Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope my American readers enjoy the holiday!

46 Years of Doctor Who

Today is the 46th anniversary of one of the world's greatest TV programmes.

Check out an animated adventure if you live in the UK. It's pretty good.

Labour and Poverty

An article worth reading.

A Lie Can Get Around The World...

The attack at Fort Hood on Thursday is a deep tragedy and my condolences go out to the victims and their families.

 

I get the horrible feeling that whether this was a terrorist attack or not, people are going to look at the suspect’s Muslim faith and retaliate against Muslims anyway. Even if he denied it was a terrorist related attack, people aren’t going to believe it...

The Water Torture Strategy: Thoughts On Afghanistan

Since it was on every front page in the country today, I am sure my British readers will have not missed the story of five British soldiers being gunned down by an Afghanistan while having tea. My condolences go out to their families.

 

It has struck me that what the Taliban and “Al-Qaeda” (the whole disparate movement, hence the speech marks) are trying to do is a repeat of what the North Vietnamese did in Vietnam. Not inflict one massive military victory, but inflict drip by drip by drip by drip- a steady stream of losses, which turn public opinion at home against a conflict.

 

It’s a strategy that only works when the leaders actually give in. South Vietnam fell two years after the US withdrawal and a carrier group or two there might have made a decisive impact. I am sure there are other cases. When the military goes ruthless, it generally fails- France and Poland were only liberated (yes, that ought to be in inverted commas for the latter) from the Nazis by direct military intervention, although Yugoslavia is the exception that proves the rule. Four decades of intifada in the Palestinian Territories haven’t altered the situation. I also refer to Northern Ireland, where the military didn’t go ruthless.

 

While there are definitely issues of strategy, human rights and corruption, I still believe we should stay and train up the forces properly. If we don’t, we won’t just be fighting them there, we’ll be fighting them here and there, because it’s going to stink to be female, a Christian or a supporter of democracy in Afghanistan.

 

An old friend of mine is currently in the Army, although I don’t think he’s deploying to the country any time soon. When he does, I hope he stays safe.

 

 

US Elections

While the usual caveats about protest votes and stuff apply, it cannot honestly be said to be a good night for Barack Obama- and for the Republicans.

 

The NY-23 pickup was by a Blue Dog Democrat, gay marriage got banned again in Maine and there’s the obvious governor losses.

 

However, Bloomberg got back in only narrowly, the Republican brand is still fairly toxic (understandable really, it’ll take a decade to self-clean) and there’s NY-23.

Hackett Thirty Years On: A Revisit

Someone has made some excellent comments on this.

Pillars Of Sand

The US economy grew last quarter, officially ending the recession there.

 

I can’t help but feel, though, that said recovery is entirely due to TARP and “Cash for Clunkers” and that there’s still a lot of fragility in the real economy... Remember the jobless rate.

Griffin and Question Time

I haven't posted here for a while- trying to resolve a crisis at AJJE Games that looks about to spill into the open.

I'm not sure about whether it was a good idea to invite Griffin onto Question Time. It certainly gave him the oxygen of publicity, but it also gave people some good quotes to attack him on. Defending the Ku Klux Klan, for example.

Speaking of indigenous Brits, how far back does he want to go with "voluntary repatriation"?

We'll have to see what this does to the success of the BNP.

An interesting picture

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/entertainment_enl_1255430698/html/1.stm

 

I saw someone similar- it may have been these people- in Chicago last year. I remember some dude telling people to die. I guess it was an attempt at a joke.

Apparently You Get Points For Trying

The decision of the Norwegian Storting to award President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize bemuses me to say the least.

 

The man apparently got it for strengthening international institutions and promoting global nuclear disarmament. By this logic, FDR should have got one for setting up the UN and Reagan for ending the Cold War.

 

The word “premature” comes to mind. I really wish people would stop waving pom-poms for this guy before he actually achieves something.

 

PS Can someone brighten up Mile End tube station please?

Sir Richard Dannatt and the Tories

May not be an opportunist political gimmick...

 

But the timing looks mighty suspicious. It’s very rare for a serving officer to make public criticisms of policy (Sir John Hackett did it once and got away with it by wearing his NATO hat) and to go straight into a political advisory role to the Shadow Cabinet isn’t really cricket.

 

I naturally favour our troops having what they need to succeed in Afghanistan, but Dannatt has possibly done them a disservice.

Iranian Evasion

Testing a feature of Blogger that I haven’t yet utilised, namely creating posts by email.

 

The discovery that Iran had a secret nuclear facility is rather alarming. They’re clearly being very sneaky. That said, considering the likely results of an attack on Iran by Israel or anyone else, I am not inclined to military action as yet. That said, I favour economic sanctions, as it’s time to hit the mullahs where it hurts.

 

I don’t want a nuclear-armed Iran. In fact, I don’t want nuclear-armed anybody, although I’m not a unilateralist.

"The whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret!"

I knew about this already, but still it's interesting reading.

There's actually a system of similar purpose in British service, known as the Last Resort letters. These letters from the PM are placed in a safe on each Vanguard missile submarine. In the event that the UK ceases to exist, the letters are opened and the crew follow his or her instructions, which are probably one of four options.

1. Take out Moscow (or whoever)
2. Contact the Americans or the Australians (if they're still around)
3. Do nothing
4. Use your own judgement.

I'm sure other nuclear powers have their own systems.

Trafigura to make a payout

This won't cheer up Jams, as he commented.

Historical Unemployment Figures

Just a little study I'm doing, partly to make myself feel better about the recession and Labour's likely electoral defeat next year.

Obama and Missile Defence

Obama's announcement cancelling the "third site" in Central Europe today is not an end to missile defence by any means, contrary to how many right-wing sources are reporting this.

He's just moving to another method, namely AEGIS and the SM-3.

I'm actually a supporter of missile defence. I'd rather have protection than deterrence, with all that entails.

I sunk your Plucky Comic Relief!

They're making a movie of the board game Battleship.

I'd say the world has gone mad, but that happened years ago.

9/11 Eight Years On

It was when I went to the Ground Zero exhibition and was told that the debris was ten storeys high that it really, really sunk in.

May we never forget.

Book about the Long Beach Naval Shipyard

RustyBattleship, from World Affairs Board has a book out on the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.

If you're interested in shipbuilding, check it out.