Tom Friedman, Smartest Man on Earth, says radical Islam is losing

Tom, you are my hero (well, you and Big Al). You make so much sense, suggest such brilliant solutions, and generally agree with me on almost everything. I would like to formally submit my application to join the "Tom Friedman Mentoring Society". I may also get a "Tom Freidman is My Hero" t-shirt to go along with the "Al Gore is My Hero" shirt already in my closet.

Not kidding about the t-shirt. The sentiment happens to be true; I am a supporter of We Can Solve It and Repower America, but the shirt itself is a good way to start an argument in good old suburban North Texas.

At any rate, My Other Hero Tom wrote in yesterday's NYT about the current state of the jihad. Did you notice the radical Islamists are losing the War of Terror? Well, they are.

As Tom so deftly points out, everywhere the the Beardy Boys have taken charge (Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, etc), they have brought with them total economic stagnation (if not outright retreat), lowered standards of living and education, unnecessary and unwanted violence, repression, etc etc etc. And now we're seeing militant Islamists lose elections (Lebanon, Iraq) or steal elections (Iran). The Paki middle class is tired of bombs in the streets of Peshwar and have withdrawn support for the Taliban and foreign rebels causing trouble in the Northwest.

The bad news is that the US' friends in the Arab world, those shining examples of secular, progressive, populist democracy like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are not really "winning", despite their medieval rivals' decline. This lack of a better idea is what keeps the jihadists in business, albeit in a much more limited capacity.

Go read the op-ed, along with everything Tom Friedman has ever written. The man's a genius.

Some info you haven't seen on Somali "pirates"

Much has been written about the pirates of Somalia, so I'm not going to rehash any of the recent news (other than to pass along an emphatic "well done" regarding the most-impressive marksmanship clinic put on by the SEALs last weekend). Instead, I'd like to point you at some back story that I hadn't seen before. Perhaps you have not either.

So, let's get one piece of business out of the way straight off: Some, perhaps most, of the "pirates" we are reading about lately are nothing more than thieves, hooligans, gangsters, etc. A sizable percentage of these guys are lowlifes in the truest sense of the word. The jerkoffs who are attempting to hijack ships loaded with food and supplies bound for Darfur and other African disaster areas are the worst kind of parasites. Nothing I am about to discuss applies to these cretins. These types deserve a Special Forces love-tap, and you will never hear a peep from me beyond "Bravo, boys".

However, there are some Somali "pirates" who do not fit this description.

Did you know (I did not) that, at about the same time Somalia's last true government collapsed in the early 90s, mysterious ships began dumping barrels of waste into Somali coastal waters? Turns out this "waste" was from European hospitals and power plants, and was medical and nuclear.

You read that correctly: Persons unknown were dumping nuclear waste into the water off Somali beaches.

Not surprisingly, the populace in the area started to get sick and have malformed babies. The 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami washed hundreds of barrels of this crap onshore, where more pronounced radiation sickness began to occur.

This was not the only indignity thrust upon Somali coastal dwellers.

As you might suspect, a major local industry is fishing. Coastal Somalis feed themselves from the ocean, as do coastal dwellers the world around. In the past 20 or so years, with no government to assert sovereignty over Somalia's territorial waters, Euro fishing trawlers have been illegally clearing the sea out (thanks, U2), leaving greatly reduced fish stocks for the locals. Needless to say, this threatens the livelihoods, and the lives, of said locals.

Local Somalis started going out in speedboats to dissuade the Euros who were illegally dumping or illegally fishing, or to collect a "tax". Hence, the emergence of "pirates".

Now, it's clearly devolved from there. A bunch of dirt-bag opportunists have co-opted what was a pretty legitimate activity on the part of the locals. The current situation has much less to do with real grievances, and much more to do with a bunch of thugs looking to make some quick cash.

That doesn't invalidate the original activities, though.

I had no idea. I'm thinking maybe you haven't heard this stuff either. So here it is.

Just another public service from your friends here at CIT.

Tsvangirai's wife killed in car wreck, Zimbabwe PM injured

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, and his wife, Susan, were involved in an auto accident earlier today in a rural part of the country. Susan Tsvangirai was killed, and the PM was injured.

Details are sketchy, but it appears a large truck was involved. According to the BBC, the driver of the truck was asleep at the wheel.

On the surface, this event has all the hallmarks of an authentic, tragic accident. Zimbabwe's decrepit road system, rampant drunk driving, and non-existent law enforcement make traveling by car moderately less risky than swimming laps in a pool of battery acid. Huge wrecks and fatalities are all-too-common on rural roadways, especially those in the more-densely populated eastern half of the country.

However, given Mugabe's track record, the "accident" angle cannot be taken at face value. That Tsvangirai himself was in the car at the time of the wreck makes everything about it suspicious. Mugabe and his vile, violent cronies stand to gain from this sort of unfortunate "accident", especially if Tsvangirai had been killed. He was not, but the loss of his wife of 30 years (and mother of his six children)is nearly as good from the ZANU perspective. Tsvangirai is, no doubt, personally devestated. There's every chance this blow causes him to leave public life entirely.

I hate to be cynical, but it's a mistake to put anything past Mugabe.

Uncle Bob turns 85, throws a big ol' bash

Comrade Bob Mugabe is throwing a quarter-million-dollar party in honor of his own 85th birthday.

While his population starves, dies of cholera (over 3,000 at last count), and struggles with billion-percent inflation, Big Bob decides it's time to par-tay!

And why wouldn't he? After all, he freed Zimbabwe from the evils of minority rule, didn't he?

Forget that was 30 years ago. Forget that he started whacking his opposition and their families about 90 seconds after the transfer of power was complete. Forget that he has dismantled an agriculture system that once fed sub-Saharan Africa to the point where it's own population is dying in droves. Forget that he has presided over the decimation of what had been the best and brightest education, health care, and economic system in the region.

Forget all that heinous crap, because, you know, it's been fabricated by the Western media anyway. If Zimbabwe has any problems (not that it does, mind you), they are the results of Britain's attempts to recolonize.

Gee, I hope this doesn't sound too bitter...

World news roundup for Christmas Day

Ah, Christmas morning - for a Jew, it's a day when you are guaranteed to have time to enjoy the coffee and the paper to your heart's content. No pressing errands, no sports to tune in; a nice, relaxing morning is a virtual certainty.

So, today I use this time to catch up on events from around this lovely little planet of ours (or not, if Keanu Reeves is to be believed), and the usual spots are all popping as much as ever.

In the Middle East - which, on Christmas Day ought to be a quiet, contemplative spot, but never is - Israel and Hamas are supposedly attempting to renew the recently-expired truce in and around Gaza. Someone (Good Lord, it couldn't be anyone from Hamas, now could it?) is tossing rocket after rocket into the Negev and southern Israel. The Israelis are trying to turn the other cheek, but the picture in this morning's DMN is of crying Israeli children running from a blast site. I remind you that Israel is a modern, democratic, industrialized nation, not unlike Western Europe in terms of lifestyle of its people. Do you think the Italians or the Danes would sit still for neighbors firing explosive devices across the border at their populaces? I know this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but its not as far off as some of the Palestinian apologists would have you believe.

Long story short, it appears a military move is likely on the Israelis side. Another useless intervention which will further embitter the civilians on both sides and lead to more "Israeli butcher" headlines in the Euro and Arab press.

Will Obama be the game-changer here? It's hard to imagine how, and I STILL don't really understand his position on this one. But there sure isn't any hope anywhere else at the moment.

In southern Africa, Desmond Tutu has called for Mugabe's removal, by force if necessary, and has bashed his own government for sitting on its hands. The cholera news hasn't improved one bit, nor will it. Mbeki clearly isn't making any difference, and clearly won't unless someone lights a bonfire under his a**. And the rest of the world just doesn't have enough at stake to do more than make some noise and levy questionably-effective sanctions. Is it hopeless? No, Zimbabweans have been thru plenty of tough times, although nothing like this in the past 100+ years, and the place is at least still in the news, even if it page 17A of the DMN.

Up on the Horn of Africa, Somalia's warlord-turned-statesman (WHAT?) president Abdullahi Yusuf may or may not be stepping down, which may or may not either kick off full-scale civil war or pave the way for a unity government. This full-scale civil war sort of intrigues me. What, exactly, has been going on in Somalia for the past 20 years if it wasn't full-scale civil war?

The only reason Somalia hasn't become Helmand-South is, I think, it's too hot even for Al Qaeda. Think about that for a moment - the most effective international terror organization in the history of the world hasn't moved into a lawless, ungoverned, wide-open spot in a meaningful way because even they can't be sure they can protect themselves effectively.

That, my friends, is a FAILED state.

In slightly lesser news, some unknown Army captain (a CAPTAIN?) marched into Conakry at the head of a few thousand troops and announced himself as the new Grand Poobah of Guinea. This west African nation had been something of a quiet spot amidst the regional fireworks of the past 25 years, mostly because Dictator for Life Lansana Conte had kept his boot on the the lid pretty firmly. Conte recently keeled over, and now it's the traditional Sub-Saharan Africa scramble, with the guy who has the most guns and the least compunction about using them winning. The US is "examining options", which I take to mean we, at the senior State Dept level, don't know what the hell is going on there at the moment, and don't care too terribly much either.

Yes, indeed, the World pages do make for interesting reading. Count your blessings, fellow Americanos. We're in the midst of relatively tough times, but its one HELL of a lot worse in many, many places this Dec 25.

Why Isn't Matt in Colfax?

I stumbled upon this and I have smiled and smiled and smiled and smiled for so long my lips fell off (but they landed in one of the dogs' food bowls which made him smile and smile and smile).

This is how we should all be spending our time.

Thank Goat for Matt!

Daily YouTube: The Mugabe Song

This might be funny under different circumstances...

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Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, they gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Their partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, their partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

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As all our belts grow tighter and we all get caught up in our own personal misery, sometimes it is good to think of others. For $25, you can change someone's life. Now that should be what the holidays are all about.

Go to!

Cholera? What cholera?

We can all stand down from our concern about Zimbabwe. According to Robert Mugabe, there is no cholera. Zimbabwe's doctors, working with the World Health Organization, have it cracked, so you can call off your emergency.

Well, thank God for that. It must be true, right? Because we all know what a firm grip Robert Mugabe has on reality.

I don't think it helped his credibility that he was shooing flies away from his face throughout the entire, hour-long, televised speech. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I sorta think it doesn't speak well of the state of sanitation in Harare if the President is being swarmed by vermin.

Update from Zimbabwe: A disaster that keeps getting worse

We're way past the point of any good, or even encouraging, news coming out of Zimbabwe. The only question one asks when stories come across with Harare in the dateline is: How much worse is it now?

The answer today is: Lots.

The cholera epidemic has taken hold, with the official death toll now approaching 600. Unofficially, the number is MUCH higher. The total collapse of Zimbabwe's health-care and communications systems means there is no way to really count the number of sick, dying, and dead.

The rainy summer has started and will continue through Feb. Malaria will appear. Cholera will spread faster. The population, already weakened by lack of food and medicine, will become more susceptible to both. The ruined economy, ultra-hyper inflation, and 80% unemployment rate ensure the general population has no hope of escaping the despair or obtaining help. Mugabe's "government" continues to see invading foreign troops behind every tree, and will never open the country up for the kind of international humanitarian aid which would have any hope of averting catastrophe. Mugabe himself will continue to stall and stymie regional and international efforts to get him out of power, or to even share some power, and the situation will not change, except to get worse.

We are witnessing the death of a nation, one conceived less than 30 years ago amidst high expectations, higher hopes, and positive initial results. Looking back to the early 80s, although there were rumors of atrocities in Matabeleland, the average Zimbabwean, white or black, enjoyed a thriving economy, plenty to eat, international goodwill, and a seemingly brilliant future. Now, disaster is upon us, and the only questions are how many will die and how long will it take for them to die.

What can we do about it? Not much. Give to Oxfam and the Red Cross. Pray. If you're ambitious, you might write a note to Kgalema Motlanthe or Levy Patrick Mwanawasa. Write your representative. Suggest to Sir Bob the Knob or Bono the Dog Biscuit they get Band Aid back together. The West isn't going to fix this one. I'm not sure anyone is.

Saturday morning scattershooting

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Tony "Thrill" Hill...

- Some poor bastard got "Cincinnatti Who'd" at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream NY yesterday. Then the crowd got pissed because the store was closing. Suburban NY is not for the faint-of-heart, man.

- Speaking of sorry, sorry humans, those a-holes who shot up Mumbai seem to have finally lost. I guess blasting away in the sub-continent allows Muslim fanatics to check a lot of items off their lists: Jews? Check. Western tourists? Check. Cow-worshipping heathens? Check. Sowing third-world panic? Check. What a bonanza, huh?

- Around the Horn of Africa, Somali pirates are still at it. Most recent victim is a chemical tanker. I just find it hard to believe these characters are as effective as they are. How do a bunch of frickin' goat herders in speedboats capture a super-tanker? Shouldn't the tanker driver be able to floor it and keep going? Boarding a ship in-motion on the high seas is not an easy thing to do, or so I've heard. If said ship is doing 15 knots and throwing up a massive wake, it seems like it would be pretty near impossible, wouldn't it. I guess the threat of an RPG through the windshield is somewhat intimidating, but those things aren't easy to fire from a bobby little speedboad either. Just don't get it.

- In yet more happy Africa news, Nigerians are killing each other yet again. This time it's over which religous-affiliated political party won elections. Good thing the world economy doesn't depend on Nigeria for oil or anything like that. Er, wait a minute...

- On a much lighter note, there's yet ANOTHER monster college football game in the Big 12 tonight. OU vs. Okie State has all sorts of possible ripple effects, and the entire south Plains will be tuned in, including usn's at the CIT Compound. This season, already the greatest ever, just keeps getting better.

Two pieces of SHOCKING news this Friday afternoon

Citigroup, once the biggest financial services firm on the planet, is circling the drain. It's stock, which had stalled around $50 for years, is now selling for $4.

Almost 300 cholera deaths have been reported in Zimbabwe. Is this the summer that finally turns sad Zimbabwe into the Ethiopia of the late 2000's?

Daily YouTube: BBC report on Zimbabwe

This is a bit dated - it's got figures from Feb 2008, which was, in terms of Zimbabwe's inflation rate, about 10,000,000% ago - and there's nothing reported here that you haven't already heard or read, but it's still plenty sobering.

Zimbabwe: Economic emergency? Understatement of the decade!

I'm not sure how this is even possible, but Zimbabwe's already-breathtaking annual inflation rate jumped from 2,233,713.4% (don't you love the ".4" at the end?) in May to just over 11,250,000% in June.

That's an official increase of 9,035,045.5 percentage points in a month! Many Zimbabweans think it is, in fact, much higher.

Mugabe's govt thought they were going to slow things down by lopping 10 (10!) zeros off the end of the Zimbabwe dollar, making Z$10 BILLION equal to Z$1 of new currency. Um, not working, buddy.

How can this country continue to function? Is everyone simply bartering for goods and services now? It sure seems like there's no way this can be sustainable for any significant amount of time, but we've been saying that about Zimbabwe for two and half years now.

The reality is everyone who has any means has already left. Most of the people left in the country are either on Mugabe's payroll, in which case money means nothing, or were already so poor that they had no money to be made worthless.

What a frickin' mess...

Zimbabwe: Follow up to yesterday's nugget

Yesterday, we made mention of the out-of-control inflation and stupefying dollar amounts being thrown around in Zimbabwe.

Today, "official figures" from somewhere, perhaps Zimbabwe's Central Bank although that's not clear from the Beeb article, place Zimbabwe's inflation rate at 2,200,000%. You read that right, 2.2 million percent.

What is going to give first in the most effed-up country on Earth?

Zimbabwe: Monopoly money is worth more

The Beeb has an article today on the game Zimbabwe and its people are playing with cash in the midst of long-term ultra-hyper inflation. The examples in the story are truly beyond belief.

An example: If you win the Harare Herald Lotto Bonanza, you get 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars. That's quadrillion, with 15 zeros. The prize's worth in US dollars? About $4,000. And that was last week. Who knows what it's worth now?

Another example: At a private school in Harare, parents are being asked to pay supplemental fees of Z$2.1 trillion. Yes, trillion. And if you wait until next week, you have to pay Z$3 trillion. Nine hundred billion dollars more to extend for a few days.

How would you feel if you had a few crisp, new Z$500,000,000.00 bills in your wallet, and knew you might be able to buy a newspaper and a sandwich with them? Five hundred million dollars, in a single bill, now practically worthless.

The numbers being tossed around in Zimbabwe's economy these days are truly mind-boggling. Banking and other financial systems are completely unable to process the sums being exchanged for trivial things. Think about it - could 7-11's systems could handle it if your Super Big Gulp cost four billion dollars?

I am way too dumb when it comes to economics to even begin to know what the solution is for this problem. The solution in Weimar Germany was to elect a fascist to the Chancellorship. Zimbabwe already has it's fascist, and that hasn't worked. What's next?

Zimbabwe: Tales from the front

An unnamed Newsweek reporter recently saw, firsthand, the thuggery now ruling the streets of Harare, and files this chilling report.

It's a mess, obviously, and it's easy to shout, "Ian Smith was right". I have written a few things here which might sound exactly like that. In this case, events have validated some of the old RF fear-mongering. But I think that's more an unhappy coincidence than any kind of psychic ability or inherent rightness of the minority rulers of the past.

Rhodesia was, as has been pointed out here and in many other places, able to feed itself and economically sustain itself (at least in the short term) despite near-complete isolation from the rest of the world. No one, and I mean NO ONE, would touch Rhodesia, with the exception of equally-racist and equally-shunned South Africa. Yet, even with trade and diplomatic sanctions levied by nearly the entire world, Rhodesia was a pretty good place to be if you were white and willing to ignore outrageous injustice around you on a daily basis. The Lake Wobegone-ish hagiography which has grown around the old Rhodesia ("...where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average...") isn't totally made up.

So, nearly forty years after the white rulers were sent packing, Zimbabwe finds itself in serious competition with a host of other failed states for the unenviable role of "Most Screwed Up Country on Earth". Mugabe and ZANU-PF have taken a country blessed with natural resources out the kazoo, a ton of initial international goodwill, and a motivated population, and, through insane land and economic policy followed by retaliatory (and equally racist) treatment of the white landowners, have found themselves facing possible famine, hyper-inflation which makes Weimar Germany look stable, and a full circle back to international condemnation. Quite a record.

But, it's stupid, not to mention flat-out wrong, to generalize and say, "This is what happens when the 'civilized' folks bail and leave the 'savages' to run the shop." There are many, obvious examples of the complete opposite being true. Just in the southern Africa neighborhood, Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) is a stable, relatively prosperous nation.

It's somewhat more than bad luck, but not much more, that a psycho like Mugabe winds up with his hands on the levers of power. The destabilization of the Rhodesian Bush War made it nearly inevitable that a violent nut-case would emerge as the strongest guy on the block.

For those "Rhodies" around the world who point to Zimbabwe as proof of the failure of majority rule, I would say Zimbabwe is reaping what Rhodesia had sowed.

That doesn't make it any less tragic, though.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's tactics may be working

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is apparently considering withdrawing from the June 27 presidential run-off election.

The reason: As many as 70 MDC supporters and/or family members have been murdered in recent weeks. It's pretty clear that thugs allied with Mugabe and ZANU-PF are behind the violence, although Mugabe himself blames the MDC. Mugabe is, of course, a delusional, paranoid tyrant who will do just about anything to hang on to power, so I don't know that we should be taking his word for much.

The MDC is saying that, unless something changes dramatically, the election will be a farce. Difficult to argue with - how do you vote your conscience when some addled "war veteran" is holding a Kalashnikov to the back of your head?

I understand what MDC is doing here. They are trying to draw international attention to the travesty underway in Zinbabwe. They are trying to force the international community, particularly the African community, to pressure Mugabe to back off and permit truly free elections.

However, this tactic may well backfire. Zimbabwe's neighbors, esp South Africa, have been reluctant to get too terribly involved in Zimbabwe. It may very well turn out the MDC hands the election over to Mugabe, and Zimbabwe continues its fall from the ranks of democratic states, and into the status of the failed.

Zimbabwe: The sh** is about to hit the fan

The showdown approacheth, as Zimbabwe's High Court has decided to cross swords with Mugabe's government by lifting the ban on opposition rallies.

Whether this has any practical effect remains to be seen, as the thugs allied with ZANU-PF have repeatedly ignored court rulings. Regardless, it is now (or at least, it should be) clear that Mugabe's actions are illegal no matter how you slice it.

Anyone really think he's giving up power voluntarily? If you answered "yes" to that question, please email me. I have all sorts of stuff I'd like to sell you.

This was the breadbasket of southern Africa, folks. Take a look at this graphic from BBC, which indicates which sections of the country face famine, and please tell me how things are better now than they were in 1979?

Zimbabwe: My God

First, a little scene-setting: Go read this Newsweek article on the state of the Zimbabwean economy. It is the most shocking thing you will read today. Guaranteed.

Now, we switch over to election news. Zimbabwe went to the polls this past Saturday. While it appears the opposition has won a majority in the Assembly, no one knows who won the presidency yet. That sound shady to you? It should.

Robert Mugabe, president since Zimbabwe was formed from unilaterally-independent Rhodesia (actually, there was a British colonial step in-between, called Zimbabwe-Rhodesia) in 1980, has rigged elections in the past. And that was before he went completely nuts. In recent years, his paranoia and isolation from the rest of his countrymen has grown at an exponential rate. Think he's not capable of stealing an election? Then I have some Zimbabwean currency I'd like to sell you.

How do you bankrupt a country which is blessed with fertile soil and abundant natural resources? Well, the Burmese have managed to do it, but even they can't hold a candle to Zimbabwe. This nation has been screwed for over a hundred years - read a bit about how it was treated by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company to get a sense of just how bad the screwing was - but, even with that, it has been a relatively prosperous and stable country until recently. Now? It's the most f**ked up country on Earth.