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From: To: Bcc: Subject: Date: Attachments: Inline-Images: Gregory Brown undisclosed -recipients:; [email protected] Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 09/08/2013 Sun, 08 Sep 2013 08:17:04 +0000 Experts_Fear_That_U.S._Plan_to_Strike_Syria_Overlooks_Risks_Anne_Bamard_&_Alissa Rubin)NYT_August_30,2013.pdf; Experts_to_Obama,fiereis_What_to_Do_in_Syria_Daniel_Halper_The_Weekly_Standard August_27,2013.pdf; these_Are_The_36_Countries_That_Have_Better_Healthcare_Systems_Adam_Taylor_and_ Samuel_Blackstone_Business_Insider- June_29,2012.pdf; David_Frost_Deadjegendary_Broadcaster_Dies_At_74_AP_September_l ,_2013.pdf; Syria_Vote_Complicates_Congressional_Fiscal_Debate_David_Lawder_Reuters_09_01_20 13.pdf; Obama_Budget._Whats_Inside_Sam_Stein_Huff_Post_04_05_2013.pdf; Microsoft_To_Acquire_Nokia's_Mobile_Phone_Business_For_$7.2_Billion_Reuters_Septe mber_02,_2013.pdf; Verizon,yodafone_Agree_On_$130_Billion_DealiCate_Holtottllainaionas_Reuters_ September_02,2013.pdf; The_Hardest_and_Most_Productive_Workers_in_Europe_Floating_Path_Feb_27,_2012.pdf; 10_hardest_working_countries_CNN_Money_September_2,_2013.pdf; The_5_most_competitive_countries_in_the_world_CNN_Money_September_2,_2013.pdf; The_Twenty_Most_Productive_Nations_In_The_World_Douglas_McIntyre_24- 7_Wall_St._.pdf; US_manufacturing_expands_atfastest_rate_since_July_2011_Dominic_Rushe_The_Guardi an_September_3,2013.pdf; World's_shortest_work_weeks_CNN_Money_September_2013.pdf; On_the_Edge_of_Poverty,_at_the_Center_of_a_Debate_on_Food_Stamps_Sheryl_Stolberg_ NYT_September_4,2013.pdf; Brutality_of_Syrian_Rebels_Posing_Dilemma_in_West_C.J._Chiviers_NYT_September_5, _20I3.pdf; What_the_intelligence_on_Syria_shows,_in_one_graphic_Sean_Sullivan_TWP_September_ 6,_2013.pdf; If_Congress_Says_Not_On_Syria,_What_Happens_Nextiason_Linkins_Huff_Post_Septe mber_6,_2013.pdf image.png; image(1).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(11).png; image(12).png; image(I3).png; image(I4).png; image(I5).png; image(16).png; image(17).png DEAR FRIEND EFTA01133557 In the early 196os I met James Baldwin in New York when he was meeting with my father. Being a young teenager he was pleasantly surprised that I was a fan of his writings, and later on when he wrote The Fire Next Time and Blues For Mister Charlie, I began to really understand why. In the early 197os I reconnected with James and he and legendary raconteur and bar/club owner Johnny Romero, both became my godfathers in Paris. I still treasure the many times that I spent with Baldwin in the South of France, Paris and in New York, surrounded with the likes of Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Yves Montand, Paco Rabanne, Alvin Ailey, Beauford Delaney, Josephine Baker, other prominent writers, artist, philosophers along with a host of colorful characters. Two weeks ago on PBS's AMERICAN MASTERS they rebroadcast — The Price of the Ticket which is a wonderful video biography based on a is a collection of essays spanning more than 4o years by James Baldwin that was published in 1985. The film was originally broadcast August 14, 1989 on PBS. Video Website: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365066093/ James Baldwin (1924-1987) was at once a major twentieth century American author, a Civil Rights activist and, for two crucial decades, a prophetic voice calling Americans, Black and white, to confront their shared racial tragedy. James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket captures on film the passionate intellect and courageous writing of a man who was born black, impoverished, gay and gifted. Please also feel free to look at the attached review of the book review by Terry Teachout in December 1985. One of the most wonderful things about being with James Baldwin was that you were always surrounded by interesting people discussing engaging things, usually in corner of a Parisian cafe or in the cave of the Relais Bison (Baldwin's favorite Parisian hotel back in the day) or the veranda of his and other friend's homes in the South of France, over drinks, coffee and in a haze of smoke from endless cigarettes. EFTA01133558 And the video, James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket uses striking archival footage to evoke the atmosphere of Baldwin's formative years - the Harlem of the 3os, his father's fundamentalist church and the émigré demimonde of postwar Paris. Newsreel clips from the '6O's record Baldwin's running commentary on the drama of the Civil Rights movement. The film also explores his quiet retreats in Paris, the South of France, Istanbul and Switzerland - places where Baldwin was able to write away from the racial tensions of America. Writers Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, William Styron and biographer David Leeming place Baldwin's work in the African-American literary tradition - from slave narratives and black preaching to their own contemporary work. The film skillfully links excerpts from Baldwin's major books - Go Tell it on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, Another Country, The Fire Next Time, Blues for Mister Charlie, If Beale Street Could Talk - to different stages in Black-white dialogue and conflict. Towards the end of his life, as America turned its back on the challenge of racial justice, Baldwin became frustrated but rarely bitter. Still he kept writing and reaching in the strengthened belief that: "All men are brothers - That's the bottom line." Please enjoy and I hope that The Price of the Ticket touches you as much as James Baldwin inspired me. ****** This poem, written by an African child was nominated for the Best Poem of 2005. Colour When I born, I black;When I grow up I black;When I go in sun I black; When I scared, I black;When I sick, I black; And when I die, I still black; And U White fellows; When U born, U pink; When U grow up, U white When U go in sun, U red; When U cold, U blue; When U scared, U yellow; When U sick, U green; When U die, U grey; And U call me coloured Clever Typographic Posters That Visualize The Meanings Of Words Website: http://designtaxi.comffiews/360214/Clever-Typographic-Posters-That-Visualize-The-Meanings-Of-Words/ EFTA01133559 ****** A week ago Saturday, famed British journalist, comedian, writer, media personality and TV host Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE (7 April 1939 — 31 August 2013), died at the aged 94, on board the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth, on which he had been engaged as a speaker. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Frost rose to prominence in the UK when he was chosen to host the satirical program That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on US television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them The Nixon Interviews with former United States President Richard Nixon in 1977, which were adapted into a stage play and film. Frost was one of the 'Famous Five' who were behind the launch of ITV breakfast station TV-am in 1983. For the BBC, he hosted the Sunday morning interview program Breakfast with Frost from 1993 to 2005. He spent two decades as host of Through the Keyhole. From 2006 to 2012 he hosted the weekly program Frost Over the World on Al Jazeera English and from 2012, the weekly program The Frost Interview. I first meet David Frost setting next to him on a Concorde flight when he was doing weekly television shows in both New York and London and commuting each week between the US and UK. And then in 2001 we met again when I dated one of his wife's (Carina) closest girlfriends and on a number of times found myself with their other girlfriends husbands (when the girls went out on a hen nights) who included the likes of Sting, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Maurice and Charles Saatchi and Frost. Like James Baldwin, he was an interesting man who surrounded himself with amazing people and many stories entertained me and others time and again. Prior to his marriage and settling into domesticity with Carina and his young children, Frost was known for dating some of the most glamorous women in the world, including (black) American actress Diahann Caroll. Website: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207 162-57600899Jsir-david-frost-famed-for-nixon- interviews-dead-at-74/ In a television career that spanned half a century across both sides of the Atlantic, Frost interviewed a long list of the world's most powerful and famous, including virtually every British prime minister and U.S. president of his time. He also was a gifted entertainer, a born TV host, and his amiable and EFTA01133560 charming personality was often described as the key to his success as interviewer. "Being interviewed by him was always a pleasure but also you knew that there would be multiple stories the next day arising from it," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. Blair's former communications chief, Alastair Campbell, added on Twitter that Frost was "one of best interviewers because his sheer niceness could lull you into saying things you didn't intend." Frost, 94, died of a heart attack on Saturday night aboard the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, where he was due to give a speech, his family said. The BBC said it received the statement from Frost's family saying it was devastated and asking "for privacy at this difficult time." The cruise company Cunard said its vessel left the English port of Southampton on Saturday for a io-day cruise in the Mediterranean. Frost, the son of a Methodist preacher began television hosting while still a student at Cambridge University, and soon after graduation was approached by a BBC producer to front "That Was The Week That Was." He went on to host a sketch show called "The Frost Report" and became a regular figure on U.S. television. Behind the camera, Frost also co-founded two television companies, London Weekend Television and breakfast station TV-am, churning out a prolific amount of programs. Over the years his interviewees included a wide-ranging roster of politicians and celebrities, from Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev to Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto to leading entertainment figures such as Orson Welles and the Beatles. He was the only person to have interviewed the last eight British prime ministers and the seven U.S. presidents in office from 1969 to 2008. Besides the Nixon interviews, one of the more memorable moments included a tense interview with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the sinking of the Argentine warship during the Falklands conflict. "He could be -- and certainly was with me -- both a friend and a fearsome interviewer," Cameron said. In later years Frost kept up his probing questioning of political leaders, although some came to criticize him for being "too nice" to his subjects. Somewhat incongruously, he also hosted a game show called "Through the Keyhole" that spied on the homes of celebrities from 1987 to 2008. "His sense of humor shone through everything he did," Richard Brock, a producer who worked with Frost at Al- Jazeera, told the broadcaster. "He wasn't all heavyweight, political interviews. He really got a kick out of some of the lighter stuff" Frost, who wrote about a dozen books, won numerous awards and was knighted in 1993. Most recently he was hosting programs for Al-Jazeera English, where he had worked since its launch several years ago. As a young man from modest means, Frost was the victim of snobbery by the blue-bloods in Cambridge, which sparked both his ambition and helped him hone the skills that made him almost impossible to dislike. But the biggest laugh that he made have left on those Cambridge snobs, is that this unassuming British version of Dick Cavett left a $200 million estate and became an icon of his generation. "Unless African Americans put together a coherent educational and economic strategy, they risk becoming a permanent underclass within 20 years. Black business people will have to lead; you must build an alternative economic and educational system as soon as you can. For 400 years, we've been in the lowest levels of a real-l(fe Monopoly game. You do not have enough wealth and power to be competitive. And time is running out on you." Dr. Claude Anderson THE FIVE STORY BUILDING PLAN EFTA01133561 First Floor: Economics Second Floor: Politics Third Floor: Law Enforcement, Police Departments, Court and Judicial Systems Media Fifth Floor: Education System "One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap." -Ida B. Wells You can substitute (African American) with Gay, Hispanic, Women, Native Americans, Immigrants, Disabled, Iraqi Veterans and Elderly, and like the Civil Rights Movement in the 195os and 196os taught a whole generation that you can go out and take charge of your own history with these five building blocks are essential for advancement and societal change. ****** Last Monday was Labor Day, which is a holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It is a celebration of the American labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, who organized the first parade in New York City. After the Haymarket Massacre, US President Grover Cleveland feared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the affair. Thus, in 1887, it was established as an official holiday in September to support the Labor Day that the Knights favored. In 1888, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the holiday while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada. Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday; President Grover Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers' Day. All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday. EFTA01133562 To truly celebrate this tradition, I suggest that everyone see the powerful documentary "Inequality for All" which was an unexpected hit at the Sundance film festival earlier this year, arguing that US capitalism has fatally abandoned the middle classes while making the super-rich richer. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, a noted economic expert, is featured in this new documentary. The film looks at the American economy through the lens of widening income inequality —currently at historic highs—and explores the gap's effects on the economy and democracy. "When you're living in it day-to-day, it doesn't hit you with the same force as when you step back and see that this has been growing and widening for a very long time,"Jacob Kornbluth, the movie's director, said on the show. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. Reich has argued in the past for the wage to increase to $9 per hour. Strikes involving thousands of fast-food workers across seven cities launched earlier this week demanding a base wage of $15 per hour and the right to form a union. But there isn't one specific factor to close the gap. Education, structural infrastructure investments, tax reform, and capital markets all contribute to the problem, Reich said. "These structural problems are endemic around the world, but it doesn't mean we've got to throw up our hands and say, 'We can't do anything about them,' "he said on Morning Joe. "If we don't actually get to work dealing with these really savage inequalities, we are going to have an economy that's not working." Infant mortality rates are worse in the United States than in other industrialized countries, and Americans' median wage decreases instead of increases. INEQUALITY FOR ALL Trailer Website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIONaFG2B_kttt=138 Robert Reich, the Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration and the subject of the upcoming documentary "Inequality for All," shares a Labor Day message about how we can do better by workers. In the video, he announces a petition campaign to pressure McDonald's' and Walmart's CEOs to pay their workers a fair wage of $15/hour. I. Living Wage 2. Larger Earn Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.) 3. Universal Affordable Childcare 4. Good Schools and access to College or Technical Schools 5. Universal Affordable Health Insurance 6. Union Rights, so that workers can have a voice at the table and bargaining power EFTA01133563 Synopsis A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, INEQUALITY FOR ALL features Robert Reich —professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member—as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy. The film is an intimate portrait of a man who's overcome a great deal of personal adversity and whose lifelong goal remains protecting those who are unable to protect themselves. Through his singular perspective, Reich explains how the massive consolidation of wealth by a precious few threatens the viability of the American workforce and the foundation of democracy itself. In this INCONVENIENT TRUTH for the economy, Reich uses humor and a wide array of facts to explain how the issue of economic inequality affects each and every one of us. BY THE WAY: The United States is the only developed country in the world without a single legally required paid vacation day or holiday. By law, every country in the European Union has at least four work weeks of paid vacation, with Austria and Portugal workers receiving 35 (22 vacations and 13 paid holiday days a year). At just 4.5% in 2012, Austria had a lower unemployment rate than any other country in the eurozone. Possibly helping to keep unemployment so low, Austria has a long-standing apprenticeship program that helps find employment for much of the country's youngest workers, although the popularity of the program has faded in recent decades. ****** As a result of my researching the origin of Labor Day and income inequality, I starting looking at how Workers in the U.S. compared with their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere around the world. Of any industrialized nations, U.S. workers ranked #7 as the hardest workers, compared to the average workers of #1 Mexico, who work 519 more hours per year and earn less than a fifth of their pay. Still four out of five American employees work at least 35 hours a week, and the country is the only developed nation not to guarantee workers a right to some vacation time each year. And unlike most European countries, U.S. labor laws also don't guarantee workers access to paid sick leave or maternity leave. Finally workers in the mining and logging industry tend to work the longest hours, averaging 44 hours a week. On top of this, a new survey reveals that nearly all employed Americans -91 percent—do work-related tasks during their personal time. And U.S. workers are much more likely to work longer hours during personal time than counter-parts in Australia and Great Britain, according to the Harris Interactive survey sponsored by social business solutions provider Jive Software. A total of 37 percent of employed Americans work to or more hours per week during their supposed personal time, compared with 27 percent of Australians and 18 percent of British workers, according to the survey of 2,034 workers. However, around 90 percent of all Aussies and Brits reported doing some work in their personal time, albeit to a lesser degree than U.S. workers. Half of all American and Aussie workers said they do some work while on vacation, while just 34 percent of British workers do. About 14 percent of workers in all three countries reported they do not take vacations at all. Some 63 percent of Americans said they would spend more time with family and friends if they had to more hours a week, while 43 percent said they'd use that time to exercise. Things are not always as they seem. Conventional wisdom would dictate that Germany has the hardest workers due to their booming manufacturing industry and economic growth. Not all statistics appear in Germany's favor though. It turns out that Greeks work the most hours out of all the European countries, and Germany doesn't even crack the top to. In fact, Germany ranks second behind only the Netherlands in least hours worked. BBC News put together this table of the hardest and most productive workers, and the other end of the scale. EFTA01133564 Europe's top 10 and bottom 10 Most hours worked Most productive Fewest hours worked Least productive 1 Greece Luxembourg Netherlands Poland 2 Hungary Norway Germany Hungary 3 Poland Ireland Norway Turkey 4 Estonia Belgium France Estonia 5 Turkey Netherlands Denmark Czech Rep 6 Czech Rep France Ireland Portugal 7 Italy Germany Belgium Slovakia 8 Slovakia Denmark Austria Greece 9 Portugal Sweden Luxembourg Slovenia 10 Iceland Austria Sweden Iceland The UK ranks 14th both in terms of hours worked and in terms of productivity Source: OECD So is this table indicative of the efforts exerted in European countries? Not exactly. Greece contains many workers who are self-employed fanners and are not taken into account for these statistics. Farmers generally work very long hours and if included would drive up the average. Another reason is that part-time workers are included here, and Germany has many people who are in the labor force but only employed part-time. This brings down their average number of hours worked. Americans work an average of 38 hours a week, even after factoring in part-time jobs. While the Dutch have the shortest work week of any industrialized nations — averaging 29 hours a week. Dutch laws promote a work-life balance and protect part-time workers. All workers there are entitled to fully paid vacation days, maternity and paternity leave. A law passed in 2000 also gives workers the right to reduce their hours to a part-time schedule, while keeping their job, hourly pay, health care and pro- rated benefits. To my surprise the average hours per week in Germany is 35, as part-time work is becoming increasingly common. Germany has had work-sharing programs in place for decades, but made a special push amid the global economic crisis to persuade more employers to reduce hours, as an alternative to laying off workers. As part of the policy, known as Kurzarbeit in German, the government partially reimburses workers for their lost wages. Work sharing is partly credited with saving jobs and lowering the country's unemployment rate. Germany's unemployment was recently around 5%, whereas it remains above 7% in the United States. Also to my surprise is that workers in Italy work on average 36 hours per week and like Germany the Italian government has encouraged work-sharing for decades. Meanwhile, the maximum work week for full-time employees is 4o hours, and overtime is limited to 8 hours on top of that. Employers can EFTA01133565 face fines if workers exceed that amount. Workers are also entitled to at least four weeks of paid vacation each year. ******* The 5 most competitive countries in the world The U.S. has regained its standing as the world's most competitive country, according to the latest rankings from Swiss business school IMD. 1. UNITED STATES The United States has regained top billing in the IMD world competitiveness rankings, after losing out in 2012 to Hong Kong. This year's strong performance was attributed to a rebounding financial sector, a wave of innovation and an improved corporate outlook. According to business executives surveyed by IMD, doing business in America is an attractive proposition due to the dynamism of the economy, access to a skilled workforce, easy financing and a strong research and development culture. There are, however, plenty of areas for improvement. Executives panned the U.S. tax code, and "competency of government" ranked very low on a list of factors that are important to business. 2. SWITZERLAND Switzerland, ranked third last year, is prized for its policy stability and predictability. Along with Sweden and Germany, IMD says that Switzerland is part of a group of European powerhouses that rely on diversified, export-driven economies and fiscal discipline to gain an edge. Surveyed executives were less enthusiastic about cost competitiveness, the quality of corporate governance and the competency of government. 3. HONG KONG Formerly top-ranked Hong Kong has fallen to third place this year. But the financial and shipping hub still has plenty of attractive features. Survey respondents said the city's low taxes are a big draw, as is the former British colony's effective legal environment. But the city got poor marks for research and development, labor relations and policy stability. 4. SWEDEN Sweden has risen one spot in the rankings to claim 4th place. While competitiveness across Europe is declining, this Scandinavian country was called a "shining success" by Professor Stephane Garelli, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center. EFTA01133566 According to IMD's survey of business leaders, the country is attractive because of its political stability, skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure and effective legal environment. But the country's tax regime is considered a clear weakness. 5. SINGAPORE Singapore, second in Asia only to Hong Kong, is a city-state that owes much of its business activity to effective governance. The four top reasons to do business in Singapore? According to survey respondents, they are government competency, reliable infrastructure, an effective legal environment and policy stability. According to IMD, Singapore can improve its competitiveness by strengthening assistance to people on low and middle-incomes, as well as helping firms to keep cost pressures under control. ****** Rachel Maddow To Iraq War Architects: 'You Can Go Now' (VIDEO) Web-link: http://www.huffingtonpost.corn/2013/09/05/rachel-maddow-syria-iraq-war- architectsn3872722.html Last Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow hammered the former Bush administration officials who have sounded off on Syria in recent days. The MSNBC host said that she was "heartened" by the public debate about whether the U.S. should intervene in Syria, but noted that Iraq provided strong reason to not trust the White House's call for military action. "The Bush White House made a case for war that was not true... they lied our country into war," she said. She said that was exactly why °barna is having a hard time making his case on Syria: "because of the way the other guys broke that argument by misusing it, by lying when they made it" EFTA01133567 Maddow turned her attention to cable news, where she said that Donald Rumsfeld and other former Bush administration officials were staging a "real time reunion" to weigh in on Syria. After saying that FEMA chief Michael Brown is not asked to comment on hurricanes and Lance Armstrong is not asked to comment on steroid use, Maddow continued: "If you're an architect or a conspirator or one of the primary actors in the Iraq War—in arguably the grandest and most craven foreign policy disaster in American history, your opinion is no longer required on matters of war and peace. Please enjoy painting portraits of dogs or something. Painting portraits of yourself in the bathroom, trying to get clean. Please enjoy the loving comfort of your family and loved ones, and your god. But we as a country never ever need to hear from you about war, ever again. You can go now." I so agree with Rachel Maddow. One of the reasons why we have lost the trust of our government is because of hypocrites like Rumsfeld and Cheney who obfuscated the truth, distorted evidence and manipulated the intelligence organizations, other government officials, public, press and the international community into supporting their efforts to start a war against Iraq, a country whom had not attacked or even threaten us. And unlike Rand Paul who I truly believe is a serious isolationist, I call "out" hypocrites like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz whose primary opposition to attacking Syria, is because it was proposed by President Obama and hopefully they will be able to use it in their 2016 Presidential election bid. I am torn in my own support for the US attacking Syria, based on Assad's regime using chemical weapons "WMDs"that killed approximately a thousand people, when more than 100,000 have been killed during this civil war and more than 1 million refugees have fled the country -- especially when it made no sense, as the government military were on the verge of destroying the rebel forces. — But then dictators often over-play their hands, example; Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's attacking Russia, both blunders, creating two-flank wars. When making decisions like this, I often urge leaders to ask themselves, "what would Nelson Mandela do?" And somehow when I pose this same moral question, my feeling is that his decision wouldn't be a military solution. Still, if given the current situation, I support attacking and destroying Assad's command & control centers, chemical weapons facilities, military air bases and other strategic targets, so that Assad and others know that there is a price that that will be extracted for any systematic killing by anyone, government or rebels. ******* War is ugly. People who kill or being threaten by death often are killers. War is not humane. This past week the New York Times showed pictures of rebels executing a group of unarmed men whom they said were government soldiers. Currently in Syria there are a number of different factions, you have hard line Islamic fighters, ethnic fighters, secular fights, former loyalist who have joined the rebel efforts to overthrow the Assad Regime and then there are the crazies, who no matter what faction prevails will find a reason to continue fighting, as both power and killing can become intoxicating, so it will be difficult for a number of current warlords (rebels) to give up their arms and relinquish power. Syria is in the middle of a civil war and there are atrocities on all sides. So to believe that we can do anything surgical or easy without being drawn into an untenable situation, where our friends today may end up becoming our foes tomorrow is naive. I respect our President but I think that he made a serious mistake supporting a "red-line" in an effort to win re-election last year. Now having crossing the Rubicon of the red-line, President Obama has to do something and it looks like it will be military. At the same time, John McCain forced language into the Senate Resolution (Section 5) which is so vague that it gives the US latitude to do whatever it wants to affect regime change — which is the ultimate goal for McCain and other hawks, even though they have no solution for stopping the conflict between the rebel factions, who will then fight each other for power and supremacy, after the Assad regime is ousted. Web-link: http://nyti.s/_sr7Q1d7p1 EFTA01133568 If things aren't confusing enough on Thursday, the New York Times published an article by C.J. Chivers titled — Brutality of Syrian Rebels Posing Dilemma in West, while simultaneously releasing a video of Syrian rebels standing over a group of seven prisoners whose faces pressed in the dirt, and red marks on their back as their rebel commander (Abdul Samad Issa, 37) recited a bitter revolutionary poem. The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as "the Uncle," fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner's head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet. This scene, documented in a video smuggled out of Syria a few days ago by a former rebel who grew disgusted by the killings, offers a dark insight into how many rebels have adopted some of the same brutal and ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow. As the United States debates whether to support the Obama administration's proposal that Syrian forces should be attacked for using chemical weapons against civilians, this video, shot in the spring of 2012, joins a growing body of evidence of an increasingly criminal environment populated by gangs of highwaymen, kidnappers and killers. The video also offers a reminder of the foreign policy puzzle the United States faces in finding rebel allies as some members of Congress, including Senator John McCain, press for more robust military support for the opposition. In the more than two years this civil war has carried on, a large part of the Syrian opposition has formed a loose command structure that has found support from several Arab nations, and, to a more limited degree, the West. Other elements of the opposition have assumed an extremist cast, and openly allied with Al Qaeda. Across much of Syria, where rebels with Western support live and fight, areas outside of government influence have evolved into a complex guerrilla and criminal landscape. That has raised the prospect that American military action could inadvertently strengthen Islamic extremists and criminals. Mr. Issa's father was opposed to President Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria's current president . He disappeared in 1982, according to Mr. Issa's accounts. Mr. Issa, the aide said, believes his father was killed during a 27-day government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that year, known as the Hama massacre. By the time he was a young man, Mr. Issa was vocally anti-government and was arrested and imprisoned twice for a total of nine months, the aide said. When the uprising against Bashar al-Assad started two and a half years ago, the family saw it as a means to try to settle old scores. At first, people who know Mr. Issa said, he was a protester, and then he led fighters in small skirmishes. By last year he was running a training camp in the highlands near Turkey. By this year, EFTA01133569 the aide said, he was gathering weapons from relatives and Arab businessmen he knew from his work as a trader and, at least once, from the Western-supported Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, the rebel forces. By the spring, his group had taken a resonant name: Jund al-Sham, which it shares with three international terrorist groups, and another group in Syria. Mr. Issa's former aide and two other men who have met or investigated him said he appears to assume identities of convenience. But, they said, one of his tactics has been to promise to his fighters what he calls "the extermination" of Alawites — the minority Islamic sect to which the Assad family belongs, and which Mr. Issa blames for Syria's suffering. This sentiment may have driven Mr. Issa's decision to execute his prisoners in the video, his former aide said. The soldiers had been captured when Mr. Issa's fighters overran a government checkpoint north of Idlib in March. Mr. Issa declared them all criminals, he said, and a revolutionary trial was held. They were found guilty. Mr. Issa, the former aide said, then arranged for their execution to be videotaped in April so he could show his work against Mr. Assad and his military to donors, and seek more financing. The video ends abruptly after his fighters dump the soldiers' broken bodies into a well. One of the participants, a young man wearing a purple fleece jacket, looks into the camera and smiles. There has been much concern among American officials, focused on two groups that acknowledge ties to Al Qaeda. These groups — the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — have attracted foreign jihadis, used terrorist tactics and vowed to create a society in Syria ruled by their severe interpretation of Islamic law. They have established a firm presence in parts of Aleppo and Idlib Provinces and in the northern provincial capital of Raqqa and in Deir al-Zour, to the east on the Iraqi border. While the jihadis claim to be superior fighters, and have collaborated with secular Syrian rebels, some analysts and diplomats also note that they can appear less focused on toppling President Bashar al- Assad. Instead, they said, they focus more on establishing a zone of influence spanning Iraq's Anbar Province and the desert eastern areas of Syria, and eventually establishing an Islamic territory under their administration. Other areas are under more secular control, including the suburbs of Damascus. In East Ghouta, for example, the suburbs east of the capital where the chemical attack took place, jihadis are not dominant, according to people who live and work there. And while the United States has said it seeks policies that would strengthen secular rebels and isolate extremists, the dynamic on the ground, as seen in the execution video from Idlib and in a spate of other documented crimes, is evidence that things are more complicated than a contest between secular and religious groups and regime change. A couple of days ago I read an op-ed in The Huffington Post by Gavin de Becker — Fooling Ourselves Into War — that made me again question my support for the US attacking Syria, based on its use of chemical weapons (sarin gas), which coined as a WMD ("Weapons of Mass Destruction') under the Bush Administration. Without a doubt chemical weapons cause unneeded suffering, but so are bullets and bombs. Much reference is being made to the various Geneva Conventions and their prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. Treaties have identified and carved out some forms of killing as distinct from others, taking the position that it makes a profound difference whether people die from bullets, bombs, chemicals, or fire. The distinction most frequently cited is that chemical weapons are indiscriminate. Observers all over Iraq and Afghanistan would say the exact same thing about bombs and missiles, and particularly cluster bombs, delayed-action cluster bombs, and all the "bomblets" that didn't explode until a curious child picked up one of the many small silver orbs found on the ground.' Our best intentions aside, these results are indiscriminate. Another fair objection to chemical weapons is that they cause unneeded suffering, and we can all of course agree that chemical weapons are inhumane, but so are bullets and bombs. Either way, it's all about tissue damage. Between Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, hundreds of thousands of people have suffered and then died from accelerated metal (bullets, shrapnel), and from accelerated gasses (bombs, blast, heat, fire). Chemical weapons happen to damage tissue another way, but it's all about tissue EFTA01133570 damage nonetheless. Chemical weapons conjure (and some can cause) gasping, choking, dying. Bullets, bombs, and white phosphorous often cause the exact same experiences, and the exact same results. The act of identifying one type of lethal weapon as being unacceptable carries with it the implicit endorsement of the other lethal weapons as acceptable. Visible bleeding is hardly the mark of moral or humane killing, and from a moral point of view, is the use of chemical weapons worse than killing thousands of the wrong people some other way? Nowadays, we call those deaths collateral damage, and explain them as a necessary evil. It's a clever phrase, necessary evil, one that acknowledges the pure wrongness of an act, immediately made acceptable by the circular logic that is necessary. Let's be honest here, the U.S. has itself been a persistent presence in the history of alleged war crimes, and as with all such allegations, there are accusers and defenders, evidence and witnesses, denials and admissions (more denials than admissions, perhaps naturally). There are famous examples, such as the intentional mass killing of civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the intentional mass immolation and asphyxiation of civilians during the firebombing of Tokyo and Dresden, the use of napalm, and the more recent abuse and killing of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. There are also less widely-known examples, such as our current use of depleted uranium ammunition, which most countries of the world perceive to be a violation of international prohibitions on "poison or poisoned weapons." Not surprisingly, there are countries that defend our use of depleted uranium ammunition (four of them) -- and countries that oppose it (155 of them), and without trying to prove either case, it's fair to conclude that something the U.S. and its allies use in battle isn't healthy for the civilians who are fortunate enough to survive the intended consequence of contact with munitions. The use of depleted uranium in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 by American forces led to a huge increase in deformities, cancers and other serious health problems in the local population.... Again.... Collateral Damage.... Drawing an imaginary line in the sand, as the pretext of attacking government forces in Syria, without a defined objective other than regime change is just plain stupid. As Gavin de Becker pointed out in his article, "revolutions succeed when enough of a population has the will to make them succeed. Egypt and Tunisia are both examples in which the relatively unarmed public had the will and the numbers to force regime change. The public wish for change was overwhelmingly clear and widespread (in Tunisia, for example, 95% of the country's 8000 lawyers went on strike as a demonstration against the government). In both countries, the governments resisted, there were demonstrations, beatings, tear gas, shootings -- and yet regime change happened nonetheless." And yes chemical weapons are repugnant, but so are almost all conventional weapons too. It's tragic when civilians are killed by their own countrymen. It's tragic when foreign civilians are killed by our countrymen. It's tragic when our soldiers are killed. It's tragic when their soldiers are killed. But none of those tragedies will be influenced by the political posturing this week. Hence we are fooling ourselves into another war, instead of doing everything that we can to come up with a diplomatic solution, or at least a solution where U.S. finger prints are not on the trigger. The conflict in Syria is a civil war. And trying to weaken one side in favor of others, without knowing how the scenario will eventually play out, is really stupid.... I once asked a former head of a major intelligence organization, why one government attached another, his response was because it helped both countries to obfuscate their domestic problems, by playing the morality and patriotism cards. We can see this same scenario being played out today, as Republicans are trying to box the President into a corner, whatever he does. And as a result, the President has to attack Assad's forces to demonstrate his strength internationally, if he wants both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to take his domestic programs seriously. Whether it is an illusion or distraction, the debate today about chemical weapons, does not speak to the core issues that Syria is in a civil war and when the Assad regime is toppled, the conflict will continue until one of the factions prevail. And therefore the debate today should be about seeking a solution to this eventual outcome. • r .ir TT 4•M....., TT • ••••••• T.& ••• fl 411 EFTA01133571 frith Wht:Ic'S KLADIINU As Arianna Huffington wrote — This week, the White House sought to thrust the nation into military action in the Middle East, claiming that its "high confidence" in our intelligence obviated the need to allow MI. inspectors to complete their work. Sound familiar? It's like a bad summer sequel, with many of the same actors. But like the original, there are many holes in the plot. If "there is no action," the president proclaimed, "that is a danger to our national security." But he didn't say how. Also unexplained: What happens after we strike? Since the decision has been made not to take out Assad, how exactly are we "holding him accountable"? By killing innocent people who had nothing to do with the attack? That actually does affect our security. This time, however, the Coalition of the Unwilling -- one that goes beyond left vs. right — is much larger. Urging action, John Kerry cautioned: "It is directly related to our credibility." On that he is loo percent right. Please feel free to read the attached articles — Experts Fear That U.S. Plan to Strike Syria Overlooks Risks in the New York Times and Experts to Obama: Here Is What to Do in Syria, which was in The Weekly Standard. Mindful of a war weary American public and without the support of America's closest ally the British, Arab League and the United Nations, last week both President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry engaged but Congress and the American people to get their support and approval. What is interesting is seeing Conservatives like Bill Kristol and Liberals which include Secretary of State John Kerry both supporting the use of force against the Assad regime. Bill }Cristo], "It may be that the president believes he ought to get congressional approval before acting against Assad. There is merit to this view. The solution is to ask Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Harry Reid to call the House and Senate back to Washington as soon as possible. Aft!! debate in Congress would be appropriate and desirable. It would focus the American people on what is at stake, instead of leaving the public a bystander watching media commentary on the administration's rhetorical zigs and political zags. We suspect at the end of the day Congress would pass legislation authorizing the use of military force against the Assad regime." Kristol continues: Now those of us who believe that the U.S. must act, and must act decisively, in Syria and beyond, have a two-fold task. We need to persuade the Congress and the country to pass a resolution authorizing the use of force; and we need to persuade the administration (against its predilections) to take strong and decisive action. Both may be difficult. But, as Churchill once remarked, "difficulties mastered are opportunities won." The problem with this is that engaging into the civil war in Syria is a no-win situation for the President, America or the West, as the risks far outweigh any possible outcome, including regime change, which most Middle East experts will end in another civil wars when the different factions now fighting Assad, begin fighting each other in a power grab. And even if regime change ended up in democracy, what kind of democracy and government would form. Will it be corrupt, like in Afghanistan or a theocracy or with a leadership close to our enemies in al Qaeda and Iran. The only other good news this past week for the President was when French President Francois Hollande said that he wants a 'proportional and firm action' and last Sunday, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal called on the international community to take action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, giving a boost to President Barack Obama's goal of assembling a multinational coalition to intervene in the conflict. Al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia would back a U.S. strike on Syrian government targets, provided the military intervention was "the will of the Syrian people." Think about it, the Royal Family is a dictatorship run by a family, and they are supporting the attach against Assad.... These types of situations create strange and interesting bedfellows... And the Syrian conflict is no different. EFTA01133572 Also last week a big group of foreign policy experts, from across the ideological spectrum, called on President Obama to impose "meaningful consequences on the Assad regime" for their use of chemical weapons. "At a minimum, the United States, along with willing allies and partners, should use standoff weapons and airpower to target the Syrian dictatorship's military units that were involved in the recent large-scale use of chemical weapons. It should also provide vetted moderate elements of Syria's armed opposition with the military support required to identify and strike regime units armed with chemical weapons," the experts write. "Moreover, the United States and other willing nations should consider direct military strikes against the pillars of the Assad regime. The objectives should be not only to ensure that Assad's chemical weapons no longer threaten America, our allies in the region or the Syrian people, but also to deter or destroy the Assad regime's airpower and other conventional military means of commit