The Frenemy of my Frenemy is my Frenemy

The rule of triadic interaction breaks down in the real world. The Cold War mentality of "The enemy of my friend is my enemy" and its corollaries are convenient simplifications, unsuitable for a complex policy of nonviolent solutions. Unforunately, few people are hip to nonviolence, or complexity. Here in America, simple is preferable; a simple answer is always more comforting, even if it's wrong.

We like good guys vs. bad guys, our guys and their guys. Even if it means supporting our death squads vs thier death squads. Even if it means supporting totalitarianism vs. democracy.

Violence begets violence. Once you accept the definition of someone as an 'enemy', you accept the possibility, or the necessity, of commiting violence against them.

If we had not supported Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden in the past, would we have the problems we have today? If we had not pursued the policy of enabling the violent in the past, would we be reaping the whirlwind of violence we reap today?

Do we miscalculate the corollaries of collateral damage?

I want to get deeper into this. I'll add more to this later.

The Sound of One Civilization Clashing

The chain of civilization has come full circle, the cradle of civilization robbed by the great-to-the-N grandchild of the original patriarch, generational abuse the story of the city, all cities as one, all the same.

The bastard children of Mohammed, Europe and America, hove come back home to Babylon, bringing it all back home again, the New Babylon on the crumbling foundations of the old.

The original law incised in clay only spells out the difference between free and slave, noble and common, king and noble, indelibly defining who has the full protection of law, and who does not. Hammurabi is the original apologist of The State.

There is only one Civilization. This is not to say there is only one modern way of life. This is to say only that all cities are the same. The real unit of modern life is the town. Towns are self-sustaining, renewable, sustainable communities. Cities are parasitical entities that cannot provide for themselves. Without colonial relationships, without armies of soldiers and merchants, cites cannot survive.

Back to Spinworld

I'm back in the U.S. of A. after three months in France, in an isolated location in the Alps, away from news, television, newspapers, and the massive spin machine of the American media and government.

I'm in the throes of culture shock! After three sweet months of silence I'm once again subjected to the barrage of opinions, factoids, polls, and spin, spin, spin.

The Iraq war drags on, much the same as before I left. Despite the Presidential address tonight, and Gen. Petraeus' report before Congress earlier this week, it's truly the same old story.