Tripoli under siege.

It is starting to look as if Libya's civil war may soon be at an end. Reports from the capital suggest that it is under siege.

Gaddafi was by any definition a very bad man. He was a ruthless dictator who plundered his country to enrich himself and his family. He attacked neighboring countries in wars to stroke his ego. He supplied money and weapons to a long list of European terrorist organizations: RAF (Baader-Meinhof), Action Direct, IRA, PIRA and when the terrorists did not perform enough murders for his taste he ordered the bombing of two civilian jets. He also ordered the London Embassy to shoot at unarmed protestors leading to the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher.

In short, Gaddafi was everything that Bush accused Saddam of being and so of course Bush decided to let bygones be bygones and agree to drop sanctions against Libya and Gadaffi in return for Libyan support for Bush's insane war against Saddam and Iraq.

Is it any wonder that nobody in the Arab world believed Bush when he claimed to be spreading democracy?

While reports that Gaddafi is planning to leave the country are almost certainly black propaganda, it seems more likely than not that the dictator will be dead within a month and good riddance. IF the US is going to be a hegemonist then it should at least be a smart one and act against the worst of the worst when they are weak (e.g. the Libyan campaign) and not 'slam some country up against the wall every so often just to show that we can' according to the Bush doctrine.

But far better for the US to give up the idea of being a hegemonic actor at all. That role was not good for Britain at the height of its empire and has certainly not served the US well. Rudyard Kippling the poet of empire predicted as much, when he wrote the phrase 'the white man's burden' he was making a scathing reference to the US invasion of the Phillipeans.

If anyone really wants to know why the US has a massive deficit, just look at the military budget (and it is militarism, not defense you are paying for). The US spends half of all global spending on militarism. US allies spend half of the remainder. Which means that the US plus its allies spend three quarters of global spending on 'defense'. Under Bush spending on militarism increased 75%, from $400 billion to $700 billion in 2010 dollars.

When Bush took office he took command of the greatest military power the world has ever seen. And the nincompoop just could not resist the urge to use it. And when the first war against the enemy who actually attacked us proved to be insufficiently exciting he went and started a second one just because he could.

In the case of Gaddafi, I do have a personal grudge, he provided the explosives used in an attempt on the life of a family member. The British establishment has a long memory and it does make sense for the UK and France to act against a neighbor that has committed repeated acts of unprovoked terrorism against them. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Helping the Free Libya forces displace the dictator by placing a heavy thumb on the scales by means of air strikes makes perfect sense. But why does the US have to join in? Isn't two active wars enough? Ah but what if the Europeans managed to displace Gaddafi without 'the essential actor', perhaps then the US could decide to spend a little less on being a hegemon and let other countries take up some of the burden.

Of course Gaddafi could not be trusted to keep his word, of course Gaddafi will go back to terrorism given the chance. But those are reasons why the US should not have agreed not to attack Libya in return for Gaddafi's promise not to acquire nuclear weapons. Bush was foolish to have made the deal, but once it was struck the US should have kept its part so that the next dictator we need to strike a deal with might trust it.

Perhaps we could have a rule that the US President can launch whatever air strikes he chooses, but the ordinance will not be replaced during their term and the next President can only replace half of what is used.

[Update: Juan Cole writes that the uprising in the capital is being organized by Gaddafi opponents based within the capital as a planned move acting on the news of the fall of neighboring Zawiya and Zlitan.]

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Alternet: "The ‘Unfashionable’ Matt Damon, Mensch of the Year"

Well, what do you know. Matt Damon, whom we talked about here and here, has turned up in the pages of Alternet.

Damon breaks out of Hollywood and into serious activism, earning the respect of hard-working activists and progressive leaders alike.

... Usually stars dabble in activism for the publicity, and associate themselves with safe issues, so as not to rock the boat.

But not Matt Damon. Like many other progressives, Damon has grown weary of Democrats looking for phony centrism instead of standing up to a shockingly far-right Republican party. Against this backdrop, Damon’s principled and public stands do indeed make us sit up and pay attention. ...

The Guardian mentioned Damon as a defender of teachers and public education. As a misguided establishment consensus has emerged around standardized testing, privatization and charter schools, Damon has made a full-throated and deeply personal defense of public education, teachers and even the much-maligned teachers’ unions. He gave a real barnburner speech at a recent pro-public education “Save Our Schools” rally.

Then the Guardian ... mentioned Damon's support of the Working Families Party (WFP), an independent grassroots party active in five or six states. WFP's goal is to hold both Democrats and Republicans accountable to the needs of working and middle-class families.

As regular readers know, I'm now in the camp that says Obama needs a primary the way a blind man needs sight. (Note: Primary. I'm not in the 3rd-party camp; more on that in a future post.)

Given that, the ideal candidate is either (a) Someone who will, like Reagan in 1976, position himself as the next winning candidate of his party (Reagan in 1980) — or (b) Someone who has credibility, intelligence, integrity, and nothing to lose (like Eugene McCarthy in 1968).

I'm not yet endorsing a Damon run, but someone needs to do it. And more and more, Damon is starting to look like a decent (b) type candidate. He certainly has the intelligence — and nothing to lose.

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Rick Perry made a million bucks on land deals while in public office

I find even more offensive when the holier-than-thou types are found to be corrupt as hell. It's rank hypocrisy, and religious hypocrisy at that. Bloomberg:

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has never been paid a government salary of more than $150,000, became a millionaire while in public office through well-timed sales in the Texas real estate market.

The Republican presidential hopeful bought property from friends and political allies and sold to Texas businessmen, such as computer magnate Michael Dell, and in the process made more than $1 million. Perry’s income also was supplemented by stock sales, according to his tax returns and county land and tax records.

The transactions have drawn criticism from Democrats and ethics experts because, at times, they involved people who would benefit from their ties to the governor and because Perry always came out on top in the real estate deals.

A million bucks buys you a lot of prayer campaign events doesn't it?
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Civil disobedience begins to prevent Obama from approving a potential climate disaster

Today, environmentalists and other activists began civil disobedience in front of the White House. Among the first arrestees were Lt. Dan Choi and FDL's Jane Hamsher. The issue is the Keystone XL pipeline. Read more about it here. The decision on whether to build this environmental disaster rests solely with President Obama. So far, despite repeated campaign promises about climate change, enviros have not gotten much from the Obama administration. So, they have to step up their game to change that. And, if you don't know about the tar sands pipeline, learn about it. If it's built, it will affect all of us. More from Jane here.

Bill McKibben laid out the issue today in a Washington Post op-ed:

Already, more than a thousand people have signed up to be arrested over two weeks beginning Aug. 20 — the biggest display of civil disobedience in the environmental movement in decades and one of the largest nonviolent direct actions since the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle back before Sept. 11. (Among the first 500 to sign up, the biggest cohort was born in the Truman administration, followed closely by FDR babies and Eisenhower kids. These seniors contradict the stereotype of greedy geezers who care only about their own future.)

The issue is simple: We want the president to block construction of Keystone XL, a pipeline that would carry oil from the tar sands of northern Alberta down to the Gulf of Mexico. We have, not surprisingly, concerns about potential spills and environmental degradation from construction of the pipeline. But those tar sands are also the second-largest pool of carbon in the atmosphere, behind only the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. If we tap into them in a big way, NASA climatologist James Hansen explained in a paper issued this summer, the emissions would mean it’s “essentially game over” for the climate. That’s why the executive directors of many environmental groups and 20 of the country’s leading climate scientists wrote letters asking people to head to Washington for the demonstrations. In scientific terms, it’s as close to a no-brainer as you can get.

But in political terms it may turn out to be a defining moment of the Obama years.

That’s because, for once, the president will get to make an important call all by himself. He has to sign a certificate of national interest before the border-crossing pipeline can be built. Under the relevant statutes, Congress is not involved, so he doesn’t need to stand up to the global-warming deniers calling the shots in the House.

This one is all Obama. Will it be "Game over" for the climate or will he stand up for all of us, as promised? The pressure is on -- and it will continue for the next ten days in front of the White House. Read the rest of this post...

Corrupt Moody’s

Reuters:

An ex-Moody's Corp derivatives analyst said the credit-rating agency intimidated and pressured analysts to issue glowing ratings of toxic complex, structured mortgage securities.

In a 78-page letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Harrington outlined how the committees that make the ratings decisions are not independent and how managers often intimidated analysts.

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Bank of America promises to "help Rick Perry out," didn’t realize mic was still hot

Great moments in unscripted television, note what the top Bank of America official tells GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry:

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Interesting Spiegel interview with Gorby

I wasn't entirely aware that he was still alive. Nonethless, it's an interesting interview. He mentions that his home was bugged (though I'm not sure why he thinks it was the Russians and not the Americans doing the bugging. He also says that Russia (and perhaps the world) would be better off if the Soviet Union had held in tact (not as communism, but rather as a single integrated entity - almost sounds like he describing the ultimate goal of the EU, a unified cultural and economic entity).  From Spiegel:

SPIEGEL: There is a theory that you often repeat, but that we are unable to understand, namely that the Soviet Union could still have been saved even after the coup.

Gorbachev: And it could have. It's just that we were too late in beginning to reform it. Some wanted a federation, but the majority of the republics wanted a united state with elements of a confederation. Then I proposed a referendum. When we voted on the proposal, Yeltsin angrily slammed his fist on the table. He was against it, of course. He announced openly that he could no longer work with Gorbachev, and that they had to part ways with him. Then came the referendum, and the people supported me.

SPIEGEL: Seventy-six percent.

Gorbachev: That means that the union was destroyed against the will of the people, and it was done deliberately -- with the participation of the Russian leadership, on the one hand, and that of the putschists, on the other.

SPIEGEL: What would be better today if the Soviet Union still existed?

Gorbachev: Isn't that clear to you? Everything had grown together over the decades: culture, education, language, the economy, everything. They were building cars in the Baltic republics and airplanes in the Ukraine. We still can't get by without each other today. And a population of 300 million was also a plus.

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Bulls in the Camargue

A few weeks ago we spent a few days in the Camargue area of France. During our visit a neighboring village (Vauvert) was having a breakfast in the field where the bulls are kept. Hmmm. OK. I had the impression that the bulls were on one side of the fence and we would be on the other but that wasn't the case. The villagers often dress up in old time clothes and pull out the old wagons and ride into the fenced in area. Quite a unique breakfast. I ventured over near the bulls, safely on the other side of a horse and buggy.

The signs on the windows in the main street are warnings that the bulls will be coming. We were given instructions by a local who said that you just have to lay down if one is chasing you. Glad that I didn't have the opportunity to test the theory.

The Gardianne (bull fighters) round up a few of the bulls and then have a run through the village. We missed the bull run and didn't attend any bull fights but for those (like me) who dislike the the idea of slaughtering a bull in the ring, this is a bit different. The bulls are the heroes in the Camargue, with statues in many village squares. One village statue was showing a favorite bull chasing a fighter over a wall. There is no killing of the bulls as they are known throughout the region for decades. Instead as the video above shows, the goal is to remove rings from the horns of the bull.

A very popular meal in the area is Gardianne de taureau, which is a bull stew. It looked something like a daube except the sauce was made from the bull's blood so it had a particular consistency not unlike boudin out of the casing. Read the rest of this post...

Report: At least 20 dead in new Syrian demonstrations

Well that didn't take long for Assad to re-start his campaign of killing. BBC News:

At least 20 people are reported to have been killed and dozens injured in Syria as army and police opened fire on anti-government protesters.

Activists said most of the deaths were in southern Deraa province, but there were also reports of shootings in Homs.

On Thursday, the US led unprecedented calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Earlier, Mr Assad told the United Nations that police and army operations against civilians had halted.

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