This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Foreign Policy

  • The value of peace talks

    So, our ally in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, launched his brilliant plan to have “peace talks” with members of the Taliban. Minutes after he began his speech to the assembled 1600 delegates, opponents launched an attack on the peace “jirga” according to Associated Press;

    But the attack underscored the weak grip of Karzai’s government in the face of the Taliban insurgency, which has grown in strength despite record numbers of U.S. forces in country.

    In his speech, Karzai said years of violence and infighting had caused widespread suffering that had driven many ordinary Afghans to join the Taliban and another major insurgent group, Hizb-i-Islami, out of fear. He appealed to them to renounce extremism.

    “There are thousands of Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami, they are not the enemies of this soil,” Karzai said.

    He said continuing fighting would only prevent the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan.

    “Make peace with me and there will be no need for foreigners here. As long as you are not talking to us, not making peace with us, we will not let the foreigners leave,” Karzai said.

    Brilliant. Tempt them away from violence today with the prospect of violence in the future. Negotiating with people who think that throwing acid in the faces of schoolgirls is an appropriate way to express their political opinion probably borders on insanity. Their disruption of this peace conference is proof of their unwillingness to negotiate.

    The AP article reports that the Obama Administration is skeptical of the peace talks, yet the White House still thinks it’s an appropriate way to deal with thie Iran government and the North Koreans. Yeah, I don’t see it.

  • The Age of Obama through rose-colored glasses

    Yesterday, our President spoke at the US Military Academy graduation ceremony. This morning, the Washington Post proclaims that a new security strategy arises from that speech;

    “Yes, we are clear-eyed about the shortfalls of our international system. But America has not succeeded by stepping outside the currents of international cooperation,” he said. “We have succeeded by steering those currents in the direction of liberty and justice — so nations thrive by meeting their responsibilities, and face consequences when they don’t.”

    In his speech — the ninth wartime commencement in a row — the commander in chief, who is leading two foreign wars, expressed his faith in cooperation to confront economic, military and environmental crises.

    “The international order we seek is one that can resolve the challenges of our times,” he said in prepared remarks. “Countering violent extremism and insurgency; stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and securing nuclear materials; combating a changing climate and sustaining global growth; helping countries feed themselves and care for their sick; preventing conflict and healing its wounds.”

    That’s not a “new” strategy – it’s the same failed policy of Jimmy Carter. The policy that left Central America exposed to a communist insurgency, the policy that enabled the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan, the policy that brought on the Iran-Iraq War. The policy that encouraged the Soviets to station 9,000 combat troops 90 miles from our shores. The same policy that encouraged Iran to hold Americans hostage for 444 days.

    Has the Obama policy countered violent extremism and insurgency, stopped the spread of nuclear weapons thus far? Are the Iranians running scared and no one told me? Are Hezbollah warriors packing their bags in Venezuela? Has al Qaeda in Iraq stopped bombing markets? Has the Pakistani Taliban ended their war on the civilian population?

    George HW Bush waited too long to take the lead while the Euro-weinies diddled over Bosnia. Clinton realized that building a consensus and “steering…currents in the direction of liberty and justice” was going to be a failure in Kosovo. The consensus of the Organization of American States was that the US should invade Grenada in 1983. Hundreds of thousands of Hutus and Tutsis died horrific deaths while the world dithered over a solution with no US leadership.

    “The international order we seek is one that can resolve the challenges of our times.” Empty words of an empty policy. If no one does anything, how can anyone be blamed for the outcome? There is no international order – if there was, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela wouldn’t stand up to the world. Even little bitty Honduras stood against world opinion last year with no repercussions (not that they were wrong, just an example).

    As if we need more proof that this is Jimmy Carter’s second term.

    Greyhawk takes issue with other parts of the President’s speech yesterday.

  • Norks threaten retaliation

    So yesterday the South Koreans presented the world with evidence that a North Korean submarine sank the South’s ship – including fragments of a North Korean torpedo. (Stars & Stripes)

    Investigators said a 130-ton “midget” North Korean submarine equipped with night vision capabilities entered the Yellow Sea undetected during the night of March 26 and fired a torpedo, causing a shock wave that ripped the ship in half.

    North Korea, however, denied involvement on Thursday and accused the South of fabricating the evidence. It warned that any punishment against the North could trigger war.

    CNN reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton states that North Korea must face consequences for it’s lawless actions;

    “I think it’s important to send a clear message to North Korea that provocative actions have consequences,” Clinton said Friday as she began a week-long Asian tour in Tokyo, Japan. “We cannot allow the attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community.”

    We can all reasonably assume that an answer by the international community will go not much further than stern glances towards the failed kingdom and some empty gestures.

    Our buddy, GI Korea at ROKDrop asks why we can’t place the 19th century fiefdom on the State-sponsors of terrorism list. Well, that would be a little too stern for this administration which has been doing it’s level best to do everything exactly the opposite of the previous administration…until that strategy ultimately fails.

    North Korea has been complicit in furthering Syria’s nuclear aspirations and helped the Iranians develop missile technology. But, the international community has done nothing but posture in response.

    Is it any wonder that the world’s rogues continue to ratchet up their antics when they can depend on toothless rhetoric as their only punishment?

  • Not enough troops in Afghanistan

    Running up to the 2008 election, we read about how Bush had neglected Afghanistan and how the war there was under-resourced. Critics, of course, rightly blamed the Bush Administration, consistently and loudly every time a report emerged which bolstered their pre-conceived notions. So what should we do with this report;

    Despite the addition of more than 50,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan over the past year, there still aren’t enough forces to conduct operations in the majority of key areas, according to a congressionally mandated report released Wednesday on progress in Afghanistan.

    Coalition forces have decided to focus their efforts on 121 key districts in Afghanistan, but right now, NATO has enough forces to operate in only 48 of those districts, the report said.

    So where is that consistent and loud criticism these days? I guess it’s better used to beat down enforcement of our immigration laws, or to complain about the folks who invest our money in a market we don’t understand. Or to complain about banks which foreclose on our houses when we don’t pay the mortgage for months or years.

    I guess it really doesn’t matter anymore that General McChrystal asked for more troops than he got;

    “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible,” U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in the document, according to the Post.

    The President and Congress sought a political compromise in a no-compromise situation. Political decisions made by amateurs have no place in the all-too-real world of fighting wars. When our foreign policy is written in the front room of the Code Pink House, we really can’t expect a different outcome than we have now.

  • Make ’em walk the plank

    Associated Press reports that 11 pirates were put on trial today in Norfolk;

    Eleven suspected pirates were indicted Friday on U.S charges of piracy and other counts related to attacks on two U.S. naval vessels off the coast of Africa.

    The indictment was unsealed an hour after the suspects were led into the federal courthouse in Norfolk under heavy security.

    One of the accused pirates had a bandaged head, while another was carried into the court building. The 11 were scheduled for a court appearance Friday afternoon.

    In addition to the piracy count, the charges include attacks to plunder a vessel, assault with a dangerous weapon, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

    Five of the men were captured March 31, after the frigate USS Nicholas exchanged fire with a suspected pirate vessel west of the Seychelles, sinking a skiff and confiscating its mother ship.

    The other six were captured after they allegedly began shooting at the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland on April 10 about 380 miles off Djibouti, a small nation facing Yemen across the mouth of the Red Sea.

    The 11 had been held on U.S. ships for weeks off Somalia’s pirate-infested coast and nearby regions as officials worked to determine whether and where they could be prosecuted and prepare legal charges against them.

    The indictment did not indicate the pirates’ nationality.

    The Somali mission to the United Nations said it is attempting to sort out jurisdictional issues.

    “We prefer those kids to be tried in Somalia,” said Omar Jamal, first secretary for the mission. “As far as we know, they are all Somalis.”

    Their futures look a thousand times brighter than it was looking in February irrespective of the outcome of the trial. They should be grateful…and what is the Somali government going to do? Give them vessel ID flash cards so they don’t mistake American warships for freighters again?

  • Tragedy for Poland

    Some of you may have already read that a plane heading for Russia crashed with no survivors. What makes this different from other tragic plane crashes is that it held the senior leadership of Poland to include the President Lech Kaczynski.

    The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland’s political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. Also killed were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.

    So this is going to be complicated in how Poland will react will to the sudden loss of these people.

    Rossiya-24 showed hundreds of people around the Katyn monument, many holding Polish flags, some weeping.

    Poland’s parliament speaker, the acting president, declared a week of national mourning. Tusk called for two minutes of silence at noon (1000GMT) Sunday.

    “The contemporary world has not seen such a tragedy,” he said.

  • University of Regina responds

    Yesterday I sent a email to the President of the University asking them continue to support Project Hero. I got a reply this afternoon. The important part is highlighted in bold.

    Mr. Andrews,

    President Timmons asked me to thank you for sharing your views with her.

    The University of Regina is participating in Project Hero to support the education needs of the children of those who have given their lives in service of the Canadian Forces. We join approximately 50 other Canadian universities and colleges who would like to smooth the path for those who might find it difficult to access post-secondary education. We plan to continue with that bursary program.

    Universities are places where diverse opinion and debate are encouraged and you are experiencing an example of that philosophy. We support our faculty in their right to express their views.

    Again, our thanks for taking the time to write.

    Barb Pollock

    Barbara L. Pollock, APR, FCPRS
    Vice-President (External Relations)
    University of Regina

    So it looks like the main staff does not appear to have any plans to end this program at the moment and something we should keep a eye on. Because if programs like Project Hero are tossed aside in Canada because petty politics then it will not be too long before we can to expect it here.

  • Project Hero and University of Regina

    There was some more thing about this story that I found to be interesting to say the least. One was this story from a guy saying that because he was a solider in the Canadian military that he can say that Project Hero is a waste of money.

    Garson Hunter teaches social work at the University of Regina and is one of the professors fighting the Project Hero scholarship fund.

    Hunter says that the dependents of fallen soldiers have post-secondary education already paid for under the Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance Act.

    The Act was created in 1953 to provide dependents of slain and disabled soldiers the opportunity to get a post-secondary education.

    “(Project Hero) comes with no (government) money. Project Hero is provided solely by the U of R,” said Hunter.

    So if you want to say that the reason is that the school needs to help other students, then explain this statement from the University.

    Barb Pollock, spokeswoman for the U of R, said the university doesn’t always know what funding may be available to certain students.

    “We don’t look at what else is available,” she said. “For example, there are many scholarships and awards that students with Aboriginal ancestry can access.”

    Pollock said the Project Hero scholarship will not stifle other scholarship opportunities.

    “Every year, there are numerous scholarships available that never get used,” she said. “Through these scholarships we try to open up our university to as many people as possible.”

    You mean that there is a large list of scholarships that are going unused? Never.

    But giving Children who have lost a parent to war is a political tool.

    “It is absolutely deplorable to use soldiers’ deaths to aggrandize military endeavors in Afghanistan,” said Hunter. “As a former soldier, I find this disgraceful.”

    I wonder if Canada has a equivalent Freedom of Information act, because right now would be a good reason to use it.

    Oh there is a facebook fan page that is protesting the actions of these professors. As of this posting it has close to three thousand members. I am sure that we can help put them over the top.

    Also I would encourage writing to the school and making a case for keeping this program.