I’m curious about a few things; there’s some news I don’t feel I’ve been getting lately, being fairly preoccupied. Many of you here are closer to the news sources, possibly you can tell me some things about the way things are perceived there. I know this is not nearly as exciting as fellatio, cunnilingus, and the ever-popular anal sex, but I really am curious about what slants the media are presenting on these things.
One thing I can offer is that the US is moving to extend its “training exercise” in the Southern Philippines and increase the commitment from 600+ troops to close to 1000. This I think is not a good sign. They’ve been chasing a group of under 100 bandits with two American hostages around Basilan – not a big island – for quite a few weeks, and come up with nothing more than a few grainy photos. They are operating under severe constraints, and I think it unlikely that they will be able to accomplish their mission (barring good luck) without breaking those constraints, which in turn would have serious consequences. I will provide details if anyone is curious; I tend to run on a bit when dealing with things Philippine. It’s not a situation to cause anyone immediate pain, but it’s not a situation which is going particularly well either.
But on to the questions, trying to make complicated things simple….
Looking at the Middle East problem (as always), it seems to me that our Bush has been left looking a bit like a teenager with his dick in his hand. Sharon has openly defied him and gotten away with it, which is not a regional prestige-builder. The Palestinians have succeeded in shifting the ME focus from a potential attack on Iraq to their conflict with Israel. Washington has been placed on a reactive rather than an active footing, and the Iraq operation seems to be getting shifted to the back burner. In this sense the Israelis have given the terrorists exactly what they wanted. I suspect that the escalation in suicide bombings was intended to do exactly what it has done: provoke a response that is driving a wedge between the US and the allies the US needs to pursue further military action in the ME. The suicide bombing campaign and the response it predictably provoked have simultaneously built tension between the US and Israel and between the US and its Muslim allies. If that was indeed the purpose of the campaign, it has to be accounted a success.
How do people there see it?
And what’s going on in Afghanistan lately, particularly in the realm of civil administration? Is anything resembling a functioning Government emerging? Is the Northern Alliance still allied, or are fractures showing? The news seems to have gone a bit quiet on all this.
What’s being said lately about the prospect of war with Iraq? Has anyone proposed a plausible post-Saddam policy? Why is it that none of the hawks around here seem to have anything to say about what might do after we get Saddam? |
