Morning Joe 8/22/2011 -- Libyan success?

On Morning Joe today panel talk surrounded the Libyan rebels in Tripoli. Richard Haas, Michael Steele, Mike Barnicle and, later, Ed Rendell, Andrea Mitchell and David Ignatius, all gave their analysis of the situation. Steele and Haas called for caution, a wait and see approach to determine what happens next. Ed Rendell was more eager to give Obama credit and then went on to say we should use our military in partnership with NATO to do this anywhere people need help. Steele reminded Rendell that NATO draws a bright line when it comes to helping people in the deepest parts of Africa, plus, Haas asked what we should do if China cracks down on her people. Rendell is simply looking for short-term political advantage, which is how most partisan Democrats are spinning this so far.

David Cameron was shown in a clip praising the freedom-loving rebels and claiming victory for democracy. Britian should know better than other nations about the danger of premature victory speeches and grand designs in the mideast/northern Africa. David Fromkin, in his book A Peace to End All Peace about the peace talks regarding the mideast following WWI, wrote this:

Over and above any specific decisions there was a general sense that something was fundamentally wrong with the Peace Conference itself. In a general sense, and for the public that judged the Allies by their wartime promises and expressed principles, it was the way in which decisions were made that constituted a betrayal. Decisions, by all accounts, including those of the participants, were made with little knowledge of, or concern for, the lands and peoples about which and whom the decisions were being made. This was true even of the peace terms imposed in Europe, and was even more so of those imposed by Europeans upon the distant and unfamiliar Middle East.

Shortly after the Great Powers designed their plans for the Middle East, the plans fell apart, and we know the history up until now, and once again big statements are made about the potential to influence the Middle East through intervention and benevolent guidance. The Morning Joe crew spoke of the need for NATO to work with Libyans to create a workable government. Libya will soon be in chaos, and as it churns and gyrates like presently in Egypt and Tunisia, the media and pundits will move along to another story -- anything to divert attention away from reality and the failures of foreign intervention.

Morning Joe 8/19/2011 -- Recession, panic and useless wars

On Morning Joe today Jeffrey Sachs, Mark Halperin and Melissa Harris-Perry joined Willie Geist and Pat Buchanan to talk about the stock market fall and the possibility of the US heading into another recession -- I believe we never left the first recession. Although I disagree with Sachs' solutions on most of our problems, I certainly agree with his analysis of the problems -- Sachs basically says that politics are preventing any progress toward recovery. Harris-Perry who is obviously a big Obama supporter regardless of what Obama does, couldn't follow Sachs into criticism of Obama's performance in office -- she basically blames the Republicans and believes that things are not quite as dire as Sachs proposes. Halperin is basically taking a cautious middle-ground approach after his recent trip to the woodshed for criticizing Obama, so his analysis has been too careful to be of any use. Buchanan believes we're in a mess.

The conundrum for many liberals and progressives is that they intuitively want to protect Obama from criticism, but the reality of the economy and the situation in the mideast puts them in a difficult situation. I admire Sachs for his honesty, even though I don't agree with his progressive ideology. Later there was a discussion with David Ignatius regarding Syria and Libya. The rumors from DC are that Qadaffi is preparing to leave Libya and that Assad is at risk of being run out of power in Syria, but there's no factual evidence that either the Libyan or Syrian situations are changing that much except changing for the worse.

The big question is whether the US should be involved in either Libya or Syria. Our involvement in Libya could turn out with us presiding over chaos and civil war once Qadaffi leaves, and in Syria we're getting dangerously close to military involvement if Assad increases the killings.  I keep thinking that the American people will lose patience with our mideast involvement, and I suspect that secretly most people have run out of patience, but so far there's no national demand to leave that region. If our economy gets worse, this could change. We have no idea what to do in the region to make things better, so we're better off minding our own business and simply upholding the principles we should be upholding but are not, one being the prevention of entanglements in foreign affairs.

Wes Moore and Jeffrey Sachs got into a discussion on the economy and brought up the problem of available jobs in America but a lack of qualified workers to fill the jobs. They both recommended what I wrote about yesterday -- job training -- but they want more government job training programs. What I recommended is for private companies to step forward and offer job-training solutions -- if government wants to help they can offer tax breaks to companies who offer job training. Government doesn't know what industry knows about what types of jobs are in demand and what skills are necessary for these jobs, but American companies know. This is a private sector problem, and it requires a private sector solution.

Giving Joe Scarborough credit

Although some of us have been critical of drones for quite a while now, Joe Scarborough, coming out this week with an article in Politico, David Ignatius and a few more are now bringing these attacks to the forefront. The problem is the collateral damage, innocent people being killed by these attacks, and the silence from the media and public. While there have been reports, there has not been the type of coverage this issue deserves.

Perhaps drones are considered a necessary evil, but the continued, increased use, as if it's merely a video game going to the next level, will soon come to light, and I have a feeling the results of drones regarding the taking of innocent lives will be found horrendous.

Maybe some liberals and moderates are deciding to risk putting Obama in a bad light to get to the truth about the Afghanistan war and what we're doing in Pakistan with drones. The media has been in hidng on this isse.