Friday, March 27, 2015

Kit's Thoughts: Foreign Affairs and Some Books

by Kit

I didn't have anything planned today (schoolwork) so instead I am going to do another foreign affairs round-up. Call it "An Occasional Look at the Mess Obama Has Gotten America Into Around the World with Some Stuff on Books."

The title needs work. So, let's start with…


Yemen

As you might be aware Yemen has undergone quite a lot in recent months. The Iranian-backed Houthis shot their way into the capital city and seized the parliament building, declaring a new government. The US withdrew its personnel from the area. The situation has deteriorated to the point where a UN official declared Yemen to be "on the edge of civil war."

Such a statement is, of course, false. Saying a country is "on the edge of civil war" implies it is not already in a civil war. It is like saying after the Battle of Bull Run that the United States was "on the edge of civil war." The civil war has already begun.

And it is becoming a proxy war between the Saudi-backed Sunni fighters and the Iran-backed Shiite Houthis as Saudi Arabia is now not only launching air strikes at Houthi targets inside Yemen, but massing troops at its border. The US, under Obama's leadership (presumably), is right now backing the Saudis. Of course, this means we are probably backing by proxy a group quacks with a philosophy close to ISIS but the alternative is a group of quacks bound to Iran, so it's a bit of a lose-lose right now unless we could set up a functioning, secular(-ish) government. But a Saudi-backed government in Yemen is preferable to an Iranian-backed government in Yemen.

Now Yemen is no stranger to proxy wars. During the 1960s it was home to a proxy war between the Saudi-backed Royalists and the Republicans backed-up by Nasser's Egypt, who sent troops to the country in what historian Michael B. Oren called, "an entanglement so futile and fierce that the imminent Vietnam War could have easily been dubbed America's Yemen." Guerrilla warfare and all the hallmarks of nasty, third-world fighting; chemical warfare, villages wiped out, brutal torture of prisoners, etcetera.

Now, to my knowledge neither the Saudis nor the Houthis have used chemical weapons —yet. Neither party may want the bad press. Houthis gassing Sunnis may create some bad press for Iran as well as some uncomfortable questions as to how they attained those chemical weapons, which would make a US-Iran deal harder for Obama. Of course, seeing as how things worked out for Assad when he crossed Obama's red line by launching a chemical attack they might decide, "Hey, why not?" The Saudis gassing Shiites would definitely throw a wrench into the US-Saudi relationship but given how unpredictable Obama has been in the realm of foreign affairs they too might decide, "Hey, why not?"

Oh, I should mention that this country, which is the Lebanon of the Arab peninsula, was previously called a "model" of Obama's counter-terrorism policy by the White House. A bit embarrassing.

Iraq

US launched airstrikes on Tikrit to support an Iraqi offensive. Things took an interesting turn of events when the Shiite militias backed off with the US claiming we asked them to hold off during the air strikes but some of the militia fighters claimed they held off to protest US involvement, with one militia spokesman* saying, "We are able to conclude the battle ourselves but the US came to usurp our victory." I got nothing.

*Spokesman? Do these Iraqi militias have PR departments, now?

Ukraine

Still a mess. But things took a turn for the bizarre (and comical) when the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament attempted a pathetic version of the Zimmerman Telegram vowed to send arms to Mexico if the US sent weapons to Ukraine in order to help Mexico regain the lands it lost in the Mexican-American War.

You read that right. And the story appears on Newsweek, Radio Free Europe, and Moscow Times so I think this story is legit. And pathetic.

By the way, we should be sending arms to Ukraine. Or something more than night vision goggles.

In Sum

Now, not all of this is necessarily Obama's fault. Yemen would be a basket case even without Obama, it has been that way for decades. But between his "reset" with Russia and his refusal to do anything when Assad drove a steam-roller over the red line and everything else it is safe to say that if Obama were following different policies towards Russia, the Middle East, and everywhere else half the stuff I described would be nowhere near as bad as it is.

And the thing about foreign policy is that mistakes cost lives, often in the thousands. The conflicts in Iraq and Ukraine have each cost several thousand human lives, many of them civilian. And they will continue to cost lives throughout the decade, maybe beyond. Such is the cost of incompetence.

Books

How about something cheerier?

Read Max Boot's most recent book, Invisible Armies, an excellent history of terrorism and guerrilla warfare going back to the days of Persia and Rome. He points out that (1) Guerrilla, or irregular, warfare is not "asian" and terrorism is not modern but is instead the "warfare of the weak" practiced by those unable to field conventional armies be they indigenous nomads, mid-20th century nationalists in Vietnam, or bomb-throwing anarchists during the fin de siècle and (2) they are not impossible to defeat. Some succeed like the Viet Cong in the 1960s-70s and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870s but most fail. They are doing slightly better in the modern day but still have trouble. Some, like FARC, have spent decades fighting for their goal but are no closer to it than the day they launched their war.

I am now reading The Conservatarian Manifesto by Charles C.W. Cooke, a British-American writer at National Review. The book was written with a certain group of people in mind, people whom he said "feel like libertarians when they are with conservatives and conservatives when with libertarians," some of whom have begun calling themselves "conservatarians." An obvious portmanteau of "conservative" and "libertarian." So far it is a pretty good book but I am only on chapter 3, about federalism, so I have quite a ways to go. I will tell you about it when I finish.

Two other books I have read recently:

(1) Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas by Jonah Goldberg: This one is very much like his Liberal Fascism but, whereas Liberal Fascism was an (entirely successful) attempt to point out the ties between fascism and modern progressivism, Tyranny of Clichés is a history of liberal evasions and word games such as "only being interested in what works," "violence never solves anything," and others, including stuff about the Catholic Church and "Social Justice".

(2) Seven Deadly Virtues: 18 Conservative Writers on Why the Virtuous Life is Funny as Hell edited by Jonathan V. Last: This one is more in line with the traditionalist strain of conservative writing rather than the Classical Liberal strain so the result is sometimes pessimistic but most of the time the writers are so good at laying out the case for classical, old time virtues and values such as 7 Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Courage, Temperance, Hope, Charity, and Faith as well as some other small but still important virtues such as Chastity, Forbearance, and Perseverance. Writers include Jonah Goldberg, Rob Long, P.J. O'Rourke, and, writing the last essay, on Perseverance, Christopher Buckley, who shows he has at least a modicum of his old man's talent with the pen. I highly suggest it, if only for that essay.

So, there it is. Discuss this or whatever you wish. The events around the world I've described, the ever-hastening decline of Pax Americana, or some book you've recently read. This is a sort-of open thread.

Discuss Away!

34 comments:

Kit said...

Wow, that went longer than I expected…

AndrewPrice said...

Obama's foreign policy has been much worse than Bush's... which was itself horrible. The only difference is that you don't have leftists and the MSM constantly trying to tear Obama down.

At this point, we have almost no true allies left and even fewer who will actually help us because they don't trust us anymore.

Kit said...

Bush looks hyper-competent compared to Obama.

Hell, at this point Bush had already changed course in Iraq by firing Rumsfeld, kicking Casey upstairs, and putting Petraeus in charge of Iraq. He realized his current policy was not working.

Obama seems to have doubled-down.

Robert L. Hedd said...

And nothing will change as long as O gets no pushback from the media. Just yesterday his spokesidiot claimed that they still believe the reforms the O WH put in place in Yemen are proof that it is a singular success story in the region. This as it is being bombed by the Saudis (our ostensible allies in the region), the leaders has fled for his life and thousands of civilians are once again getting slaughtered. Yeah....a real f'ing success Josh.

In my dreams I see these press idiots at these "conferences" stand up immediately after a bold-faced lie like the above and state "Are you f'ing serious?! You expect us to believe that b.s. when we see with our own eyes the direct contradiction of everything you claim?!"

Also, I love how all these libs now claim to be the arbiters of what the military ethos is and has been for centuries. "We don't leave any soldiers behind." Someone should ask them if we left any soldiers behind in Vietnam. And if we didn't, what are "POW's?" and "MIA's?"

I'm sick of these fools. They have accomplished what they have always wanted for this country...total chaos with a neutered opposition party. “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” - 'George Orwell, Animal Farm'

A more prescient vision was never more true. And the biggest concern is that the sanctimonious fools will get away with it and slink off into their comfortable retirement garnered from all the corruption and graft they've accumulated over their 'political' careers.

Bob

Critch said...

So we're fighting a war in Iraq alongside Iran against Isis, but we're backing the Saudis in Yemen against Iran...?? I'm confused....I thought that Obama was so smart that he knew how not to get us involved in stuff like this...

Critch said...

On another note: A crazy pilot just killed 149 innocent people without the use of a gun....

BevfromNYC said...

It is being reported in the Israel news that the US has declassified long held top secret knowledge of Israel's nuclear program. Now, their nuclear program has been a well know secret for years, but the US deemed that info as a secret as an ally....what is Obama's endgame here?

Kit said...

Obama's endgame with Israel is to hurt Netanyahu as much as possible for embarrassing him on Iran and to hurt Israel as much as possible for re-electing Netanyahu.

Kit said...

It is purely personal spite.

AndrewPrice said...

OT: Harry Reid will not seek re-election! :D

Kit said...

Andrew,

And there was much rejoicing.

BevfromNYC said...

Kit - that's what I think too...pure spiteful hissy fit. And it is also being reported that the US-Iran nuclear deal will be announced this weekend...as Obama leaves WH to go golfing...or maybe defecting to Iran. It's anyone's guess.

BevfromNYC said...

Kit - The real point of the "Hey, why not"'s is that they know that Obama will do nothing. Because without a real, credible threat from the "Leader Of The Free World", there is no way to get them to back down. That's what makes Obama so stupid. Every despot in the world and ALL of our allies know that Obama is just making pointless empty threats.

Russian military bombers having buzzing the North Sea and have been intercepted by pretty much every country with a Navy in EU...and suibmarines/jets from Russia near Canada in the Arctic Circle.
Putin and Kim Jong Un met this week. Yay!

He has not followed through on one single threat...except as related to Israel where he has...oh, nevermind....

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew and Kit - Harry knows he would lose...badly. He's chosen to walk away a winner and keep all that campaign dough. He'll be okay.

Kit said...

Bev,

It is harder to imagine a more incompetent President.

I think the "Red Line" in Syria was the moment he truly began to lose credibility on the world stage. He should've at least bombed something. Even launching a couple of cruise missiles would've been helpful. Instead he handed the situation over to Assad's ally, Russia, who did not even give Assad a slap on the wrist.

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, Don't tell Obama to bomb something. You wouldn't like his target list... the American South, the House, Israel, etc.

BevfromNYC said...

He'd probably bomb Boston Harbor just to get back at those evil Tea Partiers...

BevfromNYC said...

OT...again - Oh, btw way, a report was just released by the Southern Poverty Law Center that includes a map of hate groups by state. It was interesting that the top three were California, Florida, New Jersey/New York (tie)...all kinda' blue states.

More interesting is that the number of hate groups in states South of the Mason/Dixon line (except Florida) were half what NY/NJ/CA have. I'm thinging they may have to change their name to Liberal/Blue State Poverty Law Center

I will be writing on this topic next week...

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I am not surprised. I look forward to your article!


BTW, this will make you happy... Saudi Arabia now wants a nuke too.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew - Well, at least Israel can now be open and honest about their longstanding nuclear capabilities. I expect if the deal goes through this week end and Iran gets all that it wants, then Israel will probably just nuke 'em. Heck, why not? This is all turning into some really bad version of a Tom Lehrer song... or Armeggedon...I'll go with Tom Lehrer song.

Kit said...

Bev,

On the SPLC; from what I know their way of recording an increase in hate groups is that they record solely based on the number of hate groups. The result is it can sometimes go as follows.

One hate splits into two different hate groups over ideology, money, disagreements over who should succeed a dead leader, or leader sleeping with one guy's sister or something. Now you have two hate groups: The White People's Popular Front and the Popular Front of White People.

Judean People's Front and the People's Front of Judea and the Judean Popular Front.

BevfromNYC said...

That's true Kit - They list each "hate group" by name and category of "hate'. What separates CA and NY/NJ from the others is there are many more non-white and non-Christian-eque hate groups added into the mix that wouldn't be very active in non-urban Southern areas. It might surprise many liberals to know just how active the KKK is in the Northeast (and always has been...)

Critch said...

The largest KKK ever organized was in Indiana,,,

Kit said...

A crazy week for news.

Amanda Knox's conviction overturned by the Italian Supreme Court.

BevfromNYC said...

How many times has Knox been convict and exonerated now?

Kit said...

Bev,

I think everyone has lost count.

BevfromNYC said...

Kind of makes one appreciate our double jeopardy laws in the US, doesn't it? I believe she was found not guilty in the first trial. Though I am not absolutely certain that she is completely innocent...

Kit said...

Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore and probably one of the most brilliant (and controversial) statesmen of the 20th century, has died this week.

Unlike Leftist dictators such as Mao and Castro he turned his small island city-state into a thriving global economy.

And while he did suppress dissent (he was not controversial for nothing) also unlike Castro and Mao he didn't turn his country into a backward mass grave, instead using… libel law suits (which he always won).

He also caned people who committed vandalism, which apparently makes him a brute on the level of Hitler to some.

Rustbelt said...

I just looked up caning in Singapore. It seems women are exempt from caning as punishment for crime.

Where's the outrage?! I demand equality before the law now! This country is in need of some serious women's lib!

Anthony said...

The US admitting Israel has nukes is like Hillary admitting Bill has a wandering eye (and hand and....). Everyone and their grandmother knows it, but the open acknowledgement means things between the two principles are going sour(er).

Anthony said...

Some sick freaks in this video, and not just the three black thugs that attacked the white guy.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/28/us/st-louis-metrolink-beating/index.html

Kit said...

Anthony,

That is disgusting.

Kit said...

Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, was on Meet the Press and attempted to defend Hillary Clinton and claim the criticisms are part of a Republican "scandal machine." Even Chuck Todd wasn't buying it.
LINK

Koshcat said...

I am way behind but...

Good post. With regard the Yemen, at this point I am still not convinced who would be a better ally long term: the Persians or the Arabs. Personally, I have more faith (pun!) in the former but it is primarily based on the people I have personally met from the region.

Lately I have been avoiding political books. I just finished reading Being Mortal which is very good and recommend it to all. I am currently reading Paradise Lost. Much better than I expected.

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