USA

On The Bail-Out

Posted on by Laughingnomad

I would like to recommend watching a speech by Naomi Klein, journalist and author of “Shock Doctrine,” at the University of Chicago, carried by Amy Goodman on the “Democracy Now” web site, and now posted on this web site:

zeemax-contrariancomment.blogspot.com/2008/10/ideas-have-con…

To deepen your understanding, I would also recommend that you read a bit about “economic developmentalism” on wikipedia here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmentalism

that explains what it means for a country to become developed, autonomous, and legitimate, particularly in Latin America and Asia. She mentions it several times in the speech but she is addressing economists and students and doesn’t explain it much. She gives a brief overview of the free-market system that the U.S. has exported to developing countries for years for it’s own benefit.

I have been aware for some time of the thesis of her book analyzing the Friedman school of free market economics that has led to the current crisis and have seen her on TV. But I just got around to watching this talk that was given just after the first bailout was voted down but before the final passage. The free-market system has been tested, she says, and it has failed. But it will come roaring back…and has already started.

I have to tell you, that she is one of those “best and brightest” that the USA has to offer…to us and to the world. The next president, she says, we will see a turning from a “yes you can” to “no you can’t” because there won’t be any money for health, green jobs, alternative energy. Obama’s health plan costs 85 billion. AIG just got 85 billion. They are using this crisis to shut down possibility, she says, and deepen the crisis…the “shock” that they will use (and Friedman predicted) to insist on continuing the free market and their own profits.

She calls on the brilliant young creative minds at the school: “We need your minds at work,” she says. “Don’t retreat into your sacred texts. Join us in the real world,” she says,…

as tears streamed down my face.

How Do We Know The World?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

 March 12 update:  This, of course, was before the crash.

A conversation with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft
Two former national security advisors look at how the world has changed.

September 28, 2008

This spring, two of the most respected figures in American foreign policy sat down to talk about the United States and its place in the world. Zbigniew Brzezinski served as national security advisor to President Carter. Brent Scowcroft was national security advisor to presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald R. Ford. Their conversation was moderated by David Ignatius, a columnist for the Washington Post. The following are edited excerpts

* Ignatius: I want you to talk a bit more about the nature of American leadership in this very complicated world. First, is American leadership necessary?

Brzezinski: It can be a catalyst. Not for actions directed by the United States but for actions that the local community — maybe we can call them stakeholders in a global system — is prepared collectively to embrace. That kind of leadership is needed. But for that kind of leadership to emerge in America, we not only need very special people as leaders — and they do come up occasionally — but we need a far more enlightened society than we have.

I think Americans are curiously, paradoxically, simultaneously very well-educated and amazingly ignorant. We are a society that lives within itself. We’re not interested in the history of other countries.

Today we have a problem with Iran. How many Americans know anything about Iranian history? Do they know that it is a bifurcated history? There have been two Irans. And those two different periods, pre-Islamic and post-Islamic, dialectically define the tensions and the realities of Iran today. [Americans] know nothing about it.

Quite a few Americans entering college could not locate Great Britain on the map. They couldn’t locate Iraq on the map after five years of war. Thirty percent couldn’t identify the Pacific Ocean. We don’t teach global history; we don’t teach global geography. I think most Americans don’t have the kind of sophistication that an America that inspires, and thereby leads, will have to have if it is to do what this 21st century really will demand of us.

Scowcroft: I could easily just say amen. But again, this is a part of who we are and from where we have arisen. For most of our history, we’ve been secure behind two oceans, with weak neighbors on each side. Americans don’t have to learn foreign languages. They can travel as widely as most of them want and never leave the United States. So most Americans instinctively just want to be left alone. I don’t think they want to mess with the problems of the world.

Brzezinski: They want to enjoy the good life.

Scowcroft: They want to enjoy the good life.

The Palin Doctrine

Posted on by Laughingnomad

The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war is the first time in history that America has given up on diplomacy as a cornerstone of foreign policy.

The problem is not that Palin didn’t know what the Bush Doctrine was in the ABC interview by Charles Gibson, but that she hadn’t thought about what “preemptive” war and what it means for the country…and that is no end of wars started by the U.S. any time it feels threatened…like the one in Iraq. Palin has indicated the U.S. must attack any country that appears to be threatening.  Is this what we want?  Think about it.

Sunday Sept. 14, 2008 10:48 EDT
Glenn Greenwald
Salon.com

Where is the debate over the Bush Doctrine?

Before it became clear that Sarah Palin had never heard of it, nobody — including the presidential candidates themselves — ever had difficulty answering questions about what they believed about the Bush Doctrine, nor ever suggested that this Doctrine was some amorphous, impossible-to-understand, abstract irrelevancy. Quite the contrary, despite some differences over exactly what it means, it was widely understood to constitute a radical departure — at least in theory — from our governing foreign policy doctrine, and it is that Doctrine which has unquestionably fueled much of the foreign policy disasters of the last eight years.

In 2003, the American Enterprise Institute’s Thomas Donnelly wrote an article entitled “The Underpinnngs of the Bush Doctrine,” and argued that “the Bush Doctrine, which is likely to shape U.S. policy for decades to come, reflects the realities of American power as well as the aspirations of American political principles”; that it “represents a reversal of course from Clinton-era policies in regard to the uses of U.S. power and, especially, military force”; and “the Bush Doctrine represents a return to the first principles of American security strategy.” Donnelly had no trouble understanding and articulating exactly what the Bush Doctrine meant: namely, a declaration that the U.S. has the right to — and will — start wars against countries even if they have not attacked us and are not imminently going to do so:

Taken together, American principles, interests, and systemic responsibilities argue strongly in favor of an active and expansive stance of strategic primacy and a continued willingness to employ military force. Within that context, and given the ways in which nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction can distort normal calculations of international power relationships, there is a compelling need to hold open the option of — and indeed, to build forces more capable of — preemptive strike operations. The United States must take a wider view of the traditional doctrine of “imminent danger,” considering how such dangers might threaten not only its direct interests, but its allies, the liberal international order, and the opportunities for greater freedom in the world.

Put more simply: ” The message of the Bush Doctrine — “Don’t even think about it!” — rests in part on a logic of preemption that underlies the logic of primacy.” A few months earlier, Norman Podhoretz wrote a long cover story for Commentary — entitled “In Praise of the Bush Doctrine” (sub. rq’d) — in which he argued that “To those with ears to hear, the State of the Union address should have removed all traces of ambiguity from the Bush Doctrine.” He, too, pointed out the obvious: that from this point froward, the U.S. “would also take preemptive action whenever it might be deemed necessary.” The extreme deceit that lies at heart of neoconservativism is vividly illustrated by the willingness of their leading lights — such as Charles Krauthammer and NYT “reporter” Michael Gordon — suddenly to proclaim that the Bush Doctrine is far too amorphous for Sarah Palin or anyone else to be able to opine on it, even after their Godfather years ago declared that “all traces of ambiguity from the Bush Doctrine” have been removed for “those with ears.”

That the Bush Doctrine is both clear and central had continued to be accepted fact into the 2008 election. In January of this year in New Hampshire, Charlie Gibson himself asked the presidential candidates about their views of the Bush Doctrine during the primary debates he hosted. Nobody had any trouble answering it:

Greg Misses His Wife

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Had a nice long visit with Greg (oldest son) last week. He tells me about the mini triathlon he ran that day…happy that he is back into running, biking and swimming.  And he tells me he misses his brother, Josh, who stayed with Greg in Las Vegas for a week while he waited for his visa to Hong Kong.  He misses Josh’s job as cook, pool cleaner, conversationalist, companion…all with no demands.  We laughed then.  Doug, third son, is due in to Salem from Thailand on September 7 for a month.  I’m going to make him do some work for his board and room! :)))  

Trivia

Posted on by Laughingnomad

The global expat population has continued to boom – according to the World Bank’s Global Links Report 2007, the number of people living outside their home country has more than doubled since 1980 to 190 million – despite the weakening global economic climate, with companies continuing to bear the higher costs of foreign postings. I believe it! I think this means people of all countries world-wide.

How Stupid Are We?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

 From Crooks And Liars blog:

The latest Pew Survey on News Consumption, which is conducted every other year, was released yesterday.   Most notably, there was a great section of the report on news-consumer knowledge and sophistication.

About half of Americans (53%) can correctly identify the Democrats as the party that has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. In February 2007, shortly after the Democrats gained control of the House after a dozen years of GOP rule, many more people (76%) knew the Democrats held the majority.

The public is less familiar with the secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice) and the prime minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown). About four-in-ten (42%) can name Rice as the current secretary of state. The public’s ability to identify Rice has not changed much over recent years: In April 2006 and December 2004, shortly before she was sworn in, 43% could correctly identify her.

The prime minister of Great Britain is not well known among the public. Just more than a quarter (28%) can correctly identify Gordon Brown as the leader of Great Britain.

Overall, 18% of the public is able to correctly answer all three political knowledge questions, while a third (33%) do not know the answer to any of the questions.

…how humiliating this is to the nation overall. Personal Note:  In contrast, as I travel around the world and talk to English speaking people from other countries, invariably I can hold an intelligent and informed conversation in which Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove,  Powell and others are well-known.  They know because our foreign policies have a direct impact on them.

Crooks And Liars:  “But one-in-three Americans got all of the questions wrong. For all the talk about the Democratic Congress, barely half the country knows there’s a Democratic majority.  Maybe my perspective is skewed because I just finished reading Rick Shenkman’s “Just How Stupid Are We?” but at a certain point, the political world is going to have to come to grips with the fact that a striking percentage of the electorate has no idea what’s going on.”
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Oregon In Summer

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Oregon is most delightful in summer! Everything is so green. And my mouth has been watering for local strawberries, raspberries, peaches and cherries. And Walla Walla Sweet Onions! Cars obey the rules, garbage is picked up and motorcycles don’t try to run you down. And sweet faces of old friends are a joy.
This blog has just been sitting here while I have been planting flowers and maintaining the house for the last month since I’ve been home. I’m not used to house maintenance. I’m not used to making appointments and keeping them on time. My inner mechanisms are a jambles. The world news is upsetting and I’m sick of the negative campaign and mindless pundits. So I have been planting flowers. And enjoying my home. It’s like being in a 5 star hotel after all the cheap guest houses in Asia.

A couple weeks ago I was treated with a visit from two of my sons…Josh and Greg. They were on a mission to see their 92 year old grandmother in Portland. Josh was in between jobs so he spent a few days here and treated me and some of our old friends to a wonderful dinner here at the house…4 hours in the preparation of. Just like old times. I loved the banter. I miss it now. Then he flew to Las Vegas with Greg where he spent a week or so before flying to Hong Kong to join his wife Amy and begin work. They are happy to finally be out of mainland China…especially with the Olympics coming.

I’ll have a month of peace before Doug arrives from Thailand the first week of September…leaving the end of October. And time to catch up on my reading. Finished “Bangkok Blondes,” a book of short stories by expat women living in Bangkok. And “Tales From The Expat Harem,” also a book of short stories by expat women living in Turkey. Now I’m reading a short history of the Balkans where I hope to go next fall.

I am looking forward to leaving the house in the care of a renter in November and returning to Oaxaca Mexico for a couple of months before going to Cuba and Guatemala with an American expat friend in Oaxaca. Then I hope to go on to other Central and South American countries before returning to Oregon next summer. So that’s the deal…taking advantage of a window of time while I am still able to walk and before the cost of airline fuel prohibits any more travel.

In the meantime I spend time on http://www.couchsurfing.com making friends in all the prospective countries I will be visiting. It’s an online community where you hook up with friends and arrange to stay with them…and they with you. And join CS activities in their local communities. If you travel try it! You’ll like it!

Mad Cow Disease Or…?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

The demonstrators are still at it in South Korea, I see on CNN tonight.

When I was in Hanoi this month I was sitting on the front steps of my guesthouse waiting for a van to take me on a day trip when all of a sudden a tall, young good looking guy appeared at my side. He was obviously Asian, but never knowing if you are talking to an American, or an Asian from some other country, I asked where he was from. South Korea he said. Then we traded travel stories.  He is traveling long-term.   He has excellent English and is obviously well-educated. Hmmm, well-to-do, I thought. He wissoft-spoken…not anything like his older countrymen that I have come across.  I said that I had noticed that a lot of South Koreans weren’t happy these days. He laughed. Oh, yeah, he said, we don’t like your country selling your beef to us. But, I said, we aren’t getting sick from Mad Cow Disease. Then we get down to it.

South Korea has a strong long-held tradition of dissent. My son’s best friend, Mike, who lived in Seoul for 10 years teaching English told me once that many young demonstrators are paid by in-country interest groups, like the many unions, to demonstrate. Every week almost, there is a demonstration against something…they’ve got it down to an art, he said once.

However, in this case South Koreans are not so much unhappy with the U.S. as they are with their own new President. He has disappointed them. He is not conforming to the will of the people on many issues, my friend in Hanoi said. Like why do we have to buy beef from the U.S. which competes with our own farmers. And your beef is more expensive than ours. Why does our president have to do everything the U.S. wants? Seems his new president is a little too chummy with us. You wouldn’t know this from listening to the media reports in the U.S. But, he said, we have a soft spot in our hearts for you Americans because you defended us in the Korean War. Then we talked about how the U.S. wants a lot of things from many countries. Then his van arrived. I have to go, he said, as we shook hands and said goodbye. As he darted for his ride, he looked back and said, “I don’t want to leave you!” Of course I loved that conversation! This is one of the great moments when traveling.

Return To Oregon

Posted on by Laughingnomad

After 19 hours traveling from Bangkok to Tokyo to Portland, I am finally home…of course still waking up at night and napping during the day…a vicious cycle.

This is what I have come home to:

Retired Major General Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.

Now, CNN’s Barbara Starr reports: “One thing perhaps worth noting in this report, is the forward, the preface to the report was written by retired major general Anthony Teguba. He’s the army general that led the investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. in this report the general says, ‘there is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes.’ The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held into account. pretty tough words from a man very well regarded inside the army when he conducted the investigation into Abu Ghraib. For its part, the pentagon continues to say that it deals with detainees in a humane fashion, that there is no policy towards torture, and if there was any misconduct, any abuse, it was in violation of government policy. But this report clearly is a pretty damning indictment if it stands on its own.”

Note: Just before I left Bangkok I was told that to get a visa to Burma an American now has to apply for it in Washington D.C.