Author: jameswagner

disaster upon disaster upon disaster

Neither Afghanistan nor the world needs this right now, but Afghanistan is about to explode, and with it goes the only (arguable) accomplishment of our junta’s “war on terrorism.”

But the man in the garden was worried. He was not an American. He was one of the “coalition allies”, as the Americans like to call the patsies who have trotted after them into the Afghan midden. “The Americans don’t know what to do here now,” he went on. “Their morale in Afghanistan is going downhill – though there’s no problem with the generals running things in Tampa. They’re still gung-ho. But here the soldiers know things haven’t gone right, that things aren’t working.
….
The truth is that Afghanistan is on the brink of another disaster. Pakistan is now slipping into the very anarchy of which its opposition warned. And the Palestinian-Israeli war is now out of control. So we really need a war in Iraq, don’t we?

And the backlash against the Americans is growing alarmingly.

The US special forces boys barged into the Kandahar guest house as if they belonged to an army of occupation. One of them wore kitty-litter camouflage fatigues and a bush hat, another was in civilian clothes, paunchy with jeans. The interior of their four-wheel drives glittered with guns.
They wanted to know if a man called Hazrat was staying at the guest house. They didn’t say why. They didn’t say who Hazrat was. The concierge had never heard the name. The five men left, unsmiling, driving at speed back on to the main road. “Why did they talk to me like that?” the concierge asked me. “Who do they think they are?” It was best not to reply.
“The Afghan people will wait a little longer for all the help they have been promised,” the local district officer in Maiwind muttered to me a few hours later. “We believe the Americans want to help us. They promised us help. They have a little longer to prove they mean this. After that …” He didn’t need to say more. Out at Maiwind, in the oven-like grey desert west of Kandahar, the Americans do raids, not aid.
Even when the US military tries to bend its hand to a little humanitarian work, the Western NGOs (non-governmental organisations working with the UN) prefer to keep their distance. As a British NGO worker put it with devastating frankness in Kandahar: “When there is a backlash against the Americans, we want a clear definition between us and them.” You hear that phrase all the time in Afghanistan. “When the backlash comes…”
It is already coming.

We’ve totally squandered our moral advantage and wasted lives and property to no good purpose–in fact to an effect which will be disastrous for us and the world.

German pizza

The pizza was delivered this eveing by a tall, strong, young man with a distinct German accent. Young German delivering pizza in Manhattan in 2002? Shouldn’t he be on Wall Street or partying on the Upper East Side?We don’t know what his job means, to him or to us, but we wish him well, as we do all of the wonderful guys who work so hard peddling through the city feeding its people. Their kids will go to Columbia, or at least they will have a chance to do so if they want to. So we hope and wish.
Yea New York! Es lebe the pizza guys!

am I part of the “axis of evil?”

He was elected (by an overwhelming majority), he’s an intellectual, he’s savy, shows good leadership abilities, appears to be concerned for the welfare of his nation and of the world, gives good speech, shows charisma, and is an attractive, figure. He’s the President of Iran, Mohammed Khatami, and he is just about the exact opposite of George W. Bush, from top to bottom, beginning to end, and there’s the rub. Americans can’t digest this.

President Mohammad Khatami of Iran struck out at President Bush and other senior American officials at a news conference here today, saying they had “misused” the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States “to create an atmosphere of violence and war” across the world that could sow the seeds for still more destruction.
Mr. Khatami’s visit to Afghanistan, Iran’s eastern neighbor, was the first in 40 years by an Iranian head of state. He warned that American leaders, in widening their campaign against terrorism, could unleash a chain reaction that would engulf countries other than the intended targets in a new round of violence. He implied, without saying so explicitly, that the United States itself could be among the victims.
“The events of Sept. 11 were horrific, but the American leaders misused them, too,” Mr. Khatami told reporters gathered in the old royal palace here in the Afghan capital after talks with President Hamid Karzai. The attackers “did it because they wanted to create an atmosphere of violence and war in the world, but we know with certainty that in today’s world all our fates are linked.”
“Those who plan to launch this war shouldn’t think that the effects will be felt only where they attack,” he continued. “To believe that you can make people submit by force is wrong. We know that this approach only brings anger and destruction.”

I absolutely agree. Does that mean I’m a part of the “axis of evil?”

terrorist “risk management”

I’ve argued all along that our response to the events of September 11 was and remains, aside from being just plain wrong, all out of proportion to both the scale and the continued threat that it might represent, but until I saw this report I hadn’t thought of my attitude as related to my former career as a liability underwriter of insurance risk.

[George Mason University economist Roger Congleton] says the drama of the Sept. 11 attacks makes the overreaction understandable but that the statistical reality of the terror threat should be the key to allocating resources.
“When you have 3,000 people killed at once it is a very shocking and trying event, but that many people were killed in highway accidents in September 2001,” said Congleton. “This is no less shocking for the people who lost loved ones.”

These people are talking my old professional language–risk management!

John Parachini, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corp., agreed that Congleton’s approach of managing risk is important and should be part of the “portfolio of ideas” used to evaluate terrorism policy.
“One of the problems we have, particularly in this country, is assessing the risk of terrorism,” Parachini told UPI. “We tend to exaggerate the actual impact because of the unknown nature of it. ”
….
“At the moment we might be spending big, but we are not necessarily spending smart,” he said.

Report from Palestine I

[This is my friend’s first, brief, report following his arival in Palestine. The text is that of his contact in New York who will regularly be in touch with Steve by cellphone while he’s there.]

I spoke with Steve on the phone this morning (Wednesday 8/14). He
says he is fine and really has very little to report at this time.
He is staying in Jerusalem through tonight. Tomorrow night he will
be in Bethlehem, and the following night (Friday) in Beit Sahor.
Also, Brooklyn NYC Council member Bill DiBlasio* is part of a
delegation visiting Israel and is speaking this evening at the King
David Hotel. Steve plans to go and let DiBlasio know what he thinks.
There are lots of international activists in Nablus. They are
staying with the families of Palestinians who have been shot, to
protect them from having their homes blown up**.
When I spoke to him, he was on a dirt road in the West Bank, just
outside of Jerusalem at a settlement called Gilo***. Last time he was
there he got shot at a lot, but this time his group has found the
Israeli army camp abandoned.

* A number of Council members are currently visiting Israel, but there are no plans for any of them to speak to Israeli arabs or Palestinians.
** The Israeli government has re-introduced its policy of destroying the homes of supected “terrorists.”
*** Gilo is an Israeli settlement on Palestinian land in East Jerusalem

Smart, the smart car

These images are for all of the people who think Barry and I are crazy to take this car seriously. The cocoon-framed passenger pod remains intact, as it was designed to–by Mercedes Benz. [We are crazy about the car, but not crazy for being so crazy.]
We rented a Smart in Amsterdam in 2000, to get into the countryside–yes, there really is wonderful countryside, and seaside, in the densely-civic Netherlands. We both had a ball. I was astounded at how large and comforable the passenger compartment was; there is almost no suggestion of how small the car is while you are sitting inside, and it includes virtually every convenience and luxury you would want. On our rare stints on divided highways, we were able to cruise comfortably at over 80 mph.
The picture on the right shows where I ended up after maneuvering into a parking space I was afraid would be too short, even for Smart. I had thought I was almost equidistant between the vehicles in front and behind–until exiting the car. The only weird size sensation as a driver is what you get when you turn in your seat and realize that the car simply ends somewhere just behind your head, but even then you mentally tack-on some more bulk.
The only downside to the car I can come up with is the fact that it doesn’t quite swallow the amount of luggage a couple of spoiled New Yorkers would bring for a much longer trip. Maybe someone can design a screw-on trunk, in the fashion of old touring cars, for the rare occasions when the passengers need more capacity.
Oh yes, one other shortcoming must be mentioned. It supposedly has no appeal for Americans, who, given their druthers, would really prefer a tank, even over the monster SUV’s they currently worship. Effectively, this means Smart is illegal on our shores.
Elsewhere in the world it is a lovely, miraculous vehicle, and adorable as well. [Is an SUV ever an object of affection?]
I want the cabrio!

stepping up to the security bar

What kind of war is this?
Woman says airport security forced her to drink breast milk. But we still can’t manage to get luggage screeners installed (best estimate, maybe sometime next year).

A woman says a security guard at Kennedy Airport forced her to drink from three bottles of her own breast milk to demonstrate the liquid posed no threat to other passengers.

In her defense, New York civil rights attorney Ron Kuby said, “The number of middle-aged, lactating white women who passed through al-Qaida training is probably negligible.”
Meanwhile, at O’Hare Airport, like most sites, still without its quota of explosives-detection systems,

federal and local officials today heralded the deployment of 200 federal [biped] screeners in the International Terminal, the smallest and already most secure terminal at the airport. They called the move a bold step to professionalize aviation security and regain the trust of travelers.
“It will be obvious to both the novice and the professional traveler that the security bar has been significantly raised,” said Isaac Richardson, federal security director at O’Hare.

Uh huh.

political satire is now redundant

[I posted it as “politics.” but should it really be “happy?”]
Somehow I missed this story until now.
Calls to the government’s TIPS number, it was discovered this past week, were being answered by the “America’s Most Wanted” television program. “We’ve been asked to take the FBI’s TIPS calls for them,” a reporter was told.

To find out [how the Operation TIPS program would work], I logged on to the Citizen Corps Web site, went to the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) page, and signed up as a volunteer. I quickly discovered that TIPS is having a devilish time getting off the ground. After an initial welcome from the Justice Department, I heard nothing for a month. When I finally called two weeks ago to ask what citizens were supposed to do if they had a terror tip, I was given a phone number I was told had been set up by the FBI.
But instead of getting a hardened G-person when I called, a mellifluous receptionist’s voice answered, “America’s Most Wanted.” A little flummoxed, I said I was expecting to reach the FBI. “Aren’t you familiar with the TV program ‘America’s Most Wanted’?” she asked patiently. “We’ve been asked to take the FBI’s TIPS calls for them.”
Has Ashcroft turned his embattled volunteer citizen spy program — which has been blasted by left and right alike — over to Fox Broadcasting’s “America’s Most Wanted”?

[Tom Tomorrow‘s penguin character said recently, in an entirely different context, “I should just retire now. Political satire is now officially redundant.” This finally did it for me; I guess I’m slow.]

Reform? What reform?

I’m no economist, although I did manage to make it through two semesters in the midst of an otherwise now-extinct liberal arts curriculum. I leave the serious dismal stuff to Barry, but Paul Krugman always makes things accessible to those who would normally not bother with economics at any remove from their own finances. Unfortunately, these days we all have more reason than ever to bother–and be bothered.
His essay shows why absolutely nothing is going to happen while those frat boys are running the show in Washington and in the board rooms, so forget about reform. Once again, real campaign finance reform is the only hope for our rescue. Nothing short of our liberation from corporate America will make a damn bit of difference, and that liberation just isn’t in the cards we’re being dealt.

Some cynics attribute the continuing absence of Enron indictments to the Bush family’s loyalty code. But the alternative explanation is both innocent and chilling: Enron executives may have deluded and defrauded their shareholders without actually breaking the law. What Cisco did was definitely legal.
Since Enron collapsed, administration officials have insisted that no new laws are needed to reform corporate America, only enforcement of existing laws. The administration endorsed a bill imposing modest reforms in accounting only after doing everything it could to block it. And as soon as the bill was passed, the administration began issuing “guidance” to federal prosecutors that will undermine the law’s intent on whistle-blower protection, document shredding and more. Officials clearly still think the old law was good enough.
But the Cisco story, like the absence of Enron indictments, demonstrates just how much self-enrichment corporate insiders can get away with while staying within the letter of the law. [Two years ago Cisco was the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion. Its C.E.O. was among the world’s best-paid executives, receiving $157 million in 2000. Today its market capitalization is $100 billion. Fortune magazine ranked the firm’s management #13 in its “greedy bunch.”] The handful of executives who have been arrested aren’t masterminds — on the contrary, given the legal ways other executives got rich while their stockholders lost billions, the perp-walkers should be featured on a special corporate edition of “America’s Dumbest Criminals.”
Now the administration is sounding the all clear — we’ve passed a bill, we’ve arrested five people, it’s all over.

[Among the speakers at this morning’s administation-touted, Potemkin Village economic forum in Waco, Texas, was John T. Chambers, C.E.O. of Cisco Systems.]