Torture is US

There has been much hand wringing in the US media over the past couple of weeks in response to revelations about torture techniques, or enhanced interrogation if you prefer the Bushism, used by the CIA during the recently abandoned and unlamented Global War on Terror. An article in the op-ed page in today's New York Times demands that the newly released CIA memos be investigated and those responsible brought to justice, so that America can reclaim its soul. The hypocrisy of it is appalling.

American culture is built upon a powerful mythology, most of which is dependent upon a very subjective, if not creative, historical perspective. If America does not torture, why has the Central Intelligence Agency had a training manual for torture techniques since the 1980's? The reality is that hooking up a man's scrotum to a car battery is as American as Mom's apple pie.

The Harvard University of systematically inflicted pain is the US Army's School of the Americas, at Fort Benning, Georgia. This is where torturers from Guatemala to Chile have received their tuition. General Pinochet's infamous detention centres were responsible for the 'disappearance' of some 130,000 people during his regime and survivors have documented their horrific suffering in those cells, often remarking upon the silent American standing in a corner. Even Saddam Hussein employed Langley to train his secret police in the fine art of the rubber hose, back in the days when Donald Rumsfeld was a pal. The number of other authoritarian regimes who have tapped CIA expertise to terrorize their peoples is too long to list.

In the Viet Nam war, US interrogators would commonly take three Viet Cong suspects up in a helicopter, then throw two of them out the door to their deaths. They found that the third man invariably talked. During the many US incursions into Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century, their military often reverted to medieval techniques to suppress popular resistance to Washington's client regimes. Go back as far as the Spanish American War of 1898 and you can read about the unsavory methods applied by US Marines to captured Philippine guerrillas fighting the American occupation of their country. In truth, torture has been standard operating practice in the US military and intelligence services for generations, with the full knowledge and approval of their political leadership. George W. Bush was simply the first president to let the veil drop.

The righteous indignation of the American media is a sham. Not only does the United States torture, it is arguably the world's most enthusiastic proponent of coercive physical abuse. The preference of Americans to maintain their pretensions of nobility rather than confront the inconvenient truth is understandable, but it does them no credit and it will not stop the torture.

Does al-Qaeda Exist?

A news story today reports the capture of a group of children in Iraq who were being trained as suicide bombers by al-Qaeda. Yet another despicable act attributed to this fictional organization. Contrary to popular belief, al-Qaeda was actually a creation of the United States Justice Department and not Osama bin Laden.

In 1993, the hapless perpetrators of the first, failed attack on the World Trade Center were quickly captured and the Justice Department wanted to prosecute them under anti-racketeering statutes. This required proof that the accused belonged to a criminal organization and the government lacked any evidence to support such a claim. At that time, Egyptian intelligence was being offered information about Osama bin Laden from a man who had worked for him, stolen money and was now on the run. The Egyptians considered the man a very unreliable source, but US agents were eager to interview him. When asked about the bombers' organization, the informant confirmed its existence and gave its name as al-Qaeda (the Base). He later admitted to having made it all up to get cash out of the Americans, but by then the bombers had been convicted.

Osama bin Laden only started referring to al-Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks, when he realized that the US government was using the name. Justice Department officials claimed that it was a vast organization with cells in more than sixty countries. In fact, when a British film crew interviewed him shortly before 9/11, bin Laden hired hooded gunmen for the day from another Islamist group to provide himself with an impressive bodyguard for the filming. His own organization amounted to a cook and a driver. The attacks on 9/11 and other terrorist actions attributed to al-Qaeda were actually carried out by independent groups whose only association to bin Laden was through his cheque book. The wealthy Saudi was a reliable source of funding for these operations, but he appears to have had little other involvement.

For the Bush Whitehouse, the truth was not helpful in persuading the American public that an imminent threat existed from a sophisticated worldwide terrorist network lead by an evil mastermind. A handful of cave dwelling Luddites hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan, armed only with 30-year old Kalashnikovs, would not have inspired the fear and rage that was manipulated to produced the War on Terror.

Since 9/11, Islamist extremist groups have applied the name al-Qaeda to themselves to borrow some of bin Laden's fame and the western press and governments have implied an affiliation to the non-existent organization to any terrorist group that appeared. The phantom menace, indeed. Osama bin Laden no doubt finds it all very amusing.

Democracy Isn't Easy

In an interview recently published in The New York Times, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, the liberal Nicaraguan journalist and editor of the Sandanista newspaper Barricada during the 1980's, stated that democracy was not the goal he and his fellow revolutionaries had hoped to achieve with the overthrow of dictator Antonio Samoza in 1979. They were simply seeking social reform. Nicaragua at the time had no experience of democracy and no institutions to support it. Democracy is still nascent here and struggling. Even the flagrant corruption and election rigging that they commonly see fails to incite outrage among Nicaraguans. After all, why would you expect better from politicians?

Contrary to the child-like belief of George W. Bush, the mere holding of an election does not a democracy make. The old Soviet Union held elections regularly, but could hardly have been called democratic. The great, unappreciated gift Americans received from England and which is the foundation of their republic is a tradition of democracy, responsible government, personal freedom and the rule of law that was centuries in the making. Only an Englishman could have written the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, Iraq and Afghanistan have no such legacy to build upon and it cannot be implanted by naïve foreigners. Likewise, the revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine in recent years may have brought more popular leaders into power, but they have not really changed the nature of government in those nations. Election to public office is still commonly looked upon as a license to steal rather than an opportunity to do public service. It will take generations of hard work to make these countries into functioning representative democracies, if it ever happens at all. The same is true over much of the world.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid has been sent to the developing world over the past few decades since the end of colonialism. Along with sincere diplomatic efforts, innumerable international conferences and many well intended global projects, it has achieved just slightly more than nothing. Until the political systems of the poor countries change, all efforts to improve the circumstances of their peoples will be nothing more than spitting into the wind. The aid money might just as well be stacked in a great pile, doused with gasoline and set alight for all the real good it will achieve. Building genuine democracy is a hard, complex, costly and long-term endeavor, but it is the only true path to development.

Political development means that grass roots political parties have to be formed and leaders of integrity found. A free press needs to take seriously its responsibility to inform the public and question power. Independent and disinterested commissions must be formed to run elections and safeguard the results. When courts, legislators and civil servants feel the moral obligation, and moral authority, to protect the public interest against abuses of power, then democracy will have a chance to flourish.

Ultimately, progress will only be made through decades of persistent and often thankless work by a few activists that will most often yield frustratingly incremental gains. Political leaders can be expected to play an incidental role, at best. It will be the dedication of the small minority who devote their lives, and often risk their lives, to press for fundamental change that will decide the future of our world. The support and financial aid of the First World should be directed to these change agents if it is to have any genuine impact. The task is huge and the odds are stacked heavily against success but, in the end, it's still the best hope we have. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Apocalypse Now?

In a recent conversation with a woman who has proven herself an astute investor with an insightful view of economic trends, she outlined her expectation of worldwide economic Armageddon within months and Mad Max style violence and anarchy in the United States within a year. The reality is that not even Nobel winning economists have a clear idea of how the current economic crisis will unfold. Everything is speculation at this point.

Back in 1980, Ronald Reagan started the neo-liberal revolution of big debt, deregulation and plentiful consumer credit. Sadly, Margaret Thatcher emulated his policies and much of the rest of the world followed suit, even though Reaganomics was more of a political ideology with no real basis in economic theory. Today the US national debt is nearing 100% of GDP, personal bankruptcies are at an all time high and there is genuine fear of a 1930's style depression. We can only hope that people wake up to what has been going on and start demanding more responsible governance of the economy. Countries cannot live inevitably running budget and balance of payments deficits, anymore than a person can live perpetually on credit cards. Politicians know this, but are loathe to tell the voting public that they are going to have to live within their means. That big screen high definition television will have to wait, Bubba, even if the line of credit your bank gave you will cover it.

The Reagan Revolution actually resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class public to corporations and wealthy individuals. Over the past few decades, corporate earning have risen spectacularly and the wealthy have become the super wealthy while middle class incomes have stagnated at late '70's levels. In fact, people are working longer hours to earn the same income, making this the first generation of North Americans in the last couple of centuries that is worse off than their parents. There is an accomplishment for the neo-cons to trumpet.

The need is for a paradigm shift, away from the often stated but dubious belief that the market always knows best, government should be minimized and that enriching corporations and the wealthy will eventually benefit everyone else. Change the primary statistical measures of economic progress from GDP growth and corporate profits to increase in the average household income and decline in income disparity. Politicians forget that the economy is not an abstract idea, it is made up of people. The wealthy suggest that their taxes should be low because they are highly productive individuals and should be encouraged to invest and spend. The problem with this concept is that, no matter how many new Mercedes they buy, the rich are an inconsequentially small segment of the economy. The overwhelming majority of economic activity is generated by middle-class and working-class house holds buying groceries, paying bills and going about their daily business. Any economic policy that is not directed at the broad middle-class is doomed to fail.

No News is Fox News

A small commotion was created two days ago by a would be comedian on the television show Red Eye on the Fox News Network, what its host describes as a satirical news programme. He and his guests mocked the Canadian military over a report that the Canadian Forces would need an operational break of one year after finishing their Afghanistan mission to refit and reinforce.

As Canadian satirist Rick Mercer pointed out, comments made on a low-budget, third-rate imitation of The Daily Show, shown on the worst news network in the United States in the dead of night are not worth the outrage that it generated from Canadians. Dead soldiers are not comedic material and the host of the show, Greg Gutfeld, merely humiliated himself with an appalling display of ignorance about Canada in general and its contribution to the Afghan operation. When the Canadian government demanded an apology, Gutfield lacked the backbone to make it himself and delegated the job to the Fox News PR department. The most likely result of this fracas is that the cancellation notice for Red Eye that has no doubt been sitting on the desk of the VP of Programming at Fox News has moved to the top of his IN box.

Sadly, Fox News is now the most popular news network in the United States and the ignorance and laughable arrogance displayed by Mr. Gutfield probably played well in middle America. To put the credibility of Fox News as an information source in perspective, in 1997 the company fired two of the employees in its Florida affiliate for refusing to include in a news report information they knew to be false. The employees sued the company successfully, but Fox News appealed the decision and won on the grounds that FCC rules against the deliberate falsification of information in news programming did not constitute an actual law. Fox sued for the right to lie to the public and won.

Technorati Tags: Fox News,Canada,Red Eye

Information Pollution

The civic government in San Juan del Sur appear to have found some funds, with the assistance of a local distillery, to begin placing various signs around the town. Visitors are now welcomed as they arrive and informed of the local population size. Street signs have begun to sprout on every corner.

This is all quite salutary, although not particularly useful. Buildings are not numbered in Nicaragua and street names are never used to identify addresses. Even in the city of Leon, where they have always had street signs, all locations are identified by references; ie. half a block south of the Banc Centro office and one block west of the Hotel Estrella.

Although begun with good intentions, these things are inevitably taken too far. The sign pictured below just appeared today.

Technorati Tags: Nicaragua,San Juan del Sur

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Sunday's Washington Post carried an article decrying the irregularities in Nicaragua's municipal elections last week and recommending that the United States government withhold aid funds to put pressure on President Daniel Ortega. The opposition candidate for mayor of Managua, Eduardo Montealegre, lost by a small margin and his supporters have demanded a recount and investigations into alleged ballot box stuffing by Ortega's FSLN party. National prominence as mayor would make the popular Montealegre a likely challenger to Ortega in the next presidential race. A major demonstration threatens to bring the capital to a standstill today in an effort to force the government to allow the potentially embarrassing examination of possible fraud. At the moment, it appears that any irregularities were scattered, ad hoc and insufficient to have altered the result.

The Post article gives an account of recent Nicaraguan history that is a mockery of responsible journalism, referring to the Sandinista government that won a fair election in 1984 as a dictatorship, among other disinformation. Ortega lost the 1990 vote as stated, but there is no mention that he would have won had it not been for US interference and that the supposed dictator submitted to the decision and peacefully ceded power. Likewise, the political alliance Ortega formed with corrupt former president Arnaldo Aleman is described while ommitting that Aleman originally won power only with generous campaign financing from the White House. Recounting Ortega's attempts to circumvent the constitution to stay in power, the Post is not satisfied with reporting the deplorable facts, but feels the need to embellish. One can imagine how Americans would react to another nation loudly proclaiming its presumed right to interfere with the internal affairs of the United States in response to a stolen election and a president's blatant contempt for the law and democratic process.

The people of Nicaragua have suffered enough at the hands of the United States; invasion, occupation, repressive dictatorship, revolution, terrorist war, ongoing economic warfare and persistent political meddling. The US government long ago forfeited even the pretense of morality in its dealings with this impoverished nation struggling to build its own democracy. It should address its own problems and leave them be.

Washington Post
Nicaragua's Spoiled Ballot
President Daniel Ortega moves to construct another dictatorship.
Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page B06
THROUGH MUCH of the 1980s, the United States waged a proxy war to prevent Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista party from consolidating a dictatorship in Nicaragua. In 1990, Mr. Ortega finally agreed to hold a presidential election, which he lost; since then Central America's poorest country has struggled to build a functioning democracy. Now Mr. Ortega is back and once again is seeking autocratic power. This time, however, neither the United States nor other outside powers are doing much to stop him.

Mr. Ortega regained the president's office in 2006, thanks to a corrupt alliance with a right-wing leader and a constitutional amendment that allowed him to claim power with 38 percent of the vote. Since then eight of 10 Nicaraguans have turned against the president, according to independent polls -- yet Mr. Ortega's campaign to dismantle the political system has accelerated. He has banned two opposition parties, brought criminal charges against independent journalists and nongovernmental organizations, and built bullying "citizens power councils" with funding from Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez.

The opposition hoped to block what several former Sandinista leaders have called an emerging dictatorship by winning local elections last Sunday. Mr. Ortega responded by barring international election observers for the first time since 1990 and organizing what the opposition and Nicaraguan election observers say was a massive fraud. Opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre, who was favored to win the race for mayor of Managua, was declared the loser by a government-controlled electoral council. Mr. Montealegre's own count, compiled by collecting results from individual polling stations, showed him winning decisively. In the country's second-largest city, León, thousands of ballots were found in the municipal dump, most of them marked with votes for Mr. Montealegre's Liberal party. Now violence is mounting in Managua's streets between opposition supporters and groups of Sandinista thugs, who wield machetes and guns.

Outraged by Mr. Ortega's behavior, European governments are moving to cut off funding equal to a third of the government's budget. But the Bush administration's reaction has been laconic. The State Department issued a statement last week deploring the "irregularities"; on Thursday the U.S. ambassador said he was concerned. The United States has considerable economic leverage it can employ -- there is no need for another contra army. Among other things, Nicaragua is currently the beneficiary of a $175 million aid program from the Millennium Challenge Corp., which is supposed to condition grants on the government's respect for political rights and the rule of law. It seems pretty obvious that Mr. Ortega has flunked those tests.

Technorati Tags: Nicaragua,politics,American,United States,Washington Post,elections

Insecurity Conscious

Security is a constant concern in Nicaragua, even though this country is reported to have the lowest crime rate in Latin America. The huge disparity between rich and poor makes petty crime a chronic problem, and as a result houses are typically constructed with iron bars on windows and doors. Those who can afford to do so surround their homes with high walls topped by jagged glass shards or razor ribbon. Anything of value has an armed guard watching it twenty-four hours a day, making private security companies a huge industry. Property owners have no choice. Policemen are poorly paid, barely trained and ill-equipped, so their response to incidents of crime is half-hearted at best. A local resident recently had his home robbed and when he called the police they demanded gas money to drive out to his house. Walking past the local police station, I noticed that the on-duty officers park their motorcycles inside the building to prevent theft, a practice that hardly instills confidence.

Lack of security has a more subtle effect on a society than simple street crime. As one example, some tourists note the low standard of local building construction. Those who have visited Greece, for instance, recall the solidly built stone houses that have been there for centuries and make the towns so picturesque. The typical Nicaraguan house is a rather ugly rectangle of stuccoed cinder block, topped with a corrugated tin roof. The wars, revolutions, repressive dictatorships and natural disasters that Nicaraguans have suffered through have created a mentality of low expectation. Why build, work or invest for the long term when it can all be taken away from you tomorrow?

In places like Iraq, Afghanistan and the Congo, security is obviously a far more critical issue than it is in Nicaragua. Whereas it is an impediment to development here, in those countries no significant improvement of any kind will be seen until security problems have been addressed and people are no longer living in fear. Canadians, western Europeans and other citizens of the first world can take security largely for granted, but for the rest of humanity it is a factor that to some degree circumscribes their lives. Even in the United States, violent crime is so common that a large part of every major city is a 'no go' zone, particularly after dark.

Honest, effective police, a court system that works and transparent government would make an enormous difference to the quality of life for Nicaraguans. These things are a fundamental requirement for economic and social development, but few nations outside the rich countries enjoy their benefits. Training programmes for police and judiciary personnel are part of the foreign aid package for Afghanistan and Iraq, but are missing from assistance to the rest of the developing world. More attention to such basic foundations of civil society would pay disproportionately large dividends.

Lateral Thinking

Here are a few ideas for President Elect Obama to consider that he may not hear from his advisors.

1. The United States defense establishment is arguably twice, and more likely three or four times the size that any rational assessment of national security needs can justify. Even the US Navy brass said that they had no real use for their newest aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, built at a cost of some five billion dollars. It was a white elephant pushed on them by greedy Congressmen. Having sufficient firepower to annihilate all life on Earth several times over may help Dick Cheney sleep better, but it has not made America more secure. Get out of Iraq, promote collective security, close some of those seven hundred foreign bases, practice a less belligerent foreign policy and it would be possible to issue a peace dividend that would pay to renew the country's deplorably neglected school system or provide health care to those fifty million people currently without access. A major reassessment of priorities is in order.

1b. It is not possible to have a War on Terror. Terrorism is a tactic. Protecting the country from terrorist acts is the job of intelligence and police services. Ending terrorism is the work of politicians and diplomats who must address the injustices and frustration that drive people to use terrorist tactics. Historically, military responses to terrorism have proven ineffective and ultimately futile; ie. Northern Ireland. Terrorism against the United States is a reaction to predatory foreign policies. Treat the disease, not the symptom.

2. During the election campaign, I heard both sides claim that the United States is the last great hope of the world. This is a pathetically common delusion among Americans, but worrying to hear from national leaders who should know better. In truth, the vast majority of the world's people perceive the US as a rapacious, malevolent force and in the Third World it is widely considered the primary cause of violence, oppression and poverty. This is why the World Trade Center fell, it is why Hugo Chavez is pissed and why every US Embassy must be an armed fortress. The president needs to acknowledge this reality and make the public realize it if there is to be any change.

3. Free trade in the conception of the United States government is the equivalent of removing the weight classes from boxing so the super heavyweight wins every bout and no one else has a chance. Globalization has bought an extra percentage point of GDP growth at harrowing human cost and the belief that everyone will eventually benefit from a trickle down economic effect has proven just as erroneous as it was in the US. The rest of the world wants fair trade. Adding labour and environmental standards to the World Trade Organization agreements might reduce the mark up on a pair of Nike running shoes from 2000% to a mere 1900%, but it would dramatically advance human development and be a major step forward in addressing points 1and 2. One plan proposes that each nation open their economy up unequivocally to free trade with nations poorer than themselves, allowing the less developed nations to protect their fragile economies from unrestricted competition with richer nations while accessing markets in wealthier countries. The ensuing economic boom in the Third World could drive world growth for the next half century.

4. Green is good. President Obama has an ambitious environmental agenda based primarily on pursuing new technology. Actually, changes in building construction and urban planning would make a far greater difference. Better city design and public transit would allow people to live near their work and not have to rely on their cars for every journey. That would do more for energy consumption and reducing pollution than a nationwide switch to hybrids. Houses and buildings are responsible for seventy percent of greenhouse gas emissions and a gradual shift to green design through new and renovated construction would produce more green for the greenback. The bonus here would be that better designed cities would be more livable and more environmentally friendly homes and buildings are healthier for their occupants.

5. Perhaps this one is too obvious. In its current economic situation, the United States can no longer afford to pay premium price for a malfunctioning health care system that produces poor results. Whatever its efficiencies in other sectors of the economy, the free market is incapable of compassion, an essential component for a system whose fundamental purpose is caring for people. A Canadian-style single payer system, as example, would cover everyone in the country, improve the overall quality of care and save the economy approximately $500 billion a year, as well as creating a variety of other economic and social benefits.

6. Even the DEA admits that the War on Drugs has been a dismal failure. Narcotics use is a social problem that cannot be addressed through police and military action. The $50 billion a year currently wasted on this programme would be more productively spent addressing the inequalities in American society that drive people to use drugs. The US government spends more billions of dollars each year fighting the foreign drug cartels that supply the narcotics and, ironically, also funded by the American public. The resulting carnage achieves little and adds enormously to the suffering of the people in Columbia, Afghanistan, Lebanon and elsewhere.

7. The United Nations could do a great deal more than it does for human development and the promotion of peaceful and productive coexistence among nations, if only the United States would let it. The US is the organization's most powerful member and largest single financial contributor. Its influence at the UN is enormous and has been persistently abused. Check the voting records of the Security Council. Peacekeeping has been kept ineffective so that it does not challenge the United States' self-appointed position as the world's policeman. Human development programmes are hampered by US farm subsidy and trade promotion policies. Some conflicts have been incited by the United States (Angola) and others exacerbated and prolonged (Iran-Iraq War) to serve misguided US priorities. Democracies have been overthrown (Chile, Guatemala, Iran, etc, etc) and autocrats preserved in power (Saudi Arabia, Zaire, Nicaragua, etc, etc, etc). International law is regularly flaunted by US actions (Iraq) and the sovereign rights of other nations dismissed (Grenada, Venezuela, Panama, etc, etc). American unilateralism implicitly declares the United Nations irrelevant. The entire world will benefit and become a more secure place for Americans when the United States finally decides to became a team player.

8. In the early 1980's the US automakers were reeling from the onslaught of cheap, well-designed and well-made Japanese imports. They could have rallied and made a big investment in improved technology, but chose instead to collectively spend $5 billion on a public relations campaign to convince the American public that four-wheel drive trucks are cool. At the same time, the Big Three twisted the arms of a good many Congressmen to get SUV's and pickup trucks exempted from the calculation of Corporate Average Fuel Economy by designating them as farm equipment. The SUV was an unsophisticated machine that the US car companies could build competitively because the Japanese simply didn't make them. It is dying out now, done in by high fuel prices, and will go to its grave unlamented. For a quarter of a century Detroit has profited mightily, sniggering at having smoked the yokels yet again, while the environment suffered and America's dependence on Middle-East oil grew. Unfortunately for the car makers, they have no second act. At least one and possibly all will likely disappear, abiding only as a classic case study in poor strategic management. It is time to close that embarrassing loophole in the CAFE regulations and force the US automobile industry, or whatever remains of it, to get serious about building better cars.

Technorati Tags: American,politics,Obama,policy

Only in America

A note from election night in the USA:

Watching the returns on television with some Americans and a mix of other nationalities, the CNN analyst came on screen with a breakdown of the popular vote, showing us brightly coloured pie charts labeled 'WHITE', 'BLACK' and 'HISPANIC'. None of the Americans present thought this in any way remarkable, of course, but a Canadian leaned towards me and cogently observed, "Only in America would voters be categorized by race."

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The rains are over. Yesterday, for the first time in several months, dawn broke upon a clear blue sky that remained unsullied by clouds throughout the day. Today saw a repeat performance. The rainy season is over and we can expect to see no precipitation whatsoever for six months.

There were those who warned about the depressive effect of constant rain lasting for weeks, but that all turned out to be morbid exaggeration. Perhaps three days out of the last half year did we have all day showers and my raincoat got, at most, six or seven uses in all.

Now we have six to eight weeks to enjoy the verdant green countryside under sunny skies before drought returns it to its leafless winter shades of brown. Throughout the year, temperatures have hardly varied at all. During the rains, daily highs were consistently about 30 degrees Centigrade. The coming dry season will send the mercury to 32 degrees virtually every day. I'm not complaining.

Obamanation

Election Day in the United States and pollsters give John McCain a less than two percent chance of winning the US presidency,  as it should be. The man has run an incompetent campaign, chosen a detestable running mate, shown a very ugly side of himself in his constant use of negative advertising based in falsehoods and offered very little to commend himself to the public, other than persistently referring to himself as a 'maverick' and assuring everyone that he intuitively knows how to run the country.

Originally, I felt pity for McCain, convinced that anyone foolish enough to accept the Republican nomination following Bush Jr's performance was a sacrificial lamb. Perhaps that was the reason he got it. His resume isn't that impressive. Fifth from the bottom of his class at Annapolis, he was a lousy pilot, an unexceptional military officer and a mediocre legislator. Even in his much referenced imprisonment in Viet Nam, he sang like a canary to get privileged treatment from his captures as the son of an admiral, rather than offer them only name, rank and serial number. Bad as his experience was, his conduct falls somewhat short of heroic. When his wife was disfigured in an accident, McCain dumped her to marry the heiress with whom he had been having an adulterous affair. Hardly the actions of a man of integrity.

I feel quite hopeful about Obama. Unlike his opponent, he rose from modest circumstances to become the editor of the Harvard Law Review and a professor of constitutional law. A large part of his adult life has been devoted to public service and  the people who surround him constitute an impressive brain trust. Like any president, he will be hemmed in by vested interests and the daunting task of cleaning up the mess Bush leaves behind will limit time and resources for constructive action. On the positive side, Obama can expect to have Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress and a massive public mandate. As of tomorrow, the Republicans will likely be in full retreat. Having seen how much damage a truly bad president can do, is it too much to hope that an honorable leader with an exceptional intellect can do as much for the good?

A Healthy Debate

Recently, as the after dinner drinks were being served, talk turned to politics and then somehow segued onto health care. The American at the table who had brought up the subject stated flatly that he did not believe in socialized medicine and judged the US system superior. This got a rise from the Canadians present, but it was impossible to have a reasoned discussion. This was an American who, like so many others, has been told since childhood that anything produced by the world's greatest nation must be the best. That the World Health Organization ranks the US system 37th in the world did not faze him, he simply refused to accept it. Also, the Republican propaganda machine had done its work and he was convinced that doctors in Canada are government employees, among other delusions. I rolled my eyes, kept out of it and ordered another rum.

It is actually health insurance that is socialized in Canada, with doctors and hospitals operating as private businesses, much the same as in the US. And despite those line ups for elective surgery in Canada that have been so high publicized, waiting times for necessary procedures are actually shorter than in US hospitals. Canada's health care system is not perfect, but it provides a uniformly high standard of care for everyone in the country and does so for a far lower cost per person than the ludicrously expensive system in the United States requires to provide a highly variable quality of care to only those Americans who can afford it. The fundamental difference is that health care is considered a basic human right in the rest of the developed world and a commodity to be bought and sold like any other in the United States.

Some fifty thousand American families are driven into bankruptcy every year by medical bills. Forty-eight million people in the US have no access to health care and tens of millions more receive only the limited care for which their health management organization is willing to pay. As a result, many of the metrics for health care quality, like infant mortality, place the US on a par with third world countries. In addition, health insurance expenses have become a serious liability for American businesses and recently pushed General Motors to the verge of bankruptcy. In spite of all this, most Americans still unquestioningly believe that their health care system must rank among the world's best. Constructive change will only come when the cost of health care becomes a make or break issue for Corporate America and all of the politicians it finances in Congress and The White House are instructed to drop the disinformation campaign and design something better.

The Accidental President

A friend from Texas recently explained to me that the governorship of his state is largely a ceremonial position and quite ineffectual. The government's legislative agenda is run by the lieutenant governor and the state legislature meets for only one month every two years, so the governor really does little other than play golf and deny the occasional death row plea for clemency.

Eight years ago, the Republican party based the candidacy of George W. Bush for president exclusively on his experience as governor of Texas. He was an alcoholic, draft-dodging ne'er do well who had failed at every enterprise he had ever attempted and once admitted to having done nothing before the age of forty but party. The governorship of Texas was a sinecure bought for him by his undoubtedly disappointed father to keep the boy out of trouble and give him some stability.

To the surprise of all, George Jr. went on to become the most unaccomplished and under qualified candidate for president in US history. The results speak for themselves. The nomination of Sarah Palin for vice-president last week demonstrates that the Republicans see no need to raise the bar. The former major of a small town and governor of one of the least populous states in the union for less than two years, no one can credibly argue that she has the qualifications and experience to assume the presidency, should the need arise.

John McCain's campaign headquarters recently released his medical records covering the last eight years, a file running to some twelve-hundred pages. Combine this with McCain's advanced age and you face the disturbing probability that Sarah Palin would succeed him as president within his first term, should he be elected. That alone should be enough to put Barack Obama in office.

Observing American politics is like driving past the scene of a traffic accident; it's gut wrenching to look at, but you just can't turn away.

Technorati Tags: American,politics,Palin,Bush,election

The Big Picture

Recently, on another blog I read about a new charity that will raise funds to help the long suffering people of the war torn Darfur region of Sudan. A few years ago George Clooney and Don Cheedle went to Darfur to lend their celebrity to the cause of peace. Of course, in spite of these and many other admirable efforts, the dying continues.

China supports Sudan's genocidal government, with complete disregard for its human rights record, in exchange for a secure energy supply. The people in Darfur are being bombed by Chinese made planes and shot with Chinese made guns firing Chinese made bullets. The Chinese government is able to serenely ignore criticism of its actions from western nations, well aware that it is all hypocritical.

At the White House, administration spokesmen in the Press Gallery may emotionally and forcefully decry the violence in Sudan, but downstairs in the Situation Room, George and the boys are content to let the mayhem continue indefinitely. Egypt is a reliable ally in the Middle East and Libya could threaten its western border over simmering territorial disputes. As long as the Libyans are distracted by the violence in Sudan, they are unlikely to make trouble for the Egyptians, or so the logic goes. And the killing goes on

Anyone wishing to actually affect the tragedy of Darfur needs to address the politics. Charity to alleviate the suffering, while a fine thing in itself, without a effort to change the underlying motivations of the major players is like applying a band-aid to a gaping wound; it may make you feel better for having done something, but won't achieve anything of substance. If activists had managed to organize an international boycott of the Beijing Olympics to pressure the Chinese government and made the complicity of the United States in Darfur's torment an issue for the current presidential candidates, it would have done more to force a peaceful solution than any amount of energy biscuits and re-hydration salts ever could

Decline of the American Empire Confirmed

In a previous post I wrote about the Decline of the American Empire. Imagine my surprise that none other than the US intelligence establishment confirms my predictions, as reported by the Washington Post.

The boys from Foggy Bottom reiterated everything I had said and added some interesting detail. The report suggest that environmental degradation and climate change will be the greatest security threat to the United States in the future, something that the Pentagon has been saying for years. How ironic that Bush Jr has spent most of his presidency obsessively focused on the secondary threat of terrorism, which the CIA report mentions as a small and diminishing concern, while deliberately ignoring the far greater danger.

Bush Jr says that he is confident that the judgement of history with exonerate his actions. I suspect that he may need to go into hiding when all the chickens come home to roost. Barrack Obama has intimated the possibility of a criminal investigation into the Bush administration.

Technorati Tags: US,American,politics,history

Georgia on My Mind

Anyone who has been following the news lately cannot be unaware of the ridiculous calamity currently unfolding in Georgia. Oddly, no one has been asking the obvious question; why did the Georgians march into South Ossetia knowing that it was under tacit Russian protection? Having suffered centuries of Russian domination and brutality, didn't the Georgians know better than to antagonize their much more powerful neighbour?

The Georgian president is not actually the fool that current events make him appear. With a large US military base in their country and Washington pushing hard for Georgian membership in NATO, the government in Tiblisi must have felt confident of American backing in a confrontation with Moscow. Certainly, the White House was consulted long in advance of Georgia's action and gave their approval. But why would they assume that Moscow would not react?

For years, the Russian government has been warning the west that extending NATO into eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics was unacceptable and would have consequences. No one listened. After all, post-Soviet Russia was an impoverished and weakened state that needed western good will too much to rock the boat. So went the conventional wisdom among western nations, less so in Europe after Moscow turned off the energy tap a few years ago, but it still has currency in Washington.

This past week, Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement that will see US missles based in Poland, a stone's throw from the Russian border. Moscow has had enough. The Russian actions actually have very little to do with Georgia and everything to do with Russian-American relations. What we actually saw happening in Georgia was Vladimir Putin giving George Bush a hard slap in the face and telling him to back the hell off. It's a shame that the hapless Georgians had to suffer for the message to be delivered.

Life in Margaritaville

Having lived in many different parts of the world, my experience has been that interesting places attract interesting people and San Juan del Sur more than most. Misfits, oddballs and just plain characters abound here. One local compares it to living in a bad Jimmy Buffet novel, "Going down to Big Wave Dave's to see Three-Finger Bob play guitar while BJ, the Monkey Lady, dances on the bar." Some came looking for a life less ordinary, others hoping to put some misfortune behind them. A few, like myself, have a chronic case of wanderlust.

For the expats who live here, the power outages, dirt roads and many things that you simply cannot get form an invisible barrier keeping out the plastic wrapped, push button world that they came here to escape. It is a very open little community that does a good job of generating its own fun and everyone is invited. Last night there was the weekly poker game at someone's beach house and one of the beach bars showed a free movie, but we chose to join a group for a sunset yoga class, followed by supper, a salsa dance class and open mike night at a local club. The town's growing tourist influx adds a welcome liveliness to the town and sustains a modest nightlife, although no one is anxious to see Matthew McConaughey return, but the people who live here just hope that it doesn't change San Juan's funky, laid back, ragged at the edges personality too much.

The Return of XP

I have been a reluctant user of Microsoft products for years and was running Windows XP on my laptop until a few weeks ago, when I had a system crash that required a reinstall of my operating system. Unfortunately, when I pulled the XP install disc out of its case it was scratched beyond use, so I opted instead for Ubuntu Linux 8.04. Sadly, in spite of all the geek love that Linux receives on the Internet, I have never been able to make it work for me. Over the past several years I have installed several different flavours of Linux on various systems and always found myself returning to Windows due to insoluble problems. Linux has made huge strides over the years, but this time was no more successful than the others.

On my laptop, Linux would not go into Suspend Mode or shut down properly and there are a variety of other, lesser but still annoying issues. A month of Internet research and tweaking has not resolved the problems, so a friend is bringing me a new XP disc from the US this week and I will regretfully return to Windows, at least until Linux gets to the point that it is usable without the assistance of a full-blooded geek to fix all the glitches.

Shopping, the Hard Way

In some areas, Nicaragua remains far behind the first world and, sadly, customer service is one of them. In Managua the other day, I walked into in a kitchenware store to buy a few utensils. A sales clerk immediately attached herself to me and shadowed me around the store as I picked out the items I wanted, taking each one from my hands and placing them at the check out desk.

Within a few minutes I was finished and stood in front of the cashier with my cash in hand. Then I watched as my purchases were examined, an invoice created on a computer and printed in triplicate, my items were checked against the invoice by the cashier, who then handed the invoice to another staff member who checked each of my items against the invoice before carefully wrapping them and placing them in a bag, while another cashier went to find the cash box so that they could make change for me. By the time I finally got out the door, paying for my purchases had eaten up twenty minutes. I was the only customer in the store at the time. God only knows what happens when they are busy.