between assad and a hard place

I am really confused, so I thought I'd try to work things out in this post and get some help from our always astute commenters.

Months ago BHO said chemical weapons were a red line and warned Assad not to use them.

Recently, according to BHO, Assad did just that.

Now, virtually everyone I know is going nuts, vociferously objecting to a strike against Assad.

I don't get it. To me, if you are against US military retaliation for the use of chemical weapons, the time to go nuts was months ago when BHO said what he said.

Given that he said it, with no take back, what the hell else is he supposed to do but strike Assad?

Now sure, he's making a complete bollox of it, and it is likely to be militarily weak and ineffective, but really, he has no choice but to do it. What's he supposed to do, say, "LOL, I was just kidding. Gas away, my friend."

So I don't understand why people waited until now to go nuts.

Maybe they think BHO is pulling a Bush-Cheney and fibbing about the use of chemical weapons?

God help me, but I think that's unlikely. BHO clearly doesn't really want to do this, so I think the evidence is likely pretty strong (NB: Jeff Sachs disagrees).

Maybe people think that BHO and by extension US foreign policy already has zero credibility, so it doesn't matter if BHO walks this back?

Certainly many people I know are 140 character mocking the argument that US credibility is at stake. But BHO has also told the ayatollah that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. If he doesn't follow through with respect to Assad, it certainly won't help his efforts to keep the ayatollah out of Club Nuke, will it? And that's a club we don't want the ayatollah in, do we?

So while I would not have ever gone about it the way BHO has, I do think that chemical weapons use deserves a strong sanction (not necessarily military though), and given where BHO has put us (see post title), I think he has no choice but to strike Assad.

BHO should have had a response prepared for this eventuality before he ever talked about the red line.  He was reckless and arrogant to think his words would not be tested. But it is what it is and we are where we are......

What's your solution? Tell me in the comments.

This is Pretty Disgusting

So, this triumphalist video.  It's more than a little disgusting.  Why exactly do we need to do this?



Note the map: These two bases are very close to the border...of the freakin' CZECH REPUBLIC! Those vicious Czech hordes may pour over the border in the soft underbelly of Bavaria any moment.

Close the bases.  Now.  Bring all the troops, and their mighty Strker vehicles, home.  From Germany, Japan, and a dozen other places.

When I was in Bavaria in 2009, I asked quite a few people if they thought it was time the American occupying army left.  They said no.  Because the "benefits" of these military bases were so large.

Let the Germans have their own army to defend against the Czechs.  They can afford to write all those "checks" to EU countries.  WTF is the US doing in Germany?

Thanks to Mr. Fox.
 

Obama's Books: Good Enough to Buy, But Not to Read?

A strange juxtaposition of two stories.

1. U.S. taxpayers pay for more than 7,000 copies of Pres O's books. Mostly "Dreams from My Father," apparently.

2. Those same books have been banned as subversive and objectionable, containing material "potentially detrimental to national security"

Now, I should say two things. I thought "Audacity of Hope" was more like "The Mendacity of a Dope," a load of ideological pap. But "Dreams From My Father" is terrific book, very moving, honest. (Well, maybe not honest, exactly, but coming across as honest). I read DFMF twice, and really liked it.

Second, the fact that Prez O's books were banned as "detrimental" doesn't mean much. In the supermax setting, newspapers and books that contain any passages that even refer to foreign policy are banned.

Still, it does seem odd that these two things are happening together. Our embassies are handing out the book to foreigners as inspirational, UNLESS those foreigners happen to be in jail.

(Nod to the Blonde)

Not just our S.O.B.

It turns out that the US government will have to get in line to give love to "reformer" Bashar Assad:

Turns out that Assad "is a humanist, doctor, educated in London, in no way an extremist; he is a man of great human sensitivity,"

--Hugo Chavez

Why do so many hereditary dictators in training like to add "educated in London" to their resumes??

Our S.0.B.?

So Hillary says what happened in Libya won't happen in Syria because our government believes Bashar Assad to be a "reformer".

Jeebus help us!

Nice to just rule out intervention or support for the opposition ex-ante. Nice to let Bashar know we've got his thuggish, brutal, back.

Look, I don't care anymore about our perceived "strategic interests" in the region, I want to see all the dictators there fall including the House of Saud!

Yes, things may get worse in the short run, but it's the only way things can ever get better in the long run.

Nobel Peace Prize incarceration watch

1. Currently incarcerated:

LIU XIAOBO China 2010

MOHAMED ELBARADEI Egypt 2005

2. Out for now but inevitably will be re-incarcerated soon

AUNG SAN SUU KYI, Burma 1991

3. Should be thrown in the slammer ASAP and the key conveniently misplaced

HENRY A. KISSINGER, USA 1973

neo-neo-colonialism?

In a stunningly ignorant article in today's WSJ, Bret Stephens calls for the re-colonization of selected countries:

"some new version of colonialism may be the best thing that could happen to at least some countries in the post-colonial world"

He's not totally specific; he names Haiti, Ivory Coast & Sudan, but also says "Post-colonial Africa has seen the future. As often as not it looks like Zimbabwe".

Wow.

Then there's this:

"The colonialists of yore may often have been bigots, but they were also, just as often, doers. Their colonies were better places than the shipwrecked countries that we have today".

Holy Crap.

First, sub-Saharan Africa is actually improving on governance on the whole, not digressing. Second, colonialism helped create the conditions that plague the region like artificial borders, ginned up ethnic rivalries, diminished local capacities and so on. Third, "sure they were bigots, but they got things done"? Really? We are going to use "the trains ran on time" as a serious argument?

Finally, as to the colonies being "better places" than their current independent counterparts, I have to ask, better for who? Has Bret ever read about the colonial experience of the Congo? Has he ever heard of apartheid?

This guy should be fired, ASAP.

ZOMG: Steve Sailer just found out there are "white people" in Mexico

The post is here and well worth reading.

The school in question is Monterrey Tech in Mexico. Robin and I have both taught classes there at the original campus in Monterrey.

It always amazed me when, while we lived in Mexico, people there would frequently criticize the US for racism and then go ballistic when I suggested that a similar phenomenon existed in Mexico.

But people, exist it does. By and large, those photos are what rich Mexicans look like.

The tall & light vs. short & brown divide is immense. I wonder when modern Mexico will get its Alejandro Toledo or Evo Morales (of course they had theirs back in the day, the inimitable Benito Juarez).

I thank an anonymous faithful reader of Sailer's blog for the pointer.

The Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistani Studies

Yes, really. THAT Charlie Wilson. Interesting that it is "Pakistani Studies," yes?

The University of Texas at Austin--The Charles N. Wilson Chair in Pakistani Studies

The Department of Government invites applications from distinguished senior scholars for appointment to the Charles N. Wilson Chair in Pakistani Studies. This is the first privately endowed chair of its kind at a US public university and honors the late Congressman from Texas. The successful candidate will hold a tenured position in the Department of Government and is expected to carry out research directed at understanding the geo-political importance of Pakistan, provide intellectual leadership on campus promoting the study of Pakistan’s culture, history, and literature, teach effectively at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and perform service for the department, the College of Liberal Arts, and the University. Applicants must have a PhD in hand at the time of appointment. Candidates must demonstrate a record of excellence and agenda for research contributions to the field of Pakistani Studies and teaching at the college level. Position funding is pending budgetary approval.

Interested parties should send a letter of application and vitae to: Professor Gary Freeman, Chair, Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A1800, Austin, TX 78712-0119. The priority deadline is October 1, however applications will be accepted until the position has been filled. A background check will be conducted for successful applicants. AA/EEO employer.


Gary P. Freeman
Professor and Chair of Government
University of Texas at Austin

(Nod to Chateau)

Apparently sombody is not an Obama fan

People check out this cartoon by Steven Pastis (the strip is called Pearls Before Swine):


As always, you can click the pic for a larger image and thanks to "Not a Sheep" for the pointer!

Funny sentences about the Euro Crisis

One is funny on purpose and one is funny - yikes!

"Beware of Greeks burning thrifts"

--Mary Anastasia O'Grady in today's WSJ.

“The situation was already starting to get worse on Thursday afternoon and throughout Friday of the week before last, a number of markets were no longer functioning correctly."

--Feckless ECB president J. C. Trichet as quoted by Tyler this morning.

Mary O's is astoundingly clever. I apparently have underrated her.

J.C.'s is funnier but scarier. He sees not lending to broke-ass governments = not functioning correctly.

This just in: the 22nd amendment does NOT apply to Haiti

Leave it to Slick Willie to find a loophole and get back in the saddle:

"On April 15, the Haitian Parliament ratified a law extending by 18 months the state of emergency that President René Préval declared after the earthquake of January 12. The Parliament also formally ceded its powers over finances and reconstruction, during the state of emergency, to a foreign-led Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (CIRH). The CIRH's mandate is to direct the post-earthquake reconstruction of Haiti through the $9.9 billion in pledges of international aid, including approving policies, projects, and budgeting. The World Bank will manage the money.

The majority of members on the CIRH are foreign. The criterion for becoming a foreign voting member is that the institution has contributed at least $100 million during two consecutive years, or has cancelled at least $200 million in debt. Others who have given less may share a seat. The Organization of American States and non-governmental organizations working in Haiti do not have a vote.

The CIRH is headed by U.N. Special Envoy Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. The only accountability or oversight measure is veto power by Préval. Few expect him to employ his veto option, both because his record is not one of challenging the international aid apparatus, and because of possible repercussions, in terms of the dollar flow, by the CIRH."

Yikes!!!!

Hat tip to LeBron.

give us Barabbas

for we will not have this man rule over us!

And here's why:

by the way, Bryan Caplan is totally wrong, at least about the Japanese electorate. Dude wore that shirt in public and his approval rating dropped 9 points. That, people, is what we call hyper-rational politics.

note: more fun photos at the first link!

Hey Moneybags!

This website shows your own personalized place in the world income distribution.

It's simultaneously fun and unsettling.

and a mighty slow line it is....

(click on image to enlarge, hat tip to Art C.)

Germany Blinks

Wow.

I admit I am shocked (but not awed). The Euro Nations have put together a large ($1 trillion or so) contingency fund to defend their common currency and stock markets are so far rejoicing.

But what shocks me is the fact that the ECB (European Central Bank) is now going to be directly buying government debt.

In other words, goodbye Central Bank Independence, hello Weimar 2.0???

I would call this Wow and Yikes, not Shock and Awe.

What do you think I am, a cuttlefish?

I am very late to this party, and for that I apologize, but have y'all seen the "green porn" and "seduce me" videos by Isabella F. Rossellini on the Sundance Channel?

Freaky-deaky to say the least.

Here is the homepage, where you can learn about the genitalia of ducks and the lack of genitalia of female bedbugs courtesy of a deranged Italio-Swede actress.

As Tyler would say, it's self-recommending!

what if Yakov Smirnov had been from North Korea?

I think things would have gone much like this.

Here is my favorite:

Chang Man Yong works on a collective farm in North Korea. He goes fishing, gets lucky, and brings a fish home. Happy about his catch, he tells his wife: "Look what I've got. Shall we eat fried fish today?"

The wife says: "We've got no cooking oil!"

"Shall we stew it, then?"

"We've got no pot!"

"Shall we grill it?"

"We've got no firewood!"

Chang Man Yong gets angry, goes back to the river, and throws the fish back into the water.

The fish, happy to have had such a narrow escape, sticks its head out of the water and cheerfully yells: "Long live General Kim Jong Il!"

Hat tip to LeBron!

Has it really come to this?

We are now going to give awards to soldiers who don't kill innocent civilians?

Really?

Really!!

NATO commanders are weighing a new way to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan: recognizing soldiers for "courageous restraint" if they avoid using force that could endanger innocent lives.

The concept comes as the coalition continues to struggle with the problem of civilian casualties despite repeated warnings from the top NATO commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, that the war effort hinges on the ability to protect the population and win support away from the Taliban.

Those who back the idea hope it will provide soldiers with another incentive to think twice before calling in an airstrike or firing at an approaching vehicle if civilians could be at risk.


People, please join me and other libertarians around the world in deploring and protesting these senseless, state-sanctioned murders.

Ode on a Grecian Burn

The Greek bailout is proceeding apace. Their budget deficit was again revised upward and their bond rating accordingly again revised downward, so their debt refinancings are getting ever closer and more expensive. The EU and the IMF are committing around 40 billion Euros in funds.

But, is this a good idea?

Not many people believe the package is big enough to avoid a future restructuring of Greek debt, and now the Fund and the EU will be at the front of the line of creditors.

The Greek economy with its inflexible labor market, low productivity, low R&D spending, corruption, and bloated government sector desperately needs reform. While the Germans are insisting on "tough conditions", giving the money obviously reduces the pressure on the Greek polity to reform. It also reduces the pressure on the Portuguese and Spanish polities to reform as once the bailout lamp has been lit, it is not credible to say "we won't do it again". People, you know I'm talking 'bout moral hazard!

Further, things are so badly out of whack that it is not clear any set of reforms, no matter how tough, can fix the problem. To me, the choice between defaulting now or taking on a bunch of additional debt only to default later is a no brainer: just do it!

Paul Blustein's excellent book on the Argentine crisis shows how delaying the inevitable can just make things worse, and Greece is in much worse shape than Argentina was.

The argument in favor of giving the bailout and having Greece muddle on, to me, is that European banks have a large exposure to Greek debt and are still fragile from the recent crisis. A Greek default might re-start a general European banking crisis, putting the relatively solvent governments back on the hook anyway. The bailout thus buys time for banks to adjust their balance sheets in an orderly fashion.

In a way, the early attempts to deal with the Latin American debt crisis in the 80s worked this way, but the cost to the debtor nations of stringing out the process was considerable.

People, the only thing that can save Greece is an extremely large hot tub time machine. Lacking that, they should choose the least bad of a set of very bad alternatives, which is, in my opinion default and restructure now.