Afghanistan is a bad joke

When he leaves office, a certain someone will probably point to a country in South-Central Asia and claim that this is where he made a difference and that things are getting better all the time and so on and so etc, etc, etc.

What he will ignore is that right now someone is on death row for speaking out against Islam. While Freedom of Opinion is part of the constitution, apparently you just can't say certain things. So the moral of the story is...nothing has really changed except the names of the people running the place. How many millions have been wasted?

Movie Review: Goodbye Lenin!

I guess I sort of already knew what the movie was about through hearsay as well as having heard about it on the radio. Simple story, boy in East Germany has a single mom and a sister. Mom ends up in the hospital with a coma and when she wakes up she wakes up in a united Germany. Of course the shock of her finding out would be too much for her and so he has to convince her that she is still living in the East.

Its funny, its sad, and even say a bit romantic. I think to understand some of the humor, you have to have lived in an eastern European country or have visited one soon after the end of the Soviet Union. Daniel Bruhl is excellent as usual and so are the rest of the characters. I think I was almost crying at some parts. Is that enough? Go watch it.

A neo-liberal solution of sorts...

Since the World Bank and IMF not to mention the WTO have such amazing ideas I thought I would apply them to United States Armed Forces. The US military is a government entity and therefore grossly missmanaged (many generals would agree with this, war is to important to let politicians make decisions). The budget is gigantic and the results meagre at best. Two countries have proved this point; Afghanistan and Iraq. Here the US military has invaded and tried to 'liberate' two people groups. The cost of the operations has been immense and neither one has by any means reached a point where they could be labeled as a success of any sort (after all the primary goal was to defeat Al Qaida, not nation-build).

So here is the neo-liberal solution; allow the army to act as a private security force. It already does this in many ways with Nato and other organizations, but it would be better run if it went where the invisible hand of the market directed it. This means that countries with a strong economy would remain protected and that their armies would be free to seek the best markets. It might even be possible after a time to stop using tax money to finance the military. Technology would only benefit, as the market forces would encourage further innovation as the alternative would be losing the market to other actors. Anyway it might save americans a lot of money that could be spent on other things.

Moving Backwards; an American Tale in two parts

Part I

Bush is comparing the 'terrorists' to Nazis. It is impossible to compare the two groups of people. One was intent on genocide while the other has never expressed such ideals. Honestly the Nazis had quite a bit more power than the terrorists have had up to this time, and there were quite a few sympathizers in the US (Lindbergh to name one). The only way that the two could be compared is that the US has at times contributed to the forming of these two different types of problems (German debt and third world intervention).

Part II

Hillary and John have this idea that removing the gas tax will somehow be good for people. The only the gas tax will really accomplish is to make more profit for the oil companies and lead to an increase in pollution. Plus there goes all the money that is meant to keep roads drivable. This is a move that is nothing more than 'populism' and a way to get voters, not something that is actually feasible. When the dust settles the joke is on the American people.

Norwegian Wood

I finished Murakami's Norwegian Wood last wednesday. The more I read Murakami the more I am impressed with his writing. Of course I am sure that if I were to be reading them in Japaneese I would be getting more out of them and would likely find them twice as amazing. However, I do not have the luxury of reading them in Japaneese for the simple reason that I have never studied that language and probably never will. Not that it wouldn't be good, I simply haven't the time.

The story is sad and romantic all at the same time. Its about loss and growing up and this review is starting to sound like all the other reviews you read in other newspapers around the world. Basically I found that the story was not so much unique in the way it dealt with death, suicide, and love but more just that I found it too hard to put down and couldn't help but relating to the characters. Plus it makes you laugh.

Moving Backwards: a Russian tale...

They had nuclear missiles in Moscow rolling down the streets for a parade a few days back. They were celebrating. Odd that some celebrations feel more like threats but then again that is Russia. While many of us look back on the Cold War as a time of insanity for both sides (for who builds that many nuclear weapons and remains sane), it appears that Russia is going back to embracing that period as a golden age. Must be the same loonies who are in favor of reconstructing the Berlin Wall.

I want to live in a world where parades don't consist of tanks and nuclear weapons please. A world where loonies are required to take counseling sessions. So here is my recommendation. Bush and Putin need to voluntarily step down and do volunteer work in Afghanistan for two years.