Chas Freeman to chair the National Intelligence Council

From Ben Smith's column on Politico. The Weekly Standard panned the appointment, and he apparently made some dubious comments regarding China and Saudi Arabia. TWS blog bemoans "that he actually defends the corrupt Arab states that foment and support terror while at the same time condemning a democratic ally of this country." Saudi Arabia has been an ally to this country longer than Israel, and, as a variety of scholars argue, Saudi sweet crude fueled American hegemony and its authority during the Cold War and even up to today. War in Context has several pieces by Freeman and generally offers positive appraisals.

Politico
The Weekly Standard

The Obama administration has notified Congress that Chas Freeman has been appointed chairman of the National Intelligence Council, demonstrating a willingness to rebuff pro-Israel activists and an embrace of a more realist foreign policy line.

Freeman, who drew fire for defending the Chinese and Saudi governments, doesn't represent the mainstream of the administration. He's also a broadly knowledgeable, polyglot, experienced diplomat with many friends in foreign policy and intelligence circles, including Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.

But his inclusion in an important, low-profile job represents, among other things, the vastly diminished sway of the neocons — long at odds with the professional intelligence community — who launched a concerted, public effort to torpedo the move.

"Ambassador Freeman will be responsible for overseeing the production of National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) and other Intelligence Community analytical products, providing substantive counsel to the DNI and senior policymakers on issues of top national security importance, reaching out to nongovernmental experts in academia and the private sector to broaden the Intelligence Community's perspective, and articulating substantive intelligence priorities and procedures to guide intelligence collection and analysis," says the notification, which lists his qualifications: "Ambassador Freeman brings a diverse background in defense, diplomacy, and intelligence to this position having served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d'Affaires in Bangkok and Beijing, Director of Chinese Affairs at U.S. State Department, and Distinguished Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and the Institute for National Security Studies. He received his J.D. from the Harvard School of Law."

A dynamic face of the New Republican Party

Joe the Plumber is the gift that keeps on giving. He seemingly advocates shooting people who "didn't support our troops," as "they did back in the day." Now, I have no idea who "they" are, or in what day that transpired, but it's certainly not recently. Here's the transcript from Think Progress:

Back in the day, really, when people would talk about our military in a poor way, somebody would shoot ‘em. And there’d be nothing said about that, because they knew it was wrong. You don’t talk about our troops. You support our troops. Especially when our congressmen and senators sit there and say bad things in an ongoing conflict.

Kenneth the Page (Jack McBrayer) responds to Jindal comparisons

David Brooks rips Jindal's speech.

David Brooks' comments on Jindal's response? Ouch. Regarding Jindal's nihilistic (Brooks' term) and arch-conservative view of the stimulus and the future of the GOP: "I think it's insane. I think it's a disaster for the party."

Annie Leibovitz is in deep financially.

According to a story in Monday's NYT, Annie Leibovitz, photographer extraordinaire, borrowed a total of fifteen million recently to cover mortgage and other financial matters. The collateral included standard assets and rights to all of her photographs. The article points out that the lender, Art Capital Group, commonly floats loans to artists, which can snag artists' work. Intriguing piece.

That Old Master? It's at the Pawnshop.

Potassium and diet, and the flu and you.

I'm still in the process of catching up from an incredibly ill spouse and work responsibilities. Today's LAT featured a story extolling the virtues of a diet rich in potassium-based foods to combat sodium and its deleterious effects on one's heart. Eat more bananas, foolios.

The next story comes from today's NYT regarding influenza. Researchers replicated antibodies that protect against numerous strains of influenza. Fascinating stuff.

Movies this weekend

Oliver Stone's W.: We thought this would be fun to watch but were mostly bored. Brolin did an admirable job of depicting Bush's steps to the presidency as well as his continuity of character/personality from Jack Daniels guzzling ne'er-do-well to chief executive. Of Bush's inner circle as president, the only one who comes across in any sort of favorable light is Colin Powell, well-played by Jeffrey Wright. If anyone would make a film relating to George Tenet, my opinion after watching W. is that Bruce McGill is the perfect Tenet.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: I'm a sucker for Michael Cera. Like most, I first noticed Cera as George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. Despite my problems with Juno--namely, I didn't appreciate the dubious portrayal of teen pregnancy--his acting was one of my favorite parts, besides the dialogue. In Nick and Norah's, he plays the awkward, nerdy teen to perfection. I'm not drawn to teen/young adult themed romantic comedies, but I was pleasantly surprised and found it playful and heartwarming.

So it's Binny.

It appears likely that Benjamin Netanyahu will be Israel's next PM. Avigdor Lieberman signaled his support for Binny, which means its unlikely for Tzipi. Really, I don't know that I see much daylight between Binny and Tzipi. I would have preferred Tzipi, but I'm mostly bothered by Lieberman who is a crack-pot. His ascendancy and support for ethnic cleansing, depriving Israeli Arabs of the power to vote, and an ultra-Nationalist/Zionist agenda is a bit unsettling.

Lebanon accepts Russian jets?

Kate's tremendously ill and I've had little time for much else, so it's all milkshakes and rainbows here. I was surprised to read in the LAT that Lebanon accepted the Russian offer for free jets, and I'm embarrassed if this was common knowledge. Here's the minimal amount the story featured:

"A Lebanese military official told The Times last month that Russia has begun training its pilots operate a batch of 10 MIG fighter jets Moscow is donating to Beirut."

The rest of the story discusses Iran, Jordan, and the status of the Gulf States' air forces. Up in the Wild Blue Yonder

The New Deal hurt the country?

An article in today's Politico exposes the Republican/Conservative argument for the nonsense it is. Written by Matthew Dallek, he takes apart conservative author Amity Shlaes's argument that the New Deal retarded growth and damaged the country's free market and liberty ethos. All in all, not a bad read.

What you talking about, Willis?

Octomommy: This is unnatural.

DISTURBING

American nation building in progress.

Arabia Tube posted a video of an American adviser berating Iraqi police. It's some...fun video. Be advised, this is laced with obscenities and features the f bomb in most sentences. I couldn't get the embedding to work properly, so I've linked it.

This guy should work the motivational speaker circuit

What's Castro up to these days?

I don't know if this is a mildly entertaining or serious post. In his weekly column for Granma, the leader of the worker's paradise ponders the pronunciation and origin of Rahm Emanuel's surname. The Trib reporter, Gary Marx, had a similar interaction with Fidel, and it earned him an extra 22 months on the island since his last name was Marx.

Here's how Fidel spends his time (story):

"Where does it come from?" "It appears Spanish, easy to pronounce, but it's not," Castro wrote of the name. "Never in my life have I heard or read about any student or compatriot with that name, among tens of thousands."

Castro oddly cited the similarity of Emanuel with the name of great German philosopher Immanuel Kant and also mentioned the name of a child, Emmanuel, who was born in captivity to a Colombian politician kidnapped by rebels.

You wanna know how it ends? Don't piss of the Jesus.

Here's a Jehovah's Witness cartoon. Convert now or die in your VW beetle, sinners.

Multivitamins? What are they good for? Apparently absolutely nuthin'.

Longitudinal studies on multivitamins are returning empty-handed. The LAT had a similar story that I posted on 12/21. This is from the Huff Post, but that doesn't mean it's quackery. I hope these trials will chip away at the reductive thinking that vitamins are a cure-all.

Huff Post: Multivitamins did Nothing to Prevent Cancer, Heart Disease in Older Women
The findings in the Archives of Internal Medicine

"The largest study ever of multivitamin use in older women found the pills did nothing to prevent common cancers or heart disease. The eight-year study in 161,808 postmenopausal women echoes recent disappointing vitamin studies in men.

Millions of Americans spend billions of dollars on vitamins to boost their health. Research has focused on cancer and heart disease in particular because of evidence that diets full of vitamin-rich foods may protect against those illnesses. But that evidence doesn't necessarily mean pills are a good substitute. [emphasis mine]

The study's lead author, researcher Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, offered this advice: "Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements," Neuhouser said."

A couple of funnies from Overheard in New York

Rockam wahed:
Polish guy: Dude, it smells like a midget's ass over here!
Friend: How do you know what a midget's ass smells like?
Drunk guy: He's Polish! How else would he be able to screw in a lightbulb?

--Williamsburg, Brooklyn

And number 2:
Hipster chick #1: Do you think the hipsters of our generation will have reproductive issues?
Hipster chick #2: What do you mean?
Hipster chick #1: You know, on account of the skinny jeans.

--Olive & Orient

Marc Lynch on George Mitchell

Mark Lynch's recent post at FP is insightful and offers suggestions on how Mitchell should proceed as he shuttles hither and thither. He points out that it's far too early to call Mitchell a failure, but, rather, that Mitchell needs to include destinations for his Middle Eastern spring break trip.

"George Mitchell's Shocking Failure to Bring About Middle Eastern Peace"

Review of Jana Lipman, Guantanamo: A Working-Class History Between Empire and Revolution, 2008

(I wrote this book review nearly a month ago, and I don't have the interest in editing it.)

Jana Lipman. Guantanamo: A Working-Class History Between Empire and Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. If you're curious about my pointless gripes, go to the last two paragraphs.

The welter of recent discussions on Guantanamo Bay and enemy combatants overshadows the long history of the US' presence in Cuba and, in some ways, clouds what Jana Lipman refers to as the base's neocolonial presence. Lipman examines the military installation and its relationship with base workers living in nearby Guantanamo City. She contends that the base's history is inextricable from discussions of labor with Cubans and argues "that the base workers are critical to the evolution of the base" (5). More importantly for me, and something I couldn't agree with more, she comments that "social history is diplomatic history and that local and international histories meet on the ground" (5-6). My work will examine foreign relations history as social history, so her methodological approach intrigues me most.

Lipman blends base workers' oral history, Cuban newspapers, and research in the Cuban archives with traditional American diplomatic and some labor sources. Her reach and ability to weave these fascinating sources is compelling. I may have some issues with the book, but I am impressed with her collection of first-hand accounts and Cuban sources. As one of my advisers asked with amazement when discussing the book during the DH editorial meeting "how did she do that?"

Lipman charts the progression from 1898 to the present in a cogent linear progression. She notes that most histories neglect the base, and, in so doing, ignore the post-1898 story until Castro's seizure of power from Batista and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The base workers navigated difficult straits as they sought to organize as the base's prominence expanded during and after WWII. Work on the base was lucrative and provided security and a comfortable livelihood, but after 1960 working on the base grew difficult as the US and Cuba collided. After 1963, Cuban and American security searches forced workers to strip, walk naked between zones, and suffer other indignities to continue working on the base. Cold War differences boiled over in 1964 and--although some laborers continued their itinerant status--most workers were given the choice of quitting for Cuba or turning their backs on Cuba to labor and live only in the base. Since, various contractors and Caribbean workers, notably Jamaicans, filled the majority of the jobs.

Quite simply, there's a lot to like about this book. Her narrative is fluid, she weaves the sources clearly, and it's an impressive work. I'm curious to see how her book fares in the prize circuit, and I wouldn't be surprised if she wins an AHA or OAH award. At the least, I think the book should be considered for SHAFR's Bernath Prize.

I skimmed the book in a less thorough manner than I should have. So the following questions or problems might have been dealt with in a more convincing manner than I caught. The description of labor at times was a bit thin for my taste. Lipman stresses the international nature of this labor exchange process. At points, however, I'm left wondering if it might be more accurately described as transnational. She treats the issue in the introduction, but I'm not wholly convinced. Similarly, I'm wondering if there is a story of migration and labor in the Caribbean that's absent. That subject is broached as West Indian workers appear early in the book, fades, and then is somewhat reestablished with the introduction of Jamaican workers after '65. Is this a legacy of colonialism or neocolonialism in the region's labor relations and part of a broader story? I wouldn't realistically expect her to issue grandiose claims and stretch herself too thin. Still, I think there are connections she could have drawn.

I prefer not to criticize an author for a book s/he didn't write. As I finished the book, I'm left wondering about neocolonialism and neoliberalism and what Lipman's book tells about those issues. Migration, labor, and capital are tied together in this story and I think it's a marker of a good book to leave one with productive questions.

Chicago's businesses are the motor of, er....innovation?

I think we've all been deep in the throes of passion and one's mind flashes to marital aids. Oh noes, a pet bunny has ravaged your SO's toy beyond any repair. Now it looks like a gnarled finger with second-degree burns!!!

If you're in Chicago, you could ring up the Kinky Llama and they can deliver assorted toys and smut in an hour (in the city) by bike. And the good news, the recession isn't hurting Chicagoans' passion for new objects: the proprietor "said the company has been around for 2 1/2 years and that, despite the recession, he's busier than ever." God Bless America.

Sex Toys in a Jiffy

Jet Blue Pilots Defeat Union Drive

Another example of why unionization has failed the US recently:

"Executives at JetBlue, including its chief executive, David Barger, lobbied pilots over the last few weeks to reject the unionization effort. Executives stressed the need to remain non-union as part of a culture in which employees are considered “crew members,” and encouraged to treat passengers like personal guests."

After a year, the NLRB election was held and during that time the company had ample time to launch an offensive to defeat the union. Of course, you can convince people to support a union in tough economic times if they're lobbied heavily against any such action by their employer. story