Book Review: Guns for Hire

This book was something of a surprise gem. I only expected when I bought it to be better informed about British Mercenary actions in Oman and Yemen. Which the book did cover and I was gratified. What I did not expect was much more information which went beyond merely reporting about where mercenaries had fought but also how the trade started out and how it has evolved into the Private Security Corporations today. The book is well researched (as evidenced by the several pages thick reference notes) and the information is quite interesting from several aspects not military alone.

What the book did cover was the political, monetary and in some cases psychological motivations of those who sign up to fight for a bit of coin. The places they have waged war and numerous and as the security situation deteriorated in Iraq and Afghanistan their ranks grew.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the mercenary business as well as the geopolitical situations they were hired for. The examination of the vested interests and the motivations to cultivate a politically deniable fighting force make this book a cut above the rest.

Fun Fact: The UK owed the USA $4.4 Billion in loan repayments after WWI. Which were then defaulted upon.

Book Review: Lee Kuan Yew "Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going"

When I first picked up this book I wasn't expecting to finish reading it to be honest. I had leafed through LKY's previous books and hadn't had my interest sparked. His other books read like biographies, which I don't read very often. The most recent was one during my youth "Rogue Warrior" by Richard Marcinko, founder of SEAL Team 6. But I digress.

The format of the book is quite interesting as it is a series of interviews of a range of topics where LKY's opinion is sought. The interviews reveal to some extent his thought processes. Which I found fascinating and illuminating as information on his viewpoints for a range of esoteric topics was gained. One reviewer even asked if LKY believed in Feng Shui. Which was a rumour I heard flying around when I was younger: That Tang's and everything else was developed according to Feng Shui principles. Of course as I am older now. my bullshit detector has become a bit finer tuned. LKY of course rubbished the idea that any construction in Singapore was developed along those lines. Which is unsurprising.

What stands out in Hard Truths for Singapore is that LKY is very rational; pragmatic and very well informed. Especially when he started talking about International Politics and how it was an extension of tribal dealings; all tribes scrabbling for resources and their own interests. The compilers of the book at that point made a comment about how several of the younger journalists were bemused by that statement. He described international politics and relations as an arena where each actor seeks to dominate the other. Which is pretty much spot on how the world works. Individuals seek dominance within a society. Societies seek dominance against other societies. And countries seek dominance against other countries.

The journalist (aged 26) asked a follow up question and I paraphrase: Don't you think on the state to state level, the urge to dominate is is contained by international organizations and cooperation?


LKY's response was that if the journalist asked the same question at 46, he had learnt nothing. Which might be a bit of a put down, and not quite answering the question, but understandable. If one can ask such a question about International relations, then one has not done enough reading to debate adequately with someone of LKY's calibre.

 Succinctly put, smaller countries have to abide by security council mandates, but when Security Council members or larger countries that have sufficient influence decide to act against such organizations there is not much to be done. Which is an accurate summation of the current state of world affairs. Hence Singapore's well developed military and economy so that the country cannot be easily taken advantage of by others. Other countries might promise that they only talk peace, but at the end of the day a country's security and safety is it's own responsibility and cannot count on anyone else for it. The International arena is an ever shifting place, and domestic politicians might use a convenient international punching bag as a way to deflect domestic criticism.

International developments and relations aside, the next thoughts were on Singapore on its founding.
Was the development of this place a given? Nothing in life is ever a given. It has to be worked for; and LKY was the leader of a group of extremely dedicated people who brought this place to where it is now. [One thing that is sometimes forgotten is the excellent people LKY had working for him as well. I forget it myself. The rest will be addressed in another book review. When I get around to reading that book. I think it is called "Men in White"]

To return to the given on the trade port status, development is never a given, even with resources. Nigeria would be an example of a resource rich country still rife with chaos. Yes, a lot more stable than some of its neighbours but the people can hardly say they live in an atmosphere of safety and security.

 I could go on about how the various parts of the books were very illuminating but then it is easier just to make a recommendation to buy the book. His realist and rational view really impressed me. And the interview format which is inter-spaced between segments outlining the situation and topic really kept the topic from being dry.

Do I agree with all of his statements? Not so, an example would be his thought that smart people should only marry smart people. As they produce smart/smarter kids. A combination of the nature and nurture viewpoints for childhood development. Does this mean that a child from a lower economic background will never be as smart as another one from a higher economic background? Of course not, but the odds are higher for the child from the wealthier family. At the end of the day, it is the law of averages. Running a country rationally dictates you cannot skew the government one side or the other; to an extreme just to pander towards the exceptions. You have to to observe and research the average outcome for a given situation and try to make the most of it. At the end of the day we are all gamblers in the chaotic game of life. And betting on the average is a safer bet, than say wildcards.

What I find is that he does not stick to his ideas them out of blind belief but through his observations and the conclusions drawn from such. Which is admirable. Another thing to keep in mind is he is a leader who has come about since the 1960's. There are not many credible leaders from then who are still around influencing their countries today. Fidel Castro is the only example that springs to mind. Mahathir Mohamad (Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981-2003) was put forward as an example, but he only came into office in 1981. A different era again.

I would highly recommend this book even to non-Singaporeans. Keeping in mind what this country used to be 50 years ago [a trade port and mostly swamp] and where it is today [a trade port with no swamp. And a metropolis]. It certainly is a good read for those who need a introduction into world affairs as well as governance from a pragmatic and rational standpoint. In this case, the rational standpoint would be making sure the population are clothed, fed and housed. A more democratic person could argue that the "rational" standpoint for them would be freedom of speech. Those are issues that should be addressed in another post. For now, all I can say is that freedom of speech is all well and good. If you don't have stability, security or a means to live, it isn't much good.

TLDR: Good realistic; pragmatic view on world affairs and governance. Buy now if your viewpoint skews towards realism more than idealism.
++++
Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going
$40 SGD
Available now where Singapore books are available. [For Non-Singaporeans... Ask your Singaporean friend for a copy? Or Amazon.com Or ask your Library to buy a copy]

So smart yet so dumb?

After seeing this article online couldn't help but feel rather peeved about the whole thing.

http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/an-qa-with-ted-hall-the-jfk-baggage-carousel-jumper?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheAwl+(The+Awl)

For those who don't want to check the link out. The quick summary is this, boy meets girl. Girl has to fly away on plane. Boy buys ticket to get on plane. No ID. Crawls through check in baggage to try to... get to girl? Gets arrested and charged.

This is rather old news but brought into mind a possible culture clash in terms of perception. As in how the East with its more authoritarian background and social harmony. And the West, in terms of individual freedom and personal rights.

Then I realized I was reading too much into this and that he was a massive idiot. Did not even get in to see the girl. What was the point of all that then?

I liked how he actually replied to the comments. Especially to one RobT who wrote "Where some see romance, I see mental illness". His response was to say "where many see success I see war, insecurity, and a dying planet"  My only question to that is "what" =p But I suppose he'll never find this site so we won't hear an answer. 


I used to spout that line before. But the world isn't one big global entity with fat cats at the top orchestrating everything. The insecurity and war moves from countries desire to better themselves, misguided as they are. But International Law has been gaining more credence, slowly but surely. At the end of the day war and insecurity are bad for profits if they're in a zone with vested interests. More money flows into stable zones, because that is where you can set up the banks. And credit cards. And fleece people who don't quite understand finance. Sorry, I digress.

Is this to slag the man? In a way I suppose it is. In another way though it is a showcase of how we might amass all sorts of educational credentials and still be unable to listen to reason, convinced in our own minds that what we're doing is the right thing, the correct thing to do. It is silencing the emotional aspect and finding a calm rational workaround that is a skill useful to have in life. Not all the time, but a required skill nonetheless.

I think this interview got me thinking because he said when he was waiting in jail he mostly meditated; understood why some cops tried to rough him a bit and tried to help a man with asthma. And then he goes on to say " I wanted the world to know that I really want to see this girl. " Herp Derp. The internet meme seems an appropriate response to that. 


What a mental disconnect. Does meditation automatically confer higher intellect? No. But I'd like to think if you can practice it you are able of self reflection. The sort of self reflection that prevents you from taking an action that shuts down a major airport so 'you can let the world know'.


I think this article could develop into a discussion about compartmentalization, and also how emotions may override rational thought and realistic thinking. Compartmentalization is good for preventing emotions interfering when a clear decision is needed, but does it also allow people to rationalize rather cruel actions? A phrase I would use is "the banality of evil"


The mad bad dictator cannot act on his own. At his behest is the average man. The punch clock clerk/worker/soldier/mechanic. At the dictator's whim the machine swings into action; records are opened, dissidents noted down into a file which passes onto another worker and so on and so forth until the security forces are deployed. Knock on the door at three in the morning. Suspect led away for questioning. Body ends up in a pit three months later. Perhaps at some point the cogs looked at themselves and said 'crikey what am I doing'; but a useful refrain comes in. 'Its just a job' the family needs the money. The pay is ok. And the machine keeps ticking on. Hence, the banality of evil. There is no Mount Doom, no Skull Fortress of Saddam. Just people following the daily routine at the whim of a madman. 


Is there a counter? I cannot say. It is better addressed in a post regarding governance. The different styles and cultures. Western Liberal Democracy cannot work for all countries and all cultures. My personal preference has always been for stable; efficient; corruption-free governance. For those to occur, the requirements of a liberal democracy 'that every man has a voice' doesn't quite work. To be honest there is a fair amount of nonsense being spouted around in the media and to govern well and effectively you can't have idiots polluting others minds. An example of general idiocy would be youtube comments. 


Keep in mind that education does not mean you're automatically exempt from believing in absolute drivel. It helps increase the odds, but a better armour against that is a critically thinking mind. Educated people are amongst those that believe in Falun Gong; that have died refusing to recant (see previous article on Falun Gong). Pointless death, for a man who happily discusses aliens being the only source of science in the world. 


The human mind is a fascinating thing, to the great heights of Nobel prize winners, down to internet page commentors, the way the mind processes the world never ceases to amaze. That and how ******* ****** people can get. For entertainment on ****** people, please see Ricky Gervais and all his work with Karl Pilkinton for a true classic of the genre. 


 [TLDR] In conclusion, education is no guarantee that someone won't do something stupid in life that they could have avoided with a bit of thought. Sometimes you learn that when young, some times older. 

Dying for the truth?

Screenshot from the game 'Call of Duty 4' The point of view is from the President of a fictitious Middle Eastern Country about to get executed by a Coup leader. I was going to use the famous Vietnam War picture but decided that was a bit graphic. Here is the modern digital version. 

A faith must be true if a man/woman can die for it. Because why would someone die for something which isn't true?

I used to have problems refuting that argument (having forgotten Jonestown etc...) then I came across the story of Falun Gong.

To summarize it pithily, its like dying for Super Jogging. Which is much better for your health than regular jogging! But wait! That's not all! Since it is so much better than jogging for you it should be made a religion! A Religion that should spread and help everyone! But the government keeps denying that we should be a religion. Lets mass protest outside their residences! Yeah, that'll show them! Oh hey, why are they coming and beating the living crap out of us, in this country with its long history of violent overthrow by disgruntled peasantry? Could it be they don't like people who can organize mobs?

There used to be some sympathy for the Falun Gong members but those who die because they refuse to recant their beliefs are absolutely puzzling. Its not even good stuff. The leader of the group has stated on the official website in a lovely lecture to the US group (and other lectures in other countries) that science is not scientific. I quote: "The reason is, as I have discussed on many occasions, this science is itself actually not scientific. It is merely something imposed on man by aliens, something that has penetrated the entire society and pervaded it in every respect. Since you are in the midst of it, you certainly can’t tell what it is all about." [Link Below]


People have died for this guy? It really is mind boggling to think that. The next mind boggling thing would be the immolation incident. Where 7 people lit themselves on fire to protest the unfair treatment of Falun Dafa. The group has since claimed that the immolation was a hoax by the Chinese Government. That is some counter claim. I mean, any government that has people working for it that are that loyal is seriously a government to be feared. If you take the Falun claims to be true; 7 people working for the government immolated themselves so that the government could sully the good name of Falun Dafa. Wow... yeah. That makes sense. Also, pigs have wings and are actually considered fowl. If the sarcasm here isn't apparent, let me state that the Falun counterclaim does not make any sense at all. When discrediting an organization, a good idea is that you don't kill your own agents in the process. For some reason, employees do not enjoy it when part of the job description includes setting yourself on fire just for a PR war. Weird eh? Someone call CERN to investigate that. 
[Sources below] 


"Would/could someone die for something that wasn't true?" Would have been the title if I didn't think it would be so long winded. The answer is "yes". Not only can someone die for something that isn't true. They will refuse to recant until death even if the belief involves Aliens from outer space; that modern medicine doesn't work; and that people have levitated using Qi. You might as well be tortured to death for believing that helium cures cancer. Because hey, why not eh? Dying for one retarded reason is as good as the other. If anyone can come up with even more retarded causes to die do leave a comment, or send a email. 


Is the torture and human rights abuse justifiable? No. Not at all. But does the group leader bear responsibility in inciting this entire human rights mess? Absolutely. For his delusional view of the world, people die. He may not be the one who eventually tortured them to death, but his guilt is just the same as the torturer inflicting the mortal wounds.


Man, I used to think you guys were a bunch of people with a rough deal. But no, its worse than that. A bunch of f***ers causing people to die just so the movement is recognized as a Religion. Looking for the tax break eh fellas? 


[Legal advice on defamation lazily taken from the Season One, Episode One of Bullshit! By Penn and Teller. I know, should have researched that myself. I'm on holiday dammit]


+++++
Lecture to US Group on Falun Dafa (I assume this really is the group's genuine website):
http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/lectures/19990221L.html [Keyword Aliens =D]


Sources on Immolation Incident:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_self-immolation_incident
http://www.facts.org.cn/Feature/tsi/2/200708/t61128.htm
http://www.cultnews.com/index.php/2006/04/24/shrieking-woman-at-white-house-works-for-falun-gong-run-newspaper/
http://clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/self-immolation.html

Source for all the other ridiculous nonsense espoused:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990510/interview1.html

Minecraft, Weebl and random

A screenshot of someone who has used the blocks in game, to make a screenshot of the Mario Brothers playing a game, on a screen which shows them playing a game... 

Minecraft, the internet phenomenon that has swept like wildfire through the geek world. And mostly unknown to other people. But that is how it is with video games.

Minecraft isn't so much a game as a big set of lego bricks. Lego bricks which you have to amass one by one. By hand. In the midst of monsters hunting you during the night. And the rarest stuff is way underground and close to lava. Tips for enjoying the game include: Don't dig straight up; don't dig straight down; be careful when digging straight ahead. And also no tutorial. Not even a nice picture on the front showing all the nice and wonderful things that could be made by what you have in front of you. Nope, its just you. Some rural place and maybe a sheep staring at you. Better move quick though, when night falls you want to be in a small hole with the entrance blocked in before the zombies can get to you.

This post isn't a review of Minecraft per se but more a recommendation if this sort of 'genre' is up your alley. What genre would that be? I have no idea. Presumebably lego. Except every so often some of the bricks come alive and you have to fend them off or hide from them. But otherwise, like lego.

Also, I can't stop listening to this song. Check out Weebls stuff for more earworms which you just can't quite get out of your head. Mhhh.... pork
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/Pork/

I leave you with this dedication to all those who are a manly man. 'A courageous man who is not afraid to look his opponent square in the eye through the scope of a high powered rifle from the next town away' -[ Quoth Benjamin Yahtzee Sebastian Godzilla Croshaw]
Keep on camping you great big bundle of sticks. We salute you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j-z3QFLezE
Credit to:
http://www.4twin.co.uk (clan website)
http://www.pc-games-and-reviews.com (reviews website)




Also bonus material, the best old school game most of you never played. The Exodus of Zelda! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dky9vXZaKuM&feature=player_embedded

Physics and God

Having watched Absolute Zero (2007 BBC Documentary exploring the prospect of 0 Kelvin or -273 degrees Celcius, the coldest anything can reach) inserted the thought in again about God and the hard-coded physical limitations of the Universe we are in.

One of the one that crops up when thinking about physics is the speed of light. Hard coded as it were, in this Universe to a maximum of 1,079 million kilometres an hour. For easy reference to speed freaks, a Bugatti Veyron has a maximum speed limit of 408 kilometres an hour.

As far as I understand, a Monotheistic God has Omnipresence as a aspect of them, and that is the aspect under the spotlight today. Omnipresence being defined as 'being everywhere at the same time'. But this runs into the physical limitations inherent to the created Universe. Even light cannot be everywhere at once. It can travel a great deal of distance in a short time, but it cannot be everywhere.

10/02/2011 Edit: Gear of War has just informed me that current Scientific theory is that gravity and things that alter its force are instantaneous. Still waiting on CERN for some gravitons. But this does address the original question of omnipresence. Gravity is omnipresent.
Credit: Gear of War
Source: http://www.metaresearch.org/cosmology/speed_of_gravity.asp

Of course I must concede that if the term was omnipresence just for the Earth then perhaps that would be possible. But that doesn't quite equate to actual Omnipresence. So does such a theoretical omnipresent being reside in a pocket dimension some where. Or is it perhaps a five dimensional being? Existing on a higher plane than us. And if so, why does such a being bother telling you about masturbation. The train of thought on these things can get a bit rambling, but if there was a truly omnipresent being, that was beyond limit of light speed; why would it care about the life of a bunch of divergent simians with slightly larger brains? But that is a topic for its own post.

The interesting thing about the Universe is that time is a bit of a tricky prospect, I'm afraid I am of on a slight tangent but bear with me. As light has a maximum speed limit, the light in the night sky from the distance stars can be thousands if not millions of years old. And if one were to be able to magnify the incoming light from that source we would be able to look back into time as it were. Not that we could change anything, it has already occurred.
So the example is this, an alien on a distant planet. Very distant. Billions of light years away. Suppose he saw the light from Earth (unlikely, but bear with me here) and could amplify it so he could see the events that took place on the surface. As he moves closer to the light source he sees more recent things. As he steps away he sees light from earlier time periods. But this is just a shift in position for him with not the same equivalent time passing for him to see what has occurred on Earth. I'd imagine he'd mostly see a planet full of reptiles, some ice and mostly miss the part where at some point we diverged from a common ancestor with chimps and started typing on blogs and posting on the internet. On average, the quality of comments of posts on Youtube shows we haven't diverged much either. But I digress. It is all these little scientific things that make
(The reference book is not on hand and I will endeavour to correct and mistakes as soon as practical)
[Out now from Penguin Classics'Understanding the Cosmos' for only $10 AUD. Some recognition from Penguin for shameless plugging would be nice.]


As a postscript, here is a picture showing the scale of some of these mind-boggling stars.

The Afghan Conflict

The Afghan conflict, a war between good and evil, of superior Western values over the backward ideas of the Taliban. Where a conflict rages so that in this world, the right thing may be done to triumph over those that would seek to send the world into the dark ages again.

Or is it?  It has been asked before, 'Why are the soldiers in Afghanistan?' To be honest that question intrigued me as well. Since I had to read up books and articles to get a glimmering idea. The chain of events goes along these lines [very simplified]:

2001: Twin towers attack. United States promises swift retaliation and justice
2002: Taliban reeling backwards. Chance to consolidate and nation build.
2003: Soldiers pulled from Afghanistan to redeploy to Iraq conflict.
2004: ???
2005: ???
2006: ???
2007: ???
2008: Troops redeployed from Iraq
2009: ???
2010: ???
2011: ???
2012: PROFIT! [Sorry, couldn't resist internet meme]

The thing is knowledge about the situation is uncertain and at times chaotic. Requiring a picture of the situation to be painted and built up through multiple sources. Which is pretty apt, considering the situation is itself uncertain and chaotic.

What does emerge though is that what is needed for peace and stability is a functional government and the security to enforce it. From the next step of functional government, fed-clothed-housed population can you leave behind a stable country to take its next step into the future.

What we have here however, is not that situation. A multinational force unable to coordinate past a certain level facing an enemy that may be local or not and a multitude of situations.

To solve the situation in Afghanistan requires a cohesive action, coordinated at all levels to protect the people, increase local security, and basically build a functioning country and government. At the moment it seems there are barely enough troops to provide security, however the situation as always, is complicated.

Why can't the US deploy more troops to Afghanistan? It has troop commitments around the globe. Some for good you can argue, some for completely pointless military adventures like Iraq where the standard of living has dropped back to the Stone age. But don't forget! They got elections! So that makes that all better. Ignoring the fact that democracy is just one system of government. Hardly THE system of all time. They should let these things spread naturally.

[Like Capitalism. Which actually isn't that Capitalistic. If one were to analyse the data, or simply call up the All Knowing Wikipedia (Citation needed); you can see that a lot of industry is supported by government funding or incentive. Pure market forces tell the companies where the profits are, but some critical areas of a state's output would fall flat without government propping up. An example being the heavily subsidized corn from the U.S so it can be sold cheap. But this is a topic for another post.]

References:
Opium Trade 2007 (Book not in country apologies)
Guns for Hire by Tony Geraghty

Brain feels like its going to melt from the factors now. Will break this topic into smaller posts.
Memory joggers:

Taliban (Who they are)
Training Centres in Pakistan / Saudi Funding (Unassailable base of operations)
Opium Drug Trade (Livelihood of the populace)
Government (Corrupt and inefficient)
Tribal Politics (The hidden background story)

Opening

Welcome to the Voodoo Hut, the lounge musings of a jolly swagman as he listens to the croonings of the legends of rock and roll.

Here is a start to the New Year (Han Chinese Calender that is). A quick preview of further posts down the line:

Conflict in Afghanistan

Charity, Research and Inter-Tribal strife in Africa

Video Gaming

Location Review

Religion and life

Governments and people

Empathy, short segments where I imagine myself in the position of people I've read about, try to write fiction from that perspective and post it up. I imagine all good writers have to have some form of empathy. It'd be wonderful if someone who actually had a similar experience commented on the accuracy of that.

And that is all for the teaser, thank you for reading.