More random Rants (international Edition)
So, I'm gonna be Nostradamus, here, for a second. The sanctions against Iran will prove ineffective. Oh, wait, that wasn't vague enough. "The efforts of the Eagle will prove as naught when the Dragon and Bear supplant the Black Forest, even as the eagle plucks its own feathers" There! Is that quasi-mystic enough? Look, spokenly plainly: if Germany obeys the sanctions against Iran, China will step in. If the US tries to unilaterally go in after Iran by some backdoor method, like attacking the Republican Gaurd they have declared "terrorists" (phenomenally stupid move, BTW) along the Iran/Iraq border, Russia will supply Iran with arms. Meanwhile, the oil market means that it would be stupid for China or India to go along with America in sanctioning Iran. Flat out stupid! Because they've got economies that are rising. They lose momentum now? They're back to the third world. Let's also not forget the Natural Gas pipeline between Iran, Pakistan, and India. While Pakistan is a definite stumbling block, right now, India is right there. Do you have any wonder why the Nuclear talks with the US have broken down in both Iran and India, with the US? No, it isn't the Communists, like your newspaper will tell you. It's because our policies are making us irrelevant!
A few years back, I was discussing with a friend (who's much more conservative than myself) about what it means that the US is losing a reputation in the world. He felt that the US power was so dominant that it didn't matter what the world thought of us. Well, here's my rebuttal, in the form of all these events! Now, I know my friend is far too stubborn to even recognize that (there's a reason why he's my friend: I like people with the courage of their convictions, and barring that, I like guys who are at least as stubborn and hard-headed as I am!) but I think it really plays out that way. We stupidly went on the Iraq misadventure, and shot our chance to effect real change in the Middle East, which means the engine of history will now chug along against us. We're increasingly becoming a stupid, lumbering giant. I don't see that changing if we elect Rudy "torture is a-ok, if it'll make me look good to the christian Coalition" Giuliani, Hillary 'I've never been wrong, and I wouldn't know how to be wrong" Clinton, or Barack "Hey, did you hear my flashy Speech?" Obama. In other words, it's not looking good for us. I'm not saying we're doomed, but I am saying we're lost, and going the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, people are finally catching up to the Ruts. It's ok. I am aware that you don't know what I mean. I'll explain: The Ruts were a somewhat Punk band of the late 1970's in England. They incorporated a lot of Reggae and Heavy Metal in their sound, however, so can't rightly just be called a "punk" band. Anyway, they had a song called "Dope for Guns" that was about how we, in the west, buy the dope, and they, in the third world (Middle East, Central Asia, Central Africa, Central America) buy the guns. Usually, it even breaks down exactly as that: Heroin for AK's, Cocaine for Glocks, Colts for Pot. So, why is anyone surprised that Mexican drug cartels are run on guns from the US? If you buy the hype, and believe that Mexican drugs are the fuel for the US criminal underground, then shouldn't it stand to reason that US guns are the tools for the Mexican criminal underground? (Me? I'm not so certain that it isn't the same fuel for both: they want money, and they don't have any moral qualms about how they get it.) As loose as Mexican authorities seem to be with drugs, that's how loose American authorities are with guns. So the only real surprise is that it took us so long (we're talking decades!) for us to officially catch up, and say "Hey? You mean that fine gentleman who by-passed the background check, because he bought 14 semi-automatic assault rifles at a gun show, and took advantage of the "personal collection" loophole is really a Mexican drug runner? Huh! Who'da thunk it? Well, he did have a thick accent, couldn't show any ID, and did pay us in unmarked bills...." It beggars belief, doesn't it? Unless, of course, you're going to be really cynical, and think that maybe we're only hearing about what everybody already knew because now, there's a half a billion dollar gambit being played by the White House, trying to meddle with the Mexican side of the border to make a certain "decider" look a little better than the lame duck that he is, after his incredibly idiotic border fence idea didn't pan out. I mean, it's not like there haven't been English punk rockers singing about it, whole genres of Mexican popular music about it (Narco Norteno) Hollywood Blockbusters about it (Traffic, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) or anything....
So, with Bhutto not getting so much as bullet-proof windows from the Government that supposedly cut a deal with her, and with the former leader of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party , Aftab Sherpao, categorically rejecting offers of outside help in investigating the attack on her, and Chaudry Hussain, the leader of Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League blaming Bhutto, herself, for engineering the attack, and the sniper attacks now understood to have happened under cover of the "suicide bomber", can anyone doubt that this was the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (Pakistan's equivalent to the US's CIA, or Russia's KGB)? Keep in mind, the ISI, under Bhutto, pretty much made the Taliban. Yes, that's right, I'm saying that Bhutto created the mess she's in, now. Only, it's not quite what you think. Bhutto knew that Afghanistan was a lawless neighbor. So, she allowed the ISI to create a group that would bring order to Afghanistan. Where she didn't think straight was that whatever order was created would have to be organic to the area. In playing Nation builder, she created a hydra that attacks her, even to this day, from within her "home". I don't think such a thing will happen to Bush, but I think there's a real reason why the US was assisting the talks between Bhutto and Musharraf. I think they recognized Bhutto as power-hungry even that she'd take the bait, which she did. She seems to have honestly thought that she could come in, and wrest control from Musharraf. She seems to have honestly believed that she was a bigger viper than him, and could poison his nest. Her reported popularity (partially true: in the Sindh province, she's a demi-god, remember?) would allow her to turn the tables on a "de-militarized" and still unpopular Musharraf, even if they both were violating Pakistan's constitution, in brokering the deal. (By the way, doesn't it tell you something about the state of affairs in Pakistan that the three most likely, Musharraf, Bhutto, and Sharif are all legally barred from the office they seek?) I'm sure that people like "Ms. Bush", oops, I mean, Condoleeza Rice, would be enamored with that kind of dreamer. It seems somewhat familiar to them, no? (Does no one remember the 2000, or 2004 elections?)
