Around the World in Three Minutes
I got over my indignation that no one in America seems to care about foreign policy during my trip to New York. Within about twenty minutes of landing at JFK, I pretty much stopped caring too. I mean, there are really big oceans on either side of the country, the rest of the world seems far away, and it's just kind of hard to believe that it really exists. I completely understand why no one wants to get mired in the details.
That said, I'm in Istanbul now, and I guarantee you, Turkey exists and looks very real to me. That feeling of isolation those oceans provide is an illusion. Remember: It only took me fifteen hours to get here, and I was using old technology.
So, let's take a spin around the globe:
The European Parliament will convene tomorrow to discuss imposing a no-fly zone on Syria. Smugglers are moving arms into Syria across the Turkish border. (Great reporting in that article--sometimes the Guardian is worth reading.) Clashes between Syrian troops and army defectors are spreading. We're about to leave Iraq in a mess. Over the weekend, 19 missiles were fired into Israel from Gaza. Only one was intercepted by the Iron Dome, which doesn't fill me with confidence about this technology. The IDF retaliated with air strikes targeting terrorist cells and a weapons manufacturing plant. Hamas has declared that Israel's closure of the wooden access ramp to the Al-Aqsa mosque is like a "declaration of war" on Muslim holy sites. Iran has announced it will reverse-engineer and mass produce our drone. It also threatened to attack Turkey again. Pakistan announced that it will continue to blockade NATO's supply lines into Afghanistan, possibly for "weeks." A dozen al Qaeda friskies have broken out of a jail in Aden.
The elections in DR Congo appear to have been a fraudulent mess, which is a very bad thing in a country only barely recovering from a civil war that claimed four million lives. (Yes, four million.) Not many people voted in the parliamentary elections in the Ivory Coast, but at least they were peaceful, which is especially welcome because my sister-in-law is there and my brother and my nephew will be there soon. So will I, actually.
Jennifer Lind warns that the US needs to start planning now for North Korea's collapse. (An excellent interview, and if you conclude after reading it that we should start slashing the military budget, I just don't know how you and I can proceed from there.)
Noriega was extradited to Panama and promptly imprisoned. Panicky Latvians, after reading rumors on Twitter that Swedbank was on the verge of collapse, have fueled a run on the bank, leaving cash machines empty. Medvedev posted what the Kremlin has termed an "inappropriate retweet" on his official feed to the effect that: "Today it became obvious that if somebody writes the phrase 'party of swindlers and thieves' on a blog, he is a stupid [edited] sheep." Peter, I'm sorry, but Russia's not going to be joining the West any time soon.
There's lots of news from Turkey, too, but it would take too long to explain. I promised three minutes, and I keep my promises.
All of that is really happening, right now, and that's not the half of it. It kind of scares me when I think too much about it. And that's why I propose to stop doing it, immediately. Three minutes is enough.
- Comment (7)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (0)
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
It seems, we just have a glut of poor ineffective leadership around the world. It's one of those things that you don't notice till it's gone.
Jun '10
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
Are you trying to get me to vote for Ron Paul?
Dec '11
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
This three minute framework works very well.
Feb '11
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
OK. The world's a mess. And this is news? It isn't a matter of isolationism. It is a matter of there are more than enough problems close at hand. It is a matter of priorities. DR Congo and Ivory Coast and Iraq and Russia and ... just aren't high on the list.
Apr '11
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
It will never be gone.
Yah, the world stinks...but sometimes there is nothing we can do about it. We really need some other responsible western countries to step up here and help us. I just don't know how you get them on board. Without us just calling it quits for a while...
Oct '11
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
With all due respect, Ms. Berlinski, there are a whole heck of a lot of people in the United States who care about foreign policy. Most of them are called Republicans.
Oct '10
Re: Around the World in Three Minutes
Valiuth
We really need some other responsible western countries to step up here and help us. I just don't know how you get them on board.
As Mrs. Thatcher said, “In my lifetime all our problems have come from mainland Europe and all the solutions have come from the English-speaking nations across the world.”
So it's time for Belize, The Gambia, and Tonga to step up and sort things out!