re: "Zeitgeist Muesli - Tis the Season"

Benjamin Perry at anglofritz included this in his summing up:

"The highest-ranking German officer in Afghanistan, Bruno Kasdorf, told Spiegel Online in an interview, "We really do need more forces in order to secure and hold on to areas. That's just one part, though. At least as important are arms, air transport, reconnaissance and, above all, the deployment of specialists. We need a lot more development professionals, advisors and police. I am sure that Afghanistan will be a better place in 20 years. But all of us -- including the Germans -- must think about what we want in Afghanistan, what interests we have here and whether we are ready to deploy the necessary resources." "

S&S - Gates: No furlough notices over holidays

Stars and Stripes

Gates: No furlough notices over holidays

From staff and wire reports

Mideast edition, Saturday, December 22, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense Department civilian employees will not be receiving furlough notices this holiday season, said Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday.

The development comes after Congress approved $70 billion to continue operations in Iraq and Afghanistan — less than half of what President Bush requested.
Congress’ delay in passing the funding had prompted the Defense Department to prepare to temporarily lay off thousands of its civilian employees to compensate the cash crunch.

On Friday, Gates told reporters he would be sending out a letter saying that the Defense Department has not yet received all of the money it needs from Congress, but the anticipated furloughs would not happen in the immediate future.

But Gates also cautioned that the Defense Department once again risks running out of money if Congress does not act quickly next year to pass the balance of President Bush’s funding request.

“What happens next spring, we’ll have to see what happens, but there will be no furlough notices sent out this holiday season,” Gates said.

Gates expressed regret Friday about the “anxiety and uncertainty” that the possible furlough notices caused the department’s civilian employees.

“I hope we don’t have to face a replay of this situation again this spring, but they can rest assured that this department treasures them and will not take any action affecting them unless it absolutely must,” he said.

Paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fits and starts undermines military planning and risks gains made by U.S. troops over the past year, Gates said.

He said the uncertainly of funding requires the Defense Department to make “short-term plans and short-term decisions.”

Also Friday, Gates was cautiously optimistic about further troop reductions in Iraq beyond those already planned through next summer, but declined to make any specific projection.

“We obviously want to sustain the gains that we have already made,” Gates said.
In September, Gates raised the possibility that U.S. troop levels could be reduced to 100,000 by the end of 2008 if conditions in Iraq continued to improve. At the time, he had stressed that it was a hope, not a plan and that it would depend on how well the initial troop withdrawals go during the first half of the year.

On Friday, Gates said it was a lapse on his part to give an absolute number.
Circumstances on the ground and the judgment of Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, will dictate further reductions.

Current plans call for reducing the 20 combat brigades to 15 by next summer, which would leave roughly 130,000 American troops in the country. Gates said it’s his hope that the number could be pared to 10 by the end of 2008 if violence in Iraq continues to ebb.

Stars and Stripes reporter Jeff Schogol contributed to this report.

staffing demands outpaced hiring

"These new staffing demands have far outpaced hiring."

Prague river scene (V)

Taken in Prague, Czech Republic on September 8, 2006.

IHT - Take care of U.S. diplomats; Giving Pakistan a choice

From my archive of press clippings:

International Herald Tribune

Take care of U.S. diplomats; Giving Pakistan a choice

Published: November 21, 2007

Take care of U.S. diplomats

As a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, I can only applaud Max Boot's call for engagement by the whole of the U.S. government in addressing the crises we Americans face in many parts of the world ("Send the State Department to war," Views, Nov. 15).

The military alone cannot resolve the complex elements underlying the widespread instability that threatens American interests, nor should we expect those serving in the U.S. military to shoulder the entire burden.

I am ready to serve, as are many of my State Department colleagues. That said, it will take more than speeches and pronouncements to make the U.S. Foreign Service truly expeditionary. State Department management needs to address some fundamental issues if it expects Foreign Service officers to be deployed effectively alongside the military.

Management needs to change our training and its recruitment policies, including the skills that are solicited. But in the short term, the State Department needs to address some more basic issues.

When a diplomat volunteers for a so-called unaccompanied tour to a dangerous location, as I did for Bosnia and now for Afghanistan, our families are evicted from government housing; they cease to exist in any official sense. We are handed an inadequate allowance and told to find housing for them. This can mean having to take children out of school in the middle of the year and potentially cutting off the family from a needed support network of friends and other family members.

There is often no training at all, much less a program like the "individual readiness training" given to members of the Department of Defense - military and civilian - before diplomats deploy to a war zone.

Many of these deficiencies were addressed for Foreign Service officers volunteering for Iraq, but for the other posts like Afghanistan that are deemed too dangerous for families, diplomats do not qualify. This disparity is unwarranted and unjustifiable.

Foreign Service officers are dedicated professionals seeking to advance and protect U.S. interests throughout the world. Take care of our families and give us the training we need to be effective and we will proudly take our place alongside those in the military who have been asked to sacrifice so much for so long.

Jeremy Brenner, Brussels Chief, political-military affairs U.S. Mission to the European Union

JG - India seeks Jamaica's support for top Commonwealth post

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

India seeks Jamaica's support for top Commonwealth post


published: Sunday November 11, 2007


Amitabh Sharma, Features Coordinator


Sharma


India is pushing for a stronger foothold within the British Commonwealth and is, in fact, putting forward seasoned diplomat Kamalesh Sharma as secretary general.

"The Caribbean members have a significant role in the body," Sharma told The Sunday Gleaner. "I have toured the region and am very upbeat about getting support from Jamaica."

Sharma, who is currently India's high commissioner to the United Kingdom, called on Dr. Kenneth Baugh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, last Thursday, to present his candidature and seek Jamaica's support.

vision

"His Excellency Sharma visited Jamaica to explain his vision for the Commonwealth and how strongly India has been advocating the cause of small member states and working to strengthen the Commonwealth," said Bimal Saigal, second secretary and acting high commissioner of India to Jamaica. "Given India's broader global engagement, the Commonwealth will continue as a vehicle for projecting our global aspirations."

Sharma, who is also a member of the board of governors of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation, out-lined his vision for the region.

"I would like to utilise India's vast information technology expertise to make this region competitive in the global market," he said. "This would be my agenda through the Commonwealth if I am chosen, else I will push it from my country's government.

"Jamaica and India have long and time-tested friendly relations," said Saigal. "In view of our good and friendly relations and our continued cooperation in the Commonwealth, we are hopeful of Jamaica's support for our candidature."

Sharma was the first special representative of the United Nations Secretary General to Timor Leste. As India's Permanent Representative to the U.N. offices in New York and Geneva, he was the spokesman for developing countries in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop-ment during the Uruguay Round of multinational trade negotiations.
Largest contributor

India is the largest member state of the Commonwealth, with nearly 60 per cent of the total population of the association. It is the fourth- largest contributor to the Commonwealth budgets and programmes. It provides the largest number of technical experts engaged by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, extending assistance to developing Commonwealth countries, after the United Kingdom.

Pitted against Sharma in the election is Michael Frendo of Malta and Indian-born British businessman, Mohan Kaul.

Sharma left Thursday for Belize. He will also visit Cameroon and Gambia. Elections for the Secretary General are scheduled for during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kampala, Uganda, starting November 23.

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com

re: "Before anyone asks, I did not write this speech. It is well worth your time."

Jerry Pournelle showcases a recent speech by New Gingrich.

Money quote(s):

"Our current problem is tragic. You have an administration whose policy is inadequate being opposed by a political Left whose policy is worse, and you have nobody prepared to talk about the policy we need. Because we are told if you are for a strong America, you should back the Bush policy even if it's inadequate, and so you end up making an argument in favor of something that can't work. So your choice is to defend something which isn't working or to oppose it by being for an even weaker policy. So this is a catastrophe for this country and a catastrophe for freedom around the world. Because we have refused to be honest about the scale of the problem."

"The dictatorship in Pakistan has never had control over Wiziristan. Not for a day. So we've now spent six years since 9/11 with a sanctuary for al Qaeda and a sanctuary for the Taliban, and every time we pick up people in Great Britain who are terrorists, they were trained in Pakistan."

"(L)ook at Afghanistan. . . . the people who rely on the West are out-bribed by the criminals, outgunned by the criminals, and faced with a militant force across the border which practiced earlier defeating the Soviet empire and which has a time horizon of three or four generations. NATO has a time horizon of each quarter or at best a year, facing an opponent whose time horizon is literally three or four generations. It's a total mismatch."

"The complaint about Iraq is a performance complaint, not a values complaint."

"(L)ook at Saudi Arabia. The fact that we tolerate a country saying no Christian and no Jew can go to Mecca, and we start with the presumption that that's true while they attack Israel for being a religious state is a sign of our timidity, our confusion, our cowardice that is stunning."

"(W)e accept this totally one-sided definition of the world in which our enemies can cheerfully lie on television every day, and we don't even have the nerve to insist on the truth. We pretend their lies are reasonable. This is a very fundamental problem."

"You keep pumping billions of dollars a year into countries like Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Russia, and you are presently going to have created people who oppose you who have lots of money. And they're then going to come back to your own country and finance, for example, Arab study institutes whose only requirement is that they never tell the truth. So you have all sorts of Ph.D.s who now show up quite cheerfully prepared to say whatever it is that makes their funders happy ? in the name, of course, of academic freedom."

"Just look at the movies. Why is it that the bad person is either a Right-wing crazed billionaire, or the CIA as a government agency? Go look at ?The Bourne Ultimatum.? Or a movie like the one that George Clooney made, which was an absolute lie, in which it implied that if you were a reformist Arab prince, that probably the CIA would kill you. It's a total lie. We actually have SEALs protecting people all over the world. We actually risk American lives protecting reformers all over the world, and yet Hollywood can't bring itself to tell the truth, (a) because it's ideologically so opposed to the American government and the American military, and (b), because it's terrified that if it said something really openly, honestly true about Muslim terrorists, they might show up in Hollywood. And you might have somebody killed as the Dutch producer was killed."

"(T)he current Iranian dictatorship has been at war with the United States since 1979. Violated international law. Every conceivable tenet of international law was violated when they seized the American Embassy and they seized the diplomats. Killed Americans in Lebanon in the early '80s. Killed Americans at Khobar Towers in '95 and had the Clinton administration deliberately avoid revealing the information, as Louis Freeh, the director of the FBI, has said publicly, because they didn't want to have to confront the Iranian complicity.

And so you have an Iranian regime which is cited annually as the leading supporter of state terrorism in the world. Every year the State Department says that. It's an extraordinary act of lucidity on the part of an institution which seeks to avoid it as often as possible.

And you have Gen. Petraeus come to the U.S. Congress and say publicly in an open session, "The Iranians are waging a proxy war against Americans in Iraq."

I was so deeply offended by this, it's hard for me to express it without sounding irrational. I'm an Army brat. My dad served 27 years in the infantry. The idea that an American general would come to the American Congress, testify in public that our young men and women are being killed by Iran, and we have done nothing, I find absolutely abhorrent."

&

"We need first of all to recognize this is a real war. Our enemies are peaceful when they're weak, are ruthless when they're strong, demand mercy when they're losing, show no mercy when they're winning. They understand exactly what this is, and anybody who reads Sun Tzu will understand exactly what we're living through. This is a total war. One side is going to win. One side is going to lose. You'll be able to tell who won and who lost by who's still standing. Most of Islam is not in this war, but most of Islam isn't going to stop this war. They're just going to sit to one side and tell you how sorry they are that this happened. We had better design grand strategies that are radically bigger and radically tougher and radically more honest than anything currently going on, and that includes winning the argument in Europe, and it include s winning the argument in the rest of the world. And it includes being very clear"

Dr. Pournelle notes:

"Americans cannot trust our diplomats to win serious conflicts. This is not intended as insult, it is observation coupled with history. Democracies seldom vote for policies that are good for democracies; it is even more rare for democracies to pursue diplomatic strategies over any long period of time, and without stability diplomatic strategies do not win serious conflicts."

re: "We Are Loving Germany!"

Beth at Blue Star Chronicles ("Fide et Fortudine") is loving Germany.

She's also got some nice photos of the Christmas street scenes in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a favorite tourist destination.

re: "Possible Change in US Policy on Somalia?"

Charlie at OPFOR ("military jargon for opposing force") mislabels this somewhat in terms of it being a "possible change," I think, but then anything's possible.

Money quote(s):

"In Africa, the lines that are on maps are really notional, and the maps that we use continually misrepresent what the actual situation on the ground is. Anyone who is familiar with the battle of Mogadishu, and the circumstances leading up to it, understands that the entity we have called Somalia really never existed. Resetting our policy to reflect who is actually in charge, and what that area looks like, makes sense.

Again, AFRICOM has a big job to do, and the first may be to draft a map of what Africa really looks like."

re: "A Letter to my Wife on her Birthday"

Some touching writing by Jason at Jason's Iraq Vacation ("Ramblings and thoughts on my sudden call-up from the Inactive Ready Reserve(IRR)and subsequent deployment to Iraq.").

quote of the day (actually a couple-three of them ago)

"I’m less confident than I once was of our ability to kill terrorists faster than new ones are created. I’m willing to keep trying, though"

This honor goes to James Joyner at Outside The Beltway.

re: "On Forgetting The Obvious"

Read Robert D. Kaplan's article, On Forgetting The Obvious, at The American Interest.

Just clear out a block of time and read the whole thing.


Hat tip to Wretchard at The Belmont Club ("History and History in the Making").

blogrolled

I've been blogrolled at IRregular Blogging ("Tracking the Growing Universe of IR Student Blogs")

re: "The Men on the Wall"

Sachi at Big Lizards detours "to a great work of literature."

Money quote(s):

"One of my favorite novels is J.R.R. Tolkin's the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Overall, I was extremely pleased with Peter Jackson's movie adaptation. However, he disappointed me when he decided to cut a critically important chapter near the end of the trilogy: "The scouring of the Shire." A subsequent interview with Jackson, in which he referred to this chapter as an "anticlimax," led me to believe that Jackson never fully appreciated the importance of the return to the Shire and the final war. In fact, this chapter, not the destruction of the ring and the war against Sauron, is the true climax of the entire story." (bold type in original)

"(W)hat the hobbits don't realize is that their beloved Shire has been protected night and day by a group of raggedly dressed but impeccaby captained warriors called the Rangers. The Rangers -- led, in the story's era, by Strider, also called Aragorn -- have fought many, many battles over centuries to prevent evil forces from advancing into the Shire.

Hobbits occasionally see Rangers, but they think of them only as dangerous and unseemly folk to be avoided. The Rangers' bravery and blood are not only not appreciated, they are not even noticed." (bold type in original)

"The reason Japanese are now bitterly complaining about American bases being in Japan, about having to pay the cost of relocation -- a relocation Japan itself demanded -- is that they have forgotten why Americans are there in the first place.

Who are these people spending our tax money and staying on our land for free? they demand to know. Well, it isn't "free": Americans are there to protect Japan, and the risk we incur is the price we pay for having our own bases in Asia. A fair deal, position for protection... remember? People who once thought the price was well worth it now decide they're paying too much.

This is only natural, because two whole generations of Japanese have never seen war. It doesn't exist to them, and they don't remember why those men were on top of that silly wall in the first place. (There's an old American expression: Never tear down a fence until you know why someone put it up.)

And that is the reason Peter Jackson is dead wrong, and "the scouring of the Shire" is so important: war finally comes to the Shire itself. The Rangers are long gone, Gandalf is elsewhere, and even the elves have left. There is nobody else to defend the Shire but the hobbits. If they want to take back their land, they must themselves fight against the occupiers. A couple of hobbits who had ventured out of the Shire and fought in alien lands, Merry and Pippin, lead the battle. They've seen war; they've learnt how to fight." (bold type in original)

&

"This is not just about Japan. Europe suffers from the same syndrome. In fact, it's even worse in Europe, since the war has already reached their lands. How many terrorist attacks and riots do they need before they finally wake up?

It is time for both Europe and Japan to scour their own shires."


Hat tip to Phil at Random Nuclear Strikes.

staffing demands on the Foreign Service have soared

"Over the past few years, staffing demands on the Foreign Service have soared. They have soared not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in the State Department’s new office to coordinate reconstruction and stabilization efforts and in training positions to meet the need for more Arabic speakers. At the same time, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directed the creation of several hundred new Foreign Service positions in areas of emerging importance such as China and India."

Re-Americanization (XXVIII)

Taken inside of The Magazine in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia on July 1, 2007.

BG - Foreign Service staff unfairly portrayed

From my archive of press clippings:

Boston Globe

Foreign Service staff unfairly portrayed

November 20, 2007

RECENT COVERAGE about a handful of employees at the State Department protesting involuntary service in Iraq failed to present prevailing sentiment at the department.

more stories like this

More than 2,000 State Department personnel have volunteered for service in Iraq or Afghanistan over the past five years. To date, not one person has had to be directed to serve in either of these two war zones (or anywhere else since the Vietnam War), and the department announced last week that volunteers had filled all positions in Iraq ("No forced Iraq duty for diplomats," Page A12, Nov. 16).

Foreign Service personnel serve unarmed in dangerous places around the globe. While the Philippines is not an active combat zone, there have been two fatal explosions in the past month alone in Manila, where I live with my pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter. Throughout history, more US ambassadors have been killed in the line of duty than US generals.

I am proud to represent our country as part of the Foreign Service corps of the State Department, a department that is less than one-half of one percent of the size of the US military in personnel, and whose razor-thin budget strains to cover more than 260 embassies and consulates worldwide.

DANIEL C. GEDACHT
Vice consul
US Embassy, Manila

JG - Haitians held in Hanover

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Haitians held in Hanover

published: Sunday November 11, 2007

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

THREE HAITIANS and one Jamaican believed to be involved in the drug-for-guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti were yesterday detained by the local police after an operation in Hopewell, Hanover.

Inspector Steve Brown, information officer for Operation Kingfish, tells The Sunday Gleaner that the Haitians, two women and one man, were picked up by members of Kingfish, the Narcotics Police and the Special Anti-Crime Task Force.

The operation took place in the wee hours of Saturday morning, and the Jamaican man is believed to be the mastermind behind this trade.

Police recovered a huge quantity of local currency in the raid.

Up to press time yesterday, the Jamaican, was being interrogated by the police. The Haitians, who the police suspect arrived by boat, were also being questioned by the immigration police.

Over the past four weeks, the narcotics police and members of Operation Kingfish have been targeting the western end of the island in a bid to fight the drug-for-guns trade. They have destroyed over 70 acres of fully grown ganja in the parishes of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

2/3 of diplomatic posts in hardship category

"Two-thirds are at posts categorized as “hardship” due to difficult living conditions including violent crime, extreme health risks or terrorist threats."

Chow Line

Taken in line at the DFAC at Camp Udairi on April 2, 2003.

One thing to remember is that there is a chow line just as long entering the DFAC on its other side.

TBH - Points to facts of foreign service

From my archive of press clippings:

The Bellingham Herald

Nov, 18, 2007

Points to facts of foreign service

The media have been abuzz lately with the story that U.S. diplomats are resisting U.S. Department of State plans to force them to serve in Iraq. As a Bellingham native and career Foreign Service officer, I wanted to put the record straight.

More than 2,000 members of the U.S. Foreign Service have volunteered for service in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past five years.

All the current publicity is about a potential shortfall in volunteers for a small number of positions (currently about 26) in Iraq for summer 2008.

Well over 80 percent of the positions in Iraq for summer 2008 have already been filled.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has a lower vacancy rate than almost any other U.S. embassy in the world.

In Iraq, Foreign Service officers are volunteering to serve as unarmed civilians in a combat zone.

Most people in the Foreign Service spend the majority of their careers in difficult hardship posts. I have seen my family evacuated due to war and have spent over 18 months separated from them. Notwithstanding the sacrifices we make, my colleagues in the U.S. Foreign Service and I are proud to represent America overseas.

Jeff Hovenier
Athens, Greece

JG - A perfect party

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

A perfect party


published: Sunday November 4, 2007


Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

LEFT: Joseph A. Matalon (left) and wife Bernadette chat with Wallace Campbell.

RIGHT: Jennifer Lim (left) with Lorna Golding at her cocktail reception held at Dillsbury Avenue, Jacks Hill, last Saturday.

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

Precious angels, 'If it's worth doing, then do it absolutely and fabulously well', must have been the motto behind the absolutely fabulous to-do that socialite Jennifer Lim employed in hosting her post-birthday celebrations last Saturday evening at her upper St. Andrew residence. But whatever was her modus operandi, hers was a style-purr-fect party, and then some!

Needless to say, St. Andrew socialite and Jamaica Labour Party social powerhouse Jennifer Lim is a seasoned party-giver, usually, being the hostess, for one high-society do or another. However, she was not throwing a representational to-do or a political reception, she was, in fact, hosting a post-birthday reception, following on her October 23 birthday. And, my dears, it proved a social charmer - a tenner, on the social Richter scale, and then some!

Absolutely awesome caterers

Pumpkins, there are really four to five absolutely awesome caterers in the city of Kingston, who, when called upon, transform the act of dining from a chore to endure, to a culinary journey, transforming those partaking from mere perfunctory observers, to curious voyagers on an esoteric gourmet escape. The three leading gourmets in this field are (and order of listing does not necessarily indicate primacy) Betty Delfosse-Ingleton, Susanne Couch, and Patsy Lyn (Successors). For her post-birthday celebratory do my dears, the fab Jennifer Lim chose Susanne Couch.

Well dears, the happening Mrs. Couch served up one fabulous feast that was a gourmet's dream and then some, as everything was a palate-inspiring, definitely mouth-watering, and oh so satisfying a rendezvous with the senses of taste and appreciation!

Oh, and for my word, what an absolute treat! Dovecakes, oh for a year of such post-birthday celebrations! My dears, this here scribe dare say, the Romans never had it so good! We are talking a feast of which even the gods would have turned a brittle purple, out of sheer envy and rage, questioning the temerity of mere mortals to so indulge!!

Mm, mm, it was like that - mmmm good!

And then there was the music. Sweet-things, the Wayne Armond aggregation was the maestro.

Among the notables were former Prime Minister Edward Seaga and his wife, Carla; Prime Minister Bruce Golding and wife Lorna; Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry and his dish of a wife, Dawn; Education Minister Andrew Holness and his charming wife, Juliet; Chief Justice (ret.) Edward Zacca and wife Hope; noted Jamaican New York-based surgeon Dr. Ainsworth Allen; U.S. Ambassador Brenda LaGrange Johnson and her hubby Howard; Spanish Ambassador Jesús Silva and his wife, Sara; German Ambassador Jurgen Engel and his wife, Ana; Barbara Matalon; Tony Hart and his fabulous wife, Sheila; Beverly Junor Levy; Susan Alexander; Joe Matalon and his wife, Bernadette; Dennis and Diane Lalor.

We saw Kenny Benjamin; Charley Johnston and wife Lisa; Peter Junor; Annette Burrowes; Drs. Dhiru and Laura Tanna; Russell Hadeed; Aubyn and Tamara Hill; Mark and Betty McKenzie; Christine Gore; Godfrey and Beverly Kawass; Moshe Mohalem; Rose Tavares-Finson; Simon Todd and wife Page; Romi and Nina Sobiki; Robert Haughton.

Family members included brother, art collector Wallace Campbell and the charming Cathy Gibbon; sisters Valerie Marzouca with former husband John Marzouca; hotelier Ruth Hussey and hubby Laurie; Hyacinth Davidson and companion, Dr. Don Christian; son Nicholas McAdam and daughters Liz McAdam and Anna Ryan and husband Emile, both in from Florida for the celebrations, plus a number of others.

re: "Patriotism, nationalism and faith'

YoungHusband at ComingAnarchy reviews Robert D. Kaplan's recent article: "On Forgetting the Obvious."

Money quote(s):

"The war on terrorism is not a war of ideas, but a war of faith. Not faith in a religious sense, at least not for the Western side, but faith in our country, system and government. Put simply: morale, or what he calls “moral stamina.” "

&

"Lack of faith translates into strategic liability."

re: "The Paradox Of Human Intelligence"

Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard ("Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes - Marcus Valerius Martialis") reviews a recent article about HUMINT.

Money quote(s):

"(M)ost spies are not trusted at all and many, if not the vast majority, are very likely double agents, fully controlled by the intelligence service of the country they are supposedly spying on."

&

"The CIA knows that most spies are either plants or are working in their own interests - not for the good of the US. The world of spying is not as it is portrayed in a Tom Clancy novel. There is a simple, undeniable fact here: it is incredibly difficult to recruit an agent at a high enough position in a foreign government to gather the kind of information needed."

re: "Arrogant Germans See Their Country as a World Power"

Joerg Wolf at The Atlantic Review ("A Press Digest for Transatlantic Affairs") comments on a recent survey.

Money quote(s):

"(N)early half of Germans see their country as a world power."

"Germany's foreign policy commitments have not increased in the last two years to justify this change of perception. I am not very appreciative of Germany's participation in the Lebanon and Congo mission."

&

"Germans, more than other nations, do not see military strength as an important quality of a world power, but rather "political stability and economic strength." "

re: "Sweet Serendipity Strikes Again"

John Matel at Matel-in-Iraq ("This blog records my experiences as a Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader in Al Al Asad, Al Anbar Province, Iraq 2007-8.") contrasts being a team leader with being a team member.

Money quote(s):

"I have conflicting feelings being the boss. Everybody else on my staff has something particular to do. In the “management position” you give up much of the hands-on fun and have to resist the urge to interfere in the productive work of others. In compensation, you get to avoid some details as well as see and maybe shape the big picture. The bargain is worth it, but there are clearly costs as well as gains. For example, I would dearly love to tramp along on the agricultural assessments, but I cannot justify the investment in my time and, besides, I would surely get in the way of the real work if I hung around like a f*rt in a phone booth."

"I have everywhere been lucky in finding good colleagues and being able to profit from serendipitous opportunities. Timing has also often worked to my advantage.

My timing in Iraq was luckier than I had any right to expect. My predecessor set up the ePRT. In the creation stage of any endeavourer, investments in time and resources show few tangible results, so the poor guy was working hard and doing good work, but had few specific achievements to brag about. I inherited an operation at the takeoff stage. In my short tenure, I have been able to approve and start scores of small projects collectively worth a half million dollars. I look pretty tall standing on my predecessor’s shoulders.

I had even better timing with the security situation."

&

"Investments the Marines made in blood and treasure were beginning to yield results and the situation just continued to improve. The remarkable reduction of violence make it POSSIBLE to do our projects. My colleagues who have been here longer tell me that six months ago it was hard to find organizations or contractors brave enough to take our money for projects. Our problem today is choosing who among the many excellent opportunities. Nor do I want to minimize the personal benefits for me and my staff. It is much more pleasant to visit projects or contacts when you have a reasonable expectation of coming safely home. The excitement of danger is much more attractive in the movies than in real life and I prefer to do w/o it whenever possible."

re: "The Guild"

Lex at Neptunus Lex discusses the American civil-military divide.

Money quote(s):

"There are a number of important trends in US civil/military relationships these days that many of us wonder about. Among these is the spectre of praetorianism"

"Ivy League schools continue to block ROTC programs from funding the education of deserving students at our elite universities and only then grudgingly admit military lawyers to recruit on campus. Rather than lose federal funding. Being replaced in the line by our own flesh and blood is a source of great pride to those of us in the service, but resourcing the officer corps exclusively from on base schools is not necessarily a healthy thing for the Republic."

&

"Coastal elites often prefer clever and ironic poses to the stout, straightforward and famously un-ironic, Anglo-Saxon-laced language of the wardroom and barracks. When asked if they believe in America, the members of our armed forces - a preponderance of whom come from southern and western “fly-over” states - will passionately aver that they do, while increasing numbers of people who haven’t ever met a soldier “IRL” seem baffled by the question."

re: "Eating the Seed Corn: the Iraqization of American Diplomacy"

Gerald Loftus at the Avuncular American ("An expatriate view from Europe by Gerald Loftus") reposts his article which appears in the December 2008 issue of The Foreign Service Journal.

He also writes:

"It's official: the most important places in the world - more important than China, which holds the US dollar and the American economy in its hands; more important than Moscow, which is increasingly ornery about American missile projects; more important than everywhere on this planet, in terms of diplomatic priority - are Baghdad and Kabul. For that reason, the US State Department is taking away 10 percent of the Foreign Service staffing from everywhere else in the world to meet the staffing needs of the Emerald City."

Money quote(s):

"(I)ncreasingly, Foreign Service officers find themselves in subordinate relationships to the military, especially as the “expeditionary” model is expanded. Combatant commanders have long had Foreign Service advisers and, more recently, also operate Joint Interagency Cooperation Groups, with representatives from foreign affairs and other agencies. POLADs are now present at subordinate commands and in the offices of service chiefs. And AFRICOM, the newest geographic command, expects to use diplomatic and development experts for a third of its headquarters complement."

"If the post-9/11 era really is to be characterized by long, global wars, we must be particularly wary of the dangers of focusing obsessively on notions like expeditionary diplomacy, to the exclusion of our core competency. War zones are military turf, and in that kind of expeditionary environment, the “pol” will always be wingman to the “mil.” Even in such FSO billets as Provincial Reconstruction Team leader, what is the nature of authority when the PRT is embedded as part of a larger military unit?"

"(T)he expeditionary diplomat/soldier amalgam . . . . presupposes that Iraq and Afghanistan are not one-off circumstances. If expeditionary (as opposed to what -- desk-bound?) is to be the new ideal, where (and what) is the next expedition?

. . . . .

Exposed one-officer posts, with a company of security contractor outriders, to perform “transformational diplomacy” -- is that the new paradigm? How does that help the U.S. deal with the rest of the world?"

&

"Does the U.S. need “expeditionary diplomacy?” Perhaps, but not as its default posture, unsuited as it is to solving the myriad problems that don’t fit this Foreign Legion stance. Of the world’s 193 countries, some 180 might be considered non-war zones. Not all of them are completely stable or developed, and many are not democracies. But they still constitute sovereign nations in the generally accepted sense, with boundaries, capitals, elites and economies. This non-expeditionary world is the diplomatic “area of responsibility,” where the Foreign Service works to advance American interests.

In the “Rest of the World” (to use Pentagon parlance), basic social structures and norms do not exist or are exceedingly shaky. In those places, the host government cannot (or will not) provide perimeter security for the embassy, let alone assure a safe working environment for diplomats to do their jobs. Nor can the Marine security guard detachment. And as we are learning in Iraq, the costs of hiring private security companies to do the job go far beyond dollars and cents. These relatively few extreme environments are the ones in which the military can and should take the lead to protect U.S. interests -- and where our diplomatic presence should be kept lean until conditions permit peacetime operations."

re: "US Foreign Policy: "It's All Power, No Influence" "

Joerg Wolf at The Atlantic Review touches on power vs. "soft power."

Money quote(s):

"(M)ore and more Americans. . . . criticize the huge US defense budget, which is not only much much bigger than the combined budgets of half a dozen US enemies and allies, but also huge compared to other foreign policy instruments."

"(SecDef) Gates for instance calls for more money and effort to "soft power" tools, including communications, because the military alone cannot defend America's interests around the world."

&

"(An) . . . . even more shocking comparison was quoted in FP Passport: "There are substantially more people employed as musicians in Defense bands than in the entire foreign service," says David J. Kilcullen, a senior advisor to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq.

I know, why Germany spends comparatively little on defense: a) A long history of starting the wrong wars, b) domestic priorities (unemployment, ageing society etc), c) less fear of terrorism than in the US, and d) belief in soft power, especially in the stabilization effects of an ever expanding EU.

But why is the US spending comparatively little on regular foreign policy, including public diplomacy? Why is the Pentagon budget and staff sooo much bigger than the State Department budget and staff? Why is hard power considered soo important?"

There are very good reasons by Defense's budgets are so much larger, and there are also good reasons for State's (and USAID's and a reinvented USIA's) budgets to be a bit larger than they are.

re: "Fear"

Ron Silver at Silver Bullet ("The weblog of Ron Silver") discusses fear and fear-mongering.

Money quote(s):

"(W)e now all have reason to be afraid. But apparently we’re afraid of different things. Some factions are less concerned with the folks who have declared war on us and who are determined to kill us, our children and our civilization. These factions have chosen our elected government, chosen by us to secure and defend us, to be their adversary."

"(A)llow me to try to name, provide a reason and a justification for our fears. International Affairs 101 looks at intentions and capabilities. If my five-year-old son declares the United States his enemy and he intends to destroy it, call me crazy but I take it with a grain of salt. (Although I will monitor more closely what he’s watching on TV and check the parental controls on the computer.) If a group of people have the same intention as my son but they may represent the feelings of hundreds of thousands or more likely millions upon millions of people I take the threat more seriously. And when these folks have successfully attacked our military, our diplomats, and our cities and civilian population, well yeah, I take them at their word. Perhaps I didn’t when they officially declared war on us more than 10 years ago, but they’ve certainly got my attention now.

As to capabilities, the world we now live in has empowered individuals to do things unimaginable 20 years ago."

"The genius of our governance is that we have self-correctional ways of coming to terms with government excesses and have an electorate that is vigilant in making sure rights are not abrogated. This has always been and will remain a tension in our polity, along with liberty and equality and pre-Civil War amendments and post-Civil War amendments."

"It’s too easy to critique the reflexively anti-American wackos (you know who you are). But it’s what Lenin used to call “useful idiots” that may cause the real harm."

"The critics of our national security policies know we have the means to sort things out in finding the proper balance between civil liberties and security. What they haven’t figured out is how to deal with the real enemy so they avoid talking about it. They don’t like what we’re doing but they offer nothing else. I believe they’re afraid to take on our real adversaries.

In fact we are not afraid enough."

"Since 2001 it has become apparent to me that many people are indeed afraid. It has also become apparent to me that the people who are most afraid are behaving hypocritically and cowardly. I do not make these assertions lightly. It’s a horrible thing to call a person or persons cowardly. A little less so with hypocrisy, a little bit of which attaches to all of us. Cowards, in that the fear of confronting the real enemy who wishes us harm is displaced by ranting against a liberal democracy where they know no harm will come to them. Is it so heroic to make a film or a speech that has the support of everyone in your community?"

"When a novelist has a death sentence on his head, when a filmmaker is shot in the street and then stabbed through the heart for making a film that the murderers found offensive, when newspaper editors and publishers, as well as network executives, refuse to show us the cartoons that created havoc and mass protests around the world, I think something more than good taste is involved. The reason we haven’t seen the cartoons in the New York Times (apparently this was news that wasn’t fit to print) or Newsweek, or on our TV screens, is fear. Of what? Pissing them off? From my perspective they are apparently quite pissed off already."

"I think it’s prudent to take the enemy at their word. Particularly when they have a mountain of evidence backing up their threat. Then do something about it.

What I would not do is to minimize the threat and construct an alternate universe that lives by the rules we value."

"(I)n this world we inhabit we know darn well what prevents the darkness to prevail. Our willingness to confront, sacrifice and defeat it. Do we have the will or will the feckless and fearful among us triumph."

&

"Be reasonably afraid. Be very reasonably afraid. And act accordingly."

diplomats at 260 posts worldwide

"Our diplomats staff 260 embassies and consulates worldwide."

Prague river scene (IV)

Taken in Prague, Czech Republic on September 8, 2006.

NYT - LETTER; Ex-Hostage Says, Don't Fault the Brave Foreign Service

From my archive of press clippings:

New York Times

LETTER; Ex-Hostage Says, Don't Fault the Brave Foreign Service


Published: November 15, 2007


To the Editor:


As a retired Foreign Service officer and a former hostage in Iran, I regret the growing media cynicism portraying the Foreign Service as a bunch of sheep unwilling to rise to the challenge of assignments to Baghdad.


This is nonsense. More than 2,000 Foreign Service personnel have volunteered for service in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past five years. I've met many of them on their return.


While frustrated by the security limitations that make it both difficult and dangerous for them to exercise traditional diplomatic functions beyond the Green Zone, they courageously volunteer to serve as unarmed civilians, as is their calling.


Baghdad has a lower vacancy rate than any other American embassy in the world. Criticize the government policies that obligate service in one of America's largest embassies in unprecedented danger these days, but not the hundreds of still deeply committed Foreign Service officers who are ready to serve there.


Bruce Laingen
Bethesda, Md., Nov. 12, 2007

Hat tip to AFSA.

JG - Rain can't stop the partying

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Rain can't stop the partying

published: Sunday November 4, 2007

Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

LEFT: The lovely Sharon Asphal wears a Badley Mishka Platinum design from Adrienne in the Hilton Kingston hotel.

RIGHT: Canadian High Commissioner Denis Kingsley (left), his wife Jo Ann, and EU Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi Alemanni are entertained by U.S. Ambassador Brenda LaGrange-Johnson at the AWG Gala Movie Premiere.

Heavy rains which plagued the island last week could not stop the American Women's Group of Jamaica (AWG) from staging its gala movie premiere American Gangster starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, at Carib Cinema, last Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Ladies sported their little black dresses and men were equally well attired. United States Ambassador Brenda LaGrange-Johnson was a sight for sore eyes in her white and black couture outfit.

The AWG was established in 1986 as a Tuesday group of the United States Embassy, but became the AWG of Jamaica in 1993. Since then, the group has donated funds to charities across the island. The gala premiere will be no different as all funds will be used to assist the group's charities and with hurricane relief.

President Dawn Woodstock welcomed all and the lovely ambassador thanked those who attended.

- Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore

re: "War for Dummies: Step 1, Fighting Is Necessary"

Kyle Atwell at The Atlantic Review comments on the war and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Money quote(s):

"German anathema of the use of force to deal with the Taliban and al Qaeda reminds me of a guest lecturer I had back in college. He was a pacifist professor who said that if he met bin Ladin, he would give him a hug. The entire class laughed when he said this, because the professor just did not seem to understand: there are some problems you cannot solve with hugs alone.

The best strategy to bring stability to Afghanistan is not black or white; it is not a choice between American bullets or German hugs. The two go hand-in-hand, and trying to frame one as necessary while the other as not is no less naïve than defining countries as "with us or against us". The world is more complex than these basic dichotomies allow.

What frustrates Americans is not only that Germany (and other Europeans) want to cherry-pick the popular and less-dangerous reconstruction projects (though that plays a major role in American and Australian frustration) - but also that these same allies give the impression they are on a higher moral ground than those who are taking on the most dangerous, and equally necessary, combat missions."

re: "More on the Recent NIE (Updated)"

The Glittering Eye updates on the recently released NIE with commentary by Dr. Kissinger and the Wall Street Journal.

Quote(s):

"The Iranian opposition group that first exposed Iran’s nuclear-fuel program said a U.S. intelligence analysis is correct that Tehran shut down its weaponization program in 2003, but claims that the program was relocated and restarted in 2004.

The claim, to be made public today by the National Council for Resistance in Iran, joins a broad pushback by conservative hawks who say the U.S. analysis has wrongly given the impression that Iran’s nuclear-fuel program doesn’t present an urgent threat." - The Wall Street Journal

and notes:

"I also wonder how comfortable we should be with the MEK as a source."

re: "Something's stirring under the water"

MountainRunner ("Public diplomacy, unrestricted warfare, privatization of force, and civil-military relations") updates on recent developments.

Money quote(s):

"For far too long our overseas assistance has been haphazard and missing the collective (and enterprising) power the United States could, and in the past did, bring to bear in struggling, and by definition contested, areas."

"(W)e must have an independent, cabinet level Department of International Development like the United Kingdom. It must have a separate public diplomacy agency that conducts and advises on communications and interactions, similar to the 1950's USIA."

&

"State must be made larger with substantially more funded and reorganized to match current security and global economy realities, but development and communications should be split out and made into their own cabinet level agencies. State's personnel system must also be revamped to provide for more training, floats, and cross-culture billets to the Pentagon or other agencies.

I am particularly pleased to see the (obvious) recommendation to strengthen State's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization"

AFP - Price of visa to US goes up

AFP

Price of visa to US goes up

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US State Department announced Thursday it was raising the price of most visas for foreign visitors to the United States by more than 30 percent.

How much more than 30 percent?

The move is aimed at helping pay for increased security measures for visitors, especially costs relating to the finger-printing of foreign visitors, the department said in a statement.

Starting January 1 the price of a tourism, business, student or temporary employment visa goes up from 100 to 131 dollars, the statement said.

Ah. I see. One percent more than 30 percent.

The 100 dollar fee "was already lower than the cost of processing non-immigrant visas when the fee was reviewed as a part of the cost of service study in 2004," it said.

It added that the State Department "has been absorbing the additional cost."

US officials "are now collecting 10 fingerprints from each applicant, and the cost charged by the FBI to review those fingerprints no longer allows us to do this."

When I reflect on it, it never fails to amaze me that the FBI get to charge the State Department for the privilege of collecting and contributing to the FBI's fingerprint database.

US immigration officials began recently taking prints from all of the visitor's fingers at the Dulles-Washington International Airport, just outside the US capital.

The measure is part of the US-VISIT program, adopted after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States. The program is scheduled to be fully implemented in all US international airports by the end of 2008.

The price of a US visa has gone up twice since September 11, the last time in 2002, the statement read.

In 2002, the application fee for a non-immigrant visa was raised twice. First, it was raised from $40 to $60 (an increase of 50 percent) and then from $60 to $100 (an increase of 66.6 percent); which means that in one year the fee was raised 150 percent. Percentage-wise, this increase is lower than either of the two previous increases and in terms of the dollar amount, is in the middle of the three increases.

Residents of some 30 nations -- including most European nations, Australia, Japan and Singapore -- do not need visas to travel to the United States.

Most citizens (as opposed to residents) of some 30 countries are eligible to take advantage of the visa waiver program. Some individuals with passports from those countries are not themselves eligible to take advantage of the privilege due to peronal visa ineligibilities that they have incurred individually.

Requests for visas filed before January 1 shall be honored at the previous price of 100 dollars only if the candidates go in person to their respective US consulates before January 31.

After then, those requesting visas must pay the extra 31 dollars even if they filed the request before January 1, the State Department said.

Tourism experts say the number of foreigners coming to visit the United States has not recovered since the 2001 attacks.

Tourism experts, in the employ of the tourism industry, like to trumpet that inaccuracy as a club with which to beat DHS and the State Department into relaxing their enforcement and compliance with immigration laws and regulations. In fact, international travel to the U.S. is back above pre-9/11 levels, or so I've been told personally by very senior officials who are in a position to know. Similarly, international student numbers are back above pre-9/11 levels as well, so the higher education industry gets to ease back off the rhetoric as well.

68 % of Foreign Service deployed overseas

"Moreover, in contrast to the military, which maintains 79 percent of its personnel inside the U.S., 68 percent of the Foreign Service is deployed overseas."

Re-Americanization (XXVII)

Taken inside The Magazine at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia on July 1, 2007.

S&S - Germany-based personnel unit goes to Iraq to ease GIs’ transition

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Germany-based personnel unit goes to Iraq to ease GIs’ transition

By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Monday, November 26, 2007

HEIDELBERG, Germany — Trying to plan their lives after deployment, the soldiers had sent in requests for extensions or another tour in Germany. But even as they battled insurgents in some of the deadliest places in Iraq, they were getting nowhere in the long, hard slog that can be the Army’s personnel system.

“A lot were coming back to us returned without action,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Steven McClaflin of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. “When we asked what that meant, no one could tell us. Bottom line — about 20 percent were actually getting approved.”

Enter, via Black Hawk helicopter, a crack team of personnel experts.

Armed with laptops, databases, and direct phone numbers to the Human Resources Command, the team from V Corps and the 1st Personnel Command made short work out of what is usually a lengthy and sometimes frustrating process.

In about four weeks, at five spots in Iraq and one in Kuwait, the team provided more than 950 soldiers of the 2nd “Dagger” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division with help getting what they wanted — whether it was extending in Germany, leaving Germany early, getting an in-place consecutive overseas tour or a spot in an Army school.

They did it all in minutes or hours, instead of the usual weeks or months, said Col. Joe Gill, V Corps’ G1 and the team leader.

“We were able to give them some predictability, in real-time.”

And this time, soldiers unhappy with new assignments were not expected to suck it up.

“I was able to say, ‘Complain to me. Let’s work this out.’”

It was the first time a personnel team was sent out to help deployed soldiers where they were fighting. The idea came to Lt. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker, Gill said, during a meeting discussing the hardship on the brigade’s soldiers deployed to Iraq for 15 months.

They noted the toughness of the fight — the brigade suffered more losses than any previous Europe-based unit sent to Iraq.

They noted that when the soldiers returned in the fall to Schweinfurt, they’d be looking at tight deadlines for their next move during the holidays, and that those with children would have to move them in the middle of the school year. And they noted that a mass exodus, of some 2,000 soldiers, was about to take place.

V Corps wanted to ease that transition and “get ahead of the game,” as Gill put it.
“We wanted them to know the Army cares, Europe cares,” Gill said. “We wanted to give them the opportunity to come to us and express what they were facing. Things they might not put down on a piece of paper.”

Spc. Cory Raby, in the 1-26th’s Company C, had put things down on paper, twice. But both requests to stay with his unit after his deployment went nowhere, lost on the trip through the bureaucracy. Then he had orders for Fort Riley, Kan. “I thought I was pretty much SOL,” he said.

Within two hours, the team had tracked down his missing paperwork, called the Human Resources Command and gotten his assignment changed. “I have two more years here now,” he said.

All told, the team worked 124 extensions and in-place consecutive overseas tours, 69 intra-theater transfers and low cost moves, 64 curtailments and changes to new-assignment reporting dates, and 280 requests for Army schools.

It won’t be the last time this help is offered downrange, Gill said.

“This worked, and it is a service we plan to provide to the other units that are down there,” he said.