libertex

Review of John Ringo's "The Last Centurion"

2008-07-28T23:17:00.003-05:00

In some ways this book reminds me of Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" but amped up as only John Ringo can. For those who have read any of Ringo's previous books it is not secret what he thinks of politics and liberal politics in particular. Bandit Six, the hero of TLC, is "Kildar's" Mike Harmon without the non-family friendly sexual view point. If you haven't read any of Ringo's previous books this is not for the weak hearted liberal in the family.

The book basically looks at what the world would be like in ten year if three disasters occur almost simultaneously, some reviewer would argue that it is only two but the miss what may be the book's primary point. The disasters are, in order, a pandemic, environmental and political. The book is written as a review of Bandit Six's experiences as if he was writing his journal's after the fact. Much, maybe way too much, of the book deals with facts. Facts about pandemics, about the way we handle disease control in a pandemic. About global warming and how politics has adopted it as a party issue and about political leadership or the lack thereof.

The book can be pretty dull at points but those points are critical to the story line and if they aren't understood because the reader hasn't heard them before the story doesn't work very well. So it is pretty important to pay attention to the dull parts as well as the rest.

Another major part of the story is the way blogs are, and will likely continue, to affect the news media. It also lays out what might happen if the military was to get serious about using blogs and the access they provide to the public to counter-act much of the misinformation that the media presents, aka media propaganda.

In a large part the story is like much of the Kildar novels, a fantasy about what the world might be like if people with the power to do so would do what makes sense rather than what the rules say they should do. It also has a lot to say about trust, although I think a lot of this falls under the heading of personal responsibility.

You'll notice I haven't really said much about the actual story. That is because I don't like to read reviews that lay out the whole story for me because it takes away much of the pleasure I have in reading a book myself. But for those who prefer a review to actually tell you what the book is actually about I will put that below. For the rest of you stop reading here and go get the damn book!
Paper version here and electronic version here.
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Bandit Six is the son of a Minnesota farmer who joins the military and is a captain in Iran in the year 2019. We have successfully invaded Iran and are at about the stage in Iran at this point as we are in Iraq today. Then the avian flu mutates into a form transmittable between humans. Luckily the military identifies this early on and the military is immunized non-voluntarily with a non-certified fully effective vaccine. The rest of the world gets immunized on a purely voluntary basis depending on the individual country's health and governmental policies primarily with a less effective, but certified vaccine. Death rates are severe (30-60% depending on many factors). How the immunization program is handled is much of the first part of the book.

Coincidentally the sun's solar output (OK that is probably redundant but I want to be as clear as possible about what's happening) declines. This causes global cooling while most of the world is still worrying about the effects of global warming. So there are the two natural disasters that all reviewers have agreed on. People die, so many that much of the infrastructure that keeps our personal worlds going falls apart. Food, fuel, and all goods are no longer distributed or produced for the most part. This of course causes the economy to tank a but only the government seems to be very focused on the economy.

Because of this breakdown US forces are withdrawn globally to return to the US to deal with the disaster. Except for a few who are left to safeguard the equipment and there is a LOT of equipment. Bandit Six is one of those left behind as the supply officer in charge of all the equipment left behind in Iran along with one company of mechanized infantry and a bunch of Nepalese contract workers who have no transportation home. A good bit of the action story is about the ordeal Farmer's Freaks go through to make it home. Due to an intrepid group of reports from Rubert Murdoch's news staff (read over zealous idiots) this ordeal is widely reported and the Freaks become national heroes. The way the reporting of the story is managed by Bandit Six is a prime part of the story and leads to the final chapters of the book.

The last half of the book deals with what I consider the third disaster (which actually is also part of the first half on the immunization program). The third disaster comes in the form of a Democrat women president named Warrick, though mostly known as The Bitch through most of the book. Warrick bears an uncanny resemblance to Hilary Clinton, but I am sure that is just coincidence. Basically every wrong decision that could be made by a president is made up to and including misuse of powers to keep the office of president.

Of course in the end good triumphs and the forces of evil, Democrats, are soundly defeated. But the story is really interesting and richly rewarding.

News books from some of my favorite authors.

2008-06-09T14:33:00.004-05:00

As always when one of my favorite authors new books came out I had Amazon rush them to me and there have been several lately.

Jim Butcher Small Favor - 10th in the Dresden Files series
It's time for Harry to repay the Queen of the Winter Court for past favors and in the process his friend Michael and Michael's family face mortal danger. Not the best in the series, but damn good.

Elizabeth George Careless in Red - 14th in the Inspector Lynley series
Lynley is far from dealing with his wife's death. This book follows his trail of despair and the seeds of recovery.

Charles Todd A Pale Horse - 10th in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series
Inspector Rutledge struggles on with the ghost of his army sergeant muttering away. As always an interesting and disturbing tale.

C.J. Box Blood Trail - 9th in the Joe Pickett series
Joe and his family have finally moved out of their mother's reach and a good riddance to her. The governor has assigned Joe another no win case where he is very likely to get killed. And if you thought Nate was safe in prison guess again. A very good story with Joe treading the bounds of honor and stepping over the letter of the law....again.

Randy Wayne White Black Widow - 15th in the Doc Ford series
Doc no longer has the contacts he once had and is facing more personal issues while helping his goddaughter out of trouble. If you like Doc you will really like this one.

W.E.B. Griffin & W.E. Butterworth IV Death and Honor - 4th in the Honor Bound series
Like most of the Honor Bound series this novel is more involved in the back story of history than in action. It is a good read and full of interesting insights into figures from history that don't always match what I remember from the history books, or the media stories.

Lee Child Nothing to Lose - 12th in the Jack Reacher series
I have been a fan of this modern day knight errant series for some time. This one felt a bit different from the start. I am not sure exactly why, but through the first three quarters of the novel the story just felt like it was missing something. There were women who needed help, as usual, but for the most part they were unwilling to talk to Reacher. The last quarter of the book explained it all and is where I suddenly found myself reading a book that I ordinarily wouldn't bother to pickup. Jack comes out against the War on Terror and all that comes with it.

Tanya Huff Valor's Trial - 4th in the Confederation series
Torin is back with her old company and ready to deal with normal combat. Of course the universe is not having anything to do with normal and Torin is once more called upon to show the marines that a gunny always knows the right thing to do.

Sea Patrol Second Season sucks!

2008-04-22T20:44:00.002-05:00

Has anyone else watched this Australian TV show? It is about the crew of an Aussie patrol boat, so even though they are navy their mission is very similiar to our Coast Guard. Last year I enjoyed this show immensely, however this year I have felt like I am watching something straight out of Hollywood. The crew seems to do everything possible to not fire their guns, at times I wonder if they even load them!

In the first episode they are sent into the harbor of a pacific island which seems to have a revolution going on in order to pick up a NGO team fleeing the violence. With the NGO land rover in sight they see natives with AK-47s and machetes pull them from their truck and beat them. But because one mortar open fire on the boat they turn and head away! Then when they send landing parties they arrive at the dock armed only with their sidearms to face a larger party of natives with automatic weapons and hostages. Then they lower their sidearms to show they mean the locals no harm!

In the third episode they pickup what seem to be refuges who's ship has sunk. However three of the refuges are mercenaries who take the two female officers hostage along with the other refugees. Ok so far, and when the mercs manage to open the door leading to the engine room the captain has two crewmen blocking their path who get in a gun battle with them. The captain and some crew go down to reinforce the blocking party who are running low on ammo (apparently the mercs packed a whole lot of clips in their pants). But instead of holding the mercs back from entering the engine room the captain and crew retreat! Additionally the navigation room is on the other side of the room with the mercs and they enter it with no contest. Now the three mercs armed only with pistols have control of the ships power and navigation! A crew of 21 simple lets three mercs gain complete control of below decks.

Tonight's episode starts with the crew going after an illegal fishing mother ship (ice ship). But they give up after the fishing crew fends the rubber boats off with poles and flares all the while waving machetes. The Armidale class boats have small arms for the crew as well as a 25mm deck gun and two 12.7mm machine guns.

I am not sure if I can watch any more! I wonder if they are going to paint a peace sign on the boat with a motto of "Make love not war"!

What do y'all think?

TV to watch until writers strike delay of new episodes is over

2008-02-25T12:03:00.002-06:00

Sea Patrol - An Aussie TV show from last year with 13 episodes. The show focuses on the Australian coastal patrol boat HMAS Hammersley with missions very similar to the US Coast Guard. Watch for the appearance of Yvonne Stahovski (of Chuck) in the final episode.

The Border - A Canadian show currently airing it's eighth episode featuring the Canadian Immigration and Customs Service. Sofia Miloz (Miami CSI) plays a US Homeland Security agent who of course shows lots of American arrogance that the Canadian political heads cave to every time.

Different forms of Libertarianism

2008-02-17T09:52:00.003-06:00

This posting from About.com on the different forms of libertarian philosophy was a surprise to me. I would never have thought that so called "Geoliberatianism" or "Social libertarianism" would fall anywhere in the sphere of libertarian philosophy.

Good article on libertarianism in the US today from Time magazine!

2008-02-17T09:45:00.003-06:00

I was amazed to find this article from one of the largest media outlets that actually expresses much of my feelings about the current political parties. Amazed because the main media outlets generally have a more "in the rut" view of politics.

Beccy Cole "Poster Girl"

2006-11-23T09:22:00.000-06:00

Do our current political labels fit anymore?

2006-09-21T16:12:00.000-05:00

What is a liberal? What is a conservative? And just what the heck is a moderate or centrist? I started thinking about this after reading an article on Iran's president telling students they should be asking that liberal professors be fired. I today noticed that Pajamas Media is addressing the issue of what to call those who don't want to be called centrist or moderate.Let's look at the word liberal first;
–adjective
1.favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2.(often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3.of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4.favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5.favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6.of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7.free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8.open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
9.characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.
10.given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.
11.not strict or rigorous; free; not literal: a liberal interpretation of a rule.
12.of, pertaining to, or based on the liberal arts.
13.of, pertaining to, or befitting a freeman.
–noun
14.a person of liberal principles or views, esp. in politics or religion. 15.(often initial capital letter) a member of a liberal party in politics, esp. of the Liberal party in Great Britain.

There are many things about progress (#1 and #2) that “liberals” are completely against. For example; nuclear power, the global economy, GM crops, new drugs or chemicals, nano-technology, etc.

How does #4 match up with restricting people’s property rights in order to prevent sprawl or promote mass transit (through building high density neighborhoods required to support transit stations)? How does it match up with restricting people’s access to tobacco products, fatty foods, or energy (in an effort to reduce “global warming”)?

How does #5 match up with restricting people’s expression of religion? I have never understood how restricting someone from saying a prayer (as opposed to mandating it) restricts anyone else’s freedom of religious expression.

However #4 and #5 are the principle definitions used in non-democratic countries like Iran. Thus it pays to know in what context the word is meant, either in a western democracy like the U.S. or Australia or in a despotic country like Iran or Libya.

I really don’t see how the current political correctness attitudes show any tolerance as called for with #8.

You can really one use #9 or #10 if you count generosity with other people’s money as the money they generally want to spend is from taxes or lawsuits, not from their own pockets for the most part.

We better take a look at another often used label for the left (one that I think they prefer as it has not become a dirty name, at least so far).

Progressive;
–adjective
1. favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, esp. in political matters: a progressive mayor.
2. making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods, etc.: a progressive community.
3. characterized by such progress, or by continuous improvement.
4. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to any of the Progressive parties in politics.
5. going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.
6. noting or pertaining to a form of taxation in which the rate increases with certain increases in taxable income.
7. of or pertaining to progressive education: progressive schools.
8. Grammar. noting a verb aspect or other verb category that indicates action or state going on at a temporal point of reference.
9. Medicine/Medical. continuously increasing in extent or severity, as a disease.
–noun
10. a person who is progressive or who favors progress or reform, esp. in political matters.
11. (initial capital letter) a member of a Progressive party.

I already addressed #1 under liberal, but #2 represents a challenge because it is so broad. Better conditions and more enlightened are very subjective that almost anyone can claim that their view represents. Much of what the left wants today is not very new or experimental, though it was 60+ years ago when the term was much more popular with the party.

Now #6 is of course very popular with the left and while the subject of #7 is close to the heart of the left I don’t think they can show that education has progressed as in improved.

Ok, now let’s look at the other side.

Conservative;
–adjective
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.
5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.
6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.
7. Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.
–noun
8. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.
9. a supporter of conservative political policies.
10. (initial capital letter) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.
11. a preservative.

While this one is a better fit for those on the right than liberal is for the left there are still some inconsistencies. For instance #1, the conservatives have come up with some rather fresh ideas about government that are not what I think of as traditional and are also not existing conditions. The “Contract with America” of the Gingrich era is good example. Also #2 doesn’t cover much of what they have come up with, why else would the left call them radicals?

But much of what the right does or represents is close to #3, so 1 out of 3 is better than what liberal scores as a representation of the left.

How about the so called middle of the political spectrum?

Moderate;
–adjective
1. kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense: a moderate price.
2. of medium quantity, extent, or amount: a moderate income.
3. mediocre or fair: moderate talent.
4. calm or mild, as of the weather.
5. of or pertaining to moderates, as in politics or religion.
–noun
6. a person who is moderate in opinion or opposed to extreme views and actions, esp. in politics or religion.
7. (usually initial capital letter) a member of a political party advocating moderate reform.
–verb (used with object)
8. to reduce the excessiveness of; make less violent, severe, intense, or rigorous: to moderate the sharpness of one's words.
9. to preside over or at (a public forum, meeting, discussion, etc.).
–verb (used without object)
10. to become less violent, severe, intense, or rigorous.
11. to act as moderator; preside.

Well these are certainly more subjective descriptions than those that apply to liberal or conservative. Still I have heard some pretty extreme views and positions from so called moderates, the only difference is they seem to share some views with both sides. The problem is the number of combination of views that can be shared with both sides presents a very, very broad spectrum. This represents a collection of views far too large to be identified as a single group.

Centrist;
–noun
1. (esp. in continental Europe) a member of a political party of the Center; moderate.
–adjective
2. of or pertaining to centrists or to their political views; middle-of-the-road.

This may be a better term for the middle as it doesn’t really imply that they all share the same view, only that it is between the two sides. The problem again is it doesn’t tell you anything about their views, it is just a convenient label. One that many, particularly the press, likes to use and act as if those who share the label also share a common viewpoint.

One of the points that seems to have lead to confusion is a couple of words that get used quite often, but their definitions don’t seem to stretch as far as intended.

Before we can really address the word liberty we need to be clear on one of the words used;
Arbitrary;
1. subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one's discretion: an arbitrary decision. 2. decided by a judge or arbiter rather than by a law or statute. 3. having unlimited power; uncontrolled or unrestricted by law; despotic; tyrannical: an arbitrary government. 4. capricious; unreasonable; unsupported: an arbitrary demand for payment. 5. Mathematics. undetermined; not assigned a specific value: an arbitrary constant.

You would think that #1 has been covered as we are a country ruled by law and not by men. However when the law can’t easily fit in a eighteen wheel truck trailer it looses a lot of meaning. The power goes to those who can read the law, and by that I don’t mean literally, I mean the lawyers and politicians who are able to apply the written law to their own purposes while the rest of us or left to capricious interpretations or selective applications of the law.

Now obviously when speaking about the power of a government #2 and #3 take on special meaning. And given how many things happen today due to judicial rulings that you can’t just point to the words in our law you might argue that are laws are becoming more arbitrary rather than less.

Given the ever expanding breadth of the law there seems to be very little that is unrestricted or uncontrolled. Consider just how many things require a license to do now days. Not only actions, like marriage or driving, but also professions like barber or tattooist.

Ok, on to the word liberty.

Liberty;
–noun, plural -ties.
1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.
2. freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.
3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.
5. permission granted to a sailor, esp. in the navy, to go ashore.
6. freedom or right to frequent or use a place: The visitors were given the liberty of the city.
7. unwarranted or impertinent freedom in action or speech, or a form or instance of it: to take liberties.
8. a female figure personifying freedom from despotism.
—Idiom
9. at liberty,
a. free from captivity or restraint.
b. unemployed; out of work.
c. free to do or be as specified: You are at liberty to leave at any time during the meeting.

You must admit that #3 has taken a pretty big hit with a lot of words being verboten as they can be considered actionable, either as sexual harassment or a hate crime.

It would also be hard to argue that #4 has taken a pretty major hit given just how many people are in prison. What ever you think about drugs you might want to consider whether it really is a good thing that so many people are in prison for no other reason than drugs.

So now that we know how the labels match-up or fail to match-up with the people they are meant to describe, I would like to suggest some replacements.

First for those not familiar with the Nolan quiz, also known as the world’s shortest political test, take a moment to check it out. I think that this two-dimensional view of the political world is much more accurate and just as easy to understand as the current left-right view. Much of the current Left would actually fall into the bottom of the diamond under the label Statist due to the firm belief in Big Government. I think the remaining set will mainly fall into Centrist or Libertarian as I seldom hear anything from anyone who believes in the more classical Liberal viewpoint, that is personal liberty but economic controls.

The current Right will mainly fall into the Conservative camp and as I have discussed this label is not too inaccurate a view of most. Many though who have begun to focus on personal liberties as those liberties have eroded will find that they fit better in the Centrist or Libertarian camps. Some (particularly Capital Hill Republicans and many Alaskan Republicans) will fit quite nicely in the Statist territory.

Astronomers really acting like government employees lately

2006-09-14T14:42:00.000-05:00

First they started playing games with what a "planet" is. Now they are so married to the ancient gods naming convention they won't allow the team that discovered the new planet (pluton, dwarf planet, whatever) name it. I much prefer Xena with a moon called Gabrielle than something called Eris with a moon (or disease) called Dysnomia.

X-Prize Cup

2006-09-14T14:33:00.000-05:00

This is a really cool idea and has a lot of potential to drive development that can help in achieving private access to space.

I am concerned about the size of the course. While 10,000 feet by 3,000 feet seems pretty big, when you think about the speed that a rocket powered plane can reach it should go around the course pretty damn quick!

The fans at the event could be a really interesting group. Imagine your NASCAR fans camped out with their satellite TV equipped RVs sharing space with space geeks with RVs bristling with antenna and dishes for every bandwidth and technology. Tail-gaters grilling ribs next to LAM parties playing Total Annihilation!

Is Kofi Annan really that clueless?

2006-09-01T18:43:00.000-05:00

At what point does the world admit to the fact, that's right fact, that Kofi Annan is either the most clueless diplomat since Neville Chamberlain or a real, and not very well hidden, ally of the Islamic terrorists?

Speaking to reporters at the airport before departing for Qatar, Mr Annan said Syria had agreed to increase patrols along the Syrian-Lebanese border and "when possible" to start joint patrols with Lebanese troops.

Oh, great! Joint patrols with Lebanese troops, that would be the Lebanese that Hizbollah is part of the government right?

Mr Assad had agreed to take "all necessary measures" to implement paragraph 15 of UN resolution 1701, which deals with the arms embargo, he added.

And exactly who is defining what is "necessary" and "necessary" for what?

He said he was confident the Syrian measures would work.

He is also sure that there will be peace in Lebanon as long as we all just hold hands and sing Kumbaya!

"I think it can happen," he said, quoted by the Associated Press news agency. "It may not be 100%, but it will make quite a lot of difference if the government puts in place the measures the government has discussed with me. I have no reason to believe it will not be done."

Of course it can happen, it is in the Syrian's and Hezbollah's best interest to patrol the border so that no one can catch them transporting weapons across it. I am sure that if you asked the inmates at your local jail to patrol your city streets to prevent burglaries they would be down right ecstatic about the idea!

What is your definition of Peacekeeper?

2006-08-31T09:57:00.000-05:00

“peacekeeper” – 2. a soldier, military force, etc., deployed to maintain or restore the peace

I doubt that this is what is meant by the U.N. or the Europeans. I think they have confused the definition with this one;
“observer” – 1. Someone or something that observers
2. a delegate to an assembly

The commander of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon described the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah as "very fragile" and "dangerous" and said that an expanded international force would not disarm Hezbollah.
"The Israelis cannot ask UNIFIL to disarm Hezbollah. This is not written in our mandate," French Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini, commander of the 2,000-member UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, told reporters at UNIFIL headquarters in the coastal town of Naqoura.

If France does return to seek to lead the peacekeeping force, where would that leave Italy's leadership offer? Apparently the Italians would only be in charge from the other side of the world;
A report in the Rome daily "La Repubblica" today says France has offered a dual command with Rome. France would continue to command the force on the ground in Lebanon through General Pellegrini, while Italy would take control of the UN Office of Peacekeeping Operations.
That means France would have operational command on the ground, with Italy given political control at the UN in New York.
All these details are due to be discussed on August 25 in Brussels when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan meets with EU foreign ministers.

So the UN and Europeans seem to be insistent upon the French being in charge, as if that worked so well in Yugoslavia or in Rwanda.

A spokesman for the Italian Foreign Affairs Committee had this to say;
In the last few years, Italy, with the previous government, has had a more pro-American and pro-Israel foreign policy. The new center-left government is interested in acquiring a new role that is more focused on Europe and to be more active in the Middle East, including the rebuilding of our ties with the Arab world along with our ties with the government of Israel. This is why the new government believes that the strongly pro-American position of the previous government had weakened Italy on both the European and international scene.
So, by assuming a lead role in this conflict, the Italian government believes it can recoup some of these past losses. Besides, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, which was decided by the new government, risked weakening Italy on the international scene.
And you will recall that last year, there was debate regarding the reform of the United Nations Security Council, which involved the possibility of making Germany a permanent member of the council. This would have further declassed Italy on the European scene. Italy believes that taking on a lead role here can help it reacquire prestige and status with regard to the United Nations.

Italian politicians may look forward to this chance to strengthen their international image but the Italian military seems to understand the big pile of shit they are going to be left standing in.
"If we must draw lessons from past experiences, then we must admit in all honesty that the operations commanded by the U.N. have turned out to be failures, in some cases a total disaster," Gen. Fabrizio Castagnetti was quoted as saying by Milan daily Corriere della Sera.
Asked why, Castagnetti replied, "Because the commander has his hands tied," Corriere della Sera said. "He cannot make decisions without consulting U.N. headquarters in New York."
The commander's "appeals to receive clear directives clash with the elephantine bureaucracy of the United Nations ."
"A mission under U.N. command creates a lot of problems. I will say so to the (Italian) defense minister," the general was quoted as saying.

Other nations also seems to have the idea that the humanitarian mission has priority over the actual job of peacekeeping;
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier said Manila is likely to send "non-combat" troops as well as medical workers to Lebanon, where the UN is trying to muster an international force to serve as a buffer between Israel and the Hezbollah militia.

Hezbollah has promised to cooperate with Lebanese and U.N. forces but has made clear it will keep its weapons.
Larsen said 2,000 soldiers had been deployed along the eastern border and the government aimed to boost that to 8,600.
"This fact that Lebanon is now forcefully establishing its authority will contribute to pave the way for troop contributors to come forward to a reconfigured and beefed up UNIFIL," Larsen said.

The 2000 troops of the current UNIFIL force have focused on putting out daily reports that show they have been demolishing unexploded ordinance, supplying water to the locals, reporting violation (principally air violation by the IDF), ground and air patrolling to “assess the situation on the ground and to monitor the cessation of hostilities” and accepting handoff from the IDF and handover to the Lebanese Army. They even went so far as to report second hand reports in the area of Baalbeck even though there are no UNIFIL forces in that area and therefore can’t provide direct knowledge of the event.

The demolition of ordinance is done by the UNIFIL-Mine Action Coordination Center which was added to UNIFIL after the Lebanese requested help in eliminating mines and unexploded ordinance in 2000. Just to show what kind of support a UN group provides the organization chart for the MACC Southern Lebanon which not only shows their current members, but also past members. The org chart starts with Serial #1, the admin/log Assistant, #3, the Genitor, and includes past drivers, Programme Managers, Finance Officers.

The UN has been involved in some 59 peacekeeping missions have they ever used force in any of them? Even if the rules of engagement give the peacekeepers authorization to use force in self defense, even prior to being fired on, how likely is it that they will do so? Just look at all the second guessing that goes on with use of force in Iraq and imaging how European forces will react when in a situation where they could fire or not.

Kofi Anan certainly is giving them a good example;
Secretary General: Let me say that the resolution does not require deployment of UN troops to the border. It indicates that, if the Lebanese government were to ask for it, we should assist. The Lebanese Government has not made any such request.
As to your question on disarmament, let me be clear that resolution 1559 asks for the disarmament of all militia, national and non-national, and this was reaffirmed in resolution 1701. The understanding was that it would be the Lebanese who would disarm. I think it is also generally accepted that the disarmament of Hezbollah cannot be done by force. It has to be a political agreement between the Lebanese; there has to be a Lebanese consensus and an agreement among them to disarm. In fact, before the war, this issue was part of a national dialogue going on in Lebanon; I hope they will return to it in earnest. Obviously, if at some stage they need advice or some help from the international community and they were to approach us, we would consider it, but the troops are not going in there to disarm. Let us be clear on that. The other question, perhaps I will defer that to you, that part of the question.
Resolution 1701 paragraph 11(f) calls for UNIFIL to support enforcement of blockade against arms smuggling from Syria only if Lebanon asks for help.

With the way that European nations have been giving Hezbollah status equivalent to actual nations how likely is it that they will provide any opposition to violations of the resolutions by Hezbollah;
"We have no problem with Unifil (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) as long as its mission is not aimed at disarming Hezbollah," Nasrallah said in an interview aired on Lebanese television. He added, however, that if Lebanese troops in southern Lebanon encountered armed militants, the national forces did have the right to collect weapons.
The UNHCR has the mission in assisting with supplies for relief, this should not be the primary mission of peacekeepers. Yet Resolution 1701 paragraph 11(d) calls for exactly this, not that their mission needs any further confusion.

Libertarian fiction - Freehold

2006-08-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

Just finished Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson and highly recommended. Science Fiction is one of the best mediums for showing what a libertarian society might be like and showing the absurdity of most western governments. This one has the added benefit of included lessons learned from terrorism and U.N.'s modus operandi.

Also working my way through The Teutonic Knights - A Military History by William Urban. Though it contains a lot less military than I usually expect from a military history I find it very interesting. I had no idea that there were crusades other than those for in the Holy Lands, much less in the Baltics.

Cool Hot site!

2006-08-20T02:38:00.000-05:00

Most of my friends know that I am a big fan of spicy foods. My recent oral surgery when I had to stick to bland food to prevent irritating my sutures was a real trial for me. I just found, don't know what took so long, this blog devoted to hot sauce and hot foods in general. While usually I won't touch chili made outside the southwest and usually just those that have been tested and honored in the Terlingua Chili Cook-off, this recipe for Cincinatti Chili is definitely one I want to try. Though I will avoide the 5-way or beyond which includes beans as that is taboo to real chili.

Why doesn't the media provide map context?

2006-08-20T00:11:00.000-05:00

It seems like every media report from Lebanon gives general directions for the location but they don't always mean anything. For instance the latest story about the IDF raid in eastern Lebanon describes it in three versions each picked up by many news sources; 1) They landed 30km east of Baalbeck and drove east to Buday, 2) near Baalbeck in the village of Bodai, and 3) 20 km east of Buday near Baalbeck.

It took me a while to find a web source that could locate Buday, but finally on maplandia.com I did. After mapping both Buday (no Bodai found) nd Baalbeck on Google Earth using the latitude and longitude provided by maplandia I then used GE's Measure tool. Buday is 15km west of Baalbeck and Baalbeck is 10km west of Syria. So the later story was the most correct.

Only a few stories gave additional background such as;

Some say Yazbek, who is a senior member of Hezbollah's Shura consultative council and representative in Lebanon of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in charge of financial grants from Khamenei's office, was seen in the area as recently as Friday.

Yazbek, who is originally from Buday but does not reside in the village, was glimpsed attending the funerals of Hezbollah fighters who were killed during Israel's month long offensive in Lebanon, they say.

Really with the ease and speed of web sources there is no excuse for reporters, or at least their editor when the reporter is in the field, to not check the web for correct locations, place names and other facts.

**** So that's what an Instalanche is! Thanks Glenn! And thanks to all of you who stopped by to read my tiny little blog here. ****

*** Some noted the lack of good online maps for Lebanon. The best I could find was this though it didn't have Buday on it. One thing I did find very intesting about this detailed map were the roads shown. By the zig-zags depicted on some roads I expect some awesome mountainsides are involved. I was less than thrilled with maplandia's display ability but at least it had most sites mentioned listed with Lat/Long data. ***

Hezbollah still uninterested in defending Lebanese

2006-08-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

One of the reported goals of Hezbollah is the defense of Lebanon, but by now no one should believe this. Their actions speak far louder than their words. So far the only military actions they have performed are offense missle attacks against Israel that do not differentiate in military or civilian targets. Hezbollah has acted against ground troops but this is completely in it's own defense.

If they were interested in defended Lebanon and the Lebanese they would have been trying their best to shoot down some of the Isreali jets that have bombed targets deep into Lebanon. There has been one report (from Hezbollah) of a SAM shoot, however absolutely no follow up which in real terms means it didn't happen. You know that if Hezbollah had actually shot down an Israeli jet they would have the media crews their lickety split. According to Brian Hoffman, a counterinsurgency expert at Washington's RAND Corp, "...it also had to be assumed Hezbollah had at least some surface-to-air missiles to take out planes, though there have not been any reported uses yet."

Most of us recognize that Hezbollah sees the Israeli bombings in Lebanon as another weapon for Hezbollah, a weapon in the modern media battlefield. For ever bombing that occurs Hezbollah has another opportunity to attract attention with the media of how Israel is killing, wounding or endangering civilians. This has lead them to concentrate on manipulating the media as their likely best weapon and the only one where they seem to have an advantage. But, as it currently appears, if the media stories influences the diplomatic actions then Hezbollah could win the "war" just based on this. So far few media have reported on this Hezbollah weapon, and none have put together what their strategy means as to the defense of Lebanon.

Too weird!

2006-08-01T18:52:00.000-05:00

UN observers killed were UNTSO not UNIFIL

2006-07-27T16:33:00.000-05:00

I have yet to see any of the reports correct this or the fact that the post was an UNTSO post and not a UNIFIL post. The difference between the two seems to be that UNIFIL is armed and UNTSO is not. There is also a UNTSO media release stating that the fact that the "Patrol Base" and it's men were UNTSO and unarmed.

If you read the email from the Canadian soldier (which many of the reports reference) the first thing he does in the email is introduce himself and states is assignment to UNTSO and it's mission. The reason it matters is UNTSO is yet another, as if we need one, example of how the UN doesn't accomplish anything. UNTSO's mission on it's website is listed as "* To observe and maintain an unconditional cease-fire ordered by the security council, pending the final status peace settlement." and "* To assist the parties in the supervision and observance of the terms of the Armistice Agreements of 1949." Though Major Hess-von Kruedener quotes the mission of his team and OGL (Observer Group Lebanon) as "...to maintain the integrity of theWithdrawal Line (Blue Line), and report on any and all violations or activities that threaten the cease-fire and international peace and security here along the Lebanese/Israeli border, and Israeli Occupied Lebanon, and to support the UNSC resolution 1559, within our mission mandate."

With that mission I would expect their command to recall them once full scale combat broke out between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon. Instead they were left their to "observe". Isn't that the same as left to get shot or bombed? Did their command not care or was this what they hoped for. After all unlike UNIFIL this observers are unarmed and if the post is a UNTSO post likely no one there was armed.

Why in the world would you leave unarmed men in a combat zone? He is quoted as saying "It appears that the lion's share of fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah has taken place in our area." Surely they reported this to their command structure? If so, again why would their commander leave them in the principle hot zone in a major combat effort?

If their mission was to monitor the cease fire/truce and that had obviously ended, why keep them in the field?

Iraqi politicians continue to show their independence

2006-07-27T16:01:00.000-05:00

Yet another Iraqi politician has decided to distance himself from the U.S.. The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani a Sunni Islamist, spoke before the UN sponsored conference and likened U.S actions in Iraq to "butchery". The conference sponsored by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) was on the subject of transitional justice and national reconciliation and was meant to support the government efforts.

He was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying "If a reconciliation project is going to work it has to talk to all the people. It must go through our Iraqi beliefs and perceptions. What we need is reconciliation between Iraqis only, there can be no third party." He then related an anecdote about how American soldiers keep people waiting in lines at checkpoints for hours because they insist on resting their bomb-sniffing dogs. "The sleep of American dogs is more important than people being stopped in the street for hours," he said.

The UN host called his speech "spirited".

Frigging great Pepsi commercial

2006-07-22T00:54:00.000-05:00

This ad rocks! Britney does better than expected, Beyonce just has to clear and smooth a voice for this rock anthem. But Pink! Holy moly, she kicks butt! Wish she would record this!

The Pepsi Gladiators - video powered by Metacafe

Did BBC just recognize that their reporters statements are opinions?

2006-06-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

This article from the BBC on current state of events in Israel includes this paragraph;

The Israeli leader must choose between going ahead with military action that would endanger the life of the captured soldier or risk being seen as weak, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Jerusalem.

There are no quotes around the statement, but the way it is seperated and includes the name of the person making the statement makes it appear like they are quoting a spokesman. Is this a way to implicitly show that they recognizes that their own reporters statements are opinions? I hope so but won't count on it.

Singapore caught in sex=courtesy cycle

2006-06-26T18:53:00.000-05:00

This article reports that they have figured out why they are the fifth least courteous city, it's because they don't get enough sex!. For thirty years the government has sponsored campaigns to get people to be more courteous. The article's author suggests that they should just tell people to have more sex!

However I think that his logic is incomplete, but since he does not provide full references to the surveys I can't be sure. The opening sentence is "IF it's not bad enough that Singaporeans are the second worst lovers in the world, apparently we are also the fifth least courteous people in the world, according to Reader's Digest." I found the Reader's Digest survey on courtesy here. I am not sure how to take it given that it show's New York got the highest rating (80) while Paris fell in the middle of the pack with 57, the same as London. I would love to see a comparison of US cities (New York was only US city on survey).

Apparently the survey he is referencing for "...second worst lovers..." is this one from Durex that shows in 2005 Singapore men and women reporting having sex on average 73 times a year, down from 79 in 2004 and 96 in 2003. I can't find anywhere in the survey where they rated sex, so I guess this author believes that quantity equals quality or maybe that lack of quality equals lack of quantity. Singapore comes in seventh on age at which first had sex (18.4 in a range of 15.6, Iceland to 19.8, India with a global average of 17.3).

There is a section on Views on Sex, but it seems like Singapore comes in around average for; a) I'm happy with my sex life (44 average, Singapore 42), b) I wish I had sex more frequently (36 average, Singapore 42), and c) My sex life is monotonous (44 average, Singapore 42) . One would think given how low on the list of frequency they stand that more would want sex more often, but their number is quite a bit below average. For comparison the US is 52, 45, and 9 on this three questions and 113 times a year.

I would say that there may be a link of less sex causes less courtesy which leads to less sex and so on.

Confusing report from Environmentalists

2006-06-23T12:35:00.000-05:00

A new report (or should I say a repackaged report?) from environmentalists (I won't call them scientists) states;
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The last few decades were the warmest on Earth in the past 400 years, and may well have been warmer than any comparable period since the Middle Ages, U.S. scientists reported on Thursday.

Gee, like we didn't know that at times it has been both colder and warmer than it is today. But later the message gets more confusing.

First they have to restate the facts (actually their opinion)

The scientists also noted that temperature reconstructions for periods before the Industrial Revolution -- when levels of climate-warming greenhouse gases were much lower -- supported the notion the current global climate change was caused by human activities, rather than natural variations in climate.

But this guy actually comes out an tells the truth (emphasis is mine).

"Natural climate variability is something that we'd like to know about," said Kurt Cuffey of the University of California-Berkeley, who served on the council's committee and spoke at a Webcast about the report.

"But if we did know for example that the climate was as warm at 1000 AD as it is now, it would have no essential impact on our understanding of climate change in the 20th century, the role of humans in causing it and the need to think seriously about how that may evolve in the next few centuries," he said.

So no matter if the evidence says that it has been warmer at times in the past before the Industrial age it won't change their understanding (read opinion)!

La Familia Aguilar

2006-05-05T17:59:00.000-05:00

A friend from work who attended the Farewell concert of the La Familia Aguilar last night reported that he incorporated the May Day protests into his act. Joking that his horse was from Mexico and was here to march (this to setup the horse to march around the stage) and when he said this the audience burst into enthusiastic applause. However a few minutes later when he got serious and encouraged the audience to remember what America had done for them, calling out "Viva Los Estados Unidos de América" the audience gave a more polite applause, with the exception of those citizens like Ana and her family who jumped to their feet.

I have searched and searched and can find no mention of this. Apparently La Familia Aguilar is a very well respected and loved musical and rodeo family (they have dancing horses) and it would be nice if this kind of statement about the feeling of Mexican immigrants (legal ones) was given a wider audience.

Update on books read

2006-04-06T19:14:00.000-05:00

The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross
I think if you asked Dilbert to write a thriller based on magic this would be it. After a while the sheer ludicrous nature of most of what is going on just fades into background because the story and characters are so enjoyable. A must read for any Dilbert fan.

In Fury Born - David Weber
This is a re-release which I read the first time round, but since it has been almost fifteen years since then I had to get it to read again. This was written about the time of the first Honor Harrington book and in many ways is similar with a strong woman heroine and a sidekick. But in this case the sidekick can not only talk but recides in the heroines head so providing insight into what she feels comes as a matter of course.

The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume 1 - David Drake
Another old favorite that has been combined several stories in re-release. David Drake and Jerry Pournelle are what I consider to be the godfathers of military SF. If you like Eric Flint, David Weber, or John Ringo then this is a must read.

Engaging The Enemy - Elizabeth Moon
This is the third in the Kylara Vatta series. The universe is similar to the Liaden Universe of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, but pure science. The characters are family structures are similar to her Familias Regnant series, but universe is very Balkanized. Unlike most SF there is no star empire or even any powerful star nations. It calls for some interesting problems and solutions and even more problems with the solutions. Very enjoyable.

Crystal Dragon - Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
This is in the prequel series (the second in the Great Migration Duology) to the Liaden Universe and helps to understand the more exoteric portions of the later series. A bit short but still very worth reading.

Boundary - Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor
The characters are similar to those used by John Ringo in Into the Looking Glass and Travis Taylor's Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection, that is smart and capable men and women. Also similarly these smart capable people are drawn into something entirely beyond what they expected and excel at it. Does remind me of the first in the Grey Lensman books a little.

Mourning Dove - Aimee & David Thurlo
This is the umpteenth (ok, 12th) in the Ella Clah series and holds up very well. Sticks close to the formula of the rest and consequenly is very enjoyable. A very worth successor to Tony Hillerman.