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POPSREALITY CHECK! There is a frightening new global trend of denial... Europeans think that they don't need to limit fishing... Car companies don't think they need to improve fuel economy standards... Bush thinks he can increase spending and cut taxes at the same time... Jingoists think we are winning the war in Iraq... Democrats think Hillary Clinton has enough experience to win an election... Polluters think that Global Warming won't really happen... Evangelicals think Jesus is coming back soon... Fundamentalists think they can win the war against modernity... The truth is: we're stuck with this world. The rules DO apply. No free passes. You have to face the music sometime. We must choose realism over comfortable delusion. Unfortunately, for now, wistful thinking will rule the day until we let it all collapse around us. Then we'll stand there scratching our heads saying: How could this happen?
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POPSStrategic Disconnect: Why we are losing in Iraq This opperation strikes me as a perfect example of what has gone wrong with our occupation of Iraq, and actually of most occupations. To be a conqueror is a difficult thing. Your strength must be maintained by overwhelming military force, which is always conspicuous. The locals fight against you with inflamed hatred. Your goal is to control, their goal is simply to disrupt, which is much easier. And on top of all that, Americans are doing this from a position of extreme naivety and ignorance. It is as if this whole war is only a gedankenexperiment to them. Obviously this raid was an interesting idea, but it was also obviously destined to fail. How disconnected are the commanders if they think this is going to win the war?
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POPSHow to Win the War on Terror
This is the perfect evidence of what many people, myself included, have been saying all along. A muscular foreign policy approach only empowers extremists and terrorists. It gives them justification; it gives people reason to believe them. Why has democracy failed to take hold in Iraq? Why do the extreemists still control the country? Could it be directly linked to the US military presence that empowers the extremists? After all, in a time of war it is the most radical elements that are able to shout down the voices of reason. This also shows why an invasion of Iran, or military action against the country would be idiocy, and possibly suicide. When faced with an outside enemy, the Iranians are no different from Americans: they will unite to defend their country. If we attack Iran, the Iranians will unite against us, and we will only empower the most brutal element of society. As long as we fight against them, they will fight against us. When we stop fighting, progress begin
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POPSWrong on Taxes: Bush sells America to China Romney says McCain was wrong to vote against Bush's tax cuts. If he really believes this, then he is not a true conservative. What is the truth about Bush's tax cuts? Bush slashed the revenue of the US government to help rich people get richer. This means the government has less money to spend. But he is the greatest spendthrift in the history of American Presidents. So who is paying for all of Bush's spending? It isn't Romney, who is getting millions back in tax cuts. It's the Chinese, who are buying US Treasury bonds to gain power over the US. Look at the numbers. the Chinese have almost literally financed the Iraq war. A true conservative spends money when he has it, and when he doesn't, he works for more. Bush's extravagance has sold our economic independence to a rival nation. Does this sound like treason to you? Because it sure does to me!
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POPSThe Cost of the Iraq War: A Pundit's Guilt This is a stark moment of humanity for Christopher Hitchens, who I must admit, is not always a lovable character. He has had to soberly (or, maybe not soberly!) face the consequences of his punditry. Political opinions do not exist in a vacuum. These are not simply ideas we are talking about. This nation is overwhelmed with flippant armchair strategists on both sides who have no real understanding of what is actually going on. The Iraq War isn't a failure of American ideals, it is a disaster of well-meaning ignorance.
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POPSMemorial Day for "Loyal Bushies," Democrats & Dissidents need not apply "This is not the message Bush typically hears." That's the most alarming thing about this administration. It seems many conservatives have embraced Bush's example of willful ignorance. They depend on flattery, censorship and wishful thinking to justify their policies. A soldier who dies for his country is a hero, whether he is Democrat or Republican, whether his family supports the war or opposes it. Excluding some families of fallen soldiers on Memorial Day on the basis of political affiliations is Treason!
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POPSA Beautiful Elegy for the Buddhas of Bamyan Cohen is perhaps the most eloquent writer in the opinion pages of the International Herald Tribune. This is perhaps the most genuine and insightful appraisal of the War on Terror that I have seen to date.
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POPSCuban Reactions to Bush's Condemnation It's hard to explain how out-of-touch the Bush administration and the right-wing in general is with the rest of the world. Bush was surprised that the Cubans didn't rise up when Castro retired, and wonders why the Islamic world rejects our "democracy" (so long as you elect a pro-American buisness leader) but he never thought to ask why? Why does he know so little about the rest of the world? Why do so many people hate the political principles he holds dear? Why has the rest of the world turned against America diplomatically under his leadership? Time to stop lying to ourselves. Now!
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POPSThe Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy. This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.
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POPSKilling Missionaries - Travesty or Fair Game? Not to suggest in anyway that it is not unfortunate that these two South Koreans lost their lives, but I don't think anyone can say they can't figure out how oh how this all could ever happen. Lets face it you go into a Taleban hotbed promoting a religious Islamic state and you try to convert people to Christianity thinking you'll survive on Christ love alone occupational risks be damned - Guess what Jesus may love you but he ain't Rambo - you're on your own. Seriously when someone commits the act of disrespecting other cultures in order to propagate one's own ideology in a war zone where battle lines are drawn on ideologies, are these people victims? Or are they instead casualties to their cause? Perhaps it is time to reevaluate these global church institutions - are they really selfless? are they really performing humanitarian work? and when they get people killed are they responsible? No offense meant, and all comments welcome
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POPSDemocracy and War: From deTocqueville to Pepe Figueres I was thinking about Pepe Figueres the other day, and wondering if war was our destiny because we lacked the courage to disarm ourselves. For reference, the opening quote is from Alexis deTocqueville's Democracy In America, Book II Chapter 22 (I couldn't clip the title, but the whole book is on this website! Super cool, and useful for finding or checking that deTocqueville quote that's right on the tip of your tongue. The site also has a clever bit about how politicians have miss-attributed numerous deTocqueville quotes.)
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POPSGive Abe the Finger Well, thats nationalism for ya, apparently they'd didn't appreciate his display of affection. Poor guy.
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POPSIgnorance, Economics & Global Conflict This is a fascinating exploration of how common misunderstandings of the way economics work pervade in our society, and how these misconceptions have led to our current ill-conceived entanglements. Too much good stuff to clip, you'll have to click through to the source for the rest!
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POPSHow Did Soviet-Style Torture Become ‘Interrogation’? A Senate investigation is underway, but many of the details are surfacing already. His question is only underscored by a 1956 article, “Communist Interrogation,” in The Annals of Neurology and Psychiatry, recently turned up by the Intelligence Science Board, which advises the spy agencies.... he article shows that methods embraced after 2001 were once considered torture that would produce false information.
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POPSA Strategy not for Victory, but for Escalation The "New" Strategy that Bush has vaunted so much seems more and more to be a sinister ploy to avoid accountability. Militarily, this strategy is not feasible. While it might work in traditional warfare against an entrenched military, in the fluid dynamics of asymmetrical warfare, we are simply diving into the whirlpool. As our enemy continues to disappear into the surrounding chaos, we will become enveloped in an increasingly intractable fight to defend indefensible battle lines. I believe this is a strategy not to win the war, but simply to draw us into it so deeply that nobody can force Bush to end the war, and he can leave that as a problem for his anticipated Democratic successor.
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POPSIraq is more than just an election issue! At this point we really should be asking ourselves: what is the real objective of the Bush administration? Is he actually trying to win the war? Or simply trying to keep it going until he is out of office? Isn't the troop surge perfect evidence of this? The new strategy amounts to nothing more than simply committing more men and material to the problem without a significant re-evaluation of our overall strategy, or its shortcomings. Unfortunately, the impractical Democrat bill on spending, and their quick retreat from that position also seems to suggest that many Democrats think that an ongoing war in Iraq might be a convenient election issue next year. I will vote for no candidate who plays politics while people's lives are on the line.
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POPSSanctions for Sudan: Making the situation worse... This is what we call fighting human rights violations with human rights violations. Sanctions are nothing but cruelty to the very people we claim to be helping. Right now they cry out for help, and instead of giving it to them, we are simply ensuring that they will cry out for food as well. Sanctions are a hideous war crime in their own right, less discriminant than any bomb or bullet and with deadly effects that come much slower but last much longer. And as it has been proven time and time again, a corrupt government with dictatorial power will continue to live well and simply inflict greater cruelty on its oppressed poor. It is the duty of every citizen in every country to oppose this practice.
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POPSAn on-the-ground endictment of our Iraq strategey... I don't want to abandon the Iraqi people. But I am a realist, not some day-dreaming jingoist who thinks this is all just one more rosy Rambo movie. The truth is that we have had a critical failure of leadership, and no one is stepping forward to fill that void. Right now we don't know who we're fighting, and we don't know why they are fighting us. Until we can understand these two questions, there is no way we can begin to answer the question of how to eventually end this war. Unfortunately, no presidential candidate is even asking these questions, which to me signifies that they do not have an Iraq strategy and are not interested in developing one. That's a shame. The Democrats who compare this war to Vietnam should remember another part of that analogy: Nixon took and held his office on promises to get us out of Vietnam, but with no new ideas about the conflict, he only got us in deeper. This could happen to the Democrats as well if they aren't careful.
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POPSA quote by Ted Poe in contrast to his more recent remarks. We have become accustomed to politicians talking out both sides of their mouths, however I am truly intrigued by how people can genuinely hold two conflicting opinions at the same time. Most recently Mr. Poe has made waves for quoting Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate cavalier and founder of the KKK on the house floor. Needless to say, since Forrest led armed actions against US soldiers and police both during and after the Civil War, he certainly did not support our troops.Yet why is the Confederacy so iconic for many conservatives? Supoorting the Confederacy and what they stood for is by definition Anti-American. I will not allow my patriotism or anyone else's to be questioned by anyone praising the Stars and Bars. I support the Stars and Stripes.
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POPSSoldiers Admit: 'Iraq War is Lost' With the constant awareness, that I might be "emboldening the enemy" and am likely to be labeled defeatist or cowardly, I'm gonna post this clip anyway. The pro-warriors can stone me later... ;)
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POPSThe irony of righteous indignation... On the other hand, we don't technically have the right to detain aliens on secure military bases in foreign countries, so I guess we're all breaking some new ground here... The root of all the conflicts in the war on terror is the administration's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the humanity and equality of its opponents. In Guantanamo, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Israel, and in their policies and speeches every day, they obstinately refuse to acknowledge that these people are human, and deserve some modicum of basic human decency. Until the US learns to treat other nations with respect and equality, there can never be any progress made towards peace.
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