black and white thinking

Cap'n Kev is an Aussie. Australia has many fine people, and some of them are liberal thinkers. On the other hand, when white South Africa came to an end, the role of world capital of white supremacism fell to Australia, where many Aborigines live in bantustans in poverty, drunkenness and disease.

Albert leaked me a copy of his email correspondence with Cap'n Kev:

Kev: Did you see that TV show that said there was a link between race and intelligence?

Albert: What's the punch line? ;)

Kev: It looks at IQ studies over many years that say the same thing; blacks are dull, east asians are smart. We're somewhere in the middle.

Albert: I reckon IQ is a social concept, not a scientific quantity like speed or weight. I mean IQ is by definition a measure of those human qualities that allow people to function especially well in modern western society.

If the world had developed differently, perhaps with a hotter climate, and Australian Aboriginals had survived best and dominated the world, their culture might measure people using something called perhaps AQ, reflecting people's abilities in tracking, bush tucker, etc. Whiteys might be down at the bottom of that scale.

Thank goodness things didn't pan out that way, or we would be surviving on reservations as no-hopers, with no interests except drugs, coffee, horse racing and slot machines.

Today's photo reflects the infinite number of possible worlds, and the current perfect Albert.

don't mention the thingy

I gave up tea again on Friday. As a result the weekend walk was pathetic. Hard going all the way, and none of it pleasurable. What a difference a tea makes.

Tomorrow Albert gets his botanic garden inspected, so today it's the great hosing out.

Never willing to be upstaged, his cellmate has decided to take to her sickbed. She's supposed to be the driver tomorrow.

Please note, this post was written without the aid of any mention of toilets.

the empire strikes out

Last week, it took the Ph.D. of the ghastly Condy to warn the world that stabilising Iraq will be a lengthy process. And she's one of the smart ones! If it wasn't so tragic it would be funny.

The Aussie writer Larry Buttrose reckons

US forces are beaten ... by an enemy without fear or moral scruples, and by their own foolish commander-in-chief who dispatched them to a war that lacked any clear goal and was always unwinnable. They have been betrayed by a mixture of gullibility, bravado, greed and simple bloody-mindedness. They are spiritually defeated, beaten by men who possess little more than spirit. ... The cost of keeping them there is astronomical, but the final cost item ... is that while America has been making war, its real opponent, China, has been making money.

In Iraq, we may well be witnessing the eclipse of the US as the world's leading power. Lose, draw, stalemate in Iraq - especially lose, the most likely outcome - the US will never be the same. Once beaten, its spirit will not recover, and it will go the way of Egypt, Athens, Rome, the Ottomans and Britons.

Even before losing this war, America was said to be experiencing imperial overstretch: the total of the United States's global interests and obligations is nowadays far too large for the country to be able to defend them all simultaneously.

Could any blogvisitors who have studied American economic history comment?

Buttrose adds that the U.S.

... is being surpassed by peaceful, resourceful China, clever China, ruthless China, China one in nationhood and in spirit, a nation of history, of antiquity, which daily grows stronger and ... stands at the brink of economic triumph over the First World's first nation, the US.

The years 2001-08, September 11 to the Beijing Olympics, have been critical for the US, and may well mark its turning point towards eclipse. They are also the years of the Bush Jr presidency, when George W. made America history.

If you want more evidence, look at Mattel, the world’s largest toy maker, which recalled (allegedly) dangerous lead-painted Chinese-made toys, but today decided to apologize formally to China.

For an opposing view, see e.g. "China's growth is hollow".

Meanwhile, in other news, most world airlines are falling over themselves to equip their planes so that passengers can use their own mobile phones in flight. The world's most popular phone banality - "I'm on the bus" - may be replaced by "I'm on the plane".

The only rational news item is that Led Zep are reforming for one concert in November.

iraq exit strategy alleged

It's not quite true to say that there's no exit strategy for Iraq. It seems there is an exit strategy - it's an entry strategy to Iran. According to Reuters and Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker, a Pentagon panel has been created to plan a bombing attack on Iran that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from George Bush.

It seems the panel initially focused on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change (some people never learn). But the panel has more recently been directed to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq (do these shifting objectives remind you of anything?)

U.S. military and special-operations teams have allegedly already crossed the border from Iraq into Iran in pursuit of Iranian operatives.

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But here's the good news. The Sunday Times says that up to five U.S. generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.

Even Pat Buchanan, the right-wing Christian fundamentalist who regularly stands for U.S. president said last month:

"Bush has no authority – in the Constitution, in the law or in morality – to launch a preemptive war on another nation that has not attacked us."

What kind of a world is it when the generals and extreme right fundamentalists are the voices of reason?

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Incidentally, Buchanan has always been an outspoken critic of the Iraq War, and warned in 2002 that if America launched a war in Iraq, it was their own empire that would end up destroyed.

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Disclaimer - this blog does not necessarily endorse any opinions reported here. New Caledonia is a neutral country (CIA Map).