Future War!

China apparently plans to build a helicarrier. Check it out. Someone in the People's Liberation Army is a big fan of Nick Fury and SHIELD.

Iran: Everyone has an opinion...

So the current debate is whether or not Obama should "get tough" with Iran. I'm not a fan of sabre-rattling for the sake of appearances, and I doubt making threatening statements toward the Iranian regime is going to help the protesters in any practical way. Daniel Larison of the "American Conservative" makes the most compelling argument I've read for why the President should just keep his trap shut. Read the editorial here.

To his credit, Obama has, so far, limited his statements to generic condemnations of violence directed against protesters and his "concern" over the election results.

Farewell Pontiac. You will be missed ...

by about 5 people.

My first car was a Pontiac Grand Am. I got it used, but it had only 40,000 miles on it, and it looked like it was in great shape. But it was a complete piece of shit. The onboard computer would go on the fritz, making it impossible to start the ignition. The ventilation system couldn't get air to the passenger side vents. The heater didn't work. The engine belt made weird noises. The electrical system went crazy and shorted out the radio. The driver side window fell out. The door grip, built into the door, broke off when I tried to close the driver side door.

Pontiac survived as long as it did thanks to nostalgia for the GTO and the early Trans Am. But they were a lousy company that built lousy cars and embodied every negative stereotype of American car manufacturers. I'm not going to celebrate people losing their jobs, but as for Pontiac itself, good riddance.

Piracy Update!

Navy snipers pick off three pirates, and the hostage captain is rescued. Here's a link to CNN.

Don't mess with the U.S. (or more accurately, don't mess with the U.S. when it has Navy SEAL snipers readily available)

Also, this was never going to end well for the pirates. Hostage-taking only works if you have a place to hide, not in the middle of the ocean.

We live in interesting times...

Those wacky Somali pirates are at it again. What's interesting to me is the similarities between Somalia today and the Caribbean in the early 18th century.

The final heyday of Caribbean piracy was around 1710-1730. The European powers had previously been fighting a lengthy, global struggle known as the War of the Spanish Succession. At the end of the war, the powers hastily discharged hundreds of sailors in their Western colonies, creating a glut of men who knew how to fight and sail, but not much else. At the same time, an incredible amount of cargo - including gold, slaves, rum, and sugar - was passing through the Caribbean isles. As many of these isles were essentially lawless, pirate outposts quickly sprang up and buccaneers began to prey on all the rich merchant ships.

In Somalia, there are large numbers of unemployed men who fought in the decade-long civil war. Somalia itself remains the prime example of a failed state, and the government's power barely extends beyond Mogadishu. And billions of dollars in international cargo pass within sight of Somalia's coastline thanks to its proximity to the Suez Canal.

The critical factor that ended the age of buccaneering was the rise of the British Royal Navy as an international police force. But the Royal Navy didn't destroy the pirates at sea; they captured and occupied the pirate bases, like Nassau in the Bahamas. In 2009, it seems very unlikely that any government, including the U.S., would be willing to occupy Somalia to end the new age of piracy.