Goldstone Redux

Some 20 months ago Justice Goldstone, at the behest of the UN HRC, presented the report of his committee on 'Operation Cast Lead'. In the ensuing time its formal presentation to that body and to the General assembly has been stonewalled. That is probably, in retrospect, a good thing, for Justice Goldstone has had, we are told, a notable change of heart in regard to his report.

 In an opinion piece in yesterday's Washington Post the good justice claims that had he known then, what he has learned since, that report would be significantly different.

The elucidation he cites is, essentially, that the IDF has proceeded to investigate its peccadilloes while HAMAS has not. Ergo the IDF perspective - that they would not deliberately target civilians, becomes, for him, the lingua franca in which the report should have been written. He goes on to describe how, in at least two investigations that have actually been concluded - somebody, an officer in one case ( up on a charge for careless interpretation of some drone imagery that gave rise to the destruction of a house and the family in it) has been charged. Although the charge has been laid, the case has yet to make its way through an IDF court. And, probably, with the same results that saw numerous military incidents described as 'mistakes made in the heat of battle'. Another investigation saw an enlisted man convicted of theft of a credit card he was careless enough to use to buy some treats for himself when he got back to base.

The good Justice doesn't have much to say about the 'battle' which saw 7 IDF soldiers killed - 5 in friendly -fire incidents,  as opposed to 1100 fairly-definable civilians and 300 fairly-identifiable HAMAS fighters. The 'battle' would seem to have been quite one-sided. So much for a  'measured response'. There were other glaring incidents, reported by the Red Cross and UN observers, that have not yet been investigated - like the shooting of an ambulance crew trying to evacuate wounded, and the use of WP munitions on a UN school known to be used as a refuge. Justice Goldstone is convinced it was all done with the best of intentions. Hamas, he's equally as sure, now shares their part of the blame all alone. Actually they share all the blame, for although he doesn't say it, they 'made' the IDF 'have' to do it.

I'm inclined to think that this is an exercise to draw the world's attrention to the story of the Fogel family - mentioned, as it is, in his newpaper piece, and its getting 'lost' amid the news about Libya two weeks ago. The western press may have not played the 'massacre' as well as it might have been, but the electronic 'hebrew blog-o-sphere' certainly 'did it up right'. The Justice would have to be a Haman of sorts, to side with such monsters. In fact he's getting still such a reaction from some of his co-religionists for writing  that report (and encouraging such killers) at all. The other half of the crowd is calling to the 'World Pilate' in New York to 'wash its hands' of the report entirely and wondering if 'prestige' levels will improve enough for another 'free hand' in Gaza.

I'm inclined to think another poke at Gaza  is the ultimate point.  The recent murder of the Fogels put the blocks to another attempt to 'mend fences' between the West Bank and Gaza. 'Abu Mazen's' little foray to the camps had to be delayed so he could lend a hand in the 'razzas' the IDF pulled-off to 'round up the usual suspects'. So far none have been charged. A shipping container of weapons was confiscated from a Turkish ship sailing to Egypt. A number of rockets and a fairly large array of mortar bombs and  tubes were displayed for the public. One of the results was an uptick on fence security at Gaza with a spate of bombing and shooting incidents along the perimeter, and the launching of an increased number of retaliatory rockets and mortars. Noises being made last week, when a rocket actually hit a house, were reaching the "intolerable" level and the 'price', Cast Lead 2,  was being tossed around.

Mr Netanyahu is doing his darnedest to restrain the 'war dogs' in his cabinet, but even his 'patience' is worn thin.It wouldn't take much to unleash  another live-fire exercise on the Gazans. Maybe Mr. Goldstone, by recanting his report on the last one, has set the stage for the next one. Ironic, sort of.

Hey! Look at Me! Look at Me!

Somebody once asked a rocker (it might have been Keith Richards) what message he thought rock and rollers were trying to get across: he said it was, "Hey everybody, look at me!" That seems to be a common thing in the world ,too. There are a couple of countries that seem to be unable to stand being ignored. North Korea is one, South Korea is another. Gaddafi was good at it, and America, because of its importance, has not yet really been tried since its early days, which then had some promise. One of the best 'crier' is gallant little Israel.

Maybe it's because the 'threat' never really goes away. Maybe it's because it has been a nation-in-arms for the past 60 years. Maybe it's because it has kicked the tripe out of every one of its neighbours, some of them twice or three times, in that 60 years, or maybe it's just because the cash might stop coming if the crying stopped. But Israel makes a lot more noise about 'needing' than many other places far worse off, or with far greater needs.

Israel started advertising itself as the place that 'made the desert bloom' back in the fifties and although they've turned the place into an Arizona look-alike since then, it's probably had as much to do with having tremendous financial resources available, almost from the very beginning, than it's had to do with hard work. For, since the first Zionists arrived, they've been hiring the locals as day labor. It's not much different to-day. For a lot of Jews in Israel, the 'job' is just being Jewish, that aggrevates the non-religious Israelis who actually have to work for a living. When you look at what Israel actually exports to the world you find that, for all its modernity, it doesn't actually produce much at all.  But you wouldn't think so from looking at  google world. Israel is a lush green colour surrounded by dun-coloured neighbours. How could this be possible, with only a little help from friends and an 'edge' on the local resources.

Considering it has no oil production of its own and one of the highest ratios of citizens to automobiles on earth, and an active military, you have to wonder why you never hear Israel moaning about gas or oil shortages. If there is anywhere on earth that should have them, given the hostile neighborhood, it's Israel. But Israel never seems to have to scrimp at home while running a war anywhere else. Why is that? Well it could be because Israel, by some strange twist of kismet, got itself located at the end of an oil pipline from Jordan to the sea that exports mainly Iraqi oil, for Jordan has precious little of its own, either. For all their wanting to 'destroy' Israel, its oil rich Arab neighbours don't feel any constraints about oiling its war machine. Strikes me that, if they were as serious as the Israelis say they are, that tap would have been offed long ago.

Egypt controls the Suez but the thought of making Israeli shipping take the long way from Ashkelon to Eilat doesn't seem to have occurred to them. Even lately, the Egyptians were letting Israeli subs through their canal while the Israelis were whinging about a glorified Iranian tugboat being allowed through for the first time since the Ayetolleh was Homeini. Once again one would have thought, that, to 'strangle' Israel wouldn't have been such a difficult thing to do. The Arabs may have navies, some quite powerful on paper, but it's the Israelis who range the eastern Med fending-off those 'existential threats'.

This week the blogdom of the Jewish world lit up with the news that a settler family had been 'massacred' in one of those west bank outposts. It was unremarkable in that every one that I read stated, without any doubt that the Arabs had done it, because 'that's what Arabs do'. And the other unremarkability was the bloodthirsty nature of the proposed 'price extraction'. This week Jewish blogdom is riven by arguments about whether, or not, the on-site photos of slashed parents and bloodied babies should have been used to illustrate the story. While the effect of such lurid details was debatable; whether  the Arabs might actually not be guilty occurred to only one or two Jewish commentators. Or whether the actions of the IDF and settlers in the nearest Arab village, or whether the extension of that particular settlement onto newly 'abandoned' Palestinian land (suitably named from the initials of the 5 dead)  were appropriate reactions to such a horror, were noted by very few bloggers and commentators. Those commentators  were, naturally, greeted with the 'meshuggeneh' reaction.

Without getting to deeply into what seems to be 'an on-going investigation', in this instant we have what an American in Iraq once described as "what happens when you  bring your kids to a battle". This particular family of settlers, the Fogels, were among those who had 'settled' in Gaza, and had then been removed by the IDF. Funded by the Israeli government they moved into a West Bank settlement on what was considered to be  'legitimately-appropriated' land. For some reason they left that established home to break ground in a new settlement near Hebron.  Since it was started, the settlement has been in a literal 'war' with its Arab neighbours.  People, on both sides, have been beaten and killed, the notion of 'extracting a price' from Palestinians in destroyed property started near here,  and numerous Palestinians have been arrested and jailed under a military administration that often fails to identify settlers involved in provocations or violence. The Fogels may have been raising their children 'well',  but that included a readiness, in that community, to meet Palestinan "violence" with even more violent Israeli offensive "defence".

Along with a general round-up of young males in the nearby Palestian village (two policemen were identified immediately as suspects), the Israeli police also rounded-up all the 'foreign workers' in the settlement itself. These settler camps, like many other places in the middle east,  make use of  the  cheap labor of Thais and Philippinos to build or tend to things the settlers apparently don't have time to do. Some commentators have posited that it was one of these workers who may have killed the Fogels. For an outsider to enter the 'front line' camp, and 'execute' the family of two otherwise healthy adults, (one an IDF officer) - missing two of their children at home (who may have slept through the mayhem) and a third who was out at a meeting - without raising any alarm and then exiting the village undisturbed,  just seems to verge too much on the miraculous.

Both sides in this sad story have their martyrs, and their martydoms. Neither is particularly conducive to peace or reconciliation. No one, especially children, should have to suffer for the sins of their parents, but that, once again sadly, is, often, life.  By the same token,  no one should be dispossessed of their homes for anyone else's previous or historic 'rights'. If  that were the universal case, there would be few places on earth that wouldn't be challenged by  'former' owners. I really don't think that Jews from anywhere, other than Palestine, have any 'right' to land there, particularly if it currently belongs to a Palestinian. They should, perhaps, have a right to buy, if a Palestinaian wants to sell, but there is a lot of 'buying more than was sold', or buying rights to property from someone who doesn't hold them, and then using the courts and the law to gain freehold after encouraging  the residents'  'abandonment' through intimidation and violence.

As things stand now, with Israel continuing to 'cry out' and be heard by Americans and their government, nothing fair or equitable can be expected. What the world will get is more violence, for those like the Fogels, who claim a 'divine right', have no place for any non-jew in "Eretz Yisroel". Their only solution is ethnic cleansing. The non-religious Jews might be more temperate, but many of them see that they're in the same boat with the others, that the best way to keep 'safe' is to keep on top of the Palestinians, to make sure they can't go anywhere, be anything or do much but labour for scraps, if they stay in, or even near, Israel. Which leaves Palestinans with no real choice other than to give up and hope for some change of heart, or to keep fighting, and breeding, in hope that either they drive Israelis to do them what the Germans did to their sires and become 'pariah' to their supporters, or until they outnumber their masters and  their masters have no choice but to change.

For all the crying, the world isn't helping by running to 'pick up the baby'. It's already been spoiled, so there is no easy 'cure'.

Kill Khaddafi!

The latest  bit of 'UN-sponsored', first-world industrialized destruction is being rained down upon one of the world's "bad guys", again. The leaders of the 'free-world', or a chunk of it, have decided that a robust military response to the 'terror' Muammar Khaddafi is inflicting on his own country is the best way to remove him from office. It's another one of those  "freedom for  ______" (fiil in the blank) exercises the 'good guys have been doing since the late 80's. If it wasn't that such exercises usually require somebody getting bombarded from the air, and, to date, haven't accomplished much more than some good will and honest brokering might have done, I'd be all for them.

Not that I have any great affection for Khaddafi,  but it strikes me that he's doing exactly what the other 'allied' leaders of the middle east are doing: 'keeping their houses in order'. And they would be doing it exactly the same way (wouldn't we too?) had  their protesters there been able to access an arms dump, as was the case in Libya. The army is 'defecting' in other places too, and supporting the protestors, as some units did in Libya. There are, again in all instances so far, forces 'loyal' to the government available to wreak varying amounts of mayhem, or order, as the case may be. In Yemen it's called 'mayhem', in Bahrein it's called 'order' for example. Some people are calling Libya a 'civil war', others a 'revolution' or 'putting down an armed insurgency' - the differences are solely in the optics of the observer. Libya, like Egypt and Tunisia, is not a failed state, yet. Until very recently Khaddafi, for all his warts, was considered a world leader and Libya considered friendly to the west. Khaddafi had claimed for himself the mantle of Arab 'leader' against radical Islamicists. So why all, of a sudden, the need for regime change?

Well we had better ask Obama's female advisors, for they, apparently convinced him it was time to 'go kinetic' to save their Libyan sisters. More likely it's being seen as the need to do something, as opposed to being accused by teabaggers of doing nothing, that has goaded the American President into 'joining the fun'. Sarkozi may be getting the credit for 'leading', but everybody knows the only state capable of 'getting her done quick and professional' is the US of A. And there, as the old saying goes, lies the rub. America, or the rest of the free world for that matter. needs another fast and professional military solution to anything like it needs an outbreak of plague or another economic melt. (In actuality it seems that there may be more to American involvement that we were led to believe, as comments about the CIA being involved "for weeks" and rumours that Obama had signed the orders to assist the rebels well before he told Americans he was considering it. The reason, however, is not yet clear.)

'Quick and professional' sounds good going in, but as the warriors are so fond of telling the rest of us, the best laid military plan does not survive the first clash of arms. They've obviously gotten over the 'cake-walk' and 'home for Christmas' ballyhoo  learned in such outstanding vic'tries as the Falklands, Grenada and Panama, for the latest applications of military 'science' have reverted to the classic styles of  fiasco or quagmire.  Even the best of such operations, as in Kosovo, wind up being protracted military 'peace-keeping' operations. There are still NATO troops 'standing watch' over Kosovo, although the war has been over for almost a generation. While Libya is no Iraq or Afghanistan, it's not going to be a Kosovo either. It definitely won't be a push-over like aforementioned 'vict'ries', if Kaddafi chooses to 'fight it out', particularly without any 'boots on the ground'. But that right now is not part of the 'plan'.

At present there seems to be no plan other than bombard, evaluate and re-bombard. Once again there is the impression that somebody wants to kill Khaddafi (although EVERYBODY says Khaddafi's NOT being 


targetted), unless he's in the habit of pitching his tent right next to valuable military targets.  Ronald Reagan let somebody talk him into blasting the beast in his lair. The result was an ugly press relations situation featuring Muammar's dead baby daughter. Ronnie never tried 'second time lucky' on that mode of 'reasoning'. Shortly afterward an American jumbo jet, full of citizens, came to an unscheduled landing in Lockerbie, Scotland. Muammar got some 'payback' for that assassination attempt. (As an aside, to get back in the 'good books'  he recently paid off the monetary damages for that bombing.  The 'convicted'  bomber ( he still pleads innocent) was granted a 'humanitarian' release from a Scottish jail. Maybe he's being targetted now, too.). There are, at present, no plans to put boots on the ground in Libya. So the UN/NATO is depending on an untrained armed jacquerie to put paid to Khaddafi. They'd better be prepared to send in a kill team. Of course to arm, supply and train the protestors  would take more resources, and a lot more time.

Other than that,  there is a split in world support - China and Russia could have vetoed the adventure, but didn't, they haven't been verbally supportive though.  The Arab states offered some lip service to their best customers, but once again weren't able to actually do much.  The African Union is adamantly opposed to the move. I guess they're getting the feeling that, since Asia's a bust, the next great hope for western 'progress' is Africa. Progress being the process in which the west's bi-lateral 'interests' open a country up for economic (viz business) 'cooperation'.

In the short run, though, the Libyan adventure is just another great opportunity for something else to go wrong.

Of Cabbages, and Kings

I was remarking to a friend the other day about the way that events tend to happen and louse-up the best laid plans. I was thinking, at the time, of the numerous occurrences that changed Bushco's great Asian adventures into General MacCrystal's 'bleeding ulcer'. And how the same things keep happening to stop Afghanistan from becoming the out and out success that some prognosticators say they're already seeing. I'm surprised that North Americans are still willing to invest their grandkids future on the chance that, one of these times, the Afghan dice will start coming up 7's or 11's. But this ain't exactly like just tossing dice. With a dawdling to non-existant economic recovery - unless you're counting the massive sales of paper that did so much for stock portfolios prior to the last crash, and some other crises lingering on the near horizon - I'm surprised the 'cut the losses' crowd hasn't been more vocal. Or, could it be, that those losses are now so massive that they're in the 'too large to....' category?

Japan has been having its problems too, economically and, lately, politically - there doesn't seem to be any one strong method being put forward to advance the place. But those problems pale to some insignificance when one considers the events that have occurred  there in the last four days. "Catastrophe" comparable to WW2 -  it's being called and World War 2 was not gentle on Japan. But, thank goodness, such  massive damage seems to be fairly localized. What may not be as local, and certainly more long lasting, are the potential effects of a catastrophe all on its own at one of the Japanese nuclear generators. The Earthquake did minor damage to the installation, as did the ensuing Tsunami - even though the atomic station is built right on the coast. The damage the tsunami did do howver seems to have been mortal - it knocked out the main diesel generators. Without these, the pumping system that cools the reactors couldn't be operated properly. The earthquake may have damaged the reactors themselves too, for it triggered their automatic shut-down processes. That shut-down was incomplete when the tsunami struck and stopped it completely. The cores started heating, sea water was deployed as an emergency coolant. First one, then a second reactor, then three and their containing buildings suffered  violent explosions. This was written off to a build-up of hydrogen in the building which, I guess wasn't being vented - but the explosion was markedly violent enough - being 'felt' some 25 KM away -  that a gas build-up in a light building was probably not the only cause. As we write, Japan could be on its way to giving Chernobyl a run for the money. The lids are off three reactors in which the core has been exposed, it's not cooling any more and a fourth is now 'on fire'.

One of the safety features of atomic power generation, about which I think we've all been led up the garden path, is that, once the reaction process has been started, it can be shut down a) rapidly and b) safely. What we're seeing in Japan is that, under a worst case scenario, the best prescription might be that old saw about 'bending over and kissing your ass good-bye'. Shutting down an atomic reaction in 'an emergency' takes weeks, if not longer, and it has to be carefully staged and executed, two things the 'need' for immediate safety  might very well preclude.

Another consideration I think is important, is that building such inherently dangerous and delicate systems on a seismic fault line might not be a full application of conventional wisdom. Add to that, the wisdom of building one at sea level beside the sea, or beside any large water body that could be affected by a seismic event enough to generate a 'tsunami', or even just a large wave, without some robust precautions to minimize the effect of water damage. Neither of those are evident in the Japanese situation.

If there is a good thing coming out of this it is that, at least, the Japanese seem to have worked effectively to minimize the deleterious effects on near-by residents. Evacuations seemed to timely and efficient, considering the other problematic situations abounding. Unless, of course, as seems to be the developing case, there has been some of that 'face-saving' going on and this 'minor difficulty' is turning into something potentially worse than either of the natural events that gave rise to it. The atomic 'crisis' has not yet reached a climax.

Almost as a 'microcosm' in comparison, it seems,  is the other 'little' tragedy of the week, going on in Libya. It would appear that Gaddafi has regained his composure, and is now set to 'take back' what the 'rebels' grabbed. For all their encouragement, and/or bluster, nobody seems willing to get more involved as Gaddafi cleans things up. We'll have to see what happens this week, as NATO, the EU, the Arab League, the African Union, and America's 'resolve' seems to melt away like a highwayful of AAA pick-up trucks. It could be that destroying the rebels ammunition dump was the smartest move yet. It certainly seems to have been a game changer. Thank goodness they don't have any atomic plants, like the Iranians or Israelites, sitting smack dab on top of a potential Japanese experience.

It's good that we don't know about some things. FAP!

Holy Moly Things are Changing

Leave for a while to visit the 'socialist paradise' in the Caribbean and what happens? 'The more things change, the more they say the same', as some French wit once remarked. It seems like it's been THE month for popular uprisings - Tunisia and Egypt, now Libya with ongoing rumbles on Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, the Gulf States and the counterpoint that's been part of the background noise in Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan for years. All this, supposedly about 'democracy'. What's really amazing is the lack of such 'popular' uprisings in those pariah states where, we're told, the tyrants are on the bones of their ass - namely Iran, North Korea and Cuba.

Let's take a look at Cuba for a minute. I was in Trinidad recently (on the south coast half-way down the island). The town is a world heritage site as, apparently,  it's location, (inland a bit), stopped  whatever  predators have been known to burn down parts of Cuba in order to assist regular urban renewal, from torching the place much. The city buildings are of some antiquity and hence are archtecturally interesting.

Things haven't changed much in terms of infrastructure, if you don't count a new airport building and two markedly upgraded 'cafe' businesses just outside the terminal at Cienfuegos. Trinidad is a very old city sprouting some of the appurtenances of modernity. The city itself is remarkable for a recent outburst of housing additions - building an extra story on the roof. Some of these look like a 'dodge' of  city planning ordinances and don't look like they could be trusted in an earthquake. There is also some new 'foreign investment building underway - a couple of Novotel projects in the works. The 'casa particular' (bed and breakfast/lunch/dinner) operations seem to be expanding along with a number of private restaurants. It could be a sop to the 'new economic reality', but it is a sign that the Cubans are doing something.

In like manner a host of newly-built (in the last 8 years) communal housing developments in rural areas are noteworthy. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to having them located as they are, except for one in the middle of a cane plantation of some size and another, under construction, nearby what I was told is a Cuban holiday spot  at the mouth of a river. The schools look more dilapidated than before, but the kids seem just as clean and well-turned-out as ever.

The resort we stayed at was in turmoil of sorts while we were there. The government austerity plan announced last summer - which was to see the civil service and military reduced by 30 percent, had worked it's way down to the tourist spots where the wait staff and cameraras were being told which of them was soon to be out of work. As a friend noted,  'connections' seemed to take precedence of actual ability,  for those bartenders and waiters with the laziest streak seemed to be the ones who were 'OK'.

For the first time,  we met Americans who had 'sneaked' into Cuba - taking a flight over from Cancun. They seemed nice, but were the sort who were either 'sorry' for what America was doing or self-described as the "last socialists in America". Nice to see them, they certainly made a less gaudy show than the returned 'Miami Cubans' with their rented 'bling' and 'boss' attitudes. The Cubans seem to really enjoy 'banging' them an extra 15 percent for exchanging their US dollars. Maybe, if they were staying with family, instead of at a tourist resort, they'd be better received. It was also surprising to note the lack of full-time resident tourists this time round. The place was virtually empty most afternoons. The Europeans all seemed to be on bus tours that pulled-in in time for supper and left right after breakfast. The entertainment staff must have appreciated the evening crowd. I'd say, however, that tourism seemed to be way down, so that has to hurt the economy.

One would think the Cubans had every reason to be 'out on the street' - unemployment way up, an educated population of underutilized young people, etc. It isn't for the lack of cell phones - as every second Cuban I saw had one. So it must be 'fear of repression', or just not feeling they have to.

In like fashion the Iranian young people have hesitated to throw themselves under the bus of  freedom and the North Koreans still seem to be content to goose step around Red Square and make moues at the fightin' forces of liberty around Panmunjom. But maybe they're just the well-fed ones,  keeping the others down.

In Baghdad it's different - they're protesting about economic conditions and a government's failure to 'get going'. In Afghanistan they're still protesting about the regular killing of civilians by ISAF, and ISAF's failure to be able to protect the others, killed by the insurgents. Even in places like Madison, Wisconsin you have Americans out on the street protesting. OK, the latter are middle-class types like teachers, cops and firemen coming face-to-face with a reality that the local governments they work for have failed to meet their obligations to fund retirements and other employment benefits. Now the 'debt crunch', caused by too many tax cuts, has come home to roost. Rather than raising taxes on business or the 'haves', the only 'solution' the latter-day neocons can see is to level the playing field between the US and the Third World by making those who don't have, take less. The poor have already had their 'screwing', and it's not as if all that 'negative' social spending on hand-outs was really the problem. Those 'savings' weren't enough to change anything. The solution now is to take more from the middle class, particularly public employees. But those savings won't be enough to change anything either so, who's next? Ordinary Americans - like ordinary Egyptians Iraqis, Tunisians, Moroccans and most of the ordinary people on earth are about to undergo a serious change of lifestyle because of the economic shenanigans of the 'elite'.

Prices are  rising just like those who have to raise prices said they would. Amazing that the same guys who couldn't see an economic hurricane bearing down on Wall St. have such clairvoyance about rising prices. Actually there's no rocket science there, either. Raising prices is the one thing these guys can, and do. Just like fleecing suckers. Right now they're making noises about how world events - that changing weather we don't have to worry about, and increasing numbers of people starving, or dying from imported lead poisoning, are the 'natural forces' making us all  pay more. But just maybe, one of these years, when they report another surge in profit, dividends or compensation levels, the sheeple will just 'go nuts'.

Big Ol' Jet Airliner

There may be three years of Canadians flying into Afghanistan left before the scumbag killers get their final notice, but it's never too soon to figure out how you're going to get their kit back home. Well the Canadian forces aren't sleeping at any switches, even if the the "Harper Government" - best war party to be almost elected in decades did cock-up the supply conduit. And so this recent piece on how things are going without the stopover in Abu Dhabi.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Massive+transports+helping+Canadian+Forces+deal+with+banishment+from/4193099/story.html

The Vancouver Sun, and other papers which carried the piece - no doubt emanating from a military source, outline a complicated process of getting our troops home via Germany. Now that couldn't be as much fun as the SOP of getting them home through the gin joints of Cyprus. But I think some recent misbehaviour on those 'ROTO decompressions' have done 'an Abu Dhabi' on the Cypriots. The latter putting a greater value on their tourist trade than they do in entertaining  CF personnel on a piss-up. Maybe we're banned there, too. But I digress.

The way home follows the old route, non-stop and then takes a sharp right to fly across south-eastern Europe to Germany. I'm wondering why? Wasn't there a load of ballyhoo about the Russians allowing free transport of non-lethal supplies across it's territory. Now, I know the troops are all 'lean, mean, killin' machines' at least in Gen Rick's (ret) estimation, but surely a planeful of the troops disarmed, in mufti and on their way home would qualify for a free pass. And wouldn't a route over Russia, or at least across the friendly ex-SSR's and the Black Sea,  be more direct? Or maybe there's some ATC problem with going the short way. Any way they're taking the long way home.

So supply and replenishment isn't a problem, and isn't considered to be a potential problem. The four C-17's of the CAF fleet can get that job done. But the other stuff will have to find some other way home. A fleet of trucks will be bringing heavy equipment and 2000-odd storage containers through Afghanistan and into Pakistan for shipment home by sea. The C-17s - or other 'rental transport'* will be moving sensitive equipment, 3 containers at a time, to the safe base in Germany at the rate of two flights per day. That doesn;'t mean 8 flights per day but more than likely exactly what is said, one, or two, of the 17's making the trip,  twice (or once) per day.


I'm wondering what's going to happen to some of the equipment, like those Leopard 2's for instance. I was under the impression that Canada had bought a number of these tanks, used, from the Dutch, but from things I 've read lately,  that 'purchase' may have been more in the nature of  'a lease'. For we're giving the tanks back, long before we're going home. The Marines are deploying tanks to take our place. So who pays to get these babies back to Holland, or wherever they're going? I know we rented the Ruslans to get them to Kandahar. The Dutch aren't all that stupid, so I'd imagine we're paying to send them back, too.

And then there are the Nyasas and all the bomb-resistant battlewagons we've bought to keep 'our boys' safe. Ideally they'd stay in Afghanistan, for as sure as hell they're going to be of little use in western Canada. They're clumsy enough on the Afghan tarmac, they'd be tipping all the time on Manitoba's back roads. But leaving them in Afghanistan would mean giving them, or selling them, to somebody. That means giving them to the Afghans, or selling them to America - which is paying for everybody else except the French, Brits, Germans and Italians (who already have theirs). And since the war is the best economic stimulus America has these days, selling second-hand to America is a no brainer, as well as a no-starter.


* Rental Transport?  The ongoing saga of  'we shoulda, but didn't'. Those Ruslans will be rented to haul stuff home, so much that the article posits buying another one or two C-17's is needed. That would mean we'd then have 6 C-17s. Enough to respond to a good disaster anywhere and 'only' for another billion and a half, or so. Scratching open the scab on the sore that we could have had all 27 Ruslans for about that much, spares included and have been renting some of  them out ourselves. Another "Harper Government" foul-up?

Adieu Marty.

My little Brother, Marty, died November 27th.

I had seen him about a month before that, a somewhat diminished version of a previous self, spare-haired and pinch-featured and that knowing 'look' that cancer patients get at endtimes. He told me he was in palliative care, that his new doctor had told him she would do everything she could to keep him comfortable. And he was comfortable with that.

We talked about some old times but spent most of our time together solving the problems of the world, as we usually did. We tried his wife's (Jane's) repast, the lunch and dinner she had laid out for us. Eating was difficult he said, but he tried and managed a bite or so. For a notorious 'pieman', who had always enjoyed a good meal, this was a telling point. He said he slept a lot, but he stayed up to be with me. He said he had a 'feeling inside' like a shake that at times was bad and made even sitting up uncomfortable, but he sat up with me. I left him at his table the next morning, going back to celebrate a 'new' life and knowing that we, he and his, were preparing to mourn the ending of another. "I'll see ya, Brother. I love ya!", the last words I heard him say - after a lifetime of that, 'I'll see ya'.

Marty came into my life when I was almost five, four days before my birthday in February of 1951. What was remarkable is that he appeared, overnight, in my Mother's bedroom - a morning present for the family. And so he began. I can't remember much of his babyhood except that he used to hold his breath and turn blue, thoroughly frightening our mother and getting her immediate attention. That all stopped one day when she took the doctor's advice to leave him be. He started breathing, turned pink and went about his play, he didn't bother repeating that exercise again. Another day he retrieved the poker from the fireplace - we had one of those-  and succeeded in scarring his leg for life. That scar was fascinating to me for some reason. By and large his childhood was happy and fairly unremarkable. We emigrated to Canada when he was two and for a couple of  years, at least, he was  not a memorable object of my attention.

It was during our years in Orillia that Marty grew into my pal - my partner in adventure. He was Will Scarlet to my Robin Hood (or vice versa in his opinion), he was the other side of play gunfights. At Christmas time, generally, we both got the same kind of toy, so we could play together, and so our Christmas 'snaps' always  featured Marty and  I sporting the same pistols, or outfits. It was in Orillia, too, that Marty fell in love with fishing. Mom insisted he go with me and he learned quickly the art of baiting a hook and catching the wily sunfish. He landed a nice bass one day, and he was hooked. Fishing was something Marty enjoyed, we both did, for a lot of years - it provided a lot of our stories.

We moved to other places and Marty continued to grow.  He was good at things I was not. He played hockey on a 'real' team, with 'real' hockey equipment. His playing goal in Weston was something our Dad went out of his way to see. Marty had a cuteness - dimples,  black curly hair, the 'gift of gab' and a mischievous side that 'charmed the ladies' starting with our Mom. That 'talent' came in handy, later, too.

Marty also developed a real interest in the out-of-doors. Starting with an early and thorough introduction to the effects of poison ivy and developing through a series of wild 'pets' - of various species,  Marty developed an affinity with all things natural, with creatures great and small. He kept a pet rabbit and he had his own dog -Simba - at the family home. But he also retrieved and raised a baby squirrel that grew into destructive adolescence before our Mother banished the critter from the house. It bit Martin on the thumb the day he had to let it go, miles from where we lived. A year later a squirrel 'attacked' a neighborhood girl playing on our backyard swing. Same one? Marty brought home an owlet, and was forced to take it right back, once again to a great distance in some school yard where he had to 'shinny' a fallen log to replace the bird in a nest hole some thirty feet up a tree  trunk. That's where he was  when one of the parent birds laid into him with wings and beak and talons. The 'critters' would become an important part of his life.

When he was 13,  we, Marty, my sister Kitty and I made one of those pilgrimages 'back home' to visit our maternal Grandparents and renew acquaintances with a battalion of Belfast cousins. The holiday was exceptional fun: the 'Ban the Bomb' movement was in full-swing, the music was great, hair was growing and Marty got right into it. In a little seaside village we spent a pleasant week, or so, living without a lot of supervision, with cousins from two families. Marty and 'Ski' Gorman had a hoot - from stealing smoked salmon, to squiring the local girls to, it is rumored, setting the dune grass on the beach alight and nearly burning out a summer camper park.

Marty - the mini beatle- was a big hit in his grade nine year. He switched to another school for grade 10 and got himself elected the student rep for one of the big downtown-Toronto department stores. I was in that store at Christmastime that year, in the department where all such reps' pictures were hanging. Next thing I knew I was accosted by a pretty-looking girl who knew me to be Marty's brother, and she wanted me to meet her Mom - like I was important or something. Marty parlayed that 'rep' thing into a part-time job at an exclusive men's wear shop on Weston Road. For a while all his clothes were 'made-to-measure' and very expensive. He even fixed me up with a 'haircut' appointment with 'his stylist' on Yonge St. 'Afif' spent his cutting-time talking about his success at the race track and giving me his 'signature style'. When he was finished, the tab was $17 and he wanted the other three for a tip. Quite a shock to somebody who'd been getting 'momcuts' for years, for free. Afif's 'do' didn't last,  the first gust of Yonge St. wind totalled it while I was admiring his handwork in a store window. Afif's work didn't 'sit' as well on me as it did on Marty, maybe I needed to be more 'regular'.

In one of those life changes we all have at times, Marty was 'given a break' by guy called Pat Hogan. This break set his life off in a new and positive direction, coming as it did at a time when Marty was looking for something he hadn't been able to find, by doing a lot of other things. Pat Hogan went out of his way for Marty and gave him the job that set up his next stage of development.

Let me back up a bit. I had mentioned that Marty had a charm for the ladies. That acquired him a number of very pretty friends as he was growing up. One particular Sunday my Mom sent me to track him down as he hadn't come home the night before. I found him being served breakfast by a very pretty blonde girl in her girlfriend's house. Marty wasn't interested in her, so I asked her out. We were married 20 months later. Her Father was Pat Hogan.

 He did well at his new job in sales at Aqualine, a retail plumbing supply company, working for them or 8 or 10 years and becoming their northern Ontario sales representative. That allowed him the time and the latitude to do more outdoor things. He would come visit me and spend all weekend fishing out of  his 'Aqualine van'. And his job 'on the road' took him places he was interested in being.

For a while it looked like he would turn into a solid joe citizen. Marty moved to Kitchener with a cockatoo and two vizlas - " the boys". While he was in Kitchener,  Marty joined the local hunt club and added a new dimension to his social life. He met his gal, Jane, at the club. She was to be the most important part of his life. Shooting sports became part of his repertoire and deer and bird hunting were new avocations. He developed an interest in primitive weapons and took up a study of Native American lifestyle and culture. He made his own buckskins and developed a 'mountain man' persona. Marty the Trapper was born.

Marty got a trapper's license but getting a trapline in southern Ontario was an non-starter. Applying for a trapline led to one of the few vacancies - on the Montreal River, a tributary of the Agawa River that flows into Lake Superior.   He started making plans for his first season of trapping.

This is the first of Marty's trapping stories.

Marty ktted-out for an early season preparation trip.  He was in Owen Sound when he got a line on an old Willys jeep (circa 1950) which he bought and, with a pick-up truck driven by Jane, a small trailer loaded with his gear, guns and supplies for three or four months of bush living, they headed for the Agawa Canyon railroad in May. Now Marty had 'scoped' his place out on a 'top' map, and he saw that there was a logging road cut into the bush from the railway, that stopped a matter of meters (on the map) from the log cabin he would be calling home. He figured that he could get dropped at a siding,  haul his gear by jeep down that logging road and set up camp in a couple of days. He was half right.  The logging road was there but, since it crossed four unbridged streams, it was, to all intents, useless. So, as he came to them, Marty had to build bridges in order to 'ford'  his stuff. He did it and in less than a week he stood with his cabin in view  ... at the base of a  hundred foot cliff.  Had  he asked,  somebody might have been able to tell him about contour lines on that 'top' map. The only course was a retreat, first to the railway and then to Hawk Junction to see about a fly-in. The trip down the refurbished logging road took less time than the first round. But the prospect of a wait for a train and a flag-down re-load,  led Marty to think that, by cutting the chain on a gate across the tracks and running down another logging road through the Agawa Provincial Park,  he could save some time, effort and money. He may have saved the money, but that road was another experience. It was, roughly, sixty miles of bush and sand dunes, he said. Driving the jeep up and winching the trailer up afterward. The jeep lasted, as did the winch, and he found himself cruising a virtually empty highway heading west under summer skies. Until he noticed the smoke. That smoke was coming from his trailer which had been set alight by an overheated wheel bearing. That trailer contained a quantity of naptha gas, in cans, that made the prospects of retrieving  much more than his ammunition a problem. The gas cans exploded and the trailer burned. He photographed the pyre while he sat and had a few smokes by the side of the road. As he said, at least the fire 'seasoned' his traps. But he had to return south to refit and resupply.

While he was living in  Kitchener he had met Jane, a pretty little german girl who shared his interests and sense of adventure. She was 'in on' all his adventures. Probably providing some common sense and clarity, as well as the requisite muscle, good grub and good company, not to mention most of the money he needed. The first attempt may have gone up in flames but the  second attempt was the one that worked. He and Jane worked on the cabin, and prepared the trapline  for a season of trapping.

Our Dad died on New Year's Day of the following year and Marty was completely out of touch, trapping. When Marty and Jane walked out of the bush at the end of January, it was right into the hospital in Hawk Junction for him. He was transferred to Sudbury and then to Oakville while his frozen feet were attended to. When I saw him, he looked like Che Guevara on a bad bay. He weighed less than I did, and I was skinny. His feet rested on pillows at the bottom of the bed and looked like an ice cream 'treat' of some kind - vanilla and strawberry and chocolate fudge. It was a minor miracle that they managed to save any of those toes, but they did. Although Marty made 'funny' footprints for the rest of his life. The only other casualty was the tip of their cat's tail. Jane had 'good' snowpaks - with a felt boot-liner, not just the soles as Marty had; her feet were fine. We had a couple of beers right there in his room, as Marty was permitted three or four of those a day - to put some weight back on. He had a couple of cases in a cupboard by his bed and the nurses even kept some in their fridge for him.  Having a recuperating Marty around gave my Mom something to take her mind off  things. Small mercies.

For four or five years the fur business was doing quite well and Marty made a few bucks for his efforts. He would return to trap the Montreal for a decade. But PETA was growing in importance, the fur auction moved to Las Angeles and the joy went out it. Marty trapped for the sake of keeping his line and his license. But he needed to refocus.

Marty and Jane were  married in 1983. It wasn't long before they relocated to the Sudbury area to be closer to his work, and his interests. In short order they acquired a house on some bush acreage just outside Estaire, Ontario and Jane started staying home to raise their growing family. For, in short order too, Jane presented Marty with a son, and two daughters. As the family grew, Marty looked for a living closer to home and so 'Bear Paw Outfitters' was born.

Marty took a license as a bear hunting outfitter. He and Jane ran a camp on their property and Marty baited bears in a number of locations as far south as Killarney. Hunters came from as far afield as Finland on hunting holidays. The business thrived.

When the government of Ontario decided to ban the spring bear hunt in the province, Marty took a leadership role in the outfitters' association doing educational work with sportsmen's groups and the government. He appeared on TV and in the media educating the public to the needlessness of the ban. Ted Nugent, the Detroit rocker, was a personal friend. The Irish cousins report seeing him on the BBC news, talking about bear hunting and the royal guard regiments' bearskins. The campaign was unsuccessful, but it gained the outfitters some funding to help them to realign their business.

Marty had maintained his interest in primitive weapons and ran such a hunt to extend business over  that bear season. He also hunted deer with both modern and primitive weapons. He traveled to West Virginia for a fall hunt every year with folk who came to hunt bear with him. He became expert in bowhunting and wrote for the Deerhunters' publications in the States. He opened 'Midnorth Archery Supply' in a new building he raised in Estaire and his operation became the centre for training and competitive archery shoots. Marty taught his kids to shoot with the bow and even his girls took part in archery competitions. Marty maintained his businesses up to the end.

Mart had a ton of stories about things he'd done and things that happened to him. He'd let himself go, on occasion, so conversation with him was never forced. He certainly enjoyed swapping tales, more than telling his own, although he did that too, very well. A couple of Marty stories:

A fish tale.  One cold November Marty came for a weekend visit. He wanted to do some fishing. The Saturday was raw but we were out early, fishing off a small wooden dock on the river that flowed through town. We'd been there all morning with not a nibble, when a neighbour showed up and, in short order, had three beautiful 'rainbows' on the bank. He left to sell them to a restaurant, and he left Marty with some of his 'magical' brown trout roe, tied in light blue nylon sacs. I went home for the afternoon but Marty stayed, fortified by a 'mickey' of lemon gin and the prospects of that 'lucky' spawn. I went back down to the river about 9 pm with a sandwich and a thermos of tea. The weather has worsened and a noticeble breeze out of the north drove light snow in a slant into the oily, black river water. We stayed there for another two hours. About an hour into my penance, one of the local 'gentlemen' of the town happened by, he was looking in a hollow tree trunk on the riverbank where we were fishing when Marty turned, noticed him and said , "Hey buddy! That's my mickey!"  After a mumbled apology, and a longing look as he replaced the bottle, he made as if to leave.  Marty offered him a 'poke on that jug', which he attended to with some dispatch. About quarter past eleven, with toes tingling and fingers long past having the ability to articulate properly, Marty's rod gave a lurch, then bowed. When there followed a loud 'splash' somewhere in the darkness upstream. Marty was on that pole as if he  hadn't been standing there, freezing, all day. The line tightened and slackened in turn with Marty reeling with thumb and palm, or the drag singing as the fish ran and jumped. But the hook was set and, gradually, Marty reeled the fish closer to the dock. In retrospect I think Marty intended to slide the tired fish onto the riverbank, as we had no net. But, as he maneuvred it past the side of the dock, I thought I might be able to help. Grasping the monofilament, I lifted the trout clear of the water, it glistened, silver, about 8 pounds and I looked at Marty. Just as the fish gave a flip of its tail I saw his face melt in despair. For the line parted as he watched, leaving me holding nothing. "Awww, Kev..."

The Pie Man. After another one of those fishing Saturdays, only this time in summer and in search of brook trout, we had worked-up a thirst and an appetite. There was, at that time, one of the last 'tap rooms' left in the province, in a small village on our way home. The prospect of a couple of cool draft beer and pickled eggs drew us like a magnet. Finding out that the owner's wife was a good hand in the baking department, added to the experience. We both ordered a slice of her strawberry rhubarb pie. Now I don't know if it was the beer, or the companionship, but we spent a couple of hours with a trayful of beer and the other 5 pieces of that pie Marty ordered. Marty had developed a taste for pie - generic pie, any flavour  - as a teenager, I had seen him knock off one, or two pieces of pie  in restaurants around where we lived in Toronto - but this day set a record. At least, as far as I know, for I believe Jane was good at baking too, and Martin would still have liked his pie.

Could you put some anchovies on that? Marty liked anchovies on his pizza. But nobody else did. So Marty would ask for the anchovies 'on the side' and garnish his slices himself. In the big city that's probably commonplace but when he ordered a pizza in Owen Sound one day,  Marty came face to face with the less creative  limits of intelligence. I overheard him on the phone.

"With anchovies, but I want the anchovies on the side. No. I don't want the anchovies on the pizza, could you just wrap them up and keep them with the pizza, I'll put them on myself. What? Well, don't you measure them, or something? Can't you just wrap some up in a paper and charge me for an extra topping? OK, listen. I'm going to tell you what to do. Get a piece of tinfoil or paper and come back when you're ready. OK, when you're picking stuff up to put it on the pizza, do you use your left hand or your right? Good, put that tinfoil in your left hand, got it?  Now pick up the anchovies you're going to sprinkle on the pizza, but before you start sprinkling,  put your left hand with that tinfoil under your right hand with the anchovies, so that, when you start sprinkling,  the anchovies will land on the tinfoil. Ready? Start spinkling. Done? Good, now wrap the tinfoil up and when the pizza's ready, put the tin foil inside the box. We'll  come pick it up."
It worked.

Carven's Old Man  Marty, ever the storyteller, must have charmed Jack Carven's dad with stories of 'opening night' on the Bighead River and so it really wasn't much of a surprise when he phoned one day to tell me that, although he was 'going to have to take a pass', Joe Carven's dad would be there, and,  if I could, "Would you keep an eye on Jack Carven's old man? He really wanted to fish the Bighead."

Well, the Carvens were 'gun club people' and I'd met Jack,  a buddy of Martin's, so I said, "Sure".

Friday, the opening night, I appeared at the spot to find that "Carven's Old Man" had no trouble reading a map and had his camper truck parked neatly in the ditch adjacent to the bridge over the Bighead. Carven's old man was in back of the camper, with Mrs Carven and what I took to be a girl with some mental deficit. And he was getting ready for 'the opener' with a 40 oz bottle of good rye. At midnight we slid down to the stream where Carven's old man lasted about the length of the drink he had with him before heading back for a refill. I caught a decent fish which I showed to him and when he admired it,  I gave it to him. He retreated to the camper for a celebratory drink and I headed across the road to my customary spot. During the night I caught a small brown trout, but that was about it. I told Carven's old man about that when he came out for a pee once, but I didn't see him again until about 7:30 the next morning. He called to me from the bridge."Could I borrow that brown trout for a coupla minutes?", he asked.

"What for?", I answered.

"Aw, I was walking down the river over there an I met these two guys and I told them there were browns in here. They said I was full of shit. So I wanted to take that fish back down there and show them."

'Sure," I replied.

 I noticed Carven's old man staggering across the bridge a couple of hours later. "Hey", I called. "Where's  my fish?"

"Ah,  I gave it to those assholes down the river."

I thought it was time for Carven's old man  to get some sleep as, apparently, he'd pretty well knocked-off the one bottle and started his second during the night. With a little coaxing, and some help from Mrs. Carven we got him tucked-in. All  good,  I thought. About 11:30 in the morning  I decided I was done, packed my gear and took a peek at what I thought was Carven's old man in his bunkie - said goodbye to Mrs Carven and headed  for town.

About 5 kilometers up the road I spied Carven's old man staggering down the middle of it. His plastic mug was empty and he said he was trying to get back to the camper. I took him back and waited while Mrs Carven got him settled in the bunkie, again. And I left.

Marty called about 3:30 Sunday afternoon wanting to know if I knew were Carven's old man was. He was supposed to have been home Saturday night but hadn't appeared. Marty mentioned that the family was worried that, having already lost his license for drinking and driving once, he could have done that again.  I said that that was a distinct possibility, given all the drinking I'd seen and offered to phone the local OPP. As soon as I described Carven's old man and where he'd been, the police knew who I was talking about. It seems that, on Saturday afternoon, one of their units, doing a back road patrol, had picked-up the wandering Carven, again hiking the byways of Grey county. They'd taken him back to the detachment cells to sleep it off and had driven him out to his camper on Sunday at lunchtime. They'd confiscated his booze.  They'd watched him leave and warned him about stopping before he got home.

Marty wasn't there for the Carven's old man story, but he authored it.

Marty's Big 'Egg Boil'
 One of the fishing adventures we tried a couple of times was a bass fishing/camping  trip to Honey Harbour on Georgian Bay during the summer. The third one of these was the most notable, and probably had a lot to do with not repeating the exercise. I and a buddy from OS were to meet Marty, my brother-in-law and a couple of guys from Toronto at the boat launch in Honey Harbor on Friday at suppertime.

That was the first thing that went wrong. They didn't show up until close to 11 and when they did,  most of them were 'in the bag' after drinking their way up from the city. Marty was 'good to go', but since we had no running lights on the rented boat and since the 8 of us and all our gear would have sunk it, we decided that we'd best just pitch tent for the night and get an early start.

That was the second thing to go wrong. When we woke at 6:00 the next morning the boat was gone. So was Marty and my brother-in-law. They pulled back into the dock about 11:30, they'd 'gone fishing'.  The trip out to our island campsite took  another couple of hours but the fishing was good, the water was swim-able, we had lots of booze and all was golden.

A Saturday night run into the "Delawanna Inn" in full, cologned-mufti ended in a reef of floating beer cans and bottles after we spent a couple of hours 'marooned' in the middle of the lake. Somebody had his foot on the gas line and we were too pooped to consider that when the motor cut out.  We checked the gas tank, almost full, and tried to restart it but that was rocking the boat too much. So we sat, and smoked and drank the beer we had the foresight to bring,  signalling to passing boats with the flashlight we accidentally had with us. Until one stopped and gave us a tow.

The evening was rounded off with the late-to-bedders having a plinking competition with a pellet pistol Marty had thoughtfully brought along.

The deal was that some of us had volunteered to cook.  I signed-up for Monday morning breakfast. When my turn came  I went to get the three dozen eggs I'd brought, to make omelets, from the cooler. There they were, or rather, there it was - for there was only one egg left in the three cartons."Hey what the hell happened to the eggs?", I called out.

Marty said,  "We had an egg boil."

"When?" I asked, wondering how I'd missed it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Marty replied, "You were asleep and we knew you'd figure it out eventually".

I guess  plinking helps work up an appetite. They'd eaten all my breakfast eggs.  We  had 'bass pancakes', which didn't turn out too bad - with onions, peppers and mushrooms - and one egg.

Five vignettes from a life of a thousand stories, most of which I don't know. So I'll have to leave their telling to his good wife Jane, his kids and to my brother and  sisters. We were all privileged to have had Marty in some part of our lives and we'll be poorer without him. Rest well Marty, we know you won't catch all the fish.

And the Leaks Go On

Wikileaks continues to get take the blame for the world’s problems.  This week the people of Tunisia decided to do something about the president, who has been continuously in office for the past 27 years  and his family who, apparently, have been looting the country. Wikileaks is apparently a major cause of the problem because it published American diplomatic mail that discussed their corruption. What a laugh!

Now mind you initial responses laid the ‘blame’ on social networking sites such as tweeter and facebook which, it is charged, allowed the protestors to ‘coordinate their action’.

It seems to me that the real problem was the President and his family, whose activities were very well-known to the Tunisians even if the Americans were not aware of it. You can’t be President of a country for a quarter of a century and just ‘go sour’. Not after you won an election that was billed as a ‘wonderful demonstration of democracy’ and that gave you an 87 percent majority only 7 months ago.

Did anybody hear any protests about a ‘stolen’ election in Tunisia? No? That’s because there weren’t any, until now. Now, all of a sudden, because they’re “concerned”, the west, led by America, is taking steps to ‘shape’ the outcome -  to see that the people get the kind of government they need. And that won’t be any  ' muslim theocracy', even if that’s what they want. Seems although Al Numnnuts the president-unelect may have been a thief, but he was a real ‘pal to freedom’. And the US doesn’t have enough of those in the middle east.

News that the Army is taking steps to ‘restore order’ and that the Prime Minister is preparing a slate of candidates will come as no surprise, as the Army will be affected by its main arms supplier and the prime minister, and the powers that be, will respond well to a few dollars wisely-invested.

Meanwhile there are protests in Egypt and Yemen. But you won’t hear any stated support for the people there, as the two respective presidents are long-time old  hands at ‘keeping the .lid’ on dissent and of course on ‘fighting terrorism’. Once again,  if Wikileaks hadn’t printed American commentary on some of their double-dealing, the people would have been content to have them choose their next leader. Someone wise and just,  not like the doofus Kim Dong Il is choosing to run North Korean. No Wikileaks embarrassing him,  and that’s why the people aren’t out in droves to protest. Right!

In all three of these, massive increases in the price of basic food stuffs may have played absolutely no part, although, in all three, the first thing done to head-off trouble was to announce continued government subsidies for food. Basic food prices around the world are spiking upward in as much as 100 percent hikes. Prices like that force an awful lot of people in the world to reduce their eating. Maybe some Americans, too.

Another little stew is boiling  in what may, one day, be Palestine, and again ‘leaks’ are at the root of the problem. This time Al Jezeera, the Arab media giant,  has leaked purportedly confidential documents relating to the peace negotiations with Israel. First reading of these indicates that the Palestinian delegation has discussed, and were prepared to move on, every ‘trigger’ issue for Palestinians - the right of return for refugees, Jerusalem, the Al Aqsa Mosque, the territory of the West Bank, Israeli Arabs, the independence of the Palestinian state, etc. Only problem was the Israelis said it ‘wasn’t enough’ to make a deal. Maybe, if Jazeera could have gotten the Israeli documents, the world could have gotten a look at their ‘concessions’ - but, given the rejection of the ‘greatest Jerusalem of all time’ in return for one small arab subdivision there, ‘concessions’ might not be the best descriptor to use. Needless to say, the news hasn’t been warm and fuzzy for the Palestinian authority ( FATAH)  who are ‘holding’ office until (they hope) Hamas gets un-elected, or wiped out.- preferably the latter. Al Jezeera is now 'seen' as the Arab equivalent of Wikileaks

It has to be very inconvenient that somebody would ‘blow the whistle’ on the world’s superpower while it’s doing its darnedest to save the rest of us from the horrors of fundamental religion and bridled capitalism. It has to be embarrassing to set yourself up as the epitome of everything good, right and holy and find yourself pilloried for back-stabbing and crooked-dealing. Lying and cheating, killing and plotting like the bad guys who hate our freedoms and who do that stuff so, apparently, openly,  while America prefers to do it, for good people everywhere, behind closed doors. It’s just downright shitty when the bad guys can ‘make you’ be worse than them. And what’s worst of all is that the ‘hero’,  Assange, is such a dishonest, pipsqueak, wannabe, low-life, sex pervert with a BO problem ... or at least that’s what the good guys are saying.

All the while there are some real repercussions coming from Wikileaks. Just after Christmas the US government mounted a campaign to isolate Wikileaks and Assange by closing its servers and pressuring American-based companies to disrupt its finances. This resulted on a number of hacker attacks on various American  and European organizations. The first outbreaks were highly published.  But, as in other wars, there has been a 'blackout' on the effects of these attacks, which have continued. To-day, for instance, there was a mass-action that saw what's left of Egypt's electronic infrastructure bombarded with a storm of  Wikilieaks 'cables' mass-faxed to that country's servers. And, to-day, 5 hackers jailed in England for such activities were released on bail.

If Wikileaks serves any useful purpose, in my opinion, it's to add to the number of ‘balls’ America gets to juggle at one time. The more problems it has, the less the likelihood that Americans can be conned into another attempt to start that Great American Century that Wolfowitz, Cheney, Perle and company still so earnestly desire. If there’s an Allah he’ll keep on letting them drop bits of junk into their own works.

Fast Away the Old Year Passes

There have to be a ton of people looking forward to the advent of the new year in the hope it will be better than the one coming to an end. At this time, annually, we reflect on the state of the world and of ourselves and make resolutions to improve things. It seems that every new year starts that way, even the last one.

The peace of the world seems no more assured than it did this time last year. The searches for more 'security' at home and less peace elsewhere, are both up, now, from what they were  365 days ago. The world's 'trouble spots' in Asia are no more tranquil, just the opposite. And new areas of concern in Africa, for instance, have arisen over the course of he year - with war and threats of war, civil and religious strife breaking out in many places.

Christmas was a real 'blast' for some churchgoers,  bombs exploded in the Nigerian town of  Jos and in a Philippine church, and Iraqi Christians celebrated the season in what could be described as a fortified bunker. None of these were totally unexpected,  for religious 'problems'  have arisen in all three areas - and all three are loci of American 'influence'. The first as an 'oil producer' and 'study object' for the US Army's  AfCom, the second as part of the 'great war on terror' which has been going on there for 20 years and the third, which is self-explanatory on both counts.

As far as the 'war zones' go,  Afghanistan will continue in that sad plight at least until 2014, so no happy new years there for a while. Iraq is tranquil - if you don't count an on-going insurrection in the north east , a growing independence movement on the north west and recalcitrant bombers in the central areas. The US army garrison may not be directly involved on a daily basis, but the US Air Force still feels the need to fly as many tactical air missions over Iraq as it was doing while there was a 'real' war on.

Afghanistan  remains bloody as ISAF/NATO enters year 11 of trying to put 'the kibosh' on theTaliban. Military operations are in full swing all across the south, and in those parts of the west,  north and east where the Taliban have either reappeared, or have never gone away. This is accompanied with an even more massive bombing campaign - which is larger now, in terms of bombs dropped,  than the carpetbombing of the Hindu Kush that accompanied the original invasion. Most of this is aimed at destroying 'unoccupied compounds' to deny the Taliban,  or anybody else, winter shelter. Being they're 'unoccupied' means there are no civilian 'collateral damages'. At the same time, all across the country and especially in the 'secure' areas, there are  large scale, covert 'COIN' operations underway. These use US special forces  units, or Afghan SF units - some of dubious origin and purpose and the large number of 'private operatives' in the country. The jail population is presently at its greatest, ever. Even the communists didn't have as many people behind bars. Needless to say, the government remains largely ineffective outside the larger centres, and prisons, of course. The light in the tunnel has yet to appear, other than in perennially optimistic reports from the fighting forces.

Along with the man-made storm of wars, there are also those Mother Nature delivers.

 Christmas this year was marked by crowded transportation hubs notable for the numbers of people travelling, or, rather,  not travelling. Airports across eastern North America and western Europe have been shut my unexpectedly large snowfalls. That snow has also shut down land transportation and clogged cities which otherwise wouldn't have that particular experience. In the southern hemisphere massive rainfalls have flooded large areas of South America and Australia. Early season blizzards in America were so violent that deaths due to exposure were reported and people were stranded for days on closed highways. Many of these occurrences were in the 'of the century' classification. Spring-level flooding is now expected. If Al Gore was right, this can only get worse.

So 2010 rolls on into 2011 without much prospect of anything getting much better and few indicators that things could get much worse. Let's hope I'm wrong.

St. Julian the Apostate

Julian Assange has certainly made a name for himself. Had he been equally as financially successful, he might have given the 'facebook kid' a run for Time 's 'Man of the Year' contest. But multi-billion dollarhood, especially the kind you 'promise' to give away when you're done with it, I guess,  trumps the altruism of just keeping people in the know.

Assange has been running a website called Wikileaks for almost 10 years now. Over that time it has featured a number of leaked documents and information on a number of topics, mostly inconsequential, and from a wide range of sources, mostly forgettable. Up until fairly recently, even posts that involved the US government - and there have been some notable ones on CIA operations -  didn't break many 'radar horizons', or at least any the general public heard about.

That all changed last summer when Wikilieaks aired some fairly dated imagery of an 'Apache' helicopter strike in Baghdad. This footage answered the questions asked after a journalist working for US media had been killed there three years ago. The media wanted to know what had happened. The military powers were, understandably, obfuscatory. The Wikilieaks release made it clear why. Even in the best light, the incident couldn't be seen as much other than an indiscriminate and deliberate killing of a number of Iraqi citizens under the most 'cocked-up' of circumstances. Even with that 'embarrassment', the 'fog of war' prevailed and the incident passed from view.

The next incident was the release of a number of after-action reports from US military units in Iraq.  Once again the microcosmic view of the war put the lie to any claims of  humanity in action. It was announced that Wikileaks had acquired a substantial database of such information and would be releasing it.

There followed another dose of 'sitreps' from Afghanistan that were no more positive than the previous round from Iraq. Another posting of further Iraqi 'sitreps' led to more embarassing revelations for the US  and the 'forces of democracy' at work. For one thing the unreleased information that as many as 50 000 of Iraqi civilians had been killed, than had been admitted by the military.  By now Assange was well into the public spotlight, as media sources in Britain, the US and Germany had undertaken to organize the flood of information. At this time the US started making noises about the 'dangers' of these leaks and the consequences for those involved.

In fairly short order a US Army soldier, Bradley Manning, was arrested and jailed for his alleged role in the leak. He was 'outed' by a chat line correspondent with whom he is supposed to have confided his misdeeds. No official charges have been laid against Manning, but he remains in solitary confinement in the hands of the US Marine Corps.

It was the further promise of the publication of a mass of diplomatic 'cables' that put Assange well outside the pale of US opinion. Residing temporarily in Sweden,  the expat Australian and now 'world-citizen', was highlighted in a number of media appearances and interviews. He claims his secretiveness is essential to his security. He is reputed to use no communications or devices that could be traced to place him. He lives like a third world dictator-on-the-run,  staying with friends and supporters and moving frequently, as well, apparently, as mooching on a 'royal scale'.

It was the mooching, perhaps, that led him into a new dimension of trouble. For when, we are told, he mooched accomodation with his female 'point person' in  Stockholm, and, later, train fare from another 'fan', the 'giving' progressed to that of a more intimate nature and finished with his being charged with rape, sexual assault and a number of  other 'personal' crimes.

He denies any wrong-doing, of course, but that hasn't stopped an Interpol arrest warrant and his incarceration, pending deportation, in Britain, for 10 days or so. He is currently  under house arrest pending further judicial action.

That there will be judicial action of some kind seems apparent, for he is 'bete noir' in a number of countries. He has been decried a 'traitor' in Australia, America and Great Britain. Calls for his execution/assassination have been mede by some people in high places. The Vice President of the United States wants him declared a 'terrorist'. That latter, no doubt, so the 'special' judicial processes, used to 'combat terror', might be used to 'shut him up'. The US would dearly love to have him a guest in Guantanamo. Although it's every bit as likely that any court in the US would convict him of, virtually, anything.

So Wikileaks are being blamed for a plethora of 'problems'. But in actuality the 'problems' exist independent of Wikileaks,  it's just that now they're 'out in the open'.  For if US diplomatic and other staff have negative considerations of foreign leaders they are willing to report to head office, those considerations remain founded in some substance, or not. If there is a 'problem' reported by Americans, placed to report them, Wikileaks only demonstrates what sort of things are reported. The 'problem' still exists, or existed.  Wikileaks didn't make these reports up. Publishing them could, would, or should have happened eventually. That somebody 'looks' bad, now, is no more caused by a leak, than it was when they were 'in action'  If they 'look' bad it's because they were bad, the same would be true with 'good' as a descriptor. That there are more bad stories than good ones may be a fact of life, but none of the good ones are being released, either. One would think that, if they existed, they would be, if only to counterract Wikileaks.


The latest American effort is to charge Assange with collusion or conspiracy to 'help' Brad Manning 'steal' those secret e-documents. Maybe that's why he hasn't been charged with any wrong-doing, yet. Assange's willingness to publish being seen as the greater 'crime' than appropriating the information in the first place. Brad Manning would have to 'testify' that Assange held his hand while he downloaded those files. If it meant a fixed sentence in a civilian jail as opposed to indeterminate solitary confinement in a Navy brig, I would. But even all this 'counter-conspiracy' smacks of more of the same 'badness' that's embarassing America now. It's just more fodder for Wikileaks.

Perhaps the most telling thing is that these threats to Assange are arising as Wikileaks prepares a tranche of banking memoranda. Who knows if the 'great banking collapse' of double ought nine actually transpired as it was reported, or if that, too, was another example of the screenwriters' art.

He's no angel, but the world needs more Assanges. He comes off  a lot more honest than the 'good guys'.

Airport Security? Fly Air Apparent.

One of the phenomena of our times in Airport Security, which now must be beginning to be the major employer at airports around the world. When some prognisticator of the future portended an exponential increase in Air Travel and massive growth in the aviation industry back in the late 70's, they weren't thinking of the 'security' aspect which, aside from an airport traffic detail, hardly existed at all.

The terrorist attacks on passengers at Lod and other airports were seen as dangerous anomalies rather than virtual certainties, but the notions of entering a strange new world at the airport were beginning to rise.

So the latest developments in the art of finding the needle in the traveling haystack have ordinary travelers lining up to have their most personal possessions scrutinized in an on-going effort to make all aboard 'feel' safer. I say that because common sense tells me that all 'security' also tells me is that  'you never know'. And that, dear friends, is at the root of all, because, if you'll never know, neither, obviously, will the experts.

When it comes to 'terror' we all must be on thorazine, or the security equivalent of it, for the only thing that has,apparently stopped terrorist-engendered air tragedy is the inability of those explosive experts to make an efficient explosive device. We have to remember that all our recent security 'successes' - the toning cartridge bombs, the sparking underwear bomb, the mix-a-liquid bomb and the ever-famous light-a-sneaker episode, had all made it past security and onto a jet full of people, or, in the first case, cargo. Getting past security wasn't the problem, getting the bomb to go off was. The case is also amply demonstrated by the fact that there have been no aircraft losses ascribed to terrorist action since 9/11. If those bozos could get on board, though, so could those who know what they were doing. So, as a conceptual construct, 'security' seems to be a lot of overkilll for very little actuality. Some would say that's good. It's actually reactive, rather than proactive and fundamentally stupid and  it's growing to become a feature of government expenditure as costs to do it continue to balloon.

But it's important. The traveling public want to be assured that it won't be the jet that they're on that develops an airborne problem. Or they'd quit traveling, see? Remarkable that in the 'bad old days' of air travel when downed aircraft were a regular feature of the news, that the numbers of traveling public actually continued to grow. In the 60's, the odds of you dying in a traffic accident were said to be greater than those of a similar fate while flying. And that was before the trillion passenger miles, crowded skies and 'jumboed' travel of to-day. Statistically, dying in an airliner has to be up there with getting trampled by a herd of emus. Dying in a terrorist-stricken aircraft would have those emus with painted toenails and breast implants. Flying authorities want to assure you that, although they can't stop a psychotic killer, an anti-bather, a medicated sleeper, a drunk or somebody carrying unbangi digititis from sitting beside you, if you have to subdue somebody shouting 'allahu akhbar' and trying to 'pull his wire', it's a hit of kismet. Whatever he did to get on that plane will not be done again - in spades.

The internet funny about a terror-proof airline where nobody wears any clothing isn't too far beyond belief. If that last guy hadn't had anything on, somebody theoretically would have noticed his explosive 'junk'and the detcord hanging off it. "Take yer stuff off while we take 'a looky'" is a lot cheaper than hitech scanners that somebody, who might at other times had a career in a box store, will 'interpret'. And, probably, a lot more effective, or not. For it's always the one that doesn't get noticed that gets ya.

Would the traveling public go for that? Checking in another hour early and wearing stuff that can tear off and velcro back on? In order to be sure they're not the first one killed when the guy beside them blows up, fer sure! Look what they're putting up with now.

But all this aside,  it's the mentality involved that's the real problem. If the dickhead who runs the US airport security apparatus - a snake oil salesman of the first water who uses all the jargon and catchphrases of the security industry, and such genuine 'nice folk' as Joe Biden and his wife, who showed up on Larry King to talk about the family,and Thanksgiving traditions and the current "real" threats Joe gets briefed about "every single day", are peddling this 'helping keep you safe' poison, well, it couldn't be all that bad.

Veep Biden, then, probably got briefed on the 'intel', probably derived from the questioning of somebody detained recently in the middle east, that Germany was on the hit-list hot-seat. The Germans went international with the news themselves last week. And then: 'kerwhammo'! They pull a bomb-laden suitcase off the loading ramp on a Gernany-bound jet at Windhoek, Namibia.

"Namibia" must have caused a flurry of atlas consultation and Googling at Fox News, but the true believers probably figured the name was close enough to 'arabia' to make that research moot. It's likely this story would have had longer panic stricken 'legs', but one of the investigators let slip that the the 'bomb' had a sticker on it claiming it was made by a company in California. It turned out the 'bomb' was, in actuality, a "security-testing device". But that won't stop some American bozo mentioning that the 'latest' terrorist bombs seem to be more sophisticated and professionally-made, probably in Iran.

PS: Nobody knows who dunnit. Or even how the test device made its way to Namibia. But 'Gipetto the bomb-maker', who runs small machine shop doing military contracting (ammunition) among other things, is offering his story  to the world press for $200 000. And access to 80year-old 'Granny', who assembled it, for few dollars more. That's free enterprise, which is, really, what the struggle against  terrorism is all about.

I Hear Them Presses Hummin', They's Rollin' off the Dough

Next week the G20 nations have another security exercise-cum-fancy luncheon in Seoul. The topic this time, as it was last time in Toronto, is what to do about getting the economic ball rolling again. And this time the focus will be on trying to get everybody 'onside' to do the same thing when  everybody is starting to make gestures that their situation is different/more serious/more deserving than anybody else's.

Harper the Debtless is calling for some concentric approach to monetary policy and exchange rates. This because big money seems to be prowling the earth in search of profit derived from currency fluctuations. Naturally such 'investments' are ephemeral in their effect - here one minute and sunk in another currency elsewhere, the next. Since the investment industry can't stop this from happening, governments have to take steps to minimize the effects..The first  minimization should be a flat 20 percent surcharge on all money going out of the country. That would slow the high rollers down a little and certainly slow down the foreign trade imbalance. But that would not be in keeping with the spirit of the 'free market' that caused most of these problems in the first place.

Hanging over all is the Damoclean sword of debt. Not everybody, thank goodness, has it,  but everybody is affected when the biggest economy on earth is raddled with it. It is that debt that is hamstringing the American recovery, and, perhaps, the cost of a war or three and  good old global domination, that adds to it daily. Like a fat, drunk uncle on a picnic hike, America's demanding a lot of support from the 'rest of the family'. Particularly in parts of the EU and elsewhere, where the good times were rolling along with those dud mortgages, the sword dangles equally menacingly. Some countries in Europe have America's problems in spades.

Naturally America sees China as it's biggest monetary problem. The Chinese have been buying US bonds and T bills for more than a decade, actually they been taking them in trade, and buying them with those greenbacks they get from the dollar stores. So now America wants to raise interest in, and hence the price of, those bonds. How they going to do that? Well, buster, just you hobble yer horse; they're going to print 500 billion in not-yet-existing greenbacks and buy their own bonds. So the banks that market the bonds will get another 'cash infusion', or in this case a "quantitative easing" -  to not loan money to people who can't borrow it because they have no job, or the rich who are going to risk it on the money markets, or just to pay out a few more dud mortgages. Obviously the undiscredited Chicago School of  'go big or go home' economics is still at the helm. They must really believe that Keynes got it all wrong about the inflationary effect of printing money that isn't directed to creating jobs.Apparently they aim to prove it.

What about China? China is letting its Yuan do a 'test float' with the market and  it has lost some value. I may have gotten a C- in econ 101, but it strikes me that a devaluing currency has the wrong effect on a trade deficit than the one  the mavens of Wall Street want. Shouldn't the Yuan be increasing its value against the buck? That would slow imports a bit and make buying back some of those T bills and bonds a little easier. But not if the Chinese think they're getting monopoly money. The inscrutable orientals aren't as stupid as they were once cracked-up to be and if the US thinks they'd like to take some inflato-bucks  for that reduced trade, Bernancke needs to get his earhair trimmed.