Category: History

Charlie Wilson Comes Out Against Charlie Wilson’s War, the Sequel

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You remember Tom Hanks played him, and he allegedly the one who made the Soviet Union’s Afghan war so disastrous.

Well, now, 2 years off a heart transplant, he has something to say about our role in Afghanistan, get out now:

“We (screwed) up the end game,” Mr. Wilson said. “It would have been very easy and done for a minuscule amount of money. We should have done the basic things for a backward country that’s trying to come out of (a war) and have a reasonable hope of economic success.”

As President Obama considers whether to send tens of thousands of more troops to Afghanistan, Mr. Wilson worries that the war could become “another Vietnam.”

“It’s probably best to make a calculated withdrawl,” he said. “If I were the president, I’m not sure what I’d do. I’d probably shut it down, rather than lose a lot of soldiers and treasure.”

He says this as someone who knows as well as anyone just how fierce and tenacious the Afghan fighters are.

“I’d rather take on a chain saw,” Mr. Wilson said. “They’re the world’s best foot soldiers, best warriors. And they’re fearless.

“They’re fearless, and they’ve got nothing to lose. And they have a pretty serious hatred for those who try to occupy their country.”

In a nutshell he explains why Vietnam and Afghanistan are alike. If you are there, and you are an occupier, they will hate you.

Barack Obama should listen, but I think that instead he will listen to general officers who never learned the lesson of Vietnam.

As I have said many times, the US military believes that we lost because the American public turned against the war, when the reality is that the Vietnamese beat us (without winning a single battle, BTW), because nationalism creates unity and self sacrifice against the occupier.

I Do Not Know If This Shows Anti-Semitism, but It Does Show Stupidity

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This is Not a Swastika (Pic from Proud Zionist)

The latest controversy involving Human Rights Watch is the fact that their senior military analyst, Mark Garlasco, is also an avid, and fairly prominent, collector of Nazi military memorabilia, and he has now been suspended from his position.

I think that a lot, though not all, of the issue here is stupidity, whether or not Mr. Garlasco harbors anti-Semitic thoughts or not.

When you are a military analyst who collects such stuff, and you are assigned to look at Israeli military operations, you need to know that it is best to not accept the assignment, and if your boss knows your hobby, he needs to know that he should never give you such an assignment.

They both had to know that it would harm his reputation and that of HRW.

Still, it’s clear that some of the commentary out there is clearly hysterical, such as hyping the picture of him with a German Cross on his hoodie, and NGO Monitor assertion his name on various boards, “Flak88,” is a secret Nazi symbol thing (8=H, so 88=HH=Heil Hitler). His specialty is German anti-aircraft memorabilia, his grandfather was a conscript serving in an anti-aircraft unit, and the Krupp 88mm gun was the best known AA (and anti-tank) gun of the war.

In any case, Mr. Garlasco published a response on Huffpo.

My assessment is that there is no evidence that he is an anti-Semite, nor that sympathizes with the Nazis.

That being said, there is another issue, which is whether Marc Garlasco, and Human Rights Watch are biased against Israel for other reasons, most notably nostalgie de la boue, literally “love of the mud”, which can either refer to the “elites” affecting “peasant” style and the like, or, and this is the definition that I’m using, the idea that those non-western “less advanced” societies are somehow more inherently good because they are less polluted by civilization.

I think that there reasons to be concerned that both Garlasco and HRW watch are guilty of this, and objectively anti-Israel as a result.

Omri Ceren observes that while no one is perfect, that the errors that have been found have always cut against Israel, and so, much like the “errors” in Florida in the 2000 presidential vote recount, show bias, though Mr. Ceren makes it very clear that he lacks any sort of smoking gun.

I do think that there is a smoking gun on the part of Human Rights Watch and Mr Garlasco as to a double standard.

Specifically, Daled Amos digs into the interviews with him, and uncovers two telling quotes.

The first is from 60 minutes:

“I don’t think people really appreciate the gymnastics that the U.S. military goes through in order to make sure that they’re not killing civilians,” Garlasco points out.

“If so much care is being taken why are so many civilians getting killed?” Pelley asks.

“Because the Taliban are violating international law,” says Garlasco, “and because the U.S. just doesn’t have enough troops on the ground. You have the Taliban shielding in people’s homes. And you have this small number of troops on the ground. And sometimes the only thing they can do is drop bombs.”

This is not something you see in reports from Human Rights watch in any report about Israeli military actions until at least page 6, and then only in the most circumspect terms.

And the news broadcast further states:

Garlasco says, before the invasion of Iraq, he recommended 50 air strikes aimed at high-value targets — Iraqi officials.

But he says none of the targets on the list were actually killed. Instead, he says, “a couple of hundred civilians at least” were killed.

Note that “targeted killings” that he advised on is something that Garlasco has specifically said is a war crime when Israel does this.

My thesis is that much of the overwrought nature of the coverage of Israel comes from the fact that the existence of Israel is an indictment of the western industrialized world.

The origins of modern Israel are that Jews in western Europe, particularly as a result of the Dreyfus affair in France, felt a need to have a homeland to flee to, and the events of the following century reinforced this need.

Israel exists because of the moral failure of the west over the past 120 years, and acknowledging that failure does not sit well with a lot of people.

Wish Me Luck

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I’m competing in a medieval cooking competition today called Trial by Fire, it starts at noon, so I’ve set this to show up at noon.

The cooking is done under camping conditions, and I am doing a main dish, and a dessert.

The main dish is Maghmūma with Asparagus, from a translation of Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens

Ingredients:

  • 4 lbs lamb, cut to about ½” cubes.
  • 2 lbs asparagus
  • 2 large white onions, chopped
  • 1cup ground walnut
  • 1 large leek, chopped
  • 4 eggs, large
  • 1 can chickpeas (garbanzos) 1 lb (actually 15½ oz) drained.
  • 1 can black olives (5.75 oz) chopped and drained.
  • ½ tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tsp coriander seeds, cracked.
  • 1 tbsp fresh cilantro
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ¼ cup + 1 tbsp olive oil (will be using lamb fat)
  • Dough (see below)
  • ¼ tsp salt and to taste

Take asparagus, and blanch, and then cut into small disks, roughly ¼” thick, or chop.

Take Dutch oven, and place on burning coals to heat, melt approximately 1 tbsp. of olive oil (lamb fat), then take the lamb and brown in Dutch oven.

Add chickpeas, leeks, onions, cilantro, and ¼ tsp of salt, and add about 2 inches of water, and cook until meat is done (5-10 minutes).

Add asparagus, olives, ground walnuts, and 2 tsp of the coriander seeds.

Take eggs, and beat them, and add remaining coriander seeds, black pepper, and soy sauce to them, and then add to the pot and stir.

Cook until almost all the free liquid has left the pot.

Taste, and add salt as desired.

Remove most of the coals, and prepare dough (below), and then place on top of the meat/egg mixture. Brush top with oil, then place hot coals on top of the lid and cook until dough is done, about 30 minutes.

Invert pot onto platter, and serve

Top (bottom) Crust Recipe
Based on a yeast biscuit recipe, and informed by the recipes for Aqrās Mumallaḥa (Medieval Arab Cookery), and Khubz al-Qanānī or bottle bread from (Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens)

Ingredients:

  • 1 pkg. dry yeast
  • 1 c. warm water
  • 3 tbsp. soft shortening (will be lamb fat)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 2 1/2 c. flour
  • Approx 1 tbsp. lamb fat liquefied.

Dissolve yeast in warm water and ½ tsp. sugar in a large mixing bowl, wait until you see it froth up.

Add shortening (lamb fat), salt, remaining sugar and flour; mix well.

Allow 1 hour for dough to rise

Brush the liquefied fat on the outside of the dough.

Knead 15-20 times on floured board, brushing on liquefied fat each time you fold the dough.

Roll out approximately 1/2-inch thick and shape to match the top of the pot.

Tabīkh Ḥabb Rummān (The “mess of cooked pomegranate seed”)
From Medieval Arab Cookery

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped finely
  • 1 cup pomegranate juice
  • 2 cups ground almonds.

Take pomegranate juice and sugar and combine, and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Add ground almonds, mix until smooth, then wait at least 15 minutes to for the almonds to soak up the liquid and thicken.

Add chopped mint.

Add oil to pan, and heat until oil shimmers.

Add the batter to pan to make 9-12 inch pancakes, and then turn down heat to medium low. When the mixture has stiffened, the edges will turn a dark brown, flip and cook other side until brown.

Cut into wedges when it has cooled,

Should you choose to make cookies, I would recommend that you bake them in an oven on parchment paper.

The Best Speech that Ted Kennedy Ever Gave

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How many good men must we give before we finally face the fact that the weakness in our society is a weakness in ourselves?

It wasn’t his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1980.

It was in Sitka in 1968, though not too many people heard, or saw it, because it was given to the Alaska state Democratic Party Convention in Sitka in 1968, talking about the assassination of Martin Luther King and its aftermath.

Not a whole bunch of people have heard it, because he gave at the but my mom was in the audience, and she recalled looking around and watching political hacks on either side of her, with tears streaming down their faces.

You can find the speech, along with introductions by both Senator Ernest Gruening and Walter Eugene “Gene” Guess Speaker of the Alaska State House of Representatives, who my father worked with when we were in Alaska.

I downloaded the video to split and Youtube it from the Alaska state archives.


Part 1 of 2


Part 2 of 2

Jesus Was Best Man at a Gay Wedding

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Seriously, this is a part of early Christian mythology:

A Kiev art museum contains a curious icon from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Israel. It shows two robed Christian saints. Between them is a traditional Roman ‘pronubus’ (a best man), overseeing a wedding. The pronubus is Christ. The married couple are both men.

Is the icon suggesting that a gay “wedding” is being sanctified by Christ himself? The idea seems shocking. But the full answer comes from other early Christian sources about the two men featured in the icon, St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, two Roman soldiers who were Christian martyrs. These two officers in the Roman army incurred the anger of Emperor Maximian when they were exposed as ‘secret Christians’ by refusing to enter a pagan temple. Both were sent to Syria circa 303 CE where Bacchus is thought to have died while being flogged. Sergius survived torture but was later beheaded. Legend says that Bacchus appeared to the dying Sergius as an angel, telling him to be brave because they would soon be reunited in heaven.

….

Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the “Office of Same-Sex Union” (10th and 11th century), and the “Order for Uniting Two Men” (11th and 12th century).

So much for “traditional” marriage.

What the Christofascist jihad against gay marriage is really about is that some (far too many) people need to use religion to excuse their hate, and that gays, and gay marriage, are simply the latest target for their “5 minutes of hate.”

Our Economic Masters are Completely Insane

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A profile of Brooksley Born, who ran the CFTC, and warned of the risks that unregulated derivatives posed in the market, has a profile in the Washington Post, which calls her the, “Cassandra of the Derivatives Crisis”.

I’ve related this story before, but this anecdote just shows how completely delusional Mssrs. Greenspan, Rubin, and Summers were:

Born’s baptism as a new agency head in 1996 came in the form of an invitation. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan — routinely hailed as a “genius,” the “maestro,” the “Oracle” — wanted her to come over for lunch.

Greenspan had an unusual take on market fraud, Born recounted: “He explained there wasn’t a need for a law against fraud because if a floor broker was committing fraud, the customer would figure it out and stop doing business with him.”

This made no sense to her. She’d spent much of the 1980s defending clients caught up in a vast conspiracy by two wealthy brothers, Nelson and William Hunt, who duped investors while trying to corner the world silver market.

“After all,” Born said, looking back, “I’m a lawyer, and I think the existence of fraud prohibitions is critically important.”

But Greenspan was insistent, she said.

Finally, he said, “Well, Brooksley, I guess you and I will never agree about fraud.” (Greenspan did not respond to requests for comment. Daniel Waldman and Michael Greenberger, both top aides of Born’s, were briefed on the lunch at the time and independently confirmed Born’s recollection of the conversation.)

(emphasis mine)

Seriously, this is beyond ideological. This is quite literally completely detached from reality, and Alan Greenspan was viewed as a genius of unparalleled proportion at that time.

The Fall of the House of Hank Greenberg

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The Times of London has a very good account of what took down AIG, and it predates Joseph Cassano, the head of its Financial Products Unit, and it makes it clear that the insurance giant was on shaky ground, with the active participation of its founder Hank Greenberg, for at least a decade previous.

It also notes how Brooksley Born, who was purged by Fed Chairman Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Robert “Why am I not Under Indictment for Insider Trading” Rubin, knew about the problem, and that it was systemic, and tried to do something about it.

It’s a good read, and highly recommended.

Lend Me Your Ear*

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Well, we now have a new theory on the fate artist Vincent Van Gogh’s ear, that rather than having cut it off himself, that it was as a result of a fight with fellow artist, and friend Paul Gaugin:

According to official versions, the disturbed Dutch painter cut off his ear with a razor after a row with Gauguin in 1888. Bleeding heavily, Van Gogh then walked to a brothel and presented the severed ear to an astonished prostitute called Rachel before going home to sleep in a blood-drenched bed.

But two German art historians, who have spent 10 years reviewing the police investigations, witness accounts and the artists’ letters, argue that Gauguin, a fencing ace, most likely sliced off the ear with his sword during a fight, and the two artists agreed to hush up the truth.

This is a definition of friendship of which I was previously unaware.

*You really didn’t think that I could pass up this pun.

Now Winston Churchill is a Commie and a DFH*

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Because, as Obama noted in his presser, Churchill opposed torture

Obama responded by pointing to the example from the Blitz: ‘I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British, during world war two, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said ‘we don’t torture’, when all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat. And the reason was that Churchill understood you start taking shortcuts, and over time, that corrodes what’s best in a people. It corrodes the character of a country.’

Hoocoodanode?

*Dirty f%$#ing hippie.

Larry Summers in a Nutshell

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CONGRESS PASSES WIDE-RANGING BILL EASING BANK LAWS, the New York Times, November 5, 1999:

“Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century,” Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said. “This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy.”

And folks who got it right:

“I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930’s is true in 2010,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. “I wasn’t around during the 1930’s or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980’s when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.”

Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, said that Congress had “seemed determined to unlearn the lessons from our past mistakes.”

“Scores of banks failed in the Great Depression as a result of unsound banking practices, and their failure only deepened the crisis,” Mr. Wellstone said. “Glass-Steagall was intended to protect our financial system by insulating commercial banking from other forms of risk. It was one of several stabilizers designed to keep a similar tragedy from recurring. Now Congress is about to repeal that economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place.”

So, I’m so glad that Lawrence Summers’ astonishing brilliance and foresight are at the disposal of the President of the United States of America.