[Politics] Posturing or Preparation?

On June 22, 2012 a Turkish F4 Phantom was shot down in airspace that is, by some accounts, international air space and, by others, sovereign Syrian territory. What is for certain is that since those events only six days ago the rhetoric between the two countries has gone from measured and frustrated to overtly confrontational. Relations between Turkey and Syria had been better than in the past, but with the recent upheaval in Syria drawing more and more attention, tensions have risen at an alarming rate.

On June 24th, Turkish officials made it clear that they believed their plane was shot down illegally, and in international airspace.

June 25th saw a reply from Syria regarding Turkish statements. The Assad regime also made it clear that whatever the intentions of the Western states, Syria would not consent to the intervention of any nation that it did not consider sympathetic and an ally to the current government.

Only a day later NATO met in response to Turkish calls for an emergency meeting under NATO's article 4. Though the move was a clear message to Syria that Turkey would not fight alone should they be dragged into conflict, the participants did not call for direct action. Most importantly, they did not meet under article 5, which is the section covering the mutual protection of NATO members.

Today, however, saw an escalation in the tensions, as Ankara began to move troops and equipment to the Syrian border, including anti-aircraft missiles and military convoy trucks. This, in advance of a meeting to come on Saturday aimed at bringing the two sides to the negotiating table. Interestingly, both Iran and Saudi Arabia have been excluded as being to overtly in the corner of the Assad regime and the opposition respectively.

Additionally, Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the UN, has 'hinted' at the possibility of military conflict in the region according to the Wall Street Journal.

So the question becomes: "Is this just posturing, or are we witnessing the early days of the 'next war' in the Middle East?" If Turkey continues to spar with Syria can we expect Iran to respond? Would that provoke Saudi involvement? Will NATO take action to defend one of its members? Would Russia come to the aid of its long time ally in the region? All of these questions will be playing out in the next few days and weeks.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Syria we are seeing massacre after massacre. Civilians in the region are being slaughtered daily whether by government shelling or 'professional criminals' as the Syrian government calls them. Whether or not other states get involved, there is no question that it is the citizens of Syria who will suffer the most as this conflict plays out.

[Politics] Invitation Accepted, Mr. Gottlieb.

I wrote this response to a wonderful article by a professor of mine back in March. It did not get published in the NYT (mostly because I failed miserably at the word limit). But I wanted to post it here in the hopes that you'd all enjoy it.
______________
Response to Article: "Invitation to Dialogue: America's Global Role" - by Stuart Gottlieb
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/opinion/invitation-to-a-dialogue-americas-global-role.html?_r=1
______________
The unspoken assumption of Stuart Gottlieb's "Invitation to a Dialogue: America's Global Role"
(letter, March 27) is that American military activity and America’s “presence” in the global
milieu are interchangeable. On the contrary, American military presence is the least efficient
form of activity presently at our disposal.

Mr. Gottleib is right in saying that there is a serious threat of recidivist isolationism in the wake
of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. With the growing influence of China, instability in Arab
nations, and economic turmoil in the EU, the lure of isolationism is most seductive just when
such a stance could prove most detrimental.

What will determine American security and success, however, is not an aggressive military
strategy that promotes the threat or use of force, but rather an aggressive political, diplomatic,
and above all social strategy. We must recognize that the Westphalian system of international
relations is not the only, nor even the best, way to manage the growing concerns of our new era.

The League of Nations failed because preventing another World War I was a poor strategy to
prevent World War II. Similarly, America cannot succeed in this new era of globalism if we
continue to view American military posture as the primary indicator of America’s “presence” in
the world.

The powers in this era will be determined in the classroom, the mosque, the church, the cafe.
It will be televised, tweeted, status updated, and blogged. We must learn that transnational
movements enacted by sub-state actors cannot be entirely dismantled or even efficiently
combated by the policies of international bodies enacted by military force. We must learn that
our presence need not always be marked by the tread of our soldiers’ boots.

Pedro Dalmau, IV
New York, March 28, 2012

[Personal] I'm back.

Six years and seven months to the day, and I've finally started to write in this blog again. My last post caught the eye of someone who was less than pleased, either with me, or with my message. As a result they decided that it would be a good idea to chop it up and add some rather inflammatory content. They turned it into an incredibly threatening piece of writing about the "evils of America."

Then they sent it to the FBI. To the credit of the bureau, they sent an agent to my apartment in Astoria. We had a lovely conversation, and I invited him to see where I wrote the original post and to read the content of the original piece. He did so, and thanked me for my time. I have not heard from him again, but I've retained his contact information...just in case.

So, now I've decided to start writing again. If you've still got me flagged, Special Agent LaFrance, I hope you enjoy reading along as well. I've got so much more to say now.

[Politics] The Fundamentalist Wars

Radical fundamentalism.

Like a moderately radioactive material, this ideology has mutated the things around it so rapidly and so subtly that while we can already see some effects, we will be feeling this scourge for generations to come. Hatred and dissonance grown like cancerous cells are cropping up in pockets across the world. These growths, as useless and insidious as tumors, are frequently lethal, and often strike in misunderstood and unnoticed ways. Often times we attempt to stem the tide of this debilitating movement as though it were the cancer, treating it topically, medicating it with reform, or alternately the scalpel or barage of our military for that which we call malignant. But fundamentalism is not the cancer, it is the cause, and while we treat the cancer caused, we must also seek to isolate the carcinogen. Hatred will spring eternal from this source and the discord it brings will never die, so long as we fail to recognize the source.

Most readers will rightly assume that I speak of Islamic radical fundamentalism. It has proven to be a wildly deadly force, mutating the often placid middle-road person to a state of militant opposition. The tragic losses as a result of this carcinogen are abundant, and easily sighted. Perhaps too frequently we remember September 11th, The USS Cole, the Embassy bombings, The London Underground, The Madrid Bombings. Americans have grown resentful and furious at this constant barage of life changing events. The cancer of hatred has spread. The identical cells of this cancer have grown in the lymphatic system of our country, and our immunue system is choked up with fury. Our systems are shocked, and the remaining functional bits scurry around trying to survive while the whole of the American body lies prone and wracked with pain. We know this reactionary cancer exists, but we remain powerless to stop its growth, instead focusing on our other ailments, and trying to conduct business as usual. Like a uniquely relapsing remitting case of lymphoma, we struggle to survive in the face of this carcinogenic force.

And yet to treat this radicalized cancer, we have resorted to a Fundamentalism of our own. West against East, Non-muslim against muslim, Amercian-Israeli-British (et al.) against Arab, we have drawn lines in foreign sands. Mobilizing for war against these fundamentalists, we have become zealous and hardened into our philosophy. But while we seek to destroy this threat with our new American fundamentalist movement, irradiating these cells as a doctor would, in a cancer patient, what mutations are we spawning? When a doctor treats a patient with controled radiation, he invariably runs the risk of inadvertantly creating new cancers. Shock and Awe, Occupation, Abu Ghraib, Faluja, what radioactive remnants will we leave behind in this region we are seeking to treat? And should we scourge every last foreign mutant cell that this movement has created, what wreckage will we leave behind to poison the future?

It is not enough to say that we will fight the effects of fundamentalism, we must do so without becoming fundamentalists ourselves. Islamic fundamentalism has altered the American body, poisoning our political and social landscape. American reactionary fundamentalism has attacked and leaves behind an unseen cancerous growth in a foreign land. But in our own regions, an auto-immune response has begun, and we are tearing ourselves apart. Radical evangelism, Fundamentalist Islamism, Zealoutous and separatist Zionists. I believe when historians review our era, the chapter will be titled The Fundamentalist Wars, and the questions will be asked over and again, 'Where was the tempering voice of compassion?', 'How did so much misunderstanding go unadressed?'.

Let us hope, however, that the following chapter is written in the words of reconciliation, not new heights of isolation. Let us hope that this period ends with renewed compassion, not words of vile rancor. Let us hope that the Christian loves his neighbor, the Jew embraces his brother, and the Muslim remembers a legacy of monumental plurality. Vital organs of the world are suffering the cancers wrought from exposure to these Fundamentalist Wars. We are past the early stages, and tumors have sprouted the world over. We must hope that the world-body handles this ailment better than the human-body, or else we must develop, quickly, a treatment yet undiscovered.