Buck Naked Politics

More Tragedy Pending in Burma? The Burmese Gov't Accepts Supplies, but Spurns Other Foreign Assistance

Posted by Damozel | Look at these faces.  While the rest of the world wrings its hands and waits helplessly on the sidelines, Burma's government says it will accept aid, but that it doesn't want the help of foreigners in getting it to the people. (BBC News)  The UN is pretty sure the government's own unaided efforts won't be enough. 

The UN says that up to 1.5 million people may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the Irrawaddy Delta region on Saturday. Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise to 100,000.

Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water or shelter. Officials say people could die because no help is getting to them.

Devastating Cyclone in Burma: Over 22,400 Confirmed Dead, 41,000 Missing, & A Million Homeless

Posted by Damozel | Burma (Myanmar) has already had more than its share of trouble, and now this?  As BBC News says,  'Until Saturday, a common view among Burmese people was that life could not get much worse.' This is the sort of story that makes you sit back and reflect on the grossly unfair way in which trouble seems to get distributed.  Meanwhile, to get the full story you really have to turn, as always, to the British press.

Some 22,464 people are confirmed dead as a result of this killer cyclone. 22,464. (BBC News)  And 41,000 are missing.(BBC News)  Why isn't this being talked about to the exclusion of anything else?

Is the Bush Administration Planning an Attack Inside Iran's Borders?

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush a/k/a 'Richard Cheney' is still commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces?  It's true.  Will it surprise you to learn that he -- or rather 'they' --- are gearing up for a military strike in Iraq?

The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.  (ToL)

By 'the Americans', the aforementioned 'source' meant 'the Bush Administration,' of course, and by 'the Bush Administration,' specifically --- or, rather, especially --- frustrated puppet-master-in-chief Richard Cheney.

Joint Chiefs Tell Iran to Knock it Off...or Else

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  It's true.  And yesterday, 'a second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran.' (CBS News)

One concern is the Iranians' participation in the Iraq war.  '"What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.'   They are certainly smuggling weapons into Iraq. (CBS News)   Current reports state that they are increasing aid to Iraqi militias.(CBS News)  The military claims to have evidence of this:

Sunnis to End Boycott and Join Maliki Government

Today's New York Times reports:

"Iraq’s largest Sunni bloc has agreed to return to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s cabinet after a nine-month boycott, several Sunni leaders said on Thursday, citing a recently passed amnesty law and the Maliki government’s crackdown on Shiite militias as reasons for the move."

"Breaking the Silence": Israeli Soldiers Speak Out

Posted by Damozel | The young man described below was speaking to reporters from The Independent with the encouragement of Yehuda Shaul, "a founder of Shovrim Shtika, or Breaking the Silence....which will publish tomorrow the disturbing testimonies of 39 Israelis....who served in the army in Hebron between 2005 and 2007. " (The Independent)    

In Sadr City, Iraqi Unit Deserts; Leaves American Troops Twisting in the Wind

Posted by Damozel | Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, the news from Iraq is either or alternately encouraging or discouraging, depending on which bits you read.  This one's upsetting:

A company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions on Tuesday night in Sadr City, defying American soldiers who implored them to hold the line against Shiite militias.

The retreat left a crucial stretch of road on the front lines undefended for hours and led to a tense series of exchanges between American soldiers and about 50 Iraqi troops who were fleeing.

The Chinese and the West: Talking at Cross-Purposes?

Posted by Damozel | The problems with China arise, I will always contend, from a complete disjunct between western assumptions and Chinese ones.  Everything gets lost in translation.  Here's what the Chinese president had to say about the Tibet crackdown:

[L]ast month's crackdown was a result of "conflict" with supporters of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama...."Our conflict with the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. "It is a problem either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland," Mr Hu told visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. (BBC News)

In other words, it is---according to western standards---an ethnic problem, a religious problem, and a human rights problem.  That the Chinese see it as a problem of safeguarding 'national unification' doesn't preclude its being all those other things as well. 

Shortage of Primary Care Providers Proves an Obstacle to Universal Coverage

Posted by Damozel

“It is a fundamental truth — which we are learning the hard way in Massachusetts — that comprehensive health care reform cannot work without appropriate access to primary care physicians and providers,” Dr. Bruce Auerbach, the president-elect of the Massachusetts Medical Society, told Congress in February. (NYT)

You think?  Well, naturally it would be.  And one reason it's a problem is because medical specialists have more 'prestige' among their kind than the average family practictioner, and make much, much more money. 

An Elephant Paints His Own Self-Portrait

Posted by Damozel | This is an astonishing---and moving---thing to witness.  Watch it till the end:  you'll see him carefully and delicately use his trunk to paint an absolutely recognizable picture of an elephant holding a red flower in his trunk. 

I've posted more footage of elephants painting  (and some background about the painting 'Starving Elephant Artisans' ) here.

Al-Sadr's Offer to End Fighting in Basra

Posted by Damozel | In Iraq, the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr offered conditions for restoring peace---or let us say, order--- to Basra.(WaPo) 

In his statement, Sadr made the offer in exchange for the government stopping "random, illegal raids and arrests." He also called on the government to declare a general amnesty and to release prisoners taken during the fighting, especially his followers.

Madeline Albright's Insights and Wit

by D. Cupples | Last week, I was able to see former Secretary of State Madeline Albright.  We didn't have lunch, sip daiquiris at a swimming pool, or even shake hands.  I was in an auditorium with 150 other people, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.   

Naturally, she shared insights about U.S. foreign policy -- her delivery laced with humor.  When asked about North Korea, she mentioned a meeting with Kim Jong-Il.  The intelligence on was not as good as it could have been, she recalled: "They said he was crazy and perverted.  He's not crazy."

The Surge: You Know It's a Success When It Stops Working

Posted by Damozel | While the Dems slug it out and their supporters call each other names (guilty!), George W. Bush is still president and the situation in Iraq is going from bad to worse---that is, if you think that sectarian violence is 'bad' and that escalating sectarian violence is 'worse.'  Here's what The Independent has to say about this:. 

A new civil war is threatening to explode in Iraq as American-backed Iraqi government forces fight Shia militiamen for control of Basra and parts of Baghdad.

Heavy fighting engulfed Iraq's two largest cities and spread to other towns yesterday as the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, gave fighters of the Mehdi Army, led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 72 hours to surrender their weapons.

The gun battles between soldiers and militiamen, who are all Shia Muslims, show that Iraq's majority Shia community – which replaced Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime – is splitting apart for the first time. (The Independent)

Attention, My Fellow Democrats: McCain is Bush v.2.0.

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  It's true.

And John McCain, it appears, will be a worthy successor.  McCain says that even though the US death toll stands at 4000, and we've been in Iraq for five years, he wouldn't change a thing.  Or, as he put it, he "wouldn't change course." (NYT) That's because we're in Iraq to fight Islamic extremism, according to McCain.  That could take a long time.  In fact, it could take forever. 

Perhaps we Dems need to spend less time obsessing about the Rev. Wright's race- and ethnic-group-baiting rhetoric and what it means about Obama---come on; who really believes that Barack Obama is a racist?---and more time worrying about what McCain's pastor's anti-Islam rhetoric means about McCain.(NYT)

Bush's Disturbing Rhetoric: Iran a "Nuclear Threat"

Did you know that Bush is still president and therefore Commander in Chief?  It's true.  And he's got plenty of time to stir up trouble if he wants to.

While Democrats sling mud at one another across the barricades, Bush is harping on the nuclear threat from Iran. The Washington Post reports: 

Irish Prime Minister Confirms Hillary's Significant Role in the Peace Process

Posted by Damozel | Other issues are addressed besides, but that's the reason it's posted here.

Clinton Speaks On Her Plan to End the Iraq War Responsibly

Posted by Damozel |   Hillary made an excellent and crucial speech at George Washington University on the Iraq War, some of which I've excerpted below. 

Hillary began by expressing my view:  the surge can't be said to be working unless its goal is achieved: political reconciliation within the Iraqi government.  Otherwise, we are simply policing Iraq's civil war." 

Paxman & Samantha Power (Before Her Faux Pas)

Posted by Damozel | Watch Paxman say.  "So you're saying that lack of experience is an advantage?...Are you actually convinced he's up to the job?"  He pointed out that the last president we elected with no foreign policy experience wasn't really up to the job.  Heh.   

What we really need, of course, is a foreign policy expert who doesn't have the common sense (on or off the record) not to call the opposition---whom, of course, she really respects--- a 'monster.'

Make 'em all go through the Paxmo wringer.  You too, Hillary.  Better yet, Bill.  Let Paxman ask about those tax records.

NAFTA-gate: Part Two

Posted by Damozel | Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has an internal security team trying to track down the source of "a document leak that he characterized as being 'blatantly unfair' to Barack Obama.  (Globe&Mail) Perhaps he means "blatantly inconvenient." 

A piece by Alexander Panetta suggests that comments by Ian Brodie were the source for the leak. (Globe&Mail)  She also notes that one source who heard him talking remembers him saying that Hillary Clinton's campaign had offered him assurances that they didn't mean what they were saying. (Globe&Mail)  The story suggests that CTV started out investigating statements attributed to Clinton, but wound up reporting on Obama. 

To me, this suggests that they didn't find anything to back up the Clinton story.  Naturally, Obama supporters don't see it that way.

Iranian President Visits Iraq

Posted by D. Cupples | Reuters reports today about the warm welcome that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's received when visiting Iraq this weekend:

"Pomp and ceremony greeted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his arrival in Iraq on Sunday, the fanfare a stark contrast to the rushed and secretive visits of his bitter rival U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Ahmadinejad held hands with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani as they walked down a red carpet to the tune of their countries' national anthems, his visit the first by an Iranian president since the two neighbours fought a ruinous war in the 1980s...."