US Middle East Policy (?)

The Middle East has always been a crazy place....battles and wars have been raging there for about 5,000 years and it is not going to stop anytime soon. I have no idea why the United States wants to plunge into the middle of it all.

We are finally going to leave Iraq--with no guarantee that after nine years, 4,500 American lives, God knows how many Iraqi lives and a trillion dollars--that the place becomes an Iranian satellite five minutes after the last US soldiers leaves. Our relationship with the largest country in the region is at best poisonous. The United States is in Afghanistan until 2014 and might end up fighting "ally" Pakistan who is noticeably unhappy with the US and is publicly and loudly edging towards China.

In Syria, the US ambassador left today because of threats to his personal safety.

The US spent nearly a billion dollars to kill Khadaffy and now it seems a North African version of the Taliban is taking over, declaring the country will be ruled by Islamic sharia law. In neighboring Tunisia, Islamists have won the election and Egypt is ruled by a military dictatorship after the people overthrew the civilian dictatorship run by Mubaruk.

And our real ally, Israel, publicly distrusts the president in Washington.

A lot of people here do too......

There are a lot of scary things about this administration but the truly frightening thing is is that the only Cabinet member that seems vaguely competent is Hillary Clinton. But then you take a look at the Middle East and you wonder if this is competence, what would incompetence be like?

Instead of just complaining about problems, let me offer a solution.

Here it is:

Get off the oil!

Start a real program to find oil here in the US (we have a lot!) and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. Then start a real effort to go to "green" energy.

But as long as the oil companies own DC, it won't happen.

So nationalize the oil companies.

I am not a fan of gov't intervention in the economy but if there was ever a time to confront a clear and present danger to national security, this is it.

Does anyone in Washington have the courage to do this?

Don't hold your breath.

But change is coming.

One way or another.....

Meanwhile, let the idiots in the Middle East decide if they want to live together or kill each other.

Saying hello to Everyone--especially Latvia...

It is not often I look at the stats of this blog but I was surprised to see where this blog has popped up. Mostly here in North America, here in the US and Canada and there are a couple of readers in Mexico. I see readers in Germany, the Philippines, Greece (0f course....LOL)and even Afghanistan too but there seem to be a ton of people reading this in Latvia (!).

I am not sure why but "Thank You!" or better yet "Paldies!"

I like to share my thoughts/rantings with the whole world or at least some of it over the horizon. Hopefully, I can teach you a few things but more importantly, I hope to learn from you (see comments...LOL). It helps to see things from different angles.

After all, I could be wrong on a few things...

...but not that often :-)

Go forth and conquer...and have a nice day!

In the mountains

Michelle and I have been up in the mountains that make up the west end of NC. We hiked around Grandfather Mountain in the rain and wind and noted that the place looks a lot like Scotland....might explain why they call the area the "Southern Highlands."

Crossing the Mile High Swinging Bridge in fifty mile an hour winds and rain was an interesting experience but we did it! I am not exactly sure why we did it....If I had known the bridge was built in 1952, I probably would not have crossed it in 2011...LOL I later found out the metal bridge was constructed in 1999 so I feel a little better about that.

There is a large Scottish descended community there and the area hosts a Highlands game every year. We will definitely go to see that. If Michelle makes me wear a kilt, she is going to have to let me wear a hoplite helmet too complete with hoplon shield.

"It's just like Greece!" She said. "But with trees!"

Forgot to mention the wind and rain but I like crappy weather :-) It is a great place to go on walk abouts even if a lot of it is uphill. It's a lot like Polish Hills in Pittsburgh now that I think about it. And the local college team, the Appalachin St. Mountaineers, wears black and gold, Michelle noted.

Sounds like someone wants to move there.....Can't say I blame her!

Guess I will check if they have a PhD program in Greek and Roman studies....

American Autumn?

Pic from The Atlantic.com

First they try to ignore it, then they denigrate it, then it shows up on the news. Just like the Tea Party.

I don't know how Occupy Wall Street is going to turn out but you have to start somewhere. The American people are fed up with corruption on Wall Street and Washington. Some of the more extreme elements of the protests are railing against capitalism but the remarkable thing about this movement is that it is not anti-capitalist. It is PRO-capitalist. It is against crony capitalism, bailouts with taxpayer money and out of control speculation.

It is also democracy in action.

And its spreading.

Protests started in New York but are now in Boston, LA, St. Louis and even Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Occupy Wall Street says it is drawing inspiration from Arab Spring and combining it with American frustration at a lot of things. Corrupt government, broken economy, a business community once the envy of the world now resembling something out of 1950s Cuba, a foreign policy that gets a lot of people killed (Americans and others) for no particular reason etc....There is a lot to be upset about.

Its starting to boil over...

This could be the beginning of something that is long overdue.

This might be how it started in 1775. If it is, the powers that be should not look at the British playbook from then, That was the exact wrong way to go about, well, anything.

Quick note to those we elect: Listen to the protesters. Do something about the greed and corruption that destroys lives of others and, yes, ultimately, yourself.

Not only can "it" happen here, it might be starting

Today, its just words and slogans being thrown...Take a look at Athens.

Work the rest out yourself.