Mark Bossingham

The sky is falling

ON THIS day in history, July 22, 2003, Saddam's two son's and his grandson and apparent heir Mustapha, 14, were killed in a firefight with U.S. troops in Mosul. U.S. troops had moved into the country as a liberating force on March 19, 2003.
    Three and a half years down the road how do things look? Iraq is no longer a threat to anyone. Will the country break along religious divides? I don't know. Is there a fifth column in the United States doing more damage to the war effort than the insurgents? Yes. Can they force GW Bush to pull troops out before time? No.
    Crucially, does any of this matter? While losing Iraq would be a calamity, there is even more at stake now. Usually the arc of history is only visible in hindsight.
    Today, the vapor trail is in the sky, obvious to all those that have the courage to look. During the Cold War, everyone saw the lift off, but the ICBM simply kept going straight up. It never acquired a target and thus a predictable trajectory. Eventually it simply ran out fuel.
    Not so today. To beat this metaphor into submission, we have seen the lift off, the boost phase and now, while the precise target and resulting damage is still beyond our predictive vision, the trajectory is clear.
    The only question now is when it lands. Diplomacy, "peace" movements--these are simply activities to make us less afraid and to stall decisive action. It doesn't matter if you are a head-in-the-sand liberal, an isolationist, or a nuke 'em all conservative. All your shouting and arguing won't change a thing. The barbarians really are at the gate and the sky really is falling. God help us all.

UPDATE – Crazy Noise

BETTER LATE than never. Chapter 17 of the best novel ever written on Bubble-economy Japan is now up and available HERE. I am hoping that due to my tardiness millions of you went out and purchased the book on your own. However, my stats counter doesn't seem to bear out that premise. But you can, you know. Click somewhere on the left column. There are also now used volumes available on Amazon both in the United States and Japan. Happy reading!

House cleaning

AGES SINCE my last post. Sitting here with a cold. I finished up my commentary on the lamentable World Cup and it was published in the sports section of the International Herald Tribune/ Asahi. If interested you can view it here.
     If you are a fan of Portugal or Italy, it might be best to skip the article. I wasn't too thrilled with the performance of either team. Also, that link will go dark eventually.

Kill or be killed

FOR THOSE of you that don't think we are at war because 1) the war hasn't come to your street and your family; and because others with more courage that you are keeping it that way, here is a small reminder: the face of evil.