Month: March 2011

"Our commander-in-chief is an effete vacillator who is pushed around by his female subordinates… Before you send me any burning bras, the problem is not with women leaders — the enemies of the Virgin Queen and the Iron Lady can attest to that. The problem is not even with the president having strong female subordinates. Rather, Obama's pusillanimity has been hugely magnified by the contrast with the women directing his foreign policy and the fact that they nagged him to attack Libya until he gave in. Maybe it's unfair and there shouldn't be any difference from having a male secretary of state do the same thing, but there is," – Mark Krikorian.

Manzi, who opposes the intervention in Libya, cautions that in "the long-run, we cannot win an arms race with the whole rest of the planet":

I believe that the sucker play in this situation is to adopt an ever more imperial attitude, dig in, and attempt to use unilateral military force to protect our existing position. We would bankrupt ourselves trying to freeze history in place. This is probably what most powers in history would do in our situation. But that doesn’t mean we’re fated to make this mistake. If there’s such a thing as an American genius for dealing with the world, a big part of it is marrying real belief in high ideals with a kind of unsentimental, almost ruthless, practicality. We need that now.

Amen. Accepting new limits on American power is sane, smart and in the end, will better retain the US's global position than endlessly meddling. Empires tend to end with fiscal and military over-reach. One hopes that this isn't inevitable with the US. The one thing that might have happened with Libya is for the US to vote yes in the Security Council and then let the Brits and French do all the military and diplomatic lifting. But the assumption, as Jim notes, is that somehow America must be in the lead. We need to start questioning this assumption aggressively.

Perhaps, as so often, Obama's unsatisfying compromise is the best he can do given the expectations that still attach themselves to the "leader of the free world" (can we retire that hoary old phrase at this point?). Maybe this effort to cede leadership to Europe, while still being part of a military coalition, is a start in the right direction. Here's hoping.

(Photo: A fully armed F-16 fighter jet is pictured at the military base of the 10th Tactical Wing, in Kleine Brogel, Peer, on March 21, 2011. Six Belgian F-16 fighter jets will be active in the ongoing military operations in Libya. By Yorick Jansens/AFP/Getty Images)

Miriam Elder reacts to the public clash between Russia's ruling duo over Putin's "crusades" comment:

So: wow. Medvedev just totally slammed Putin. Undoubtedly, he was upset that his prime minister spoke first about the situation in Libya (these were the first comments from Putin and Medvedev since the military intervention began on Friday). At the turn of the year, Medvedev publicly criticized Putin for speaking out in the case of jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but today’s criticism felt stronger and more clear cut. Their positions actually clash (and nicely show the two strands of thought inside Russia on relations with the West).

Some will argue this was their usual "good cop/bad cop" routine — one speaking to the domestic audience, one speaking to the outside world — but the ad hoc-iness of it all makes me suspicious about that.

Presidential elections in Russia are less than a year away and the rumor mill is going wild on who will run – Putin or Medvedev? Or some unknown dark horse? There’s talk that the clans around Putin and Medvedev are fighting between themselves to get their candidate out there. This could be the first sign that Medvedev wants to stay on. Or he was just afraid of looking bad. Either way, it’s interesting stuff (if for nothing more than seeing someone yell at Putin which, really, never happens).

"There are so many good reasons on both sides, so many different possible outcomes, that my only sure conclusion is that I'm glad I don't have to make a decision," – James Downie, on the Libya intervention.

Wise words. But a blogger has to take a position, even if not make a decision. All I can say is that I devoutly hope that this all turns out for the best, and will eat crow if it does – and wash it down with some champers.

The Guardian summarizes the fraught situation:

Rival tanks have been deployed in the streets of Sana'a amid fears of infighting between defecting troops and forces loyal to President Saleh. Three top generals, including Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, have thrown their support behind the protesters, as have several ambassadors. … An opposition leader says contacts were underway with Saleh over a peaceful way out of the crisis. One option under discussion was for Saleh to step down and make way for a military council until presidential and parliamentary elections are held.

Jane Novak points out:

Ali Mohsen al Ahmar is himself a war criminal and smuggler and many of these defectors are presidential relatives and will have to be politically neutralized, but all Saleh has left from the military are (his son’s commands) the Republican Guard and the Special Forces who are guarding the palace in Sanaa. It is the beginning of the post-Saleh era whether he recognizes it or not.

The latest from AJE:

11:43pm Yemen's defence minister Mohammad Nasser Ali read a statement on state television in Sanaa earlier this evening, saying that the army supports president Ali Abdullah Saleh and will defend him against any "coup against democracy", according to the statement.

11:56pm Sounds of explosions and shooting were briefly heard in an area near a presidential place in Yemen's eastern port of Mukalla, residents say. The nature of the shooting is not clear, but residents say there could have been clashes between pro-government troops and forces loyal to a regional military commander…

You don't get a bigger majority in Britain's parliament than 557 – 13. But at least their legislature has had its say.

New York, New York, 7.15 am

Alan Taylor zooms in on Libya.

Guy Lawson reports on how 25-year-old David Packouz and his 21-year-old partner, Efraim Diveroli, were awarded a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to supply weapons to America's allies in Afghanistan:

Working with nothing but an Internet connection, a couple of cellphones and a steady supply of weed, the two friends — one with a few college credits, the other a high school dropout — had beaten out Fortune 500 giants like General Dynamics to score the huge arms contract. With a single deal, two stoners from Miami Beach had turned themselves into the least likely merchants of death in history.

Toys lie on the ground as part of the debris on the island of Oshima in Miyagi prefecture on March 21, 2011, 10 days after the massive 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. The March 11 natural disaster – Japan's deadliest since 1923 – has left 8,649 people dead and 13,262 missing, after entire communities were swept away by the horrific tsunami or levelled by the record quake. By Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images.