Category Archives: Politics

Cold War II

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In case you were sleeping, the Bush administration has looked up from its reassembly of Humpty Dumpty in the middle east and noticed, in apparent dismay, that relations with Russia and South America have fallen apart.  Golly Batman, how could it have happened?

That fountain of truth, Pravda, has been faithfully grinding out their grievances in regard to US insolence around the world.  Now that Russia has extinguished most of its free press, they can focus on a more coherent message.

Perhaps someone can set me straight.  The Soviet Union implodes in the early 1990’s. Arguably the most notable political event of the latter 20th century. Russia experiments with market economics. Yeltsin leaves. KGB veteran Vlad Putin takes power. Some oligarchs go to prison. Bad time in Chechnya. Journalists are assassinated. Dissassembly of what went for a free press happens.  Polonium murder of Litvenenko.  Putin initiates dispeptic criticism of US policy in general, and US plans for missile placement in former eastern bloc real estate in particular.  US awakened from desert trance to find that Russia is pissed.

Perhaps if the Dobson krewe in Colorado Springs were more interested in Russian politics they might have directed Cheney to pay more attention.  Wow. Did I say that? That was really cynical.

Active Denial System- RF Radiation Weapons

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It appears that some of our clever friends and neighbors at the local military/industrial complex have been busy designing millimeter-wave radio frequency weapons.  Last year the DoD announced the development of a new form of weapon billed as non-lethal to fill the “gap between shoot and shout”.  The device consists of a powerful rf source and what must be a fairly narrow beamwidth antenna for illuminating unruly people.  The website includes video clips of test subjects and their descriptions of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this radiation weapon. 

I refer to it as a radiation weapon because that is precisely what it is.  Millimeter wave radiation is directed at a person or a crowd and in short order the recipients in the beam feel their skin temperature rise to discomfort. Whether it truly raises skin temperature or the sensation is an artifact of surface electrical currents in the skin is unclear. The fact is that it can cause instantaneous discomfort and anxiety about burning to a crisp.  Obviously, the purpose is to discourage aggressive behaviour in individuals or of crowds and do so in a non-lethal manner. 

So, really, what is wrong with this?  In a sense it is like a shock collar on a dog.  An occasional burst of juice causes the unruly dog to suspend the offensive behaviour.  The dog learns the lesson and is not physically harmed by it. 

I’ll admit to being quite uncomfortable with this “technology”.  The potential for abuse and exploitation is staggering.  If a short burst of rf energy will cause people to scatter or desist their behaviours, what will a long exposure do?  And, just what happens to someone on prolonged exposure?

What is the difference between negative reinforcement and torture?  Is it the difference between a 5 second exposure and 60 seconds?  And, when will a tin-pot dictator acquire this capability now that we have proudly trotted ours out?  Whereas ours will have controls for non-lethal operation, would a terror group or arms merchant bother to have safety protocols to guard against overexposure? Maybe a stripped down version absent interlocks will be the weapon of choice among African dictatorships.

How long will it take for civilian units to come on stream? What US city will be the first to acquire one of these things for crowd control and when?  LA?  DC?  NYC?? 2015? 2020?  Pretty soon every SWAT commander will be clamoring for one “just in case”.  Whose march on the Capital Mall in DC will trigger the first use of such a device on civilians? 

Can the energy be reflected back to the source or in some other direction?  Is a metal trash can lid or aluminized mylar blanket an effective countermeasure?  Maybe we’ll see rock throwing 12 year olds in Gaza with a stone in one hand and a trash can lid in the other after its inevitable introduction in the middle east.

Microwave/millimeter technology is ubiquitous.  No nuclear materials. No ammunition.  Just a powerful rf source and an antenna. No doubt arms merchants are already lining up buyers for this weapon of mass agony.

What a lamentable development for mankind.  Our ability and willingness to commit violence from a distance is one of our greatest downfalls.

Better Gadgets

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The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced on 3-2-07 that the US would be pursuing the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program.  The program makes a lot of sense on many levels. But the timing of the press release is a bit odd.  Certain sandy states will no doubt notice the irony of the program. While the US is browbeating them into abandoning their dreams of a fissile future, we on the other hand are pursuing better and safer nukes.  Of course, we’ll argue that it is a smaller and safer stockpile, and I’m sure that is true. But I’ll wager that the next generation nuke will be designed for better efficiency as well. 

Maybe we’ll launch them from the new Cheney Class of submersible aircraft carriers…

Clancy’s World of Spooks

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It is like a disease. I find myself drawn to Tom Clancy novels.  I picked up Rainbow Six the other day. Other than his Op-Center series, I think I’ve read most of his books.  Clancy is one of the most successful writers in this genre.  Airport bookshops have been good for him.  When I was in the travelling phase of my career, his books were great for passing the time in airports.  Millions of us have read his books.

And millions of us have read Clancy’s idealized interpretation of how the clandestine world operates.  I won’t indulge in a superficial crtitque of the genre or his writing. But I would like to suggest that a population of readers who have followed the characters and themes of his immensely popular books might have developed certain impressions or even, shall we say, expectations, of the those who practice this tradecraft.

After reading his highly detailed and richly woven stories, one might develop the idea- subconsciously, mind you- that the clandestine services were capable of doing anything they set out to do.  Could it be that decades of Clancy’s stories have adjusted the expectations of countless readers in tems of what was possible in the world of the black arts? Could it be that such fiction has inadvertantly prepared our minds in such a way as to accept the assertions of government leaders when they tell us that hostile states have certain threatening capabilities? Surely, with all of the assets and talent at our disposal, when our elected leadership says that a threat exists, can’t we be certain that the conclusion was based on well placed human assets and has been through a series of tests and filters to verify the accuracy and magnitude of the threat? 

For those in power, the notion of “expertise” is not only useful, it may even be critical.  We all want to know that our safety is in the hands of experts. It is a comfort thing. Leaders need to be able to assure the population that experts are on the job and all will be well. 

I would suggest that there is no such thing as “expertise” as an intellectual destination.  There is only a continuum of confusion.  And some of us are more confused than others.

Worlds in Collision- Idiots Out Wandering Around

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I had the great privilege of doing my post-doc along side some smart and colorful folks.  Fellow post-docs from various parts of the world. In particular I was fortunate to have worked with some folks who came to the USA as Soviet scientists in 1990. Later all but one went back as Russian scientists.  This one in particular was a stunning beauty from near Lake Baikal in Siberia.  She was a first-rate experimentalist who was built like a fashion model from Paris.  She had “The Look”.

I recall the time she and I went to the Symphony.  She was dressed in a short and slinky green dinner dress with a plunging neckline below those electric eyes and high cheekbones.  I was a freshly divorced and mildly oafish- an ethnic Iowegian- chronically depressed and wrapped accordingly in a poorly fitting blue sport coat with tattered khaki slacks.  Just call me “Goober”.  OK. That’s Dr. Goober.  Of course, this was Texas so I fit right in …

As we entered the lobby, I could hear the necks creaking as heads craned in our direction with the odd slapping noise as jaws dropped to the floor. My colleague had that affect on people. Well, I’m not actually stupid. I could tell we were at the receiving end of many furtive glances.  But they were not admiring glances. They were questioning glances. As if to ask “What is that goddess doing with that imbecile?”  Now, being recently divorced and not unaccustomed to being stomped in the head by women, I took it in good humor and in stride.  For this lovely Russian beauty and I were dear friends and colleagues and it was my great privilege and pleasure enjoy the concert with her that evening in that stunning auditorium in San Antonio.

Today she is the Director of Chemistry for a startup pharma company. And me, well I’m a blogger.  Some months after this occurance, I attended a Gynocology convention with a friend who was doing her residency in OB-GYN. But that is another story.

Frequently wrong, but never in doubt

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More and more I find myself afflicted with fellow travellers along the timeline who are never in doubt of their judgement, but they are frequently wrong nonetheless.  There has to be some archetype from literature or Greek mythology that symbolizes this. Maybe there is some character from a Greek tragedy who, as a leader, was destined for a fall as a result of such a trait. Perhaps someone out there has a nominee for this position.

One sees examples of this in business organizations not infrequently. Some openly discuss their views, but often with the presumption of making a disclosure of “what we’re going to do”.  Others sit quietly, rarely contributing to open discussions where ideas are put on the table for dissection.  These fellows might listen to others debate, but they prefer to sit quietly and observe while others reveal the content of their thinking. Rather than adopt or synthesize new concepts openly, they will tend to note commentary that aligns with their pre-existing view. This is where that most loathsome of characters, the yes-man, can gain a strong foothold in an organization. 

Keystone Cops in Boston

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The mind still boggles at the recent cartoonish response of Boston authorities to the “viral” marketing campaign by Turner Broadcasting.  Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network evidently sponsored a targeted marketing campaign for its “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” program.  In doing so, their 20-something hirelings violated local sign ordinances by hanging electronic signs on bridges and that is where it stood until police were called and one of the displays was “disarmed” by a controlled bomb squad explosion.

The tipping point came when someone looked at the sign and saw a circuit board, wires and something that turned out to be a battery.  Evidently trained in the school of television drama bomb squadding, the officer on the scene triggered the terror response protocol.  God help us if this local constable ever looks in his computer and sees wires, capacitors, and other mechanisms.

I have witnessed much smaller versions of this first hand.  What appears to be an emergency leads to the arrival of the police and the fire department. This is the part where civil liberties fly out the window, and often enough, sensibility as well. The police establish a perimeter and secure the “scene”.  If the incident involves materials unknown to the police, then they will notify the fire department and then pull the trigger on the hazmat team.  If there is an object that seems suspicious, then they may trigger the bomb squad people. 

Obviously, the fine people who serve the public in the capacity of emergency response or law enforcement are trained and dedicated to their jobs. But what happens is that these people are given precious little latitude in their range of responses to “situations”.  What happens then is that they tend to do what is called erring on the side of safety, which means that when in doubt, call the bomb squad or the hazmat people. 

But when a situation leads to the arrival of the bomb squad, then the natural conclusion of the authorities is that whatever caused this response looks like a crime and should be so investigated. So, irrespective of the merits of the officer-on-the-scenes judgement, there might arise a presumption of foul play and the whole law enforcement apparatus is activated to supply evidence to the district attorney for the filing of charges on the alleged wrongdoer.  In fact one might cynically argue that, especially in these dubious circumstances, it is in the best interest of your career to be able to rationalize the release of these resources as a response to criminal activity. 

So, these two hapless fools who hung the signs in Boston are now at the pointy end of the law enforcement stick and the authorities seem to be bent on saving face through the exercise of grim and officious talk of terrorism. What a mess.

Astronaut burns up on re-entry to life

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The sad story of astronaut Lisa Nowak continues to unfold.  This thing seems to have many layers of complexity to it. It is interesting to see how the news media have approached it. People in the news business seem to have a set of tools in their bag from which they shape stories.  Some reporters are grilling NASA about fraternizing policy while others focus on the lurid detail about the diaper.  Perhaps someone will eventually make the connection with the Mercury program and how the astronauts wore diapers on these early flights.  It is just a concession to the pragmatics of long endurance travel. Pretty clever, really.  But regardless of her clever determination, using violence to resolve this kind of conflict has no valid excuse. 

It is rather painful to watch.

The Veneer of Civilization

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It is easy to be lulled into the notion that the USA has reached a transcendent state of modernism; a place where people have come to adopt pluralism and tolerance. When you drive along the highways and fly the skyways of the USA, when you navigate the streets lined with familiar businesses and institutions there is this comforting though superficial vibe that you are in an advanced culture that is fairly progressive and forward thinking.

American culture has produced some of the most stunning changes in the history of life on earth.  Electricity, drug design, advanced materials, aerospace, computers, semiconductors, and on and on. Yet, there is this underlying ache, a subterranean twinge out there that is disturbing in it’s potential.

While I cannot accept the cosmology of supernatural beings or the physics of miracles, I have been known to attend a meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) on a social basis. It is soothing to sit in silence and meditate in a group setting with highly civilized people like the Quakers. I remember some years ago at a Friends Meeting in Boulder, CO, listening to Kenneth Boulding (now deceased) make a comment during the meeting.  It was in another context, but the thrust of it is relevant nonetheless.  He pointed out that a few miles below the serenity of the nearby mountains there exists magma that, if given the chance, will flow to the surface and erupt. He observed that below the surface people also have raw and violent forces that sometimes escape. His point was more of a lyrical acceptance of this human frailty than one of condemnation. Examples of this condition are too numerous to count.

I was reminded of this comment of Boulding when I encountered some commentary on a recent editorial from the Wall Street Journal.  I can’t afford to subscribe to the WJS- I found it in the popular blog Pharyngula. The author of this exceptional blog has added commentary and I won’t spoil it for the reader. It is worth linking over there to read it.  Beneath the surface of consciousness of many, many people is the need to strike out at those have a different view of things.

Few points of view will evoke as vigorous a negative response as atheism does from believers in the Big 3 religions that originated in the middle east.  To these people, atheism is a kind of poke in the eye. The very presence of atheism seems to be a kind of pestilence or a corrosive influence on society itself. Believers in a supernatural being are convinced that without a diety, there can be no moral frame of reference.

It is much like the number line with its positive numbers, it’s negative numbers, and, importantly, zero.  To theists, God is the zero of the moral number line. It represents the demarcation of the positive and the negative realms.  As the theists would assert, without a frame of reference anchored from a higher plane, man is hopelessly absent a moral compass.

One thing is certain. I’m not going to solve this matter tonight.  I do know that civilization is one millimeter thick and there are plenty of places on earth where it has worn off to reveal the troubled underlayment of our species. This week, in the land of Nebuchadnezzar and the gardens of Babylon, many good people have died for no good reason.