Operation Linda Nchi: codename for combined action--part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)--between the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somalian armed forces which
began on 16 October 2011, when troops from Kenya crossed the border into the conflict zones of southern Somalia. The soldiers were in pursuit of Al-Shabaab militants that are alleged to have kidnapped several foreign tourists and aid workers inside Kenya.According to the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, the operation represents one of the final stages in the Islamist insurgency of the Somali Civil War.
It is for this reason that Al Shabaab carried out the terror attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. Lots of detail in the Wikipedia entry.
In 1991, thousands of Somalis flooded into Kenya’s barren
northeast. The initial influx was prompted by the collapse of the Somali
government, and by the prolonged civil war that followed.
Two decades later, little has changed. A refugee
complex designed for 90,000 inhabitants in 1992 is now bursting at the
seams. By May [2013], the official number of registered refugees in Dadaab was
401,913.
Of course, this prospective project won't be my first.
Back in 2008, when Kenya was experiencing a civil/tribal war and when a man of Kenyan Luo descent was running for president of the United States, I put forth a series of posts under the heading of Kenya Happenings and composed a page entitled Kenya: The Basics. These posts and pages were meant to dispel several misconceptions about the country, its people, its history and the conflict that it was experiencing. Of course, I had a vested personal interest aside from that which all Americans had; as many know, my biological father, Philip Ochieng is also from Kenya and is Luo like Barack Obama, Sr. (On top of that, the two men were friends.)
Because President Obama's African family is Muslim, many observers suspect that he himself is a Muslim. (I do have an opinion on the matter, one that has changed over the years. But that's for another post.) Leaving aside whether he is or not, because of his family's faith, it was and still is often assumed that the Luo tribe itself is primarily an Arab Muslim tribe. Nothing could be further from the truth or more ridiculous. Roughly ninety percent of the Luo are Christians: Anglicans, Seventh-Day Adventists and, increasingly, Evangelicals.
And Arab? Please. The spreading of this fantasy has been caused by a man named Kenneth Lamb, who claims to have done extensive research into the background of President Obama's African family but failed to take this cultural curiosity into account: that black African converts to Islam often begin to call themselves Arab and that governments go along with this fiction. Lamb's conclusion was that President Obama is only 1/8 black African, which means than Barack Obama, Sr. Was 1/4 black and 3/4 Arab.
Does this look like a man who is 3/4 Arab?
Mr. Lamb has since deleted the page containing his conclusions, but they are still being passed around, something that demonstrates the truth of this aphorism. (Here's a fine 2008 take-down of Mr. Lamb's assertions.)
This Great Lie has, in turn, served to distort the existential reality of the entire Luo tribe and of Kenya itself.
As for the war in Kenya, it was primarily tribal in nature, as is often the case where many ethnic groups co-exist within a single nation-state. But the fact that war was started by the political machinations of one Raila Odinga, Kenyan presidential candidate in 2007 and, ostensibly, cousin of Barack Obama, gave it a singular appearance in the eyes of many. (Odinga was appointed prime minister in 2008, which ended the conflict. He was the first prime minister since Jomo Kenyatta held both offices of president and prime minister in the wake of Kenya's 1963 independence. Kenyatta's son, Uhuru Kenyatta, is the current president of Kenya.) And there was additional controversy regarding former Prime Minister Odinga in the run-up to Kenya's 2013 presidential election, during which he was again a candidate. He doesn't seem to take losing well.
And there were these things: the 2008 church burnings and the 2008 Memorandum of Understanding--a document allegedly composed by Odinga in which he promises to share power with Kenyan Islamic Leaders and push for Sharia Law. There is much back-and-forth about its authenticity. (In my opinion, the document is real, considering the fact that Kenyan Muslims voted overwhelmingly for Odinga in the 2007 election. But if it is real, I think Odinga signed it because he is power-hungry, not because he's a Muslim. In any case, Odinga did not push for Sharia Law during his term as prime minister, nor did he grant the Muslims a certain number of seats in Kenya's parliament, as promised in the real/fake MOU. In return, the Muslims abandoned him in his 2013 bid to become president.)
Connecting these items--proven and disputed--with then-U.S. Senator Obama's 2006 visit to Kenya, when he appeared to be campaigning for Odinga--even though Odinga didn't officially launch his presidential candidacy until the following year--many saw a pattern forming.
Of course, I'm one who likes observing patterns and coming to conclusions as well. But the American reportage I read during that time--from both traditional and new media sources--almost always left pertinent details out. And, as I said at the time, both types of media seem to not want to get information from the plentiful Kenyan sources. I don't know what that was about, but it seemed, well, stupid.
Now in 2013, as in 1998, Kenya finds itself reeling after a Islamic terror attack in its capital city. Al Shabaab, a Somalian offshoot of al Qaeda, attacked and brutally murdered patrons of Nairobi's Westgate Mall during a three-day siege. The particulars of it are all over the place, so I won't go into it here.
But when I began to read crap from my fellow Americans like " I didn't know they had malls in Africa," I knew it was time to start writing about Kenya again. This time, the focus will be to explore the foundational enmity between Kenyans and Somalians--in addition to the religious one.
And this time, I have the blessing and knowledge base of family members--not so much to correct any info I put forth, but to give it proper context. That was something that was difficult to come by in 2008. Additionally, after five years of a president of Kenyan descent as POTUS, we have even more context, both for ill and good.
I want to run this project concurrently with my other project, the completion of my second novel, Arlen's Harem. I'll run it as a series for two weeks, to see if there's any interest. If there is, I'll keep going. And I still means that I'm going to need financial help. Donors who are willing can Go Fund Me or, if your want to get my Typepad bill paid right now and coffee in me early tomorrow morning, you can hit my Paypal tip jar.
For whatever reason, Kenya's fate seems to be bound up in ours--Americans. As a Christian, I know that nothing in the lives of the servants of Jesus the Christ is coincidental or accidental. Why God the Father would connect the fates of the Superpower and the tiny African country on the continent's east coast is beyond my ken. But, in the exploration of a political connection between the two countries, I believe that a spiritual connection will be revealed. I can feel it.
So it is that I wish to explore the history and present-day occurrences in my father's country. I am no historian, no do I have any educational credentials. All I have are will, faith and an Internet connection and, in my opinion, the faith is of the highest import.
A wise guy named Solomon asserted that reverance for the Lord--faith in Him--is the beginning of wisdom. That's my lone credential. May it be enough.
A few days back, as al Shabaab--an offshoot of al Qaeda—was
carrying out the Westgate Mall terror attack and torture fest in Nairobi,* Daniel Greenfield
pointed out that Islam, as practiced since its inception, has
all the attributes of a gang.
Islam may have become a religion, but it began as a code. Like the Pirate Code
or the Thieves Law of Russia, it was a set of rules that allowed a select group
of bandits to choose leaders, plan attacks and divide the loot.
The code invested their actions with meaning, it kept order in their ranks and
allowed the members to believe that dying for the gang was more than a martial
ethos, but also contained a spiritual element. Similar attempts to invest gang
life with spirituality can be found in the tattoos, rap songs and graffiti
memorials of every street gang in America.
…
After over a thousand years, after
its own empires and conquests stretching around the world, after endless
religious schools, reform movements, theological debates and splinter groups,
Islam is not able to leave its gang roots behind. It is still at its core a
gang religion. That is why it appeals so well to convicts who recognize that
they are interacting with something far more ancient than Kingism.
That is also why Islam, like most street gangs, degenerates so readily into
internecine violence. No matter how much its devotees dream of conquering the
decadent West and planting the black flag of Islam everywhere, they can't help
turning their guns on each other, because gangs are naturally primed to fight
amongst themselves. The gang code never suffices to settle disputes among men
who live by violence. They may fight to impose Islamic law on the world, but
they can't live by it.
…
If Islam stands for anything, it's killing non-Muslims. Islam can't really
think far beyond that. Its mindset is that of a dime store Alexander who
doesn't want to even think about the prospect of not having any more lands to
conquer, towns to sack, women to rape, homes to rob and libraries to torch.
Interesting, this observation. It
has long been known that Islam has high conversion levels in American prisons
among black men and, increasingly, other men. The fact is, however, that such
men—often members of street and prison gangs—are merely accepting the
protection of an older and stronger gang when they convert.
Even after all of the violence we’ve
seen perpetrated by various factions of Islam in the name of their deity and
their prophet, it was difficult to reduce an ideology which had always held the
status of ‘belief’ or ‘religion’ to mere ‘gang.’ But, all it took was for
someone, like Mr. Greenfield, to point out the obvious.
And, as is so with other gangs, Islam’s adherents don’t like
it when you call them out. They like it even less when you fight back—as Kenya
did; the terror attack was a result.
These gangs live to injure, kill and most of all, strike
fear; but, remember, they are not our main adversary. The powers and principalities
ruling in spiritual wickedness--about which Paul speaks in his letter to the Ephesians--are.
The various gangs, small and large, new and old, are merely
servants.
Originally posted at Ace of Spades HQ a week ago. Re-edited. And, do me a favor: please check out the links.
A few weekends back, I made my way from my home in South Central Los Angeles to Albuquerque--where my parents and the vast majority of my family reside--for the wedding of my oldest nephew. During the twelve-hour drive, I contemplated the personalities of my nephew, his brother, his sisters, his male and female first-, second-, and third-cousins and his male cousins by marriage. All--18 to 26--are great young people.
Something that remains perennially in the news is the rate of unemployment for black teens, just over 40%. But here's a thing about my family: my five nephews and my six first- and second-male cousins are all employed! (My nieces are all under sixteen and my three female cousins are over thirty. An additional male cousin--married, degreed and employed--is over thirty as well.) How could that be?
Well here's one thing: only one of them lives in a blue state. So much for the alleged racism of Republicans. But their states of residence--New Mexico*, Texas, and Oklahoma--aren't the only factors; the others are more personal.
All are high school graduates.
Three are attending two-year colleges, two attend a four-year university, one attends a technical college, and two are four-year university graduates.
All are literate, well-mannered and well-spoken They don't even speak patois to their friends.
None have criminal or misdemeanor records.
All are prompt and know how to dress for employment. None have adopted the saggy-pants style.
Only one has a child and he is in his mid-twenties.
So what is this about? Only four of the young men have been raised by political conservatives. Two are illegitimate. Several are children of divorce--like me. All of them, however, have been raised by actual conservatives. So it is that they would not shame their families by failing to be responsible men.
My oldest nephew--the one who just married--is probably the most taciturn of the group. But he's not so shy that he was unable to woo, win, and marry a smart, accomplished, and very beautiful young woman to be his wife. And here's something about the two, my nephew, and my niece-in-law: both of their sets of parents are married to each other. And one thing about my nephew's parents--my sister and my brother-in-law: both of their parents are still married to each other. (My mom and stepdad have been married for 42 years and my brother-in-law's parents have been married for over 60 years.) And each generation consists of hard workers who have always wanted more for their children than what they had. This is what is known as a pattern.
But illegitimacy need not be a factor in producing children of poor character. Several months ago, I posited that illegitimacy by itself isn't what has caused the breakdown of the black family and the consequent breakdown of black moral character. The cause? Government subsidy of illegitimacy. When a child, especially a boy, grows up without a father, he will often run wild if there is no other male authority to which he is answerable--an uncle or grandfather, for example. But when children grow up in communities in which there are no male authority figures, when they grow up in communities in which there are few to no married couples, a people run wild.
The widespread (over 70%) illegitimacy among black Americans can be likened to the biblical fall in the Garden of Eden. Satan talked Eve into eating the fruit that God had forbidden and she talked Adam into eating it. This original sin will destroy most of humankind. The government talked black women into having babies without benefit of marriage and this phenomenon has nearly destroyed black Americans. Yet another pattern.
But just as there is redemption to be had in the heavenly realm, there is a way for black Americans to keep themselves from been destroyed here on earth.
Recently, CNN's Don Lemon--no political conservative, to be sure--was called a "turncoat mofo" for agreeing with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that black people need to clean up their act with respect to being 'good citizens'--a phrase used because that is what I was exhorted to be when I was growing up in the much-maligned 1960s.
Mr. Lemon's seemingly simple prescription is powerful.
You want to break the cycle of poverty? Stop telling kids they're acting white because they go to school or they speak proper English. A high school dropout makes on average $19,000 a year, a high school graduate makes $28,000 a year, a college graduate makes $51,000 a year. Over the course of a career, a college grad will make nearly $1 million more than a high school graduate. That's a lot of money.
And number one, and probably the most important, just because you can have a baby, it doesn't mean you should. Especially without planning for one or getting married first. More than 72 percent of children in the African-American community are born out of wedlock. That means absent fathers. And the studies show that lack of a male role model is an express train right to prison and the cycle continues.
And there was this on Twitter:
dress nicely. use appropriate language. keep ur surroundings clean. go to school. be responsible, involved parents. That's offensive? SMH
"Turncoat mofo?" No. The turncoats are those who urge other black Americans to keep doing the same things over and over again while, each time, expecting a different result. The turncoats are those who exhort black Americans to keep riding that express train to poverty, illiteracy, prison and ruin. Like the feral teens that are a plague on our society, pattern-recognition is foreign to those who screech ‘turncoat mofo’ to a man who imparts the tried-and-true wisdom that black Americans used to impart to their progeny.
* * *
I have been called a conspiracy theorist--not to mention the equivalent of a ‘turncoat mofo’-- a number of times. However, if most political and social conservatives can acknowledge that there are forces consisting of more than a single individual which conspire to destroy America-as-founded and the ideals on which she was founded, then it is plausible that such forces have used and are using strategies—by definition, long-term plans--to achieve their aims. It is for this reason—and for the vision of my lying eyes—that I put forth the following ‘conspiracy theory.’
For many decades, black Americans hoped and prayed to be considered equal to other Americans under the law--federal, state, and local. Well that goal has been achieved. It has been long past time for black Americans, as a whole, to do their part. What happened there? It’s this: too large a number of us have become prey to those who have always wanted to keep us down, keep us enslaved, and, ultimately, destroy us.
I submit that the Organized Left and the Democrat Party—now one and the same--have long been trying to rid our country of her black citizens. That goal is now almost reached. Think about it: blacks are vastly outnumbered by whites, Hispanics, and others. And blacks have been purposefully splintered in this way: we have been duped into nearly destroying the one earthly and seemingly unshakable foundation we had. That foundation is known as the family.
The feral teens we see today are the fruit of the splintering; they are angry and they know not why. They never learned fatherly discipline--and the compromised education system never bothered to inculcate in them the desire to think through their existential situation or any other situation. Often the only "men" in their lives are other mindlessly angry little boys wearing the bodies of men. Multiply this by millions.
So now, they are beating and killing innocents of all races out of boredom or avarice or whatever excuse they want to give. But the real problem is mindless and pointless anger, stemming from the lack of proper parenting by both mother and father.
But here's the thing. Non-black people are already tired of their loved ones being raped, shot, beaten, etc. for merely walking around, for the crimes of others or simply for not being black.
And when some set of white or other non-black persons begin to retaliate; it will go badly for the splintered minority—both the guilty and the innocent--for numerical reasons alone. As a result, the Leftist-infiltrated government will come in and "save" however many black people are left, but goal will be reached: black people will be almost exterminated in the USA and whites and other non-blacks will be the slaves.
That's been the plan all along...to kill all of us and to enslave all of you.
I am grateful to God that the young men in my family are fine, upstanding citizens. But I tremble for my people—Americans--as I watch the fruit of the rotten and satanic tree called Leftism poison us all, one way or another.
That’s why I pray to Lord who provided us with the Lamb who took away all of our sins. It’s our only hope, and I submit that it always has been.
*Yes I know. NM isn's all that red. But, to this Californian, red is relative. One can open-carry in NM.
Not as splashy as the one from eleven years ago, but there is a body count, giving members of the Religion of "Peace" the comfort of saying that they stayed true to the orignal intent of very first "celebration."
Not wanting to be outdone in celebrating, Libyans burn down the US Consulate in Bengazi, rocket the vehicle containing the US Ambassador and other fleeing personnel. Then, they murder all of the occupants of the vehicle--Ambassador John Christopher Stevens was reportedly "suffocated." The very recognizable body of Ambassador Stevens is then paraded through the streets. (WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC PHOTOS.)
All of these events were supposedly done in response to a youtube film about Muhammad, one made by an American pastor--Terry Jones--in conjunction with ex-pat Coptic Christians from Egypt.
All occurred yesterday, the eleventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. And all are acts of war.
The Embassy
of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided
individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts
to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are
honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to
the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of
American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the
universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
If you think such public moral equivalence didn't have approval from the White House, you're still in deep denial about the person who "leads" our country.
Remember what Barack Obama said long before he became president. On page 261 in Audacity of Hope, Mr. Obama pledged to "stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." He was talking about detention camps, e.g. the FDR-approved camps designated for Japanese-, German- and Italian-Americans during World War II.
But what other "ugly political directions" does the president have in mind? The hurting of religious feelings, perhaps? If you hurt a Muslims's feelings about his theology and/or his prophet, what is he allowed to do to you and on whose side will the President of the United States of America be? With whom will he stand when those ugly winds blow?
Will he allow your body to be paraded through the streets of, say, Dearborn, MI?
So many unanswered questions. Here's another: when will there be a reckoning?
CORRECTION REGARDING THE EVENTS IN LIBYA:
Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi,
said the four Americans were killed when the angry mob, which gathered
to protest a U.S.-made film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad,
fired guns and burned down the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
He
said Stevens, 52, and other officials were moved to a second building -
deemed safer - after the initial wave of protests at the consulate
compound. According to al-Sharef, members of the Libyan security team
seem to have indicated to the protesters the building to which the
American officials had been relocated, and that building then came under
attack.
Stevens, 52, was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1979.
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya's interim president has apologized to the United States for the attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi that killed the American ambassador and three of his staff.
Mohammed el-Megarif described the attack as "cowardly" and offered his condolences on the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens
and the three other Americans. Speaking to reporters, he vowed to bring
the culprits to justice and maintain his country's close relations with
the United States.
It's good to see an apology from some other entity besides an arm of the US government.
Dedicated to the memory of the fearless Andrew Breitbart.
Note: I began composing this essay some months before the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman shooting, but, in its wake, I felt that it was time to finish it and post it.
Usually I’m reading several books at once and using Kindle for Blackberry iPhone has exacerbated this low level of ADD.
One of the opened books on my device is Lee Harris’s The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam’s Threat to the West. The subject matter is obvious; however, in the preface and the first few chapters, Harris barely mentions Islam at all. Instead, he does two very valuable things: he defines his terms and lays the ideological foundation for those terms as they relate to his subject. The two sets of players in the scenarios that Harris describes are: rational actors and tribal actors or fanatics. All of the following excerpts are taken from the book’s preface.
Throughout most of human history, men have not behaved like rational actors but like tribal actors; and in many cultures of the world today, they continue to behave that way. They have no choice. When everyone around you is a member of a tribe, you must either belong to a tribe or be an outcast. Whereas the rational actor asks himself, “What is best for me,” the tribal actor must ask himself,” What is best for us?”
*****
[W]hat limits [the tribal actor’s] freedom is not so much the pressure of the tribal mind applied externally, but rather the fact that the tribal actor thinks with the tribal mind, and so cannot even imagine doing things differently from the way they are done by his tribe.
*****
The rational actor has the luxury of appealing to his conscience in order to condemn the behavior of his own community.
*****
The tribal actor, on the other hand, cannot take a moral stance outside the perspective of his tribe. For the tribal actor, the highest ethical idea is: “My tribe, right or wrong.” The mere idea that his tribe could be wrong is unthinkable for the tribal actor, since he defines as right whatever the tribe deems right, and wrong as whatever the tribe deems wrong.
So let’s see how these observable truths relate to black Americans.
We have seen black Americans like former presidential candidate Herman Cain (R-GA), Rep. Allen West (R-FL), and Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC)--people who are obviously black and of African descent, using the eyeball test and known heritage--be deemed "not really black.”i Men like the foregoing are those who are not Democrats, who oppose the policies supported by the Democrat Party and who do not politically support Democrats of any race or color, not even the present President of the United States of America. But how can black Americans who are not Democrats or Liberals or Leftists become not themselves? And what gives Democrats—even white ones—the authority to determine who is black and who is not?
The following videos have a common theme.
The pride/shame dynamic is what is on display here. This feature is used rein in members of a tribe who step outside of pre-defined tribal boundaries.
Black Americans are, for the most part, a tribe. Some will take offense to that opinion, but if we look into the specifics of our existence as Americans since the practice of enslaving imported Africans became widespread, we see that there is nothing else that we can be called.
Remember, our ancestors, of various West African tribes, were bought here, sold, and forcibly stripped of their various names, languages, cultures, and religions. That conditioning created a new tribe: the Negro. And even after the abolition of slavery, Americans of African descent were confined to a certain level of society. A few managed to break the barrier, but the vast majority remained in the legal, economic, educational social and tribal space into which the US Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson allowed state and local governments to pen them.
But along came the Civil Rights Era, really beginning in the 1940s and reaching its apex in the 1970s. The Civil Rights and the Voting Rights Acts heralded the end of our status as a tribe within a nation and they harkened to the objective ideals on which this nation was founded.
These landmarks of legislation stated that we belonged to the American “tribe” all along. But, concurrently, another idea—an ideology--was on the ascent as well: Black Pride.
Pride. When we hear the word, we interpret it in two ways.
So-called benign pride is represented in the following example: we are proud of ourselves when we achieve hard-won goals-- educational, personal, etc.; we are proudof cherished relatives and friends who do the same.
The not-so-good type of pride is that which the Bible warns against--"the high look," “the up-tilt of the chin.”
Recall that in the days before the Civil Rights Era, being a black American was a matter of shame and degradation, but the idea of “Black Pride" served to counter that. The concept of Black Pride, while initially a good thing, has, however, brought black Americans from one extreme mindset and deposited us into another. It took us away from the shame of being black to a place in which no one may criticize a black person who is deemed to be in good standing with the “tribe.” Many (most?) black Americans believe that blackness is a way of thinking and a political position and, stemming from these ideas, that any black person who deviates from the “black” mindset and political position—a black conservative--isn't really black. This idea stems further from the Left co-opting "black pride" and using it to keep anger and grievances alive long past their dates of pertinence. The purpose of this tactic is to keep the wedge open between black and white Americans, drive it wider, and produce violence. We've seen it happen many times. The ultimate purpose, taken together with many other tactics, is to destroy America.
Pride is what is always has been: inordinate high opinion of one's superiority and goodness; the preening to appear better than on-lookers. (My great-aunt calls it “floor-showing.") That we had to use pride--a sin--to “rid” ourselves of the mindset of shame and degradation is the problem. We went too far in the other direction, so far in that direction that the things which are destroying us--the things which we should be ashamed of--we have deemed inherent to blackness and called them good. We call the chains of the New Slavery--bastardy, illiteracy, mis-education, self-genocide, etc.—our due, our rights. And we believe that any of our number who breaks free ideologically and tries to tell their brethren how to be free is a traitor to the tribe. (Harriett Tubman would understand.) Shame is no longer an option, except as a cudgel for those who point this out. ii
In addition, we deem the New Slavers--the modern-day Democrat Party--to be our friends even though their forebears were always the perpetrators of overt black American slavery and oppression and they have lured all too many of us into contemporary bondage. This sort of tribal pride blocks the ability to see what's right in front of one’s face and the ability to accurately map out the future. It blocks reality.
Herman Cain was dead on when he called it brainwashing and it has been a decades-long process, coinciding with the Left's agenda to hollow out the institutions of this country.
Here’s the thing: I think that certain types of tribalism are beneficial to those within and even without some sets of tribal boundaries. Some years back, Bill Whittle famously expounded on the tribe of Sheepdogs, those rough men—and, sometimes, women--who make it their business to protect sheep from the wolves of this world. “You choose your tribe,” said Bill, and allowing oneself that choice is the province of rational actors. This isn’t to say that one should separate self from one’s racial, ethnic, national, or ideological tribe. However, it is to say that blindly following each one of the presumed norms of the tribe into which one was born is folly and it is the province of tribal actors. That is the place where into which all too many of my fellow black Americans find ourselves locked, mentally and emotionally.
Through this mindset, black Americans have become the organized Left's shock troops in latter’s war against America and all too many of us have become the Left's overseers, tasked to force the "deserters" back into formation using the tools of ridicule and shame. I almost said that the Left was at war with black people, but the Left doesn't esteem blacks enough to deem us as their enemies. We are merely tools to be used for the task at hand—to foment violent racial discord which will have to be put down using infinitely stronger government violence--and to be discarded when the task is completed, assuming that there will be any of us left after the New Civil War. And we let ourselves be used for one reason: tribal vengeance; for slavery and for oppression.
I submit that the Obama Administration, representing black Americans and no others, declared a tribal war against white Americans when Attorney General Eric Holder refused to prosecute members of the New Black Panther Party after the latter's blatant violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Department of Justice’s inaction sent a message mirroring that of the US Supreme Court Dred Scott decision (1857): that the white man has no rights which the black man is bound to respect. Leftist ideology has been inculcated into black Americans for quite some time now and one of the strategies of this process has been to keep alive racial anger and the desire for tribal vengeance for past oppression. The Obama Administration's inaction in the above matter was merely a formal declaration, but the anger has long been simmering and, all too often, it boils over. Am I exaggerating? I don’t think so. And I think that many Americans have gotten the message.
Assuming that the above is true, let’s leave aside morality and conscience for a bit and look at this declaration strictly from a strategic point of view. Leaderless families and the resultant black-on-black killings are prevalent among black Americans and directly attributable to the lure of LBJ’s New Slavery Great Society programs. (I contend that these two features are merely the aforementioned ‘shame and degradation of being black’ re-packaged and internalized. If the leaders of a people—men—don’t love their progeny enough to marry the women who bear their children and/or remain in the lives of those children long enough to bring them into functioning adulthood, why would those children love themselves or those who look like them? And abortion is merely the black female method of black-on-black killing.)
So we black Americans murder ourselves within in womb and without, assert the former as our right, and ignore the latter. These methods of self-genocide have greatly thinned the “troops.” Taking this into account, one logically concludes that starting a war with a “tribe” that outnumbers us 12-1 and outguns us is pure folly.
It will bring the tribal suicide which we’ve been slowly committing, to a quick and devastating conclusion.
Turning back to conscience and morality, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reserves vengeance to Himself, and instructs Jewish and Christian believers to forego it. But even if one does not believe in Him, it’s easy to see the chaos which is nearly always brought about by the unending cycle of human vengeance. You murder/enslave/oppress mine, then I take vengeance and murder/enslave/oppress yours. Then you take vengeance and murder/enslave/oppress more of mine. Then I…
Is this what you want, Americans? I do not.
Harris points out that rational actors can only live as rational actors if those around him—those in his society—continue to behave as rational actors as well. He also says that, when a rational actor finds himself surrounded by tribal actors—fanatics—it becomes rational for a rational actor to revert to being a tribal actor. The alternative is to perish.
We all tend to forget that all human beings are only a few steps away from reverting to the Law of the Jungle. Twentieth-century Europe demonstrated and the Muslim world still demonstrates the truth of this. Will we Americans—all of us--continue in the way of most of humanity? Everyday, I pray not.
[i] It’s interesting that Liberals think that black people have a certain way of thinking embedded in the DNA. White supremacists think this as well.
[ii] Until recently, I found it puzzling that some black Liberals hurl all manner of racial epithets at black Conservatives; but now I realize that it’s the pride/shame mindset. Those who use this tactic, however, don’t realize that it’s ineffectual on persons who recognize it for what it is.
(Re-edited.)
UPDATE: Lloyd Marcus: Democrats Responsible for Black Culture of Anger. More precisely, Leftists are. Read the comments, tremble for your country and, most importantly, pray to The Living God for mercy and deliverence.
Baldilocks wondered when President Obambya was gonna get around to asking Congress for authority to...you know...go to war.
I too have a question--Does SuperGenius Hussein McSmartyPants have a plan or is he just making it up as he goes along?
“Our military action is in support of an international mandate from the [United Nations]Security Council that specifically focuses on the humanitarian threat posed by Colonel Qadhafi to his people,” the American president said. “Not only was he carrying out murders of civilians, but he threatened more.”
Okee-dokee, St. Barry. So you're just doing your Euro-hip Nobel Prize winning humanitarian act. Right. Got it.
“I also have stated that it is U.S. policy that Qadhafi needs to go,” Obama said, noting that a United Nations resolution last week authorizing force against Libya is based on humanitarian concerns, not regime change. “When it comes to our military action…we are going to make sure that we stick to that mandate.”
Wait...what?
I hate to get pushy about this, but which one is it Bamster? Are we enforcing a no-fly zone, or are we trying to stick a fork into Mad Moammar?
Maybe we should ask newly butched-up warlord Nicholas Sarkozy what the hell is going on here. He might have a clue. Obama clearly does not. Even better than the President's feckless display of spectacular obliviousness is the fact that he's created a foreign policy scenario where a sawed-off twerpy French Prime Minister probably has the best handle on the situation.
Besides Obama delivering the change we can all be horrified by, it's important to consult history. Erwin Rommel famously remarked, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." Very true, but the Field Marshall never told us what would happen to the plan when we finally made contact with our allies. In case you've gotten confused, we're supposed to be protecting Libyan rebels from the predations of Colonel Qadaffi. Nobody really knows who the hell these people are, who they're friends with or what kind of government they want to create in the place of the current. Armed with that lack of information, of course we should throw our support behind the Libyan rebel forces.
Just to be clear: Obama has just gotten us into a war where we're not really calling the shots while we're somehow doing most of the fighting with no clear idea what victory would look like for people who probably despise us with a thousand year old Kaaba-sized chip on their shoulders and who will most likely plot against us once we're done doing the wet work for them.
SEC. 2. (a) It is the purpose of this joint resolution to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgement of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicate by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations.
(b) Under article I, section 8, of the Constitution, it is specifically provided that the Congress shall have the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution, not only its own powers but also all other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
(c) The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.
Pray tell, which of the emphasized circumstances exists? Which of these gives President Obama license to order the intervention in Libya?
...among the leftmost wing of the House Democrats. Good to see it.
Reps. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Donna Edwards (Md.), Mike Capuano (Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Maxine Waters (Calif.), Rob Andrews (N.J.), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) “all strongly raised objections to the constitutionality of the president’s actions [in Libya]” during that call, said two Democratic lawmakers who took part.
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) even asked why President Obama's actions aren't impeachable. And from an unnamed Democrat lawmaker:
“They consulted the Arab League. They consulted the United Nations. They did not consult the United States Congress...They’re creating wreckage, and they can’t obviate that by saying there are no boots on the ground. … There aren’t boots on the ground; there are Tomahawks in the air.”
In my previous post, a guest tries to float (verb usage intentional) the idea that there was no congressional authorization for either of the Iraq Wars, among other actions in which the United States Military has been ordered to engage. Of course the assertion about the two Iraq conflicts was easily disputed. I haven't bothered to look up the others, most of which were conducted by Democrat presidential administrations.
I do hope the Left wing of the congressional Democrats stands firm. We will see.
BENGHAZI, Libya — President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday, saying Moammar Gadhafi's continued assault on his own people left the U.S. and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said it fired 110 cruise missiles at 20 targets along the Libyan coast.
Surely we will soon be seeing the antiwar crowd out and about, blocking traffic and asserting that the president is waging an illegal war, a war-for-oil, etc.
I'm sure we will see this soon.
UPDATE: President Obama is in Brazil. He announced this strike against Gadhafi from the Brazilian capital. It appears that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running things from Paris.
UPDATE: I knew we could count on the antiwar activists!
The protesters, some shouting anti-war slogans and singing "We Shall Not Be Moved," were arrested after ignoring orders to move away from the gates of the White House. The demonstrators cheered loudly as Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon's secret history of the Vietnam War that was later published in major newspapers, was arrested and led away by police.
And there were protests all around the country! New York, Chicago, San Francisco...
There's only one problem. The protesters were there to mark the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, to call for complete withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan (told ya so) and to support Bradley Manning, the Army private who leaked classified documents to Wikileaks.
It has only been one day, however. I'm sure they'll get around to protesting the US intervention in Libya. I have faith!
This is what he has planned for all those who love and
protect America and, ultimately, for America itself: failure…
KABUL – Eight American troops were killed in two
separate bomb attacks Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, making October the
deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.
In one of the insurgent assaults, seven Americans
were killed while patrolling in armored vehicles, U.S. forces spokesman Lt. Col.
Todd Vician said. He said an Afghan civilian died in the same attack. The
eighth American was killed in a separate bombing elsewhere in the south, also
while patrolling in a military vehicle, he said.
[L]ast month, in a move that has sent ripples all
the way to the White House, [Foreign Service Officer Matthew] Hoh, 36, became
the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which
he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.
"I have lost understanding of and confidence
in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan,"
he wrote Sept. 10 in a
four-page letter [pdf] to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts
and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my
resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what
end."
Mr. Hoh is also a former Marine captain who served in Iraq.
When President Obama stated that he would continue until November
to dither about General McCrystal’s request for an additional 40,000 troops, a
child could have predicted that such an announcement would embolden both the
Taliban and al Qaeda.
Does anyone remember that we went into Afghanistan to clean
out the nests of terrorists who perpetrated the attacks of 9/11?
It’s easy to see that the president is trying to lose
Afghanistan.But the loss would simply
be another stab at the old America that the president wants to smother and would assist in making
way for the America he wants to shape in his own image.
President Obama has already floated
the idea of a national police force, something we have done without for more
than two centuries.
Helmeted, body-armored feds knocking on American doors—would
that do it?
How much more foreign policy leg-spreading and domestic
forging of tyranny does the president have to perpetrate before we see that we’ve
been had?
Wait a minute.
If we
flake out in Afghanistan, it won’t just embolden Islamists overseas…it will
embolden those living here.
When the Mumbai terrrorist attacks happened, most observers concluded that such a
thing would never occur here because too many American citizens go about armed—even
in leftist utopias like my home state.In Mumbai, armed Islamists ran wild for days.Here, the duration would be roughly eight hours,
max (about two in places like Oklahoma).
But what if Islamist did
try a Mumbai-style attack here?Would
that give President Obama the excuse to create his SA…er…National Police Force? (Godwin can bite me.)
Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to
test the mettle of this guy. And he's gonna have to make some really
tough - I don't know what the decision's gonna be, but I promise you it
will occur. [snip]
[I]t's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be
apparent that we're right. Because all these decisions, all these
decisions, once they're made if they work, then they weren't viewed as
a crisis. If they don't work, it's viewed as you didn't make the right
decision...
(Maybe it's what the then vice president-elect only thought he was talking about.)
Pretty soon all such questions will have their answers.I think that most of them do already.
UPDATE: One supposes that this is mere coincidence:
KABUL – Gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest
house used by U.N. staff in the heart of the Afghan capital early
Wednesday, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff,
officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
--Ecclesiastes 7:9 (KJV)
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
--Romans 12:19 (NIV)
Black Cop: "If I told you once to take [poster with Obama-as-Joker] down and you put it back up then I can charge you with whatever I want to charge you with, okay?" [snip]
White Male Protester: "This used to be America."
Black Cop: "Well it ain't no mo', okay?"
When I asserted that the above-documented incident was evidence of racial discord that is being sown in the minds and spirits of Americans since the inauguration of President Barack Obama, some people didn’t believe me (and copped an attitude in their disbelief as well, which is always fun).
As the aphorism goes, there are some things that cannot be defined, but we know them when we see them. However, I will attempt to explain to my readers and guests why that incident was emblematic of the racial Sign of these Times. Fair warning: I’m thinking that this will take at least two posts.
Last year when those who were paying attention discovered the I-deology called “Black Liberation Theology,” many black Americans—including me--had the proverbial light bulb come on over our heads. You see, we had heard the rhetoric before. Not often in churches (though sometimes it is--as I’ll demonstrate below) and not holistically, but piecemeal--from various organizations within the communities in which we often live; organizations designed to “help” black people or “uplift” black/African heritage. (Side note: Often, the celebrators of this “African” heritage do not have the smarts or discipline to immerse themselves in the scholarship of any singular existing African culture. Knowing this to be a fact, a certain enterprising individual saw the value in fabricating a hybrid of African cultures and marketing that hybrid to a black populace who was mostly ignorant of what they were really embracing. Thus do we have Kwanzaa.)
Most black Americans have long been familiar with the Nation of Islam, their wacky theology, their assertion that the white race is Satan incarnate, etc. As a matter of fact, I’ve never hidden the fact that my immediate family--mother and stepfather--were members of the NOI when I was a teenager. (We’re all born-again Christians now.) But what most of us did not know was that smaller, almost unknown organizations had sprung up in the 1960s with its messengers and its rhetoric, most of it similar to that of the NOI; revolving around hatred of white people and the innate supremacy of black Africans--a counter to the white supremacy under which most black Americans were subject prior to that time—and predicting that the superior African would ultimate triumph over his “natural” enemy, the European/Caucasian/white.
Most black Americans did not join these organizations; most didn’t even know that they existed and if they did know, they held them in contempt. However, if the formal structure was unknown, the rhetoric was not. “God-d*mn Amerika,” “US of KKKA” and much worse ersatz curses could be heard coming out of the mouths of every father, uncle, brother, grandfather, etc. who had ever been stopped for the sin of Driving While Black or whose progenitor had been formally if unjustly executed by the state…or had disappeared into the night, only to be found in a river…or buried in a shallow grave. Such curses were often heaped upon a country that once adhered to the separate-but-equal legal doctrine and once looked the other way as local government entities heaped oppression on American citizens of African descent. (Side note: not part of the Lynching Narrative were those black Americans known as “crazy n*ggers”--that is, black Americans in the South who took their right to bear arms seriously. Those white Southerners inclined to terrorize blacks wouldn’t bother such men. I’m told that my great-grandfather, Lucius Jenkins, was such a man. Dr. Condoleezza Rice says that her father was yet another.)
In the fifties and sixties, things began to change—not all at once, but gradually, as is typical of societal upheavals. (In reality, the “gradual” change happened pretty quickly.) But by that time the anger was already brewing and the impatience with the work of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob had already caused many to abandon Him—as often happens when humans operate by their own time rather than God’s.
That’s an overview of why organizations like both the old and New Black Panthers exist. But there's something special about Black Liberation Theology: many if not most black Americans knew of its fabric but did not know that it existed as a coherent package of principles and tenets with a label. Black Liberation Theology has long walked covertly as underlying current snaking its way into the thinking of Americans who are black and who fail to keep up their spiritual guard. This previously unnamed ideology would pop up its head in various venues and unlikely sources. Example: several years ago, my great-aunt claimed that somewhere in the Bible there existed a prophecy predicting that “the black man would rule the earth.” Having read the Bible back and forth, I heatedly disputed this notion—not because I cared whether black people would rule the earth or not, but because I was disgusted that someone would lie to her about the Word of God. Of course, she couldn’t cite the quote.
Several years later—last year to be specific—after the name of Reverend Jeremiah Wright became infamous and the tenets of Black Liberation Theology became well-known, I asked my aunt to think about where she had heard about the notion of world-wide black rule. She didn’t have to think too long. She’s Catholic and the assertion had come from a priest who was visiting her church; a Liberation Theologian--one of Sowers of the currently and continuously sprouting sapling called Racial Discord.
So what does all this have to do with the incident that occurred on August 25, 2009? Hint: go back to the beginning.
This is the deal: if we leave Iraq prematurely, bailing out of
Afghanistan will shortly follow. If that happens things will get worse
here—and I’m not just referring to the terrorists. Because if the
terrorists either follow us home or the ones already here get the
signal to act, the Left—who continues to ignore all the
precursors to 9/11 and, therefore, has never believed Islamists when
they say that their only goal is to kill, convert or subdue the world
to Islam--will find a way to blame that on Bush and, yes, on the
military.
Don't forget, both Senators Clinton and Obama want us out of Iraq
immediately and I contend that they're building up to calling for the
withdrawal from Afghanistan--that's what Obama's contention regarding ammo shortages in Afghanistan was about. He heralded the beginning of a narrative.
[T]he anti-war Left is building up to the point at which it can
characterize Afghanistan in the same manner as it has done with Iraq—as
a lost cause. I’ve seen the rhetorical beginnings of it here and there
(and I think [AP chairman Dean] Singleton's aborted question was part of that) but no one
prominent is ready to say it straight out. The foundation hasn’t been
sufficiently laid yet.
I say that the overt denigration of our efforts in Afghanistan is on
the way (and, no, it won’t have to make sense). Why? Because every Bush effort must be demonized and scrapped--every single one, even the so-called righteous War.
The Bush edifice must be torn down. Feel free to tell me that I'm wrong.
Feigning support for a mission launched in response to 9/11 to win an
election is one thing; shrugging about it afterwards is another, and
goes way, way beyond “blithe” unless you’re a stalwart dove or the type
of see-no-evil sucker who laps up leftist canards about how Sunni and Shiite jihadists would never work together. But save the outrage: The lesson to draw, especially if you’re an independent, is that
Democrats can’t be trusted to prosecute even a “good war,” even if it’s
one that they explicitly promised to prosecute. Internalize that point, because I promise, it’s being internalized in Iran and Russia as I write this.
Today is the 70th Anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union. Following close on the heels of the invasion of the country by Hitler's Germany on September 1, 1939, this resulted in the disappearance of Poland until the aftermath of the Allied victory in World War II.
Do you think that President Obama knew this history before deciding to break America's agreement with Poland and the Czech Republic? Neither do I.
But I bet that his puppeteers advisers did. And I'm 100 percent sure that Vladimir Putin is celebrating.
UPDATE: Happy Judas Molotov-Ribbentrop Day! Jules Crittenden notes the bitter irony of events and has some excellent links at the end on the history of World War II's beginning.
UPDATE:Arthur Chrenkoff reminds us of how savage were hallmarks of the the 20th century: the tribal wars and genocides of Europe.
In the wake of what appear to be a stolen election by Iran’s
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (as if all Iranian presidential election outcomes
since 1979's revolution aren’t determined in advance by the mullahs), Iran’s people are rising up
against their rulers in favor of the opposing candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi.As with any revolution, it isn’t pretty.It is, however, breath-taking.
Instead of going on over things about which I have only
cursory knowledge (as if that has stopped me before) here are some words you
should read and photos you should peruse.
“Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei’s police and the Basij militia are using
violence and terror to suppress the Iranian people at home. His terrorist
proxies fire missiles at Israel
while torturing, maiming, and murdering Palestinians. He sponsored a violent coup
d’etat against the elected government in Beirut last year with his Hezbollah militia.
He sponsors a terrorist insurgency against the elected government of Iraq, while his
fanatical proxies shoot and kill American soldiers. A car bomb cell belonging
to the regime’s Lebanese franchise was recently arrested in Azerbaijan, and more cells were rolled up in Egypt.
Terrorists sponsored and encouraged by him and his predecessor, Ruhollah
Khomeini, have murdered civilians from Argentina to Japan.
The regime’s only allies in the world are terrorist armies and Bashar
Assad’s Baath Party state in Syria.
Assad himself, like Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, is a pariah among the Arabs,
Persians, Turks, Kurds, Azeris, and Israelis who make up the region.
Obama Administration:
No condemnation for Iran's violent government suppression of protest.I thought that the president’s “We’re all
Muslims now” speech had made things all better in the Muslim world!
The world waits for the Leader of the Land of the Free.
Russia takes the opportunity to test welcome President-elect Obama to the world stage.
President [Dmitry] Medvedev ordered missiles to be stationed up against Nato’s borders yesterday to counter American plans to build a missile defence shield.
Speaking within hours of Barack Obama’s election, Mr Medvedev announced that Russia would base Iskander missiles in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad – the former German city – next to the border with Poland.
He did not say whether the short-range missiles would carry nuclear warheads.
Taking advantage of the world’s attention on the US elections, Mr Medvedev also cancelled plans to withdraw three intercontinental ballistic missile regiments from western Russia by 2010.
In his first state-of-the-nation address, Mr Medvedev said the missiles would be deployed “to neutralise if necessary the antiballistic missile system in Europe”. He added that Russia was also ready to deploy its Navy off Kaliningrad and to install electronic jamming devices to interfere with the US shield, which relies on a radar station in the Czech Republic and ten interceptor missiles in Poland.
Well. I think that it doesn't take too much discernment to figure out that today's Presidential Daily Brief that DNI Chief Michael McConnell is conducting for the president-elect--his first top secret intelligence briefing--will have a distinctly Russian flavor.
Nato’s eastern members greeted the Russian move with dismay.
Russia flexed its muscles in America’s backyard Tuesday as it sent one of its largest warships to join military exercises in the Caribbean. The nuclear-powered flagship Peter the Great set off for Venezuela with the submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two support vessels in the first Russian naval mission in Latin America since the end of the Cold War. [SNIP]
The voyage to join the Venezuelan Navy for operations came only days after Russian strategic nuclear bombers made their first visit to the country. Hugo Chavez, the President, said then that the arrival of the strike force was a warning to the U.S. The anti-American Venezuelan leader is due to visit Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow this week as part of a tour that includes visits to Cuba and China.
Peter the Great is armed with 20 nuclear cruise missiles and up to 500 surface-to-air missiles, making it one of the most formidable warships in the world. The Kremlin has courted Venezuela and Cuba as tensions with the West soared over the proposed U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe and the Russian invasion of Georgia last month.
Missiles are equal to a missile shield in Vladimir Putin’s universe (as if the deployment of the warships has to be an equitable move on the part of the Soviets Russians).
Last week Russia deployed two TU-160 BLACKJACK strategic bombers to Venezuela in order to take part in military exercises with Hugo Chavez's forces. The bombers returned home Friday but not before they took a “stroll” around the Caribbean. Additionally, Russia is set to participate in naval exercises with Venezuela in November. So why is Russia's Navy down south right now?
The Russian military hasn’t deployed to the Western Hemisphere since the USSR broke up.
RUSSIA'S OTHER ISSUE: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili calls for an international investigation into the origins of the Georgia-Russia conflict, saying that the West cannot allow the breakup of his country to stand. Good luck with that, Mr. President. As you well know, Russia is an old hand at manufacturing facts; creating the idea that Georgia was at fault for its own invasion and the annexation of its territory must have been like falling off of a log for our friend Vlad. In the West, we call this 'astroturfing.'
I've been pretty busy today but I had to laugh at this. CNN:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia to benefit one of its presidential election candidates.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Matthew Chance in the Black Sea city of Sochi on Thursday, Putin said the U.S. had encouraged Georgia to attack the autonomous* region of South Ossetia.
So, Vlad, are you going to tell us which candidate you have in mind? Perhaps the one who said that he looked in your eyes and saw the letters 'K,' 'G' and 'B?' Spill it, Komrad!
See, Putin has McCain in mind, of course, but the Tsar is just yapping for the benefit of the home crowd. What he might not have suspected when he decided to float that ridiculous assertion, however, is that, were he to name McCain, it would make it more likely that McCain would become president and not less. And you know that Putin would prefer to deal with Obama.
Keeping talking, Vlad.
*Was the region autonomous when Georgia went in? Or was it still located within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia?
Virtually everyone believes Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili foolishly provoked a Russian invasion on August 7, 2008, when he sent troops into the breakaway district of South Ossetia. “The warfare began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched a barrage targeting South Ossetia,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend in typical fashion.
Virtually everyone is wrong. [SNIP]
Michael talks to two regional experts who state what those who have looked a little deeper into the cause of this situation could figure out: Russia has followed in the steps of the old USSR in that it tries to keep ethnic conflicts stoked in the independent countries which used to be its vassal states. The experts that Michael talked to point out that, since the break up of the Soviet Union, Russia has tried this over and over again, starting with the Baltics.
Go ahead and read the rest.
UPDATE: Just wanted to post one of Michael's excellent photos; this one was taken in Tbilisi.
UPDATE: US delivering "devilish" aid to Georgia. Pravda.
Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday.
Law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso, Texas.
"We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.
You don't think what has happened in the Republic of Georgia could happen here? Think again.
Speaking of philanthropy, Georgians haven't lost their sense of humor, it seems. In response to Russian looters, Tbilisi residents set up a fine display of modern art and world-class snark in front of the city's Russian embassy (click photos to get larger versions).
To the Russian embassy in Tbilisi they brought old refrigerators, toilets, rolls of toilet paper, irons, bottles of vodka, forks and spoons, clothes and other objects that [looters from the Russian army] took interest in during their visits to private houses of Georgians, state institutions, military bases and army barracks.
People are coming up to have a closer look, shake their heads, laugh. Cars that are passing by are honking...
In spite of all the talk for the last few day that Russia had agreed to pull out of Georgia, Russia plans to build 18 new check points inside of the country--with the minority of them being in South Ossetia--while Russia's Deputy Chief of General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn says "we're not moving." "Peacekeeping," you know.
Watching the press conference, taking place in Tblisi, featuring US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Georgian President Mikhiel Saakashvili. The president is formidable and eloquent in making his case against Russia.
More later. I have yet more duties this morning, however brief.
"With the signature of the Georgian president on the cease-fire accord, all Russian troops and any irregular and paramilitary forces that entered with them must leave (Georgia) immediately," Condoleezza Rice said Friday during a news conference in Tbilisi with Saakashvili. [SNIP]
At times speaking emotionally, Saakashvili emphasized the document he signed was "a cease-fire agreement, not a final settlement," stressing that his country would rebuild.
"We are under Russian invasion and Russian occupation right now," he said. "I want the world to know that Georgia never, ever will reconcile with ... occupation."
The description 'emotional' doesn't begin to cover the Georgian president's answers this morning.
Georgia has signed the agreement. Now it's on Russia. The thing is this, however: Russia and her parent, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, and notorious for breaking/ignoring agreements, cease-fires and settlements alike.
The Russian-Georgian-Ossetian-Abkhazian conflict is a tribal war, just like any such conflict on more southerly continents and should be called such. Oh the technology is more advanced and the political intrigue, strategy and subterfuge are far more elaborate, but one look at the history and you can figure it out that this conflict is fundamentally like any tribal power-grab; for example, say, that which occurred in Kenya. And, already, there are more dead bodies than was so for the Kenya conflict--the result of more efficient methods of killing. So the next time you here someone refer to "those savages in Africa murdering each other for a tribal power grabs," be sure to point to the Caucasus.
Antiwar.com talks about the Russia-Georgia conflict, but only to criticize the actions of the Bush Administration and hint that the war isn't "all Russia's fault."
What gives?
UPDATE: Surely the anti-warriors will be up-in-arms (so to speak) about this!
TBILISI, Georgia - Russia ordered a halt to the war in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.
Despite the televised order by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia launched an offensive Tuesday in the Kodori Gorge, the only part of the breakaway region of Abkhazia still under Georgian control, sending in tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery.
Because War is Not the Answer!!!! Putin Medvedev (same thing) Lied! More Georgians Died! I'm sure that the human shields are headed to Abkhazia as I type this.
IT'S impossible to overstate the importance of what's un folding as we watch. Russia's invasion of Georgia - a calculated, unprovoked aggression - is a crisis that may have more important strategic implications than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
We're seeing the emergence of a rogue military power with a nuclear arsenal. [SNIP]
This is the "new" Russia announcing - in blood - that it won't tolerate freedom and self-determination along its borders. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is putting it bluntly: Today, Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine (and the Baltic states had better pay attention).
Georgia's affiliation with the European Union, its status as a would-be NATO member, its working democracy - none of it deterred Putin.
Nor does Putin's ambition stop with the former Soviet territories. His air force has been trying (unsuccessfully) to hit the new gas pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The Kremlin is telling Europe: We not only have the power to turn off Siberian gas, we can turn off every tap in the region, any time we choose.
Peters goes on to (correctly) lambaste the initial reactions of Barack Obama and George W. Bush. On John McCain's reaction seemed commensurate to the situation.
Peters also wonders why the West seems caught off-guard by Russia's actions.
Any soldier above the grade of private can tell you that there's absolutely no way Moscow could've launched this huge ground, air and sea offensive in an instantaneous "response" to alleged Georgian actions. [SNIP]
[The Russians] managed to arrange the instant appearance of a squadron of warships to blockade Georgia. And they launched hundreds of air strikes against preplanned targets. [SNIP]
Make no mistake: Moscow intends to dismember Georgia.
Peters turns his rant-guns to the MSM and then points to the alleged fecklessness of the Bush Administration:
Just as Moscow has reverted to its old habit of sending in tanks to snuff out freedom, Washington has defaulted to form by abandoning Georgia to the invasion - after encouraging Georgia to stand up to the Kremlin.
Reminds me of 1956, when we encouraged the Hungarians to defy Moscow - then abandoned them. And of 1991, when we prodded Iraq's Shia to rise up against Saddam - then abandoned them. We've called Georgia a "friend and ally." Well, honorable men and states stand by their friends and allies. We haven't.
I think Ralph Peters is an intelligent man who has knowledge far and away above my level, along with the ability to apply that knowledge to reality. So I'm wondering how he thinks that the US could act effectively to defend Georgia while we're in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wouldn't one of these endeavors ultimately get the short end? Wouldn't some entity be abandoned?
As I've said in a few places, there are no good choices for the US in this matter--and that's sometimes the way it is.
America must hit where it hurts: Russia’s international prestige, an obsession of Mr. Putin’s. To begin with, we must do everything possible to see Russia’s membership in the Group of 8 industrialized nations be suspended (something the Republican presidential hopeful John McCain called for even before this crisis).
Once the fighting is over, America must step up its campaign for NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine. Should European countries reject the idea, America could designate them “major non-NATO allies,” along the lines of Israel and Pakistan. This would involve more American military trainers in Georgia, intelligence-sharing, joint exercises and other steps, if not a full pledge by Washington to defend the country in case of attack.
Would being booted from the G8 really hurt Russia? And if both Ukraine and Georgia are voted into NATO, what happens if Russia ignores this, remains in Georgia and moves on to Ukraine? Will the EU members of NATO change its complacency spots? More than likely they will expect the US to act, then criticize us while our troops are dying and theirs are chillin' in the rear echelon. (Disclaimer: I'm an REMF myself.)
Georgia backs down but Russia doesn’t; Georgia wants America and NATO to step in.
The Russians want regime change--Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin compares Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to Saddam Hussein and is angry that the US is ferrying 2000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Saakashvili recalled them.
Russia had little to fear from NATO when considering the launch of an invasion on its former vassal state; it has Europe over a barrel (HT Rick Moran; read that, too).
Armed with wealth from oil and gas; holding a near-monopoly over the energy supply to Europe; with a million soldiers, thousands of nuclear warheads and the world’s third-largest military budget, Vladimir Putin believes that now is the time to make his move.
Kagan says that this war isn't really about South Ossetia--that Saakashvili’s real crime against Russia is being “president of a small, mostly democratic and adamantly pro-Western nation on the border of Putin's Russia.”
Georgia is owed protection from the US, says Big Tent Democrat at Talk Left. From that assertion, one supposes that there will be no anti-war movement spearheaded the Left this time. I guess War sometimes Is the Answer.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes to Tblisi and to Moscow, presumably to talk sense. Sarkozy seems to have a winning personality without being spineless, but that won’t stop this, because, for Russian, it’s all about the runaway slave states.
In all the reports and blog posts I’ve read on the topic in the past few days, one name is conspicuously missing: Dmitrij Medvedev—the Russian President. I guess we know who is wearing the pants in that marriage, as if there was any doubt.
News reports indicate that Russia may have tried to bomb the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs through Georgia. If so, the bombs missed, and flow of oil through the pipeline was not interrupted. The BTC pipeline runs from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey; note Russia to the north and Iran to the south.
The pipeline is capable of pumping the equivalent of 1 million barrels a day and is the only oil conduit in the region not in Russian control. Back in 2002, when the pipeline was being built, Russia was adamantly against its construction.
For these reasons, it would be of enormous strategic benefit to Russia if it could reassert dominance over Georgia, or merely have an opportunity to demonstrate to Turkmenistan and Azerbaijain that any means of getting their petroleum products to market independent of Russia may be unreliable. These issues are a key subtext to Russia's conflict with Georgia and Georgia's desire to join NATO, and otherwise seek protection from the West.
(Thanks to Roger Kimball; read that, too. It's about Russia and Georgia and McCain and Obama.)
UPDATE: Russians take Gori while President Saakashvili makes a narrow escape from the city and, possibly, from Russian bombers (just seen on cable news).
This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan in 1979 and the Prague Spring of 1968, threatens to undermine the stability of the international security system. [SNIP]
This conflict is about the future of freedom in Europe.
All Cold Warrior eyes are on the Caucasus region. Believe it.
GORI, Georgia — Russian air attacks over northern Georgia intensified on Saturday morning, striking two apartment buildings in the city of Gori and clogging roads out of the area with fleeing refugees.
Russian authorities said their forces had retaken the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, from Georgian control during the morning hours. They reported that 15 Russian peacekeepers and 1,500 civilians have been killed in the conflict.
The war was allegedly was started by the Georgians, who the Russians say were ethnically cleansing the ethnic Russians from South Ossetia, the disputed region. (South Ossetians wants independence from Georgia.) But the attack on Gori is more than standing up for one's tribe; it's punishment, and not just for the South Ossetia issue. It's not as if Georgia could go toe-to-toe with Russia.
NATO is calling for a cease-fire.
(Thanks to Ed Morrisey, who waits for certain people to criticize Russia for 'air-raiding villages and killing civilians.' )
UPDATE: Are the Ukrainians helping Georgia? I wouldn't doubt it. They hate their former masters as much as the Georgians do. (Recent reason for hate: many suspect that Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned by Russia's FSB; he survived but his face bears the marks of some illness/ingestion.)
The real question for Georgia, then, is not whether is will win or lose — it has already lost — but how bad its loss will be. The worst case scenario is a Russian occupation and annexation. Fortunately for the Georgians, that’s also the least likely.
Trevino places the blame mostly on the Georgian president. But the Russians aren't exactly faultless.
Russia has baited the hot-tempered Georgian leader with trade and travel embargoes as well as saber-rattling. Georgia has had to tolerate a few thousand Russian troops on its soil -- only Moscow recognizes the self-declared independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And in April, Russia downed a Georgian drone over Abkhaz -- that is, Georgian -- air space. Russia in recent years has also granted citizenship to the separatists.
TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia's president said Friday that his country is under attack by Russian tanks and warplanes, and he accused Russia of targeting civilians as tensions over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia appeared to boil over into full-blown conflict.
"All day today, they've been bombing Georgia from numerous warplanes and specifically targeting (the) civilian population, and we have scores of wounded and dead among (the) civilian population all around the country," President Mikhail Saakashvili told CNN in an exclusive interview.
"This is the worst nightmare one can encounter," he said.
Asked whether Georgia and Russia were now at war, he said, "My country is in self-defense against Russian aggression. Russian troops invaded Georgia."
About 150 Russian armored vehicles have entered South Ossetia, Saakashvili said, and Georgian forces had shot down two Russian aircraft.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it sent "reinforcements" to South Ossetia to help the Russian peacekeepers already stationed there.
The events followed an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss a dramatic escalation of violence in Georgia and South Ossetia. The session ended Friday morning without a statement about the fighting.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said [while in Beijing for the Olympics] ``war has started'' over the breakaway region of South Ossetia as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused its neighbor of a ``well-planned invasion.''
Saakashvili said in a Bloomberg Television interview that his nation of 4.6 million people is ``fighting to secure its borders'' amid a ``full-blown military aggression'' involving thousands of Russian troops. Aerial bombings and wide-spread fighting in and around the region killed an unknown number of civilians and wounded ``scores'' more, Saakashvili said. [snip]
Saakashvili, 40, said Russia amassed troops for months on its northern border before hostilities began.
“Just this past week, we passed out of the out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon,” Obama said at a press conference in Sderot, Israel.
Later on, the Obama campaign corrects its candidate’s words—the bill was his (partially), but he’s not on the committee. Obviously.
So if Obama is a co-sponsor to 2007 legislation implementing sanctions designed to discourage Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, didn’t he sign on to a precondition?
Basically, Obama agreed legislatively to a precondition, the concept of which he repudiated in a 2007 debate and on his website.
Diplomacy: Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.
Then, during a press conference in front of the Israelis, he crows about the success of a step toward making that precondition official US policy while claiming membership to a senate committee to which he does not belong.
Got that?
To be fair, I think that the Bush administration's latest forays into diplomacy with Iran made it easier for the senator to pull off this particular flip-flop without many observers raising a stink. But doesn't the fact that Obama has being talking no-preconditions while sleeping sanctions the whole time suggest a pattern of behavior to Obama supporters?
Short of an all-out MAD ignition scenario, a missile shield protecting Eastern Europe would render a Russian attack on the Europe Union totally ineffective. Richard Fernandez explains how and why, reminding us that a government-culture which is still capable of disposing of an Alexander Litvinenko in such a hair-raising manner, remains capable of anything--especially when it deems that its back is to the wall.
Russia is mad because its government has this fantasy in which the West would attack it and it would retaliate, be victorious and regain its former glory. I know, I know. Why would the West want to attack Russia? That question doesn't matter. What matters it that it is convenient for the Russian government to believe that we would want to. This belief provides a premise for the conclusion that Putin's Medvedev's Russia should revert to the old Cold ways when Russia was strong. And a missile shield makes that fantasy less likely to become reality.
Richard also discusses the effect a proposed missile shield could have on Iran's nuclear dreams--basically laying out the rationale for a Russia-Iran alliance.
The US and Israel have condemned Iran after it test-fired a long range missile capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
Iran state media said nine missiles had been fired in total, including a new Shahab-3, with a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles).
Tehran has tested the missile before, but the latest launch comes amid rising tensions with the US and Israel over the country's nuclear programme. [SNIP]
The launches were intended to deter any Israeli or US strike against Tehran's nuclear installations, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus. [SNIP]
In the Israeli parliament, Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim said: "I suggest Israel will not talk, and Israel should prepare itself to do what is needed to do."
The White House and both American presidential candidates also condemned the Iranian test.
Describing Iran as a "great threat", the Democratic challenger, Barack Obama, called for tougher sanctions while his Republican rival, John McCain, said the test demonstrated the need for effective missile defence.
And Russia reacts badly to a proposed US missile defense shield designated to protect the Czech Republic and Poland.
The verbal spat between the US and Russia came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday inked an initial agreement on missile-defense deployment with the Czech government in Prague, as reported by the Associated Press.
According to Reuters, Russia's Foreign Ministry responded to the news in a statement: "If the real deployment of an American strategic missile defense shield begins close to our borders, then we will be forced to react not with diplomatic methods, but with military-technical methods."
In reaction to that statement, the US criticized Russia for its "bellicose rhetoric," which it said was meant to intimidate the European partners of the US into backing out of the defense plan, according to the BBC. [SNIP]
The US insists the shield is designed to protect against attacks from "rogue states" in the Middle East, such as Iran.
But Russia has strongly protested, saying the deployment of the US shield would threaten its security by blunting the capabilities of its own missile force.
Are we looking at the beginning of the alliance from Hell?
UPDATE: And before someone tells me that the mullahs would never work with the god-less, infidel Russians, save it. They'll join--temporarily, to be sure--with whomever they think will give them a leg up on the object of their hatred and envy: Israel.
UPDATE: More on Obama's reaction from Jim Geraghty:
On Today Show this morning, Matt Lauer asked Obama if he were president this morning, what his immediate response would be to Iran's missile tests.
I think we've got to gather up all the intelligence necessary with the situation, but there's no doubt that we're seeing rising tensions in the area.
To echo Ed, intelligence-gathering? This isn't a rumor of missile tests. U.S. systems detected and tracked at least seven of the missiles. The regime announced it on state-run TV, and showed missiles flying into the air (although perhaps it was file footage).
Don't forget what the 2008 Democrat nominee for POTUS said about how to handle Iran.
Diplomacy: Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.
Yes, as of today, July 9, 2008, that's still his policy. He still believes that those who want to bring the return of the Mahdi can be appeased.
This morning, US Intelligence Officials—including CIA head General Michael Hayden*--gave a classified account to Congress as to what it knew and when it knew it with regard to the bombing of a Syrian facility by the Israeli Air Force last September. Allegedly included in the briefing is video evidence obtained from within the now-destroyed facility—a facility whose core was almost identical to a known plutonium-producing facility in North Korea. According to the article, the video shows North Koreans “touring” the facility to boot.
The WaPo article also says that this evidence could “complicate” the US efforts to strike a deal with North Korean President Kim Il-Sung Jong-il regarding his nukes. Hmmm. Sometimes I wonder whether we're really trying to “strike a deal” with such a monster anyway. It seem to me that the Bush Administration’s policy toward the Norks is more strategically-minded: putting the American seal of approval on the "negotiations" per Li'l Kim's demands, but, in reality, standing back while Kim’s neighbors put up with the bulk of his insanity. And, after the regional players tire of playing and being played, the US would sign off on whatever they decide—especially if the decision comes from the Japanese. And who could really expect a man possessing nuclear power capabilities while keeping his own people in such a state to listen to actual reason anyway? Selling the tech to the Syrians seems far more in-character for the gulag-keeper.
As for the Syrians, their ambassador to the US--Imad Moustapha—is predictably outraged at being bombed by the hated "Zionist Entity," but rightly points out that the West claimed that Saddam’s Hussein’s Iraq had a nuke program also, but no evidence of same was subsequently found. Some think that Saddam managed to move evidence of such a program to…Syria.
Captain Ed notices, however, that Syria seems less than willing to restart its program
after seeing how the Bush administration dismembered the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq for less.
Kenya’s parliament has implemented the changes in the country’s constitution which (re)create the office of prime minister—a position designated for ODM’s Raila Odinga--and attendant deputies.
This week’s constitutional amendments partially redefined the structure of government and portrayed a nation in the mood for reforms when Parliament sealed the power-sharing deal between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga.
An entirely new constitution is in the offing within one year.
Meanwhile, down on the ground, old hurts are nursed and older battles continue. My father wonders whether his countrymen can give up the “social HIV called tribalism." No more than any other group of humans, Mzee--if the fact that it rages here in the ‘Land of the Free’ is an indication. We can only remain vigilant against personal bitterness.
BTW, for those who were following when I didn't know the terrestrial whereabouts of my progenitor--Philip Ochieng--during the height of the Kenya Crisis, I can tell you where he is now as then: near a modem and a cell phone.
With the more obvious aspects of Kenya’s social and political crises concluding, presenting a page dedicated to information about the country would seem to be a day late and a dollar short--were it not for the existence and presidential candidacy of Barack Obama.
Of course there are pages that are far more detailed and better researched than the one linked to above. But since I took it upon myself to put together information about what’s going on over there and to talk about it, it only seems fair to my readers to offer at least the bare bones of some facts, to at least point the way to answers. Fairness was also on my mind when it comes to those whom I have continuously excoriated and will continue to excoriate for repeating falsehoods--falsehoods implanted in their minds by those who would twist the still-perilous situation in Kenya to suit their own prejudices, fears and fantasies. (That last particular bit of fairness stems from one of the axioms in my personal code of conduct: bitching should never have itself as its sole purpose for existing if it can be helped. If one has a complaint, she should have at least one solution in mind. This is mine.)
Sources are multiple where possible--I tried not to rely on Wikipedia too much. Some sources are rank opinion but have within them still other sources. Obviously, as the number of sources read increases so will the view of Kenya's history and its woes become less distorted--at least for those with eyes to see. Suggested additions and verifiable (and polite) corrections are welcome.
Be vigilant against harsh reality. Making shizzam up doesn’t count. (A rebuttal.)
The ever-resourceful Richard Fernandez gets hold of some US Army secrets so sensitive that the less tactically- and strategically-minded among us might not be able to grasp the implications.
A sample:
The world is full of bad people. Mind you, not everyone is bad, but there are enough of them out there that we have to arm ourselves.
Even many of our politicians might have trouble wrapping their brains around such insight!
*Odinga predicts that Kenya can lure back the tourists and investors that were driven away by the violence of the last couple of months, depending on how fast the new coalition government “gets to work” with Odinga filling the soon-to-be created prime minister slot. Good luck with that.
*Meanwhile, the idea that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign planted the photos of rival Barack Obama as the latter was being costumed by a Kenyan Somali elder in native garb has reached the other side of the world; an idea of which I'm still skeptical. But, like the erroneous idea that the country of Somalia has something to do with this, the idea that Clinton has denigrated the Somali tribe of Kenya has circumvented the globe countless times while the truth probably will be ignored. What do I think is the truth? Those whose fear of Obama makes them nuts are probably the culprits. BTW, the latter are the flip side of the (other) whackos who have enshrined Obama as some sort of redemption figure.
*Kofi Annan has surprised me again. Upon his exit from Kenya following his diplomatic success, he urges Kenyan citizens to keep the figurative fire under their leaders—instead of the literal version under each other.
In your communities, in your villages and in your cities, maintain the pressure, maintain your interest and you will be surprised that if you do that how politicians miraculously find the courage to do the right thing…" Sound familiar: of, by, for.
*The constitutional amendment process necessary to recreate the position of prime minister will start in Kenya’s parliament on March 6.
*Kenya: histories of hidden war--This is a long, fascinating, even witty piece on Kenya’s dual image in the western psyche—and on reality. The reality is that it’s all about land and tribes. Read these instead of the work conjured by the fantasists who run off half-cocked about religious wars.
What insures the ruling clique is that the masses - because of their anger - do not know the real structure of these sources of their miseries. Why? Because of yet another sin of commission perpetrated by the ruling clique.
It deliberately sings tribal songs to play our ethnic communities against one another in order to seal their minds against all social comprehension, so that, at elections, the people are forced to support only the candidates of their tribes - even where a candidate is a known murderer, thief or rapist.
Thus – although the anger has long-standing economic and constitutional roots – whenever it is triggered by many a Samuel Kivuitu**, it eggs the victims to rush for one another’s necks on the basis of tribe while the real culprits (of all tribes) enjoy their wealth padlocked in maximum security in their suburban homes.
*The US kicks in $25 million worth of reconstruction aid. I suspect that there are persons on both sides of the Atlantic who aren’t happy about this even though the amount isn’t that high. (Oprah probably has that in her purse in singles.)
*And, ending on a good note, a Kenyan man and a Russian woman won yesterday’s LA Marathon, with the woman dusting off several of the other Kenyan male runners!
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Russia's Tatiana Aryasova made a smashing marathon debut Sunday, taking advantage of a head start on the male runners to capture the Los Angeles Marathon.
She held off a group of Kenyan men and finished in 2 hours, 29 minutes and 9 seconds. She gave little thought to the men in pursuit.
"It didn't matter to me," she said through a translator. "If I see the men behind me, it's not going to make me run faster."[SNIP]
Kenya's Laban Moiben won the men's division in 2:13:50. Aryasova and Moiben each received $20,000 and a car for winning their divisions.
BTW, thanks, runners, for creating the annual maze in downtown LA from which I had trouble escaping.
**Kivuitu is the head of the Electoral Commission of Kenya. Many believe that he trigger much of the violence by prematurely announcing President Kibaki's victory. Later Kivuitu blamed "outside forces" for making the election results controversial and said that he wasn't really sure who had won the presidency. I get the feeling that my father doesn't like him.
UPDATE:Acting Together for Kenya: Agreement on the Principles of Partnership of the Coalition Government. This is the preamble to the power-sharing agreement for which the signatories are Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. The witnesses are Kofi Annan and the present chairman of the African Union, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania. (Each head of an African state takes his/her turn at the African Union chair.)
Well it appears as though Kofi Annan's "go-along-or-else" tactic worked.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's rival politicians reached an agreement Thursday on a coalition government after weeks of bitter negotiations on how to end the country's deadly postelection crisis, mediator Kofi Annan said. [SNIP]
"We have come to an understanding on the coalition government," Annan told reporters. He added: "All I can say is that we do have an agreement."
The devil will surely be observable in the details.
The [power-sharing] agreement creates the post of prime minister who will have authority ``to coordinate and supervise government functions,'' former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at the signing ceremony in the capital, Nairobi. The prime minister and two deputies will be included in cabinet, Annan said.
The prime minister will be chosen by the largest party in Parliament, Annan said. That is Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, which won 99 seats in the 222-member legislature.
Annan stops the talks in order to jump-start them. Will it work? Not with people who really donât want to talk.
To the news that Kibaki's PNU and Odinga's ODM have failed to reach and agreement regarding power-sharingâspecifically failing to agree as to the duties and scope of a theoretical Kenyan Prime Minister--the Daily Nationâscolumnistsreact in frustration, among other emotions.
Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai enumerates the individual signs representing the downfall of her country and the dearth of leadership which spurs it ever forward. Meanwhile, Odingaâs ODM gears up for more protests, set to begin Thursday. I suppose that he thinks that doing the same the over again will yield a different result than the last time. Calculate the odds.
Recently the Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Karua asked the international community to stop pressurizing her government because Kenya is a sovereign state. Karua's understanding and application of âsovereigntyâ when Kenyans are slaughtering each other yet her government has failed to guarantee security of persons, needs to be challenged. [SNIP]
We should not be begging juntas and cliques to hold people at ransom simply because they possess coercive instruments of power!
State sovereignty derives its legitimacy from peopleâs sovereignty and as such, the role of a state is that of an agent. The preservation of the latter cannot be done at the expense of the former. Individual sovereignty is a natural right that man comes into life with. Man is by nature a sovereign citizen of the earth and by this status, his/her inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property are inviolable. [SNIP]
How many Africans live abroad as refugees simply because of failed states that keep on boasting of sovereignty!? These Africans, though refugees, enjoy a level human dignity in their host countries. They are the sovereigns of themselves.
Condoleezza Rice say that there's no excuse for Kenya violence and the US is prepared to penalize Kenya for its leaders' obstinacy, whether the penalty ison purpose or not.
(Note: Since most of this post was composed yesterday, there is a higher chance than usual of an update being in the offing.)
UPDATE: A good development-- At Annan's request, Odinga postpones the announced new protests.
(Hey, Bozo! This is post number 44 of a series, rather than a fantasy-laden misshapen massaging of the facts put forth via a standalone, context-less blurb.)
Not Ready to Make Nice:Both Odinga and Kibaki find ways to dash the hopes of their countrymen by continuing to bicker over the role, function and duties of a proposed PM—the creation of which would require an amendment to the Bomas Draft aka the Kenya Constitution.
My father: Constitutions were made to be amended—especially when life and limb are at stake.
In a Letter to the Editor at the Daily Nation, readers contend that the ICG has endangered the lives of Kenyan runners—almost all Kalenjin--by claiming that they’ve participated in some of the massacres.
“No Political Will”: As promised, Odinga’s ODM will “peacefully protest” the lack of resolution to the crisis, said lack being exacerbated by Odinga’s trip out of the country over the weekend.
*Members of Athletics Kenya, an organization whose purpose speaks for itself, stand accused by the International Crisis Group (ICG) of funding many of the killings. The body’s chairman, Isaiah Kiplagat, disputes this.
[F]ar from promoting violence, Rift Valley athletes were known for their involvement in local competitions promoting peace.
"I am sure no single athlete was involved in promoting violence as reported," Kiplagat said.
"They are busy training for coming competitions and they would not have that time for those things. In fact, as we speak, many are abroad training because of the problems here."
*And, an individual Kenyan athlete is thankful to be back home—in Kentucky.
UPDATE: Odinga is in Nigeria meeting with that country's former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. And before the usual suspects begin to wail, Obasanjo is a Christian.
*Women in White: The phrase "Women and Children Hit Hardest" is usually deployed in a sarcastic manner here in the USA; the purpose being to mock the purveyors of Identity Politics and of Nanny-statism. With the Kenya Crisis, however, the phrase carries none of its sarcasm and all of its horror: women and children--the most vulnerable groups--are the victims of not only quick deaths, but slow ones. Deaths of optimally functioning bodies, souls and spirits.
Kenyan women wearing white clothes to symbolise peace vowed on Thursday to surround the venue of crisis talks until a solution is found to the east African country's worst turmoil since independence.
Many women and children have been among the victims of post-election violence which has killed at least 1,000 people and forced more then 300,000 from their homes in a country previously seen as one of Africa's most stable.
Cases of rape and sexual violence doubled within days of trouble erupting, according to the United Nations. In refugee camps, traumatised children in makeshift classrooms have been drawing burned houses and beheaded people.
"All of you -- wear your white dresses, carry your food. Tomorrow (Friday) we shall go to peace house," said Violet Mavisi, an activist with the Coalition of Women for Peace and Justice, referring to the Nairobi hotel where talks are ongoing.
"We will circle their cars and make sure that those guys do not come out of there without a peace settlement."
*Kenya's religious leaders--Christian, Muslim and Hindu--call for new elections. Their statement is here.
*Odinga’s ODM threatens to resume protests if Kibaki’s PNU remains intransigent on changing the constitution to create the post of prime minister. The position was abolished by Jomo Kenyatta, independent Kenya’s first president. The government calls the threat a ‘bullying tactic’ since the all of the other protests resulted in many deaths. ODM has given a one week deadline.
*Clashes in Kenya’s Mount Elgon are going on unabated. In fairness, these clashes have been going on sporadically for years, with the main actor said to be a group called Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF). The bone of contention? Land allocation and distribution from the government. The grievance sounds familiar if you've been paying attention.
"Mt Elgon is a reflection of the country. If we had taken this [the Mt Elgon crisis] as a case study then maybe it would have helped solve the current crisis in the country," she added. ['She' is the National Council of Churches of Kenya coordinator for the western region, Florence Makhanu.]
Before violence erupted after the disputed December 2007 election, Kenya was the region’s hub, with many people in neighbouring countries traveling frequently to the capital, Nairobi, for medical treatment, holidays, trade and education. IRIN spoke to a cross-section of people in Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda and Tanzania and Sudan to gauge how the crisis was affecting them:
“Most consumables in Rwanda are imported, so delays in delivery from Kenya mean shortages, which translate into price hikes, which of course have an effect on our pockets,” a young Rwandan executive, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. “The sooner Kenya can return to a normal state of affairs, the better for us all in the region.”
Remember what Douglas Farah said: a destabilized Kenya is an opportunity for a “stabilizing” force.
Kenya’s rival political parties have nearly completed a deal to end the crisis that has kept this country on edge for almost two months, with the government agreeing to create a prime minister position, one of the opposition’s chief demands, a high-ranking government official said Thursday.
Not all the details have been worked out, the official said, but lawyers were drafting language on Thursday evening that would outline the job description of the prime minister position and how it would be incorporated into Kenya’s political framework.
An opposition official [ODM] confirmed that a deal was close, but was a bit more cautious, saying that the amount of power given to the new prime minister position had not yet been pinned down.
“It’s a major achievement,” said the opposition official, on the condition of anonymity because both sides had been asked by international mediators not to speak to the news media. “The next challenge will be to put meat on the bone.”
Odinga has said that the bare minimum he would accept is a post as PM--a position that was abolished by President Jomo Kenyatta in 1964.
Last week Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. Today, Serbians respond…by setting the American Embassy on fire.
Serb rioters set fire to an office inside the U.S. Embassy Thursday and police clashed with protesters outside other embassy buildings after a large demonstration against Kosovo's declaration of independence.
Masked attackers broke into the U.S. compound, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. They set fire to the office and flames shot up the side of the building. [SNIP]
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership [Muslims, BTW] has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo.
For several days, Kosovo's Serbs have shown their anger by destroying U.N. and NATO property, setting off small bombs and staging noisy rallies.
On Thursday, the neighboring Croatian Embassy also was targeted by the same group of protesters at the U.S. Embassy, and smaller groups attacked police posts outside the Turkish and British embassies in another part of the city but were beaten back.
Alright. Where's the next outbreak of human nature going to occur? Any guesses?
* “God welcomes everybody”: Normally a Christian missionary transport service, the Mission Aviation Fellowship has been evacuating Kenyan refugees from areas of heavy violence and it has done so without asking about tribe.
During these flights, passengers were sometimes eye to eye with members of the opposing tribe. [SNIP]
"The first thought, as a Christian, that you would have is ‘How can they kill each other?'" Terlouw said. What is happening here is absolutely horrifying. The church has called for reconciliation, but leaders realized that even their request was "preaching in a way that supported their own tribe."
The church made a leap forward recently when they confessed this. Terlouw said church leaders made a new statement of reconciliation: "Whatever our tribal background is, we belong to Jesus, and we want peace at any cost. We want to reconcile with anybody, whatever tribe, whatever color. And for the first time I think, that was not just lip-service, but that was real."
The youths from [Odinga's] Luo ethnic group who burned buildings in Kisumu in the wake of the election say they will accept little in the way of compromise. The stones in the road – marking the spot where one their friends was shot by riot police – could quickly become missiles.
"We voted for a president, not a prime minister," says one. "The least we can accept is an interim government with a revote in six months."
The young men, who spend their days drinking or smoking bhang, the local name for marijuana, are typical of the dispossessed from whom Odinga draws much of his support.
He campaigned on a policy of majimbo – a form of devolved government that promised to share the benefits of Kenya's booming economy with those who felt they were missing out to members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.
In short, he offered his supporters hope.
Jaguba Nyabanda Anyango, a mechanic, says: "[Mr. Kibaki] has taken his people to the government. Now we want [Odinga] to take all Luos to government and provide jobs."
Without Odinga in the State House, they all say they will rip up their voting cards and turn their backs on Kenya's political system.
But first, they will burn what is left of Kisumu's once pretty city center.
"That is automatic if [Odinga] betrays us," says one of the young men.
President Bush and Mrs. Bush are in Africa this weekend (a six-day sojourn), with the intent to visit the countries of Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda and Tanzania. It's the president's second trip to the continent; let’s hope that he’ll skip the dancing. Among the objectives of trip are to highlight the US projects which aim to conquer AIDS and malaria and to scout out a site for the headquarters of the newly-created Africa Command. The only government which has offered to host the new command is that of Liberia.
Kenya had been on the itinerary but the president purposely avoided countries with unstable governments and, therefore, that leg of the trip was canceled for obvious reasons. Instead, the president sent Condoleezza Rice to Kenya. The SOS will arrive on Monday but will only be there for a few hours--just enough time to convey the president’s call for an end to the violence and his endorsement of a power-sharing agreement; basically to cosign on Kofi Annan’s efforts to convince Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga to take that option.
"Why are [Kibaki, Odinga and Annan] not hitting the main issue so we can have a normal life in Kenya?" 35-year old taxi driver Dan Omondi told The Associated Press in the western city of Kisumu, which has seen some of the worst of the ethnic violence sparked by the political dispute. "When you are hungry you need food, not appetizers."
But others recognize that it isn't up to the Big Wigs to give life--real life--to the citizens. It never was.
In the case of Kenya, blame at this point would serve no useful purpose. Hundreds have died and thousands are displaced. We must focus on resolving the crisis. The U.S. and other Western countries have suggested direct face-to-face negotiations between Odinga and Kibaki. This Western approach NEVER worked in Africa.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, and AU Chairman, John Kufuor and others have all suggest Government of National Unity (GNU) but that NEVER worked anywhere in Africa – not even South Africa after apartheid was dismantled. It is time for a NEW APPROACH – an African approach.
It starts by recognizing that the crisis is now beyond the capabilities of Odinga and Kibaki to resolve. When two elephants, it is the grass that gets hurt, says an African proverb. [SNIP]
The crisis in Kenya now is for ALL Kenyans to resolve. A sovereign national conference must be convened with representatives drawn from all sections of Kenyan society: political parties, religious bodies, tribal groups, professional groups, student groups, etc.
I think that it's important to know that our -- that we have a major initiative that's intended to build the capacity of Africans, themselves, to respond to conflict. That's the Global Peace Operations Initiative. It's called GPOI. And that was an initiative that the President pushed the administration to develop. It started in 2005. It provides $660 million over five years to train 75,000 peacekeepers worldwide, with a focus on Africa. To date, we've trained about 39,000 Africans in peacekeeping, and also equip them. And of the Africans deployed around the world in peacekeeping operations -- of which the majority are, again, Africa -- 80 percent have been trained by the United States. So we think that this is a major contribution to conflict resolution on the continent.
Then the situation in Kenya is addressed.
Q Do you feel like President Kibaki feels too comfortable in his U.S. support, his support from Washington, and that might make him less likely to make compromises that he might otherwise?
AMBASSADOR FRAZER: I think that both President Kibaki and Raila Odinga appreciate the strong support that the United States has provided to Kenya, and they see the United States as key to helping them to resolve this crisis. And so I think that both have heard our message that it will not be business as usual, and that any individuals who are seen as obstructing the effort towards a peace process, a power sharing agreement, as the President stated, will be subject to possible further sanction by the U.S. We've talked about a visa ban, but there are other issues and ways in which we can try to encourage them to negotiate in good faith.
Q Do you have a concern there's an impression -- perhaps a misimpression -- that the President is not engaged in solving conflict?
AMBASSADOR FRAZER: I think that there's some people who don't know what the true record is. And especially when you're in Washington, we need to step outside of the politics and look at the record.
And, finally, here are some excerpts from another excellent and very sad article on the origins of the Kenya conflict and the lastest effects: Balkanization.
Luos have gone back to Luo land, Kikuyus to Kikuyu land, Kambas to Kamba land and Kisiis to Kisii land. Even some of the packed slums in the capital, Nairobi, have split along ethnic lines.
The bloodletting across the country that has killed more than 1,000 people since the election seems to have subsided in the past week. But the trucks piled high with mattresses, furniture, blankets and children keep chugging across the countryside, an endless convoy of frightened people who in their desperation are redrawing the map of Kenya. [SNIP]
Whatever deal is struck will have to address the growing de facto segregation, since a resettlement of the country may further entrench the political and ethnic divisions that have recently erupted. Shattered trust is much harder to rebuild than smashed huts, and many people say they will never go back to where they fled.
“How can we, when it was our friends who did this to us?” said Joseph Ndungu, a shopkeeper in the Rift Valley, who said that men he used to play soccer with burned down his shop. [SNIP]
The roots of the problem go deeper than the disputed election, in which the incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner over the top opposition leader, Raila Odinga, despite widespread evidence of vote rigging.
At the heart is a tangle of long-festering political, economic and land issues. Part of the trouble is the winner-take-all system in Kenya, which happens in much of Africa, where leaders often favor members of their own ethnic group and in the process alienate large swaths of the population. Many people in Kenya saw this coming even before independence in 1963.
“We were worried about the smaller tribes getting dominated by the bigger ones,” said Joseph Martin Shikuku, a 75-year-old opposition figure. “And you know what? That’s exactly what happened.”
Here's today's rant from one of my parental units. (I have more than two, but you know which one.)
It is the mind that instigates the crimes that we commit, including the chauvinism which leads you to attack your neighbour on account of his ethnic affiliation. The upshot is that, in the war on crime, mental education is a hundred times more effective than a hundred manacles.
The chief failing of all [Kenyan] upbringing – including the classroom formality that we claim to be “education” – is that it does not attempt to remove from our minds any of the groundless assumptions, sentiments and thoughts that we hold against one another as ethnic communities.
THE CHIEF CULPRITS ARE OUR PARENTS, OUR teachers, our priests and – by the favouritism with which they hire and fire – our government officials. If these are members of our most “educated” elite, how can we expect our mass of peasants and proletarians to know any better? [SNIP]
The police may have prevented much of what has happened. They may arrest us and the courts may sentence us to stiff punishment.
But they cannot arrest and detain or jail the parochialism that hag-rides us as races, tribes, genders and religions. It is not their duty. Appalling is the revelation, since December 27, that, since independence, Kenyans have not moved even a flea-hop in the direction of mental education, uplift and refinement.
Nothing is more embarrassing than to listen to PhDs from one community, seated at the counter of a pub, uttering the most fetid drivel about other tribes. They demand “revolutionary changes” in the body politic but only if these changes are manned by members of their tribe. At the counter – that’s why I call them counter-revolutionaries.
FOR IT IS THEY WHO OUGHT TO PLAY THE VANGUARD role in our seemingly insuperable task of creating a single national mind out of a conglomeration of disparate ethnic minds. Yet since December 27, I have not seen even a single suggestion from the academic community that tribalism is our national bane number one – leave alone how to tackle it. [SNIP]
No, December 27 has not intensified our parochialism. It has merely removed the outer coating of our small-mindedness. It has merely laid us bare.
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