Gasp! Two posts in one week!
My posting frequency has severely decreased, I know. My blog is now a sleek engine of positive-reinforcement, serving little purpose other than making sure I write a thousand words of fiction each week. However, I felt the need to convey some thoughts, and a blog seemed the place to do it.
First of all, there is the Korean issue. Kim Jong-il's youngest son, Kim Jong-crazy, ordered the North Korean navy to fire a torpedo at a South Korean patrol ship in international waters back in March. The ship sank, killing 46 sailors. South Korea, Australia, Japan and America combined their powers to bring in Captain Planet, who confirmed that the torpedo was North Korean due to distinctive markings and a serial number on the relatively-undamaged propulsion system.
Before you ask, Canada was not involved in the summoning of Captain America, because Heart is a lame power.
Anyhow, this is only the latest in a long string of offensive acts by North Korea following the cease-fire in 1953. They've sunk another boat, disabled a submarine, captured a US warship and held its crew prisoner for almost a year , made two assassination attempts on South Korean presidents, bombed and hijacked airliners, and sent terrorist bombers into the capital city of Seoul (pronounced "soul," because that's friggin' sweet). In all, more than 200 people have died as a direct result of North Korean aggression. This all happened since 1967.
"But Tom," you may ask, "the United States and South Korea have overwhelming advantages in numbers, technology, intelligence, supplies, moral fiber, and sanity. Why don't we retaliate, as per our mutual defense agreements?"
The answer is short, but huge: China. North Korea is the only PRC-friendly communist state in the region (Laos and Vietnam aren't too friendly with their neighbors to the north after the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979, which forever cemented Vietnam's epic do-not-fuck-withery), so Beijing is quick to curtail any action against their little buddy Kim Jong-il. China also sits on the UN Security Council as a permanent member with veto power. Big Red has agreed to regional economic sanctions, but those are a weak response to dead sailors. Normally, the US would move in to kick some ass (see: 1776, 1812, 1898, 1918, 1942, and 1950) but China holds nearly $3,000,000,000,000 of America's national debt. Until we get a green light from Beijing (or find a way to get a reverse mortgage on California) we won't be making a move on North Korea.
ALSO on my mind is the flotilla issue in the Middle East. I'm shocked at the public outrage in both directions, and I'll tell you why.
Here's the background: following World War II, the country of Israel was officially created by world powers to give the Jews a place to call home that doesn't have a lingering hatred for them and their kind. That plan didn't work out too well, since their ancestral homeland is located in the middle of a bunch of people with a 3,000-year-old blood feud with the Hebrews who were recently very pissed off by some German guys and the British guys they were fighting. Long story short, Palestine became Israel, and the Palestinians had to leave.
Well, not really. Israel has repeatedly offered to grant Palestinians wholesale citizenship, but surrounding Arab countries told the refugees not to accept. They were also told not to settle anywhere, but live as nomads to make it perfectly clear to the world that they plan to return to the region (because, honestly, who could leave Israel, settle in other places, and still make it perfectly clear to everyone, ever, that they planned to eventually return to Israel?). Longer story short, many Palestinians live in Gaza (the shadow of Israel proper) and launch guerrilla/rocket assaults on the country to encourage the Israelis to get the hell out.
Israel, understandably, doesn't take well to being bombed, and so has set up a pretty tough blockade to make sure Hezbollah (the terrorist organization (no, that's not subjective) the Palestinians elected to lead them (yes, really)) doesn't get the weapons, supplies, and support it needs to launch larger-scale offensive operations. This is unfortunate for the legitimate, non-terroristy residents of Gaza, but is seen by the Israelis as encouragement to not reelect Hezbollah. Do you see the cycle forming?
So, a government has a terrorist faction within its borders, and has set up a naval blockade around their own territory to keep them from getting supplies. Enter the Turks, who sympathize with the displaced Palestinians and sent a flotilla of aid to try and run this blockade. Make no mistake: the blockade was well-established and well-known, so trying to get past it was almost certain to result in being boarded and searched. This flotilla was an act of provocation to bring the blockade into the public eye and either embarrass or demonize Israel with the result.
Israeli's boarded the flotilla, as anyone paying attention knew they would. Somewhat more unexpectedly, the people on the ships attacked the boarders with sticks and knives. Even more unexpectedly, but a bit more understandably, the Israelis fought back. A funny thing happens when people with knives fight people with guns: 9 knife-folks die of sudden-onset bullets, and the gun-folks look bad for shooting them.
The only inappropriate action here was the attempted knifing. Nothing else is unusual or reprehensible. The Palestinian supporters trying to run the blockade was inevitable. The Israelis stopping them was inevitable. Shooting the knife-men was inevitable. Why are people so shocked about this? Why are people outraged? A little research, and you could almost have seen this coming. I say, let it go. The captured sailors are going home, the blockade is still in place, all is as it should be. The only thing that's different is that future blockade-runners probably won't have knives (it's guns or nothing, now) and the Israelis probably won't shoot as quickly next time.
There. I've vented. There's a new Saturday excerpt below, so check that out.
First of all, there is the Korean issue. Kim Jong-il's youngest son, Kim Jong-crazy, ordered the North Korean navy to fire a torpedo at a South Korean patrol ship in international waters back in March. The ship sank, killing 46 sailors. South Korea, Australia, Japan and America combined their powers to bring in Captain Planet, who confirmed that the torpedo was North Korean due to distinctive markings and a serial number on the relatively-undamaged propulsion system.
Before you ask, Canada was not involved in the summoning of Captain America, because Heart is a lame power.
Anyhow, this is only the latest in a long string of offensive acts by North Korea following the cease-fire in 1953. They've sunk another boat, disabled a submarine, captured a US warship and held its crew prisoner for almost a year , made two assassination attempts on South Korean presidents, bombed and hijacked airliners, and sent terrorist bombers into the capital city of Seoul (pronounced "soul," because that's friggin' sweet). In all, more than 200 people have died as a direct result of North Korean aggression. This all happened since 1967.
"But Tom," you may ask, "the United States and South Korea have overwhelming advantages in numbers, technology, intelligence, supplies, moral fiber, and sanity. Why don't we retaliate, as per our mutual defense agreements?"
The answer is short, but huge: China. North Korea is the only PRC-friendly communist state in the region (Laos and Vietnam aren't too friendly with their neighbors to the north after the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979, which forever cemented Vietnam's epic do-not-fuck-withery), so Beijing is quick to curtail any action against their little buddy Kim Jong-il. China also sits on the UN Security Council as a permanent member with veto power. Big Red has agreed to regional economic sanctions, but those are a weak response to dead sailors. Normally, the US would move in to kick some ass (see: 1776, 1812, 1898, 1918, 1942, and 1950) but China holds nearly $3,000,000,000,000 of America's national debt. Until we get a green light from Beijing (or find a way to get a reverse mortgage on California) we won't be making a move on North Korea.
ALSO on my mind is the flotilla issue in the Middle East. I'm shocked at the public outrage in both directions, and I'll tell you why.
Here's the background: following World War II, the country of Israel was officially created by world powers to give the Jews a place to call home that doesn't have a lingering hatred for them and their kind. That plan didn't work out too well, since their ancestral homeland is located in the middle of a bunch of people with a 3,000-year-old blood feud with the Hebrews who were recently very pissed off by some German guys and the British guys they were fighting. Long story short, Palestine became Israel, and the Palestinians had to leave.
Well, not really. Israel has repeatedly offered to grant Palestinians wholesale citizenship, but surrounding Arab countries told the refugees not to accept. They were also told not to settle anywhere, but live as nomads to make it perfectly clear to the world that they plan to return to the region (because, honestly, who could leave Israel, settle in other places, and still make it perfectly clear to everyone, ever, that they planned to eventually return to Israel?). Longer story short, many Palestinians live in Gaza (the shadow of Israel proper) and launch guerrilla/rocket assaults on the country to encourage the Israelis to get the hell out.
Israel, understandably, doesn't take well to being bombed, and so has set up a pretty tough blockade to make sure Hezbollah (the terrorist organization (no, that's not subjective) the Palestinians elected to lead them (yes, really)) doesn't get the weapons, supplies, and support it needs to launch larger-scale offensive operations. This is unfortunate for the legitimate, non-terroristy residents of Gaza, but is seen by the Israelis as encouragement to not reelect Hezbollah. Do you see the cycle forming?
So, a government has a terrorist faction within its borders, and has set up a naval blockade around their own territory to keep them from getting supplies. Enter the Turks, who sympathize with the displaced Palestinians and sent a flotilla of aid to try and run this blockade. Make no mistake: the blockade was well-established and well-known, so trying to get past it was almost certain to result in being boarded and searched. This flotilla was an act of provocation to bring the blockade into the public eye and either embarrass or demonize Israel with the result.
Israeli's boarded the flotilla, as anyone paying attention knew they would. Somewhat more unexpectedly, the people on the ships attacked the boarders with sticks and knives. Even more unexpectedly, but a bit more understandably, the Israelis fought back. A funny thing happens when people with knives fight people with guns: 9 knife-folks die of sudden-onset bullets, and the gun-folks look bad for shooting them.
The only inappropriate action here was the attempted knifing. Nothing else is unusual or reprehensible. The Palestinian supporters trying to run the blockade was inevitable. The Israelis stopping them was inevitable. Shooting the knife-men was inevitable. Why are people so shocked about this? Why are people outraged? A little research, and you could almost have seen this coming. I say, let it go. The captured sailors are going home, the blockade is still in place, all is as it should be. The only thing that's different is that future blockade-runners probably won't have knives (it's guns or nothing, now) and the Israelis probably won't shoot as quickly next time.
There. I've vented. There's a new Saturday excerpt below, so check that out.