Monday, May 21, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Welcome to Your Security
In our new Simmer War, we are engaging in both non conventional and conventional attacks on our enemy. It is not the same as it was within the cold war, with a well defined enemy with national boundaries and most importantly a capital. This capital could be targeted from thousands of miles away and thousands of feet underground. No, this is the age of a boundless fear, fear of the person next to you on the plane, subway, taxi-cab, or crowded area. We have no contextualization of the “other side”, other then irrational stereotypes. We have no strategy to deal with the fear of attack. There is no safe guard strategy to rationalize terrorism.
But what we do have is an over-rated and rather ambiguous color system. In the
The color system needs to be changed in order to effectively promote a method of terror caution. What we have now as a system of prevention and caution awareness which is doing nothing to alert the everyday individual. Homeland Security Advisory System does little more then create mass hysteria. The system is flawed in its nature. Instead of alerting the public on possible actions and which can be taken to prevent attacks, the system makes the citizen helpless and afraid, leaving the full security to the federal authorities.
The Civil Defense system of our nation’s Cold War era was a system by which information was relayed and actions could be taken on the behalf of the citizenry. The CD (Civil Defense) system would alert via radio and television broadcasts of impending attacks from nuclear forces and what appropriate steps should be taken. Regular drills were held as a prevention tool. Education on what nuclear fission is what kind of damage it can do in weapons form and what the average citizen can do, were an integral part of the success of the CD.
On the Global War on Terror the Homeland Security Department has failed to reach the success of the CD system fifty years earlier. The CD was absorbed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, and all relative actives of the CD were now in the hands of the DHS. The DHS has failed to meet the simple guidelines which were established by the CD. The CD system was meant to keep the public involved in the affairs of its national security. The CD system gave the public a way to understand the threat of the nuclear bomb, take the necessary steps to prevent mass casualties, and practice drills, which could give some confidence in the general population. This was manner in which the general population could contextualize the fear of nuclear weapons attack and take measures to keep themselves and their families safe.
The DHS has provided no such system for the terror threat, no drills, no information, only a color scheme. However the question can be posed, what drills can the DHS give to the population? The answer is simple; give the population the basic terror prevention techniques known to the government, in addition to relying on the federal and state authorities for prevention. The key to the success of the CD was national citizen involvement, the DHS has kept the information painfully secret, and this has a vicious backlash of fear which presides over the homeland.
The DHS must provide the citizenry of the
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Anarchy for profit.
It has been fifteen years since the central government collapsed in Somalia, since that time the United States has entered once, then withdrew and now it is entering again. Not with troops, something even more dangerous, funding.
The United States as an aid package to the Somali’s 14th transitional government is pledging one hundred million dollars for the rebuilding of the state, and to fight the Global War on Terror from its angle. One would think that with that kind of funding the central authority can pull itself up by the boot straps and create order in a nation known for its fierce way of life. Then again one would think.
The nation of Somalia, especially its capital of Mogadishu is in a state of ultra capitalism, anything and everything is for sale. As the central government collapsed in 1991, the citizen of Mogadishu found themselves unprotected by a national army or police, and took it upon themselves for their own protection. Mogadishu is a host to a series of drug kingpins, arms bazaars, warlords, mercenaries, and the movement of privatization.
According to the New York Times,
“Businessmen opened their own hospitals, schools, telephone companies and even privatized mail services. Men who were able to muster private armies, often former military officers, seized the biggest prizes: abandoned government property, like ports and airfields, which could generate as much as $40,000 a day. They became the warlords. Many trafficked in guns and drugs and taxed their fellow Somalis.”
The new business in Mogadishu is exactly that, new private enterprises unregulated, untaxed and highly exploitative are developing and keeping the citizens alive. This the new generation of privateers is one which rejects the rule of a government, because it will destroy the crafted racket which they have created.
Omar Hussein Ahmed, an olive oil exporter in Mogadishu, the capital, said he and a group of fellow traders recently bought missiles to shoot at government soldiers.
“Taxes are annoying,” he explained.
As the transitional authority is trying to establish some form of authority and security for the citizens, ironically it is the businesses which keep the government afloat which is undermine the ability of the government to achieve its end. These businesses are feeling the pinch of the government; recently port taxes were increased 300%. This would be likely to destroy small time operations which undermine the ability of the government to provide services and goods under an established and regulated system.
The U.S. aid package needs to be heavily monitored in order to avoid massive aid embezzlement. As seen in the past money has a way of sprouting legs and just walking off never to be seen again. If this were to occur in a nation, with an entire generation of males who know nothing but violence we could be expecting to see crates of the latest small arms ready for distribution among the warlords who stand to profit from the transfer, not foodstuffs.
Petrol-politics and the Sword
As international demand for oil becomes that much more of an issue for the international market; the ability of nations to secure a stable source for oil import is a top national security issue for nations which see it as a vital tool for their economic survival.
Oil? As a national security priority? The idea may seem out of touch with reality, however the attacks on the oil filed in Ethiopia’s Somali region brings the agenda front and center. The attacks were claimed by the local revolutionary front the Ogaden National Liberation front. A spokesman for the group claimed responsibility. The attacks of about 200 fighters on the oil field of Abole killed 74 people including 9 Chinese oil workers and the rebel group took hostage 7 other Chinese nationals.
What were the causes for this attack? The Ogaden National Liberation Front, (ONLF) has been pushed out of their traditional areas of settlement by the Ethiopian troops. The traditional lands once prized and revered by these nomadic peoples are now up on the auction block to the highest bidder, and it seem China is one to offer the most for it. The People’s Republic of China must secure an oil supply for its seemingly unstoppable economy. China is pouring vast amounts into the continent to show its support for Africa, and at the same time gain oil drilling and import contracts from key states that are brimming with excitement to see this aid.
But what of the peoples which inhabit this area? The ONLF is responding to this threat with violence. Globalization has pushed nations to prod for resources, and that prodding will stir feathers. This will be round one in the new war for oil, and with China and Ethiopia’s human rights record, it wont be a pretty one. The government response to this will be a harsh crackdown on the ONLF, the government needs these contracts with the Chinese government to fund its national economy. Ethiopia is establishing itself as a regional power within the region, and will use any tool to secure that position.
Human Rights record of Ethiopia 2006
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78734.htm
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The African War on Terror
It makes sense. The US government in its global war on terror should have an ally in the continent. Somalia the worlds largest on going conflict, has been known to harbor Al-Qaeda members. But when we think of Africa, do we really think that it would be a place where human rights and fair trials are a common occurrence?
"Nothing has been done in secret. All legal procedures are being followed and the suspected terrorists have been allowed to appear before the relevant court of law."
Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The government of Ethiopia would be a shining example for an ally on the Global War on Terror, not to be confused with the War on Terror which is a domestic occurrence. Ethiopia is a bordering nation of that beacon of freedom Somalia. Which in 1993 the Clinton administration sent in the special forces to capture the head of the largest militia...well you have seen the movie.
As much as the international community should trust the words of the Ethiopian Minister, we must not forget the past. Ethiopia is a nation in which, according to Human Rights Watch
making dozens "disappear" and US security agents of routinely interrogating people held incommunicado.
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, any nation could be tempted by the prospect of helping the US on the Global War on Terror. The economic "incentives" would be far to great to pass on. However looking at the history of the continent and the present actions of the Bush Administrations brings about several questions.
1. Why Ethiopia, which has a poor human rights record, to proceed over the trials
2. Are they even trials, or summary judgement.
3. What is preventing the government of Ethiopia from just making the "detainee" disappear.
Africa is a poor location for anything legal or democratic in the high-minded US sense of the term. Africa has been exploited in the past for its economic resources and labor and now its being exploited for its "legal" system.
