Perhaps I am becoming an old cynic, but the BBC's current euphoria over the election of Barack Obama reminds me of its 1997 enthusiasm over the election of Tony Blair. But I do have higher hopes for Barack.For one thing, he will be obliged to shift US foreign policy. For otherwise he will come to be known as Barack O'Bomber.
My interest in John McCain (above) is that he is my age. This means, of course, that we have always been the same age. So I can follow the dramatic events in his life and remember the more mundane things I was doing when he was going through the traumas of being a POW or was engaged in the excitements of his high level political career in the USA. (I was, however, around 38 days before he was born. But I don't remember that much. It might, however, give me the edge on gravitas.)
What can he now do? Well like all of us at 72, he can keep on reminiscing. Better still, he could get himself a personal blog and click into my comment box now and again.
7 comments:
Long time no speak. Hope you are doing well. Visit Mojo more often, willya ;-)
I am delighted that Obama will be our President. I think he will be more free market, pro business and conservative than Bush . . . which is very good in my book.
Bush has been the most liberal socialist President in American history. We need change.
I also think Obama will take a harder line with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It is about time.
If I can change the topic, Harry, are you impressed with the performance of the Iraqi Army? Many American GIs who work with it think it will soon be the best quality military in Arab history. Naturally, I am delighted that this is the case. A free democratic Iraq with a tough military will transform the middle east for the better.
Anand : Cheers. Unfortunately for blogging I am drawn into other things. I havn't even seen Sheffield FC play football for ages - hence no match reports.
Hopefully on ideology you have got Obama and Bush the wrong way around.
If the Iraqi Army has become efficient, organised and disciplined; then what will matter is who it serves. A democratic Iraq (with civil liberties, free trade unions and other groupings), a Shia centralised take-all majority, a fractured Iraq or themselves?
If it is as good as you hope, then is it time to prepare to go?
"Hopefully on ideology you have got Obama and Bush the wrong way around." I don't think I am wrong. Rahm Emanuel, former I Banker, is more pro business and free market than George W Bush.
"If the Iraqi Army has become efficient, organised and disciplined; then what will matter is who it serves. A democratic Iraq (with civil liberties, free trade unions and other groupings), a Shia centralised take-all majority, a fractured Iraq or themselves?" So far the IA has remained loyal to the National Operations Center (chaired by PM Maliki.) Do you think the IA will not remain loyal to Iraq's elected civilian leaders in the future?
"If it is as good as you hope, then is it time to prepare to go?" the current plan is for Iraqis to manage security on their own in 17 out of 18 Iraqi provinces in 3 months. Baghdad follows next summer. The new SOFA calls for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011. The primary deficiency in the new IA is its air force:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/plans_for_iraqi_air.php
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/iraqi_security_force_21.php
Note that the comment section above is pretty good.
Also please visit more often. You are an idealist . . . which I admire. You also care about Iraqis and its unions. These are admirable qualities.
anand : I have just read John McCain's "Faith of My Fathers", mainly because I am the same age that he is - and his father and his father's father (whom he deals with) were the same generation as my eqivalents. We inhabited different universes.My father and grandfather were coal miners. His were four star Admirals. But knowing what I was doing and what was in the air when McCain was, say, a POW was fascinating.
I need to turn to Obama's two books soon, whilst checking on his current moves.
There are plenty of problems, but whom we assist and what it is that we faciliate in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afganistan and Palestine are crucial. As is the need to tackle the poverty traps which many African (and various other) nations find themselves in.
If the world's current economic crisis comes to be handled via greater international cordination and regulation, then we can only encourage similar approaches for the trouble spots mentioned above.
Iraq probably now needs to be finally encouraged and assisted to stand on its own feet. It is Afghanistan and the neighbouring areas of Pakistan which need our urgent social, economic and military help - it has been ever since we took our eye off the ball and went for shock and awe in Iraq instead. Hopefully, we have recently come to repair some of the damage of our ill thought-out actions in Iraq and have the advantage of no longer having an effective Baath to contend with.
I will continue to pay attention to Iraq whatever happens. After all, I was there well before John McCain and his father where doing their (much more significant) stuff in Vietnam.
How did you like John McCain's "Faith of My Fathers"? I also like his book. He has been one of my favorite senators since the early 1990s. This said, I am very optimistic and hopeful about Obama.
"As is the need to tackle the poverty traps which many African (and various other) nations find themselves in" I couldn't agree more. Fighting extreme poverty in Africa and other parts of the world needs to be a much higher global priority.
"whom we assist and what it is that we facilitate in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afganistan and Palestine are crucial." Also true. I have no idea how to force Israelis and Palestinians to make peace with each other. Iran seems to be becoming more responsible in many spheres (Iraq, Afghanistan, Nuclear program), perhaps because of $48/barrel oil. I am hopeful about Iraq . . . perhaps PM Maliki can be an effective leader.
Pakistan is the most serious global security challenge in the world today. It requires much more global cooperation and effort than it is getting. The IMF package isn't enough to avoid a severe financial crisis and recession in Pakistan that could undue everything. India, China, America and other countries need to give Pakistan huge amounts of money fast.
"
If the world's current economic crisis comes to be handled via greater international cordination and regulation, then we can only encourage similar approaches for the trouble spots mentioned above." I hope so. Because of how interconnected global financial institutions are with each other, we need commonly agreed and enforced standards on transparency {timely reporting on assets and liabilities to regulators/counter-parties/public, valuation of assets, mark to market, models for how to value the covariances of different assets and liabilities with respect to each other to better estimate portfolio and systematic risk.} We probably need a single global regulator for all financial institutions. Having separate or multiple regulators for banks, I-Banks, insurance companies, etc.; or having national regulators, makes little sense in the current interdependent global financial system.
"Iraq probably now needs to be finally encouraged and assisted to stand on its own feet." Agreed.
"It is Afghanistan and the neighbouring areas of Pakistan which need our urgent social, economic and military help - it has been ever since we took our eye off the ball and went for shock and awe in Iraq instead." Wow, we agree on an awful lot ;-)
"Hopefully, we have recently come to repair some of the damage of our ill thought-out actions in Iraq and have the advantage of no longer having an effective Baath to contend with." I hope so too.
"I will continue to pay attention to Iraq whatever happens. After all, I was there well before John McCain and his father where doing their (much more significant) stuff in Vietnam." To your credit. You might consider writing about your Iraqi experiences.
Anand : John McCain's book is a good read, especially in dealing with the tramas of his period as a POW. He does, however, give a one-sided picture of life in the forces even though his grandfather, father and himself tended to kick-over the traces in their prepartions for Navy life. It would be worthwhile if he could get round to writing of his subsequent move into politics and then reflect on his experiences. However, that isn't easy to do even for someone like myself who is retired and only has thinner experiences to draw from. But I am myself trying to put pen to paper at the moment. Some of my Iraqi material has, however, already surfaced on my blog from time to time and can be developed. See ,for instance -
http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/2007/09/iraq-gdh-cole-and-friends.html
It is good to have agreement with you on some general issues. The differences might, however, open up if we had time to discuss these matters in depth. Healthy minds keep looking for difficulties,
Harry, I respect your views. They are thoughtfully formed. I like your humanist perspective. You are committed to reducing extreme global poverty. I respect that.
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