Month: February 2010

Recommended Reading (2010-02-28) – SUNDAY Edition

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New propaganda poster from the Second Artillery Corps, the land-based ballistic missile unit of the People’s Liberation Army (via War is Boring).

– Shades of Scott Brown: remember that impending Tory victory? Turns out it might not happen after all (via Harry’s Place).

– Charlotte Allen takes on the modern dating game, including its neo-Neanderthals. Regression? Lateral movement? A trend that is nothing else if not hilarious.

– Slate answers the question we’ve all been asking ourselves: does Afghanistan have phone books?

– Naval jihad in the Gulf of Aden. Constant exchanges between Yemen and Somalia. Reclaiming the Bab al Mandat Strait for Islam. And it’s much more effective than we thought:

An AQAP-HSM coalition would not have to actually block the 18-mile wide sea corridor…. Instead, all they have to do is conduct some kind of operation that permeates a far greater psychological threat internationally.

– A bit older, but the New Yorker did a piece on “neuro-enhancing drugs” last year that’s absolutely perfect. Dead-on. I think I recognized myself in at least three of the article’s subjects.

– Now that Multicam’s been officially approved, Oakley has put out a pair of ridiculously fly boots. But I doubt they make them in a 16 (via Strike – Hold!).

– A fascinating overview of how the recession has impacted migration in America. Massachusetts better off than New Hampshire? New York seeing more inflow than Vermont? And the world is upside down.

Reliving the Past

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As Herbert Butterfield warns us and as I’ve mentioned here before, past performance is no guarantee of future results.  I was then pleased to read Patrick Porter’s latest column, “The Shadow of the Fathers.” He writes about invocations of the Founding Fathers as justification for all manner of… anything, really. To him, American policymakers have “the tricky job of acknowledging the powerful ideas and heritage that shaped American statecraft, while also resisting it.”

Perhaps my favorite line in the piece, though, belonged to Nicholas Spykman:

Not conformity with the past but workability in the present is the criterion of a sound policy.

Words for today.

Many Happy Returns

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At the risk of sending this backup laptop to join my other in the great trash heap in the sky, I think I’m ready to make a comeback (but don’t call it that). The damage to the other one – melting – was a little too significant to make replacing the power assembly alone feasible. Here’s what the outside looked like:

So yeah, the end of an era it is. But now I have a spare up and running (though it has monitor/screen issues of its own), and hopefully can keep doing this for a while. I’ve got lots of ideas ready to go.

Abdication

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The grim future of a world without net neutrality

The government won’t push for it. The existing near-monopolies have no incentive to change. So who steps up? Google, of course. Google’s plan to offer internet services at the blisteringly-fast speeds of up to 1 GB/s could finally revolutionize the American broadband network. As a bottleneck for innovation, the archaic state of internet infrastructure obviously needs improvement. South Korea leads the world in internet speeds, with a 100 Mbps fiber optic line scheduled to come online nationwide this year. The United States didn’t make the top ten – it was 18th in the world with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps.

But no one will act (even though Google’s been prodding telecom companies), and the government won’t push anyone to act.

The risks of lagging behind are comparable to net neutrality in terms of stifling new developments, which is why it may seem weird to call for more regulation. But the regulation that would help only need set a baseline for acceptable quality and service.

This kind of wide push for faster internet service works on a number of levels:

  1. It allows for new growth, research, and innovation.
  2. It keeps the U.S. on equal footing with the rest of the world.
  3. It allows us to avoid ridiculously hyperbolic nightmare scenarios like the “bandwidth caps” Mark Cuban envisions (and I won’t even begin to take apart his prediction of our computerless-future).
  4. New infrastructure work, especially as part of a comprehensive federal plan, will a) allow/mandate simultaneous rural development, always a must in the expanse of the United States, and something any corporation is loathe to take on of its own volition (the per capita subscription rate really can’t justify it, but thanks to equal representation in the Senate is a necessity nonetheless), and b) create jobs. Let’s also not forget those 93 million Americans without broadband access at all, whom Cuban’s market-based solutions have clearly left behind.

As Google is proving though, the federal government has little interest in sweeping technology improvements across the country. A Reaganesque privatization this is not. The government has merely ceded responsibility to the private sector yet again.

One Man’s Malaise is Another’s Motivation

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We’ll see if I can’t get up and running more regularly, but this is such an accurate quote to describe the lack of anything being undertaken in Congress that I needed to risk another meltdown:

Members of Congress—including seven Republicans who had proposed the idea—were even too chicken to vote for a bipartisan commission. This is the political equivalent of being too timid to take a nap.

I’ve jury-rigged the laptop to work in spurts while I wait for my backup to get sent, so I’ll have a semi-regular selection of new material for you. But hell, this one post alone has made my week more productive than the United States Congress.

Hurry Up… and Wait

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Right now I’m dealing with some serious computer difficulties. The key word here is ‘melting’, and you never want to hear that in conjunction with electronic equipment. I don’t know whether I’m in for repairs or replacements, but a heads-up: I might not be posting for a little while, or at the least, very infrequently. It won’t last months, but at least a week or more I should think. Thanks for reading; stay tuned.

Recommended Reading (2010-02-14) – SUNDAY Edition

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"The scariest unemployment graph this year."

It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in five years.

–John von Neumann, 1949

– Don Peck sees a grim future for the American economy. Persistent joblessness and relatively high employment will most likely continue to reign for at least the next decade. And the current generation of recent graduates? Yeah, we’re pretty much screwed. Get ready for depression, heavy drinking, and lifetime of mental scarring (via Sullivan).

– Are you an eccentric billionaire? If so, maybe you too can buy a former closed Soviet city in Latvia. And how much might this set you back? Only $3.1 million. Man, has the housing bubble burst (via Disinformation).

– The New York Times has a must-read piece about the battle between Christianity and secularism on the Texas School Board. It’s argued that “we’re a Christian nation,” etcetera etcetera. Religious lunatics are everywhere these days.

– Israel’s legitimacy is under attack everywhere (especially Britain). But even for those who support and defend Israel, and don’t question its right to exist, arguing on its behalf can be troublesome:

Anti-Semites will never be appeased and are not worth engaging on Israel. But to those people who simply care about basic human values, how do you answer “Why does Israel keep expanding its settlements into areas it knows it would have to evacuate in any peace deal?” How can any reasonable person see “Sudan has killed hundreds of thousands of people” or accusations of anti-Semitism against any critic of Israel as anything more than a feeble deflection. It is true that no matter what Israel does, some people will vilify it. Israel should not make movements towards peace to mollify them or anyone. It should do so because it is both the moral thing to do and a strategic necessity for Israel’s long-term survival.

– Change blindness: the more you see it, the more you don’t (via Isegoria).

– David Aaronovitch (new book just released) talks about the appeal of conspiracy theories, even for smart people. And don’t forget the one about IDF theft of organs in Haiti. At least Jenny Tonge got sacked.

– Tonge forgot that blood libel has a long and storied history. That general historical ignorance may soon be on the rise, as Britain’s historians – last of the outward-looking – face an inward, parochial turn.

SMS Goeben, the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, and the Coming of the Great War

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SMS Goeben

In November of 1914, the once-mighty “sick man of Europe,” the Ottoman Empire, entered the war to end all wars as a Central Power. Having concluded a secret alliance with Germany against her long-time rival Russia, the conditions for war were met, and on November11 Sultan Mehmed V declared jihad.

As with so many other empires, the jump into war would prove to be the downfall of Turkey as a Mediterranean power, and in fact as an empire at all. The terms of their alliance with Germany pulled the Ottomans into the war, but the real question remains: what led them to sign it? The answers can be found in two places: the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, and the arrival of the SMS Goeben.

Continue reading →

Marjah

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Lance Cpls. Keith B. Lawson and Spence G. Press, scout snipers attached to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, work together to identify targets as Taliban fighters approached from Marjeh toward their position at the “Five Points” intersection Feb. 9, 2010.

Last night, the American, British, and Afghan assault on Marjah began. 6,000 soldiers were in the initial wave, and another 15,000 have been committed to rooting out Taliban-aligned elements operating in the area. Early reports have five Taliban fighters and one British soldier killed.

Resistance has been “light.”

In the run-up to the attack, there was no shortage of criticism over the advance warning given, the stated objectives, and even the target of Marjah itself. It was certainly well-founded. Registan argued that the strategic value of Marjah was limited at best and that the amount of opium production in the area was overstated, while Wired characterized the Coalition heads-up as asking residents to “please, please, pretty please don’t leave the warzone.” But everyone may be wrong about the purpose (or at least the timescale) of fighting in Marjah altogether. From Free Range International:

When the Marines crossed the line of departure today, the battle for Marjah had already been won.

Like a master magician General Nicholson mesmerized the press with flashy hand movements to draw attention away from what was important.  The press then focused on the less important aspects of the coming fight.  Just like a magic show the action occurred right in front of the press in plain view yet remained out of sight.

In an unparalleled combination of regular and special forces units, the real conflict over Marjah was conducted mostly behind the scenes. It’s too early to say for sure, but the FRI analysis sure does raise some interesting points. If the goal was to convince the Taliban (and not the civilian inhabitants of Marjah) to leave, doesn’t that just allow them to escape and regroup? (i.e., what’s the point?) Obviously avoiding civilian casualties is of huge concern, but there still seems to be a disconnect over goals and methods.

Conversely, even if everything is going as planned and the Taliban bugs out, “somebody has to do the hold and build – it is not fair or smart to put that burden on the 2nd MEB.” Absolutely. I can’t help but wonder how thoroughly the post-battle plan was thought out.

Either way, at this point nothing to do but play the waiting game. Now let’s see how this plays out.

Recommended Reading (2010-02-13)

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Pete Warden breaks up the United States based on data collected solely from Facebook.

– Slate has a great roundup of national anthems in anticipation of the Olympics. Good luck identifying “Kimigayo.”

– Nothing quite like learning from the best: many of the high-tech crowd dispersal units used in Tehran were bought from China. Pioneering the art of authoritarian crackdown since 1949.

– Don’t give up hope on Iran just yet. There’s too much at stake, and a democratic outcome would be nothing less than world-shattering. Reuel Marc Gerecht in the New York Times (via Sullivan):

A democratic revolution in Tehran could well prove the most momentous Mideastern event since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

– The Times takes a welcome stance against Amnesty International’s firing of Gita Saghal. A once-proud institution that has completely sullied its reputation by enabling Islamic extremists and perpetuating the ‘Cageprisoners’ story.

– Galrahn takes a look at upcoming naval ship class retirements, deployments, and possible replacements.