Tom Glenn's Blog, page 48

Global Warming

I am increasingly persuaded that (a) global warming is upon us, and (b) we are not concerned enough to take actions to stop it.

A new report published by U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership,” according to secretary general António Guterres, U.N. Secretary-General. Already half of the world’s population is threatened by water shortages; extreme weather events are becoming commonplace and more severe; and more than 14 percent of the world’s species are at high risk of extinction as global temperatures rise.

And what are we doing to cut emissions to slow global warming? Almost nothing. But if we don’t move immediately, whole areas of the earth will become unlivable; the sea level will rise, destroying coastal cities around the world; and droughts, floods, and wildfires will sweep the earth.

I won’t live long enough to see all these disasters, but my children and especially my grandchildren will. So it is up to me and all my fellow world citizens to act, the sooner the better.

The evidence so far suggests that we will not take action. Disaster will overtake us. We’ll wonder what happened and blame the ignorance of our forebearers for our suffering.

Horrors of War

I have written before in this blog about the horrors of war. Because of my expertise at supporting troops on the battlefield with signals intelligence, I spent a good many years working with U.S. and friendly forces during combat. I know up close and personal the unspeakable ghastliness of war.

I know what it’s like to see the man fighting next me to killed in ways so grisly that I can think about it. I know what it’s like to be splashed with his blood, to see that there’s not enough left of him to put in a body bag. I’ve talked here before about the bond between men who fight side by side, the strongest love I’ve ever felt, and the anguish of losing a buddy on the battlefield. I’m a veteran, but my time in combat came as a civilian operating under cover as a soldier or Marine to support fighting troops. I was so good at it that I spent the better part of my career helping men fight our wars.

One result is that I suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI). That’s a condition that never diminishes or goes away. It’s caused by observing or participating in events that inflict permanent wounds to the psyche. Because it’s incurable, one has to learn to cope by bringing the memories into the conscious mind and training oneself to face them without hysteria.

As time passes, the number of American men and women who have faced combat are growing fewer. We are now a fraction of a percent of the population. I am acquainted with only two men who are combat veterans. And both suffer from PTSI.

We Americans have no memory of a war on our own land. The last internal conflict we faced was the civil war that ended long before any Americans now living were born. Unlike our allies in Europe and Asia, no Americans, with the exception of combat veterans, have experienced war. So we as a nation are much more willing to consider going to war.

Let us Americans who have avoided war in our home country be resolved once again to do all we can to avoid the horror of war. We, the fortunate ones, owe that to the rest of humanity.

Volodymyr Zelensky

The more I see of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, the more I admire him. A former actor and comedian with little to no former political experience, he has led Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion with raw courage and determination. He and his fellow countrymen have fought bravely against the poorly led and apathetic Russian soldiers, and the war has not been as swift and easy as the Russians expected. The Russians have admitted publicly that they have suffered almost 500 KIA so far.

Russian forces greatly outnumber the Ukrainians. The eventual conquest of Ukraine is all but certain. Vladimir Putin will soon rule Ukraine and replace its rulers with a stooge government under the complete control of Russia.

My expectation is that Zelensky will fight to the end. My guess is that he won’t survive. He’ll either be killed in combat, or the Russians will execute him. If he does avoid death, he will be imprisoned for life by the Russians in a penal institute so primitive that he won’t survive long. In the unlikely event that he stays alive and escapes the fall of Ukraine, he will lead the inevitable insurrection that the Ukrainians will subject the Russian conquerors to. It will take the form of a guerrilla war which will harry the oppressive Russians and give them no peace.

Russia’s invasion and ultimate conquest of Ukraine will go down in history as among the most heinous of Putin’s crimes. But all of us will know the story of Volodymyr Zelensky’s heroism. Let us honor him and his Ukrainian compatriots as they deserve.

U.S. Preeminent Democracy? (2)

For us Americans to reclaim our leadership role in the world, we need to root out the failings listed in yesterday’s blog post and form a more perfect union. But efforts to be more equal are regularly frustrated by those in the minority who benefit most from the inequity, namely, the Republicans. In December, 2020, Gallup polling found that 31 percent of Americans identified as Democrats, 25 percent identified as Republicans, and 41 percent as Independents—with most Independents leaning toward the Democratic side. The Republicans, greatly outnumbered by the Democrats, know they can only win elections only if fewer Americans vote. So they work hard to make voting more difficult, especially for racial minorities. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, in 2021, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting. More than 440 bills with provisions that restrict voting access were introduced in 49 states. Legislators introduced bills to allow partisan actors to interfere with election processes or even reject election results entirely. And the worst part is that the instigators are targeting Black and Brown communities.

The situation grew far worse during the presidency of Donald Trump who sullied our reputation with other nations and worked to reduce equity and strengthen the power of the rich minority. Trump’s actions substantially weakened the reputation of the U.S. around the world. Biden’s first year in office has turned the tide, but much work remains to be done to restore us to a leadership role.

As a result of our failure to maintain political and financial equality among our citizens, the rest of the world looks up to us less each year. I am persuaded that we American citizens must work together to achieve a more perfect union, reduce inequities, and reestablish our world leadership.

U.S. Preeminent Democracy?

Since the defeat of the Axis in World War II, the Pax Americana (American Peace) has blanketed the world. During those years, the U.S. has been the dominant world force in defending and propagating democracy. Americans won the Cold War (1947-1989) when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), that is, Soviet Russia, collapsed. Despite losing the Vietnam war in 1975, the U.S. maintained its superior position.

But as time goes on, defects in American society and governing system are weakening the U.S.’s hold on dominance. Our income inequality is growing, with the wealthy becoming wealthier while the rest of us become poorer. Our inequity rate is around the same level as Jamaica, Peru, and Cameroon. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world, with almost 2.1 million people in prison. We own more guns per person than any other nation—120.5 guns per 100 people. And the number of gunfire deaths we suffer is far greater than the rate in any other western democracy, 3.96 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019, the most recent year for which I could find complete figures. That was more than eight times as high as the rate in Canada, which had 0.47 deaths per 100,000 people—and nearly 100 times higher than in the United Kingdom, which had 0.04 deaths per 100,000. And we are indelibly stained by our history of slavery and its modern remnant, race prejudice.

Our governing apparatus is weakened by three defects which favor the well-to-do and are tinged with racial bias. The first is the electoral college which grants great power to small states and deprives residents of large states. The second is the filibuster which allows a minority of Republicans, again representing those with money, to stop laws proposed by the Democratic majority. The third is the structure of the U.S. Senate made up of two representatives from each of the fifty states, thereby granting the citizens of Wyoming, with a population of 581,000, the same power as those of California with a population of 40 million.

More next time.

Guantánamo

A continuing shame on our country is the on-going existence of the U.S.-run Guantánamo Bay detention camp located on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. George W. Bush established the camp in 2002, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, as part of the “War on Terror.” According to Wikileaks, of the 780 people detained there since the camp was established, 731 have been transferred elsewhere, 39 remain there, and 9 have died while in custody. “Indefinite detention without trial and torture led the operations of this camp to be considered a major breach of human rights by Amnesty International, and a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution by the Center for Constitutional Rights.” It is, in short, illegal and immoral. It should never have been opened, and it ought to have been closed long since.

Bush’s successor, President Barack Obama, promised to close the camp but met strong bipartisan opposition from the Congress, which passed laws to prohibit detainees from Guantánamo from being imprisoned in the U.S. Despite that, during Obama’s administration, the number of inmates was reduced from about 245 to 41.

But Donald Trump, unlike his predecessors and successors, approved of the detention camp and signed an executive order to keep it open indefinitely. Joe Biden declared his intention to shut down Guantánamo before he leaves office. Detainees still there now number 39.

The role of the U.S. as the world leader for democracy is no longer recognized worldwide, due primarily to Donald Trump’s many violations of international standards. The least we can do to restore our leadership is to abolish Guantánamo. We should urge President Biden to get on with it as soon as possible.

My Muse Is Silent

I am a writer, first, foremost, and always. I discovered when I was six years old that I was born to write, but I tried to escape my fate by trying my hand at acting, dancing, and especially music—I took a BA in music hoping I could be a composer. Because languages come easily to me (I have worked in seven), I became a linguist and a spy to earn a living, because writing doesn’t pay. I retired as early as I could to write fulltime. It worked. I now have six books and seventeen short stories in print.

I experience writing as if someone other than myself is dictating to me, and I have to write as fast as I can to keep up. I understand how the ancient Greeks came to believe in the nine muses inspired human creators. When I write, it is as though the muse Calliope is feeding me the words and commanding me to write them down. It feels as though the creator is not me but a voice from outside me.

That’s how it has always been with me. But now my muse has gone silent. I sit at the keyboard waiting for inspiration, but nothing comes, and I write nothing.

The writer’s block, if that’s what it is, began a year ago last March when my partner of more than twenty years, Su, died. It is as though when I lost her, the words stopped flowing. At the time of her death, I was working on two novels. One was set during the 1967 battle of Dak To in Vietnam’s western highlands that I was very much involved in. The other was based on the history of my relationship with Su. Not a word has been added to either manuscript since Su’s death.

I don’t know what to do except to keep trying. Maybe one day soon, the words will start flowing again.

Wish me luck.

Artistic Versus Scientific

I am frequently struck by the difference between the way I think and the way everybody else does. I am an artist through and through. I am preoccupied with how to make beauty using words. Nearly everyone else I know thinks—or at least tries to think—rationally. The ultimate in rational thinking is following the scientific method defined by the following acts: make an observation, ask a question, propose a hypothesis, make predictions, and test the predictions. The only kind of thinking allowed is that which deals with measurable facts and is mathematical. In other words, only concrete, quantifiable, and corporeal data is admissible.

Because rational thinking is limited to physical existence, it cannot deal with intangibles such as happiness, beauty, love, hate, joy, and exaltation—all the elements that define human experience. In fact, adherents to the scientific method often maintain that such intangibles don’t exist; they are merely fantasies. If that’s true, then art doesn’t exist, either. It is imaginary.

In my work in intelligence—my career for thirty-five years—I allowed myself to think only in the rational/scientific mode. That was because the only thing that mattered was the factual truth. How I felt about it, whether it was pleasing or ugly, was immaterial.

All that said, I loved my work and derived great emotional satisfaction from it. Even in my most rational moments, it was my feelings that drove me. My life and work were obviously shaped by elements that rational thinking in its purest form cannot address. My opinion that much, maybe even most, of life deals with the intangibles is clearly shared by people who buy and read my six books, all fictional stories.

I am happy to accept artistic thinking, dominated by the incorporeal, as my preferred outlook. It allows me to create, and that is what I was born to do.

Ineffective Sanctions

The sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and NATO are not likely to change Vladimir Putin’s actions. Instead, the Russian oligarch will succeed in the conquest of Ukraine, resulting in the death of thousands. The punishment imposed by the west, mostly financial and diplomatic, will not faze Putin. The Russian people may feel some pain, but Putin will not suffer. As an autocrat, he has little interest in the welfare of his people.

And the sanctions are far less severe than they might have been. According to Daily KOS, “a divided Senate prevented a bipartisan push for the ‘mother of all sanctions’ against Russia for its escalating aggression against Ukraine. The impasse in part was due to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) demanding sanctions on Nord Stream 2, the Russian gas pipeline. . . So instead of a strong sanctions bill (with or without Nord Stream 2), the Senate sent the equivalent of a sternly worded letter [to Putin].”

The end result is that the sanctions imposed by President Biden are more symbolic than effective. Meanwhile, some Republican leaders are actually expressing support for Putin. Tucker Carlson last Tuesday asked his viewers to ponder if Putin is really so bad after all. And Donald Trump said that “Putin is smart. He’s taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart.” Donald Trump in a radio interview Tuesday called Putin’s actions “genius.”

With the U.S. opposition to Putin thus compromised and imposed sanctions less severe than the west could impose, the Russian dictator will pursue the conquest of Ukraine undeterred.

Intelligence Compromised?

As I write, I’m listening to President Biden answering press questions following his address to the nation on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He referred to “declassified evidence” of Russian moves, suggesting that the U.S. has made public secret information gathered by the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

As regular readers of the blog know, I spent my entire U.S. government career in intelligence. I was professionalized as an analyst and a linguist, comfortable in seven languages, and was deployed to many different locations around the world, many still classified. I spent the longest time in Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1975, I was in Vietnam more than I was in the U.S. using three of my languages—Vietnamese, Chinese, and French—to assist U.S. and friendly forces in combat through the intercept and exploitation of enemy radio communications.

On a number of occasions over the years, I witnessed losses in intelligence resulting from decisions by the president to make classified information public. Once an intelligence target learns that we are deriving valuable information, he or she can easily take steps to stop us by closing down or replacing the exploited activity. More often than not, in my judgment, what was gained by the public revelation was far less important than the source loss we suffered.

So I am left wondering what losses have resulted from President Biden’s revelations. Long since retired, I am no longer cleared for classified information, so I’ll never know.