “industrial products”. But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia’s Islamist rebels.

I'm not a doctor, but I watch House a lot. Sounds like these pirates have a serious case of radiation exposure. But with so little coverage of this story, it's hard to know what's going on.

And if it is nuclear material or chemical weapons, then who shipped it, where was it headed and for what purpose? If it involves Iran, Russia, and/or China, then I'm sure we'll be hearing much more about it.

Cringeworthy

So last night after watching some of the convention analysis I switch over to The Tonight Show -- I'm so glad it's back after a two week hiatus because of the Olympics -- and I see that McCain is on. And damn it, I watch the interview for one minute and I can't believe what I'm hearing. Here is the cringeworthy clip (if the video doesn't show, click here):



When McCain is confronted with any awkward question, anything he can't deal with honestly, he pulls the "POW card." I know it's a comedy show, but is McCain's POW status really a punchline? He's turning it into one.

And it looks like McCain is leading in the polls despite surveys that say 76% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. It's the unlikeliest political comeback in history.

I think part of this comeback is because voters believe McCain has more foreign policy experience... but a big part of his experience is being wrong. Do you think the surge he supported is working? The Seattle Times explains why our current strategy in Iraq is in danger of collapsing.

And did McCain promise the President of Georgia that the U.S. would intervene if they went to war with Russia? The answer isn't clear, but one of his foreign policy advisers is a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government!

And let's not forget that John McCain wants to bomb Iran.

If McCain can continue to frighten the American public about threats from Russia and Iran, then he will win on a "war president" platform. That's more than just cringeworthy.

Recklessness

On Tuesday I wrote a quick post about the South Ossetia War. I said I hope the presidential candidates are listening to the experts on the situation, and then I added that it was a scary thought that Bush is still president. I wanted to expand on that thought.

I don't think Bush listens to experts. He never listened to the CIA in 2002 when they said Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat. He didn't listen to General Eric Shinseki when he famously said that the military would need "several hundred thousand" troops to secure Iraq. However, he does listen to Cheney, but what really worries me is that Bush bases way too much on blind faith. Here is an example of an evangelical preacher he studies:

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, "Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?" Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.

That quotation is from the widely-read devotional My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (1874 - 1917). It's not the kind of advice I want my president following.

So of course I'm worried about this new crisis involving Russia, Georgia and Ossetia. The truth is already a casualty in this war. The majority of Americans believe that the Russian army invaded Georgia first. If that's not true, then the mainstream media is misleading the public -- again -- just like in the run up to the Iraq war.

And just to complicate matters more, John McCain is now stepping in and sending his own delegation to Georgia which will certainly confuse our foreign policy further. In fact, McCain is so confused himself that he believes the Georgian conflict is the "first serious crisis" in the post-Cold War era.

I can't decide what's worse: Still-President Bush, or Pretend-President McCain?

Geography Lessons

War: God's way of teaching Americans geography.

If you're trying to follow developments in the South Ossetia war, I hope you're not completely relying on the major networks, because we all know their coverage is utter rubbish. They automatically frame the war in terms of our presidential election. And looking at our presidential candidates, it's become painfully clear that after all these years we still don't know how to handle Russia.

I prefer not to listen to the bellicose posturing of McCain. I prefer to listen to those with some practical experience with the former Soviet Union... like Henry A. Kissinger and Richard Holbrooke. I hope the candidates are listening. Also, I hope still-President Bush is listening. I keep forgetting he's still the one in charge. That's a scary thought.

Maps and Gaffes

John McCain, a man campaigning to be president of the USA, wants to defend Czechoslovakia:

I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech’s agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern. So we see the tensions between Russia and their neighbors, as well as Russia and the United States are somewhat increasing. We need to try to do everything we can to lessen those tensions including the tensions between Russia and the country of Georgia.

However, the country of Czechoslovakia has not existed for 15 years. It peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Now how am I supposed to honestly believe that he's the foreign policy expert that he claims to be?

Maybe he's so old he thinks he knows it all already. No need to study geography for the last decade, right? Apparently he has no need to study technology either. He's only just now learning to go online. (If video doesn't show, click here.)



When he figures out how to go online all by himself, I'd like to recommend a web site to him. It's called supermemo.net and it helps you memorize stuff. It's worked for me. I've been relearning the capitals of the 50 states. I only hope that McCain knows there are 50 of them.