Insta-hoglets

It's Insta-hoglet time again.

A group known to have killed thousands in terror attacks backs away from the negotiating table, starts muttering about a return to violence, is known to have recently murdered someone and is implicated in a bank robbery worth around $50 million. What would George do?

Invade? Impose sanctions on the groups supporters? Publicly denounce the group and demand a return to the negotiating table? Or cancel their invite to a party?

If you guessed the last one, give yourself a cynicism point. Let me be clear here - George isn't the only US President to soft peddle on the various Irish terror groups. Ask any Brit and they will tell you about America's ambivalent attitude to terrorism over the years. If you speak with an Irish accent, it's always been better than speaking with an Arabic one.

Isn't the rightwing meme that the war in Afghanistan is "mission accomplished"? Not according to the Pentagon.

The U.S. military is bracing for a fresh surge in militant violence in Afghanistan, a spokesman said Saturday, a day after one of its top commanders warned against any drawdown in American troops.

Via No More Mister Nice Blog (Don't give up blogging Steve, you are better at it than, to give a for instance, Atrios) I discovered that David Duke appeared on Bill O'Reill'y TV show on Thursday, and dear David isn't at all happy with his reception. You have to read what he said to believe it. The pervacious Bill said in reply:

The Factor told Duke that he and Ward Churchill are in effect opposite sides of the same coin: "Free speech has consequences--both you and Churchill, on opposite ends of the spectrum, have brought personal pain to Americans."

Heh.

On the other side of the pond, a new Labour poll has shown that people trust Tony less and less and if Gordon Brown was leader of the party, Labour would double it's lead in polls for the forthcoming general election. Thanks to europhobia for this one, who have lots of other interesting European news links too.

The UK's most senior soldier General Sir Michael Jackson has commented on the decision to jail and dismiss three British soldiers who abused Iraqi civilians. Here is his full statement but I want to quote an important bit.

"I can now place on record how appalled and disappointed I was when I first saw those photographs at the outset of the trial. "The incidents depicted are in direct contradiction to the core values and standards of the British Army, nor do they represent the vast majority of its soldiers who, as I speak, are continuing to do a most difficult job in Iraq.

"Nevertheless, in light of the evidence from this trial I do apologise on behalf of the Army to those Iraqis who were abused and the people of Iraq as a whole.

Let me try to give the guys at the Pentagon and the White House a hint. This is how you apologise. Try it.

Foreign Policy In Focus, a liberal think tank and an indespensible resource for those interested in US foreign policy, gets in depth about the implications of the assasination of Hariri in Lebanon for US policy and points out the lack of serious questioning of Bush's policies against Syria by Democrats.

Among the few dissenters is Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who expressed his concern to Secretary of State Rice during recent hearings on Capitol Hill that the tough talk against Syria was remarkably similar to what was heard in regard to Iraq a few years earlier. One of only eight members of Congress to vote against the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act in the fall of 2003, he warned his fellow Senators that the language was broad enough that the administration might later claim it authorized military action against Syria.

Remember you were warned about this if Bush does exactly that.

Recently I saw on a rightwing blog a claim that the Patriot Act had not hurt American citizen's rights (as opposed to Canadians, Britons, Australians and anyone with a brown skin). Catalytic Converter has the counterproof, with the story of a boy jailed for writing a story about zombies. Just to put the icing on the cake, he was turned in by his grandparents. You have to read this.

Also from Catalytic Converter (yeah, I like this blog!), a look at the meme so universal in the US that America is "bigger, biggest, best". Living in Texas, I can attest that even people with brains who should know better accept this knee-jerk faux-patriotism as axiomatic.

Here's an interesting read - The Case for Socialism in the 21st Century. The author makes the often forgotten point that capitalism is, at base, about a world "where people exist for the sake of the economy and not, as it should be, the other way around." The whole article is immensly thought provoking, and not just for left-wingers. How many on the right have seriously thought about this:

Democratic socialism is therefore the heir of the best aspects of classical liberalism. There is nothing wrong with the freedoms that classical liberalism holds dear: the freedoms of association, speech, press, assembly, and so on. The problem is that under capitalism these freedoms are greatly restricted and hollowed out. Liberal freedoms can only be fully secured in a socialist society, where property rights no longer take precedence over political, civil, and social rights.

The conclusion is a doozy:

Some may say that socialists should hold on to our ideal and our approach to politics but drop the word "socialism" because of its lingering association with unaccountable state bureaucrats. But the truth is that if you believe in democracy and recognize that wealth is a social creation and therefore should be controlled by all of society, you can use other labels but you are going to get called a socialist anyway. And in the US those who defend capitalism invariably demonize proposals for such reforms as a national health care system or public investment in childcare as "socialist." Since we are stuck with the S-word, we ought to wear it proudly.

Solidarinosc.

Lastly, from Panhandle Truth Squad, a word for our Republican friends. Good job you didn't vote for Kerry, eh? Look what could have happened...

Heh.