Presidents "win some, lose some"

Commander in Chief -- President Obama has issued his first veto threat. He says he will not sign the House 2010 Defense authorization bill if they try to add funds for the F-22 aircraft or the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The President and the Secretary of Defense, I think will win this one. And it is essential for Congress to realize that war fighting has changed, and the military industrial complex must change or be left behind.

Defense Budget References: Here is the legislation in question. Read it and weep. (HT to ProPublica) Mother Jones Special Report: "MoJo dissects the Defense Budget so you don't have to:"

• Part I: Shock and Audit


• Part II: Operation Overrun


• Part III: Where’s My Flying Tank?


• Part IV: The Axis of Pork


• Part V: Mission Impossible

Collateral damage, civilians lose -- According to a BBC News (6/23/09) Special Report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, "Civilians 'bear the brunt of war'." In summary, "A report carried out among 4,000 people in eight countries suggests civilians bear the brunt of modern conflict." To quote further:

The report, called "Our world, views from the field" asked 4,000 civilians from eight countries to relate their personal experiences of war. Of those, 44% said they had witnessed armed conflict first hand and one in three had seen a relative killed.

The countries were Afghanistan, Georgia, Haiti, Liberia, DR Congo, Colombia, Lebanon and the Philippines. More than half - 56% - said they had been forced to leave their homes and almost half had lost contact with a loved one.

. . . The report also suggests that most civilians caught up in war turn first to relatives or friends for help, a sign, the ICRC says, that more needs to be done to support those carers.

Reaching out to Muslims will be a winning strategy -- The "Obama Cairo speech," post is from emptywheel (6/4/09). I agree with this author's evaluation that it was a big winner. To quote:

Spencer has posted the full text of the speech, and some good comment. Click the link and read the full text of the speech, it is well worth it.

It was a remarkable speech. This is a not just a speech that George Bush would not have given, but a speech he functionally could not have given; even with wordsmith speechwriters and handlers, he simply doesn't have the intellectual depth, greater worldview or oratorical skill to have pulled off what Obama did. If there is a hope for peaceful and productive coexistence with the Islamic world, and peace in the middle east, this speech will be the first linchpin of Obama's effort in that regard.

Changing the dynamics might win peace -- At the same time as the President was reaching out to the Muslim world, he was setting limits with Israel. And I believe this will be a winning strategy in the long run, because it changes the balance of power and the old worn out dynamics in the peace process. "Obama's 'interference in Israeli politics," is by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com (6/3/09). Glenn's points:

. . . if one chooses instead to become dependent on someone else or seeks help and aid from them, then complying with the demands of those providing the aid is an inevitable price that must be paid – and justifiably so.

. . . While hypocrisy and double standards are far too common in our political discourse to highlight every time they appear, the notion being pushed by Likudniks in Israel and the U.S. -- that it is wrong for one country to "interfere" in the politics of another democracy -- is far too ironic to ignore.

. . . How serious Obama is about applying real pressure to Israel remains to be seen, but it’s hard to deny that these initial steps are encouraging. When is the last time there were public rifts of this sort between the American and Israeli governments?

Domestic surveillance, gone right -- The Department of Homeland Security has killed a domestic spying program, the National Applications Office, emptywheel reported earlier this week. This is the program that Rep. Jane Harman was going to try to kill with legislation, because it has been a bad idea from the outset. Military spy satellites have been used to survey domestic locations in the case of natural disasters. But back during the Bush administration there was talk that this office would use the military eyes in the sky for domestic surveillance.

Domestic surveillance gone wrong -- Former President Clinton lost out in this episode. "NSA Secret Database Ensnared President Clinton's Private E-mail," is from Wired - Threat Level (6/17/09). To quote:

A secret NSA surveillance database containing millions of intercepted foreign and domestic e-mails includes the personal correspondence of former President Bill Clinton, according to the New York Times.

An NSA intelligence analyst was apparently investigated after accessing Clinton’s personal correspondence in the database, the paper reports, though it didn’t say how many of Clinton’s e-mails were captured or when the interception occurred.

The database, codenamed Pinwale, allows NSA analysts to search through and read large volumes of e-mail messages, including correspondence to and from Americans. Pinwale is likely the end point for data sucked from internet backbones into NSA-run surveillance rooms at AT&T facilities around the country.

Intelligence oversight loses -- The "White House Intel Advisory Board Has No Members," Steven Aftergood revealed at Secrecy News. The implications of this are there is no formal oversight of questionable intelligence gathering practices, programs that could be unlawful, or contrary to executive orders or presidential directives. Aftergood writes that it was rumored that former DNI Mike McConnell was going to be appointed to the board, but nothing has happened on the matter.

President Obama lost Renegade Democrats, who are going against President Obama with these plans. House members Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), are both willing to challenge incumbent senators in their own party, according to Politico.com. In Pennsylvania, the Senator is former Republican, Arlen Specter, in New York it is newby Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

[Post date - June 27, 2009]

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: president war national security

China -- not so very far away.

U.S. - China foreign relations are extremely important. They are an ancient and respected civilization and we have come a ways since the days of Mao. The Chinese are now one of our biggest trading parters. They are financing a significant portion of our debt, and they are part of the international economic system, affected by the current economic crisis just as we are.

And, ironically, tobacco is in the news on both sides of the globe. Under new law the U.S. tobacco industry is about to come under the regulatory supervision of the Food and Drug Administration. And China is interested in its tobacco industry as a revenue source. China has raised its tobacco tax to more than 56 percent from the previous 45 percent rate, according to China Daily (6/20/09). An advalorem tax of 5 percent was also added for the first time. To quote:

Li Ling, Peking University professor said: "Increasing consumption tax of tobacco can not only help government increase income, but also save millions of lives."

China has the world's largest population of smokers. About 350 million of the country's 1.3 billion citizens are smokers in 2008, and about one million die of tobacco-related diseases each year.

Chinese citizens are making small gains as Internet activists, a New York Times (6/16/09) story reveals. The "story of the 21-year-old waitress who fatally stabbed a Communist Party official as he tried to force himself on her" somehow got into the Chinese online news and led to her exoneration from a manslaughter charge due to self defense. The young woman's case spawned over 4 million posts, what officials term an "online mass incident." To quote:

[It] erupted into an online furor that turned her into a national hero and reverberated all the way to China’s capital, where censors ordered incendiary comments banned. Local Hubei officials even restricted television coverage and tried to block travel to the small town where the assault occurred.

. . . The case of Ms. Deng is only the most recent and prominent of several cases in which the Internet has cracked open a channel for citizens to voice mass displeasure with official conduct, demonstrating its potential as a catalyst for social change.

. . . China still exerts sweeping and sophisticated control over the Internet, employing thousands of people to monitor Internet traffic for forbidden material and using software to spot key words that hint at subversion. But the system is not infallible, and Internet users frequently find ways to skirt the censors.

A very different view of Chinese bloggers' motivations is found in this Asia Times piece by Alice Liu: "Flaws in China's digital dissidents," (6/19/09). To quote her opening graph:

Despite having a reputation in the West as trailblazing citizen journalists, many of China's young bloggers are seen by Chinese as egocentric, showy and self-serving. Most come from the "me generation", a derisive term for youths born after the nation began its strictly enforced one-child policy in 1979.

China Daily News (6/11/09) is reporting that "Beijing is headed for a garbage crisis." The story revealed that in 4 or 5 years all of the city's 13 landfill plants will be full. Incineration and power plants fueled by garbage, present significant environmental pollution problems. To quote:

Beijing currently generates 18,000 tons of trash every day and the designed capacity of all garbage disposal plants is 11,000 tons, Guo said, adding all the plants were already overloaded.

The volume of the city's trash is growing by 8 percent annually and the total amount of garbage produced will reach nearly 12 million tons by 2015, figures show. So far, two of the 13 plants have already met their maximum capacity and will soon stop operations.

. . . Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the ban on free distribution of plastic bags imposed last June has reduced polythene waste by at least 65 percent.

Wang Xiaojun, director of the environmental group Greenpeace China, said: "We must reduce, reuse and recycle if we're serious about minimizing pollution."

Earlier China declared that North Korea, "Pyongyang just wants attention," from the U.S. and is not on the brink of war The Asia Times (6/10/09) reported. And they are getting it. Under a new U.N. sanctions regime, a U.S. navel ship is currently following a North Korean ship suspected of carrying illicit weapons.

Paul Volker, chairman of the US Economic Recovery Board, was in Beijing, China recently for a June 10 meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. China Daily News reports that they discussed the increasing economic interdependence of the two nations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited China in May, as well as Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, "seeking cooperation with China in fields such as climate change and combating financial crisis."

The China National People's Congress (NPC) and the U.S. House of Representatives held a parliamentary exchange meeting in Washington, D.C. on June 9, The Asia Times tells us. It is an in-depth exchange "on bilateral ties, inter-parliamentary exchanges, global financial crisis, climate change and international and regional issues of mutual concern." The U.S. side was invited to visit China in the fall for the 11th meeting in the exchange program.

It is interesting how much the current news coming out of both countries has in common. Smoking is a problem wherever nicotine is present as an addicting agent. The Internet is ubiquitous and the perfect vehicle for citizen action or mere personal expression. Both our nations are drowning in garbage. We are deeply economically interdependent. We have different systems of governance that have enough in common, however, for our "Peoples Houses" to have met in cultural exchanges now for the past ten years. That is good news. There will be more to follow here at S/SW in occasional Saturday posts on the news of other nations.

[Post date - June 20, 2009]

My all-in-one Home Page of websites where I post regularly: Carol Gee - Online Universe

Technorati tags: international news china foreign relations

Different points of view --

It is useful to read what the foreign press publishes about the United States. Today's post focuses on Russian and Asian sources. The first news items are from Russia.

President Barack Obama will visit Russia in early July (6-8) several days prior to the G8 summit in Italy, according to Russian source RIA Novosti. At issue are such items as the U.S. proposal to deploy a missile defense shield. PM Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia will link missile defense with the issues of strategic offensive armaments. The two countries have already started to work on a new treaty to replace the expiring START pact, with the next meeting set for May 19-21 in Moscow. Meanwhile Russia remains committed to bettering its recently strained relations with NATO. ""We do not think NATO has been lost to us as a partner," Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said a week ago. Today Russia's President Medvedev "stated that the structure of the European security based on NATO's expansion idi not suit Russia," reports Pravda.

As far as U.S. Russian relations go, things have changed a great deal since the election of Barack Obama. Back in July of 2007, according to an old RIA Novosti story,"former Societ leader Mikhail Gorbachev said that a multi-polar world was the key to global security and cititcized the Bush administration's efforts to dominate world politics." The U.S. goal now is to "reset" relations with Russia.

To conclude, an Asia Times article by Dmitry Shlapentokh, a professor of history at Indiana University is titled, "China, Russia face up to Taliban threat." Last month Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that "Russia and China would strengthen their military cooperation . . . and engage in military maneuvers." The author feels that the U.S. "economic decline is increasingly being translated into military weakness." The Russia-China alliance, though still mistrustful of each other, could thus be a bulwark against the insurgency of the Taliban, should things go very badly for the NATO alliance in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It will be interesting to see how close these stories come to what actually happens in the months and years to come. The globe has certainly grown smaller since the bottom fell out of the world economy. I sincerely hope that Professor Shlapentokh is wrong when he says that we will lose the war in "Af-Pak." I hope that a heavy dose of diplomacy and development will help turn the corner in the South Asian theater. And I also hope that President Obama's efforts to diminish the threat of an accidental nuclear war, via a new START treaty, go well. Our new President is taking his role as commander in chief very seriously, and I believe he is a very quick study.

[Post date May 16, 2009]

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Foreign affairs news digest

Foreign news items that may have slipped past during the past few weeks follow in today's post. We have not seen as much about piracy recently. That may be because of the get-tough policies of some of the main players on our side.

And it turns out that we have some new allies: "Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates (Xinhua News Agency)," from Memeorandum (4/15/09). This is an amazing story. To quote:

Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.

Foreign news items that may have slipped past during the past few weeks follow in today's post. We have not seen as much about piracy recently. That may be because of the get-tough policies of some of the main players on our side.

And it turns out that we have some new allies: "Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates (Xinhua News Agency)," from Memeorandum (4/15/09). This is an amazing story. To quote:

Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.

Image via Wikipedia: Xinhua News Agency

China may be on a roll, acquiring some new boosters as well as acquiring a huge amount of foreign reserves. "China's foreign reserves hit $1.95 trillion at end of March" from China News (4/10/09 ). Summary: "China's foreign exchange reserves rose 16 percent year-on-year to $1.9537 trillion by the end of March, said the People's Bank of China on Saturday." Though China finances a significant amount of our ballooning national debt, we must remain upset with their record of human rights violations.

And we may have a new set of allies --or adversaries -- towards that end. This news item explains:
"A New Era of Engagement," from the ACLU Blog of Rights (4/12/09). To quote:

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced that it would reverse a Bush administration decision and make bid to join the United Nations Human Rights Council, "with the goal of working to make it a more effective body to promote and protect human rights." The Council is the highest human rights body within the U.N., composed of 47 countries working to promote and strengthen human rights worldwide. It replaced the historical U.N. Commission on Human Rights in 2006, but was voted against by the Bush administration along with the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Israel. Countries bid for election for membership within the Council. Terms last for three years, and the elections are scheduled for mid-May.

. . . We look forward to the Obama administration’s constructive engagement with the council and other global human rights bodies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and hope that human rights will be central not only in U.S. foreign policy but also in domestic policy.

Human rights violations take place all over the world, even south of the border. I cannot think of a worse case than the dramatic increase in violence against innocents by the Mexican drug cartels. The issue is high on our national agenda, as indicated by the recent visits to Mexico by our highest officials as well as major boosts in foreign aid. This post was illuminating, as it appeared just prior to those trips. "Mexico: So Close and Yet So Far," was written by Faith Smith for The Washington Note (4/7/09). To quote rather extensively from this handy little "primer:"

The label "failed state" has repeatedly been applied to Mexico. Jorge Castaneda, former Mexican Foreign Minister and fellow at the New America Foundation, recently made the case against this erroneous label, "The government represents the nation abroad, exercises a quasi monopoly on the use of force within its borders, collects taxes and ensures the integrity of its citizens against perils from within and without. By these measures-- indeed by any standard definition of a failed state--Mexico is clearly acquitted." While Mexico's current state may not warrant the exasperating label "failed" it surely deserves more attention and cooperation than the U.S. traditionally offers.

Forty percent of Mexico's citizens survive on less than $2 per day; an unacceptable figure for a nation that shares a 2,000 mile border with the World's richest (and arguably most generous) nation. Policy makers have simply overlooked Mexico time and again. Mexico has been just stable enough to ignore. The FY2009 budget allocates little more than $500million in foreign assistance to Mexico or one-third what we annually offer Egypt. Mexico is our next door neighbor; for the sake of regional stability and national security the United States must invest in Mexico and its leaders. While Mexico is not a failed state, it is facing a crisis the United States cannot afford to ignore. President Felipe Calderon does not lack the will to fight the drug lords and corruption, but the resources. The legitimate economy of Mexico is severely undermined by two shadow economies that are difficult to track and impossible to tax. The drug economy is estimated at $10billion to $50billion and revenue from remittances in 2008 was around $25billion.

. . . Mexico's process of democratization has left a power void that the drug lords happily filled. I see two ways to reclaim power from the drug lords: the state can re-consolidate power into a strong, centralized state relying heavily on the army--which would be a reversal of their recent democratization-- or they must push ahead with the democratization and decentralization process. Which means local governance, with an uncorrupted police force and judicial system supported by civic participation, will prevail. I believe the latter is necessary for Mexico to not only survive the drug war but to thrive as a prosperous, democratic nation.

A wider view of the world improves my perspective. Therefore I regularly visit my "News from other countries" folder in my Bloglines aggregator. Today's post is the result. More follows.

References to miscellaneous recent items:

• Congressional Quarterly - Homeland Security: Behind the lines e-mail newsletter by David C. Morrison (5/7/09). To quote: At least 6,000 immigrants have been denied refuge in the United States because the Patriot Act and other post-Sept. 11 laws label them as “terrorists,” even if they supported pro-democracy efforts and opposed despots and dictators, McClatchy Newspaper’s Marisa Taylor surveys. . . .
  
  Algeria is one of the Middle Eastern nations that has the scientific and technological capacity to develop nuclear weapons, Secrecy News notes, offering an open-source bibliography on the same. North Korea runs a cyber warfare unit that tries to hack into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather secrets and disrupt service, AP learns. . . .
  
  Bibles in Afghan languages sent to a U.S. soldier at a base in Afghanistan were confiscated and destroyed to ensure no breach of regulations forbidding proselytizing, Reuters reports — and check the Al Jazeera story that sparked the response. Libyan authorities have applied for the transfer to their custody of the sole perpetrator convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, who would have to drop his appeal to qualify, The Scotsman says. One of the “Toronto 18” has pleaded guilty to aiding a plot to detonate bombs in the city’s bustling downtown core, The National Post notes — as AP has a German investigator testifying that terror defendants were caught on tape discussing bombing a U.S. air base and joking about the probable reaction.

[Post date, May 9, 2009]

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news foreign policy china mexico

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• Pentagon looks to move battle against pirates ashore (cnn.com)
• China Releases First Human Rights Action Plan (abcnews.go.com)

We're getting acquainted.

The year is 2009 and the planet is now small. A person can read these words in China in the blink of an eye. Being the President of the United States under such circumstances is a new kind of challenge. Leaders around the world routinely fly for hours to travel to or from the USA, to Europe and to the Far East. Money travels much faster, and messages, too. This is the information age. And President Obama still has his Blackberry. It was admirable that he fought to keep it.

During the transition period from the President's election to his inauguration, Barack Obama would sometimes talk on the phone with other world leaders. He seemed to make sure that he had a beginning acquaintance with all the people who would be key players in the later months. But he purposely kept a very low profile, saying, "We have only one president at a time." At times people demanded that he step up and lead, but he limited his involvement. We like it that he plunged into work on the day he was sworn in, however, and has not slowed down since.

President Obama's interactional style with Americans and with people from other countries seems to be remarkably similar. He can be a school master, a conciliator, an expert, a listener or a star -- on both sides of borders. He is not threatened by people who are his intellectual equals or his elders, in fact he has gathered many such high achievers to serve in his administration, who can walk and chew gum at the same time. These big egos can rub people the wrong way, but self deprecating humor takes the edge off the President's highly confident style.

The President loves to travel better than to eat, it appears. That is due in no small part to having traveled to far away places as he grew up, not once but many times. He seems to be delighted that his job comes with a great big airplane. A steep rise in the price of fuel would present him with a terrible dilemma, of wanderlust vs. frugality. He seems at home in many lands and cultures and the people he visits must sense that about him.

President Obama dislikes beets, obtuse reporters, having to wear a jacket and tie all the time, and having to be the bad guy. At the same time he can be firm and quick to correct performance or cut a non performer loose. He does not bail out when things get hard, however, nor does he seem to bail out on others who make normal mistakes.

That does not extend to allies and enemies, however. His foreign policy style is to be clear about what he expects of adversaries, and welcoming of strong relationships with friendly nations. He appears to have a strong sense of respect and reciprocity in deal-making, and welcomes frank communication. At the same time he has a remarkable ability to thread a verbal needle when needed, or communicate by modeling and example, rather than pronouncement.

One hundred days of high exposure to someone peels away some of the mystery for a politician watcher such as I am. And we got to know Barack Obama as he campaigned. His public approval poll numbers remain high with good reason. The people who are his avowed adversaries are missing out on getting acquainted with a really neat guy, and a very fine leader.

[Post date - May 2, 2009]

See also Behind the Links.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: politics opinion barack obama leadership

Finding ways to join hands and build bridges

Image by Renegade98 via Flickr

[4/11/09]

The outlines of a new way of connecting to the wider world are beginning to emerge as the President settles back into his domestic routine after his first big foreign trip. President Obama signaled engagement with those with whom we have differences, rather than confrontation. Joint decisions among all those countries with vested interests means bridges and talk with consensus, rather than dictum, sanctions and ignoring. David Sanger, of the New York Times writes that the Obama approach will stand in rather stark contrast to that of his predecessor. In his fine analysis, he said, for example, "Mr. Obama emphasized that treaties and legal norms could help accomplish what sanctions and military pressure had failed to achieve. In doing so, he veered toward a pre-Sept. 11 world order." It is an amazing contrast.

Half a world away -- It is likely that Mr. Obama and his foreign policy advisers will be able to maintain a rational perspective regarding North Korea's actual potential to be a serious threat. Jeff Stein at Spy Talk quoted Joseph Cirincione asserting, "North Korea's thinly disguised missile test violates U.N. resolutions and should be condemned. But it is not a serious threat to the United States, nor does it justify a crash program to deploy an expensive, unproven anti-missile system. . . This small, impoverished nation would need to make three key additional breakthroughs to turn this launch vehicle into a real nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the continental United States."

AlQaeda and the like, however, will still be staunchly confronted, unlike Bush's decision to take a side road into Iraq. The U.S. is quite willing to ask for the help of other nations in fighting terrorism. And there was talk of nuclear disarmament rather than throwing up missiles on Russia's doorstep. Treaties, agreements, revitalizing international organizations -- all hold the promise of greater linkages among the most powerful players around the world.

Traveling across the western hemisphere, President Obama's overtures towards Turkey show that the United States recognizes that nation's influence as a bridge in the world. Turkey can be a bridge to the wider Muslim world. The President was able to finesse the Armenian "genocide" law question, skillfully avoiding letting Congress make it into an impossible barrier to closer ties with this strategically important nation. It is an interdependent world, no doubt, and never more so that this spring as we approach Earth Day.

Climate Change affects all nations -- A revived EPA is ready to take on climate change, according to US News and World Report To quote, "Under President Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency is starting to flex its muscles again." Issues include mountaintop coal mining, cleaner air around schools, and stricter emission standards for ships, regulating CO2 emissions, requiring reporting for large emmiters of greenhouse gases, and reconsideration of letting states have tougher standards for cars and trucks. And for Earth Day on April 22, here is a neat little interactive to help you make good choices for the environment.

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics foreign policy leadership obama europe

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• Analysis: N. Korean launch won't distract U.S. (cnn.com)
• Commentary: North Korean launch not a cause for panic (cnn.com)
• On Washington: Outlines of an Obama Grand Strategy Emerge (nytimes.com)

Focus on U.S. - Russian relations:

[3/7/09]

"What to look for?" In U.S. and Russian foreign relations small gains could make a difference. A small missed translation could have helped break the ice during Secretary of State Clinton's visit to Geneva where she met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russian media teased our Secretary because of her gift to Lavrov. According to the BBC News article,

Hillary Clinton gave Sergei Lavrov a mock "reset" button, symbolising US hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow.

But he said the word the Americans chose, "peregruzka", meant "overloaded" or "overcharged", rather than "reset". Daily newspaper Kommersant declared on its front page: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button."

. . . Despite the embarrassment, the two made light of the moment in front of the cameras and pushed the button together to signify a shared hope for better relations. At a joint news conference after two hours of talks, both joked about the error.

"We reached an agreement on how 'reset' is spelled in both Russian and English - we have no differences between us any more," Mr Lavrov said through an interpreter.

Mrs Clinton put it this way: "The minister corrected our word choice. But in a way, the word that was on the button turns out to be also true. We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an 'overload' of work."

"Necessity pushed U.S. and Russia Closer," is another BBC headline. The story is a good analysis of why it is in both countries' interests to get along better. Reasons include the fact that the Obama administration wants things to be better. We need the railroad supply route through Russia to Afghanistan. Russia does not want a U.S. failure in Afghanistan. (Russia and Germany are discussing using the supply route, as well, according to RIA Novosti). And Russia wants the U.S. to scrap its planned missile defense system in Central Europe, and may be willing to apply pressure to Iran to scrap its long range missile program. In addition the economic recession had hit the Eurozone and Russia very hard, so they have a lot on their plate, just a we do.

The Russian paper, Pravda, reported on March 4 that "USA may keep its airbase in Kyrgyzstan after Obama's letter to Russia's Medvedev." To quote:

Media outlets published numerous reports about the secret letter, which President Obama supposedly sent to his Russian counterpart. In the letter (if the reports are true, of course), Obama particularly set out a hope that Moscow would not encourage the exclusion of US servicemen from Kyrgyzstan. The US administration tends to believe that the former Soviet republic made the decision under the pressure of the Kremlin, although the latter repeatedly affirmed that it was a sovereign decision of Kyrgyzstan.

If Obama sent the secret letter to Medvedev indeed, it may mean that Russia (and Kyrgyzstan) took US hopes into consideration.

RIA Novosti (3/3/09) also reported that President Medvedev denied an Iran-Missile shield tradeoff with the U.S. And The Asia Times published a very interesting analysis of Russia's rejuvenation of its sphere of influence in Central Asia, headlined, "Russia's 'virtual cold war' in Central Asia." It regards the Feb. 3 meeting in Moscow of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) forming a CSTO rapid reaction force the,

Russian President Dimitri Medvedev claimed will not be less capable than its NATO counterpart.

It seems clear that there is much to gain for both nations by cooperating. All it will take is toughness, intelligent strategy and being able to reach out. The Obama administration has shown the capacity to do that in other areas. Why not with Russia?

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: russia foreign relations hillary clinton medvedev afghanistan europe

Some agreements --

[2/28/09]

Between other nations, it might happen that some very old conflicts and disagreements could get settled. Enmities could become less severe. Enemies could learn to deal with each other. Some of the world's wars might stop. Don't hold your breath, but it could occasionally happen this year. Herewith is a current list of hopeful examples, not all inclusive, by any means.

Taliban and Afghanistan -- "Secret negotiations are under way to bring troops fighting alongside the Taliban into Afghanistan's political process," Al Jazeera has learned. Further,

With the arrival in Kabul last month of Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, resistance to the idea of holding talks with the Taliban may change . . .

Palestinian factions -- the talks were brokered by Egypt. According to Al Jazeera Feb.20, 2009,

Palestinian factions have agreed to establish five committees to address key issues for unity. . . talks in Cairo between 12 Palestinian factions began on Thursday and follow 18 months of disharmony between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The five committees established at the meeting will deal with issues including the formation of a unity government, rebuilding institutions, establishing presidential and legislative elections, security services, and reconciliation. The immediate release of political detainees in Gaza and the West Bank was also promised.

Afghan-Pakistan talks -- From Al Jazeera (2/26/09):"Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has hailed trilateral talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan as 'in-depth, very specific, open, forthright.' " To quote further,

Clinton held talks on Thursday with the foreign ministers of both countries as part of a US review of policy amid continuing attacks by al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the border area between the two countries.

U.S. and Syria -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that it is too early to tell whether relations between the U.S. and Syria will improve. However, Al Jazeera reports on 2/26/09 that,

US and Syrian diplomats have held talks in Washington in a bid to improve the strained ties between the two nations. Imad Moustapha, Syria's ambassador to the US, met Jeffrey Feltman, the US state department's top diplomat for the Middle East, in the first high-level discussions between the two countries since Barack Obama became US president in January.

Brazil and China -- "Brazil will supply oil to China for loans," says the Financial Times (2/19/09). Quote:

Brazil and China signed a landmark agreement on Thursday that will ensure long-term supplies of oil to China while delivering much-needed financing to help Brazil develop enormous reserves of oil and gas recently discovered in its coastal waters.

AU and Zimbabwe -- The African Union, led by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, has agreed to serve as guarantor of the new unity government in Zimbabwe, led by President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who will serve as Prime Minister. Supported by One.org.

The United Kingdom and G20 Summit -- Great Britain has agreed to extend an invitation to the African Union to attend the next Summit meeting of the G20. Also supported by One.org.

UN: Reform Security Council -- The United Nations has agreed to enter into formal negotiations to reform the makeup of the UN Security Council. The International Herald Tribune (2/20/09) reports. To quote:

The Security Council, which is responsible for maintaining international peace and security, has 15 seats. They are filled by nonpermanent members elected for two-year terms that come from all regions of the world, and there are five permanent members with veto power whose support is essential for any reform to be adopted - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

In 2005, world leaders called for the council to be "more broadly representative, efficient and transparent." The General Assembly's last session, which ended in September, asked the current session to start intergovernmental negotiations on council reform by Feb. 28.

Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics international foreign relations middle east

Clinton - round the world

[2/21/09]

The China story -- The (2/21/09) Financial Times headline, "US, China to 'to help lead the world recovery': foretells that the US and China pledged to step up a high-level dialogue between the two countries which will address the global financial crisis, climate change and security issues. The visit adds to optimism that the U.S. and China might resume high level military talks at some point, according to the IHT.** Downplaying human rights issues, Secretary Clinton talked about the two countries "helping to lead the world recovery," an also expressed appreciation for China's continued purchases of US Treasury bonds. The Times continued,

The visit to Beijing was the last and arguably the most important stage of a week-long trip to Asia that also took her to Tokyo, Jakarta and Seoul.

. . . The visit has underlined the heavy interdependence of the two countries on many important issues. While the US is the biggest national market for China’s exports, China is the largest holder of US government debt. The two countries are now the largest carbon emitters on the planet.

Who's next -- While in South Korea, which is facing a possible dollar shortage due to the global credit crunch, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the subject of North Korea's possible line of succession after dictator Kim Jong-il, according to the IHT (2/20/09). Her remarks were controversial, cast as either a beginner's error with a taboo subject or refreshing candor that could shake loose the moribund diplomatic progress. The jockeying for power in North Korea raises the pressure on the United States, South Korea, China and other countries to revive negotiations," Clinton said.

Fruit basket turnover -- Secretary Clinton also announced the appointment of Stephen Bosworth, former ambassador to South Korea, to be her special representative for North Korea policy. He will take the post of Christopher Hill, who will become the ambassador to Iraq.

What's next -- North Korea has announced that it will launch another test missile. To quote further,

Clinton said she would explore whether the missile program should be included in the six-party negotiations with North Korea, which includes the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Clinton said she was interested in exploring whether neighbors like China could exert more influence on North Korea. "North Korea is on China's border, and I want to understand better what the Chinese believe is doable," she said.

"Cornerstone of American foreign policy" -- While in Japan on Tueday, SoS Clinton offered words of reassurance, the IHT (2/18/09) reported, along with meeting with families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea. Japanese PM Taro Aso will be the first foreign leader invited to visit the White House. She then detoured to Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday. IHT called both destination choices "steeped in symbolism. [Indonesia] is the first Muslim country she will visit and the start of what she said would be a 'concerted effort' by the Obama administration to bring a new message to the Islamic world."

Reference for extended background reading, from Asia Times Online (2/19/09): "China seeks road back to growth," by Pieter Bottelier

** IHT= International Herald Tribune --The Global Edition of the New York Times

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news international hillary clinton foreign affairs foreign relations east asia far east

Your Saturday quick trip around the world . . .

[2/14/09]

Today is Valentine's Day, the day for love and lovers. How is the world doing when it comes to love? Actually, it is not doing too well. The world economy is in deep trouble. Hard feelings between nations mar the peace, strong nations exploiting weak ones bring misery to vulnerable people, and the globe seems to grow smaller and smaller.

This weekend G7 finance ministers are meeting and pledging to avoid protectionism, according to the Saturday Financial Times. Treasury's Tim Geithner is representing the U.S. To quote the FT article:

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrial democracies meeting in Rome discussed how to tackle the worst global recession in generations without damaging free trade and hurting each other's economies.

. . .Tim Geithner made his debut in the G7 as US Treasury secretary and appears to have impressed his counterparts who were eager to learn more about his proposed public-private partnership in fixing the US financial system. The US would move “very quickly” to lay out the broad design, he told a press conference. He also said the US would announce “important new actions” to address the housing crisis in coming days.

“We had a good impression [of Geithner]. He’s a good debater, he’s easy to speak to, he’s frank and open,” commented Jean-Claude Juncker, Eurogroup chairman.

DNI gives threat assessment -- A former Rhodes scholar, Admiral Dennis Blair is the newly appointed Director of National Intelligence. According tothe Financial Times (2/13/09), "Blair will play a key role in the US administration as the person responsible for providing Barack Obama, president, with his daily intelligence briefing. The piece carries this headline: "Intelligence Chief Warns of Security Threat." To quote:

The top US intelligence official on Thursday warned that the global economic crisis posed the greatest near-term threat to US national security as the risk of “regime-threatening instability” grows around the world.

Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, said the risk of greater instability globally would grow as the economic and financial crisis continued.

“Time is probably our greatest threat. The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to US strategic interests,” Adm Blair told Congress in his annual threat assessment.

. . . The threat assessment marked a stark contrast with previous years when the focus was on terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq. On terrorism, Adm Blair sounded a note of optimism, pointing out that public opinion in the Muslim world was turning against al-Qaeda. He said that, though a threat, it was less capable because of the pressure the US had put on its leadership inside Pakistan.

And there is always Darfur -- "Critics Say U.S. Radio Program for Darfur Goes Soft on Sudan," is the headline from a recent investigative "side news" item from ProPublica. To quote:

Funded with a million dollars from the U.S. State Department, Radio Afia Darfur, a half-hour shortwave radio program, is beamed three times a day into war-torn Darfur, Sudan, and refugee-packed eastern Chad.

. . . But critics charge that the program -- meant to provide displaced people in Sudan with "accurate and objective information about their country" -- is instead broadcasting in a language most of its target audience doesn't understand and has watered-down criticisms of Sudanese officials (whom the U.S. government holds responsible for genocide in Darfur). An outspoken Darfuri-American news reader who repeatedly challenged the program's non-Darfuri editors has also been fired.

"Bugs ' Bombs" -- is from my CQ Behind the Lines (2/13/09) newsletter. To quote a paragraph with world news:

. . . An ex-assistant chief of the U.K.’s shadowy MI6 plays down jihadi terrorism, saying other dangers — pandemic bird flu, e.g. — are more serious, The Register reports — while Bloomberg hears China’s Ministry of Health venting puzzlement at eight human cases of bird flu unrelated to any known case in birds. Evidence is emerging that the rocket Iran used to orbit a satellite might be more powerful than first thought, New Scientist says.

References:

• "Capital Wisdom from the East," an interesting short article in the (2/13/09) Asia Times, by Axel Merk on economic theory as it pertains to the U.S., China and Europe approaches to the crisis. It is a good read.
  
• "Obama diary: The first 100 days" What the Brits think about Obama:
  
  

  The BBC's Washington correspondents track developments in the first 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency.

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays. And my brand new blog is called Behind the Links.

Technorati tags: news foreign affairs economic crisis international

Afghanistan Digest

"OSC: U.S. could leave Iraq early, Al-Maliki says. from Informed Comment (2/4/09). To quote:

"In exclusive statements to the Iraqi Media Center, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has revealed that the withdrawal of the US forces from the country might be sooner than the dates and schedules outlined in the agreement on the pullout of foreign forces from the country, noting that this is a big achievement for the Iraqis. . "

"Iraq militants 'in Afghan switch'" BBC News (2/4). To quote the sub-head: "Foreign militants are flowing into Afghanistan because of the success of the 'troop surge' in Iraq, the Afghan defense minister [Abdul Rahim Wardak] has said." See also, "Afghanistan's future" section, a complete primer on the country that includes, for example, features on life in Afghanistan, winter hardship, a Karzai interview, and a background piece on countering the 20-year against the Taliban.

"Suicide Bomber Kills 25 Policemen in Afghanistan; American UN Official Kidnapped in Quetta; Pakistani Taliban take over Swat," from Informed Comment (2/3/09). This is an excellent digest of a few the important news items in recent days from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Aljazeera.net: Central/South Asia section's currently featured stories. "Siezed Pakistani policemen freed;" "UN chief urges end to Afghan deaths;" "Kyrgustan to close U.S. air base;" "Police die in Afghan suicide blast;" "Taliban warns U.S. over Afghan plan;" and "Afghanistan elections postponed;"

Financial Times: "Afghanistan seen as highest priority" (1/24); "Afghanistan is 'greatest challenge'" (1/27).

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news middle east

It is a small world --

Today, Saturday our current president (OCP) is at Camp David to enjoy his last weekend there. He left so that crews could repaint his house for the new guy, our next president (ONP) and his family, who will move in next Tuesday. OCP's stuff will be moved to Texas. Millions of U.S. citizens will watch the process of another peaceful transfer of power and find it perfectly normal. And millions more from other countries will also be watching with interest . Today's post focuses on those other nations (as is my usual practice on Saturdays), with a few interesting little tidbits of news of trivia.

OCP has been at it again -- Doing his "leader of the free world bit, The Raw Story reports that "Bush awards medal to three 'true friends' of the US*" (1/13/09). To quote:

President George W. Bush praised three "true friends of the United States" as he awarded the nation's highest civilian honor to Tony Blair, John Howard and Colombian leader Alvaro Uribe. The three men were given the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony at the White House in the final days of Bush's presidency.

The economic crisis knows no borders -- WorldChanging (1/12/09): "Stabilizing the Economy by Understanding* the idea of "Enough," i.e., the opposite of poor is not rich but sufficiency, a sense that there is enough. The Raw Story notes, "Financial crisis a distraction, says Nobel Winner,*" Muhammad Yunus, (12/3/08). Time Magazine wonders "Is the Euro the New Dollar?#"(1/1/09). From Grist comes "All Charged Up*" (1/12/09). It is a story reporting that China's BYD is to bring plug-in hybrid and electric cars to the U.S. in 2011. From Truthdig - Ear to Ground, we learned that "China Takes Bronze in GDP*" (1/14/09) To quote:

After reconfiguring its output figures, China has finally found itself on the medal podium for gross domestic product, ousting Germany from its role as third largest economy in the world. China’s economy has grown tenfold in the past 30 years, and its development, while marveled at, worries many environmental, human rights and labor activists.

Country by Country:

• Russia: Wall Street Journal: "As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S#." (12/29/08)


• Canada: From The Democratic Strategist we learn all about the parliamentary crisis that happened last month: "Meanwhile to Our North" (12/12/08)


• France: Buzz Flash reports on "90 organizations, mainly French, to prosecute Israel for War Crimes"* (1/16/09)


• Somalia: Yahoo! News: "Somali pirates drown with ransom share#" - (1/10/09). And this by Johann Hari: "You are Being Lied to About Pirates#" (1/4/09)
  

Bonus blurbs about other nations -- From a recent CQ Behind the Lines -- . . . Airport screeners in Shanghai ordered a retired policeman to drink his own urine sample to prove it was safe, Ananova informs. Jetstar’s decision to allow passengers to check in their own luggage has raised fresh security concerns at Australian airports, ABC News notes.

Borders and papers: South of the border, folks are disinclined to view border violence as a “Mexican problem,” when some 90 percent of the cartels’ weapons are smuggled from the United States, whose demand for illegal drugs is the prize being fought over, The Daily Telegraph tells — while The Miami Herald chides: “If anything, the U.S. government has been slow to recognize the threat.”

. . . Most of the citizens of newly independent Kosovo are Muslim, but “unlike most Muslim-majority nations, Kosovo is overwhelmingly pro-American, and its relations with Israel are excellent as well,” City Journal spotlights.

To conclude, to the U.S. and to the world, this transition is a pretty big deal. The foreign press, thousands of them are here to cover the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. In effect we will rub elbows all around the globe. And after that there will come a new era in our relations with other countries. President Obama's first visit to a foreign country will be to Canada in just a few weeks. To visit our closest neighbor is entirely fitting.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo*" and Jon#.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics foreign relations

Some of us had no idea what has been going on around the world

Each new year makes it clear that we all live together on Planet Earth. But when one's neighbors live half-way around the world it is easy to be out of touch with what is actually going on in their day to day lives. The following stories reflect a lack of public knowledge about important realities.

We should not shut our eyes to the facts, painful as they may be. As a beginning, take a look at The Raw Story (1/5/09): "Bush to honor Blair, Howard*" regarding the real reason why President-elect Obama and his family will be living in a hotel until January 15.

Pushed aside by the stories coming our of Israel and Gaza, this headline from Buzzflash,"Muslims Plan Boycott Of American Goods and the U.S. dollar*" (1/7/09), reminds us that not every relatively stable country supports Israel. To quote:

More than 2,000 Muslim restaurants in Malaysia will remove Coca-Cola from their menus. [Coke plus] some 100 other products ranging from food to beauty and clothing such as Starbucks, Colgate, McDonald's and Maybelline, [are also] part of a boycott of American products in protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza. American companies are being targeted because of the U.S. government's support of Israel.

"Cell Phones and Congo's War Against Women*" was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Common Dreams sent it out in their newsletter (1/7/09). Robin Wright Penn and John Prendergast write passionately about a situation in Africa about few of us are aware, the war over raw materials that power our electronic gadgets. And the death toll in this war is astonishing. To quote from the story:

. . . [The] Congo, has been torn apart by the deadliest war since World War II, where 5.4 million have perished. Its war is fueled by our inexhaustible thirst for cell phones, laptops, video games, digital recorders and other products that owe their existence to Congo's contribution to the world's mineral supply. . . and Congo has a good percentage of the world's supply of all three. The upshot is that feuding militias and a failed government have led to one of the highest death rates in the world, where an estimated 1,500 people die per day of war-related causes.

. . . The latest chapter has seen the neighboring country of Rwanda in direct confrontation with Congo over the remnants of the militia that perpetrated Rwanda's genocide 14 years ago. These forces have taken up residence in Congo and are supported at times by the Congolese government. In response, Rwanda supports Congo's rebels. . .

. . . the Congo - with the highest rates of sexual violence globally - has become the world's most dangerous place to be a woman or a girl. . . what appears to set Congo apart is the frequency of sexual assault, as well as its graphic nature. The militias in the Congo are perfecting this tool of war in a manner never seen before. . . Competing forces rape in order to permanently drive communities out of contested areas.. Women are so traumatized by gang rapes and other depredations that they never want to return to their homes, too afraid to re-live their experiences. . . impunity and inaction leads the militias to intensify their attacks. . .

The Common Dreams article goes on to explain why citizen involvement is so essential to changing this very unfortunate situation To quote further:

. . . That's where we come in. As we use our cell phones, computers, iPods and video games every day, we are benefiting from Congo's natural wealth. We need to stand up for the women of the Congo and let our elected officials know that we want to see an end to that violence. We need to let the electronics companies that we all buy our products from know that it matters to us where they get the raw materials that run their devices.

. . . President-elect Barack Obama will have the chance to help rectify one of the world's most egregious injustices by making the end of the Congo's war one of his policy objectives. High-level American involvement can help catalyze efforts toward peace in that shattered country.

But a president's attention won't be enough. . . we will have to use our considerable market muscle to demand from companies like Apple, Nokia, Hewlett-Packard and Nintendo that their products do not contain "conflict minerals." This will require them to change their procurement practices and ask far more questions about where their components are from.

Not all the news from around the globe is bad, however. This headline from The Huffington Post: "You Are Being Lied to About Pirates*" (1/4/09) is provocative. And it could be seen as actually positive. The article is an important alternative view to the conventional wisdom about the current rash of piracy off the coast of Somalia. Author Johann Hari uses history to clarify what might be motivating today's pirates, based on the origins of pirates centuries ago. It is a view that makes absolute sense to me, and fits with previous stories of how the local Somalian population feels positively about their "benefactors/protectors," despite their questionable methods.

To conclude, if you do not mind the agricultural method of genetic modification, my closing news item is really good. The headline is from The Raw Story: "World's first 'drought-tolerant"corn ready by 2010: Monsanto*" (1/7/09). "Drought-tolerant corn is designed to provide farmers yield stability during periods when water supply is scarce by mitigating the effects of drought -- or water stress -- within a corn plant," Monsanto said. . . "Trials of the corn conducted last year in drought-prone areas of the American midwest "met or exceeded the six percent to 10 percent target yield enhancement," according to the company.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo*" and Jon#.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politicsinternational relations africa

Militarization of Space? Why?

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Muslim astronaut from Malaysia

Is the only way of saving NASA to use the military's rockets to get to the ISS and on to the moon? Just like a number of other Obama transition teams, the space team has been gathering information that will be used to assist the President in deciding his administration's space policy for the future.

Julie Payette, Canadian astronaut.

Hold on, Mr. President-elect -- My co-assistant editor at The Reaction, Libby Spencer broke this story yesterday at The Impolitic, and I must say she makes the points that I want to reinforce with this post. The U.S. has long been committed to the principle of living out the peaceful use of space. The International Space Station truly lives up to its international name, with the deep and wide participation for years with the U.S., of Canada, Russia, the European Union and Japan, to name but a few. To quote Libby:

I have mixed feelings about this news. Obama’s transition team is pondering merging NASA and Pentagon programs on manned space missions . . .

I find myself in agreement with Chris Bowers on this one. While I'm excited at the prospect of combining our efforts to make our space exploration program more efficient, I'm not keen on giving the Pentagon more control over civilian programs. It seems to me that line has become much too blurred already.

There are complex problems now confronting the Obama Space Transition Team. Today's Bloomberg.com News story reveals a great deal more about the issues. They range from political and budgetary, to those associated with turf wars, and to competition with our old adversaries Russia and China. NASA administrator, Mike Griffin and Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, have been in direct conflict over NASA's planned future for the Constellation program, the next generation of manned vehicles after the Space shuttles are retired. Griffin is publicly concerned that the six members of the transition team "lack the engineering expertise to properly assess some of the information they have been given" about the program now in place. The Orlando Sentinal article, from which this info comes, details the primary areas of disagreement, including Griffin's demands that NASA personnel and contractors pre-clear what they say to Obama's team. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin's wife and others are lobbying the Obama Transition team to keep Griffin on into the next administration. Though Griffin may be the best administrator ever at NASA, his political handling of all of this has been ham handed, and inelegant. It will not serve him or the space agency well.

Five-year hardware gap after Shuttle retires -- More recently the articles add new complications to the issues surrounding NASA's future. A New York Times piece, "The Long Countdown: The Fight Over NASA's Future," views the questions more from a scientific point of view than a political one. The engineering requirements, as always with space hardware, are absolutely daunting. The Space Shuttles are old, and Griffin maintains, increasingly unsafe to fly.

Anousha Ansari, Pavel Vinogradov, Jeff Williams.

Russia's Soyuz space craft are minimalist but sturdy and pretty dependable as taxis back and forth to the ISS. There is nothing demeaning about the U.S. being in a position of interdependence with Russia in space. I cannot think of a better pause-maker in U.S./Russian relations than the joint knowledge that our folks "are up there depending on the trust and good will of each other and their leaders just to stay alive." Would it not be possible to imagine an analogous situation some day with China? After all our two countries are deeply interdependent on the trading and financial good will of each other.

Then there is the national security aspect, just beginning to come to the fore following China's shoot-down of their old satellite last year. The impetus may also come from an implied competition with China's unilateral manned space program. Yesterday's Yahoo! News headlined, "Obama Moves to Counter China With Pentagon-NASA Link." To quote rather extensively:

The potential change comes as Pentagon concerns are rising over China’s space ambitions because of what is perceived as an eventual threat to U.S. defense satellites, the lofty battlefield eyes of the military.

. . . China, which destroyed one of its aging satellites in a surprise missile test in 2007, is making strides in its spaceflight program. The military-run effort carried out a first spacewalk in September and aims to land a robotic rover on the moon in 2012, with a human mission several years later.

. . . Obama has said the Pentagon’s space program -- which spent about $22 billion in fiscal year 2008, almost a third more than NASA’s budget -- could be tapped to speed the civilian agency toward its goals as the recession pressures federal spending.

NASA faces a five-year gap between the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010 and the first launch of Orion, the six- person craft that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station and eventually the moon. Obama has said he would like to narrow that gap, during which the U.S. will pay Russia to ferry astronauts to the station.

. . . At the Pentagon, there may be support for combining launch vehicles. While NASA hasn’t recently approached the Pentagon about using its Delta IV and Atlas V rockets, building them for manned missions could allow for cost sharing, said Steven Huybrechts, the director of space programs and policy in the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is staying on into the new administration.

. . .To boost cooperation between NASA and the Pentagon, Obama has promised to revive the National Aeronautics and Space Council, which oversaw the entire space arena for four presidents, most actively from 1958 to 1973. The move would build ties between agencies with different cultures and agendas.

The crucial thing to remember with our new Dem Pragmatists who will be in charge, is that bedrock principles still apply. The oceans, the poles and space are to be held in common for all the people of the world. Humans are explorers at a genetic level, and I am afraid to say that too many are also warriors at that same basic level. The Department of Defense should not run the U.S. and the world. It is now too much so already. Civilians are in charge of the military. The military does warring. Diplomats do negotiating. What you spend your money on says what you truly care about.

We will be far more unsafe if space is fully militarized than if NASA has to live within its timeline and its budget as a civilian agency. And mark my words, whenever the military partners with other arms of the government, the military gets to be in charge. It is in charge of AfriCom, it now has active military stationed on U.S. soil, it runs its own intelligence operations, and many ex-military officials populate the executive branch, both out-going and in-coming.

Sunitha Williams, of East Indian descent, a "Spacey Woman" who ran the Boston marathon in space.

The military is an extremely admirable institution, smart, well-trained, courageous, self-sacrificing, well-disciplined and heroic. But those qualities have never meant that the military needs to do everything that is hard. We are dangerously out of balance. I had hoped that President-elect Obama would be the one to lead the re balancing.

References:

1. Militarization of Space - Questia Online Library


2. Militarisation of Space - Wikipedia (note "too few citations" disclaimer)


3. As further background, The Only Redhead in Taiwan asked this question at the beginning of last year, "Does the US encourage China's space militarization?"


4. European Union space policy (from Wikio): To quote:
   

   The Transnational Institute, a Dutch think-tank, said: "EU-financed communication and spy satellites are slowly becoming reality and in the long term the inclusion of space-based missile defense and other more offensive uses of space are real options for an increasingly ambitious EU military space policy." Telegraph

Leopold Eyharts, French astronaut

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics space programs NASA obama transition military