24 thoughts on “My CSM piece on Obama, America, and the world”
Helena
Do you suppose this new framework has sunk in in Tel Aviv yet?
I saw a suggestion that Tzipi Livni might be proposing to expel Arab israelis to the West Bank as part of the bankrupt two state solution.
The chaps in Beijing might look at the 5 million Israelis and the 500 million Arabs and wonder which option makes best sense as customers and clients.
5. A shift away from military force. Recent experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Lebanon have shown that military force cannot solve international problems. Most global security challenges cry out for policing-based solutions that enjoy strong local support, rather than more military force. Other, less optimistic scenarios are also possible for the years ahead. But Obama has vowed to find new, better ways to engage with the rest of the world.
Has he? US readying troop buildup with Marines in Afghanistan
Sat Dec 6, 12:32 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US military is preparing to send Marines among some 20,000 troops deploying to Afghanistan as part of a major build-up of forces there, a senior military officer said.
Anticipating a “very active winter,” Major General Michael Tucker said Friday he was expecting “some Marines to come in” on top of a Marine battalion sent in November. Tucker would not quantify or set a timeline for the Marines’ arrival.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters in a teleconference, the deputy commander of US forces in Afghanistan recalled that some 20,000 additional American troops are scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan early next year. There are currently 32,000 US troops in the war-torn country.
A US Army combat brigade — 3,500 to 4,000 troops — is set to arrive in Afghanistan in January and commanders there have requested three additional combat brigades, on top of an aviation brigade and other support forces.
But despite winter settling in, the 70,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan are not expecting a slowdown in fighting in the months ahead.
Although winter is “usually a slower time… we are preparing ourselves to continue a very, very high OPTEMPO,” or operations tempo, said Tucker, also deputy chief of staff for operations of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
US and NATO troops have also “taken on a much more aggressive approach” with “great results so far” to their counter-narcotics operations in Afghanistan, the world’s leading producer of heroin.
An agreement for to battle heroin-trafficking operations was reached at a Budapest meeting of allied defense ministers for the first time earlier this year.
Some allies, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, have refused to participate in these operations, and ISAF only contributes those troops authorized by their respective governments.
Three Canadian soldiers were killed Friday in southern Kandahar province, bringing the total number of Canadian military service members killed in Afghanistan to 100 so far.
Menno, hi. Yes, Obama has “vowed” to find better ways to deal with the rest of the of the world. The question, obviously, is majorly one of implementation.
You can’t, however, read anything clear into what the US military’s current plans in Afghanistan are. Obama is not yet president. I realize Gates is a factor of continuity but he has recently said that “more troops, more troops” can’t forever be usefully applied to Afghanistan. (I need to get that quote.)
You can’t, however, read anything clear into what the US military’s current plans in Afghanistan are.
But do you really believe that the military at this stage would act without approval from Obama? Or that Gates would authorize any policy that would be contrary to the policies that he’ll have to carry out when Obama becomes his master? This is not the military acting on its own, this is Obama policy…..
Besides, sending more troops to Afghanistan is something Obama has promised many times, so it’s exactly what one should expect. He has also made it abundantly clear that he is obsessed with al Qaeda. As he said in his CBS “60 Minutes” interview on Nov 16: “I think it is a top priority for us to stamp out al Qaeda once and for all”, and “I think capturing or killing bin Laden is a critical aspect of stamping out al Qaeda. He is not just a symbol, he’s also the operational leader of an organization that is planning attacks against U.S. targets.”
source: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6273390
I saw a suggestion that Tzipi Livni might be proposing to expel Arab israelis to the West Bank as part of the bankrupt two state solution.
No, not nearly. What she actually said was much more subtle than that: “Once a Palestinian state is established, I can come to the Palestinian citizens, whom we call Israeli Arabs, and say to them ‘you are citizens with equal rights, but the national solution for you is elsewhere.'”
Note her statement that Palestinian citizens in Israel (who she acknowledges as part of the Palestinian nation, which is the first time I can recall any senior Israeli politician doing so) would remain Israeli citizens with equal rights. However, their national aspirations would be represented by the state of Palestine, while Jews’ national aspirations would be represented by the state of Israel. She was using the term “national” in the ethnocultural rather than the state-citizenship sense, as she has done before, and although her comment has been (willfully?) misinterpreted as a threat of expulsion, it isn’t.
BTW, much as “Tel Aviv” may be de rigueur in certain circles as a metonym for Israel, I’m sure you realize that the hopefully-absorptive heads are physically located in West Jerusalem.
Note her statement that Palestinian citizens in Israel
Sorry, that should have been “Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Menno, a troop buildup in Afghanistan does not imply anything about what foreign policy strategies Obama will follow elsewhere. As for Afghanistan itself, the article made no mention of what diplomatic strategy Obama intends to pursue in tandem with the troop buildup. I’m pleased to read this article and I hope the troop buildup can resecure the supply corridor through Pakistan and push back the Taliban from the Kabul outskirts on, and I hope he does have a diplomacy plan to talk with Taliban factions not so devoted to Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda, to arrive at a political solution that the Republicans would’ve never attempted.
I am so pleased your article was used by CSM. Although a small newspaper, it is read by many good thinkers both in and out of the government. Thanks again.
regarding my point 3 (Afghanistan) above, note the news of the conference on Afghanistan hosted by France recently. Sarko had invited all Afghanistan’s neighbors– who do include China. (HT: Jo M.) All attended except Iran. Ahmadinejad was still angry at Sarko over criticisms Sarko had made of him.
But including all the neighbors is a v. smart way forward.
But do you really believe that the military at this stage would act without approval from Obama?
Actually yes I would.
Look at Ray Odierno who has contradicted the common understanding of the SOFA in Iraq.
Generals do things and hope they don’t get found out by the civilians until it is too late.
Look at Ray Odierno who has contradicted the common understanding of the SOFA in Iraq.
Generals do things and hope they don’t get found out by the civilians until it is too late.
Ah….. That’s why they give press conferences or tell journalists what they think (like Odierno did).
Clever guys, these generals!
More US bases in Central Asia. Clever guys, these generals.
What do you mean?
That this is the policy of the generals, and that the politicians have no clue?
Is your suggestion that this is a kind of undercover operation by these clever generals?
Undercover, because they don’t want their bosses, people like Gates and Bush and Obama, etc., from finding out that they’re planning these new bases?
if that’s what you mean, I give up…….
More US bases in Central Asia. Clever guys, these generals.
What do you mean?
That this is the policy of the generals, and that the politicians have no clue?
Is it your suggestion that this is a kind of undercover operation by these clever generals?
Undercover, because they don’t want their bosses, people like Gates and Bush and Obama, etc., from finding out that they’re planning these new bases?
if that’s what you mean, I give up…….
Menno
Actually that is more or less what I mean.
It will take Obama at least a year to find out what is going on and rewrite the strategy and policy documents.
In the meantime you can be sure that people will continue to implement the Cheney strategy for Global Hegemony until they are explicitly told to stop.
Menno
Actually this is precisely what I am saying.
It will take Obama a year to find out everything that is going on and then update the policy and strategy.
In the meantime there will be many who will continue to execute Mr Cheney’s imperative towards World Hegemony.
Ask yourself if Kurdistan is Iraq and whether there might be people who would keep troops there after 2011.
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
1 Legion Para were disbanded for their antics, and were hauled off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrette rien”
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
1 Legion Para were disbanded for their antics, and were hauled off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrette rien”
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
1 Legion Para were disbanded for their antics, and were hauled off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrette rien”
Menno
It isn’t just me
Juan Cole links to this this mrning http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
Charles de Gaulle had similar problems with his senior military when he decided the game was up and it was time to go home.
1 Legion Para went off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrete rien”
Am I the only one this comments machine is driving to distraction?
Apparently someone has blown away three cables in the Mediterranean.
Here is an ex diplomat’s take on what is going on in Afghanistan. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL20Df01.html
I hope you weren’t expecting Obama to get out of the Global War on Television any time soon.
And don’t believe in the US reengaging with the world as a cuddly good neighbour.
Helena
Do you suppose this new framework has sunk in in Tel Aviv yet?
I saw a suggestion that Tzipi Livni might be proposing to expel Arab israelis to the West Bank as part of the bankrupt two state solution.
The chaps in Beijing might look at the 5 million Israelis and the 500 million Arabs and wonder which option makes best sense as customers and clients.
5. A shift away from military force. Recent experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Lebanon have shown that military force cannot solve international problems. Most global security challenges cry out for policing-based solutions that enjoy strong local support, rather than more military force. Other, less optimistic scenarios are also possible for the years ahead. But Obama has vowed to find new, better ways to engage with the rest of the world.
Has he?
US readying troop buildup with Marines in Afghanistan
Sat Dec 6, 12:32 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US military is preparing to send Marines among some 20,000 troops deploying to Afghanistan as part of a major build-up of forces there, a senior military officer said.
Anticipating a “very active winter,” Major General Michael Tucker said Friday he was expecting “some Marines to come in” on top of a Marine battalion sent in November. Tucker would not quantify or set a timeline for the Marines’ arrival.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters in a teleconference, the deputy commander of US forces in Afghanistan recalled that some 20,000 additional American troops are scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan early next year. There are currently 32,000 US troops in the war-torn country.
A US Army combat brigade — 3,500 to 4,000 troops — is set to arrive in Afghanistan in January and commanders there have requested three additional combat brigades, on top of an aviation brigade and other support forces.
But despite winter settling in, the 70,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan are not expecting a slowdown in fighting in the months ahead.
Although winter is “usually a slower time… we are preparing ourselves to continue a very, very high OPTEMPO,” or operations tempo, said Tucker, also deputy chief of staff for operations of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
US and NATO troops have also “taken on a much more aggressive approach” with “great results so far” to their counter-narcotics operations in Afghanistan, the world’s leading producer of heroin.
An agreement for to battle heroin-trafficking operations was reached at a Budapest meeting of allied defense ministers for the first time earlier this year.
Some allies, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, have refused to participate in these operations, and ISAF only contributes those troops authorized by their respective governments.
Three Canadian soldiers were killed Friday in southern Kandahar province, bringing the total number of Canadian military service members killed in Afghanistan to 100 so far.
Menno, hi. Yes, Obama has “vowed” to find better ways to deal with the rest of the of the world. The question, obviously, is majorly one of implementation.
You can’t, however, read anything clear into what the US military’s current plans in Afghanistan are. Obama is not yet president. I realize Gates is a factor of continuity but he has recently said that “more troops, more troops” can’t forever be usefully applied to Afghanistan. (I need to get that quote.)
You can’t, however, read anything clear into what the US military’s current plans in Afghanistan are.
But do you really believe that the military at this stage would act without approval from Obama? Or that Gates would authorize any policy that would be contrary to the policies that he’ll have to carry out when Obama becomes his master? This is not the military acting on its own, this is Obama policy…..
Besides, sending more troops to Afghanistan is something Obama has promised many times, so it’s exactly what one should expect. He has also made it abundantly clear that he is obsessed with al Qaeda. As he said in his CBS “60 Minutes” interview on Nov 16: “I think it is a top priority for us to stamp out al Qaeda once and for all”, and “I think capturing or killing bin Laden is a critical aspect of stamping out al Qaeda. He is not just a symbol, he’s also the operational leader of an organization that is planning attacks against U.S. targets.”
source: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6273390
I saw a suggestion that Tzipi Livni might be proposing to expel Arab israelis to the West Bank as part of the bankrupt two state solution.
No, not nearly. What she actually said was much more subtle than that: “Once a Palestinian state is established, I can come to the Palestinian citizens, whom we call Israeli Arabs, and say to them ‘you are citizens with equal rights, but the national solution for you is elsewhere.'”
Note her statement that Palestinian citizens in Israel (who she acknowledges as part of the Palestinian nation, which is the first time I can recall any senior Israeli politician doing so) would remain Israeli citizens with equal rights. However, their national aspirations would be represented by the state of Palestine, while Jews’ national aspirations would be represented by the state of Israel. She was using the term “national” in the ethnocultural rather than the state-citizenship sense, as she has done before, and although her comment has been (willfully?) misinterpreted as a threat of expulsion, it isn’t.
BTW, much as “Tel Aviv” may be de rigueur in certain circles as a metonym for Israel, I’m sure you realize that the hopefully-absorptive heads are physically located in West Jerusalem.
Note her statement that Palestinian citizens in Israel
Sorry, that should have been “Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Menno, a troop buildup in Afghanistan does not imply anything about what foreign policy strategies Obama will follow elsewhere. As for Afghanistan itself, the article made no mention of what diplomatic strategy Obama intends to pursue in tandem with the troop buildup. I’m pleased to read this article and I hope the troop buildup can resecure the supply corridor through Pakistan and push back the Taliban from the Kabul outskirts on, and I hope he does have a diplomacy plan to talk with Taliban factions not so devoted to Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda, to arrive at a political solution that the Republicans would’ve never attempted.
Helena,
Kudos. Your piece is featured on YaLibnan’s front page. All the best,
KDJ
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/12/obama_and_ameri.php
I am so pleased your article was used by CSM. Although a small newspaper, it is read by many good thinkers both in and out of the government. Thanks again.
regarding my point 3 (Afghanistan) above, note the news of the conference on Afghanistan hosted by France recently. Sarko had invited all Afghanistan’s neighbors– who do include China. (HT: Jo M.) All attended except Iran. Ahmadinejad was still angry at Sarko over criticisms Sarko had made of him.
But including all the neighbors is a v. smart way forward.
But do you really believe that the military at this stage would act without approval from Obama?
Actually yes I would.
Look at Ray Odierno who has contradicted the common understanding of the SOFA in Iraq.
Generals do things and hope they don’t get found out by the civilians until it is too late.
Look at Ray Odierno who has contradicted the common understanding of the SOFA in Iraq.
Generals do things and hope they don’t get found out by the civilians until it is too late.
Ah….. That’s why they give press conferences or tell journalists what they think (like Odierno did).
Clever guys, these generals!
Helena
Is Obama a Potemkin village?
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav121608e.shtml
More US bases in Central Asia. Clever guys, these generals.
More US bases in Central Asia. Clever guys, these generals.
What do you mean?
That this is the policy of the generals, and that the politicians have no clue?
Is your suggestion that this is a kind of undercover operation by these clever generals?
Undercover, because they don’t want their bosses, people like Gates and Bush and Obama, etc., from finding out that they’re planning these new bases?
if that’s what you mean, I give up…….
More US bases in Central Asia. Clever guys, these generals.
What do you mean?
That this is the policy of the generals, and that the politicians have no clue?
Is it your suggestion that this is a kind of undercover operation by these clever generals?
Undercover, because they don’t want their bosses, people like Gates and Bush and Obama, etc., from finding out that they’re planning these new bases?
if that’s what you mean, I give up…….
Menno
Actually that is more or less what I mean.
It will take Obama at least a year to find out what is going on and rewrite the strategy and policy documents.
In the meantime you can be sure that people will continue to implement the Cheney strategy for Global Hegemony until they are explicitly told to stop.
Menno
Actually this is precisely what I am saying.
It will take Obama a year to find out everything that is going on and then update the policy and strategy.
In the meantime there will be many who will continue to execute Mr Cheney’s imperative towards World Hegemony.
Ask yourself if Kurdistan is Iraq and whether there might be people who would keep troops there after 2011.
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
1 Legion Para were disbanded for their antics, and were hauled off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrette rien”
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
1 Legion Para were disbanded for their antics, and were hauled off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrette rien”
Menno
It isn’t just me.
Juan Cole links to this this morning
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
If you read the story of the French withdrawal from Algeria you will see Charles de Gaulle having similar problems with his senior military.
1 Legion Para were disbanded for their antics, and were hauled off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrette rien”
Menno
It isn’t just me
Juan Cole links to this this mrning
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167
Charles de Gaulle had similar problems with his senior military when he decided the game was up and it was time to go home.
1 Legion Para went off to gaol singing “Non, je ne regrete rien”
Am I the only one this comments machine is driving to distraction?
Apparently someone has blown away three cables in the Mediterranean.
Here is an ex diplomat’s take on what is going on in Afghanistan.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL20Df01.html
I hope you weren’t expecting Obama to get out of the Global War on Television any time soon.
And don’t believe in the US reengaging with the world as a cuddly good neighbour.