[lit-ideas] Re: Priorities
- From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2005 17:56:59 +0000
Saturday, January 1, 2005, 2:55:24 AM, you wrote:
LH> You should get out more often and see what's really happening. I just =
read
LH> Timothy Ash's Free World. The EU is doing some soul searching about wh=
y the
LH> US is able to do so much better than they in regard to unemployment. =
When
LH> an EU rep challenged Clinton on the unfairness of American unemployment
LH> benefits, Clinton said that being out of work is unfair also. We are do=
ing
LH> better than the EU in regard to employment. 5% is a very good number.
Far be it from me to challenge Tim Garton Ash (though why not?) but if
he said this then he presented a very crude summary indeed. (What
follows is taken from two economists, one clearly "rightist", one
probably centrist, both of whom think the EU has a problem.
1. "Europe" has a problem when compared to the US -- and anyway --
Britain does not
2. The "Europe" problem is in fact a problem in and of France,
Germany, Italy and Spain.
(3. so while it certainly is worth looking at the US it's also worth
looking at the European countries who are doing as well as or better
than the US)
LH> The war? We=92ve removed Saddam Hussein and his army at the expense of=
a
LH> casualty rate lower than in any major war in history. We are on schedu=
le
LH> for elections. The Shiites (60% of Iraq) are happy with the progress
Mike Chase replied to this, but as he and I read different papers (I
think) I thought I would say that actually even the Shi'ites are not
happy, they are concerned for the future.
LH> as are
LH> the Kurds (20% of Iraq). A small percentage of the Sunnis (20% of Iraq=
),
LH> the Baathists, who have no hope in a Democratic Iraq, continue in an
LH> insurgency but Iraqi troops are being trained to handle them.
I don't know where to begin... I'll try...
1. 20 per cent is hardly "a small percentage"
2. Not all Sunnis are Baathists but they are of course tarred with the
brush of their preferment under Hussein
3. "who have no hope in a Democratic Iraq" -- then it is not a
democracy
4. "continue in an insurgency" -- not all of them!, and not all the
insurgents are Sunni (but I agree Sunni militancy does not bode well
for Iraq -- but then the US should have foreseen this)
5. "but Iraqi troops are being trained to handle them"
a. I hope you mean "insurgents", not Sunnis
b. first the Head of our Army said we'd be in Iraq for "years", then
the sainted Blair said it -- is "the US" going to do a bunk and leave
us there?
Back to Tim Garton Ash. He sees Iraq as a possible "new Yugoslavia"
"torn between Kurd, Sunni and Shia" though he doesn't regard that as
inevitable (he said this in his pre-war "In Defence of (sitting on)
the Fence", his "tortured liberal ambivalence" one; I'd expect him to
be even more sceptical now).
LH> There is no
LH> reason to think that elections won=92t be held. There is no reason to =
think
LH> that the Islamists will hammer Iraq any harder after the elections than=
they
LH> hammer any other Middle Eastern nation. If you watch only the Leftist =
Media
LH> you won=92t know this. If you talked to Marines coming back from Iraq =
you
LH> might get a hint. They are amazed and appalled at what they see on TV:
LH> Media selection distorts what=92s actually happening.
I admit I haven't talked to any but I have read the comments of UK
soldiers on leave; some now oppose the War on Iraq.
=20
LH> explanations and diplomatic efforts were poor. I look for Rice to impr=
ove
LH> the US posture diplomatically.
I read Rice is being trodden all over
=20
LH> -----Original Message-----
LH> From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
LH> [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
LH> On Behalf Of Andreas Ramos
LH> Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 6:00 PM
LH> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
LH> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Priorities
=20
>> To paraphrase and reapply Nixon's famous exit line, you're going to have
>> Bush to kick around for four more years!
=20
LH> Actually, no.
=20
LH> Have you noticed nobody seems to care anymore about the White House? No=
body
LH> discusses the=20
LH> issues anymore: the environment, unemployment, the deficit, the wars, t=
he
LH> lack of foreign=20
LH> policy, etc. Nobody cares, because we know it's a waste of time.
=20
LH> Bush is putting lightweights into the cabinet: Rice, Gonzales, and othe=
rs.
LH> Whatever. The=20
LH> cabinet positions have become so irrelevant that it doesn't matter if a
LH> nobody is in that=20
LH> position. The cabinet is irrelevant because Bush insists on loyalty.
=20
LH> As for foreign relations, the Bush White House has essentially abandone=
d the
LH> global=20
LH> leadership role of the USA. Nobody took it away; the Bushies simply wal=
ked
LH> away from it.=20
LH> China and the ASEAN countries are busy at setting up a European Union
LH> structure for Asia;=20
LH> the USA has no part whatsoever in this. One can quite seriously say tha=
t the
LH> USA has no=20
LH> foreign policy whatsoever now. Even Denmark has a foreign policy. But n=
ot
LH> the USA. Bush's=20
LH> first reaction to the tsunami? He didn't care, and he didn't see why he
LH> should care.
=20
LH> So, will we kick Bush around for four more years? Like, who cares? He's
LH> irrelevant. He made=20
LH> himself irrelevant.
=20
LH> Will Hillary be president afterwards? Of what? In the next few years, t=
he
LH> Bushies will have=20
LH> demolished so much that the next president, if we even have a next
LH> president, will preside=20
LH> over very little.
=20
LH> Let's see what happens at the inauguration. Last time, the Bushies sent=
out
LH> tens of=20
LH> thousands of invitations, and perhaps a quarter of the seats were
LH> embarrassingly empty.=20
LH> Those had to be covered up, to prevent TV cameras from showing empty st=
ands.
LH> Meanwhile there=20
LH> were massive demonstrations and his limosine was pelted with eggs. Bush=
was
LH> unable to walk=20
LH> down Pennsylvania Avenue.
=20
LH> This time, the demonstrators plan to line the path and turn their backs=
on
LH> Bush.
=20
LH> yrs,
LH> andreas
LH> www.andreas.com=20
=20
LH> ------------------------------------------------------------------
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LH> --=20
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