“Syrian rebels face UN investigation over Aleppo footage”
Well, it was only a matter of time before members of the world’s YouTube & Instagram generation decided to post enthusiastic photos and videos of themselves committing war crimes. It’s like an amped up jihadist version of WorldStarHipHop, except people are being mass executed.
Category Archives: Arsenal Pulse
UN to disarm Congo rebels by force
Watch This Space: United Nations Congo peacekeepers have declared that they will begin disarming rebel groups in one region by force in 48 hours. This is a significant development because UN peacekeeping forces have previously been forced to watch violence without acting and the Congo mandate includes the first experiment authorizing actual armed enforcement actions. If they carry out this threat, it’s a game-changer for the United Nations.
Foreign policy by Broadway musical
Partly linking for the headline: “Mobs make fickle friends. Egypt is not Les Misérables”
And partly for some great lines like “British ministers shower bromides on Egypt in a torrent of patronising hypocrisy.”
And finally for insights like this:
In almost every case, [Western] public opinion has backed the insurgent mob against the regime, as if sated on Les Misérables. By the time of the Syrian uprising, it assumed that Arab mobs were always in the right and always win. This applied even when, as in Bahrain, this proved not to be the case, or as in Egypt, it required some ethical gymnastics. But then mobs make fickle friends.
Turkey: Unconvincing reasons to riot
I’m sympathetic to the fact that protesters in Turkey got a ridiculously abusive reaction, and I accept that Erdogan is an arrogant jerk.
But if police brutality, consolidation of electoral power by a conservative religiously-oriented party, and attempts to restrict access to abortion were grounds for forcing out or overthrowing a democratically-elected government through non-election means, then we would all be marching on Republican-led state capitols & DC in the United States today.
Plus, restricting the sale of alcohol is par for the course in the U.S. democracy even to present day so that’s also not a real reason to throw a riot.
Neo-Feudal Syria
Recommended reading from The Guardian: “Syria’s oilfields create surreal battle lines amid chaos and tribal loyalties”.
This crazy-intense profile paints a picture of a nation descending into neo-feudalism. The pre-Socialism clan system is re-asserting itself in the midst of the chaos because people need local order and income. These clan administrators take control of local oil & gas production and then essentially pay electricity or gas tributes to both the regime and the Islamist rebels to keep them off their backs. One guy says he wants to sell his production to Turkey and buy Patriot missiles (are those just available???) so he can create an autonomous, self-guarding fiefdom.
You have right to remain silent, but your hips won’t lie
In a little-noticed decision in Salinas v. Texas (2013), the Supreme Court just ruled that your right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination can be voided by your body language. If it seems “suspicious” and you don’t explicitly declare that you’re invoking the 5th amendment, then your unconscious body language during interrogation or questioning can be used against you in court.
A very good observation from the comments at The Volokh Conspiracy:
The problem is that in the eyes of the police and prosecutors almost anything the defendant–the person they believe is guilty–says and does after the crime and during interrogation becomes evidence of guilt, even opposite reactions by different defendants. He was silent; he wouldn’t stop talking. He went out and got drunk with friends (he partied) after the murder; he showed no emotions and took off away from everyone after the murder. He appeared very nervous; he seemed to be very in control of himself. He appeared to be crying but shed no tears; he was shedding tears but a few minutes later he was smiling. It’s a fool’s game.
Pick your crises
I still don’t understand why people are demanding the United States “do something” about the Syrian Civil War and “show leadership” when there doesn’t seem to be much evidence for our ability to do anything positive (if at all) about the situation.
And as an interventionist in general, I offer this observation:
An America that intervenes everywhere will soon be able to intervene nowhere.
If we go in there, we won’t be able to help anyone else for at least a decade. Or maybe ever.
