Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton

End of the Week Random Thoughts

First of all, TGIF never rang truer.  Kids got back to school this week and Sam to football, this year he had to move up an age group.  So far, he says, it’s no problem.  We had a lot of phone calls back and forth about a course that’s probably not going to happen.  I did quite a bit of writing, but

Jealous diplomats not invited to Bunga Bunga parties criticize Berlusconi

it pales in comparison to the writing I didn’t do.  A few translations.  A few computer problems.

So, in most ways it was a pretty ordinary week but it sure seems like Monday was just yesterday.

Why isn’t Dick Cheney in jail?  Didn’t he just basically confess to multiple crimes, in print, with the publication of his book?  Seriously, what does it take?  What does it fucking take?

O.K., I understand a newspaper running somewhat of a teaser headline and, I must admit, it’s partially my own fault for being interested in celebrity gossip in the 1st place, but this was just downright deceptive.  On the Halfington Pustule there was a headline something along the lines of “Look and see what Hollywood superstars got trashed out of their minds last night.”  So, I flip through to the story and they talk about how Kirsten Dunst (who I idolize) and some other actress (who I’d never heard of) were out staggering around the streets from bar to bar and then at the end of the article it was like “Ha-ha! They were just shooting a film.”

There ought to be some kind of an internet law against wasting my time.

Julian Assange has released like about 200,000 more secret government cables.  Some people (like me) are still calling him a hero, and some people are demanding his head.  A couple of the main headers i glanced at revealed no huge surprises.

Hillary Clinton wanted to get biographical info on North Korean diplomats sounds sinister, but if you want to send somebody a birthday card you need a certain amount of biographical data.  Everybody thinks Sarkozy is a little wannabe Napoleon, Berlusconi parties too hard and Angela Merkl is kind of boring.  Wow.

But they’ve exposed some big stuff recently.  I had no idea that U.N. relief workers would coerce hungry people to give sex for food.

A lot of people are saying that Assange is reckless for not having redacted names, and they may have a point but there’s one thing I’m pretty sure of.  Wikileaks has changed the diplomacy game moving forward.  There are two ways it could go – even more secretive, coded, encrypted messages (the aspens turn all at once) or just plain openness.

I have no guarantee that openness in government affairs will lead to a golden era of peace and prosperity for all mankind, but it’s the one thing we’ve never tried, so let’s give it a shot and see if it works.

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Hillary Kicks Gaddafi in Face

American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that the U.S. now recognizes the rebels as the official government of Libya.  This means that they now consider Gaddafi a rebel.  I don’t know if they still consider Tripoli the capital or not.  It also means that the $30 billion or so of

Laying Down the Law

Libya’s (Gaddafi’s) money which was frozen in American bank accounts can now go directly to the rebels.  In effect, she is saying to Gadaffi “Neener neener neener, we don’t like you any more, we’re going to take all your money and give it to your enemies, hahahaha!,” which I don’t really object to at all, because remember Lockerbie?

It is a bit of a turn of events.  In March, they were protesters, then they were rebels, now they are the government.  Actually, I guess it’s not such an amazing turn of events.  Egypt and Tunisia managed to pull it off without that troublesome intermediate rebel phase, which involves lots of shooting and getting blown up and stuff.

But I do think the policy of officially declaring your side the winner is an efficient one.  It worked for George Bush in Florida in 2000.  Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

In fact, it’s similar to  what I think we should do in Afghanistan.  Take some random NATO military base and declare it the capital of the country.  Forget Kaboom Kabul.   That way, you start with high security.  You pick somebody you can trust, like some blind 90 year old shepherd, and name him president because, really, Karzai is just a corrupt old stooge and everybody knows it.  You funnel in massive aid, build a few schools, especially a few schools for women, the best hospital for amputees and prosthetics in all of central asia, some hotels and restaurants and a few other little services to get the job machine running and wait for the flood of refugees to arrive.

Use the influx to maintain security and gradually expand the perimeter.  Starve the Taliban of a population.  Win without fighting.

That’s what I’d like to see.

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