“One of the things that surprised me was the ease with which an entire press corps could accept the most obvious untruth, usually convenient to some interested party or other, without any external compulsion to do so. I can only suppose that one of modern education’s purposes is to prevent people from thinking for themselves.”
Theodore Dalrymple’s Excellent Essay
Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics, The Media
Finding that 18th horse
JK sent this short math problem, that’s worth thinking about:
A farmer died leaving his 17 horses to his three sons.
When his sons opened up the Will it read:
My eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of total horses;
My middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third) of the total horses;
My youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the total horses.
As it’s impossible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons started to fight with each other.
So, they decided to go to a farmer friend who they considered quite smart, to see if he could work it out for them.
The farmer friend read the Will patiently, after giving due thought, he brought one of his own horses over and added it to the 17. That increased the total to 18 horses.
Now, he divided the horses according to their fathers Will.
Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 horses.
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 horses.
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 horses.
Now add up how many horses they have:
Eldest son……..9
Middle son…….6
Youngest son…2
TOTAL IS…….17.
Now this leaves one horse over, so the farmer friend takes his horse back to his farm.
Problem Solved!
Moral:
The attitude of negotiation and problem solving is to find the 18th horse i.e. the common ground. Once a person is able to find the 18th horse the issue is resolved. It is difficult at times. However, to reach a solution, the first step is to believe that there is a solution. If we think that there is no solution, we won’t be able to reach any!
I quickly found a couple different takes on the 18th horse story, but the essential wisdom remains the same:
Filed under Food for Thought, General Interest
How to become a Ukraine crisis expert in 5 minutes
Here’s a moment of levity, “Ten handy phrases for bluffing your way through the Ukraine crisis“. In fact, with just minor tweaking these phrases can become your universal toolkit to present that informed image, amongst even the most boorish foreign policy experts. Presenting the right body language required, so be sure and practice delivering these lines with confidence. And of course, plan ahead with some fail-safe, quick escape lines, when questioned for more details…. like:
“Oh, I’m so sorry, my phone, I must take this call, if you’ll excuse me, please.”
“Excuse me, I see my partner/ wife/husband/significant other waving over there, sorry I can’t continue this fascinating discussion.”
Deep sigh, then, “These situations are always very complex and without a great deal of time to provide historical context, I can’t do the subject justice.” Then bolt.
I am sure you can provide more. And if you need more ideas, just flip through the cable news channels for a few minutes or listen to our leader-from-behind equivocate.
Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics
Lord Tennyson’s famous poem
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Filed under Education, General Interest, History, Military
Ancient Chinese Wisdom
The experts on foreign policy and military matters spewed forth with, well, expertise, much bellicose Cold War era rhetoric and thinking, but what else can one expect from Cold War era-trained experts. My hair is standing on end from so much highly-charged chatter swirling on the air and online about the next steps the US and NATO should take to thwart more Russian aggression. First, let’s take a deep breath and calm down. We need to realize that Putin isn’t some madman, who heedlessly grabbed Crimea, just for the hell of it or because he’s an evil, former-KGB colonel. He moved, because events were transpiring in Ukraine that he perceived as threats to a vital Russian national security interest.
What moves the US made prior to Putin’s military move remain cloaked in secrecy by President Obama and his oh-so-tough warrior princesses. It would behoove all these experts to ascertain what exactly our own State Department did prior to this escalation. Yes, folks, it looks like we were meddling bigtime in internal Ukraine affairs, perhaps even training and arming Ukraine rebels (early February CBS report here). Judging by this administration’s penchant for fast and furiously arming foreign rebels, Al-Qaeda aligned zealots, and even Mexican gangsters, who would find this story out of the realm of possibility? Perhaps, that sycophantic, Obama-idolizing press might want to muster a little journalistic inquisitiveness and find out??? Are some of these freedom-fighters in Ukraine neo-Nazi fascists? Did Victoria Nuland meet with them in Kiev and did our government provide training or arms to these thugs? We’re so good at ginning up the Cold War bluster, but so mealy-mouthed about demanding some straight answers from our own government.
All water under the bridge, you say, yes,yes, so true, but it’s all relevant to understanding the context of events unfolding there and for formulating a way to deescalate this crisis. I’ve read many thoughtful opinion pieces on what the US should do and frankly, I disagree with most of them to a large degree. When you have a weak leader-from-behind, like we have, the last thing I would suggest is reactionary military posturing, because he will either overreact and we’ll find ourselves in a hot war quicker than you can say Russian reset (hehehe) or he’ll wimp out and make the US look even more impotent. That latter option would bolster an already prevalent impression in the world that President Obama is, yes, no other better word comes to mind, a wimp. The former option, well, no one wins in that option and it’s really not necessary to blunder our way into a hot war. Some deft diplomacy (please don’t send that vulgar twit Victoria Nuland) maybe he should find some good speechwriters to help him try to teleprompt us out of this mess.
Here are a few interesting opinions (mind you, I don’t support them, but they’re worth a read). From the failed Bush democracy project, Condi Rice weighs in with a lengthy piece that at least they did something during the Georgia 2008 invasion. She mentions that we should do something about Syria, opining about continued inaction, while remaining mum as to the details about what action on/in Syria would look like. Egads, no more cakewalks in the ME, please.
Here’s a Cold War era military type playbook response from The XX Committee, harkening to strengthening NATO and insisting that the Europeans grow a spine. It’s a well-thought out piece and in normal times, with a normal American CINC looking to promote American interests, well this would be a good idea. Alas, this isn’t the best of times, although I fear, we haven’t quite reached the worst of times, yet, (or nyet, both work) with this President. That said, there’s no way Vietnam-protesting John Kerry and mom jeans Barack Obama will push to expand NATO, after already signing away our nuclear superiority and announcing the gutting of the US Armed Forces. Unless it’s to rally the troops for the gay parade, this CINC doesn’t want to give marching orders. And besides that, he only has warrior princesses in the White House, so far, and none to field a US charge of the ladies brigade in Crimea (so fitting for another suicide mission).
Here’s another well-thought out response for the US to follow, if we had a pro-American leader in the White House. We don’t and Eric Edelman’s, “Confronting Putin’s Invasion”, sits predicated on building up the US military, which Obama just announced he’s cutting.
Being libertybelle, with my fondness for Sun Tzu, the odds are:
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.
If ignorant of both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.
Let’s heed that final assessment, with this President and his macho girls, ready to fight:
Such people are called ‘mad bandits’. What can they expect if not defeat?
Timeless ancient Chinese wisdom, that’s my suggestion…
Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics, Uncategorized
Short Libya Update
“ROME (Reuters) – Western countries voiced concern on Thursday that tensions in Libya could slip out of control in the absence of a functioning political system, and they urged the government and rival factions to start talking.”
The American press rushes to cover the “breaking news”, while showing little inclination to stick with stories. I wonder where Colin Powell is on the Libya debacle, since he so adamantly berated the Bush administration that “if you break it, you bought it”. Guess, that rule only applies to the Bush foreign policy adventures. With this administration’s topsy-turvy gun policy, where this president wants to disarm American citizens, while secretly arming rebel factions in far-flung foreign locales, who can make sense of it all. Was this President arming Ukraine rebels in the lead up to this crisis? Anyone investigating this allegation? No, of course not, this administration wouldn’t lie about gun-running……
Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military, Politics
This one’s for the girls – short and sassy links
First, GMD wrote two pieces in The American Thinker this week :
“Vulgar Amateurs at the State Department” deals with the oh, so lovely, Victoria Nuland (sister-in-law of Kimberly Kagan from the Institute for the Study of War, which foisted Elizabeth O’Bagy on the American public). GMD offers some links worth checking out. He sheds light on all of Victoria’s secrets… Oh, wait she doesn’t know about loose lips or Putin’s ships, but she went to Kiev to coach protestors…..
“Uk-Raine Terrain” goes beyond the signature braid and lets down this Rapunzel’s hair. Thanks to JK for providing this link to Anna Raccoon’s excellent blog post. Anna dishes on Julia Tymoshenko’s big makeover:
The billions she had amassed came in handy though. She hired Oleh Pokalchuk, a social psychologist, to give her a make over from hard nosed brunette business woman to – pagan mother goddess of the Ukrainian peasants. Somewhere between ‘Eva Perón’ and the ‘Princess Leia’ character from the Star Wars and Evita DVDs that she had imported into a chain of Ukrainian cinemas. Said Oleh in 2007:
“It was necessary to work out and implement an image that would block out the image […] of wealth, of envy, hatred. I created an image of a modest village teacher. A visual type, clothes and haircut, a retro image evoking memories of childhood and schooldays… simple clothes, simple haircut, a Ukrainian archetype, […] She didn’t speak Ukrainian so well then and it was necessary for parts of the country, where nationalism is a powerful force, that she should appear one of us.”
Okay, GMD wrote another piece, “Bimbo Politics”, but alas here at libertybellediairies, I beg to quibble, because “bimbo” evokes the image of an attractive dimwit, like one of those harmless, bubbly pieces older men like clinging to their arm. These women seek power and learned it’s easier to attach themselves to men with more political savvy, because it’s easier to use men than to compete fairly with them. Yes, yes, my catty streak is fighting against my demure, good-mannered self and winning……… pssst, these women are a bunch of harping witches. Phew, that felt better blurting that out 🙂
Filed under Culture Wars, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics
Expect the Russian marble game
What to do, what to do about the villain, Vladimir Putin? Well, first, while it may sound like I am supporting Putin’s takeover of Crimea, I’m not. I do understand Putin’s moves and respect how adroitly he made his moves though. NATO or any combination of Western leaders will not act and aside from hollow rhetoric and ineffective sanctions, Putin won’t pay much of a price for securing Russian control of Crimea.
How far he dares to encroach further into eastern Ukraine remains to be seen, but if past is prelude, sometimes the Russians push further to give themselves some negotiating space for later. They may move further into eastern Ukraine, so they can pull back later and look reasonable, while still holding on to Crimea. The Russians love playing games like this, “Here I took all your marbles, but hey, I’m a magnanimous sort, so I’ll give you back 2 and keep the other 10.” Really, this is how the Russians bargain and it works for them among the ill-informed western media.
By and large, our leaders are outclassed and due to our internal political partisanship, our politicians remain impotent. President Obama can’t make tough decisions and has surrounded himself with clueless, far-left loons, who have no grasp of history, geopolitics or strategic-planning. It’s a complete bust for us. Heck, the Russians are the likely source of the leak of our foul-mouthed diplomat’s phone conversation with our ambassador in Ukraine, thus spreading distrust of the US among our European allies, again. They know how to play the game and we aren’t even in the game anymore – sitting it out …. again.
We aren’t in a position to do much about Ukraine – that’s the reality. What we need to do to prevent more provocative Russian moves or other countries deciding the US is no longer relevant is get our own house in order. Here are some steps we need to take. Energy independence needs to be a national security premiere objective. Time to rebuild our relationships with our allies and we’ve got to start acting like a trustworthy ally. Now, isn’t the time to start gutting our military. We need to get our fiscal house in order and that will mean some painful, hard choices. If we want to act with one voice abroad, we’ve got to find some common ground between our warring partisans at home. To remain relevant will require a complete home remodel effort. We need to rebuild the American team and so far, I don’t see that happening among our feuding political class.
Strength comes from being in a position to act, not react. Putin knows how to act and others will watch this latest episode of American ineptitude and follow suit. To thwart this, America needs to master a steep learning curve and I doubt this administration even understands the events unfolding around the world and their integral part in creating the atmosphere where the West, and particularly America, is seen as a lot of irritating background noise, to tune out. Weakness is provocative and this administration excels at projecting weakness.
Filed under Foreign Policy, History, Military, Politics
Ring of idiots
Oh my God, I don’t know how much more tripe I can take, yes, I am referring to the American chattering class – those pundits. I will write more later today, but really, “A ring of democracy” to surround Russia – more like a ring of idiots spouting this crapola. Meanwhile, our own State Department was meddling and Victoria Nuland was dictating to our ambassador to Ukraine, which protestors can be part of the new government… Anyone else, see the hypocrisy??? The Russians will not cede control of Crimea and we shouldn’t expect them to. We can’t expect them to cede their Black Sea Fleet to western democracy, some vague protestors chants of freedom or whatever it is these various groups in Ukraine want. Do we even know what “freedom” looks like to people who only know corruption and living on government subsidies? They’ve had plenty of time to form a viable democratic government and they’re still a basket-case, so what’s going to change with the new regime? Any western reporters checking out the Russian claim that 675,000 ethnic Russian have fled from Ukraine in the past month – to Russia? (Russian claim mentioned in Nightwatch) Any truth to that? We need more facts and less overblown rhetoric. Time to let go of he Cold War era thinking and use some new approaches. More later.
Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, Military
Speaking truth to insipid reporting
Here’s a must read on Ukraine: “Ukraine Is Hopeless…But Not Serious”, in David P. Goldman’s, Spengler column at PJ Media.
Best lines:
“Ukraine isn’t a country: it’s a Frankenstein monster composed of pieces of dead empires, stitched together by Stalin. It has never had a government in the Western sense of the term after the collapse of the Soviet Union gave it independence, just the equivalent of the family offices for one predatory oligarch after another–including the “Gas Princess,” Yulia Tymoshenko.”
Here’s another:
“As for the Crimea: Did anyone seriously think that Vladimir Putin would let the main port of Russia’s Black Sea fleet fall into unfriendly hands? Russia will take the Crimea, and the strategic consequences will be nil. We couldn’t have a strategic confrontation if we wanted it. How would we get troops or ships into the Black Sea area in the first place in order to have a confrontation? Perhaps the Belgiums will send in their army instead. I suppose we need to denounce the Russians for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
He offers a great solution for what we should do, but go read the entire article, to get the full impact. Bravo, Mr. Goldman, for daring to speak truth to insipid reporting!
Filed under Foreign Policy, General Interest, History, Military, Politics
