Thursday, December 02, 2004
War Everywhere
My eyes don't see much from my perch at the end of the bar, and my nose is often distracted by the scent of tasty grubs and crickets, but my big ears are always on the alert for alarming sounds. I have heard a few in recent days, but I just now discovered a common thread.
I have been distracted by the news in the Ukraine. Confident in my spiny armor's ability to protect me, I am an eternal optimist. The people out east appeal to this nature. The state holds all the cards: the army, the police, the media, control of the election apparatus, and the backing of a nuclear armed world power on its border. The opposition has (the probable backing of western clandestine organizations), and the power of the people in the street. The parenthetical backing to the contrary, it is the people in the street that has created this opening for democracy. My spines quiver at the thought of one of the largest countries in Europe engaging in the refusal of work and the affirmation of the right of people to peaceably assemble and speak freely and engage in the carnival of democracy.
That's the good news.
NOW: BACK TO THE WAR
I was going to write a bit more about Iraq, maybe I'll get to it Saturday, but I still must note the two main items. They are simultaneous and both fall under the category of we told you so, so I will treat them in no particular order.
1. U.S. Troop Level in Iraq to Grow
This is so I told you so as to be laughable, if it were but comedy. A plan that had never been considered a year ago, but well known yet delayed two months ago. More on that later.
2.President Bush Says Iraqi Elections Must Not Be Delayed
Install that puppet government pronto! This thing is costing me billions by the hour, and we're still years from turning a profit! More on that later.
BRINGING THE WAR BACK HOME
My big ears brought it all back home tonight when I heard of the DVD now being distributed on the streets of Baltimore. It is an al-Queada style production, but it's aimed at the foot soldiers of the war on drugs. Called "Don't Snitch" it is an urban drug warrior indocrination guide, with hip-hop music and graphic footage of stool pigeons being murdered by men in masks. Appeals to the "clan" and the economic control of territory are the main themes. Sound familiar?
In Haiti, where Appologist of State Colin Powell just ducked out of the Presidential Mansion under a hail of gunfire, anti-coup insurgents beheaded members of the CIA-backed militia in an action they call "Operation Baghdad."
Baghdad, Port Au-Prince, Kiev - these places are not so far away. Even from my perch at the far end of the bar, no matter how much I hide behind my spines, we are connected in ways no one could have predicted, even a few winters ago.
I have been distracted by the news in the Ukraine. Confident in my spiny armor's ability to protect me, I am an eternal optimist. The people out east appeal to this nature. The state holds all the cards: the army, the police, the media, control of the election apparatus, and the backing of a nuclear armed world power on its border. The opposition has (the probable backing of western clandestine organizations), and the power of the people in the street. The parenthetical backing to the contrary, it is the people in the street that has created this opening for democracy. My spines quiver at the thought of one of the largest countries in Europe engaging in the refusal of work and the affirmation of the right of people to peaceably assemble and speak freely and engage in the carnival of democracy.
That's the good news.
NOW: BACK TO THE WAR
I was going to write a bit more about Iraq, maybe I'll get to it Saturday, but I still must note the two main items. They are simultaneous and both fall under the category of we told you so, so I will treat them in no particular order.
1. U.S. Troop Level in Iraq to Grow
This is so I told you so as to be laughable, if it were but comedy. A plan that had never been considered a year ago, but well known yet delayed two months ago. More on that later.
2.President Bush Says Iraqi Elections Must Not Be Delayed
Install that puppet government pronto! This thing is costing me billions by the hour, and we're still years from turning a profit! More on that later.
BRINGING THE WAR BACK HOME
My big ears brought it all back home tonight when I heard of the DVD now being distributed on the streets of Baltimore. It is an al-Queada style production, but it's aimed at the foot soldiers of the war on drugs. Called "Don't Snitch" it is an urban drug warrior indocrination guide, with hip-hop music and graphic footage of stool pigeons being murdered by men in masks. Appeals to the "clan" and the economic control of territory are the main themes. Sound familiar?
In Haiti, where Appologist of State Colin Powell just ducked out of the Presidential Mansion under a hail of gunfire, anti-coup insurgents beheaded members of the CIA-backed militia in an action they call "Operation Baghdad."
Baghdad, Port Au-Prince, Kiev - these places are not so far away. Even from my perch at the far end of the bar, no matter how much I hide behind my spines, we are connected in ways no one could have predicted, even a few winters ago.
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