WTF?! Anti-Violence Campaign Called "Hit The Bitch"

You have to be several varieties of stupid to come up with an anti-violence campaign in which you beat the hell out of a woman until you get the prize: a message telling you you're a "100% idiot". Clearly, somebody neglected to pass that message along to the shitburgers who generated this idea, raised the money for it and then implemented it. These folks get the Dumbasses Of The Year award for this one. Sheesh. Drop them a note and tell them that there might be, you know, a better way to oppose violence against women. Oh, feel free to be rude. (Thanks to Megan H. for pointing this out to me)

Brown's "Afghanization" Another Step Towards Defeat

BRITISH PM GORDON BROWN MADE THE announcement on Monday night that Britain was going to shift away from having a combat role in Afghanistan, starting next year. This is a very big change in attitude and is clearly a response to rising levels of disgust with the conflict in Britain. 100 British soldiers have been killed in the conflict, primarily in Helmand Province. Why is he making this announcement now? There is certainly no chance that the Afghan National Army will be ready to take over fighting by next year.
This announcement, along with President Obama's delay in announcing the expected surge of tens of thousands of US troops, is a response to growing skepticism internationally to the disaster of the AfPak strategy. Obama is facing his own pressure on Afghanistan. The California Democratic Party - the largest party in the largest state - has passed a resolution whose title is "End the US Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan."

The resolution calls for establishing "a timetable for withdrawal of our military personnel" and seeks "an end to the use of mercenary contractors as well as an end to air strikes that cause heavy civilian casualties."

The California Democrats and every pundit on the planet is comparing this moment of decision to the one faced by President Lyndon Johnson when he decided to ramp up the war in Vietnam. It ultimately destroyed his domestic agenda and his presidency. With Pakistan increasingly destabilized and the insurgents controlling most of the country, President Obama could easily make the same mistake and his already shaky support - after so much enthusiasm for his election - will drop through the floor.
Obama's delay and Brown's announcement are thus intended for two audiences - the homefront and for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. They need his regime to show that it is serious about tackling corruption. And Obama needs to demonstrate that he's taking this very seriously. In fact, no doubt he is taking it seriously with both his chief of staff and his vice president opposed to increasing troop numbers. 
However, the problem they face is that no matter what they do now, it is likely just different paths to the same result: defeat. As I reported previously, if the US pulls out any time soon the Afghan Army will likely fracture and collapse in short order. But if the US pours more troops into the country, it will be a temporary surge that will lead to a dramatic rise in the number of body bags coming home and an endless stream of headlines about death in Afghanistan. And it will strain the already strained US Army to the limit. As Dahr Jamail recently reported, soldiers facing court martial for going AWOL are being pressured to accept deployment in return for charges being dropped. In addition, troops with serious health conditions are being sent back, even when doctors diagnose them as "undeployable." This can't go on forever. The best that Obama could do would be to listen to the California Democrats.

War Is Goooood For Business! Discuss

OVER AT THE DUBAI AIR SHOW things were a bit on the "tepid" side for the poor manufacturers of civilian aircraft. They clearly hadn't gotten in on the real action: war. Regional tensions and the threat of war and internal strife kept sales of supersonic death machines rolling along at a brisk pace this year. That's good news for the economy. Not so good for the people who will go hungry because the money for food was spent buying the latest Eurofighter Typhoons and perhaps a batch of F-15s, just to spread the wealth around. According to Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis things could hardly be more frothy:

"With more threats and continued tensions, you will have continued demand for new systems and new capabilities, and that is why we have seen ongoing interest in upgrading and renewing fighter fleets.” 

The Americans meanwhile, thrilled everyone with a 14 minute display of air prowess with their new F22 Raptor. But don't get your fingerprints on that jet, Sheikh, it's not for sale. The Americans were just giving it a display performance to remind you that, well, don't fuck around or they'll incinerate your ass. Well, more likely they'll incinerate your people's asses but that'll make you very, very unpopular at home. Hey, if that's what it takes to protect democracy...

"It is marketing for U.S. equipment, maybe reminding the UAE that there are alternatives to Rafale, but they are also flexing their muscles near Iran."

Which only goes to show you - even death and destruction need a good marketing team to go over well. And it looks like business is booming so if you've just gotten your layoff notice, go into heavy weaponry. It's a definite growth industry!

Nanos Poll: Only Thing Moving Are Liberals...Down

THIS POLL ON THE GLOBE AND MAIL webpage by Nik Nanos demonstrates two things: that the Tories and pretty much every party from the Bloc to the NDP is stuck in aspic in terms of support. Harper can't make the breakthrough he needs to win a majority - not unless the Bloc collapses in Quebec, an unlikely prospect. Or he has a major breakthrough in Ontario, also unlikely.
As part of the same phenomenon the chart shows that no party has caught the imagination of Canadian voters. This ought to be surprising. The recession is a doozy and people are hurting across the country. The Tories are mean, dishonest and incompetent. And yet, the NDP hasn't managed to inspire people beyond their core supporters.
The second thing confirms what I've said previously - that Ignatieff is in free fall and can't inspire anyone anywhere in any way. He has utterly destroyed the good will that was thrown his way after he was selected as Liberal Party leader. And in less than a year. Nice work, Iggy. With the recession continuing to bite deep it's possible that at some point things will break one way or the other. I hope it's to the left, though there is always a danger that without a serious fightback against the effects of the recession that people could turn to the right, towards scapegoating and surrender to the corporate agenda. But I'm certain - as long as Ignatieff is at the helm - there won't be a break towards the Liberals.

Italy's Berlusconi Losing His Marbles

SILVIO BERLUSCONI, THE ULTRA-RIGHT SCUMBAG Premier of Italy, who governs with the support of open fascists, seems to be going off the deep end. At the moment there's a lot of pressure on him with political, personal and legal problems. His parliamentary immunity has been removed, meaning he has to face trial for tax evasion and corruption. His wife is also dumping him and wants a big chunk of his vast empire for her children by him - at present it is his older children by his first marriage who are the powerbrokers. There is speculation that she could ruin him by revealing some of his dirty dealings. And he won't get much sympathy from Italian women, it seems, since his publicly sexist shenanigans have finally pissed off the womenfolk that they've taken up a petition against, him garnering 100,000 signatures in a few days, after he stated that a female political opponent was "more beautiful than intelligent." This is a guy who once suggested that women “cook on Election Day and bring that to the polling station to be examined” rather than express political views. And his overall support has been falling - though it has been so slow that one wonders what is in the Italian drinking water and whether it's been shipped there from Canada or vice versa.
It is, in any case, truly entertaining to see Berlusconi come unhinged with comments like the following:

And this weekend it emerged that Berlusconi has been avoiding his usual Rome residence because he believes he is under threat from al-Qa'ida. "I am very worried," he was quoted as saying in Italy's main daily, Corriere della Sera, and other newspapers on Sunday. "There is someone who wants to blow me up."

Or this wacky broadside attack on Italy's magistrates - that almost led to a strike by the judges - for investigating his dubious business dealings:

"The real Italian anomaly is not Silvio Berlusconi," the premier said on TV. "The Italian anomaly are communist prosecutors and communist judges in Milan who have attacked him since Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and took (political) power away from communists."

Perhaps their suspicions have arisen because of the repeated and widespread links to the mafia that have emerged over the years. Or the fact that billionaire Berlusconi controls 90% of the media, leading Freedom House to downgrade Italy's media to only "partly free" because of his political interference. Perhaps it's his acknowledged use of prostitutes for entertainment at private parties. Whatever it is, this dirtbag has a long history of nastiness and his present conundrum may be the arrival of a perfect storm that damages him fatally. With talk of an election as a result of his difficulties, we can always dream...