We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Although I was always a supporter of the armed liberation of Iraq primarily on the grounds that overthrowing a tyranny is justification in and of itself, I have always been highly sceptical of the ostensible reasons quoted by the US and UK governments.
Nevertheless, I still supported the actions even if the reasons were suspect. Although sometimes a war may amount to the lesser evil smashing the greater evil, that is not reasonable grounds for opposing the overthrow of the greater evil… for example I was quite happy to support the ghastly communist Vietnamese regime’s invasion of Cambodia and their overthrow of the utterly demonic Khmer Rouge regime, so supporting a US/UK ouster of Ba’athist Socialism is a no-brainer.
I am probable-to-puzzled on the WMD issue: I suspect they do indeed exist but I suppose only time will tell. But on the much trumpeted Iraqi secular Ba’athism – Islamic fundamentalist Al Qaeda link however, I have been scornfully dismissive.
It would seem I was quite wrong. It looks like the Saddam Hussain – Osama bin Laden link was indeed true!
To all intents and purposes, the war has been over for a few days now, bar the shouting. Oh sure, incidents like the sabotage of the arms dump earlier today are going to be a problem for quite some time to come, so it is not exactly ‘Miller Time’ just yet, and I fully expect a few ‘messy days’ ahead. The war, however, is over and the police action is beginning.
What I am interested in is, from a purely military point of view, what went right and what went wrong? Which weapons performed as advertised and which did not? Which systems and organisations did better than expected and which did worse? Was ‘shock and awe’ a Terrible Swift Sword or a damp squib… or bit of artful misdirection? Can we start trying to pick through the propaganda and extract the signal from the noise, or is it still too soon?
In short… it is time for those who are interested in such things to start trying to figure out what the text books are going to say about this war in 5 years time. For example, there is some interesting stuff on Intel Dump, such as some discussion of the 11th Aviation Regiment’s repulse near Baghdad. As significant military set backs like that were so rare, the ones that happened will no doubts be analyzed to the point of obsession. Similarly there have been some spectacular images of just how tough the A-10 Warthog proved to be even after a severe pounding.
Hard as nails… the aircraft is pretty tough too
So… who has some good links to reports to contribute? Leave a comment!
I find it fascinating to see which blog posts generate passionate interest and a deluge of comments.
Often it is articles that I expect will shuffle down Samizdata.net’s page largely un-remarked before falling into the archives which turn out to be the ones greeted with clarion calls and angry-villagers-waving-torches, whereas some of what I think are ‘dynamite articles’ generate little more that a subdued murmur and the occasional burp.
Once again Australians are celebrating ANZAC Day. It seems only yesterday I was writing about it here on this blog but another year goes by and yet again, British and Australian soldiers are on Middle Eastern soil together.
I was an occasional reader of American business-technology magazine Red Herring, which has just closed down. They often carried very interesting articles, such as the excellent round up of the state of nanotechnology (by several authors), and a piece on The Company and Society by John Micklethwait (who is indeed a relative of Samizdata.net’s very own Brian Micklethwait) in the final March 2003 print version (hence no links).
However I was only an occasional reader of Red Herring because although its coverage of technology was rather good, I found its neo-conservative acceptance of statist axioms in so many articles tedious, and to be honest I am not all that interested in the details of how corporate America finesses OSHA and tax regulations in order to function, or how they get their snouts in the public trough for R&D money.
Likewise I found my eyes rolling back when I read remarks from Editor-in-Chief Tony Perkins like…
We wish the Bush administration luck in trying to change the spending culture in Washington, D.C.. State governments must also learn how to do more with less.
…because there, oh so succinctly, is why I regard neo-conservatism as something which completely misses the point. The principle problem with government is not that it takes lots of other people’s money… no… that is just a consequence of what is wrong. The root problem is that government does things it has no business legitimately doing at any cost to taxpayers.
We do not need the state to do more with less, we need it to do less with less.
 Cry “Blog for Harry! England and St George!”.
(with apologies to William Shakespeare)
I hope to see many of the Samizdatistas at the St. George’s Day party tonight on the Thames. If anyone spectacularly misbehaves, or turns up looking particularly hot in a little black dress (no, not you David), I will try to get incriminating photos posted as soon as possible.
For those interested in royal genealogy, you could do worse that check out this scholarly work from a sober blogger who is destined for greater things. This chap could well be the next David Starkey.
Blogger Sina Motallebi has been arrested by Iranian authorities for the ‘crime’ of giving interviews to Persian language radio stations outside Iran and for his blogging (in Farsi).
I suspect giving his plight as much publicity as possible may give the notoriously intemperate Iranian security services at least some motivation to play it cool if they think the spotlight of world opinion is on them.
It is a good thing we in the west have freedom of the press and internet, eh? No way would such heavy handed tactics be tolerated in somewhere like the USA, right? Right?
I was going to churn out another paean to blowing up tyrants just to cement my credentials as a dangerous heretic in certain libertarian circles, when macho testosterone crazed samizdatista extraordinare, Gabriel Syme burst in though a window and seized my keyboard, compelling me to ‘write something different’ instead. As one look at Gabriel’s bloodshot eyes made it clear that he has been mainlining granulated Hunter S. Thompson books, I though it prudent to play along, humour him and not make any sudden moves.
Seeing as Brian felt the need to link to a song on the best bonkers site on the internet, I feel I must link to this treasure on the same site as it was pointed out to me by the inimitable Syme.
Now as soon as he stops fiddling with that large Nepalese knife I keep on the wall, I will try and slip out unnoticed and contact my Samoan lawyer for advise.
That the Russians should be such buffoons by backing Ba’athist Iraq long after it became clear they were going to suffer the full weight of an Anglo-American attack is remarkable. That the Germans should have done so is nothing less than astonishing.
Just as in the Falklands War, when Britain’s ‘ally’ France did not withdraw military assistance from Argentina until it no longer actually mattered, we have seen the European Union’s two most influential nations, France and now Germany, actively collaborating with national socialist enemies of Britain overseas.
Tony Blair has just lead Britain into a spectacularly successful war, but at a cost in British blood and treasure. Will even this revelation get Tony Blair to finally see the €uro-fedarists for what they are? Are these really the people he wants to bind the future of Britain to?
Wake up!!!
And she is in need of your assistance. Psychotic ex-boyfriend. Restraining order about to expire. Needs to move. Pronto. Go here to help out.
Blogatrix in need of assistance… its a Blog-eat-Blog world out there.
The United Methodist Church are calling on Methodist George W. Bush to repent for overthrowing Saddam Hussain’s regime in Iraq. He is enjoined to:
…repent from domestic and foreign policies that are incompatible with the teaching and example of Christ.
Ah yes… the eleventh commandment… “Thou shalt not overthrow tyranny but shall instead give aid and succour to murderers and rapists”. Oops. Sorry. I guess silly ol’ Dubya was reading the abridged version of the Bible.
(Link via Joshua Claybourn)
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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