Tag: Syria

War’s reluctant start

It’s true a century ago with the assassination of an Austrian baron. It’s true half a century ago with one ( or two) incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin. It’s true this very Labor weekend, even when we all saw photos of little bodies – dead by chemically induced weapon.

Labor Day traditionally meant as a break for the working class (well, somehow it got co-opted by Congressmen and women as well). Sort of poorman’s vacation e.g. kids back to school, mom back to PT work etc…

Who would want to go shoot down somebody. Not a convenient time. Not in everyone’s mind, nor purview.

It might sell some weapons to take down “creative destruction” weaponry. But in this post-Recession era, it is a reluctant call.

There is no rationality to how war started and takes on a life of its own. I have no prejudice against the Syrian people per se.

After all, Steve Jobs, with Syrian DNA, gave us Apple and the I-phone.

It is more convenient if it were the Chinese, whose money we owe, who crossed the red line

War has always been inconvenient. It destroys at many layers and its effects unending (a century ago, it got the US addicted to war as gold treasure ballooned up , hence, war as economic solution – half a century ago, now, the lingering effect of Agent Orange).

So, why bother?

Acts of aggression take place everyday, everywhere.

Some made the news. Many and most don’t.

But I happened to see the photos (just like I did witness the burning monk, the last chopper and Three-Mile-Island up close).

When you are engaged, you are responsible.

This one matters to me.

Some future misuse of chemical weapons will mater to you and your loved ones.

It’s not enough to turn sword into ploughshares.

Or write a letter or a blog.

There are more effective ways to get your point across.

It’s our century’s dilemma: data rich, but determination poor.

We have become of species of special access (broadband for everyone), but not of anger.

We don’t feel. But then, we will regret (for things we did not do).

President Clinton once made a stop in Ireland to seek consultation from a just-dead poet, before facing E European troubles.

This time, Mr Obama might want to seek consultation from Congress-on-vacation (back in ten) and history book.

All Presidents must face crisis and call to war.

It always has a built-in ambivalence and unintended consequences.

Leaders face fear and challenges but go ahead with gut calls.

Or else, we are all managers, tweaking and cooking the books.

Yes. It’s regional and sectarian. It’s even civil war.

But by zooming out, we realize that chemical weapon violation marks a bookend to humanity.

From here on out, either we say No to “chemical addiction” or we end up using it ourselves.

An assassination there, a regional sea brush here. All seemingly regional and reluctant.

But it’s necessary. To stand (not a cowboy stance, in ready gun-draw posture ) and put down our ploughshares to take up the sword.

Chemistry: blessing and curse

Bodies of little ones lined up on the floor (Syria).

Little orphans waiting to be fed and sustained (Vietnam – Agent Orange victims) decades after the War was over.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima, if we can still recall those localities.

Wrong use of chemistry. Shadow effects.

Masquerading rhetoric.

Just as the Dow finally hit its height.

Who would want to rock the boat.

It only takes good men standing by and doing nothing.

Then before long, little bodies lining the street of America and Europe.

A likely scenario.

Not too far-fetched. Or maybe in N Korea, Iran and once thought, was in Iraq.

This time, we want to get it right. To give it a proper and concerted response.

Chemistry belongs in the lab, to make Oreo cookies and not cooked-up weapon of mass destruction.

Conscience doesn’t just belong to men of past era (WW II).

Conscience belongs to us, in the here and now.

In an era of “flat world”, we are privileged to the information just a tweet away.

But it seems to take longer (certainly long enough for perpetrators to destroy critical evidence) for us to formulate strategic responses.

We choose leaders not just to read from the teleprompter. We choose them to represent our interests and conscience.

The collective will and common goods.

It’s that time for leaders to lead, and for history to judge.

If it can take place over there, unpunished, then it can and will take place over here. Just a matter of time. The same time it takes for a few good men to stand by and do nothing. Churchill is rolling over his grave. So are many great souls of the past.

Below-the-belt offenses don’t deserve civilized response. Through the rhetoric, I see men in fear and not courage.

BTW, courage is calculated against-the-odd kind of response in face of danger, not in the absence of it.

Unfinished business

Program lingers on linearly while project has its own bell-shaped form.

Beginning and ending.

Life is constituted of both programs and projects.

Child-rearing is not a project. Schooling them is (until they come back and take over the couch).

Warring is a project.  At least when we could get out and not sink deeper into the quagmire.

When I finished Assassin Gate, I felt a striking resemblance to what the US had encountered in Vietnam (not knowing who the enemy was – the Perfect Spy – as case in point).

People form interesting alliances in war.

For now, world attention has shifted else where e.g. Syria, Iran and Israel.

Should they be classified as programs or projects?

We would hope for the latter.

If we take a zoom-out view of  history, we will find that one man’s failure is another’s victory. Innovation came about in clusters, in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Scientists competed to file patents and announced findings.

Medical and mechanical surprises ( Marie Curie and Marconi).

Which leads to our present dilemma: we are more aware of vaccine and virus, wireless and wire line technologies. Since those are money-making business, we  give them more street’s cred and credits over low ROI projects.

Our life style has evolved to the point where we express ourselves in terms of technology (I am low on bandwidth, I need to be reboot, I can’t copy you, I am unable to process what you have just said).

We keep tweaking and tuning. To stumble upon that optimal-efficiency point.

When we left our phone (hardware) at home, we feel “naked”.

Out of the blue, we got “Drop Box” (the equivalent of train-station locker).

So on and so forth. Keep id the problems, we got the solutions. As long as we can monetize it. If not, we drop it (Blue tooth).

It’s not too long ago that Facebook was an unknown “face”.

Then everyone knows Mark (as if he were our son-in-law). Not sure between him and Justin Bieber, who is more  popular.

I am sure of the difference: Mark , in the language of this blog, is a program, a work still in progress. Justin would be a project, whose stardom has hockey-stick beginning and definite ending. That’s how the world works. I know this. I have just finished listening to “I’ll Be There” and remember how we all loved Michael and the Jackson 5. Then I realise we all were babies in our families. What has happened? (Babies turned burden).

The flow of life floats away relationships. Then what yesterday’s program has become today’s project (papa turns patient).

First we use relationship language to address one another (uncle, brother). Then we use machine language (leaving me a message on my answering machine).

Finally, we call them “patient”, “pupil” “inmate”. Institutional language that dehumanizes people. Turning them from “program” to “project”. My friend, you will forever remain my life-long program. Unfinished business. Work in progress. Not just a Contact, or Data Point.

Internet intersects culture

In China,, teacher Ma was on trial for using the internet to recruit partner-swapping.

In Pakistan, they banned Facebook and then YouTube.

And in Iran, right after the election, they did not like Twitter.

Fast-pace technology collides slow-changing tradition.

As of this edit, Kenneth Cole (shoes-man) tweeted about “boots on the ground” as referring to to Syria’s dilemma.

No joking matter! But he did it on purpose to profit from planned controversy.

The gods must be crazy!

People feel invaded, and threatened (that life as they know it will forever be altered.)

Travelers kept saying that every time they are back to Beijing or Shanghai, they couldn’t find the same noodle shop.

It’s gone, and in its place, huge towers had been erected,in those spots.

If you looked at Miami in the old days, and Miami today, you couldn’t help but feeling the same.

Nobody seems to take full credit for the rise and roar of the internet .

Among the tech camp itself, mothers are eating their young.

Wiki displaced Britannica, Firefox took shares from IE.

Nokia got absorbed into the Office suites.

What we wear, eat and play might never be the same. They might not even be real (Samsung Swatch and Google Glass).

Back to teacher Ma. It’s not the internet. It’s his predisposition to activities that are shunned by most, with or without the internet.

Erecting urban towers, and putting some locks on the door doesn’t shut him

off from the larger Village of 1.5 billion or for that matter, 7 billion. Or let’s just for argument ‘s sakes, let Teacher Ma be the new Timothy Leary, then China will definitely need a lot of computing power for all those swapping and scheduling e.g. concubine.com recommends this xxx-pound lady, to schedule a meet at a local KFC, click here.

It’s exhaustive for them just to find one another in the big city (which noodle shop to meet at) to begin with. It’s open source on the internet, but still very much a closed society on the ground. Remember, Moore’s law only applies to chip processing speed, not to collective culture like in China, Pakistan, and Iran.

People there are still very much defined by a web of relationships i.e. son of so and so, daughter-in-law of Mr X etc… Change should start slow, let’s say to introduce Square Dancing, which allows for some partner swapping and swinging, then move on to Halloween Costume Ball . Then maybe, Farewell my concubines or Raise the Red Lantern, part II. Finally, comes consumer spending then Credit swapping, and Partner swapping (Ponzi).  The best case for Teacher Ma is to share a bunk bed with other inmates whose only wish is to someday have internet access.