letters nobody will print

The Eyes of Alan Watts

2009-12-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

I wrote about politics for a couple of years. Now that nothing that happens can conceivably be influenced by anything I do or say, I only read about politics.

In the environment of Obama's Presidency, in which we hope for the best, I offer, not politics, but a memory.

Alan Watts, I'm not afraid of your eyes anymore.

(In 1970 I drove to Sausalito where Alan Watts was living in a houseboat, walked into the entrance hall, and when he greeted me was so terrified that I fled. Into a rainstorm. What I saw in his eyes that frightened me was endlessness.)

Spotlight: Honduras

2009-08-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

To: letters@time.com
Subject: Spotlight: Honduras

Washington's meddling in Latin American affairs is not a "line" - it's historic fact. (Which you folks have not done a very good job of reporting. I've been reading your magazine for 55 years.)

Latin American leaders are appealing to Obama because they sense that he is different, and that the era of "el coloso del norte" may be over.

And now that you've started writing words like "website" correctly, isn't it time to give up the snarky, condescending tone?

GOP Senators, Stimulus Bill, and Jon Kyl

2009-02-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

GOP leaders doubt stimulus bill will pass Senate

Am I missing something here? The Republicans have only 41 Senators, and several of them are moderates who tend to vote with Democrats on important issues. Jon Kyl is one of the most retrogressive members of the Senate and cannot be assumed to speak for all Republican Senators. The stimulus plan doesn't need his support.

Muntazer al-Zaidi

2008-12-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

The guy who threw his shoes at Bush is an Iraqi journalist named Muntazer al-Zaidi. He has been imprisoned and not seen in public since the incident.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Muntazer had repeated many times that if he had the chance, he would take revenge against the US president," said a colleague. "He held him responsible for the deterioration of the conditions we were living in. He just didn't have the chance before, and being asked to cover the conference was an opportunity for him. I am proud of him because he did what all of us have dreamed of doing, but were too scared to do."

One police officer, who accompanied [Zaidi] to prison, said the journalist, a Baghdad correspondent for the Cairo-based Al-Baghdadia TV, had been subjected to violence throughout the journey. The officer, who asked not to be named, said he witnessed security forces beating Zaidi in the car with such force that his ribs were broken. "I felt sorry when I saw them beating him. His mouth was badly injured and he did not utter a single word throughout until one of the guards hit him in his left eye with a gun. Then he cried out that he couldn't see, and I saw blood inside his eye. I am a police officer but even I have to say I felt proud of what he did."

A doctor called to examine Zaidi said his right arm had been broken and he had haematomas - indicative of internal bleeding - all over his body, particularly on his left leg, shoulders, face and head. The doctor, who also asked to remain anonymous, said specialists called in to treat him warned security guards that they must make sure his eye was protected for fear of a further haemorrhage which could cause him to lose his sight.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Istanbul shoe producer Ramazan Baydan insists the brown thick-soled shoes [thrown at Bush] are his and currently known as Model 271 but soon to be renamed the Bush Shoe, or the Bye-Bye-Bush Shoe. He has hired an agency to promote them, claims to have taken 300,000 orders since the protest and plans to employ 100 extra staff to meet demand.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

As Zaidi threw the shoes he said:
"This is the farewell kiss, you dog."

Al-Qaeda Endorses McCain

2008-10-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

John McCain 'endorsed by al-Qaeda supporters'

Supporters of al-Qaeda have said they would prefer Republican candidate John McCain to win the US election because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a message broadcast on the password-protected al-Hesbah site, the group said they would also welcome a pre-election terror attack on the US because that would make a McCain win more likely.

The group said that if al-Qaeda wants to exhaust the US militarily and economically, the "impetuous" Republican presidential candidate is the better choice.

Troopergate

2008-10-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Complete Troopergate Report

Branchflower Report to the Legislative Council
October 10, 2008

CONCLUSION

Governor Sarah Palin

I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act:

"The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust."

The mental state required of an executive branch employee like Governor Palin in order to violate a provision of the Ethics Act is "knowingly." This means that an executive branch employee cannot be found to be in violation of the ethics laws when he or she does not at least know that his or her conduct is in violation of the Act, e.g. one cannot negligently or accidentally violate the Act.

The policy underlying Alaska's Ethics Act is to discourage executive branch employees from acting upon personal interests in the performance of their public responsibilities and to avoid conflicts of interest in the performance of duty. The Act makes clear that compliance with the code of ethics creates a burden on each executive branch employee that is personal in nature.

Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional. It is an individual responsibility imposed by law, and any effort to benefit a personal interest through official action is a violation of that trust. The term "benefit" is very broadly defined, and includes anything that is to the person's advantage or personal self-interest.

Bush and Olmert Agree on 'Timetable' for Attack on Iran

2008-06-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Olmert Hints U.S. Action on Iran Nukes is Near

by Gil Ronen
Published: 06/05/08, 11:35 AM

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted after his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday that U.S. action against Iran is imminent. While he avoided saying anything clear and specific on the matter, Olmert did mention a "timetable" and said action would take place before Bush leaves the White House.

"We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat," Olmert said after the meeting. "I left with a lot less question marks [than I had entered with] regarding the means, the timetable restrictions and America's resoluteness to deal with the problem."

"George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House," Olmert reportedly said after his 90 minute long one-on-one meeting with the American Commander in Chief.

'It is not good to publicize everything'

"With every day that goes by we get closer to stopping the Iranian nuclear plan," Olmert said. He said that meaningful steps were being taken to handle Iran "more effectively" and told reporters: "The Iranian problem requires urgent attention, and I see no reason to delay this just because there will be a new President in the White House seven and a half months from now."

Billion Dollar US Mexico Fence

2008-06-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

I guess people like this fence because it's something solid.

Chertoff's Iron Curtain

Many people sincerely doubt that this wall will actually secure our border and protect us from undocumented dishwashers. The history of walls lends them some support, but of course when things get bad enough here, perhaps it will help keep us from fleeing to Mexico.

I don't think so. Not if 10-year-old-boys and grandmothers can easily climb over it.

FEMA & Formaldehyde, Part 2

2008-02-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

CDC Confirms Health Risks to Occupants of Trailers

I remembering writing something about this...on 07/22/07. Maybe that suggests how long it takes a serious health hazard to poor people to get in the MSM: almost seven months.

Anybody But Obama!

2008-01-18T21:08:00.000-08:00

Obama: GOP was the "party of ideas" during past decade

According to Barack Obama, Republicans have been "the party of ideas" over the last ten to fifteen years because they were "challenging conventional wisdom."

"Obama's narrative about Ronald Reagan's presidency stars a government grown out of control, and a populace eager to emerge from two decades of social unrest. Against that backdrop, Reagan rose to victory by uniting the country behind his optimism and delivering transformative change."

Bleh. What planet does Obama live on? When I read this a few minutes ago I realized that he had played me, and millions of others. I feel a little queasy. I'm going to vote for Dennis Kucinich, who of course has no chance...but nothing I can do will matter. At least I can say I tried to do the right thing.

Nominate Obama

2007-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

Grim Old Party
By Steve Benen
Posted September 4th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

It’s not a bad landscape, is it? The Republicans have a huge field of unimpressive candidates; Dems have a smaller field of top-flight candidates; GOP voters are dejected; and Dems are thrilled to have so many strong choices.

*********************

I just thought of another reason for the Democrats to nominate Obama instead of Hillary. Without a focus for their hatred, the Republicans will be more than just demoralized. They will be immobilized by confusion.

Americans Have No Shame.

2007-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

AN APPEALING CHINESE IMPORT: ACCOUNTABILITY

Should Leaders Who Ruin Lives Go Unpunished?

Zhang was co-owner of the Lee Der Industrial Company, the Chinese company that made toys for Mattel using toxic levels of lead paint. Mattel issued a recall expected to cost the company in the neighborhood of $30 million.

Poor guy--he probably didn't even know the paint his workers were slathering on nearly a million toys for preschoolers was dangerous. "The boss and the company were harmed by the paint supplier, the closest friend of our boss," reported the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper.

"It is not uncommon for Chinese executives to commit suicide after suffering damage to their reputation," noted the UK Telegraph.

Zhang's death followed the July execution of Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, head of China's State Food and Drug Administration from 1994 to 2005. Zheng was convicted of accepting $850,000 in bribes from eight pharmaceutical companies in exchange for approving fake and substandard drugs. An antibiotic involved in the case killed at least 10 people.

The Xinhua news agency didn't say how Zheng was killed, but most Chinese executions are carried out with a single gunshot to the back of the head. Shortly afterward a policeman notifies the condemned man's family by presenting them with a bill for the cost of the bullet.

Now that's accountability. Can we import some of that too?

The late Mssrs. Zhang and Zheng oversaw corruption and incompetence that pales next to catastrophes for which no American has yet been held to account. Thousands died in hurricane Katrina because officials all the way up to George "Heckuva job, Brownie!" Bush made a conscious decision not to help. Two years later, what's left of New Orleans is dying, murdered by an appalling political calculus: It is (was) black. It was Democratic. Shouldn't government officials face a firing squad for killing a major city?

Waziristan, Pakistan, Bin Laden and Nukes

2007-08-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

My husband just complained to me that Barack Obama is getting on the Go After The Terrorists bandwagon, which in my husband's opinion shows him to be just another opportunist, saying whatever will grab a few swing votes.

I pointed out to my husband that John Kerry during the 2004 campaign also urged pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, in the places where Osama Bin Laden hides, and that Obama's stance is not different.

And then I explained to my politically naive husband that there are problems nobody talks about in public. Everybody who was really paying attention knew in 2001 that the Taliban in Afghanistan had support in the Northwest Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, and would take refuge there. All you had to do to know that was read Pepe Escobar's columns in Asia Times Online.

The US can't find Osama Bin Laden, and the US can't attack in the northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan, because most Pakistanis are sympathetic to Bin Laden. If such an attack were made Musharraf's military dictarship would be overthrown...and atomic weapons, large ones, would be in the hands of Bin Laden.

British source tells of betrayal to CIA

2007-07-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

Revealed: MI5's role in torture flight hell

David Rose
Sunday July 29, 2007
The Observer

An Iraqi who was a key source of intelligence for MI5 has given the first ever full insider's account of being seized by the CIA and bundled on to an illegal 'torture flight' under the programme known as extraordinary rendition.

In a remarkable interview for The Observer, British resident Bisher al-Rawi has told how he was betrayed by the security service despite having helped keep track of Abu Qatada, the Muslim cleric accused of being Osama bin Laden's 'ambassador in Europe'. He was abducted and stripped naked by US agents, clad in nappies, a tracksuit and shackles, blindfolded and forced to wear ear mufflers, then strapped to a stretcher on board a plane bound for a CIA 'black site' jail near Kabul in Afghanistan.

FEMA and Formaldehyde: "More Research Is Needed"

2007-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

FEMA knew about toxic trailers

By Spencer S. Hsu

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has suppressed warnings from its own field workers about health problems experienced by hurricane evacuees living in government-provided trailers with levels of a toxic chemical 75 times the recommended maximum for U.S. workers, congressional lawmakers said Thursday.

A trail of e-mails obtained by investigators shows that the agency's lawyers rejected a proposal for systematic testing of the levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde gas in the trailers out of concern that the agency would be legally liable for any hazards or health problems. As many as 120,000 families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita lived in the suspect trailers, and hundreds have complained of ill effects.

Bush's Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2007-05-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Basking in schadenfreude, I haven't been reading the news carefully, but this hit me:

Bush's Texas Chainsaw Massacre
…Or The Clock Ticks for Thee (in Baghdad and Washington)
By Tom Engelhardt

It had taken much thought and planning that wartime May Day four years ago when George W. Bush co-piloted an S-3B Viking sub reconnaissance Naval jet onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Scott Sforza, a former ABC producer, had "embedded" himself on that aircraft carrier days before the President landed. Along with Bob DeServi, a former NBC cameraman and lighting specialist, and Greg Jenkins, a former Fox News television producer, he had planned out every detail of the President's arrival -- as Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times put it then -- "even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the ‘Mission Accomplished' banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call ‘magic hour light,' which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush."

John Warner, Eloquent Statesman?

2007-01-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

Excerpts From the Petraeus Hearing

"We're not a division here today of patriots who support the troops and those who are making statements and working on resolutions that could be translated as aiding and abetting the enemy. We're trying to exercise the fundamental responsibilities of our democracy." _ Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who sponsored a resolution disapproving the president's plan.

Maliki Disses Bush, Condi

2007-01-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

El premier iraquí dijo que Bush ya "perdió el control"

Inesperado y duro ataque del primer ministro de Irak, Nouri al Maliki, un aliado de EEUU, al presidente George W. Bush. "Me parece que Bush está capitulando bajo el peso de las presiones internas y es acosado por los medios de comunicación y los políticos. Quizás ha perdido el control de la situación", dijo en una entrevista al diario Corriere della Sera de Milán.

Lorenzo Cremonesi, el enviado del matutino de Milán, contó que la entrevista se celebró "en su oficina superforticada, en el corazón de la zona verde de Bagdad" controlada centímetro a centímetro por las fuerzas militares norteamericanas. "Nouri al Maliki ataca para defenderse de las crecientes críticas norteamericanas", explicó.

El primer ministro "no ha ahorrado palabras pesadas contra la administración Bush", comentó el enviado del diario italiano. El jefe del gobierno dijo: "Sé que hay una campaña de los medios de prensa en mi contra. Y comprendo que la actual administración norteamericana se encuentre en graves dificultades tras la derrota electoral de dos meses atrás. Nunca como ahora he advertido la debilidad de George Bush. Y lo lamento porque Bush en general tiene un carácter fuerte. Pero creo que ellos tienen más dificultades que nosotros aquí en Bagdad. Nuestro gobierno es capaz de funcionar mejor que tantos otros".

La secretaria de Estado norteamericana, Condoleezza Rice, declaró que el gobierno de Irak "está moribundo". El primer ministro Maliki responde. "Quisiera aconsejar a la señora Rice que evite declaraciones que pueden ayudar sólo a los terroristas. Ellos así se sienten más fuertes. Puedo agregar que quizás han derrotado a los norteamericanos, pero por cierto no al gobierno iraquí".

Castro Doesn't Have Cancer

2007-01-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

A pesar de las especulaciones Fidel Castro no padece cáncer

01/19/2007
Antonio Andraus

NUEVA YORK– “Los muertos que vos matáis… gozan de cabal salud…’’, como dice el refrán español y puede aplicarse estrictamente al estado de salud del mandatario cubano Fidel Castro.

Contra todos los pronósticos y especulaciones que no han creado ni científicos ni médicos, el eterno dictador de Cuba, no “padece una enfermedad terminal’’.

La información salió de boca del prestigioso médico José Luis García Sabrido, jefe de cirugía del hospital “Gregorio Marañón’’, de Madrid, España, luego de viajar hasta la isla antillana a practicarle varios exámenes al paciente de 80 años, tras solicitud del propio gobierno cubano.

Fidel Castro, que cedió el manejo férreo y gubernamental de la isla a su hermano Raúl, no ha aparecido en ningún acto público ni político, desde el 31 de julio del pasado año, cuando fue sometido a una severa y prolongada intervención quirúrgica intestinal, pero sí ha recibido visitas especiales y esporádicas de dirigentes políticos internacionales, como el presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías.

Para el distinguido galeno español García Sabrido, quien ejerce en el centro asistencial público madrileño, explicó que “hasta donde conozco la situación y el estado de salud de Fidel Castro, puedo asegurar que no padece enfermedad maligna alguna que se le haya detectado hasta el momento, y su proceso de recuperación está dentro de lo normal, dentro de un estado benigno pero con una serie de complicaciones que le prolongarán la convalescencia que está llevando a cabo’’.

García Sabrido, quien estuvo en La Habana, Cuba, el pasado 19 de diciembre, en una visita exclusiva al mandatario cubano, ya había concurrido a la isla caribeña en su calidad de conferenciante, al asistir al IX Congreso Internacional de Cirugía, que se efectuó en la capital cubana entre el 7 y el 10 de noviembre del pasado año.

El autorizado diagnóstico sobre el estado de salud del dirigente cubano por parte del galeno español, contradijo por completo las informaciones internacionales, por medio de las cuales varias publicaciones señalaban que padecía cáncer y en algunos otros medios, que sus días estuvieran contados.

Dos semanas antes de que se conociera el dictamen médico del doctor García Sabrido, el periódico “The Independent’’ de Gran Bretaña dijo en una de sus notas sobre su estado de salud, que “Fidel Castro lucha contra un cáncer terminal y podría morir antes de la Navidad venidera’’, porque aparentemente “se negaba a que le fueran practicadas sesiones de quimioterapia’’.

Mientras tanto, el director de Inteligencia de los Estados Unidos, John Negroponte, había sostenido el pasado 15 de diciembre a los periodistas que tienen a su cargo la cobertura de las informaciones de la Casa Blanca, que “todo lo que vemos sobre el estado de salud de Fidel Castro es que no hace falta mucho para su muerte, es cuestión de meses, no de años’’, lo cual podría ser cierto desde el punto de vista de edad y del cuadro clínico que tiene el mandatario cubano, pero alejado de la realidad sobre la inminencia de su fallecimiento como consecuencia de la intervención quirúrgica a la cual fue sometido y ante la posibilidad de que padezca cáncer.

García Sabrido explicó igualmente durante la conferencia de prensa que ofreció en Madrid, España, a su regreso de La Habana, para dar a conocer su opinión personal y científica sobre el estado de salud del mandatario caribeño que “me llamó poderosamente la atención su estado de ánimo, muy jovial por cierto, con gran sentido del humor y con su plena capacidad mental y espiritual de la que siempre ha hecho gala’’.

El distinguido médico español sostuvo que “me asombró su manera de actuar y de pensar, y mostró el dinamismo de un dirigente que tiene todavía muchas capacidades para afrontar sus labores habituales. Todo dependerá de él y de su proceso de recuperación que, desde luego, no será de un día para otro’’.

Al responder inquietudes políticas sobre su presencia en La Habana, el galeno García Sabrido explicó que antes que todo se debe a su profesión, al de ser médico, y por lo tanto, “aun cuando Fidel Castro es un paciente excepcional en el sentido de sus calidades políticas, nada tiene que ver con mi presencia en la capital cubana, pues al fin y al cabo es un paciente, y como tal, lo analicé, lo traté y por eso puedo ofrecer el dictamen médico que les he dado a conocer. Y les aseguro que por el momento, Fidel no tendrá que ser sometido a otra intervención quirúrgica ’’.

En Cuba, nadie habla de la situación clínica y de salud de Fidel Castro, porque la isla, hasta el momento, sigue funcionando dentro del régimen sin complicaciones de ninguna naturaleza, y una representación del Congreso de los Estados Unidos que visitó a la isla a mediados de diciembre pasado, observó con algunos buenos augurios que podrían limarse las asperezas que existen entre los dos gobiernos.

A pesar de esto, en la propia Cuba hay escepticismo sobre las condiciones de salud y de la vida de Fidel Castro… los vientos que soplan no son buenos… y mucho menos, los murmullos de las esquinas, en donde se habla de él como el hombre que ya fue…

Bush Will Attack Iran by April

2007-01-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

US military strike on Iran seen by April '07; Sea-launched attack to hit oil, N-sites

KUWAIT CITY: Washington will launch a military strike on Iran before April 2007, say sources. The attack will be launched from the sea and Patriot missiles will guard all oil-producing countries in the region, they add. Recent statements emanating from the United States indicate the Bush administration's new strategy for Iraq doesn't include any proposal to make a compromise or negotiate with Syria or Iran. A reliable source said President Bush recently held a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice and other assistants in the White House where they discussed the plan to attack Iran in minute detail.

According to the source, Vice President Dick Cheney highlighted the threat posed by Iran to not only Saudi Arabia but the whole region. "Tehran is not playing politics. Iranian leaders are using their country's religious influence to support the aggressive regime's ambition to expand," the source quoted Dick Cheney as saying. Indicating participants of the meeting agreed to impose restrictions on the ambitions of Iranian regime before April 2007 without exposing other countries in the region to any danger, the source said "they have chosen April as British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said it will be the last month in office for him. The United States has to take action against Iran and Syria before April 2007."
_________________________

This sounds very plausible. It sounds like exactly Bush and Cheney would decide to do.

Saddam Hussein, Martyr

2007-01-06T23:53:00.000-08:00

We're Losing the Infowar

Residents of Fallujah—the target of a multimillion-dollar hearts-and-minds campaign—renamed the city's main thoroughfare the Street of the Martyr Saddam Hussein.

Israel Preparing to Nuke Iran

2007-01-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

Was this leaked to pressure the Iranians? Even if it was, that doesn't mean they won't do it.

Report: Israel Planning Nuke Raid on Iran Uranium Enrichment Sites

Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Turkmenbashi's Death Could Lead to Another War

2006-12-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

OUR NEXT BIG MESS
by Ted Rall

NEW YORK--Chances are that you heard more about Rosie O'Donnell's flame
war with Donald Trump than the passing of Sapamurat "Turkmenbashi"
Niyazov. As seems to occur with increasing frequency, America's media
ignored the most important story of the year.

A handful of news outlets that bothered to cover the 66-year-old
dictator's death wallowed in the humor inherent in the extravagant
personality cult he built up after Turkmenistan gained independence
from the Soviet Union in 1991. Cannier obituary writers noted that the
Central Asian nation "contains many of the world's largest natural gas
fields, and provides gas to Russian and European countries." (Actually,
the largest. Period.) But they missed the main point of the story, one
with dramatic short-term consequences for Central Asia and breathtaking
dangers to the United States during the first half of the new century.

The Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan
and--until now--Turkmenistan are all being ruled by the same former
Communist Party bosses who ran them in Soviet times. Niyazov's death
marks the beginning of the end for the post-Soviet authoritarian order
and the beginning of a period of increasing instability, as foreign
powers attempt to monopolize access to oil and natural gas resources
and pipeline routes. Kazakhstan alone may possess more untapped oil
reserves than Saudi Arabia and Iraq combined, and the politics and
economies of the Central Asian republics are closely intertwined. What
is at stake is nothing less than the security and control of the world
economy.

Unless you were one of the five million desperately poor Turkmen
forced to watch while your desert nation's gas wealth was systemically
looted and squandered on such vanity projects as the gilt statue of
Turkmenbashi that dominates the skyline of Ashkhabat and turns to face
the sun (local wags say the sun turns to face it), it was easy to laugh
at the ubiquitous trappings of unhinged egotism. Turkmenbashi's
moon-eyed mug glared from banners hung from the façade of every
government ministry and school, appeared on every denomination of
currency, even on his own brands of vodka and cologne. Everything was
named after him: the country's second-largest city, its airports, a
large meteorite, the month of January. His not-so-little green book of
aphorisms ("Time is a mace. Hit or be hit!"), the Rukhnama, became
required reading for schoolchildren and motorists who sought to renew
their driver's licenses.

Saddam Hussein's reputation for self-indulgence had nothing on
Turkmenbashi. Niyazov's megalomania ranged from the grandiose--at the
time of his death he had just completed the world's largest mosque
(featuring quotes from the Rukhnama, naturally) and had ordered the
construction of a man-made lake in the middle of the Karakum desert--to
obsessive micromanagement. Each Turkmen student's college application
was personally considered by the great man.

Even his commonsense dictates came with a bizarre twist. During the
1990s Turkmenbashi ordered that natural gas, as a national patrimony,
be supplied to Turkmen homes for free. Since most people were too poor
to afford matches, however, it became common practice to leave their
stoves on 24-7. Where foreigners saw hilarity, Turkmen seethed with
resentment; Ashkhabati motorists saved their household garbage so they
could chuck it on the lawn of one of Niyazov's pink pleasure palaces.

A power struggle is underway. Within hours of Turkmenbashi's fatal
heart attack his Constitutionally-mandated successor, Majlis (lower
house of parliament) chairman Ovezgeldy Atayev found himself behind
bars, arrested for an unspecified "criminal investigation." An obscure
deputy prime minister and former dentist, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov,
declared himself acting president and has arranged to have the
Constitution retrofit to validate his rule.

"Many Western analysts," reported The New York Times, "said the country
was unlikely to change and that authoritarian rule would continue under
any of Mr. Niyazov's successors." But Turkmen exiles who lead
opposition parties are itching to fill the vacuum, if not of power, of
charisma, left by Niyazov's demise. Leaders of the nation's five
biggest tribes are jockeying for advantage. And five million Turkmen
who can't afford matches want a piece of the action--and want to get
even with the government thugs who shut down the country's hospitals
and medical clinics.

Berdymukhammedov's regime may keep the lid on the pressure cooker of
Turkmen politics for a short time, but it isn't hard to imagine a
country of former (and present) nomads disintegrating into the chaos of
warlordism as a result of the venting of long-suppressed ethnic and
political rivalries. A Turkmen civil war would quickly turn regional.
Iran and Afghanistan, which share Turkmenistan's southern border, would
side with any faction that could guarantee continued trade, but any
instability would affect the refining of crude from Kazakhstan, a major
world supplier. It would probably end construction of the post-9/11
Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline being built to carry Kazakh oil and Turkmen
gas between Turkmenistan and a Pakistani port on the Indian Ocean.
Everyone is betting that Turkmenbashi's foreign policy of "positive
neutrality" won't last long. Russia has already indicated its intent to
reassert itself in Turkmenistan. Here's where we come in: no American
president, Democrat or Republican, will allow Russia to gain control
over the world's largest energy reserves without a fight. Moreover,
neither Russia nor the U.S. will watch idly as Central Asia implodes
and takes the world economy along for the ride. U.S. troops, currently
based in Uzbekistan, could be sent in to restore order and keep the
Russians out.

Signaling renewed high-level interest in Turkmenistan, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Richard Boucher and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov both attended Turkmenbashi's funeral on Christmas Eve.
Uzbekistan's universally reviled despot Islam Karimov, who got away
with the 2005 massacre of at least 700 civilians at Andijon because of
his country's energy reserves, will almost certainly be an early
casualty of civil strife in Central Asia. A witch's brew of Stalin-era
ethnic gerrymandering and brutal suppression of a nascent Islamist
insurgency, mixed with the collapse of Karimov's Uzbek police state,
could easily take Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan--poor countries barely
recovering from civil conflict and dependant on the urban-based Uzbek
economy--with them. Even Kazakhstan, the most stable of a fragile lot,
is susceptible to an uprising; few Kazakhs have shared in the nation's
oil boom.

Whether or not Turkmenbashi's death directly affects its neighbors,
it's a reminder that Central Asia's autocrats aren't getting younger.
Laugh about the Leader of All Turkmen's excesses now. The storm is
coming.

(Ted Rall is the author of the new book "Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central
Asia the New Middle East?," an in-depth prose and graphic novel
analysis of America's next big foreign policy challenge.)

COPYRIGHT 2006 TED RALL
DISTRIBUTED BY uclick, LLC/TED RALL

George W. Bush as Harrison Ford

2006-12-05T16:26:00.000-08:00

I've just decided that George W. Bush has been imitating the performance of Harrison Ford in the 1997 film Air Force One. In the opening scene of the movie, the US President portrayed by Ford abandons his prepared speech to declare that America will no longer tolerate bad governments in the world, will not be content with economic sanctions, and will not negotiate.

The power of Hollywood.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

2006-11-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

Rumsfeld Waxes Emotional

Asked how he has found the motivation to press on in this tough environment, Rumsfeld answered with his tried and true "My goodness." He took a long pause as the audience laughed softly, then answered that he felt "so fortunate to have been able to participate and serve at important times in our country's history, and to do it with people like that," gesturing to the soldiers in the room. Visibly emotional, he looked off to the side as he composed himself.

******************************

"He's certainly a ruthless little bastard."

---Richard Nixon

******************************

The greatest evil is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.

---C.S. Lewis