Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, “to spend more time with her family”? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS’s Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn’t help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:
“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”
There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. “It is from Alaska that we send out those …” What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. (“We mustn’t blink.”) But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.
Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that’s why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street’s most toxic liabilities. Here’s the entire exchange:
COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.
This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN’s Campbell Brown, have argued that it’s sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that’s causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.
Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.
Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.
And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout, the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the trillions).
Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (APA) – A five-day African forum on agriculture opened Monday in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, and will discuss the challenges facing agricultural production on the continent.
The 12th forum which is attended by African ministers of agriculture is being held under the theme “Making agri-business work for rural livelihoods”.
Ethiopian State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Abera Deresa said despite difficulties, Africa is showing a great progress in utilizing its agricultural potentials than ever before.
He underscored the need for African leaders to allocate enough resources to boost agricultural production in the continent.
Five years ago at the forum, African leaders agreed to allocate about 10 percent of GDP for agriculture.
Dr. Abera Deresa said Ethiopia’s annual budget allocation to the agricultural has shown a remarkable growth and has reached 16 per cent of the national GDP in 2007.
The forum which is organized with support from the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (NEPAD-CAADP), in collaboration with the German Technical Co-operation Agency (GTZ).
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. Navy spokesman says a weapons shipment on a Ukrainian ship hijacked by Somali pirates was headed to Sudan, not Kenya.
Lt. Nathan Christensen, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain, says the buyers in Sudan are unknown.
A 5th Fleet statement Monday says the ship was headed for the Kenyan port of Mombassa, but that “additional reports state the cargo was intended for Sudan.”
Kenya has claimed it was the buyer for the shipment, which includes T-72 battle tanks.
The U.N. has imposed an arms embargo on weapons headed to Sudan’s Darfur conflict zone. But the ban does not cover other weapons sales to the Khartoum government or the southern Sudan’s autonomous government.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — An American military spokesman says several U.S. warships are surrounding an arms shipment hijacked by Somali pirates.
Lt. Nathan Christensen of the US Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says an unspecified number of destroyers and cruisers have joined the USS destroyer Howard within a 10-mile radius of the Ukrainian-operated ship.
The Faina is carrying 33 tanks plus rifles and ammunition that the U.S. fears may fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents fighting the Somali government.
Christensen says the American ships will remain in place to monitor negotiations between the pirates and the ship company and helicopters are conducting over flights of the hijacked vessel.
Pirates seized the ship off the coast of Somalia on Thursday as it headed to Kenya.
Also EPPF and TPDM fighters send a message to Ethiopians. Alliance for Reliberation of Somalia (ARS) chairman gives a press conference from Asmara. Woyanne troops target civilian in Mogadishu and kill more than a 100 people. Watch the video below:
A secret tank deal by Kenya’s Army would have gone unnoticed if Somali pirates hadn’t hijacked a Ukrainian ship ferrying the 33 tanks to the port of Mombasa.
diesel, benzene and kerosene.
Its not clear when the Department of Defence placed an order for T-72 tanks from Russia. The Army has not explained how much it spent on the equipment, neither has it explained the role of the 33 tanks in Kenya’s security strategy.
Apart from tanks, Somali pirates found tons of ammunition and auxiliary equipment within the ship, which they have threatened to offload for use in their country’s civil war. The pirates are demanding US$35 million in ransom before they release the vessel and its cargo.
Typical of most African governments, Kenya’s leaders are spending billions of dollars on security while ordinary people die of hunger, disease and poor shelter. Kenya ranks at the bottom of international social and economic indicators.
A growing population is putting pressure on neglected infrastructure. Public hospitals lack drugs as thousands of Kenyans perish each year on a road network broken to the point of tatters. Kenyan cities are going without fresh water due to lack of investment in water production.
The capital city of Nairobi is getting less water today than it was receiving a decade ago after a colonial era dam collapsed at Sasumua. The port city of Mombasa gets water from a supply system built by the British when the town’s population was less than a third of current figures.
Lack of investment in electricity production has made Kenya’s electricity tariffs the highest in Africa. Industries suffer from constant power blackouts which have undermined economic growth, leading to massive losses and job cuts.
Agricultural production in Kenya is far below demand. The country is producing less coffee, maize, tea, wheat, millet and everything else compared to twenty years ago. Sugar milling companies in Western Kenya, stuck with 19th century technology, are creaking out low quality sugar in significantly less quantities than when Kenya was a British colony.
Amidst all these, the Kenyan government has seen it fit to invest billions of shillings in military equipment. As stated earlier, if it wasn’t for Somali pirates, majority of Kenyans would never have known that tanks were about to get imported into the country. But, lack of priority in government procurement appears to be the norm these days.
Its been announced that Kenya will spend about $23 million in the purchase of second-hand fighter jets from the Kingdom of Jordan. The F-5 fighter that the Kenyan Airforce is so fond of went out of production in 1989, meaning that the jets Kenya is buying are at least 19 years old. Kenya will also pay Jordan to train its pilots in using the junk aircraft.
Meanwhile, other branches of the security forces are on a shopping bonanza. Regular and Administration police have enhanced their recruitment drives to boost numbers. They are receiving modern equipment, weapons, 4-wheel drive trucks, uniforms and riot gear. Considering the conduct of police during the post-election violence, its obvious that this enhanced expenditure is not for the benefit of ordinary men and women.
The Kenya Police has just finished rehabilitating giant Russian-built helicopters fitted with night-vision equipment, gun detectors and communications technology. The helicopters will carry a team of quick response officers assisted by highly trained dogs.
Just this week, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights – a government body – blamed police for the execution of 500 Kikuyu youth and the disappearance of scores of others. According to survivors, the dead and the disappeared were all abducted by people identifying themselves as police officers. A man whose dramatic arrest in Nairobi was shown on the front page of the Daily Nation, was later found dead in the city mortuary.
For most Kenyans, the acquisition of helicopters, night vision equipment and vicious dogs can only portend doom as far as personal freedoms are concerned.
By purchasing bigger weapons to arm a greater number of police and soldiers, the Kenyan government is treading a path set by authorities in situations of high wealth inequality. Kenya is among the top three most unequal societies on earth.
On one hand there is an extremely wealthy minority whose standard of living can comfortably secure them a place among the world’s rich and famous. On the opposite extreme is a majority of people without access to adequate food, housing, health care and education. These are people whose future is so bleak that the only options are crime, prostitution, alcoholism and violence.
Amidst this depressing scenario, authorities seek to preserve the status quo by unleashing greater surveillance of the disadvantaged majority. The objective is to make life safer and easier for the rich minority.
The fruits of economic growth are used to buy guns instead of building roads. Public funds are used to buy tanks instead of medicines for government hospitals. In an unequal society, the government will find it better to employ soldiers and police rather than employing doctors and teachers. Instead of facilitating constructive engagement between the rich and the poor, the system is designed to keep them apart.
Such trends have happened elsewhere and Kenya is blindly going down the same path. Unfortunately, that particular path usually ends up in self-destruction, for the human spirit cannot tolerate oppression forever.
The Afar Forum is inviting everyone to the Afar Conference In Brussels October 17-19, 2008.
Afar regions face daunting challenges: among others in health, education, infrastructure, recurrent draught due to environmental degradation, political mismanagement (lack of good governance), inter and intra-tribal conflicts in the Regions.
We believe that the regional government cannot alone cope with all these issues involved. We also believe that the Afar Diaspora has moral obligation to be the agents of change and to be part of a positive development.
The Afar Forum is now hosting a conference in Brussels with objectives:
To address the socio-economic and political challenges of the Afar Region and explore a comprehensive vision and strategy, within the specific context of current Horn of African regimes, that delineates the geopolitical issues of the Afar people.
To establish a network among Afar Diasporas that could support and contribute to the regional development such as an improved institutional and administrative functioning in terms of policy, management, planning and administrative capacity building, be the role models in mobilizing the civil society to wards societal development.
On Saturday night there will be cultural show for entertainment.
Location of conference:
Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis
109 Rue du Marais
1000 Bruxelles Auditoire 300 (3e étage)
Afar Forum Contact information:
Phone: 00324-77327090
E-mail: [email protected]
