This week’s earthquake is all but a distant memory. After covering it incessantly for several hours, showing the horror of the tremor that knocked chairs over and shook the CNN newsroom, most news stations went back to their continuous coverage of “the almost fallen” “yet to fall” “inevitable fall” of Qaddafi and his regime in Libya. And all this one year after the a bunch of US Senators including John McCain and Lyndsey Graham promised him a slew of American weapons. Too bad for him his is no longer a friend to the US.
Qaddafi should not give hope, after the “dramatic” and “sensational” capture of the Libyan’s compound, the fight is not over. Nor is the Qaddafi regime. After endless reports that many of his sons were arrested and Qaddafi, himself may be dead, it seems the sons escaped from custody. His son Siaf showed up on national television while Gaddafi himself gave a television address in a voice over of his own photo. After that the rebel forces put a $1.7 million price on his head – dead or alive. I wonder where they are going to get the money?
The media, however, declares the battle basically won and now the whole world has become consumed with Qaddafi’s whereabouts. There apparently is little else going on. Who cares about the world economy failing or the drought in Somalia, Qaddafi could be in a whole just like Saddam. Or a bunker that no one knows about or a house down the street. Frankly it is more important to nip this civil war in the bud and get an immediate cease fire, hall in those snipers still perched on rooftops and, if there really is any mustard gas, get in there and get it out before someone hurts themselves or creates a massive environmental disaster.
I don’t know about you, but all this war is really worry me and now, the Obama Administration has its sights on Syria. Can the US please finish one war before it goes onto another?
Two consecutive Administrations have cultivated civil wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and, now, Syria is next on its list. This Administration wants to go further by exacerbating those already in progress. It is pouring in another $2.7 billion of military equipment in Afghanistan. Most notably the US will be supplying more weapons in a place where everyone and their mother already has a small cache. While we cut our own schools and military for that matter, we are creating bigger and better militaries abroad. And so Pakistan doesn’t feel slighted, the US is also going to allow it to keep its $800 million in military aid. Paying off the Generals is definitely a way to ensure further stability or, in traditional Pakistani style, use that money to continue to support the Taliban and other people fighting against US forces in the region. Whatever happened to water, education, healthcare? As the US military budget tripled over the last decade, the rest of the world continues to follow suit. Of course, with US money, buying US weapons because there is nothing else in this country to sell.
While all this is going on, Iraq has a slew of suicide bombers, Yemen is a disaster and Israel is still shelling Gaza and Gaza is sending those wayward scuds over its border into Israel. As the world turns and everyone has the right to defend themselves with more and more weapons, this will never stop. The answer: why should it, the US has nothing else to sell, although to be fair scuds originally reached the Arab world from Russia now they just make their own crud version.
Just to wrap up, I know Obama is on vacation, but what about some Congressional members who barely even go to work or the current Senators and Governors – you know who you are – who are getting paid while taking about a year off from their jobs to run for office while the world falls apart. Ok that’s a bit dramatic but you get my drift.
That’s it for today’s take.