Endless drone warfare, over- geared, and getting out of hand

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America’s robotic killers, the drones that long ago were grimly named Predators (retired this year) and their more advanced cousins, the Reapers (as in Grim…), who have taken a once-illegal American activity, political assassination, and made it the well-respected law of the land and increasingly of huge swaths of the globe.

In these years of predation, the president — any president — has become an assassin-in-chief. George W. Bush began the process with 50 drone strikes in the Greater Middle East during his years in office. Barack Obama multiplied those numbers tenfold. He even had his own White House “kill list” and “terror Tuesday” meetings to decide just who should be on it. Donald Trump has simply given the U.S. military and the CIA license to send those drones wherever they please. Such drone strikes are now commonplace from Yemen (almost a strike a day in the months after Trump entered the Oval Office) to Afghanistan (where the CIA has, for the first time, been given license to strike at will), Pakistan (where such strikes have recently intensified) to Somalia (23 of them in 2017), Iraq to… Niger (where U.S. surveillance drones are now being weaponized). In the process, across the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa, the U.S. has taken out not just terror suspects but civilians in significant numbers, including children and American citizens (two of whom were children). The drones, which terrorize the populations under them, have proven to be ferocious assassins, capable of crossing borders without a blink and without respect for national sovereignty, not to speak of remarkable recruitment tools for terror groups.

And keep in mind that these never-ending drone killings are just one small part of America’s wars of the last 16 years that have driven funding for the national security state to new heights and turned Washington into a permanent war capital. (An excerpt from TomDispatch, 10. December 2017)

Commenting on the above Andrew Bacevich, author of America’s War for the Greater Middle East, wonders when this country will truly notice America’s Predators abroad the way, in recent weeks, we’ve finally noticed them at home!

I believe Epicurus would be appalled at what is going on. Drone attacks do not discriminate. Women, children, the old, the infirm who can’t be seen from up there in the sky, all assassinated in the blink of an eye. At least with a sword and shield you can clearly see who you are fighting. Of course, you can argue that drones are no more a menace than a V2 rocket in 1945 or, indeed, a medieval siege engine lobbing rocks over town walls. The difference lies in the unexpectedness and ferocity of the modern weapons. The V2s were spotted on radar; women and children now have no warning whatsoever. I happen to think that peaceful drones, not only military ones, are going to emerge as menaces as they multiply, fall out of the air, hit buildings, crash planes – whatever. We use the technology because we have the technology, but mankind is notoriously unreliable when it comes to wisdom and judgment.

We need something calming, reflective.

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The Sea is Calm – a poem

The soft, pink clouds hang over the distant horizon.
The glazed water gently rolls towards the beach.
A breeze-less, tranquil, tropical morning.
A man in a punt moves over the unruffled surface.
You can see that he has used a punt before
By the way he raises the long, wooden pole
And drops it noiselessly into the water, close to the craft.
His companion looks away towards the open sea.
Maybe it’s the coastal freighter that has caught her eye,
Moving hull-down in the far distance.
Maybe she is dreaming of a long, slow voyage
To hot, humid and exotic ports in other seas,
Just puttering from place to place, no rush, no reason;
Just the dream of an idle moment.

White ibis peck for muluscs in the fine, white sand.
A brown pelikan dives, bill-first, into the still water,
Submerging momentarily as it snaps up prey.
Spilling water from its throat-pouch, it swallows the catch
And takes off again, leaving the sea as if nothing had happened.
It is tranquil here, that is, until the speedboats appear.
Robert Hanrott.

Christmas presents

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There’s nothing they need, nothing they don’t own already, nothing they even want. So you buy them a solar-powered waving queen; a belly button brush; a silver-plated ice cream tub holder; a “hilarious” inflatable zimmer frame; a confection of plastic and electronics called Terry the Swearing Turtle; or – and somehow I find this significant – a Scratch Off World wall map. They seem amusing on the first day of Christmas, daft on the second, embarrassing on the third. By the twelfth they’re in landfill. For thirty seconds of dubious entertainment, or a hedonic stimulus that lasts no longer than a nicotine hit, we commission the use of materials whose impacts will affect future generations.

Apparently, of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale. Even the goods we might have expected to hold onto are soon condemned to destruction through either planned obsolescence (breaking quickly) or perceived obsolesence (becoming unfashionable).

The fatuity of the products is matched by the profundity of the impacts. Rare materials, complex electronics, the energy needed for manufacture and transport are extracted and refined and combined into compounds of utter pointlessness. When you take account of the fossil fuels whose use we commission in other countries, manufacturing and consumption are responsible for more than half of our carbon dioxide production. We are looting the planet to make solar-powered bath thermometers and desktop crazy golfers.

People in eastern Congo are massacred to facilitate :: ::: :: : :: : : : : : :: : :: ::: : : smart phone upgrades of ever diminishing marginal utility. Forests are felled to make “personalised heart-shaped wooden cheese board sets”. Rivers are poisoned to manufacture talking fish. This is pathological consumption: a world-consuming epidemic of collective madness, rendered so normal by advertising and the media that we scarcely notice what has happened to us.

This boom has not happened by accident. Our lives have been corralled and shaped in order to encourage it. World trade rules force countries to participate in the festival of ornaments. Governments cut taxes, deregulate business, manipulate interest rates to stimulate spending. But seldom do the engineers of these policies stop and ask “spending on what?”. When every conceivable want and need has been met (among those who have disposable money), growth depends on selling the utterly useless. The solemnity of the state, its might and majesty, are harnessed to the task of delivering Terry the Swearing Turtle to our doors. Grown men and women devote their lives to manufacturing and marketing this rubbish, and dissing the idea of living without it.

The growth of inequality that has accompanied the consumer boom ensures that the rising economic tide no longer lifts all boats. In the US in 2010 a remarkable 93% of the growth in incomes accrued to the top 1% of the population(7). The old excuse, that we must trash the planet to help the poor, simply does not wash. For a few decades of extra enrichment for those who already possess more money than they know how to spend, the prospects of everyone else who will live on this earth.

So effectively have governments, the media and advertisers associated consumption with prosperity and happiness that to say these things is to expose yourself to opprobrium and ridicule. Serious people now decry the idea of consuming less, and to associate it, somehow, with authoritarianism. When the world goes mad, those who resist are denounced as lunatics. (George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11th December 2012. Edited for length)

No comment needed from me. Monbiot is a great journalist!

Making fun of British scientific studies

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Apparently, British scientists are the butt of constant jokes in Russia. Can you work out which of these are Russian headlines about real studies, and which are jokes?

1. British scientists have established the height of Cinderella’s heels.

2. British scientists have found that women more often reach orgasm if they have sex in their socks.

3. British scientists have invented a teacup for left-handed people.

4. British scientists have found that ostriches become sexually active in the presence of humans.

5. British scientists have discovered that primates can find the connection between a cassette tape and a pencil more quickly than people born after 1995.

(The real studies are 1, 2 and 4). These are some of the research made fun of in Russia:

– Richard Stephens of Keele University, who showed that swearing can help reduce pain.
– Olli Loukola, Queen Mary University of London, who has taught bumblebees how to play football.

In the past year, Russian news outlets have reported that

– “British scientists have found that fish have personalities”
– “British scientists have discovered the best time to make love”.
– “British scientists have calculated the IQ of cats”.
– “British scientists have proven that birthdays are good for you: people who have the most live the longest”.
– “British scientists have invented a way to walk through walls. They called it a door”.
(New Scientist, Christmas issue)

The problem is it’s all rather true. Some researchers waste their time on the silliest things. But then the British do do things with tongue in cheek. It’s called a sense of humour, Ivan.

Have a happy ChristmasJ,

How to have an Epicurean Christmas

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Since it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I would share some tips on how to have the best Christmas possible. For me, Christmas is a lovely time, and always has been. But I realise many people are looking to tomorrow with trepidation. The problem with Christmas, at least in the Western world, is that too much stress accompanies the holiday. Whether you are celebrating Christmas for religious reasons, or simply because it’s our culture, everyone ought to be able to relax. Here’s my advice on how to:

  1. Don’t spend too much money. If you believe Christmas is about having the most lavish lunch, or buying family the most luxurious presents, then you are doing the occasion wrong. Rather, spend no more than what you feel comfortable spending. If certain family members have unreasonable exceptions as to what Christmas ought to consist of, better to let them down than give in to peer pressure. I personally believe excessive lighting around the house, decorations covering all the furniture and a massive Christmas tree are vulgar and in bad taste.
  2. Avoid family arguments, even if it means ‘losing.’ Better to accept someone else’s point and enjoy the rest of the day than get caught up in a dispute or debate. You may have an uncle who supports Trump, or even a friend who is pro-Putin (as I do), but you must simply let them make their point and move on. Getting into a heated argument only ruins the festive and joyful nature of the holiday.
  3. Follow Epicurus’ advice and avoid politics altogether. This is kind of related to number 2, but I find it is better to avoid politics entirely, even if you think everyone agrees on a particular subject. There are far more cheery subjects to talk about. Particularly in Britain, there is too much politics nowadays. We all deserve a break, even if it is only for once a year.
  4. Definitely avoid excessive drinking. There’s nothing wrong with a glass of wine at lunch, or a bit of brandy on the pudding. But Christmas is not the time to get drunk. So much can go wrong. You may accidentally say or do something embarrassing in front of the whole family. Worse, drunk people are more confrontational and even aggressive. You’ll want to keep a cool head for the whole day, especially if there’s someone you know will get on your nerves.
  5. Don’t spend all day in front of the TV. Some families do, and it ruins the social nature of the occasion. Instead, I believe it’s best to avoid electronic devices altogether, even electronic presents- you’ll have plenty of time to use them on Boxing Day. Rather, board games, Pictionary, Charades, card games and other amusements are equally fun, and far more interesting. Games where you get to know your family better are the best ones.
  6. Invite as many people as you can comfortably host. Christmas is one of these occasions where the more really is the merrier. Having more people makes for a livelier and more special day. If the day feels like just another regular meal with the immediate family, then you won’t have as much fun.
  7. Save the presents until well after Christmas lunch. This is a family tradition of ours. Opening the presents with everyone else is a great moment. It gives you a chance to say thank you properly to those that bought you your presents. It’s also something to look forward to, and it keeps you occupied for much of the day. Opening the presents early in the morning means you miss a euphoric moment when everybody is happy because they’ve got something new.
  8. Never compare the current Christmas with Christmasses in the past, or Christmasses at other people’s houses. Only reflect on how the day is going once Christmas is over. This helps avoid any feelings of disappointment or inadequacy.
  9. Not strictly related to Christmas, but don’t go shopping on Boxing Day. You may have vouchers you desperately want to spend or a horrifically ugly jumper that needs returning. But so does everyone else. You’re far better off avoiding the mayhem and shopping when the crowds have gone. If you’re anything like me, you won’t enjoy shopping even at the best of times. You may as well make the experience as painless as possible.
  10. Don’t eat too much. You may enjoy the deliciousness of the food at the moment. But your stomach won’t forgive you. You’ll feel more tired more quickly. And it’ll make that New Year’s Resolution of trying to lose weight that much harder.

I wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas! If you’d like me to do more advice guides, or simply more non-political posts, please say. Equally, if you think all my advice is nonsense and a waste of a post, I’ll stick to politics from now on.