Category: International Affairs

Afghanistan 2014

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President Obama addressed the nation yesterday from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and on the first anniversary on the elimination of Osama bin Laden, he explained that Afghani security will be Afghani-dependent beginning in 2014. Afghanistan and the United States also executed a “strategic partnership agreement” whereby the United States will work with Afghani security after 2014, but no permanent occupation will take place, and no bases will be built. 

Although the President says the “tide has turned” in the Afghan war, the country has by no means returned to any semblance of a pre-1973 stability or security. This is a country that hasn’t known peace and normalcy in almost 40 years, and it’s unlikely to know them anytime soon. 

But that’s soon going to be Afghanistan’s problem, not ours. What’s important here is that the withdrawal of American involvement will enable the Afghani government to start talking to the Taliban which, if it renounces violence, will be invited to participate in government. We may have been appalled by the Taliban government’s treatment of its citizenry – particularly its women – we went to war with them over their harboring of al Qaeda, not over their internal affairs. We weren’t so appalled by the Taliban that we did anything about their patrons in the Pakistani security service. 

And since al Qaeda was driven into Pakistan and out of Afghanistan, the mission has been muddled, at best. We helped set up the Afghani government that controls very little outside of Kabul. This is a country with a 12% literacy rate for females and 43% for males; with a $900 annual per capita GDP.  What Afghanistan needs isn’t more fighting, but investment in education, infrastructure, and to produce things that don’t involve poppies. That investment obviously can’t come from Afghanistan, which barely has a pot within which to piss, and – as in Iraq – American withdrawal risks further instability and the intervention by Afghanistan’s more malevolent neighbors.  The US should dedicate itself to make resources available to help Afghanistan educate its people and give them economic opportunity. 

But more importantly, President Obama closed with this: 

“As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it is time to renew America. An America where our children live free from fear, and have the skills to claim their dreams. A united America of grit and resilience, where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan, and we build our future as one people, as one nation.”

It’s also important that we stop fighting wars in Asia and start fixing our own problems here at home. 

Outrageous Outrage, Part 1: Joseph Kony

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So, admit you probably never heard of Kony until the other day. It’s ok – even you guys who think it’s tantamount to neo-colonial paternalism for us to suddenly care about Kony and Uganda – you, too, can admit that, although you probably heard of Kony‘s army, you probably weren’t aware of his name. 

As it turns out, Kony probably isn’t in Uganda at all, and Uganda’s political and economic situation, like that of much of sub-Saharan western Africa, is dictatorship in economic crisis, where AIDS is rampant and kids suffer from mysterious diseases that go unaddressed and untreated.  Uganda doesn’t exactly have a history of great leadership, and apart from perhaps hearing of the Lord’s Resistance Army in recent years, the only thing you likely associate that country with is Idi Amin, and he fled to Saudi in the late 70s – another Ugandan who terrorized his own people and was never brought to justice. 

And Invisible Children – articles have been released questioning their finances, their earnestness, their methodology, the content of their video, and their tchotchkization of a very serious issue. 

I acknowledge all of that. I won’t be sending Invisible Children $30 for a t-shirt or for stickers, and won’t participate in yet another bit of activism-by-bracelet. 

However, isn’t it a good thing what they did? Isn’t it a good thing that now, suddenly, this week, you’ve heard of Joseph Kony and know who he is? What he did to kids, to his country? I think it is.  We can nitpick over the content of the video, its historic and political accuracy, its oversimplification of a complicated issue. We can denigrate the pretense of earnest Westerners suddenly caring about African causes, but in the end, knowledge is better than ignorance. 

Especially because Joseph Kony has been indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. You might not be aware of that, or that court, because the United States is not a signatory to the treaty that created the court, is not a participant in that court, and is not subject to its jurisdiction. As a result, the United States has very little moral or legal authority to do very much at all vis-a-vis that court about Kony’s alleged crimes.

And that’s another thing –  a little bit of knowledge and “awareness” about the fact that a general war crimes tribunal exists in the Netherlands, and the United States has nothing to do with it, because if we did, the usual suspects – Birchers and their fellow travelers – would complain about everything from the UN, loss of sovereignty, New World Order, black helicopters, and all that other pseudo-informed, paranoiac, irrational rejection of thousands of years’ worth treatymaking and law. 

In the end, as flawed as the Invisible Children group and methods may be, you’ve now heard of a really bad guy, who is a wanted fugitive and indicted war criminal.  And if you click on this link, you’ll see the entire roster of Ugandan indictees at the International Criminal Court, and all of them should be brought to justice.  But if you want to see Kony’s warrant of arrest, here it is. It’s been pending since 2005.  Sure, the situation in Uganda is now different from how it was then, and there are other bad people doing bad things in Uganda. But with Kony 2012, now you have an excuse to read and learn all about it. But for that video, you’d still be sitting there not knowing a thing about it, or caring. 

Now, you do. 

Certainly, if you want to learn more about the Ugandan situation, now you have a wonderful excuse to do so. But I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive – that you have to completely immerse and inform yourself in the Ugandan political situation to credibly be able to care about the apprehension of Joseph Kony. However, what you can do – and should do – is contact your federal representatives and demand that the United States sign and ratify the Treaty of Rome, and become a full participating member in the International Criminal Court (which is independent and not under UN auspices), and that we do everything we can to help bring war criminals to justice, at home and abroad. 

 

Lincolns in North Korea

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As you watch the hysterical, (as in hysteria, not as in funny), funeral procession of Stalinist lodestar of the 21st century, still-dead Kim Jong-il of North Korea today, take a look at the limo on top of which Kim’s coffin is being carried.

It’s a 1975 Lincoln Continental limousine, held over from Kim’s father, the very dead, but eternal President of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung. Even Kim’s mega-portrait gets a limo.

No one does cult of personality like the North Koreans. They are unsurpassed in history at totalitarianism.

Stalinist Propaganda in 2011

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Since the downfall of the Soviet Union and its satellite colonies, the volume and quality of good, old-fashioned communist propaganda has diminished exponentially. I think this may have something to do with how easily and cavalierly people accuse, e.g., centrist Democrats of being “socialists” or similar.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=buffalopundit-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=015665489X&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr There are only a small handful of remaining hardcore Stalinist communist dictatorships remaining in the world, and North Korea is the hardcore-iest, Stalinist-iest of them all. Only Hoxha’s Albania and Pol Pot’s Cambodia came close to the psychotic dysfunction of the Kim’s Korea.

So, after the jump, I will reproduce for you the propaganda item that the Korean Central News Agency (the news agency of the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”) put out in the wake of Kim Jong-il’s death. It’s fascinating to me not only because of the religious terminology it uses to deify the Dear Leader, but the completely false “Juche” self-reliance communism that the Kim dynasty pretends to adhere to (while taking in hundreds of millions in foreign aid) and the attempts to connect an amoral tyrannical communism to an ancient Confucianism. “Songun” is the term the Kim regime uses for its “military first” ideology, as it maintains its revolutionary fervor (as all Communist dictatorships must) through eternal war with the US and South Korea.

This is what passes for public relations and propaganda under Stalinism. Even the title reveals the modern-day caste system that develops under Stalinism; what Yugoslav dissident Milovan Djilas called “The New Class” after his mid-50s split with Tito. This new class has complete control over the means of production while paying lip service to Marxist workers’ control. Through that control, it amasses wealth and influence which becomes “property” in a propertyless society.

Notice to All Party Members, Servicepersons and People

Pyongyang, December 19 (KCNA) — The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly and the Cabinet of the DPRK on Saturday announced the following notice to all party members, servicepersons and people:

The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly and the Cabinet of the DPRK notify with bitterest grief to all the party members, servicepersons and people of the DPRK that Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, passed away of a sudden illness at 08: 30 on December 17, Juche 100 (2011) on his way to field guidance. Read more

Beyond the Border

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On Wednesday, the United States and Canada signed an agreement that Congressman Brian Higgins’ office describes as, historic…declaring a shared responsibility for enhanced security and efficient access for the legitimate movement of people, goods, and services between the northern border.”

I could go on a tangent about how post-9/11 border security stymies our ability to properly create a Tor-Buff-Chester megaregion / regional economy, but harmonization of customs regulations and easing the flow of commercial and tourist traffic between the US and Canada is a good start.  If we had true high-speed rail in North America, it would be completely possible for someone to live in Buffalo and commute to Rochester or Toronto. And vice-versa.

Under this “Beyond the Border” agreement, we’ll see expansion of NEXUS lanes for trusted travelers (a $50 perk that gives you a dedicated bridge in Niagara Falls and speedy inspection), Customs pre-screens at point of departure, rather than at border crossings, and what amounts to somewhat of a re-think as to how we handle cross-border cargo traffic.

Some Canadians are upset because the agreement will require the CBSA to share information about suspected terrorists with the TSA, and participate in the no-fly list we keep.  Canadian screening of visitors from visa waiver countries will be more closely aligned with that of the US.

Easing the flow of traffic at the border crossings themselves may obviate the need for Peace Bridge expansion and other changes that have been debated to death in our community. It’s too early to tell whether this new agreement might lead to a renewed interest or second look at shared border management, but the Canadian border hasn’t exactly been an Administration priority in the last few years, so it’s heartening to see something change, however small.

Ultimately, though, it would make sense for Canadian and American immigration and Customs schemes to be harmonized and unified, so that entry to one is entry to both, creating a North American Schengen zone.

 

Europe on the Brink

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The collapse of the eurozone would likely have a very negative affect on our economy, but would devastate Europe. The euro’s survival depends on large part on Germany, the EU’s largest economy. While founding members like Germany and France are quick to blame rapid expansion of the EU into developing countries of the former Eastern Bloc, but Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski gave a speech to the German Society for Foreign Affairs in Berlin, basically imploring – and demanding – that Germany get off its ass and save the eurozone.

Excerpts of Sikorski’s blockbuster speech are summarized in this Financial Times op-ed (registration required).

To the always-Euroskeptic United Kingdom, Sikorski had this to say:

A critical issue is whether Britain, such an important member of the EU, can support reform. The eurozone’s collapse would hugely harm Britain’s economy. The UK’s total sovereign, corporate and household debt exceeds 400 per cent of gross domestic product. Can London be sure markets will always favour it? We would prefer Britain in, but if it can’t join, please allow us to forge ahead. And please start explaining to the British public that European decisions are not Brussels’ diktats but results of agreements in which you freely participate.

The two euro zone economies with the largest growth over the past four years have been Poland and Slovakia – relative EU newbies who are often blamed by the founding economies for being the root of all eco-social evil.

The EU has always been a sort of quasi-government – not even rising to the level of a confederation, its union has always been more about economics than politics. Sikorski believes it’s time to strengthen the EU into a “fiscal federation”.

What, as Poland’s foreign minister, do I regard as the biggest threat to the security and prosperity of Poland in the last week of November 2011? It is not terrorism, and it is certainly not German tanks. It is not even Russian missiles, which President Dmitry Medvedev has just threatened to deploy on the EU’s border. The biggest threat to the security of Poland would be the collapse of the eurozone.

I demand of Germany that, for its own sake and for ours, it help the eurozone survive and prosper. Nobody else can do it. I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say this, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear its inactivity. You have become Europe’s indispensable nation. You may not fail to lead: not dominate, but to lead in reform.

It’s created quite a stir throughout EU, which boasts 500 million residents and represents 20% of global GDP.

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