underWater desert Blogging

Georgia v. Russia

Because I am intellectually inferior and do not have so much time, I have few unique thoughts. 

There is some great analysis on the web about the short conflict. 

NYT has a great article on the tactics used by the Russians.  I, for one, am not scared by the Russian's ability to employ combined arms in the same manner that we are.  They simply do not have the culture that relies on decentralization necessary to affect true combine arms warfare in the way that we employ CA. 

FP Passport has an interesting article about the incitement of the conflict.  I think that it is fairly evenhanded account and I largely agree with the analysis, from what I know of things...which is limited!

The most militarily and culturally interesting point about the conflict is the absence or presence of cyberwar.  The big takeaway is that the Pentagon should not wash its hands of the R&D and of the C3 and of the practitioners responsible for employing and defending against these attacks.  Its rhetoric aside, I would not be surprised if they had, nor if they hadn't.  No matter what has been done, moving forward this is an area prime for research and defining where the battle-space will be and many other questions. 

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Anti-Americanism

  To be honest, I've never fully understood the vehement Anti-Americanism that I have at times been the target of.  I did understand it the few times I experienced it in Iraq.  Mainly, it is the European anti-americanism that I do not fully understand.  I usually dismiss it as some sort of a simple jealousy and unwillingness to part with the past and realize that the world has moved on.  I know that that is a simplistic understanding of a complex issue.  That is why I enjoy reading well-phrased articles by European thinkers on the subject.  The UK Times ran this piece today, which I found quite thoughtful.

Europeans that I've met during the election campaign, like their idealistically blinded progressive counterparts in the U.S. seem to think that Obama is going to cure everything that ills the nation.  As I said in my analysis of his foreign policy, that isn't going to happen.  The inertia of what has already taken place over decades will constrain him; the centrifugal pull of bureaucratic organizational design will constrain him; and the fact that he isn't a dictator and is still beholden to the other two branches of government will constrain him.  Obama will (hopefully) give a style, a flavor, and a presence to the US presidency that has been lacking since Reagan (or JFK, depending on which side of the aisle you sit).  That is what I am excited for.  However he will end up getting mocked and ridiculed by the Euro's eventually.  He will get called a hawk and a war-monger.  He will likely be called many of the same things that GWB has been called.  My hope is that those calling names will be fewer, have less basis for their arguments and generally be classified as radical rather than mainstream. 

This last part sort of goes to the heart of the matter.  In many ways Europe needs us to be the war-mongering bad cop to their peacenik good cop.  It provides the security assurances as well as progress that have regulated most of the world (albeit badly in a very many instances) since the end of the Cold War.  And yet, no one on this side of the Atlantic is ever willing to admit that!  We grumble and saber rattle at the Iranians while they negotiate with the Iranians.  We scare people into their arms.  All the while, information is being passed back and forth under the table as there is no way you'll be able to convince me that the intelligence services are not talking to each other on each of these issues.

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Put this one in your toolkit

I remember one time when Evergreen and I were in the Marine Corps.  He was so tired and it was so dark outside that he heated up a bag of peanut butter to put in his cheese ravioli bag of treats.  It was so disgusting that he had to go hungry or eat it, considering the circumstances (we were on one meal a day for the exercise and all exhausted and constantly hungry) he ate it, but I will always remember the look on his face when he turned to me and said in his Texas draw, "Casey, put this one in your toolkit, always check if the bag is peanut butter or cheese cause if you get this one wrong it'll costya."  The story is mainly funny to me because of the look of utter destituteness that was on Evergreen's face when he took that first bite and embarked on the slow realization of what had happened to him, and the realization was slow because of how absolutely exhausted and hungry we all were after a long night of patrolling or whatever we had been doing all we wanted to do was sit down and have a bit of a meal before we started the next day (all this happened just before dawn) of the same grueling stuff.

So now, I give you all one.  Never freeze the European Captain, because unlike American Captain, it freezes.  Not really sure why, but it does.  I am neither hungry, nor thirsty, nor exhausted, nor destitute like Evergreen was in that story, so maybe this isn't terrible funny, but it IS informative and gives me an excuse to pose a picture of the good Captain.

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Cultural Questionings

I'm certainly no expert on Dutch culture or Dutch language, but can anyone tell me if there are even Dutch words for the following English equivalents: 

• Pardon Me.
• Excuse Me.
• I'm Sorry.
• I Apologize.
• It Was My Fault.

If there are, I certainly haven't ever heard them.  Back in the land I love, or the land that I love to make fun of for the holidays.  Well, I'll be in Scotland for the holidays proper but here in Hague before/afta. 

Nothing special to report, so Happy Holidays to all!

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Hold on Saakashvili!

Georgia was AMAZING.  Highlands and I went there this past summer and I really fell in love with the people, with the environment, with the food, with the wine, with most everything there.  It is disappointing that there are many allegations of extensive human rights violations by the country and that there is the (real or not) perception of rampant corruption in the country.  These allegations have led to massive protests in beautiful old Tbilisi.  There are huge possibilities for good in this country and I hope that the President, Saakashvili is smart enough to be able to quell this thing without having to resort to Soviet era tactics of repression.  I will be an unequivocal supporter of him if he can figure out a way to address the core of what the protestors are saying (his administration is a bastion of cronyism and the opposition's voice is being suppressed using state resources). 

Photo by: Shakh Aivazov/The Associated Press

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next issue

i like the SNL skit where they make fun of that sunday morning news show.  and they use 'next issue' to punctuate debates.  i'll think of the name of it in a minute. 

i finish with the court tomorrow, although i'll be in holland for another week and probably in and out of the office to tidy up a few things.  the rest of the summer will be spent all over.  a map is embedded for you to follow along.  the highlights.  fly to Tbilisi, Georgia, then go to the Georgian Mountains to dodge sketchy Chechnyan Separatists and their land mines.  Then down to the Georgian Wine Country to get drunk.  Then to Azerbaijan mainly because I like its name.  Then back to Schipel to drop Highlands off and pick up my dad.  Then to Prague, Berlin, Cologne and then back to Amsterdam.  Then I have two nights and a day with Highlands and then I fly from AMS to Miami via London.  So it will be crazy.  Pictures and Updated Where is Casey as we go along.

 

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saying hello in dutch

have arrived in the cloudy hague.  there are bikes and cold and mexican food and the highlands. 

oh yeah, and bandwidth: have updated SL, upcountry and Liberia photo albums; have also uploaded videos from upcountry; have also uploaded songs promised long ago.

more thoughts of a distinct nature to come soon.

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