The iron finger

President Dmitry Medvedev, ultra classy and marvelously diplomatic tool and mouthpiece of the ruler of Russia, decided that the day after our commemoration of the deadliest act of terroism in history would be a good time to trot out this line of I don't even know what to call --
"The world has changed and it occurred to me that 8 August 2008 has become for Russia as 11 September 2001 for the United States. This is an accurate comparison corresponding to Russian realities."

So what exactly is Russian reality? And what mind altering substances do you have to use to get there? I mean, a government using military force to try to regain control of territory within its borders vs. a terrorist group destroying one of the most prominent landmarks of (arguably) our most iconic city and attempting to destroy the seats of our top military command and (presumably) excecutive branch. Not seeing much in common there, Mitya.* To be fair, of course, I should mention that the death tolls were about the same... if you multiply the current official count (from the Russian government. source:Wa.Post) by 5 and then add it to the 2000 Ossetian civilians killed according to earlier Russian, um, reports (read B.S. propaganda lies).
So as not to waste too much time crushing that fucktarded comparison into the dirt, I'm just going to accept Russian reality as having it's own rules and move on to further correspondence from that magical realm. Dima* also wanted us to know that he didn't like invading Geargia, Georgian president Saakashvili and US Sec of State Condoleezza Rice made him do it. He also points out that NATO membership for Georgia is unnaceptable. In case, we thought he didn't mean that in a nice way, he encourages us that even is Georgia was a member of NATO, he wouldn't hesitate to follow the same course of action if provoked again by Ms. Rice.

So this isn't actually on a level with what you'ld expect from, say, Saddam's Minister of Information. I'm seeing it as pretty frighteningly close though. And a lot more frightening because he's got a lot of force at his disposal to try to make the world fit his Russian reality.

Added note: to be clear on the casualty numbers- Russia's casualty figure(197) represents Russian military(64) and South Ossetians(133 of the 2000 first claimed)
Added note about my grammar: just don't worry about it, alright? I was tired.

*common Russian diminutives of Dmitry.

"Why We Fight"

This evening I was coerced by my parents into watching documentary by Eugene Jarecki called "Why We Fight." Personally, I was expecting to be infuriated and upset by it since it was highly recommended to my parents by one of my brothers who I to a large extent disagree with on matters of war. I didn't want to watch it. I thought it would be inflammatory, emotionally charged, anti-war propaganda. There's a little trailer for it here, though I daresay it didn't sum up the points that interested me most very well. Also of note, Senator John McCain is featured in it talking about the United States military-industrial complex. I still want to rewatch those parts and see if I can fit what he was saying there in with what he's saying now about war. But at any rate, I must say it didn't get me near as upset and angry as I had expected. Far from it; it more had me sobered and pensive afterwards. Some of it was a bit too extremely put (use of the word "empire," for example), but certainly had a lot of information worthing thinking long and hard about. Definitely worth looking into.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go look up President Eisenhower's farewell address from back in '61...

mourning

So Phil leaves for Kuwait tonight. And then in a couple weeks my boyfriend will be in Iraq.

Sigh. Life sucks.

What the hell has happened to this country?

Patton's speech

"American's play to win all the time... America has never lost and will never lose a war, because the very though of losing is hateful to Americans."

Fight to win, America.
Stop wishing for and easy way out. Pay no heed to the fools and the liars who say that we need to end this war. The only end of war is victory. Anything else is not an end but retreat. Do not give aid and comfort to the enemy by wavering in your resolve. Already, battles are lost in Washington and in the press. Real battles; and with them, real lives. A widespread and resolute determination to win this war can change its course in our favor.

"Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me.'" -George Orwell

The Enemy

Hillary Clinton: how to lose a war

Never Quit the Fight

A collection of articles by Ralph Peters, retired intelligence officer, about Iraq, the war on terror generally, the US armed forces and the strategic concerns that should be shaping our preparations for future war. I recommend it if you would like to see a different perspective from the usual news media coverage of Iraq, find yourself unsure of how much you really care or just enjoy thinking about these sorts of things. As suggested by the title, Peters' message is optimistic overall but not blindly or naively so in most areas. I won't say he's the pure and stainless voice of objective reason but his relative independence from the Bush and anti-all-that-is-Bush factions is a much better background for analysis, praise and criticism of that administration's actions.
So yeah. Read the book, be more informed and more certain that quitting is the wrong answer. In this war your determination to fight and win is much more valuable than all of our high-speed technoweapons.

EDIT. EDIT. EDIT.
ok. so i wrote all that before i actually finished the book. and yeah, i have to add a few things. firstly, the..mk gmltn (spluttering angry not quite finding the words)

Fucking pro abortion son of a kbh ,v. Ralph Peters thinks that killing babies is cool. bastard.
so yeah. plus once he's moved out of the military sphere he develops a bunch of stupid crap, the warning signs of which i pretty much ignored- belief in religion not in God, Darwinism, other bleh crap.'
...k
I'm tired and pissed and don't have much to say that is coherent. Basicly, I'm not really recommending that anyone go out and buy this book anymore. There's still some worthwhile stuff in there so if you happen to stumble across a copy or have the opportunity to steal one or spit on the stuid author. yeah.
meanwhile, goodnight.