Pakistan, War, and Obama's 100 Days

A short post today, as we're a bit pressed for time. We got word of an apartment which needed cleaning out, and boy does it ever. Apparently the former tenant possessed several cats and dogs... and a goat. No, we do not jest, a goat. Still, free stuff is free stuff; we don't call ourself a frugal Scotsman for no reason.

Within the first one hundred days of U.S. President Barack Obama's term, he's behaved more or less as we expected. He's been busy, busy, busy: cutting deals with the super-huge banks, handing blank cheques over to American International Group, nationalising automobile manufacturers... and otherwise cementing our opinion that he is the Herbert Hoover of the 2007 Depression. A quick read even of President Hoover's wikipedia page shows eerie similarities between policies of these two Administrations.

But the one thing that President Obama hasn't done, which we were (and are) expecting him to do is to start a new war. Quite the contrary, he seems to be actually ending the occupation of Iraq! However, he has ordered a 'surge' in Afghanistan, which will probably end badly. Afghanistan is the meat-grinder of the world, where over-confident militaries are broken, defeated, and taught some humility in the process.

The only place which might be worse to invade than Afghanistan is probably Pakistan... and we have the sneaking suspicion that the U.S. may be 'invited' in by the Pakistani government to help 'secure' the nation against 'the Terrorists.' The rumblings for such a thing are already evident, at least to us, in articles like this one from the Associated Press. We suggest keeping an eye on the situation, as it could become very exciting very quickly if the U.S. decides that Pakistan needs 'assistance.'

Don't Buy a New World Map Anytime Soon

Due to circumstances beyond our control (i.e. we screwed up), we regrettably did not post yesterday. Rest assured that those responsible for this travesty have had their dessert privileges revoked.

With the increasing potency of the 2007 Depression shaking the starch out of the world economy, a surprising amount of dirt is presenting itself. Take Bernard Madoff, whose nimble fingers seems to have found every pie. But in this game of musical chairs, it won't be just individuals and organisations which end up with no chair beneath their tush. With the global implications of this depression, we expect some nations will be among those looking stupid when the music stops.

Take the obvious, our favourite whipping-boy for all things hyperinflationary: Zimbabwe. With several name-changes behind it in the recent past, this much-embargoed country may be due for another. There are also the faux nations of Somalia and Yemen, where the 'official' government draws lines on a map of where they'd like their sphere of influence to be.

However, the bigger threats, at least according to the United States military, are Pakistan and Mexico. Neither nations are the paragons of stability, as both are wraked with violent resistance against the central government: Pakistan is fighting 'The Terrorist'; Mexico has lost chunks of Chiapas to the Zapatistas. Mexico is also facing the collapse of their Cantarell oil field (which suffered a 36% drop in 2008 production alone), upon which the government is heavily dependent for its budget.

A facet of world events we've been missing for a while is the novelty of a brand-new world map. Our only wall-sized map, for instance, still has the U.S.S.R. on it. And just when we were beginning to think about getting a new one, the whole world goes into a depression. Thank heavens, we say: now we have an excuse to not get a new map!