Far East Cynic

East Sea my ass! It was and will remain the Sea of Japan…..as it should be.

Reading this as I am leaving Korea is just satisfying in a perverse sort of way……..

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Nothing becomes UFL like the leaving of it. The mommy Air Force kept the hordes on the base last night so Songtan was pretty dead on a night that should have been full of hard partying. Of course the military folks just loaded up on beer and drank themselves silly inside the fence line. This makes sense exactly how?

Seoul beckons and morning flight to Tokyo tomorrow. Out the door now and up there so I have to run, However I did find this interesting article over at Mark’s place that I strongly recommend to you. (He’s also got some funny quotes from the exercise in pain last week).

Soon after Yingling’s article appeared, Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond, commander of the Fourth Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Tex., reportedly called a meeting of the roughly 200 captains on his base, all of whom had served in Iraq, for the purpose of putting this brazen lieutenant colonel in his place. According to The Wall Street Journal, he told his captains that Army generals are “dedicated, selfless servants.” Yingling had no business judging generals because he has “never worn the shoes of a general.” By implication, Hammond was warning his captains that they had no business judging generals, either. Yingling was stationed at Fort Hood at the time, preparing to take command of an artillery battalion. From the steps of his building, he could see the steps of General Hammond’s building. He said he sent the general a copy of his article before publication as a courtesy, and he never heard back; nor was he notified of the general’s meeting with his captains.

Does the Army have a JOPA?………..

Se you on the other side!

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Fun is fun. But I am done.

After two weeks of ever increasing despair and frustration, the ordeal of Ultimate FutiLity has come to an end. God willing, I won’t be doing another one. I may be back in the states, living off unemployment and food stamps, but I have no desire to do one of these again. (Headhunters in Hong Kong are you listening?)

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How the work has been going this week. I refer you back to here.

Hemlock’s advice still holds-1 year later.

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Time for all of Bush’s boys to go home!

Dragging my incredibly depressed ass out of bed at 5 am this morning, I turn my TV on to find an incredibly great piece of good news. Alberto “The Constitution is advisory only” Gonzales is going out the door.

That’s the first genuine piece of good news I’ve had all week.

Niedemeyer-DEAD!

Rumsfeld-GONE!

Rove-GONE!

And now the man who forgot that he was the nation’s lawyer-not the President’s, is going home to well deserved resignation.

Slowly, all the major offenders who dragged this administration into Warren G. Harding land are getting moved on.

There is still one to go.

They are coming for you…………….

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The trouble with quoting history is that the idea presumes that you might actually have studied it-or worse yet-understand it in context. Neither of the those assumptions is a good bet when it comes to considering the current occupant of the Oval Office.

During a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Wednesday, Mr. Bush compared Iraq to Vietnam. Now to me that’s a bit of a stretch given the very real differences between the timeline that brought Iraq to where it is today, and the pre-mature birth and short, sickly life that was that of the Republic of Vietnam. However in one point he may be correct-Bush is at exactly the same point that Richard Nixon was when New Years Day dawned in 1972.

Both Bush and Nixon were (are) in the position of trying to engineer an exit from a protracted conflict that is doing nothing good for the national interest. Both men had to do it in such a manner so as not to have the poorly governed state we leave behind fall apart when we left. Nixon had “Peace with Honor”; Bush has “Free Iraq is within reach”. Neither statement was correct-they both were designed to distract folks from the fact that the US was cutting its losses and moving ahead to deal with more important items to the national interest. In the case of Vietnam, Nixon was hoping for a repeat of the Korean Armistice (some have argued he was really just hoping the RVN would hold on long enough so that we could not be blamed for when it fell..); Bush is hoping that a re-run of post colonial Malaysia can be attained. Now as in 1972, both men were deluding themselves.

Or maybe just one of the men is deluding himself. There is a lot of evidence that, in 1972, Nixon knew exactly what he was doing. Just go back and read some of Kissinger’s stuff.

In both years, America had weak leaders that they stood by-Nixon had Thieu, Bush has Malaki-both of whom were pursuing agendas that were not entirely about improving the lot of their people. In 1972 Nixon upped the military ante significantly in response to a large offensive in Vietnam. In 2007 Bush upped the military ante by adopting a staged escalation. Both military postures had qualified success in improving the military situation-neither had much luck in making the political situation work.

Thieu at least had the advantage of having a more industrious people to work with and a population that was not fighting with itself over a flawed and apostate religion. And the government of South Vietnam was probably a lot more functional than Malaki’s.

Bush cites a history of freedom in Asia:

The lesson from Asia’s development is that the heart’s desire for liberty will not be denied. Once people even get a small taste of liberty, they’re not going to rest until they’re free. Today’s dynamic and hopeful Asia — a region that brings us countless benefits — would not have been possible without America’s presence and perseverance. It would not have been possible without the veterans in this hall today. And I thank you for your service. (Applause.)

The last part is of course quite true, however I find it interesting that GWB ignores the fact that whatever progress towards free-wheeling democracy in Asia came AFTER they had built themselves up economically first. In South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, the pattern was the same. Strong military/civilian rulers who ruled with martial law. Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand moved beyond it-the Philippines moved from martial law to incompetent, democratically elected leadership; one nation: Singapore, never moved beyond strongman rule. To this day, Singapore remains a democracy in name only. They all took many years to get to where they are today.

We won’t even talk about the fact that China is doing just fine economically and lack of car bombs wise-without giving its people any rights or freedoms…….will we? Mattel makes contributions to the RNC.

Plus, while Bush claims that Asia only had two democracies at the start of World War II-they also had over a 100 years of European colonial tradition to draw from when the time came to enter the community of nations. A lot of folks would argue with me ont the value of that-but I think it had an affect for the better. Iraq never had that-in barely 13 years of British rule.

Bush’s Asian analogies fail to recall the context that the historical events he speaks of occurred in.

Take his most famous quote from the speech, the one that has been seized upon by many as proof that we have to stay in Iraq.

There is no doubt that history of the region post 1975 was indeed tragic. However to link all of that misery solely to the United States withdrawing it’s forces from Vietnam is an incomplete hypothesis at best.

First, Bush assumes then that the US could have maintained a troop presence in Vietnam for what? 20 more years? Despite the popular theories about that-its doubtful that politically, the American public would have stood for it. It is true that Nixon had promised to strike hard if Vietnam was attacked-but Watergate and his failure to get the VC out of the South laid pre-conditions for the fall. Even if Congress had not cut off aid, would the public have stood for new POWS so soon after getting the ones from 1972 back?

Second, Cambodia could still have very well fallen on its own. The North was using it is a staging base for attacks on Vietnam. Even with American airpower to shield the ARVN, the was no way the US was militarily in a position to intervene in Cambodia-short of re-invading the country or reintroducing troops. The ARVN was in no position to do so. Don’t forget it was a unified communist Vietnam that overthrew the Khmer Rouge-not because of love for the Cambodian people-but to stop the flood of refugees into Vietnam.

The flip side of course is that the fall of South Vietnam accelerated that process. However in Vietnam, as in Iraq, the failure to apply military force was as much an outcome of not applying it at the right time as it was not applying it. The left did not lose Vietnam. The American Presidents willed the end of Vietnam by not getting it right at the start. The time that Nixonian bombing and mining/blockade could have been done was in 1965. By 1972, the die had already been cast-it was just a matter of running out the clock by then.

The governments of both Cambodia and Vietnam willed it by not getting their governmental stuff together and by being corrupt. Which is a little like Iraq, come to think of it.

In 2003, Bush had the opportunity to get it right with a larger commitment of troops. He let a misguided Secretary of Defense undermine some well done work trying to give the President a plan that would work. He’s been trying to patch up the ugly results of his mistake ever since.

Johnson in 1965. Bush in 2003. Both Presidents allowed a war to be started that was not in the national interest-and then, having made the decision to do it-failed to get it right from the start.

I take it back. Maybe Iraq is like Vietnam after all.

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Will be required to buy this:

Code name ShinShin!

From Japan Probe:

After being repeatedly turned down by the US Congress in its attempts to purchase the F-22, the Japanese government has turned to its own stealth fighter program. As the video shows, they seem to be making significant progress in the development of the “Shinshin” fighter [with a little help from France], but it will take years to produce a final product. For more information, check out Aviation Week’s post on the ATD-X.

If at first you do not succeed, steal the plans and build it yourself!

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To do your duty and buy a Pin Up For Vets calendar again!

And why not?

It’s for a good cause!

Sorry, I’m so late Gina………Where I am now the war may be simulated-but the buffoonery is real!

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Rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated.

However, due to the fact that my laptop keyboard was not working so well…..(spilled beer seems to inhibit the free flow of electrons)AND the effects of five 14 hour days in a row-blog posting just had to go to the back of the bus. Today was my first chance to catch up, do some shopping, buy a USB keyboard, and put myself back in business (Until Monday at least, when the drudgery resumes…..).

A lot happened this week and lots of it I missed, or only heard about on the periphery. Seems lots of folks are waking up to the fact that Iraqi president Nuri Al Malaki is on his own agenda-which does not happen to be in line with that of the nation that shedding blood and treasure to defend his worthless government. Interestingly enough, I happened to turn on the TV to see that the remarks in the NIE were just being spun the wrong way by the Democrats.

So much to say about that, so little time. People miss the point. The surge may be working -but what does that mean in the greater context? What is victory? We are told it is a stable government with an army that can defend itself. So far neither of those preconditions have been met-after over 4 years. So maybe just a note or two of anger is important.

And don’t even get me started on GWB’s Vietnam speech……………..

That is for another time.

I can’t wait to get on the plane for home………….

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Unless you ignore the whole enslaving your own people and starving them to death thing………………

I stumbled onto this looking at the Soccer Fan video. It a Japanese video about North Korea………….

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I wish we were. And the heavy stuff isn’t even going to come down for a little while………….

However Japan Probe has found out what we are fighting for-or against:

NORK Soccer babes!

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Well today was a day that should have been a good day to go golf, do some sight seeing, maybe even go into Seoul. I should have done any of those things. But I did not. Really did not do much of all, except take it easy, watch movies and dread the string of sucky days that starts tomorrow.

It occurs to me that I complain about Osan a little too much. As US bases go its a pretty nice base, and it has a lot to offer. There has been a lot of new construction here, they have a nice exchange and it even has a nice little bar district outside the front gate. So I should be taking the opportunity to explore this country or at least get on over to Pyontaek maybe.

Problem is, I just don’t feel like it. I’ve struggled to pinpoint why I am so down on this place. And when reduced to its core item-it can be summed up in two words: Big Brother.

If one ever wants a snapshot of what a stateside dictatorship will look like-this place provides one. It is all pretty benign, but the hand of the “man” is everywhere.

Consider:

Big Brother knows how much and what food you buy at the commissary. He knows when you enter the front gate and who with. He has a means to track how much liquor you buy. (Which American ingenuity being what it is, folks figure out a way around it). My leaving and entering my work place is electronically tracked. So too are my e-mail transactions. Access to even the mildest of web sites is blocked.

Out in town there are the local police, and the BDU wearing “show of force”. They have a curfew that is very limiting to say the least.

Now they say its all done for a good reason and that the owners of the system understand and respect the rights of the participants. That for the most part is probably true-but doesn’t that bother you just a little, deep down inside?

It bothers me. Primarily because it relies on the good will and good intentions of those create the means to do all this tracking and regulating. That’s putting a lot of faith in an being that prizes efficient operation above all other things. Its not abused-but its not hard to see how it easily could be.

“If you don’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about”, many people will say. “Its a necessary precaution to protect the security of our Soldiers and Airman in a foreign country-with DPRK long range artillery dialed in on Seoul. All valid points.

It also seems amazingly un American if you ask me. Isn’t limiting the amount of government intrusion is what our political discussion has been about?

It may be a new world and that new world does have terrorism-that I do acknowledge.
However it troubles me that as this decade goes on, or for that matter the next one, we will wake up and find it is not terrorism that will be limiting us. It will be ourselves. We will have formed our own chains.

And the good news is, we already have a model of how to do it-right here.

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Contrary to popular belief, I’m still here you greasy bastards!

However, work has kept me busy AND spilling a beer across your laptop, is probably not the smartest thing you can do.

So I am caught between a rock and a hard place with a backspace and a couple of other keys that do not seem to be working.

The place I am spending most of my time at blocks blogspot (Bastards!) so it seems as if for at least the next couple of weeks or so, blogging may be very limited.

However thank God the mouse still works. I can find pictures like this:

That blank space is because the backspace key will not work. However trust me, she was beautiful!

Gotta run. Time is the one thing I do not have enought of.

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Diversity that is.

It is a shame that the Phibian is out doing whatever he is doing now-I really need his take on this.

Trip over here was fine. Getting down to Osan was OK. I’ve been here just over 24 hours and I am already depressed. And that is without the rain that seems to be a daily occurrence here it seems.

However, a very cute looking stewardess on the ANA flight over gave me a copy of the Financial Times to read on the plane. That was right before she gave me a very tasty beer I might add. So I read it from front to back. I was planning to read more Hitchen’s book, but it occurred to me as we were rolling down the runway, that reading a book that denies the existence of God while riding in an airplane that might, in extremis, rely upon the benevolence of an all powerful deity for its salvation from an aircraft accident-was probably not the most prudent thing to do.

This FT had a great little column in it by a guy named Christopher Caldwell. Who had the courage to make a statement that should be made over and over again within the hallowed halls of the Pentagon:

Racism and certain other forms of exclusion corrode a society morally. But diversity, as an ideology, is not a matter of avoiding those occasions of sin. It is an active, ruthless and crusading belief system. Its effects resemble those of “meritocracy” on the community life of London’s Bethnal Green, as described in Dench, Gavron and Young’sThe New East End. It involves identifying, discrediting and breaking up close-knit communities in the interest of mixing them more easily into some new ideal of the nation.

In an indirect way. Mr Caldwell was able to codify a feeling that I had been having difficulty putting into words. Namely that by being so hell bent for “diversity”, companies and the US military are turning their back on the thing that makes mission driven organizations succeed-namely a unity of identity.

Mr Caldwell points out:

People trust people like themselves more than they trust people unlike themselves. Life is short and diverse groups waste precious time arguing over ground rules. Once a certain level of diversity is surpassed, a community ceases to be a community. What makes “the gay community” and “the
African-American community” communities, at least in politically correct jargon, is that they are not diverse.

That does not mean that there should not be people within the military who are black, Muslim or any other identity group. However talent and qualifications should be the deciding characteristic. Not a desire to obtain a “critical mass” of a certain group quickly.”

Within the military, I believe, his hypothesis is being proven out. When the US Navy had to integrate women into sea going units in the early 1990′s-it initially made a very correct decision. That it would only access into squadrons women who were at the beginning of their careers and therefore would have to meet all the wickets and pay all the dues as their male counter parts. This effectively boxed out a whole group of women pilots and flight officers who were Senior LT’s and LCDRS’s. As you might guess, they whined. About fairness.

Which I found confusing since for men, fairness was never an overriding criteria when it came to the selection of one’s aircraft that one was going to train in. Which was why, in order to ensure that all aircraft communities got some number of higher quality officers, people who finished well in their flight training were sent to aircraft they did not choose in order to ensure the community did not become a body of able bodied morons. Why were they able to get away with this? Because the value that we each attached to being a part of an exclusive club out weighted the value of giving every one what they wanted.

The needs of the many and all that…………….

I agree with Christopher Caldwell. Come back Phib and chime in!

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To anywhere but Incheon today?

As I got to the airport I heard an announcement for a flight to Vienna. Now that sounds like fun!

Today is the beginning of O-bon week here in Japan. That means that all 147 million Japanese , are trying to leave the country. A bit of an overstatement? Well, maybe. However it seemed like at least half of Tokyo was at the airport this am trying to catch planes to Europe, Thailand, China and anywhere else they can. I’m sure USFK planned it this way just to increase my own personal misery. Getting through immigration was made doubly difficult due to “Japanese passport only lines”-something I have never seen before.

So it seems to me there just one thing to do. 9:30 am? Screw it, I’m having a beer!

See you on the other side!

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