Rednecks and Jingoists have a quaint saying describing their ignorance perfectly: My country, right or wrong.
Just how far does that go, I wonder.
There is another old saying. Kill em all, let God sort em out.
And one more, for your listening pleasure: You reap what you sow.
Grrr
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has something to do with a head up an ass.
And the worlds richest country can’t seem to bring this kind of story to the news???? Liberal media, my ass.
(wow, two asses in one comment, do I get a prize or something?)
we’re the good guys
but this problem goes hand-in-hand with the one you essayed earlier today…’the message’…
things like nuance and detail dont really resonate with these types..and i think that’s part of ‘our’ (as blogizens) problem…
but dont let it get you down…although the ‘grrr’ might come in handy…i gotta figure that if they can be duped by the wrong message, they can just as easily be influenced by the alternative…as soon as we figure out the ‘how’..
they are not collecting depleted uranium metal parts. They are walking through water so I doubt the locals have geiger counters.
It’s my brain ‘n I don’t have to use it if’n I don’t wanta!
I thought it was silly when I lived in Canada, and even less relevant now.
I know a lot of Americans have this wistful longing to be the “good guys”, but I question whether that notion is simply incompatible with being a so called super power.
Can’t help thinking this is what Jeremiah Wright was talking about, with his list of the many heartless and needless aggressions by the US. With his, “Not God Bless America, but god damn america…” after all the hateful things we’ve done.
Three good essays on this posted at Global Research today. One, crossposted from Black Agenda Report by Glen Ford, reads:
The folks in charge of the US now have absolutely no concept of karma. But the karmic chickens will come home to roost. (Oh, I wish I had a picture of a karmic chicken)
The media should report whether his quotes have merit rather than focusing on whether they are hurting the Obama campaign. It’s never about content or analysis; always process. The media are worthless.
The Youtube video should be played on all of the networks and the reporters should demand an apology from our government.
I’m reminded of another saying that goes something like; ‘For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, obvious, and wrong.’
When I’m ‘away’ my primary news source is the BBC World Service and they cover the myriad troubles in Africa pretty extensively. The Sudan/Darfur, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, the political turmoil following last year’s election in Kenya, the ongoing contested elections in Zimbabwe, and on and on. Aids, corruption, civil war, genocide, rape as a political tool… it’s hard to imagine anything worse. It’s tough to see much light for certain regions of the “Dark Continent”, but as far as I can see the political chaos in Somalia is about as bad as it gets.
Somalia is the very definition of a failed state. There is no legitimate central authority and no infrastructure to provide aid to an impoverished population. After more than 20 years of constant war an entire generation of young Somali men are uneducated, armed, and have no concept of the rule of law except as enforced by local headmen (or warlords, cheiftains, or whatever label you wish), and their, or the jihadist militias. Internatonal aid organizations have been forced to leave or sharply curtail their efforts for their own safety, and piracy has become a way of making a living. Twice, I believe, in the last couple of years, ships chartered by the UN to deliver food aid have been siezed and their cargoes stolen, and the crews were held hostage for ransom. (that’s going to have to be an essay one of these days) Piracy has gotten so bad that every shipping company in the world has been warned not to get within 200 nautical miles of the place.
OK so it’s a tough problem, and I do believe that it is a legitimate concern that radical islamists with jihadist agendas that extend beyond Somalia are gaining sway. So what’s to be done? I’m stumped. What the hell do I know? I’m just a dumb sailor. No promising ‘home grown’ solution seems to be in the offing. Doesn’t seem that there’s anyone to make a deal with, though I’m sure there was at least a wink and a nod to the Ethiopians to kick the door a few months ago. Neither the UN nor the AU have been much help. NATO can’t get it’s shit together in Afghanistan. So ‘?’
It seems to me that lobbing a missile or bomb into a villiage is about the most counterproductve action possible. No matter how sure you are that you’ve got a “high value” legitimate target in the so called GWOT in your sights and how enamoured you are with your fancy smart weapons systems. Even if you hit what you’re aiming at you bolster support for the very folks whose influence you’re trying to curtail, and provide the kind of story posted. Just look to our own history, or ask the Israelis how well that tactic has worked over time.
BTW, Here’s an interesting example from just this last month of not heeding the advisory for ships, even luxury cruise ships, to keep away from Somalia. The French navy and special forces were prompted to intervene on this one, so we’re not the only ones. They did do a better job than the ham handed potshot we seem to specialize in.
And here’s a relevant story from the BBC.
I’m probably a little more hawkish than most of you here. I don’t really have a problem with fighting the “so called global war on terror”. I have a BIG problem with fighting it badly.