Yes we can!

No im not talking about Obama. I'm done writing on his presidency for a while. Too many headaches coupled with endless frustration.

Instead, I'd like to take a minute at how viral his campaign was. In fact it was so catchy that the president of Iran decided to use the campaign slogan "yes we can" as a part of his latest bid to the Iranian presidency.

"Yes we can, Iran." Catchy isn't it?

Perhaps one of the most telling lessons from this forgery is that the public, whether in America or Iran, often craves style over substance; catchy slogans over sound political ethics. If Ahmadinejad can be reelected with the same drone-like chant, it will prove my point.

Although the name Ah-mad-in-e-jad does not flow off the tounge like the tri-syllable name O-ba-ma.

If only I could find the video...

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Irony?

For all the work that Obama put into his campaign to distance himself from Islam, the monicker for his new economic plan seems quite ironic. Obama just announced a "five pillar strategy" which, he hopes, will change the tide of this economic recession.

tact - tækt/
–noun
a keen sense of what is appropriate, tasteful, or aesthetically pleasing; taste; discrimination.

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"Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" Memos Released

I recommend everyone check out the four memos that Obama declassified yesterday. No matter which side you're on, they add a really important aspect to the debate by defining exactly what we're all arguing about - a key detail we didn't really have before this.

Three dealt with specific techniques and how they were applied to detainees. These offer an important insight - adding context to the debate over whether this treatment was justified, simply by defining just what that treatment was.

The fourth looked at, in depth, the legal justification for why this treatment did not violate both the U.S. Constitution and the UN Convention Against Torture. It's really fascinating.

These memos are only lightly redacted, a rarity for such recently created top secret stuff, and I hope they will better ground the debate over the treatment of suspected terrorists in more than the rampant conjecture present on both sides.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Check out my detailed analysis of the fourth memo here. 

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Farewell

This morning I received one of the most disturbing messages that has ever graced my inbox

Good Morning,

I would like to let you know that Dr. Thayer has accepted a position with the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and will resign his position with Missouri State University at the end of the Spring 2009 semester. He has been a tremendous asset to our department and will be greatly missed.

I know that you will join me in wishing him well in this new endeavor.

Dr. Bradley Thayer, perhaps one of the programs greatest professors, is leaving us for the Swedes.
Honestly. Sweden. A country he has probably made fun of countless times in countless seminars throughout his years at DSS.

After hearing the news, I went through a wide range of emotions. First I was nervous, then anxious, then wary, then apprehensive, then kinda sleepy, then worried, and then concerned. (if you caught that reference, hats off to you)

Well, I decided to take a look at what Sweden has to offer. Thanks to a top 10 list provided by the Embassy of Sweden, my curiosity has been sated. Here are some highlights.

• Swedish Inventions include:
  – The perfected the design of the zipper (Gideon Sundbäck).
  

Oh awesome Dr. Thayer, you are leaving us for the land of the zippers? Ah not just the land of the zippers, but the land of perfected zippers. America only gave you the personal computer, the atomic bomb (your favorite), the bikini, the motorcycle, the cure for polio, toilet paper, the internet, peanut butter and fake bosoms. You are forsaking Old Glory to live under a Scandinavian cross highlighted in 80's neon colors? Terrible.

• Mysterious Moose Tracks.
  A popular souvenir is the road sign for moose-crossing. Every year a huge number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads.

In American we don't admire Moose, or their tracks. We hunt them and we eat them, and discard their worthless hoofs. Moose track ice cream is acceptable, which we also invented.

• MMmmm! Yummy!
  The favorite food in Sweden is usually meatballs with potatoes and lingonberry sauce. Swedish pancakes are also a favorite.

Gross. Enjoy your potatoes and lingonberry sauce, Doctor. I'll think of you next time i bite into a big juicy hamburger.

Oh and good luck acquiring a firearm in Sweden.

Look what you made me do. I'm destined to despise Sweden forever.

Are you happy?

Phew. Now that all of that is out. I'd like to take a moment and pay tribute to a man that has given so much to the program (and stolen a piece of every one of his students) by listing some of his best quotes.

-Yes... Perhaps we should do something about China
-All of you are too WEAK to suggest preemptive nuclear strikes
-Optimism is for cowards
-We're gonna put the Dalai Lama in a cannon and shoot him in to China
-As long as there is a Russia we will fight against them

If you have any other quotes, feel free to contribute!

You will be missed Dr. Thayer. Good luck and god speed.

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Fail

Inferior soldier 1: There goes the TD-2.
Inferior soldier 2: going...going....going... and its in the pacific
Inferior soldier 1: What should we tell the Dear Leader?
Inferior soldier 2: Great success!


So the North Korean missile... err satellite launch failed. I can't say that I am surprised, but it does prove Kim Jong Il's willingness to push the limits of the international community, and more specifically the United States Commander in Chief. He launched a more overtly hostile missile, the TD-2, in 2006, and now through perhaps a more benign medium (a satellite test), he tested a similar missile capability.

Not surprisingly, North Korea state media reported the launch as a success.

So how do we punish this defiant child? Obama is opting for the Security Council route. There, he has legal standing to punish the North Korean regime. In 2006 the Security Council passed resolution 1718 which "demands" (funny how the boys in the UN think they can emphatically use words like demand) the North Korean regime to halt any further testing. We've been down this road before though; the following resolutions strictly prohibit DPRK from testing such missiles. Resolution 825 (the link to this resolution is dead on the UN site... the full text is on wikisource) (1993), resolution 1540 (2004) and, in particular, resolution 1695 (2006). Nothing the security council has drafted or "unanimously decided on will curb that actions of the North Korean regime. Keep in mind all of these resolutions were targeted solely at North Korea. It is clear that the UN can fill a symbolic role in punishing the DPRK, but put faith in anything more is naive.

John Bolton, former representative to the UN lamented on Fox News recently,

I don't think the U.N.'s going to do much of anything. I think it's very unlikely they'll get a stiff sanctions resolution. The sanctions that were imposed in 2006, when North Korea tested missiles and a nuclear device, obviously haven't not stopped them.

I think the real pressure has to be applied on China, which gives North Korea 80 to 90 percent of its energy and a substantial amount of its food and other humanitarian needs. China's got the capability to stop this nuclear program. We've just never applied adequate pressure to them.

This is how you suffocate a tyrannical regime. If Kim Jong Il will not change his policies, then this gives us a rare opportunity to work with China and cut off the regimes life support.

I would assume a nuclear North Korea with a relatively unstable leader is not within the Chinese national interest. However the Chinese would not want a reunified peninsula.

The PRC is crafty and could relieve North Korea of its nuclear program with relative ease. It's up to Obama to figure out a way to do that.

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