2008 Presidential Election, Law
Obama and Urban COIN
April 24, 2008 tdaxp	28 Comments
This TV ad condemning Barack Obama for opposing some gang-related death sentences has been making the rounds. Here it is (with a hat-tip to PA Pundits):
This is a fair ad. Counter-Insurgency (COIN) against gangs has unfortunately not been a major issue, and "gang terrorism" is as good a shorthand for what's going on as any. Obviously, there's no "exit strategy" for America's big cities, and the long-term answer will be jobs, but a variety of factors make too many urban youths unemployable in the short- and medium- turn. Eliminating rogue elements and gang "dead enders" should be a priority for the government, as gangs are quiet adapt at flexing power and extracting rents from the prisons supposedly meant to discipline them.
Barack Obama's weak on urban COIN, weak on gang terrorism.
Don't vote for him.
barack obamaCOINgang terrorismgangsUrban COINwar on crimewar on gangs
Consequences of the Communist Party's Reaction to the 314 Tibet Uprising
April 24, 2008 tdaxp	1 Comment
Learn When Its Easy.
The reason that it's so important to embarras China on her backwards response to the 314 Tibet Uprising is that China is "young enough" to take risks now. As China's population ages and her "charm offense" is exposed for the colonial resource grab that it is, China will need a competent government that responds to trouble in a more mature way than this:
But even as Beijing is promising to welcome 1.5 million visitors to the Olympic Games, public security officials are tightening controls over daily life and introducing visa restrictions that are causing anxiety among the 250,000 foreigners who have settled here in recent years.
The visa rules, which were introduced last week with little explanation, restrict many visitors to 30-day stays, replacing flexible, multiple-entry visas that had allowed people to remain for up to a year. The new rules make it harder for foreigners to live and work in Beijing without applying for residency permits, which can be difficult to obtain. The restrictions are also complicating the lives of businesspeople in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore used to crossing the border with ease.
"I can't begin to explain how serious this is going to be," said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. "A barrier like this is going to have a real ripple effect on business."
The first refers to China closing itself off to the world by making it harder to get travel and work visas, as previously reported on tdaxp. The second is an anti-CNN (see the bullet holes?) banner from Sina.com, as noted on imagethief, the largest internet company in China and one whose violent anti-western-media graphics somehow escape censorship, even while pro-Tibet comments on Sina servers are removed.
China's hurting herself a lot in her resposne to the 314 Tibet Uprising, alienating friends (including businessmen and, of all people, the French) while endearing herself to no one. The failure of China's 314 reaction must be underlined, so the "next generation" of Communist leaders can react to similar events smarter than this one did.
2008年西藏骚乱314CCP西藏骚乱selective media censorshipTibetvisas
2008 Presidential Election, free trade
Democratic Congress against Colombia
Colombia is close to winning the war against Marxist rebels.
Let's see if the Democrats in Congress can put a stop to it.
The silence from the Democratic presidential candidates is understandable, but still disappointing. From Hillary Clinton the silence sounds like hypocrisy: her husband did so much to advance free trade during his years in the White House. From Barack Obama it seems like a continuation of a pattern: fitting the rhetoric against middle-classness that has agreed with his actions for the past two decades.
barack obamacolombiahillary clintonmiddle classness