Another War-on-Terror Blog

Bombs, Berserk Vendors, and Getting a Grip

2012-01-20T23:28:00.079-06:00

About a dozen centuries after the Lindisfarne incident, Europeans decided to try the European Union as an alternative to more traditional forums for international debate: like World Wars I and II. Change happens: and folks can learn.

But change isn't easy.

Bombs and Berserk Street Vendors

What got me started today was the trouble in Kano, Nigeria. An outfit called Boko Haram says it set off the bombs. They're probably right.

According to the BBC, Boko Haram is an "Islamist" group that doesn't like Western culture. So far, they'd fit right in with some of America's more determinedly earnest serious thinkers: not that either the folks in Boko Haram or refugees from the '60s are likely to see it that way.

Dealing with Trousers, Miniskirts, and Other Threats

I've noticed that quite a few folks don't particularly like change. What sets Boko Haram and a bunch of hotheaded vendors in Malawi apart is how they deal with a world that isn't just like the one their grandfathers told them about. There's more going on in Nigeria than epic culture shock, and I'll get back to that.

"Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram - which has caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through a wave of bombings - is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.

"Its followers are said to be influenced by the Koranic phrase which says: 'Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors'.

"Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it 'haram', or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.

"This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education...."
(BBC)

Meanwhile, several countries over, some other folks lashed out at the post-Magna-Carta world:

"Malawian women protested Friday to demand an end to attacks on those who were stripped naked on the streets for wearing pants, leggings and miniskirts, instead of dresses.

"Street vendors accused women of defying cultural norms and attacked them this week in Lilongwe and Blantyre, two of the nation's largest cosmopolitan centers.

" 'They beat them up and stripped them naked, claiming they did not follow the tradition,' said Seodi White, a rights activist and protest organizer...."
(CNN)

I suppose I could claim that these two incidents 'proves' that:

Africans are crazy
It's America's fault
Men are pigs
Squirrels are plotting to take over the world

Of those options, I pick 'none of the above:' although numbers one through four have a very tiny amount of truth in them. Here's what I mean:

People are Crazy

Logic and emotion don't play well together. It has to do with the way the human brain is wired, and I've been over that before. (December 23, 2008) I'm not making excuses: but I think the folks running Boko Haram and that bunch of street vendors are under a lot of stress. That may help explain why they're acting in what I think is a self-destructive way.

It's America's Fault

No, I don't think so. Any more than it's the architect's fault when someone gets drunk and crashes into a building the architect designed.

But women in Malawi wouldn't get in trouble for wearing miniskirts if:

Hammurabi and others hadn't started writing down laws
- In stone
  - Literally
Ways to make a democracy work hadn't been thrashed out by ancient
- Greece
  - On a small scale
King John hadn't signed the Magna Carta
An odd lot of revolutionaries hadn't made thirteen colonies into one of the world's leading producers of sitcoms and soybeans

So, in a way, what happened in Malawi and Nigeria is the fault of folks who haven't been accepting the status quo for going on 38 centuries now. In a way.

Men are Pigs

It's been a long time since I've heard "male chauvinist pig," except in context of recent American history. I am not a born-again feminist, and think that blaming all men for what ails the world makes about as much sense as blaming the commies, capitalists, or squirrels.

On the other hand, the incident in Malawi was very likely set off by some of the local 'good old boys' whose world is changing. Fast.

About two thirds of adults in Malawi are literate: 76% of the men, just under half of the women. (CIA World FactBook) I don't set quite as much stock in getting a college degree as some folks do: but I think being able to read and write are vital skills.

Or, looking at it from another angle, folks who have control of a society might not want the folks whose lives they're running to be able to read. Particularly these days, when that pesky Internet is causing so much trouble.

I've discussed SOPA in another blog, and that's not entirely another topic. Briefly, I think SOPA and PIPA are very bad ideas. But then, I'm one of those rank outsiders, and I rather like freedom of expression:

"Lemming Tracks: SOPA, PIPA, and 'Rules are for the Little People?' "
Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 17, 2012)

Moving on.

Africa: Looking Past the Bombings

Africa as a big continent. There's a lot going on there, besides the occasional terrorist activity and dubiously-fair election.

Soccer's 28th Africa Cup of Nations

I'm not a huge sports fan, but I understand how important games like soccer, basketball, and cribbage can be in a culture. Cribbage?! Never mind.

I also think that, although 'world peace through rugby matches' won't work by itself, there's value in getting folks from different countries together - and letting them notice that they each go crazy over the same games.

it's a start.

I sincerely hope that nobody gets killed during this year's Africa Cup of Nations. The folks who organize and participate in that massive get-together have had quite enough trouble, I think:

"African ambition: Tiny nations host football feast"
Chris Murphy, CNN (January 20, 2012)

"This weekend's kick-off at the 28th Africa Cup of Nations launches a three-week explosion of color and noise in the soccer-crazy continent....

"...the 2010 installment in Angola was overshadowed by a machine gun attack on the Togo team bus that left three people dead and organizers -- the Confederation of African Football (CAF) -- having to defend the decision to stage it there...."

Drought, Famine, Death

Folks in Texas have been suffering a drought. I'm concerned about them: but I'm more concerned about folks in east Africa with the same problem.

It's not that I don't like Texas: but Texans aren't faced with a drought and rebuilding nations and cultures after centuries of colonial mismanagement. Here's what brought that to mind:

"East Africa drought update"
Vatican Radio, via NEWS.VA (January 19, 2012)

"What is the current situation like for those living in the Horn of Africa and east Africa where last year some 13 million people were threatened by famine as a result of drought and conflict? The humanitarian crisis there has mostly slipped off the radar of the international community compared to the height of the crisis last summer. The good news, however, is that the number of people at risk of outright famine has been dramatically reduced thanks to last year’s massive aid programme mounted by the U.N. and relief agencies.

"One of the agencies that were in the forefront of the relief operation was the Caritas Internationalis Confederation...."

If you never heard of that "Caritas" outfit, I'm not surprised. They don't get a whole lot of press coverage.

I've been more likely to post about the African drought situation in another blog:

"Drought, Ethiopia, Texas, and Charity"
A Catholic Citizen in America (August 9, 2011)
"Drought, Starvation, Death, Request for Help - But No Pressure"
A Catholic Citizen in America (July 18, 2011)

Nigeria, Fuel Prices, and National Politics

"AFRICA/NIGERIA-The President cuts the price of petrol,
but the protest continues; the Bishops:
'we think of the nation's welfare' "
Agenzia Fides, via NEWS.VA (January 16, 2012)

"The President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, announced today, January 16, the reduction of the price of petrol from 141 to 97 naira per litre, although it has not re-introduced the old price of 65 naira per litre before January 1, when the government suddenly decided to eliminate subsidies for fuel prices. The President's decision is intended to contain the strong popular protest, led by the powerful local unions, which have paralyzed the country for days...."

I remember "the" energy/oil crisis. Several of them, including:

I don't think high fuel prices are helping folks in Nigeria stay calm: and I've mentioned how emotions and logic get along like mongoose and cobra before.

The point is that Boko Haram isn't operating in a vacuum. Folks in Nigeria are upset about high fuel prices, and other less-than-ideal aspects of their economic and political situation. My guess is that quite a few of them have legitimate complaints.

But all that angst also makes it easier for hotheads to convince some folks that the answer is to kill someone. I don't think that's a reasonable approach: but - emotion and logic, again.

Epic Culture Shock

In a way, I'm what my culture calls "lucky." My ancestors were following the edge of a continental glacier north and west, when Hammurabi and other rulers started a reform of laws that's still a work in progress. We had centuries to get used to changes that kept upsetting apple carts in the northwestern part of Eurasia. Stuff was going on elsewhere in the world, too: but I'm talking about the melanin-deficient lot I'm descended from.

Like I said, I'm lucky. I'm from a culture that's gone through a lot of change, for a long time. Quite a few individuals still go ballistic when one more set of changes comes down the road: but as a group, I think we've become a moderately accustomed to having to re-learn customs on a fairly regular basis.

Then there are folks in places like parts of the Middle East and Africa. Until decades - maybe a generation or two - ago, life hadn't changed all that much since Abram moved out of Ur and changed his name.

Then, within one lifetime, everything changed.

It's almost as if someone with a nice, steady job in Uruk, during the Ubaid period, took a wrong turn on his way home, and landed in New York City's Times Square. Or someone living in today's Brooklyn stepped off the MTA, and found herself in whatever New York City is called, around the year 6012.

Like I said, I'm not making excuses for outfits like Boko Haram. But I recognize that they're being dragged over several thousand years of change, fast. Maybe it's no wonder that some folks in that position snapped.

Related posts:

Africa, mostly
- "Ivory Coast, Cote d'Ivoire: Bodies in the Street"
  (March 19, 2011)
- "Zimbabwe, Where Watching the Wrong Videos is Treason"
  (February 25, 2011)
- "Bombs in Uganda: Islam, Martyrs, and Making an Impression"
  (July 12, 2010)
- "Zimbabwe, Iran, and Uranium: Oh, Jolly"
  (May 4, 2010)
- "Guinea, Military Rule, and Terrorism: Beware Hasty Judgment"
  (December 29, 2008)
Culture and kooks
- "Hanging a Child: "Militants" Touching the Hearts and Minds of Afghanistan"
  (July 24, 2011)
- "No Open Season on Transgendered People, Please!"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (April 26, 2011)
- "Divisiveness, Cultural Chaos, and the Monkey's Paw"
  (January 30, 2011)
- "Fatwa Condemning Terrorism? Apparently"
  (March 3, 2010)
- "Are You a Boy, or Are You a Girl?"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (September 26, 2009)

In the news:

"Nigeria's Kano rocked by multiple explosions"
BBC News (January 20, 2012)
"African ambition: Tiny nations host football feast"
Chris Murphy, CNN (January 20, 2012)
"Malawian women protest after attacks for wearing pants, miniskirts"
Faith Karimi, CNN (January 20, 2012)
"East Africa drought update"
Vatican Radio, via NEWS.VA (January 19, 2012)
"AFRICA/NIGERIA-The President cuts the price of petrol, but the protest continues; the Bishops: 'we think of the nation's welfare' "
Agenzia Fides, via NEWS.VA (January 16, 2012)

Background:

"Angola"
CIA World FactBook (page last updated January 11, 2012)
"Equatorial Guinea"
CIA World FactBook (page last updated January 11, 2012)
"Gabon"
CIA World FactBook (page last updated January 19, 2012)
"Malawi"
CIA World FactBook (page last updated December 13, 2011)
"Nigeria"
CIA World FactBook (page last updated January 4, 2012)

¹ Excerpts from the news:

"Nigeria's Kano rocked by multiple explosions"
BBC News (January 20, 2012)

"The Nigerian authorities have imposed a 24-hour curfew in Kano after at least seven people were killed in co-ordinated bomb attacks in the northern Nigerian city.

"Police stations and the regional police HQ were among the targets. Gunfire was also heard in several locations.

"The militant Islamist group Boko Haram says it carried out the attacks...."
"African ambition: Tiny nations host football feast"
Chris Murphy, CNN (January 20, 2012)

"This weekend's kick-off at the 28th Africa Cup of Nations launches a three-week explosion of color and noise in the soccer-crazy continent....

"...the 2010 installment in Angola was overshadowed by a machine gun attack on the Togo team bus that left three people dead and organizers -- the Confederation of African Football (CAF) -- having to defend the decision to stage it there...."
"Malawian women protest after attacks for wearing pants, miniskirts"
Faith Karimi, CNN (January 20, 2012)

"Malawian women protested Friday to demand an end to attacks on those who were stripped naked on the streets for wearing pants, leggings and miniskirts, instead of dresses.

"Street vendors accused women of defying cultural norms and attacked them this week in Lilongwe and Blantyre, two of the nation's largest cosmopolitan centers...."
"East Africa drought update"
Vatican Radio, via NEWS.VA (January 19, 2012)

"What is the current situation like for those living in the Horn of Africa and east Africa where last year some 13 million people were threatened by famine as a result of drought and conflict? The humanitarian crisis there has mostly slipped off the radar of the international community compared to the height of the crisis last summer. The good news, however, is that the number of people at risk of outright famine has been dramatically reduced thanks to last year’s massive aid programme mounted by the U.N. and relief agencies.

"One of the agencies that were in the forefront of the relief operation was the Caritas Internationalis Confederation...."
"AFRICA/NIGERIA-The President cuts the price of petrol,
but the protest continues; the Bishops:
'we think of the nation's welfare' "
Agenzia Fides, via NEWS.VA (January 16, 2012)

"The President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, announced today, January 16, the reduction of the price of petrol from 141 to 97 naira per litre, although it has not re-introduced the old price of 65 naira per litre before January 1, when the government suddenly decided to eliminate subsidies for fuel prices. The President's decision is intended to contain the strong popular protest, led by the powerful local unions, which have paralyzed the country for days...."

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Hopeful

2012-01-05T10:34:00.001-06:00

I'm not looking forward to America's presidential election in November of this year. I don't like the verbal fewmets flung by candidates and their supporters. Then there's the juridical slapstick that generally follows, as some judge compares lawsuits and decides who should have won the election.

But this isn't a political blog, and - it could be worse.

Take Burma, for example. Or Myanmar, or Myanma. The last I checked, the country's bosses still prefer the 'Myanmar' moniker:

"Suu Kyi: Burma democracy in my lifetime"
Asia, BBC News (January 5, 2011)

"Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she believes Burma will hold democratic elections 'in my lifetime'.

"In an exclusive interview with the BBC, she said she did not know when that would be or whether she would run.

"She said political prisoners must be freed. Officials deny their existence...."

About those political prisoners who don't exist: it's a matter of semantics, rather than the folks being 'non-persons who never existed.' I'll get back to that.

"...She [Suu Kyi] is due to meet William Hague - the first UK foreign secretary to visit since 1955. Several top officials have visited since Burma's first elections in 20 years that ended military rule.

"A nominally civilian government is now in place.

"Ms Suu Kyi, 66, told BBC World News that she foresaw 'a full democratic elections in my lifetime', adding: 'But then of course I don't know how long I'm going to live. But if I live a normal lifespan, yes.'..."
(BBC)

It's nice to see someone expressing hope: particularly in a situation like Aung San Suu Kyi's. I think her hope is somewhat reasonable: particularly considering that she's allowed to have visitors.

Political Prisoners, Common Criminals, and All That

Burma doesn't have "political prisoners." Not according to Burma's bosses. Burma has, however, imprisoned quite a few "criminals" who just happen to have disagreed with Burma's leaders:

"...William Hague said after meeting his counterpart Wunna Maung Lwi in Nay Pyi Taw that 'the foreign minister has reaffirmed commitments that have been made to release political prisoners'.

" 'He said the changes are irreversible and I welcome that way of thinking,' Mr Hague added.

"But in an interview with the BBC Burmese service later, Wunna Maung Lwi said Burma did not acknowledge there were political prisoners.

"They are all criminals, he said, and it was up to the president to decide when prisoners were released - adding that prisoners had already been freed on three recent occasions.

"The government, he said, was focused on the development of the whole country.

"Between 600 and 1,000 journalists, dissidents and monks who led anti-government protests in 2007 are thought to remain behind bars in Burma...."
(BBC)

I think the impulse to define dissent as a criminal act is fairly common. Whether or not an authority who says opponents are criminals is sincere, the effect is the same: debate is stifled; bad policies remain in effect; and peaceful, orderly change becomes more difficult.

"It can't happen here?" I'm not so sure:

"Pro-Life People - 'Domestic Terrorists and Violent Racketeers:' Who Knew?"
A Catholic Citizen in America (June 1, 2009)
"Homeland Security Report: American Veterans are Potential Terrorists - I am Not Making This Up"
(April 15, 2009)
"Missouri Focus Group MIAC: Ron Paul Supporters May Be Terrorists"
(March 23, 2009)

And that's another topic.

Related posts:

Burma
- "American Senator Fails to Free Suu Kyi, Burma!"
  (August 16, 2009)
- "Burma / Myanmar / Myanma - Suu Kyi's Still Under Arrest, So Are 2,000 Others"
  (August 11, 2009)
- "Do We Really Want These Guys in Charge?"
  (May 31, 2008)
- "Burma / Myanmar / Myanma - Between Cyclones and Juntas, We Can't Ignore This"
  (May 11, 2008)
- "Burma / Myanmar: Small Country, Big Trouble"
  (September 30, 2007)
Dealing with dissent
- "SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (December 30, 2011)
- "Freedom, Even For 'Those People Over There' "
  (November 11, 2011)
- "France and Online Social Media: Dealing With E-Mail and Other Threats"
  (June 6, 2011)
- "How to Shut Down the Internet - or - Dealing With Troublesome Ideas, and the People who Spread Them"
  (December 7, 2009)
- "China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters'"
  (July 19, 2009)

In the news:

"Suu Kyi: Burma democracy in my lifetime"
Asia, BBC News (January 5, 2011)

Egypt: NGO Raids, Police, and Office Equipment

2011-12-30T10:35:00.002-06:00

I'm still cautiously optimistic about "Arab spring."

What we've seen so far is more about upsetting the apple cart, than building new and better governments. Durable autocracies in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, are gone. Syria's boss got dropped from the Arab League. Bahrain's king may be learning that killing his subjects isn't a good idea.

That's cautiously optimistic.

Years, Decades, Generations

There's a chance that at least some of the countries where folks ousted an autocrat will have trouble for years. Maybe decades. Some may even elect a home-grown equivalent of Iran's ayatollahs.

But I think that enough folks in places like Egypt and Libya have gotten a taste of freedom: and liked it. They've also learned how to use the Internet and other Information Age technologies and social structures: and are catching up on what's happened in the last few thousand years. Particularly since the 18th century.

In the long run, generations from now, I think there's a good chance that folks in the Middle East will develop governments that serve the citizens: not just the local gentry.

Meanwhile, it's rough going.

'Because We Can?'

Egypt's old-school autocrat, Mubarak, is out. Right now, Egypt has a military government. That, by itself, isn't bad news: not in my opinion, anyway.

Raids on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): that's bad news.¹

At least two of the NGOs have been observing Egypt's elections. They "...may have received illegal foreign funding and have been operating without licenses from the Foreign Ministry and local ministries...." (CNN) 'Obviously' they're foreign spies?!

Actually, it's anyone's guess why Egyptian police took stuff from these outfits.

Maybe it's just because they have the power to do so: and like to flex their muscles. Or maybe not.

'Commies,' 'Hate Speech,' and Stolen Office Equipment

An op-ed in the United Kingdom² said that it's probably because Egypt's current bosses don't like it when folks act on their own volition. He may be right about that.

I remember the 'good old days,' when 'regular Americans' had conniptions when commies and pinkos disagreed with them. More recently, defenders of 'tolerance' have labeled opposing views as "hate speech." Tomayto, tomahto.

A partial list of what got ~~stolen~~ confiscated may suggest another motive:

"...Police took laptops, desktops, video conferencing equipment, cell phones and other electronics, Hughes said. They also took between 15 and 20 boxes of documents...."
(CNN)

Here in America, that's several thousand dollars' worth of merchandise. I don't have too much trouble imaging that an enterprising, and ethically-challenged, enforcer might decide to supplement his income with a little informal taxation.

However, I think the UK op-ed author has a very plausible explanation. I think I can understand why Egypt's current bosses want to control what others say, and how they say it. But that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea.

Related posts:

Freedom, more or less
- "SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (December 28, 2011)
- "Not-So-Good News from Iraq: Arrest Warrant; Debatable Confessions, and Politics"
  (December 19, 2011)
- "Freedom, Even For 'Those People Over There' "
  (November 11, 2011)
- "Still Blogging About Anachronisms, Autocrats, and America"
  (October 8, 2011)
- "Banning Online Terrorist Recruiters? Be Careful About What You Wish For"
  (March 10, 2009)
Anachronisms meet the Information Age
- "Libya's Qadhafi, Qaddafi, Kadafi, or Gaddafi, is Dead: Now What?"
  (October 22, 2011)
- "France and Online Social Media: Dealing With E-Mail and Other Threats"
  (June 6, 2011)
- "Libya, Syria, Bahrain: Journalists Uncooperative; 'the Masses' Worse"
  (March 29, 2011)
- "Bahrain, Foreign Troops, and - Maybe - the Last Stand of Kings"
  (March 18, 2011)
- "Tunisia, Twitter, Change, and Staying Sane"
  (January 23, 2011)

¹ News and views:

"NGOs puzzled by Egyptian raids"
CNN (December 30, 2011)

"A day after Egyptian police raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations across the country, the groups remained in the dark about what the authorities were looking for.

" 'We asked them if there was something specific we could help them find,' Julie Hughes, Egypt country director for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), told CNN Friday. 'They refused to answer.'

"Two other U.S.-based agencies, Freedom House and the International Republican Institute (IRI), were also raided.

"Police took laptops, desktops, video conferencing equipment, cell phones and other electronics, Hughes said. They also took between 15 and 20 boxes of documents.

"The actions were part of an investigation into allegations that groups may have received illegal foreign funding and have been operating without licenses from the Foreign Ministry and local ministries, according to Adel Saeed, spokesman for the general prosecutor's office...."
"Egypt rights groups blast raids on NGO offices"
AP, via CBS News (December 30, 2011)

"Several Egyptian rights groups on Friday accused the country's ruling military council of using 'repressive tools' of the deposed regime in waging an 'unprecedented campaign' against pro-democracy organizations.

"The groups' joint statement came just hours after security forces stormed offices of 10 rights organizations, including several based in the United States. The Interior Ministry said the raids were part of the investigation into foreign funding of rights groups.

"The military, which took over control after a popular uprising toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak in February, has often accused the groups of promoting protests with the help of funds from abroad...."

² Op-ed about Egypt's police raids:

"Egypt's raids on NGOs are about control"
Brian Whitaker, guardian.co.uk (December 30, 2011)
"Restricting NGO funding is typical of authoritarian regimes happy to take foreign aid but less happy about human rights

"Imagine you live in Saudi Arabia and want to start a discussion group with some friends. The only way to do it legally is to ask the king's permission.

"Musa al-Qarni dutifully wrote a letter to the king but never got a reply – so he went ahead anyway. A few months later, Qarni was arrested and carted off to jail after secret police commandos stormed the villa in Jeddah where he and several men 'widely known for their advocacy on issues of social and political reform' were meeting.

"In most Arab states any sort of civil society organisation, even something as innocent as a youth group or stamp-collecting club, has to be registered with the authorities, and if the authorities don't like the sound of it they may refuse or simply ignore the request, leaving the applicants in a legal limbo.

"In Bahrain and Oman they can refuse permission on the grounds that the organisation is unnecessary or, in Oman's case, 'for any other reasons' decided upon by the ministry of social affairs. In Qatar, if a society wants to admit non-Qatari members it must ask the prime minister first...."

Grave Trouble: 64,000 Arlington Dead 'Dishonored' - 64,000!

2011-12-23T13:38:00.002-06:00

Arlington National Cemetery is in the news again. It's basically the same record-keeping SNAFU that surfaced before, with more detail. Executives got fired in June of last year, when more than 200 graves were lost. I gather that they weren't literally gone from the cemetery: just that records for them were scrambled.

That's not acceptable.

On the other hand, I'm not all that surprised that something went wrong. I'd better explain that statement.

One and a Half Centuries, More Than a Quarter of a Million Burials

Arlington National Cemetery has been around for about 147 years. Or 148, counting from 1863: when the Union confiscated land owned by General Robert E. Lee. There's a brief history of the cemetery online. Quite a few, actually, including:

"Arlington Cemetery History"
VisitingDC.Com

A few things have changed since the War Between the States and Reconstruction. Take data storage and information technology, for example. Folks maintained Arlington's records, using pens (quill, fountain, and ballpoint), Typewriters, and Database software.

Laws, customs, and practices involving record keeping changed, too. And most of the folks who ran Arlington in previous decades aren't around to answer questions. I'm not making excuses here: just noting that any sort of inventory control is subject to human error.

Then there's the size of the place:¹

147 years in operation
259,978 gravesites
- More than 300,000 burials
  - Some grave markers have two or more names

I've run into the "30 burials a day" fairly often in the news. That may be accurate, but at 300,000 burials over 147 years, I get an average of about five and a half burials a day over the cemetery's history.

Honoring the Dead, Getting a Grip

Like I said, botching the records of 64,000 folks buried in a cemetery is "not acceptable." I wouldn't like it if it were just 64 cases of sloppy record-keeping.

But that's what this seems to be about, sloppy record-keeping: not having burials that involved tossing the body in a potting shed. Compared to some private-sector cemetery horror stories that hit the news, the Arlington affair is comparatively mild.²

Even the 'unmarked graves' are more a matter of folks in the early 20th century not knowing what late 20th century customs would be:

"...One of the biggest surprises uncovered by the review was that in most of the early 20th century, the cemetery did not include the name of a wife on a headstone when she was buried next to her husband. Under current practices, the name of the spouse is etched onto the back of the headstone.

" [Arlington executive director Kathryn] Condon said the cemetery will correct that by adding the spouse's name to the gravesite. She said it is not only the right thing to do but is also required by law.

"Accounting for the forgotten spouses alone will require thousands of corrections, officials said. In some cases, replacement headstones will be made. In cases where the headstones are considered historic, footstones will be added...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

But still - 64,000 is a big number. And I could, by cherry-picking factoids from the news, post something like 'oh, the horror! the horror! SIXTY FOUR THOUSAND BLANK HEADSTONES!!!'

If I shoveled in enough unsupported opinions about the vile wickedness of the American military, I might even be considered 'intelligent' in the 'right' circles.

That's not gonna happen.

It's not that I think U. S. Army brass are supernal beings who routinely take a morning stroll on the Tidal Basin. Stuff happens. Sometimes it's losing track of cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. In this case, it's a botched job of record keeping at a cemetery.

Mistakes happen - and sometimes the 'mistakes' were intentional. Either way, I think it's important to clean up the mess; deal sensibly with whoever was responsible; and take steps to keep the problem from happening again. As far as I can tell, the American military has a pretty good track record for learning from mistakes.

Goodbye Quill Pens, Hello Information Age

I think that, sooner or later, the American Congress will get around to putting the legislative process in an online, searchable, accessible, form. And that's another topic. Meanwhile, it looks like the folks running Arlington have acknowledged the Information Age:"...The most significant part of the review, Condon said, is that the cemetery for the first time has a single, reliable database that will allow officials to fix past mistakes and plan for the future.

"The cemetery is currently testing an interactive, web-based version of its database that will allow visitors to click on a digital map to see gravesites and learn who is buried there, ensuring the cemetery's records are open and accessible going forward.

" 'We'll have 300 million American fact-checkers,' [Gravesite Accountability Task Force co-chair John] Schrader said."

More-or-less-related posts:

Good news, bad news - - -
- "Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
  (May 31, 2011)
- "Pentagon Equates (Violent) Protest to Terrorism: Leaves Out Critical Explanation"
  (June 18, 2009)
- "U.S. Army Chief of Staff Memorial Day Message - Video"
  (May 25, 2009)
- "Army Report: Big Mistakes in Iraq!"
  (June 30, 2008)
- "Arrogance, Stupidity, Iraq, and the State Department"
  (October 27, 2007)
- - - and "Kleenex-boxes-for-shoes, the-squirrels-are-spying-on-me, kung-fu-fighting-invisible-ninjas crazy"³
- "All Those 'Poor, Uneducated, Minorities Being Drafted in America!' "
  (January 4, 2009)
- " '911 Was an Inside Job! Our Boys Need to Know!' "
  (June 10, 2008)
- " 'The Army is Unraveling' - Just Like Vietnam!"
  (March 19, 2008)
- "NBC Spikes Ads Thanking Troops: URL at End too 'Controversial' "
  (December 7, 2007)
- "You Have Got to be Kidding: Boy Scout Care Packages to US Troops Banned in Cambridge"
  (November 16, 2007)

In the news:

"Up to 64,000 Graves at Arlington Misidentified or Misplaced, Army Report Finds"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (December 22, 2011)
"Arlington National Cemetery's top supervisors ousted in mismanagement case"
Julian E. Barnes, Tribune Washington Bureau, Los Angeles Times (June 11, 2010)
"Army inquiry finds 211 graves mishandled at Arlington Cemetery"
Mike Mount, Senior Pentagon Producer, CNN (June 11, 2010)
"Missing Bodies Plague Arlington National Cemetery, Probe Finds"
David Martin, CBS News (June 10, 2010)

¹ From a description of how the Arlington Cemetery burial records issue is being handled:

"...The process began with a hand count, using simple mechanical clickers, of every gravesite -- 259,978 to be exact. (More than 300,000 people are buried at Arlington, but some grave markers have two or more names.) Then, during the summer, members of the Army's ceremonial Old Guard unit used iPhones to photograph the front and back of every headstone, so the information could be compared against internal records....

"...John Schrader, co-chair of the Gravesite Accountability Task Force, said recordkeeping methods varied widely over the cemetery's 147-year history, from handwritten logs to index cards, to typewritten forms and two different computer databases. That sometimes compounded problems, as transcription errors were common. To avoid those problems, all of the old records have been scanned and digitized, rather than transcribed, to avoid introducing further errors, he said...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

² Deeds, dastardly and dumb, involving cemeteries:

"Emmett Till's coffin found rotting in cemetery garbage shed"
The Daily Voice (July 11, 2009)
- Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time
  - Dig up bodies
  - Re-sell the burial plots
"Body Count Grows at Georgia Crematory"
FOXNews (February 19, 2002)
- 'The incinerator was broken'
  - For 15 years?!
"Family Enraged at Cemetery That Stored Body in Shed"
Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times (October 09, 1991)
- One outsize coffin
- One standard size grave
- One (stubborn?) funeral home
- One furious family

³ Crazy people don't always write like crazy people. I posted a micro-review of some tongue-in-cheek advice in another blog:

"How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
Apathetic Lemming of the North (June 12, 2011)

Not-So-Good News from Iraq: Arrest Warrant; Debatable Confessions, and Politics

2011-12-19T20:49:00.001-06:00

American troops are moving out of Iraq. Which may or may not be something that the current administration will want folks to remember next November.

I'd be a whole lot more happy to see Iraq's new lot of leaders pass another milestone, if it weren't for something I read in today's news.

By the way, I've noticed a change in news coverage over the last several years. Maybe I'm kidding myself, but reporters and editors seem to have finally realized that The Masses aren't quite the gullible ignoramuses - - - and I'll get back to that.

On a more immediate and serious note, Iraq's politics are in the news again:

"Arrest warrant issued for Iraqi vice president"
Joamana Karadsheh, CNN (December 19, 2011)

"An Iraqi investigative committee issued an arrest warrant Monday for Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who is accused of orchestrating bombing attacks.

"The committee of five judges issued the warrant under Article 4 of the country's anti-terrorism law.

"The Interior Ministry, at a news conference, showed what it called confession videos from people identified as security guards for al-Hashimi, the country's Sunni vice president. In the videos, the men described various occasions in which they purportedly carried out attacks under direct orders from al-Hashimi...."

Bombs, Videos, and News

Iraq's Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi may be guilty of ordering terrorist attacks on people in his own country. Or not.

I really don't know.

What I'm fairly certain about is:

Bombs went off in Iraq
- And people died
Someone made videos, purportedly
- Featuring men who
  - Worked for the Vice President
  - Confessed to serious crimes
  - Said the Vice President was the mastermind

The videos are real enough. CNN says they've been shown at a news conference, and I'm inclined to believe that assertion.

Bombings in Iraq have been in the news. People have reportedly died. Again, I'm inclined to believe the assertions.

Confessions, Coercion, and Removing the Opposition

As for whether the new videos are an example of convincing acting, coerced confessions, or something else? Back to that CNN article:

"...One man said he carried out assassination attempts using roadside bombs and guns with silencers. He said some orders came from the vice president and some came through the director of his office. The man also alleged that he and others were told that if they didn't carry out the attacks, their families would be killed.

"CNN could not immediately confirm that the men in the videos were bodyguards for al-Hashimi...."
(CNN)

Hats off to CNN: like quite a few other mainstream news outlets, they're apparently learning that

Being told something is true doesn't mean that it really happened
It's a good idea to let readers know what is
- An unsubstantiated claim
- An assertion that someone verified

Like I said before, I don't know whether the Iraqi Vice President is guilty or not. I do think these confessions popped up at a very convenient time for folks who plausibly might want Tariq al-Hashimi out of the way. If al-Hashimi is captured by his political enemies, I hope that he doesn't 'commit suicide.' Or simply disappear.

Iraq, Politics, and All That

I'll say this for the last few American elections: nobody's tried to finger a major candidate for personally ordering a hit. In a way, that's a tribute to the moral fiber of America's political community.

There's another election coming up, and I hope that American politicos continue to limit themselves to weirdly emotional appeals; mudslinging, ballot box stuffing, and crackpot legal shenanigans when they lose, anyway.

On the whole, I'd rather live in America than anywhere else in the world: but perfect this country isn't.

Getting back to Iraq, CNN, and what could be a really messy situation:

"...Three of the vice president's security guards were detained earlier this month.

"Over the past few days, [Iraqi Vice President] al-Hashimi's office told CNN it feared that his three guards would be forced to make false confessions.

"Confession videos in Iraq have been controversial. Human rights groups have reported previously on allegedly forced confessions...."
(CNN)

If al-Hashimi has been arranging premature deaths for personal gain, what his office said might be an effort to reduce damage from anticipated confessions.

Or, al-Hashimi's staff may have been genuinely - and legitimately - concerned for the welfare of the guards.

Confession? Yeah: Me an' the Boys'll Get a Confession For Ya

"...Ali al-Mussawi, media adviser to Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said over the weekend that confessions would link the Sunni vice president to bombings...."
(CNN)

Maybe the Iraqi Prime Minister's media chap simply had confidence that Iraq's judicial officials would guide those guards down the path of wisdom. And that, filled with enlightenment, they would willingly acknowledge their past deeds.

Or maybe the Prime Minister's media office figured that, one way or another, there would be video of a confession to show at the news conference.

Again: I really don't know what's behind that arrest warrant. But I think it's a too convenient for his political enemies than I find comfortable. Back to CNN:

"...The arrest warrant Monday came amid a political crisis and growing sectarian tensions in Baghdad that erupted just as the last U.S. soldiers exited Iraq over the weekend.

"Iraqiya, a powerful political bloc that draws support largely from Sunni and more secular Iraqis, said it was boycotting Parliament, a move that threatens to shatter Iraq's fragile power-sharing government.

"The move pits the largely Sunni and secular coalition against the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"Iraqiya contends al-Maliki is trying to amass dictatorial power, and many believe al-Maliki was simply waiting for the Americans to leave before making his move...."
(CNN)

I don't envy folks who are honestly working to sort out the mess left by Saddam Hussein's decades in power. They've got hotheads to deal with coming in from several directions: Sunnis, Shiites. And, up north, Kurds:

"...Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said Monday, 'I hope there wasn't a political influence in this arrest warrant, but in Iraq there has been always a political influence.'

" 'This is very upsetting and confusing,' Othman said, adding that if the accusations are true, then al-Hashimi 'should be brought to justice.'..."
(CNN)

I've been over this sort of thing before:

"Pakistan, India, Mumbai, Nuclear Weapons, and Pashtunistan: Simple This Isn't"
(December 27, 2008)
"Turkey, Iraq, and Kurdistan"
(October 16, 2007)

'The Masses,' Assumptions, and Getting a Grip

Here's where I get back to reporters, editors, and assumptions about 'gullible ignoramuses.' Briefly, I think that North America's coastal cultures have cherished beliefs that just aren't true:

"Six Ignorant Stereotypes About Middle America"
Paul Jankowski, Entrepreneurs, Forbes (October 5, 2011)

"What do you think of when you hear 'Heartland', 'the South' or 'Middle America'? If you're like a lot of people I know on the coasts, the first things that come to mind are usually not positive.

"This is a real quote from a marketing exec in New York City: 'I think the Heartland is a nice place to raise children. People are nice, but they're dumb, overweight, and gullible. They wear tacky clothing and jewelry. They're racist, unworldly, and dumb.'

"If you agree with the quote above, you need to get out a little more. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but if you’re trying to build a brand and engage consumers at a deep level, oversimplifications will hurt your cause. Stereotypes, taken to cynical extremes, are big-time brand killers...."
(Originally quoted in footnote 1, "My Take on the News: Jingle Bells, Jangled Nerves, and Good Advice," A Catholic Citizen in America (December 16, 2011))

I live in a state that's north of the 'flyover states,' have a counter-cultural view of folks living outside major metropolitan areas, and I've been over that before, too:

"Small Town Hicks and Sophisticated Urbanites: A Reality Check"
(November 9, 2009)
"The New York Times, Insularity, and Assumptions"
(October 21, 2008)

Kim Jong Il is Dead: North Korea's Ruling Dynasty's Third Generation

2011-12-19T09:04:00.061-06:00

Sooner or later, this was bound to happen:

"N Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies"
BBC News Asia (December 19, 2011)

"North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.

"Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.

"He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months.

"His designated successor is his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s...."
(BBC)

I wrote about North Korea's ruling dynasty about a year ago. (November 25, 2010) On paper, North Korea is an up-to-date nation, with a Chairman: not a king or emperor. Considering the way that territory is run, and how ownership is passed along in the Kim family: I think it's a bit more accurate to think of the place as an old-fashioned domain, ruled by a family of fairly colorful warlords.

I also think that most folks in North Korea will probably be much better off, after the Kim family and their enforcers get replaced. Provided that whoever gets the job of cleaning up the mess is modestly competent: and more interested in public service, than imported lobster and ideology.

That's about as close to a rant about the Kim dynasty as I'll allow myself today. I explained why I don't 'dance on the grave' of dead autocrats, in another blog:

"Osama bin Laden is Dead: No Rant"
A Catholic Citizen in America (May 2, 2011)

North Korea: So Far, So Good

"North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, urged people to unite behind the younger Kim.

" 'All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public,' the news agency said...."

In a way, KCNA's official take on Kim Jong Il's death is quite good news. Whoever's calling the shots at the moment doesn't seem to want the 'unified front' to blame the late Kim's death on Yankee imperialism. It's early days, of course. For all I know, someone will get the idea of blaming Kim Jong Il's death on that plot to set up a Christmas tree near the North Korean border.

Christmas tree? I am not making that up.

2,000,000 Dead in Famine; Human Rights Abuses; and Nukes

"...Mr Kim inherited the leadership of North Korea - which remains technically at war with South Korea - from his father Kim Il-sung.

"Shortly after he came to power, a severe famine caused by ill-judged economic reforms and poor harvests left an estimated two million people dead.

"His regime has been harshly criticised for human rights abuses and is internationally isolated because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons...."
(BBC)

Like I said, I think folks in North Korea - those who aren't close enough to the ruling family - could do a whole lot better, with someone else running the country.

They could do worse, too. Quite a few North Koreans didn't die in that famine, and it looks like the Kim family knows how to put on large-scale public entertainment.

And, not to be too pessimistic, someone who believes North Korea's official line on reality might take over - and decide to launch some of their nuclear warheads. That could be a very unpleasant situation.

Somewhat-related posts:

Politics, propaganda, and the news
- "My Take on the News: A Warmonger Christmas Tree, and Freedom From Religion"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (December 12, 2011)
  Particularly
  - Warmongers Launch -- a Christmas Tree?
- "Today's News: Now What?!"
  (December 3, 2010)
- "North Korea: Kim Jong Il and Son; Speculation"
  (November 25, 2010)
- "Korea: 'South Korean Puppet Group' and the Real World"
  (November 23, 2010)
- "North Korea's Still There, Still a 'Serious Concern' "
  (June 24, 2009)
Getting a grip
- "North Korea: Nukes, Missiles, and Underfed Soldiers"
  (November 24, 2010)
- "South Korean Navy Ship Just Happens to be Sinking"
  (March 26, 2010)
- "Cyber-Attack Started July Fourth: Common Sense, Security, and the War on Terror"
  (July 10, 2009)
- "North Korea and the Kim Jong Dynasty: Not All Countries are the Same"
  (June 9, 2009)
- "North Korea's City-Busting Nuke, a New Missile, and Diplomacy"
  (May 25, 2009)

Arab League: Syria Suspended - My Take

2011-11-13T14:29:00.007-06:00

Syria is in the news. What's different this time is what a televised set of Syrians is protesting:

"Regime backers rally after Arab League suspends Syria"
CNN (November 13, 2011)

"State media showed throngs of demonstrators rallying in support of Syria's president Sunday, a day after the Arab League's decision to suspend the country's membership...."

What's missing from the CNN article is any mention of the usual denunciation of Israel, accusations of America being to blame for the current embarrassment, or riots over a cartoon.

I find this change of pace refreshing, and guardedly hopeful.

I also think that Arab national leaders who kept up with events of the last few decades may be realizing that times are changing. Have changed.

From an old-school point of view, Syria's boss hasn't been doing anything all that unusual. For folks who noticed changes that started somewhere in the 18th century, not so much. Al-Assad's habit of killing subjects he doesn't like is a little extreme these days.

Back to that article:

"...The Arab League's decision Saturday dealt a stinging blow to Syria, and could open the door for broader international sanctions against the al-Assad regime.

"Why did Arab League move on Syria?

"Eighteen of the Arab League's 22 members voted to punish Syria in an emergency session at its headquarters.

"Only two member nations -- Lebanon and Yemen -- voted against the measure. Iraq abstained and Syria was barred from voting....

"...The punitive measures come after al-Assad's failure to abide by an Arab League proposal earlier this month to halt all violence, release detainees, withdraw armed elements from populated areas and allow unfettered access to the nation by journalists and Arab League monitors.

"But none of that has happened, according to daily reports streaming out of Syria...."
(CNN)

There's more:

Syrians who aren't thrilled with Assad as boss man say that some of the eager demonstrators were forced to act loyal
Assad's enforcers have killed about 3,500 people so far
- That we know of
CNN acknowledges that they can't support Assad's claims
- He won't let their reporters ask questions

That's pretty much business-as-usual in that part of the world. A news service saying that they can't confirm some boss man's story is a fairly new wrinkle: one that seems to have emerged around the time that folks started getting news from more than The New York Times and its tributaries, and broadcast networks.

But, as I said: The Arab League suspending Syria's membership is an unusual act. I hope it's more than just a publicity stunt.

Related posts:

"Libya, Syria, Bahrain: Journalists Uncooperative; 'the Masses' Worse"
(March 29, 2011)
"North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Brinksmanship, and Miscalculation"
(May 27, 2009)
"Syria Accuses America, North Korea Threatens South Korea: Nothing New Here"
(October 28, 2008)
"Syria, the IAEA, Nuclear Weapons, and a Prediction"
(June 22, 2008)
"Syria, the IAEA, Israel, Claims and Denials"
(June 22, 2008)
Links to earlier on the Israeli raid in Syria and its aftermath, including:
- "Unilateral Attack Sparks International Condemnation! Syria Had No Reactor! Pay No Attention to the North Koreans!"
  (April 26, 2008)
- "Syrian Ambassador: Reactor? That's No Reactor"
  (April 24, 2008)
- "Return of the Radioactive Kimchi!! North Korean Nuclear Reactor in Syria Back in the News"
  ( April 23, 2008)
- " 'The Jews Blew Up Our Reactor
  (Which Does Not Exist)' "
  (October 17, 2007)
- "Nuclear Materials from North Korea, Sand, or Radioactive Kimchi?"
  (September 18, 2007)

In the news:

"Regime backers rally after Arab League suspends Syria"
CNN (November 13, 2011)

Freedom, Even For 'Those People Over There'

2011-11-11T16:43:00.009-06:00

I've posted about Veterans Day; AKA Armistice, National, Poppy, and Rembrance Day; before. Links to some of those posts are under "Veterans Day posts," below.

This post isn't about Veterans Day, or the folks who served in the military. It's more about why there's been a fairly steady stream of folks willing to sacrifice for this country's welfare.

That other post is about two related threats to freedom of speech: which I think warrants doing links and excerpts here.

"My Take on the News: 'There Oughtta be a Law?' "
A Catholic Citizen in America (November 11, 2011)

"The threat of Islamic laws forbidding blasphemy, and hostility toward religion, have been in the news. I think both are really bad ideas...."

"...I've noticed that many folks act as if it's their duty, or right, to force others to act 'correctly.' I remember the trailing edge of McCarthyism, endured American academia when political correctness was in flower, and didn't particularly like what either philosophical fad did to personal freedoms...."

As the blog's name, "A Catholic Citizen in America," suggests, I'm a practicing Catholic. One reason I like living in America is that folks here are free to worship as they see fit, or not worship at all. That's a big plus for someone who's part of a religious minority.

Back to that other blog's post:

" 'Everybody Knows What Those People are Like' "
"On the whole, I'm glad that I've never been part of a self-identified group of self-righteous do-gooders who had the power to make others act the 'right' way. Not being part of 'the establishment' can be an advantage.¹"

"If that doesn't sound like what 'one of those religious people' should say: I'm not surprised. I'll get back to that...."
(A Catholic Citizen in America)

After that bit, I discuss bias, and offer a Bias Made Easy checkoff list of qualities often ascribed to 'those people over there.'

Freedom of Religion, Not Freedom from Religion

Editorial views of The New York Times notwithstanding, people with religious beliefs are not necessarily ignorant weirdos.¹ Which brings me back to religious freedom and that other blog:

"...I'm a practicing Catholic, so I have to support freedom of religion. It's in the rules (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2104-2109)"
"Freedom: For Everyone
"That freedom is not 'freedom to worship my way.' Even if I could, I wouldn't be allowed force someone to 'act Catholic'..."

"...Today's threat to freedom isn't just 'those terrorists over there.' I think Americans should be at least as concerned about folks in today's establishment who seem determined to protect us from religion.

"'For our own good,' of course...."
(A Catholic Citizen in America)

I am grateful to the generations of American veterans who fought and died so that we could remain a free nation. I sincerely hope that America's upper crust don't accomplish what enemies abroad have failed to do: end this country's long tradition of freedom.

Veterans Day posts:

"Lemming Tracks: Armistice/National/Poppy/Rembrance/Veterans Day"
Apathetic Lemming of the North (November 11, 2011)
"Armistice Day/Veterans Day, 2010: a Couple of Words for the American Military, and Something Lincoln Said"
(November 11, 2010)
"The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month: Yeah, It's Kind of Important"
Apathetic Lemming of the North (November 11, 2009)
"Armistice Day, 2008: Or, if You Prefer, Veterans Day"
(November 11, 2008)
"Armistice Day, 2007"
(November 11, 2007)

¹ The New York Times ran an editorial recently, that compared people who admit having religious beliefs to those who believe in flying saucers. I am not making this up:

"Space Aliens, Michele Bachmann, and Daft Assumptions"
A Catholic Citizen in America (September 2, 2011)

I can't know why the NYT editor made the assumptions he did, but I suspect that he may be like the expert who only reads his own books. Old-school American journalism's upper echelons are, I think, an increasingly isolated and insular little subculture. Which may explain why they they act the way they do:

"The New York Times, Insularity, and Assumptions"
(October 21, 2008)
"Top Newspaper's Journalists Praised: Blackout Imposed on Praise"
(October 15, 2007)

Finally, despite what Americans often see in the news, these colorful folks aren't typical Christians. In my view, they're not even representative of American Protestants:

(Reuters photo, via FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)

(Oakland Blog, via SFGate, used w/o permission)

I've made the point, in another blog, that not all Christians are dolts:

"My Take on the News: Religion, Politics, and Freedom"
A Catholic Citizen in America (October 28, 2011)
"Ancient Style and Today's Discussions at the 'Vatican Science Academy' "
A Catholic Citizen in America (October 2, 2011)

Benazir Bhutto Assassination Trial: With Real, Live, Defendants

2011-11-06T12:24:00.001-06:00

Pakistan's prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated on December 27, 2007, in Karachi. Karachi street lighting just happened to fail when the attack happened. The city's phone service just happened to be not working at the same time.

That's a lot of "just happeneds."

If the assassination had been in lower Manhattan, with a curiously coincidental power failure and communications systems failure, I might be more suspicious than I am. But Karachi isn't New York City, Pakistan isn't America, and not everybody has reliable power and telecommunications services.

I've been over this before:

"Bhutto, Bombs, and Curious Coincidences"
(October 19, 2007)

On the other hand, Pakistan's alleged national government has a long and dubious history of 'just happening' to foul up efforts to protect them from terrorists. Then there's the Mumbai connection - and that may not be another topic.

Bhutto's assassination, and Pakistan's national 'government,' are in the news again. Seven people have been charged with having a hand in Bhutto's assassination. Two of them are Pakistani police officers.

They may be guilty of having helped kill Benazir Bhutto. Or not. I really don't know.

I think it's interesting, and guardedly hopeful, that some of Pakistan's bosses are going to the trouble of having a trial. Particularly when it would be so easy for the 'guilty parties' to 'sign a full confession,' and then conveniently 'commit suicide.'

Maybe I'm being too cynical about this. On the other hand, Pakistan's so-called national leaders have not been acting in a way that encourages trust.

Excerpts from the news:

"The anti-terrorism court of Rawalpindi Saturday framed charges against seven accused including two police officers in the assassination case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"The seven accused including two police officers pleaded 'not guilty' when the judge informed them about the charges of murder. The judge, however, went ahead with framing the charges and asked the prosecution to produce witnesses in the court from November 19 onward. During the in-camera trial held at Adyala Jail, ATC No 1 Judge Shahid Rafique framed charges against seven accused including former City Police Officer (CCPO) Syed Saud Aziz, SP Rawal Town Khurram Shehzad, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Gul, Hussnain Gul and Abdul Rahseed.

"The ATC judge charged the two police officers with breach of security as they removed the security box of Benazir Bhutto, ordered the hosing down of crime scene and thus destroyed the proofs. Also they did not order post mortem of any innocent citizen killed in the blast. It has also been charged that they were involved in the Benazir Bhutto assassination plan.

"While the five others were accused of 'criminal conspiracy' for bringing the suicide bomber from the tribal belt in the northwest and keeping him in a house in Rawalpindi. The charges framed against them by the court include terrorism, murder, attempted murder and becoming part of the murder conspiracy.

"According to the investigation team probing the case, accused Hussnain Gul was the handler, who brought the suicide bomber from Waziristan and kept him in his house in Rawalpindi.

"Rafaqat Hussain and Abdul Rasheed were alleged that they knew about the conspiracy and concealed the same. Aitzaz Shah, the juvenile accused and suicide bomber, and his handler Sher Zaman were also accused of the same charges....

"...Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, currently living in self-imposed exile in Britain and Dubai, is also wanted in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. The prosecutor said Benazir was killed in a bomb-and-gun attack because president Musharraf had not provided enough security to her....

"...Agencies add: The ATC court did not indict Musharraf in the case.
Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said the court would deal with Musharraf's issue later."
(The Nation)
"Seven men, including two senior police officers, were indicted Saturday for conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a defense attorney told CNN....

"...Malik Muhammad Rafique, a senior defense attorney for the officers, Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad, said there was "no evidence connecting the two men to criminal conspiracy to assassinate Bhutto.""
(CNN)

Bhutto
- "Bhutto's Assassination Anniversary: Claims, Wild and Otherwise"
  (December 27, 2008)
- " 'Democracy is the Best Revenge''"
  (September 6, 2008)
- "Bhutto: A Son of bin Laden Planned My Death"
  (February 3, 2008)
- "Bhutto Assassination: Gun = Government Involvement?"
  (January 2, 2008)
- "Pakistan and the Bhutto Assassination: A New-and-Improved Official Explanation"
  (January 1, 2008)
Pakistan
- "Stealth Helicopter, Pakistan, China, and Getting a Grip"
  (August 15, 2011)
- "CIA Informants Snatched in Pakistan - My Take"
  (June 15, 2011)
- "Osama bin Laden: Questions, Answers, and Opinions"
  (May 4, 2011)
- "Pakistan, YouTube, Censorship and the Sixties"
  (May 20, 2010)
- "Pakistan, India, Mumbai, Nuclear Weapons, and Pashtunistan: Simple This Isn't"
  (December 27, 2008)

In the news:

"Court indicts top cops, five others"
Israr Ahmed, The Nation (November 6, 2011)
"7 indicted in connection with Bhutto assassination"
Shaan A. Khan, CNN (November 5, 2011)

Libya's Qadhafi, Qaddafi, Kadafi, or Gaddafi, is Dead: Now What?

2011-10-22T11:20:00.005-05:00

The Colonel's name got spelled Qadhafi, Qaddafi, Kadafi, or Gaddafi: depending on who decided how to transliterate his name into the Latin alphabet.¹ However it's spelled, the bottom line this weekend is that he's dead.

'Richest Man in the Cemetery'

The Los Angeles Times says that the Colonel may have earned a place in history. Folks are still piecing together the late ruler's financial records, but it looks like his investments totaled around $200,000,000. That's around $30,000 for each Libyan who wasn't the Colonel.

It's not the sort of accomplishment I'd want to be remembered for: but it is fame of a sort. The odds are pretty good that Qadhafi, Qaddafi, Kadafi, Gaddafi, or whatever, will join that elite cadre of ripoff rulers which includes Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. Both of whom are dead.

Not that there's anything special about their being dead. That happens to all of us, given time. I'm more concerned about what happens after that. And that's another topic, for another blog.²

The Colonel's Death: Oops, There's a Video

Forensic evidence - and a video - doesn't match the official story about how the Colonel died. I'm not surprised: whoever made the official announcement may have been fed bogus information by whoever killed the Colonel. Still, it's not the best way to start a new government. I've put excerpts from recent news and views at the end of this post.³

I sincerely hope that whoever winds up running Libya next remembers that we're living in the Information Age: and that lies don't have anything close to the shelf life they did when I was growing up.

Speaking of shelf life: The Colonel's body was stored in a commercial freezer in a shopping center. Appropriate, in a way, considering the care with which the Colonel siphoned wealth out of Libya's citizenry and into his personal accounts.

The Colonel is Dead: Now What?

Folks in Syria who are fed up with the current regime say that their own autocrat is next on the list. They may be right.

As I've said before, this isn't the 20th century any more. Or the 18th, for that matter. I think we're looking at one of those big changes in world culture. Which is good news, since it looks like there's less room for rapacious rulers: and bad news, since old-school autocrats will probably kill quite a few folks before going down.

Related posts:

Libya
- "Libya, Interpol, and a Really Big Job"
  (September 9, 2011)
- "Libya: The Colonel's Missing, So are Lots of Prisoners"
  (August 29, 2011)
- "Libya: Not a Good Week for the Colonel"
  (March 31, 2011)
- "Libya, News, and Change"
  (March 26, 2011)
- "Libya: United Nations Resolution; and Unpleasantness Ahead"
  (March 17, 2011)
Syria
- "North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Brinksmanship, and Miscalculation"
  (May 27, 2009)
- "Syria Accuses America, North Korea Threatens South Korea: Nothing New Here"
  (October 28, 2008)
- "Syria, the IAEA, Israel, Claims and Denials"
  (June 22, 2008)
- " 'The Jews Blew Up Our Reactor
  (Which Does Not Exist)' "
  (October 17, 2007)
- "No Radioactive Kimchi: Israel Blew Up a Syrian Reactor"
  (October 13, 2007)
History
- "Business-As-Usual in Bahrain: Poet Imprisoned"
  (June 12, 2011)
- "Libya, Syria, Bahrain: Journalists Uncooperative; 'the Masses' Worse"
  (March 29, 2011)
- "Bahrain, Foreign Troops, and - Maybe - the Last Stand of Kings"
  (March 18, 2011)
- "Obama Reaches Out to Taliban: This Might Actually Work"
  (March 8, 2009)
- "Ten Iraqi Sheiks Kidnapped: Who's Promoting Islam Here?"
  (October 28, 2007)

News and views:

"Libyan Official: Liberation to Be Declared Sunday"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (October 22, 2011)
"Syrians Rally, Saying Assad Is Next"
Nour Malas, The Wall Street Journal (October 22, 2011)
"As Libya takes stock, Moammar Kadafi's hidden riches astound"
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times (October 21, 2011)
"U.S. and U.N. Demand Details From Libyan Leaders on How Qaddafi Died"
Kareem Fahim, Rick Gladstone, The New York Times (October 21, 2011)
"Colonel Gaddafi dead: Libyan tyrant's body stored in shopping centre freezer"
Mirror.co.uk (October 21, 2011)

¹ Even when both writing systems use symbols to indicate sounds, like the Latin alphabet, transliteration from one alphabet to another can be tricky. American English, for example, uses either "k" or "ck" to indicate the same sound, but "c" can represent either the "k" sound, or the "s" sound - and "s" can represent the "sh" sound. I've mentioned issues involving spelling a few times:

"Libya, Interpol, and a Really Big Job"
(September 9, 2011)
"Barack Obama's Birth Certificate, and Getting a Grip"
(April 27, 2011)
"Uighur Riot? Revolt? Foreign Separatists? Depends on What You Read"
(July 10, 2009)
"Abu Gharib? Abu Ghraib? Abu Ghrib? Abu Ghurayb?! A Spelling Issue"
(January 25, 2009)
"Usama, Osama, Tomayto, Tomahto"
(September 21, 2007)

² No rants about how someone I don't like will burn in Hell. I really don't need that kind of trouble. I've posted about life, death, and all that, in another blog:

"Hell, Heaven, Character, and Culture"
A Catholic Citizen in America (June 23, 2011)
"Apocalypse Whenever"
A Catholic Citizen in America (June 14, 2011)
"Thinking About Osama bin Laden, and What Father Lombardi Said"
A Catholic Citizen in America (May 2, 2011)
"Osama bin Laden is Dead: No Rant"
A Catholic Citizen in America (May 2, 2011)
"Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Warm Fuzzies"
A Catholic Citizen in America (August 8, 2010)

³ Excerpts from News and views:

"Libyan Official: Liberation to Be Declared Sunday"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (October 22, 2011)

"Libya's new leaders will declare liberation on Sunday, officials said, a move that will start the clock for elections after months of bloodshed that culminated in the death of longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

"But the victory has been clouded by questions over how Qaddafi was killed after images emerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors.

"The long-awaited declaration of liberation will come more than two months after revolutionary forces swept into Tripoli and seized control of most of the oil-rich North African nation. It was stalled by fierce resistance by Qaddafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid and pockets in the South...."
"Syrians Rally, Saying Assad Is Next"
Nour Malas, The Wall Street Journal (October 22, 2011)

"Bolstered by scenes of jubilation in Libya, protesters in Syria and Yemen streamed out to rally against their longtime leaders Friday, warning their presidents to take a cue from Moammar Gadhafi's violent death.

"Official reactions were muted in the region. Arab media marked the death of Libya's 42-year autocrat as a remarkable victory for pro-democracy protesters in the Middle East.

"In an image from an amateur video from Idlib, Syria, ralliers' signs call Libyan events 'a victory for all Arabs.'

" 'He will be remembered in history as the chancellor of all tyrants,' an editorial in the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat said. Lebanese daily An-Nahar said the event 'takes the Arab Spring revolutions to a new turn, folding a painful page.' ..."
As Libya takes stock, Moammar Kadafi's hidden riches astound"
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times (October 21, 2011)

"New estimates of the former leader's assets — more than $200 billion — are called 'staggering.' If they prove true, he would rank among the world's most rapacious leaders.

"Moammar Kadafi secretly salted away more than $200 billion in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world before he was killed, about $30,000 for every Libyan citizen and double the amount that Western governments previously had suspected, according to senior Libyan officials.

"The new estimates of the deposed dictator's hidden cash, gold reserves and investments are 'staggering,' one person who has studied detailed records of the asset search said Friday. 'No one truly appreciated the scope of it.'

"If the values prove accurate, Kadafi will go down in history as one of the most rapacious as well as one of the most bizarre world leaders, on a scale with the late Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire or the late Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines...."
"U.S. and U.N. Demand Details From Libyan Leaders on How Qaddafi Died"
Kareem Fahim, Rick Gladstone, The New York Times (October 21, 2011)

"International calls mounted Friday for Libya's interim leaders to provide a fuller accounting of the final moments before Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's violent, messy death, as new videos circulated that showed him and his son Muatassim alive, apparently while in the custody of the former rebels.

"The United Nations and two leading human rights groups called for a thorough investigation into precisely how Colonel Qaddafi, who was seen on the Internet in cellphone videos bleeding and heaving as he was manhandled by screaming fighters, wound up dead with what appeared to be bullet wounds to the head.

"One video in particular was receiving heightened scrutiny on Friday because it showed a conscious Colonel Qaddafi wiping blood off the left side of his face, revealing no bullet wound. Later videos of his corpse showed a bullet wound in the same spot, adding to skepticism about the interim government's official explanation that he was accidentally killed during a shootout with Qaddafi loyalists...."
"Colonel Gaddafi dead: Libyan tyrant's body stored in shopping centre freezer"
Mirror.co.uk (October 21, 2011)

"Colonel Gaddafi's blood-soaked body has been stashed in a shopping centre freezer, it emerged today.

"With his burial not scheduled for several days, the dead tyrant's corpse is being kept in a chiller used by restaurants to store perishable foods.

"The shopping centre is in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of Sirte.

"Gaddafi's body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige trousers, is laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of the room-sized freezer.

"A bullet hole is visible on the left side of his head and in the centre of his chest, and dried blood streaks his arms and head.

"Gaddafi final pleas to his captors emerged in new video today,[sic]

"He is heard to say: 'What you're doing is wrong, guys. What you're doing is wrong.

" 'Do you know what is right or wrong?'..."

Infected Killer Robots! Unstoppable Virus!! MILITARY DENIAL!!!!!!!!!? No, not exactly

2011-10-08T14:03:00.011-05:00

I've already done two posts today,¹ so this one will be (fairly) terse.

Very briefly, a computer virus has gotten into the network that controls Predator and Reaper drones. It's a persistent little keylogger: but may not be a serious threat.

Those are the facts, as reported by two relatively calm journalists.²

It wouldn't take much to take those facts, and produce tabloid-style headlines. I haven't run into these, by the way:

INFECTED KILLER ROBOTS!!

That heading is accurate, but misleading.

America's Predator and Reaper drones not "robots" in the sense of being fully autonomous; but they are 'robotic' in the colloquial sense of the word. Their pilots are human, but operate the aircraft by remote control. These aircraft sometimes carry weapons, and so - in a way - they're "killer robots."

They're also infected with a keylogger virus: the sort of malware that records commands given by the pilots.

This is not a good thing. No classified data seems to have been copied, and pilots have control of the drones. On the other hand, bad code got into military networks - again - and the next infection might be more than just a nuisance.

UNSTOPPABLE VIRUS!!!!

Anyone whose knowledge of information technology comes mostly from playing video games and watching movies like Colossus: the Forbin Project or the Terminator movies³ might get the impression that computers are dangerous superintelligences, bent on world conquest and the destruction of humanity. Those of us who actually use information technology should have a better understanding of its potential: and limitations.

Predator and Reaper drones got infected. Or, rather, the network they're part of got infected. Removing the keylogger seems to be easy. But they get infected again as soon as they're reconnected to the network.

This is not good news, but it could be worse. I think this annoying bit of malware gives the folks running America's military data networks valuable experience. Eventually they may figure out how to keep the networks secure - and that all of a network has to be secure. Not just the 'important' parts.

MILITARY DENIAL!!!!!!!!

A none-too-serious television drama involved Area 51, with an imaginative twist. In the story, there really were alien spaceships and extraterrestrials in Area 51: and stories about alien spaceships and extraterrestrials in Area 51 were a cover story. Accounts of UFOS and all that were so wildly over-the-top, that nobody would take the idea seriously. Even if some of the 'real' facts were discovered.

That's fiction.

Sadly, there seem to be a fair number of folks who really believe that the American military is run entirely by intellectually-challenged, paranoid, control freaks: who have for decades brilliantly concealed The Truth from us, while stoutly refusing to believe that they've got any problems.

I think America's military is run by human beings, and I've been over that before.⁴

Out here in the real world, the 'military denial' seems to consist of

Not shrieking down the hall in a mad panic
Using existing procedures to remove infections as they appear
Monitoring the system
Studying the issue

Information Technology: Good News; Bad News

My checkered job history let me keep up with developments in information technology. I don't mind being able to store, review, search, analyze, and transmit data with a speed and accuracy you just don't get with manual typewriters. Or quill pens, for that matter.

I think today's online communities are, for the most part, a good thing. Folks can get together and learn about each other - even if they live on different continents. Yes, there's a downside: but we're talking about human beings here. 'Trouble' comes with the package.

The Predator and Reaper drone infection happened when data was transferred via external hard drives. That shouldn't have happened, but I think that sort of problem highlights one of America's remarkable strengths.

We don't lead the world in the development of drop-dead-cute robots: but we've got an information technology industry that often lets our military use off-the-shelf hardware and software. That, and an increasingly tech-savvy population, lets the American armed forces concentrate their research and development efforts on something besides basic computer design.

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if we didn't need soldiers, and if everybody would decide to be nice. And that's another topic.

Related posts:

"'Digital Sabre-Rattling,' 'Complex Legal and Cultural Issues,' and Heat-Related Deaths"
(July 15, 2011
"Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
(June 4, 2011)
"Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
(May 31, 2011)
"Lockheed Martin, Oak Ridge, Spear Phishing, and Common Sense"
(May 29, 2011)
"Information Technology, People, and a Changing World"
(February 23, 2011)

In the news:

"U.S. Military Drones Infected With Mysterious Computer Virus"
Perry Chiaramonte, FoxNews.com (October 7, 2011)
"Exclusive: Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet"
Noah Shachtmanm, Danger Room, Wired (October 7, 2011)

¹ Today's previous posts:

"Pakistan, Threats, Diplomacy, and All That"
(October 8, 2011)
"Still Blogging About Anachronisms, Autocrats, and America"(October 8, 2011)

² Excerpts from the news:

"..."[The drones] are controlled by standard PCs," Ghosh told FoxNews.com. "None of this should be surprising." The system should be replaced or "re-imaged" with a virus-free, bit-for-bit copy of the data on the drive in order to get rid of the infection, he said.

" 'If they are connected to a larger network they will be infected again," he said.

"A senior Air Force source with knowledge of the drone program and familiar with the virus that was caught in recent weeks told FoxNews.com that Wired's story is 'blown out of proportion' and 'vastly overwritten.'

" 'The planes were never in any jeopardy of "going stupid",' the source said, and the virus 'is not affecting operations in any way ... it showed up on a Microsoft-based Windows system. We have a closed-loop system and heavily protected cockpits -- the planes were never in jeopardy.'

"The virus was introduced when the Air Force was transferring data maps between systems using external hard drives, he said. Very quickly the Air Force protective network tracked the virus...."
(Perry Chiaramonte, FoxNews.com (October 7, 2011)
"A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones.

"The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military's Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech's computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military's most important weapons system.

" 'We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,' says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. 'We think it's benign. But we just don't know.'

"Military network security specialists aren't sure whether the virus and its so-called 'keylogger' payload were introduced intentionally or by accident; it may be a common piece of malware that just happened to make its way into these sensitive networks. The specialists don't know exactly how far the virus has spread. But they're sure that the infection has hit both classified and unclassified machines at Creech. That raises the possibility, at least, that secret data may have been captured by the keylogger, and then transmitted over the public internet to someone outside the military chain of command....

"...The Air Force declined to comment directly on the virus. 'We generally do not discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats, or responses to our computer networks, since that helps people looking to exploit or attack our systems to refine their approach,' says Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, which oversees the drones and all other Air Force tactical aircraft. 'We invest a lot in protecting and monitoring our systems to counter threats and ensure security, which includes a comprehensive response to viruses, worms, and other malware we discover.'

"However, insiders say that senior officers at Creech are being briefed daily on the virus...."
(Noah Shachtmanm, Danger Room, Wired (October 8, 2011)

³ I've discussed technology, science, and the Hollywood treatment, in another blog:

"HAL 9000, Skynet, and C3PO"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (January 26, 2010)
"Science Fiction in the Movies: 'The Satan Bug' to 'The Matrix' "
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (January 26, 2010)
"The Threat of Dangerous New Technologies: It's Not All That New"
Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (August 23, 2009)

⁴ The American military has sometimes blundered. But I've noticed that they also make a point of learning from mistakes. I've posted good news and bad news about America's armed forces:

"Space Patrol? Defending Cyberspace? Looks Like"
(February 1, 2010)
"Getting Called an Islamophobe, Saving Lives"
(November 10, 2009)
"Pentagon Equates (Violent) Protest to Terrorism: Leaves Out Critical Explanation"
(June 18, 2009)
"Army Emergency Relief Guilty! Vet Advocates Angry! You Know What the American Military is Like!"
(February 23, 2009)
"Army Report: Big Mistakes in Iraq!"
(June 30, 2008)
Particularly
- Big Iraq Mistakes Report Creates Big Dilemma

Pakistan, Threats, Diplomacy, and All That

2011-10-08T12:40:00.003-05:00

Pakistan had more news and editorial coverage toward the end of September, 2011, than usual. About 50 imams said that Muslims should attack America if this country attacks Pakistan.

I don't doubt that some imams issued that sort of fatwa. Odds are that around four dozen did so: which even in a nation the size of Pakistan is a noticeable number.

This doesn't mean that I've started digging a fallout shelter under the basement, though: or try to make my house vapor-tight. I'm concerned, of course, but after decades of 'death to the great Satan America' stuff, the shock value of what those imams did is somewhat reduced.

Pakistan: Still a Mess

I don't envy the folks who are apparently trying to establish a plausible national government in Pakistan: and extend the reach of their influence beyond parts of Islamabad and a few other cities.

They've got a country with a long and complicated history, where much of the territory seems to be in the hands of folks whose culture hasn't changed much in several thousand years.

On the bright side, Pakistan is better off than Somalia.

For example, a few years ago Pakistan's bosses lied about how they would use money they got from the United States. The idea was that the money would go to Pakistan's military. Instead, Pervez Musharraf and his cronies used it for domestic programs.

I think it's a testament to their character and ethics that they used it for government projects, instead of simply pocketing it. Granted, those domestic projects probably helped their public image: but hey, they've got elections to think of. (October 5, 2009)

Diplomacy, Cultural Sensitivity, and Getting a Grip

Some op-ed pieces¹ about Pakistan's edgy imams were drearily predictable:

"...But don't the American's [sic] understand the psyche and character of Pakistan's military/intelligence nexus yet? Rather than spurring the ISI/Army into doing more, this public humiliation will have only further dented the frail ego of the military - an ego that has only just recovered from the dishonour of the Osama bin Laden raid...."
George Fulton, South Asian News Agency (September 29, 2011)

There's something to that criticism.

As I recall, American forces had tried several times to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Every time, bin Laden had moved before they arrived. American commanders had been sharing information with their Pakistani counterparts. Showing the 'insensitivity' Mr. Fulton deplores, the Americans decided to launch an attack without telling Pakistani officials. Perhaps by coincidence, that time Osama bin Laden hadn't gone elsewhere: and now he's dead.

Pakistani officials were furious. Naturally enough. Rules of hospitality have ancient roots. I think they serve a useful function in society. But somewhere along the line, Western civilization learned that sometimes dealing with serious threats is more important than accommodating a guest.

I'm assuming that someone in Pakistan's alleged government was passing information along to bin Laden's people: but who knows? Maybe the string of failed raids with shared information, followed by one successful raid without shared information, was pure coincidence.

Diplomacy, Assumptions, and 'Natives'

America seems to have finally flushed overt bias, the sort that drips from Chief Justice Taney's opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford,² out of its system. It's hard to imagine someone describing folks living in the Darfur region as an 'inferior race,' and being taken seriously. Or avoiding legal trouble, most likely.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that too many folks apparently still see humanity divided three ways:

Citizens of my country
Civilized foreigners
'Natives'

Old ideas die hard.³

I think old notions about what can be expected from 'civilized foreigners' and 'natives' is behind demands for 'cultural sensitivity.' It's like the old movies:

'He's simply not British.'
'You see, Throckmorton? Typical native superstition.'
'An American! You will realize what's at stake!'

Over-simplified? Yes.

Maybe there are diplomatic reasons for ignoring blatantly unethical, and occasionally self-destructive, behavior on the part of national leaders. Maybe an American official wasn't as suave as possible, dealing with yet one more Pakistani government SNAFU.

But I think it's a huge mistake to assume that 'foreigners' can't be held to the same ethical standards Americans should expect from our leaders. And that it isn't
'tolerant, 'open-minded,' or 'diplomatic' to expect the same standards from foreigners.

Ethical Standards? American Leaders?!

I said that Americans should expect ethical standards from our leadership. Competence would be nice, too. As far as the lot we've got in Congress right now? There's an election coming next year: and that's another topic.

Related posts:

"Stealth Helicopter, Pakistan, China, and Getting a Grip"
(August 15, 2011)
"Pakistan, American Aid: What a Mess"
(July 10, 2011)
"Pakistan, America, Cultural Sensitivity, and Giving Terrorists a Break"
(June 19, 2011)
"CIA Informants Snatched in Pakistan - My Take"
(June 15, 2011)
"Osama bin Laden: Questions, Answers, and Opinions"
(May 4, 2011)

News and views:

"Pakistan won't do more in war on terror: Yousuf Raza Gilani"
AFP, via Economic Times (September 29, 2011)
"Pakistan won't do more in war on terror: Yousuf Raza Gilani"
AFP, via Economic Times (September 29, 2011)
"Pakistani Threat Escalates as Imams Call for Jihad"
FoxNews.com (September 27, 2011)

¹Excerpts from news and views:

"Pakistani Threat Escalates as Imams Call for Jihad"
FoxNews.com (September 27, 2011)

"The United States' strained relationship with Pakistan has grown more tense after 50 influential imams and religious leaders there threatened a jihad if the U.S. attacks the nuclear-armed country.

"The threat came as Pakistan seemed to speak from both sides of the mouth. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar insisted to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that the government is part of the solution in Afghanistan.

" 'Pakistan is willing to do its best with the international partners and, most notably, the governments of Afghanistan and the United States, to acquit itself of this high responsibility (in Afghanistan),' she told the 193-nation assembly.

"But her remarks came after Pakistan warned the United States to stop accusing it of playing a double game with Islamist militants and as it showered praise on China....

"...The religious leaders threatening jihad are associated with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a coalition of local groups. According to Pakistani news reports, the council issued a press release declaring that it is illegitimate to call the U.S. a superpower because only Allah deserves the title.

"The scholars urged the Pakistani government to end the country's role in the war on terrorism and to try to establish a new international bloc made up of China, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan....

"...Last week, Adm. Mike Mullen, the outgoing chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, linked the Haqqani network, the most violent faction among Taliban militants in Afghanistan, to Pakistan.

" 'The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's internal services intelligence agency,' Mullen said...."
"Understanding the duplicity"
George Fulton, South Asian News Agency (September 29, 2011)

"The writer lived for several years in Pakistan, working for various TV channels such as Geo and Aaj. He has now moved back to the UK and does freelance consultancy work
The very public spat between Pakistan and the US which emerged last week after Admiral Mike Mullen, a man known for his straight talking, outed the ISI and called the Haqqani militants a 'veritable arm' of the spy agency, has left many analysts perplexed. Why do it? What benefit would America gain from such a public announcement? Perhaps it was frustration on behalf of the Americans. Admiral Mullen is due to retire at the end of the year. Maybe, with his forthcoming demobbing, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff felt able to candidly blow off steam at the perceived duplicity of the ISI? Unlikely. This evidence given to the Senate Armed Services Committee on September 22 was a designed ratcheting up of pressure on Pakistan. The defence secretary, Leon E Panetta, threatened 'operational steps' against Pakistan — a euphemistic term for possible American raids against the Haqqanis in North Waziristan.

"But don't the American's understand the psyche and character of Pakistan's military/intelligence nexus yet? Rather than spurring the ISI/Army into doing more, this public humiliation will have only further dented the frail ego of the military - an ego that has only just recovered from the dishonour of the Osama bin Laden raid. Mullen's announcement will only have helped embolden those anti-American elements within the intelligence services and undermine the pro-Americans within the military...."
"Pakistan won't do more in war on terror: Yousuf Raza Gilani"
AFP, via Economic Times (September 29, 2011)

"Pakistan on Thursday hit back at mounting US demands for action against Al-Qaeda-linked extremists, refusing to be pressured into doing more in the war on terror.

"Washington says it is conducting a final review on whether to blacklist the network linked to Pakistani intelligence as a terror group, which risks then exposing Islamabad to economic sanctions.

"The outgoing top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, accused Pakistan of exporting violent extremism to Afghanistan and called the Haqqani network a 'veritable arm' of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency...."

² Dred Scott v. Sandford, the slavery compromise, and 19th century treaty violations, are part of America's history. But we do, eventually, correct injustices:

"Steve Jobs, Jospeh Maraachli, and 'Reproductive Health:' My Take"
A Catholic Citizen in America (October 7, 2011)
Particularly

³ I think it's a good thing that using phrases like 'inferior races' to describe folks without congenital melanin deficiency is something of a faux pas these days. I also think that too many folks cling to old biases, at least unconsciously:

"Sudan, Darfur: My Take"
A Catholic Citizen in America (January 8, 2011)
Particularly
- Civilized Foreigners, Natives, and Getting a Gri
And see
- "South Sudan: Darfur, a New Country, and Hope"
  (July 13, 2011)
"Sustainable African Development: And Swift's Modest Proposal"
A Catholic Citizen in America (May 6, 2010)
"Genocide! Racism! Down With Columbus Day!!"
(April 8, 2009)
" 'Towelhead,' 'Retard,' and Talking Sense in a Global Society"
(February 24, 2009)
"All Those 'Poor, Uneducated, Minorities Being Drafted in America!' "
(January 4, 2009)

Still Blogging About Anachronisms, Autocrats, and America

2011-10-08T10:25:00.003-05:00

My eldest daughter recently asked me if I was writing for Another War-on-Terror Blog any more. If you follow this blog (thank you!), you've noticed that posts are few and far between: particularly compared to a few years ago.

About Interest: Mine and Yours

It's not that I've lost interest. I'm still following what I think may be the major conflict of the 21st century. I still think that the efforts of a few folks to impose their anachronistic views on everybody else are a real threat. Not just a threat to America: Outfits like Al Qaeda have a distressing habit of killing folks who don't dress the 'right' way, or who simply get in the way.

On the other hand, I don't think I'd be doing anyone a favor by spouting off about every event and personality connected with the war on terror. I've posted 1,410 times so far, this one will make it 1,411: and who's going to have time to read all that? Or be interested??

Autocrats in the Information Age

I'm optimistic about the eventual outcome of the war on terror. Al Qaeda and others who desperately want to live in what seems to be an imagined past where their foibles were accommodated face a terrible obstacle. It's not the armed might of the United States, or United Nations resolutions. Most people simply don't like being killed at the whim of their ruler.

Folks in Afghanistan don't seem to have enjoyed having their lives run by the Taliban.

Iraq's citizens didn't like Saddam Hussein, but cooperated in their country's defense. They cooperated with Al Qadea in Iraq, too: until they noticed that the 'lions of Islam' were killing their neighbors for trivial reasons, while the foreign devils were rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and making progress at stopping the aforementioned lions from killing their neighbors. That's when the Anbar Awakening happened.

Over-simplified? Yes. But I think there's a pattern here. Folks in places like the Middle East put up with remarkably brutal and incompetent leadership, until they learn about what's happened in the last thousand years or so in places like Europe.

The last I heard, old-school autocrats were still killing their subjects in an effort to instill loyalty. And failing.

Why the American Emphasis?

If you've read more than a few posts, you'll have noticed that:

I
- Am an American citizen
  - Who prefers living here
- Think that America isn't
  - perfect
  - The source of all ickiness
- Think that
  - Freedom is precious
  - War isn't nice
  - War may be preferable to the alternatives
This blog
- Is written from my point of view
- Is not
  - Chauvinistically 'pro-American'
  - A screed against
    - Yankee imperialism
    - Western oppression
    - Fluoridated water

"Fluoridated water?!" I remember the 'good old days,' when the establishment was mostly conservative and nearly all Anglo-American: and never want to go back. And that's almost another topic.

So, why the American emphasis?

As an American citizen, I tend to notice what's happening in this country: and pay attention, since there's always an election coming up. More topics.

I think that America is one of the few countries that's able to deal with terrorists: and one of a handful that's willing to do so. Just as important, American leaders are often able to encourage other national leaders to form coalitions.

'Wouldn't It be Nice - - -?'

As I've said before, I don't think war is nice. Things get broken, people get killed. But we don't live in a 'nice' world.

Someday we may have a global authority that's able to deal with threats to the common good. Maybe even without using force. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

Until we've got something like Tennyson's "parliament of man ... federation of the world," we'll have to muddle along with coalitions operating under United Nations mandates.

And I'll be writing posts from time to time, about what I think are interesting or major developments in the war on terror.

Somewhat-related posts:

"Beer, Basketball, the War on Terror, Today's News, and Me"
(March 10, 2011)
"Blogs, Freedom of Speech, and Threats to the Status Quo"
(July 31, 2010)
"No More 'War on Terror' - Officially?"
(March 30, 2009)
"Castro, Cuba, Guevara, Traditional Gatekeepers, and the Information Age"
(January 30, 2009)
In another blog
- "9/11, Just War, and 'Death to Mickey Mouse' "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (September 11, 2011)
- " 'Just War:' Unpleasant, but Not a Contradiction in Terms"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2011)

Libya, Interpol, and a Really Big Job

2011-09-09T13:15:00.004-05:00

The Colonel's name gets spelled Qadhafi, Qaddafi, or Gaddafi: depending on who's deciding how to transliterate his name into the Latin alphabet.

Libya, an Arrest Warrant, and Good News/Bad News

First, the good news:

Someone other than Colonel Qaddafi is running Libya
- And they aren't killing each other
- In fact, they're talking with each other
According to the new Libyan leaders
- Libya's central bank still has gold and other assets
- Libya plans to honor existing business deals with foreign companies
There's an arrest warrant out for Qaddafi
- And some of his associates
- Issued by Interpol

Now, the bad news:

Colonel Qaddafi, creator of Islamic socialism, no longer runs Libya
- Stray dogs took over
  - Helped by childish foreigners
The stray dog foreign puppets
- Stole the people's gold and other assets
- Are in league with foreign capitalists
  - And Big Oil
Western oppressors are hunting down Qaddafi
- And some of his associates

As I've said before, so much depends on a person's point of view.

Me? I think most Libyans are much better off with the Colonel somewhere else. I also think that Libyans who supported the Colonel stand a much better chance of survival under the new regime, than their counterparts when Qaddafi dealt with opposition the old fashioned way.

I haven't run into the 'bad news' angle yet, and don't necessarily expect to. The Colonel managed to make too many crazy statements, and ticked off too many other national leaders: my opinion. Besides, I suspect that the 'victim of capitalist oppression' thing is starting to wear thin, even in the more isolated subcultures.

Libya: Now What?

The folks who got help running the Colonel out of their country may succeed in working out a way to rebuild Libya. I hope they do. I also think that they've got a huge job on their hands: and won't get it right the first time. The United States Constitution wasn't this country's first attempt, and that's almost another topic.¹

Now that they've got an old-school autocrat out, along with at least some of his supporters, Libyans like Libya's interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril have decades of mismanagement to fix. Plus disagreements about what Libya should be like, now that the Colonel is gone.

Like I said, it's a huge job.

Interpol, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and Getting a Grip

I'm no great fan of the United Nations. Too many of the earnest folks there seem determined to 'protect' us from technology. Considering what happened to the Libyan Colonel, I can see why so many at the U.N. don't want ordinary folks to have easy access to small arms: and that's almost another topic.

I don't hate the U.N., either, or live in fear that foreigners will plant 'spider flag of the United Nations' under the red, white, and blue skies of America.

But my less-than-sunny view of our recent attempt to get a "Parliament of man" keeps me from cheering about the International Court at The Hague asking Interpol to arrest a national leader.

I think the Libyan colonel

Has been a lousy ruler
Probably committed war crimes
Should be restrained

But I also think that there's too many crazy assumptions involved in today's international law; and that there's too much politics involved.

I suspect that Colonel Qadhafi's ouster and arrest warrant have as much to do with his scaring the neighbors and insulting the wrong folks, as it does with what he's actually done. Which doesn't mean that I'd want him back in power.

What I think about international law, the U.N., and Libya's troubles, is determined in large part by my religious beliefs. Which may not mean what you think it does.²

I put excerpts from recent news and views about Libya at the end of this post.³

Related posts:

"Libya: The Colonel's Missing, So are Lots of Prisoners"
(August 29, 2011)
"Libya: Not a Good Week for the Colonel"
(March 31, 2011)
"Libya, Syria, Bahrain: Journalists Uncooperative; 'the Masses' Worse"
(March 29, 2011)
"Libya, an International Coalition, the United Nations, and Getting a Grip"
(March 19, 2011)
"The Libyan Colonel, Armed Force, and Making Sense"
(March 5, 2011)

News and views:

"Interpol Issues Qaddafi Arrest Warrant as More Libyan Officials Flee"
Rod Nordland, Africa, The New York Times (September 9, 2011)
"Libya conflict: Gaddafi general 'flees to Niger' "
BBC News (September 9, 2011)
"Libya's interim PM says battle 'not yet over'"
Andrew Harding, Africa correspondent, BBC News (September 9, 2011)
"Libya's Central Bank Will Honour All Bank Agreements"
The Tripoli Post (September 9, 2011)
"Libyan Leaders Face 'Biggest Challenge' Seeking Unity After Qaddafi Ouster"
Chris Stephen and Massoud A. Derhally , Bloomberg (September 8, 2011)

¹The Articles of Confederation looked good on paper. More:

"The First Constitution ~ The Articles of Confederation"
The Charters of Freedom (www.archives.gov)

² I take my religious beliefs very seriously. Which doesn't mean what quite a few folks feel it does. No matter what you've read, these are not typical American religious people:

(ArizonaLincoln (talk), via Wikipedia, used w/o permission)

I'm not a 'regular American,' when it comes to belief, either. I'm a practicing Catholic. Which also doesn't mean what you may have read in the papers.

Because I'm a practicing Catholic, and learned what that means, I have to be a good citizen, get involved in public affairs, and think of everybody as people: not 'foreigners,' 'commies,' 'oppressors,' or whatever.

In principle, I have nothing against Tennyson's "Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." I think the United Nations was - and is - a good idea, but it's nowhere near being the sort of 'competent international authority' we may eventually develop:

"We're a very long way from having an "international authority with the necessary competence and power" to simply arrest someone like Saddam Hussein. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2308)"
(A Catholic Citizen in America (June 16, 2011))

I'm also no great fan of the United Nations.

Which isn't the same as seeing it as a bunch of foreigners out to 'get' America.

More:

The United Nations, and Living in a Big World
- "World Refugee Day 2011, the Pope, and 'He Doesn't Have Family...' "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (June 20, 2011)
- "Local Parishes, Universal Church, and Living in Minnesota"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (June 16, 2011)
  Particularly
  - The U.N.: It'll Have to Do, For Now
- "Libya, the Human Rights Paragon: You Can't Make This Up"
  (February 28, 2011)
- "Darfur and the United Nations: Something's Happened"
  (July 14, 2008)
- "International Law Under a Global Caliphate: Think About It"
  (October 10, 2007)
Citizenship, patriotism, and getting a grip
- "Separation of Church and State, Assumptions, and Fear"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (September 2, 2011)
- "It's 'Patriot Dream,' Not 'Patriot Delusion' "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 4, 2011)
- " 'Just War:' Unpleasant, but Not a Contradiction in Terms"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2011)
- " 'Towelhead,' 'Retard,' and Talking Sense in a Global Society"
  (February 24, 2009)
  Particularly
  - An American Patriot Who's Okay With Turbans, NASCAR, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
- "Elections and Citizenship, Catholic Style"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (September 24, 2008)

Finally, and off-topic for this blog, as a Catholic I also have the option to learn as much as I can, about how things work:

(The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, used w/o permission)

³ Excerpts from news and views:

"Interpol Issues Qaddafi Arrest Warrant as More Libyan Officials Flee"
Rod Nordland, Africa, The New York Times (September 9, 2011)

"As Interpol issued arrest warrants for the fugitive Libyan autocrat Col. Muammar Qaddafi and two others on Friday, reports came from Niger of a new convoy of high-ranking Libyan officials arriving across the desert.

"In Lyon, France, Interpol said in a statement that it had issued so-called red notices calling for the arrests of Colonel Qaddafi, his son, Seif al-Islam, and Abdullah al-Senussi, the head of the former leader's intelligence agency.

"The red notices, which were requested by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for alleged war crimes committed by the three men, require any of Interpol's 188 member nations to arrest the suspects and turn them over to that court.

"Among the member nations is Niger, which borders Libya on the south and has received a number of convoys of loyalist officials fleeing overland. So far, no high-ranking regime figures were confirmed to be accompanying them...."
"Libya conflict: Gaddafi general 'flees to Niger' "
BBC News (September 9, 2011)

"A senior general in Libyan ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces has fled to Niger, according to local sources.

"Officials in the Niger town of Agadez named the commander as General Ali Kana, a Tuareg in charge of Col Gaddafi's southern troops.

"Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

"Gaddafi loyalists still fighting face an ultimatum to surrender on Saturday.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) has been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to stand-offs in a handful of areas - including Bani Walid, Jufra, Sabha and Col Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.

"NTC forces last week warned loyalists that they must surrender by Saturday, or face a military onslaught...."
"Libya's interim PM says battle 'not yet over'"
Andrew Harding, Africa correspondent, BBC News (September 9, 2011)

""There are tensions. But no problems."

"That was the neat but rather elusive conclusion of a senior military official here in Tripoli, when I asked him about reports of growing friction between Libya's transitional civil administration - which is moving surprisingly slowly to fill a power vacuum in the capital - and the patchwork of rebel military units - some with hints of a pronounced Islamist agenda - that seized the city from Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces and now seem reluctant to abandon control.

"I put the same question to Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim prime minister, who spent much of a rather tetchy news conference in Tripoli begging his countrymen not to squabble and play political games - and accusing unnamed forces of 'jeopardising' stability and of forgetting that the battle against Col Gaddafi's forces was not yet over.

"Earlier, one of his exhausted aides shook his head in wordless despair when I asked him how things were going inside the National Transitional Council.

"But having raised the alarm, Mr Jibril then insisted that the situation was actually fine and that 'dialogue is taking place in a wise fashion' despite the absence of a new constitution to guide them...."
"Libya's Central Bank Will Honour All Bank Agreements"
The Tripoli Post (September 9, 2011)

"Libya's transitional prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, called for national reconciliation and unity, saying they may be 'more difficult' to achieve than the fight that toppled Muammar Qaddafi's regime.

" 'There are two battles,' Jibril said after arriving in Tripoli two and a half weeks after opposition fighters entered the capital. Achieving unity will be 'our biggest challenge,' he said.

" 'The first battle is against Qaddafi and his regime,' Jibril said at a news conference yesterday. 'This will end by the capturing or the elimination of Qaddafi. However, the battle that is more difficult is against ourselves. How can we achieve reconciliation and achieve peace and security and agree on a constitution? We must not attack each other or push each other away.'

"While Libya has been able to export little oil during the conflict, a 600,000-barrel crude shipment is being offered from the western port of Mellitah, according to three people with direct knowledge of the transaction...."
"Libyan Leaders Face 'Biggest Challenge' Seeking Unity After Qaddafi Ouster"
Chris Stephen and Massoud A. Derhally , Bloomberg (September 8, 2011)

"Libya's central bank, on Thursday sought to reassure 'all foreign partners of Libyan banks who are operating in Libya, the agreements will be honoured.'

"Now under the control of the new leaders, the central bank also said it was having no liquidity issues, thanks to a delivery of bank notes from Britain, and that none of its assets had been stolen.

" 'No assets of the Libyan Central Bank have been stolen, gold or otherwise,' the bank's new governor Gassem Azzoz told reporters in Tripoli, adding that if, as reported, fallen leader Muammar Al Qathafi had taken gold, it was not from central bank coffers.

"Another assurance from the central bank concerns Italy's UniCredit SpA, the first overseas bank to get a licence in Libya, winning permission in August 2010.

"It announced to foreign investors that it would not change the country's stake in UniCredit and will honour banking licences granted by the ousted Al Qathafi regime...."

Libya: The Colonel's Missing, So are Lots of Prisoners

2011-08-29T00:54:00.000-05:00

First, the good news:

Folks in Libya who wanted the country's boss out, got help
- A military coalition operating under a United Nations mandate
Rebels have taken much of Libya's capital city
Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi (Qaddafi? Gaddafi?) is missing

Now the bad news:

Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi (Qaddafi? Gaddafi?) is missing
- So are many of his troops
About 50,000 of Qadhafi / Qaddafi / Gaddafi's prisoners are missing

It wouldn't be so bad if the colonel was 'missing and presumed dead.' As it is, there's a good chance that Libya's boss may have gathered his remaining loyal troops and gone into hiding. Which could mean trouble for Libya - particularly if Qadhafi / Qaddafi / Gaddafi's 'I am a victim of the big bad West' line is swallowed by regional governments.

Even if they don't really believe it, I suspect that a lot of the old-school autocrats would love to blame all their woes on Yankee imperialism. That's so much easier, in a way, than admitting that incompetent leadership might be a factor. And that's almost another topic.

Evil is Not Nice

Even allowing for exaggeration on the part of the rebels, what's showing up in Libya is - unpleasant. Some of the details are so grotesquely nasty, that they almost seem like something from an off-color comedy.

Like the Libyan colonel's family torturing a nanny.

Actually, taking a page from the sort of 'tolerance' I had to learn about in college, that torture could be explained as a biased Western view of a non-western culture's cherished customs:

"...And they found the horribly scarred Shwygar Mullah, the Ethiopian maid who cared for the children of Gadhafi son Hannibal. Mullah told CNN that Hannibal Gadhafi's wife Aline twice expressed her displeasure with her work by scalding her with boiling water -- then refused to get her medical attention, leaving her scalp and face covered in a mosaic of scars and raw wounds.

"Her offense: Failing to beat a daughter who refused to stop crying...."
(CNN)

Somehow, though, I don't think we'll hear much about poor, maligned Colonel Qadhafi / Qaddafi / Gaddafi and his misunderstood family. It's not the '60s anymore: and I think a lot of folks have realized that.

Those missing prisoners may be alive, for now: squirreled away in hidden lockups, and left there. The trick now will be for the rebels to find them before food, water, or air runs out.

Other prisoners aren't missing, they're just unidentifiable. The colonels' enforcers killed quite a few, and burned the bodies.

If these stories were just that - stories, with no supporting evidence: I might discount them as possible propaganda. As it is, we've got what's left of prisoner flambé, a badly scarred nanny, and a few survivors with bullet holes in their skin to back up their accounts.

The trouble is, Libya's colonel and his family being a bad lot - doesn't guarantee that whoever winds up in charge next will be a distinct improvement.

Even so, I think Libya will be better off without the colonel.

And Now, the News

I've taken excerpts from a few recent news and op-ed pieces about Libya:

"Qaddafi Forces Killed Detainees, Survivors Say"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (August 28, 2011)

"Retreating loyalists of Muammar Qaddafi killed scores of detainees and arbitrarily shot civilians over the past week, as rebel forces extended their control over the Libyan capital, survivors and a human rights group said Sunday.

"In one case, Qaddafi fighters opened fire and hurled grenades at more than 120 civilians huddling in a hangar used as a makeshift lockup near a military base, said Mabrouk Abdullah, 45, who escaped with a bullet wound in his side. Some 50 charred corpses were still scattered across the hangar on Sunday.

"New York-based Human Rights Watch said the evidence it has collected so far "strongly suggests that Qaddafi government forces went on a spate of arbitrary killing as Tripoli was falling." The justice minister in the rebels' interim government, Mohammed al-Alagi, said the allegations would be investigated and leaders of Qaddafi's military units put on trial...."
"Charred bodies, nanny's scars left behind by fleeing Gadhafis"
CNN (August 28, 2011)

"Horrifying glimpses of the brutality underpinning the rule of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi emerged Sunday with news of a warehouse full of charred corpses and a nanny to Gadhafi's grandchildren tortured.

"Meanwhile, rebel forces who have driven Gadhafi and his family into hiding advanced toward his hometown. And CNN has found Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet in 1988, comatose on what his family says is his deathbed.

"On the eastern side of Tripoli, troops commanded by Gadhafi's son Khamis killed an estimated 150 captive civilians as they retreated last week, hurling grenades and spraying bullets into the building full of men they had promised to release, a survivor said...."
"In Libya, bastions of Kadafi loyalists remain"
Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times (August 28, 2011)

"They are quiet now, absent from the airwaves that they long dominated, gone from the streets that were once theirs.

"Their longtime leader is on the run, his compound ransacked, his once-ubiquitous image now employed on doormats.

"But the supporters of Moammar Kadafi are still out there in working-class neighborhoods such as Abu Salim, a loyalist bastion subdued only last week after intense battles that left its roads littered with shell casings, its buildings riddled with bullets and many of its men dead or in custody...."
"Libya rebels fear for Gaddafi prisoners"
BBC News Africa (August 28, 2011)

"Libyan rebels say they are concerned over the fate of thousands of prisoners held in Tripoli by the Gaddafi regime.

"Rebel military spokesman Col Ahmed Omar Bani said almost 50,000 people arrested in recent months were unaccounted for.

"The rebels believe they may be being held in underground bunkers, which have since been abandoned.

"Rights groups have seen evidence that dozens of people have been massacred near prisons, but Col Bani did not accuse anyone of killing the prisoners.

" 'The number of people arrested over the past months is estimated at between 57,000 and 60,000,' he said in a news conference in Benghazi.

" 'Between 10,000 and 11,000 prisoners have been freed up until now... so where are the others?'

"The colonel appealed for anyone with information to come forward, and said it would be 'catastrophic' if they had been killed...."
"Analysis: Why Gaddafi's crack troops melted away"
Shashank Joshi Associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute, BBC News Africa (August 22, 2011)

"When one Libyan opposition activist reflected on the rebel advances into the city of Zawiya last week, he mused that 'Eid could be a massive celebration indeed'. He was wrong - the jubilation came much earlier....

"...Why did battle-hardened Libyan soldiers, fed on a diet of anti-rebel propaganda and willing to fight in the face of overwhelming Nato air power, melt away so suddenly?

"The answer can only be speculative at this stage, but there are a few possibilities.

"First, there was an element of retreat rather than a rout. Tripoli is unevenly pacified and the euphoria of Green Square obscures the continuing fighting in several suburbs....

"...Second, where soldiers did lay down their arms, the much-maligned National Transitional Council (NTC) deserves some credit....

"...Third, Nato's relentless pounding of armour and artillery east of Zawiya greatly softened up government units, breaking down much of the resistance that would otherwise have slowed the rebel path...."

"Libya: Not a Good Week for the Colonel"
(March 31, 2011)
"Libya, News, and Change"
(March 26, 2011)
"Libya, an International Coalition, the United Nations, and Getting a Grip"
(March 19, 2011)
"Libya: United Nations Resolution; and Unpleasantness Ahead"
(March 17, 2011)
"Libya, the Human Rights Paragon: You Can't Make This Up"
(February 28, 2011)

News and views:

"Qaddafi Forces Killed Detainees, Survivors Say"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (August 28, 2011)
"Charred bodies, nanny's scars left behind by fleeing Gadhafis"
CNN (August 28, 2011)
"In Libya, bastions of Kadafi loyalists remain"
Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times (August 28, 2011)
"Libya rebels fear for Gaddafi prisoners"
BBC News Africa (August 28, 2011)
"Analysis: Why Gaddafi's crack troops melted away"
Shashank Joshi Associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute, BBC News Africa (August 22, 2011)

Flags at Half-Staff in Minnesota

2011-08-28T18:52:00.000-05:00

Driving home through central Minnesota this evening, I noticed several flags flying at half-staff. Those folks were going an extra mile, honoring Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon:

"Governor Dayton orders flags flown at half-staff in honor of Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon"
Press release, Office of the Governor Mark Dayton, State of Minnesota (August 26, 2011)

"In honor and remembrance of Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon, Governor Mark Dayton has ordered all U.S. flags and Minnesota flags to be flown at half-staff at all state and federal buildings in the State of Minnesota, from sunrise until sunset on Saturday, August 27, 2011.

"Sergeant Harmon, of Lengby, was twenty-nine years old, and a 2000 graduate of Fosston High School. He enlisted in the United States Army in 2004. Stationed in Germany, Sergeant Harmon completed two tours of duty in Iraq and was recently deployed to Afghanistan as a member of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade. He died a hero on Sunday, August 14, 2011 in Afghanistan.

"At the direction of the Governor, Minnesota flies it's flags at half-staff following the death of Minnesota military personnel killed in the line of duty, on the day of interment."

I've archived a copy of the Minnesota Governor's proclamation regarding Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon (*.pdf) (August 25, 2011)

My condolences to family and friends of Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon.

Related posts:

"Michael Jackson and 1st Lieutenant Brian N. Bradshaw: One's News, the Other's Not"
(July 7, 2009)
"Bruce Maloy, Thank You"
(March 13, 2009)
"A Bank Robbery in Texas, Donald Murrah and David Long"
(March 12, 2009)
"Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor and the Trident Hoax"
(March 11, 2009)
Lieutenant Michael Murphy, U.S. Seal:
"The World Needs Heroes -"
(October 22, 2007)

In the news:

"Governor Dayton orders flags flown at half-staff in honor of Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon"
Press release, Office of the Governor Mark Dayton, State of Minnesota (August 26, 2011)

Minnesota Governor's proclamation regarding Sergeant Matthew Allen Harmon
(August 25, 2011)

"Individuals and the War on Terror"

Stealth Helicopter, Pakistan, China, and Getting a Grip

2011-08-15T19:07:00.002-05:00

If you've been on the planet recently, you probably know that:

An American stealth helicopter was shot town in Pakistan
Someone in Pakistan held on to the wreckage
- And showed it to Chinese specialists

On the whole, I'd be a bit happier if Pakistan's national government had collected the wreckage and turned it over to the American military.

I'd also be a bit happier if Pakistan had a national government that seemed to control more than a few parts of the capital city - if that.

As it is, I'm not even convinced that Pakistan's government gave the folks from China access to the wreckage. I don't doubt that someone with enough muscle to grab and hold the helicopter made a deal with China's national government. What I'm not entirely clear about is whether that person is someone in Pakistan's nominal national government, a military commander, someone in Pakistan's spy racket, or a local of the "tribal leader" variety.

Security, Pakistan, and Getting a Grip

I think - hope - that eventually folks in Pakistan will develop a national government that's functional and relatively benign. Until that happens, my take on the situation is that they're stuck with a motley assortment of civilian officials, warlords of various sorts, and the sort of family-based leadership that's existed in the area since the day when Abram moved out of Ur.

Apparently America's operation to get bin Laden had to use a stealth helicopter because Pakistan's alleged government had:

A proven track record of leaking information to the Al Qaeda leader
Somehow managed to ignore bin Laden's headquarters, which was
- Large
- Slightly fortified
- In a city near the capital

Quite a few Pakistani VIPs seem to have their skivvies in knots over not being allowed to go about the usual routine of passing information on to their alleged enemies - intentionally or otherwise.

Can't say that I blame them, in a way. It must have been a little embarrassing when America's leadership let folks know why Pakistan's bosses were kept in the dark.

Now there's some very secret military technology in the hands of whoever managed to grab it most recently. In a country that's got nuclear weapons and feuding warlords. Plus a spy agency that's apparently a real-world example of America's liberal view of the CIA.

Here's what I think:

Can Pakistan's national government be trusted?
- No
- It's a trick question
  - I'm not convinced Pakistan has a functional national government
Should the stealth helicopter wreckage be returned to America?
- Yes
- But that won't happen until one or more conditions are met
  - Pakistan gets a working national government
  - Whoever holds the wreckage gets an incentive to let go
  - Another stealth mission takes care of the problem
  - Something else happens
Now that Chinese specialists have seen the wreckage, will chaos be loosed up on the world?
- Probably not

Some Secrets are Best Kept - Secret

I'm accepting the idea that the materials and other tech that went into making that helicopter stealthy is something that should be kept secret. And that it would be better for Americans - and anybody who's interested in personal freedom - if the wreckage was back with America's military.

What I don't know is how hard it would be to reverse-engineer the 'stealth technology.' And I don't know if anybody with the necessary knowledge has had the sort of access to the helicopter wreckage that would allow them to copy the tech.

I'll grant that my opinion may be influenced by my not being a news editor with advertising space to sell - and that isn't another topic.

It'd be nice if military secrets weren't necessary, and everybody would decide to be nice - but that's not likely to happen. Not soon. In my opinion.

Meanwhile, I think it makes sense to keep some aspects of America's military force a secret. Just as I think it makes sense to not let someone holed up in a building know how the police plan to rescue his hostages - and, if possible, him.

No, I'd rather that America not be 'the world's policeman.' On the other hand, I don't think the world would be better off without a country that's able to put together a coalition of nations - and that's yet again one more topic.

Two Op-Eds, Two Views

Here's what got me started on this post:

"Did Pakistan sell out America?"
Patrick M. Cronin, CNN (August 15, 2011)

"The strategic partnership between the United States and Pakistan appears once again to be careening toward the brink of self-destruction. Reports that Pakistan may have given Chinese engineers direct access to the remnants of an American Black Hawk stealth helicopter left behind in the May raid on Osama bin Laden, are the latest in a series of blows to the relationship...."
"If China Saw U.S. Stealth Copter, It's No Big Deal"
Noah Shachtman, Danger Room, Wired (August 15, 2011)

"By now, everyone with an internet connection has seen pictures of the stealthy helicopter used in the raid to take out Osama bin Laden. So, if the Pakistani government provided Chinese engineers with a closer look at the 'Airwolf,' as the copter was nicknamed in some military circles, it's not necessarily a security disaster. The potential problems would only start if the Chinese took samples from the modified Black Hawk...."

The CNN op-ed isn't nearly as jittery as the headline might imply - and the Danger Room article isn't as careless as the headline's words.

Another example of why it's a good idea to read past the lead paragraph. More topics.

China and High Tech: Why Worry?

I don't "worry" about China having America's military secrets. Not in the sense of obsessively brooding on the 'yellow peril,' or frantically digging a fallout shelter in the back yard.

I am concerned, since China's national leadership doesn't have a particularly good track record for playing well with others.

There have been too many disturbing events over the years: from Chinese servers 'just happening' to host hack attacks on everything from American corporate websites to the Pentagon's files; to "mobsters" gunned down after criticizing the government.

Eventually, I think China will regain its historic role as a major economic force in the world, and one of the great centers of culture. Right now, I'm not convinced that China's political leaders have quite gotten over the Cold War. Or the idea that world conquest is a good idea.

Not that China is the only source of trouble in the world - and that's yet again another topic.

A Competent International Authority - Someday

Back to that 'world's policeman' idea again. I think America is, like it or not, one of the few nations around that's able to organize an effective resistance to dangerous national leaders.

My guess is that eventually the world will have a secular authority that's global, and able to deal with the occasional wannabe world conqueror, or corrupt official, or whatever. I also think that folks who like the status quo, with its fairly constant warfare and dead "mobsters," can rest easy. Tennyson's "Federation of the World" is centuries away. At least. My opinion.

I've discussed this sort of thing before, here and in another blog:

"...We're a very long way from having an "international authority with the necessary competence and power" to simply arrest someone like Saddam Hussein...."
(A Catholic Citizen in America (June 16, 2011))

Pacifists, Warmongers, and Me

As the name of that blog indicates, I'm Catholic. Despite what you may have heard, that doesn't mean that I'm

Conservative
Liberal
Intolerant
Backward
A Satan-worshiper
Un-American
Whatever

I'm also not a pacifist. Or, oddly enough, a warmonger. And I'm certainly not "moderate" in the sleazily political sense of the word. I think war is not nice. Things get broken and people get killed. Unhappily, there are some not-nice people in the world who aren't inclined to let others go about their lives. If these not-nice people aren't stopped, eventually a lot of things will get broken, and many people will get killed. Since we don't have an "international authority with the necessary competence and power" to stop these not-nice people, it's up to neighbors, national governments, and the occasional international coalition, to deal with them. Ideally, the Saddam Husseins of the world are restrained without war. Sometimes that's simply not possible:

" 'Just War:' Unpleasant, but Not a Contradiction in Terms"
A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2011)

As I've said before, I admire sincere, dedicated pacifists. And I think they will thrive. As long as there are non-pacifists to protect them. Somewhat-related posts, getting a grip about:

Pakistan, China
- "CIA Informants Snatched in Pakistan - My Take"
  (June 15, 2011)
- "Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
  (June 4, 2011)
- "China. Hackers. Cyberattack. Again."
  (February 22, 2010)
- "China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters' "
  (July 19, 2009)
- "Iran Launched Satellite, Probably: and North Korea's Preparing for Launch"
  (February 3, 2009)
War, Assumptions, and Reality
- " 'Just War:' Unpleasant, but Not a Contradiction in Terms"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2011)
- "It's 'Patriot Dream,' Not 'Patriot Delusion' "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 4, 2011)
- "War is Not Nice"
  (February 15, 2010)
- "Attack on New York City Thwarted; or Your Constitutional Rights Threatened: Depends on Your Point of View"
  (October 6, 2009)
- "Genocide! Racism! Down With Columbus Day!!"
  (April 8, 2009)

News and views:

"If China Saw U.S. Stealth Copter, It's No Big Deal"
Noah Shachtman, Danger Room, Wired (August 15, 2011)
"Did Pakistan sell out America?"
Patrick M. Cronin, CNN (August 15, 2011)

Hanging a Child: "Militants" Touching the Hearts and Minds of Afghanistan

2011-07-24T23:57:00.000-05:00

This is - sad, putting it mildly. I'm a father with four surviving children: and grieve with the Afghan police officer.

"Militants hang 8-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan"
David Ariosto, CNN (July 24, 2011)

"An 8 year-old boy was hanged by militants in Afghanistan's Helmand province after the boy's father -- a police officer in the southern city of Gereshk -- refused to comply with militants' demands to provide them with a police vehicle, officials said.

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the hanging, saying 'this action is not permitted in any culture or any religions,' according to a statement Sunday, which provided details of the incident...."

I suppose I'm nitpicking - but President Karzai's statement that "this action is not permitted in any culture or any religions" may not be quite true. Between honor killings, and beheaded a man because he wore trousers, it's hard to shake the impression that at least some subcultures in the Islamic world have - interesting? - laws and customs.

Still, assuming that President Karzai meant 'cultures similar to those of post-18th-century Europe and America,' I think he's fairly accurate. Not that cross-burnings are completely unknown, even now.

Points I've made before:

Some folks in the Islamic world were yanked from a culture that hadn't changed for millennia into the Information Age
- In one or two generations
- No wonder some of them went a bit nuts
The "Islamic world" isn't a big, monolithic block of nearly-identical cultures
- Examples:
  - Saudi Arabia
  - Sudan
  - Indonesia

I think Information Age technology and social structures have forced some Muslims to take a hard look at what they actually believe - and want to believe.

Vaguely-related posts:

Diplomacy, culture, and unpleasant realities
- "War is Not Nice"
  (February 15, 2010)
- "Afghan Husband Rapes Wife: Culture, Law, History, and Catching Up"
  (September 24, 2009)
- "Obama Reaches Out to Taliban: This Might Actually Work"
  (March 8, 2009)
- "Iraq: Car Bombs, Awakening Councils, and Hope"
  (June 18, 2008)
- "America, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban: Who's on Your Side?"
  (October 4, 2007)
Living in a big world
- "Norway: Oslo, the Island of Utoya, Dead Bodies, Bad Motives"
  (July 24, 2011)
- "Actions have Consequences: Burning the Quran"
  (September 7, 2010)
- " 'Allah,' Dominant Cultures, and Tolerance"
  (January 9, 2010)
- "Of Bias, Veils, and Crucifixes"
  (February 25, 2008)
- "Islam, Denmark, and Freedom of Speech: a Learning Experience"
  (February 13, 2008)
Freedom
- "Freedom, Burma / Myanmar / Myanma, and Getting a Grip"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (June 29, 2011)
- "Beer, Basketball, the War on Terror, Today's News, and Me"
  (March 10, 2011)
- "Zimbabwe, Where Watching the Wrong Videos is Treason"
  (February 25, 2011)
- "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
  (August 14, 2009)
- "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)
Religion
- "Religious Freedom, Niemöller, and Muslims in America"
  (April 7, 2011)
  Particularly
  - Why the Rights of Muslims Matter to This Catholic
- "Hating People: Not a Good Idea"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 22, 2010)
  Particuarly
  - Legislating Beliefs / Protecting the Innocent
- "Fatwa Condemning Terrorism? Apparently"
  (March 3, 2010)
- "Sudan, Women, Trousers, Culture and Common Sense"
  (September 7, 2009)
- "Honor Killing is Against Islam, Islamic Party Members Say"
  (September 7, 2008)

In the news:

"Militants hang 8-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan"
David Ariosto, CNN (July 24, 2011)

Norway: Oslo, the Island of Utoya, Dead Bodies, Bad Motives

2011-07-24T14:44:00.008-05:00

Anders Behring Breivik killed people with a car bomb in downtown Oslo two days ago. He also killed dozens of people - mostly teenagers and young adults - at a Norwegian youth camp on the island of Utoya.

The probable motive for that mass killing/terrorist attack in Norway started coming out yesterday. Basically, Breivik didn't like Muslims; didn't want Muslims in Norway; didn't like the idea of folks who weren't old-school Europeans in Europe: and wanted to start a war against Islam.

To 'cleanse' Europe - although I haven't noticed that phrase in the news.¹

Saving Norway by Killing Norwegians?!

So he blew up a building in Oslo, Norway - killing Norwegians. Then he went to a Norwegian youth camp and killed dozens of Norwegians there.

It makes sense, in a twisted way. Breivik seems to think that by killing lots of people who look like him, he'll encourage other people who look sort of like him to kill folks who don't look like him.

A World Where Everyone Looks Like Me?!

I think killing people who don't look like me, or act like me, is a bad idea. Really bad.

I also think it's a bad idea, when someone decides that the world should consist of folks they approve of - and nobody else.

Screwball politics and ham-handed 'fairness' rules have given the idea of 'diversity' a beating. But I still think the world would be a dull - or monotonous, at any rate - place if everybody fit like some ethnic ideal. Or if we all had to stay in our little territories - for the sake of racial purity. Or whatever.

'My End of the Boat's Not Sinking?'

Why be concerned about what happened in Norway? I'm half Norwegian, for one thing: so this is a little more personal than some news. I also value freedom: and think that Niemöller made a good point. I've posted about that before.

'My end of the boat isn't sinking' is not a good attitude to take. And I've written about that before.

Related posts:

"The Threat of People Who Aren't Just Like Us?"
A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
"Chauvinism Knows No Borders"
A Catholic Citizen in America (July 23, 2011)
"A Blast, Bullets, Bodies, Norway, and Getting a Grip"
Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 22, 2011)
Particularly
- "Islamist," "Islamic," and Unintended Consequences
- Unpleasant Realities - are Still Realities
" 'Towelhead,' 'Retard,' and Talking Sense in a Global Society"
(February 24, 2009)
"The Subway Project and 'Why Islam?' - Terrorists in the Subways! Or, Not"
(July 23, 2008)

News and views:

"Norway suspect wanted European anti-Muslim crusade"
Joern Amland, Sarah DiLorenzo, The Associated Press, via The Salt Lake Tribune (July 24, 2011)
"Norway Killing Suspect's Postings Offer Clues to Personality"
SFGate, The San Francisco Chronicle (July 24, 2011)
"WCC general secretary shocked by unleashing of violence in his homeland"
Vatican Radio, via News.va (July 23, 2011)
"Pope: May All Norwegians Reject Hatred"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 23, 2011)

¹ Excerpt from today's news:

"Norway suspect wanted European anti-Muslim crusade"
Joern Amland, Sarah DiLorenzo, The Associated Press, via The Salt Lake Tribune (July 24, 2011)

"The man blamed for the terrorist attacks on Norway's government headquarters and an island retreat for young people that left at least 93 dead was motivated by a desire to bring about a revolution in Norwegian society, his lawyer said Sunday.

"A manifesto he published online — which police are poring over and said was posted the day of the attack — ranted against Muslim immigration to Europe and vowed revenge on 'indigenous Europeans,' whom he accused of betraying their heritage. It said that they would be punished for their 'treasonous acts.'

"The lawyer for the 32-year-old Norwegian suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, said Sunday that his client wrote the document alone. While police said they were investigating reports of a second assailant on the island, the lawyer said Breivik also claims no one helped him...."
"Norway Killing Suspect's Postings Offer Clues to Personality"
SFGate, The San Francisco Chronicle (July 24, 2011)

"Online postings from Anders Behring Breivik, detained by Norwegian police for killing 93 people in a shooting rampage and bombing, offer a portrait of a man obsessed with what he views as the threat of multiculturalism and Islam.

"In a 1,500-page English manifesto posted hours before the killings, Breivik, 32, describes nine years of planning the attacks and his vision for revolution in Europe led by the Knights Templar. Breivik has a picture posted of himself in a Freemason outfit on the Facebook page bearing his name.

"In the document entitled '2083 - A European Declaration of Independence,' which Breivik began writing while he was still a member of Norway's opposition Progress Party, he describes how the attacks would form part of a crusade against 'cultural Marxism' and the rising 'Islamization' of Europe. He writes that the massacre would serve as a tool to market the manifesto...."
"WCC general secretary shocked by unleashing of violence in his homeland"
Vatican Radio, via News.va (July 23, 2011)

" 'Norway has today experienced an unprecedented and horrible level of violence against innocent people,' said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, a Norwegian Lutheran pastor and General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

"Tveit, who is currently in Norway, had just left Oslo when he learned of the first attack, the bombing of a government building that left several injured and seven dead.In a statement, Rev. Tveit said that 'Attacking the core institutions of a democratic society and innocent youth gathered for a workshop to discuss political issues, leaves me shocked. Being close to these events, I am deeply saddened, realizing that this has happened in my beloved country, with its people, its leaders, and its institutions.' 'In times like this the Norwegian people and government need the solidarity of international society and the prayers of the worldwide church,' he said...."
"Pope: May All Norwegians Reject Hatred"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 23, 2011)

"Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he is praying for the victims of Norway's terror attacks and urging Norwegians to unite in a resolve to reject hatred.

"The Vatican released the text of a condolence message the pope sent Saturday to Norway's King Harald V. In it, Benedict said he was 'profoundly saddened' by the great loss of life caused by the 'senseless violence' in the Oslo bombing and the following massacre at a youth camp on a nearby island that police say have left at least 92 dead.

"The pope invoked God's peace on the dead and offered 'fervent' prayers for the victims and their families...."

A Blast, Bullets, Bodies, Norway, and Getting a Grip

2011-07-22T20:49:00.008-05:00

More than a dozen people were killed in Norway today. At least one bomb in Oslo, and a lot of bullets in a camp for teenagers, are responsible. It's early days, but my guess is that it's a terrorist attack with two targets.

I think it's probably a "terrorist attack:" but that's not the whole story.

Depending on whose headlines you read, the attack wasn't done by ~~Islamic~~ Islamist terrorists. (Associated Press, via The Washington Post) and, more specifically, it was a domestic terror attack. (Nils Myklebost, Forbes)

But, like I said, it's still early days.

Remember Oklahoma City

The dude who was arrested - here's what Mr. Myklebost wrote, in part:

"...A police official said the 32-year-old ethnic Norwegian suspect arrested at the camp on Utoya island appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that 'it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organizations at all.' The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway's police.

" 'It seems it's not Islamic-terror related,' the official said. 'This seems like a madman's work.'

"The official said the attack 'is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Center.' Domestic terrorists carried out the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City, while foreign terrorists were responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks...."
(Nils Myklebost, Forbes)

As I've said before, right-wing extremists sometimes really are terrorists. (June 6, 2009) Which isn't the same as saying that everybody who disagrees with Code Pink is a terrorist.

"Islamist," "Islamic," and Unintended Consequences

Establishment news services in America, when they must, often call Islamic crazies who kill people "Islamist" terrorists. This mincing around the unpleasant reality that some folks believe that they're defending Islam by killing people is, I hope, well-intentioned.

Just as some folks assume that the CIA blew up the World Trade Center, others seem convinced that all terrorists are Ay-rabs, that everybody in the Middle East follows Islam, and that all Muslims are terrorists. Or at least support terrorists. And, perhaps just as bad: aren't Americans.

I've posted about that sort of chauvinism before:

" 'Towelhead,' 'Retard,' and Talking Sense in a Global Society"
(February 24, 2009)
" 'They're all Muslims' - This Does Not Help"
(December 29, 2007)

I doubt - very much - that any euphemism will change the mind of a chauvinist. And euphemisms have a way of drawing attention to what they're dancing around. Think the way many still try not to use the word "sex," in many contexts - and that isn't quite another topic.

Outfits like Al Qaeda and the Taliban make no secret about being Muslims. They say they're waging a holy war. I think it's silly to pretend that they're not "Islamic," at least by their own definitions.

Unpleasant Realities - are Still Realities

Using a euphemism like "Islamist" may draw attention to warped religious beliefs of that particular lot of terrorists.¹ Think how terms like "collateral damage" and "friendly casualties" did nothing, at best, to make folks feel better about unpleasant realities of war.

Here in America, the shine seems to have worn off political correctness. Silly labels, occasionally ham-handed efforts to avoid "sexist" pronouns like s/he, and goofball neologisms like waitron: all failed to unite everyone in an affirming siblinghood of person.

It also made a fair number of folks in this country very tired of living in another person's fantasy world. I've opined about that, in another blog:

"Natural Moral Law, Catholicism, Karma, and the Tea Party"
A Catholic Citizen in America (October 16, 2010)

But - Norway's too Nice for Terror?

Quite a lot has changed since my Norwegian ancestors raided my Irish forebears - and most of the rest of Europe. Norway, and Sweden, have a reputation for being very nice places to live.

So, how could something like today's attack possibly happen in such a nice place? It's actually a sensible question.

There seems to be an assumption that nice places shouldn't have nasty experiences. It's jarring, when an unpleasant reality plows through that expectation.

"...Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel, said the building 'shook as if it had been struck by lightning or an earthquake.' He looked outside and saw 'a wall of debris and smoke.'

"Dutton, who is from New York, said the scene reminded him of Sept. 11 -- people 'just covered in rubble' walking through 'a fog of debris.'

" 'It wasn't any sort of a panic,' he said, 'It was really just people in disbelief and shock, especially in a such as safe and open country as Norway, you don't even think something like that is possible.'..."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

I sympathize with Mr. Dutton, and the folks in my ancestral homeland. It's a shock when parts of an orderly, civilized, society get blown to bits - along with some of the folks living in it.

But - trouble happens. Over two dozen centuries ago, someone made this observation:

"For mischief comes not out of the earth, nor does trouble spring out of the ground; ²But man himself begets mischief, as sparks fly upward."
(Job 5:6,7)

I've opined about that before, in another blog: A Catholic Citizen in America (September 6, 2010).

And yes: I'm one of those people. A practicing Catholic. Which may not mean what you've heard it does.

Finally, an example of labels and reality. These folks are Christians. Their group identifies itself with that label.

(Reuters photo, via FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)

They are not, however, typical Christians. Not even here in America. And that's another topic, for another blog.

Somewhat-related posts:

Assumptions
- "Today's World: Not Boring; Not Simple"
  (February 10, 2011)
- "Jared Loughner, Sarah Palin, James Eric Fuller, and Getting a Grip"
  (January 18, 2011)
- "Bombs in Rome: Another Flavor of Terrorist"
  (December 24, 2010)
- "Terror Bombing in Sweden: Troops, Cartoons, a Widow, and Questions"
  (December 16, 2010)
- "Guinea, Military Rule, and Terrorism: Beware Hasty Judgment"
  (December 29, 2008)
Hello, 21st century
- "Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
  (June 4, 2011)
- " 'Everybody Knows' Poverty Causes Terrorism: So How Come - - - ?"
  (January 7, 2010)
- "Terrorists as an Oppressed Class: That was Then, This is Now"
  (February 23, 2008)
- "A Better Class of Terrorist"
  (July 8, 2007)
- "Doctors, Terrorists, and the Proletariat: What's a Person to Think?"
  (July 3, 2007)

In the news:

"Police: Oslo bomb, camp shootings domestic terror"
Nils Myklebost, Forbes (July 22, 2011)
"Norway police official tells AP attacks in Norway don’t appear linked to Islamist terrorism"
Associated Press, via The Washington Post (July 22, 2011)
"Teenagers swam for their lives in Norway carnage"
Gwladys Fouche, Newslandet, via Edition: U.S., Reuters (July 22, 2011)
"At Least 16 Dead in Homegrown Terror Attacks on Norway Capital, Youth Camp"
Associated Press, via Foxnews.com (July 22, 2011)

¹ "Warped religious beliefs?" That's not entirely my view.

I think the habit of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, of killing folks who disagree, has started surviving Muslims thinking. That, and the way that Information Age technology lets folks compare old-world customs with post-18th-century law.

It'll take time for changes to happen, but I think significant numbers of Muslims are re-evaluating what they believe:

"Honor Killing is Against Islam, Islamic Party Members Say"
(September 7, 2008)
""Islam is a Peaceful Religion" 2"
(July 15, 2007)

"Digital Sabre-Rattling," "Complex Legal and Cultural Issues," and Heat-Related Deaths

2011-07-15T11:36:00.002-05:00

Part of the first paragraph in an op-ed makes my point pretty well:

"...The Pentagon revealed an unclassified version of its 'Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace.' And despite a drumbeat of scare talk and digital sabre-rattling in Washington, the document takes a measured, reasonable approach - focusing on good network hygiene and data-sharing, rather than bombing hackers into submission...."
(Noah Shachtman, Danger Room, Wired (July 14, 2011)

I've put longer excerpts at the end of this post.¹

I've also archived a copy of that unclassified document ("DoD Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace (DSOC)" (Department of Defense (July 14, 2011)), along with the text of their news release.²

"Digital Sabre-Rattling?"

I'm not sure if what the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had to say is part of that "drumbeat of scare talk and digital sabre-rattling in Washington" cited by Mr. Shachtman. General Cartwright's attitude certainly isn't a sort of nice, deferential, conciliatory posture toward folks who want to kill Americans.

"...'For the Department of Defense, our networks are really our lifeblood,' Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in an interview prior to Lynn's release of the new strategy....

"...'If it's OK to attack me and I'm not going to do anything other than improve my defenses every time you attack me, it's difficult' to stop that cycle, Cartwright said. 'There is no penalty for attacking (the U.S.) right now.' He added that a number of complex legal and cultural issues need to be sorted out before the Pentagon can devise a comprehensive offensive strategy.

"In response to an audience member's question after his speech, Lynn the White House could be expected to consider using military force in response to a cyberattack 'if there is massive damage, massive human losses, significant economic damage.'..."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com).³

Hack Attack: What's the Big Deal?

So far, major hack attacks on American targets have been - rather intellectual. Information has been stolen, folks have found it difficult to use a few online resources, and that's about it.

Even the personal data that's been stolen hasn't been all that serious. Sure, credit card numbers, email addresses, and financial records that were supposed to be personal, private, and not in the hands of whoever some anonymous hacker sold them to, went missing. But we're told that it's okay.

Since there apparently hasn't been a massive wave of identify theft, maybe those reassurances are true.

I certainly hope that's the case.

Sooner or later, though, someone's likely to try taking down the North American power grid. Some folks in China did a serious study of how that could be accomplished. Last year we were told that it's okay, though: the study was purely theoretical. Or maybe a big misunderstanding. Or something. That may be true. (March 20, 2010)

Major Blackout: What to Expect

Let's see what would happen if someone did decide to pull the plug on large parts of North America. Here's a sample of what we could expect:

"Stay safe during West Mich.'s heat wave"
Kyle Underwood, WOOD TV8 (July 15, 2011)

"...More Americans suffer heat-related deaths each year than from any other weather disaster. Many heat-caused fatalities are elderly folks who do not have access to air conditioning or a cooling center. Heat stroke and dehydration are also far more likely during heat waves...."
"Memphis man, 72, becomes third victim of summer heat"
Jody Callahan, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) (July 14, 2011)

"A 72-year-old man succumbed to the high temperatures Wednesday, becoming the third heat-related death so far this summer in the Memphis area, officials said today...."
"Heat blamed in five Alabama deaths since May"
Associated Press, via The Gadsden Times (July 14, 2011

"At least five deaths are being blamed on the hot weather in Alabama, and health officials said Thursday they fear the number could climb as temperatures soar...."
"Second heat-related death in St. Louis"
STLtoday.com (July 14, 2011)

"An 80-year-old woman whose air conditioner wasn't working properly became the city's second heat-related death this year, officials said Thursday...."
"With many hot days to come, suspected heat deaths hit nine"
Alan Bavley, The Kansas City Star (July 13, 2011 )

"With most of the summer still ahead, and a dangerously hot weekend in the forecast, the Kansas City area on Wednesday added another possible heat-related death, bringing the year's total to nine...."

"A Drumbeat of Scare Talk?"

I don't think that some nation, or terrorist group, will hack into the systems that maintain North America's electrical power supply: Almost certainly not today. Or even this weekend. Probably not this month. Or even this year.

Besides, six months from now, we wouldn't have to worry about not having power for air conditioners. Here in Minnesota, at least, it'd be power for heating systems that I'd be concerned about.

Maybe the power would come back on in a little less than 24 hours, like it did in the part of town where I live, after a storm went through recently. If that was the case, not many folks would die. Probably.

On the other hand, no power for days, weeks, maybe a month? During summer? Or winter? I'm pretty sure that quite a few folks would survive. Particularly those of us who are comparatively young, and healthy, and don't live in cities, and have access to basements. Or caves.

The rest of you? Well, maybe you'd survive. Or, maybe not.

Is recognizing that folks die when it gets too hot - or too cold - "a drumbeat of scare talk?" I'd say it depends on how the ideas are presented.

Me? I'm trying to point out that there really is a threat. And that some folks, like the lot that run Al Qaeda and the Taliban, don't seem to respond all that well to polite requests.

Related posts:

"China and Google: 'Shut Up Or We'll Hurt You' "
(June 6, 2011)
"L-3 Communications, Grumman: Hack Attack"
(June 1, 2011)
"Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
(May 31, 2011)
"China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
(March 20, 2010)
"Pentagon Computers Hacked - Joint Strike Fighter Project Data This Time"
(April 21, 2009)

News and views:

"Pentagon Makes Love, Not Cyber War, in New Strategy"
Noah Shachtman, Danger Room, Wired (July 14, 2011)
"Pentagon Discloses Largest-Ever Cyber Theft"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 14, 2011)

¹Excerpts from yesterday's news and views:

"Pentagon Makes Love, Not Cyber War, in New Strategy"
Noah Shachtman, Danger Room, Wired (July 14, 2011)

"For one day, at least, you can call off the cyberwar. The Pentagon revealed an unclassified version of its 'Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace.' And despite a drumbeat of scare talk and digital sabre-rattling in Washington, the document takes a measured, reasonable approach - focusing on good network hygiene and data-sharing, rather than bombing hackers into submission.

"The question is whether this public summary conveys what's actually in the classified strategy, or reflects the real mood of the Department of Defense.

" 'DoD would like to be much more aggressive in what it says and how it acts,' says a source familiar with the development of the strategy. 'But that tendency to be aggressive has been reined in by the State Department, Treasury, and the White House, and not in an unreasonable way.'

"Listen to the talk inside the Washington Beltway - and especially within the Pentagon — and you'd think hackers were about to reach their hands through our computers, and strangle us all in our sleep....
"Pentagon Discloses Largest-Ever Cyber Theft"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 14, 2011)

"The Pentagon on Thursday revealed that in the spring it suffered one of its largest losses ever of sensitive data in a cyberattack by a foreign government. It's a dramatic example of why the military is pursuing a new strategy emphasizing deeper defenses of its computer networks, collaboration with private industry and new steps to stop "malicious insiders."

William Lynn, the deputy secretary of defense, said in a speech outlining the strategy that 24,000 files containing Pentagon data were stolen from a defense industry computer network in a single intrusion in March. He offered no details about what was taken but in an interview before the speech he said the Pentagon believes the attacker was a foreign government. He didn't say which nation.

"We have a pretty good idea" who did it, Lynn said the interview. He would not elaborate.

Many cyberattacks in the past have been blamed on China or Russia. One of the Pentagon's fears is that eventually a terrorist group, with less at stake than a foreign government, will acquire the ability to not only penetrate U.S. computer networks to steal data but to attack them in ways that damage U.S. defenses or even cause deaths...."

²Department of Defense News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 608-11
July 14, 2011

"DOD Announces First Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace

"The Department of Defense released today the DoD Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace (DSOC). It is the first DoD unified strategy for cyberspace and officially encapsulates a new way forward for DoD's military, intelligence and business operations.

"'It is critical to strengthen our cyber capabilities to address the cyber threats we're facing,' said Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta. 'I view this as an area in which we're going to confront increasing threats in the future and think we have to be better prepared to deal with the growing cyber challenges that will face the nation.'

"Reliable access to cyberspace is critical to U.S. national security, public safety and economic well-being. Cyber threats continue to grow in scope and severity on a daily basis. More than 60,000 new malicious software programs or variations are identified every day threatening our security, our economy and our citizens.

"“The cyber threats we face are urgent, sometimes uncertain and potentially devastating as adversaries constantly search for vulnerabilities,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III. 'Our infrastructure, logistics network and business systems are heavily computerized. With 15,000 networks and more than seven million computing devices, DoD continues to be a target in cyberspace for malicious activity.'

"The DoD and other governmental agencies have taken steps to anticipate, mitigate and deter these threats. Last year, DoD established U.S. Cyber Command to direct the day-to-day activities that operate and defend DoD information networks. DoD also deepened and strengthened coordination with the Department of Homeland Security to secure critical networks as evidenced by the recent DoD-DHS Memorandum of Agreement.

" 'Strong partnerships with other U.S. government departments and agencies, the private sector and foreign nations are crucial,' said Lynn. 'Our success in cyberspace depends on a robust public/private partnership. The defense of the military will matter little unless our civilian critical infrastructure is also able to withstand attacks.' "

³Longer excerpt:

"...'For the Department of Defense, our networks are really our lifeblood,' Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in an interview prior to Lynn's release of the new strategy....

"...Lynn said intrusions in the last few years have compromised some of the Pentagon's most sensitive systems, including surveillance technologies and satellite communications systems. Penetrations of defense industry networks have targeted a wide swath of military hardware, including missile tracking systems and drone aircraft, he said.

"In Cartwright's view, a largely defensive approach to the problem is inadequate. He said the Pentagon currently is focused 90 percent on defensive measures and 10 percent on offense; the balance should be the reverse, he said. For the federal government as a whole, a 50-50 split would be about right, Cartwright argued.

" 'If it's OK to attack me and I'm not going to do anything other than improve my defenses every time you attack me, it's difficult' to stop that cycle, Cartwright said. 'There is no penalty for attacking (the U.S.) right now.' He added that a number of complex legal and cultural issues need to be sorted out before the Pentagon can devise a comprehensive offensive strategy.

"In response to an audience member's question after his speech, Lynn the White House could be expected to consider using military force in response to a cyberattack 'if there is massive damage, massive human losses, significant economic damage.'..."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

Pakistan, American Aid: What a Mess

2011-07-10T13:07:00.006-05:00

This excerpt from today's news shouldn't be a surprise:

"Pakistan: US suspends $800m of military aid"
BBC News South Asia (July 10, 2011)

"The US says it is withholding some $800m in military aid to Pakistan.

"White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley told ABC television that Pakistan had 'taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid'.

"He said the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in May had affected ties but he insisted the relationship 'must be made to work over time'.

"The $800m (£500m) equates to about a third of the annual US security aid to Pakistan, US officials say.

"In figures submitted to the International Monetary Fund last autumn, Pakistan's defence expenditure in its 2010-2011 budget was put at $6.41bn - an increase of $1.27bn on the previous year...."

'Good Guys,' 'Bad Guys,' and Getting a Grip

There's no shortage of assumptions a person could make about the U.S.-Pakistan situation. Here's a short list of possibilities:

Evil America shields guilty Pakistan
- And isn't really withholding the money
- See:
  - "India, Mumbai, and the Pakistan Connection: Following Facts"
    (December 31, 2008)
Wicked America is punishing innocent Pakistan
- And shielding Hindu terrorists
- Crazy? Depends on your point of view
- See:
  - "India, Mumbai, and the Pakistan Connection: Following Facts"
    (December 31, 2008)
Intolerant America is punishing Pakistan for bravely demonstrating
- A few Pakistanis burned an American flag

That's just scratching the surface. My guess is that by now, everyone from the CIA and the Illuminati to space aliens and Zionists have been fingered as the 'real' cause of Pakistan's latest setback.

I'm inclined to think that Pakistan's alleged national government discovered that being 'important' to American foreign policy doesn't mean being immune to cause and effect.

I've discussed Pakistan's remarkable talent for not noticing Osama bin Laden's compound and support staff before. Also American insensitivity to the Pakistani custom of letting terrorists know when and where a raid is going to happen.

Cultural Sensitivity / Making Allowances

Seriously, I recognize that the lot who say they're really Pakistani's national government are in an awkward position. And that they can't, for economic, political, historical, cultural, and military reasons control more than a few parts of a few cities - most of the time. And some parts of the rest of the country - some of the time.

When doing so won't offend tribal leaders, Al Qaeda, Taliban supporters, or assorted other interested parties, of course.

As I said, Pakistan's alleged national leaders are in an awkward position.

That doesn't necessarily make them 'good guys,' or 'bad guys.' But it doesn't make them reliable allies, either.

Maybe someday, when the movers and shakers in that part of the world decide to edge their way into the 18th century - - -

Lessons Learned

As I've said before, I don't think America - or any other country - is perfect. This country does, however, learn from its mistakes. Slowly, sometimes - but we do learn.

For example, America's leaders seem to have learned something from the 20th century's Cold War. We discovered, finally, that backing trigger-happy warlords, or occasionally-deluded despots, is a really bad idea. In the long run. Even if - maybe particularly if - they claim to be 'pro-democracy.'

That may explain why the United States is withholding some money - instead of apologizing to Pakistani leaders for finding bin Laden; and trying to protect them from terrorists. Terrorists they have taken in as guests.

Pakistan and America: Now What?

I don't think American can completely withdraw from Pakistan.

Attractive as the idea of pretending that the rest of the world isn't there may be - America lives in the 21st century. If there was ever an era when a nation could make believe that nobody else existed - - - this isn't it.

Like it or not, Pakistan is between India and the Middle East, China and Africa, and fairly centrally located for all but the American continents. On top of that, somebody with government connections in Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and there doesn't seem to be anybody - alleged national leaders, tribal heads, or terrorists - who really has control of the territory.

They don't even seem to have worked out the sort of dynamic stability that places like the United Kingdom and the United States manage, when it comes to local/regional/national control.

America, Western countries, and anybody else who doesn't want a worse mess to start - simply can't afford to let Pakistan collapse on its own. Even if ethical issues weren't involved, America's interests are involved when it comes to keeping Pakistani leaders from ruining their country.

Related posts:

"Pakistan, America, Cultural Sensitivity, and Giving Terrorists a Break"
(June 19, 2011)
"CIA Informants Snatched in Pakistan - My Take"
(June 15, 2011)
"Osama bin Laden: Questions, Answers, and Opinions"
(May 4, 2011)
"Pakistan, YouTube, Censorship and the Sixties"
(May 20, 2010)
"Pakistan's Bosses Diverted Money Earmarked for Military: No Surprise, But Quite a Disappointment"
(October 5, 2009)

In the news:

"U.S. Slashes $800 Million in Military Aid to Pakistan"
Imtiyaz Delawala, ABC News (July 10, 2011)
"US holding back Pakistan military aid"
AFP, via The Sydney Morning Herald (July 11, 2011) (It's 'tomorrow' there by now)
"U.S. Suspends $800 Million in Pakistan Aid"
Associated Press, via The Wall Street Journal (July 10, 2011)
"Pakistan: US suspends $800m of military aid"
BBC News South Asia (July 10, 2011)

Pakistan, America, Cultural Sensitivity, and Giving Terrorists a Break

2011-06-19T12:02:00.007-05:00

Pakistan's national leadership - or folks in that outfit - may be in an awkward situation. What passes for a national government in Pakistan apparently controls at least most of the capital city, and parts of some others - except, apparently, for places like the neighborhood where Osama bin Laden had an estate-size semi-fortified compound that nobody noticed.(May 4, 2011)

Nobody, that is, except for some folks who are now arrested (or not) by the alleged government of Pakistan. (June 15, 2011) And that's another topic.

Apparently, when it comes to places outside Islamabad and a few other parts of the country, Pakistan's national government has to tell tribal leaders when the national military is going to do something.

Like attack terrorists who are guests of the tribal leaders.

States' Rights, Pakistani Style?

In a way, I can see why coordinating with tribal leaders could be a good idea. Maybe Pakistan is organized sort of like the 13 colonies were, under the Articles of Confederation, after we booted George III's agents out: before we scrapped the Articles, and hammered out the Constitution that we've been tweaking ever since.

That said, Pakistan's nominal national government doesn't seem like a particularly reliable outfit. Individuals working for the government may realize that America and other western powers aren't as hard on Pakistanis as the Taliban - but the government as a whole seems to be inept. At best.

'Trust - But Verify'

After two attacks on terrorist installations found recently-evacuated sites, American officials thought they'd see what happened when they shared intelligence with Pakistani officials, a third time, and a fourth:

"...In the tradition of 'trust but verify,' the Americans carefully monitored the area with satellite and unmanned drones, to see what would happen, after sharing the information a third and fourth time, the officials said.

"In each case, they watched the militants depart within 24 hours, taking any weapons or bomb-making materials with them, just as militants had done the first two times. Only then, did they watch the Pakistani military visit each site, when the terror suspects and their wares were long gone, the officials said....
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

I've put a longer excerpt from that article at the end of this post.¹

No wonder Pakistani officials were upset, offended, insulted, and generally displeased when American officials said that somebody had talked.

Of course somebody had talked: those Americans were going to attack guests of tribal leaders. Guests who might start killing Pakistanis, again, the next time they were in a snit: but guests.

As American professors were so fond of pointing out: Ugly Americans have absolutely no respect for the cultural values of others. And that's another topic. Topics.

Related posts:

"CIA Informants Snatched in Pakistan - My Take"
(June 15, 2011)
"Pakistan, YouTube, Censorship and the Sixties"
(May 20, 2010)
"Pakistan Arrests (Alleged) Times Square Bomber's Financial Backers - By Jove! I Think They've Got It!"
(May 15, 2010)
"Pakistan's Bosses Diverted Money Earmarked for Military: No Surprise, But Quite a Disappointment"
(October 5, 2009)
"Pakistan: Cricket Fans Not Pleased"
(March 4, 2009)
Particularly

In the news:

"U.S. Officials: Pakistanis Tip Off Militants Again"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (June 18, 2011)

¹Excerpt from yesterday's news:

"U.S. officials say Pakistan has apparently tipped off militants at two more bomb-building factories in its tribal areas, giving the terror suspects time to flee, after U.S. intelligence shared the locations with the Pakistani government.

"U.S. officials believe Pakistan's insistence on seeking local tribal elders' permission before raiding the areas may have most directly contributed to the militants' flight. U.S. officials have pushed for Pakistan to keep the location of such targets secret prior to the operations, but the Pakistanis say their troops cannot enter the lawless regions without giving the locals notice.

"The U.S. officials explained Saturday how they first offered the location of the third, and then the fourth site, in order to give Pakistan another chance to prove it could be trusted to go after the militants.

"In the tradition of 'trust but verify,' the Americans carefully monitored the area with satellite and unmanned drones, to see what would happen, after sharing the information a third and fourth time, the officials said.

"In each case, they watched the militants depart within 24 hours, taking any weapons or bomb-making materials with them, just as militants had done the first two times. Only then, did they watch the Pakistani military visit each site, when the terror suspects and their wares were long gone, the officials said....

"...The [Pakistani] official admitted that in each raid, however, the Pakistani security services notified the local elders who hold sway in the tribal regions. The official said they would investigate U.S. charges that the militants had been tipped off.

"Two U.S. officials said they were asking the Pakistanis to withhold such sensitive information from the elders, and even their lower ranks, to prove they could be trusted to keep a secret, and go after U.S. enemies....

"...U.S. officials have also accused Pakistan of holding up to five Pakistani nationals accused of helping the CIA spy on the Abbottabad compound in advance of the bin Laden raid...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

CIA Informants Snatched in Pakistan - My Take

2011-06-15T11:21:00.003-05:00

Pakistan's arrested CIA informants - folks who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden. Who had been living in a slightly-fortified compound in a medium-size city about 31 miles from Islamabad.

I don't know - and don't have enough information to guess - whether the people who were arrested really were arrested: or whether the whole thing is some kind of plot. My guess is that they really were snatched, but maybe someone in Pakistan's leadership wants someone else to look bad. Or maybe a clerk didn't get treated the way he likes, and made up the story to get even. I doubt that - but it's possible.

Brigadier General Syed Azmat Ali says that a major wasn't arrested.¹ Maybe the major isn't a major any more - and so the Brigadier General's statement, "we ... deny that any such or any army officer..." is true. Now.

Or maybe the Brigadier General wants to live to see next year - or has family he's protecting.

From what I understand, the ISI is - really - what never-left-the-'60s liberals think the CIA is like. (December 27, 2008)

For the moment, I'm assuming that at least five people who helped the CIA find bin Laden are being held by the ISI. Or somebody with the muscle to pull a job like that, and have a Brigadier General provide an alibi.

What I don't know - and don't have enough information to guess - is whether the folks who've been snatched were targeted because they finked on bin Laden, or because they told the CIA instead of the 'right people' in Pakistan.

If this makes it seem like I don't have the highest regard for the folks who run various parts of Pakistan - you're perceptive. In my opinion, Pakistan is in better shape than Somalia: but it's just barely a "nation." More like a territory run by a feuding collection of tribal leaders, terrorists, warlords, and the occasional allegedly-elected official.

In the news:

"PAKISTAN'S ISI spy agency has arrested at least five CIA informants who helped lead US commandos to Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound, highlighting the deepening fractures in the alliance.

"The five Pakistani informants, including an army major believed to have noted down the number plates of all vehicles that visited the Abbottabad compound, had been taken into custody, US officials confirmed to The New York Times yesterday.

"Last week, Pakistani army chief Ashfaq Parvaz Kayani announced he was ending all US military counter-insurgency training of his country's soldiers and imposing new restrictions on intelligence sharing between the nations...."
(The Australian)
"Pakistan's intelligence service has arrested the owner of a safe house rented to the CIA to observe Usama bin Laden's compound before the U.S. raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader, as well as a 'handful' of other Pakistanis, a U.S. official said late Tuesday.

"In Pakistan, a Western official confirmed a New York Times report that five of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the CIA before the May 2 bin Laden raid were arrested by Pakistan's top military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, known as ISI.

"The officials spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

"Osama bin Laden: Questions, Answers, and Opinions"
(May 4, 2011)
"Pakistan, YouTube, Censorship and the Sixties"
(May 20, 2010)
"Pakistan Arrests (Alleged) Times Square Bomber's Financial Backers - By Jove! I Think They've Got It!"
(May 15, 2010)
"Pakistan's Bosses Diverted Money Earmarked for Military: No Surprise, But Quite a Disappointment"
(October 5, 2009)
"Pakistan, India, Mumbai, Nuclear Weapons, and Pashtunistan: Simple This Isn't"
(December 27, 2008)

In the news:

"Pakistan arrests CIA informants"
Amanda Hodge, The Australian (June 16, 2011) It's 2:21 a.m., June 16, 2011, as I'm posting this)
"Pakistani Forces Arrest CIA Informants Who Led U.S. to Usama Bin Laden"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (June 15, 2011)
"Pakistan Denies Arresting Army Major for US Ties"
VOA News, Voice of America (June 15, 2011)

¹ From VOA News:

"A report in Wednesday's New York Times quotes unnamed U.S. intelligence officials as saying Pakistan has arrested five people, including a Pakistani military official, accused of passing information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency prior to last month's U.S. raid in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. The Times report exposes the growing friction between the U.S. and Pakistan in the wake of that operation.

"The New York Times article cites unnamed sources in the American intelligence community who claim that the five detainees include a Pakistani army major who copied the license plate numbers of cars visiting Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in the weeks leading up to the May 2 U.S. raid.

"Pakistani military spokesman Brigadier General Syed Azmat Ali emphasized that no Pakistani military personnel have been detained in relation to the Abbottabad raid.

" 'We categorically deny that any such or any army officer was arrested in connection with this,' said Azmat Ali...."
(VOA News)

What Sony, Nintendo, and Congress, have In Common

2011-06-14T08:18:00.030-05:00

Correction (June 15, 2011)
Editing this post, I moved the AP/FoxNews quote explaining the title to the footnote 1. That quote is now where it belongs, in the body of the post. Oops.
(a tip of the hat to Brigid)

Looks like the U.S. Senate's website was hacked. That's the bad news.

The good news is that it's the Senate's public site, and apparently nothing sensitive was lost or stolen.

Some not-so-good news is that part of the problem seems to be inside the Senate:

"...The vulnerability was traced to a part of the Senate site that is maintained by an individual Senate office, which Bradford did not name. Each senator and committee maintains its own presence on Senate.gov and may not adequately protect the site, she [the Senate's Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Martina Bradford] said...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

This hack attack isn't China's doing - a group of hackers called Lulz Security says they're responsible. I suppose they could be fronting for China - or the CIA - or shape-shifting, space-alien lizard men, but I don't think that's likely.

Lulz Security's stated motives are pretty clear, and part of a familiar pattern:

"...'We don't like the US government very much,' the website wrote atop the file. 'Their sites aren't very secure.

" 'In an attempt to help them fix their issues ... this is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from Senate.gov,' the site added. 'Is this an act of war, gentlemen? Problem?'..."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

Lulz Security doesn't just hack into the U.S. government, apparently:

"...The group has claimed credit for hacking into the systems of Sony and Nintendo and for defacing the PBS website after the public television broadcaster aired a documentary seen as critical of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

I put more from that article at the end of this post.¹

I'm no adoring fan of the United States Congress. On consideration, I'd rather live in America than anywhere else - and I think our form of government, on the whole, works adequately well. But I also wish that members of congress would display common sense more consistently. I've discussed hyperventilating rhetoric before - in and out of Congress. (June 11, 2011)

Other congressional deficiencies - I've been over that in another blog:

"Morality, Wisdom, and Getting a Grip"
A Catholic Citizen in America (June 3, 2011)

That's partly about the Wiener debacle, so if you think Representative Wiener is the best thing that ever happened to New York state, you probably won't like the post.

Now, about the latest hack and getting a grip.

Briefly:

This hack is
- Embarrassing
- Not, apparently, a serious threat
- A useful wake-up call
  - Maybe
One Senate office dropped the (security) ball
- Spear phishing?
- Something else?
Cyberwar?
- Probably not
Alternatively-responsible?
- Yes
  - In my opinion
Ideology isn't an excuse for bad behavior
- In my opinion

I've written about that sort of thing before.

Related posts:

"IMF Hacked, Again - or - 'This isn't Cyberwar: It Just Acts Like Cyberwar'?!"
(June 11, 2011)
"Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
(June 4, 2011)
"L-3 Communications, Grumman: Hack Attack"
(June 1, 2011)
"Lockheed Martin Corp, SecureIDs, EMC, and All That"
(May 28, 2011)
"WikiLeaks, Killing People Who don't Agree, and Living in the Real World"
(July 30, 2010)

In the news:

"Notorious Hacker Group Breaks Into Senate Server"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (June 13, 2011)

¹ From yesterday's news:

"A band of computer hackers who pride themselves on attacking vulnerable networks for fun accessed a Senate server that supports the chamber's public website but did not breach other files, a Capitol Hill law enforcement official said Monday. The hackers said the release was a 'just for kicks' attempt to help the government 'fix their issues.'

" 'Although this intrusion is inconvenient, it does not compromise the security of the Senate's network, its members or staff,' Senate Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Martina Bradford said in a statement.

"A hacking cooperative that goes by Lulz Security claimed that it had added a Senate file to its list of successful, high-profile intrusions at a time when governments and corporations are on high guard for cyber intrusions...."

"...'We don't like the US government very much,' the website wrote atop the file. "Their sites aren't very secure.

" 'In an attempt to help them fix their issues ... this is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from Senate.gov,' the site added. 'Is this an act of war, gentlemen? Problem?'..."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (June 13, 2011))

Business-As-Usual in Bahrain: Poet Imprisoned

2011-06-12T12:25:00.003-05:00

Ever wish people would stop criticizing the President?

Think 'there oughtta be a law' against saying bad things about America? Or Australia, or India, or whichever country you call "home?"

Some countries work that way:

"Bahrain tries ex-lawmakers, imprisons poet"
CNN (June 12, 2011)

"...Meanwhile, poet Ayat al-Qormozi, 20, was found guilty of assembling at Pearl Roundabout, the epicenter of anti-government demonstrations in the kingdom earlier this year. Additional charges included speaking out against Bahrain and the king.

"The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said she read a poem criticizing government policy at the Roundabout.

"Mubarak, the government official, said Bahrain had freedom of speech, but that there were limits.

" 'Freedom of speech in this country has its boundaries and cannot touch on the leadership, and cannot call for the overthrow of the government,' he said.

"Her poem, he said, 'caused incitement and hatred to his majesty the king and to the prime minister' with lines such as 'we are people who kill humiliation' and 'assassinate misery.'..."

I think it's reasonable, in America, that calling for the overthrow of our government to be illegal.

That's what we have elections for - to swap out the current nitwits for new ones, who at least may do less damage.

Laws against criticizing the government? That makes revolution sound more reasonable. As I recall, that's part of why colonists got fed up with George III's administration, back when.

And that isn't, quite, another topic.

Related posts:

"Libya, Syria, Bahrain: Journalists Uncooperative; 'the Masses' Worse"
(March 29, 2011)
"Bahrain, Foreign Troops, and - Maybe - the Last Stand of Kings"
(March 18, 2011)
"Bahrain, Libya: My Take on the News"
(February 19, 2011)
"Bahrain, Libya: My Take on the News"
(February 19, 2011)
"Bahrain and the Information Age"
(February 19, 2011)

IMF Hacked, Again - or - 'This isn't Cyberwar: It Just Acts Like Cyberwar'?!

2011-06-11T23:03:00.005-05:00

I really hope that the key people who may have clicked the wrong link, or opened the wrong attachment, are a trifle less clueless than Dilbert's manager:

Still, there have been a lot of hack attacks so far this year.

Big ones:

Sony
Lockheed Martin
Oak Ridge
L-3 Communications
Grumman
(see June 1, 2011)

Now we hear that the IMF's network has been compromised.

Again.

I hope I don't seem overly-concerned: but it's hard for me to shake the impression that all is not well with corporate and government information networks. Sure: Hacking Sony's Playstation database isn't quite like the International Monitory Fund network leaking. I include Sony's cyber-security woes in that list, because ideally a company as savvy as Sony shouldn't have let that happen.

Something, I think, has gone wrong with too many major commercial and government networks this year.

So, do I think it's time to run in circles and scream like a demented cat? No: That does not appear to be a reasonable approach.

On the other hand, I very sincerely hope that the White House cyber security coordinator has some response in mind. Besides calling cyber war a "turbo metaphor:" one that doesn't quite fit the sort of espionage we've been seeing. I think he's got a point, by the way, about staying calm:

"Emotions, the Frontal Cortex, The War on Terror, Anarchists, and the Illuminati"
(December 23, 2008)

Here's what got me started with this post:

"IMF hit by 'very major' cyber security attack"
US & Canada, BBC News (June 11, 2011)

"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has been targeted by a sophisticated cyber attack.

"Officials at the fund gave few details but said the attack earlier this year had been 'a very major breach' of its systems, the New York Times reports.

"Cyber security officials said the hack was designed to install software to create a 'digital insider presence'.

"The IMF, which holds sensitive economic data about many countries, said its operations were fully functional.

"The cyber attack took place over several months, and happened before former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested over sexual assault charges...."

"...A cyber security expert told Reuters the infiltration had been a targeted attack, which installed software designed to give a nation state a 'digital insider presence' at the IMF.

" 'The code was developed and released for this purpose,' said Tom Kellerman, who has worked for the Fund...."

'Epidemic' Sounds Dramatic

I think there are a whole lot of hack attacks happening - major ones - this year. I also am a little cautious when someone uses emotive terms like "epidemic."

Still, these anonymous "experts" may be right.

"Targeted cyber attacks an 'epidemic'"
Maggie Shiels, Technology, BBC News (June 2, 2011)

"The targeted attack used by hackers to compromise e-mail accounts of top US officials is reaching 'epidemic' proportions, say security experts.

"The scam, known as spear phishing, was used in a bid to get passwords of Gmail accounts so they could be monitored.

"Via a small number of customised messages it tries to trick people into visiting a web page that looks genuine so users type in login names.

"Such attacks are often aimed at top officials or chief executives.

"Such attacks are not new, say security professionals, but they are becoming more commonplace.

" 'What is happening more and more is the targeting of a couple of high value individuals with the one goal of acquiring valuable information and valuable data,' said Dan Kaminsky, chief scientist at security firm DKH...."

'This isn't War - It Just Acts Like War?!'

Or, famous last words?

"Cyber war threat exaggerated claims security expert"
Maggie Shiels, Technology, BBC News (February 16, 2011)

"The threat of cyber warfare is greatly exaggerated, according to a leading security expert.

"Bruce Schneier claims that emotive rhetoric around the term does not match the reality.

"He warned that using sensational phrases such as 'cyber armageddon' only inflames the situation.

"Mr Schneier, who is chief security officer for BT, is due to address the RSA security conference in San Francisco this week

"Speaking ahead of the event, he told BBC News that there was a power struggle going on, involving a 'battle of metaphors'.

"He suggested that the notion of a cyber war was based on several high-profile incidents from recent years.

"They include blackouts in Brazil in 1998, attacks by China on Google in 2009 and the Stuxnet virus that attacked Iran's nuclear facilities.

"He also pointed to the fallout from Wikileaks and the hacking of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's e-mail.

" 'What we are seeing is not cyber war but an increasing use of war-like tactics and that is what is confusing us...'..."

"...His point of view was backed by Howard Schmidt, cyber security co-ordinator for the White House.

" 'We really need to define this word because words do matter,' said Mr Schmidt.

" 'Cyber war is a turbo metaphor that does not address the issues we are looking at like cyber espionage, cyber crime, identity theft, credit card fraud...."

Okay: no turbo metaphors.

The IMF has been hacked. Again.

American defense contractors have been hacked. Several Times. This year. And the year isn't half-over yet.

Still, it could be worse.

Hey, the North American power grid is still working: right?

So, hey: how bad can it get? (June 1, 2011)

Like I said: Famous last words?

Related posts:

"Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
(June 4, 2011)
"Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
(May 31, 2011)
"China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
(March 20, 2010)
"International Monetary Fund Allegedly Hacked - And It's Not News"
(November 14, 2008)
"Lehman Collapsed, the World Bank's Been Hacked, General Motor's not Bankrupt - Maybe: What a Mess!"
(October 12, 2008)

In the news:

"IMF hit by 'very major' cyber security attack"
US & Canada, BBC News (June 11, 2011)

Chinese Fishing Boats, Vietnamese Live Fire Drill: Why I Care

2011-06-10T13:47:00.008-05:00

Historically, China has been the home of a great civilization. For most of America's history, though, China was a place where leaders had trouble with their subjects, famines, and foreign occupation. Then Chairman Mao had a shot (literally, in some cases) at making China another 'workers paradise.'¹

Mao and his successors were about as successful, in my opinion, as anybody else at making a system that looks good on paper work in the real world.

More recently, China's leaders have apparently decided that catching up with countries that use market-oriented economies is more important than ideological purity. That, I think, is good news. Particularly for folks living in China.

What doesn't seem to have changed so much is a parochial set of assumptions about China and foreigners.² In my opinion.

Which brings me to something I read in the news this morning:

Vietnam, China, Fishing Boats, and Live Ammo

Chinese leaders are under the impression that they own the South China Sea, as far south as Brunei. That doesn't include a narrow line of water on the western shores of the Philippines, or a somewhat wider strip off the Vietnamese shore.

Most of the rest of the world - including the United States - recognize national economic boundaries as a strip of ocean 200 nautical miles wide. That boundary was set by the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Maybe you heard that the running dog capitalist oppressors hadn't ratified UNCLOS. Ratified, no: recognize, yes.³

Vietnam seems to think it's okay to operate within its UNCLOS boundaries.

Which brings me to something I read this morning:

"Vietnam plans live-fire drill amid South China Sea row"
BBC News (June 10, 2011)

"Vietnam has said it will hold live-fire exercises in the South China Sea amid escalating tensions with China over disputed waters.

"Vietnam warned vessels to stay out of the area off its central coast when it conducts the drills on Monday.

"It follows a verbal clash with China over sovereignty in the area.

"China reacted angrily after Vietnam said a Chinese fishing boat rammed cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone.

"Beijing said Chinese fishing boats were chased away by armed Vietnamese ships in the incident on Thursday...."

From that point on, the BBC News piece gives detail about what may be a sort of 'he said/she said' snit on an international scale. China claims that one of their poor, helpless fishing boats was cruelly dragged for an hour by the uncaring Vietnamese. Not in quite those terms - but I gather that China's claiming to be the victim here.

They may be right.

Or, maybe not.

I don't know.

I'm no greater fan of Vietnam's current leadership, than I am of China's. Although Vietnam's bosses also seem to have realized that their old-school economic policies simply weren't working.⁴ And that's another topic.

Vietnam and China in a Snit: So What?

The South China Sea isn't quite as far away from Minnesota as you can get from Minnesota, and still be on Earth - but it's close. In the 'good old days,' I might never have heard of the altercation between Vietnam and China.

This isn't the 'good old days.' And even then it might have made a difference to folks here in central North America. Particularly if the folks running China and Vietnam decide to let what happened grow into a shooting war.

I don't know how likely an armed confrontation is - but I am pretty sure that China's leadership has decided to get China back to the top of the heap in world affairs.

I don't have a problem with China returning to the prosperity and cultural achievements of its past - with upgrades. From my point of view, that means more markets for American producers - and maybe more tourists in Minnesota's lake country.

What I am concerned about is the possibility that China's leaders may not quite realize what century they're at - and that quite a few folks now think it's impolite to march an army into somebody else's territory and say that you've 'liberated' it.

There are some who think getting a little empire to call your own is still okay, of course. And that's yet another topic.⁵

Related posts:

China
- "China and Google: 'Shut Up Or We'll Hurt You' "
  (June 6, 2011)
- "China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
  (March 20, 2010)
- "China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters' "
  (July 19, 2009)
- "Chinese Anti-Carrier Missile: Cause for Concern"
  (March 31, 2009)
- "Forget the Olympics For Now: China's Secret Submarine Base is Serious"
  (May 2, 2008)
Living in the Information Age
- "France and Online Social Media: Dealing With E-Mail and Other Threats"
  (June 6, 2011)
- "L-3 Communications, Grumman: Hack Attack"
  (June 1, 2011)
- "Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
  (May 31, 2011)
- "Lockheed Martin, Oak Ridge, Spear Phishing, and Common Sense"
  (May 29, 2011)
- "Lockheed Martin Corp, SecureIDs, EMC, and All That"
  (May 28, 2011)

In the news:

"Vietnam plans live-fire drill amid South China Sea row"
BBC News (June 10, 2011)

¹ "China," CIA World Factbook (last updated May 26, 2011)

² I've discussed what China seems to believe, before:

"Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
(June 4, 2011)
" 'Everybody Knows' That Americans are Arrogant"
(February 17, 2010)

³ "United States non-ratification of the UNCLOS," Wikipedia (last modified 24 May 2011)

Note:

"...Although the United States now recognizes the UNCLOS as a codification of customary international law, it has not yet ratified it...."
(United States non-ratification of the UNCLOS," Wikipedia) [emphasis mine]

⁴ "Vietnam," CIA World Factbook (last updated June 7, 2011)

⁵ Yankee imperialism, real or imagined, still seems to be anathema in American academia. There seems to be a little sympathy for the 'right sort' wanting little empires to call their own, though:

"'Quagmire's' Back: Georgia, Russia, NATO, Bush, and the Blame Game"
(August 24, 2008)
Particularly
- Russian Imperialism is Okay?!
- Anonymous comment of August 28, 2008

Maps:

Pacific Ocean

(Pacific, CIA World Factbook, used w/o permission)

South China Sea, disputed boundaries

(BBC News, UNCLOS, CIA, used w/o permission)

China

(China, CIA World Factbook, used w/o permission)

I added the approximate South China Sea UNCLOS boundary to the CIA World Factbook map.

United States - UNCLOS

(United States, CIA World Factbook, used w/o permission)

For comparison, I added the approximate UNCLOS boundary to this map of the United States. America is in the happy position of having two of the planet's largest oceans on its two major coasts. The east and west coasts both face other nations: but they're thousands of miles away.

United States - Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) boundary

(ary 05, 2010 - Arguments About the Arctic Heat Up As the Ice Melts, UC Santa Barbara Geography / News & Events / Department News, used w/o permission)

This map is an illustration of another sort of politico-economic boundary involving the United States. It's part of a standard-issue piece on the 'global warming gonna kill us all' theme - but I think the map is a useful illustration for comparing American boundary issues and China's.

Additional background:

CIA World Factbook
- "Pacific Ocean"
  (last updated November 17, 2010)
- "United States"
  (last updated June 6, 2011)

Delta Air Lines, American Soldiers, and a Baggage SNAFU

2011-06-08T14:11:00.005-05:00

My guess is that most folks boarding an airliner don't have an assault rifle, a grenade launcher and a 9-mm. pistol in their carry-on luggage.

But then, most folks boarding an airliner aren't returning from duty in Afghanistan.

It looks like Delta Air Lines took hundreds of dollars from individual soldiers in exchange for letting them carry their luggage into the plane. Or, rather, tried to take.

American soldiers apparently don't usually carry that sort of cash with them - my guess is that somebody in the unit worked out a deal to keep the airline happy and still get everybody home.

On their way back, two soldiers made a short video, and posted it on YouTube. That's it, on your right, reduced to fit this blog's format.

"Delta airlines welcomes Soldiers home.3GP"
spcrobohair, YouTube (June 7, 2011)
video, 2:58

I think it's worth listening to. So did quite a few other folks, it seems. By the time I was done with the three-minute interview, 204,583 folks had viewed it.

Not the Best Publicity for Delta

About the best explanation for this mess may be that there was a massive lack of communication, somewhere.

Delta has acknowledged that the incident happened, explained their position: and it looks like the soldiers may eventually get reimbursed for the money they lost. That's nice.

On the other hand, I gather that quite a few families with wage-earners in the military are very much not in the caviar-and-champagne economic bracket. A few hundred dollars gone missing from their budget is not trivial. Even if they'll get the money back. Eventually. Probably.

Botched Communication? Bad Attitude? No Idea

Right now, I don't know why American soldiers had to give money they didn't have - as individuals - in order to get home with their equipment.

There are quite a few possible explanations, including:

Poor communication
- Delta not telling the unit what to expect
- Someone in the unit not passing the information along
- Something else
Bad attitude - maybe
- Someone in the outfit offended a clerk
  - Who decided to be inflexible with Delta's rules
- Someone in Delta
  - Decided to punish the soldiers for being soldiers
  - Was in a snit
  - Assumed that 'all Americans are rich'
    - So they'll never notice the loss

Or maybe something else happened. I really don't know.

American Armed Forces: Imperfect, But Who Isn't?

Finally, I don't think that America's armed forces can do no wrong. I don't think they can do no right, either.

I do know that I'm profoundly glad that there are people with brains and character it takes to be a soldier - who are willing to defend this country. I've posted about that before:

"All Those 'Poor, Uneducated, Minorities Being Drafted in America!' "
(January 4, 2009)

Slightly-related posts:

"Armistice Day/Veteran's Day, 2010: a Couple of Words for the American Military, and Something Lincoln Said"
(November 11, 2010)
"Michael Jackson and 1st Lieutenant Brian N. Bradshaw: One's News, the Other's Not"
(July 7, 2009)
"U.S. Army Chief of Staff Memorial Day Message - Video"
(May 25, 2009)
"Army Emergency Relief Scandal: Stockpiling, Hoarding, and 'Never Mind?' "
(February 26, 2009)
"Army's 'John Doe' Letter: A Brigadier General Apologizes on YouTube"
(January 10, 2009)

News and views:

"Soldiers Returning From Afghanistan Want Delta To Do An About-Face After Charging Them Hundreds of Dollars in Baggage Fees"
By Todd Starnes, FoxNews.com (June 8, 2011)
"Delta airlines welcomes Soldiers home.3GP"
spcrobohair, YouTube (June 7, 2011)
video, 2:58

¹ Excerpt from the news:

"Two U.S. soldiers returning home from deployment in Afghanistan said Delta Air Lines charged their unit hundreds of dollars in extra baggage fees – money that many of the soldiers did not have.Staff Sgts. Fred Hilliker and Robert O'Hair filmed a video onboard Flight 1625 and posted it on YouTube.

"They criticized Delta for the additional charges, complaining that the 34 soldiers were charged as much as $2,800 in baggage fees.

" 'We were frustrated with the situation,' O'Hair told Fox News Radio. “Honestly, we were just trying to get home.' O'Hair said the trouble started Tuesday during an 18-hour layover in Baltimore.

"His unit was heading back to Fort Polk, La., after a deployment in Afghanistan. O'Hair said their military orders stated that each soldier was allowed to check up to four bags free of charge. But the Delta agent told the soldiers they would have to pay for the fourth bag.

" 'My extra bag was my weapons case,' he said. 'I had my assault rifle, a grenade launcher and a 9-mm. pistol.'

"According to Delta's website, military personnel flying in coach on travel orders are allowed to only check three bags free of charge...."
(FoxNews.com)

France and Online Social Media: Dealing With E-Mail and Other Threats

2011-06-06T23:38:00.005-05:00

I live in central Minnesota, and love it here. I'm rather pleased that the pontoon boat was invented by a Minnesota farmer. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (October 15, 2007)

I have, however, long since resigned myself to the fact that the world does not revolve around Minnesota.

Then there are the folks who run France.

I am Not Making This Up

"French TV, radio programs slapped with social media restriction"
Catherine Clifford and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN (June 6, 2011)

"A decree from the early 1990s, reimplemented by French regulators, is putting an end to French television and radio announcers naming social networking sites on air except for news purposes.

"The decree banned 'clandestine advertising': the promotion of a brand outside the boundaries of recognized publicity avenues.

"The reimplementation of the ruling by France's Superior Audiovisual Council means that French programs will no longer be able to urge their viewers or listeners to follow them on specific sites, such as Twitter, as has become the norm in worldwide broadcasting.

"The controversy began when an unnamed French TV channel approached the council to ask whether, under this decree, they had the right to direct viewers to social sites.

"Christine Kelly, spokeswoman for the council explained: 'Facebook and Twitter are commercial brands like Coca-Cola or L'Oreal or any other. There are many social networking sites on many topics -- cooking, animals -- why should we mention one and not others?'

"From now on news anchors will be able to give only vague instructions as to where to find information online, such as 'follow us on social networking sites.'

"French bloggers have been up in arms on Twitter and some have even composed tongue-in-cheek ways to get round the ban. One suggested: 'find live coverage of the trial on our thread on the platform which spreads messages of 140 characters'

"French commentators have been speculating on the real roots of this regulation. Matthew Fraser, a social networking expert and author of 'Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom,' a book looking at the online social media revolution, believes the ban could be a sign of defiance against Anglo-Saxon cultural domination.

" 'In my mind,' he said, 'if it had been a French social networking site then nobody would have wanted it to be regulated, but because these sites symbolize the United States, regulation is there.'

"This is not the first time anglicized, Internet-related vocabulary has been banned in France. In 2003 the use of the word 'e-mail' was forbidden in all government literature. This was due to the Toubon law, which tries to protect the purity of the French language from anglicized words and phrases.

"This time, however, the Superior Audiovisual Council insists that the ban is in no way linked to language purity...."
(CNN) [emphasis mine]

I like freedom of speech. I'm not at all comfortable when a government wants to control what people say.

And I think that when a country's leaders think they must force citizens to maintain the country's language and culture - it's a sad situation.

Related posts:

"Divisiveness, Cultural Chaos, and the Monkey's Paw"
(January 30, 2011)
"Blogs, Freedom of Speech, and Threats to the Status Quo"
(July 31, 2010)
"How to Shut Down the Internet - or - Dealing With Troublesome Ideas, and the People who Spread Them"
(December 7, 2009)
"DC Gun Ban, Online Censorship, Individual Rights, and Power to the People"
(June 27, 2008)
"Odd Allies: Opposition to Waterboarding and Web Censorship"
(March 9, 2008)

In the news:

"French TV, radio programs slapped with social media restriction"
Catherine Clifford and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN (June 6, 2011)

China and Google: 'Shut Up Or We'll Hurt You'

2011-06-06T12:58:00.002-05:00

Why would anybody want to do business with China?

For the same reason that applies anywhere else: to make a profit. China is a huge country: in terms of geography, population, and now economics.¹

Huge Market, Huge Problems

I think a publicly-owned international company might have trouble explaining to its stockholders why it wasn't trying to get a piece of the Chinese market for whatever goods or services it offered.

On the other hand, doing business in China means deciding to put up with the sort of interest the country's leaders take in what their subjects say, do, and think. Or deciding that enough is enough, and pulling out.

If it's so bad, why don't we hear more about the Party's zeal for control and conformity?

I think Google's experience shows why so many international firms stay politely silent:

"Google has become a 'political tool' vilifying the Chinese government, an official Beijing newspaper said on Monday, warning that the U.S. Internet giant's statements about hacking attacks traced to China could hurt its business....

"...Last week, Google said it had broken up an effort to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account holders, including U.S. government officials, Chinese human rights advocates and journalists. It said the attacks appeared to come from China....

"...By saying that Chinese human rights activists were among the targets of the hacking, Google was 'deliberately pandering to negative Western perceptions of China, and strongly hinting that the hacking attacks were the work of the Chinese government,' the People's Daily overseas edition, a small offshoot of the main domestic paper, said in a front-page commentary....

"...'Google should not become overly embroiled in international political struggle, playing the role of a tool for political contention," the paper added.

" 'For when the international winds shift direction, it may become sacrificed to politics and will be spurned by the marketplace,' it said, without specifying how Google's business could be hurt....

"...In February, overseas Chinese websites, inspired by anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world, called for protests across China, raising Beijing's alarm about dissent and prompting tightened censorship of the Internet.

"China already blocks major foreign social websites such as Facebook and Twitter."
(Reuters)

"Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
(June 4, 2011)
"China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
(March 20, 2010)
"Google Pulling Out of China? I've Heard Worse News"
Apathetic Lemming of the North (March 14, 2010)
"World Bank Group Network Hacked; Chinese IPs Used: Just What We Need"
(October 10, 2008)
"China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters' "
(July 19, 2009)
"Tiananmen Square 20th Anniversary: A Losing Battle for Traditional Information Gatekeepers"
(June 3, 2009)

In the news:

"China paper warns Google may pay price for hacking claims"
Chris Buckley, Edition: U.S., Reuters (June 6, 2011)

¹ China's gross domestic product, per person, is about $7,600 - not quite on a par with America's $47,200, or Saudi Arabia's $24,200, but well beyond Nicaragua's $3,000 per capita GDP. And China's per capita GDP is growing. ¹ It isn't the economic disaster area of the Cold War world.

"Since the late 1970s China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role - in 2010 China became the world's largest exporter...."
(China, CIA World Factbook)

I think that's all good news. I want China to be wealthy, and for individuals in China to have large disposable incomes. I'll admit to having slightly selfish motives.

International trade existed before there were nations, which lets archaeologists study the economics of ancient cultures - and that's another topic. We're more obviously connected to each other now, I think - and "global economy" is more than a nifty phrase for politicos and journalists.

The way I see it, rich people can buy more stuff than poor people - and are more likely to have money they're willing to lend to entrepreneurs. China is a huge market today. If folks living there were as wealthy as your average Saudi citizen or American, some might decide to come to Minnesota for fishing or winter sports: which would help the economy here.

Sources: CIA World Factbook, China (updated on May 26, 2011), Nicaragua (updated on May 26, 2011), Saudi Arabia (updated on May 26, 2011), United States (updated May 26, 2011).

Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age

2011-06-04T14:34:00.008-05:00

I ran into a news item last night. The focus was on U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, his Chinese counterpart General Liang Guanglie, and what Gates said about China-United States relations. The two men were at an Asia-Pacific annual security conference ("talkfest" is how the article put it): called the Shangri-La Dialogue, of all things.

The latest hack attack coming from servers in China came up, briefly.

Hackers and Imperialist Capitalist Aggressor Warmonger Running Dogs

Times change. I haven't heard diplomatic boilerplate like "capitalist aggressor" for quite a while. Being away from college probably helps, but I think many folks have realized that it's not the 19th century any more, and class struggle just isn't what it used to be. And that's another topic.

Some things haven't changed so much, though.

First, about the latest hack attack:

"There is a lot of talk--and diplomatic tension--this week related to reports that attacks originating from China have breached Google Gmail accounts, including those of senior US government officials. The focus is on e-mail, and whether or not e-mail accounts were hacked, but a breached Gmail account is a much bigger prize than just the e-mail account it is attached to.

"Google claims that the spear phishing attacks that targeted Gmail accounts of White House staff, and successfully exposed accounts of senior US government officials, high-ranking military personnel, and political activists, originated from China. China denies any state-sponsored involvement in the attacks, and the FBI is investigating...."
(PCWorld Business Center)¹

I think it's possible that Google and China's leaders are right. I think it's very likely that Google traced the hack attack to servers in China: although I'll admit that Google could, in principle, be faking the attack's source. I don't think that's likely, but is is possible.

As for China's response to news that their servers hosted a hack attack? Again?

According to China's military, it is the work of Yankee imperialists. That's not quite the way they put it, but that's the basic idea:

"...A new irritant was introduced this week, with allegations that computer hackers in China had compromised the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

"The Chinese military tried to direct the spotlight off those allegations Friday, with accusations that the U.S. is launching a global 'Internet war' to bring down Arab and other governments.

"The FBI said it was investigating Google's allegations, but no official government email accounts have been compromised. Google said all the hacking victims have been notified and their accounts have been secured.....
(Associated Press, via Foxnews.com²) [emphasis mine]

Again, China's line seems to be that "the U.S. is launching a global 'Internet war' to bring down Arab and other governments."

That's probably good enough for folks who believe that the CIA blew up New York City's World Trade Center. After all these decades, though, it sounds like the same tired old 'American aggressor warmonger' stuff that cluttered the news in my youth.

A Country's Servers aren't a Country's Government

Since China is one of the world's more tightly-managed countries, in my opinion, I find it a little hard to believe that hackers have just happened to use Chinese servers for hack attacks - for years - and that the country's leadership doesn't know it's happening and can't stop it anyway.

Still, it's possible.

Particularly since I can easily imagine that it's in China's interests to get access to networks in other countries, for either espionage or sabotage, and blame Yankee imperialism.

China's response may simply be knee-jerk xenophobia: the sort of thing that had right-wing loonies blaming whatever they didn't like on the commies, back in 'the good old days.' I remember the real "Happy Days," by the way - and don't, ever, want to go back.

Or, the folks running China may not be the ones who planned and executed all those hack attacks. China's leaders may be aware that the attacks come from servers in their country - and not be able to stop whoever's behind the hacking. If that's the case, they may simply be embarrassed: and desperately want the problem to belong to someone else.

I think it's a good idea to remember that a national government doesn't necessarily control everything that happens within its borders: no matter how much the leaders want to.

Real Threat, Proportional Response

It's entirely possible that no one person or organization is behind attacks on the World Bank, Gmail, Sony, and all the rest. I think it's quite possible that there is no one motive behind the hacking.

My understanding is that there's a hot - if unethical and illegal - market for the sort of data that has quite possibly been stolen. That would make the hacks a new version of burglary. And, most likely, a private-sector effort.

Governments have their own motives.

What's happened in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere shows what can happen when old-school leaders lose control of their subjects. My guess is that Iran's rulers are developing a 'just us' intranet to keep the 'Arab spring' from spreading east. The Ayatollahs have nice-sounding motives: they want to 'protect' Iranians from foreign influences.

In my opinion, Iran's leadership isn't the only outfit that's scared of the Information Age. And for good reason. I've gone over that before:

"Lemming Tracks: Iran, Internet, Freedom, and Getting a Grip"
Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 30, 2011)
Particularly
- 'Be Careful What You Wish For'
" 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 22, 2011)
"Steve Jobs, Censorship, and Who Gets to Choose"
A Catholic Citizen in America (January 7, 2011)
"A Catholic Blogger In the Digital Continent"
A Catholic Citizen in America (November 15, 2010)
Particularly
- Embracing New Technology, Fearing the Internet

I think it's likely that some folks have idealistic reasons for hacking into corporate and government networks. Sometimes I even sympathize - a little - with the ideas they support. Like freedom of information. Which is emphatically not the same as thinking that what they're actually doing is right.

In a way, it's a sort of 'with friends like these, who needs enemies?' situation. A case in point:

"A hacker group has claimed responsibility for defacing the PBS.org website, the Fox.com site, and the Sony network, posting images of defaced websites and stolen databases and emails to its website....

"...Pike linked the hacker group Lulz to Anonymous, the 'hacktivist' collective that -- in the name of the freedom of information -- has hacked numerous websites, wrestled with security firms and made public a decrypted version of the cyberworm that crippled Iran's nuclear power program...."
(Jeremy A. Kaplan, FoxNews.com (June 2, 2011))

According to the article, Pike's considering turning himself in, before law enforcement shows up with a warrant. That's a good idea, in my opinion. Blaming Yankee imperialism may still work as an excuse in diplomacy: but American law enforcement is, in my experience, more interested in facts than finger-pointing.

As I said before, I think it's possible that a server in China could have been used for hack attacks, without the Chinese government being involved.

Determining how likely that is - and whether that's what's actually been happening - is a job I'm profoundly grateful belongs to someone else.

If it turns out that the Beijing bosses are responsible for the hack attacks, I suspect and hope that America's leaders will try to sort the mess out diplomatically. Not because I think the folks who are still occupying Tibet are a bunch of really nice guys who are just misunderstood. It's a matter of proportional response, and how many folks who weren't responsible could get hurt or killed in a military operation.

If the North American power grid goes down this winter? That's something else. (June 1, 2011)

China, Assumptions, and Living in the Information Age

I've been criticized for not having the proper attitude toward China: and not being politely silent.³ It's a familiar reaction. Commie-hunters acted that way in the McCarthy era (January 9, 2010); professors did the same, a few decades later; and I'm don't think trying to impose ideological purity is a good idea - no matter whose ideas are being shoved down my throat.

I also think it's a bad idea to assume that 'foreigners,' 'commies,' 'the military-industrial complex,' 'Big cheese,' or any other standard-issue bad guys are 'really behind' any particular issue. (January 14, 2009)

Finally, I think that these are trying times for old-school autocrats: and anybody who had a privileged position before information technology made it possible for folks to share ideas - without permission from their 'betters.'

I like the comparatively open marketplace of ideas we have today: but then, I don't mind people having access to dangerous technology. Like LP gas, guns, or computers. (June 27, 2008)

Related posts:

Hack Attacks
- "L-3 Communications, Grumman: Hack Attack"
  (June 1, 2011)
- "Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
  (May 31, 2011)
- "Lockheed Martin, Oak Ridge, Spear Phishing, and Common Sense"
  (May 29, 2011)
- "China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
  (March 20, 2010)
- "World Bank Group Network Hacked; Chinese IPs Used: Just What We Need"
  (October 10, 2008)
Passwords, security, and common sense
- "Cloud Computing, Dropbox, and the Postcard Principle"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 13, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Bad News From Sony; and Getting a Grip"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 3, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Epsilon Breach, Spam, and Getting a Grip"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (April 6, 2011)
- "Strong Passwords: It Can be Done"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 1, 2011)
- "International Cyber Crime Ring Busted: 'By Jove, I Think They've GOT It!' "
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (October 3, 2010)
China, Yankee imperialism, and getting a grip:
- "Imperialist American Aggressors Attack Poland?"
  (October 30, 2009)
- "China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters' "
  (July 19, 2009)
- "A Reporter Escapes the Taliban, Monks Escape China"
  (June 20, 2009)
- "Tiananmen Square 20th Anniversary: A Losing Battle for Traditional Information Gatekeepers"
  (June 3, 2009)
- "U.S. Warship Kills Innocent Egyptian!! No Wonder Everybody Hates America!!!"
  (March 24, 2008)

News and views:

"Gates Says Relations With China Improving, as Chinese Military Accuses U.S. of 'Internet War' "
Associated Press via FoxNews.com (June 3, 2011)
"More than E-mail at Stake in Google Gmail Attack"
Tony Bradley, PCWorld Business Center (June 3, 2011)
"Group Claims It Was 'Paid to Hack PBS,' Then Leaks a Million Sony User IDs"
Jeremy A. Kaplan, FoxNews.com (June 2, 2011)

¹ Excerpt from news and views:

"Putting a positive spin on a sometimes stormy relationship, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that military ties with China are 'on a more positive trajectory' but need further strengthening....

"...The main elements of friction remain, however. China still claims control of waters the U.S. considers international. Chinese ambition for influence in Southeast Asia and elsewhere still makes smaller nations uneasy, while Beijing dislikes the heavy U.S. naval presence in Asian waters and builds up its military with weaponry only logically intended for use against the U.S.

"A new irritant was introduced this week, with allegations that computer hackers in China had compromised the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

"The Chinese military tried to direct the spotlight off those allegations Friday, with accusations that the U.S. is launching a global 'Internet war' to bring down Arab and other governments.

"The FBI said it was investigating Google's allegations, but no official government email accounts have been compromised. Google said all the hacking victims have been notified and their accounts have been secured.....

"...Gates and Liang met on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security talkfest attended by defense officials from across the Asia-Pacific region. On Saturday Gates was delivering an address to the conference before continuing an around-the-world journey that is his final trip before retiring June 30...."
(Associated Press via FoxNews.com)

¹Excerpts from news and views:

"There is a lot of talk--and diplomatic tension--this week related to reports that attacks originating from China have breached Google Gmail accounts, including those of senior US government officials. The focus is on e-mail, and whether or not e-mail accounts were hacked, but a breached Gmail account is a much bigger prize than just the e-mail account it is attached to.

"Google claims that the spear phishing attacks that targeted Gmail accounts of White House staff, and successfully exposed accounts of senior US government officials, high-ranking military personnel, and political activists, originated from China. China denies any state-sponsored involvement in the attacks, and the FBI is investigating.

"The Gmail e-mail accounts are getting all of the attention. Catalin Cosoi, head of the BitDefender Online Threats Lab, notes in a blog post, 'Just as in the previous attack against the Gmail service, we can assume that cyber-criminals went after sensitive documents the users might have inadvertently forwarded from their business inboxes.'

"But, it would be more accurate to say that Google accounts are being targeted or compromised--not just Gmail. Depending on the extent the hacked account relies on Google, there is potentially much more at stake than just the documents that might be forwarded as a file attachments from Gmail. There is no differentiation between hacking a Gmail account, and hacking the rest of the diverse array of Google services....

"...If the victim actually uses Google Docs, the attacker will have access to all documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings stored online by the victim--not just the ones that might have been included as a file attachment in an e-mail.

"Accessing Google Maps could yield valuable information as well. Most users enter a home address as the default location to save time when searching for driving directions....

"...It is up to Google, and China, and the FBI to get to the bottom of whether the compromised accounts are a state-sponsored act of international espionage, or just the work of run-of-the-mill spear phishing cyber-criminals. But, regardless of who is behind the attack, or what the underlying motives are, there is more than just e-mail at stake."
(PCWorld Business Center)

² Excerpt from news and views:

"Putting a positive spin on a sometimes stormy relationship, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that military ties with China are 'on a more positive trajectory' but need further strengthening....

"...The main elements of friction remain, however. China still claims control of waters the U.S. considers international. Chinese ambition for influence in Southeast Asia and elsewhere still makes smaller nations uneasy, while Beijing dislikes the heavy U.S. naval presence in Asian waters and builds up its military with weaponry only logically intended for use against the U.S.

"A new irritant was introduced this week, with allegations that computer hackers in China had compromised the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

"The Chinese military tried to direct the spotlight off those allegations Friday, with accusations that the U.S. is launching a global 'Internet war' to bring down Arab and other governments.

"The FBI said it was investigating Google's allegations, but no official government email accounts have been compromised. Google said all the hacking victims have been notified and their accounts have been secured.....

"...Gates and Liang met on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security talkfest attended by defense officials from across the Asia-Pacific region. On Saturday Gates was delivering an address to the conference before continuing an around-the-world journey that is his final trip before retiring June 30...."
(Associated Press via FoxNews.com)

³ Comments from "Tibet: Fifty Years of Chinese Liberation, and Counting" (March 10, 2009):

"Anonymous said...

"If you are outside of Tibet, just leave Tibet alone, let Tibetan live by themselves, please love your land where you live and shut up. If Dalai was right, a pig could fly.
"March 10, 2009 3:45 PM

"Brian, aka Nanoc, aka Norski said...

"Anonymous,

"If 'Tibetan live by themselves' I might. However, since Tibet was invaded about fifty years ago, and Chinese troops are now stationed to keep the Han shopkeepers safe and Tibetans in line, and quite a number of Tibetans don't like the situation: I will not 'shut up.'

"Kudos, though, at being comparatively civil about it. Particularly in comparison with what may have been another of the throng of Anonymouses out there, responding to 'Today's Main Event: Protesters vs. the Olympic Torch in San Francisco' (April 9, 2008).

"That Anonymous's comment, in full:
"Anonymous said...

"Don't pretend that you know a lot about history. Tibet is still a An English TRANSLATION name as same as Xizang. Now that you don't like China, you can call Xiazang any name you want.
"Suggest you goto a library to read a little more about Tibet then comment on this "Independence", though suggesting going to library is often a mother's duty.
"April 26, 2008 7:54 PM
"March 10, 2009 6:05 PM
"Politics and the Future said...

"China is not my focus in the war on terror only in my economic studies is it a bigger focus for me.

"But I do have to say one thing, with a growing nation could China become a new superpower? could they develop weapons of mass destruction? I know I know I sound like a conspiratist but I'm not. I am only asking.
"I believe they are going to gain more power both militarily and economically.

"March 10, 2009 6:59 PM

"Anonymous said...

"Please pay more attention to your own business. Never lavish your sympathy on Dalai. If you turn blind eyes to the truth and still whitewash a serf owner as your spiritual leader, I would say nothing any more. What do you think if you know those old noble owner picked serfs' eyes and striped their skin for punishment ? They asked serf to take their shit as medicine. How do you feel about it? These only happened several decades ago under Dalai's rule in Tibet. Where is your conscience. How could you depict it as a shangrila? Please look back to the documentary which your western media took before 1990's. If you think you are god and don't need to read, I go.

"March 10, 2009 8:04 PM

"Brian, aka Nanoc, aka Norski said...

"Anonymous #2, or maybe the same Anonymous,

I know that Tibet isn't Shangri-La (Lost Horizon is a pretty good movie, though - so is Star Wars). Live [!] isn't the movies.

"I do, though, seem to have hit a nerve.

"Apparently, one is not supposed to discuss, or mention, the liberation of Tibet - except in glowing terms.

"Anybody interested in the Chinese side of this issue could do a lot worse than reading that op-ed I linked to.

"This isn't just about the Dalai Lama, by the way: the new overlords of Tibet may not be that big an improvement over the monks they displaced.
"March 10, 2009 8:11 PM

"Brian, aka Nanoc, aka Norski said...

"Politics and the Future,

"I think I followed that comment.

"China's nuclear weapons program began, as far as can be determined, in the mid-1950s. At this time, they almost certainly have hundreds, but not thousands, of nuclear bombs in their stockpile. Chinese leaders have repeatedly pledged to not use nuclear weapons first in a confrontation. ("Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) - Nuclear Weapons" GlobalSecurity.org)

"I'm inclined to believe Chinese leaders on this point. After the debacle we call the Cultural Revolution, Chinese leadership has shown few to no suicidal tendencies.

"(North Korea with nukes is a whole different ball of wax.)

"Not that I have unwavering confidence in the good will of the Chinese government.

"For those looking for something to be concerned about, there's China's secret submarine base (no kidding): "Forget the Olympics For Now: China's Secret Submarine Base is Serious" (May 2, 2008)
"March 12, 2009 12:48 PM"
(Comments from "Tibet: Fifty Years of Chinese Liberation, and Counting" (March 10, 2009))

L-3 Communications, Grumman: Hack Attack

2011-06-01T13:45:00.005-05:00

I'd like to think that most folks running major technology companies in America are a trifle less clueless than Dilbert's manager:

Unhappily, it doesn't take a pointy-haired manager, or executives who think "password1" is a strong password, to have security troubles.

A system like this sounds fairly safe, I think:

"...SecurID adds an extra layer of protection to a login process by requiring users to enter a secret code number displayed on a keyfob, or in software, in addition to their password. The number is cryptographically generated and changes every 30 seconds...."
(Wired)

The SecurID service probably worked pretty well. Until someone hacked into their system. We still don't know exactly what data was stolen, and how it's been used, but whats been happening to American defense contractors suggests that the encryption seeds for SecurID tokens is available to someone with Internet access.

And an interest in classified data about United States weapons systems.

This is not, in my considered opinion, good news. At all.

I've put excerpts from the last two days' news at the end of this post.¹

There's probably going to be quite a bit of finger-pointing, as word of ~~this~~ these hack attacks spreads. One of the more sensible points to look into, I think, is why more clients of SecurID didn't change their systems after the original hack?!

Oh, Come On: How Bad Could It Be?

Someone speculated that the control system for Predator drones might be hacked with data that's quite possibly been taken from someone's network. About the best outcome of that might be that the drones wouldn't work at all. Someone with a little piloting skill and the right software might decide to hijack a Predator drone and send it on a new mission.

That, I think, would be bad news. But then, I'm one of those people who don't think that the military-industrial complex and Yankee imperialism is the greatest threat to world peace and spotted owls.

Looking beyond strictly military data, America - and a fair number of other countries - depends on a complex power grid and a telecommunications system for most of what we do every day. Which, for quite a few months each year here in Minnesota, includes keeping the temperature inside above freezing.

Back when the Y2K bug was being dealt with, I evaluated my household's resources. Happily, we didn't get a chance to test this: but I'm pretty sure we would have been okay for at least a few weeks, if the power had failed at midnight, December 31, 1999.²

Then there are nightmare scenarios, like someone getting clever with a pharmacy chain's prescription software. Think Colossus: The Forbin Project meets Dr. Giggles.

Maybe the power grid and phone system crashing in mid-winter wouldn't be so bad, after all.

Related posts:

Hack Attacks
- "Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks"
  (May 31, 2011)
- "Lockheed Martin, Oak Ridge, Spear Phishing, and Common Sense"
  (May 29, 2011)
- "Lockheed Martin Corp, SecureIDs, EMC, and All That"
  (May 28, 2011)
- "China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
  (March 20, 2010)
- "World Bank Group Network Hacked; Chinese IPs Used: Just What We Need"
  (October 10, 2008)
Passwords, security, and common sense
- "Cloud Computing, Dropbox, and the Postcard Principle"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 13, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Bad News From Sony; and Getting a Grip"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 3, 2011)
- "Lemming Tracks: Epsilon Breach, Spam, and Getting a Grip"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (April 6, 2011)
- "Strong Passwords: It Can be Done"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 1, 2011)
- "International Cyber Crime Ring Busted: 'By Jove, I Think They've GOT It!' "
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (October 3, 2010)

In the news:

"EXCLUSIVE: Northrop Grumman May Have Been Hit by Cyberattack, Source Says"
Jeremy A. Kaplan, FoxNews.com (June 1, 2011)
"Second Defense Contractor L-3 'Actively Targeted' With RSA SecurID Hacks"
Kevin Poulsen, Threat Level, Wired (May 31, 2011)

¹ Excerpts from the news:

"Top military contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. may have been hit by a cyber assault, the latest in a string of alarming attacks against military suppliers...."

"...Lockheed Martin said its network had been compromised last week, and defense contractor L-3 Communications was targeted recently, as well. Both intrusions involved the use of remote-access security tokens, experts say.

"On May 26, Northrop Grumman shut down remote access to its network without warning -- catching even senior managers by surprise and leading to speculation that a similar breach had occurred...."

"...Charles Dodd, an information warfare consultant with Nisrad Cyber Research Institute, raised a scary possibility: Unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Predator can be controlled by computers. If hackers access those computers, can they operate those deadly drones?

" 'If adversaries get that technology, we may not be the one that controls those weapons,' he told Fox News.

"The network attacks spiral from a security breach in March, when hackers stole information related to RSA's SecurID access keys...."
(FoxNews.com)
"An executive at defense giant L-3 Communications warned employees last month that hackers were targeting the company using inside information on the SecurID keyfob system freshly stolen from an acknowledged breach at RSA Security.

"The L-3 attack makes the company the second hacker target linked to the RSA breach - both defense contractors. Reuters reported Friday that Lockheed Martin had suffered an intrusion.

" 'L-3 Communications has been actively targeted with penetration attacks leveraging the compromised information,' read an April 6 e-mail from an executive at L-3's Stratus Group to the group's 5,000 workers, one of whom shared the contents with Wired.com on condition of anonymity...."

"...Together, the attacks suggest the RSA intruders obtained crucial information - possibly the encryption seeds for SecurID tokens - that they're using in targeted intelligence-gathering missions against sensitive U.S. targets....

"...SecurID adds an extra layer of protection to a login process by requiring users to enter a secret code number displayed on a keyfob, or in software, in addition to their password. The number is cryptographically generated and changes every 30 seconds...."
(Wired)

² No 'survivalist' stuff: the water heater holds a pretty good supply of water, and the basement could be sealed off. It would have been cold and dark, though.

Pentagon's New(ish) Policy About Hack Attacks

2011-05-31T19:11:00.001-05:00

First, the bad news: The United States is vulnerable to an attack on our information technology.

Now, the good news: It's possible to defend against a 'cyberattack.' And the American military has been working on ways of dealing with threats to our info tech.

Welcome to the 21st Century

That good news/bad news thing is from my point of view, of course.

I live in this country. I like being able to run a furnace during winter, get air conditioning now and then in the summer, and use the telephone year-round. All of which depend on a power grid and telecommunications system that rely on software and computers.

I think that the Pentagon isn't anywhere near as big a threat to me as, say, Al Qaeda. Which isn't the same as assuming brass hats can do no wrong. (June 18, 2009) The American military isn't perfect. I don't expect that of any human institution. What's remarkable about the people who defend this country is that they routinely and objectively review what's been done - then learn from their mistakes - and successes. (June 30, 2008)

Military Minds, Hackers, and Obligatory Hand-Wringing

News that an attack on America's information technology will be treated as an act of war, like any other attack, will almost certainly hit old-school news media this June.

The Wall Street Journal has already published an article about the report.¹ That paper has been around since the late 19th century, so in a sense it's 'old school,' but their editors seem to have noticed that class struggles and Yankee imperialism are a trifle dated as relevant topics go. So is "relevance," for that matter - and that's another topic.

In a perfect world, the Pentagon would have noticed America's reliance on information technology - and how an attack could target that technology - years ago. For that matter, in a perfect world we wouldn't need armed forces: and nobody would have decided to fly airliners into New York City's World Trade Center.

I'd like to be wrong about this, but my guess is that we'll read some of the usual complaints:

Paranoid generals
Threats to our privacy
American
- Arrogance
- Insensitivity
- Whatever

And, of course, how any attack on American information technology is our fault. That's probably when Stuxnet will be displayed as an example of American indifference. Or something else that's pretty much icky.

Maybe that sort of knee-jerk response has gone out of fashion. Things change, including biases among the powers that be. Sometimes change comes when the powers that be themselves get swapped out. And that's yet another topic. (May 26, 2011, March 18, 2011)

Dealing With Uncertainty

A concern that's already been raised is, I think, more reasonable: how to tell where an attack on an American information system came from.

Anything involving the Internet will be easy enough to track, in a way. A few years ago, a series of such attacks came from China. Or, rather, servers in China. March 20, 2010, February 22, 2010, October 10, 2008) The Chinese government's official line is that it wasn't them.

They could be right. I don't necessarily think so - but it is possible that whoever planned the various attacks lived in and operated out of, say, Liechtenstein. Or Kenya. Or Paraguay. Or anywhere else in the world with modestly-adequate Internet connections. Trojan horse viruses are nothing new: and a government-run server could be hijacked by one. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (October 3, 2010))

One thing I'm not particularly worried about is a Dr. Strangelove scenario where one (1) lunatic general - American, of course - decides to make it look like China launched yet one more hack attack on America. It could happen, of course: but I'm pretty sure that this country, at least, has learned to be a little more careful than we were back in the "remember the Maine" days.

Perfect, no. But we do, I think, learn.

Why I Believe What I Believe

As I said earlier, I like living in America.

I was born here, so there's a sort of 'this is my home' feeling involved. I've also known folks who weren't born here, and decided to pull up roots and become Americans. I know that this country isn't perfect: but it's one of the nations folks are trying to break into.

I've discussed some of the reasons I think the way I do in another blog: including posts listed in the last quintet of links under "Related posts."

Related posts:

Cyberwar
- "Lockheed Martin Corp, SecureIDs, EMC, and All That"
  (May 28, 2011)
- "Stuxnet: Inhuman Secret Agent"
  (November 26, 2010)
- "China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
  (March 20, 2010)
- "China. Hackers. Cyberattack. Again."
  (February 22, 2010)
- "World Bank Group Network Hacked; Chinese IPs Used: Just What We Need"
  (October 10, 2008)
It's a changing world
- "Who Needs Facts? Cultural Assumptions and Politics"
  (July 24, 2009)
- "Unintended Consequences? The West May be Getting Over Hiroshima"
  (January 25, 2008)
- "Russian Official Declares First-Strike Nuke Policy: Why?"
  (January 19, 2008)
- "Starvation, Poverty, and Perceptions"
  (July 18, 2007)
- "Doctors, Terrorists, and the Proletariat: What's a Person to Think?"
  (July 3, 2007)
Why I believe what I believe
- " 'Just War:' Unpleasant, but Not a Contradiction in Terms"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2011)
- "That's Funny: You Don't Look Catholic"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (December 17, 2010)
- "The Pope, Science, and Technology: My Take"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 30, 2010)
- "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)
- "Conservative? Liberal? Democrat? Republican? No, I'm Catholic"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (November 3, 2008)

In the news:

"Cyber Combat: Act of War"
Siobhan Gorman, Julian E. Barnes, Technology, The Wall Street Journal (May 31, 2011)

¹ Excerpt from today's news:

"The Pentagon's first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile country's military.

"In part, the Pentagon intends its plan as a warning to potential adversaries of the consequences of attacking the U.S. in this way. 'If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks,' said a military official.

"Recent attacks on the Pentagon's own systems - as well as the sabotaging of Iran's nuclear program via the Stuxnet computer worm-have given new urgency to U.S. efforts to develop a more formalized approach to cyber attacks. ... This weekend Lockheed Martin, a major military contractor, acknowledged that it had been the victim of an infiltration, while playing down its impact.

"The report will also spark a debate over a range of sensitive issues the Pentagon left unaddressed, including whether the U.S. can ever be certain about an attack's origin, and how to define when computer sabotage is serious enough to constitute an act of war....

"...One idea gaining momentum at the Pentagon is the notion of 'equivalence.' If a cyber attack produces the death, damage, destruction or high-level disruption that a traditional military attack would cause, then it would be a candidate for a 'use of force' consideration, which could merit retaliation.

"The Pentagon's document runs about 30 pages in its classified version and 12 pages in the unclassified one. It concludes that the Laws of Armed Conflict - derived from various treaties and customs that, over the years, have come to guide the conduct of war and proportionality of response - apply in cyberspace as in traditional warfare.... The document goes on to describe the Defense Department's dependence on information technology and why it must forge partnerships with other nations and private industry to protect infrastructure.

"The strategy will also state the importance of synchronizing U.S. cyber-war doctrine with that of its allies, and will set out principles for new security policies. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization took an initial step last year when it decided that, in the event of a cyber attack on an ally, it would convene a group to 'consult together' on the attacks, but they wouldn't be required to help each other respond....

"...Pentagon officials believe the most-sophisticated computer attacks require the resources of a government. For instance, the weapons used in a major technological assault, such as taking down a power grid, would likely have been developed with state support, Pentagon officials say.

"The move to formalize the Pentagon's thinking was borne of the military's realization the U.S. has been slow to build up defenses against these kinds of attacks, even as civilian and military infrastructure has grown more dependent on the Internet. The military established a new command last year, headed by the director of the National Security Agency, to consolidate military network security and attack efforts.

"The Pentagon itself was rattled by the 2008 attack.... At the time, Pentagon officials said they believed the attack originated in Russia, although didn't say whether they believed the attacks were connected to the government. Russia has denied involvement.

"The Rules of Armed Conflict that guide traditional wars are derived from a series of international treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions, as well as practices that the U.S. and other nations consider customary international law. But cyber warfare isn't covered by existing treaties. So military officials say they want to seek a consensus among allies about how to proceed.

" 'Act of war' is a political phrase, not a legal term, said Charles Dunlap, a retired Air Force Major General and professor at Duke University law school....
(The Wall Street Journal)

Egypt's "Virginity Checks" - I am Not Making This Up

2011-05-30T23:30:00.004-05:00

I try to be open-minded about the cultural values of folks living in other countries.

That said, "virginity checks" performed on protesters seems a bit over-the-top.

Even though the general said it was okay - and even gave a reason.

"Egyptian general admits 'virginity checks' conducted on protesters"
Shahira Amin, For CNN (May 30, 2011)

"A senior Egyptian general admits that 'virginity checks' were performed on women arrested at a demonstration this spring, the first such admission after previous denials by military authorities.

"The allegations arose in an Amnesty International report, published weeks after the March 9 protest. It claimed female demonstrators were beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges and forced to submit to virginity checks.

"At that time, Maj. Amr Imam said 17 women had been arrested but denied allegations of torture or 'virginity tests.'

"But now a senior general who asked not to be identified said the virginity tests were conducted and defended the practice.

" 'The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,' the general said. 'These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs).'

"The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

" 'We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place,' the general said. 'None of them were (virgins).'..."

What impressed me was not the way the women were treated - that seems, sadly, to be not all that uncommon in parts of the Middle East. Anybody who won't be properly submissive to the local boss-man seems to be fair game in some areas.

What impressed me was that the general at first denied that the "virginity checks" were done.

That, to me, hints that perhaps at least some aspects of what he and his merry men were up to was a trifle unorthodox: even by local standards.

As for the "torture?" I suppose that depends on how a person defines the term:

"...Salwa Hosseini, a 20-year-old hairdresser and one of the women named in the Amnesty report, described to CNN how uniformed soldiers tied her up on the museum's grounds, forced her to the ground and slapped her, then shocked her with a stun gun while calling her a prostitute.

" 'They wanted to teach us a lesson,' Hosseini said soon after the Amnesty report came out. 'They wanted to make us feel that we do not have dignity.'..."
(CNN)

I'll admit that what Salwa Hosseini went through is a sort of 'he said/she said' situation: although I'm inclined to believe her statement, given what's been going on since Tunisians got fed up with their old-school autocrat.

On the other hand, the hairdresser is still alive, and able to talk. Which isn't always the case after someone is tortured.

Does that make it all better? I don't think so.

Still, it could be worse. In Syria, folks who don't appreciate their leader enough are being killed.

And that's another topic.

Finally, and this is important, note that I wrote "cultural values:" not religious beliefs. I've made the point, fairly often, that quite a bit of what Al Qaeda and the rulers of Sudan insist is "Islam" looks more like anachronistic cultural values and customs to me. (September 24, 2009, September 7, 2009, September 7, 2008)

Somewhat-related posts:

"Eman al-Obeidy: Alive, Still in Libya"
(April 4, 2011)
"Tunisia, Twitter, Change, and Staying Sane"
(January 23, 2011)
"WikiLeaks, Killing People Who don't Agree, and Living in the Real World"
(July 30, 2010)
"Iran, Twitter, and the Responsibilities of Proper British Gentlemen"
(December 29, 2009)
"Indonesia, Islam, Adultery, Stoning, Burkinis, Divisiveness and the West"
(October 13, 2009)

In the news:

"Egyptian general admits 'virginity checks' conducted on protesters"
Shahira Amin, For CNN (May 30, 2011)

Lockheed Martin, Oak Ridge, Spear Phishing, and Common Sense

2011-05-29T13:56:00.005-05:00

I mentioned the latest hack attempt in an American network yesterday. (May 28, 2011) Today, a Reuters article gave a bit more detail and background.¹

"Lockheed Martin Corp., the U.S. government's top information technology provider, said on Saturday it had thwarted 'a significant and tenacious attack' on its information systems network a week ago but was still working to restore employee access.

"No customer, program or employee personal data was compromised thanks to 'almost immediate' protective action taken after the attack was detected May 21, Jennifer Whitlow, a company spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

"She said the company, the world's biggest aerospace company and the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, was working around the clock to restore employee access to the targeted network while maintaining the highest security level....
(Reuters)

So far, so good - although I wonder just how confident the IT folks at Lockheed are, that "No customer, program or employee personal data was compromised."

Maybe this is cynical: but I remember when a Qantas desk jockey insisted that there had been "no explosion" on one of their flights. That didn't explain the hole in their A380 airliners, or debris in Indonesia. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (November 4, 2010))

Bad News, Denial, and the Real World

Some bureaucrats and managers seem to deny that a problem exists as a sort of knee-jerk reaction to bad news. That may work with hirelings who can be fired if they don't agree: or with equally-clueless organizational deadweight the (delusional?) boss reports to. I don't think it's effective when dealing with the real world, though. And that's another topic.

Whodunit - Good Question

Where the attack came from is still unknown, apparently. My guess is that folks at the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon are trying to find out, though. Lockheed's system had data about weapons that are in use, and under development: not the sort of think I'd want outfits like Al Qaeda to have. Or none-too-friendly national governments, for that matter.

Reuters says Lockheed isn't alone - the May 21 situation was the latest in a string of attacks on American military contractors. Reuters also said that contractors aren't the only targets. The article says there have been hack attacks on "...defense contractors, security companies and U.S. government labs, including the U.S. Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, since the start of this year." That's according to Anup Ghosh, who has been a senior scientist at the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and now runs Invincea, a software security company. Interestingly, Reuters has edited that detail out of the story, as I'm finishing this post. (For now WUOB still has that detail in their copy of the article. (1:47 p.m. Central, May 29, 2011))

So, why doesn't the government 'do something?'

America, Law, and Limited Government

Back to that Reuters article:

"...U.S. officials may investigate a cyber breach at a company's request. DHS, the lead agency for securing federal civilian networks, can deploy a team to analyze infected systems, develop mitigation strategies, advise on efforts to restore service and make recommendations for improving overall network security....
(Reuters)

A key phrase there is "...may...at a company's request." America is a nation of law - and some of those laws control what government agencies can and can't do. We're not the only country to work that way: but I think we do a pretty good job of maintaining a balance between a government that's meddlesome, and one that's ineffectual.

Which doesn't mean that I approve of intrusive and occasionally silly federal regulations - and that's a topic that's outside the scope of this blog.

Finally I'm acutely aware that America isn't perfect. And that's yet one more topic. (July 3, 2008)

How These Attacks Work

This really should be obvious: but it's a bad to click that link and give personal information. Even if the email seems to come from your bank/credit card company/whatever. I'll get back to that.

"...These attacks typically were carried out through so-called 'spear-phish' inducements to click on a certain link to web sites or through emailed attachments carrying malicious code.

"Once so compromised, a computer can surreptitiously download other code that can log a victim's key strokes, giving an attacker a path to potentially wide network access....

"...The person with direct knowledge told Reuters on Friday that an intrusion at Lockheed was related to a recent breach of 'SecurID' token authentication technology from EMC Corp's EMC.N RSA security division...."
(Reuters)

I put a link to some common-sense advice about spear phishing under "Background," below.

Besides making the point that most financial institutions don't ask you for your Social Security Number in an email - and that you shouldn't use the phone number that the probably-bogus email provides - there's the same advice I've heard for decades: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

And that, again, is another topic.

Related post:

"Lockheed Martin Corp, SecureIDs, EMC, and All That"
(May 28, 2011)

In the news:

"Lockheed says thwarted 'tenacious' cyber attack"
Jim Wolf, Andrea Shalal-Esa (Paul Simao, Editor) Edition: U.S., Reuters (May 29, 2011)

Background:

"Spear Phishers"
FBI (April 1, 2009)

¹ Excerpt from Reuters article:

"...The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, said that it and the Defense Department had offered to help curb the risk from the incident....

"...Several top cybersecurity experts with extensive government dealings said they were in the dark about the origin of the attack....

"...Cyber intruders were reported in 2009 to have broken into computers holding data on Lockheed's projected $380 billion-plus F-35 fighter program, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase.

"A series of once-secret U.S. diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website suggests that China has jumped ahead of the United States when it comes to cyber espionage...."
(Reuters)

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-05-28T13:26:00.001-05:00

This year's Naval Academy graduation ceremony didn't have a Blue Angels flyover this year. The aerobatics squadron's commander quit recently.

That, I think, is an example of the high level of professionalism in the United States military.

Commander Dave Koss had been leading the team since November - but after flying below altitude at a recent appearance, he decided to step down from his position.

That failure to stay within limits set for the mission shouldn't have happened, obviously. What impressed me was Commander Koss accepting responsibility, and letting someone else take over.

Memorial Day Weekend, 2011

It's Memorial Day weekend. For many Americans this is the unofficial start of summer: a three-day holiday that gives folks a chance to get out to the lakes, grill burgers, or just sit on the stoop and relax.

I've grilled burgers, and plan to relax on the stoop later this afternoon. It's a beautiful, warm, sunny day here in central Minnesota.

Before I do that, though, I've got two words for everyone who serves and has served in the American armed forces. Particularly those who never came home:

Thank you.

Related posts:

"Memorial Day Weekend, 2010: a Long Weekend - and Something Else"
(May 29, 2010)
"U.S. Army Chief of Staff Memorial Day Message - Video"
(May 25, 2009)

In the news:

"Leader of Blue Angels Quits After Jets Flew Too Low at Recent Air Show"
FoxNews.com (May 27, 2011)

Lockheed Martin Corp, SecureIDs, EMC, and All That

2011-05-28T13:03:00.003-05:00

Update: (May 29, 2011)

The good news is that Lockheed seems to be doing something about the possibility that their networks have been hacked.

The bad news is that dealing with the issue is expensive. Also, that folks may be at risk as a result of stolen data.

From yesterday's news:

"Hackers may have infiltrated the networks of top US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp., The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a person with knowledge of the attacks.

"The security disruptions prompted the company to step up measures to protect its data. It wasn't immediately clear if any sensitive information was stolen or compromised...."

"...Lockheed sent 90,000 replacement SecureIDs to employees, which is being paid for by RSA, this person said. Employees were also told to reset all of their passwords used throughout the entire company as a precaution.

"EMC in March disclosed that it had been hit by a sophisticated cyber attack on its SecurID products, which are widely used by corporate clients...."
(The Wall Street Journal, via FoxNews.com)

On the 'misery loves company' principle, Lockheed isn't alone. Folks using some Sony products and services recently had an unpleasant experience - which doesn't have much to do with the war on terror, most likely, but shows how today's information technology can be a risk, as well as a boon.

As for the Lockheed Martin security issue: I have no idea who may have been behind it. We could be looking at anything from industrial espionage to international terrorists. Or some kid with an Internet connection and too much time to kill.

Related posts:

"Lemming Tracks: Bad News From Sony; and Getting a Grip"
(May 3, 2011)
"China. Hackers. Cyberattack. Again."
(February 22, 2010)
"Pentagon Computers Hacked - Joint Strike Fighter Project Data This Time"
(April 21, 2009)
"Cyberspy Network Hacked 103 Countries' Systems"
(March 29, 2009)
"World Bank Group Network Hacked; Chinese IPs Used: Just What We Need"
(October 10, 2008)

In the news:

"Lockheed Network Reportedly Suffers Security Breach"
The Wall Street Journal, via FoxNews.com (May 28, 2011)

Patriot Act Provisions Renewed: Finally

2011-05-26T23:00:00.005-05:00

I think - and hope - that there are quite a few members of Congress who read the news daily; and who have more on their mind than getting reelected chasing that sexy new intern.

I'd prefer to believe that many of this nation's leaders realize that their constituents are in more danger from Al Qaeda, than from the FBI - and that the CIA is not the single greatest threat to freedom in the world. Although I'll grant that the following statement reflects my own opinions. After all, maybe the world really is ruled by space-alien, shape-shifting lizard men. And that's another topic.

America's Freedoms Threatened - or, Not

What set me off this evening was news that the House finally got around to giving the okay to a four-year extension of the Patriot Act. That's a set of rules set up during the previous administration, that lets Federal officials search records and do wiretaps in a way that's appropriate to the Information Age.

The idea was that:

Terrorists might want to kill more Americans
They should be prevented from doing so
- If possible
The old-fashioned process for approving searches and wiretaps needed an overhaul
- Information technology had changed since 1978
  - A lot (March 13, 2008)

I think extending the Patriot Act is a good idea: but that's not a universally-held opinion.

I've harangued on the Patriot Act, FISA, and related ideas before.

Bottom line? I think stopping terrorists before they kill people is a good idea. I also think that checks and balances is a good idea. I even think having two sets of elected officials vote on things like the Patriot Act is a good idea. And that's yet another topic.

Related posts:

"Someone Should Tell Congress There's a War on: President Obama, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab"
(February 3, 2010)
"Fort Hood, Obama, Congress, and Getting a Job Done"
(November 16, 2009)
"Attack on New York City Thwarted; or Your Constitutional Rights Threatened: Depends on Your Point of View"
(October 6, 2009)
"FISA, the Patriot Act, and the Protect America Act: Who's Protecting Whom from Whom?"
(March 13, 2008)
"Odd Allies: Opposition to Waterboarding and Web Censorship"
(March 9, 2008)

In the news:

"Congress approves extension of expiring Patriot Act provisions"
Tom Cohen, CNN (May 26, 2011)
"Congress OKs Last-Minute Patriot Act Extension"
FoxNews.com (May 26, 2011)

Another War-on-Terror Blog

Bombs, Berserk Vendors, and Getting a Grip

Bombs and Berserk Street Vendors

Dealing with Trousers, Miniskirts, and Other Threats

People are Crazy

It's America's Fault

Men are Pigs

Africa: Looking Past the Bombings

Soccer's 28th Africa Cup of Nations

Drought, Famine, Death

Nigeria, Fuel Prices, and National Politics

Epic Culture Shock

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Hopeful

Political Prisoners, Common Criminals, and All That

Egypt: NGO Raids, Police, and Office Equipment

Years, Decades, Generations

'Because We Can?'

'Commies,' 'Hate Speech,' and Stolen Office Equipment

Grave Trouble: 64,000 Arlington Dead 'Dishonored' - 64,000!

One and a Half Centuries, More Than a Quarter of a Million Burials

Honoring the Dead, Getting a Grip

Goodbye Quill Pens, Hello Information Age

Not-So-Good News from Iraq: Arrest Warrant; Debatable Confessions, and Politics

Bombs, Videos, and News

Confessions, Coercion, and Removing the Opposition

Iraq, Politics, and All That

Confession? Yeah: Me an' the Boys'll Get a Confession For Ya

'The Masses,' Assumptions, and Getting a Grip

Kim Jong Il is Dead: North Korea's Ruling Dynasty's Third Generation

North Korea: So Far, So Good

2,000,000 Dead in Famine; Human Rights Abuses; and Nukes

Arab League: Syria Suspended - My Take

Freedom, Even For 'Those People Over There'

" 'Everybody Knows What Those People are Like' "

Freedom of Religion, Not Freedom from Religion

"Freedom: For Everyone

Benazir Bhutto Assassination Trial: With Real, Live, Defendants

Libya's Qadhafi, Qaddafi, Kadafi, or Gaddafi, is Dead: Now What?

'Richest Man in the Cemetery'

The Colonel's Death: Oops, There's a Video

The Colonel is Dead: Now What?

Infected Killer Robots! Unstoppable Virus!! MILITARY DENIAL!!!!!!!!!? No, not exactly

INFECTED KILLER ROBOTS!!

UNSTOPPABLE VIRUS!!!!

MILITARY DENIAL!!!!!!!!

Information Technology: Good News; Bad News

Pakistan, Threats, Diplomacy, and All That

Pakistan: Still a Mess

Diplomacy, Cultural Sensitivity, and Getting a Grip

Diplomacy, Assumptions, and 'Natives'

Ethical Standards? American Leaders?!

Still Blogging About Anachronisms, Autocrats, and America

About Interest: Mine and Yours

Autocrats in the Information Age

Why the American Emphasis?

'Wouldn't It be Nice - - -?'

Libya, Interpol, and a Really Big Job

Libya, an Arrest Warrant, and Good News/Bad News

Libya: Now What?

Interpol, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and Getting a Grip

Libya: The Colonel's Missing, So are Lots of Prisoners

Evil is Not Nice

And Now, the News

Flags at Half-Staff in Minnesota

Stealth Helicopter, Pakistan, China, and Getting a Grip

Security, Pakistan, and Getting a Grip

Some Secrets are Best Kept - Secret

Two Op-Eds, Two Views

China and High Tech: Why Worry?

A Competent International Authority - Someday

Pacifists, Warmongers, and Me

Hanging a Child: "Militants" Touching the Hearts and Minds of Afghanistan

Norway: Oslo, the Island of Utoya, Dead Bodies, Bad Motives

Saving Norway by Killing Norwegians?!

A World Where Everyone Looks Like Me?!

'My End of the Boat's Not Sinking?'

A Blast, Bullets, Bodies, Norway, and Getting a Grip

Remember Oklahoma City

"Islamist," "Islamic," and Unintended Consequences

Unpleasant Realities - are Still Realities

" 'Everybody Knows What Those* People are Like'* "