Security

Sudan releases Solvenian “spy”

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Here’s an interesting story about identity:

Kriznar is well known in Slovenia as a human rights activist.

He travelled to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region in February as the Slovenian president’s envoy.

Three months ago, Slovenia held talks with two rebel movements which refused to accept a peace agreement between the main rebel faction and Khartoum.

Sudanese investigators said Kriznar was travelling around Darfur taking pictures and shooting video material of villages there.

Our identity, let alone intentions or motive, can be tough to prove in a stable environment like a local bank or in your preferred hospital. It can be nearly impossible to prove when we face an ad hoc and violent environment, especially when we pull out a camera and start taking “evidence” of our surroundings. Hard to tell what the exact circumstances were but it seems that Kriznar might have been pushing his luck even though he was part of the Slovenian President’s envoy, or maybe the Sudanese found him to be an easy target.

Poetry

Drinking Alone With the Moon

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by Li Bai (701-762)

My pot of wine among some flowers
I drank alone. No one to join me —
And then, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
To bring my shadow and together make us three.

Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow haunted me emptily;
But still for a while I had these friends
To cheer me through the end of spring.

When I sang, the moon encouraged me.
As I danced, my shadow tumbled after.
And so before long, we were fine companions.
Then I was drunk, and we lost one another.

Should such goodwill ever be secure?
Perhaps we will meet again someday
along the River of Stars.

This is my rough translation. Another (probably far more accurate) version can be found here.

Edited to add (9/13/06): And here is another version; the best I’ve read so far:

In the middle of the flowering grove, one jug of beer.
Drinking alone – no friends or family near –
I raise my cup, invite the moon to join me.
Counting my shadow, we’re a party of three.

But moon’s a lightweight, doesn’t know how to drink,
And shadow simply matches me cup for cup.
For now, though, they’ll do just fine, I think.
Spring is here, my friends! Let’s live it up.

I start to sing; the moon sways to and fro.
I get up and dance – shadow reels in disarray.
Sober, we crave the company of some jolly fellow;
Drunk, each goes his separate way.

Freed of all ties, yet bound forever more,
Let’s get back together on the galaxy’s far shore.

Security

Scooter Airbag

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Things like this airbag-equipped scooter in the Taipei Times make me think I should create a humor category. I mean, even if you wanted to prevent yourself from being hurt while riding a scooter, is an airbag exploding in your crotch really a good idea? Seems like a belt would achieve the same thing much more simply, and could be set to break above a certain load if that were a concern. I’m all for kevlar suits with armor, helmets, gloves and boots but I’ll pass on this concept. Maybe if the airbag were about ten times larger and covered the entire scooter, like a giant wrap-around pillow that would pop out so you could land in it no matter what direction you were impacted…and the force of your landing would cause it to dial the emergency services…

Ok, but seriously, would you want this thing to blow up between your legs?

scooter airbag

History, Security

Rumsfeld’s folly

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Rumsfeld's folly I’ve been reading the furor over Rumsfeld’s odd comparison of Iraq today to Germany at the end of WWII. Many people say he is calling his detractors pro-Nazi, but I think that obscures the more interesting fact that Rumsfeld continues to show his analysis is removed from reality. Could such a man ever really be expected to achieve success in foreign policy or military objectives, whether they be in Vietnam or Iraq? CNN does a nice job and provides several notable areas for review.

First, Rumsfeld said:

Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis.

Sad, really. Many experts were quick to come forward and counter such a baseless quip with a jolt back to reality:

Henry Kissinger, who served with U.S. forces in Germany at the end of World War II and who served as secretary of state under Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford, said the situations are not analogous.

“In Germany, the opposition was completely crushed; there was no significant resistance movement,” the German-born diplomat told CNN’s “Late Edition.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser under President Carter, a Democrat, was less charitable.

“That is really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history,” he said. “There was no alternative to our presence. The Germans were totally crushed. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking this way suggests either he doesn’t know history or he’s simply demagoguing.”

Ok, so Rumsfeld is again wrong about the past, appears to misunderstand the basics of conflict and warfare, and we know that he ruthlessly attacks anyone who disagrees with him. In addition to all that Brzezinski is probably right that Rumsfeld wants to appeal to the emotions and prejudices of the public rather than use rational argument. But what about his plan? What about the state of US intervention in Iraq?

“He has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq,” said Paul D. Eaton, a retired Army major general who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004.

I think this will be the legacy of the Bush administration, similar to the sort of legacy left by the leadership of Enron. Things might be going badly, and more and more people are falling out of favor, but the executives will keep parading the emperor’s new clothes down main street until there is nothing left but shame:

“If President Bush ever wants to visit with me privately about my counsel on his Cabinet, I am sure he will ask me, but it appears to me it would not be helpful for me to make a comment,” the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said.

You know things are bad when the chairman of foreign relations refuses to express his opinion because he hasn’t been asked by the President to comment on the situation. Isn’t that his job, on behalf of the people, to express his opinion and fight for the best outcome? A fine example of loyalty misplaced.

I suspect that someday we may look back and agree that a group in office were not true Republicans, but instead an extremist right-wing faction mollycoddling Bush so that they could attempt some sort of strange and unrealistic experiment at the expense of the welfare and safety of America.