Abu Muqawama: U.S. Needs Perspective, not Pedestal, for Military

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A new television show in the United States called “Stars Earn Stripes” puts various B-grade “celebrities” through military training in order to illustrate what it’s like to serve in the most elite units in the U.S. military.

This show might not have been a bad idea immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, when it seemed as if most Americans were largely ignorant of the roles and responsibilities of their military and its elite units. Such a show might have prompted more Americans to enlist in the military rather than follow the advice of their president and shop at the mall.

Now, though, in an era in which Navy SEALs star in their own feature films and the White House collaborates with movie producers to re-enact the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the whole exercise seems unhealthy — just another way for American society to put its military on a praetorian pedestal.

Earlier this summer, I penned two columns on wartime civil-military relations in the United States and came to the conclusion that, despite some handwringing to the contrary, elected decision-makers and their military counterparts in Washington have actually been working effectively and appropriately. On the whole, I argued, civil-military relations were quite healthy.

That is the good news. The bad news is that American society as a whole has developed a dysfunctional relationship with its men and women in uniform. The relationship has grown into a bizarre form of hero-worship, where servicemen and women are considered to be some kind of über-citizen more deserving of rights than the average, nonserving citizen. Andrew Bacevich’s “The New American Militarism,” which might have seemed alarmist when it was published in 2005, looks prescient in 2012.

On the one hand, it is good and right that a society lifts up those who put themselves in harm’s way to serve a greater good. But when it comes to the U.S. and its military, things have truly gotten out of hand. Able-bodied U.S. soldiers in prime physical condition now board airplanes in the United States before mothers with small children. Perhaps even worse, it seems that only veterans notice how ridiculous this is. The new G.I. Bill, passed by the Congress in 2009, makes the U.S. taxpayer responsible for the education of the sons and daughters of highly paid general officers, yet most citizens living in a new age of austerity do not ask why. And a member of the U.S. House of Representatives has even gone so far as to argue that military servicemen might deserve the right to vote more than the average citizen.

This is obscene. And the absurdity of it all is thrown into stark relief when we compare things with the way we treat other public servants. Consider, for a moment, Ragaei Abdelfattah, an Egyptian emigrant to the United States who was killed last week in Afghanistan while working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Abdelfattah will not be remembered in the way we remember fallen uniformed servicemen, and his family will likely struggle to receive even a fraction of the benefits that would be given to the family of a fallen soldier.

All too often, in fact, USAID workers in Afghanistan are left to buy their own life insurance and worry about whether or not they are killed on “duty hours” so that their family receives it. The families of these fallen civilians will not have veterans service organizations fighting on their behalf on Capitol Hill to secure their benefits.

Contrary to popular perceptions, diplomats, aid workers and civilian contractors on the battlefield arguably expose themselves to more danger on a daily basis than most members of the military serving in combat support assignments. But they receive none of the credit and few of the benefits that the latter do.

For the sake of argument, perhaps the way we treat these public workers is how it should be. After all, diplomats, aid workers and civilian contractors in Afghanistan all serve voluntarily. They all provide a service and are compensated financially in exchange for their service. This is, above all, a labor transaction.

But if that’s the case, how are soldiers or Marines serving in a professional military any different?

The unhealthy relationship between American society and its military derives from our decades-long inability to decide whether those who serve in the military are performing a public service or whether they are instead embarking on a profession. This ambiguity has endured since the beginning of the all-volunteer military after the Vietnam War.

If the military is a service, then we can and should expect those who serve to do so humbly and for little reward, in exchange for the grateful thanks of their nation. We might provide compensatory benefits on the back end for the families of those killed and for those wounded or injured while serving. If the military is a profession, by contrast, then we should expect those who choose this profession to provide a contractually obligated service in exchange for pay and benefits.

Either way, the policy implications are the same. If veterans of a professional all-volunteer force have simply provided services to the public in exchange for compensation, then we veterans deserve the same benefits provided to other public servants — no more, no less. If the military, by contrast, is a truly selfless service, than veterans should be among the first in these times of austerity to lead by example and accept fewer public benefits. At the very least, we should be helping that mother with kids onto the airplane ahead of us.

Rather than choose between these two visions of military service, however, we Americans have opted for a middle option whereby we have a professional military in which men and women provide a public service — like police officers or emergency medical technicians — but are elevated to the highest echelons of publicly bestowed honor. This ambiguity hinders our ability to make even basic reforms to the military pay and benefits that will soon cripple the defense budget. And it contributes to the creation of a praetorian guard that threatens rather than protects the fabric of our society.

Andrew Exum is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and teaches a course in low-intensity conflict at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He blogs at Abu Muqawama. His WPR column, Abu Muqawama, appears every Wednesday.

Wish I could be there. Even with almost freezing to death for 5 hours, and losing my chances of making $100,000, it was still the most memorable and rewarding race that I did last year.” -Hobie Call

As a side note, anyone who finishes the race in under 24 hours wins a 100k and anyone who finishes in under 36 hours wins 50k. That pretty much guarantees that the race will be longer than 36 hours. Picture the scene: the HD makes it to the finish line in 23 hours. The race directors say, “Before you can cross the finish line, you have to do 14 hours of jumping jacks…” FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!

The HD emailed Joe Decker, the 2010 and 2011 champion, who offered this advice: “The main thing is never quit and don’t let them get inside your head. Be sure to drink enough, eat enough, take plenty of electrolytes, take care of your feet and most importantly your crotch!haha…Serious use plenty of bodyglide. That’s about it! Have fun!”

Some extra advice from the champ here: “Don’t think. In this thing, thought is a killer. If you think about consequences, if you think about retribution, if you think about what’s going to happen, you’re going to fuck yourself. JUST DO; don’t fucking think. Become robotic and don’t fucking even think, no thoughts in your head whatsoever outside of fucking ‘just do the task, do the task.’ If he say cut your own nuts off and eat them, do the task.”

World Championship Spartan Death Race 2010 Montage

GAME TIME

Both Three Cups of Tea and Mortenson’s second book, Stones into Schools, are amazing books. The HD says never let the truth interfere with a good story! Look, it is always difficult to recall events that happened over a decade ago in journalistic detail. One’s mind is always inclined to remember things differently than how they actually happened. What up, James Frey’s A Million Little Lies! But if you’re going to write a memoir from memory alone, it’s best to go the What Is the What route.

However, the financial mismanagement aspect to the 60 Minutes piece is far more serious. Very, very disappointing if true. The HD is not only fluent in Latin, but has also seen enough West Wing to know: “Corruptio optimi pessima”. Corruption of the best is the worst.

The HD is inclined though to let this one play out. It will be interesting to see if donations drop to CAI as a result of this story. Stay tuned.

No moral judgements from the HD on the cheeky thievery. Rather, a criticism on such a poor attempt! PROTIP: After nicking the luxurious pen, the Honorable Klaus should have at least reached into his other pocket and put in the box a *GASP* BIC pen!

The movie features some prominent players, including Fair Game Valerie Plame, calling for no nukes and international bodies to handle highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Yet the movie doesn’t deal with the question of rogue states like Iran and North Korea (and states that “just want to see the world burn”). How do we deal with the necessity of cutting American and Russian nuclear arsenals while convincing rogue states to do the same and/or not develop nuclear weapons in the first place? Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t deal with that. Without incentivizing every single country that it is in their national interest to have a world free of nuclear weapons, Countdown to Zero is really Countdown to Our Demise! As countries unilaterally cut their nuclear arsenals, each nuke becomes more valuable. If one were to pursue the ideal Countdown to Zero, then at the end the man with one eye nuke would be king!

BONUS SECTION!!!:
START ribune’s Ross Monten vs. Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer

AND THE WINNER IS??? Colonel Willie Sharp: Get off… the nuclear… warhead.

The HD just said goodbye to a long-time neighbor and World War II vet who is moving into a old folks home out of town. Sad times.

The Guardian UK describes the United States’ China’s foreign policies as “thuggish”. (H/T: JSW)

“But i gotta get mine, so scream out, mo, and let me hear ya holla
Not about that mighty dollar“

vs.

President Bush throwin’ it up in Liberia

On Sunday, a suicide bomber (spoiler alert: the retirement package isn’t all it’s cracked up to be) wounded 32 people in Istanbul. Fortunately, none of the HD’s sources were harmed. The HD’s main man in Istanbul was able to provide this reaction:

Yeah everything is cool. The city didnt even react dude, I went for a run along the Bosporus and people were still fishing and having coffee and no even mentioned. There was more of a crowd up for the football match in the evening. Strange I think, obviously someone just doesnt dig on youtube……

Indeed. The enemies of YouTube have no decency! However, correlation called causation. He left a voicemail saying that it wasn’t him.

The reaction of Istanbul’s population is interesting. It brings to mind the Moscow Metro bombing in March in which 38 people were killed. At that time, the HD’s Moscow man provided a similar Russian reaction in which people went about their day and were back on the trains within hours.

Maybe some have accepted that terrorism has become a part of daily life. Or maybe those in Istanbul and Moscow thought it was all just a bit silly to give in to that “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which (attempts to) paralyze” us in our daily lives. Good for them for not letting the insanity of it all ruin their day.

In conclusion, unless you are the one conducting the suicide bombing, you are more likely to die in a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder than you would in a terrorist attack. The HD would even go so far as to say you are more likely to die from watching the movie “Paranormal Activity 2″ than you would in a terrorist attack. Maybe the movie was a plot by the Terry Wrists to keep fear alive! Either way, don’t give in to the fear. In the same way that “we ultimately vanquish terrorism when we refuse to be terrorized“, we ultimately stop directors from making bad movies when we refuse to see them.

Stay safe, stay vigilant, but stay saucy as well.

In what can only be classified as one of the most legendary set of sentences ever said by a head of state, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa shouted in the face of his own police trying to kill him:

“If you want to kill the president, here he is! Kill me if you want to! Kill me if you are brave, instead of hiding in the crowd like cowards!”

Not bad for a guy with a PhD in Economics and who had spoken at the LSE a year earlier!

Just an tidbit of SecComdy’s HUMRINT:

For the undergraduates here, I know you’re well-accustomed to the challenge of staying awake through long lectures.  I promise I won’t test your endurance too much today.  I’m reminded of the time when George Bernard Shaw told a famous orator he had 15 minutes to speak.  The orator protested, “How can I possibly tell them all I know in 15 minutes?”  Shaw replied, “I advise you to speak slowly”.

He also mentioned Eric Greitens who has a unbelievable RIDONKCULOUS resume. But his main point was for all Americans, especially those from L337 institutions, to consider answering the call to service for a variety of reasons:

But beyond the hardship and heartbreak – and they are real – there is another side to military service.  That is the opportunity to be given extraordinary responsibility at a young age – not just for lives of your troops, but for missions and decisions that may change the course of history.  In addition to being in the fight, our young military leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan, have to one degree or another found themselves dealing with development, governance, agriculture, and diplomacy.  They’ve done all this at an age when many of their peers are reading spreadsheets and making photocopies (HD: LOLOLOL).  And that is why, I should add, they are often in such high demand with future employers and go on to do great things – in scholarship, in government, in business – in every walk of life.

Absolutely: “The all-volunteer uniformed services now represent less than 1 percent of the American population, but they’re carrying 100 percent of the battle.”

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

Gorbachev in 1986: “The U.S. has set for itself the goal of disrupting a settlement in Afghanistan in Afghanistan by any means… A million of our soldiers went through Afghanistan and we will not be able to explain to our people why we did not complete it. We suffered such heavy losses! And what for?”

NEW BLOG ALERT (NBA): The HD’s man at the UN– Note Verbale.

Great song (ignore the video):

“I don’t see much sense in that,” said Rabbit.

“No,” said Pooh humbly, “there isn’t. But there was going to be when I began it. It’s just that something happened to it along the way.”

It’s important to remember how much good can get done, because we live in such strange times where bad behavior sucks up all the attention and press. And the people who really need the spotlight: the Haitians, the Sudanese, people in the Gulf Coast on the five year anniversary.. Pakistan, they can’t get any.

…

The truth is, when the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story. Honestly, we fail at that, most of the time. That’s the facts.

I fail at that.

So here’s hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away. That would be an impressive accomplishment.

Thank you.

-George Clooney at the Emmys

Hopefully all are familiar with the flooding in Pakistan and its relevant political implications by now. DiploJournal provides the relevant  facts and figures, Ghost Wars’ Steve Coll calls for Americans to recognize the “strategic as well as a humanitarian imperative” of helping the Pakistanis, and David Ignatius says, “Let’s embrace Pakistan in its hour of need”.

The floods have affected more than 20 million Pakistanis (more people than the Haiti earthquake and 2004 tsunami combined)  so if you’re asking “What can I do?”, consider texting FLOOD to 27722 to make a $10 donation if you’re U.S.-based or going to the State Department’s website and finding the organization you want to donate to.

If you’re around a computer within the next two hours (the HD is never not at a computer), Steve Coll will be fielding questions at 3 P.M. E.T. today.

The Wyclef Jean saga continues… after initially telling his followers to respect the court’s decision that disqualified from running for the President of Haiti, it appears that Mr. Jean will challenge the election ruling. The HD usually doesn’t endorse foreign candidacies, but it already appears Wyclef is already showing promising signs of a budding politician. The HD says go for it!

Every time I make a run
Girl you turn around and cry
I ask myself, why oh why?
See you must understand
I can’t work a nine to five
so I’ll be Gone…’Til November

This is already reminiscent of what the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said in the hit 1987 classic, The Running Man:

I’m not into politics. I’m into survival.

One of the Ulema of Kerbela made the following trite remark to Sir A. T. Wilson, the Civil Commissioner : ” When a man pulls down a public latrine because it smells too bad, it is a mistake to build the new one with the same bricks ! “

(Lyell, Thomas. The Ins and Outs of Mesopotamia. London: A.M. Philpot, 1923. Print. page 107)

“Don’t worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon.” -John Madden

Matt Drudge weighs in.

It’s important to note that both President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg relied on religious history throughout their speeches. Mayor Bloomberg mentioned Jews being denied the right to build a synagogue in the mid-1650s, Quakers being thrown in jail in 1657, and Catholics getting arrested in the 1700s. The HD’s question is this: why should the Muslims get a free pass? If “this is America” as the President so eloquently stated in his speech, then surely Americans should be allowed to haze new religious minorities before accepting them into the great big American fraternity! THAT is the American way!

All seriousness aside, the real controversy is that, nine years later, Ground Zero is still a smoldering crater. It would be refreshing to see the Americans who are so devoted to stopping the mosque from being built work just as hard to see something (anything!) get built at Ground Zero.

I thought this was America!

Germany’s Tour de France team

May 10 – June 22, 1940

“Now this is a story all about how Mesopotamia got flipped-turned upside down and I’d liked to take a minute, just sit right there, and I’ll tell you how A.T. Wilson became the British civil commissioner.”

Should be a fun ride these next few weeks.

The HD has decided to surface briefly to discuss the controversy (have you ever heard a Britisher pronounce “controversy”? Don’t do it while you’re driving or you might drive your Lolvo into a Lolcano!) surrounding the proposed building of a mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero in NYC.

In the battlosphere, Newt Skywalker and Sarah Palpatine have been markedly against buiding the mosque for a variety of emotional reasons. Indeed, the majority of the American public agrees with them (citation needed). NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has etched a legendary position based on his own person history and idea of private property and constitutional rights. Andrew Exum has also charted a similar position based on the Constitution’s First Amendment and history. The White House and State Department have been silent on the issue, but have posted Bloomberg’s speech (in Arabic, *GASP*) on their public diplomacy website. Today, Charles Krauthammer has written from the Susan Sarandon/Natalie Portman perspective that just as we don’t build a liquor store near a school, we shouldn’t build a mosque near Ground Zero. Well, Mr. Krauthammer isn’t going to win the HD with the liquor analogy. Alcohol shouldn’t be near school campuses; they should be on them!

And from a financial perspective, David Frum may have just predicted the future with no mosque being built due to lack of funding:

The more I read about Feisal Rauf, the more I see a very dangerous kind of man … no, not the Islamic extremist kind of dangerous … but rather the kind of guy who can convincingly say, “$100 million? That’s nothing! I have a cousin in Abu Dhabi who could write a check for $100 million himself! Don’t worry about anything, leave it to me, I’ll get the money, that’s the easy part. You get the zoning rights, we’ll buy you out, all cash, easiest money you ever made.” The streets of New York are littered with the carcasses of dead developers who met and believed the Feisal Raufs of this world ….

Uh oh, if that happens, cut to Daniel Plainview as he beats to death Eli Sunday!

To conclude and move closer to the HD’s true sentiments on the issue, Greg Gutfeld has proposed building a Muslim gay bar next to the mosque. Legendary, right? Wrong, says the Cordoba House (mmm, Qdoba), the proposed builders of the mosque, on their twitter account: “You’re free to open whatever you like. If you won’t consider the sensibilities of Muslims, you’re not going to build dialog”. Wow, that’s richer than the Abu Dhabi oil sheiks who aren’t going to fund the whole mosquedoggle!

The HD has already mentioned the First Amendment, that “Congress shall make no law”… no law. But who cares if the government attempts to “deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion”? Who cares if building the mosque offends the majority of Americans? This is America! Americans are in the business of giving offense abroad and getting offended at home. It’s not that we shouldn’t build a mosque; it’s that we should build a McDonald’s!

Ramadan Kareem to all the HD’s Muslim readers and financiers. May you look ravaged throughout the day, set your alarm for 2 a.m., and gorge yourself until sunrise!

Well, well, well. “The Washington Times owes the State Department more than $15,000 in long-overdue travel expenses.” That’s about as funny as the time the HD was flying in his ROTFLCOPTER with his Loller skates on, landed, and then drove his Lolvo into a Lolcano!

To loosely quote Cool Runnings:

Commentator One: And you’re not the only one to get excited about that. I think the fans here have an extreme case of hypocrisy fever.

Commentator Two: Al, so do I.

Commentator One: Oh no, no, no. So do we.

The Obama administration has been beefing up its ranks of officials focused on democratization and rule of law issues, democracy hands note. Sarah Mendelson, a human rights and post-conflict specialist most recently with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has recently joined USAID as the deputy assistant administrator overseeing its democracy center. Tamara Wittes, formerly of the Brookings Institution, who has written extensively on democracy and the Middle East, joined the State Department’s Near East Affairs bureau to head the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) late last year. And former Georgetown and University of Virginia law school professor and Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks, who early on joined Michele Flournoy’s policy shop, had her role elevated and formalized as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Rule of Law and Humanitarian Affairs in May. (Obama nominated Mercy Corps’s Nancy Lindborg to be assistant administrator for USAID’s democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance bureau this week.)

“We really do have a critical mass of democracy folks here now, across the interagency,” one official said.

FREEEEEEEEDOM House:

On January 12, Freedom House released its findings from the latest edition of Freedom in the World, the annual survey of global political rights and civil liberties. According to the survey’s findings, 2009 marked the fourth consecutive year in which global freedom suffered a decline—the longest consecutive period of setbacks for freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report. These declines were most pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa, although they also occurred in most other regions of the world. Furthermore, the erosion in freedom took place during a year marked by intensified repression against human rights defenders and democracy activists by many of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes, including Russia and China.

Maybe that explains why Thomas Melia is joining the State Department to become deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy issues. Reverse the trend.

(H/T: Sean)

For the first time a U.S. official (Ambassador to Japan John Roos) attended attended the annual ceremony in Hiroshima. But in light of the future casualties saved (both American soldiers and Japanese civilians), as well as President Truman sending Stalin a message after Potsdam, President Bartlet on possible future atomic confrontations:

“Hans Bethe wrote, ‘If we fight a war and win it with H-Bombs, what history will remember is not the ideals we were fighting for, but the methods used to accomplish them. These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan who brutally killed every last inhabitant of Persia.’”

Ronald Reagan: “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.  The only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used.  But then would it not be better to do away with them entirely?”

Ronald Reagan: “Indeed, I support a zero option for all nuclear arms. As I’ve said before, my dream is to see the day when nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth.”

Reflection in Hiroshima:

“There is no point in apologizing now, after 65 years,” said Akihiro Takahashi, 79, the former head of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and a survivor of the bombing, who has spearheaded the effort to bring Mr. Obama by writing four letters of invitation. “We want President Obama to see with his own eyes what really happened here. This will give him stronger willpower to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

“Japan has its past, too, including Pearl Harbor,” said Akeo Fuji, 50, who came from Mie Prefecture. “This is not about hating the United States, but about hating nuclear war.”

Inatomi Takashi, 27, of Nagasaki, said “We became prosperous because of America, so we don’t see America darkly.”

Historians say such sentiments are widely if quietly shared in this nation, where the war remains a touchy, often taboo topic. They said the moral ambiguity was one reason for the almost total lack of hostility toward Americans in Hiroshima, now a pleasant city of trolley cars in the shadow of forested mountains.

On the HD’s first tour of Japan, he made sure not to tell any Japanese that the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, was built in the city that most people think he is from.

Readers will remember Juha for his analysis on the Marc Sageman’s lecture on political violence. Well, he’s back! This time he is explaining Iran’s foreign policy behavior. It’s a great post so take the time to read it. The HD only has two pedantic complaints: Juha using behaviour? LOLOUL! And by God(zilla), it’s time for a new mugshot! As you can see it is not the critic who counts, and Juha’s writings should propel him to the upper echelons of academia.

(Jump to Conclusions map from the Rand Corporation)

Further readings from the Rand Corporation on Iran: “Iran’s Political, Demographic, and Economic Vulnerabilities” (PDF here) and “Mullahs, Guards, and Bonyads: An Exploration of Iranian Leadership Dynamics” (PDF here).

Hey Rand, pay Juha top dollar!

The HD has hollered before about a nuclear-free world but a close confidant has said, “Yes, that is ideal but it will never happen.” However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Without letting the perfect become the enemy of the good, Team Obama and Mother Russia are pushing more cuts in nuclear weapons (Rockhound: No nukes! No nukes!), but the Senate is stalling on ratification.

Drunk Diplomacy:

The treaty has been endorsed by six former secretaries of state and five former secretaries of defense from both parties, and nearly all former commanders of U.S. nuclear forces. French Ambassador Pierre Vimont said recently that after diplomats cabled home that the treaty could run into problems, “People ask us, ‘Have you been drinking?’ “

And when you get some free time this summer, read about and see the two latest non-proliferation movies, Countdown to Zero(a movie without an agenda!) and Nuclear Tipping Point (order the free DVD on their website!).

“Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident, or miscalculation, or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.” -President John F. Kennedy

The HD has always advised policymakers that the ideal number of nuclear weapons is zero. When that happens, the HD will reveal his ONE coveted nuke and the Hybrid Diplomat will become *puts on sunglasses* the Hybrid Dictator… YEAH!!!!! In all seriousness though, we should keep at least one nuke in case of what The Bible calls “Armageddon” – the end of all things. In addition, the HD’s backchannels have been abuzz with information that North Korea has released a movie on called “Countdown to Kim” in which Kim Jong-il takes over the globe after everyone else unilaterally disarms!

Diplomacy is not simply “the art of remaining silent in several languages,” nor is it just the mastery of techniques and tactics of negotiation. Diplomacy must also be, at times, the art of brinkmanship. As Thomas Schelling remarked long ago:

“There can be times when a country wants to shake off the rules, to deny any assurance that its behavior is predictable, to shock the adversary, to catch an adversary off-balance, to display unreliability and to dare the opponent to respond in kind, to express hostility and to rupture the sense of diplomatic contact (…)This is still diplomacy: there are times to be rude, to break the rules, to do the unexpected, to shock, to dazzle, or to catch off guard, to display offense, whether in business diplomacy, military diplomacy, or other kinds of diplomacy.”

You have to be crazy, or at least let the other side think you are crazy, to succeed in foreign policy.

With massive flooding, President Asif Ali Zardari out of the country, and banned militant organizations providing basic services to Pakistanis,

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad announced Sunday that the United States would donate $10 million toward disaster relief efforts and would provide more money if requested. The United States, which is deeply unpopular in Pakistan, has also supplied helicopters, boats, prefabricated steel bridges and more than 100,000 meals.

It wouldn’t hurt to let the average Pakistani know that aid is coming from the good ole U.S.A. With suffering and frustration due to the Pakistani government’s inability to lead, Amerucca is in a unique position to gain some desperately needed good will. Ambassador Crocker reminds us:

Building confidence is a long process, but sometimes you can take great strides in a short time. In 2005 an earthquake killed more than 70,000 Pakistanis in two minutes. The United States responded immediately with what became the largest and longest airborne relief effort since the Berlin Airlift 60 years ago. Early on, some of us thought it would be a good idea to put big American flag decals on the Chinook helicopters that had been ordered out of Afghanistan into Pakistan to deliver aid. “Are you completely crazy?” said the commander of the helicopter contingent. He’d just come out of a war zone, after all. “Why don’t we just save time and paint a big bull’s-eye on them?”

“No, no. Trust us on this,” I said. “It’ll work.” And it did. The Chinooks became an emblem of the whole international relief effort. After a couple of months, little toy Chinooks even started appearing in stores with big American flags on the side. (Of course, they were made in China.)

There’s nothing we can do about natural disasters, but this is an opportunity the Americans shouldn’t miss. Drone attacks are effective in killing militant leaders, but it’s unknown how many civilians are killed in each attack as well as the amount of blowback each attack generates. Providing aid and letting Pakistanis know that it is coming from the Americans gives America the chance to help out those that are suffering while accomplishing vital strategic goals in the region.

Please listen to the five segments of “Diplomacy Under Fire”.

“When I worked in the state department, we made the decision to put diplomats into the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s an entirely different proposition than serving in Rome.”
- Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns

The cocktail parties and communiqués of traditional diplomacy are giving way to counterinsurgency and crisis management missions in places like Iraq and Colombia. American diplomats are now required to serve in both embassies and embeds. But the Foreign Service is short on folks with the language and technical skills to fill these modern posts. Add to that a bureaucratic State Department short on funds and slow to adapt and you end up with the 82nd Airborne as the face of American foreign policy to the world.

Big names, big issues!

In regards to the US-UK ambassadors bet on the World Cup game that ended in a tie, the HD suggested they go for Thai food.

Be sure to check out the recent New York Times article on Digital Diplomacy about State Department diplomats Jared Cohen (on Colbert) and Alec Ross.

Select quotes:

To hear Ross and Cohen tell it, even last year, in this age of rampant peer-to-peer connectivity, the State Department was still boxed into the world of communiqués, diplomatic cables and slow government-to-government negotiations, what Ross likes to call “white guys with white shirts and red ties talking to other white guys with white shirts and red ties, with flags in the background, determining the relationships.” And then Hillary Clinton arrived. “The secretary is the one who unleashed us,” Ross says. “She’s the godmother of 21st-century statecraft.”

“Diplomacy is, perhaps, one element of the U.S. government that should not be subject to the demands of ‘open government’; whenever it works, it is usually because it is done behind closed doors. But this may be increasingly hard to achieve in the age of Twittering bureaucrats.”

“The 21st century is a really terrible time to be a control freak,” Cohen said.

“The loss of control you fear is already in the past,” he told me. “You do not actually control the message, and if you believe you control the message, it merely means you no longer understand what’s going on.”

———-

And also from the article: “In July 2009, there was China’s regional-information blockade, including a total shutdown of the Internet, following the Uighur uprisings (‘full’ Internet usage was restored to Xinjiang 10 months later).”

In other words, freedom is on the march!

And in conclusion, governments need to realize that losing control of the message is OK.

More on America and the networked world we live in from the State Department’s Director of Policy Planning, Anne-Marie Slaughter.

On Wednesday moring the Ambassador sat next to the HD as he spoke on a whole host of issues in the Ambassador’s conference room of the US Embassy in London. Of course Embassy staff took a picture so the HD will be sure to post the photo (with the necessary redactions) as it becomes available.

Jokingly, the Ambassador claimed that London was a hardship post and that anyone who worked here deserved combat pay. On LSE, he said a family member attended there for a year and that it was a great place to meet people (“Saudi princes”) and particpate in rambunctious lectures. “Then they lock you up for six weeks” (Summer Term).

On interning in the Political section, he nodded and said “politics is a blood sport here”.

A self-proclaimed “Anglophile from way back”, he said his job was 80% substance, 15% dress up (putting on a fluffy hat and meeting with the Queen) and 5% sleep.

Commenting on the recent Northern Ireland violence, he said that people are tired of killing each other and that they care about jobs. That was a throwback to what the HD has always been saying about the Troubles in Northern Ireland— it was never about religion and was always about economics. Religion was the cover and economics was the underlying theme. But with the parades of Orangemen and the resulting violence, the Ambassador said “everyone drank too much which tends to happen in Ireland.” He also spoke briefly on the new austerity budget and the cuts facing Northern Ireland.

The Ambassador has had roughly 12-14 meetings with the Muslim community in the UK on counter radicalization. Hey, somebody tell them to contact the Quilliam Foundation!

On his preparations for becoming Ambassador to the UK: first he said yes to the President after “flunking retirement”. He was already an Anglophile but that “nothing can prepare you”. “It helps to have life experience” (he was a banker) but that it is mostly “on the job training”. The Foreign Service Institute puts on a two week crash course for all incoming ambassadors where he met the Secretary of State, major management players, and “the spooky guys of the CIA”.

On the Special Relationship: the media are constantly try to attack the Special Relationship and put down the US or the UK. Examples include Obama removing the Winston Churchill bust. What the media didn’t mention as prominently was that he was replacing it with a bust of Abraham Lincoln who had much more of an effect on his life. In addition, in regards to the BP oil spill, he said it wasn’t a country to country thing. This was a case of country to corporation. “When you are in the pub with your counterparts, remember the special relationship”.

On private sector vs. public service: working with government employees, he was stunned at the quality and competence of those in the Foreign Service. (Maybe he had really low expectations!). Public service careers don’t give you a lot of money, but does provide for a nice living and it’s a good life expereience. You gotta love what you are doing. The ambassador gets the same briefing as the President and “knows things I wish I didn’t know”.

On law school (the Ambassador attended Washington University in St. Louis): “In your first year, look to your left and your right. One of you won’t be here.”

On working at an investment bank: “In your first few years it’s 100 hours a week and less money per hour than someone who flips burgers”.

On coalition government: told the president that it was the best thing that could have happened because it would be 3-5 years of stability. The alternative was paraylsis and snap elections a few months later. With a 70 vote majority, Cameron has flexibility and the ability to “give in to the coalition” when it is politically convenient. He likes both Prime Minister Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Clegg. He works with them often but that “it is curently a honeymoon period right now”. The Ambassador will be traveling to DC next week when PM Cameron is meeting with President Obama.

On newspapers: “The newspaper here are WILD”. Everyday he reads the Financial Times (for finance), the Telegraph (equivalent of Republican perspective), the Guardian (equivalent of Democratic perspective), WSJ, Daily NYT (“Don’t ask how I get it or how much it costs to be delivered to me”).

Political diplomats told him to read the Sun as it is most read newspaper in the UK with 3 million people reading it. “CRAZY… The political diplomats told me ‘DON’T LOOK AT PAGE 3!’”. He also said “Daily Mail… crazy”. The HD has been reading the Sun ever since THIS STORY.

This post is UNCLASSIFIED.

Juha:

‘Understanding terror networks’ was the topic, i.e. understanding the emergence of extremist violence in Western societies. He was articulate, detached and generally quite thoughtful in presenting his argument. A rare pleasure when going to think tank events on terrorism. Knew the man by reputation but seeing him speak live was a treat.

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”-Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776

“There is nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed with what is right with America.” -President Clinton

“There is nothing wrong with America.” -the HD

“The one thing that IS wrong with America is the mere existence of quotes that even suggest that something might not be perfect with America.” -the HD’s Legal Attaché

Around the 19 minute mark: How Germany, France, England, Canada, Australia, and boredom cause terrorism!

Around 33 minutes: How Al-Qaeda is like Harvard!

Around 1 hour 21 minutes: what is going to defeat terrorism? PROBABLY DRUGS, SEX, AND ROCK AND ROLL!!!

He is speaking again at the House of Commons the following day on “The U.S. Perspective on Afghanistan and Iran”. Both events are not to be missed! The HD will be rolling with his usual entourage so be sure to holler if you see us! As Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the State Department, Ambassador Burns was the third-ranking official after the Secretary of State and the Deputy Secretary of State.

ADDED: Be sure to skip lunch and catch Marc Sageman speaking (quote: “Afghanistan is not in our vital interest – there’s nothing for us there.”) on “Understanding Terror Networks- The Turn to Political Violence” at the House of Commons on Tuesday the 13th at 1pm! If you can’t skip lunch, read his book at your desk! The HD has been led to believe that Juha will be in attendance. His academic specialty is political violence so the HD looks forward to some festive questions!

And the HD apologizes for missing this GEM from the US-Algeria game: “Bill Clinton was at this game, probably reflecting for 92 minutes that he scored more often than this lot.”

“But perhaps the single biggest offender – albeit on less serious allegations – is the US, which has run up £3,821,880 in unpaid fines incurred in a seven-year diplomatic stand-off over the congestion charge… Russia also owes Transport for London £3,204,990… Japan owes £2.76m… Afghanistan owes £34,780…”

A US embassy spokesman said: “The US embassy in London conscientiously abides by all UK laws, including paying fines for all traffic violations, such as parking and speeding violations. Our position on the direct tax established by Transport for London in 2003, more commonly known as the congestion charge, is based on the 1960 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which prohibits the direct taxation of diplomatic missions.”

Hey, the HD has relied on the Vienna convention NUMEROUS times!!

“I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.”-History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides

The time is at hand. A few hours ago, the HD’s location was compromised. The staff on hand took evasive action destroying sensitive documents with moments to spare. Fortunately, the HD’s office was rigged with explosives (a la Jerry Fletcher or Brill Lyle. PROTIP: always rig your office and especially your personal abode with explosives).

The Office of the HD with staff before it was compromised.

The HD has retreated to his summer bunker. Staff and family have been left behind. From here on out, it’s an unaccompanied post. If you need to contact the HD, you know which mailbox to chalk.

The HD’s bunker – location unknown.

On June 2, 2010, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns (Fourth PM in four years).

In June 13th article via the New York Times, the United States identifies a trillion dollars worth of minerals in Afghanistan.

While visiting Japan this past week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai promises that Japan gets priority for mining and mineral resources in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of Japan should probably update their page.

Well, shit just got real.

“Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.”

Anyway, the HD is only posting on this as the former President mentioned that the state of Texas was the “Promised Land”. In fact, the Promised Land is located off a highway in Taiwan as evidenced a photo taken in the HD’s delegation in November 2008. Your move, W.

MINISTER MUST SECURE THE RETURN OF STOLEN IRISH PASSPORTS AND SANCTION ISRAEL

Shannonwatch Press Release

8th June 2010

An Irish Peace activist had his passport stolen by the Israeli
authorities as he was forcefully ejected from Israel last week. This
theft of Irish state documents by Israeli government agents is a grave
matter of personal and national security, considering that it was only
discovered in January that Irish passports were used by an Israeli
hit squad to murder a Palestinian official in Dubai.

One of the activists on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, Mr. Fiachra Ó
Luain, has written to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin to
demand that action be taken. Ó Luain was forced on to a flight to
Turkey despite his legal arraignment to take a case in the Israeli
Courts to contest his deportation order. His case was based on the
fact that he was abducted and brought illegally to Israel against his
will by Navy Commando assassins and could not therefore be legally
deported. “We were political hostages, used as pawns by the Israeli
government in a Public Relations war and we had all of our basic
rights denied.” claims Ó Luain.

Mr. O’Luain’s passport disappeared while in the hands of Israeli
officials in Ben Gurion airport after they beat him on the ground. As
a result he was left to make his way through a foreign country,
injured and with no identity documents. This was a potentially
dangerous situation for him. Travelling on a flight to Turkey without
a passport is a crime that is punishable by Turkish law. Luckily Ó
Luain managed to discuss this with Mr. Nabi Avu, Senior Advisor to the
Turkish Prime Minister, who was on the same flight. Mr. Avu guaranteed
that Turkey would not prosecute Ó Luain given the circumstances.

Shannonwatch, an Irish peace and human rights group with whom Ó Luain
has been actively involved, have expressed serious concern at this
precedent. “Fiachra’s basic right to travel and his right to an
identity as an Irish citizen were put in jeopardy by the action of the
Israeli forces. It’s a very dangerous precedent that Israel must not
be allowed to get away with. As Minister Martin himself said in the
Dáil, these people never chose to go to Israel. They were hijacked in
international waters and brought there against their will. For Israeli
agents to take his passport in those circumstances is an outrage”
stated Dr. Edward Horgan

Ó Luain said he is very angry at the treatment he received at the
hands of the Israeli security forces. “I am contacting the Minister to
demand that he take action on this, as it is my right as an Irish
citizen to hold my own passport and not have it removed by a
belligerent foreign government. I was kidnapped by Israel in
international waters, where I was travelling legally as part of a
peaceful and humanitarian mission to Gaza when we were attacked and
members of our party assassinated. Israel has yet to show any remorse
and in fact added insult to injury by allowing its armed agents to
violently attack me and others in Ben Gurion airport before stealing
my passport.”

Irish passports are the property of the Department of Foreign Affairs
and it is a serious offence to misuse them. For this reason Minister
Martin is already considering the action to be taken against an
Israeli embassy official suspected of being involved in forging Irish
passports. “The confiscation of important passport documents by a
foreign government is a serious act which should be addressed at the
highest levels of Irish and European government.” said Fiachra Ó
Luain.

———————————————————————————
To contact Shannonwatch email shannonwatch@gmail.com or phone John
Lannon on +353878225087.

Phone Fiachra Ó Luain on +353863193567, +353894185445 or email
fiachraoluain@ireland.com