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New York Times article
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Whence We Came, Where to Now: Rebirth or Awakening?
When not breathing the same air as those walking the halls of power, it is easy to forget exactly what privileges come with power. Amongst the most important perks is unrestrained access to information, analysis...
One of the errors in interpretation that we have been primed to make, over the past eight years, is that the Bush administration somehow fumbled the ball when it came to the war in Iraq. The reality is that our officials have access to vast arrays of think tanks; not to mention that many of our key decision makers are highly educated men who are fully capable of strategic thought. From this perspective, it becomes incrementally more difficult to believe that our errors were the result of intelligence failures or lack of adequate planning. The fundamental 'mistakes' made during the US occupation of Iraq, once catalogued, look far more like an intentional plan to destabilize the country on a long-term basis.
Just as a quick refresher:
Our attack strategy was analogous to that used in the Pacific theater against the Japanese during WWII. Certain islands were taken, while others were skipped in order to ultimately reach the center of power. This approach lead to the infamous insufficient amount of 'boots' on the ground in Iraq. In itself this was a foreseeable problem, noting that previous peace-keeping, peace enforcement or other 'stabilization' missions often required massive amounts of military presence on the ground in order to make up for the power vacuum left by the collapse of the previous regime. Arguably, it was this first 'miscalculation' that paved the way for the disaster that ensued. In the next few years we watched as artifacts belonging to the world's patrimony were plundered in the chaos following the invasion; undefended weapon depots were claimed by paramilitary entities; the Iraqi Army was dismissed leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed and disenchanted; de-Baathification followed, effectively disenfranchising Iraq's professionals-all those who would have been able to maintain or restore order were pushed aside. Clearly my little narrative is less than an incomplete picture of what happened, but it is enough to display the cornerstones of today's circus.
Since invading Iraq was not favorable in the early nineties because of the predicted course of events, what exactly changed that made the same American decision-makers believe that the same project would be worthwhile a decade later? The Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Israelis, Saudis? What is the fate of the world's second largest known oil reserve?
We will hold our elections, a new shiny bright and appologetic face will come to hold the land's highest office and sweet nothings will be whispered between ideological lovers . And then we will embark on a global PR campaign, attempting to rectify our image, explaining that the War-Hawks are gone- it was just a phase, a freak accident. Now we're different, we've learned, a different party is in power and our poster boy is picture perfect- oh, almost forgot, we brought this vintage bottle of Marshall plan-type aid!
We have a special relationship with Brown and Sarkozy and as a bonus: Berlusconi is back. The alignment of the European stars seems to be favorable to NATO intervention in Iraq. A few months need to pass, the all-new-bigger-better-wider President elect will announce a change of national tone, we will once more cooperate with the international community.
Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll allow UN electoral observers into our country in time for the 2012 elections.
Just in time for the end of the world ;)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
On What is Folly in Times of Love and War
Entangled in a new abstract war, that was announced at its beginning to be an experiment in a new type of warfare, we in the West are left wandering and lost in the forest of our own rhetoric. This historical period's scare is Terrorism, or the Insurgent. But, who are the Insurgents, and why are they terrorizing? The US military defines an insurgency as an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through use of subversion and armed conflict. The Iraqi insurgency is being linked by the Bush Administration to Al Qaeda in order to tie it in to the worldwide "War on Terror". Accepting this proposed paradigm, we must assume that we are not dealing with an Iraqi Insurgency, but a Global Insurgency.
After the capitulation of Communism in the late 1980's we, perhaps naively, hoped that a new framework of international relations could replace Cold War polarities. Maybe our mistake was to buy into the concept of Pax Americana. As American citizens we often make two, optimistic but fundamentally mistaken, assumptions about our national historical patrimony. The first is the nostalgia for the lost American Isolationism- a preposterous idea, infirmed by everything from the extension of the thirteen colonies through Manifest Destiny to the Monroe Doctrine. The second is that if not we then at least our ancestors lived in the Land of Liberty, in Freedom. The reality is that like every other nation, ours too bathes in the blood and oppression of millions of human souls. We have massacred the indigenous population of the American continent, enslaved the people of Africa, burned witches, blacklisted artists and murdered progressive leaders, etc... The noble ideals enshrined in the common mythology of our foundation, as a People and Nation, are not declarations of fact but Goals that we aspire to achieve. The pyramid is left unfinished not because the laborers abandoned their work, but because their work is never ending. We are bound by our mortal weakness and can only be elevated by the breaking of our mental boundaries.
So while the post-Soviet Era may have lead into a global structure moved by a type of combustion engine (still not that efficient and rather volatile), Capitalism, we began thinking that, just maybe, we like Marx can speed up history provided we add some force to the existent inertia. We pushed aggressively, in all directions. Demanding that the Knight in Shining Armor be given Lord's Right over the Markets of all nations, our companies should have unrestricted access. We coupled business liberalism with a type of democratic proselytizing that bore resemblance to the Christian fundamentalist bombing of an abortion clinic. Is it surprising that segments of the human race feel threatened by these developments? No and sadly they may even be justified.
A core concept of the American philosophy and of Christian tradition is that one may and should lead through example. One should empower and perfect the self before attempting to transform the world. Looking at our society we must notice our mutual alienation, the abandoning of fundamental values in exchange for nominal gain, foods marketed toward the underprivileged sections of society that are more akin to poison than to nutrition. The permanent assault on the human brain through media. Social structures built around family descendance, tribal loyalty and religious faith cannot be expected to welcome the social model that we accept in Western society. This does not however mean that traditional societies have no place in Globalization, or even Capitalism.
While it is common to accuse Islam of intolerance, we must remember that their very conception of the self and world is being assaulted by our actions- we expect human rights, democracy, market-capitalism and justice to be uniformly modeled after our own style, and our investment and trade deals often underlie these political motifs. Fundamentally this attitude is counterproductive; different situations require different solutions, and different societies follow different paths to the peak of the mountain. 'Shock and awe' policies do not fulfill the promise of propaganda meant to win hearts and minds, our media war is completely eclipsed by the meat-grinder that was set up in Iraq. Instead of convincing the world's reactionaries that our values are positive, we prove through our actions that we are the true enemy. If your brother was abducted and tortured by the intelligence services of another state after a bomb was dropped on your grandmother's house, would you not dedicate your life to avenging the injustices perpetrated on your loved ones?
I often wonder, could we have bought Saddam out? Like, had given him 20 billion US dollars to leave and settle on a fantasy island. I feel like that would have been a capitalist solution. The US will have a new poster-child next year, we should use that PR coup to get back to what we do best: marketing lifestyles. Let's market Freedom, Democracy and Responsible Capitalism, to ourselves, our leaders and our enemies. We have let ourselves slip too far in the direction of a police state, just when we could finally reach closer to an ideal. Progress has given us the tools for a Utopia, but the dystopias of Orwell and Huxley are increasingly descriptive of our daily experience. Let's not waste 200 years of hard labor and suffering. Let our compassion and love bury our enemies and resurrect them as the closest of friends, this only will overwhelm the obstacles we place before us.
After the capitulation of Communism in the late 1980's we, perhaps naively, hoped that a new framework of international relations could replace Cold War polarities. Maybe our mistake was to buy into the concept of Pax Americana. As American citizens we often make two, optimistic but fundamentally mistaken, assumptions about our national historical patrimony. The first is the nostalgia for the lost American Isolationism- a preposterous idea, infirmed by everything from the extension of the thirteen colonies through Manifest Destiny to the Monroe Doctrine. The second is that if not we then at least our ancestors lived in the Land of Liberty, in Freedom. The reality is that like every other nation, ours too bathes in the blood and oppression of millions of human souls. We have massacred the indigenous population of the American continent, enslaved the people of Africa, burned witches, blacklisted artists and murdered progressive leaders, etc... The noble ideals enshrined in the common mythology of our foundation, as a People and Nation, are not declarations of fact but Goals that we aspire to achieve. The pyramid is left unfinished not because the laborers abandoned their work, but because their work is never ending. We are bound by our mortal weakness and can only be elevated by the breaking of our mental boundaries.
So while the post-Soviet Era may have lead into a global structure moved by a type of combustion engine (still not that efficient and rather volatile), Capitalism, we began thinking that, just maybe, we like Marx can speed up history provided we add some force to the existent inertia. We pushed aggressively, in all directions. Demanding that the Knight in Shining Armor be given Lord's Right over the Markets of all nations, our companies should have unrestricted access. We coupled business liberalism with a type of democratic proselytizing that bore resemblance to the Christian fundamentalist bombing of an abortion clinic. Is it surprising that segments of the human race feel threatened by these developments? No and sadly they may even be justified.
A core concept of the American philosophy and of Christian tradition is that one may and should lead through example. One should empower and perfect the self before attempting to transform the world. Looking at our society we must notice our mutual alienation, the abandoning of fundamental values in exchange for nominal gain, foods marketed toward the underprivileged sections of society that are more akin to poison than to nutrition. The permanent assault on the human brain through media. Social structures built around family descendance, tribal loyalty and religious faith cannot be expected to welcome the social model that we accept in Western society. This does not however mean that traditional societies have no place in Globalization, or even Capitalism.
While it is common to accuse Islam of intolerance, we must remember that their very conception of the self and world is being assaulted by our actions- we expect human rights, democracy, market-capitalism and justice to be uniformly modeled after our own style, and our investment and trade deals often underlie these political motifs. Fundamentally this attitude is counterproductive; different situations require different solutions, and different societies follow different paths to the peak of the mountain. 'Shock and awe' policies do not fulfill the promise of propaganda meant to win hearts and minds, our media war is completely eclipsed by the meat-grinder that was set up in Iraq. Instead of convincing the world's reactionaries that our values are positive, we prove through our actions that we are the true enemy. If your brother was abducted and tortured by the intelligence services of another state after a bomb was dropped on your grandmother's house, would you not dedicate your life to avenging the injustices perpetrated on your loved ones?
I often wonder, could we have bought Saddam out? Like, had given him 20 billion US dollars to leave and settle on a fantasy island. I feel like that would have been a capitalist solution. The US will have a new poster-child next year, we should use that PR coup to get back to what we do best: marketing lifestyles. Let's market Freedom, Democracy and Responsible Capitalism, to ourselves, our leaders and our enemies. We have let ourselves slip too far in the direction of a police state, just when we could finally reach closer to an ideal. Progress has given us the tools for a Utopia, but the dystopias of Orwell and Huxley are increasingly descriptive of our daily experience. Let's not waste 200 years of hard labor and suffering. Let our compassion and love bury our enemies and resurrect them as the closest of friends, this only will overwhelm the obstacles we place before us.
Monday, April 7, 2008
My Brother's Keeper
We share the same mental and physical space. Neurons firing in the same body, sending our currents across the Earth's body in ever increasing amounts at higher velocities.
Apparent chaos gives birth to the functional conception of individuality.
I think I am, therefore I am separate.
We are deluding ourselves into non-cooperative games by mutually assured distraction. A series of petty struggles have defined the history of our species and have led, self-evidently, to our current state of existence. One may argue that this dialectic process has been, by military necessity, a central incentive in the progress of humanity.
Doubtlessly we benefit from the cumulative advancements of human knowledge. The Age of Reason has coupled with Commercialism and bore the triplets named Comfort, Leisure and Waste. While the latter is an indicator of our inefficiency in the conversion of work into energy, the luxury of Western civilization allows its members the unique opportunity to lay down the tools of oppression, that have been so necessary in the maintenance of the pre-Information Age's social structure, and embrace universal cooperation as the rational subsequent stage of our evolutionary process.
It has been found that players in Prisoner's Dilemma models will generally follow the selfish, but somewhat safe, route of betraying their partner. However, players with prior experience become more likely to play cooperatively, thus maximizing their gain. Perhaps the time has come to accept our national, individual and global histories- to stop creating common myths in order to achieve community and to simply accept our mistakes and common fate to overcome our fears. Systematically behaving as teenagers we assume that our mastery of reason is impregnable, our decisions irrefutable.
Yet, we rely on coercion and combustion engines, understand our social roles through the lens of sitcom screenwriters and our self-image is designed by advertisers. We strive for death, numbing the sensations of everyday life with pharmaceuticals. In our vehement rejection of the inevitability of Death we deny the blessing of Life and become the very champions of death through our unwillingness to live happy, fulfilling lives. We accept mediocre roles, sure that we are incapable and undeserving of something better. In rejecting our natural inclinations we inhibit, a priori, the fulfillment of our creative potential resulting in a net loss for our civilization.
Thomas Hobbes argued that the good of the elite depends on the overall prosperity of society as a whole, in this he was right. We are a big dysfunctional family and while we refuse to take care of each other, we will continue to suffer at the hands of our own ignorance. As children of this empire, we have the historical opportunity to enfranchise those less fortunate- if only we accept our co-dependence.
Know Thyself and Take Responsibility
Apparent chaos gives birth to the functional conception of individuality.
I think I am, therefore I am separate.
We are deluding ourselves into non-cooperative games by mutually assured distraction. A series of petty struggles have defined the history of our species and have led, self-evidently, to our current state of existence. One may argue that this dialectic process has been, by military necessity, a central incentive in the progress of humanity.
Doubtlessly we benefit from the cumulative advancements of human knowledge. The Age of Reason has coupled with Commercialism and bore the triplets named Comfort, Leisure and Waste. While the latter is an indicator of our inefficiency in the conversion of work into energy, the luxury of Western civilization allows its members the unique opportunity to lay down the tools of oppression, that have been so necessary in the maintenance of the pre-Information Age's social structure, and embrace universal cooperation as the rational subsequent stage of our evolutionary process.
It has been found that players in Prisoner's Dilemma models will generally follow the selfish, but somewhat safe, route of betraying their partner. However, players with prior experience become more likely to play cooperatively, thus maximizing their gain. Perhaps the time has come to accept our national, individual and global histories- to stop creating common myths in order to achieve community and to simply accept our mistakes and common fate to overcome our fears. Systematically behaving as teenagers we assume that our mastery of reason is impregnable, our decisions irrefutable.
Yet, we rely on coercion and combustion engines, understand our social roles through the lens of sitcom screenwriters and our self-image is designed by advertisers. We strive for death, numbing the sensations of everyday life with pharmaceuticals. In our vehement rejection of the inevitability of Death we deny the blessing of Life and become the very champions of death through our unwillingness to live happy, fulfilling lives. We accept mediocre roles, sure that we are incapable and undeserving of something better. In rejecting our natural inclinations we inhibit, a priori, the fulfillment of our creative potential resulting in a net loss for our civilization.
Thomas Hobbes argued that the good of the elite depends on the overall prosperity of society as a whole, in this he was right. We are a big dysfunctional family and while we refuse to take care of each other, we will continue to suffer at the hands of our own ignorance. As children of this empire, we have the historical opportunity to enfranchise those less fortunate- if only we accept our co-dependence.
Know Thyself and Take Responsibility
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