Remember the war on terror? No, the real one. The one in which we're supposed to be doing something about the hordes of young men, living in despotic societies where unemployment is overwhelming and calls to join anti-American Islamic societies are like siren songs? Where we are seen as propping up corrupt regimes?
In Central Asia, where the lure of natural gas pipelines trumps any humanitarian impulse we may have, we seem to have forgotten.
"Since September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration has undertaken a massive military buildup in Central Asia, deploying thousands of US troops not only in Afghanistan but also in the newly independent republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia. These first US combat troops on former Soviet territory have dramatically altered the geostrategic power equations in the region, with Washington trying to seal the cold war victory against Russia, contain Chinese influence and tighten the noose around Iran. Most important, however, the Bush Administration is using the "war on terror" to further American energy interests in Central Asia. The bad news is that this dramatic geopolitical gamble involving thuggish dictators and corrupt Saudi oil sheiks is likely to produce only more terrorists, jeopardizing America's prospects of defeating the forces responsible for the September 11 attacks."
..."Besides raising the specter of interstate conflict, the Bush Administration's energy imperialism jeopardizes the few successes in the war on terror. That is because the resentment US policies cause in Central Asia makes it easier for Al Qaeda-like organizations to recruit new fighters. They hate America because in its search for antiterrorist allies in the new Great Game, the Bush Administration has wooed some of the region's most brutal autocrats, including Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyev, Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev and Pakistan's Musharraf.
"The most tyrannical of Washington's new allies is Islom Karimov, the ex-Communist dictator of Uzbekistan, who allowed US troops to set up a large and permanent military base on Uzbek soil during the Afghan campaign in late 2001. Ever since, the Bush Administration has turned a blind eye to the Karimov regime's brutal suppression of opposition and Islamic groups. 'Such people must be shot in the head. If necessary, I will shoot them myself,' Karimov once famously told his rubber-stamp Parliament.
"Although the US State Department acknowledges that Uzbek security forces use 'torture as a routine investigation technique,' Washington last year gave the Karimov regime $500 million in aid and rent payments for the US air base in Khanabad. Though Uzbek Muslims can be arrested simply for wearing a long beard, the State Department also quietly removed Uzbekistan from its annual list of countries where freedom of religion is under threat."
Winning the hearts and minds.
Go team.
Bush/Cheney '04 runs advertisements in the 2004 budget. Stranger than fiction. We are governed by the most cynical group of political hacks since the halcyon days of Nixon and Haldeman.
Speaking of whom...Driving home and hearing -- on NPR no less -- the news was that Bush "embraces" new independent commission on pre-war intelligence nearly had me veering off the road. Right.
Is the blogosphere beginning to catch on to Mickey Kaus and his role as...er...I'm not sure. Mole? GOP strategist? Pathetic creep? Mr. Kaus, if you've joined Karle Rove's dirty tricks corps, that's fine, let's just be a little more upfront with where your loyalties lie and drop the intellectually dishonest line that you're just about being a practical libertarian. I think Kerry can weather it, he'll have to. But these constant "character questions" that bozos like Mickey Maus throw around with all the journalistic responsibility of an un-housetrained chimp allow equally hard-working "journalists" to focus on trivialities and absurdities. Hear the one about how Kerry actually co-invented the internet with Al Gore? It feeds the perception that "they're all the same." Well, the last few years has shown that no, they're not all the same.
Via Alterman, the Globe has an extensive, multi-part survey of Kerry's life and record that I'm just beginning to read. Looks like it's worth a read, though. His life is certainly a strange contrast to the Miserable Failure's. [Regarding the latter, it's interesting to see the power of the GOP attack machine. Jimmy Carter -- Jimmy Carter? -- is moving up, ahead of Michael Moore and H.R. Clinton.]
A contrast that will grow only more stark when, should Kerry win the nomination, Rove & Co. assault Kerry the way they did Max Cleland. In Newsweek, Eleanor Clift thinks that may be the mistake the White House will fall into.
*****
14 days until pitchers & catchers.
Peter Gammons examines the American League East.
In Central Asia, where the lure of natural gas pipelines trumps any humanitarian impulse we may have, we seem to have forgotten.
"Since September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration has undertaken a massive military buildup in Central Asia, deploying thousands of US troops not only in Afghanistan but also in the newly independent republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia. These first US combat troops on former Soviet territory have dramatically altered the geostrategic power equations in the region, with Washington trying to seal the cold war victory against Russia, contain Chinese influence and tighten the noose around Iran. Most important, however, the Bush Administration is using the "war on terror" to further American energy interests in Central Asia. The bad news is that this dramatic geopolitical gamble involving thuggish dictators and corrupt Saudi oil sheiks is likely to produce only more terrorists, jeopardizing America's prospects of defeating the forces responsible for the September 11 attacks."
..."Besides raising the specter of interstate conflict, the Bush Administration's energy imperialism jeopardizes the few successes in the war on terror. That is because the resentment US policies cause in Central Asia makes it easier for Al Qaeda-like organizations to recruit new fighters. They hate America because in its search for antiterrorist allies in the new Great Game, the Bush Administration has wooed some of the region's most brutal autocrats, including Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyev, Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev and Pakistan's Musharraf.
"The most tyrannical of Washington's new allies is Islom Karimov, the ex-Communist dictator of Uzbekistan, who allowed US troops to set up a large and permanent military base on Uzbek soil during the Afghan campaign in late 2001. Ever since, the Bush Administration has turned a blind eye to the Karimov regime's brutal suppression of opposition and Islamic groups. 'Such people must be shot in the head. If necessary, I will shoot them myself,' Karimov once famously told his rubber-stamp Parliament.
"Although the US State Department acknowledges that Uzbek security forces use 'torture as a routine investigation technique,' Washington last year gave the Karimov regime $500 million in aid and rent payments for the US air base in Khanabad. Though Uzbek Muslims can be arrested simply for wearing a long beard, the State Department also quietly removed Uzbekistan from its annual list of countries where freedom of religion is under threat."
Winning the hearts and minds.
Go team.
Bush/Cheney '04 runs advertisements in the 2004 budget. Stranger than fiction. We are governed by the most cynical group of political hacks since the halcyon days of Nixon and Haldeman.
Speaking of whom...Driving home and hearing -- on NPR no less -- the news was that Bush "embraces" new independent commission on pre-war intelligence nearly had me veering off the road. Right.
Is the blogosphere beginning to catch on to Mickey Kaus and his role as...er...I'm not sure. Mole? GOP strategist? Pathetic creep? Mr. Kaus, if you've joined Karle Rove's dirty tricks corps, that's fine, let's just be a little more upfront with where your loyalties lie and drop the intellectually dishonest line that you're just about being a practical libertarian. I think Kerry can weather it, he'll have to. But these constant "character questions" that bozos like Mickey Maus throw around with all the journalistic responsibility of an un-housetrained chimp allow equally hard-working "journalists" to focus on trivialities and absurdities. Hear the one about how Kerry actually co-invented the internet with Al Gore? It feeds the perception that "they're all the same." Well, the last few years has shown that no, they're not all the same.
Via Alterman, the Globe has an extensive, multi-part survey of Kerry's life and record that I'm just beginning to read. Looks like it's worth a read, though. His life is certainly a strange contrast to the Miserable Failure's. [Regarding the latter, it's interesting to see the power of the GOP attack machine. Jimmy Carter -- Jimmy Carter? -- is moving up, ahead of Michael Moore and H.R. Clinton.]
A contrast that will grow only more stark when, should Kerry win the nomination, Rove & Co. assault Kerry the way they did Max Cleland. In Newsweek, Eleanor Clift thinks that may be the mistake the White House will fall into.
*****
14 days until pitchers & catchers.
Peter Gammons examines the American League East.
posted by John at 7:48 PM
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